//------------------------------//
// Chapter 40- Through the Portal 
// Story: Of Flame and Shadow 
// by Garuda IV 
//------------------------------//

		Twilight stirred in her sleep after another long day of trying to track where the portal jammer was located at. With her frustrations of coming up with nothing, and the fatigue from long hours taking their toll on her, Twilight was told by the others to call it a night, less she pull another all-nighter. Her sleep didn't help her much either as the events of that day were carried over to her dreams too. Waking up with an irritated groan, she quickly teleported herself down to the kitchen for a quick glass of water. Feeling refreshed, she then teleported herself back to her room and hopped back into bed. But, just as she was about to go back to sleep, her book linking her to Sunset began to glow and vibrate. Annoyed and curious as to why she'd be messaging her at such a late hour, Twilight opened it and began to read.

What she read though wasn't anything that she'd expected. In it, Sunset told her about how there were a group of trespassers in her house, and then about Dark's plan to lead them off while she hid and called for the police. She also wrote about how she watched Dark through her bedroom window as he managed to beat almost all of them. That was, until he got attacked from behind from the guy who acted like their leader, who later dragged Dark away while the rest helped their injured back to their vehicles before the police came to question her. Towards the end, Sunset began to apologize to Twilight about how she felt responsible for Dark being taken away, since she didn't jump in to help him, even though he told her not too. But while Twilight did feel upset that Sunset didn't help, she also couldn't blame her for following Dark's instructions, for if she did, as far as Twilight knew, Sunset could've been kidnapped too.

Though sad, worried, and angry, Twilight managed to keep her cool as she wrote back to Sunset, telling her to not blame herself and that they'll find a way to fix this. Closing the book and setting it aside, Twilight levitated over to her the communication crystal Cadence gave to her and activated it. As she waited for the other line to pick up, Twilight began fidgeting around until somepony finally was shown on the projection image. However, unlike Luna, who Twilight had expected to answer her call, it was instead a very upset Celestia.

"Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you, Princess," Twilight apologized. "I was actually expecting Princess Luna to answer and figured that you would be asleep."

"It's alright, Twilight," Celestia replied with an irritated sigh. "While that would normally be the case, something has come up. But never mind that, what is that that has you calling us at such an hour?"

Remembering why she called in the first place, Twilight's curiosity returned to worry.

"I just got a message from Sunset Shimmer that her house was broken into, and that whoever they were took Dark away."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Did she say who they were?"

"She didn't. All she knew is that they appeared to be after Dark, since they followed him when he led them out of the house, instead of searching it for her."

"This can't be a coincidence," Celestia mumbled.

"What?"

"This might actually be connected to why I'm up at this hour, Twilight," she began explaining. "You see, earlier tonight while she was in the Dreamscape, Luna paid a visit to Blueblood's dream."

"What did she see? And why didn't you call him 'Prince' like you usually do?"

"Because after tonight, he'll no longer be carrying that title."

"What? But why?"

"Because he's connected to the pony who sent Dark to that other world."

"... what?" Twilight repeated, her tone low and dangerous.

"You remember when the mirror had to stay in Canterlot during its transport for repairs?"

"Yes?"

"Well, as it turns out, Blueblood somehow managed to steal a fragment of the mirror portal without anypony knowing. As for what Luna found out when she visited his dream, apparently he and the pony who accompanied King Inferno had plotted with the pony who orchestrated the attack on Ponyville with the Everfree creatures."

"So he's behind this?"

"In a way, he is. From what we've gathered, their plan was to banish Dark to the other world and have somepony over there 'take care' of Dark for them."

"Where is Blueblood?!"

"Right now, he's in the interrogation room in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle. Luna and I have been trying to make him tell us who and where this pony that he's conspired with is, but hasn't told us anything... um, Twilight?"

As Celestia began filling her in on what Blueblood did, she failed to notice that Twilight was starting to tremble in place. Now though, as she finally finished, Celestia looked up to the projection image of Twilight just in time to see her burst into flames, her lavender coat turning a hot-white, while her eyes turned red, and her mane set on fire.

"Oh, he's going to tell us!" the rageshifted Twilight told her.

Before Celestia could say anything though, Twilight teleported herself away from sight before the image faded out. Setting the crystal aside, Celestia turned to see Luna, who'd been watching from out of view.

"So, sister," Luna began, "where do you think she went-"

"AAAHHHHH!!!"

Celestia was about to answer Luna when they both heard a loud, high-pitched, filly-like scream echoing through the corridors leading from the dungeons. Worried that something had happened down there, the two sisters both teleported themselves back down to investigate. As soon as they appeared in front of the door leading to the interrogation room holding Blueblood, Twilight opened the door with a pleased smile on her face, her rageshift having ended. As she hummed to herself and closed the door behind her, she looked up to the two older princesses.

"Told you he'd tell us," Twilight said.

"Umm, Twilight?" Celestia slowly spoke. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, nothing really," she innocently answered as she walked past them.

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Luna questioned.

"Nope, didn't have too. I mean, honestly, he's not that hard to get answers from if you know what to say... or do... or both."

"... will he be alright, at least?"

"More or less. Now, I believe that we have a fugitive to arrest."

"Of course," Luna nodded. "I take it that he gave you an address?"

"He did. The pony we're looking for runs a store called The Ebony Bazaar over in downtown Canterlot on Blackhoof Street."

