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