Sweetie Belle and the School of Shadows

by Blackdrag-rose

The Dead

Sweetie Belle sighed, looking down at the silver shackles that rested on her legs. She couldn’t believe that this was happening to her. Thanks to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon she had turned into the monster and nearly destroyed them. The bullies were lucky that they stopped her from succeeding and that Reginald happened to appear at the right moment to seal away the power. Then she had to watch Track’s past, the horrible past that made her sick to her stomach.

“Sweetie,” Rarity said, “You need to eat something. If you don’t eat you’ll collapse.”

It seemed like Sweetie had no choice in the matter as Spike brought out some hay fries and some salad for her. While it wasn’t much compared to what she usually ate at home it was great to get something in her now rumbling belly. Sweetie looked out the window once and noticed it was nighttime, the time of Princess Luna’s rule. Somehow the moonlight made Sweetie more comfortable then she already felt, which was perfectly odd.

As she ate her food her friends began to discuss the preparations for visiting the School of Shadows. She didn’t really listen to what they were saying as Spike placed a cup next to her plates. Sweetie really didn’t care that the liquid in the cup was a bright red color and she downed it regardless. It tasted bitter sweet, but whatever type of juice it was she didn’t recognize it.

“So what happened to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” Sweetie asked once she finished the food and juice.

“They were grounded dear,” Rarity said, “Turns out their fathers didn’t want the jail time to reflect on the family and promised to make them behave better from now on. Plus Princess Celestia doesn’t think sending fillies to jail at such a young age is appropriate. It could send the wrong message to the public if she started doing it. And if they had accepted to invitation to become students at the School of Shadows they would have been removed from the list.”

“I guess they got what they deserved,” Sweetie slowly said.

Oh that they did, said a voice inside Sweetie’s head, but it would have been so much better if I had obliterated the two of them completely. And that wasn’t juice that you were drinking my dear.

Wow. One; who the buck are you? Sweetie mentally replied, surprised to find another voice in her head, and two; what do you mean that that wasn’t juice? It tasted exactly like some type of juice that Rarity would keep hidden from me.

Hmm, let me see here, the voice replied, you, my dear, can call me by my old name; Thrack. And to answer the juice question it is simple; you drank blood dear Sweetie Belle.

WHAT!? Sweetie replied, That was blood? And shouldn’t you be dead?

All in good time my dear Sweetie Belle, Thrack whispered, Right now you had better return to your friends. They’re looking at you like your spacing out on them.

“Sweetie dear,” her sister said, “Are you feeling o.k.? You just spaced out on all of us.”

“What?” Sweetie said, shaking her head a bit before seeing the worried faces all around her, “Oh, I was just thinking and it seems that I got too deep into my thoughts.”

Again something was preventing her from saying anything about the other voice in her head, the one that identified itself as Thrack. Whatever the voice wanted to call itself didn’t matter, but what did matter was what it told her. Apparently Sweetie had been tricked into drinking the foulest substance she could think of in the entire world.

“So, um…” Sweetie started to say, unsure if she should even bother getting the suspicion verified.

“Yes Sweetie Belle?” Princess Luna said, hoping that the question wasn’t related to Thrack in anyway.

“That was blood wasn’t it?” she blurted out, forcing herself to say the words before she had lost her nerve.

Rarity and the Princess sighed. They had both hoped that it would never come to this.

“Yes, it was,” Rarity said, seeing the shocked look on her sister’s face, “It was the Princess’ idea to give you blood to drink. It was in case more of Thrack’s powers entered you then what we already knew about. It seems that you now have some more magical abilities than you had before and you don’t need the blood to survive.”

Sweetie didn’t want to hear any more so she ran for the door and quickly got caught by Luna’s magic. Without warning her own red coated magic ejected her from the Princess’ magic and threw her outside, where she safely landed on the ground. It seemed that Thrack wanted her to run, so Sweetie would run. But Sweetie would have to return the next day to board the train for the School of Shadows.

“It seems that Thrack’s powers don’t want us to have her,” Luna remarked, having been surprised by the magical outburst, “We’ll just have to follow her and intercept her whenever we can. Anypony know where she might go?”

Everypony shook their heads and decided to follow the young mare. So Rainbow, Fluttershy, and the Princesses took off into the sky, using Twilight’s balcony and not destroying the house. Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo turned to the eastern side of the town while the remainder of the group searched the western side. Atar stayed in the library, meaning that Reginald stayed behind to watch him.

Sweetie stopped near the entrance of the Everfree Forest and finally snapped out of her magical daze. She didn’t know why Thrack had insisted that she come all the way out here, but it couldn’t be for a good reason. So Sweetie Belle sat at the edge of the Everfree Forest, staring at the trees for no reason.

Is there a reason you made me come here? She asked the other voice, Other than to bore me out of my mind?

