Ever Free

Chapters

Hospital Visit
Assault in Ponyville
Science and Magic
It's spelled with a 'Q'
Law-Abiding Citizen
Inverse Prophecy
Surreality
It Begins
Nyctophobia: Fear of the Dark
The Emperor Shadow
Fade
Stranger Danger
Powerful Magic

Hospital Visit

“Spike!” Twilight called from the door of the library. “I’m going out for a bit. I want those books on shelves when I get back!”

“I’m on it. Have fun doing whatever it is you’re doing,” Spike replied, placing a book on a low shelf.

Twilight stepped outside to find that she couldn’t see but a meter in front of her. Well this is weird. I didn’t know we had fog planned for today. Walking forward, watching for anything in front of her, she headed in the direction of her business. The hospital. At the careful pace she was going, it took about six minutes to get there. And to her surprise, Rainbow Dash was already there, sitting on a chair in the lobby.

“Hey, Rainbow. Is there supposed to be fog scheduled today?” Twilight asked, pushing through the glass door of the hospital.

“Actually, no. But the weather team couldn’t cut the fog over the Everfree Forest yesterday. And I couldn’t cut this fog either. Somepony up top said something about it being unicorn magic, but I don’t know,” she responded with a sheepish grin. “The night patrol said that they saw the fog expanding outwards from the hospital. I have a feeling that new pony has some idea of what’s going on.”

“My gut agr—” Twilight attempted to say, before being interrupted by a loud explosive boom.

“DID SOMEPONY SAY THERE’S A NEW PONY IN TOWN?!” a pink mare shouted, everypony’s eyes glaring at her.

Saw that one coming. Twilight thought, facehoofing. “Yes, there’s a new pony in town. But judging by the fact that said pony is in the ICU, I don’t think they want a party so soon.”

Pinkie ignored Twilight, firing a few shots from her party cannon, making the hospital lobby look like the sight of a small foal’s birthday party. “Nonsense! I’ve never met anypony that didn’t want a welcome party!”

“But you met me, and I didn’t want a welcome party,” Twilight countered.

“But now you look back on it and wish you’d enjoyed it more!” Pinkie replied, instantly deflecting Twilight’s logic. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by Pinkie shoving a cupcake in her mouth. “Just go with it, Twilight.”

Pinkie, somehow carrying the party cannon without carrying it, was now bouncing down the hall towards the room with the new pony. Rainbow Dash simply shrugged and followed at a hover. Twilight spat out the cupcake, and followed closely behind.

Another loud thump from the party cannon signaled that Pinkie had found the new pony. The small hospital room now decorated for a party. The sleeping unicorn in the bed did not stir, though. Pinkie looked at the sleeping unicorn, wondering how her party cannon didn’t wake said pony up.

Though, in truth, the pony was wide awake, and very unpleased with the disturbance. It glared at the one that was nudging it, and thus ruining any chance of it returning to rest again. Pinkie’s face faltered, not comprehending how the pony could still be sleeping after a well placed nudge. Nopony could sleep through one of her nudges. But, this pony was able to do so.

“That’s weird. This pony is still sleeping. How?” Pinkie wondered aloud, not understanding.

“I don’t know, Pinkie. Maybe this pony is unconscious. As in, can’t wake up?” Twilight suggested.

The sleeping pony twitched, unfortunately, just enough for Pinkie and the heart-rate monitor to notice.

Pinkie gasped in much the same manner as when she had first encountered Twilight, and looked at the black unicorn that was pretending to sleep through Pinkie’s onslaught.

“Wakey wakey!” Pinkie said softly, her face a mere inch from the unicorn’s. Her eyes were more open than usual, and she seemed to be staring into its soul.

The unicorn, as if knowing that Pinkie was directly in front of it, moved a hoof up from under the covers, pushing Pinkie away with considerable force, managing to give it enough room to turn and sit up. Its eyes remained closed.

Somehow, Pinkie was right in front of it again, staring at it with much more enthusiasm than before. Somehow knowing, it shoved Pinkie off its bed, giving Twilight just enough room to see that it was a male unicorn. With virtually unmatchable speed, the unicorn moved its right forehoof, blocking Pinkie’s attempt to get on the bed again.

“Whoa. How did it know where Pinkie was?” Rainbow Dash wondered out loud.

Eyes still closed, the black unicorn placed Pinkie down on the floor, hooves tied together with her own streamers. The unicorn turned his head, seeming to look around the room. It eventually stopped to face Twilight. It cocked its head a little, curiosity somehow shown on his face. Its horn glowed, a dark purple aura emanating from his horn. The same aura made itself apparent on Twilight’s right forehoof, forcing a step forward. The magic stopped, but Twilight, now more curious than a monkey, continued walking forward. She stopped at his bedside, her own head cocked slightly to the side.

“Who are you?” she asked, barely audible.

The black unicorn opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another three ponies entering the room. He turned, eyes still closed, to face the three.

“Oh, hey girls. What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, shaking her head slightly.

“We were wonderin’ the same thing,” Apple Jack replied. “We were gonna visit the library today, but you were out, an’ Spike poin’ed out yer checklist fer today.”

“‘Visit hospital’ caught our eye, dear. That’s not a usual thing, you know,” Rarity added. “And who is this…” her words were silenced. “Who is this handsome young stallion?”

Fluttershy, somehow more curious than scared, was already flying over the group, hovering over the black unicorn. He, in turn, looked at Fluttershy, eyes closed. His head was cocked to the side again, a soft smile just barely beginning to appear. “Um… H-hi there…”

The unicorn’s horn glowed with its dark purple aura, gently picking Fluttershy out of the air, and setting her on the floor next to Rainbow Dash, earning a slight squeak from Fluttershy. Rarity, who had somehow gotten directly next to the pony, was dragged backwards, until she was next to Apple Jack. Twilight was given one more step from the unicorn’s magic, before the aura faded once more.

She stopped at the side of the bed, looking directly at the male unicorn’s face. Somehow, his eyes just would not open, and that intrigued her. And how he had made her walk towards him just by forcing one step from her filled her mind to the brim with questions.

“Who are you?” she asked again, barely audible.

The dark unicorn opened its mouth for the second time, this time, uninterrupted. “I am known as Darq,” he answered simply. “And you?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she replied with about as much confidence as Fluttershy.

“This place is… Strange… Where am I?” he asked, ‘looking’ around.

“You’re in Ponyville Hospital, dear,” Rarity interjected. “The ICU, to be more specific.”

The dark unicorn growled, “Hath ye not learned to not interrupt one’s conversation?”

Rarity’s eye twitched, and she hid behind Fluttershy, like Fluttershy would when meeting somepony new.

“However, I must thank thee for the answer to my inquiry,” he started again, “young gem.”

And with that, Rarity fainted at the compliment of being called a gem, a smile on her face. Rainbow Dash simply facehoofed at her friend’s reaction, but turned back to pay attention to the stranger she had rescued but a day ago.

“Now… The real question is, how did I get here?” Darq inquired.

“I flew you here. You were out cold in the middle of the fog, so I brought you here. You were really cut up,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Hmm… Well. I must thank thee for your quick thinking and swift wings,” he said with a curt bow.

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

The black unicorn ‘looked’ himself over, finding no scratches on him. He nodded to himself, and removed the electrodes tracking his heart rate and pulse, and pulled the IV out of his arm. The machines threw a fit, but a tiny spell from the unicorn silenced the infernal beeping that they projected. He lifted the covers, rolling out of the bed, and standing on his hooves. He was a bit bigger than Twilight, being about the size of Big Mac. But his muscles were a bit less bulky. He was lean, like a runner, but big like a guard. His horn was more pointed, and about an inch longer than Twilight’s. But the most notable feature of this pony wasn’t what he did have, but what he didn’t. In this case, a Cutie Mark.

“Whoa…” Twilight gasped out loud. “How old are you?”

“I am quite old. I was old enough to know what the Sonic Rainboom was when it happened, though I was still young,” he replied, ‘looking’ at Rainbow Dash. “Congratulations on achieving such a feat. It’s a shame the Wonderbolts haven’t offered you a position with them.”

Rainbow Dash instantly fumed at the comment, unable to give a response.

“And yes, I know you asked because of my Cutie Mark,” he growled. “Or rather, lack thereof.”

“Sorry for asking about that… I’ve jus—” Twilight began.

“Never met a blank-flank as old as me? That’s because I am the oldest pony without one,” he chuckled. He turned, and walked out the door of the small hospital room, leaving six thoroughly confused, one of them unconscious, ponies in his wake.

Author's Note

Well. This is two days without proper mood-fitting music. The next chapter is already typed up, but I'm really not proud of it. It really doesn't flow well. I'll be editing that, a bit. Anyway, I finally did find some mood fitting music for chapters 4 and 5. And for those of you that don't quite see the plot yet, it's coming in in Chapter 4. So be patient, and I'll type up some more interesting problems to solve. (Beware. Lots of science-y stuff in Chapter 5.)

Assault in Ponyville

Thoughts raced through the mind of Rainbow Dash as she flew in the sunset. From her vantage point, she saw a fog coming from the Everfree. Under normal circumstances, she would have ended up turning off to Cloudsdale to report the rogue fog to the Weather Department. But the thoughts in her mind kept her more than preoccupied.

That Darq pony is something weird. Pretty darn powerful magic, too. Being able to actually fly in the form of a griffin. Fast on the uptake. Though his form is still poor at best. Maybe I should help him…

Well…If he’s as fast a learner as I saw, then he might not need my help. I’ll have to ask what he’s training for to know. But either way, he’s pretty cool. Not to mention the mystery of who the hay he is.

Rainbow Dash’s mental monologue was interrupted as she crashed through her cloud-house’s front wall. She flapped her wings twice, bringing her to a halt in her front hall. Curses. I’m going to have to fix that soon.

Silence. Absolute silence. Deafening silence. Deadly silence. There was naught but fog and silence that night. If one listened extremely carefully, one could hear the faintest of hints of noise through the fog. But nopony was awake to listen. Even Darq, who had made a nasty habit of sleeping less than most ponies, was asleep at that time. The fog rolled in from the central location of Darq’s horn, unbeknownst to him.

A solid roll of pawsteps reverberated from the Everfree. Just one set. A quadruped of some sort had sprinted from the tree line, making its way through the viscous fog. Nothing but a shadow in the night. Anonymous.

The creature ran onwards, making its way through the streets of Ponyville, not paying attention to anything but placing its paws in front of its paws. It skidded to a halt, turning to face a small house. It looked up, staring with malevolent eyes at the open window just a few meters above. It grinned, jumping at the wall. It clung to a wooden beam that ran the length of the house, and pulled itself up. Another jump, and it dug its claws into the windowsill that it had aimed for. Climbing in, silent as death itself, it crept forward into the dark room, malevolence from its mind seeming to thicken the fog around the house.

“Ugh. What is with this fog?! And where is it coming from?!” Rainbow Dash whined, forcing some fog away from a residential area. Twilight, on the other hoof, simply focused on clearing the fog with her magic. Other unicorns nearby that knew the spell also helped, but none were nearly as active as Twilight. By the sun, it was half way to noon, and Twilight alone had cleared almost half of Ponyville. The other unicorns combined had managed just under a quarter of Ponyville.

What interested more than a few ponies was the fact that the black unicorn that had so much magical power at his disposal was nowhere to be found. A few ponies talked about it in their respective groups, some unicorns making gossip of him whilst clearing the fog. Some pegasi wondered where the sloppy-winged griffin had disappeared to, while others that had witnessed the previous days events told the tale of how the powerful black unicorn was the griffin that they had seen. Most ponies regarded him neutrally, not judging him in any way. Others, mostly pegasi and unicorns, had a hint of dislike for the unicorn that wasn’t helping clear the fog.

“I heard he was able to transform into a griffin, Rose!” sighed a tan pony with a purple mane. “And he was able to actually fly in that form!”

“That’s not possible, Violet! Only the Princesses are powerful enough to do that!” reasoned a light green unicorn with a red mane. “Even the librarian filly from Canterlot isn’t able to pull that off, and her Cutie Mark was a sign of her magical prowess.”

“Carrot Top saw the whole thing, Rose,” the purple-maned unicorn known as Violet countered. “And we both know that Carrot Top wouldn’t lie about stuff like that.”

“True enough, Violet,” Rose groaned, her horn glowing with the spell they were using to clear the fog. “But why is he not here, helping us clear this fog? If he’s as powerful as they say, I’d bet he could have cleared the whole town by now.”

“Who knows, Rose?” Violet sighed, returning focus to her spell.

“Wait… Who’s that up ahead in the fog?” Rose asked. She peered onwards, seeing a silhouette in the fog, about twenty meters ahead. She looked up, a pegasus in the sky above her. “Hey Starshine! Isn’t there a rule against walking out in the fog?”

“Yes there is,” the pegasus mare replied. “I hear ya. I’m off to get that pony.”

With a quick twist, the orange pegasus known as Starshine flew into the fog, straight towards the silhouette of a pony. In just two seconds, the pegasus reached the pony, who she could now tell was a male unicorn. “Hey. You there. You have to get out of the fog, mayor’s orders.”

“Do you want this fog gone or not?” a low voice replied. “I’m weaving a spell to get rid of this fog much more easily.”

“Just get out of the fog. Nopony’s supposed to be out in it,” Starshine sighed.

“I think I’ll pass. Allow me finish, and you’ll have this fog gone in another ten minutes,” the unicorn replied.

“You’re that powerful new unicorn that everypony’s talking about, aren’t you?” she asked, recognizing the demeanor that her friends had talked about. “The dark one that turned into that sloppy-winged griffin.”

“Well, I didn’t know that everypony was talking about me, but I was that griffin, so yes. I guess you’re right,” Darq growled, continuing to walk through the fog, leaving the pegasus to return to her original task.

