Rising of Destruction

by Ivo

Ch.1 - The Beginning - Pt.4 - A Nightmare Come True

Chapter 1 – The Beginning

Part 4 – A Nightmare Come True

It just stood there, looking through the window, observing. Shimmering moonlight flooded the room and created the silvery twilight it loved so much! Like a silken veil it surrounded the pony. The books´ golden signs on the glassy table next to it shimmered in the silver light.

The dark ones got stronger, much stronger, last night! Their powers grew! But they got back their old ancient powers nowhere near! They pulsated in the book, wanted to come out, wanted their next victim! The next one, they could torture! And, at the will of them, it would be a very special purple mare, called ‘Twilight Sparkle’!
“Don´t worry, my little pretties!” it said as it would speak to a little child. “Soon, you´ll get her! Don´t worry, don´t worry…” it lowered its voice to whispers. “But first, you´ll have to eat the soup. And after that, you´ll get her as the main course…”

The dark unicorn giggled devilish and its gaze wandered back to the two creatures it was observing. Peaceful huggling together, comforting each other with their presence, simply savoring their togetherness, they lay on the big meadow under a tree in front of the school pile. She was sleeping and he slightly dozing. It narrowed its eyes, looking at her. Yeah! Enjoy it! Savor the warm body at your side! The calm steady beat of his soft pure heart… Enjoy it and cry even more, when I make it stop beating! Cry, when I´m taking him away from you! Cry and lose your mind in your anguish of despair!

It smirked. Everything was just as planned! Sure, it would be easier for the dark unicorn to wait for the next night and kill him at his chamber. But that damned Bleach had a too wide and calming influence on her. The more time he got to comfort her, the more and faster her mind restores itself! Even if she had to bear the loss of her second friend, her mind would be still a tough nut to crack! The weaker her mind was the better!
Anyway, they both had acted as it thought. They both couldn´t sleep that night. Of course, who would sleep like a baby while his mind was invaded by the murder of one of his best friends? And, just as it thought, Bleach couldn´t sit still and went out for some fresh air. And Twilight had joined him, because she needed the comfort of her loved one.

Now, the only thing it had to do was waiting. It would kill him here, at the library. Everything was prepared. The only thing missing was the victim. But soon, it would decoy Bleach into its deathtrap! He only had to change into his aura-vision. He would see the dark power, streaming from the book and wouldn´t resist inspecting it. Whether he did that with or without Twilight was unimportant. He was the victim!
Anyway, the unicorn knew he would change to his aura-vision! Sure as death! It was his nature! Checking the surrounding, playing the big watchdog and babysitter for his cutie wutie little Twilight!
It snorted contemptuously. You´re so pathetic! After this night, there will be no young Auraknight anymore! In the best case, Twilight would follow him and he would die a miserable death direct in front of her eyes, screaming his soul out, maybe whispering a poignant ‘I love you!’ with his last breath! Oh, only thinking about it sent pleasant chills down its spine! A great show was going to start and the dark unicorn got a place in the first row!

But actually, it still had to wait and observe for the perfect moment to lead them into Bleachs´ deathtrap…

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The door slammed hard against the wall when he hastily burst into the room. One of the observing guards had informed him instantly about the situation and he came just as fast as he could.

“In the name of Princess Celestia, stop with this nonsense right now!” he shouted. “No! Who allowed you to be in charge of me and my life?” “As royal guard and, moreover, an Auraknight of the princess I command you: Move away from that window, RIGHT NOW!” “NO!” the other one yelled back. “It is MY decision! MY will to follow her! You can´t keep me away from her embrace!” “And what is about your friends? Your family? Your parents, grand-parents, brothers and sisters and I don´t know what all? How do you want to explain your acting to them?”