Yes, I did, Thrack said, I want you to reawaken one of my subordinates and learn from him. I want you to awaken Blackwood.

Hello, I can’t use magic, Sweetie said, and besides, even if I could I don’t know what spell you used to reanimate and command the dead.

Oh, that isn’t a problem, the voice said as Sweetie’s horn lit up, I will ensure that Blackwood comes here and does what I will command him to do.

Energy pulsed out of Sweetie’s horn, traveling to some location deep in the Everfree Forest. Sweetie didn’t know if the Princesses would be able to get a fix on Thrack’s power with the short pulses, but she hoped they would. She didn’t want the power to continue to use her like this, despite that she had been told she should be in control of it.

-The Catacombs-

Deep in the Everfree Forest, well hidden during the time of Nightmare Moon, rested a forgotten cemetery. That was just a cover developed by Thrack to hide the truth of what rested below it. The cemetery itself was located in a cave large enough to hold at least thirty graves and a mausoleum.

Underground, below the cemetery, sat layer upon layer of catacombs. Resting within each layer of tunnels were hundreds of dead ponies, though their flesh had not been touched by time. One of the bodies, an adult unicorn stallion with a light green coat, slowly woke up from his slumber. His once lifeless eyes snapped open and gave off a faint red glow as he stretched his legs.

Blackwood, called a voice, Blackwood, can you hear me?

Yes Mistress, Blackwood mentally replied, What would you have me do?

Retrieve my Black Book of Spells, Thrack commanded, the minor version of it if you would.

Of course, Blackwood replied as he realized something was off, The MINOR version? Did something happen that I am not aware of?

I am trapped in my weakest form, my Shadow’s form, Thrack whispered, her name is Sweetie Belle and my power has been bound deep within her. I need to train her so I can eventually escape this cursed prison I am in. The minor version will allow me to teach her the basics before I advance to the more powerful spells.

I understand, Blackwood said, I will bring her the book and teach her what I can before she departs.

Blackwood quickly trotted through the levels of the catacombs, his mind retracing the steps he needed to take before coming to a black door with a silver and red seal. His magic opened the door and he crossed the threshold, stopping to close the door behind him. The room he found himself in was Thrack’s personal archive room where she kept all sorts of books, scrolls, powered up crystals, and legendary items that ponies only saw in their imaginations.

He walked up to a bookshelf and pulled out the book that he was searching for, placing it in a bag that he placed on his back. As he made for the door he stopped to admire the set of armor that seemed to float in the center of the room. It was an old set of armor made from true silver and crafted to house the immense powers of Thrack’s true form. Blackwood had never seen the armor worn before and he doubted that he would ever see it on his master.

Minutes later the door of the mausoleum opened and Blackwood emerged from the depths, making sure it closed before continuing on. He quickly made his way out of the cemetery and into the trees. The clouds gathered and lightning flashed as it started to rain, but he would not be stopped by such a small thing.

-The Princesses-

“Rainbow Dash could you please get rid of the rain,” Luna shouted over the thunder, “We won’t be able to find Sweetie Belle if it continues like this.”

Rainbow saluted the Princess and flew towards the clouds, blowing them away with her wings as fast as she could. Destroying storm clouds wasn’t as easy as kicking apart the normal clouds everypony saw almost every single day. There were dangers to these clouds and they needed to be moved before something happened.

“Do you think we’ll find Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy gently asked, “I mean, what if we don’t find her? What do you think will happen to her?”

“We’ll find her Fluttershy,” Celestia said, her eyes searching everywhere for the young mare, “and we’ll make sure that Thrack’s power have no chance at escaping or running rampart with Sweetie’s body.”

-Sweetie Belle-

Sweetie, having been slightly showered by the rain, was surprised to see the cloud directly above her move. Then she noticed the rainbow trail next to the cloud and realized that Rainbow Dash was right above her. If she were to shout at the mare she would turn to look and find exactly who she was searching for. But, of course, the voice that was Thrack was preventing her from saying anything.

Then she saw a pony emerge from the Everfree Forest, coming her way. The pony was an adult unicorn stallion with a light green coat and a burning pile of wood for a cutie mark. He carried a bag on his back that even Sweetie could tell contained a book. But the most shocking aspect of the pony was his eyes. Where normal eyes would usually be located this stallion’s eyes radiated a red aura and in the center rested a black slit that seemed to act as his eyes.

“Are you the one known as Sweetie Belle?” the stallion asked as he stopped in front of the young mare, “Speak quickly.”

“Y…Yes I am,” Sweetie answered, already afraid of the stallion, “Who…who are you?”

“Lord Blackwood of Thrack’s reanimated army,” the stallion replied, dropping the bag in front of her, “Inside that bag is a book that my master bade me to bring to you. You are going to take it with you and learn from what rests within the pages.”

