Darkness was in his study, working non-stop, on writing down the early history of Equestria, and on this day, two years later, he was almost finished, and he said to himself, "Just a couple more pages, and this will finished, and then I hope Twilight's been patient, I still owe her history classes. Let's hope she hasn't forgotten.."
Luna came into the room, sat down beside Darkness, and said, "I'm more than sure that Twilight hasn't forgotten, in fact, it looks like a letter from her, is coming in from the mail service." Luna had heard the flapping of wings nearby, and went over to the window, as one of her guards, flew to window, gave her a letter, saluted her, and flew off.
Luna went back to Darkness, who had just finished writing, and gave him the letter, as he opened and read aloud: "Dear Darkness, I know you have been busy with your history writing project, but I have a good feeling today, you are almost finished, so I was hoping, if your schedule is free, in say, a few hours, I want to invite you to my castle, I have my quills and parchment ready! Sincerely, your friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Darkness looked at Luna, and said, "So, Twilight's a princess now, huh? Looks like I've missed quite a lot."
Luna chuckled, and said, "Well, between you spending time in here during the day, and the rest at night, with me, and you never leave the castle, so yeah, I would say you've missed a thing or two. You know, your friends haven't seen you in two years, I can only guess to how they feel, perhaps even worried about you. Also, there's something I want to tell you.."
Darkness said, "Well, if you're implying about my health, no need to worry there, I'm immortal, after all, and even if I get sick, I recover, eventually. But yeah, it's been a while since I've seen them, and they are my friends, gosh, I hope they haven't forgotten me. And what is it you want to tell me?"
Luna said, "Again, they wouldn't forget a friend like yourself. I wanted to tell you, that...well, um, I'm pregnant, with two foals, but it's not yet been determined, whether, they are both colts, or fillies, or one of the other."
Darkness said, "Yeah, you're right...again, as always. Just like you are still as stunning and beautiful, the first day I ever saw you." Darkness stopped for a moment, and great joy filled his eyes, as he said, "Two foals? That's wonderful news! I am so happy! We're going to parents!"
Luna was blushing a lot, by what Darkness had said, as she said, "Oh! Quit it! You're making me blush! And I am so happy you think so."
Darkness smiled, and said, "One more thing I fell in love with, the first day I met you."
Luna smiled through the blush, and said, "I am really so happy I met you."
Darkness said, "Me too."
They embraced each other, and kissed, and as they finished, Luna said, "You still have plenty of time, before I need to raise the moon, perhaps now, that you are done with your writing, maybe now, would be a good time to visit your friends, and hang out with them for a while?"
Darkness said, "It was as if you read my mind. But are you sure that's fine?"
Luna said, "I'll be fine, you should pay them a visit, they would be more than glad to see you, and your little sister too, I'm sure that would make her day too, I hear that Snowshy, has stayed on hero standby, after going into hero retirement last time, and with the threat last time, she decided to wait, like ten years or so."
Darkness said, "Again, I can't help but say, you're right. Yeah, I think I will, it's been too long, since I actually went anywhere, and as you said, I have plenty of time. I see, Snowshy's decided to not retire from hero work, yet huh? But I'll be sure to be back, before it's time for the raising of the moon."
Luna smiled, and said, "I'll help you get some things packed, I have a good idea, where you'll spend a bunch of your time."
Darkness said, "As always, you always seem to know what I'm thinking, before I'm saying it." As Darkness finished speaking, the two left his study, and went together, to pack some things, Darkness would need, for his visit. It wasn't long afterward, and they had finished packing Darkness's things, as Darkness went over to the castle doors, and began opening the castle doors, and before he was about to fly off, he said, "I'll be back soon, okay?"
Luna waved back, and said, "I know, you just have fun with your friends, okay?"
Darkness went over to Luna, hugged her, kissed her, and said, "Don't worry, I will, and I promise, it won't be long, and I'll be back."
Luna said, "I know, I'll just miss you in that time."
Darkness reassured her, "Before you know it, I'll be back, and I'll be here to watch you raise the moon for tonight."
Luna smiled, and said, "Okay, you better get going, I did you the favor, and I sent letters to Twilight and the others, telling you were going to visit them today, and might I say, I got teary excited response letters back."
