Magnificent Malice‏

by ChaoticAce

Ch 6: Planning a Party

Twilight quickly paced through her library, magic auras glowing around books as they soared towards Dashing. Dashing's blue magic consumed the books. She began to furiously flip through pages looking for a solution to her problem. The mares had spent hours going through books on black magic and voodoo. She narrowed her eyes and sighed. "There's nothing in here about a counter-spell."

Twilight glanced over and smiled sheepishly, a little intimidated. "As long as you aren't made into a doll then you should be fine," she said, her dark violet eyes continuing to scan the shelf. "Twisted Trims, Triumphing Terror… Oh! Here! Vast Voodoo!" Twilight trotted happily over to Dashing. "This spell teaches really advanced magic. It's very hard to produce some of the seals. I haven't even mastered most of them." She blushed slightly. "Maybe I should start."

"You never know what'll come in handy," Dashing mused and began to flip through the pages until she found what she was looking for. She smirked upon seeing the small pictures of dolls. "'When the user holds this doll, he or she holds your life in their hand,'" she read. "'They can control your actions and through advanced magic even your very thoughts. Using needles, the dolls can give you anywhere from slight, moderate, or crippling pain. If the user is advanced enough they can even rip limbs clean off the bone.' So this pony is very advanced?" she asked after finishing.

"More than you know!" Brad's voice suddenly said triumphantly. He flew into the library and landed in a chair next to Dashing. "She's one of Rarity's friends." Dashing cringed at the mere mention of the unicorn but continued flipping through the pages regardless. "She went to a magic academy and specialized in dolls." He pulled out a scroll. "Not just that, but she's wanted in almost every part of Equestria. Rarity said she could handle any task so long as some pony is able to remove the red A on her cutie mark." He narrowed his eyes and sighed. "It's kind of a boring motivation but one you'd expect from somepony who still plays with dolls."

"Well, so long as she doesn't have a doll version of me, I'm safe," said Dashing.

Brad's eyes went wide and his body went numb remembering the doll in Rarity's shop. He had forgotten to retrieve it. "How does voodoo work again?"

"Well, the doll has to closely resemble you. It doesn't necessarily have to be exact but it does for advanced magic to work," Dashing explained. "The user seals the deal so to speak by using a piece of your clothing or something personal to you. For advanced spells they need something with your DNA, so hair or even blood is preferred." Her eyes continued to scan the pages and a smirk spread across her lips. "You're not scared of someone who plays with dolls, are you, dimwit?"

Brad's eyes narrowed. "Who, me? No! I was just making sure that you had all of your facts straight before blindly rushing into this." A chill went down the pegasus' spine. "Is there a counter-spell in that book?"

"There's nothing here accept a few things that can only be attempted by unicorns or alicorns." She shut the book and looked at Brad. "Why so curious?" she asked. "You wouldn't be thinking of dabbling in dark arts would you?" Her smirk got more devious.

"No! I just wanted to make sure that you or anypony doesn't get hurt!"

Twilight appeared by Dashing's side looking unconvinced. "Voodoo is a very serious practice, Brad," she said worriedly. "Users are even made aware that by injuring a pony you put a curse on your life. There is good, but the bad can get… really bad." Her eyes shifted down to the table. "I knew everypony was in danger but I never thought we'd face anything like this!"

"She's a mare with a doll. I'm soooo scared!" Brad rolled his eyes but his statement was secretly half-truthful as he still remembered the doll in Rarity's shop. It was too late to go back for it. His stomach was turning. "Luckily Dashing and I are a great team! So nopony will have to worry about getti…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the carrot!" Dashing interrupted loudly. "Nopony EVER said that you and I were a team." Hers eyes narrowed. "There is NOTHING that you've brought to the table that I didn't already know or think about. I've stayed two hoofsteps ahead of you through this entire process if not more! When I bring down Chaotic Ace and the pony she's working for, I'll have eternal glory!" She held her head up proudly.

"Then I guess I'll take my leave to catch them all myself!" Brad stood up and began to trot away.

Dashing let out a sigh. "You're probably going to hold a party for somepony who's a fan of dark things. The pony dresses in all black and wears frilly lolita clothing. You're probably going with a masked ball. It's big, flashy, and tacky but it's just how things seem to be done." She smirked. "This is not only a stupid waste of time and money, but it's a way to put hundreds of innocent ponies in danger."

Brad raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. So?"

Dashing rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm really bored and have nothing better to do. I've killed a lot of time having tea and looking at books. I guess a party IS productive since we have no leads on where they live. It could also bring a little joy to everypony so sure, let's do it. But let's make one thing clear: I am NOT wearing a dress."

"Wouldn't take you for that type," the gray pegasus smirked and trotted off to go talk to the other ponies about the party, leaving Dashing with a confused Twilight.

"I take it that just went over your head?" asked Dashing.

"Slightly," Twilight admitted. "You're going to want to hold this in my castle, aren't you?"

