Who would have thought a single book would change my life, but not for the best?
It was only a book, I never thought reading it would taint my body and soul with darkness. The power now bestowed upon me is not a blessing, but a curse, forever condemning me to steal the magical essence from others in order to sate my own craving of magic. By now I don't even know what I am anymore, or if I still have a heart beating inside my chest. What I do know... Is that I have fallen into the dark.
I feel no light inside me strong enough to resist it.
- Christopher Pike, The Last Vampire.
The light of the moon shone upon us as we descended down to the valley we had seen the Unicorns disappear into, making the cold stone glow in a bluish light ever so slightly. Even my ruby red scales seemed to gain a purplish tone with the moonlight upon me. The freezing night air was making me shiver, it was so cold I could see my own breath every time I exhaled. I could feel little frost in my wings, as if the atmosphere was trying to render them useless, but every time I flapped my powerful wings the ice scrapped off and plummeted down into the darkness.
"Hey, Burning." One of my fellow dragons, a sapphire blue male named Skyfall, called out to me. "Do you know why we are supposed to look for these Unicorns? I mean, what could they possibly have that could be useful to us?"
I shook my head. "I do not know, but the Leader must know what he is doing. If he thinks those Unicorns have something useful, then we obey. We have no other choice."
"You two!" the oldest of our group, a green-scaled drake who called himself Dreadstalker flying at the head of the flight, snapped back at us. "Quit your blabbering! We're almost there!"
"What do you think the leader wants us to find?" a purple drake spoke out loud.
"Who knows. I doubt the ponies have any stock of meat in their supplies." replied a cream-colored drady.
"It's not hard to know why!" a pale white drake added. "I mean, look at their teeth! All flat, they wouldn't chunk a piece of rabbit meat even if they wanted to! Not to mention they don't seem to be the type to hunt."
"Yeah, no claws at all, but those hooves of theirs. How can they even manipulate items with no fingers?"
"Unicorns use their magic."
"Quiet!" Dreadstalker hissed at the whole group. Everydragon went silent.
But they were right in one thing. Why would the leader send us to raid a Unicorn camp when there was nothing in their possession that could be of interest to us? The ate no meat, so we wouldn't be finding any in their supplies, and anything else they could have was of no use to us. But winter was coming, and in this part of Equestria it was very harsh, making it impossible for my people to put a claw outside our nest until spring came. I guess the leader was just being wary.
We descended into the darkness when the lights of the Unicorn camp came into view. They did not know we were there. We landed behind nearby trees, big and abundant enough to hide the forty of us. The camp consisted of various tents, large enough to host four or five ponies each, along with a very spacious tent, possibly belonging to the head of the Unicorn tribe. But that was not what caught our peering eyes.On one side, there were the carts and tumbrils from which the ponies moved. On the other side of the camp, we found a great amount of tasty animals.About twenty fat cows, ten oxen, a cart full of hens, and a few pigs. Luckily, they were all asleep like their owners.
"Haha! The leader sure knows what he is doing!" I grinned. The ponies had not dead meat, but they sure had a lot of fresh meat.
Dreadstalker turned to us, our looks of cheery accomplishment still present upon our faces, eyeing the tasty animals in front of us. Dreadstalker took a direct stance of authority right in front of us and unfolded his wings to gain our attention. Dreadstalker pointed a claw at the first and second row of ten drakes, then pointed right to the sleeping cows and oxen, indicating for them to take what they could carry. Next, Dreadstalker pointed to just the third row of five and then pointed over to the sows that was were tied to wooden poles; they were to take care of that. Then, Dreadstalker pointed to the last row of drakes, then at the chicken cart, then he held up four fingers, indicating for them to take only four chickens. However, as Skyfall and I were about to head towards the chicken cart, Dreadstalker stopped us with his wings.
"Not you two." He hissed silently. "You go make sure the Unicorns don't wake up, and check if they don't have any gems if you can. If you hear something, come and tell me but do not do anything we can all regret."
Skyfall nodded and pushed me towards the rows of tents. I was rather disappointed, I was looking forward to helping with the chickens, but Dreadstalker was in charge, so I had no choice but to obey. Skyfall and I sat down a few meters away from the tent, looking for any movement or sound from the tents, but everything was quiet, save for my fellow drakes who were doing their respective tasks. What was inside of that large tent? IT looked more like a circus tent, but colored a mahogany brown, with no banners. As I stood up and silently started walking towards the tent, Skyfall grabbed my tail and stopped me. "What are you doing?!" he hissed in a low voice. "Dreadstalker said we are only to make sure the Unicorns don't hear us!"
"He also said that we should check if they have no gems," I replied, annoyingly swishing my tail to get it out of his grasp.
"Burning Moonlight! Get back here!"
Ignoring him, I poked my ridiculously large head into the circus-like tent, but to my disappointment, it was not so grand as I had imagined it. It was occupied by seven or eight Unicorns, all deep in sleep, some of them snoring like Dreadstalker. However, just as I was about to return to Skyfall, something caught my eye. The scent of an item I could not identify reached my nostrils, and spiked my curiosity (again); I looked around the room, getting more of my neck into the tent so I could look more for this object. After silently searching through chests and bookshelves, I found it.
A black book
Much to my surprise when I found the book the scent became weaker and it eventually disappear, as if it's purpose was to simply call my attention. The cover of the book was pitch black, not exactly flattering in the least, and only a few symbols littered the front with no full indication of the contents within. A sun, a moon, a six pointed star, and the one thing that caught my interest most... a dragon. I took the book with my teeth and slipped my head out of the tent, as silently as I poked it in.
"Burning!" I heard Skyfall's voice call out for me. "Get away from there! You will wake them up!"
Tucking the book safety into my mouth, under my tongue, I returned to my friend just as the rest of the drakes were done freeing the animals from their ties. Dreadstalker nodded satisfactorily, then unfolded his bat-like wings, motioning us to get ready to take off.
This time, we did not bother to remain quiet.
I stepped into my cave, my paws aching like I was stepping on nails, and allowed my body to fall into my stray bed, letting out a sigh of exhaustion, the black book dropping out of my mouth, all wet and drooled in saliva. Our return was met with praise and cheers upon the eyes of the whole clan when they saw all the delicious meals we had brought for them. The leader, an almost elderly deep mint drake, Swiftwing The Third, congratulated Dreadstalker for bringing plentiful feed for the clan, before the feast commenced. I ate a good few portions of ox and a liver of sow before retiring to my cavern. I had not much appetite, anyway. Making sure none of the other drakes was around, I flipped the cover of the book and took a peek
The black book was an interesting thing. In my eagerness, I forgot that I did now know how to read the Equestrian alphabet, but the drawings were clear enough for me to understand the contents of the book. I had come across a spell book. But this one was very different from other spell books I was lucky enough to caught a glimpse of. The drawings depicted unicorns utilizing spells like light beams, levitation, even offensive spells. But the aura depicted in this drawings was black. I had seen Unicorns using their magic, I have seen the color of the aura surrounding their horns. I had seen green, blue, raspberry, yellow, even white aura, but never black.
That's when I saw it.
Half-way through the book I found an interesting picture. It depicted a group of Unicorns bowing before a great... black dragon. I had never seen one of those around here, perhaps it was a one-of-a-kind type of drake we had not yet met, but who knows. The thing that caught my attention was the black aura in the dragon's horns, pointing downwards towards the Unicorns. What did this mean? I do not know.
But when I looked over at the page with the letters, probably the explanation of the picture, I was astonished to realize I could understand the words! That was not Equestrian writing! It was a dragon that wrote this part of the book, but how? I started to read the page written in Draconian.
It described some kind of energy flowing in the hearts of all beings, and the hypothesis that every creature is capable of using magic, not only the Unicorns, and the Alicorns. Even dragons themselves could master the art of magic if they wanted to, but it took time, and endurance.
