//------------------------------// // Back To Square One // Story: Darkrim And The Elements Of Harmony // by Lunaexcelsior //------------------------------// Darkrim opened his eyes slowly and took in a deep breath. He was prepared to face another day. With much more confidence he trotted down to Sweet Apple Acres where Twilight and Spike were already waiting for him. “Ah, I see you have decided to join us,” Twilight greeted Darkrim. “Well, better late then never,” Darkrim chuckled. “Well, time waits for no pony. You should know that better anypony else,” Twilight ribbed Darkrim. He just smiled awkwardly. “I deserved that one,” Darkrim thought himself. Twilight prepared an apple for Darkrim to transform and took a few steps back. “You may begin whenever you’re ready,” Twilight said. The young prince nodded and prepared himself to strike. The crimson energy coated his pale blue horn as he prepared himself for the spell. “Wait!” Spike yelled, causing Darkrim to flinch. Just as Darkrim stopped, Spike pulled up a wooden shield and hid behind it. “Okay, now you can go,” Spike said, cowering behind the shield. Darkrim sighed and rolled his eyes. He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated once more. Slowly gathering his magic, Darkrim tried to envision the apple’s transformation. He wanted to feel every fiber, every cell and every molecule turning into that of an apple. Focusing all he got, the fallen prince felt the red beam leaving his horn and capturing the apple. He could feel the apple’s resistance to change, but his will was much stronger. Twilight observed his actions, with intrigue. His facial muscles twitched slightly, small sweat beads appeared on his forehead, yet he was doing much better. He seemed much calmer than yesterday and his focus was much better. She began to write it all down as she noticed the apple slowly taking a form of an orange. Within seconds of her observation the transformation was completed and in front of her eyes Darkrim held a perfectly shaped orange. “You did it!” Twilight exclaimed and began to jump around. Twilight’s scream made the dark blue unicorn open his eyes swiftly. As he did, he lost focus and the orange fell to the ground. “I did it!” Darkrim yelled just the same and began to jump around. The two of them were dancing around like fillies, but soon stopped when they heard Applejack laughing from behind. “Don’t let lil’ ol’ me ruin your fun. Y’all just keep doing whatever you were doing,” Applejack said as she wiped off her tears of laughter. “I was just congratulating Darkrim on a job well done,” Twilight said and extended her hoof towards the prince. “And I graciously accept your congratulations,” Darkrim cleared his throat and accepted Twilight’s hoof. “Whatever,” Applejack smirked and continued her chores. Just as she left, Spike finally peeked out. Seeing the orange made the young drake let out a sigh of relief and toss away the shield. “Looks like you finally did it, huh?” Spike said and patted Darkrim on the back. “Yeah, I just needed to calm down a bit,” Darkrim smiled. “I am glad to hear that!” Twilight exclaimed “I was beginning to worry bit.” “Pff, it was easy,” Dakrim said and waved his hoof. “Well, if you think that then maybe it is time to take it up a notch,” Twilight grinned. “What do you have in mind?” Darkrim asked, raising an eyebrow. Twilight began rummaging through her scrolls, before finally grabbing one. It appeared to be rather old, as indicated by its dark brown pages. As Darkrim read through the scroll, his eyes widened. “What kind of a spell is this?” Darkrim said as his eyes darted through the complex scroll. “It’s a special kind of offensive magic, invented by the great Omnibus, The Conqueror,” Twilight said. “Okay, but isn’t this a bit too much,” Darkrim asked “I mean I just figured out how to transform an apple into an orange and you want me to do this?!” Darkrim frantically pointed at numerous steps the scroll demanded. “Are you saying that the great prince of Tartarus can’t handle an ancient spell?” Twilight challenged the dark blue stallion. “Of course not!” Darkrim protested “However, I don’t know if I am ready for such a step.” “If you are unsure of yourself now, what will happen when you face Ares on the battlefield?” Twilight turned serious. Even Spike was taken aback by her words. Darkrim thought about her words for a few moments. He knew that the lavender alicorn spoke the truth and that he had to do whatever it takes to prepare himself for that dark day. He swallowed his fear and suppressed his insecurity. “As always, you speak the truth, Princess. If you think this will help me fight better, I will do it!” the dark blue unicorn stomped his hooves in determination. “I am glad to hear it,” Twilight smiled “However, we will have to move our lesson. We don’t want to cause a fire, now do we?” “Of course not,” Darkrim laughed “I’ll meet you up at the gates.” As Darkrim left, Twilight began packing up. “Need any help?” Spike extended