"You really are a clever mare," the dark alicorn smirked and put the book back on the shelf. She sighed. "I guess the only thing we can do is to get in the spirit to throw this oh-so-lovely bash." The two walked down the halls to find Brad sitting in a room with a bouncing Pinkie Pie as well as Applejack.

"I just hope they show up," Twilight said with a grim expression.

"They will! Everypony loves a good party! Even if it is dark and depressing and even a little scary!" Pinky shouted cheerfully. "I'll make sure the decorations are doom and gloom!" She hopped around the ball room inspecting every inch. "Maybe we can even play super spooky music and fill the halls with floating candles! And we can make evil shadows! And then we can even have ghost ponies hanging from the ceiling!"

"Now I don't know about ya'll but I think that's too much," Applejack chimed in. "But it's not a party without apple cider and a few fritters so I'll be sure to do my part! I reckon it'll be easy to catch 'em when their bellies are full of the best apple goods in all of Equestria!"

"Ooooh! Unless they think the food is full of poison because we turned it green!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Brad chuckled. "There won't be any need for that." He pulled out a small book from his coat pocket and passed it to Pinkie. "I took that from the library so make sure you put it back. It has everything you need for throwing masked balls."

Pinkie's eyes grew wide as she skimmed the pages. "Oh! So you want it dark, depressing, AND boring? Okay!"

"Food is always a good idea too." Brad's stomach growled at the thought of apple fritters. "The only other thing we'd need is…"

"…perfect attire! Sorry I'm late, darlings. The weather is dreadful!" Rarity said as she appeared. She sighed and smiled. "Dashing Knight! It's been too long!"

"Not long enough," the alicorn said with an annoyed look. "Oh, I mean hi, Rarity. It's GREAT to see you," she cringed.

"I can't wait to design your dress for the ball!" the white unicorn said excitedly as if she hadn't heard. "You're going to look amazing! Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear." Rarity turned to an exhausted-looking Spike. "Please go get my fabric as well as anything else from the carriage outside that we'll need to fix these lovely mares up for the ball!"

Spike perked up and smiled back with stars in his eyes. The tired dragon was suddenly a ball of energy. "Will do!" He ran for the door.

"And to think that could've been you," Applejack said teasingly to Brad.

"A stallion can dream," replied the proud pegasus as he trotted off to help the mares. After seeing Spike so whipped, rejection didn't seem nearly as bad. How could the best bounty hunter in all of Equestria be tied down to one mare anyway?

Dashing's eyes loomed through the room. She went upstairs to the library. Party planning wasn't really her thing. Setting traps on the other hoof was. Nopony was going to get out alive if she had anything to do with it. She was going to ensure that proper measures were taken against the targets. There was one piece of the puzzle that wasn't adding up though: the cobra. Why did that symbol on the cloak look so familiar? A red cobra...

The alicorn drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of her filly days. All of the blank flanked children gathered around and poked fun at a strange white colt. "Weird ears! Weird ears! Weird ears!" they sang.

"They aren't that weird," the colt said with a sigh. He then turned to Dashing. "Hey! You've got a horn and wings!"

"You're a princess!" a filly shouted.

"Am not," the dark filly said with a glare that could silence anypony. "I'm an alicorn but I'm not a princess."

"I bet you can use magic!"

"Yeah! Let's see your magic!"

The new arrival smirked and began to concentrate. She pointed her horn straight at the young ponies and spread her scrawny blue wings. All of her focus and energy went into making a single blue spark. "There!" she said triumphantly.

"Wow!" the fillies all said together. A crowed formed around her, sidelining the white pony.
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A slender white stallion gazed out his window at the rain. Pictures of Dashing Knight were hanging around him. "Soon I'll catch her attention," he said to himself as he squinted his dark blue eyes. His voice was modulated due to a breathing mask with a blue-tinted monocle attached. "I know you've heard about this great ball they're throwing," he went on, turning to the cloaked mare behind him.

"It's in my honor. I have to go," she said bluntly. Glowing purple magic formed around a doll. She nuzzled the miniature Brad. "And this time I'll be sure to take him out."

"What is your grudge against that stallion anyway?" the masked pony asked with a sigh.

"Nothing really. I just want everypony to know I'm the best at what I do. Taking him out will prove it."

"Not if you do it with a cheap thing like voodoo, but whatever. You can't tell mares anything," the Doctor sighed and shrugged, looking at his latest invention. "I guess I'll change your cutie mark after the ball."

"She'll be there too so I'll have to be careful."

"Who?"

"The black alicorn in your pictures," Chaotic Ace said sweetly.

"Hmm. Maybe I'll make an appearance after all," the Doctor grinned thinking about the only pony who'd ever risen to his defense. Countless times she'd saved him from Snips, Snails, and even Trixie. Each time he'd always thanked her but she didn't seem to know he existed. He couldn't help his evil ways. The bullies caused him to want to get back at the world. Besides, if being good couldn't gain the attention of his beloved Dashing Knight, making the skies as dark as her sleek fur would. His monocle reflected the light from within the machine. "Soon she'll see me. Very soon," he hissed softly.