"In that case, I shall gather the guards and we'll arrest him immediately."

"Would it be alright if I came too, Princess Luna?" Twilight requested.

"I don't see why not, just as long as you don't do anything too dangerous... or destructive."

"All I want is to rescue Dark from those guys who took him away, and this pony that we're after has the key to allow us to do just that."





Less than an hour later, Luna and Twilight were standing in front of the store where they were told their target was, while the few dozen night guards that Luna brought began surrounding the building from the ground and from up above. Celestia even awoken some of her own guards and sent them with Luna and Twilight to provide to them magical support on the rooftops. With everypony in place, Twilight took one last scan of the building and saw only one pony in it, sleeping. With a nod to Luna, she signaled for them to converge onto the building. 

While the earth ponies busted through the front door and ground level windows, the pegasi and thestrals flew into the second floor windows, leaving only a few left on the rooftops and skies to watch incase he somehow escaped. As soon as the first window shattered, the stallion they were after shot-up from his bed and quickly strapped on his belt with a sword and sheath, his saddlebag, and tossed on his cloak and hood. He was then about to reach over to his dresser where the amulet laid before two of the guards stepped in front of him with spears at the ready.

"Stop right there criminal scum!" one of the guards ordered.

"By orders of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby under arrest!" another told him.

Sneering beneath his hood, the cloaked stallion looked between the two guards standing between him and his amulet, and the other four that flew in through the window. A few seconds later, his room became much fuller as six more guards came in through his door, blocking it off. With an annoyed snort, he emanated a bright flash of light from beneath his cloak, blinding all of the guards. Taking this moment of them being blinded, he made a quick dash towards his amulet, but couldn't get close enough to it as one of the guards managed to block his path with one eye opened and unblinded. Anymore thoughts about retrieving it were thrown out the window as a new group of guards came in through the door while more pegasi and thestrals flew in from the window.

How the bucking Tartarus did they know where I was? he briefly pondered, until he could think of only one other pony who would know. Blueblood. They must've caught him and gotten the information from him, which also means that he'll be either executed or spending the rest of his life in a dungeon cell. Either way, I'm fine with it, but I won't allow myself to be caught too!

Blinding them again, the cloaked stallion knocked some of the guards by the window out of the way and took to the night sky. However, the moment he left through the window, he was met with a barrage of magical projectiles from Celestia's unicorn guards, who were posted on top of the rooftops. Doing his best, the cloaked stallion spun and dove to avoid being hit, but knew that he would get tired if this was kept up for too long, not to mention the airborne ponies that would soon be catching up with him. Leveling out and aiming towards those below him, he created another blinding light that briefly illuminated the downtown area, buying himself a few seconds to escape.

Just as felt like he had everypony blinded, he turned around to fly away, but was met instead with the angered faces of Luna and Twilight, the latter of which having caught the cloaked stallion with her magic and slammed him down into the stone roads below them. With a groan of pain, he got back up onto his hooves just as the two princess landed in front of him.

"No more running!" Twilight told him. "Now, where is the device that you made for Blueblood?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Princess," he smirked before blinding the two in another flash of light.

Taking this moment, he took to the skies again to get away. Flying, he looked over to his sides to see both pegasi and thestral guards chasing after him. However, even though he was slightly injured from the slam he'd endured, he could still outfly them in terms of speed. After a minute of flying, he flew out of the guards' sight into the night sky. With pursuit no longer an option due to the cloaked stallion's speed, the pursuing pegasi and thestrals returned to report to the princesses. 

Making their way back, they talked to each other on how they would explain this to them, but couldn't come up with any good excuses. Reaching the princesses, they landed in front of them with worried and shamed looks on their faces. Figuring why they looked like that, Twilight gave a disheartened sigh.

"You didn't get him, did you?"

"Our most humble and sincere apologies, Princess," one of them said with a bow, which the others followed. "We tried to apprehend him, but he was just too fast for us to catch."

"If he was too fast for you to catch, then I can't blame you. Besides, he surprised us all with that blinding spell of his. I've actually never seen or heard of a spell like that before. I mean, I know of a few spells like that, but none of that scale."

"While it is strange, I'm more concerned about why it is that he has wings," Luna spoke. "According to Blueblood's dream, and what Dark wrote to you describing this pony, he already had a horn to begin with. So, does this mean that this is a different pony, or are we dealing with an alicorn?"

"But we five princesses are the only alicorns there are, right?" Twilight asked.

"Five?"

"I'm also including my niece."

"Ah. Well then, I suppose so."

"Then this is bad. If we're dealing with an alicorn, then who knows what we're actually up against."

"Umm, excuse me, Princess?" one of Celestia's unicorn guards spoke.

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure about anypony else, but when we had him cornered in his room, he didn't use his horn."

"Care to further explain?" Luna requested.

"Well, best as I can describe it is that when he blinded us, his horn wasn't lit with a magical aura."

"Now that I think about it," Twilight began, "his horn didn't light up either when he blinded us, Luna."

"So then, are you saying that he didn't use unicorn magic?" Luna questioned.

"If his horn wasn't lit, then I don't think so."

"So we may be dealing with an alicorn imposter then."

"Perhaps he is, perhaps he's not. We may never know unless we catch him and run some tests on him. But if he didn't use his horn to create those flashes of blinding lights, then how did he manage it?"