Sighing, Nevios´ head sank to the ground. The window of the small chamber was opened wide. A fresh summer night breeze silently played with the dark blue curtains and his shoulder-length black mane. The brown stallion that had been Silverleafs´ coltfriend stood on the edge of the small windowsill, ready to jump and follow his loved filly into death. In the end… so Bleachs´ father thought …a chamber in the tenth floor really wasn´t the most intelligent idea…
He took a deep breath to calm himself a little bit. With authority, he wouldn´t go very far. “Please, come to your senses! I know you lost so much, but…” He said with a calming voice and looked deep into the brown stallions´ eyes. “…suicide isn´t a solution! Do you really think she would want you to follow her? Do you really think she wants you to just trash your life for her?”
“What do you know what she wants and not wants? You don´t know her a bit!” he snapped.
“But I at least would say I knew her good enough to be sure, that she would want you to go on living your life! There are so many things to live for, so many things you could do! You´re young and there is a whole world you can explore!”
“Why exploring a world without a pony to share it?” Nevio asked bitterly. “The only thing I had been living for is gone…I lost everything in my life! My love, my foal, everything, that was important to me! Now there´s nothing but emptiness!” he said crying.
“But this emptiness can be filled. Of course, there still would be a scar, but there are so many ponies around you which are ready to fix you! Ponies to comfort you!” “There´s no pony who could fix or comfort me!” he said sobbing. “No pony excepting one…” Bleachs´ father sighed about Nevios´ bitterness. “Listen, Nevio. I…I know how you feel, but…” “KNOW HOW I FEEL?” he snapped crying. “How should you know how I feel? How should you know how it feels to lose everything! To lose everything, that´s important to you?” “I…” “NO!” he yelled and rose to his hindlegs “You don´t know, how I´m feeling! Nopony knows!” “Nevio, please, don´t do it!” For a while, there was a strained silence. They only looked at each other. Nevio exhaled, whispering: “I´m sorry…” And then, he let himself fall backwards into the night.

Bleachs´ father just sighed and turned around, leaving the room.
“Idiot…” he muttered…

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She found herself on a small meadow, surrounded by trees, a clear blue sky above her. A fresh breeze stroke gently through her mane and coat, tickled her and made her feel comfortable. The sounds of nature around her played a harmonic song. It was…peaceful.

But suddenly, there were shouting voices between the trees, getting louder, destroyed the peaceful setting. Some birds and squirrels fled from the voices as they broke through the bushes. Six ponies entered the clearing in a rapid frantic gallop, yelling, encouraging each other to keep the pace.
“Don´t stop guys! They´re close!” “I think I can hear them!” “Just stay strong everypony! If we´re falling, everything is lost forever!” “Then hurry up! We - AAAAHHH!”
With a loud cry, one of the ponies, a dark blue stallion with a white and silver mane and tail felled hard to the ground. A root, he hadn´t seen, had let him founder and finally brought him to fall. Hastily, he tried to rise back to his hooves, but she had heard the cracking sound of the breaking bone and as soon as he put weight onto his right hind leg, he dropped back to the ground, groaning with pain. “Ocean!” one of the mares of the group shouted and his friends turned back, trying to help him back to his hooves.

“Stop it!” the injured pony shouted. “We have no time for that! Leave me behind!” “No! I won´t leave you to your fate!” the same mare as before replied with a look, which made her clear: they were more than just friends. If she looked closer at the mare, she realized: she had seen her before! Only for a short time, but anyway, she knew her! She had tried to warn her from the alicorn-shadows in her last dream! It was the same light red mare with the long waving green mane!
“You have to! Run! They could catch us up every moment!” “Then we will fight!” “No! We can´t stand them!” The red mare looked to the ground. She knew he was right. She knew she had to go on without him. “Give me the book, Ari!” Reluctant, the red mare called ‘Ari’ put a book, which was very familiar to Twilight, out of her saddlebag and reached it to her friend.
“What are you up to?” she asked. He took the book and put his right fore hoof on it. “I´ll may leave behind, but they won´t get my element! I´ll transfer it into the book! You´ll need it!” As soon as he said this, he closed his eyes and a soft orange shimmer appeared around him, slowly flowing into the book. “But…you can´t fight without it! They´ll kill you instantly!” When the shimmer completely was transferred into the book, he just smiled apologizing. “I know.” he said softly, looking deep into the red mares eyes which filled with tears. “Ocean…” she sobbed.
For a moment, they just looked at each other, silently saying good bye. No one of them all said a word. There was sadness in everyponys´ face. Finally, the mare Ari couldn´t choke her tears back anymore and started crying, kissing him passionately one last time.

After a while, they broke the kiss, looking at each other. The stallion Ocean smiled. “The best last kiss I could imagine for my life.” he said softly and put a hoof on her chest. “Don´t forget: I´ll always be with you. Right here.” he smiled even wider and his hoof wandered to her belly. “And here. Now, Ari: Go! Run! And save us all!” She just nodded, still crying and then, she turned around and ran. One last glance and finally, his friends and his love disappeared between the trees.

Also Twilight had tears in her eyes. She wished, she could do something to help them, but she was only a phantom. A silent watcher, nothing more. She hadn´t any influence to the happenings of the story in front of her.

