One day Twilight receives a letter from Princess Celestia, claiming that a dethroned Tartarus prince has requested a meeting with her and the Elements of Harmony and needs their help.
After escaping Basilisk' evil coils, twice, the exiled prince of Tartarus, Darkrim, has taken up Luna's training in order to better his mind and improve his magic. However, due to Luna's royal duties, Princess Celestia has requested that he takes upon studying magic with Twilight as well, to improve upon his chances of the defeating the malicious serpent, once and for all. How will he get along with the Elements of Harmony? Will they be able to withstand the force of darkness that lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce at any given moment? Find out in this installment!
Darkrim felt his breath quicken as he slowly trotted through the Everfree forest.
His companions on this treacherous journey were the twinkling stars and the pale glowing Moon. Their celestial light was the only thing that helped Darkrim orient himself in this horrible forest.
The silent whispers of the midnight wind were the only thing he heard, although he could easily feel the glowing eyes of the Everfree predators on every hoofstep. The calmness of the forest only intensified all of the banished prince’s sense. His ears pricked up, attempting to decipher any and all auditory disturbances, and his horn lit up, ready to strike whatever crosses his path.
As he continued his walk, Darkrim suddenly picked up a loud scuffle in the bushes nearby. He positioned himself, horn first, as he waited for the menace to jump out. However, nothing happened.
“Must have been just some wildlife,” Darkrim attempted to easy himself.
As he walked through the Everfree calmness, the more he reminisced about the past. Everything, from the silent howling of the wind to the pale glow of the night, began to remind him of that faithful night when he met Princess Luna.
He began to feel his lip curl up into a wide grin. Truly, if it wasn’t for that night, who knows what, would have happened? He would have probably been still in Radifus’ clutches if it wasn’t for her.
“Do snakes even have clutches?” Darkrim suddenly thought to himself. His train of thought was soon stopped as he noticed something in the distance.
A pair of yellow glowing eyes stood in front of him as a loud booming voice announced:
“Timberwolves, stage one! Activate combat!”
In a mere split second the pair of yellow eyes turned to a beast concocted of twigs, leaves, logs and other parts of trees. It was in a shape of a wolf with its fangs being sharp pieces of wood.
It howled as two other beasts of the same kind jumped out from the bushes behind Darkrim. He slowly began to back away, as the feral creatures began to prepare their attack. They began circling around Darkrim, seizing him down, before finally charging at the banished prince.
Darkrim just smirked as his horn glowed bright red.
Within a split second, the three wolves attacked, but Darkrim was quick to teleport out of their way.
In that moment the three beasts had just realized the error of their ways, but it was too late as they collided with one another and disassembled into nothing more than a scattered pile of wood remains.
Darkrim looked baffled at the scene that had just played out.
“I knew they were supposed to be easy, but this is just ridiculous," he smirked and began to walk as if nothing had happened.
However, he soon stopped when he noticed that parts of the disassembled timberwolves were being pulled together by some force. He watched in horror as the three disassembled timberwolves began to from one huge creation.
“You just had to have regeneration, didn’t you?” Darkrim thought to himself as he began to run away.
The newly formed creature gave chase to the fear driven Darkrim. He began swerving around the trees, but the wolf was in its element. Even if it lost a piece, it would soon replace it with another log or a branch. Darkrim began to run out of breath, so he decided to face the beast head on.
Just as the wolf caught up to him, he used some of his teleportation to escape the beast’s deadly jaw.
“Hey, woodwork,” he yelled out to the wolf as it turned its attention towards the unicorn “Yeah I am talking to you, firewood! Take this!”
As he yelled, Darkrim unleashed a red beam of energy straight at the wolf’s head. The beam was powerful enough to take out a chunk of its wooden head and make it stumble back.
Darkrim launched a few other blows like that, attempting to destabilize the monster. At first it seemed to work, since the beast was beginning to crumble down, but it was only a façade.
His continuous attacks exhausted Darkrim quickly. He began to pant heavily as he looked gleefully at the shattered remains of the beast, but his face quickly turned to horror when he noticed the monster reassembling.
“No,” he started to shake his head. He couldn’t run nor could he shoot his magic anymore. He was far too tired at this point to do anything.
Just as the beast tried to attack, Darkrim yelled “End simulation! Now!”
Suddenly his surrounding flickered as the beast in front of him disappeared.
The dark forest was changed to an astral plain and instead of a giant Timberwolf, Luna stood in front of Darkrim. The night regal extended her hoof and helped the fallen prince back to his hooves.
“Thank you,” he said as he brushed himself off.