"It is a mystery for another time," Luna said with a head shake before looking back up to the guards who'd rallied to them during their talk. "While we're here, we'll be searching this entire establishment for any clues as to the amulet that we're looking for. It'll be about the size of a hoof with a mirror as its centerpiece. Also, while you're searching the store itself, make sure to keep an inventory on what's there. This store is apart of the black market, and I want to know everything that's being sold."

With an understanding salute, the guards returned into the building and began their search. While they were busy with that, Luna and Twilight made their way inside to oversee things. When they walked in, they were greeted with the sight of exotic artifacts and other magical objects that made Twilight stare open-mouthed with a thin strand of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. And while Luna found the sight of Twilight to be amusing to her, she wouldn't let her remain like that as she gave her a nudge, snapping her out of it and returning her to her senses.

"Sorry about that, Princess," Twilight apologized, wiping off some of the drool that had stuck to the side of her chin.

"Worry not, Twilight," Luna dismissed. "I myself have done just that a few times before. Although, now that I'm getting a good look at what's here, I can agree with your reaction. Like this for example."

Following the direction of where her hoof was pointed, Twilight saw a bronze amulet with what appeared to be an emerald in the shape of a bear paw.

"What is that?"

"It's called the Beast Master's Amulet," Luna explained. "I know this because Fluttershy and I found a damaged one within my old castle in the Everfree Forest. If nothing else, seeing another one here would prove that he's been here before, and this is where he got the one he used during the attack on Ponyville."

"I see," Twilight muttered before looking over the shelves. "Do you think that there are other amulets like that here?"

"It's hard to say for sure. However, if he got one here, and a second is here, then I would keep an open mind to the possibility of there being more."

"Now that I think about it, I remember Trixie saying that she got the Alicorn Amulet from a shop similar to this one."

"With the kind of things that black market stores like this sell, I wouldn't be surprised. I just hope that there aren't any other amulets like them wandering about Equestria, or anywhere for that matter."

"Me too, but-"

"Your Highness."

Twilight and Luna looked over to one of the night guards who'd returned to them with something covered in hoof.

"Yes?" Luna said.

"The description of the item you gave us, did it look something like this?"

Taking it in her magic, Luna unwrapped the item and saw the custom-made amulet that Blueblood wanted created.

"Yes, this is what we're looking for. Where by chance did you find it?"

"I was apart of the team that encountered the fugitive within his bedroom, Princess. When he blinded us, I managed to shield one of my eyes so it wouldn't be completely blinded and moved to block him from reaching this on his dresser."

"You've done very well to do that," Luna complimented, causing the stallion to beam with pride for a job well done.

"Great, now we need to get this back to the castle and run some tests on it," Twilight said.

"But this is what's blocking the portal from letting us travel through it. Shouldn't we just destroy it right now?"

"As tempting as that sounds, we have no idea what that pony did when he created it. This is a part of the original portal, and for all we know, damaging it could permanently close the portal. And I'm sure that that's one of the last things that we need right now."

"... very well then. Since you've invested so much into finding this already, and know much more about this than I do, I'll concede to your judgment on this."

Surprised by this statement, Twilight took a step back before giving Luna a thankful bow. "Thank you for trusting me so much on this matter."

"Think nothing of it, it's simply how it is."

"In this case, would you be alright if I teleported myself and this amulet back up to the castle to begin?"

"Of course. You go on ahead and I'll stay here and continue to oversee this. Besides, I'm curious as to all of the stuff in here."

Giggling at Luna's curiosity, Twilight gave her a quick hug and thanked her before teleporting back to Canterlot Castle to inform Celestia and begin inspecting the amulet.





Sitting on her throne, Celestia waited for word from anypony on the raid that Luna and Twilight had led. As much as she wanted to go with them though, somepony had to stay behind and attend the night court, even if it wasn't very busy tonight. And seeing as how Luna was the one to uncover it and with how personal this was to Twilight, Celestia didn't mind sitting this one out. Tapping her hoof, Celestia started to become slightly worried as to why this was taking them so long, since it should've only taken them a half-hour instead of over a full one. Thankfully for her, she didn't need to wait any longer as Twilight teleported herself into the throne room with something levitating in her magic.

"Twilight, did you and Luna succeed?" Celestia asked her.

"Well, yes and no."

"Oh?"

"You see, we succeeded in getting what's been jamming the portal, but the pony who created it blinded us and out-flew the guards."

"So he escaped then."

"I'm sorry, Princess, but yes."

Celestia shook her head. "No need to apologize, Twilight. Though I'm curious as to how he managed to out-fly the guards. I thought that he had a horn?"

"He does, but it appears that he also has wings."

"Are you trying to say that this pony is an alicorn?" Celestia carefully asked.

"We're not sure. While he was able to fly, he never once used his horn to cast the spells that blinded us."

"So, this pony may be a pegasus with a fake horn?"

"It would explain why his horn looked so strange, but I can't say for sure unless I run some tests on him, which I doubt will happen since he got away."

"Did you see which direction he was heading?"

"North."

"In that case, I'll contact Cadence and Shining Armor and inform them about what's happened. But before I do, what is that that you have there in your magic?"

"This is the jammer that we were searching for," Twilight explained.

"Aren't we suppose to destroy it for the portal to work?"

"Yes, but I want to run some tests on it first. I just want to make sure that by destroying this that we won't also be damaging the portal itself, since this amulet was made by using a fragment from the portal's mirror."

