//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Chaining Darkness // Story: "Could You Be My Mommy?" // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// Training was hard, but Jonnathan gave it his all.  Over the next few weeks, Mommy helped him to practice the spells he knew, and she’d given him the names for all of them, excepting the Darkness ones.  He was very leery of that particular thread inside him because it seemed different from the others.  The Light one was different as well, but it felt soothing and comforting, while the Darkness thread always offered resistance when he tried to use it.  Pulling it to the surface was always a struggle, and during that struggle, it seemed as if it was trying to pull him! “Okay, Jonny,” his Mommy said after they’d gone through all the spells he knew excepting the ones of the Element he was leery of.  “You’ll need to try those Darkness spells now.” Jonnathan felt tears come to his eyes and hugged his Mommy.  “But it scares me, Mommy!” he sobbed.  “It tries to fight back when I try to use it!  I’m scared of it winning!” His Mommy paused, as if thinking to herself for a little bit before giving him a reassuring smile and tousling his hair.  “It’ll be okay, Mommy’s right here,” she told him soothingly.  “Darkness is different from all the others.  It gives you the power to command evil power and force it to do your will, even if that will is to work good deeds.  Evil hates being chained to help the side of good, so it fights back, trying to take control of you.  You just have to show it that you’re the stronger one.  It will never stop trying to fight your will, but eventually, its attempts will seem feeble, and you’ll be able to control it with ease” “Okay, Mommy,” Jonnathan replied with a grim nod.  “What do I do?” “Reach for it like you would any other thread, but don’t simply try to pull it to the surface like the others,” his Mommy explained.  “Once you’ve grabbed it, pull hard and fast, don’t be gentle.  Pull with as much force as you can muster, and don’t give it any slack until you feel its power flowing through you.  Once you’ve reached that stage, the evil in that Element will have submitted to your will for the time being.  It won’t fight back until after you’ve released it and try to channel it again.”  His Mommy nodded encouragingly.  “Now, my son!  Give it all you’ve got!” “Yes, Mommy!” he answered before reaching inside himself, quickly finding the black thread and yanking on it hard.  The thread writhed and squirmed, trying to reverse the hold and pull him instead, but he grit his teeth and pulled even harder.  The thread almost seemed to panic, no longer trying to pull him into corruption, but simply trying to escape.  Even with the thread’s change of tactics, Jonnathan put all the magical force he could into one last pull and brought it to the surface.  The thread seemed to almost give off a silent scream of rage as he channeled it through his body, and then the resistance stopped. HIs Mommy floated a mirror over to him, and he saw that his eyes were radiating a field of blackness, and his hands were covered in the black aura as well. “You did it, Jonny!” his Mommy exclaimed before drawing him into a hug.  “Now you can practice those spells!” “Alright, Mommy,” Jonnathan said with determination.  “Which one first?” “Let’s start with a simple defensive one,” his Mommy suggested.  “That blinding spell.  It’s actually called ‘Dark Fog’, and with enough power put into it, you can fog up an entire area with black fog, instead of simply covering the eyes of a single target.  Even better, the caster and anyone else the caster chooses will be able to still see, while others will be rendered blind by how thick the fog will appear to them.” Jonnathan’s jaw dropped in amazement.  He could do that?  With that kind of spell, he could help his family and friends make a quick getaway if something was chasing them! Giddy with excitement, Jonnathan closed his mouth and waited for his Mommy to give him something to practice on.  This time, it was a huge swarm of Changelings, glaring at him. Though he was a little scared, Jonnathan ignored his fear of something that wasn’t really real and raised his darkness-shrouded hands and cried “Dark Fog!” Incredibly thick black mist started to flow from his hands, rapidly engulfing the entire swarm, blinding them all.  He’d subconsciously excluded his Mommy from the spell, so she could probably see how confused the pseudo-Changelings were just as well as he could, and the result was very satisfying.  Soon, the whole dome had filled with mist, and then he forced the spell to cancel as his Mommy dispelled the fake swarm. The familiar chalkboard materialized and the floating piece of chalk started to write on it.  Once it was finished, it displayed his results: Targets: 50.  