The schoolhouse bell rang, and the foals began piling into the little classroom, all talking as they took their seats at their usual desks. A minute later, the classroom door opened again, and a much larger silhouette crossed the threshold. The talking died at once, and the students all tensed up as the mare began walking to the front of the room. She wrote a few words on the blackboard, then sat down at her desk.
"Good morning, children," she ceerfully greeted them.
"Good morning, Ms. Sunshine," the foals chanted glumly.
"Good," said Ms. Sunshine, as she pulled a stack of papers out of a desk drawer. "I hope you all studied what I taught you about Magical Energies yesterday, because we're having a test on it in a minute."
The foals all let out a collective sigh. Most of them had been dreading this very thing. As she smiled at them, several of them wondered to themselves why she was called Ms. "Sunshine" when she was so good at squashing any happiness they had.
"Don't worry if you forgot to study," she consoled them, still smiling brightly, "I'll give you a minute or two to study right now."
Some of them hurried and pulled out their notes from the previous day, but most of them sat back in defeat. The eyes of the few flew across their papers, fully aware of exactly how short Ms. Sunshine's minutes were.
"Notes away," Ms. Sunshine commanded less than thirty seconds later. Her horn lit up, and tests flew across the room, landing in front of each student face-down as they sluggishly put away their notes.
"You have twenty minutes," Ms. Sunshine said, glancing at the clock one of her students had made for extra credit. "Ready... begin."
There was a rustling of paper as each student flipped their test over, quills at the ready. Ms. Sunshine leaned back in her chair, listening to the scratching sound of thirty quills filling out answers. She continued watching the clock, counting down the minutes. The expressions on each foal's face varied. Some showed nothing but intense concentration on the test. Others appeared nervous, and some were obviously scared. One foal, a medium-sized tan unicorn, finished filling out his last answer only ten minutes in, and leaned back in his chair, staring around with a bored expression on his face.
"Five minutes," Ms. Sunshine eventually called. The foals that were scared were now downright terrified as they began to feverishly write answers. In their rush, there would undoubtedly be many mistakes from their tests. Finally, the twentieth minute came.
"Time's up," Ms. Sunshine said as she levitated every paper off of it's desk, leaving the foals who were still scrambling to write a final answer looking rather distressed. The tests arranged themselves in a neat little pile on Ms. Sunshine's desk, as she stood up and walked over to the blackboard once again.
"Get out your notes," she said, as she began writing something else on the blackboard. This time, the grumbling of the students was clearly audible.
"We never have a lesson after a test," one filly complained to her friend. Ms. Sunshine smiled, as she finished writing the letter M on the board.
"I know this is unusual," she said, still writing, "but I think you'll all be excited to see what we're discussing today."
The filly who had spoken scoffed, as though she seriously doubted it. Ms. Sunshine finished writing, and stepped aside so the foals could all see what she had written.
Immediately, the room was struck with dead silence. The foals who had been leaning back, preparing to completely ignore her as a sign of protest, sat up straight. There was a look of anticipation on each face. The tan colt who finished his test fastest leaned forward, quill inked up and ready to quickly take notes. Ms. Sunshine smiled, the victory clear in her yellow eyes.
"I thought you'd all be interested," she said. "Many of you have been asking if you're old enough for this lesson. It's really bugging me. So I decided to give this lesson a bit early."
A large, crimson unicorn colt gave a satisfied smirk at this. He had been one of the few who had been preparing to ignore her. Ms. Sunshine began teaching.
"Dark Magic is a fascinating and incredibly rare form of magic. It is the most powerful and most dangerous magic known to ponykind, boasting incredible sensory abilities and horrifying spells. However, almost nopony can use it. Who can tell me why?"
Dead silence. The foals all looked around in anticipation, wondering who would dare speak up.
"Nopony?" Ms. Sunshine said, looking around with a disappointed expression. "Come on, we just finished the Magical Energy unit, and you all got into the Canterlot Advanced Academy. One of you should be able to tell me. Why can't we use Dark Magic?"
