//------------------------------//
// For What Darker Purpose #12 
// Story: The Black Cloak Files 
// by kudzuhaiku 
//------------------------------//

	Preparing herself, Sunset Shimmer wondered what they would face in Granther’s Maelstrom. Some powerful malignant force, a shadow of some sort, something that Mother Malady had been doing battle with for quite some time, trying to restore some positive energy in a place that was a vortex for negative energy. 

She knew that Bucky knew something, she suspected that he knew far more than he let on, but so far, he was remaining tight lipped, something she appreciated. She wanted to unravel this herself—she wanted to figure this out on her own, she wanted to learn from this. Because one day, Bucky would no longer be here and this would be a job she would do on her own. 

They had been through so much together… so many adventures. So many foes defeated… some with words, some with magic, some through kindness, and others through brute force. She was proud of their many accomplishments. Their many successes in the past held promise that they would be successful here as well. 

As a team, there wasn’t anything that they couldn’t accomplish together. Bucky had been hooves off for most of this trip, letting Sunset deal with everything, and she knew that she was being tested, not just by Bucky, but by Twilight and Princess Celestia as well. This would reflect upon her status as a paladin. 



 

“Are the Shadowbolts coming with us?” Sunset asked in a low voice as both she and Bucky stood on the outskirts of the town of Granther’s Polder. She was sweating, soaked, and her fatigued muscles twitched from worry. 

The temperature had soared, reaching a point that Sunset had thought impossible. It was about one hundred and nineteen degrees with one hundred percent humidity. It was also raining, a slow, steady drizzle, making it almost impossible to breathe. The swamp had become a slow cooker. Thinking a very paranoid thought, Sunset felt that it was almost like something was anticipating their visit and had cranked up the heat to exhaust them. 

“No, but they can be called in if needed. If we are going to fight with something that uses mind control, I’d rather not be fighting my own Shadowbolts.” Bucky turned and looked at Sunset. “They are strong in battle, but I think we are fighting a psychic enemy.” 

Sunset nodded and thought about her experience with the alicorn amulet. She had proven that she had a will of iron, destroying said amulet and saving Bucky’s life. She thought about the amulet’s many tricks as it had tried to worm its way into her mind. 

“Master, this course of action seems wise.” Sunset, soaked, wondered why she had even bothered with the rain shield to keep the droplets off. The air was almost a liquid in its current state. “Do you expect tentacles? Liches? Eldritch beings? A trapped demon, perhaps? Perhaps something like the sewer lurkers in Baltimare?” 

“Technically, I suspect that I’ve become something of an Eldritch horror myself.” Bucky let out a long sigh and shook his head, sounding tired. “I don’t know what to expect. I feel a presence here that I haven’t felt in a long time… not since the first of my many body changing transmogrifications and alterations.” 

Sunset felt her barrel tighten. “The Shetland Isles? The crystal lich?”

“Very astute, Minion,” Bucky replied in a low, almost whispery voice that tended to make ponies shiver when they heard it. “Something is feeding off of all of this. I’m feeding off of it too… it is having a profound effect upon me. I’ll need to leave this place and soon. Mother Malady was correct about a few things.” 

Tilting her head, Sunset pondered Bucky’s nature, not quite knowing what to make of him. He had been exposed to strange magics, been altered, had been exposed to the Warp for over four minutes and had come out of it to tell quite a tale. He had been assaulted with necromancy on numerous occasions—death spells, curses, hexes, all manner of terrible things and was building up a resistance to it, perhaps the only creature alive with an inherent, natural resistance to necromantic magics. Bucky could no longer be called a pony, but he was still Bucky, her Master, her teacher, and her friend. She began to fear what this place might do to him. 

“Master, whatever is feeding off of this has been doing so for years.” Sunset swallowed, her mouth now feeling dry, and her tongue felt like a dehydrated apricot. “If this is the case, why hasn’t it escaped the sinkhole?” 

“Good question… maybe it can’t… yet.” Bucky turned to look at Sunset and his eyes narrowed. “Maybe it needs a body. Maybe it’s too big. Or maybe, it’s like the crystal lich and exists as a chrysalis, waiting for the time when it can transform and ascend.” 

Even with the moist heat, Sunset shivered and felt her blood go cold. Something icy crept up her spine, starting from her dock and leaving behind a lingering chill that made her muscles tense and caused a spike of nausea to slither through her guts. 