“And if I don’t take it?” Sweetie asked, trying to be as courageous as she could in front of the long dead stallion.

“I’m sure that Thrack will make you take it anyway,” Blackwood said, turning back towards the trees, “A few words of warning though. Do not read the book while other ponies are around, do not practice the magic in front of others, and tell no one that the book is in your possession. My Master has made her books indestructible, so don’t even bother trying to dispose of it later. I’ll be seeing you around Sweetie Belle.”

Before Sweetie could say anything more the stallion high tailed it back into the Everfree Forest, vanishing from her sight. She sighed and picked up the bag, placing it on her back before turning around. She began to walk back to her house so she could put the book in with the rest of her belongings before somepony noticed her. Sweetie only hoped that she could master the power of Thrack before it tried to consume her altogether.

Blackwood watched the young mare walk back into the town behind her and a small smile appeared on his face. He disappeared with a slight use of his magic as he traveled back to the cemetery, only reappearing when he arrived.

Is there anything else you would like me to do Thrack? Blackwood questioned, hoping to hear something from his mistress.

Yes, was the reply, Prepare my army and consume every inch of the Everfree Forest. Be sure to activate my special barrier before you do so.

As you wish, Blackwood replied, cutting the connection before entering the catacombs once again.

This time when Blackwood entered the catacombs the other corpses began to awaken as well. The majority of them would have the same lifeless eyes that Blackwood had had over a thousand years ago. The only reanimated ponies that didn’t have those eyes were the commanders of the various parts of Thrack’s army, such as Blackwood of the unicorns. And as he walked he noticed that there were also bodies of the griffins.

“Blackwood, I was wondering if I would ever see you again,” said a red coated earth pony with dull armor on, “though I was hoping that we would never have to meet under these circumstances.”

“Neither did I Red Star,” Blackwood said, “Have you seen Shadow Blitz anywhere?”

“She should be here any moment,” said the old Co-Captain of Celestia’s army, “No doubt she went to find the Commander of the Griffin Legion and the Commander of the Changeling Armada.”

“Five Commanders then,” Blackwood said, allowing the lifeless ponies to pass by him, “I have received orders from the Mistress and they are very important.”

“It usually is important if it’s coming from Her,” said a voice as three more figures arrived, “though I still despise her for killing me way back when.”

“Yes, we know that you hate her from deceiving you Shadow Blitz,” Blackwood said, “Care to introduce our allies to us?”

“No need,” the tall Changeling said, wearing the crown of the queen, “I was known as Queen Allure of the Changelings, the first Queen of the Changelings. Seeing how I was the first Queen I was the most powerful of all the Queens. Even now I still don’t know what went wrong that caused me to fall to the young mare.”

“Silverwing,” the grey coated griffin said, “King Silverwing to be exact. I’m sure that the two of you have heard about me during the time I considered destroying Canterlot during the war between the sisters?”

“I have,” Blackwood said, “So we have the most brutal of all of the Griffin Kings, the most cunning of the Changeling Queens, an earth pony whose legs could split the very ground everypony walked on, a pegasus whose wing power is high enough to whip up a hurricane whenever she pleases, and me, a unicorn whose magical powers can clash with the very Gods themselves. And to top it off our master is a monster that has the power to reanimate the dead and can fight on equal ground with the Princesses.”

“I guess the Mistress was thinking ahead,” Shadow Blitz said, “So, what does she want us to do exactly?”

“She wants us to awaken her army and clear the area known as the Everfree Forest,” Blackwood said, “I’m sure that whatever creatures are in these woods will be a fine addition to her army. And I have to activate the barrier that will allow us to be unseen by Celestia until the time is right.”

“So it is time to build the Necropolis,” Red Star said, “otherwise known as the City of the Dead. In our case it’s known as the Kingdom of Thrack, the Realm of the Dead, and the home of the Reanimated Army.”

Not soon after the awakening of the uppermost layers of the catacombs the barrier went up, surrounding the whole of the Everfree Forest. It went unnoticed by the Princesses as they noticed Sweetie Belle enter her home and felt Thrack’s energy. It was enough for the groups to somehow not notice the light blue ring appear all the way around the trees. Even if they had somehow seen the barrier the magic would have made it so their eyes had blinked.

Sweetie, on the other hoof, knew something was up and couldn’t do a thing as she laid the book in her suitcase. It quickly became hidden under her belongings and she closed the lid, returning to her bed. It seemed odd that everything was happening to her and yet the monster let her stay in control. As Sweetie closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep she vowed that she would master the powers that Thrack could use and make it so that she couldn’t take over her body.

Comments

[Melkor]

I left and there were 100 unread chapters... Now there are 400! also hello. I'll be on like normal soon.