Darkness smiled and said happily, "Luna, my wife, always looking out for me, I'm glad I have you in my life. Alright, I'm off by back soon!"
Darkness went to the edge, waved to Luna, and flew off, as Luna waved back, and she said to herself, "Now, what to do to keep my mind preoccupied, until he gets back? Oh! I know! I'll go visit my sister for a while! I haven't done that in while. Guards! These doors are to remain locked, until myself, or my husband return, understood?"
The guards stood front and center, and said, "Yes Ma'm!"
Luna said, "Good, now, to go visit my sister for a while."
And with that, she flew off in the direction, of Canterlot. Meanwhile, Darkness had decided to fly towards Twilight's castle first, and landed in front of the door of her castle, and knocked on the door, he waited a couple moments, followed by the door opening, and was tackle-hugged by an excited Twilight, and Darkness hugged back, and said, "Yeah, it's good to see you too, now, can you let go? Too....tight...can't breathe.."
Twilight let Darkness go, as he got back up, and dusted himself off, as Twilight said, "Sorry, it's just been some time, since I last saw you, and I thought..."
Darkness stopped her, and said, "How could I forget my friends? Are you kidding? You guys are the best! No, it's just on this day, I finally finished my work."
Twilight said with excitement, "Does this mean?"
Darkness said, "Yup, it's time for me, to answer all those history questions you had."
Twilight said, "Well, come in! We'll sit in my study, and I already have everything ready to learn! Oh! I can't wait!"
Darkness laughed, as he followed Twilight, to her study, and said, "Always the eager one to learn." A few moments later, they had reached Twilight's study, and Darkness went to the podium, and began to dig out his now finished books on the early history of Equestria, and Twilight sat nearby, in a desk, quill and parchment, at the ready. Darkness said, "I don't teach in the same fashion, I teach as you ask the questions, sound good?"
Twilight said, "That's fine, this is just so exciting!"
Darkness said, "Twilight, focus, so now, where do you want to start, and what subject, do you want to know about?"
Twilight got her excitement under control, and said, "Right, sorry Darkness. I have always wondered, I remember Darkness Night, always being called, 'The Ultimate Evil', and I couldn't help thinking, that there were others, so I was going to ask, are there really others? And what are they?"
Darkness said, "It's fine, Twilight, we get excited about all sort of things. Now, as to your question, that's a very good question, and an interesting one at that. Yes, Twilight, there are others, you see, as it goes, you have Darkness Night, 'The Ultimate Evil', and then have the others, the 'Grand Evils', these evils, are pretty formidable, but Darkness Night, easily overpowers them all" Twilight was writing all this down, and as she finished, she asked, " 'Grand Evils'? What are they?" Darkness said, "Ironically, you and your friends, have met them all, at one time, or another. The 'Grand Evils', are as follows: Discord, The Spirit Of Chaos, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and The Dazzlings. Which, some are gone for good, and at least one of them, has been reformed, that I know of."
Twilight was shocked a little, and said, "They are the 'Grand Evils'? How is that possible?"
Darkness said, "Let me explain, you see, long ago, in the very few first days, that the world had been created by the Gods of Equestria, the ancient ones, foresaw a prophecy, given to them, by the Gods of Equestria, that one Ultimate Evil would rise one day, followed, by it's most fiercest lieutenants. These beings were all once spiritual, bit over time, they have found way to be born into this world, all except for Darkness Night. For as you know, Darkness Night, has no actual physical form, but he alone, can still cause, misfortune, bad luck, things like that. Also, the Ultimate Evil, is a cosmic being, who was born from the death of an entire evil galaxy, that the Gods of Equestria had destroyed, the remains of that galaxy, came together, to form what was for thousands of years, just what was once called, 'The Black Star'. This 'Black Star', eventually took form, a transparent, black form, that is, and was drawn to this world. As long as there is things like arguments or any kind of evil in any world, Darkness Night will always continue to exist. Have you ever wondered why, you all were able to defeat Darkness Night that day?" Twilight said nothing, as she was intently listening, and writing it all down, and Darkness continued, "The answer may shock you, but by any means, Darkness Night cannot be defeated or killed. Unless, you have unity and friendship, these things are his weaknesses. You all defeated Darkness Night that day, because you all showed a strong will, a strong unity and bond with each other. When you all did that, it weakened Darkness Night, just long enough, for all you that fought against him that day, to pretty much, burn him to ash, but he still lives, he just can't do much but cause a bit of bad luck here and there, and don't curse him, that just strengthens him, he feeds off of any kind of negativity, without it, his powers slowly weaken. Darkness Night needs a living host to posses, in order to cause any real damage, but it has to a powerful host, or Darkness Night's evil, would simple tear apart the host's body. Did clear things up for you Twilight?"