As promised, ten minutes later, the fog on the entire west side of Ponyville condensed into a dull rain that fell for three seconds. Ponies everywhere wondered who had cast the spell, but those that had actually officially met Darq had known instantly that the spell was his work. All around town, ponies sighed in relief, except Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

After an hour of searching, Twilight finally gave up looking for the dark unicorn stallion that had cut the fog like it was nothing. She eventually retreated to her library, struck with the sudden urge to learn a new spell from the master level book. Picking out the book from where she had last placed it, she turned to a page at complete random. When she took a look, she saw the entry for the Shape-Shift spell. Well. Coincidence or otherwise, looks like I’m learning the Shape-Shift spell. Lets see here…

Focus on the shape you want to take. Know what it looks like, and understand that your nervous system will adapt to this form. For example, a griffin has the forelegs of a hawk, including fingers, and wings.

Okay. There’s no better way to learn than to take a shot at it, right?

Her light purple aura enveloped her horn, lighting the room up. Tendrils of light swirled around her in a fashion similar to when she gave Rarity wings.

“TWILIGHT! GET OUT HERE NOW! WE NEED HELP!” came the stressed scream of Rainbow Dash. The call snapped the focus of Twilight, the tendrils of magical light receding to her horn. She sprinted out of the library, looking around. Rainbow Dash was hovering just outside, blood on her hooves for the second time that week.

“Fill me in, and lead the way,” she called up to her pegasus friend.

“Carrot Top is in the hospital with some severe injuries. Some sort of infection we don’t know about. She keeps raving about a dark figure attacking her in her dreams,” Rainbow Dash informed quickly, leading Twilight towards Carrot Top’s home. A turn here, a skidded swerve there, all the while at a breakneck pace. The two arrived on the scene within a minute. “The Guard wants us to figure out who or what did this to her. You got any spells for that?”

“If it was magic related, I have a few,” Twilight replied, skidding to a halt. Apple Jack and Rarity were already on the scene, along with two Guards and an investigator.

“Go wash up, RD. That blood’s got whatever infection Carrot Top’s got in it. We don’t need you gettin’ it,” Apple Jack ordered, taking a set of latex hooves from Rarity, and slipping them over her hooves.

“I’ll be back,” Rainbow Dash called as she flew off to wash her hooves.

Twilight slipped on a set of latex hooves, carefully observing the building before her. She saw claw marks on the support beam, along with a strange black liquid on the windowsill. With her magic, she levitated a magnifying glass above her. She walked into the house, heading upstairs for a better view. When she reached the room, she noticed a significant stain of blood on the bed sheets. She turned away from the blood, not wanting to see it right then. She progressed onwards to the window, where the black liquid was. Moving the magnifying glass in between her and the liquid, she zoomed in on the tiny puddle. Inspecting it closely, she saw that it was giving off some kind of vapor. Seeing the investigator’s cart below, she levitated up a few test tubes. Using yet more magic, she lifted a glob of the strange black liquid into one of the test tube, shutting it with a cork. She turned around, doing the same with the blood in the sheets. With one final look around the room, she left, carrying the samples with her.

“I’m going to take a look at these samples. I’ll report my findings,” Twilight said to the investigator and the Guards. She trotted off in the direction of the library.

“That Darq character is mighty suspicious. He’s got some powerful magic at his hooves, and a mighty strange temper’ment,” Apple Jack mused silently. “I wonder if he knows anything about this.”

“Apple Jack! How dare you think so low of him! Just because he’s… unique… doesn’t make him a malevolent beast!” Rarity spat in disgust.

“I never said anything ‘bout him doin’ it. I’m just wonderin’ if he knows anything,” Apple Jack defended.

“Oi. That Darq character you mentioned. Is he perhaps a black unicorn?” the detective asked, inserting himself into the conversation.

“I reckon so. Why?” confirmed Apple Jack.

“Carrot Top has been screaming in her delerium about a pitch black figure attacking her in her dreams,” the red-coated detective explained. “And I have a theory that this is the result of a Dream-Reality spell, or a Dream-Projection spell.”

“So what yer sayin’ is,” scoffed Apple Jack, “this was a magic-based attack.”

“Quite possibly. Though it may be very indirect, I suspect magic,” the detective finished, pushing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses closer to his eyes.

“Is there a possibility that this was not magic related at all?” Rarity asked.

“The chances of that with the information we have,” the investigator mumbled, “slim at best.”

Rarity grimaced, knowing full well that Darq was the prime suspect in this investigation. All she could do at this point was hope that Twilight found something that pointed away from the black unicorn.

Author's Note

Well. There's some plot for ya. I finally found some good music to listen to while I wrote this part. So now I'm writing chapter 6, and I'm not going to spoil anything, but there's going to be some moments where the Guards are just idiots. Beware.

Science and Magic

By the time Twilight returned home, the black liquid had produced enough vapor to actually see the vapor. Now in the basement, she uncorked the vial, pouring a drop of the strange liquid onto a small glass plate. Placing it carefully under the lens of a microscope, she recorked the vial, and set it in a rack along with the blood.

She took a look through the lens of the microscope, zooming in on it four hundred times with the weakest lens. The black liquid appeared to be extremely viscous, perhaps even on the level of an amorphous solid, like butter. But the strange thing was the slow decay of the liquid into a vapor. She switched lenses, zooming an additional two hundred times. Each particle was semi-distinguishable from the others. It looked to be like they were biological cells of an organism of some kind. Strange as it was, it almost made sense.

Biological? Some creature attacked, but it sure as Tartarus wasn’t a pony. Ponies don’t drip parts of themselves, and they certainly don’t decay into weird vapor.

She zoomed in another two hundred times, leaving her one more lens to look through. She stared into the substance, seeing that it was, in fact, biological. But stranger still, the cells seemed to be made of more flammable components, like oil and other hydrocarbon polymers. Biological hydrocarbons? That’s weird. Whatever creature this is from was flammable. Highly flammable.

Now distracted from her original work, she went off on a tangent, lifting another glob of the substance from the vial, and placing it in a Petri dish. She set the glass dish down on a fire-proof counter, and struck a match. Setting the flame close to the substance, it caught fire from an inch away. Flames swept over the glob like a tsunami. Now alert but not surprised, Twilight watched carefully for the substance to burn away. After ten minutes, the substance was still ablaze. Highly flammable, but slow-burning. Substance is similar to pitch, and may be used as a source of light, like torches. She mentally noted the discovery. She turned to the rack of vials, and picked up a vial with water in it. She opened it, and carefully applied a few drops of water to douse the flames. However, unlike most fire, the water did nothing to douse the fire. It actually held the exact opposite effect, enraging the fire. It flared for a minute, before dying back down to its original level of activity.

Liquid fire. Will not be doused by water. Use snuffer of some kind to extinguish. She picked up a bucket, and placed it on top of the Petri dish, snuffing the flame. A few moments later, she lifted the bucket off the dish, the flames gone. She then filled the bucket with water, and set it down on the counter. She then levitated the pitch-like substance off of the Petri dish, and set it gently in the bucket with the water. The substance diffused, spreading over the water like oil, making a thin, iridescent layer of flammable substance. Floats and diffuses on water. Not recommended for use near or in water, as water irritates the flame.

She turned around, nearly jumping out of her skin at the sight of Darq standing, leaning against a wall, head down with a smirk on his face.

“How did you get in here? I locked the door twice!” she nearly screamed at the dark unicorn.

“Well. Same way I got behind you,” came his voice from behind her. He walked out from behind her, having teleported with his magic. With this action, her eye twitched. “What have you discovered thus far about this stuff?”

After shaking the shock from her mind, she replied, “Well, it’s about as viscous as pitch, and flammable like pitch. It can catch fire from a match an inch away, and it will stay on fire for a long time.”

“So basically, it’s pitch,” he concluded.

“Not quite,” she giggled. “It really doesn’t like water. Add water to this stuff on fire, and you get a really big bonfire. Put this stuff in a larger body of water, and it’ll diffuse over the surface like oil.”

“That it?”

“Nope. It’s also biological. It’s a naturally occurring part of some creature, the likes of which, I’ve never seen,” she finished. “Whatever creature this was once a part of, it’s never been documented to my knowledge.”

“Well. That sounds quite amazing,” Darq replied with mock enthusiasm. “Now what about the blood there? What’s the deal with that?”

“I was getting there,” Twilight replied with a school-filly giggle. “Patience, Darq.” She lifted the slide of the black substance off of her microscope, placing it carefully next to the bucket of water. She then lifted the vial of blood, placing some on a slide, and replacing it under the microscope. She switched her lens back to the weakest setting, and looked through. In the midst of the blood, there were tiny black specks that didn’t quite fit in. She turned to the second setting; a powerful x600 zoom. The black specks seemed to be slowly attacking blood cells. A group of three white blood cells surrounded a black speck, destroying the speck at the cost of two white blood cells.

She zoomed in to her x800 lens. She looked around for a black speck, curious as to what it was. She eventually came across one, finding that it was a cell of the previous black liquid sample. It slowly attacked a red blood cell, emitting a vapor towards the blood cell. The cell shuddered, and shriveled up like a rotting apple. It sank, dead, to the bottom of the sample. She zoomed in to x1000. There was a stray nerve cell in the sample. A black cell moved slowly towards it, emitting its deadly vapor on all sides, killing several blood cells. The cell reached the nerve cell, spraying its toxic vapor at it. The nerve twitched, and emitted an electro-chemical pulse, sending a firm shock into the black cell. The black cell shuddered, spraying more vapor. The nerve slowly fried itself, releasing relatively high voltage shocks into the black cell, causing the cell to explode.

“That’s a problem,” Twilight muttered. “That stuff is hostile even on the cellular level.”

“So you’re saying that whatever that black goop stuff is, it’s attacking things on a cellular scale?” Darq asked. “That’s a big problem.”

“Yeah. It attacks blood, but targets nerves,” she sighed. “At least, that’s what I could see with such limited sample material.”

“How does it attack?” Darq asked.

“The cells attack with toxic vapor of some kind,” she answered. “Why?”

“Big problem,” he gasped. With a simple nod, Darq teleported out of the library, leaving no trace that he was ever there in the first place. Twilight simply shrugged it off. I’m getting way too used to that. But what does he mean by, ‘big problem’?

Something tells me he knows more than he’s showing.

“Well. That’s quite the development,” said the red-coated detective. “I’ll give this to the Bio-Research team.”

“Thanks, Detective,” Twilight replied, walking away. The purple unicorn wandered the streets, with no particular destination. After a few minutes of aimless walking, Twilight noticed that it was nearly sun down. A growl from her stomach confirmed it, as if the low grumble was as clear a statement as ‘It’s dinner time, and you’re hungry, so give me some food.’

She turned into a back alley as a shortcut to her home. However, what she didn’t expect was for Darq to be sitting there, a crystal floating in the air in front of him. Now used to him showing up in the most random places, she made no motion or sound of surprise.

“Oh. Hey. What’s up?” she greeted, approaching him.

“Solving a big problem,” he replied.

“What problem?” she asked, still not understanding him.

“The one involving the almost dead body that somepony found this morning,” he growled cryptically. “I’ve seen this before, and it’s a very big problem.”

“You know what happened?” she inquired.

“Yes, I know exactly what’s going on,” he sighed. “It’s the reason I was in the Everfree.”

This peaked Twilight’s interest, “Care to elaborate on that?”

“Levitate that rock, and hold still,” he ordered politely.

Not bothering to ask why, she floated the rock that he had pointed out. Holding still, she noticed him stand up. He took a step towards her. Time seemed to slow down, as his horn glowed with a spell. A spike of fear stabbed her heart, tempting her to end the spell.

His horn tapped hers, mixing her light purple aura with his dark aura. She flinched ever so slightly, fear gripping her. He grinned, and turned to the crystal that he had been focusing on. He tensed up, forcing all of his energy into the spell. A beam of light shot from his horn to the crystal, illuminating the dark alley. After about ten seconds, Darq’s horn burnt out, the spell fading, leaving a glowing crystal on the ground of the narrow alley. Twilight opened her eyes, her uncharacteristic fear now gone.

“What was that?” she asked, voice slightly hoarse.

“It’s what I like to call a combination spell,” he coughed roughly. “Basically, the spell I did was too difficult to do alone. So I borrowed a bit of your magic, giving that spell I just did enough magic to work.”

“Huh,” she huffed. Combination spell, eh? I’ll have to ask Princess Celestia about those. “So what exactly did you do?”

Darq shook his head, and picked up the crystal. “Say hello to the Light Crystal.”

Author's Note

Well this one was fun. I got some amazing music. This entire chapter was played out to a song called 'Eager Studies' by Woody (YouTube user: JWoodony). If you feel like it, take a listen with some solid headphones at this URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=oKLs_YF_VeU

You're welcome.

It's spelled with a 'Q'

Wrapping some strings around the crystal, Darq secured it to the end of a stick. He took it in his mouth, carrying it carefully. “This might just save your town by the end of the week.”

Twilight frowned slightly. This pony is nothing but confusion.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Ponyville is in grave danger,” he whispered.

“Oi! Black unicorn! We need to ask you a few questions,” a low voice called from the alley entrance.

“Then why not just come up and ask, like my friend, here?” Darq called back, placing the crystal-on-a-stick between himself and his saddlebags.

“Formalities,” came the detective’s voice. The red-coated unicorn pony walked leisurely down the alley, towards the two unicorns. His yellow mane was spiked up, and his glasses were pressed upon his face. “Darq, is it?”

“Aye,” Darq replied, nonchalantly. “That would be me.”

