War of the Unfoals

by NPP6

Chapter 1 - Drastic Measures

To be honest, Black Diamond reflected, it was only a matter of time.

She, Midnight, and Featherdown were sitting in what amounted to Twilight’s throne room. The princess in question, her student Starlight Glimmer, and both Nyx and Spike were staring at the three ponies in abject shock. Given what had just been said, that was to be expected.

Diamond didn’t think she could have gotten a better reaction if she’d revealed that her Day form was Diamond Tiara.

---

“Now hold on Sugarcube, are ya sure ya wanna do something that drastic?” It had been a couple of hours, and the six mares that most of the town's events seemed to circle around had congregated to decide on an answer to Featherdown's request.

“I must agree with Applejack dearie, why would you want to get rid of your cutie mark?”

Featherdown gaped for a moment before she let her shoulders droop. “That’s right, you’ve never seen it. I forgot I managed to keep it hidden from most of the adults.” The filly shifted her weight, allowing her saddlebags to slide off and reveal her cutie mark. She turned to display it to the six mares who were to decide her fate. “Why don’t you tell me, why wouldn’t I want to escape this destiny?”

Response was preempted by the force of nature collectively known as “The Trio” barreling through the doors. “Featherdown, wait!” Applebloom called out, “Ya can’t just throw away yer special talent!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo joined in, “Your cutie mark is a part of who you are, why would you want to get rid of it?”

Sweetie Bell cocked her head, “What does a bed cutie mark represent anyway?”

Featherdown glanced back at the familiar red curtained frame on her flank. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

Rainbow cut in before the three younger fillies could voice further curiosity, “What are you three doing here anyway?”

Several sheepish grins and half-hearted excuses later, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo were shuffled out by their sisters. Any further attempts on their part to eavesdrop mysteriously backfired, though it never occurred to them that the flickering shadow that occasionally flashed through their vision might be related to that.

Meanwhile, Featherdown continued presenting her case, “You see? That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. How am I supposed to explain to fillies like them that I legally can’t tell them my cutie mark story until they’re eighteen? Even when they’re old enough, how do I even begin explaining my ‘special talent’ to them?” The young mare’s head drooped, shading her eyes.

Twilight looked over to where Midnight sat behind his ward. “When you told me that taking her in yourself was the only way to keep Black Diamond from killing Duke Holder…”

Midnight nodded. “I was being very literal.”

Twilight swallowed. “But… How… If he was doing things to her, then how did she…”

“Because I didn’t get my cutie mark the first night he did things to me.” A single tear hit the crustal at her hooves as she looked up again to meet the princess’s gaze. It was obvious to all present that she was holding back a torrent of other tears as she spoke, “I got my cutie mark the first time… my first time doing things back to him.”

There were several seconds of silence following that. During that time, Fluttershy closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. “Girls?” Her voice echoed slightly, a strange effect given its volume, “Why don’t I take Featherdown into another room and talk to her, this is obviously hard on her already, we shouldn’t make it any harder than it has to be. We’ll be back when she’s feeling a little better.” She shot Rainbow a glance.

The other pegasus nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably the best call for that one.”

Pinkie looked at the polychromatic mare. “Whatcha mean Dashie?”

Both pegasi seized up in the lightning quick moment before Midnight responded. “Featherdown’s in a… tough place right now. It would be pretty easy to hurt her accidentally, but with how gentle Fluttershy is…” He shrugged. “Anyway, I agree, Fluttershy’ll have the easiest time calming her down."

---

The Trio had finally given up on breaking into Twilight’s Castle and were buzzing out to Sweet Apple Acres to meet a hoofful of the other crusaders (The club having expanded greatly since the Trio got their cutie marks) for another crusade just inside the Everfree. They had gained a sense of responsibility for the other foals (For a given value of “responsibility”), and knew that the Everfree could be dangerous, so they were taking the scenic route.

A quick pass along the edge of the forest would give them an idea of whether anything had come to the edge today. Nothing was visible, but for some reason Applebloom still felt nervous. She could… feel something out there.

Finally she’d had enough. If something was stalking them, they were probably better off turning this into a chase before they led it back to the other crusaders. “Girls, let’s stop here a bit.”

Scootaloo braked, the wagon rolling to a stop next to her. “What is it Applebloom?”

The earth pony shook her head. “I dunno, something just feels weird.” As she spoke, she hopped out of the wagon and started walking towards the tree line.

“Applebloom, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sweetie squeaked.

Applebloom nodded. “I’m just gonna see what’s there, and…” She had turned to look over her shoulder at her friends as she spoke. At their terrified screams, she turned herself to see a pair of ghosts standing in front of her.

In surprise, she fell backwards onto her rump. It took a moment for her jaw to work, but finally she managed to get out:

“Ruby? Mitta?”

---

“Starlight, are you sure about this? Midnight or I could probably cast the spell if it would bring back memories.”

The unicorn in question shook her head. “No, I need to do this. I caused years of hurt with the original spell, if this version can do some good, then I need to do it.”

