The Rider Of Darkness

by GaleWind

Section 2; Scroll 11

As the full moon rises above the night sky, all is not quiet. Even though the sky has begun to clear, deep within the enchanted forest of Everfree, rain falls down like a torrent. This forest is home to numerous enchanted animals and if one could listen close enough, they can hear the howl of the timber wolves. Though it may seem calm despite the rain, all is not right.

Deep within a part of the forest, a creature runs at full speed and not stopping. If one could take a closer look, they can make out the outline of a four legged beast with something on its back. The creature continued running until it came to a small clearing. It bowed its head so that the thing on its back could gently roll off.

The object the creature had was a pony, a very injured one. The pony’s breath was hard and shallow. The beast looked down at the pony with pure white eyes. While the pony was drifting in and out of consciousness, one question kept going through its mind.

‘Why… did this… happen?’

Yesterday Afternoon…

The commotion in the market place died down enough for everypony to start cleaning up the damage of the battle. The amount wasn’t that bad and it was situated within a confined space so they could get it fixed faster.

The girls and Reverb were helping clean up the last bit of damage when I showed up to lend a hand.

“I heard this town deals with crazy stuff on a daily bases but I didn’t think it was like this.” He told me when I showed up.

“Believe me; this town doesn’t deal with this kind of crazy unless something big is in play.” I said. I glanced at the girls as they were coming towards us. I noticed that Pinkie’s tail was twitching non-stop.

“Pinkie, why is your tail twitching?”

“It’s because of the doozy.” She responded with a little strain in her attitude.”

“A doozy?” I asked and looked towards the girls.

“During the attack, when the monster turned invisible, Pinkie started shaking non-stop and when the rider pulled out that new weapon, she suddenly stopped.” Twilight explained. I looked at the party pony again and her twitching tail.

“Then why is her tail still twitching if the fight’s over?” I asked.

“She said the fight was part of the doozy but not the big one she was talking about.” Twilight finished. That has me worried, when you live in this town; you learn to heed the warnings of the party pony. But, what could happen that could make her pinkie sense come in parts.

“We’ll think of something tomorrow. It’s been a long day and we all could use the rest.” I said to them. Everypony agreed and decided to meet at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow. The girls said their goodbyes and went home.

“Well, this has been an interesting day if I ever did see one.” Reverb said.

“Agreed, so where are you staying at tonight?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I got in this morning but, all the hotels are booked.” He said.

“You can stay at my place. My couch folds out into a bed.”

“Nice, I left my stuff at the train station. Meet me there and will head to your place.” He said as he started walking to the station. I guess I got a roommate.

I met up with him and we went our way towards my place. The sun was just setting when we got to my house. We walked in and got him situated.

“Thanks for letting me crash here, Echo.” Reverb said.

“No problem. What are friends for?” I replied. We got the living room set up for the night and sat down to catch up.

“So, where did you go after the competition, Reverb?” I asked.

“Well, I went towards Las Pegasus for a convention for all the best disc jockeys as a wrap up of the competition. After that, I went to different towns, doing small shows to pass the time.” He said. Something came up though.

“At the shop, you said you were traveling with a group, what about them?” I asked.

“When I stopped in Manehatten, I met them in the club. They said they’ve been looking for me because of my skills. They asked if I wanted to join them to train.” He said. Okay, now I’m confused.

“Train?” I asked.

“My dj skills of course.” He said with a grin. I could tell he was hiding something. For as long as I have known him, I can tell when he lies to me. The question is: what is hiding from me this time? I made some hayburgers for us to eat, lucky I could decontaminate the food I bought. We finished them just as the sun was going down. I got up just as he asked a question.

“So, where’s this Zepha the girls were talking about?” He asked out of the blue. I was caught off guard by this and stuttered a bit which caused him to laugh.

“I don’t believe it; I never thought the day would ever come.”

“Shut up.” I said with a blush forming. He just snickered.

“Alright, I’ll stop. So, where is she?”

“She’s visiting her father. I don’t know when she’ll be back.” I said.

“Oh, okay. Sorry about that. Hey, where’s the wash room? He asked.

“Down the hall and to the right.” I told him. He went down the small hallway and disappeared from my vision. I heard a pulse and looked at my bag. I got up from my seat and went over to it. I opened it and took out the driver. It was pulsating like crazy, almost as if whatever it was reacting to was close.

“What is wrong with you, it’s like you’re afraid of something.”

‘KNOCK’ ’KNOCK’ ‘KNOCK’

‘Who could that be at this hour’ I put the driver back in my bag and went towards the door. I opened it and saw no one out there. I was about to close the door when I heard a voice.