“We have to ask you a few questions as part of an investigation. And as much as I’d like to ask them here and save myself twenty minutes, formalities and protocols prevent me from doing so. Might I ask you to come with us, so we can get this over with?” the detective sighed.

“Well, I would love to answer your questions, detective,” Darq answered, “but I’m rather pressed for time. I have somewhere that I need to go, and somepony that I need to visit.”

“Oh?” the detective mocked. “That’s just adorable. I was really hoping not to have to use this.” He reached into his saddlebag, pulling a document from it. “This is an arrest warrant, Mr. Darq. I wouldn’t want an arrest going on your record. Especially for a felony like assault.” He put the paper back in his saddlebag. Twilight grimaced. Darq smirked.

“So. It’s either come quietly, or be arrested, eh?” Darq chuckled. His smirk revealed the glimmer of a golden fang. “By the way, you spelled my name wrong. It’s spelled with a ‘Q’ not a ‘K.’”

Without a second’s notice, Darq teleported behind the guards. However, he failed to account for the armored ponies actually being on the ball. One tackled him within two seconds, bringing Darq to the ground. Summoning a strength unknown to the Guards, he stood, lifting the heavy Guard with him, as if the pony was a school-colt and his armor was made of tin foil. The second Guard tackled Darq a second time, bringing him to his knees. His smirk only grew, as his horn began glowing. The two Guards that were now clinging to him like leeches were picked up as if they were nothing. Seeing the investigator walking towards him, Darq threw the two Guards at the red-coated pony, sprinting off before he could admire his handiwork.

A loud whistle echoed throughout Ponyville, Guards at all stations now on high alert from the signal. Darq ‘looked’ around the crowded market-place he was now in. He saw three Guards at the north entrance, which made him scowl. He ‘looked’ at the other four entrances, seeing three Guards at each one. “Curses,” he growled under his breath. He looked at the skyline. There was a lookout Guard on the rooftops above each entrance to the market-place. In the air, three pegasus Guards flew circles around the place.

He ‘looked’ around, through the crowd of ponies. While he was looking at the skyline, one had recognized him, and was now approaching at an uncomfortable rate. He turned and ran, bringing forth a sharp whistle from the Guard, and much unwelcome attention. With about seven Guards on his tail, and two in the air tracking him from above, he knew he was screwed, but he enjoyed the chase. He sprinted straight through the north entrance, jumping over the two remaining posted Guards. They soon joined the others in the chase, bringing his Guard total to nine. The Guards on his tail were inching closer, and Darq knew it. He passed another intersection, jumping over a group of ponies that were in his way. The Guards however, went around the group that had stopped in their tracks when Darq jumped over them.

“Ten seconds, maybe,” Darq huffed to himself. He turned sharply, skidding on the loose dirt on the road. The turn had gained him a little time, as the Guards couldn’t turn as sharply as he could. However, what they lacked in mobility, they made up for in overall speed. They quickly closed their gap, now a mere meter behind Darq. “Aw, hay.”

One particular Guard sped out of the pack of Guards, closing the already shrinking gap within a few seconds. Now directly next to Darq and keeping pace, he slammed into Darq’s side, causing Darq to veer a good two meters off course. However, the Guard was coming again, this time with more momentum. “Buck me,” Darq sighed, knowing that this was the end of the line. He stopped dead in his tracks, skidding forward only a little bit before coming to a halt. The Guard that was about to land a firm hit missed, crashing into a pole. The other eight Guards behind him, however, skidded to a halt, surrounding him.

The investigator grinned, another Guard with him pulling a jail-cart. “I had a feeling you were going to do something like that.”

“Then why give me the option in the first place?” Darq asked with a smirk.

“Mr. Darq, I am now placing you under arrest. You have the right to remain silent,” the investigator chuckled, reading Darq his rights. A Guard took Darq’s saddlebags and the Light Crystal, placing them in a chest at the front of the cart. “I hope you don’t mind, but we can’t have you teleporting like you did that last time…”

“Did you spell my name correctly this time?” Darq asked, laughing like Rainbow Dash after pulling a prank. A Guard placed a metal ring over his horn. Darq smirked and chuckled, “Well, Detective. Who’s my unlucky cell-mate?”

Fog drifted in from Darq’s horn, unbeknownst to him. The Guard across the hall was sitting back, reading the newspaper article about the new prisoner he was guarding. As the fog expanded, the Guard noticed, looking up from his paper. The fog was now everywhere in the small stone dungeon, and was leaking out the windows. The Guard shook his head, with a muttered comment about not being paid enough.

As the fog expanded through Ponyville, a certain gray pegasus mare was returning from her final delivery of the day. She sighed, walking through the fog that had so quickly rolled in. She turned off the road to her place of work and residence. She opened the door, entering the small post office, closing the door behind her. She removed the hat that was her uniform, and hung it on a rack that stood by her door. She sighed with fatigue, walking upstairs to her room, promptly falling asleep.

Similar to the previous night, barely audible footsteps rolled from the Everfree Forest. This time, there were two. The two silhouettes ran together, communicating silently. However, they were visible before they reached the fog. Both were pitch black, their eyes simply white shapes. One was lupine in nature, looking not unlike a wolf, but with strange spikes protruding from its back and tail. Its eyes were narrowed, as if it were glaring at something. The other was much more equine in nature. It had hooves, and a mane, and a tail. But what made it distinct was the fact that like its partner, it had spikes protruding from its back, and legs. Its mane flowed like fire, and could have been mistaken for black fire, but it was clear that it wasn’t fire. Had it been fire, the entire creature would be on fire.

When the two reached the fog, they seemed to disappear from the visible space, becoming nothing but silhouettes. They split up, the wolf sprinting onwards, while the pony stopped short. It looked at the stone building before it, seeing an opportunity to feast upon a delicacy: The fear of the brave.

The equine slowly melted into a puddle, intangible as a shadow. It slowly moved forward, up the wall, slipping in through the window. Once inside, it flowed forward, approaching the unsuspecting Guard. The Guard, who was now asleep, snored loudly. The shadow rematerialized, taking its original shape, which, when compared to a certain prisoner, could easily be mistaken.

Author's Note

Okay. Here's Chapter 6. I had a really fun time writing the chase, as I had a very good song to write it to. For thos of you who actually give a buck, I wrote this to a song called 'The Psycho Science of Doctor Slime' by YouTuber 0northkakalaka0. The link is below. You're welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqkwWKK_8_A

Law-Abiding Citizen

The streets of Ponyville were packed with ponies in the afternoon sun. The fog now cleared, the Guards and detectives were gathered at two locations. One was more standard, being the jail, while the other caught the interest of many ponies. The second gathering site was the sight of the Ponyville Post Office. More commonly known as the residence of one Derpy Hooves. Lines of crime scene tape were strung about the area, isolating the scene from the rest of Ponyville.

“It’s quite a shame to see that two more have been attacked in this manner,” the red-coated detective sighed. “If my magic is correct, this was the work of a really powerful unicorn. The spell was a combination of Dream-Invasion and Dream-Reality spells, and was done by the same pony that did this to Carrot Top last night.”

“But we already arrested that Darq suspect,” a Guard commented. “And he couldn’t have broken out of prison.”

“That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have slipped out of the Magic Dampener. It is possible,” the detective countered.

The detective was interrupted by the sound of a pony arriving behind him. He turned to see Twilight standing behind him, a slight scowl of contempt aimed towards him. “It wasn’t him.”

The detective sighed. His gut told him that Darq was indeed the character that was assaulting these innocent ponies. “My gut tell—”

“Your gut is wrong. My science says otherwise. Whatever it is that attacked these ponies was definitely not Darq,” she interrupted.

“Durmstrang got a clear look at the attacker,” the detective countered. “He described the attacker as a pitch black unicorn.”

“And Darq was in prison the entire time,” Twilight rebuked. “Something is telling me that this is a bigger problem than we know. And if my gut is right, Darq knows how to help.”

“That may be, Miss Sparkle, but he’s headed to Canterlot for his hearing. We have his magic signature all over the three scenes,” he said. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Twilight growled at the detective. He leaves me no choice. If what Darq has been saying is true, then I need him to tell me what the hay is going on so I can do something. Twilight groaned with exasperation. She wanted nothing more than to buck this detective’s face in, but that wouldn’t exactly help the situation. “Then let me at least speak to him. I have a few questions to ask him.”

“I can arrange that,” the detective said with a cocky smile.

“Good. Take me to him. Time is of the essence on this one,” she growled, ready to bite his head off.

The room was damp and gray. It was plain as stone, simply by the fact that it was made of stone. A metal table and two metal chairs were all that the room had to offer. Darq was chained to the table, smirking, ‘staring’ in her direction. His demeanor of apathy confused her, but then again, she had gotten used to it rather quickly.

“Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle,” Darq greeted. “Tell me, what questions do you have for me?”

“Creepy how you knew, but how you knew isn’t why I’m here,” she replied.

“Naturally. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re here to ask about my knowledge of what attacked those two ponies today,” he responded with a chuckle. “One of them being my good pal, Durmstrang.”

“Once again, creepy how you already know,” she sighed.

“It’s my job to know some strange things,” he laughed. “Anyway. When I was just a colt, I lived in a tiny settlement on the other side of the Everfree. I was… Well… I guess you could say I was a bit violent. I had problems with certain classmates, and I often resorted to magic to fix those problems. But there was a time when I was just a few years younger than you are now, and a weird mass of fog rolled in. At first we didn’t really care, and just left it be. That was mistake number one.”

“After a few days in the fog, some ponies started going insane. Paranoia. It spread like wildfire. A few ponies ended up waking up with nightmares of dark figures attacking them. The weird part was that they were injured when they woke up. All we did was treat the wounded and ignore the paranoid. That was mistake number two.”

“On the new moon after the fog rolled in, our town was attacked,” Darq sighed. “We only had enough time to name our enemy before most everypony was either dead or heavily wounded. I escaped, but one of them landed a spell on me as I fled into the Everfree. That’s why I can’t open my eyes.”

“What were they?” Twilight asked, curious at the explanation.

“We called them Shadows. We tried using fire to kill them, but they burned like pitch, bright and slow. That only made the fog’s effects worse,” Darq answered.

“What’s the deal with the fog?” she inquired, not noticing how close her head was getting to him.

“The fog is a poison. A sort of fear gas. It’s meant to make you much more prone to full-blown panic attacks. The Light Crystal is the result of my research in the Everfree. The Shadows can’t approach it,” he responded, leaning back. “If you want to save your town, you need to prepare for a war. There is a way to kill them easily, though. The beasts are allergic to iron, and they dislike loud noises and bright light.”

“Full out war?” Twilight gasped in disbelief. “Isn’t that a bit extreme?”

“You and your other unicorn friend,” he started, pausing.

“Rarity,” she offered.

Darq smiled, “Aye. You and Miss Rarity. I can see that both of you have a significant amount of magic at your hooves. If you can make enough Light Crystals to surround your town, you might be able to keep them out long enough for them to starve.”

“Starve?” she inquired.

“That’s why the Shadows are here. They’re here to feed. And what is their prey? Fear. They feed upon fear. You’ll find the spells you need in the Everfree Forest,” he said, standing up. “Guard, I do believe it is time for my nap. Could you escort me back to my cell?”

“One last question. How do you see without your eyes?” she asked as he walked towards the door.

“If we’re not all dead by the dawn after the new moon, I’ll teach you a thing or two,” he offered. He flashed his signature gold-fanged-grin, “All in due time, Miss Sparkle.”

Author's Note

I couldn't agree more with Darq's statement there. All shall be revealed in due time. Just let the story flow, and it shall eventually unravel itself. My entire writing goal for this story is to have everything explained within the story, so I don't have to do any outside explaining. Whether or not I have characters explain it outright, that's a different goal for a different story.

Inverse Prophecy

Twilight’s head spun with the revelations that Darq had revealed. The fact that something was endangering Ponyville and possibly Equestria did not faze her at all. She half expected something like this, but he fact that Darq was the only known survivor of the attack to his knowledge was something else. ‘If we’re not all dead by the dawn after the new moon, I’ll teach you a thing or two.’ The words buzzed through her head like a persistent fly that didn’t care how often you swatted at it. He’s pretty darn powerful. Not to mention that Rarity was right. He’s quite handsome. I wonder how he hasn’t gotten a Cutie Mark for his magical prowess. But still, him teaching me would be… Interesting. I wonder what he could teach me…

“So lemme get this straight. We’re gonna be attacked by weird things from the Everfree—” Apple Jack started.

“Shadows,” Twilight offered.

“Shadows from the Everfree, and the only way to stop ‘em is to set up some magic crystals,” Apple Jack finished.

“Crazy as it sounds, that’s the gist of it,” Twilight confirmed. The other five ponies around her frowned slightly, as if not quite believing the lavender unicorn.

Pinkie was the first to break the silence, “Okie dokie lokie!” She bounced up and down, as if excited for an upcoming party.

Twilight simply shook it off, knowing that this was Pinkie being Pinkie.

“Well. I have to agree with Twilight here. The parallels are too bold to just be coincidences. Ponies are waking up injured raving about dark figures attacking them. Coincidence?” Rainbow Dash added. “I think not!”

“I agree with Rainbow’s point. The evidence is too powerful to ignore,” Fluttershy added quietly.

“Well. If Darq says that this is how it is, then I am inclined to believe him,” Rarity huffed. “How can I help, dear?”

“Well shucks. I don’t necessarily believe it, but I’ll stick ‘round an’ help out. Might as well,” Apple Jack sighed. She smiled softly. “So, sugarcube. What’s the plan?”