“Defenses up, Minion. I’d rather not have you getting sick… or becoming twisted like me. Are you prepared to go?” The only thing visible under Bucky’s hood was his muzzle, and it was contorted into a scowl. 

“I am ready,” Sunset replied, not feeling ready at all, the cold chills and the nausea made her feel weak, small, like a foal afraid of the dark or whatever might lurk beneath the bed or in the closet. She lifted up her head, searched her heart, and thought of Princess Celestia. “I am the Flame, Chosen of the Keeper of the Celestial Mechanics. I bring with me truth and light. I am the Keeper of the Unfailing Flame and my flame will not falter…” 



 

The sinkhole looked like any other patch of swamp. A bowl shaped depression in the land filled with water, muck, and plants. In the middle of the pool of fetid water, there was a maelstrom, a swirling eddy of water as the swamp drained down into the underground cavern below. Sunset reasoned that the opening couldn’t be very big, but had no doubt grown larger with time as the ground eroded. No doubt, one day, it would crumble open and the underground cavern below would be exposed. Water trickled in from all sides as this seemed to be a low point in the swamp, a natural drain. 

No doubt, there were limestone caverns down below that were slowly dissolving as the water trickled down, and Sunset had no idea where the water went after it went underground. Probably down into some tremendous aquifer or something. 

Looking up, Sunset studied the clouds and noticed that they moved in a strange, unnatural pattern overhead. There was strong magic here and it affected the weather. The clouds were blowing westwards, having come in off of the ocean no doubt, but over the sinkhole, the clouds roiled and swirled, mirroring the mucky maelstrom down below. The trees here had been struck by lightning many times, most of them were split, burnt, half dead, or all dead and rotting away. 

Now that they knew where to look, it was obvious that something was going on here. The air was heavy and there was an astonishing lack of bloodthirsty insects. There were no birds here. Nothing swam in the water. There was nothing here. Even the monsters of the swamp avoided this place… never a good sign. 

“My first real foe,” Bucky said as he stood atop a rock that rose up out of the muck. “The crystal lich of the Shetland Isles. He was using the shadow wolves to harvest misery and fear from the ponies of the isles, feeding off of it, and making himself stronger. He sought to ascend. Had he been successful, he would have been a real threat to the Royal Pony Sisters and to the major world powers. Princess Celestia and Luna might have had to physically drag him to Tartarus and bind him for the sake of the world, and that would have been disastrous.” 

“How so?” Sunset asked. 

“For the same reason Luna becoming Nightmare Moon was so disastrous,” Bucky replied. 

“Oh.” Sunset paused and gave thought to Bucky’s words. “The world would have seen alicorns at their full power… there would have been rampant devastation and destruction. With populations being what they are, a lot of ponies and other creatures might have died. Princess Celestia would likely have to sacrifice millions to save future generations. Civilisation as we know it might have had to start over and then the world would follow Celestia out of fear rather than trust and goodwill.” 

“Exactly.” Bucky turned and his eyes narrowed as he studied his student. 

Grinning, Sunset could not help but feel a little proud of herself. Not too proud… when pride cometh, so does the fall, but she was starting to understand the bigger picture. She could see what the major players of the world saw. Those in power. She did not envy the complexity of their responsibilities. 

“The crystal lich made a mistake though,” Bucky said, continuing to speak his thoughts out loud. “He failed to take me as a serious threat. I made mistakes too. I took him as too much of a threat. I over prepared and overplanned. Our battle was rather anticlimactic after all of the build up.” Sighing, he stared out at the maelstrom and listened to the sound of the water being sucked down into whatever was below. 

Sunset, standing on a log, gazed upon the maelstrom and watched as it swirled. It reminded her of a toilet. The swamp was a giant toilet bowl and this was the place where everything got flushed down. Down below, something lurked. That something was a turd. 

Unable to help herself, Sunset Shimmer began to giggle and she felt her spirits rise, some of the fear, doubt, and uncertainty fading away. She saw Bucky looking at her, at least, he appeared to be, his head was turned in her direction. 

“I just thought of something funny, I’m sorry, pay me no attention,” Sunset said, apologising. “Do go on, if you must.” 

“It is good to hear you laugh, Sunset. After all we’ve been through together, you’ve kept something of yourself that I’ve lost.” Bucky sighed and let out a sardonic, bitter chuckle. “You shouldn’t follow me down into this hole. I have a bad feeling about this.” 