I liked the idea. Me, Burning Moonlight, the first dragon to ever use magic. It would bring a new era to the dragon race! We would no longer be instinct-driven and violent beats everypony thought us to be, but we could be even considered to be the Unicorns' equals in power. But before I could read any further, I heard a sound coming from the entrance of the cave, and I quickly tucked the book under my straw bed.
"I'm glad your mission was a success." Her soft voice overcome with sweetness reached my ears.
I smiled as I turned around to see her. She was a lovely drady, only a little younger than me, with raspberry pink scales, and creamy yellow belly. Instead of sharp horns, she had short fins that moved in a pretty way when she was in a good mood. Her eyes as blue as the sky, or as the ocean, filled with a high and independent spirit. She was the love of my life, my fireheart, my angel. My Jielith.
"Too bad all I did was peek my head into one of the tents." I chuckled, blushing.
Jielith walked closer and rubbed her nose against my neck. "I wouldn't care if you were only there to watch, you're still the greatest Hunter for me, my love."
"At least someone thinks like that." I nuzzled the back of her neck lovingly.
As we gave each other our tasting of love, I dug the book deeper into my straw bed. I couldn't share what I had discovered, at least not yet until I knew how to use that power. Not even with my Jielith, I wanted to be a surprise.
I flew out of our cave, and out of the clan's dwelling, into the dark forest below, with the black book in my mouth. I made sure no one had followed me, like Skyfall did once when he saw me coming out at night to bring back a rabbit for Jielith. After placing the book on a stone and searching for the page I had found the picture and the Draconian writing, I started to read.
Astounding. This book seemed to date of the Reign of chaos, before the Regal Sisters ruled Equestria. How a dragon got to write in a Unicorn spell book, I had not a clue, but however he did it, he was very smart. I did not live through the Reign of Chaos, but I heard the stories from my father, who heard it from his father, who heard it from his father, and so on. Everything was literally upside-down that time. Day and night lasted minutes, it rained chocolate milk instead of plain water, the clouds were made of cotton candy, and things were constantly in change.
At the end of the page, were the instructions of how to activate the magic, but it seemed risky. If I wasn't able to handle it, there was the risk of turning into obsidian glass from the inside out. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. I reread the instructions carefully once more, just in case. I'm going to try and activate this spell...
I closed my eyes and concentrated, tried to twist the flowing of my body energies in order to let out the hidden magic within me. My horns started to bubble with a black ooze or sludge which covered it up, bursting in angry green pustules on the surface. My eyes turned a sickly green, during the first few moments my head started to hurt terribly, and I felt as if my body was being being convulsed from the inside out, but soon the pain turned into pleasure. I let my body and mind relax, and the ooze seemed to grow. Oh this power, the sweetness of it. Even for me, even for a mere dragon who had never known about magic or even cared about it, this was something else entirely. It called to me, beckoned to me, promising lavish gifts that would be showered down on my head. It offered to make all my dreams come true if I would let it loose. My mind was overwhelmed with the voices coming from somewhere, and I released my hold on the magic, the ooze dissipating and my eyes turning back to normal.
I only used it for a moment, but I felt like all my energy was sapped out. Whatever power is in this new magic, it must be strong and I want to know more. Wait... I... I used... Magic...
I started to laugh with joy and excitement. I had actually done it. I had been the first dragon to ever use magic. Too bad I couldn't yet tell the rest of the clan, but first I had to make sure this magic was safe to use. But yet, the promise of earning the admiration of my kindred and to leave my mark in history sounded appealing to me. To bring my beloved Jielith hope for a better future than simply stealing from passing by pony caravans.
I took the book in my mouth and flew back to my cave with much effort. Using this type of energy had drained all of my energy completely.
Ever since the first time I used the magic, things changed.
Everytime I was by myself, I tested my newfound power with whatever I could. I had seen Unicorns use magic, the variety of things they could do. It was an exhausting endeavor at first, but the more I used it, the more vivacious I felt. The first spell I attempted to use was a basic levitation spell on a wooden stick. Eventually, I tested the levitation spell on heavier things; rocks, wooden logs, animals, and eventually I learned to manipulate even water. I experimented with every kind of spell I could find in the black book; offensive, defensive, illusionary, healing, detection, manipulation, and many more.
But soon, I realized that this magic worked better with offensive and illusionary spells. Harmful spells. To test my theory I captured two rabbits in the forest and took them to the cave in which I had made my 'lab'; on one rabbit, I made a small cut into its side and used a healing spell on it; according to the book, it usually took a few seconds to the wound to heal, but with this magic it took five minutes. I used an illusionary spell on the other rabbit, and to my astonishment its eyes turned red and green, and it started acting in a rather disturbing way, like its worst nightmare was just a few steps ahead.
Strangely enough, I started hearing voices. But wherever I looked around, there was no one to be seen, as if the voices were inside my head. I try to ignore them, but it's hard. They constantly speak about letting them 'on the loose', to 'unleash them', but I do not understand what they mean.
I hid the book underneath my straw bed again and walked out of my cave in search of Jielith, but Skyfall was waiting for me outside, along with Kevalth, a light purple dragon, another good friend of mine. The both of them had looks of worry in their faces, staring at me like I needed emotional support or something.
"What's up?" I inquired, my voice unusually cold
"Burning, are you feeling alright?" Skyfall answered my question with another question, which for some reason I found irritating. "I mean, you look healthy and all, but your behavior has been... How can I put it lightly?"
"Just spit it out, would you?" I hissed, baring my teeth.
"That!" Kevalth snapped, growing angry at my tone. "You haven't been yourself! Since the raid two weeks ago you have been acting differently! We barely see you anymore, even Jielith has mentioned you're starting to go out at night!" I froze. So she knew? "What have you been doing? Dreadstalker has called you for three raids but we had to leave without you because you never showed up!"
"What I do is nothing or your concern!" I snarled, my temper started to spike.
"It is our concern, Burning!" Skyfall started to lose his patience. "You are our friend, and we're worried about you! What happened to the friendly, noble Burning Moonlight we met at flight school?"
"GONE!!!" I finally roared, startling both Skyfall and Kevalth, making them step back in shock and fear. But i'm not sure if it was my voice which made them step back, but the sudden thunder-like sound that echoed through the corridor and made the earth itself tremble fright. Realization hit me and I felt a great wave of horror wash through my being like a sickness. "I... I... I'm sorry, I...-"
"No, no, no, it's all clear to me!" Kevalth snarled, recovering from the shock, the persian blue spines on his head bristling like cat's fur. "You've said what you had to say!"
I started to panic. "No, I didn't mean it, it's just-!"
"You don't need to say anything else! I've heard enough! You're not the same Burning Moonlight we met! Talk to me when he returns, because I like him much better than I like this Burning Moonlight." Saying this, Kevalth turned around and walked away, his back turned on me. I was stunned by his reaction, but I knew I deserved it for the way I just had an outburst. I gazed at Skyfall for support, but all he gave me was a sorrowful look before shaking his head and walking away from me, going after Kevalth. I was alone.
Sincerely, I couldn't believe myself either! What had happened to me? Why did I react like that, why did I act that way with my two friends? They had done nothing to me, they were simply worried and had tried to help me, to know what was going on with me. But for a moment, I had felt I was not... myself. It had felt like someone... or something else had spoken through me.
It's okay. You don't need them.
Not again.
"What do you want now? I'm getting tired of your jokes, whoever you are!" I snapped, turning around to see the prankster, but found none.
I'm no prankster, you should have realized that by now. I don't even have a solid body...The voice chuckled in a tone that sent me shivers. Yet.
I rushed into my cave, just in case other dragons would pass by. The least thing I needed was the whole clan believing I was growing insane. "If you're not a prankster, then who the heck are you?! Why can't I see you?"