"It would be unfortunate if we were to make such a mistake after coming so far."

"Exactly. So, if you'll excuse me, Princess, I'll be returning back to Ponyville and have the team and I work on figuring this out. If all goes well, we should be done within a few hours."

"Very well. Just remember that if you need any help from me in figuring it out to just give me a call."

With her thanks, Twilight bowed before teleporting herself and the amulet back to her castle. As soon as she got there, she flew up into the guest hall where her team leader slept. Knocking on her door, Twilight waited a few moments before the door finally opened up to a cream-coated mare with a three-toned red, light-purple, and purple mane, purple eyes with black glasses, and a cutie mark consisting of a moon with three stars. But, while Twilight looked happy to see her up, she on the other hoof just gave her an annoyed look.

"What is it, Twilight?" she tiredly grumbled. "Do you know how late it is?"

"Sorry for waking you, Moondancer," Twilight apologized, "but we just found the jammer that we've been searching for."

At this, Moondancer's mood seemed to improve slightly. "You did? How?"

"Princess Luna found out when she went into somepony's dream."

"Okay, but why are you waking me up for this?"

"I want us to run some tests on it to make sure that destroying it won't have any negative effects on the portal."

"Any reason to suspect why it would in the first place?"

"Because, the mirror surface on this amulet is actually a mirror fragment from the portal downstairs from when it was being repaired in Canterlot during it's transfer from the Crystal Empire."

Giving an annoyed huff, Moondancer walked out of her room and made her way down the hallway.

"So, does that mean that you'll help?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Yes, but only after I get myself some coffee," Moondancer replied. "Celestia knows that I need the extra boost if I'm to continue working throughout the night."

"It should only take a few hours between the two of us, maybe even sooner."

"I hope so, because once this is all over with, I'm heading straight back to bed."

"If this works, you can sleep-in undisturbed all day if you want too."

"Please don't tempt me."

A half-hour later, Moondancer had her coffee and she and Twilight were busy running scans and other magical tests on the amulet. While it did hold a connection to the mirror portal, there was also a few magical spells built into it. As Twilight had feared, the jamming spell that was placed upon the amulet also had a backup spell on it that would disable the portal if it were to be destroyed or even damaged.

"Wow, good call, Twilight," Moondancer complimented. "That would've been bad if we went on ahead and destroyed it."

"Yeah, it would. Also, before I forget, thank you for leading the team, Moondancer."

"You're welcome. And besides, who else do you know of who's studied magic like me?"

"Besides myself, I can only think of one other, but she's off helping spread friendship back in the village that she used to run."

"This wouldn't by chance be that same mare that you wrote to me about would it? You know, the one who used Starswirl's spell to go back in time?"

"Yep, that's her."

"I still can't believe that you would trust her after what she did, not to mention her reason for the events leading up to that. Even if she was just a filly when it happened."

"Well, in the end, no harm was done. And besides, just think of how it must've felt to her when her only friend left her at such a young age."

"Well..."

"And not only that, but after talking to her some more, it turns out that she actually was going to ask him out on a date that day he got his cutie mark and was sent off to Canterlot."

Hearing this caused Moondancer's ears to fold as her face became one of pity.

"Wow. No wonder she was so driven to ridding Equestria of cutie marks." Her mood shifted back to one of scientific curiosity. "But enough about her and her past, what are we going to do to the enchantment that's been placed on this thing?"

"Well," Twilight began, "now that we know what kind of enchantment we're dealing with, we should be able to safely remove it."

"After you then."

With a nod, Twilight lit-up her horn and began to remove the enchantment. However, while she originally thought that it would be difficult to do, she found that the amulet's enchantment linking it to the mirror portal was rather weak. Within a few seconds, Twilight managed to remove the enchantment, leaving the amulet as nothing more than a fancy mirror. Giving it one last scan, Twilight made sure that it was completely safe before she dropped it onto the floor and shattered it beneath her hooves. Lifting her hooves up, she looked beneath and gave a relieved sigh at the sight of the shattered amulet.

"There, that should do it," she said out loud.

"Good. Now that that's over with, can I head on back to bed please?" Moondancer asked with a yawn.

"Sure, go on ahead, and thank you again, Moondancer."

Giving her a tired wave, Moondancer turned around and returned to her room. As she watched her friend go, Twilight too gave a loud yawn. Looking back down to the broken amulet, she decided to go and try to get herself some rest for the remainder of the night. While she wanted to go into the portal and find Dark as soon as she could, she also knew that she wouldn't be of much help while half-asleep.





Dark stirred slightly as he slept on his knees, his ankles chained down to the ground while his wrists where still chained to the ceiling. After some time, the pain from the knife in his forearm dulled down enough for him to finally fall asleep... for a while anyway. As he continued to sleep in somewhat relative peace, he quickly found the air forced from his lungs as he was awoken to someone kicking him in the chest. Gasping for breath, Dark looked up to see a  guy with bright-orange hair wearing black boots, pants, a red shirt, and red leather jacket with a picture of a dragon on the back of it.

"So, I finally get to see you in person," he told Dark. "You know, you've caused me a lot of trouble."

"Sorry that I'm such an inconvenience to you," Dark wheezed mockingly.

"Why you-"

"That's enough, Inferno!"