“Bucky, for shame!” Sunset stomped upon the log she was standing on. “You still haven’t learned, have you?” 

“I will never stop trying to keep you out of danger.” Bucky rose up into the air, his cloak billowing around him, he hovered, borne on shadows, and drifted over the murky, filthy water. “Come, let us do what must be done. I suspect that something is expecting us.” 



 

Sunset materialised in the cavern, making a semi-blind teleport, following Bucky in after he had drifted down through the opening as shadow. She stood on slippery, slimey stone and all around her was debris. Branches, garbage, bones, everything in the swamp water got washed down here. 

She was surrounded in all manner of spell protections, but she was already beginning to feel rather poor. There was something here… something awful. Her horn flared and the cavern filled with light. All around her were barrels, alchemical barrels, some of them had rotted open and had spilled out goop. Strange glowing fungal growths lined the walls. Strange creatures crawled and slithered around in the sludge. The cavern was as hot as an oven, the heat brought about by decay, like a compost heap, but far, far worse. 

This place was a dumping ground for alchemical waste, poisoning everything around it, including Granther’s Polder. Sunset felt a wave of sickness, her spells were not enough to protect her and she knew that continued exposure would have dire consequences. Bucky had no spell protections up at all, and seemed to be just fine. For a moment, she both hated and envied him. 

Looking around, Sunset tried to spot anything that might seem out of place, wondering what sort of creature was lurking down here that could be so dangerous. The cavern was rather large with an uneven floor, most of which was submerged as the swamp trickled in from the ceiling. Barrels formed enormous piles, some of which had been stacked, but it seems that somepony gave up and just began to teleport them down here willy-nilly. 

And then, Sunset noticed it. A barred gate. She winked, teleporting from the spot she stood over to the ledge in front of the gate. The bars were rusty, crumbling, covered in moisture and slime. She felt Bucky materialise beside her as she reached out and touched the gate. 

The gate crumbled completely at her touch the pieces fell down, striking the ledge, many of them bouncing off and falling down into the toxic sludge below. Sunset felt a wet sensation in her nose, and, going cross eyed, she looked down and saw blood trickling from her nostril. 

This was bad… 

Undeterred, she pressed onwards, stepping into the tunnel beyond the gate. Right away, she felt something on the edge of her awareness, something pressing into her mind. Some malevolent force tried creeping into her consciousness and it grew stronger as she walked down the tunnel, the blood dripping from her nose splashing down upon the stone below her hooves. 

Bucky was drifting along beside her and she could not tell if he was drifting along half in and half out of shadow or if he was simply defying gravity again… because he could. Exposure to the Warp had changed him profoundly. 

Ahead, a heavy iron door blocked the way. It hadn’t rusted, it was dark, grey, and imposing. Sunset suspected that it was enchanted, but however good the enchantment’s might be, Sunset knew that the door would open one way or another. If worst came to worst, they would just go through the stone around the door, or Bucky would transmute the iron into something else. 

Like chocolate pudding. 

Scowling, Sunset Shimmer slammed the door with a powerful dispel spell, the very sort of spell that revealed the spider’s web that was Hibiscus’ house. She felt a crackle all around her and using her telekinesis, she pushed the door open. 

It creaked, the hinges needing oiling, but the door did open. Much to Sunset’s surprise, there was light on the other side. Something was in here. Lighted sunstones studded the walls, weak sunstones, sunstones not made very well. They flickered and fizzled, catching some of Sunset’s dispelling spell. 

The room was dry, dusty, and the skeletons of several ponies were visible, all unicorns. Sunset examined them, the bones were old, a bit crumbly, and dusty. A decaying hat lay on the floor near one of the skeletons, a floppy conical wizard’s hat. A crystal orb lay on the floor and the light inside of it flickered and pulsed. 

In the corner at the far end of the room, there was a table piled high with books, an alchemist's basin, and a wooden crate. On the side of the crate was the symbol of House Avarice and the sigil of House Bitters, a hoof firmly planted upon the head of a prone pony and the words “Continendi Omnia” below it. 

Sunset began to feel a little better, not quite as sick, this room seemed somehow protected from the noxious waste in the cavern, but she could also feel something pressing in on her mind. She sniffled, her bloody nose beginning to scab over and slow. 

There was another door at the end of the room and Sunset watched as Bucky made his way to it, hovering over the bones on the floor. The door was wooden, bound with brass, and decorated. 