“Okay. Rainbow, I’m going to need you on placement duty. Every time I make a crystal, you’ll place it somewhere on the edge of town,” Twilight started. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Rarity, I’m going to need your help making the crystals. Any spare gems and string you might have, bring them, and be ready for a lot of straining magic. Fluttershy, I’ll give you two crystals so you can provide a safe haven for your animals. After you set them up, we’ll need you to gather some sticks to tie them to. Pinkie, we’re going to need a party. Get the loudest music you can find, and send invitations to everypony you know. AJ, how well do you know the local blacksmith?”

Apple Jack thought a moment, “I reckon pretty well. Why?”

“I think what Darq meant by ‘allergic to iron’ is that if we use iron weapons and armor, we’ll have an easier time defending ourselves,” Twilight interpreted. “Could you get him to forge a few sets of iron horseshoes?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Apple Jack replied. She tipped her hat slightly.

“Okay. Everypony know their jobs?” Twilight asked the group.

“Yes,” was the collective response.

“Time is of the essence. The new moon is tomorrow night,” Twilight stated, choosing her words carefully. “The more we get done now, the less we have to do tomorrow, other than the siege itself. Everypony, lets get started.”

“I’ll be right back with some gems, dear,” Rarity said, practically sprinting out the door of the library. Pinkie followed, bouncing with glee, along with Apple Jack, who was now running towards the local blacksmith’s.

Within a few minutes, Rarity returned with saddlebags, panting at the strain of sprinting with bags full of gems. Twilight levitated the bags off her friend’s back, setting it on the table.

“SPIKE!” she called with enough force to scare a cockatrice.

The purple drake walked down the stairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Yes, Twilight?”

“Master Level Arcane Arts. We need it now,” she ordered, not bothering to look at him.

“Got it,” the young drake replied, climbing a ladder to the book in question. He grabbed it, and jumped down, bringing it to the table. “Here you go.”

“Stick around, dear. We may need you,” Rarity said with a smile. The purple dragon smiled, and took a seat between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

Twilight flipped the book open, sifting through its pages, looking for the spell that Darq had used to create the Light Crystal. Come on. It has to be in here! If it’s anything more powerful than what I can do, it’s in here! Come on! The last page turned, and she had found nothing. She flipped back through the book a second time, with no success. “It’s not here.” With the quickness of horn that only stressed-out-Twilight could handle, the entire library was scoured for anything involving the key term ‘Light Crystal.’ Seventeen books flew from the shelves and organized themselves into a neat pyramid-like stack. “Everypony, take a book. We’re looking for anything about Light Crystals.”

Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike each took a book, flipping through it. Each found nothing on the matter, so they placed them aside, and took another. Similar results plagued the second search. The third, however, yielded a discovery from Spike.

“Got something,” he called. He placed the book on the table, pointing at a small diagram. “It seems that Light Crystals are easier to make out of diamond than any other gem. And also, it helps if they’re cut like eight-sided dice.”

“So diamond octahedrons,” Twilight clarified to herself. “Does it say anything about the spell on how to make them?”

“Nope,” Spike replied with a shrug. “Also, since diamonds of that cut aren’t the most common things in the world, emeralds are also really easy to make them out of. That book might be pretty helpful, so keep it around.”

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said with a small smile. Rarity smiled as well, tossing a topaz his way. The dragon caught it, instantly munching on the tasty treat.

“No problem. But we still have two more books to search,” he said, picking one up. Twilight picked up the other, scouring it almost ravenously. When both she and Spike got nothing from the books, Twilight growled in frustration.

“Spike. This may call for desperate measures. Take note!” Twilight ordered. The dragon instantly ran to a drawer, pulling a quill and scroll from it. He coughed, signaling he was ready.

“Dear Zecora,” she started.

‘–if you could send anything regarding this subject, it would be greatly appreciated. Your friend,

-Twilight Sparkle’

The zebra quickly looked at her bookshelf, seeing two books that caught her eye. She had read both of them, and knew that these two in particular were the ones her unicorn friend would need. She quickly gathered up her cloak, putting it on without trouble. On top of the brown cloak, she placed her saddlebags, containing the two books. Giving her cauldron one last stir, she departed from her hut, and walked towards the exit of the Everfree Forest.

A knock reverberated from the door, the sound bouncing throughout the tree-library-home-thing. Twilight opened the door, revealing the cloaked figure of Zecora, with a small scroll in her teeth. She set the scroll down, and reached into her saddlebags, giving Twilight the two books.

“I wish you well, in the coming fight,” the zebra said with a slight smirk. “And remember the inverse of dark is light.”

With that, Zecora trotted off, probably to the market to stock up on herbs. The focus returned to the two books that Zecora had brought. They were easily the size of Spike, and about twice as heavy, plopping on the table with a dull thunk. Twilight wasted no time picking one, and sifting through it. She stopped, looking at the page. “There we go. That’s helpful.”

Rarity took a peek at the book, and cocked her head. “Combination spells? What does that have to do with the Light Crystals?”

“Darq made a Light Crystal in front of me before he was arrested. He said something about needing a combination spell to make one,” Twilight explained. “And knowing what the hay a combination spell is will help when we actually find the spell.”

“So what is it?” Rainbow Dash interjected, curiosity getting the best of her. She stared at the two unicorns in front of her, waiting for an answer.

“Its when a spell requires two different magic signatures to achieve. Some ponies are skilled enough to either forge somepony else’s signature, or craft a second unique signature for themselves. And since I’m not that good I’ll be borrowing Rarity’s signature to make these crystals,” Twilight explained. She opened the second book, and sifted through it, looking for the spell. “Hah! Found it.”

She glanced at the page, looking over the spell’s mechanics. Aw hay. That’s going to be really tough. A thirty horn-power spell…

“Well. Let’s get started,” Twilight said with a grin of determination.

Author's Note

I had to edit the crap outta this one. I accidentally had Twi write to a friend in Canterlot. But I had Darq say that the answers were in the Everfree. So yeah. I edited the crap out of this one to have Zecora come save the day. And of course, her one line is a BEAUTIFUL foreshadow if I do say so myself.

Surreality

A small pile of diamonds laid on the table, glowing furiously with a magical light. A separate pile of diamonds and emeralds that was significantly larger laid on the other side of the table, not glowing. A diamond floated in the air, held up by a pale blue aura. Soon the aura mixed with a light purple, almost magenta, aura, lighting it up on the inside. The crystal plopped down into the small pile of glowing gems. A small purple hand reached up from under the table, aiming for a glowing gem.

“No, Spike,” Twilight growled, brushing his hand off the table. “These are not for eating.”

“I can’t help it. They look tastier than my Fire Ruby,” he groaned. The small drake marched away from the table, taking a seat next to Fluttershy, who was wrapping the gems onto sticks. The door opened for the umpteenth time that day, revealing Rainbow Dash. She lunged forward, taking a set of four beacons, and sprinted out of the library. The door closed again from the vacuum force of Rainbow Dash moving so quickly.

The mechanical industry of the four ponies rivaled the rhythm of well-tuned machines. Each time two Light Crystal were created, Fluttershy would wrap one to a stick, and set it aside. Every four times this process was completed, Rainbow Dash would sprint in, take a bundle of four, and sprint out. This process was now on the fifth repetition, and by mathematics, there were now eighteen Light Crystals placed on the borders of Ponyville, and twenty waiting to be wrapped. However, with an effective radius of only about five meters, there was still much to be done. By looking at a map that hung on a wall, each street would get one, and each building would get two, thereabouts. And by taking a look at the tacks pinned into it, they needed about one hundred more to enclose a large enough area to keep Ponyville safe. And the sun was setting quickly.

The door opened sooner than expected, revealing Apple Jack. She entered the library, plopping down next to Fluttershy, the sound of metal on metal echoing from her saddlebags. “I got some horseshoes for all of us,” she panted, wiping her brow with a hoof. “Big Mac and Byron are forgin’ some more.”

“Excellent,” Twilight groaned, focusing on doing the spell again. She tapped her horn to Rarity’s and lit the diamond up.

“Well. Seein’ as we have a pile of them Light Crystals just sittin’ there, I think I’ll help Fluttershy a bit,” Apple Jack sighed, grabbing a Light Crystal. She picked up a stick and some string, and tied the Crystal to the stick with a rope-master’s skill. And at double Fluttershy’s pace, they quickly caught up. Rainbow Dash burst in again, and grabbed a set of ten, sprinting out again.

After another four spells, Twilight and Rarity keeled over, huffing and puffing from the magical strain of the task. Apple Jack finished tying up a Light Crystal, and got up. She walked over to the pair of exhausted unicorns, and reached into her saddlebags. She pulled out two large apple fritters, wrapped in aluminum foil, and set them on the table. “You two deserve a break and some grub. Eat up.”

The two forced themselves to sit up, and eagerly unwrapped the apple fritters. Apple Jack reached into her saddlebag again, pulling another pair of fritters out, and placed them on the table. “You too, Fluttershy. Come eat.”

Fluttershy sighed with relief, and stretched her wings out. She stood up, and walked gingerly to the table, her knees stiff from being prone for so long. She sat at the table, almost ravenously unwrapping the fritter. As if sensing Rainbow and Pinkie’s presences, Apple Jack pulled yet another pair of fritters from her bags, placing them on the table. The door burst open only moments later, Rainbow Dash eagerly grabbing another bundle of Light Crystals. Pinkie bounced in happily, a gigantic goofy grin plastered to her face. The door somehow closed itself upon Pinkie’s arrival, as if her mere presence made it acceptable for it to defy the laws of physics. “Dash. Pinkie. Dinner. Come eat.”

The two ponies looked over, and moved in their respective methods towards the table. They both sat down, unwrapping their meal with vigor. Each of the six ponies present had plenty of reason to be tired and hungry. Well, except Pinkie. She just got to go home and organize the biggest party of the century. All six dug in, tearing at the delicious apple-based food item in front of them. Friendly small talk soon developed, making it more like a small party rather than a silent meal. The topics ranged from girl talk like crushes, to everypony’s opinion of Darq, to their mutual dislike of the detective and what they’d all like to do to him. Rarity’s response particularly stood out, being far more extreme than everypony else’s. The other five stared at her with looks of absolute horror at what she was capable of thinking of.

“What? I have a particular interest in Darq,” she huffed, devouring the last of her fritter. Pinkie was the first to shake off the horror. She laughed wildly, almost maniacally. The other four looked at Pinkie, wondering if this was just Pinkie being Pinkie, or Pinkie going absolutely nuts.

“Umm… Pinkie? Care to explain what’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie stopped laughing almost instantly, once again defying the laws of physics and standard psychology. “Your face when Rarity expressed ‘interest’ in Dark! It seems as though…” She gasped in the manner she had when first meeting Twilight for the third time that week. A knowing grin appeared on her face, while Twilight became even more confused. “I see what’s going on here.”

“Umm… What exactly do you see?” Twilight asked, her face now blank.

“Don’t worry about it,” Pinkie giggled.

The next day came, the sun raised by Celestia in time with Luna lowering the moon. To Twilight, neither of the princesses seemed aware of the present situation. There they were, moving their respective astrological bodies across the sky, and here she was, preparing to fight an unknown foe. It was unsettling to say the least.

Surreal… Twilight thought to herself, If only one word… Surreal. But there’s still much to do. We have to beat the Shadows. They’ve already hurt Carrot Top and Derpy. I won’t let them hurt anypony else.

The day was standard to everypony that lived near the center of town. Posters were hung up everywhere advertising a massive DJ-Pon3 concert at the public square that would go from dusk to dawn. No doubt. Pinkie’s work, she thought, walking by one on her way to the market to pick up some groceries. However, to those that lived closer to the edge of town, a sense of curiosity and unease settled like fog in a valley. Young ponies stared at the beacons that were placed there overnight. Older ponies hurried the curious younglings along, uneasy of what the beacons were for.

The day went by like every other. Ponies hustled and bustled to take care of their various errands. Some relaxed at the spa, and some worked in their gardens. But, three assaults in two days did not go unnoticed. The number of Guards on the streets of Ponyville was nearly double that of the previous week. A large number centered around the jail, where a certain dark unicorn lay awake, meditating in his cold cell. He had somehow been able to deactivate the enchantment on the ring that was latched to his horn, and was now using a very light spell to watch from a nearby bird’s eyes. The bird saw a yellow pegasus walking by, a bundle of long, strong sticks poking out of her saddlebags. Darq smiled, turning the bird’s head a few degrees to the left. Down the path was Carousel Boutique, from which, a white-coated unicorn was leaving with a rather heavy looking saddlebag. He looked a little further to the left, activating a much higher power spell, allowing him to see through a few buildings. Through about five diagonal buildings, he saw the library. He strained the spell, looking through the tree’s thick walls, seeing Twilight now at home, reading a book. He grinned, and turned the bird’s head, seeing Light Crystals mounted at regular intervals for a large stretch of the town’s perimeter.

“I might not need him after all,” he chuckled with a smirk.

Author's Note

Well. To those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, you may quite possibly know what the hay I'm HINT-HINTing at. If you don't I suggest you do read the blog so you can keep up with stuff. It almost always has something to do with my stories, whether it's about why I haven't posted a chapter in a while, or a HINT-HINT at the next chapter. And for those of you complaining about me going too dang fast, I've slowed down a bit. From chapter 11 on, the time-frame of one chapter will be about two hours. And they'll be as long, if not longer than this.

This is it, everypony. The next chapter is the LAST ONE before the climax. And there will be a good 2-3 chapters of climax. Hope y'all love what comes in soon.

And a shout out to all of you ponies that have been reading since I first posted this story. I love you ponies. You make my writing worthwhile. Which is why I'll be rewarding you all with another few stories. I have 2 ideas in my mind. The sappy one is coming around first. Hope y'all like it.

