Ever Free

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.”