Shrouded in Fear

by TinnyPiano26

The Heart of the Everfree

Twilight stood in front of the entrance to the Everfree Forest, the Doctor next to her, and breathed deeply. She knew this would not be easy, what with the many creatures lurking in the forest's depths that would like to tear the two apart and the Dark One probably watching them every step of the way.

"I'm not so sure I want to be a part of this anymore, princess." the Doctor stated while nervously looking at Twilight.

"If you want, you can just leave, it's not like anypony is forcing you to come with me." she replied with a slightly annoyed frown.

She then trotted slowly into the Everfree Forest, almost taunting the Doctor. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and followed in after her. Twilight waited for him to catch up, a sly grin adorning her face, then continued through, occasionally stopping and linking herself to the ground with her magic.

"What, exactly, are you doing, your highness?" the Doctor questioned her.

"I'm studying the terrain ahead of us and finding the fastest route to the heart of the Everfree Forest." she replied, not even looking up.

The Doctor locked up for a moment as he processed what she just said. "The... heart?" he asked her, visibly shaking.

"Yes, the heart," she answered, "that's where the Dark One is. I can sense him."

The Doctor began pacing back and forth, speaking quietly to himself, "I have to go through the Everfree Forest AND get to the HEART of it, too?!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and continued studying the surrounding terrain when the sound of a small branch cracking reached their ears, making both of their heads shoot up and look at the source of the noise. A glowing pair of eyes was staring at them, studying them, waiting for them to start running. The Doctor began to slowly back away from the eyes, and when he reached Twilight, he leaned towards her and whispered,

"Stay calm, I know how to handle this."

He slowly approached the creature again, his eyes showing a little more confidence, and began softly speaking to it in a foreign language while making slight gestures with his hooves. The creature listened intently, occasionally tilting it's head, and when the Doctor was done, it nodded and turned around, walking away from them. Twilight sat there, her jaw slacking, as the brown stallion returned to her side and waited for a response. After sitting there for about 3 minutes, Twilight turned to the Doctor and quietly asked him,

"What did you just do?"

"I simply asked the gentlecolt for a map of the area. He's part of a hunting tribe that lives within this part of the forest." he replied, smiling.

She nodded in understanding and quietly sat there, waiting for the creature to come back with a map. It returned shortly after and handed the pair a rolled up scroll that was rather old with age. The Doctor took the map and thanked the creature for it's assistance. It wandered off, leaving the Doctor and Twilight to observe the map and find the quickest route to the heart of the Everfree. Once they set their path, they got up and continued travelling, more confident than before.

5 hours later...

Twilight and the Doctor sat down on a rock and rested for a moment, quietly doing their own thing. Twilight studied the wildlife scurrying about the bottoms of the trees, while the Doctor studied the map once more, finding where they were and how long it would take for them to reach the heart of the forest. As life continued around them, they sat and regained their energy for the sure-to-come battle that would follow when they reached the Dark One. Twilight turned to the Doctor and asked him,

"How long until we get to the heart?"

He studied the map for a little longer, then folded it up and turned to the curious alicorn, replying,

"Just another mile and we'll be there."

Twilight nodded and rested her head on the tree she was sitting against, staring up at the leaves that obstructed the sky from her view, wondering to herself why the forest was so dense. Another few minutes of resting and the two got up and continued their journey, some of their energy regained. When they arrived at the heart of the Everfree Forest, they stayed there for a good 4 minutes, standing in place, until the Doctor quietly said, his voice trembling,

"What in Celestia's name happened here?"

There was a 20 meter long crater with 3 meters of the land around it smoking and singed. The trees that used to reside in the area were thrown to the side as if an angry manticore had come through and ripped each tree up by the roots and tossed them aside. In the middle of the crater, the Dark One stood, staring at the sky. Twilight and the Doctor slowly approached him as he began speaking to them without even looking.

"For such a long time, I wondered what had become of this land, what had happened after I was banished from this realm," he turned around, making the duo stop in their tracks and stare at him, "I was in that void for so long, I had forgotten what the sky looked like. I had forgotten what anything looked like except for two beings," he began walking toward them, his blood-red eyes never leaving their forms, "I always remembered the faces of your princesses as they banished me from their world," the Dark One stopped and stared at them. "I never forgot them, I never forgave them, but I was impressed by them. The fact that they alone had stopped me and sent me to the void made me wonder, 'How could they have possibly beat me?' The answer is simple, my little ponies," he outstretched his hand and a brown book appeared, hovering over his palm, "this book was, and is, making me weak." He dropped the book in front of the two ponies and backed away to the center of the crater. "Celestia had enchanted that book so that all dark entities on the planet it resided on were half as powerful as they normally would be. I honestly never expected her to use that kind of ancient magic against me because I thought all traces of it were wiped from existence."

"Obviously not," Twilight snapped, glaring at the Dark One, "Princess Celestia knew every kind of magic there ever was, no matter how dark or evil."

The Dark One tilted his head, studying her, then began laughing. Twilight continued to stare at him as he maniacally cackled. Finally, he calmed down and looked into her eyes. "Celestia didn't know every magic spell in existence. Some were scattered all over the planet, some were completely erased from it, and even if she had every spell in her possession, she could never hold all of that knowledge in her brain. Nopony can! It's simply too much for your species to comprehend." He shook his head. "Stupid me, I got distracted again." He levitated the book in front of them and spun it around. "Even while Celestia enchanted this book, there was one thing she failed to do," the book spontaneously combusted, the blood-red flames lighting up the entire area, "she didn't make it so that it couldn't be destroyed," the book continued to burn, even as the Dark One threw it into the forest with a malicious grin on his face, "and now that it's burning to ashes, I can destroy you two without anything holding me back."

He levitated the duo so that they were floating right in front of him and began to crush them. Twilight struggled to keep her mind off of the pain so she could think straight.

Have to... do... something... Can't... lose... now...

"Release them, fiend!"

The Dark One looked up in surprise to see Princess Luna approaching him. He grinned again, threw Twilight and the Doctor to the side, and slowly walked over to her, twirling fire between his fingers.

"Well, isn't this a surprise. The goddess of the night came to save the day. I'll have you know that I no longer have any restrictions on my power, and that I can kill you with the sna--"

A purple force field instantly surrounded the Dark One, cutting him off mid-sentence. He growled and attacked the shield relentlessly, producing no results.

"And I'll have you know," Twilight remarked, "that even though you're at full power, I can still beat you."

Twilight and Luna clenched their eyes shut as their horns began to glow, each of their magical auras surrounding the Dark One, as a dark portal opened up above them. The Dark One slowly began to rise toward the hole as he struggled against the two alicorns.

"No, you can't put me back there!" He screamed as his head entered the hole, then his body, then his legs. It then began to close as one last roar of anger made it through the hole, "No! NO!! NOOOOOOOO!!!"

The portal closed, allowing the forest to fall silent once more. Twilight and Luna were panting from the large amount of magic they had to use to beat the Dark One, sweat dripping from their bodies. The Doctor trotted up beside Twilight and stared at the spot where the hole once resided.

"That was... interesting." he remarked out loud.

Twilight turned to him and smiled, nodding. "Yes, it was interesting." She turned her head and looked at Luna, who looked back, and mouthed to her, "Thanks."

Luna nodded and smiled, mouthing back, "Anytime, Twilight Sparkle."

The three stood there for a while, looking at where the portal once stood, then turned and began walking back to Canterlot.