The voice, resounding like a grave, snickered once more. I'm you.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
I'm you, you are me. Is that too hard to understand? I'm inside your mind, you're inside my mind. We are one, and we are two at the same time.
"I don't care! Just leave me!"
I cannot. Even if I wanted to. You let me inside, and here I'll stay. After all, you can only rely on me.
I narrowed my eyes and flared my wings open, whipping my thick, scaly tail against the wall. "You are wrong! I have Jielith! I have my friends and my brethren!"
You mean the ones who just walked out on you? I didn't know friends and family did that, do they?
"It was my fault! I was very rude to them!"
Why do you think that is? Maybe you've realized that you don't really need them, they were just holding you back. They made you weak. Love makes you weak. Even your own mate makes you weak.
"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAKING OF HER LIKE THAT!" I screamed, again making the air tremble. "She's the most important thing I have! I'd never do anything to her!"
Soon. Very soon we'll see who is right.
"You... You..." I felt like I would rip my own head just to make him shut up.
"Burning?"
"WHAT!?"
When I met Jielith's fearful eyes, I realized I had screamed at her. For no reason at all, just like I had just screamed at Skyfall and Kevalth. Her usually living gaze was replaced by the gaze of a stranger looking into the eyes of another stranger. My heart ached at seeing her in this state, but as I tried to step closer to her, Jielith backed away fearfully.
"Jiel, I didn't mean to..." I stuttered, my voice shaking, my eyes swelling up with tears.
"Burning, what's happening to you?!" She finally asked in a very loud, and desperate, voice. "What has happened to you?! You're not the same! You are not loving with me anymore! You barely talk to me these days! And don't you think I don't know about your nocturnal escapades!
"But I-"
"Are you seeing another?"
That question nearly broke my heart. The gaze of hurt on Jielith's eyes was not helping either.
Jielith spoke once more, her voice growing sad and grief-stricken. "Are you seeing another drady behind my back?"
"How can you possibly say that?!" I replied in despair, now it was I who felt like crying. "How can you doubt of my love for you?! I've been faithful to you for the past thirty years, haven't I? I have been a loving husband all this time, haven't I? I know I'm not being myself lately, but I... I..." I looked down somberly. "I cannot... I would never set my eyes on another, you are the only drady I've ever loved..."
I dare not look up to see her. How could I? After the way I've been treating her, so cold and so unloving, for a reason I could not explain. But perhaps it had something to do with the book, the dreaded book I had been reading endlessly. I heard pawsteps, and I assumed Jielith had turned away to leave, but instead I was surprised when I felt the warmth of her scales against me, and her wings wrap around my body. The wamth of her body was always a console to me, especially these days that the stupid voice in my head won't leave me alone. I wrapped my wings around her and let my head rest on her scaly back, my eyes starting to swell with tears of sorrow and pain. We remained like this for a while, minutes passing by endlessly, but I did not care. All I wanted was to forget everything, to pretend like I had never found that forsaking book that stared all of this mess.
The voice inside my head snickered. "Soon. Very soon.
I was alone. I wandered around the nest, trying to find any of my brethren, but I came to realize I was completely alone. My voice echoed in the caverns, my pawsteps resounded in the darkness, while I looked for any signs of life besides my own. The air was unaturally cold, like the first frost of winter, and I could not open my wings, for they frozen and useless. It was so cold I could see my very breath coming out from my nostrils and mouth.
Where was everydragon?
On cold winter nights all the flight usually gathered in the Great Chamber, where we ignited a giant bonfire to warm each other up and tell stories and ancient legends of the dragons. But this night, there was no one here. It was like they had disappeared completely. Was Jielith okay? I needed to know something! Anything!
Just as this thought crossed my mind, I heard the sound of rocks crumbling from the ceiling into the ground; I rushed towards the source of the sound, hoping to find one of my brethren, and it lead me to the Great Chamber. There was no bonfire, no young hatchlings gathering around it to play, no elders telling stories to the youngest generations. Nothing more than darkness and stone.
"Stay away!"
I twirled my head around towards the direction I had heard the voice, and I was astonished to find my beloved Jielith, but she was all beaten and weak. There were claw marks on her once beautiful scales. Her eyes, once filled with spirit, had become eyes filled with terror and suffering. She was leaning against the stone wall of the Great Chamber, as if trying to get farther from me, something which confused me.
"Jielith? What happened here? Where's everydragon?" I asked, but she set her curved frame against the stone wall.
"Don't come closer to me!" she cried.
"What? Why...?"
"Don't hurt me! Please!" she begged.
"Hurt you? Why would I-?"
I could not finish my sentence, because out of sudden, black crystals started emerging from the ground, growing around the cave like an infection spreading through the blood flow of a living being. Jielith wrapped herself in her wings when she set her eyes on tyhe crystals, then on me. I did not know what was going on, but it appeared she was assuming I had something to do with this.
"Jielith!" I tried to walk closer to her, but in a fit of panic, she fired a stream of blue fire at me.
But the shocking thing was that before the flames could get an inch near me, the same black crystals growing on the ground emerged at my feet and grew tall in a fraction of seconds, forming a protective shield that made the flames useless, preventing them from hurting me. I stared at said crystals in astonishment, not understanding what had just happened? Did I do that? And how did I? When the crystals broke a hole through the heavy stone in the ceiling of the Great chamber, creating an opening that let the moonlight in, I was able to take a look at my reflection in the crystals.
I nearly had a heart attack. Instead of seeing the red dragon, I saw a dragon with scales as black, or even blacker, than the night sky. A mohawk of purple, spiky hair was protunding from my head and falling over my face. My horns had become curved like a minotaur's horns, and two long fangs like those of a vampire bat were sticking out from my mouth. But what terrified the most was my eyes, they were different now. I no longer had a black slit pupil in the middle of a ocean of green, but normal, pony-like eyes, with the pupil still being a thin line, but I now possessed an iris and a sclera. And even these were not the right color.
My pupils were red, my scleri was a phosphorecent green, and from the corners of my eyes flowed a mysterious purple mist.
A scream followed the emerging of the crystal shield I had apparently conjured, but I did not hear it until I was brought back from my thoughts. Jielith's screaming. I smashed the protective crystals in front of me with my tail, but after what I saw, I wished I hadn't done so. In front of me, run through by sharp edges of blade-like crystals dripped in blood, was the corpse of Jielith. My eyes widened in horror and grief at my terrible deed. I had not meant to do this! I didn't even know I could do this, for erlking's sake! Just as I was about to rush to her side, darkness surrounded me, and I lost conciousness for a few minutes, or hours, I could not tell.
After a while, my eyes slid open, the cold and te crystals gone. and orange glow flickered a few steps away from me, as I looked around. I felt my gaze sip to my claws. The brilliant red of my scales was marred by the ugly dull grey of the chains that tied them. I tried to speak, but my voice was muffled by a muzzle tied around my snout. My vision went wild, searching for some kind of help as strand of my grown purple hair fell into my eyes. Through my bangs I could see shadowed figures standing across the cavern. They were all looking at me.
"Once the most handsome of the drakes around here, now reduced to this."
"Since when did this happen? When did he turn into such a beast?"
"Murdering poor Jielith like that..."
I saw them all shiver at this notion. One of them walked closer to me. Panic struck me as I wiggled my paws again, trying desperately to free my binds. I tried to flare my wings open, but I realized they were being held down by chains as well.
"It seems we have no other options, gentedrakes. We have to stop him before he causes anymore damage.
"And how are we supposed to do that, Leader? It's dark magic, we can't simply extract it from him like it's just an infection.
"We shall have to put an end to his misery, I'm afraid."
I watched as he started uncheathing his claws.
"Leader, you don't honestly intend to-"
"-Can you think of another way? Because I can't... and we have no other choice!!"