Suddenly, there was silence again. Now, there were also tears running down Oceans´ cheeks. But he had to make that decision! With his broken leg, he just would have been a drag! And he couldn´t take that risk! He or they all, it had been an easy decision, even if it meant his death. After a few moments, there was a low rustling in the bushes they had come from, getting louder very fast!

And then, they charged the clearing…

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A soft breeze tickled his nose. The fresh air of the night mixed with the scents of the grass beneath him and the mare next to him. She smelled good. Like violets and a waft of roses. Together, they huggled under a tree in front of the school pile, savoring their togetherness.

Twilight had fallen asleep at his side, resting her head on his shoulder. Bleach also had closed his eyes to doze a little, paying attention to the variety of sounds around them. Next to him, he heard the calm deep breaths of Twilight, his favorite of the sounds around them. In the far, he heard the songs of some nightingales. He heard the susurration of the trees´ leafs, heard some small animals scurrying through the grass. Only the far yelling of two ponies won´t fit to the natural sounds around him. He tried to understand, what they were saying, but they were too far away.

Yawning, he opened his eyes, looking around. Everywhere was silvery twilight, created by the waning gibbous moon. He changed to aura-vision to check the surrounding. It was, maybe, a little bit ridiculous, but there was still a murder out there! And he was, in addition, an Auraknight! A guardian!
Slowly, he looked around, but he didn´t find something. There were only the bright potency of Twilight next to him and the faint glowing energies of some ponies at the school behind their windows. He already wanted to close his eyes again when he suddenly felt something wet at his shoulder. He changed back to normal-view and looked at Twilight. A few small tears streamed down her cheeks. Was she dreaming about Silverleaf?
He smiled and nuzzled her softly. “Don´t cry.” he whispered in her ear. “Everything will be fine. Don´t worry. I am here…” Still asleep, she dried her tears at his shoulder. Bleach giggled soft, gave her a slight kiss on her forehead, which made her smile in her dream and turned his head around back to the school pile, changing his vision again. Everything was normal and quiet.

But then, he saw something, which made him frown. It was a magical glow behind the big window of the library. A faint black magical stream, that was familiar to him. He put the crystal of his father out of his white surcoat. The black magical remains in it pulsated slightly. No doubt, what he saw behind the library-window was the same magic like that, which had killed Silverleaf!
He looked at Twilight. He won´t leave her alone, but he had to inspect that strange glow! He sighed. “I´m sorry, Twi…I´m trying to be back before you´ll awake…” He rose to his hooves and got under way.

After a few steps, he heard a yawn and a sleepy groan behind him. “Where´re you going?” Twilight asked through sleepy eyes. Bleach slightly smiled and turned around. “Oh, I only need the lavatory. Don´t worry, I´m back in a flash.” The purple mare grinned. “You´re a terrible liar. And, in addition: are you always looking for the toilet with your aura-vision? Do they have some kind of special magic that makes you find them better with it?” she smirked even wider, raising an eyebrow. “No need to be so sarcastic.” he said.
“Then tell me please: What are you really going for?” He looked at her, not sure, if he should really tell her. He won´t involve her into this. It could be dangerous. But, after a short while, he surrendered and sighed.

“Come, I´ll explain it to you on the way…”

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“So, let me sum up: You saw that black spell behind the window of the library and think, it´s the same spell, which killed Silverleaf from inside?” “Yeah…so or something like that. It still must be checked, if it really was that spell, which killed her. But, whether it killed her or not, the spell I saw was definitely one of the spells, her murder had used! And that means: he is here, or, at least, was here only a few moments ago.” “Well, then let´s see, if we´ll find something.”

Determined to find and catch the murder of her friend, they entered the library and became silent. Bleach inspected every corner with his aura-vision, Twilight following him silently. The huge library with its light blue walls and bookcases and the dark blue carpet was hued in silvery twilight. Everywhere were the blue and red flowers Silverleaf had decorated the library with. White ladders leaned against nearly every bookcase.
Attentive they inspected every corner, every gap between the rows of the countless bookshelves. Twilight was a little bit uneasy about this venture. Sure, Bleach was a fighter, a very good fighter, to be honest, and she also wasn´t the worst magician, but anyway, they should have informed the guards at least.

