CH 1 - The Darkest Night

Constructive criticism is always appreciated, so feel free to comment.

If the first 20 paragraphs don't meet the 'adventure' or 'dark' criteria.... just wait *evil grin*

AAAAAAAAAAND - BEGIN!

“Wahoo!” Spike shouted. He tried to hop off Twilight Sparkle’s back, only to trip and land, unceremoniously, on his face. The baby dragon righted himself and dusted off his authentic Greek Spartan costume (which Twilight had conjured for him) and grabbed his wooden sword before running out the library door with Twilight in tow.

A purple unicorn face hoofed before calling to her assistant. “Spike!” Twilight shouted as he ran towards a group of pirates, thugs, vagabonds, and a lone chicken. “Don’t be out too late! Don’t eat too much candy! And don’t-”

“Oh, come on, Twilight!” Spike shifted from foot to foot, annoyed that his brand new Spartan costume was already ruffled. “Nightmare Night only comes once a year! Besides, Pinkie Pie will be here to take care of us!”

The chicken pulled its head out of its’ already full bag and spun its head towards Twilight. “Yeah, Twilight,” the party pony said through a mouthful of candy. Swallowing, she continued. “Besides, you don’t want Pipsqueak to miss out on his second ever Nightmare Night! He said he didn’t want to go without Spike!”

Pinkie quickly spun the beige colt in question to face Twilight. ““Yeah, Miss Twilight!” Pipsqueak said in his trademark Trottingham accent. “You don’t want to ruin my second evah Nightmare Night, do you?” He pouted his lips adorably and his eyes widened, twin universes sparkling as they pleaded for mercy.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright, Pinkie. Just try to have Spike back by ten.”

A chorus of “YEAH!”s rang out from the troop of miscreants.

Spike addressed Twilight. “You sure you don’t want to come, Twilight? It’ll be fuuuuun!” He wiggled his eyebrows for effect.

Twilight nodded. “Yep, positive, Spike. My Starswirl the Bearded costume was a big flop last year, and I forgot to prepare another costume for this year.” Well, forgot wasn’t quite the right word, Twilight thought to herself. Everypony knew she seldom “forgot” anything. “Didn’t want to be a weirdo clown, country music singer, or ancient retiree for Nightmare Night” was a better analysis.

She snapped back to the present, shaking her head. “Yep, positive.”

Spike shrugged. “Okay, suit yourself.” He turned to his friends, holding his wooden sword high. “FOR CANDY!” The baby dragon charged down the street, an army of foals close behind him.

“Wait for me!” Pinkie cried, taking off after them. Twilight saw her pause here and there to pick up candy the others had dropped.

Twilight smiled to herself. It was good to let Spike exercise a little freedom and responsibility. Whether she liked it or not, Spike was getting older. She wouldn’t always be there to make the right decisions for him. Besides, he was a good dragon at heart. Twilight trusted him to do the right thing.

Humming a cheery tune, she walked back into the library.

As soon as the purple unicorn had closed the door behind her, Spike turned to face Pinkie Pie. Smiling slyly, he asked, “We aren’t gonna be back by ten, are we?”

“Nope!” Pinkie Pie agreed, bobbing her head up and down so fast the little dragon’s eyes spun inside his head. “We’re not!”

Tartarus. The pride of Equestrian security. Cerberus the three-headed dog guards the transparent gates of pure diamond. Fifty-foot cement walls form the perimeter. Some of the strongest shield magic known to ponykind protects the prison from anything short of an all-out siege. Built in the heart of the Everfree Forest, Tartarus was far away from any sort of civilization. Many prisoners knew that their chances of surviving were much better inside of Tartarus than in an attempted escape to the outside.

All these factors and more were plenty enough to discourage potential escapees, but that didn’t stop all of them. Some were just too powerful, and these ponies had to be deep-frozen in cryogenics. At night, the ponies with lesser-but-still-terrible crimes were locked away in diamond chambers. The diamond provided twenty-four hour surveillance as well as an impenetrable barrier. Enchanted shackles prevented any movement. Pegasi had their wings tied together with inch-thick titanium chains. Unicorns were the victims of horn locks that restricted any magic usage.