Bucky stopped at the door and did not go through. He stood there, unmoving, his head bent in concentration. Sunset moved over to the table and began to look around. The books were in good condition with no signs of rot and they gave off a faint magical signature. Examining the spines, Sunset saw that they were books that dabbled in dark magic. Binding magic, soul entrapment, dark enchantments, and there were even a few books that specifically dealt with necromancy. 

“Whatever lies beyond this door knows that we are here,” Bucky said in a low whisper. “It waits for us, wanting to be free. I can hear it in my mind, promising me power and rulership. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it.” 

As Bucky spoke, Sunset began to hear it as well and right away, she knew that whatever it was was trying to divide them, separate them, make them bicker and squabble. It was strong, powerful, and Sunset thought about the alicorn amulet, another artifact of darkness that had tried to dominate her. 

She grinned and felt confident that she could resist. 

Sunset continued to look over the table, her eyes studying every item she saw. The wooden crate was empty, there was nothing inside of the box, not even cobwebs. On the table, she saw a scrap of yellowed paper and picked it up. 

After clearing her throat, she read aloud, “Necromentia Rex Mortis Libris.” 

She set the paper down and looked at Bucky. “That doesn’t quite make sense to me.” 

“I find the choice of words rather unsettling, myself,” Bucky replied. 

Sunset noticed that Bucky had his talons upon the door and she gave a nod. She was ready. Her lungs burned a bit, she had a headache, and her nose still had a slight trickle, but she was ready. She began to summon more spell protections and watched as Bucky opened the door. 



 

Beyond the door was a chamber. The floor was covered in strange symbols, sigils, and runes. In the middle of the room was a pedestal, and upon the pedestal, there was a book. Something about the book was the most horrible thing that Sunset had ever looked at, but she couldn’t say why. Just looking at it made her feel crazy and random thoughts of killing Bucky filled her mind. 

She shoved them out and trusted that Bucky was doing the same. The disturbing book appeared to be made out of flesh and there was the unsettling notion that the book was somehow breathing. Looking at it, Sunset was certain that the book was moving somehow, even though it never left its spot upon the pedestal. 

“A book?” Sunset shook her head. “A book was threatening the town?” 

“A book,” Bucky replied, “but so much more.” 

Sunset ignored the psychic scramble in her head, the promises of power, of rule, the promise to subjugate all ponies beneath her, the promise to have an army of the dead to do her bidding. She focused instead upon Bucky, who appeared to be studying the runes on the floor. 

“We should just burn it and be done with it—” 

“No Minion!” Bucky raised his talons and made a frantic waving gesture. 

“But I—” 

“Minion, no… if you burn this book, if we try to destroy it, it will release all it contains. It will likely destroy us and the rampaging spirits gathered within the book would be loosed upon the world.” 

“Okay…” Sunset eyed the book, not liking it at all, and feeling a strong compulsion to set it on fire. Already, it was changing tactics, trying to entice her into doing something, anything. Sunset couldn’t shake the feeling that the book was breathing and laying on the pedestal, it appeared larger somehow. 

“This is a project left unattended to.” Bucky pointed down at the floor at the many markings. “This book was to absorb the misery of Granther’s Polder. The alchemical waste being dumped here made this an ideal spot. I don’t understand everything I’m looking at, but the book draws in misery and suffering to generate power and magic… both of which will assist the reader.” 

“So we’ve found a weapon that House Avarice and House Bitters was preparing for their eventual, inevitable conquest of everything,” Sunset said as she fought the urge to set the book on fire and ignored the thoughts of killing Bucky. 

“The book sat for so long that it has become sentient, just as Mother Malady has said.” Bucky pulled back his hood and began to examine the tome sitting upon the pedestal. “Both a book and a focusing device… how devious and ingenious.” 

“Well, we can’t just leave it here, Master. We need to dispose of it somehow.” Sunset backed away from the book, not liking the thoughts now filling her head. The urge to do something was getting stronger and harder to resist. She watched as Bucky’s talons raised and drew closer to the book. She was filled with an indescribable rage… she wanted the book to be hers. 

“Minion, be a good girl and don’t do anything stupid.” Bucky’s voice was a cold, flat monotone, had no emotion, no warmth, and held no trace of love or affection. “Don’t make me put you down.”

