MLP: Darkest Night

by kurusagi16

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Nightshade returned to his fellow Tenebris, near the site of where their once great king was sealed away, and where they were all awaiting him.

"Welcome back Master Nightshade!" said Pseudea in an irritatingly chipper voice. "I trust it was all a success? Oh, what am I talking about? You always succeed in these mission."

"I'm afraid that we have a bit of a situation." said Nightshade.

"What kind of situation?" asked Erebus.

"It seems that the Pegasus, Fluttershy, had somehow managed to escape and find Eve, and those two Unicorns. No doubt they're working on a way to save them and the rest of their little friends." said Nightshade. Nightshade noticed Pseudea flinch and immediately turned his attention to him.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked. Pseudea flinched again.

"U-um, w-well you see..." stammered Pseudea.

"Pseudea let her get away." said Moros bluntly.

"Ergh! Why did you tell him that?!!" screeched Pseudea. He was close to strangling Moros.

"It is your fault. You brought her here and were in charge of keeping an eye of her. And you failed miserably." said Moros. Pseudea cringed at those words and slowly turned back to Nightshade, afraid to look him in the eye.

"M-m-master Nightshade...?" he asked nervously. Nightshade said nothing, a shadow covering his face and obscuring his expression, though the tone of his voice as he spoke made chill runs down Pseudea's spine.

"I've been very patient thus far with you Pseudea. You're an excellent warrior yet your tactics are still something that's left to be desired. For this, I'm willing to hear whatever sorry excuse you have to this before I bestow your punishment." he said. Pseudea shivered, and fumbled with his words as he tried to think of what to say to him.

"You have five minutes." said Nightshade coldly. Pseudea gulped.

"I-I....I managed to capture that unusual creature that was travelling with the dreamers." he said.

"And your actions have led to the rest of them being freed." said Nightshade.

"B-but...it's a really good trap! Ingenious even. I swear!" cried Pseudea in defense.

"Exactly how is it ingenious?" asked Nightshade, ready to bestow punishment regardless of what Pseudea said.

"I've trapped him in a fantasy of love." answered Pseudea.

"Love?!" scoffed Erebus. "What good will that do?"

"Matters of the heart are often a tricky and complicated thing." explained Pseudea. "To experience such blissful and immense feelings, only to have it all taken away, would send anypony into the depths of despair and depression. It's all a matter of how well you do it and how deeply in love the poor fellow is."

Pseudea relaxed a little as he saw that Nightshade wasn't throttling him senseless, so he kept going on, elaborating on what he had planned for the creature.

"Once his heart is completely filled with the feelings of love, my little puppet of his beloved will shatter his heart, and the puppet will make it look as if the one he loved was brutally killed. All those twisted and negative feelings are sure to rise to the surface and make him excellent prey."

There was a long awkward silence before Nightshade spoke once more.

"Is that all you have to say?" he asked. Pseudea gulped.

"Y-yes."

"Hmm. You're punishment has been lessened...to some extent. You are to work with the others in digging out the seal and monitoring the imprisoned Nightmares." said Nightshade. "Further more, you won't receive any nourishment whatsoever from the bad dreams or Nightmares until I see fit. Is this clear?"

"Crystal." said Pseudea.

"How are things coming along with the king? Are we gathering sufficient power?" asked Nightshade.

"Everything is going as planned, with the Nightmares continuously giving their essence and the power we've gathered from the dreamers, we're close to revving him." said Erebus.

"But not close enough." said Nightshade. "We need more. And we need to make sure that no further mishaps interfere with the plan."

"Understood." they all said in unison, giving a salute.

"Then I shouldn't need to tell you what to do next. Report back to me on any further progress or occurrences."

"Yes sir." The Tenebris headed off to carry out their objectives. While Nightshade stayed behind in thought. His plan had come close to unraveling. He couldn't let his guard down, he needed to be ready to eliminate any interference. For the king. For the rightful place of all Tenebris.

---

Fluttershy led the group to the fog bank she'd escaped from. Along the way, Sunset, Starlight and Eve started to talk to one another in hushed tones.

"Are you guys okay?" Eve asked them.

"We're fine." said Sunset.

"What about you?" asked Starlight. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Eve, looking down at the ground anxiously.

"So, what you said back there, about you helping the Tenebris, was all that true?" asked Sunset.

"Sigh! Yes. I-I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted my old friend back, but I guess I ended up playing into the Tenebris' hooves."

"It's not all your fault." said Starlight. "I mean, you might have helped them, but that's only because they tricked you. And from what we've seen so far, those Tenebris seem to be good at tricking a lot of ponies."

"And you're doing what you can to stop them." added Sunset. "And we'll be right here to help you." Eve gave a sad smile at Sunset and Starlight.

"Thank you girls. I...I needed that." said Eve.

"Don't thank us just yet." said Sunset. "We still need to rescue our friends and get to the castle, don't we?" Eve gave a nod.

"Yeah." she said.

"We're here!" called Fluttershy. The large, dark fog bank was still as thick as ever and emitted an ominous aura.

"Oh my stars!" said Eve. "This is a very impressive illusion."

"Any idea what we should do now?" asked Fluttershy.

"Nothing much else for us to do but go in and try to break whatever spell Twilight and Discord are under." said Eve.

"Let's try to stay together this time, okay?" said Starlight.

"Okay." they all said, and together they headed into the fog bank.

---

The fog bank seemed to be pushing back on the girls as they pushed through it. It was nearly impossible to make anything out through the inky murk of the fog. They all called out as loud as they could for their friends.

"Twilight!"

"Discord!"

"Can you hear us?!"

"Twilight?!"

"Where are you?!"

No matter how loud or how many times they called, nopony answered back.