“Echo.”

I turned around and Pinkie was right behind me. She had her head down so I couldn’t see her face.

“Pinkie, what’s wrong?” I asked.

She didn’t respond and continued to look down. She walked towards and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I was surprised by this but returned it.

“What’s with the sudden hug?” She still didn’t respond but I felt her hug tighten a bit. I could hear mumble something but, I couldn't hear it clearly.

“Pinkie, what’s the matter?” She didn’t say anything. She slowly let go of the hug and raised her head to look at me. Her eyes were misty and looked like she was close to crying.

“I don’t understand why but, be careful.” She said and ran out my door. I noticed that her tail was still twitching. I just stood there mulling over the words she said to me. I didn’t know what to say until I heard Reverb’s voice.

“Echo, I heard someone knocking at the door? Who was it?” He shouted. I closed the door before answering.

“It was just Pinkie Pie.” I called back.

“What did she need? Did her tail stop twitching?” He replied.

“No, she just needed to see me.” I said.

“Did she need anything?” He called.

“No.” I replied. I got my bag and went towards my room.

“Reverb, I’m turning in early for the night. I had a long day before you showed up.” I called.

“Alright, dude. See you in the morning.” He called back.

“Goodnight.” I said. I went into my room and closed my door. I set my bag against my bed and sat down on it. I could still hear the pulsating noise form my bag. I put my head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. I could still hear the words Pinkie said to me.

‘I don’t understand why but, be careful.’

‘What did she mean by that?’ I thought. Every time her pinkie sense acts up something always happens and the fact that it started when fight did worries me and the fact that it’s still going means it’s not over. But, the first part of what she said is what worries me the most. The only thing that crosses my mind that may relate to that is something I’ve dreaded since the very beginning.

“Pinkie, I hope your pinkie sense is wrong this time.” I said to myself. I closed my eyes to try to get to sleep. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

Morning

I woke up at around as soon as the rays of the sun hit my face. I was able to get to sleep last night but, I was still a bit worried. I washed up, got on some fresh clothes and decided to make breakfast. I noticed that Reverb wasn’t there when I left my room. It wasn’t until I finished making breakfast that my front door opened and he walked in.

“Morning, Echo. You get some sleep last night.” He said almost out of breath.

“Yay, I did. Where were you anyway and why are you out of breath?” I asked while I put two plates of breakfast down on the table.

“I woke up two hours ago and went for a morning jog.” He said. I checked the wall clock in the kitchen to get the time.

“Two hours ago was five a clock in the morning.” I said.

“Really, I didn’t think I was gone that long.” He replied.

“What time did you go to bed?”

“I think about an hour after you did.” He said. Okay, now I know he’s hiding something.

“Let me get this straight: you, Mr. ’I-stay-up-until-three-in-the-morning-redoing-my-remixes’, went to bed at ten, woke up at five and did a two hour jog. Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” I said with shock.

“Ha ha, very funny. I’ll have you know that I’ve really matured over the years.” He said with an adult voice.

“Reverb, the last I heard from you, you were in a club and you partied all the way until closing time at six in the morning.” I deadpanned. He let out a small snicker.

“Okay, I may not have matured that much but, I’m still different from what I was.” He replied. Something is wrong and I’m going to find out now.

“Reverb, I know you’re lying to me. Ever since we were colts, I could always tell when you’re hiding something. What is it?” I said, trying to get to the point. He didn’t answer and put on a serious face that I didn’t think he could make. There was no noise for a few minutes until he answered.

“Echo, do you trust me?” He said with a stern voice.

“The question you should ask is: do you trust me?” I fired back.

“You know I do and you know that if I’m ever hiding something from you, it’s for good reason.” He answered. Something clicked in my head when he said that.

“You coming to Ponyville wasn’t just choice, was it?” I questioned.

He didn’t answer.

“Reverb, what have you gotten yourself into this time?” I asked with a stern voice. He looked me dead in the eye and replied.

“Believe me, when all of this is over, I’ll explain everything.”

After are little discussion, we stayed inside until it was time to meet up with the girls. We did talk about other things to get ourselves off the topic. We talked about early foalhood memories and small adventures we used to have to ease the tension in the air. He got that smile he always had right back on his face. I just wish I knew what was going through his head.

We left around noon and went towards Sugarcube Corner. The sky was starting to gray and look like it was going to rain soon. We made it towards the shop and went inside. We looked around to try to find the girls.

“Over here.” A voice said.

We followed the voice and saw Twilight with the girls at a table. We went over and sat down with them.

“Good morning, girls. When did you all get here?” I said.

“We got here a few minutes before you two showed up.” Rainbow said.