Turning around, Inferno saw a male in a white and black hooded jacket walking over to them. However, unlike last time he visited Dark, he was now wearing a belt with a handgun holster attached to both of his sides, while a sword and its sheath were strapped to the back of his waist.

"Wait, so you're Inferno?" Dark questioned before breaking into a laughing fit.

Annoyed with Dark's laughing, Inferno balled-up his hand up into a fist before punching Dark in the face, which did little to impede his laughter.

"What's so damn funny?!"

"Dude," Dark began saying, trying to catch his breath from laughing so much, "this is just too amusing to me."

"What?!"

"Believe it or not, I've actually met you before. And I must say that I'm rather underwhelmed by how you are compared to the Inferno of my world."

Backhanding Dark, Inferno sharply turned to the hooded guy. "Give me a knife so that I can end him now!"

"Not a chance," he denied. "He is mine to deal with as I want, not you. And besides, it's morning and you shouldn't be here for much longer. That is, unless you're wanting to be caught by the students and faculty members who attend this school. Just remember to leave the fifty new men you gave me here."

Giving an annoyed grumble, Inferno made his way towards the door, but stopped before closing it behind him.

"When you're done here, I want for you and them to return to the hideout."

"Are you talking about the abandoned building in the downtown area, or the old junkyard out of town?"

"Junkyard. The one downtown has been compromised."

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Inferno left Dark and the hooded guy alone. Making sure that the door was closed and locked, he walked over to his table and picked-up another knife.

"Now then, Dark," he began, making his way over to him, "where were we?"





Dawn came around as Twilight got up from her bed. Today was finally the day that she would go through the portal and get Dark back. However, this time she wouldn't be going through alone. Grabbing herself a quick breakfast, Twilight headed on out into Ponyville to search for a certain group of guards. Thankfully, she didn't have to look very far as there was more than likely one place where they would be to eat at. Making her way into Sugarcube Corner, Twilight immediately spotted the table where Steel Hoof, Aura Lance, and Kite Shield were seated at, and walked over to them.

"Good morning," she greeted them.

"Good morning, Princess," they said in unison, bowing.

"Please, there's no need for that," she dismissed, allowing them to rise and return to their seats.

"How goes trying to get Dark back?" Steel wondered.

"That's actually why I'm here. You see, last night we found where the jammer to the portal was, and after some magical scans and the removal of an enchantment, we destroyed the amulet. So the portal should be working now."

"Alright, then what do you need us for, Princess," Aura asked.

"Last night, before we found out about the amulet, I received a message from a reliable source that Dark had been ponynapped."

"Is he alright?"

"I don't know, and that's why I came to you three. I was hoping that you could gather some of the guards together and assemble at the library in my castle, where we will enter through the portal and rescue Dark."

"It shall be done, Your Highness," Steel said with a bow.

"Thank you. Oh, and before I forget, make sure that each of you bring a shield with you. This world we're going to doesn't have any magic, so be prepared for that, and try not to freak-out when you transform into what the creatures over there look like. I'll explain that further once you have everypony assembled."

"Just to be clear, how many of the guards do you want us to bring?" Kite asked.

"A few dozen. From what I read, we might have to fight an armed group who're holding Dark prisoner."

"Yes, Your Highness."





A few hours later on the other side of the portal, Sunset was walking down the sidewalk towards Canterlot High with her friends in the mid-morning, her mind still on the events of last night. Once the police had arrived, she explained to them what had happened and about her friend who'd led them away from her and her house, to which the police confirmed when they followed the blood and the boot prints in the snow. After the police left, she messaged Twilight about what had happened before calling her human friends, to which they immediately came over to help support her. As they continued down the sidewalk, they soon saw something different with the school. While the students would normally be inside by now, instead, the students and teachers were all gathered in front of the Wondercolt statue while a group of several dozen armed men in matching leather jackets, stood blocking the door.

"What's going on here?" Rainbow asked.

"If Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say that it involved what happened last night," Applejack guessed.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sunset muttered, "but why are they here at our school?"

Walking into the crowd, they quickly spotted Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.

"Principal Celestia, what's going on here?"

"Sunset, girls, thank goodness you're all safe," Celestia sighed in relief. "I was starting to worry since none of you were here when school was suppose to start two hours ago."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rainbow questioned.

"Those guys aren't letting anybody into the school," Luna answered. "They said something about them holding a student in there by their boss' orders."

"Speaking of students, where is Dark?" Celestia asked, causing the girls to look downcast.

"You see, Principal Celestia," Sunset began, "last night, Dark was kidnapped and taken away by a group of people who'd broken into my house. Nobody knows where they took him or who they were."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am. Dark managed to lead them away from me and my house, but they took him away and nobody knows where he is."

"He's in there."

Turning their attention to their side, Celestia and Luna, along with Sunset and her friends, all saw the Dazzlings walking over to them.

"Care to clarify, Miss Dazzle?" Celestia asked them.

"Of course I can," Adagio said before turning to face Sunset. "Remember when I told you about what I saw from him?"

"You mean when you touched him and saw that vision?" she asked, getting a nod. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything here?"

"Ever since I touched him, I've been able to sense his presence wherever he may be, up to a limit of a two hundred yard radius."

"So you believe that Dark is somewhere on the school grounds?" Twi questioned.

"I do. And not only that, but I also feel something else coming from him. Something darker and more dangerous and imposing than what even my sisters and I were."

"If this is coming from a magic-sucking siren, then it must be bad," Rainbow commented.