Allies:  1 Number blinded:  50 targets, 0 allies Success rating:  100% He turned to smile happily at his Mommy, who returned the smile before proceeding to continue the training. “Okay, next we have that energy whip you mentioned in your infancy but never showed,” his Mommy told him.  “It’s apparently called ‘Negative Lash.’  Since you don’t remember your infant years, I’ll have to remind you of how to construct it.”  His Mommy grit her teeth and did what he’d done earlier and pulled the Darkness thread to the surface.  He still didn’t know how she was doing it, but at least she was able to serve as his teacher, which really helped. Once her eyes and forehooves took on the same aura as his eyes and hands, his Mommy continued.  “Watch me first, son, then try to imitate it.”  He could faintly see a thread of Darkness magic being folded in half and then twisted into what resembled a rope.  Unlike him, she simply spoke the name of the spell instead of yelling it, raising her right foreleg and saying “Negative Lash”. A whip of pitch-black energy cracked at the air in front of her, and then she let go of the Element entirely. “Okay, son,” she encouraged, “your turn now.” Jonnathan smiled and prepared the spell while his Mommy summoned a horde of fake ponies in black armor marching towards him, spears at the ready. “Negative Lash!” he cried out while swinging his arm as he would if he were holding an actual whip. In response, a huge black energy whip materialized in his hand and struck the enemy ranks as he swung his arm, hitting all of them.  Every single one fell over, nursing serious wounds and burns. The ponies disappeared, once again being replaced by the chalkboard, which quickly wrote his results: Targets:  4 ranks of 25 (total: 100) Farthest reach of spell/minimum distance needed for possible 100%:  9 yards/7 yards Targets beaten: Rank 1:  25 Rank 2:  25 Rank 3:  25 Rank 4:  25 Total:  100 Success Rating:  101% (1% bonus for extra distance) Jonnathan couldn’t believe his eyes.  More than one hundred percent?  How was that possible? “Looks like Mommy’s little boy is becoming quite the fighter,” his Mommy remarked joyfully.  “Okay, onto the last Darkness spell you know.  After we get this one mastered like all the others, I’ll see if I can help you learn some new ones tomorrow.  Either that, or test your resourcefulness in actual battle training.” Both sounded good to Jonnathan, so he didn’t try to make a decision yet and just said, “Okay, Mommy.  The last spell’s that rope-like one I kinda remember, right?” “Yes,” his Mommy replied with a nod.  “It’s actually called ‘Dark Bind’.  Instead of just being used to summon a single rope that could be used for tripping others and such, you can use it to tie up an opponent or aggressor so you can either gain the advantage or get away.”  His Mommy finished with a sigh, almost as if she was worried he’d actually have to use this spell for either purpose. It’ll be fine, Mommy, he thought.  You may not be hearing this, but I promise everything’s gonna be fine. His Mommy summoned a really big and muscular Earth Pony in dark armor.  The pony lunged for him, but he rolled out of the way and started to stitch the spell together in the way he vaguely remembered.  He wasn’t entirely sure if he remembered the exact magical pattern, but he’d give it his best shot.  He raised his hands as the pony rushed him and shouted “Dark Bind!” Pitch-black energy ropes shot from his hands, rapidly coiling around the huge pony’s legs and rendering it hogtied in a matter of seconds.  With another thought, Jonnathan willed the ropes to also anchor themselves to the ground, and the fake pony was suddenly powerless to move:  even though it tried its hardest to break free, the ropes still held. The pony disappeared and was replaced by the chalkboard once more, which wrote his results out one last time for the day: Force exerted by target:  500 lbf. Initial maximum force tolerance of spell:  400 lbf. Tolerance added by reinforcement:  150 lbf. Final force tolerance:  550 lbf. Success Rating:  110% He’d done it again.  He’d exceeded one-hundred percent twice!  Jonnathan was speechless as his Mommy dispelled the training field and drew him into a hug, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.  Jonnathan finally let go of the Darkness Element he’d been holding onto, and the rebellious Element returned to its natural flow inside him. “We’re done for today, Sweetie,” his Mommy whispered as she led him back inside.  With the dome gone, the cold weather was catching up with Jonnathan, since it was January, after all. Once they’d gotten inside and away from the cold and snow, Jonnathan’s Mommy made a mug of cocoa for each of them, and Jonnathan savored his, just like his Mommy savored hers, each of them trying to make the warmth and flavor last as long as possible. I love these moments with Mommy, Jonnathan thought happily.  I don’t want this to ever change!