The tan colt let out an internal sigh, already guessing at what consequences this would bring later. He slowly raised a hoof into the air.
"Ventus," Ms. Sunshine said, pointing at him.
"Because Dark Magic uses a different Magical Energy than we're built for," he said, in a quiet voice.
"Exactly," Ms. Sunshine said. The foals around him looked at Ventus somewhat resentfully. "Dark Energy is the polar opposite of what our bodies are used to. Technically we can still use it, but who can tell me what happens if your body can't handle the darkness?"
Again, dead silence.
"Ventus?" Ms. Sunshine asked.
"You'll die?" he guessed.
Ms. Sunshine tilted her head. "I'm starting to see why you're here," she told him. "You're pretty smart. I don't understand why you can't use any magic."
Ventus shrugged. Some of his colleagues looked slightly smug, and looked forward again. But the crimson unicorn continued staring resentfully at him.
"Ventus is right," Ms. Sunshine continued. "If you can't handle the dark energies, then they will kill you in the end. To handle dark energy, your own magical energy needs to be extraordinarily strong, strong enough to withstand its opposite. Therefore, there are only a handful of ponies who have been recorded to use Dark Magic successfully. Two of them, as you all might know, are the two Princesses. Some of the others are members of a bloodline, a bloodline of the most powerful magic users ever seen. They were all banished by the Queen of Unicornia long, long ago, when the head of the family used Dark Magic to terrorize her civilians. Of course, there have been some others, but they have all been imprisoned or destroyed, so none of them could possibly put you in danger."
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At the end of the day, the bell rang, and the foals began packing their school things away.
"No homework for tonight," Ms. Sunshine called over the din the foals were making. They exited the school house one by one, beginning to make their way through the streets of Canterlot back to their homes. A large group of foals all piled out of the schoolhouse, headed by the large crimson colt. The colt looked around, spotting a lone, tan figure in the distance. His group broke into a gallop to catch up with the lone colt.
"Ventus!" the crimson colt called out. The lone colt stopped walking, turning to see who had called. After meeting the eyes of the crimson foal, he turned and continued walking as if no one had called him. The large group ran harder, and caught up with him quickly. The crimson colt put a hoof on Ventus' shoulder, spinning him around roughly so they were face to face.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded harshly.
"What does it look like?" Ventus asked, gesturing forward. "I'm walking."
He turned to continue onward, but the crimson colt jerked him around again. This time, Ventus whipped around and knocked the hoof away from him.
"You know what I meant," the crimson colt snarled at him. "What are you doing, answering her questions like that?"
Just leave me alone, Ventus thought to himself. I just want to go home.
"Well?!" The colt demanded.
"Somepony had to," Ventus shrugged, once again turning to continue home. This time, he found his progress impeded by the rest of the big group. They had formed a large circle around the two colts, and there was no gap between them. They were obviously looking for a fight.
"No, they didn't," the crimson colt retorted. "You made the rest of us look stupid."
"How do you figure?" Ventus asked, one eyebrow raised.
"If you'd just kept your big mouth shut, nopony would've answered, and it would've seemed like none of us geniuses knew. But instead, you said the right answer without thinking, and made the rest of us look like morons."
"It's not my fault none of you knew the answer, Iron Hooves," Ventus said, staring the colt straight in the eyes. The surrounding foals began tightening the circle, pushing Ventus and Iron Hooves closer together.
"Well, it had better not happen again," he snarled. Then, his face twisted into a smug smirk. "Or I'll have to talk to my uncle."
Ventus raised both eyebrows this time.
"One of my uncles can use dark magic," Iron Hooves said. "Next time, I'll have him come... talk to you."
"Bull."
Iron Hooves' smirk faltered, and Ventus half-smiled.
"You probably stopped paying attention after she told us that Dark Magic is the most powerful kind, so I'll tell you again. Only a select few ponies can use Dark Magic without the dark energies killing them; the Princesses, a family of ponies who were all banished, and others who are all neutralized. If your Uncle is a dark magic user who's not in prison, I'm certain we would've heard of him."
