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// Dark Darker Yet Darker 
// Story: A Knight's Tales 
// by Modern Masquerade 
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Two fillies played under the high sun in the garden behind Canterlot’s Cathedral. Released early from their classes for the day, Prism and Aura had taken to exploring in the city while they waited for the carriage. Their lessons had continued now for a couple years, and they’d taken to them strongly. Aura had found her talent in abjurations, and her cutie mark with it, though she still couldn’t shake a passion for more ostentatious displays of magic. While Prism had yet to find her special talent, she had taken well to training with her mother, returning from her lessons each day to hone her martial prowess. While older than when they’d first started school, the two still dreamed of seeing the world and going on adventures together, and between Prism’s knowledge and Aura’s spellcraft, they had excelled at most any project Master Blaze had put before them.

Still, this day found the two of them going about the well kept gardens, chasing after monsters on an adventure in their own minds. Things changed when Prism tripped hard on a hole near the wall. As Aura came to check on her friend, they both noticed that the hole seemed to lead into a large, dark space. Exchanging an excited glance at each other, Prism remembered the rope she had packed in her emergency kit, and began tying it to a nearby tree. While she secured the way in, Aura began digging at the hole with her hooves, widening it enough that the fillies could fit inside of it, and into the darkness beyond. Prism laughed at seeing the dirty state of her friend, but was silenced by a tackling hug that got at least as much of the dust on her.

Laying on the grass, the fillies had only one question to discuss, one vocalized by Aura, “So, who’s first?” Prism considered this for a moment, before both of them spoke at once, “Me!” Laughing again, the two fillies eventually played a match of hoof-horseshoe-horn to find the winner, Aura. Excitedly, she began to lower herself into the darkness, lighting her horn when only her head was remaining above the ground. Prism followed her friend to the sound of her amazement at what was inside, an opinion well justified as Prism lit her own horn to see gleaming caverns of shining crystals.

The two made their way carefully about the caverns, noting scattered remnants of mining activity that had been ceased long ago. Careful but curious, the fillies inspected these artifacts and tried to solve the mystery of why such a mining shaft would be abandoned. As they wandered a little ways further into the shafts, a cold chill started to work its way upon the fillies. Neither one wanted to admit that she was scared, but as they looked to each other, Prism saw a fluttering thing behind Aura. Freezing, Prism slowly lifted her hoof to get Aura’s attention as words caught in her throat. For her part, Aura noticed that her companion had stopped, and did so herself, seeing the pointing hoof she looked down and about herself. There, Aura noticed her second shadow.

Moving and flitting in the light of the two unicorns, the shadow stretched behind her onto the wall, a warped thing like a pegasus with wings stretching across the walls. Color fading as she began to shake, Aura bolted away as one of the wings stretched silently along the floor and brushed against her. The silence was broken as Aura gave out a great cry of pain while muscles atrophied and withered away under the darkness of the shadow. Seeing her friend hurt awakened something deep inside Prism, as she charged to Aura’s defense, swinging wildly at the shadow with the training hammer from her bag. Alas, the hammer had no effect, swinging passively through the monster. Unexpectedly, the shadow pulled back, onto the wall again it spoke in a hissing voice “You fillies shouldn’t have come here, I am beyond you. I’ll give you a chance now, stand down and go easy or fight and die tired.”

The shadow got its answer as Aura picked herself up from the ground with effort, groaning from her pained legs as she put weight on them. Looking to the shadow with a furious intent, she intoned her spell as flares of a magic missile smashed into the creature, making a tattered hole in the darkness of the shadow. Angered by this assault, the shadow reached off the the wall and grasped around Aura’s chest. Once again, there was a great cry as Aura could feel the weakness even as deep as her heart. Looking pleadingly to her friend, Aura collapsed to the ground as the light on her horn slowly faded. Maliciously, the shadow spoke again, “Perhaps I’ll let you be the first victim of her shadow.”

Tears started to stream down Prism’s face, tears for her friend, for her desperation, for her family. She dropped the useless hammer to the ground, and could feel the monster moving toward her. Still, she could feel that something from before still present deep inside, pulsing like her heartbeat. Time seemed to slow for an instant as she saw, just barely, a movement of Aura’s eyelid. Knowing that her friend was still alive, if only just, and that she needed Prism to defend her, it filled Prism with determination. A flare of light began to erupt from her horn as in front of her manifested a hammer, not unlike the one she’d practiced with, but much larger. The hammer glowed with magical light from within, and looked like it was made of a faceted crystal, fracturing the light into a rainbow of colors. Seeing the weapon in her mind’s grasp, Prism made a ferocious attack against the shadow. Both were surprised to see the hammer smash into the incorporeal form of the monster, destroying it forever.

Checking on Aura, Prism found that her friend had simply been drained so heavily that she couldn’t lift even the apprentice robes she wore so proudly on her back. Using the rope in a hurried rush, Prism was able to get her up to the garden and into the temple. There, a kindly cleric manifested a Restoration spell to return Aura to her strength, he noted as he did so just how lucky the fillies had been. As the spell was cast, and Aura’s eyes flicked open, she tearfully thanked both the cleric and Prism for saving her. Unexpectedly, Aura froze suddenly while giving Prism a hug, and pointed to her flank. Turning about, Prism saw what the fuss was, her very own cutie mark.