I watched as the other dragons regarded their options, all nodding in unison after some time.
"Just do it quick."
A flash of ivory caught my eyes as I watched the Leader walk closer. I tried to plead with them, but I could only manage muffled screams. Tears streamed down my face as his claws drew close. My heart race, panic gripping me at what was coming. I closed my eyes, praying with all my soul.
It was quick, but the pain that accompanied it was unimaginable. My vision was fading as I felt sticky liquid pouring out of me. I managed a gurgled scream, but it served no purpose, it was too late. I could fell my lungs pull out a last breath, trying in vain to hang on.
"...May Erlking have mercy on your soul..."
My eyes snapped open, my heart drumming in my chest. I looked around frantically, and I was partly relieved to see Jielith was resting next to me, cuddled under my wing, having much better dreams than I was. I was horrified at that nightmare. I had seen my reflection in those crystals, but it did not belong to me at all; my scales were red, not black, not to mention I didn't have a single trand of hair, just like every dragon.
It was just a dream.
However, as I rested my head on my paws to go back to sleep, when my eyes caught a glance of my paws, I lifted it up and stared at it in complete terror.
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
-Mark Twain
I can't stand it! The voice is growing more and more frequent! Now I hear him almost all the time, and sometimes he even influences my actions. I snap at others without even realizing it, or yell at the hatchlings when they want me to tell them a story, or simply if they cross in my path. I can tell most of the clan has started to grow uncomfortable in my presence, and everydragon seems to be avoiding me. Who could blame them? After my recent change in attitude, anydragon would freak out.
To enworse things, my body has started to change color. First it was my left paw, then the blackness spread to my other paw, and my back legs. No matter how much I try, no matter how much raspberry and strawberry dye I make to camouflage the back parts of my body, the black keeps spreading.
I got rid of the book, I burned it to ashes a while ago in one of the fires when there was no one in the cave, hoping that destroying the thing that started all of this mess would make the voice vanish, and my body return to normal. But no. It just got worse. The next morning, as I descended down to the lake to take a drink, I realized that there was a tuft of something purpe growing on my head; when I took my claw up to my skull to touch it, I was horrified to realize that I was starting to grow hair, something I though only grew on the softy heads of ponies. Great, now I would have to hide the growing mane of hair as wel as hiding my black scales.
Everything's just so... stressing. I try to hide all of my feelings of confusion, anger and fear from Jielith as much as I can behind a mask. The mask of the loving husband I was once, and I still try to be, but the voices inside my head keep getting worse. I try to stop using the darkness, but I can't, my body and my mind ask, no, demand that I use it. It has become somewhat of a drug for me, I cannot understand how Unicorns can use it every day, every minute without it affecting them like this.
Sometimes, when I'm alone, the voice speaks to me in a tender voice mixed with the crispness of a snowflake. I tried to ignore it and fall asleep, but it wouldn't leave me alone.
"Why so gloom, dear friend?" it asked with all the calm in the world. It annoyed me.
"Why do you think, you pest?" I replied with a snap of my teeth. "Since when are we even friends?"
"You don't want to accept it, but I've been doing you more good than harm."
"How can driving me away from those I love and cherish be more good than harm? Jielith is starting to think I don't love her anymore, everyone thinks I'm going mad and Dreadstalker is attempting to uncover me! All because of you!"
"Sometimes it's much better to have never loved at all. Love is pain."
"You say that because you've never been loved."
"Because I know the true nature of love. The more you love someone, the more it hurts when that someone betrays you. The more you love someone, the more difficult it is for you to free yourself form the poisonous grip of love. Just like roses. Beautiful but painful at touch. The drady you call your wife is the clearest example."
"DON'T YOU DARE TALKING ABOUT HER THAT WAY, YOU SERPENT! YOUR POISON WON'T DECEIVE ME!" I roared. I didn't care if anyone heard me. "She would never do anything to hurt me, just as I would never do anything to hurt her!"
The voice chuckled. "There are none so blind as those who will not see. You defend her to faithfully, you don't realize she is with another as we speak."
If I could shred this damn entity to pieces, I would. "You lie! You can't know that if you're stuck inside my body!"
"Sometimes you don't need to see something to realize something is going on. If you won't believe me, you will find her with that other drake at The Chasm."
"I'm not listening to you any longer!" If only covering my ears was enough to cease his voice, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
The voice did not speak for a while; I loosened my grip on my ears, thinking maybe he final shut his mouth, but suddenly and without explanation, my legs lifted me off the ground and started taking me out of the cave. I panicked over the loss of control over my own body as I was forcefully taken to Celestia-knows-where. I attempted to stop, but the forcé driving my body for me was stronger.
A thought struck me,
"Hey!" I mentally called for the voice.
"Now you're the one who's talking to me?" It snickered. "What made you change your mind?"
I trembled as I passed by other dragons, ignoring the glances they gave me. "Are you the one driving me like a puppet?!}"
"Oh, that. Yes, that would be me."
"WHY?!"
"You said you wouldn't listen to me, so I decided to show it to you."
"Don't you ever get tired of crushing me emotional and phsycologically?!"
"Not really. It's fun."
With a growl of frustration, I did all I could to break free from the shadow's grasp over my body, but no matter what I did the shadow's hold was much stronger than my will. I could not even gain control over my paw to take a hold of one of the large rocks. I was like a puppet being manipulated by strings. I would have roared in anger, but the darkness kept my mouth shut. The shadow made me advance through the caverns that made out the Clan's lair, until I walked out of the caverns and emerged into the outside, on the north side of the mountain range. I must have stayed inside the cavern for a long while, because when I came out the moon was already making its way through its nightly and eternal path. Down below, there was an apparent infinite Cliff, so deep you could not see the bottom even at noon. Only the infinite darkness.
I was at the edge of the Chasm.
While we dragons needn't worry about ever falling into the eternal darkness of the Chasm, this did not mean we did not fear it. Hatchlings and fledlings were strictly forbidden from coming here; if they were to fall down, they would go straight to their deaths. I still could not understand why the voice had brought me-or rather forced me to come-to the Chasm.
"I told you. I brought you to show you the truth."
"Stop lying and let me go at once!" I snapped, now that there was no one around, but immediately as I closed my maw it shhut again.
"Quiet! Do you want them to hear us?"
"Who?"
"Look ahead and you will see."
In confusion, I turned my head-actually, he forced me to turn my head-towards one of the cliffs while making my body go hide behind one of the largest rocks. I identified two shapes. A drady with pink scales, a drake with blue scales sitting at the edge of the cliff. I could hear sobs coming from the drady.
3rd Person POV
"I don't know what to do anymore, Skyfall!" Jielith's voice was so broken it was nearly unrecognizable. "He's not the same drake I fell in love with."
"Maybe he's just stressed out and he'll be back to normal with time." Skyfall replied to her tenderly.
"It's not stress! It's not that!" Jielith wailed in despair, taking her claws to her face. "He's not just stressed out! Something's changed about him, and I don't even know what happened!"
"Ever since we went to that raid he started acting like this. He peeked his head into one of the tents, but I don't know what happened."
Suddenly, unexpectedly, Jielith wrapped her wings around Skyfall's body, and buried her head into his chest. Hot tears streamed down her face. "I can't stand it! I've tried everything to make him open up, but it's like he doesn't want me around him any longer. I've even thought he may be seeing another-"
"What?" Softly, Skyfall pushed Jielith away a bit, so that he was looking straight into her eyes. "Jielith, don't even think that. I know Burning, he would never betray you with another. He's not like that, and no change in his attitude will change that. I'm sure he is thinking of you right now. He loves you more than anything else in his life, he would die for you, he would do anything for you just to make you happy." With the slightest smile, Skyfall wiped a tear rolling down the drady's cheek. "And nothing will change that. You can be sure of that."