“Your tail still twitching, Pinkie?” Reverb asked. I looked at Pinkie and saw her tail still twitching. She gave a small nod and looked back down at the table.

“The poor dear hasn’t said a word since we got here.” Rarity said with worry.

“How long does her pinkie sense usually last?” Reverb asked.

“This is the first time it’s lasted this long before. Also, this the first time that her pinkie sense has actually come in parts and one is still going.” Twilight explained.

We were all worried about our pink friend. Every time she looked up she avoided my sight. I still remember the conversation last night and still had trouble believing it.

“Reverb, are your friends on their way here?” Twilight asked.

“Yay, I talked to them a while ago. They should be here soon.” Reverb said.

“Friends? What are you guys talking about?” I asked confused. The girls looked at me and confused.

“Reverb, you didn’t tell him?” Twilight asked. Okay, now I’m confused.

“Tell me what?” I asked towards Reverb. Before he could say anything, I voice cut him off.

“There he is, over there.” It said. We all looked towards the entrance and saw two figures walk in.

‘What the…’

I couldn’t explain how these two looked. They looked like crystal ponies but, they were obsidians but not ones I have ever seen before.

The taller of the two was like Big Mac’s size but, a little bulkier. His coat and eyes were orange and his mane and tail were short and red. His other self though, everything was the same except for the bull horns on the side of his head and the shin and arm guards he wore.

The shorter one was my height but, he gave off a commanding sense. His coat was black and his mane and tail were white. His eyes were icy blue that look like they could see into your soul. He carried a sword on his waist. But, there was no difference between his two sides. That’s what he really looked like but, I could still sense that he was an obsidian.

The only similarity the two shared was that they were both wearing dark red suits of armor with the vilotan symbol on the front.

“Hey guys, over her.” Reverb called to them over. They walked to over our table.

“I see you’ve met a few ponies in the short time you’ve been here.” The big one said.

“It’s a gift, what can I say.” Reverb replied.

“I bet.” The big one replied. The short one remained silent for the whole thing.

“Reverb, are these the ponies you were talking about?” Twilight asked.

“Yay, everypony these are two of the ponies of the group I said I was travelling with. The tall one is Firma and the short one is Obsidian.” Reverb announced.

"It’s nice to meet all of you. It’s not every day you get to meet the elements of harmony.” Firma said with a smile.

“Well, it’s certainly nice meet at least two of you.” Rarity said. Obsidian stayed silent through the whole exchange until his gaze rested on me. I don’t know why but that look he gives looks like he sees straight through you.

“Who’s he” he said in a firm voice. His sudden speech made the girls surprised at how firm his voice is.

“Oh, sorry. Guys, this is my foalhood friend, Echo wave.” Reverb said as he patted me on the soldier.

“So you’re the foalhood friend he’s been telling us about. Well, it’s nice to finally meet you.” He said while sticking out his hand for a handshake. I hesitated for a minute before returning it. He had an iron grip.

“I noticed the armor insignia. Are you ranking officers in the army?” I spoke out.

“The guy’s got an eye for detail. Yay, actually were generals in the Vilotan army.” He explained. So they have generals now. We talked for about an hour but, I stayed quiet. I got a bad feeling from these guys and the driver was going crazy. I hope I don’t regret this. I got up from my seat and walked to the door.

“Excuse me, I got to go somewhere?” I said.

“But, you just got here? What’s the problem?” Rainbow asked.

“Don’t worry; I just forgot something at home I was going to show you. I’ll be right back.” I assured the girls. I got up from the table and left the shop. As I was walking, one thought kept going in my head.

‘I hope I can keep my promise this time.’

Ten minutes after I had left, both Firma, Obsidian and the others left the shop after finishing talking. The clouds were becoming grayer and the sun was all but blocked. They were walking to the library when Obsidian stopped.

“Hey, why’d you stop all of a sudden?” Firma asked as the others turn to look at him. He didn’t say a word as he looked up to the sky.

“He’s here.”

A barrier started appearing, separating the group from the two. Reverb tensed when he saw it form.

“Girls, find somewhere to hide! I’ll be right back!” He shouted as he ran towards the library. The girls understood and went to find a hiding place. The two generals just stood there and look to see shadows starting to take a shape. Firma started grinning when he saw that.

“Guess you were right. Now, the fun can start.” Obsidian just stood there with a hand on his sword. The shadows dissipated and I appeared in full form.

“So, you’re the big, bad kamen rider we've been hearing about. I gotta admit, I thought you’d be taller.” He snickered. I drew my sword and got ready.