Searching, they walked their way through the dark library, paying attention to every noise they heard. Suddenly, something caught Twilights´ eyes. It was a small book, lying with its backside on top on a book rest. Okay, granted, a book lying on a book rest with its backside on top, wasn´t that unusual for a library, but, in a way, the book caught Twilights´ interest. She walked closer to the desk with the book, covered in brown leather. Bleach walked on without her, not recognizing her missing.
Twilight flipped through the book. She found some strange old spells and an old story, relating of two magical forces that once fought against each other. She frowned and closed the book, looking at the front side of the cover. What she saw let her heart skip a beat. Gasping, she felled a few steps back, her widened eyes still starring at the book in front of her. It was that book! The book she saw in her dreams! The book with the twelve signs! The book, the dark shadow-alicorns came from in her nightmare!
And then, the book opened and a dark glow appeared.

“So, finally we´re meeting again…” a familiar dark voice giggled in her head. No! she thought. This can´t be! It was just a nightmare! This can´t be real! “Oh, but it IS real! You have no idea, how much we had looked forward to see you again…” the voice laughed. Dark tendrils slowly left the book, fumbling around, searching for her. Twilight, not able to speak, backed away, until she felt the bookcase behind her. She tried to shout for Bleach, but her voice was hoarse and low, terrified of the nightmarish scene in front of her. The young Auraknight couldn´t have heard that.
And then, the pure darkness burst out of the book and the dark tendrils darted at her, trying to enclose her legs. Now, she found her tongue and ran. “BLEEEEAAAACH!”

The Auraknight instantly recognized the spell! The walls and windows and ceiling shimmered blue! A spell of quietness! This is a trap! Frantically, he turned around, but Twilight wasn´t there anymore! Damned! he thought. And then, he heard her scream. He looked at the direction it came from and noticed the dark magic in the far. Oh, damn it all! “TWILIGHT!” He ran, levitating his daggers out of their sheets.

Twilight didn´t come far. After the first few steps, one of the tendrils clutched her right hind leg and brought her to fall. She tried to wrest herself free, while the tendril pulled her back towards the book. But every time she was free, another tendril snapped her, pulling her backwards. She tried to do something with her magic, to relinquish their grip, but they were too strong and she too excited and terrified to concentrate and use her magic effectively. More tendrils now snapped her, pulling her back faster. She rolled on her back, making desperate efforts to find some grip with her hooves.
And then, her blood froze instantly in her veins! Above her she saw them! The six alicorn-shadows! They levitated in the air, beating steadily with their wings. Twelve demonic red eyes focused her. This time, they seemed to be more corporeal! And much stronger than last time she met them!
Her worst nightmare came true!

“BLEEEAAACH!” she shouted one more time, filled with horror. “BLE-mmmmpf…” one of the tendrils clutched her muzzle and silenced her. They laughed devilish in her head. “This time, we´ll get our revenge!” She cried, asking herself, what they wanted to revenge for. She did nothing! “Oh, that is only what you think! Do you even know how painful it was to be kicked out of you? No, you don´t! You should be glad, that you´re still alive! It´s a real shame that we´re not allowed to kill you yet! But soon, you´ll suffer in much more pain than we did, you damned little bitch!” his voice was filled with hatred so much that it hurt Twilight. How could anypony be so full of hate?
“But…I think nopony would have an objection against some…collateral damage…” He smirked and seemed to have a short discussion with another pony. After his short inner discussion with his master, he smirked even wider. “Just as I thought…”
They pounded on her.

Twilight closed her eyes, crying, awaiting the pain and the dark cravings she felt the last time.
And then, there was a bright flash…

Bleach gave a wince of pain, when they dashed against the magical protective wall he hastily had formed with his aura. The wall shone in a bright light and with an infuriated yell of pain, the shadows retreated and inspected the newcomer. The white stallion, who had cast the wall, stood on his hind legs in front of the purple mare, protecting her with his spell. He had two daggers in his hooves, crossing them in front of him, leading the energy for the spell through them.
Also Bleach inspected his creepy enemies. So these are the murders of Silverleaf! he thought grimly.
He looked at Twilight. The purple mare was lying on her back, trembling with fear, closing her eyes. The dark tendrils had disappeared when he had arrived in the last nick of time and had cut them with his daggers. He collected his thoughts. Bleach had to think fast. He flinched again, when they dashed a second time against his shield with a loud roar. They tried to break it!
“Twilight! Get up!” he shouted, before they hit his shield a third time. His horn glowed bright in his big mental effort. But Twilight didn´t react. She opened her eyes and looked with horror at the phantoms of her nightmare which had become true. “Twilight! RUN!” A fourth hit. Still no reaction. That´s the last straw! Sorry, Twi… he took one of his daggers and pricked her in her flank so that she felt a slight piercing pain. With an “Ouch!” she came back to reality.
“RUN! NOW!” he shouted again, and gave another wince of pain. He wouldn´t hold his shield any longer! This time, she frantically rose to her hooves and ran.
Bleach waited until they attacked again. Shortly before they would have dashed against his wall, he took two steps back, avoiding them. They hit the ground and instantly, he loosed the energies of his wall at them and followed Twilight. The six alicorns felled a few steps back, when his energies stroke them. They shook their heads and instantly followed them roaring.