A hooded figure stood motionless in the moonlight, gazing determinedly at the impenetrable fortress before her. Her task was a daunting at best: still, she was determined. Tartarus was inescapable, therefore, getting in should be just as difficult. She had stolen the prison’s blueprints months before, and knew every nook and cranny, possibly better than the architects who had originally built it.

Seeing a score of bat-winged pegasi armed with crossbows patrolling the walls, she admonished that it may be slightly harder to get into than she had originally thought. Before, her plan called for minimal combat, but that now seemed impossible. She sighed. Time to improvise.

With a red flash, the mare cast several advanced-level illusionary spells on herself. Instantly, her coat and mane faded to mottled shades of black and dark gray. Not very visually appealing, but she wasn’t exactly trying to make a fashion statement with this little heist. As an extra precaution, she placed a soundproof ethereal bubble around herself. This would prevent guards from hearing her footsteps as well as, if need be, silencing their screams at close range.

She grabbed a saddlebag she had lying next to her. Quiet as a wraith, she quickly found a hole in the magical ward around Tartarus and slipped past, glancing around to see if she was noticed. Still twenty yards away from the gargantuan cement walls, she silently crept towards a lone ladder that was the only way up the walls.

A searchlight hovered over her position, and the mysterious mare hit the dirt.

Praying that her camouflage spell held, the mysterious mare stood stock-still. She scarcely dared to breathe. Come on... she thought. Please move please move please...

And yet it stayed.

A small corner of her mind spewed facts to herself. The searchlights of Tartarus. Motion – activated. Lethal. When a target is within range, beam increases intensity of beam by a thousand, instantly incinerating the target.

She kept waiting for the searchlight to intensify, burning her to a crisp, putting an end to all her efforts. Months of planning... years of waiting... all down the drain. It's such a shame, she thought, for Equestria’s salvation to be exposed so quickly.

The light lingered on her for a few more seconds… before moving on.

She breathed a sigh of relief. The sooner she climbed the walls and got out of the view of these spotlights, the better. Being out in the open was clearly far too risky.

Five yards from the ladder, she paused. Of course it was guarded. Five stone-faced pegasi stood at the top of her easiest entrance to Tartarus. Three others guarded the bottom. Powerful magic came extraordinarily easy, but subtlety wasn’t exactly her strong suite. It would be too hard to keep the alarm from sounding if she tried to skulk past. The time for subterfuge and stealth was over.

She noticed one of the younger guards on the wall leaning to peer over the edge of the fifty-foot-tall behemoths, immersed in conversation with a larger and older pegasi that she assumed was the warden. In a detached way, the mysterious mare hoped they were enjoying their conversation.

It would be their last, after all.

“Well, buck me sideways,” Shortsight remarked to nopony in particular as he gazed down at the ground from his perch atop the cement walls of Tartarus. “These walls sure are tall.”

Three of his companions sighed. “Luna have mercy... not again…” a tall, strong-looking pegasi muttered. Another began banging his head against the metal railings. “Why me...” he moaned. “Oh, Luna, why me?!”

“Quiet, boys.” Despite his words, Warden Gray Mane groaned inwardly. Shortsight had been transferred from a lower-security jail down in Appaloosa and hadn’t shut up since. The new recruit was constantly gawking either at the sheer size of the prison or his shiny new ‘Official Guardian of Tartarus’ badge. Worse, the recruit thought Gray Mane was the best thing since apple pie while the sound of Shortsight’s voice alone made Gray Mane want to jump off of the ramparts and be taken to the Everlasting Herd.

Gray Mane sighed wearily, and then spoke. “Yes, Shortsight,” He replied flatly. “Yes, they are. And repeating that phrase over and over won’t make them any taller than they were the last time you brought that pointless sentiment to the floor.”

The newbie looked confused. “But I ain’t brought nothing’ to the floor, Mr. Warden. We’re on a wall, anyhow.”

