//------------------------------//
// Finally over ... or not? 
// Story: Descending Darkness 
// by Mr Tinkertrain 
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Birds were twittering on tree on a hill not far away from the town, but they suddenly stopped as a cloud of darkness emerged from the ground and threw three ponies on the ground. Twilight was still dizzy as she pulled herself out of the pile of ponies and onto her hooves again. She wasn’t really sure of what just had happened, but she was sure that it wouldn’t end up nicely.

At least they were out of this strange place, but without Dust. She tried to not think of what this creature hat in stock for him, now, that he was alone with it down there. She inhaled the warm air, filled with the scent of flowers growing around them. It seemed so peaceful for a moment, and her friends came on their hooves again.

This moment faded away as a strange noise from behind them caused them to turn around. The creature from before was leaning against the trunk of a tree, but this time, it didn’t bring its scythe with it. However, the view wasn’t frightening any less, since the sole presence of the creature let the plants around it die, and where it touched the tree, the bark turned grey and ill-looking.

“I almost forgot what it looks like up here.” The creature started to talk in a chatting manner. “I thought it would be nice to thank you girls for releasing me.” It started to wander around again, leaving dead grass and flowers where it stepped. “Being locked away for ages lets you grow lonely. I think, I’ll stay a while …” Twilight wasn’t sure about it, but it seemingly turned its attention to the town. 

“And hey, even a Town … I guess this will be the capital of my new empire.” It turned around to the three mares again. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Forgive me, please.” The creature pushed out is chest as it continued to speak in an overplayed, probably supposed to sound royally voice. “My name is … John.” It threw its pose away. “I know, not really an appropriate name, but it is my name … I think.”

“You think that your name is … John?” Twilight repeated unbelievingly, and the creature just shrugged. “You try to remember your name after having no company in ages.” Rainbow leaned over to Twilight and whispered in her ear. “I suppose that being alone for a very long time also damages your brain.” Twilight slightly nodded, but the creature saw the movement. 

“Hey, it isn’t nice to whisper behind people’s backs!” It yelled at them, but calmed down very quickly. “Oh well. I just wanted to go anyways.” It pointed on the palace in the town. “That will make a nice suite, don’t you think?” It didn’t wait for an answer and just dissolved into a cloud of darkness which quickly disappeared into the surrounding area.

Twilight turned her head over to the city and looked at the palace. “Just … WHAT is this thing and why is it here …?” Pinkie jumped into Twilight view. “Oh, I know!” She yelled. “It was just lonely and wants some friends. Let’s throw him a party!” Twilight ignored the pink pony, who was still euphoric about the thought of throwing a party and already made plans how to pull it off. 

But at least Rainbow was serious. “This guy … thing … whatever it is, it is crazy enough for sure!” Unwittingly, the pegasus remembered her friend of the experiences they made with craziness – and the conclusions. “Well … whatever it wants or even whatever it is … we must stop it!” She said, and both of her friends agreed on it. Since they couldn’t pass through the front gates anymore, they had to wait until the dusk again.


As they were sneaking back into the city on the same way again, it was too silent – even for the nighttime. Not even the guards at the back entrance were on their post and the gate was wide open. Twilight didn’t feel comfortable as they passed through the gates. The hallways were also completely empty. They guessed that at least somepony would be looking for the chancellor right now.

But there was nopony around. However, instead of the door to the chancellor’s office, there was just a wall of shadows. Twilight didn’t let it stop her and just walked through the barrier with her eyes closed. She didn’t notice that she left Rainbow and Pinkie behind, and entered an empty, dark room. The only thing in this room was a podium with a dark orb on it – and the creature crooked over it.

While it didn’t notice the unicorn who entered the room, Twilight tried to sneak upon it. This weird dimension had one advantage – Twilights hooves didn’t make any sound as she stepped onwards. As she came closer to the dark figure, she heard it chanting in a language she never heard before. Suddenly the chanting stopped and it turned around.

“How did you get here?” Was the first thing it asked Twilight, who was not answering it, but she ran towards it to ram it – she somehow knew that this was not the time for spells – this was the time for actions. The creature jumped to the side and Twilight ran against the podium. She fell on her backside and her head was hurting, but the podium was swinging a little bit.

It was swinging enough to set the orb on it in motion. The creature turned its look from Twilight to the podium and the unicorn could almost hear a scream of terror as the orb fell down and shattered into a million pieces, revealing one, and large shard of a different material within it and in the next second, the shard emitted a blinding light. 

The next thing Twilight knew was that she was outside of the town again, together with Rainbow and Pinkie. “Hey, she’s finally awake!” Rainbow yelled over to Pinkie, and her following question was directed to Twilight. “So … do you want to tell us what in the hay just happened a few hours ago?” As Twilight just shrugged, she could see that this did not satisfy her friend at all.

“What do you want to hear? That I don’t know either? Let’s just hope that this weird stuff is over …” She threw a look back at the town. Something seemed to go on there. “Let’s just head back home as fast as we could.” She was the first one, who walked on the path back to Equestria, back to Ponyville and … back to their friends. 

She knew already that Pinkie would forge plans for a return party during the journey, and she knew that everything would be normal again. What she didn’t know was, if it was really over. And this matter worried her, but she tried to convince herself that it was over. They left that weird kingdom side by side, leaving behind a startled town with a missing chancellor.

And some pieced of an orb and a large shard with some swirling shadows in it. Shadows, that longed for freedom …