“No problem,” Luna said with a smile.
“I guess it didn’t go as planned, huh?” Darkrim said in slight defeat.
“It was pretty bad,” Luna agreed “but you can’t expect to perform amazingly on your first try. You have to try multiple times before you can see some results.”
“Boy, isn’t that comforting?” Darkrim replied sarcastically “Can you at least tell me where I went wrong?”
“Well,” Luna began “while your teleportation skills were impressive, your offensive magic still leaves a lot to be desired”, she explained.
“What do you mean?” Darkrim asked.
“You went way too ‘trigger happy’ if you will,” Luna continued “your attack didn’t hit all the right points.”
“Hey, I made it disassemble!” Darkrim argued.
“True,” Luna said “but you saw how it worked out in the end.”
“Well why don’t you show me?” Darkrim asked angrily.
“There’s no need for your anger, young prince,” Luna scolded him “I can show you how to defeat them, but you must remain calm.”
“Fine,” Darkrim said and sighed.
“Very well,” Luna said “Begin simulation; Timberwolves, stage one!” she yelled as the astral plane disappeared and in its place a dark forest appeared.
Darkrim watched from the bushes, slowly moving to the designated area of the Timberwolves’ appearance.
Luna walked confidently to the spot where the yellow glowing eyes appeared. She heard the beast snarl as the same booming voice commanded the battle to commence.
The wolves began to circle around Luna, but she only blasted the first wolf with her magic. The other two wolves looked at their fallen brethren for a split second as they launched their rage fueled attack.
Luna managed to fly above them causing them to crash into each other once more. Luna looked at to where Darkrim was observing her and winked at him.
”You know you’re not done, right?” Darkrim asked as he pointed his hooves at the regenerating beast.
Luna quickly took notice of the giant Timberwolf, but remained unfazed. The beast formatted in front of her eyes and unleashed a roar, blowing a gust of its vile breath right into Luna’s face.
Luna covered her nose and coughed a bit from the stench.
It attempted to rush towards Luna, but she simply picked up a medium sized rock and launched it at the beast’s gaping esophagus. The wooden wolf began to choke for a few moments on the rock and, in mere seconds, the monstrosity disassembled into nothing more than a pile of twigs and logs.
Darkrim felt his jaw drop to the floor as Luna simply smirked.
“You mean to tell me that was all it took to defeat that thing?” Darkrim yelled in disbelief.
“Sometimes the greatest threats can be defeated in the simplest manner,” Luna explained “You just have to find their weak spot.”
“Easy for you to say,” Darkrim scoffed “You probably fought that thing a hundred times.”
“That is beside the point,” Luna continued “If you had focused you would have noticed its jaw leaving a wide opening. Remember how we defeated the shadow serpents?” Luna asked.
“Yeah, by striking its core,” Darkrim said as it finally clicked “Oh, so if I attacked the beast from the inside- -“
“It would have come tumbling down,” Luna finished his sentence.
“Urgh I was so stupid!” Darkrim said and slammed his hoof against his forehead.
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Luna said “Now come on, we need to wake you up.”
“But we just started!” Darkrim protested.
“We will continue tonight,” Luna smiled “but we have to return to the real world now.”
“Alright,” Darkrim complied as a bright flash of light returned them back to reality.
Darkrim yawned and opened his eyes as Luna was right by his side. He looked a bit sad from what happened. Luna placed a wing on his shoulder.
“Remember why we started this training program,” she said.
“I know.” Darkrim said “I wanted you to teach me to make my magic more powerful. I just wasn’t expecting to fail at first level.”
“Hey, it’s your first try,” Luna smirked “Frankly, it would be stranger if you did succeed.”
“Encouraging as always,” Darkrim chuckle as he got dressed.
“I aim to please,” Luna bowed with a wink.
Darkrim just shook his head as he followed Luna out the door.
As they traversed the hallways, the Guards would salute the princess and stood up straight as she walked by. Luna would bow to them as they greeted her and so did Darkrim. Their paths soon crossed with a familiar violet unicorn.
As soon as she saw the two royals approaching her, Amethyst quickly trotted towards them.
“Princess Luna, prince Darkrim,” she saluted them. Luna nodded her head and Darkrim returned her the salute.
“Amethyst, we’re glad to meet you. Will you be joining us for breakfast?” Luna asked.
“No thanks.” Amethyst replied “I just ate. However, princess, we do have a small problem I would like to discuss with you,” Amethyst said.
“Of course,” she said “How may I help you?”