"How do you know he can't?" Iron Hooves asked, his smirk slowly sliding back onto his face. "For all you know, he just doesn't tell anypony outside the family."
"You know what?" Ventus said, narrowing his eyes, "Fine. Have your Uncle come prove it, right here, right now. We're close enough that Celestia will see it too. Then she can tell the whole world by throwing him and the rest of your family out."
Iron Hooves flushed, as his cronies all turned and muttered among themselves. Ventus turned to continue home, despite the group of ponies in the way. Iron Hooves racked his brains, desperate for something, anything he could use to retaliate.
"At least I can actually use magic!" he yelled.
Ventus came to a dead stop. He opened his mouth to retaliate, but nothing came out. As he stood frozen in place, that awful truth hit him with the force of an iron fist. No matter how hard he tried, he had never so much as levitated a pebble from the ground. Iron Hooves, reveling in Ventus' silence, continued on with an evil smile.
"You come to the CAA, but why? What does Princess Celestia see in you, a colt who still can't use magic?"
Ventus stared at the ground as Iron Hooves' insults hit him. Just leave me alone, he thought for the second time. I just want to go home.
"You're nothing, Ventus. Nothing, compared to the rest of us."
Ventus' hoof clenched into a fist on the ground.
"Shut up," he said, softly.
"What did you just say?" Iron Hooves asked, his eyes widening as his triumphant smile slipped off his face, immediately replaced by a snarl.
"I said," Ventus declared, much louder, looking up to glare right into Iron Hooves' crimson face, "shut up. As in close your mouth and stop talking."
Iron Hooves turned an even deeper shade of crimson, clenching his teeth as Ventus pressed on, forgetting his need to get away, forgetting he was surrounded by a gang of bullies, forgetting he would be unable to escape.
"You don't know anything about me. Because you're so dumb that your family had to bribe the officials into letting you in the CAA."
He knew it was hopeless the moment he said it. Iron Hooves' anger broke, and he threw his punch forward. It hit Ventus right in the jaw, causing him to sink to the ground in pain. Iron Hooves then walked forward and kicked him, as his cronies cheered him on.
"I told you you're nothing," Iron Hooves snarled, as he punched Ventus in the face again. "And that's all you'll ever be."
Ventus lay there, taking a couple of more blows as his anger and pain built up inside him. As his will broke, he felt something stir inside of him. Something deep down he had never felt before.
"Leave. Me. ALONE!" He suddenly burst out, as the unfamiliar force burst out of him.
Ventus' outburst was immediately accompanied by a silent shock wave, which flung Iron Hooves and all of his cronies backward. They cried out in alarm and fear as they smashed to the ground one by one, and clumsily rose to their hooves again. As Ventus slowly rose, eyes closed, a sudden chill swept the area, and all of them, even the non-unicorns, sensed something.
Fear. Every single foal had a sudden, soul-chilling feeling of terror as they stared at Ventus. It was worse than any nightmare, any past horror any of them had ever experienced.
"What is going on out here?!" A mare's voice demanded. Ms. Sunshine was galloping towards them at full speed. She came to a halt and shrank back a bit when she noticed Ventus.
"Ventus...?" She said. He was looking at the ground, eyes still closed.
"What's going on?!" Ms. Sunshine demanded of the colt next to her. He, eyes wide with horror, slowly shook his head, quivering slightly. Ms. Sunshine took a couple of tentative steps towards Ventus.
"Ventus," she said, her voice slightly higher pitched than normal. "Could you look up at me please?"
Ventus didn't respond.
"Ventus, please look at me. Tell me what's going on," Ms. Sunshine said, in a tentative voice. He continued standing still.
Then, without warning, Ventus' head snapped up, and his eyes flew open faster than a blink.
