Ooo The Darkest Hour ooO
As the cold hung heavy in the air, the two ponies looked at each other, their breaths coming out in puffs of swirling mist that vanished quickly. Around them, the crooked branches of trees reached out like blackened claws. Twisted trunks were flecked with strange warts and bumps, swirling and morphing into convincing wooden masks of hatred. The trees came alive in a sea of wicked faces. Hollow eyes tracked the ponies that dared stop in their corrupted woods.
“What are you doing here?” Steel Heart asked, meeting her gaze.
“But officer,” Twilight stared at the pony, “how... how did you even get here?” In a twisted irony, the pair had been facing each other in the police station only hours earlier.
A moment of silence passed between them, and several pairs of luminous eyes gathered like lanterns in the darkness.
“Miss Sparkle,” the old policepony said, “a report of a missing filly came in at midnight. I suspect that she might have wandered into the Everfree forest.” His tone was as cold as ice.
“What? But we’re not even in the Everfree,” Twilight said. She looked at the trees around her.
“Are we not?” The policepony’s voice sounded strangely hollow.
As wind blew, the branches rubbed against one another in a ghostly song. Somewhere above, a crow let out a harsh caw, and another echoed from a distance away.
Twilight took a few steps back, her eyes growing rounder and rounder. “We’re in the Everfree Forest... are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?”
“I’m searching for the filly,” Steel Heart said, turning away.
Suddenly, Steel Heart snapped his head back to her, an expression of cold fury on his face. “What are you doing here?” the policepony accused, as if Twilight was responsible of all this. “You’re not supposed to be here. You didn’t happen to have come across a filly, did you?”
Twilight creased her eyebrows in confusion, but suddenly she knew what the policepony was talking about. “M-Me? I don’t even—Oh! Of course, Apple Bloom,” she blurted, slapping a hoof to her cheek. “Yes, there was missing filly, officer. She’s safe and sound now, all the way back at home.” Twilight gulped, her pupils dilating. “But we’re not. Not safe at all, I mean.”
“Where is the filly?”
Ignoring the question, Twilight scanned the area, sweeping across the numerous pairs of eyes in the darkness. Her fur prickled uneasily. It wasn’t the eyes she was afraid of.
“We have to move out of here, because something terrible is happening. This place isn’t safe. I think that there’s some kind of monster on the loose, the same one that I was telling you about earlier today.” Twilight looked around again. “If we hurry, we could get out before anything bad happens.”
Beginning to walk in the direction that Steel Heart came from, Twilight paused. “Come on, you know the way out, don’t you?”
To her surprise, a rough tug by the policepony pulled her back. “I want to see the filly.” His voice was hollow again.
Feeling a little uncomfortable, Twilight shrugged away from him. “Um... the filly is back at her home in Sweet Apple Acres. But that’s not important—we need to get out of this place now.” She turned around to stare at Steel Heart. “Are you okay?”
Steel Heart remained on the spot, as if in a temporary stupor. Staring for a few moments, Twilight used her magic to tug him along by his shirt, but the tension broke with a rip. She paused, lifting up the torn piece of his uniform. A small stain of blood was on the scrap of fabric, and Twilight looked from it to the policepony.
“What... happened to you?”
The policepony’s lips suddenly curled up into a dark smile. “The Everfree Forest does things to ponies.”
Twilight nodded, backing away a little. She dropped the piece of ripped uniform with an involuntary shudder. “You’re right. Which is why we need to—”
“I want to see the filly.”
As she struggled to figure out his strange behaviour, Twilight could feel desperation beginning to seep into her. What was wrong with this pony? she thought.
“Steel Heart, I’ve taken her home. I don’t understand what you mean, but if it helps, we can check on her later. We have to go now.”
More pairs of luminous eyes had appeared. They filled the darkness in a variety of shapes and color. Some were small and yellow while others were deep orange with black, elongated pupils. Twilight couldn’t figure out what dangerous creatures they belonged to, but she knew it was unwise to linger any longer.
The old policepony growled, and his response chilled Twilight to the bone. “You’re lying,” he hissed. “There is something that you’re hiding from me. I can feel it. You’re lying.” Steel Heart rounded up on Twilight, and she backed away instinctively.
“I am not leaving until I solve this case,” he spat as his eyes glazed over, “till I redeem my name as one of the great Hearts like I should have been.”
“But you’ve got it wrong!” Twilight pleaded desperately. “She’s at home. I can bring you to see her tomorrow!”
“I am not leaving till I’ve found that filly!”