“I don’t know why you two are here but I’m sending you right out.” I said as I stood my ground.

Obsidian moved forward and unsheathed his blade. A pure black sword with a deep red handle. He kept his gaze on me as he took a stance.

“Will you be a worthy opponent for my blade?”

Neither one of us made a move and watched each other. Outside the barrier, it had begun to drizzle. When the first rain drop hit the barrier, we both sprinted towards each other. Both are swords clashed in a show of sparks.

We separated and I went for a downward slash. He parried it and delivered two consecutive strikes which I barely blocked. I tried to return with a forward thrust but, he blocked it and returned with a vertical and diagonal slash, the latter which connected. For every one of my attacks, he returned two of his with deadly precision.

‘This guy’s on a whole new level than those I fought before.’ I thought as I took another hit. One more hit between are swords and we separated. Both my arms were shaking after the exchange and I barley acknowledged a voice coming from the side.

“You remember you’re fighting two of us, right.”

I barely got my shield out and blocked the attack from Firma. He punched dead center and sent me skidding all the way backwards towards the barrier. My whole arm was shaking and I doubt the sound recoil did anything to him due to the massive dent in my shield.

‘Damn near shattered my arm!’ I had to fight through the pain. I looked up just to see Obsidian raise his sword to Firma.

“This was my duel. You had no right to interfere.”

“You had your fun already. Now it’s my turn to fight.”

‘Damnit , I got to at least beat one of them to have a chance.’ I placed my shield on my back and pulled out the orange gem. I got it in placed and pushed it in.

Both my gauntlets appeared and I dropped into my fighter stance. Firma grinned when he saw it and mirrored it.

“Now we’re talking! Let’s see what you got.”

We dashed towards each other and I threw the first punch. I connected with his stomach but it felt like punching a steel wall. He threw a left and missed but I still felt the pressure coming off it. I kept dodging and hitting in the same spot until I could at least the beginning of cracks. We took steps back to assess the damage.

“You’re the first one to even remotely hurt me. You gotta be better than this.” He said as he looked at the small cracks.

“I’ll show you my better.”

The energy gathered and I sprinted forward with a left hook. He copied with a right and our fists connected. It sent out a shockwave that shook the barrier and sent us both backwards.

“I think my arm’s busted!” I hissed through gritted teeth. Firma was just laughing after recovering.

“I haven’t had this much fun in years! You do know how to entertain.” He said with a smile on his face. I looked between the two and small amount of damage I was able to do.

‘I can’t go down here.’ I thought with determination. I placed my shield back on my arm despite the pain, took out the orange gem and placed it in the shield’s slot and slammed it in.

The top half glowed orange and I drew my sword ready to fight to my last breath. Both of them saw this and Firma just chuckled.

“I gotta give him this much, he’s got guts to think he can take us both on at once.” He said with a smile. Obsidian just raised his sword and got ready to fight.

‘I’m not going down that easy.’ I got ready to strike…

“HOLD IT!” a voice shouted. Wait… I now that voice.

All three of us looked the direction of the sound and I was shocked to see Reverb running and coming to a halt outside the barrier. Firma and Obsidian looked at him with irritated expressions.

‘What the hell is he doing?!’ I shouted in my head. Reverb collected himself and looked at us.

“You guys could have at least waited for me to get back.” He said to the two.

‘What is he talking about?’

“You were to slow getting here and I don’t wait for a fight to start.” Firma replied. Obsidian just stood there with the same irritated expression.

“Hurry up and get ready.” He said sharply. Reverb winced at the tone.

“Alright, I wanted to test this out anyway.” He said pulling out a diamond shaped object.

‘What is that?’ I thought as he held by its handle in front of his waist and I was shocked when a belt formed around it.

“I don’t know who you are but I think it’s time you fought somepony on equal grounds.” He pulled the handle out and the object split in half with the red gem glowing bright red. He closed his eyes, breathed in and opened them.

He pushed the two halves back together and the red gem glowed bright red. Crystals began to form in thin air and began to swirl around him as his appearance turn dark. The crystals merged onto him and the transformation ended.

Reverb’s appearance now resembled that of a knight. His body suit was pure black and his armor was dark red. He wore arm and knee guards, shoulder pads and chest armor. His helmet was a lighter shade of black with a red v-shaped visor in the middle. Two dual bladed axes were on his back with black blades and red handles.

I stared there in shock and disbelief at what had just happened.

‘What?’

Reverb looked and assessed his new appearance. “Not Bad.”

He walked towards the barrier and grabbed one of the axes in his right hand. He raised and slashed a crossed it, tearing an opening in it and walked in before it repaired itself.