It Begins

Dusk was approaching very quickly. It was as though Celestia had forgotten that the clocks had sprung ahead, and she was late bringing the sun down, though that was not the case. Twilight admired their handiwork from the air, held aloft by none other than Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare was making a large circle above the town, Twilight carefully calculating the placements of each Light Crystal. As the sun approached the horizon, the Light Crystals’ glow began to become more visible, and off in the distance, fog was rolling in from the Everfree. We should be safe, Twilight thought, her nerves eating at her. That, and the subtle effects of the fog that she had inhaled, before her knowledge of its true nature, was starting to bubble to the surface.

The town clock tower struck a deep, metallic tone. Twice. Thrice...

Four… Five… Five o’clock… Only an hour till dark. Time to make one last run of the checklist… She silently motioned to Rainbow Dash that she wanted to go down. The pegasus slowly descended to the town square, where many ponies were gathering. At the north entrance to the square, a large stage had been set up, wires running its length like a mane. Celestia-sized amps were set up all around, connected to the stage by the mane of wires. Center-stage, a DJ’s turntable was being assembled and fine tuned by what appeared to be a white earth pony with a dual-eight-note cutie mark. Pinkie was nearby, every so often handing this pony a screwdriver or wrench. Twilight smiled, already knowing that this impromptu concert was going to be incredibly loud. Perfect.

“Everything good here, Pinkie?” Twilight asked abruptly. Pinkie looked over, nodded, and turned back to continue watching. Twilight giggled to herself, chalking it up to Pinkie being Pinkie. There must be a better word to describe Pinkie…

She trotted off through the crowd, making her way back to the library. Along the way, she passed virtually everypony that wasn’t in the square already. She grinned with satisfaction.

The fog rolled in, swallowing the small town like an amoeba. The only way to see the town was from above, and even that was only possible because of the Light Crystals. Howling and baying echoed through the dark. Growls and hisses spoke to each other, unseen, like robbers in the night. A thunderous tremor rolled from the Everfree through the ground. All of the nocturnal birds took to the sky, fleeing the accursed place. The Shadows sprinted from the Everfree towards Ponyville in droves. Most took the form of large insects, each averaging the size of a pony’s leg. Groups of the insectoids latched onto the wolf-like warriors of the horde, adding their mass and spikes to the warrior’s. Rarer still were those that took the form of ponies. Those that took a pony form looked almost like changelings, save the fact that changelings had visible eyes and insect wings, and the Shadows did not. And every so often, one could see a Shadow in the form of a serpent. They slithered their massive bodies on the ground, the grass beneath them seeming to freeze solid in fear.

A deafening roar pierced the calls of the smaller shadows, silencing them with a force that nopony could comprehend. Well… Nopony but Darq. The black unicorn heard the roar echo through the night. His once grinning face had faltered to naught but a deeply inset scowl of pure, distilled hatred. That thought about possibly not needing You? Yeah… I’m probably going to need You. Darq thought to himself. He used his magic to slip the deactivated ring off his horn, tossing it out the window of his tiny cell.

Just let me know when you need me. I’ll try to not wreck you too much. A separate mental voice replied. After all. It wouldn’t be very beneficial to me to wreck your body like I did that one time…

Aye. I remember. Great to see You still have your humor.

Great to see you still have your magic at full strength.

The two inner voices stopped bickering. Darq chuckled, knowing full well that it was highly probable that he’d have to break out of prison to save everypony’s sorry flanks. Those Light Crystals won’t help if what I think is out there is out there. They’d need the sun for that…

Twilight and Rainbow Dash patrolled the rooftops of Ponyville, their horseshoes enchanted to help them grip the slanted roofs. Shadows were lined up just outside the visible range of the Light Crystals. So far, none had attempted to enter, though the two ponies were still very much afraid of the thousands of Shadows lurking just beyond the light. Rainbow Dash shivered slightly, seeing a few insects move along the line. Twilight’s teeth gritted, her night-vision spell allowing her to see just how many there were out there. The numbers did not favor them, and she knew it.

“Did you manage to get the clouds?” Twilight whispered nervously.

“Yeah. I have three storm clouds all charged and ready,” Rainbow Dash replied quietly. “I have three shots on each one before they poof.”

“Good. I see a group of the pony-shaped ones about three out, and two-by-twenty degrees left,” Twilight huffed. “Put a bolt right between them. I want to see if the light and sound will do anything to them.”

The pegasus nodded with an affirmative grunt. She took off, grabbing a cloud just above the fog, and flew forwards for three seconds, making a twenty-degree left turn, and continuing for two seconds. Positioning it just above the group, she stood on the cloud, feeling the built-up charge repel her coat and mane. She grinned devilishly before stomping with all her might on the dark cumulonimbus cloud. A loud crack and bright flash cut through the foggy night air like Celestia’s sun through curtains. The sudden flash of bright, pure light exposed thousands upon thousands of Shadows waiting for a hole to be found. The five pony-shaped Shadows at the center of the strike were nearly blown apart by the bright light and subsequent sonic boom. The five disintegrated into the windless air, the orange glow of embers eating their forms away rapidly. Twilight’s eyes focused in, watching as the Shadows burnt away, but did not burst into flames. Rainbow Dash flew back with the cloud, which was slightly lighter gray than it had been before the strike.

A particularly loud gargle-hiss-growl sounded from behind Twilight. The lavender unicorn turned just in time to see the detective with a total of four insect-form Shadows on his back. His glasses were stained red with blood, and his normally spiky yellow mane was dripping with blood. The detective took one look at the unicorn, crumbling like gravel to the rooftop. The pony’s form was eaten away by a green flame, his once red coat replaced with the black carapace of changeling hide. The teal eyes of the changeling looked up, its deformed horn using a spell, setting itself alight. The four insects on its back burst into flames, now appearing as demons from Tartarus itself. The fog’s toxins, combined with the hellish scene before them snapped Rainbow Dash and Twilight like twigs. They screamed at the top of their lungs, turning and bucking the flaming insects with their iron horseshoes.

The flames died immediately, and the sound of fizzing could be heard from the insects. The two that had been hit were now solidifying in place, starting from the point of contact. The other two watched in rage as their partners had been de-capacitated in front of them. The fizzing stopped, having solidified the head and front legs of the insects. The two that could still freely move were quickly put into a similar state by a double-hooved double-stomp from Rainbow Dash. The two insects were crushed beneath the force of the cyan pegasus dropping from twenty meters above them. The insects she landed on dried up, and crumbled to rubble beneath her horseshoes.

“How did they get in?!” Twilight panted, hysteria prevalent in her voice. “They shouldn’t have been able to slip past the Light Crystals!”

“I think that changeling detective is behind this,” Rainbow Dash coughed. “Either way, that was TOTALLY FREAKY!”

“We have to assume that they’ve found a way in. We have to warn the others!” Twilight huffed, hyperventilating more fog into her lungs.

Rainbow Dash pursed her lips. Dang it, Twilight. I didn’t want to do this to you… Her right wing extended, as if she was about to take off. She brought it down, bending its course to intersect with Twilight’s panicking face. The slap nearly knocked Twilight off the roof, having enough force to actually take off. “Twilight. Calm down. Breathe slowly. Remember what Darq said about the fog.”

“I know, Rainbow…” she sighed, bringing her lungs back into conscious thought. “Let’s get moving.”

Author's Note

Well, everypony. It's been quite a while since last chapter. I do believe that this sudden twist was quite worth it. After all. Who actually liked the Detective in the first place? I sure didn't. I created him for the sole purpose of being this story's douchebag.

Anywho, I'm working on Chapter 11 as we speak, so it shouldn't be long before Chapter 11 comes too. There will be exactly 13 chapters, and an epilogue if I so feel like it.

Thank you all for the kind reviews and comments and for tolerating my noobishness! I love each and every one of you. For that, I'll give you the ending of the Century. :3

-DarqFox

SPOILER ALERT
(P.S: For those of you who love Vinyl; she gets some screen-time in the next chapter, and she's completely BosS-tastic. You're welcome.)

Nyctophobia: Fear of the Dark

“Take us up, Rainbow!” Twilight ordered, activating her night-vision spell for the second time that night. The rainbow-manned pegasus behind her hooked her hooves beneath Twilight’s arms, lifting her into the eerie night air. The feeling of the ground leaving her hooves usually didn’t have any effect on her, but tonight, she was almost in cardiac arrest. Only a second after she had left the rooftop, her mind had begun to scream at her to go back to the ground. It’s okay, Twilight… It’s just the fog talking… You’re fine… Everypony will be fine…

The two hit a vantage point above the town, its entirety visible to the pair. Under normal circumstances, at least. At this moment, due to the fog, only the perimeter and town square could be seen. Twilight scanned the perimeter of light, hoping for it to still be in tact. Oh…

“Buck me…” Twilight cursed, growling nearly as low as Darq. “There’s a hole in the wall, east side.”

“Tell me where we go,” Rainbow said, squinting to focus her gaze.

“The square. We need the others,” the unicorn responded quickly. She braced herself, her muscles tightening in preparation for the sudden change in direction and speed that she knew was coming. Rainbow turned sharply to the right, and dove swiftly towards the ground, impaling the fog like a vampony hunter would his prey. She pulled out of the dive swiftly, stalling just before the stage, where Pinkie and the DJ were.

The DJ, previously thought by Twilight to be an earth pony, was actually a unicorn, with an electric blue mane, and violet sunglasses that made it impossible to see her eyes. In addition, a large set of over-the-ear headphones gracefully blended into her mane. She had one hoof up on the turntable, messing with the many levers, dials, sliders, and buttons, and one to her left headphone. A record glowed with an electric blue aura, spinning to the DJ’s will. Heavy bass made ‘wubs’ as they exited the speakers set up all over the square. However displeasing Twilight found this strange loud music, the melody behind it actually kept her attention, and almost made her lose focus of the task at hand. She shook her head and trotted over to Pinkie, who was looking through a box of records.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, her voice as audible as Fluttershy in dead silence. The pink mare did not notice. “Pinkie!”

The physics-defying earth pony looked over, her left ear twitching. “Oh, hey Twilight! Why are you here?!”

“We have a problem! East side, three crystals missing, need backup,” the lavender unicorn nearly screamed to get her voice to carry but half a meter to her friend’s ear. The pink pony responded by looking into the box of records again. Twilight shook her head, frustrated. “We don’t have time for records, Pinkie!”

Pinkie ignored her, selecting a red-trim record from the stack. She bit gently into it, picking it up, and carrying it to the DJ. The white unicorn looked, and took the record, instantly placing it on the open space of the turntable. The record spun, adding a set of vocals to the song that was currently playing. The vocals mixed well enough, but it was clear that they were meant for another song. The DJ proceeded to fade away the current song, leaving the vocals to go solo.

With a quick flash of light, there were two DJs on stage. The one on the right brought another record to the turntable, keeping the concert going. The second one, which was ducking behind the turntable, out of the sight of the public, crawled off stage, unnoticed.

“I hear we have a problem,” the DJ said, looking in Twilight’s direction. “What’s up?”

“Shadows have breached the eastern side, specifically, the road to Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight elaborated as the others gathered around. “I can’t make any more Light Crystals, so we can’t just reseal the border. We’ll have to fight them.”

“And how do we go about doing that?” Rarity huffed, her air of class coming into play.

“Simple. We buck them with these fancy new horseshoes,” Rainbow answered. “One good kick to the face can render a Shadow completely harmless.”

“She’s right,” confirmed Twilight with a nod. “Direct contact with iron seems to harden their skin too much for them to be able to move.”

“Well that’s simple enough. Anything else we need to know, Twi?” Apple Jack inquired, scraping the dirt with her hoof.

“Sonic booms blow them up, and lightning flashes or brighter will incinerate them,” the purple unicorn answered. Twilight’s eye twitched, realizing that she hadn’t noticed the blue-maned DJ in the group conversation.

As if detecting the eye twitch, the DJ grinned, “Name’s Vinyl Scratch. Don’t worry. Pinkie explained everything, and I think I can help you. Loud noises are kinda my thing.”

“Welcome aboard,” Twilight sighed. “I guess I’ll be trusting Pinkie on this one. Anyway. We need to get moving. Let’s move!”

The group of seven ponies dashed off, down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres. Virtually nopony was outside the square, leaving a dead silence, save for the dull rumble of their hooves. Vinyl skidded to a near halt, quickly moving left down a side-road. She sprinted forwards, staring at a dumpster that provided an easy jump onto a rooftop.

She grinned to herself, leaping up from the dumpster to the rooftop, and continued running. Periodically, she would jump from one roof to the next, carefully plotting the next jump well before she got there. Her shoed hooves scratched the brick tiling just under the thatching, almost compromising her grip a few times. But a quick spell fixed that, and Vinyl jumped onto the ledge of a wall. She smirked deviously, activating another spell, this time directing it at the wall. A sudden tink resonated in the fog as her iron horseshoes were magnetized to the wall. She stood up (relative to the wall) and walked with ease up the ninety-degree slope. She reached the rooftop, with a clear view of the eastern border, just below her. She saw the six other ponies sprinting towards a set of a small gap, the space of which could be filled by three Light Crystals. To her right was a tarp that was actually quite familiar to her. She trotted over, her iron horseshoes scraping against the gravel covered rooftop, giggling devilishly. “I’m going to have way too much fun with this…”

She pulled the tarp off the object it laid upon. A speaker, roughly the size of Pinkie, stood, plugged in and ready for action. It stood upon a wide tripod, with hoof-handles on the back of it to aim with. A periscope was welded to the back, allowing whoever was to aim it to see what they were pointing towards. She took the handles in her hooves, and adjusted the aim of the large speaker. She aimed past the line of crystals, casting her gaze to the Shadows gathered outside the borders that were moving in on the exposed hole. She smirked, looking around the small rooftop as if searching for—

Ah! There it is! That would be quite important if this thing is to work properly, she thought to herself, trotting over to another corner of the roof. A small black sack had been placed there, as though by design. She picked it up, opening it carefully, finding a large bowl-shaped ring of metal. She picked it up with magic, and carried it back to the speaker. She placed it at the very front, making the speaker look like some sort of strange weapon.