Gray Mane blinked. Count to ten. He ignored his men as they chuckled at Shortsight’s idiocy. Inhale deeply. Exhale deeply. Inhale. Exhale.

He took another slow breath and spoke with as much self-control as he could manage. “I mean, Shortsight, that talking about the walls won’t make the walls any taller than they already are.” He clearly enunciated each word, as if addressing a young filly or colt.

Taking no notice of his superior‘s tone, Shortsight looked downcast at the cement beneath his hooves. “Oh. I reckon that would explain why they ain’t growed none yet.”

The Warden developed a tic in his left temple as he struggled violently to keep his impatience with this clueless country bumpkin in check. The surrounding pegasi held their breath.

“You okay, Mr. Warden? You look angry ‘bout somethin.’”

Before the older pegasi could snap and do something that he may or may not have regretted, shouts erupted from the guards below.

Shortsight peered down at the commotion. “Hey, Mr. Warden? Them guards supposed to be guarding the gates, right?”

“Yes, Shortsight.”

“Then why they all layin’ around?”

Gray Mane looked over the edge. Indeed, the three bat-winged pegasi he had stationed to guard the ladder lay on their backs, seemingly passed out. Several bottles of various alcoholic beverages lay close to their hooves.

His temper exploded. “You lazy sons of whorses, you don’t get paid to get hungover! Get up!”

No reply.

Gray Mane‘s face turned a violent shade of purple. “You hear me, punks?! Get up, now! Now, or you’re through! Through, I swear to you! Mark my words, Celestia will hear about thi-”

His words cut off as a lifeless stallion slammed into him, thrown telekinetically from the ground.

Gray Mane blinked rapidly, trying to reduce the black spots that marred his vision. Shaking his head quickly, he roughly shoved the corpse off of himself, scrambling to stand back up. “Attack!” He shouted. “We’re under-”

A transparent, glowing red crossbow bolt to the throat silenced his calls.

The four other pegasi stared in horror at their commanding officer’s writhing body, Shortsight the closest to his idol. Blood was already staining the ground beneath their feet, staining their hooves a sickening crimson. Gray Mane made painful, bloody gurgling noises as the life bled out of him. As they watched, the bolt disappeared, leaving nothing to obstruct the gushing blood of the unfortunate Gray Mane.

Shortsight paled. He didn’t sign up for this. The whole reason somepony signed up to be a guard was for impressions. Bragging rights. Nopony said anything about actually… about… this. And now Gray Mane was… he was… “Luna preserve us…” he breathed softly.

A sound behind him. He spun sharply, expecting his comrades to start giving him orders. At this point, he needed something to do. He had to get his mind off of the blood, the stench, the vacant look in Gray Mane’s eyes as the crimson fluids pooled under his body. He had to forget about the ethereal crimson of the crossbow bolt. He had to forget about -

Oh, no.

First he saw the guards, bleeding out on the ground. Two had their throats slit; the third was disemboweled with his limbs flailing weakly in the air. Then he saw the hooded figure of a young Earth pony, standing in the center of the three, looking curiously at him. Blood spattered her gray cloak, marked by purplish blotches. A transparent, scarlet dagger glowed in her mouth. The blade was covered in blood, and as he watched, the weapon seemed to evaporate.

Shortsight couldn’t help it. He vomited.

The hooded mare looked amused. Almost… disturbingly so. “Never seen death before, have you?”

Shortsight shook his head violently. He had to entertain this pony, stall her somehow. He hadn’t been killed yet. Maybe this pony would leave him alive. He doubted it. His companions, still twitching amid pools of crimson, attested to that. He’d wait till she got a little closer, then shove her aside and make a break for it. Yeah, that’d work. He had to warn the Princesses and-

The strange mare seemed to glow. Coward. The light, cheerful voice of a mare who had recently come of age resonated within his mind.

His hopes slowly faded, replaced by a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. It took him but a few moments to place his hoof on what it was. Fear. An Earth pony had just used magic. Such a thing was unthinkable.