"Forgive me for interrupting," Rarity spoke, "but has anybody called the police on those brutes?"

"We have, but we haven't seen any signs of them yet," Celestia answered her. "I don't know that's taking them so long, but-"

Celestia was cut-off by a light shining from the face of the Wondercolt statue. Clearing away from it, they watched as Twilight, wearing her crown in addition to her normal clothes, stepped through it and walked over towards them.

"Twilight!" they all shouted before running over to her and welcoming her back with a hug.

"Hey girls," Twilight said through the group hug.

Releasing her, they each stepped back to give her some room before Sunset addressed her.

"Well, it looks like you've got the portal working again."

"Yeah. As it turns out, the jammer was created in collaboration with a noblepony."

"You know who it was?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to talk about him."

"Twilight," Celestia called, approaching her, "while it is nice to see you again, I must ask as to what brings you here?"

"I'm here for Dark."

"Well, that may be a problem," Adagio said as she and her sisters walked over to her. "Dark is being held somewhere inside the school, and those guys won't let us in."

"Not only that," Luna added, "but they're all armed."

Twilight furrowed her brows. "I've worked too long and hard to be stopped now. And to prove that I'm not fooling around, I've brought some help."

"Help?" they all echoed before noticing the portal glowing again.

However, while they were at first expecting some of her friends to accompany her, what they saw instead was completely unexpected. Marching through the portal were men and women wearing golden armor from head to toe, carrying shields and spears in their hands with either a crossbow strapped to their backs, or a sword on their belts. As they continued to file out of the portal, the other students backed away to give them as much space as they needed. Once the last of them came through the portal, they formed ranks in front of Twilight and the others, putting themselves between them and the school.

"You see," Twilight began explaining, "while Dark is my coltfriend, he's also very important to Equestria."

"How so?" Celestia enquired.

"I believe I can answer that," Sunset spoke up, getting Twilight's approval. "You see, over in Equestria, Dark is essentially their world's version of Death."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on for a sec. there," Rainbow said with raised hands. "Are you saying that Dark, the same Dark that we've been hanging out with this last week, is like the Grim Reaper?"

"Pretty much."

"That's not all, though," Twilight added. "Since Dark is the Lord of Death, that also means that his presence in Equestria also keeps the balance there. However, ever since he was sent here, ghosts have been appearing all over the place, and anypony in Equestria who's died doesn't actually die, but instead is roaming around as a walking corpse."

This elicited a gasp from everyone present, even the Dazzlings.

"Ah knew this was big, bit Ah didn't think that it was this big," Applejack said surprised.

"So, what's the plan then?" Sunset asked. "I mean, I understand that he's really important, but what's with all of the guards?"

"I don't want to take any chances with him. Right now, the guards are just going to standby while I demand to talk to their leader."

Leaving it at that, Twilight passed through her guards and walked up in front of them.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I wish to speak to whoever is in charge here!"

Hearing her, one of the guys at the doors walked down to her.

"What do you want, little girl?" he questioned.

"Are you the one in charge?"

"No, he's busy right now inside. What is it that you want."

"I'm here to talk with your boss about Dark."

Hearing that name caused him to flinch. Signaling two of the others over, he whispered to them before seeing them run into the building.

"They're going to get the boss for you. Just wait here a few minutes and you'll have your answer of if he'll see you or not."





Down inside the boiler room, the hooded guy looked upsettingly at Dark. Since he started where they left off from last night, Dark had only made a few grunts of pain, despite the punishment inflicted upon him.

"What the hell's up with you?!" he demanded. "Last night you cried in pain, and now you're barely doing anything!"

"That cry last night was more out of surprise than pain," Dark told him. "And incase you haven't noticed it yet, I have a rather high pain tolerance. That, and a simple breathing exercise can help with easing the pain."

"But this is just absurd! You've got cuts along your chest and back while your arms and legs look like pincushions for knives!"

"Hey, it's not my problem that you're not satisfied with this," he smirked at his captor.

Giving Dark an irritated growl, he was about to go back to his table before someone was knocking on the door.

"Sir, we've got some girl here who wants to talk to you," one of them said through the door.

Walking over, he opened the door and let them in before closing it behind them.

"Really? And who might she be?"

"She called herself 'Princess Twilight Sparkle'," one of the said, causing the other to snicker while Dark's eyes widened and his body flinched, rattling his chains.

This action didn't go unnoticed by the hooded guy as he looked back to Dark, his white teeth showing off his grin from beneath his hood.

"So you know her," he grinned, causing Dark to show some worry. "Well then, perhaps I'll pay her a visit then."

Immediately angered, Dark tried to lurch forward and attack him, but his restraints held him back.

"Oh, ho, ho. Look at this boys! I think that we've found his soft spot."

"I swear, if you so much as harm a hair on her head, you and the rest of your gang will die," Dark threatened.

"You know, that would probably actually work on me if you weren't chained down and looking like such a mess. Speaking of which," he continued as he picked-up Dark's Death Reaver and walked over in front of him, " due to you're lack of pain-filled cries, I've started to grow bored of you."

"Oh, boo-hoo for your failed-"

Dark didn't finish his sentence as the hooded guy impaled Dark's sword through his stomach and out the back. Trying to get over the shock, Dark tried to control his breathing, but was finding it extremely difficult.