As his voice echoed through the trees, the forest seemed to dip into an unnatural silence, as if some unspoken law had been broken. Countless pairs of eyes hung in the darkness like that of ghosts.
“Please... please stop, Steel Heart,” Twilight begged in a strained voice. She looked from policepony to the glowing eyes.
Steel Heart stopped suddenly, spinning around to face the depths of the forest. An insane glint formed in his eyes as he bared his decaying teeth in a snarl. “I will solve this case! I will!”
With a howl that sounded like that from a lone wolf, he raced into the dark forest before Twilight could stop him. With him, a hundred pairs of glowing eyes vanished.
Twilight Sparkle felt as if the air had thickened into a cloud of fog around her mind. As she stared at the spot Steel Heart had disappeared from, Twilight opened and closed her mouth several times, feeling confused and frightened and utterly lost.
No, she thought. No, it’s not safe. He’ll get attacked. Something’s wrong with him. Help! I have to get help.
A trickle of panic found its way into Twilight’s stream of fear and confusion.
Help... She needed help, and then she could find Steel Heart. But only he knew the way out.
She fell back on her haunches. Help. How in Equestria was she supposed to find help? There was only darkness and fear here, a few luminous eyes among the trees to keep her company. She needed to get out, but she couldn’t. She might be stuck here for hours more, surrounded by all sorts of dangers and terrifying monsters in the shadows.
And what was that thing that had been chasing her, before Steal Heart appeared? It had sounded like the hideous pony-serpent thing, but she couldn’t be sure. There were so many things that were uncertain, so many dangers lurking around. She couldn’t even be sure if she would be able to see the sun rise again.
Twilight dropped to the ground entirely, her breaths turning into quiet sobs. It was too much. It was all too much. She would give anything to have a friend here. Anything that could offer her a shred of comfort or security.
Her friends...
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. It felt so long since she had last seen them. How long ago since they had last been together?
Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy. Reciting their names in her head should have helped a little, but instead it made her feel lonelier than ever.
She looked up, trying to imagine her friend was standing before her. Kind and friendly as ever, Applejack would have said something to comfort her: ‘Cheer up, sugarcube, bad things don’t last forever,’ or ‘Keep yer head up and keep going!’ Twilight knew the mare well enough. Applejack wouldn’t want her to give up like this. None of her friends would.
That’s enough, Twilight decided. A heave, a push, and she was back on her hooves. She rubbed away the tears from her face, her throat feeling dry from crying. There was no more energy in her muscles, but still she forced herself onwards. Her friends were waiting back home.
No sooner had she taken three steps, a disconcerting sound reached her ears, like the hollow cackle of an disembodied head. She peered in the direction of the disjointed sounds, almost forgetting the dangers around her. “Hello, is somepony there?”
Clackclackclackclackclack...
“Steel Heart?” she called out hopefully.
A woosh, followed by a rustle of the leaves, as if moved by a ghost. All the remaining pairs of eyes in the darkness vanished at the sound, accompanied by a few terrified squeals of the creatures that they belonged to. After a second or two the air fell still. Then it was not still. A flurry of moving branches followed, jumping from bush to bush, finally coming to a rest in the darkness just beyond Twilight’s field of vision. And then she saw it: a single pair of blood-red eyes opening up.
Twilight let out a scream, backpedalling on the forest floor and kicking up dead leaves in her haste. But her retreat was cut short as a hind hoof caught against a knobby root. She tripped, tumbling to the ground and rolling on the layer of dead leaves. There wasn’t time to scramble away. Hastily pushing herself up, she could only watch the horror unfold before her.
The thing began to slither into the shafts of moonlight. Each of its limbs was a part taken from a different animal, hair giving way to black scales as they blended in perfectly to its serpentine body. It moved in a disturbing way, slithering and sliding as if controlled by a sick puppeteer.
Twilight remained frozen, the blood draining from her face, and the hairs on her coat felt like they were crawling with insects. “S-stay back!” she cried out suddenly.
Still the creature advanced toward her, two warped bone-like protrusions glinting on its head, one longer than the other. Several gray patches revealed themselves along the creature’s body as it drew closer, as if those areas had been turned dead into stone.
Crouching into a defensive position, Twilight dug her hooves in the soil. “I-I’m not afraid of you,” she repeated in a shaky voice. A small thought at the back of her mind told her that she could never be as brave as a pony like Rainbow Dash, who wouldn’t have even tried escaping in the first place. Rainbow would have turned to fight the moment anything threatened her.