Jielith gave her friend one more smile, before snuggling deeper into his consoling embrace and felt the warmth of his wings around her body.
What they did not know, was that there was a shadow in the darkness watching at them. He did not look angry. His expression was more upset than anything. The grief in his eyes made Jielith's anguished eyes look like hopeful eyes.
"So..." he softly said. "It's true..."
Burning Moonlight's POV
I couldn't stant seeing them any longer.
I flew back to our cave, trying my best to contain tears, but they were winning. I didn't want to believe it, I hoped deep down that I was having a nightmare and I would wake up to find her resting next to me. But yet part of me told me that I was awake, and what I had just witnessed was real.
"Do you need any more proof tof what I've been telling you all along?" The voice inside my head spoke symphatethically, something I never expected from him.
"Jielith..." My own voice was broken in sobs. "My Jielith... How could she do this to me?" Cold tears ran down my maw.
"I told you, she doesn't care about you. Maybe she never loved you a all. If she did, she wouldn't have betrayed you with your best friend... or rather who you thought was our best friend."
"Please stop!" I took my hands to my ears as usual. "Please, I don't want to hear anything else! What I've seen is enough! Just leave alone..." My volumed lowered as I spoke. "Just leave me alone..."
"It hurts, right?"
My body answered for me with a nod; it was truth, after witnessing what probably was the most horrible treachery in my entire life everything inside me hurt. My chest hurt, overall, maybe due to my broken heart. My head hurt, from listening to the voice's words that felt like sharp blades piercing my already-mangled heart even more. "Yes."
"I told you. Love is a weakness, it makes you weak and holds you back from your true potential. Only the strong survive, the weak perish. And compassion... that is just a synonym for weakness. It is best that you found the truth now before it was too late and you were beyond repair."
I was frozen in sorrow and pain. What did he want me to do, then? I couldn't think clearly, with both my heart and brain aching and hurting like never before.
"It hurts so much..." I clutched my chest and pressed tightly, like trying to stop my very heartbeat. "I can't stand it! What do I need to do to stop this feeling of betrayal?!"
The voice laughed humorlessly. "There is a way to fix that, my friend."
"What? I'll do anything to stop this pain!"
"Anything?"
"Yes! I just want to forget everything! I don't care what it takes!"
The voice remained silent for a long while, for me it seemed like an eternity, but then he let out a sinistes giggle. It made me tremble internally.
"Then let me into your heart. Allow me to become a permanent ressident in your body, to be your friend, your mentor, your father, your everything. You won't need anything else, and I'll never betray you like she has done. I'll make you powerful, I'll help make all your desires come true, even the so-mighty Alicorns will know your name and tremble. But for that, I need your approval, otherwise I'm nothing more than a parasite in your body. Give me your heart... and I will give you all it desires. "
Now it was my turn to remain silent now, considering what the voice had just told me. Maybe he was right, and I needed to quit acting like a 'good little drake', it was getting me nowhere. The pain I was experiencing emotionally may be cluding my reason, but I didn't care right now. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to lash ou at somedragon, but that would not fix anything. I never wanted to admit it, but I've always hoped to be much more than a simple dragon that had to raid pony camps in order to survive, forever being considered as a wild beast unable to reason.
".... I accept." I spoke darkly. "I accept you. I will let you be whatever you want, my mate, teacher, friend, anything you want. But rid me of this pain!"
As soon as he heard my reply, suddenly I felt like all the cave started to tremble, but in reality everything was still. Before I could react, black tendrils or smoky black energy shot out of my chest and tightened around my body, my legs, my wings, and my maw. I could not speak nor move, and this startled me.
"I'm afraid this will hurt, dear Burning." the voice told me apologetically. "But I assure you, it'll be worth. Still, we cannot alert anyone to our little secret, can we?
I let out a muffled roar of pain when suddenly my whole body was overcome with a physical pain I'd never experienced in my life. It felt like some giant creature was stepping his giant foot unto me, and like my whole body would tear part. The pain was that of a zebra crucifixion. I didn't notice it right then, but my body was changing.
My once red scales were turning a sable black, my the black on my paws and snout extended through my whole body, like miasma pouring down a wall, like acid rolling down a pony's coat. I felt as if my skull teared open, and a mohawk of purple hair grew in my head, just in the middle of my thick skull. I felt something growing out in my mouth, two long vampire-like fangs stuck out like roots extending from a tree's bottom. My eyes were hurting as feel, I thought they would gorge out, not knowing all the color in it was receding towards my pupil, forming a perfectly-round iris around it, just like pony eyes, leaving the rest of my eyes a sickly green, before it changed to white.
This torture lasted for at least one minute, but for me it felt like a thousand years had passed. The tendrils of black smoke receded and went back into my chest, allowing my to fall to my stomach and take in deep breaths of air, feeling completely drained of energy. Black smoke was still lingering around, but it dissipated after a few seconds.
When I recovered my breath, I felt different. The pain in my heart was gone, instead replaced by ecstasy by my newfound powers; all doubts I had of the voice dissipated completely, and I found myself eager to hear his advice. Whatever feelings of anger, betrayal and sorrow within me vanished into thin air, instead feeling something of a void inside me.
"Rise now, Burning Moonlight, my firstborn." I felt my heart leap with hoy when I heard the voice. "But I would thank you if you stopped calling me simply the voice."
I chuckled internally. "How would you like me to call you then, friend?"
"If I told you all the names I've been called over the beginning of time I would never end, so I think it'll be best that you simply call me Obscurity."
"Why Obscurity?"
"Why not?"
Suddenly, my whole body started trembling. I felt shivers coming down my spine. "What is happening?"
"She is returning,"
My blood started to boil at the mention of her. I wanted to kill her with my own claws, but Obscurity sensed what I was thinking.
"No. Don't. I know you're angry, but it'll draw the attention of the other dragons."
"I do not mean to sound rude, Obscurity, but stay out of this." I hissed venomously. "She has to pay."
"Don't do anything you could regret later. Anger clouds your mind and reason, maybe if you just calm down..."
I let him speak no further, for I retreated into the darkness when I saw Jielith's figure entering our cave.
3rd Person POV
Jielith had a bad feeling when she stepped into the cave she and Burning shared together. There was not a light, and she could barely see her own paws, but she could sense she was not alone.
"Burning?" she called out softly.
Something moved in the darkness. He was here, but he did not reply.
"Sweetie?" her voice grew slightly fearful, feeling her mate's eyes centered on her completely.
"Hello there, Jielith." Burning finally replied, his voice devoid of the love he had always shown her. "May I ask where you were, my dear?"
"I…" Jielith did not want him knowing she had spoken to Skyfall about him, so she told him a different story. "I was with Moonfire, she needed help with her hatchlings tonight."
"Really?" Burning inquired with a raised eyebrow. "How curious, because I passed by Moonfire's cave and she said she hadn't seen you in all day."
Jielith's heart stopped.
"Burning, I…"
"Now…" The former red dragon approached his mate dangerously, but she could not distinguish him from the darkness surrounding them. But what was scaring her was the fact that she could see his ire-filled eyes. "Tell me were you really were, or I'll choke you with my own claws!"
"What's wrong with you, Burning? You're not acting like yourself."
"Aren't I? Why do you think is that? Maybe I grew tired of others stabbing me in the back like you've done!"
Jielith's eyes widened in confusion and shock. "What? What are you talking about?!"
"Do you want to know where you were?"
Jielith was terrified when her mate's horns glowed with an aura of purple, green and blue, and an invisible barrier appeared in the entrance of the cave, preventing any dragon from coming in, or her from escaping. It was sound-proof, Burning did not want any interruptions.
"I'll tell you were you were." Burning startled circling the drady silently, like a timberwolf stalking its prey. "You were in the Chasm, hiding from me so you could go and find a little love nest with Skyfall!"
