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.