Hearing Bucky’s voice, devoid of emotion or feeling, shocked Sunset out of her rage. She blinked, shook her head, which sent spatters of blood across the floor, and focused her will. She gave a forceful shove and sent the suggestions in her mind flying, evicting them. 

Her head cleared a little, but she could still hear suggestions being whispered in her ears. Sunset snarled at the book, realising just how dangerous it was, and any other pony exposed to it would be swallowed up and consumed right away. 

“For what darker purpose was this book created?” Sunset asked. She shook her head, confused, in pain, and a bit ashamed of herself for allowing the book to provoke a reaction out of her. “It was never just about conquest, was it? I mean, it wasn’t enough just to rule Equestria, or even the world… this goes beyond the pale.” 

“House Bitters, High House of Avarice, rulers of all they survey, with the rest of the world as slaves. Not subjects, not citizens, but slaves. The entire world crushed beneath the weight of their hoof. I heard it growing up. It was owed to us. We had the blood of the old regents… the old kings. We were the ponies that had once raised and lowered the sun. The world was owed to us and there were ponies in House Bitters obsessed with a return to our proper status. I was a colt… I never took it seriously. I was too involved in my studies and too wrapped up in myself.” 

“And the other Houses within Avarice all hoping for the same.” Sunset stared at the book, hating it, hating what it represented. She had come here expecting a fight. Perhaps some demon, or some lich. Maybe even something with tentacles. All she and Bucky had found was a book. “So what do we do?” 

Bucky’s talons lingered on the cover of the book, one twitched, and the flesh bound tome was sliced open. Much to Sunset Shimmer’s shock, the book began bleeding… at least, she thought it was blood. Green goo dribbled out of the sliced open cover and as Sunset watched, the wound began healing, sealing itself shut. 

“This is no longer just a book. It has become something else, something we dare not destroy. It would be like popping a boil, but what is inside cannot be released.” Bucky pulled his talons away from the book and looked at Sunset. “There is only one thing that we can do.” 

“And that is?” Sunset wiped her nose with her foreleg, staining her fetlock with blood. 

“I take the book to Tartarus and we secure it in the place where bad books go.” Bucky’s eyebrows raised and glanced at the book. 

Sunset could feel it too… panic. She wondered what Bucky was hearing in his ears, what he was feeling… she wondered what this was doing to him and what the long term consequences might be for the both of them. 

“Make no mistake, Minion, this is a bad book. Princess Celestia has a library in Tartarus full of bad books that cannot be destroyed for whatever reason.” Bucky turned and faced the book once more. “You and I have quite a trip ahead of us.” 

“Bucky, be careful… I doubt it will go willingly. Are we going to take it with us?” Sunset asked. She watched as Bucky’s eyes closed and she could hear him breathing. His eyes opened and she saw black fire ignite along his horn. Dreadful Taint mist leaked from his left eye. Sunset felt her skin crawl—she loathed dark magic. 

Extending his talons, Bucky clawed the air with one swift swipe, and doing so, he tore open a rift in reality. The scent of sulfur filled the room and distant screams could be heard. Sunset felt her blood run cold. She began to wonder if Bucky had grown too powerful and she worried if he could be trusted with the book. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, she shook her head and shoved those thoughts out of her mind. She ground her teeth and when her eyes opened, Bucky was holding the book in his talons, his claws biting cruelly into the flesh and drawing more green blood. Sunset realised that Bucky was firmly in control and for a moment, she felt a brief flash of pity for the book. Bucky was cold and merciless… the book would find no sympathy, no respite, and she knew that Bucky could be trusted with the terrible artifact. 

The whispers in her ears went silent as did the pressure pushing in on her head. 

“Minion, flee this place. Teleport out. Get to safety. Go back to town and say nothing about what lurks down here in the depths. Get in touch with Twilight Sparkle and tell her that this place needs a purge… this place needs her harmonic magic to remove the taint. Also send word that this town needs to be evacuated… everypony needs to be moved. Make it happen. Let Twilight know about the alchemical waste.” 

“Yes, of course, Master.” Sunset bowed her head and her ears twitched. She was certain that she had just heard a faint squeal of pain coming from the book gripped in Bucky’s talons. She started to say something else, but Bucky stepped through the glowing rift and was gone, the rift closing up behind him with a crackle-pop. 

After giving one final glance around the now empty room, Sunset Shimmer prepared to leave, still wondering, still questioning, still asking herself, For what darker purpose…