“We have to reach the windows!” Bleach commanded. “There is a spell of quietness all around us! Nopony hears us!” Twilight looked back at him and nodded. Together, they ran through the rows of bookshelves, heading for the windows. They heard the screams of the shadows right behind them. With his magic, Bleach overbalanced some of the bookcases and tried to thwart the dark alicorns.
Suddenly, Twilight stopped and she and Bleach crashed. He looked up. Right in front of them he saw two of the alicorns blocking their way. Damned! They pounded on them.
Twilights´ horn glowed. And in the moment, the shadows reached them and wanted to attack them, their victims disappeared in a bright flash.
After that, they found themselves near the windows. Bleach looked at his love in wonderment. “Since when do you know a teleportation-spell?” “Since a few hours?” she said sheepishly. “I found it in the book Spike got in the city today. It´s based on a magical fluctuation between time and space and…” “Explain it later! First we have to break through this quietness-spell and to shout for help!” She nodded.

Bleach tried to open one of the windows. Normally, you could simply walk through a spell like this one and it only works, if you´re inside. But, whoever sent this alicorns after them, he called a strong magical barrier combined with the quietness-spell! Bleach felt like trying to grab through a massive wall.
“Damned!” “Is something wrong?” “A magical barrier! We can´t open the window!” “And what should we do now?”
Bleach took his daggers. “I´ll break through! What else?” He flooded his daggers with some magical energy of himself and strokes a blow upon the barrier; sparking small magical remains everytime he hit the barrier. But it was useless! His energy wasn´t strong enough to break the spell! But…he closed his eyes and searched inside himself…There! There it was! The energy he had absorbed from Twilight at Magical Physics! Her energy should be strong enough!
He flooded the blade with the bright new energy and hit the barrier again. Nothing happened. He hit again. This time, he saw a small crack in the blue shimmering spell! With the next strike, the crack got wider. “Oh, come on now!” he shouted and struck one last time with all his might. This time, there was a cracking sound and a small hole appeared in the blue spell. But the hole was almost closing again! Without hesitation, Bleach hit and broke the window, took a deep breath and shouted: “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!” And then, the spell closed again.
“And what we do now?” Twilight asked worried, hearing the alicorns right behind them. They had found them!

“Hoping and praying for a miracle…” he said when the dark alicorns appeared and attacked again…

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“NO! LET ME GO! RIGHT NOW! LET! GO!” “Okay, let him go…” Their grip relinquished and he felled…about two meters and then he hit the ground, gasping, crying. “NOOOOOO! I WANT TO FOLLOW HER! YOU DAMNED…” “WATCH YOUR MOUTH AND SHUT UP!” He silenced and cried.

The white stallion took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, looking at the two pegasi he had asked to help him and catch Nevio if he really would jump. “I thank you very much.” “Nah, no problem. We couldn´t deny the appeal for help of an Auraknight, right?” a yellow pegasus-mare answered and stretched her shoulders. “Phew, he´s stronger than he looks like. Especially when he´s rampaging like that…” “I am sorry. I hope it wasn´t too much of a bother for you. But you´re faster than every guard I could´ve asked for. If I could pay anything back for your troubles…” “I think, an apple pie from the canteen would be enough.” the mares´ companion, a light blue stallion, replied smiling. The mare next to him rolled her eyes. “That figures! You and your pies…I should put you on a diet, Soarin´…”

Bleachs´ father only gave a short smile and turned back to Nevio with a stern look, letting the two Wonderbolts leave them alone. It had been a very good idea to call for Soarin´ and Spitfire. A royal guard would have never been fast enough to catch the brown stallion before he would have hit the ground. So he called them to observe him and rescue Nevio in the event of him jumping out of the window.
“So, let´s come back to you…” he began. Silverleafs´ friend looked up at him, starring daggers at his savior from himself with watery eyes. “I am sorry to say it, but your acting leaves me no other choice: Nevio, in the name of princess Celestia I arrest you for regretting the command of a royal guard and, primary, to protect you from yourself!” Nevios´ eyes widened and he rose back to his hooves. “But…No! That´s not fair! You can´t simply arrest me!” “Oh yes, I can! And I will! As security for your life!”
The brown stallions´ head sank to the ground. “Why? Why are you doing all this? Can´t you simply let me die?” “I do it, because I had given your friends my word to keep you safe. And, in addition and as I told you before: I know how you feel!” “And I told you, you don´t…” “Oh yes, I DO know!” he interrupted him shouting.