Twilight clenched her jaws together, forcing a purple glow into her horn. Her resolve hardened as she thought about Rainbow Dash, and her horn glowed brighter. It didn’t matter that she was still trembling in fear.
“I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!”
A blinding beam of light erupted from her horn, filling the forest and engulfing her vision in a sea of white. Twilight was forced to shut her eyes, and she could only feel the intense heat warming her coat like the midday sun.
As quickly as it came, the light died down. Twilight slowly cracked open her eyes and looked beyond her sizzling horn. To her horror, the creature appeared to be alive, its dark scales unblemished in the moonlight. Twisting its body, it reared up like a gigantic serpent preparing to strike.
Twilight’s eyes widened. In defence, she shot a quick pulse of laser, the purple streak arcing up towards the creature’s head. But just before it struck, the creature’s maw opened, sucking in the magical energy as if it was just a gust of vapour caught in a web. A brief flash of purple emanated from the protrusions on its head. Then the monster lunged towards her in a flash.
Snapping to her senses, Twilight dropped and rolled on the ground. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she heard the crunch of branches as the creature missed and crashed behind her. There was no time to catch her breath. Before she could react, a jagged tail swished through the air and wrapped around her body. A huge swing threw her up. For a brief moment she shrieked as she flew through the air, but her voice ended abruptly as she slammed against a tree and slided to the ground in a crumpled heap. She lay stunned, taking in a few ragged breaths as the world spun around her, a trickle of warm liquid creeping down from her forehead.
Then she scrambled back to her hooves, looking wildly around. The creature had disappeared seamlessly into the shadows. Where is it? she thought, WHERE IS IT?
Twilight pumped out multiple laser shots in a wild panic. They flew in all directions, bouncing off the trees. One went totally off, spiralling toward the sky.
Yet she knew it was no use, after how it devoured her magic. There was no way to fight it, unless... She gasped, feeling a flicker in her mind, an idea caught like a fly in a web.
Quickly, she forced her exhausted supply of magic out. A shapeless aura formed in the air, swirling and gathering together in a glowing sphere of light. As more magic was added, the sphere became brighter and denser. Twilight manipulated and plucked at her magic, stretching the mass into an elongated shape.
It became denser still, flattening out and forming a sharp tip at one end and a rounded handle on the other. Slowly, the raw magic was beginning to take the shape of a weapon. Caught up in her work, Twilight didn’t see the black mass dropping out from the trees above.
The next few moments passed in a flash. Twilight felt herself slamming against the ground. A flurry of teeth and claws followed as she flailed her hooves in the air wildly, but she was pinned helplessly against the ground. Sharp things plunged like knives into her soft belly.
Twilight gasped, her pupils contracting into pinpricks. Warm blood spurted out of the wound, trickling down her coat. She didn’t scream or struggle. Instead, her stomach turned into ice, and the air seemed to drop into a frigid cold.
Help, Twilight thought. A distance away, she could see her magical dagger evaporating like a wisp of vapor to the darkness.
The claws withdrew with a sick squelching sound. A cold, scaled body coiled around her like a python of death, pressing against her body and squeezing the air out of her lungs.
Twilight felt as if she was being lifted off the ground. Her weak lungs struggled to breathe, but only the vile stench of death and decay filled her nostrils. The blurred outline of a pony head hovered above, its snake-like eyes staring into hers. Its jaws stretched unnaturally wide, and behind its rotting fangs lurked a shapeless tentacle, blacker than night.
“No, please... please... don’t.” Twilight’s said in a weak whisper.
In one mouth swift motion, the ethereal tentacle wrenched her jaws open and shot down her throat. Twilight convulsed as the invader reached down into her heedlessly, squirming and slithering around her stomach, smashing against her ribcage from within. Twilight’s face contorted into a silent scream.
As she writhed and thrashed about in uncontrollable spasms, she was faintly aware of a soft stream of magic flowing out of her and up through the tentacle. The dead patches of gray that she could see on the creature were changing, rapidly regenerating back into skin and scales.
With every passing second, Twilight felt herself relaxing against her will. It felt wrong in every way, her instincts screaming at her to get away, but her body unable to do any more than twitch. Her hooves felt heavy, and she was content to let them fall limply by her sides whilst she savoured the pleasant numbness spreading through herself. The world swirled and stretched, and in front of her the tentacle continued to drain a purple glow from her.