"You see, since you've bored me, I no longer have any reason to keep you alive." He then turned to the two gang members. "Torch the place. I don't want any trace of what's happened here."

Grabbing Dark's torn cutie mark-embroidered shirt, and his jacket, the hooded guy left the room. After he left, the two gang members each pulled out a lighter from their pockets and began setting fire to anything flammable. They even found a jug of oil laying in a corner that they used to help accelerate the fire. Once most of the room around Dark was covered in fire, they left and locked the door behind them. However, what they didn't know was that there was another presence there. From a dark corner of the room, a familiar figure glided over in front of Dark.

"A pity. It would seem that someone's beaten me to you, Dark," he said with his haunting voice, causing Dark to struggle as he lifted his head up to gaze upon the dark figure.

"Hey, Death. So, we finally meet in the real world," Dark weekly rasped, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, though it's a shame that it's for this reason."

While Dark wanted to make some witty remark, he was feeling too tired to do so and instead opted to go to sleep. Seeing the familiar sign of someone dying, Death reached a bony hand over to him.

"It truly is a shame that this had to end so quickly before I had my own chance," Death said to himself as he placed his hand on Dark's chest, preparing to extract his soul. "Perhaps in the afterlife, then we could-"

Death quickly retracted his hand from Dark and looked at it in surprise. Never would he had thought that he'd feel such a presence from any human.

"Well, this is rather interesting," he said. "Actually, that would explain a few questions that I had about you."

Turning around, Death glided away from Dark and through the door, unaware that the gem within the sword had begun pulsing with a red light, that the fires that were being drawn into Dark's hair, or that a black mist was emanating from Dark's body.





It was starting to snow as Twilight paced in front of her guards, waiting for whoever was in charge to show up. She didn't like the thought of Dark being in the school, if the looks of the guys guarding it were any indication of what to look forward to. Just as she was about to lose her cool and lead a charge inside, the doors to the school opened to an armed, young man in a white and black hooded jacket, who was carrying something balled-up in one of his hands. Standing tall and steady, she waited for him to approach her before he stopped ten feet away from her.

"Well, this is quite a sight," he causally said to Twilight as he glanced over the guards. "So, are you the one who called for me?"

"I am," Twilight stated.

"And as I understand it, you're here about Dark?"

"Yes. I'm here to bring him home."

Listening to her intent caused him to chuckle. "Well now, that's going to be a bit of a problem."

"And why is that?"

Giving her a gleefully sadistic grin, he tossed the bundle in his hand over at Twilight's feet. Reaching down, she unfolded the heavy material until it was shown to be Dark's jacket, and inside it, a torn, blaze-orange shirt with Dark's cutie mark. With a sharp gasp, she shakily and fearfully looked from the clothes in her hands up to the one who gave them to her.

"Wh-Where is Dark? What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing much," he shrugged. "Right now he's currently in this school's boiler room. And as for what I did to him, well, last I saw him, he was on his knees with his own sword impaled through his gut, courtesy of yours truly."

"No... you're lying!"

The hooded guy laughed at her as she began to tear up.

"Oh come on now," he told her after he managed to control his laughter, "there's no reason to be sad about it. Besides, I'm sure that he was dead before the fires that were set in the room got to him... I think."

Twilight couldn't hold it in any longer as she fell to her knees and began sobbing as she held Dark's jacket and shirt tightly against her chest. Seeing her like that, Sunset and the others slowly made their way past the guards to try and comfort their grieving friend, but before they could get close enough, the hooded guy walked over to Twilight and forcefully grabbed her by the wrist.

Seeing this act of hostility, the guards all raised their shields and pointed their spears towards him and his men, who retaliated in turn by raising their guns at them. Seeing the tension, Sunset tried to make a dash to help save her friend, but before she could, Twilight had swiftly freed her from the hooded guy's grip and knocked him back. Surprised by the sudden act, he smirked before walking back up to her, unknowing that that was exactly what she wanted.

Snapping her head up, Twilight looked at him with tearful eyes that were filled with rage. Dropping the clothing in her arms, she closed the gap between her and the supposed leader and began assaulting him with swift and precise strikes that targeted his pressure points and joints. While Twilight never thought that she'd need to use this, she was now glad that she'd taken those self-defense and hoof-to-hoof combat lessons from Shining during their younger days. Although, despite what she learned being meant for ponies, she quickly learned to adapt them to her human figure as she continued to push her opponent back inch by inch.

Furious, focused, and unaware of the black mist that had began to creep out from the gaps between the school doors, Twilight continued to strike at him while dodging or deflecting any swing that he would try and land on her. As she continued to win the fight, her friends, the guards, and the students and faculty members in the back, all began to cheer her on. With the thought of fighting to avenge Dark, and the support of everyone behind her, Twilight felt herself quicken as her strikes became swifter and had more force behind them.

Getting angered by him being beaten by a girl, the hooded guy spun around with the intent of hitting her in the head with a spinning back kick, but doing so was a great mistake. While he was in mid-spin, Twilight did something unexpected as she quickly turned around and got to all fours before bringing her legs in and bucking at him. Unfortunately for the hooded guy though, Twilight had misjudged her size and angle, and with his leg swinging over her and missing, Twilight's buck had hit him square in the balls.

