//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: A Learning Experience // Story: The Pony With The Forbidden Magic // by Hekkar //------------------------------// The night had come quickly for the young stallion as he got everything ready for the spell. Earlier today, he had gotten a visit from Fluttershy of a griffin harming one of the sweet mare's animals and she wanted to get payback for it. The few differences between this hex and the one he placed on Blueblood were quite expansive. The first being that this was a hex that won't harm Velvet in anyway, but it will harm Fluttershy. The other difference was this was a low class spell while his was more advance. The final difference is with Blueblood it was payback, with Fluttershy it is simply business. As he went outside he lit a candle and held in his hands a picture of the griffin. The picture she was in showed her in a tanktop that said 'PWR GRL' on it and of her flipping off the camera as he holds it in his hand. He flips it over as he sees the name of the griffin in the photo, Gilda, as he flips it back over to focus on her. His gem on his belt starts to release the dark fog that comes from the spell, yet with Nexus out, it now came a dark laugh. As he focuses on the picture, his eyes start to shift to the draconian eyes that Nexus had in the other world and when he starts to speak, it sounds like both are speaking "Hypnos, God of Dreams, Make Gilda dream of horrible things," As he speaks this, far off in Cloudsdale, the one called Gilda started to groan and shift in her bed. Unfortunately, the same is said for Fluttershy. "For one week straight, she shall sleep with a nightmare, "For one week straight, sleep shall be something she cannot bear" As those lines are spoken, Gilda's dream changed to her being wingless and hunted down by a large group of timber wolves as they hunted her through the Everfree. For everyone one she shatters, ten more take it's place. As for Fluttershy, her dreams were of nightmares as well, but of guilt such as her friends turning on her for her decision of using black magic to deal with this. "After one week's end, "Make Gilda well again." As he speaks this lines, the nightmares get more terrifying as Gilda is eaten in her nightmare by the wolves and Fluttershy is left in darkness. "So Mote it Be." As he finishes, he burns the picture as it starts to light. Before long, the last of it burns as Gilda and Fluttershy shoot up, screaming in terror as Nexus laughs about this. Velvet, secretly, felt a ping of guilt, but a price to be paid for each spell of course. For this one, a week of guilty nightmares for Fluttershy. As Velvet slept though, it dawned on him that now he is stuck with Nexus, who may be a problem for later. But right now he would wait and rest for later. As the morning came, he felt a new presence, a surge of something bad to come as he left for the town. Recently, he had been coming to town more, not for supplies, but to simply chat with those unafraid. Yet as he reached the town, he found himself enveloped in a purple light as everything went bright and now he stands before all of the Mane 6 with glares on him. All except Fluttershy, who showed only fear. As he looked at them all, Twilight was the first to speak "Do you know why you are here Velvet?" she asks. He simply kept his cool as he looks at her "If you mean of Fluttershy's nightmares. That is the cost she pays for the curse" he says. Before he knew it, Rainbow flew right into his face with a menacing growl. He just looks at her "There is no reason to get mad at me for this. I warned her of a price to be paid with this dark magic and yet she still wished for it to happen" he says. Rainbow just nearly lost it since it meant it would hurt her friend, but Applejack held her back as Rarity looks over "Really darling, I am sure you can-" "I cannot" "Come again?" "I cannot reverse this spell. Were it another spell or hex then I can, but spells that have a set time limit such as this one, I cannot reverse" Velvet says as it was true. He looks at Fluttershy "I am deeply sorry for what will happen over the course of the next six nights, but that is price one pays for dabbling in dark magic" he says. Again, Rainbow flies up to him and pokes his muzzle "Then undo it!" she demands. "I cannot simply undo something like this, it has a set time limit" "Then find a way around it! For a stallion of dark magic, your pretty bad at it" "Rainbow!" Twilight yells out now. That insult made him feel pain for it, but he didn't show it. As he watched the two bicker, he could hear every word the light blue one said of 'how pointless the power was' and 'how can he not undo something he did' as all that did was make him boil over. He stomps his foot as he yells out "If I could reverse it or find a way around it, don't you think I would of by now you damn, egotistical pegasi?! You don't know what it's like where I come from! Where my family MUST do this, not for ourselves, but to protect our town, our village, from bigoted ponies who don't see the good it can do! You think I take some kind of joy out of seeing one of my friends suffer from this damn magic?!" he yells out as it echoes through the walls. As he calms down a bit, he can see a bit of shock on everypony's face as he looks at Fluttershy, hiding behind Pinkie. He wanted to take a step "Fluttershy I-" he stops when he sees her flinch. He steps back "I'll.... show myself out" he says. He turns as he walks out of the room. As he does so and down the hallway, he stops at a large mirror and sees his reflection, but with Nexus nearby. He hears the voice in his head "Wow, had that pent up didn't you?" the voice says as Velvet keeps walking till he finds the door and exits it. As he does so, he sees the clouds come together and start to rain as his horn lights up and makes a barrier around him to keep him dry. He never really cared before what happened to any pony that are paying for his spells, but now... it didn't feel good. His first friends, or well ponies to call him friend besides those from New Foaleans, as he walked through the rain. He rubs his temple as he felt it all too often now and memories come rushing back of ponies who blame him for ruined lives as he shakes his mind of it. It's just a job and a teaching. That's what he always told himself as he walked through the deserted streets, leaving him the only soul to wander it. As he walks down the road, he could feel somepony watching from afar, yet as he turns he sees nopony is there and as he is walking, he still feels them following him. After about the third time he turned and was now in the Everfree Forest, he decided enough was enough of this stalking feeling as his horn lit up. He fired out a blast at one of the trees in the Everfree as it was a black of black and green. As soon as the spell made contact, the tree started to erode away as if aging to nothing as he sees no pony. He sighs as he shakes his head and keeps walking till he reaches his hut and goes inside. He puts his hat up as he looks at himself in the mirror to see both him and Nexus looking back "What have you got yourself into Spectre" he says to his reflection. As he is about to settle down to some lunch, he hears a knocking on his door as he walks over. As he does so and opens the door, he finds Twilight standing there as she looks up. She has that look in her eyes that many Unicorns do, but more... serious "I want you to do something for me" she says. A bit hesitantly Velvet asks "What?" "I want you to teach me" "Come again?" "I want you to teach me this magic, to show every pony the good it can do" As she said that, Velvet just looks at her grimly "Twilight.... I am going to say this on the simple ground of the very fragile friendship we have due to the.... event that took place and of your innocence." he says. He puts his hands on her shoulders "Stop. This magic is forbidden for a reason and I don't want one of my friends to learn something that is never truly mastered or controlled. I'm sorry Twilight, but the answer is no" he says as he walks back in, just for her to follow in. He turns around as she looks up at him into his eyes. They were filled with determination as he looks back and sighs at how troublesome this would be. He walks over to a parchment and quill as he writes something down "If your so eager, then let's settle it tomorrow the only way two adult unicorns can" he says as he hands her the message. With that message she left as, certain she is gone, he goes to the mirror "Nexus..." he says. The two reflections distort to show the full grown otherside as Velvet looks up at him "Get ready for tomorrow.... we're going to need every once of power for this" he says. Curious the darker coated stallion raises an eyebrow "What for?" "A magic duel" was all Spectre said.