Twilight was on the ground again, though she couldn’t remember falling. She felt the life seeping out of her like a trickle of water from a broken pipe. As time passed, the feeling became lighter still, or it might just been her senses pulling tricks on her. Feeling more lightheaded than ever, as if she was floating in the air, Twilight pricked her ears uncertainly as a voice called out to her, sounding far in the distance.
Twilight Sparkle! TWILIGHT!
It was somepony familiar, and after a while Twilight thought that it sounded like Princess Celestia. It was Princess Celestia! She was here. Here to guide Twilight through her darkest hour in the night. If only she could see her beloved teacher one more time... but through her hazy vision, Twilight could only make out the grass under her, stained with dark splotches that looked out of place. Paint, she thought dully, somepony must have dripped paint there. She didn’t have energy to figure out why.
Resting her head on the soft grass, Twilight closed her eyes. Her body slumped forwards, and in the same moment the forest filled with a blinding white light.
In the distance above, Princess Celestia angled her wings and banked sharply, streaking down to the forest. She knew there was no time to lose. Initially headed for Ponyville, she had veered off course when something had caught her attention—a single purple spark, shooting out of from forest and spiralling erratically to the sky.
The sea of pointed treetops sped towards her in a blur, rising faster and faster as the cold night wind swirled and buffeted the ethereal hair of her mane. Still, Celestia willed herself to travel faster. Speed was of the essence now.
The treetops crashed into her in a great mass of leaves and branches. Celestia squeezed her eyes shut as the scratchy leaves whipped against her face. Breaking past the layer of trees, the branches snapping under her like brittle fingers, she finally landed on the ground with a firm thud. Folding her wings and straightening, she opened her eyes to scan her surroundings.
It was even darker under the forest canopy, where the moonlight settled in small patches among the leaves, but even then Celestia noticed something massive and black coiled up in a small clearing ahead. A smaller shape was trapped within, and as the monster unravelled itself, the shape flopped to the ground like a discarded rag doll. In the next few seconds, the vague pony figure twitched its limbs a little before finally falling still.
Celestia felt her blood turn to ice. As her fears worsened, she sent up an illumination flare to the area, only to see her student lying crumpled on the ground, her coat almost losing its lavender hue. A gasp escaped her lips. “Twilight Sparkle! TWILIGHT!”
A hollow, rattling breath pulled Celestia’s attention away. The creature had turned its attention towards her now. It locked its hungry eyes on her, taking a step toward her on its mismatched limbs, and then another.
Setting her horn aglow, Celestia lifted her head and stood her ground. This monster had ruthlessly crushed her student. There was no remorse, no pity. After years of passive calmness, her composure shattered like fragile glass and power surged from deep within her chest.
“Die, wretched beast!” she growled.
A burst of pure, white-hot magic erupted from her horn. The air flashed and cracked as magic zigzagged through it like electricity, forking out into tiny pulses before converging back into one. With an explosion of light and thunder, the pulse connected with the creature’s scaled body, but almost immediately the sound grew warped and then muted, as if it had been somehow absorbed.
The creature twisted around itself. Its black scales festered as if they had a life of their own, and the protrusions on its head emanated a violet light. A gasp escaped from Celestia, and a thought emerged: stolen magic.
A wave of energy travelled up to the crooked appendages, and a blast of violet laced with black flames shot towards her. Stunned, Celestia failed to dodge the attack, taking the blast squarely on her chest. She stumbled backwards, her coat smoking and a charred patch of black on her.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Celestia straightened up, preparing for any further attacks. She knew it wasn’t her own magic being used against her, but it felt just as familiar, because it had once belonged to her student. Now a dark force had defiled it, and the mere thought of that vile creature violating Twilight’s magic made Celestia burn with cold fury.
All of a sudden, the monster shot up towards the trees, disappearing among the dark canopy. Seconds later another streak of purple emerged, leaving a thin trail of smoke and as it ripped through the air towards her like a missile. Another appeared from the branches just behind, and then even more shots followed a distance away.
Eyes trailing the magic bolts heading towards her, Celestia ignited her horn, and a powerful shield of magic was created around herself just moments before the bolts could incinerate her. She watched grimly as the blasts smashed violently against the barrier, sizzling like acid. Celestia knew that she would not be able to hold up forever, but there wasn’t a need to.
True enough, there was a pause in the assault, the air left with nothing but thin wisps of smoke. Celestia seized the opportunity for a counter attack, charging up her magic. A brilliant orb of light was produced, rising up from the tip of her horn. As it gathered more energy, it grew brighter. Reaching a peak in height, it slowed to a stop, hovering above her like a miniature sun.