"Burning, that's not true!" Jielith stepped back frightfully. "I was with Skyfall, but-!"
"And you have the guts to admit it! Wow, now I'm impressed!" Burning clapped his paws. "I half-expected you to try and convince me that you were innocent with your silver tongue."
"Would you just let me speak?!"
"For what?!" Burning was dangerously close to her now, snarling. "To blind me with your lies?! To give me false hopes?! To make me believe you love me when you've been cuckolding me with Skyfall all along!"
"Who told you that, Burning?!" Jielith had hot tears of indignation rolling down her cheeks. "That is a lie-!"
SMACK!
Jielith fell to the ground with a loud thud, fresh claw marks on her cheek dripping with blood. She took her paw to her scratched cheek and her pupils shrunk when she spotted the blood. He had hit her. He had never hit her before, now she was sure something was very wrong with her dear mate.
"DON'T LIE TO ME ANYMORE!!" Burning roared at her. "IF THERE'S A LITTLE DIGNITY LEFT IN YOU, SPEAK THE TRUTH FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!"
Obscurity was growing alarmed. "Burning, stop it!" He never meant for this to go that far.
Jielith looked up at Burning's hateful glare with all the pain and sorrow in the world, crystal tears rolling down her cheeks. "I don't know you anymore!" Her voice was broken in sobs. "Burning… You break my heart! You're following a path I can't follow! What happened to my sweet fireheart?"
"Do you want to know so badly?!" the drake snarled. "Very well, then! Feast you eyes!"
With the last sentence, Burning's eyes turned sickly green and purple smoke flowed from the corners of his eyes, illuminating his head and frontal part of his body. Jielith's eyes widened once more upon seeing what had become of her mate; his scarlet scales turned into the darkest black, two extra long fangs were in the front of his mouth, and a mohawk of purple hair had grown on top of his skull. He was barely the same dragon he had been before.
"Satisfied?" Burning's eyes narrowed.
"What… What have you done…?" Jielith was overcome with horror.
She could speak no further, for her mate quickly pressed his massive paw against her delicate neck, licking his teeth. "It's a long story, you should get comfortable, my dear." As bespoke, giant black crystals grew around Jielith's body, trapping her further. "A month ago, when I was taken by Dreadstalker on the raid and in got a little too curious on the Unicorns's tents, I found a book. Guess what! Turns out one of our kind managed to write in one of those pages!" Jielith's pupils were shrinking in absolute fear. "He discovered a new power that could make us even more powerful than any dragon could dream of! I wanted to share it with you and the rest of the clan, but first I decided to test it out myself to see how it worked." Burning Moonlight was growing ecstatic and giggling with glee as he motioned at his mate to take a good look at him. "And now look at this!"
Jielith started to cry again, but not out of sadness for her husband's fate, but for being certain now that he no longer was the ame drake she had once loved more than she loved anything else. "Burning... What have you done to yourself...?" Her sobs were so abundant he nearly didn't catch what she meant to say. "Why...?"
"Why?! WHY?!" Burning's paw pressed harder against her neck, nearly choking her. "I grow tired of your games, slug! I'm not allowing you to hold me back anymore!"
Burning, cease this!
"cough Burning..." Jielith's eyes widened when she saw Burning readying his teeth. "Please...!"
Stop!!
"Please, my fire heart.." The broken down drady pleaded for mercy. "We can get over this... cough... I love you... We can start over, find a way to save you..."
The drake stared down at her coldly, with pure malice in his eyes. "...I don't need to be saved."
BURNING, NO!
"BURNING!!"
The last thing Jielith felt was Burning Moonlight's, the only drake she ever loved, teeth slashing and digging into her throat, and her gaze shutting off forever.
Burning Moonlight's POV
I shook my aching head in confusion, taking a paw to my forehead and closing my eyes shut. Everything around me was darkness, not even my glowing green eyes could light my cave. Something was dripping from my teeth and down my maw, but it couldn't tell what. Maybe Obscurity knew.
"Obscurity, what happened?"
Silence.
"Obscurity?
No reply.
"Obscurity, this is not funny. I'm talking to you.!"
I trembled when he replied, speaking in a bitter cold voice filed with anguish. "I see you recovered your senses at last."
"Come back to my senses...?" I inquired. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Obscurity sighed. "I'm afraid my dark energy overwhelmed you, and you lost control of yourself."
"Lost control? I do not understand."
"I settled in your body after you had a severe emotional blow, which was caused by myself, I admit. My influence made your anger, hurt and pain take temporal control of your being and forced you to unconsciously commit a heinous act. I should have waited a little longer."
My heart was beating like a drum inside my chest. "What sort of act?"
"Murder."
I nearly had a heart attack. I killed some dragon, I never really thought myself of committing such an atrocious act. Who would like to actually do it? I could not, I did not want to believe it! I took my paws to my mouth and wiped the liquid from my maw, then made my horns glow to take a look at it; I was hoping it was saliva, but I gasped in horror when I realized it was blood. I had committed the murder with my own fangs! If anyone found out about this, I would be exiled, no, executed! Resigned, I closed my eyes shut, shivering. "Who was the victim?"
It took a while before Obscurity replied with a grim voice. "It'll be best that you see for yourself. The body is still in this very cave, but I have not the heart to tell you myself."
I had a feeling about all this. With my horns still glowing, I looked around the cave and noticed someone was lying on a corner, immobile. I took a gulp and approached it slowly. As I got closer with glowing horns,I could make out the shape of a dragoness with pink scales…
No.
It couldn't be! I ran to the body, but I nearly slipped with a liquid. I looked down, and to my further horror I realized it was the corpse's blood!
No!
There were entrails all spilled around the body, I nearly fainted when I saw a still heart lying just out of the body's bloody chest. With my heart in my throat, I bent my neck down to the body's head to confirm my suspicions, hoping that perhaps my sight was playing tricks on me, but I choked when my eyes met Jielith's lifeless gaze.
NOO!
My Jielith… My love… No… What had I done?! I fell to my knees, running a claw on Jielith's beautiful face. My eyes teared up and I felt a wound in my chest re-opening, only this time it was much worse. Never minding the blood on her body, I took her in my arms and wept. Time stopped still for me, everything around me disappeared, it was only Jielith's remains and me. I buried my face into her neck with cold tears, wrapping my wings around us in a protective manner. I had never meant to do this, even after what she did to me, I still loved her. But Obscurity said he had settled within me too soon after witnessing Jielith cheating on me, that he should have waited a little longer.
But great part of me didn't blame him for this. It blamed Jielith, for if she had never been unfaithful to me, this would have never happened. It blamed Skyfall, for stabbing me in the back when all this time I thought him my friend. The little part of me that did not blame her for this was slowly disappearing, but I still held her close to me, praying to Celestia this was all a nightmare. Yet something told me that this was not only real, but that it was my fault.
I think the dark magic made my surroundings change according to my mood. I didn't notice it at first, but all around me obsidian crystals started growing from the ground, even the ceiling was being overrun by the dark crystal. Sharp, big, long, short crystal growing like an infection all around me, giving the atmosphere and even more sinister tone. Everytime a sob escaped from me, another crystal grew, as if the crystals obeyed to my every reaction.
“We live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world.”
-Karl Lagerfeld
Skyfall made his way to Burning's cave. The other dragons had heard something going on inside, but some sort of black crystal prevented them from going in. He grew worried about his friend, he could be hurt, or worse. After Jielith left, he had decided to leave them alone to settle their differences, but he never thought it would escalate into a fight!
When he came to their cave, there were no crystals blocking the entrance like the other dragons had said. There were a few, small ones portending from the floor, but nothing more. The very air of the cave seemed to be infected with dread and fear, but most of all sorrow. Skyfall could heard sobbing coming from inside, but it was too dark for him to see anything. Gulping, Skyfall stepped into the cave, his footsteps echoing. The sobbing was growing louder as he came closer to the center of the cave, but then he felt something sticky on his feet.
