//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight 
// Story: Rise of the Dark Unicorn 
// by Sky McFly 
//------------------------------//

The morning after Twilight and Spike had revealed Styxon’s true character to Rarity, Twilight summoned Rarity and Spike to her quarters to share an important discovery.
“Thank you both for showing up,” Twilight began, pacing the room like a teacher in front of a blackboard. “I’ve come to a realization that may be our best hope in overthrowing Styxon.” She paused, relishing the suspense while Rarity and Spike waited impatiently.
“Well?” Rarity finally asked.
“Styxon Stones is more powerful than any unicorn you’ve ever met, correct?” Twilight said. “He was able to instantly win the trust of all the unicorns in Ponyville and Canterlot, and to a lesser extent some of the earth ponies and pegasi. This was partly due to his charm, but I suspect some magical form of persuasion was involved. This would explain why he has the most power over unicorns, his own kind, and why Spike was unaffected.”
“Not because I’m just more sensible than the rest of you?” Spike broke in, looking slightly disappointed.
“Don’t interrupt, Spike,” Twilight continued, shooting him a stern look. “Subsequently, Styxon was powerful enough to cast a spell over all of the unicorns who trusted him, taking away their magical powers.”
“That’s not all he can do,” Rarity muttered, recalling a few of Styxon’s tactics of “persuasion.”
“What?” Twilight asked.
Rarity blushed. “Oh—uh—it’s not important.”
Twilight raised her eyebrows.
“But we already know all this,” Spike said, breaking the silence. “What does this have to do with your ‘big discovery’?”
“I think the princesses may still be alive!” Twilight said finally. “This is just a hypothesis, mind you, but I don’t see how else Styxon could be so powerful. I suspect he somehow captured the princesses and is keeping them imprisoned so he can leech their magical powers by force in order to cast the spell over the unicorns.”
Both Rarity and Spike looked immediately happy at this news, and then quickly became annoyed.
“You couldn’t have just told us that to begin with?” Spike asked, rolling his eyes.
Twilight continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “If I am correct, then our next task is to find the princesses. I have one idea in mind for procuring this information, but Rarity must agree to it.”
“I’m listening,” Rarity said.
“Rarity, I thought maybe you could use your…charm…to convince Styxon to reveal the princesses’ location.”
Rarity and Spike were both silent, taking in Twilight’s plan.
“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Twilight continued hastily, “and I expect it’s the last thing you want to do right now. I’ll completely understand if you’d rather I come up with a different idea…”
“I’ll do it,” Rarity replied, with an expression of determination on her face.
“Are you sure?” Spike asked, taking one of Rarity’s hooves in his hands. “You know how dangerous he can be…”
“After the way I treated you?” Rarity responded. “And Twilight, and Fluttershy, and pretty much all of our friends? I’ve been terribly selfish the past few weeks! It’s the least I can do to make up for it.”