A short while they just stood there, staring at each other. Finally, Bleachs´ father looked to the ground, sighing. Old memories came up inside him. “Have you ever asked yourself, why neither Bleach nor Twilight nor Silverleaf nor I ever mention his mother?” Now, Nevio began to wonder. He was right, nopony of them had ever mentioned Bleachs´ mother. But he also had never asked him for her. Such questions had been always some kind of taboo for him.
“It is now about ten years ago.” Bleachs´ father continued with slight sadness in his voice. “Bleach never was supposed to be my only child.
It had been a very hard winter. His mother was in the last month of her pregnancy. We should have been soon parents of a little daughter. You surely can imagine that Bleach had been very excited. But then, his mother became dangerously ill. Double pneumonia. We brought her to the hospital, but she faded away more and more with every new day. The doctors tried everything, but it was useless. She died at the morning before Hearts Warming Eve. Bleach had left at home that day.
The doctors tried at least to save our daughter. And they did it! She was weak, but alive! But, primary, weak. I held her in my arms. I was happy. I knew she would help me coming through my wifes´ death. She sustained me. She had her mothers´ eyes…” his eyes became watery. He closed them and small tears ran down his cheeks. “But after four hours, she…she simply closed them! As she would sleep! But she never…she never…” he looked back at Nevio with a piercing glance. “Do you even know, what it means to watch your own daughter dying in your arms? Can you understand the pain I felt? Fate kicked my ass twice! First it took my wife one day before Hearts Warming Eve and then it let me hope only to take away my daughter a few hours later!”

Nevio couldn´t hold his gaze and looked to the ground. “What…what happened next?...” he asked. “I told Bleach. I didn´t mention, that his little sister had been alive for some hours. He still thinks she died with his mother.” “How…did he react?” First, the white stallion didn´t answer.
“He…tried to kill himself…” “But it did not work?” He shook his head. “No, it didn´t. And I am very thankful for that. He tried to drown himself in a lake, but Twilight and Silverleaf rescued him. They had tried to comfort him as well as they could after that. And he had let them comfort him. And so, he came through his mothers´ death. But still, he never mentions her. It hurts him too much.”
Nevio nodded, slowly realizing what Bleachs´ father was up to. “But why hadn´t you tried to kill yourself? You had to suffer so much pain…what gave you the strength to just go on?” Now, the white stallion smiled slightly.
“I simply remembered the things that still kept me on earth. My son. My family. My friends. My responsibility as Auraknight of the princess.” “And you think that´s what could fix me?” Nevio asked incredulously. Bleachs´ father nodded.
“As I said earlier: there are so many ponies around you, ready to fix you. Sure, there will always be a scar and it may hurt, when you touch it, but just trust me! Life is much too worth to just trash it. You still got your friends and your family and Silverleafs´ family! They are all ready to comfort you. You just have to let them fix and comfort you and you´ll see: your pain will fade away. Slow but steady.”

Nevio looked to the ground and thought a moment about his words. Would his pain really just go away if he only let other ponies comfort him? In the case of Bleach and his father, it had worked. But will it also work in his case? He smiled slightly. “Maybe I…just ought to try it…” he finally said and added a low-voiced: “Thank you…”

In this moment, they both heard a sound of breaking glass and a loud scream, calling for help. Nevio frantically looked up for the screams´ source. The Auraknights´ eyes widened.

It was the voice of his son…

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His sight was suddenly covered in darkness by an explosion next to him. The blast nearly carried him off his hooves. For the dark alicorns, the party was over now! Now, they attacked them with their dark magic. And it was powerful dark and old and, primary, lethal magic! He looked back.