Confused, Skyfall fired up a small flame to see what he had stepped on. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw a red blood liquid not only beneath his feet, but all across the cave, on the walls. However, what made him gag and gasp in horror was the sight of his friend, holding Jielith's corpse in his claws, his eyes all bloodstain from crying, staring at the bloody hole in the female dragon's chest. Skyfall realized his friend looked different now; his scales were sable black, for some reason he had grown hair, and his eyes were like those of a pony, only with slit pupils and red irises.
"Burning?!" Skyfall gasped, his heart at his throat.
The drake's sobbing stopped, and he quickly glanced up at his friend with hateful angry eyes filled with tears. "There you are…"
"What have you done?!" Skyfall stepped back when Burning lay Jielith's corpse on the ground and started approaching him. "H-How could you do this to Jielith?! You were her whole world!"
"Was I?" Burning inquired coldly. "Because from what I remember, she was very cozy with you in the Abyss."
SKyfall's pupils shrank in realization. "Nonono! You misunderstood what happened! We were only talking about you!"
"I can tell that. Sneering and mocking me for being so blind for so much time, right?!" Burning snarled, his signs unfurling.
"No! She was worried because she thought you didn't love her anymore, and so she came to me for counsel!"
"As if! You think I'm that stupid?!"
Skyfall tried to run out of the cave, but Burning's horns flashed green and purple, and his eyes turned the sickly green from before, with the purple flowing at the corners; With one flap of his wings, he made thick, long black crystals grow from the ground at the entrance of the cave in a faction of second, preventing Skyfall from escaping.
"We are not done talking!" Burning gnashed his teeth.
"Burning, listen to me!" Skyfall pleaded. "You're not right! Something has happened to you, you're not acting like yourself!"
"Oh, I'm acting like myself for the first time in years, my friend!" the former-red dragon sneered, approaching the terrified blue drake.
"No! Listen, we have to go see the Leader! I'm sure he knows a way to cure you!"
"Cure me?" Burning repeated uncredulously. "I'm not ill."
"You're not ill?! Look at yourself, but Ancestor's sake!" Skyfall motioned Burning to look at his own body. "You're scales are black, you have a hairy head, and your eyes! How can you tell me that's not a sickness?!"
"Because I'm not suffering, nor is this damaging my body. It made me strong."
Burning Moonlight was dangerously close to his former friend, inciting Skyfall to fire a long stream of blue fire at him to prevent him from getting any closer. But more black crystals grew from the ground at an alarming speed, protecting their master from the fire, before retreating back into the ground to allow him to continue. Burning snapped his fingers, and thick tendrils of black energy emerged from the darkness, wrapping around SKyfall's legs, tail, wings and tail, keeping him from moving.
"Burning, what-?!" SKyfall frantically looked around at the tendrils that imprisoned him. "What are you doing?!"
"You should be grateful." Burning simply said. "I could kill you if I wanted for betraying him, but I think I'd rather share this power with you."
"What?! I don't want it! I just want you to calm down and let me to!"
"Come on, dear friend!" Burning snickered. "You will enjoy this! You'll be more powerful!"
"At what price?!" Skyfall shrieked in terror. "Look what that power has done to you!"
"You're right. It made me stronger, faster, not even the Leader could stand up to me now!"
"Forget about that! Haven't you seen yourself in a mirror?! You've become a monster!"
Burning said nothing for a while. "…Maybe you're right." SKyfall felt a great pang of relief, but it evaporated when an insane grin grew on Burning's scaly black lips. "But… you would be practically calling yourself a monster as well, my friend. I will show you this…"n his eyes turned green once more. "Whether you like it nor not."
The purple smoke flowing from his eyes slithered through the air like snakes into Skyfall's terrified eyes. Soon, his blue scales were engulfed by a crow black, prench blue hair grew from his head like grass grew on the ground, and his yellow eyes slowly turned sickly green; only a single circle of golden remained around his slit pupil. A loud roar echoed in a ll the caverns, calling the attention of the Leader and all the warriors of the clan.
Skyfall was released from the dark tendrils, and he fell to the ground with a loud thud. There was no sign of protest as the dragon stood up, and looked at his new, dark-scaled from. As he felt the dark power source through his veins like his own blood, he smiled.
"You know what, Burning? You were right. This energy does make you stronger than before."
Before Burning could reply, he heard something outside of the lair. It seemed like the rest of the clan had caught up to him. "Skyfall, looks like we have company."
Skyfall sneered. "Then let's give them a warm welcome."
Burning Moonlight's horns flashed in dark magic, and the crystals disappeared from sight. Ten drakes were standing outside the cave, Swiftwing among them. "What is happening?!" he roared, but the two black dragons did not flinch like they used to. Swiftwing blew a great column of fire in the cave, and realized what had happened upon seeing Jielith's bloody corpse on the ground and the new looks of the two dragons. The rest of the drakes outside gasped in horror, before setting their eyes on Burning and Skyfall.
"What have you done?!" Swiftwing nearly screamed. "And why do you look like that?!"
"Are you blind?" Burning retorted disrespectfully, his tail twitching. "That cheating bitch is dead, and I have grown stronger."
Swiftwing couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Have you grown insane?!" He pointed at Jielith's body. "You call killing your own mate growing stronger! And tampering with forces you know we dragons are forbidden from even touching?!"
This time it was Skyfall who spoke, upon noticing the looks of awe of some of the dragons outside. "This power can be shared, if you wish so. Imagine it, the first dragons to use dark magic. We would be equals to the Unicorns, if not superior!"
Swiftwing realized some of his warriors showed interest in the dark power. "Do not heed his words! They have been poisoned by the same dark forces the same Unicorns fear and drear! Kill them at once, put them out of their misery!"
Neither Burning nor Skyfall showed any fear as the drakes outside lunged at them with unsheathed claws and teeth. With a snap of his claws, the same black tendrils from before came out of the darkness and held all of them down. The drakes roared as they tried to get free, but they had not the power to repel dark magic. Swiftwing realized what he intended to do.
"Ten against two? That's not nice on your part, Swiftwing, and here I thought you liked to do things the honorable way."
Swiftwing snarled. "Do you know what you're asking?"
"I challenge you to an Agnikai!"
An Agnikai was known among all dragon clans in Equestria as some sort of duel for the leadership of the clan. It was between the current leader of the clan, and a the young male who wished to take his place. It consisted of a single charge, and each opponent only had one chance to either subdue or kill his opponent; the winner would be the new leader of the clan.
Swiftwing nodded gravely. "Very well then."
The mint-scaled dragon flared his nostrils and unfurled his wings, preparing to charge. The rest of the drakes were staring intently, wishing to see how this turned out. Burning Moonlight, however, remained sitting on the ground, waiting like he had an ace under the sleeve.
Swiftwing charged at the black dragon, letting out a piercing roar and flapping his wings to gain speed. Burning Moonlight's face remained unchanged, until a murderous grin drew on his face when Swiftwing was about to slash his neck.
Swiftwing gasped and coughed blood as dark crystals emerged beneath him, piercing through his thick scales and slicing through his flesh, impaling him. The pinned-down drakes watched in horror as their leader's life slowly and painfully ebbed away. As his eyelids became heavy, and his vision blackened, he saw Burning Moonlight approaching him with a sickening grin. He felt his blood leaving his body, his heart stopping its beating, and all air leave his lungs as the black dragon whispered into his ear.
"The winner takes everything."
The rest of the dragons watched in horror as their formerleader passed away. Their panic started when Burning Moonlight turned to look at them with a nearly-insane grin. "Now, where were we?"