***


The 9:00 train to Ponyville sped through the desert like a straight black snake. Inside the dining car, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Thunderlane discussed what they would do once they arrived in Ponyville.
“Let’s try an' find Pinkie and Big Mac,” Applejack suggested. “See how their rebellion’s goin’.”
“Good idea,” Thunderlane said immediately. “Let’s do that.”
“Oh shut up, Thunderlane,” Rainbow Dash grumbled from across the table. “Nopony likes a suck-up.”
Thunderlane opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a distant ghostly screech of a whinny. He jumped and clung to Applejack.
“What was that?!” he whispered.
“It almost sounded like a Windigo,” Fluttershy said, “but we’re really far from their home territory. I don’t know why there would be one way out here in the desert.”
“Couldn’t have been a Windigo, then,” Rainbow Dash concluded. “So stop worrying, Thunderlane. You look pathetic.”
They heard the eerie whinny again, louder this time. Thuderlane jumped again. Applejack put her front legs around him and stroked his mane.
“Yeah, that’s definitely a Windigo,” Fluttershy said.
“But what’s a Windigo doin’ in the desert?” Applejack asked. 
“Maybe…” Fluttershy began, “maybe Styxon Stones sent it here. Maybe it’s looking for us.”
“Uh oh,” Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash stuck her head out the window and looked up.
“I don’t see anything,” she reported.
“Maybe, just to be safe, you should close the window…” Fluttershy suggested, seconds before a window on the opposite side of the dining car shattered into an explosion of glittering shards. Thunderlane screamed.
A ghostly blue-white horse several times the size of a pony stood among broken glass and scattered cutlery. Flurries of snow swirled around the Windigo, whose flowing transparent mane seemed to be its own source of wind. The Windigo slowly raised its bony head and scanned the dining car with glowing white eyes.
“Definitely a Windigo,” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Open the window! Open the window!” Thunderlane yelped.
“Let’s split up,” Applejack suggested. “I’ll draw it off.”
“I’ll come with you,” Thunderlane offered.
“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack instructed, “you an' Fluttershy head toward the front o’ the train. Thunderlane an’ I’ll lead it t’ the back.”
“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked. “How are you going to get rid of it?”
“No time fer questions!” Applejack replied. “Jus’ do as I say! I’ll think o’ somethin’!” She stood up and waved her front hooves in the air. “Hey Icy Eyes! Over here! I’m the one ya want!” The Windigo turned its blank gaze to Applejack, who grabbed a wide-eyed Thunderlane and galloped toward the back of the dining car. Following Applejack’s directions, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash crawled the opposite direction.
“Ooh, I hope they’re all right,” Fluttershy worried aloud.
“I hate running away while ponies are in danger!” Rainbow Dash complained. “I’m going to go back and help!”
“No!” Fluttershy said. “How can you possibly fight a Windigo?” A moment later her eyes widened as she came up with the answer to her own question. “Rainbow Dash! Windigos feed off of hatred! And, well, I can tell you and Thunderlane don’t quite get along…”
“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash said, “are you saying it’s here because of me?”
“No, not at all,” Fluttershy said. “Well…maybe. But either way, your animosity will only make it stronger. If you want to help Applejack, you’ve got to go back and make peace with Thunderlane.”
Rainbow Dash groaned. That was the last thing she wanted to do right now. “Is that my only option?”
Fluttershy nodded.
Reconciling herself to her new task, Rainbow Dash said, “Okay. But how will I get back there in time? They must be in the caboose by now.” She glanced up at an open window and an idea came to her. Without stopping to think about it, she climbed up and poked her head outside. Over the rushing of the wind, she could just make out Fluttershy’s voice protesting, 	"Rainbow Dash! Your wings!” But she had already pulled herself through the window. She clung to the outside of the train for a moment as the desert rushed past beneath her, then let go.
Rainbow Dash fell briefly and then grimaced as she began to flap her still-healing wings. The wind speeding by caught her wings and she zoomed toward the back of the train. After several seconds, she braced herself and then stuck out a hoof to grab onto an open window. Her body instantly swung back and slammed into the side of the caboose. Ignoring the pain and mustering all of her strength, she dragged herself up through the window and fell to the floor.
The caboose was freezing cold. Ice crept up the walls and swept across the floor from where the Windigo stood. Rainbow Dash squinted against the biting wind and gasped as she watched the Windigo bear down on Applejack. As it exhaled, ice climbed up Applejack’s body and imprisoned her mid-scream.
“Hey, you leave her alone!” Thunderlane yelled before Rainbow Dash got a chance to do the same. The Windigo slowly turned its head and fixed its blinding gaze on the gray pegasus.
“Thunderlane!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
Thunderlane spun around. “Rainbow Dash!”
“Listen, Thunderlane,” Rainbow Dash said quickly, “we don’t have much time. So here goes.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t like you.”
“You don’t?”
“Not one bit. But we both care about Applejack, and if we want to save her we’ve got to get along.”
“Okay,” Thunderlane said, “what do we do?”
Rainbow Dash’s heart began to beat faster as the Windigo slowly approached them. “I don’t know!” she said desperately. “I thought that would do it!”
“Maybe we need to show that we can get along,” Thunderlane suggested.
“Um…okay,” Rainbow Dash struggled to think of nice things to say about Thunderlane, “I guess you have some good qualities. Uh…you’re a pretty good flier. And I suppose Applejack could’ve chosen somepony a lot worse than you.”
The Windigo faltered, but continued to draw closer. Rainbow Dash felt ice begin to climb up her hooves, fixing her to the floor, and lost all sense of reason.
“Oh, please don’t make me do this,” she groaned, and then leaned forward, squeezed her eyes shut, and pressed her lips against Thunderlane’s. Thunderlane’s eyes widened in shock. After a couple seconds, without breaking away from Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash cracked an eye open and peeked over his shoulder to see the Windigo dissolve into a flurry of snow and rush out the window. The icy wind dissipated and the ice began to melt from the walls and floor.
Rainbow Dash finally drew back and shoved Thunderlane away from her.
“Get off of me!” she said irritably. “Never speak of this again.”
Applejack shook water out of her mane and stepped out of the puddle of water she was standing in.
“What happened?” she asked. “How’d y’all git rid o’ the Windigo?”
Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane glanced at each other. “Uh…Thunderlane and I…um…settled our differences,” Rainbow Dash told Applejack. “Once the Windigo saw us getting along, it just blew away.”
Thunderlane nodded, still trying to get over the shock. In a slightly higher voice than normal he agreed, “That’s what happened!”
“Well, all righty then,” Applejack said. “Let’s go find Fluttershy.”