Above them, three of the alicorns flew, the horn of their leader glowing, sending another wave of black magic at them. Twilight used her teleportation to avoid the attack. They appeared somewhere in the depths of the library. But it wouldn´t last very long till they would find them again! In the far, they could hear the explosion of the dark spell and a loud infuriated yell.
“I…I´m afraid…but I think, I can´t keep…keep this up any longer…” the purple mare said heavily breathing, sweating, visibly exhausted. Bleach could understand her. They fled now for several minutes from them. For the two unicorns, it felt like hours. Twilight occasionally had teleported them to escape their haunters, but they had branched and found them faster every time. Bleach for himself wasn´t that exhausted, but he was a fighter after all. And Twilight was, well, a theoretician, a scholar. Not a fighter. Even if her magical potency was tremendous, her condition was another matter.
“I wish…I at least…at least could teleport us out of…the library, but…” “The barrier?” She nodded. “We have to persevere! We have to wait for help!” “But…what if nobody had heard you?” He didn´t answer. That was a thought, he also had. But he would stay optimistic! “Just stay strong!” he said, nuzzling her, trying to encourage her. “I…I´ll try…I - AHHHHHHH!”

Another sudden blast right next to them carried them off their hooves. Bleach groaned, when he landed hard on the ground; rising instantly back to his hooves, searching for Twilight. Motionless, the purple unicorn laid in front of a bookcase, covered with some books. The shock wave violently had flung her against it. “TWILIGHT!”
Rapidly he was at her side and inspected her. She was unconscious and bled slightly by a small laceration at her back of the head, but, besides that, she was alright. Bleach sighed in relief.
“Oh, I am sooooo sorry! But your little…playmate…was really going on my nerves with these endless teleportations!” a soft seductive female voice, that really won´t fit to a creepy shadow like them, mentioned in his head. He looked for the voices´ owner and found one of the alicorns lolling on one of the bookcases around him. It had a slight figure and a long waving mane and tail. He also saw the silhouettes of two ribbons on her mane and tail, flowing gracefully around her. Only the devilish red eyes and the black shadows she consisted of won´t really fit her dainty appearance. She once must have been very gorgeous, a really beautiful mare!

But, at the moment, Bleach had no eyes for such things and starred daggers at her. “Ohhhh…” she cooed and Bleach couldn´t help, but in his thoughts it sounded like an ecstatically moan. “Had anypony ever told you, how attractive you are, when you´re looking like that? Oh, there are sooo many things we could do…All this years in that damned book and not one single handsome stallion or mare around! Do you know, how much I´m craving some good ‘physical contact’?…” she winked seducing.
Bleach was disgusted.
“Stop this nonsense and tell me: who and what are you!” The shadow-mare snorted disappointed. “What´s in a name? But to answer your question: I am just the shadow of the pony I once was. A remain of what I should be. We are cravings, old as ponykind, born out of the dark desires, the ponies of the ancient time had addicted to.” “And let me guess: you are the incarnation of lust?”
She giggled sweet as honey. “Ohhh and you are sooo intelligent! Are you really sure, you won´t cooperate with me? You´re way too handsome to just kill you and everything would redound just to your advantage! I can lead you to endless pleasure! Forget her! I really won´t brag about that, but I assure you: I am REALLY good in bed, WAY better than she would ever be…”

“Oh, I love your thoughts!” another shadow, a stallion, opined. Bleach turned back. On the bookcase behind him was another shadow with a long straight mane and tail, not unlike his one. Also the other four shadows slowly appeared on the bookcases around him. Bleach positioned himself so that he could observe all of them. “Leading him and yourself to pleasure and at the peak of your ecstasy, you ram a dagger into his heart…And I thought I am the scheming one of us…” The mare snorted angrily to his words. “Do you always have to be such a spoiler?”
“Oh, come on guys, can´t we just attack him? I´m sooo exited of the mess we could wreak! The pain in his voice, ohhh, this is going to be very funny! Maybe this´ll be more fun than we had with this filly yesterday…” another mare with a wild mane and tail said until the white stallion interrupted her.
“So you ARE Silverleafs´ murders! You killed her!” Bleach shouted furious. The shadows laughed. “Silverleaf…was that her name? Lovely! Anyway: oh yes, we are!” another mare, which was a little bit chubby, answered. “And she was sooo delicious! Her energy, her blood – excellent! I wonder how you´ll taste…”
Bleach now felt like vomiting. These shadows were really dark cravings! A shame that they had arose from ponykind, if the lustful mare hadn´t lied at this.
“Oh Gula! Always thinking about guzzling! Can we end this now?” Another stallion with a shaggy mane asked nervously and impatiently. “I only want him! Right now! His body, his organs, everything at him should be mine! Now!”