his claws as Twilight levitated a few wooden orbs, plates and sticks towards him. “Of course. Thanks, Spike,” she lowered the equipment towards the little dragon. “No problem, what are assistants for” Spike said. As they walked through the apple forest, Spike took in a deep breath. He rarely saw Twilight so serious as she was with Darkrim. Her actions have surprised him and he had to know why she was acting in such a way. “Hey, Twi, can I ask you something?” Spike said. “Of course, you can, Spike. What’s on your mind?” Twilight asked. “Well,” Spike began , “I was just wondering what happened to you back there. I never saw you act so harsh.” Twilight sighed. “You know that the Tartarian culture is mostly based on the principles of war and conquest?” twilight asked. “Yeah,” Spike replied. “You also noticed how Darkrim was acting unsure and stressed out ever since he got here?” Twilight continued. “So you decided to add even more stress on top of it all?” Spike asked, trying to comprehend Twilight’s reasoning. “No, no, nothing like that,” Twilight shook her head “I just tried a bit of a different approach. By using disciplinary measures and a more commanding tone I was able to get through to him quicker.” “I see,” Spike nodded his head “Still, it doesn’t seem very Twilighty, you know?” “I know,” Twilight sighed “And I felt awful for being harsh, but it had to be done. I promised Princess Celestia that I will help Darkrim take back his rightful place and I shall do that. At any cost!” In Twilight’s eyes gleamed an unyielding fire of determination. “Okay, just don’t go overboard with it,” Spike said concernedly. “That’s why I have you, Spike,” Twilight winked to the little drake. Spike blushed at her words as they pressed on. Darkrim stood patiently at the gates, awaiting for the Princess and her trusty assistant. As they appeared on the horizon, Darkrim took in a deep breath. “Relax, Twilight knows what she is doing. She wouldn’t have given us that spell, if she thought we couldn’t handle it,” Darkrim calmed himself down. “Are you ready?” Twilight asked the dark blue stallion. “As ready as I will ever be,”Darkrim smiled “So where are we going anyway?” “Well, I have one place in mind. It’s deep in the Everfree forest, so it will be far away from any prying eyes,” Twilight explained. “Sounds great,” Darkrim replied with glee. As they walked through the town, Darkrim could easily see some ponies whispering to one another. Some seemed rather shocked to see him with the Princess, while others greeted them. Many seemed to behave around Twilight as if she was just their friend. They didn’t bow in her presence but they still respected her as she deserved. Many greeted her just as ‘Twilight’, as if they had known her for years. “Very interesting,” Darkrim whispered under his breath. As they continued their walk, the trio passed in front of a small cottage. Twilight stopped in her tracks and walked towards it as Darkrim followed her. “So when you said ‘deep within the forest’ you meant to say on the edge of it, right?” Darkrim joked. “Very funny,” Twilight smiled, “I am just stopping by to say hi to Fluttershy.” “Oh yeah, the quiet one. She seemed nice,” Darkrim said as Twilight knocked on the door. Soon enough, Fluttershy made her way to the door opened. Seeing the trio there, made her a bit surprised. “Twilight! What a wonderful surprise,” Fluttershy said gleefully and hugged her friend. “Hope we are not bothering you,” Twilight began, “but we just dropped by to say hi.” “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not bothering me,” Fluttershy said timidly “you just caught me in a bad moment. Come in, I want you to meet somepony.” As Twilight and Darkrim entered, the dark blue unicorn’s eyes widened in shock by the vision in front of him. Sitting on the couch was a gray unicorn with long, flowing, white mane and a black book cutie mark. Darkrim’s surprise was only equaled by that of the pony sitting in front of him. “You have to be kidding me,” Makita thought with glee. “Twilight, Darkrim, this is mister Book Mark. Angle bunny made him hurt his hooves last night, so I offered to help him get better,” Fluttershy explained and introduced them . “Charmed,” Twilight said as she accepted Makita’s hoof. Darkrim simply nodded as Makita, in his pony form, smiled at the prince. As he smiled, Darkrim felt chills running down his spine. He remembered the way this pony disappeared the second he saw him as well as his wink. However, the unicorn seemed to behave as if it was his first time seeing the prince. “So you’re the silent type, ei?” Makita asked the young prince. “When I have to be,” Darkrim responded coldly. Twilight observed Darkrim for a bit. His flames began to glow a bit dimmer and his stance was much more protective as he observed this pony with utmost precaution. It was as if the young prince could detect the immediate threat in front of him, even through his disguise. “So, Fluttershy says she’s been taking care of