Ah… I haven’t used the Bass Cannon in a long while. This is going to be fun, she thought with glee. She took a look down range. A pony-shaped Shadow was sprinting headlong towards the opening in the wall of light. She smirked knowingly, pulling and holding the left trigger. She looked through the periscope again, setting the crosshairs just in front of the Shadow. With a huff, she depressed the right trigger.

A solid column of sound was thrown forward by the Bass Cannon, guided by magic to fly straight like a projectile. The percussive blast slammed into the side of the Shadow, rupturing its hide. It popped like a balloon, leaving only a small cloud of smoke behind. Squeals of terror erupted from the crowd of Shadows that saw their comrade be utterly destroyed by the Bass Cannon. Vinyl’s lips pulled back in a sadistic grin that could make even Celestia’s smile falter. She adjusted the shape of the bowl over the Bass Cannon, widening it ever so slightly. She turned the heavy weapon, watching the waves upon waves of insect-form Shadows rolled in like the ocean tides towards the hole in the levee of light. She squeezed the triggers, firing another percussive plate of sound towards the hole. The shot spread, nearly tripling in its original radius, hitting a total of eight insects. Each one suffered precisely the same fate as the pony-shaped Shadow had just moments earlier.

She smiled with a sort of sadistic pleasure. She turned a dial on her mounted weapon, her face becoming almost sultry with the fun she was having with this. She took a look through the periscope, watching as Pinkie and the other five ponies on the ground fought hoof-to-hoof with the Shadows. She turned her weapon to the hole, and pulled the trigger.

A concrete beam of bass left the cannon. The long tone flew forward, decimating anything that stood the initial hit. She guided the beam along a long line of insects, their hides rupturing after only a second or two of exposure to the high-decibel beam. Those that tried to enter the small town were devoured by the sonic beam of death.

A tremor rippled through the ground, its ear-shattering bass tone violently shook Vinyl to the ground, her Bass Cannon stopping its onslaught due to her hooves leaving the triggers. She fell on her backside with a drowned out thump. A crack appeared in her signature sunglasses, a tiny shard of glass falling to the rooftop floor. What the hay was that?!

“What the hay was that?!” Apple Jack nearly screamed. A bead of sweat rolled down her face, tickling at her brow. She turned and bucked, squarely hitting a wolf-form Shadow in the chest, just between its forelegs. It flew back a few meters due to the force of Apple Jack’s trained buck. Without a moment of pause, the orange earth pony ducked, just avoiding an insect.

“Incoming!” Rainbow Dash warned, stomping on her storm cloud for the second time that night. A crack of lightning and thunder cut through the misty air. The jagged knife skewered a very large bear-form Shadow, the flash searing it from the inside. The Shadow dissipated into the mist in a cloud of ashes. The thunder rolled outwards, plowing ranks of insect-form Shadows like Big Mac would the carrot fields.

Twilight had not closed her eyes in time, and now had the afterimage of the lightning bolt impressed into her field of vision. She was luckily able to flatten her ears to protect them from the sonic boom that rushed past her with hurricane force. She looked around, trying to use her peripherals to see anything coming. As the afterimage faded, she saw two serpent-form Shadows already in midair as they lunged at her face. Time slowed to a near standstill for Twilight, her life flashing before her eyes.

THUMP!

Twilight’s eyes were wide with pure adrenaline. The two Shadows that were jumping towards her burst like balloons, just inches from her face. Her heart threatened to follow suit, as it had just maxed out in terms of its pace. A cold sweat began to condense on her fur, as her near death experience burned itself into her mind. She looked left, seeing Vinyl Scratch on a rooftop, the Bass Cannon in her hooves, aimed directly in front of her.

Apple Jack ran over, giving Twilight a firm shake. She screamed something that whizzed by unheard. She shook Twilight a second time, gaining no result.

“Everypony gather ‘round!” the orange cow-pony called. The other four ponies immediately fell back to the dazed Twilight’s position. “Twi’s out of it! We gotta protect ‘er as best we can!”

“Fluttershy, I think you should fly her to safety,” Rainbow Dash suggested, holding her almost-depleted first cloud.

Without words, Fluttershy hovered over Twilight and picked the dazed unicorn up. With a look that said ‘I’m on it,’ the yellow pegasus turned towards the center of town.

Another tremor reverberated through the town. Anypony that hadn’t heard the first one definitely felt this one. It sounded and felt massive.

Something was moving through the night. Something that even Darq never wanted to encounter face-to-face. Something that even Discord would fear. Something that would haunt Nightmare Moon’s dreams. Something that could not be stared down by Fluttershy. Something that could strike the purest forms of fear from Celestia herself lurked in the night, and was moving towards Ponyville.

The Emperor Shadow

A flash of bright, pure light filtered out of the small stone prison. Those who saw it looked away, the light overloading the neurons of the eyes with sheer brightness. The dawn was three hours away, but the light cut through even solid stone, filtering through as though it were glass, making the dark night appear as though it were midday. Unicorns everywhere shivered in fear at the unnatural light. They sensed the sheer amount of magic behind it, and were scared of the overwhelming power that was possibly on par with the Princesses.

The light dissipated from Darq’s cell, leaving a stranger in his place. The stallion’s mane, tail, and coat were all as white and pure as the light that he had come from. The unicorn grinned, energy emanating from him like the light that had been used to summon him. He exuded a strange glow that illuminated the walls of the tiny jail. The pure unicorn opened his eyes, looking around.

“It’s been a very long time since you’ve talked to me, eh, Darq?” the equine laughed exuberantly to himself. “Let alone summoned me.”

Well. I haven't had need of you for a long time. The Shadows have returned. Mind helping a brony out? Darq half chuckled in the head of the pure unicorn.

“Only if when that Twilight filly asks you about your magic, you teach her the Inverse,” the white unicorn said, teleporting outside the jail. “And call me by name more often.”

I’ll see what I can do, Darq growled. For now, just get those Shadows out of Ponyville, will ya Sunburst?

“Always business with you, eh, Darqie?” the white unicorn grinned, glaring down the road at a Shadow. “Deal.”

The white unicorn known as Sunburst sprinted straight ahead, his ice-blue eyes glowing with glee at the prospect of helping his inverse.

The Shadow never saw it coming. Sunburst's horn jabbed into its pitch-like hide, glowing as a spell was called upon. The Shadow exploded, bits and pieces of it fizzling to ashes as bright light was introduced to the inside of it. The pure pony grinned with satisfaction. He looked left, seeing a crowd of wolf-form Shadows. He looked right, seeing a pair of serpent-form Shadows.

“Ah. Yes. I was wondering where they were,” Sunburst laughed maniacally. “Which will come first? The wolf? Or the Serpent?”

As if to answer this question, both groups dashing towards him. The Wolves lunged forward in a standard V formation. The leader of the pack jumped upwards, its maw agape, fangs ready to sink into the pony's flesh. Sunburst smiled, flashing his silver fang with an almost evil snort. He turned quickly as the Wolf descended, about to reach his back. A well-aimed buck slammed into the nose of the Shadow, sending it flying backwards a good ten meters. The two Wolves that had been adjacent to the leader turned, encircling him. The Serpents arrived, and began slowly moving into the circle.

Sunburst smiled, activating a quick spell. His horn glowed with a bright white aura, the full color spectrum visible at the outer edges. The fog around them swirled intensely, condensing into a storm cloud. With a smirk, he forced a jolt from the charged cloud, bringing about a bolt of lightning. The crooked spear of electrical energy thrust itself down and into the two Serpents, which fizzled away like paper burning. The sonic boom roared mightily, rupturing the hides of one of the circling Wolves, and throwing the other back a meter or two.

“Hey...” Sunburst whined childishly. “I counted five of you... Where'd the other two go?”

The two missing wolves rose from the ground. Their black fangs were bared in a snarl as the fog that was usually their advantage was used as a weapon against their brethren. One howled loudly, its hide rippling as it changed its shape. The pitch-like hide of the Shadow expanded, growing to the size of the average bear. It grew larger in girth, its legs and body thickening to four times their original dimensions. Its once long and spiked tail was now but a stub.

“Oooooo! A bear-form! I haven't seen any of those before!” Sunburst laughed jovially. “Shame I have to kill you.”

His horn glowed with a white aura, its signature polychromatic ring forming at the edges of the aura's glow. Within a few moments, the bear-form shadow was plucked from the ground as though it were but a cute bunny. The Shadow roared wildly, struggling to break free of the pure unicorn's magic. The white aura added a second layer to itself as the strain of keeping the bear still increased. Darq’s inverse smirked maliciously, condensing the Shadow into a tiny cube the size of his hoof. He looked around, and saw a rusty iron support bar sticking out of a brick wall. With magic, he tore it out, and cleaned the iron rod. He added a third level of magic around his horn, pounding the iron into a thin blade. He grinned, and ended his magic, catching the sharp iron knife in his teeth. He moved towards the trapped Shadow, the two remaining Wolf-form Shadows having turned tail and fled. He laughed heartily, and sliced the cube in half.

The faint flap of pegasus wings tickled his ear. He turned his attention to his right, seeing a pegasus carrying a unicorn in her arms. The slow, melancholy pace of the pegasus made it seem as though he were dreaming of an angel. But he knew that he almost never dreamed, and would never Invert in his sleep. He turned to face the incoming ponies. As they entered the fogless pocket of air, he recognized Fluttershy and Twilight. Twilight was unconscious in Fluttershy’s arms, and Fluttershy seemed to be severely fatigued. He trotted over to the two ill-faring ponies, fresh as a daisy, a satisfied smile on his lips. Somewhere in town, the clock struck midnight.

“Greetings,” Sunburst called. Fluttershy reached his position, and dropped out of the air. She landed on her side, dropping Twilight to the dusty ground. Her sides heaved with deep but slow breathing. To Sunburst, it seemed that both of them had inhaled far too much fog, and were now in a state that he remembered from the attack on Darq’s home that he called Afferent Nervous Arrest. (A/N: For those of you too lazy to look up what that means, basically, the Afferent Nervous system is the one that carries signals TO the brain FROM the muscles.) Her sensitive wings were probably going to suffer some heavy, but temporary nervous damage if she didn’t get proper medical attention soon. Sunburst sighed, summoning as much magic as he could to his horn. Two layers of pure white aura formed around his horn, enshrouding Fluttershy in a similar aura. Her mane and fur seemed to glow with their own light, the fog that she had inhaled seeping from her pores. The mild neurotoxin was colorless, in its purified state, looking much like water, or sweat. However, it bent light virtually entirely away from its original course, causing the ‘sweating’ Fluttershy to appear almost as though she were just a faint, barely noticeable image of herself, like an afterimage on the retina after looking directly at the sun. After about ten seconds of this, the liquid was condensed into a spherical glob the size of a bowling ball, and was hurdled away with a magical throw.

He turned to Twilight, casting a spell. His horn gathered power, glowing with three layers of the magic aura. The unconscious Twilight was enshrouded in a similar aura, ‘sweating’ the toxic fog out as Fluttershy had. An extra layer of the intangible substance formed over her horn, as is a specific spell had been cast there. Within fifteen seconds, a sphere of the toxin had formed, nearly as large as Darq’s back half. Her eyes shot open, air rushing into her lungs. The lavender unicorn looked around, frantically searching for the enemies she had been fighting. She soon calmed and laid placidly upon the dusty ground, just glad to be able to recover for a moment. She cast her gaze up at Sunburst, who had just thrown the sphere of toxins far into the air. She cocked her head to the side, wondering who he was. As if sensing her confusion, Sunburst deactivated his spell so he could speak.

“Greetings, Miss Sparkle. It seems I finally get to see you with mine own eyes,” Sunburst said with a curt bow. “Mine name is Sunburst. But under technicalities, I am actually Darq, so call me Darq for now. Just to keep confusion to a minimum.”

An inaudibly loud tremor blasted forth from the night, shaking Ponyville like an earthquake. Sunburst braced himself instinctively, glaring into the fog. “He’s here. Excellent.”

Twilight forced herself to her hooves, shaking the dust from her mane and fur. She looked at Sunburst, wondering how this odd pony could be Darq. Darq was as black as the Shadows, and this pony was as white as fresh snow.

A second tremor shot through Ponyville, shaking doors open and shattering more than a few windows. A deafening roar resonated through the empty night, nearly splitting Twilight and Sunburst’s ears. “We have little time, Miss Sparkle,” Sunburst shouted through the roar. “He will be here within seconds!”

“Who?!” Twilight hollered back, the roar dying down to twenty percent its original volume.

Sunburst stared at her, his ice blue eyes wide with fear. His reply barely reached her ears, “The Emperor.” He turned back, dashing off towards the source of the tremors. Twilight watched as he disappeared into the fog, then turned back to Fluttershy, who was now awake. The yellow pegasus looked up, seeing Twilight standing over her with a worried expression on her face.

“Twilight…” the pink-maned mare coughed. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

“You need a hospital,” Twilight reasoned, charging her horn with magic.

“No. I’ll be fine. You need to go help,” Fluttershy repeated. Her face took on a firm expression. “Don’t let me distract you. Go.”

Twilight let the magic fade from her horn, its dim purple glow being replaced by the darkness of the night. “Fine. I’ll go.” She threw Fluttershy a weak smile, before turning tail and dashing off after Sunburst.