Twilight has just finished writing, and said, "Wow, I had no idea, I have to ask, but did your mother, and those elder sorcerer ponies, study subjects like this?"
Darkness said, "They did, and it's all in my mother's diary, but it's now also in all in my volumes, I wrote, which there are about 80, to be exact."
Twilight's jaw dropped, and then she lifted it back up, and said, "No wonder it's taken you two years, and I assume, they are pretty large books, right?"
Darkness said, "Yeah, each of them, would take some time to read, but anyways, next subject, anything else you would like to know?"
Twilight said, "Yeah, I had just one more question for today, and then I think I'm good for today, this is a lot of info to take in already. Anyways, I wanted to know about Bolverk, and the sword he wielded, 'The Nightmare's Revenge.' And that's all I want to know for today."
Darkness said, "Another very good question, and that one has quite the story to it. I'll start with Bolverk first. You see, Bolverk was known by many names, many different things, and many different deeds and I will list just a few of his names now: he was known as 'Bolverk The Mad', 'Bolverk The Revolutionary', 'Bolverk The Bloody', and 'Bolverk The Conqueror', and again, these were just some of things he was known by and known for." Darkness took a breath, and continued, and said, "Now, you must understand, Bolverk, well, wasn't always 'mad', you see, he was born in the slums of the great sorcerer pony capital, Azrekl, a city of power, wonder, learning, magic, trade, and a combinations of all sorts of ponies, that used to walk down its cobblestone streets, and alleyways. Anyways, 'ahem', I'm getting off subject here, during Bolverk's early years, the monarchy, and it's officials, were corrupt, and Bolverk couldn't stand to see his fellow sorcerer ponies suffer anymore. So he took up arms, wielding the 'Nightmare's Revenge', and rallied many others with him, as he had ideals, of a future, and a monarchy, that wasn't corrupt, that lived in harmony with it's citizens, to where the monarchy was in equal power with it's inhabitants. Many fought beside Bolverk, believing in his ideals for a better future for all of them."
Darkness waited for Twilight to catch up, writing it all down, and then continued, "However, once the current monarchy and it's officials were overthrown, it seemed, Bolverk had other plans from the very beginning, whenever he went mad, it had to have been somewhere during the sorcerer pony civil war, but perhaps, he was like that from the very beginning, it is hard to say. Anyways, once he was crowned king, he immediately began to show his true colors, he ruled with fear, dominance, intimidation, and torture, for those that even dared to speak out or stand up against him. Not even his own kind was safe, from his madness, for a time anyways. It was during his first few years, he began his 'conquest', by first calling a meeting with all the other pony tribes, the Unicorns, the Pegasi, and the Earth ponies. However, he had this meeting set up to fail, and break ties, with the others three pony nations, even before meeting began. As it turns out, he ordered his most trusted royal knights, to take places, around key areas or the room, and by whatever means necessary, cause the other pony tribes to declare war on the sorcerer ponies, or each other. Now, I know, who would order such a thing, especially if you already knew what it would cause? The answer was Bolverk wanted to eradicate the other pony tribes, believing they could not longer be trusted, and were below him and his kind, and did not deserve to continue to live, and live on land, he had believed, was rightfully his, and he would get those lands, no matter the cost, truly, it was pure madness. And thus, when everything went according to plan, he had not only had just started, what would be wrote down as, "The Great War', but he also began his 'Reign of Conquest', at the same time, where he would take his royal knights, and his finest generals, my father was included in these battles, but nopony really saw that Bolverk, was leading them all to ruin, until it was too late. To this day, it is still the biggest and longest war in history. They all blindly followed their king, believing in everything Bolverk did, was justifiable, in some way, mindless devotion, I guess you could say. Bolverk with his army, went from town to town, city to city, village, killing anypony that was not a sorcerer pony, he did not care what they were, he did not even spare the children, in his eyes, in his mind, they were a blight to the world, to his ideals, and he would stop at nothing to realize this."