you,” Twilight said, attempting to ease the atmosphere. “Yes, she has been a most wonderful host. You must be very happy to have such a sweet mare in your midst,” Makita spoke elegantly. Fluttershy hid behind her mane and blushed a bit at his compliments. “Well, that’s Fluttershy for you,” Twilight smiled “Although, I must admit that I had never seen you around Ponyville.” “Well, that’s because I’m not from Ponyville,” Book Mark replied “I am actually a traveler pony. I document the various sites I visit and collect the knowledge of various places and their customs.” “Oh really,” Darkrim interjected “Then you must have a book for it, right?” “Of course I do,” Book Mark said and showed them a brown book. The second Darkrim saw it, the young prince enveloped it in his crimson magic. Makita tried to pull it away from him, but he was too late. “Darkrim!” Twilight yelled “What are you doing?!” She was shocked that the prince would do such a thing. However, the dark blue unicorn continued to ravage through the pages. As he turned the pages, Darkrim was confused. Not a single word was written on them. “I’ll take that back!” Flutershy said as she handed the book back to Book Mark. “You know, if you wanted to see it, you should have just asked, prince,” Book Mark smiled smugly. Darkrim wanted to say something, but just huffed. “Thank you for your hospitality, Fluttershy, but I’ll wait outside,” Darkrim said and exited the cottage. “Umm, alright,” Fluttershy responded, confused by Darkrim’s sudden mood swing. Even Twilight couldn’t make heads nor tails of the situation. “I am sorry he acted this way,” Twilight blushed “I really don’t know what got into him.” “It’s quite alright,” Book Mark replied “Tartarians tend to have such a temper. It’s quite understandable.” “How do you know that?” Twilight asked suspiciously. “Well, I passed through there on my travels,” Book Mark fibbed quickly. “Right,” Twilight responded “Anyway, I should probably catch up with Darkrim. We have quite a lot of work for today.” “No problem,” Fluttershy said “It was nice seeing you Twilight.” “You too,” Twilight responded. “I’ll see you around,” Book Mark sad as the lavender alicorn left. She smiled at the gray unicorn and reunited with Darkrim and Spike. Even though Twilight seemed calm, she was fuming inside. The dark blue unicorn had embarrassed her quite a bit back there. “I can’t believe you did that!” Twilight yelled at Darkrim. “Trust me it had to be done,” Darkrim replied coldly. “Oh, ‘it had to be done’,” Twilight mimicked his response “You just HAD to grab that pony’s book right out of his hooves. It was simply unavoidable!” “I admit I made quite the error in my approach, but that pony just didn’t seem right,” Darkrim explained. “Really? What made you jump to that conclusion?” Twilight asked. Darkrim didn’t know how to answer it. He wanted to tell her about Clotho and her prophecy, but he was afraid he would seem a bit too crazy. “It was just his general aura,” Darkrim said “I mean, did you see how he smiled at me? It just felt unnatural.” “So what if he smiles a bit strange? You’re not the most normal looking pony out there,” Twilight rebutted. “Okay, but isn’t it strange how he knew I was a prince?” Darkrim asked. “That is strange,” Twilight began to ponder “but he probably heard about it in Tartarus. “ “How could he do that?” Darkrim continued. “He mentioned that he visited Tartarus,” Twilight said. “Funny,” Darkrim replied smugly “I didn’t read about it in his book. In fact, there was nothing written there at all.” As he said it, Twilight was taken aback a bit. “What do you mean?” she asked. “There was not a single word written on any of the pages,” Darkrim whispered “Doesn’t it strike you as odd for a traveler pony to have a blank book?” As Twilight thought, the more things appear to be odd. Why would a traveler pony have an empty book? It’s not like he hadn’t visited other places before. And if he hadn’t, then how did he know about Darkrim’s status. It all began to seem more and more suspicious. “It does seem odd, I admit,” Twilight said, tapping her chin, “Still you shouldn’t act so hastily. Especially not around Fluttershy.” “I know,” Darkrim responded “I just had a feeling I had to do something. “ “That may be the case, but you still have to be more discrete, if you want to reveal the full truth,” Twilight explained. Darkrim huffed and nodded. “Anyway, you still haven’t told me where are we going?” Darkrim said, trying to change the subject. “Oh, you’ll see,” Twilight giggled. As they continued their walk, a feeling of déjà vu crept up to Darkrim. This section of the forest seemed a bit too familiar to him. The dead trees, watching hauntingly over them, the loud scuffles in the bushes, it all seemed too familiar. “Hey, this all looks awfully,” Darkrim stopped as he saw what lied in front of him. The young prince felt his knees weaken, his heart rate speeding and his mouth became completely dry. He was back at the Castle of the Two Sisters.