The only stallion in the room turned to the only pegasus. “Rainbow, can you go let them know we’re ready?”

As the cyan mare left through one door, three familiar fillies burst through another for the second time that day. Twilight’s shoulders slumped. “Oh for crying out loud. Girls, please, this is Featherdown’s choice to make, and you really need to accept–”

Applebloom cut her off, “No, this ain’t about that. We’ve got trouble in the Everfree.”

Applejack spoke up, “Now hold on a minute there Bloom, what’s going on?”

“Something bad.”

“…Something bad?”

“Uh huh.”

“Have ya got anything more specific than that?”

“Wha… ya mean ya don’t believe me. Sis, I’m telling ya, there’s some kinda weird magic going on out there right now!”

“Now Sugarcube–”

“Indeed dear Applebloom speaks true, I know for I have sensed it too.”

The group looked up as Zecora walked in. Her eyes widened briefly when she noticed Midnight sitting just out of sight of the door itself, but she gave no other sign of surprise at seeing an alicorn stallion. “Somewhere out there, you I tell, Darkness works through magic and spell.”

It was at this point that Midnight rose, walked over to Applebloom, and whispered something in her ear. She recoiled in surprise, then hesitantly nodded. He grimaced. “Black Diamond, you’re with me. We’ll go take a look at things, see if we can nip this in the bud. If the rest of you ladies could please let Featherdown know where we went, it would be appreciated.”

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Featherdown trotted back into the room scant minutes after he left.

---

An alicorn filly and a unicorn colt were walking along through the streets of Ponyville. Given that it was now three in the afternoon on a Saturday, nopony really paid them any mind. As they turned a corner however, the filly posed a question, “Uh… Is this a shortcut?”

The colt looked at Nyx, then shook his head. “Nah, my house is down this way. My parents aren’t home right now, so it’ll be locked, but there’s a key around back for these kinds of situations.” He paused, looking between the filly and the alley they were turning down. “If you want, I can take you around front and then come around back and let you in that way.”

Nyx thought about it for a moment. The alley ran between two rows of houses, set so that it was behind both of them. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, but Night had never given her any reason to not trust him.

He had been careful about that.

Nyx shrugged. “I’ll just follow you, I don’t want to make you walk all the way around twice.”

He gave her a grateful smile and the pair trotted into the alley, turning at a fork that you wouldn’t notice from the road. The path turned again, and as Nyx rounded the corner, she heard the “pop” of displaced air behind her. She turned to see that Night had teleported, and a suspicion started to build. Glancing behind her to find he had led her to a dead end only grew that suspicion. “Night? What’s going on?”

He gave her a gentle smile. “I think that’s obvious Nyx.” Faster than she could blink, her saddlebags – and the emergency signal inside them – were pulled away from her in his magic. “Now I get that they told things to you, so this will probably scare you a little, and I’m going to have to use more force than I’d like. But trust me, this is for the best, for both of us.”

Nyx’s brief time as an adult combined with what she’d managed to infer about Featherdown’s story earlier that morning to cast those comments in a particular light. The filly’s ears flattened out, her tail tightened down between her hind legs, which she brought far closer than she usually would as she slowly backed away. “Night, please. Don’t do this. My mother and her friends–”

Night chuckled gently. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about them, the agents of Harmony, as well as the Shadow Ranger, are going to be quite occupied for the foreseeable future. You and I will have all the time in the world.”

Nyx jumped. Her wings snapped out as she took flight, rising straight into the air… for about two feet. Then she froze, caught in a telekinetic grip that dragged her back to ground. She tried to cast a spell, only to have her horn tapped by his hoof. It wasn’t hard, he clearly didn’t want to hurt her, but it was enough to disrupt her magic.

“None of that now,” His voice was as gentle as ever, “We wouldn’t want anypony getting caught in the crossfire.”

Calm down Nyx, this isn’t your first foalnapping. “Why? Why do this?”

His gaze was pitying. “Because I’ve seen what they’ve done to you, even if you can’t. And it sickens me. So, I will release you from their chains, even if I have to fight you to do it.”

“Where do you get off!? In case you hadn’t noticed, the only one trapping me right now is you!”

He sighed. “I told you, I know that they’ve told you things, so don’t worry, I know it’s them talking and not you. Because you would never be happy like this Nightmare Moon.”

Nyx swallowed. Something about the way he said that name was different. It was the same kind of familiarity she heard when her mother said her name. “Who are you?”

Night closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, they were the same color, only… different. Slitted, draconic, like hers. His windbreaker burst at the seams as his leathery bat wings erupted from it. “I am Despair. Come along Sister, we have much to do so that you may awaken.”

They had teleported out before Nyx even thought to scream.

---

A tan colt with a light blue mane watched a filly from the shadows. He had been following her for the better part of the day, analyzing her. Supernatural Capacity, high physical strength for her age, high damage capacity, high value hostage… Priority Two. We’ll come after her once the Ranger is dealt with. Course of action: Elimination.

Author's Note:

Nyx is from Past Sins by Pen Stroke.