Once Twilight had caught up, Darkness said, "This decimated all three tribes, down to nothing more, to three small villages, and this was halfway through the war, in a desperate effort, they saw they needed to come together, to face this threat, or would soon meet extinction, so all three tribes made an alliance, that has remained strong, even up to today, and faced Bolverk's army. The three tribes used every skill, every single tactic, and resource they could think of, and for the first time, Bolverk's army was actually pushed back, and Bolverk was forced to retreat. In the following 800 years, the Pegasi, and Unicorn tribes, had discovered a new way to actually harm the sorcerer ponies, you see, normally, a sorcerer pony cannot be killed, by anypony but a sorcerer pony. Well, to get past this problem, the Unicorns, came up with a spell, that when combined with a Pegasus's swords, it could not only kill a sorcerer pony, but it would permanently banish that sorcerer pony's spirit, from the mortal realm, forever. Bolverk knew nothing about this, as he had decided to stay inside his stronghold, in the capital, another mistake on his part. In just a year later, sorcerer pony outposts, and armies, all over were being pushed back, or killed, and it was clear exactly, where the three pony tribes were heading for: the sorcerer pony capital. At the same time, many sorcerer ponies, within the capital, and in the surrounding areas, began to come to their senses, and four of Bolverk's most trusted elder sorcerer pony, wizards, assassinated him, on his throne, but not before he took them with him, without Bolverk to give commands, any armies that lay outside the city, fell into disarray, and were killed. Towards the last few 400 years of the war, only the capital remained, and the floating fortress, which was known as "Fortress Blackcrown", and the three pony tribes went after the floating fortress first. The fortress was able to lift off of the ground, by using a 'Levitation Gem', but it order to lift something as big as the fortress was, it needed more power, before the war started, innocent souls of sorcerer ponies, were sacrificed, and were trapped within this giant gem. The three pony tribes must've figured out the fortress's only weakness, if something was shot at and exploded on the gem, it cause the entire gem, to go into overdrive, and cause the entire gem to explode. An explosive catapult bomb, was shot at the gem, and it blew the entire fortress into four pieces, and the fortress came down like a rock. Because the gem was so powerful, it literally melted two of the parts of the fortress, to ash, the other fell into ground so hard, it flew small pieces of it everywhere, making it beyond repair. The last piece landed in a lake, a remained there, until the Pegasi tribe, many years later, found it, and used it, as the foundation for what would later be known as 'Cloudsdale.' "
Darkness took a breath, and said, "And thus, once the fortress was down, it didn't take very much longer for the three tribes to take down the capital, and stormed the capital within eight years, and amidst the chaos, my mother, and a small group of others, managed to escape the city, and this marked the end of 'The Great War', and reign of Bolverk, and well you know the rest Twilight, the rest of my kind were hunted down, so that way they could never rise again, out of fear, making my mother, the last survivor of the sorcerer ponies."
Twilight said, "Truly, I have to say, Bolverk was insane, what was he thinking? It's good thing he was taken care of, and that we took care of his spiritual form too, it could've been worse, and spelled disaster for everypony. But, how long was the 'Great War?', I'm just curious."
Darkness said, "I agree, and It's fine, let's see....the 'Great War', lasted 2208 years, with halfway of the war, being 1104 years, I'm guessing Shylight, didn't tell you the truth about this war, and tried to make it seem like a short war, I assure you, it wasn't, so does that help clear some things up?"
Twilight said, "It does, and yeah, Shylight once told us a brief story on the war, but he didn't look at any of us, while he told it, so that means he was lying to us the entire time."