Every single foal let out a gasp of horror as the fear they had been feeling intensified, and the temperature dropped even further. Ventus' pupils were gone - or rather, the rest of his eyes were gone. They had turned pitch black, with only the sunlight reflected in them as he glared at them all. Ms. Sunshine stumbled backwards several paces in panic, as the rest of the foals gathered behind her, using her as their shield. Ventus began taking slow steps towards Ms. Sunshine.
"Ventus, what are you--"
"Move," he said, simply. There was something different in his voice; it was slightly lower than usual, and sounded a bit... distorted. His expression slowly grew darker and darker, as Ventus glowered at his teacher. The fear and cold reached their strongest points yet as Ventus drew even nearer.
"...No," Ms. Sunshine protested, determined to protect the foals.
Ventus' gaze suddenly intensified on Ms. Sunshine, and she gasped as she felt a contortion in her chest. It was almost as though a hook had been attached to her ribcage. Ventus turned his head to the right, and Ms. Sunshine let out a scream as the unfamiliar feeling threw her through the air like a frisbee. She smashed into a brick wall several yards away with a horrible crack, losing consciousness as she slid to the ground.
Ventus continued his slow walk towards the little group of foals. The rest of Iron Hooves' cronies attempted to create a wall of ponies in front of him, but Ventus only had to move his eyes to toss the rest of them aside like rag-dolls. Finally, it was just Ventus and Iron Hooves left. The latter was trembling with fear as tears ran down his face. Ventus' horn glowed with a menacing black aura as his new, uncontrollable power threatened to burst out of him in full measure.
Ventus was so intent on Iron Hooves that he didn't notice the yellow beam of light hurtling towards the ground from above him. The beam collided with the ground thirty yards away from them, and a large white mare appeared within it. Turning immediately towards the source of the dark aura with a swoosh of her mane, Princess Celestia began galloping at full speed towards the two. Both her eyes and horn alike glowed yellow as she charged a spell.
"I command thee to surrender thyself in a peaceful manne--" Princess Celestia began in her strongest Royal Canterlot Voice, but when she saw her target properly, she skidded to a halt as confusion hit her harder than she had hit the ground. Her target, the pony putting off the strongest dark aura she had sensed in 800 years, was a small colt, no older than eight. And not only that; she recognized him.
She walked up to him, both her eyes and horn still lit, as Ventus prepared to unleash a terrible spell upon a larger unicorn colt on the ground. She touched the tip of her horn to his head, and immediately Ventus began to calm down. The dark aura began to disappear, the blackness receding from his eyes as they returned to their natural state, the full warmth of the day hitting them all once again. Ventus looked up at her, his blue eyes filled with shock. Iron Hooves was in hysterics.
"What was that?!" he screamed, neither noticing nor caring about the pony beside Ventus. "That wasn't pony magic!"
"Calm yourself, child," Princess Celestia said gently, but Iron Hooves plowed on.
"He's not a pony!" Iron Hooves shrieked. "He's a devil!"
"I said calm yourself," Celestia said more forcefully. She wasn't offended herself by his words, but she worried about the prolonging effect they would have on Ventus.
"He's a freak! A monster! He should be banished to the moon, like Nightmare M--"
"SILENCE!" Celestia roared in the royal voice, losing her temper for the first time in decades. She had regretted what she did to her sister for nine hundred years, and it was still a touchy subject. The foal fell quiet immediately. He wasn't crying, but he was paralyzed with shock and fear. The sound of hooves suddenly echoed through the air, as the rest of Celestia's task force arrived on-scene.
"You're late, commander," she said to one of the iron-clad stallions beside her.
"My apologies, Princess," the stallion said, bowing deeply. "But, you used solar transport. No one could have gotten here as fast as you did."
"We'll talk later," Celestia said, without acknowledging him. "Right now, I need you to gather everypony who witnessed this except for Ventus here and that one," she said, pointing at Iron Hooves, "and escort them to the throne room."
"Yes, your Majesty," the commander said at once, and the rest of the task force began gathering the foals and the unconscious mare.
"You two," Celestia said, pointing at Ventus and Iron Hooves, "Need to come with me. We have much to discuss."
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