Now, Shortsight might not have been the most intelligent pony, but even he knew only unicorns could use magic. Magic energy was channeled through the horn, the unicorn directed the energy to do the unicorn’s will, and viola, that’s how spells were born. An Earth pony couldn’t use magic, much less telepathy. It just didn’t work that way. Earth ponies had no such channeler, nothing for the magic to focus through. So how…?

Suddenly the guard felt as if he’d been kicked by an invisible giant. Launched into the air by a powerful telekinetic force, Shortsight opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound. It felt like an invisible force was clutching his throat, silencing and strangling him at the same time.

In a detached way, he realized that this was why he hadn’t heard the other guards cry out. She’d used the same spell to silence their own cries.

Tumbling over the battlements, the world turned cold and dark long before he hit the ground.

Cerberus sniffed the ground, confused. It had been many months since the gigantic black three-headed bulldog had left his post in a rage, with the nice yellow pony calming him down and the worried purple one leading him back to Tartarus. He had not seen any ponies besides the guards and the occasional prisoner since that day, and now he had a great titanium chain around each of his three collars that prevented him from leaving again. He didn’t mind. The high security prison in the Everfree Forest had many monsters roaming around it that provided a decent enough snack, and his chain was rather significant in length. Then… why did he still smell a strange pony-scent near the gates?

His left head yawned, clearly bored with the whole ordeal, but the center was not about to be distracted. He followed the scent, worried. There were only a few ponies in the prison itself, the majority of the creatures occupying Tartarus being diamond dogs, changelings, and the like. Tartarus even housed an Ursa Major in a deep pit that Cerberus had managed to capture himself! But if a pony had been taken to Tartarus, it was something to be worried about. They were the worst of the worst; insane terrorists, cold-blooded killers, perverted rapists: you name it, they were brought to Tartarus. Cerberus didn’t like bad ponies. They scared him. Most ponies were nice, but the bad ponies made even Cerberus shudder.

The great black bulldog passed many of the less important prisoners, taking no notice of their hopeless and lost expressions frozen in place. The cells were made of solid diamond, walls and all, to provide twenty-four hour surveillance as well as an impenetrable barrier. For high-risk prisoners, the ponies were flash-frozen to prevent escape. This had an unfortunate side-affect, however. Often, prisoners who had been taken to Tartarus were still alive and well (albeit rather cold) after several centuries.

A shout rang off in the distance.

Cerberus froze, and six ears pricked up, hoping to catch the sound again.

Minutes passed. Nothing was to be heard, save the chirping of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl.

Cerberus walked on, more cautiously this time. His ears swiveled from side to side, and each head looked in a different direction. He noticed that he was nearing the extreme containment facilty. Cerberus was sure that this was where the shout came from. Now who -

Cerberus stopped.

Bodies littered the ground. Several had deep gashes in their neck; others sported a gaping hole in their skull. Blood saturated the ground, forever staining it that deep crimson associated with lifeblood..

Treading tentatively over several dead guards, Cerberus sniffed one of the corpses, a stallion with his neck bent at an awkward angle. He remembered the scent of this pony. Shortsight. One of the few guards who took time out of their day to give Cerberus some attention. He treated the Guardian of Tartarus like his own, often bringing several giant rubber balls for the dog to play with.

Cerberus still remembered the day that Shortsight had arrived, late in the summer. The stallion was still being shown around the prison when Cerberus had come around the corner. Shortsight’s tour guide fled, screaming, but Shortsight stayed. He looked up at the dog, and smiled, very widely, at each of Cerberus’s three heads.

“Hey, buddy!” He had said. “Celestia, you’re a big fella! But, hey, you look just like Frank back home! ‘Cept he only has one head. Aww, don’t look at me like that, three heads is fine! I bet you act just like him too. Come on, boy! Roll over!”

Cerberus had been indignant at first, until Shortsight began to scratch his belly. Oh, the bliss.

The stench of death brought him back to the present. He looked once more at the mangled body of his friend, and a mournful howl tore its way out of Cerberus’s throat.
.