***


That evening, Rarity spent half an hour lighting the dozens of candles spread around her quarters and another half hour combing her mane, staring into a mirror, and trying to work up the courage to follow through with her mission. When she had convinced herself that she could do nothing else to prepare herself for the ordeal ahead, she made her way to find Styxon Stones and invite him to her quarters for the evening.
An hour later, Rarity and Styxon sat across a table set for two. Styxon took a sip from his glass of wine and regarded Rarity with the look of a pony about to enjoy a fine dessert. Rarity brought her glass up to her lips but did not drink. She would have loved to lose herself to the wine but knew she would need to maintain her faculties for the task ahead. As subtly as she could, she magically eliminated the remaining wine in her glass.
“So, Styxon,” she began after setting her empty glass down on the snow-white tablecloth, “you never told me what your special talent is.”
Styxon stood up and made his way around the table. He caressed Rarity’s head in his front hooves and then leaned forward to meet her lips with a kiss. Rarity struggled not to gag as his scent overwhelmed her.
After several interminable seconds, Styxon drew back and gazed hungrily at Rarity.
“You’d like to know my special talent?” he asked, his voice silky smooth. 
“Do tell,” Rarity replied in as sultry a voice as she could manage.
Styxon once again enveloped Rarity in a tight embrace, pressing his body close to hers, his lips peppering her face. Rarity’s first instinct was to recoil, but keeping her task in mind, she slowly backed up until her hind legs hit the foot of her bed. She fell backwards onto the soft covers, her mane splayed out underneath her. Slowly Styxon climbed up onto the bed and straddled Rarity’s torso. He gazed into her eyes for a moment and then leaned down, his glowing horn approaching Rarity’s. Suppressing her desire to shrink back from the stallion, Rarity allowed the horns to make contact.
From the tip of her horn to the end of her tail, her body was filled with a sensation that two days ago would have been pleasure. For an endless, unbearable moment, all Rarity could do was wish for the feeling to end. Finally the sensation faded and her consciousness returned. Rarity struggled to simultaneously choke down bile and appear as if she enjoyed the experience.
“Oh Styxon,” she purred, gazing up through her eyelashes at the stallion, “you’re so powerful…”
Instead of answering, Styxon began to dot her neck with kisses.
“Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if the princesses are actually still alive, and you’re just getting all of your power from them?”
Styxon drew back and narrowed his eyes. “That would be ridiculous,” he replied slowly.
“I mean, where would you even keep them prisoner?” Rarity continued lightly. “You couldn’t imprison them in the moon; we all know how that worked out last time.”
“Earth is the only reliable prison,” Styxon said softly, looking at Rarity with suspicion. “Hide a pony deep enough in the earth and they’ll never come out.”
Too late, Rarity realized that she hadn’t been subtle enough. Hoping against hope that she hadn’t lost her chance, she giggled and forced herself to kiss Styxon on the nose. “Prove to me you’re really as powerful as I think you are,” she said slyly, and spread her front legs wide as if hoping for another embrace.
Instead, Styxon’s face hardened. He placed a hoof on each of Rarity’s legs, pinning her to the bed, and glared at her with an angry, almost wounded expression. Rarity’s eyes widened and she allowed herself to shrink back as Styxon’s face drew within an inch of her nose.
“My special talent,” he said in a deadly whisper, “is fire.”
Rarity gasped. “It was you…”
Styxon conjured ropes out of the air, which snaked around Rarity’s front legs, binding her to the posts at the head of her bed. He then produced a short length of cloth and used it to gag her.
“And when you play with fire,” Styxon continued, his breath hot against her face, “you want to be careful not to get burned.”
Angry red sparks danced at the tip of his horn and then blossomed into a ball of flames and began to swell. Rarity stared up at the stallion in fear. Styxon seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, and then turned and blasted a beam of fire through Rarity’s window, shattering it into a thousand shards.
“If you had been anypony else,” he hissed, “I would’ve killed you.”
He left Rarity bound to the bed, paralyzed with fear, and departed from the room, locking the door on his way out.