Falling to his knees and grabbing his crotch, he gave a high-pitched cry while everyone watching winced, and for every male who was watching immediately grabbed their own nuts in response. Taking a moment, Twilight backed away from the downed man as she tried to collect her breath. Hunched over, she panted for breath and began to notice that a dark mist had began to form around them. Squinting her eyes through the darkening mist, she managed to keep an eye on the hooded guy, who unsteadily got up out of the snow and back onto his wobbly legs. Seeing him back up and feeling herself ready to fight again, Twilight charged him for a second time, but it didn't work out well for her.

Once Twilight got close enough, the hooded guy, now pissed at what she did to him, tackled her into the snow. With an grunt from Twilight, she then noticed as her opponent had straddled her and began balling up his fists. Knowing what was going to come next, Twilight raised her arms to block his punches. While she managed to block most of them, some of them found their mark on her cheeks. Feeling like she was in a losing situation like this, Twilight deflected the next punch and sent his fist into the snow-covered concrete next to her head. With a yelp of pain, he retracted his hurt hand and cradled it against his chest, giving Twilight enough time to land a few blows of her own before managing to escape from under him. But before she could get away, she felt a boot connect to her back, knocking the air out of her lungs and sending her sliding forward across the snow. Propping herself up on her hands and knees, Twilight turned around to barely see the hooded guy reaching for one of the guns on his side through the mist.

"You bitch!" he shouted, unholstering his gun and pointing it at Twilight. "I was going to let you live and serve me as my personal slave, but if you're so eager to join Dark, then I'll just kill you instead!"

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the hooded guy flipped the safety off of his gun. Snarling angrily, he could just barely see Twilight as she looked up to him with wide and fearful eyes. Then, just before he completely lost sight of her, he fired his gun.

Hearing the shot being fired, Sunset and the others ducked down behind the guards as they each held their breath, waiting for the mist to disperse and hoping that he'd missed Twilight. However, the dark mist wasn't letting up. If anything else, it seemed to be getting darker and looked thicker.

Huddled down against the snowy ground, Twilight waited for something to happen to her after hearing the gunshot. However, no pain nor coldness of death was felt, but instead a comforting warmth. Risking a peek, Twilight looked up to see that she was covered in what appeared to be complete darkness, save for the faint glow of a fire, just above her. But, while she couldn't see, she did feel that whatever it was that felt warm had begun to shift. That was, until the mist began to clear around her, causing her to gasp in surprise as a fresh wave of tears began to form.

Holding her close to him, Twilight could make out the humanized face of Dark. Taking a moment, she looked him over, noticing that his hands had turned to draconic claws, his human ears were replaced by pony ears on top of his head, his blond hair was on fire as though he used his Amplify, his eyes were draconic and golden, that he'd grown a pair of massive, draconic wings, a long tail, and arms, all a dark black, and finally, that he was bare-chested, which caused her to blush slightly. Shaking her head of the thoughts that came with that last observation, Twilight quickly threw her arms around Dark and held herself tight against him as she began to sob. Surprised by the sudden change of her mood, Dark tenderly brought his arms and wings around her in a hug.

"Hey, what's this all about?" he softly asked. "Is it because I was gone?"

"H-He said that you were d-de-dead," Twilight whimpered, causing Dark to stroke her head.

"He almost did, but somehow I managed to recover my lost powers and was able to regenerate through-"

Dark paused as he noticed the condition of Twilight's face. Bringing a claw over her cheek, Dark could see a bruise beginning to form, and that a small trickle of blood was leaking from her lips. Calmly as to not show his quickly building rage, Dark spoke to Twilight.

"What happened to you?"

Pulling back, Twilight began to explain while Dark wiped her tears away.

"After he said that he killed you, I sorta lost it and attacked him," she said, causing Dark to slightly smile at her. "I had the upper hoof during most of the fight, but towards the end, he managed to tackle me and get in a few hits."

Dark's eyes could no longer hide his rage as his golden eyes turned to a blood-red.

"So, he did this to you?" he asked, getting a slow nod from Twilight, who noticed the change to his eyes and voice.

Standing up and helping Twilight back on her feet, Dark closed his eyes and focused on the shadows surrounding them. A few seconds later, Twilight could see the shadows retreating back into Dark's arms, wings, and tail. Not long after, she could see everything around her clearly again, which included the guards, her friends, and the gang of men who had taken a step back away from the sight of Dark.

"What the hell are you?!" the hooded guy shouted, causing Dark to guide Twilight safely behind him. "You should've died back there! Are you a demon of some kind?!"

"Why don't you come here and find out for yourself!" Dark answered before letting out a bellowing roar up into the sky, accompanied by him breathing out a pillar of fire.

While the display caused the hooded guy to take a few fearful steps back, along with most of his men, one didn't follow suit. Raising his gun, he began to shoot at Dark, who brought up a wing and easily blocked it with its draconic durability. Upon running out of bullets, the gang member discarded his gun and brought out a crowbar before charging Dark. However, as he charged him, Dark summoned his Death Reaver in his right claw and imbued its blade with his dark magic.

Once he was a few steps away, the gang member swung his crowbar down while Dark swiftly swung his sword through the crowbar and its wielder. However, unlike the broken weapon that clanged on the snow-covered floor in two separate pieces, the human who held it, while also split in half by Dark's strike, instead dissolved into shadows before hitting the ground. Ignoring the surprised gasps from those gathered behind him, Dark looked over to the hooded guy and pointed his sword at him.

"My blade calls. YOU! WILL! ANSWER!"