Shortsight was dead. Everyone was dead.

He almost missed a hooded figure stepped out of the shadows.

Cerberus froze mid-howl and snarled. He smelled the blood on the newcomer.

Without thinking, he charged in a frenzy. Destroy the pony-killer! Tear it into a thousand pieces and gnaw on its bones and rip its flesh and-

A burst of flame, and the figure teleported to his other end. Cerberus whirled with the speed of a Wonderbolt, prepared to rip this intruder to shreds, before three bolts of red lightning hit him simultaneously in each of his foreheads.

The brute blinked. He felt... not quite dizzy, but... calm? Tired?

The guard dog looked dazedly at his assailant. Strange. An unfamiliar Earth pony. Cerberus knew all of the prisoners, and this wasn’t one of- wait, Earth pony?!

When he tried to reconcile this fact to the flash a magic he had experienced just instants before, his heads hurt. He lay down his massive bulk and whimpered pathetically.

The strange pony gave him a small, reassuring pat on the center head. “Sorry for that,” she said. “I just had to put you to sleep for a while, okay? Can’t have that bothersome Celestia coming and crashing this little party, can we. Oh, don’t you fret, you’ll be up in a week with nothing but a headache. A little fuzzy in the memory for a while, sure, but nothing to worry about!”

Cerberus wagged his tail, tired. His eyelids drooped. The Guardian of Tartarus had forgotten the lightning flashes, or even why he had been so angry. Shortsight’s death was a million miles away, in another universe, someone else’s world. His eyelids sagged even further. This pony was kind. Nice. She’d play with him. Nice pony…

He was asleep within moments.

The mysterious mare smiled. Leave it to a dog, instantly taking a liking to anypony who showed it kindness, forgoing the lightning, of course. A three-headed one was no different. But she had to be quick – it wouldn’t be long before he woke up again.

She turned towards five cells that were placed close together. Two pegasi, two unicorns, and an Earth pony stared at her with vacant, glazed expressions. Frozen in cryogenics.

Walking up to a small pedestal that stood in the center of the cells, the hooded Earth pony pressed a button in the center of the panel. She marveled at how easy it was. Celestia was too arrogant. So were the guards, for that matter. They all assumed Tartarus was inescapable, that nopony would ever dare attempt to stage a breakout, that nopony could stage a breakout. And then to have a simple button to release some of the deadliest ponies that had ever walked Equestria?

Yes, she asserted. Completely naïve.

The diamond walls hissed, interrupting her thoughts, then shattered. Shards flew in all directions, several rocketing towards the intruder. She deflected them magically without a second glance, and they embedded themselves harmlessly into the cemented wall behind her.

Five cryogenically frozen ponies floated in the air. After a few moments, they slowly lowered to the ground, where puddles of melted ice already waited to wet their hooves.

The mysterious mare slowly removed her cloak, mane seeming to flicker with fiery oranges and reds as it danced past her sleek shoulders. Her coat shimmered with the same fiery hue as her mane, bathing the area around her in a soft golden glow so pure it seemed the darkness itself was awed by her presence. Deep green eyes that would have put the most flawless of emeralds to shame gazed triumphantly at her success.

The fiery mare inhaled deeply, a victorious smile gracing her features. There were several loose ends to be taken care of, but in time. For now, she was content to welcome her old friends to the present. She hoped they remembered her. One thousand years in virtual limbo tended to affect memories.

Ooh, cliffhanger. Sorry, that's just how it happens: the story comes to me in these annoying little bursts, screaming "WRITE ME WRITE ME WRITE ME YOU PANSY!!! SCHOOL, FUCK OFF AND TAKE A BACK SEAT!!" So I'm trying. Suffice to say, my grades prove it. :P

Willing to accept constructive criticism, so please, comment as much as you want. Questions to be answered: Who is the mysterious mare? What is she after? Exactly how much candy did Spike manage to receive on Nightmare Night? And how the hell do the Elements of Harmony tie in?

You'll just have to wait. ;)