Her hooves thundered down the compacted dirt streets of Ponyville, kicking up dust with each hoof-fall. She was at full gallop, sprinting harder than she’d ever thought she was capable, passing Sugar Cube Corner and Carousel Boutique within twenty seconds of each other. She eventually caught up to Sunburst, nearly overtaking him at her pace. He accelerated to match her vigor, grinning. They reached the hole in the barrier after only ninety seconds of running, covering nearly eight hundred meters. They skidded to a halt, watching as Vinyl would systematically blast anything that crept into the gap, and the remaining four ponies would beat them back while the Bass Cannon readied itself for another shot. A percussive shockwave flew from the rooftop to a point between the Light Crystals. Sunburst busted out laughing as a group of twelve Shadows was blown to bits. He charged forwards past Apple Jack and Rarity, bucking a Wolf-form Shadow squarely in the jaw. The Shadow flew backwards three meters, landing in a heap on top of a cluster of its Insect-form friends.

A roar, now much closer than before, burst forth from the fog. It clung to the sudden hot gust of wind that nearly tore Sunburst from the ground. The fog followed the wind and sound, clearing a window of sight for the ponies. All of them looked up through the hole in the fog barrier, Vinyl peeking over her shades. A colossal Shadow stood over them, taking a shape like no other creature ever recorded. It appeared slightly equine, except in the fact that it had five legs, and each leg narrowed to a needle-fine point. Its neck rose only a short distance before fading into what appeared to be its head. In its mouth was a sort of glowing sphere of orange light. Its maw snapped shut, its razor sharp teeth clicking together, while still leaving enough space to see the glowing sphere. Its entire body seemed to drip bits of its tarry hide away, as though it were a normal creature that had fallen into a tar pit and climbed out. A drop of the Shadow’s hide dripped off, falling to the ground without a sound. The pitch-like droplet hit the ground silently, seeming to fall through the dirt road. A dark shadow appeared where it had fallen, twitching like an egg about to hatch. And like an egg, it ‘hatched’ a batch of fifteen Insect-form Shadows, though they were just shapes on the ground.

One by one, the new Shadows rose from the ground, taking full three-dimensional shape. Rarity squealed in disgust as they climbed out of the dirt. Sunburst shuddered as he saw another drop of the monster’s hide about to drop. He focused his magic in his horn, three layers of aura forming over it. He aimed carefully, taking a defensive stance. A beam of pure white light shot forth from his horn, slicing forward with a searing hiss. The beam of light pierced the dripping hide like a needle, causing the protrusion to burst like a zit. The monster roared in pain and glared down at Sunburst, the luminous orange sphere within its maw glowing angrily. Twilight watched carefully, keeping a relatively safe distance. Sunburst stared at the sphere, charging his horn again. The Colossus-form Shadow stood back up to its full height, towering above the two-story homes. It shook itself like a wet dog, the dripping parts of its hide flying off like drops of water.

Somewhere in town, the clock struck five.

Twilight charged her horn, four layers of her purple aura forming over her horn. Sweat rolled down her face with the strain. Sunburst shot the Shadow’s front-center leg, causing it to fall forward. Its maw opened in an earth-shattering roar of pain. Twilight aimed, and released the same spell that she had used to create the Light Crystals. A beam of pure light flew forth, penetrating the misty night air. The spear of light punctured the luminous sphere in the Colossus-form Shadow’s jaws. The sphere pulsed with white, shrinking slightly. The creature screamed in pain, lifting its maw to the sky. Rainbow Dash, who had been watching carefully, was now directly over the Shadow just in time as it screamed to the sky. She grinned, flying directly over the colossal atrocity, her last storm cloud in hoof. She stomped upon it, sending forth a crooked spear of lightning. The electrical bolt carved a zigzag towards the Shadow, looking as though its random aim would miss by a mere foot.

The bolt of lightning sliced into the Shadow’s maw, stabbing into the orange sphere. The sphere shrunk a second time, now roughly the size of the average pony. Sunburst smiled as the ponies around him worked together in perfect clockwork. He looked to the east, seeing dawn’s rosy fingers beginning to reach from the horizon. He grinned, knowing that they had won. It was too late for the Colossus-form Shadow to escape.

The monster sunk into the ground swiftly, becoming nothing more than a shape on the ground. It slid away with speed that Sunburst had not accounted for, fading into the shady Everfree Forest, as though it had never existed in the first place.

“The small ones can’t travel as fast!” Sunburst called to the ponies protecting the border. “Let them in. They’ll burn with the dawn.”

Fade

Celestia’s sun had begun to peek out from the horizon, as if spying on the moon. The Shadows that remained trapped within Ponyville, unable to find the one exit there was, panicked like headless chickens. Some seemed to scream in terror as their death approached swiftly. They ducked behind buildings, gripping the walls with the spikes on their backs for dear life. Any that hid near the square were blown to bits by a massive bass-drop from Vinyl Scratch’s Magic Clone, who had continued the dusk-to-dawn concert. The solid thump echoed throughout Ponyville, hisses and screeches of pain and terror following shortly afterwards. Those that did not find shade burnt away in dawn’s first light. And those that did find shelter were in the one spot that had shelter at the time, which just so happened to be between the Library and Sunburst’s horn. One Shadow had found shade, but sadly, he was about to be impaled by the pure white pony. Rather than die by the enemy’s hooves, the pony-shaped Shadow stepped out from its position in the shade, fizzling away into the breeze.

A flash of absolute blackness exploded from Ponyville, as the flash of pure light had just hours earlier. The few unicorn ponies that lived in Ponyville shivered at the sheer power behind the magic of this flash. Even pegasi felt it, their wings instinctively locking to their sides.

Darq laid on the ground, thoroughly exhausted looking. His arms were extended in front of him, his head nestled between them, and his legs were fully extended, his black tail disheveled across them. His eyes were closed, but from looking at his facial expression, one could easily tell that if he could open his eyes, they’d be wide as a church door and bulging from his skull like potatoes in a sack.

Not wreck me my hoof. I won't be walking for a week! Darq mentally cursed.

Hey. At least I left you conscious this time, Sunburst retorted. I could very well have stayed for a few more minutes to go find that lavender filly and Invert you into her arms, just to see the look on your face when you came to with her holding you like a child.

Either way. The Alpha escaped, and I'll bet he's pissed. If we don't kill him, he'll be back, Darq growled lowly. His mental voice seethed with acidic rage that only an old wound could conjure, and dripped with venomous ill-will and bloodlust.

Careful there, Darq, his inverse warned. You know what ha—

I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, DAMN IT! he exploded, pure anger and rage emanating from his mind, poisoning his thoughts. I know what happens as I get further from our center. But you must understand that I cannot see because of that monster. Magic can only help so much.

I understand. You want your eyes back. I get it, Sunburst said with a drop of compassion. I don’t know what it feels like. I won’t lie. But I know you’re in some serious pain. So when we go hunting, WE will go hunting.

Are you i—

-mplying using the Equivalence Spell? Yes. But no. A temporary version of it. Sunburst completed. He grinned, a glimmer of silver giving a faint twinkle.

Darq snorted, and returned focus to the outside world. He ‘looked’ around, ‘seeing’ a lone pony slowly walking towards him. At first it appeared to be a unicorn, its head merely down with exhaustion. But soon, it unfurled a pair of wings, revealing itself to be a pegasus. It moved towards him, painfully slowly. One hoofstep. Pause. Another hoofstep. It took three minutes for the pony to reach Darq’s position.

“Name thyself, stranger,” Darq intended to growl, but ended up groaning as a sudden shot of fiery pain coursed through his chest, zapping each rib like a lightning rod.

The strange pegasus did not reply. It simply lifted off, hovering over him like an angel. It wrapped its hooves under his arms, gently picking him off the ground. His body hung limp in the arms of the ‘angel’, unable to do much more than groan in protest as a second jolt of pain shot through him, freezing his blood solid. He tried to keep his mind active and alert, going through his multiplication table, remembering the laws of magic, and other such things to busy the mind. But it was not to be, and with one more sudden explosion of electric pain, his mind shut him down.

Beep.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Beep.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Beep.

The steady rhythm of the life-sign monitor and the clock was mind numbing. Darq would have noticed his cleaver-sharp headache sooner, had the rhythm been slightly off.

You sick bastard. What did you do to me?! Sunburst groaned in clear pain.

We Inverted, and you wrecked me again, numbskull. I'd have a right mind to Splice you, and feed you to the Bat Ponies. But I still need you, Darq mentally blocked.

He ‘looked’ around his new surroundings. He activated a low-power spell, his horn not even glowing. He looked down at his hoof, ‘seeing’ it glow with a light blue aura that seemed to flicker like fire. He looked through the sheets that were draped across his body, seeing his light blue aura through the thin cloth, though it did darken the image. He looked at the walls, seeing naught but blackness. He looked at the floor, again seeing naught but blackness. He sat in the hospital bed he knew he was in, awaiting any sort of pony to walk through the door that he could not see. Nurse, doctor, visitor, psychopath, at this point he cared not. All he needed was somepony to show him how to get out of there.

One hour passed. He deactivated his spell. Two. He started going over his multiplication tables. Three hours. Laws of Magic. Five hours passed. He began humming softly, only scales at first.

Soon enough, he was humming a low, slow melody. It sounded sweet, like a lullaby, but bitter as a dirge. Loss filled his quiet humming.

“Far beyond, the forest described by tomes...
lies a village, washed by river's foam...
I'll fade away, by break of day,
to find what I, once called home.”

A pony walked into the room, silent as the night. Darq continued, his spell not active.

“The oaks were silent, waiting for end of night.
The fog was rolling, blocking sight.
Their hides ablaze, Hell's in this haze.
Our homes like torches, blazed alight.”

The lost puppy of silence returned to the small hospital room. It cozied itself against the hooves of the visitor that had not announced itself. The anonymous pony shifted slightly, before stepping carefully over to Darq. It looked hesitant, as if mentally debating something, before it rose up and wrapped its hooves around him.

Darq tensed up, his muscles stiffer than a Shadow’s hide after exposure to iron. His horn glowed intensely, activating his spell with much more power than it required, sending a quick spike of pain through his head. He ‘looked’ at the pony that was now pressed against him. He recognized the familiar light blue aura of a living thing in his field of ‘vision’, but did not recognize who.

“Name thyself, stranger,” he growled, activating spell after spell to try to recognize the pony. After failing with a good ten spells, he stopped trying and simply sat there, dumbfounded at the cheekiness of this stranger, whom he could tell was a mare after this much contact. The mare did not reply, remaining dead silent.

“I’m sorry. I seem to have been unclear,” Darq half-sighed, half-growled. “I would like it if you could please tell me who you are. And please stop touching me.”

The mare held onto him for just a while longer, before backing off. She turned, and left the room without a sound, just as mysterious to him as how she had gotten her arms around him before he noticed her presence in the first place.

However, now knowing where the door was, Darq silenced the heart-rate monitor, pulling the electrodes off of his body. He grinned to himself through the heavy pain, knowing that it was time for him to simply fade away. So he forced himself to his hooves, and faded into the dark halls of the hospital.

---End: Ever Free---

Author's Note

The sequel should be coming into play soon. This time, I'd like to keep a two chapter buffer between where I am and where you are. That way, I'll be able to give you something to read while I keep working if I don't have the opportunity to write very much.

Anyhoof, I have plenty of stories planned out for you guys, so go check out my blog if you wanna see what's coming up soon. :3 Of course, the easiest way to keep up with all of the stories that will be coming around is to click that button at the top of the page that says 'follow'. That way when I start a new story, add a chapter, or post a blog, you'll know, and you'll be up to date with what's going on. I hope to see all of you that have faved and/or commented on the sequel. I'll try to keep y'all posted on what the title will be when I figure it out. :3

Well, there's the end of Ever Free. Hope you like. :D

-DarqFox

Stranger Danger

A dark fog descended upon the Everfree Forest, blanketing the shunned place in shadows. Nothing moved. Not a sound emanated from the forsaken forest. A chilling rustling echoed from the brambles, shattering the silence like a hammer would glass. The shadow of an equine figure dragged itself forth from said brambles, falling to the ground, just outside the tree line.

The shadow slowly forced itself to stand, managing to take three gruesome steps before falling to the ground once more, unconscious.

“Alright, Thunder. Go left, and take Cirrus and Stratus with you. Turn around and work your way back when you hit where the tree line and the fog line meet,” Rainbow Dash called. “I’ll go right with Starshine. We’ll meet at the entrance path in the middle. Got it?”

“Aye. Head out, cut on the way back, rendezvous in the middle. Gotcha,” replied the bass voice of the pegasus known as Thunder. The bright yellow-maned colt veered left, a pair of gray pegasus mares following suit. The cyan mare tilted right, an orange mare following just behind. Rainbow Dash flew low, keeping an eye out for their target point. Something caught her eye, just a few moments later. She ascended, and told Starshine to continue on as planned. She turned back, and flew to the point of interest.

Landing on her hooves, Rainbow Dash trotted only a few meters to where somepony seemed to be taking a nap. That’s weird. Taking a nap on the edge of the Everfree Forest? Who does this pony think she is? Upon closer inspection, though, this pony was quite cut up. Numerous nasty looking gashes adorned the mystery pony’s body, blood slowly trickling from them. A trail of blood lead back to the brambles, just a meter away. Oh, dear Celestia, this pony needs a hospital! Picking the pony up from under the arms, she flew away from the Everfree Forest, towards the small town of Ponyville, and more specifically, the hospital.

“Thanks, bye!” Twilight concluded, putting the goods in her saddlebag. She walked away from the small shop, facing up at the almost cloudless sky, enjoying the warmth of the sun. A shadow passed over her, causing her to open her eyes, just catching a glimpse of what appeared to be Rainbow Dash, not on duty, like she was supposed to be. What the…? She thought to herself. Curiosity got the better of her, and she followed in the general direction of the shadow.