There must be no veil of darkness for the monster to hide under. As more power surged into the orb of magic Celestia felt her mane and tail changing, becoming lighter and more ethereal like translucent clouds of sparkling silk. Her coat glowed with a pristine, majestic white.
Then the miniature sun above exploded with blinding white light, producing a shockwave that rippled past her and through the forest, obliterating the very darkness, stripping the leaves off the trees and turning them to dust. Deep rumbles echoed through the ground long moments after.
A crack came from above and Celestia caught a glimpse of the creature, its scales smoking.
Although the elements of harmony were no longer in her possession, Celestia knew what she had to do. The draconequus had to be destroyed once and for all.
Channelling her magic again, she produced a disc of pure energy. Several sparks of electricity danced along its surface, and more appeared with each passing moment. The spell grew stronger, and the more power that was fed into it, the more it seemed to need. Streaks of light appeared among the grass and trees, and the stray magic from the surrounding environment was rapidly pulled into the energized disc, being transfigured into showers of sparks.
All the while, Celestia was well aware of the draconequus travelling between the dark branches, moving closer to her. She could only hope that the spell would be completed in time.
Multiplying themselves, the sparks danced and swirled in electric blue waves. When the material seemed to be made out of nothing but sparks, the mystical substance warped and bent, and six individual blades extended out from the middle, the disc itself forming a centrepiece. As the magical input began to ebb, each of the blades hardened and cooled.
A loud crack interrupted from the branches above. In a flash, the draconequus lunged at her with a terrifying screech. The six-bladed star hovered firmly in Celestia’s grasp, glowing in whites and golds.
A quick swish, a mighty swing. Celestia felt grim satisfaction as she felt her magic slice through flesh. The creature let out a strangled sound as it fell to the ground, writhing and slithering backwards as black liquid oozed out of its wound.
Seizing the chance, Celestia pushed the attack. She wielded her weapon by its centerpiece, sending it flying back and forth in a blur of light. Strike after strike landed on the draconequus, slicing through its scales and spurting out blackness. She could show no mercy, not after what it did to Twilight.
Despite Celestia’s relentless attacks, the creature managed to lunge forward in a counterattack. The glaive swung towards its jaws, and to her horror the magic faltered, warping the weapon’s shape as easy as bending a feather. With a violent tug, the glaive flew out of her grasp and disappeared into the black abyss of the draconequus’s maw.
A wave of dizziness washed over Celestia. She staggered back, feeling the a part of her power lost, draining away from her mane and coat. With wide eyes, she watched the draconequus curl around itself in a quivering mass. She knew something was not right with it.
In a brilliant flash of light, the creature exploded into huge plumes of orange flames. The creature thrashed about in agony as the fire tore into its body, screeching like a tortured soul from the depths of Tartarus.
Hardly aware of having been thrown back by the force of the explosion, Celestia pushed herself up, watching with mixed wonder as the creature was consumed by the great fireball. With a final roar, the draconequus crashed to the ground, its body disintegrating into ash within seconds.
It was all over in a few minutes, the forest falling silent and the blue of dawn breaking through the bare canopy. Celestia limped past a number of smoking trees and blackened bushes, staggering to the side of the clearing, where she could make out Twilight’s still form among the grass, the unicorn almost looking like she was asleep. Crouching down, Celestia could only stare at the terrible injuries on Twilight’s body. Her coat was drained of color and matted with dried blood, most coming from the deep puncture wound on her chest. Celestia couldn’t help but think that Twilight had been fed upon on like lowly prey.
Taking deep breaths, the goddess closed her eyes as the reality of it all came down upon her. She lowered her head, her shoulders slumping forwards in defeat. It mattered not how long she would remain there, or how the sky fell stagnant in dawn, holding for the sun to be raised. Nothing seemed to matter all that much anymore.
Celestia brought her face close to Twilight’s broken body, nuzzling her soft, faded coat. A stray tear seeped out of the goddess’s closed eyes, rolling down her cheek. “May the light guide your soul, Twilight Sparkle,” she murmured.
Gradually, Celestia became faintly aware of a light shining through the dark curtain of her eyelids. It was soft, almost teasing, like warm rays of the morning sun. With a growing curiosity, she cracked open her eyes.
Back at the clearing a glowing purple orb was rising from the ash, its diameter no bigger than the base of her hoof, drifting towards Twilight’s body. It rested above the unicorn’s chest for a few moments, before disappearing into her coat. The light vanished, and everything fell still under the inky blue of dawn.