"Dang it!" said Eve through gritted teeth. "If only there was a way to find them, then we could get out of here sooner."

"Maybe Sunset or Starlight could use a tracking spell." said Fluttershy.

"That might not work out so well." said Sunset.

"The Tenebris have limited the potency of our magic. We might be able to use a good tracking spell on them." said Starlight.

"What if you worked together?" asked Fluttershy. "If you combine your powers, it might be strong enough to create a powerful enough spell." Sunset and Starlight thought it over and then looked at each other.

"It might work." they said at once.

"Let's give it a try." said Sunset. She and Starlight placed their horns together and concentrated. With a fizz and a spark, a small ball of light, mixed with both their magical auras, floated before them.

"This should lead us to which ever one of them is closest." said Sunset. The ball of light floated ahead of them, leading to where one of their friends. The girls followed it closely, deep into the fog. The fog started to lift into a little clearing, at its center was Twilight.

"Twilight!" called Fluttershy, Sunset and Starlight and unison as they rushed to Twilight's side. Twilight was still slumped in depression, muttering to herself and giving off a dark aura. Sunset shook Twilight by the shoulders in an attempt to wake her up from the spell.

"Twilight! Come on, wake up!" she yelled. But Twilight didn't seem to be able to hear her at all and continued muttering to herself.

"Twilight! You've got to snap out of it!" shouted Starlight. Fluttershy turned to Eve.

"Eve, we need your help." she said. Eve got closer to Twilight and looked at the dark aura.

"Despite how it looks, the aura around Twilight isn't too serious." said Eve. "I should be able to dispel it long enough for you girls to try and reach her." Eve rested her hooves on Twilight's shoulders and began to give off a luminescent glow. Some of the dark aura around Twilight dispelled from her.

"You better hurry." said Eve.

"Twilight, can you hear us?" asked Fluttershy. Twilight stopped muttering and lifted her head a little toward Fluttershy's direction.

"Fluttershy...is that you...?" she asked. Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes, it's me." said Fluttershy. "Sunset, Starlight and Eve are here too."

"We're here for you Twilight." said Sunset.

"I see...how pitiful...for me...." said Twilight.

"What are you talking about?" asked Starlight.

"I'm a princess...and I allowed myself to be defeated by the enemy so easily." answered Twilight in a depressed tone. "...I see the truth now...I don't deserve to be a princess....or given these powers. I'm better off as an ordinary Unicorn. I can't do anything right." The dark aura's intensity grew like flames. Eve took control and continued to quell the darkness so they could keep getting through to Twilight.

"That's ridiculous!" cried Sunset.

"She's right Twilight." said Fluttershy. "Think about all the great things you've done. You've helped bring back Princess Luna, defeated an Ursa Minor, helped stop Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and so much more."

"You gave me another chance and showed me the true magic of friendship." said Sunset.

"You showed me that I could make new friends and be happy." said Starlight.

"Please Twilight." said Eve. "Try to remember. Remember who you are. Remember the good times, the times you've shown your true strength."

Twilight listened to them, and tried to recall her memories. The memories that until now had been locked in the back of her mind. All those times she was happy with her family and friends, when she became stronger in order to help the ponies of Equestria and defeat the enemies that threatened them. With each memory, the dark aura disappeared little by little until it was completely gone. Twilight looked up at the girls and blinked out of her daze.

"W-what happened?" she asked. Eve removed her hooves from Twilight's shoulders and let out a relieved sigh.

"Twilight!" the other girls cried. They helped Twilight stand up.

"Ugh! My head." said Twilight, putting a hoof to her head.

"You were under the control of the Tenebris." said Sunset.

"But you should be alright now." said Starlight.

"Where's Discord?" asked Twilight.

"We haven't found him yet." said Starlight. Fluttershy looked down at the ground with worry.

"Poor Discord." she said. "I can't imagine what horrible thing the Tenebris are putting him through."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy." said Eve. "Now that we've got Twilight and the rest of the girls with us, helping Discord and stopping the Tenebris will be a piece of cake."

"I hope you're right." said Fluttershy sadly, looking toward the thick fog, wondering what was happening to her dear friend at that moment.

---

Pseudoshy had finished her daisy chain and had weaved it into a long and lovely veil. She placed it onto her head like a crown and spun around for Discord to look at her from every angle.

"Hee! Hee! What do you think?" she asked in a cute giggle.

"Wonderful as always." he replied. "But what's the occasion for such a lovely veil?"

"Oh, I just thought it'd be nice to wear one." said Pseudoshy with syrupy sweet innocence. "I'd like to wear one just like this for whenever or if ever I get married." Pseudoshy then looked away and blushed as if embarrassed at the thought.

"Of course, it's probably silly of me to think I'll ever be married." she said. She stole a glance at Discord's eyes, which had become murky and glazed over. Discord reached out and took Pseudoshy's hoof and turned her so that they could face each other. Pseudoshy looked up at Discord's face with surprise. 'Yes, this is going well according to Master Pseudea's plan.'

"Discord?" she asked shyly. "What is it?"

"I've been meaning to tell you this for a long while now, and I feel like this is the right time to come out and tell you." said Discord.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I...I love you." he said.

"Really?" asked Pseudoshy. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"With all your heart?"

"With all my heart."

"I'm so glad." said Pseudoshy with a pretty smile. "Would you mind...if it's not too much trouble, if you could show me your love, with a kiss?"

"But of course, my love." he said, his voice staring to sound emotionless and monotone. Discord and Pseudoshy leaned toward each other. Their lips merely a few inches away from each other's touch.

Author's Note:

Ha! Cliffhanger. Will Discord kiss her? You'll have to wait and see. The ending is on the way, full of drama and thrills.