‘He tore a hole through it.’ I was brought out of my thoughts to block one of his attacks. The shield was to damage to even create the recoil.

“You’ve hurt a lot of ponies, let’s see you fight me for a change.”

‘I don’t want to fight you!’ I screamed in my head as I continued to block his hits but it was difficult with the continued assault. Where did he learn to fight like that and more importantly where did he even get that thing?!

A kick to the ribs knocked me back and the wind out of me. Reverb looked back at the vilotan generals.

“Do we really have to do this? I mean, he can barely fight back.” He said with an unsure voice. Obsidian was about to speak when Firma cut him off.

“The big guy says to take him down no matter what.” He said. Obsidian growled in response as Reverb turned back to me.

‘I got to fall back; I can’t fight in this condition.’ I began to gather the shadows to retreat but something was wrong.

“If you were thinking about escaping, sorry to disappoint you. We found a way to block it.” Reverb said as I looked in confusion. I checked the barrier and everything was fine. I looked closer and saw a purple tint to it.

Wait purple… Twilight.

‘Oh no’ I looked around and I could just make out the shape of her horn behind a building. They were helping them.

“Sorry to do this but your time is up.” He said. He brought both axes in front of the buckle and the gems glowed bright red.

The blades of the axes glowed black and he crossed his arms preparing to attack.

“Let’s give the kid a hand, shall we.” Firma said as his right fist began pulsating with orange energy. Obsidian merely grunted held up his sword as it glowed blood red with energy. I got up, brought my shield in front of me and prayed it withstood the damage to come.

“NOW!”

Third POV:

All three attacks launched simultaneously and connected with his shield, resulting in a big explosion. The smoke from the blast covered the rider and obscuring the view. The barrier around them began to recede until it disappeared. The drizzle began to pick up and would begin to pour down rain.

“Did we get him?” Reverb said as he eyed the smoke cautiously.

“After that, I’ll be surprised that he didn’t keel over.” Firma stated. Obsidian just continued to watch the smoke.

“Is it over?” A voice said.

Reverb looked back and saw the girls approaching underneath a dome of magic to keep the rain out. He looked at pinkie saw that her tail stopped twitching and she was ready to tear up.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ ”Girls stand back, we don’t know what will happen.” He said. The girls kept a fair distance as the smoke began to die down. They all looked on as they saw the kamen rider, badly hurt but still standing with his sword and his shield, heavily dented, at his sides.

“His more resilient than I thought.” Firma commented. Obsidian didn’t say anything as Reverb raised his left axe and pointed it at him.

“You can’t beat us, surrender now.” He stated. Nothing happened, until something did that would shock him straight to his soul.

The buckle on the rider began spark and the handle popped out and the shadows covered him. The others thought he was escaping but, the transformation was cancelling out. When the shadows were gone, what stood there was somepony they didn’t expect.

There stood a badly injured Echo Wave. His clothes were damaged and his left arm seemed broken and he looked like he was just moments from blacking out.

The girls just stood there in stunned silence and two were close to tears. Firma was somewhat surprised by this while Obsidian continued to watch. However, no one’s reaction was more direct than Reverb.

There he was, his best friend, someone he considered a brother, beaten down close to consciousness.

Regardless of their sides, he had a hand in his current condition.

He reached his buckles handle and pulled them apart, undoing the transformation. He stood in the rain and looked at his friend.

“Echo?” He said silently. The stallion just looked at his friends with a sad and teary gaze.

“I’m... sorry” He breathed before collapsing to the ground face first. Reverb was about to dash over to him when Obsidian held out his sword to block him.

“What are you doing?!” he questioned angrily. The vilotan general merely stared straight ahead.

“Something’s coming.”

A black shape sprung from the forest and raced towards the group. It leapt over the down stallion and stood in front of him. The girls gasped as a solid black timberwolf growled menacingly at the three. Shadow turned and looked at Echo Wave and gave a small whimper as it he picked him up in his jaws, carefully threw him on its back and bolted for the forest.

“Oh no you don’t, you over grown bunch of twigs.” Firma said he launched another pulse of energy at the two. Shadow spun on its heel howled. Black roots shot out of the ground and formed a wall that took the attack as the two dissappered in the Everfree Forest.

Pinkie dropped to her knees in tears as thunder was heard.

“That was the doozy.” She said through her tears.

Present

I laid there as shadow looked down at me with sad eyes. I had failed and now my secret has been exposed. Couldn’t do anything to defeat them and I couldn’t fight my friend. I could hear something coming and I only had shadow to protect me. Before I succumbed to my wounds, someone spoke.

“It is far too soon to meet your end, worry not for you are with a friend."