“SHUT UP NOW, EVERYPONY!” a dinning voice shouted over the conversation. It was the voice of their leader, a stallion with a mane and tail that waved around him like flames. “This is not a coffee party! We are here to KILL! And to get stronger! No more hesitation now!” Disappointed comments flooded Bleachs´ head. And then, all six horns glowed dark, collecting energy to attack.
Bleach prepared himself and rose to his hind legs, the daggers in his fore hooves. He would protect Twilight till his last breath! “ATTACK!” the leader of the alicorns yelled. Instantly, a huge mass of dark energy was loosed at him, impossible to flee or avoid it. But Bleach didn´t plan anything like this.
In the moment shortly before the dark magic reached him, he frantically leveled his daggers at the magic and his horn began glowing intensively. The pure power of the magic pushed him back, when he tried to bring the energies under his control. He tried to absorb them and seal them in his daggers. He groaned and gasped in pain, sweat formed on his coat. But he didn´t give up! He couldn´t give up! Unbridled black magic flew around him, hit the ground and bookcases with small explosions.
But then, for only one short moment, he felt the pain and the power of the magic subsiding. In his aura-vision, his daggers consisted of pure darkness. They wouldn´t hold the sheer mass of black magic very long. He felt the heat in the blades, felt the magic defying his control! He had to act fast! With a loud scream, filled with exertion and pain, he pushed forward and loosed the dark energies back at the alicorns. “Return to sender!” he yelled and broke down in exhaustion. He breathed heavily, sweating bullets.

With a loud explosion, the energies hit their masters. For about one minute, Bleach only saw the dark magical remains in front of his eyes. But then, they faded…and he gasped. “Nice performance! You´re really a good fighter! My respect to that! But that won´t help you anyway! TIME TO DIE!”
The alicorn-shadows remained unharmed after they were hit by their own spell. They laughed loud and cruel and pounded on Bleach. He raised his daggers…and gasped again! “DAMNIT!” The blades of his daggers were completely molten! He only held the hilt in his hooves!
Damned training daggers! Can´t bear any magic! With the crystal daggers of my father that wouldn´t had happen! He dropped them angrily and jumped to the side in the last moment. One second later, the shadows hit the bookcase behind him and overthrew it. Roaring, they turned back to him and unleashed another storm of black magic. But their accuracy was not the best. They would miss him slightly on his right side…wait! He frantically turned back. “DAMNIT!” Not he was the target, it was Twilight!
Now, he really had to act fast! Blessedly he had two surrogate-daggers in his underhoof holsters. He frantically stretched his fore hooves and levitated them out of their sheets. Normally, Bleach didn´t fight with them. They once had been a special gift for him and they were more a lucky charm than anything other. But this was an emergency to protect the one, who gave them to him!

Without hesitation, he stretched his daggers to his right side and caught the dark spell, before it hit his love. Again it was very hard to absorb the energies and bring them under his control. Again, he felt the heat in his daggers´ blades, again he felt, how the spell tried to carry him off. But Bleachs´ will was stronger than the magic and he changed its direction. Like an athlete at hammer throwing, he turned around and threw the spell back at the alicorns.
Again, the spell exploded, when it struck his owners, but also again, they remained unharmed. The white stallion looked at his molten daggers and sighed sadly. “Oh, come on! They had been a present…”
A loud laugh turned his gaze back to the shadow-alicorns. “Have these been your last of those stupid kitchen knives or how long should we keep this up?” Bleach growled angrily. The last daggers he had where the daggers he threw at them with his eyes. “Oh, that is very good! Don´t mind me, but it really got boring! Well then…”

Again, they pounded on him. This time, without any weapon, without anything to defend himself, Bleach only could protect him and Twilight with his magic. His horn glowed and cast his protective wall again. This time, the alicorns attacked it merciless. He flinched every time, they struck it. He felt the exhaustion. He felt the escape through the library, felt the two spells, felt the past day, felt his senses slowly fading away. He was at the end of his rope. Only a few more strokes and they would break through. Tears appeared in his eyes. He couldn´t hold it any longer! He went down on the ground. His look went bleary.
A cracking sound. The shield was damaged! With the last of his strength, he tried to repair the shield, tried to stand one last hit. And then, they broke through...
“I…am sorry…Twilight…I…love you…” he whispered...and passed out.

The last thing he saw was a bright flash and a bizarre mix of white, blue, green and red…

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End of chapter 1…