The tendrils holding down the rest of the drakes suddenly slithered through their nostrils and mouths like snakes into a hole. Screams of agony echoed through the caverns, multiplied tenfold by the screams of hatchlings who could hear everything from their nests and looked for shelter in their parents' wings. Scales turned black, hair grew like grass, and eyes changed to resembled pony eyes, with sickly green schleri, and purple smoke. Both Burning and Skyfall watched amusingly like sadists, as the drakes arose. The color of their hair was varied, as well as the color of their eyes, but they all had one thing in common.
They had been corrupted. They heard the voice of Darkness inside their minds, and accepted it. Burning nodded approvingly when the dragons approached and bowed before him, recognizing him as the winner of the Agnikai, therefore their new Leader. One of the older drakes, whose hair and underbelly were aqua green, was the first to speak.
"What would you like us to do, leader?"
A slick smile appeared on his muzzle. "We have work to do."
All the other dragons in the clan, those who had not been yet corrupted, were led to the Main Cave, all herded like sheep and cattle, hatchlings included. They were terrified to see some of their friends had been turned into black-scaled beasts, but could do nothing as they were grouped in the Main Cave. The whole clan was there, minus the eggs in the nursery. It was all inky black, without illumination, like they had prepared something. Hatchlings whimpered and tried to hide behind their mothers and fathers. No one knew who that creature was, but no one dared ask, either. They looked around for their black-scaled brethren nervously, as if they had been infected by some sort of deadly disease.
"You must be wondering why we've brought you here, am I right?" The voice that first spoke was eerily familiar. "We have an announcement to make."
Kevalth's eyes went open like plates. He knew that voice...
"Skyfall?" His voice was trembling. "Are you the one behind this?" Gasps of shock from the uninflected dragons followed.
"Me?" Skyfall sneezed from the darkness. "No."
"Where's the leader?!" A yellow scaled drake snapped. "When he comes back you're going to-!"
Another voice spoke grimly. "I'm right over here." But the dragons didn't let out any sighs of relief, because they realized that was not Swiftwing's voice. Kevalth's heart nearly pumped out of his chest. That voice was very familiar too. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the piled of wood around the cave lit up unexpectedly, but not with the warm, orange fire dragons knew so well, but a cold green fire that sent shivers down their spines.
There he was. Burning Moonlight, in all his dark 'splendor', sitting on the throne-like rock on the end of the cave, a place that was meant for the Leader. Not few gasped upon seeing his new appearance, his dark scales, his purple hair, but overall his eyes. Those eyes, once full of nobility and friendliness, were now full of cruelty and a coldness that would freeze a Quimera in fear.
"Burning?!" Dreadstalker snapped in disbelief. "You are behind this?!"
The black drake chuckled darkly. "Surprise, surprise." He chirped with sarcasm.
"So this is why you were behaving so strangely!" Kevalth snarled. "You permitted darkness to poison and taint your mind! And now, look at yourself!" He pointed at Skyfall and the other corrupted drakes. "Worse still! You dragged other innocent drakes into your ploy!"
"My, my, I see you are still sore about our exchange of words a few days ago." Burning shook his head. "Have you never heard of forgive and forget?"
"This is not about that, Burning! What have you done with the Leader?!"
"You mean Swiftwing?" Upon mentioning his name, Skyfall and the darkened dragons laughed grimly. "Let's say I took care of him." Burning motioned to Skyfall, and the dragon threw something to the center of the cave, where all he dragons could see it. Hatchlings started to cry, dradies screamed, and drakes tried to keep from fainting or gasping for the sake of their families.
For Skyfall had thrown Swiftwing's decapitated head.
His eyes were still open like plates, a look of utter horror upon his face. His tongue was hanging from the corner of his mouth, his teeth dripping with red blood. The bone of his neck protruded from his scruff, all bloody; the blood had spilled overdone of the enable dragons, nearly driving some dradies and hatchlings to a heart attack. Both Dreadstalker and Kevalth shot hateful and piercing glares at the black dragon.
"You murderer!"
Burning Moonlight raised an eyebrow. "Murderer, you say? It was an Agnikai. I won. You know what that means."
"I will never serve you!" Dreadstalker snarled.
"I'm not asking you." Burning Moonlight narrowed his eyes. His tone grew dangerously hostile. "Either we do this the good way-"
Obsidian crystals grew in a fraction of seconds automatically, protecting him from the fire stream shot at him by both Kevalth and Dreadstalker simultaneously, making the present dragons gasp. When the fire extinguished, the crystals receded, revealing their master unscratched, but with a murderous look. The black dragons were about to go and finish Dradstalker and Kevalth's lives, but Burning lifted a wing to stop them.
"On second thoughts, I'd rather have the bad way."
With a snap of his finger and a flash of dark aura, black tendrils immobilized the dragons who had not yet been infected, starting with Kevalth and Dreadstalker. Hatchlings cried as they were torn from the arms of their desperate mothers, and drakes tried in vain to get free of this tentacle-like tendrils. "What sorcery is this?!" Dreadstalker screamed, glaring at both Skyfall and Burning Moonlight. "What are you doing?!"
"You started it." Burning stated defensively. "Give thanks that at least I'm letting you live." He could smell fear. The whole cave stunk of terror, including Dreadstalker, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
"What are you going to do, Burning?!" Kevalth yelled.
"What he did with us." The dragon with aqua green hair said. "He will assimilate you into the Darkness."
Kevalth couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?!" His glare turned to his former friend. "Would you be as heartless as to turn all these innocent into monsters like you?! Dradies? Hatchlings?!"
"What else, dear Kevalth?" Burning shrugged. "Let them all go? I need strong warriors, but I don't have the time nor the patience to be asking around if anyone wants to." Before Kevalth could retort. Another tendril of black energy closed his muzzle shut. "Please. Stop talking! The sooner we go on with this, the faster it'll be over."
That night, was known as the Night of the Screaming,
The yells, screams and begs for mercy were muffled out when the dark magic forcibly entered the bodies of all the present dragons. Dreadstalker closed his eyes and mouth to try and keep the energy out, but then it targeted his nostrils and ears. All the possible colors in the cave darkened, all turning black like the night sky outside, multicolored hair grew on different heads. Not even hatchlings were spared, but the dark energy seemed to be less forcible with them than with the adults. Burning Moonlight watched amusingly as this massacre occurred, but the other already converted drakes were not so heartless. Even Skyfall forced himself to close his eyes and look away.
When it was all over, the newly-transformed lost consciousness. Even Kevalth and Dreadstalker, their purple and deep green scales respectively turned Raven black, could not keep themselves awake for long. When he was certain they were all unconscious, Burning Moonlight turned to Kevalth.
"Are all the eggs in the nursery?" He inquired, his whole demeanor changing into a more gentle approach.
Skyfall nodded. "Every single one."
"Follow me."
The nursery was not as large as the Main Cave, only big enough to house about six large nests, and upon those nests were laid dozens of eggs, belonging to the mated pairs. The eggs varied in size and color, from red to blue, from large to small. He swore could feel their little heartbeats from within the shells. Sure, the eggs also varied in which stage of development the embryo was, but all could sense what was going on in the outside world.
"What are we going to do?" Skyfall inquired. "You're going to convert them too, aren't you?"
"Not like their parents." Burning replied, placing a clawed paw on one of the nearby eggs. "These are unborn. I wouldn't want to traumatize them before they even come into the world."
"Then how will you do it?"
Before he could ask anything else, Burning's horns glowed green gingerly, and the same purple mist from before flew into the air and divided into dozens of purple tendrils, each going into one egg, going through the solid thick shell.
"That should do it." Burning spoke up, his eyes turning back to normal. "When they hatch, they will be like us."
With these last words, the two drakes walked silently out of the nursery, leaving the little ones to continue their slumber.