Darkness said, " I should've known, now, on to the accursed sword, the 'Nightmare's Revenge', but it wasn't always called that, in fact, that's not even what it once was. The sword, was once known, as the holy white sword, "Azural", a mad and rather evil lone sorcerer, that lived in a giant tower, was experimenting, with some kind of spirit spell, the spell backfired, putting one his eyes into the sword, and blowing his tower, and him, to pieces. A warrior, known as Forlorn, took the sword, and used it in battle until he died, and his second in command, took the sword, to a sunny grove, and thrust it into the tallest hill. That was when the third general of the sorcerer ponies, many years later, took the sword, and began killing innocents, the general, having faced too many battles, in his lifetime, was driven mad, by those battles, and when driven to further madness, as the sword's eye finally opened and began to 'speak to him', telling and commanding to him to kill innocents. However, when the general came to his senses, he killed himself with the sword, where his family took the sword back where it came from. You see, the holy sword, is a sword that can change form, according to what acts it has been used to carry out, and after being used to kill so many innocents, it changed into wicked, crimson blade, and created an earthquake, separating the grove from the mainland. This new island, was constantly surrounded by raging storms, and red clouds hung over the island, and thus was called 'Nightmare Island'. Only those truly mad enough, to go out to the island, to retrieve that sword, could make it to the island, it's owner, a year or two later, called it the 'Nightmare's Revenge', a symbol of revenge, and an instrument of madness."
Darkness waited a minute, and then continued, "However, whatever powers the 'Nightmare's Revenge' has, is unknown, because anypony that tried to study it, was either killed, or driven insane. If one of a true heart, can ever wield that sword, and carry out righteous deeds, the sword might revert to it's original state, whether that ever happens or not, I do not know."
Twilight finished writing the rest down, and said, "I see, so that sword alone has had a lot of sad history, hasn't it?"
Darkness said, "Yeah, it has, anyways, that's all for today."
Twilight said, "That's fine, I have plenty of material here already, but I would like to know more about subjects like this."
Darkness said, "I figured you might say that, so I made a copy of two of my books so far, here you go." Darkness used his magic, and put on Twilight's desk, two, rather large, books, with one that read: 'Myths and Legends, A History', and the other titled: 'The Sorcerer Ponies, The Complete History, Vol.1'.
Twilight said, "Thank you Darkness. And thanks for the discussion today, it was worth the wait."
Darkness said, "It was a pleasure, I better get going now, I promised the others, I would spend some time with them, see you another time." Darkness waved, as he began to leave, as Twilight happily waved and watched him leave. After spending time with the rest of his friends, Darkness looked up, and saw that the sun was beginning to lower, and he said to himself, "Time to head back, it's been a great day, but I'm ready to just watch the moon rise with Luna." As he finished speaking, he flew off in the direction of Luna's castle, and it wasn't took long after, he landed at main doors to the castle, the guards recognized him, saluted him, and opened the doors, where a very happy Luna, was waiting for him on the other side.
Darkness went to her, they embraced each other and kissed, and then let each other go, as Luna said, "Welcome home, my dear."
Darkness said, "It's good to be home. It's almost time for the raising of the moon., shall we?" Darkness held out a hoof, Luna took it, and they went out to the balcony, as Luna raised the moon.
The two sat down, and Luna said, "This is perfect, just the way it is, I wish every day can be like this."
And she layed her head on Darkness's chest, as Darkness said, "It will be, as long as I'm here, I see no reason why it can't be. And I'm just fine with the way things are, things are just perfect, just they way they are."
Luna smiled, and said, "I'm so glad to hear you say that." Nothing more was said, as they both continued to sit there, and together, looked and enjoyed looking at the night sky until it was time to lower the moon.
The next morning, Darkness was awoken up, by a large pounding on Luna's and his bedroom door, Darkness got up, went over to the door, opened it, as one of Celestia's guards was at the door, and rather frantically, said, "My lord, you presence is requested, at Celestia's castle!"
Darkness said, "Understood, you are dismissed." The guard saluted, and flew off, as Darkness got himself ready, put on his armor, and cape, and his sword, kissed Luna, and told her where he had to go, and she nodded, and fell back to sleep. With that, Darkness took off to Celestia's castle, and was at the main doors of Celestia's castle, within a few minutes, and the guards automatically opened the doors, seeing Darkness come flying in. And Darkness landed, and went inside, and went to the throne room, which the doors had already been opened. Darkness went in, and the doors closed behind him, as he saw Twilight, her friends, and Snowshy were all here as well, and Celestia waved him over, and he went over to them all. Darkness said with a concerned look, "If you are all here....oh no...what happened?"
Snowshy was the one that spoke, and said, "I think we may have a problem."
Celestia said, "Bolverk has somehow managed to return."