“Nurse Redheart! This pony needs help, like, now!” Rainbow Dash called, bursting through the door of the hospital. The tan pony looked up from her deskwork, and gasped at the sight of the dark, bloodied up figure in Rainbow Dash’s arms. She slammed a button on her desk, and within ten seconds flat, the dark pony was on a stretcher, headed to the Intensive Care Unit.

“What happened?” Nurse Redheart asked, looking at the rainbow-maned mare.

“No idea. I was on weather duty, cutting the fog that was rolling out of the Everfree forest, and I saw that pony lying on the ground,” she replied, voice cracking ever so slightly.

“Rainbow Dash!” came a loud call. A purple unicorn walked through the door, glaring at Rainbow Dash. “Why are you not on weather duty?”

“Because I found somepony on the edge of the forest that needed help,” Rainbow Dash replied matter-of-factly.

Twilight simply looked at Rainbow Dash, inspecting her. “You should go wash the blood off your hooves. If what you say is true, you don’t want to catch any blood-borne illnesses.”

Rainbow Dash looked down, seeing a little blood on her hooves. “Eheheh… Be right back.” She grinned sheepishly, and flew towards the nearest bathroom, instantly entering. Just moments later, she returned, not a stain on her.

“Well, since the pony you brought in will need some time to rest and recover, you should go back to whatever it was you were doing. Come back tomorrow, and the patient should be ready for visitors,” Nurse Redheart said, smiling lightly.

The rest of the day ran by with absolutely no incidents worth note. Just another standard day in Ponyville. The sun set, and the moon rose, beginning the night over Equestria. Everypony was asleep by the time the moon reached its zenith, and began returning to the horizon. That is, most everypony. Only the purple librarian was still awake. She stared up at the moon, lost in thought.

Who was that pony Rainbow Dash brought in? What happened that made that pony need to be flown to the hospital? Oh, Celestia. Pinkie’s probably going to throw that pony a ‘get well soon’ party, after a ‘welcome’ party. Consecutively. I don’t know who that pony is, but they had better like parties, or tomorrow’s probably going to end up being Tartarus for them. Poor pony.

Well. All I got a good look at was that that pony was a unicorn. But since Rainbow Dash flew right in front of the sun, I couldn’t get anything else. Oh well. Looks like I’ll be visiting that pony tomorrow.

With that final thought, she laid down, and fell asleep within a few minutes.

In the dark of the hospital room, the shadow awoke. Though its eyes did not open, it looked around, seeing everything. It observed that its cuts had been closed, and that there were a few IVs in its arms. And though its awakened state was only temporary, it understood that it had come close to death, and it was now being nursed to health again. It soon fell back asleep, a strange aura surrounding its horn. Dead silence enshrouded the hospital, and a strange fog descended upon Ponyville.

A pair of eyes watched the image in the cauldron before it. It watched its fog fall upon the small town. A dark laugh echoed from just beneath the eyes. “Perfect. Breathe it in, my little ponies. Prepare yourselves for our feast. Ripen your fear, so we can feast upon it like Changelings at a wedding!”

Author's Note

Okay. Basically what I did here was, I started with introducing the main character (My signature character, Darq.) and let the story write itself from there. I saw I was short a few words, so I added the antagonist at the end, to give myself a beacon in the dark to aim this story towards. Anyway, this is the result of one day without proper, fitting music to write to.

Please leave comments and/or advice in the comments below so I can improve my writing.

Powerful Magic

That’s one weird pony. But he’s got me curious. Just who the hay is he? Where did he come from? And why in the hay was he in the Everfree Forest? Questions zipped through Twilight’s mind as she trotted through the streets of Ponyville. The fog had dissipated, thanks to Twilight’s magic, but by the time she finished removing the fog, it was half past three. Pinkie walked slowly behind the rest of the group, her mane flat and down. Rarity was girlishly giggling to herself like a school-filly, occasionally earning strange looks from Apple Jack, and Fluttershy. Apple Jack walked along, eyes down in thought. Fluttershy hovered just above the group, a thousand-yard-stare in her eyes. And Rainbow Dash had since departed to go practice a new trick.

However, the fact that Pinkie wasn’t bouncing around with a smile on her face scared the other four. They had only seen her this way once, when she had been corrupted by Discord. And she had been this way since Darq had managed to keep her away, and destroy her attempt at a party.

Apple Jack broke the silence, “Pinkie, why’re you so sad?”

“I’m not sad,” she replied.

“Fine. Why is yer mane not all poofy and crazy? And why is there not a smile on yer face?” Apple Jack sighed.

“That meanie unicorn didn’t want a party,” she growled. “And he pushed me!”

“You were invading his personal space. I would have pushed you off my hospital bed too,” Twilight defended.

“But it’s a party! Thrown just for him!” Pinkie nearly shouted, scaring a few ponies away.

“And he woke up in a strange town with no idea where he was or how he got there in the first place. Not exactly the best conditions for a party,” Twilight countered logically.

Pinkie, after a few seconds of thought, gasped as she did when she first met Twilight. Her mane returned to its strange poofiness and disorder, and she poofed. Not ran off. Poof. Gone.

“And there’s Pinkie bein’ Pinkie ag’in. I wonder what devious plan she has now?” Apple Jack chuckled lightly.

“I… um… h-have to go. Bye girls…” Fluttershy mumbled to the others. She climbed higher, and flew off in the direction of her cottage.

“That means it’s time for me to head back to the farm. See y’all tomorrow,” Apple Jack said, veering off, heading down the road to Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight, now realizing that she was alone with a dazed Rarity, turned off her current path, eventually making it to the library. She entered her home and work place, and looked around. The pile of books that had been there that morning had filled the hole in the shelves that had also been there that morning. She smiled a little, recognizing Spike’s work, and went to the kitchen. A daisy and carrot sandwich sat on a plate on the table in the center of the small kitchen. On top of it, a note was placed, reading:

‘Thought you’d be hungry. Knew I’d be tired. You’re welcome. Good night.
-Spike’

Twilight smiled to herself, sitting down at the table to eat the sandwich.

The next day went by as any normal day. The usual routine. Ponies visited shops, purchasing various items, either by necessity or desire. Young ponies went to school, learning various subjects, like math, or history. Elderly ponies went about their days with leisure, often spending time enjoying the sun’s warmth.

However, that day wasn’t the day that really interests anypony. The day afterwards was where this story shall return. The dark unicorn entered the library, Spike not noticing his entry. Twilight was buried in a particularly good book, not paying the slightest iota of attention to the pony that had just entered the library.

The ‘blind’ unicorn ‘looked’ around, browsing the shelves. He came across a large red book, and removed it from the shelf with the aid of his magic. He opened it, looking at the contents. A soft snort of approval accompanied a grin of satisfaction. He soon found a seat, and read the book that he had so carefully selected. After about ten minutes, Twilight closed her book. She looked up, seeing the dark unicorn in a seat, reading a book. She hadn’t noticed him at all till now. She stifled a gasp of surprise, but failed to remain dead silent.

“Oh. Hi. I hope you don’t mind. I’m just reading,” Darq greeted. “Don’t mind me.”

Twilight shook her head, attempting to clear her now question filled mind. She glanced at the book he was reading, instantly recognizing this book as her only copy of Advanced Arcane Mechanics. A closer look revealed the Shape-Shift spell.

“Trying to learn the Shape-Shift spell?” she asked, attempting to start a conversation.

“Already learned it when I was just a small colt,” he replied gruffly. “Just revisiting it. Trying to figure out how to extend its effects.”

“Extend it?” she asked, now genuinely curious.

“Make it last longer,” he chuckled. “The way I learned it, when I first learned it, I could only pick a shape, and remain in that form for about ten minutes before the spell wore off. I managed to train a bit, but I want to be able to maintain it for at least twice as long as I can now.”

“And you were hoping that the book had any tips for that particular spell,” she inquired. “It doesn’t, sadly. Read the book. Know it forwards and backwards.”

The male unicorn sighed, tossing the book nonchalantly, somehow landing it in its previous spot on the shelf. The feat earned a jaw drop from Twilight, which brought forth a chuckle from Darq.

“Is there a more advanced book than that one?” Darq asked.

“I… How did you… What…?” she stuttered, still stunned by his impressive toss. Spike, noticing Twilight’s strange behavior, simply walked over, and gave her a light slap on her cheek. The action was very effective, snapping Twilight back to normal almost instantly. “Right, more advanced books.”

She looked around, spying a brown covered book that she recognized. Master Level Arcane Arts: The highest level that she had read. She couldn’t do most of the spells in it, and those she could were too hard for her to do more than once. It was the same book she had found the spell to give Rarity wings for the Best Young Fliers Competition. She didn’t know anypony that could do this level magic, other than the Princesses.

“Try this one,” she said, with a hint of cynicism in her voice.

He looked through the book, stopping on the spell he wanted. He read the page carefully, his serious face curling into a grin. “Perfect,” he snorted. The book closed, returning to the shelf with the dark unicorn’s magic. “Just what I needed.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. This pony’s unreal. Nopony can do those spells but the Princesses and the unicorns that were powerful enough to invent them. I don’t comprehend!

With the new knowledge in his mind, the dark unicorn turned to leave the library. He remained unfazed by the sudden thump of Rainbow Dash crashing into the library. Twilight simply shook her head at the disturbance, while Darq left the library as if nothing had happened.

A few minutes later, a black griffin was flying above the town of Ponyville, attracting the attention of more than a handful of ponies below. However, the flight was sloppy, and made trained pegasi shudder. The griffin, failing out of a loop, hurdled through the air, causing the nearby Rainbow Dash to fly in and catch it.

“You should probably be more careful,” she scoffed. “Your form needs a lot of work before you can try doing those tricks.”

“Well that’s reasonable, considering that I’ve never flown before in my life,” the griffin replied, earning a jaw drop from Rainbow Dash. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have much practice to do, and only an hour left to do it.” The griffin struggled out of the pegasus’ grip, falling a few meters before catching himself, and continuing on. After a shake of her head, Rainbow Dash flew off to catch up with the griffin.

“First flight, eh?” Rainbow Dash asked, still confused.

“Aye. First flight. I’m not an alicorn, you know,” he replied with a flap.

Why is everypony that I meet so… weird?! She thought. “Well, of course you aren’t. You’re a griffin. What’s your name, anyway?”

“I already told you at the hospital,” he replied, climbing up to a cloud. He brushed the cloud with the tip of his wing, feeling the moisture within it. He spun, cutting the cloud with his wing, slowly carving it. He rose a little higher, before diving steeply towards the streets of Ponyville. He pulled up about one hundred meters above the ground, tucking into a loop, this time, managing to hold it. Rainbow Dash simply watched, realizing that Darq had somehow turned into a griffin, and was practicing flight.

However, with the amount of activity that Darq had been up to, the spell wore off significantly faster than he had expected. At a height of about half a mile above the town, the griffin turned back into a unicorn, wings dissipating like fog in the warm sun. Now suddenly falling uncontrollably, the unicorn did absolutely nothing.

Four hundred… Rainbow Dash sped forwards, rushing to catch the falling pony.

Three hundred… Rainbow Dash was still a ways away, and not quite fast enough. That unicorn was going to be extremely lucky if she got there in time.

Two hundred… She tucked her wings in, watching the unicorn drop. She knew she couldn’t make it in time unless she broke the sound barrier now.

One hundred… Nope. Not gonna make it. This pony’s screwed.

However, Rainbow Dash failed to account for Fluttershy rushing towards the falling pony. Playing the scene out, she saw the possibility. With one huge breath, “FLUTTERSHY! HEADS UP!”

The pale yellow pegasus looked up, seeing the black unicorn. With a squeak of terror, she bolted up to catch the pony. She braced herself for the inevitable impact, and reached to catch him.

And catch him she did. Darq now safely on the ground, ponies that witnessed the scene gathered around, staring with wide eyes. Nopony understood how the unicorn had gotten into the sky at all, not knowing that he was the griffin that was in the sky earlier.

“What the hay was that?! I thought you said you had an hour!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Though she had no idea why, she felt the need to lecture the pony. “Are you TRYING to die?!”

The unicorn snapped upright, now ‘glaring’ at Rainbow Dash. “Do not raise your voice at me, youngling. I have enough energy to turn your wing bones into apple butter for a week,” he growled lowly. Rainbow Dash backed down, shrinking back. “However, I won’t be doing that anytime soon. I simply miscalculated my time in the sky. I didn’t account for the physical strain of flight interacting with the magical strain of the spell. Oh well. I can at least learn from this, and know this for the future.”

“Are you okay, Darq?” Fluttershy asked out of the blue, bravely approaching the intimidating black pony before her.

“It seems I am unharmed, thanks to you,” he replied. “Oh, how rude of me. It seems I have forgotten your name.”

“No. You didn’t forget. I was too shy to tell you at the hospital. I’m Fluttershy,” she said with a smile in her usual half-whisper.

“Thank you, young Fluttershy,” he said. “I am in your debt.”

The pink-maned pegasus smiled with glee, and trotted off, humming a happy tune. The other amassed ponies, however, continued staring at Darq, and Rainbow Dash.

“Well. If I calculated correctly, I have another six hours before I can take to the skies again, or practice magic,” he sighed, cantering off into the crowd. As soon as he disappeared, the other ponies returned to their daily lives, leaving Rainbow Dash in a state of shocked confusion. What the hay did I just witness?

Author's Note

And this is three days without proper music. Well, until the flight scene. The flight scene actually flowed pretty well. From there on, I am proud of this chapter. But it just felt a little rough.

Lemme know what you guys think, because I have a tendency to be overly modest.