“Well," Amethyst began “I heard you are going to fuse the Royal Guard with the Lunar Brigade. Is this true? Are we in some danger?” she asked.
“Yes that is true,” Luna said “Due to recent threats made by the Radifus, I have decided to ask my sister to fuse the two armies together.”
“Couldn't they be just empty threats? I mean this is getting quite out of hooves by now,” Amethyst said, worriedly.
Luna’s face suddenly turned dead serious.
“Even if that is the case, We do not wish to leave anything to chance,” Luna proclaimed, “Our final judgment on this matter shall be passed down after We have properly discussed this with Our sister. Does thou understandeth Us?” Luna asked coldly.
Amethyst was in shock. The fact that Luna used her archaic royal speech pattern, surprised both her and Darkrim a bit.
“I understand, princess,” she said, clumsily, and rushed off to her duties. Darkrim started at Luna with awe.
“What’s the matter, prince?” she asked.
“I have not heard you use that diction since I saw you in the forest,” he said.
“Well, I only use it when I want to make a proclamation or to let others know my intentions with utmost clarity,” Luna said.
“Interesting,” Darkrim said as his voice trailed off.
“Can I ask you something, prince?” Luna said, with doubt in her voice.
“You have known Radifus for quite a while, right?” she said as Darkrim nodded “Well do you think he would be capable of launching a strike on Equestria?”
Darkrim bit his lower lip.
“Under Hades’ rule, no.” he said “He would never authorize such an assault, mostly because he fears the Equestrian Diarchy.”
“He must not fear us too much, since he is not replying to countless messages we sent him,” Luna said with fury in her eyes, but quickly realized what she said, by Darkrim’s raised eyebrow.
“I am so sorry Darkrim,” she quickly apologized “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s alright, I understand”, he said, “but it is suspicious that he isn’t answering, considering that he replied to nearly every letter he got from Celestia in the past.”
“So something is going down in Tartarus”, Luna said as her fears were confirmed.
Darkrim was visibly shaken up, but Luna shot him a convincing smile.
“Don’t worry, Darkrim”, she told him, “If he does try something we will be ready for him!”
“I sure hope so”, Darkrim sighed as they entered the castle’s dining room.
The dining room was rather large with its centerpiece being the table that could’ve easily seated thirty ponies. Celestia sat at the head of the table with her loyal Royal Guard standing by her side. Darkrim and Luna quickly joined her.
“I am so glad you made it”, Celestia greeted them with a kind smile, “How was your training, prince? Did Luna give you a hard time?”
“It was fine, princess, thank you for asking”, Darkrim replied with a smile.
“He’s a bit rough on the edges, but I can see quite some potential”, Luna stated.
“I am happy to hear that”, Celestia said as she rang the bell.
Through the door came various servant ponies carrying pancakes, fruits, cereal, muffins, scones and various other breakfast delicacies. Darkrim licked his lips as the food came in. He didn’t even realize how hungry he was until he saw the variety of meals.
As soon as the servant ponies placed down the food, Darkrim rushed to put as much as he could on his plate. Both Celestia and Luna smiled. Darkrim blushed a bit as he just realized how silly he must have looked, stuffing his face in front of the two regents.
“Please, don’t let us stop you. Enjoy yourself”, Celestia said as she noticed Darkrim’s cheeks turning bright red. He gave off an awkward smile and continued to eat, but at a much slower pace.
After all three ponies have been properly fed, Celestia rang the bell again. The same servants came back in and cleaned out the table.
“That hit the spot”, Darkrim said as he wiped his mouth.
“I am glad you enjoyed it”, Celestia smiled.
“Well, now that breakfast has passed”, Luna began, “I wish to speak to you Celestia.”
“What’s it about, sister?” she asked.
Luna cleared her voice.
“We wish to inform thee”, Luna began in her Royal voice, “that, due to recent threats, We have decided that it would be in our best interest to merge thine Royal Guard with our Lunar Brigade”, Luna finished her formal declaration.
“I have been feeling the same way, Luna”, Celestia said.
“You have?” Luna said with slight surprise.
“Indeed”, Celestia responded, “After you told me what that serpent intends to do, I have taken as many precautions that I could. After all, that is why I asked both the Griffons and the Minotaurs for protection. I shall allow you the merger, but under one condition”, Celestia said.
“What might that be?” Luna asked.
“I wish that prince Darkrim moves to Ponyville to study with Princess Twilight Sparkle”, Celestia said.
Both Luna’s and Darkrim’s eyes widened in shock to what Celestia had just said.
“Celestia, he is my responsibility”, Luna said, “I have promised to help him get back to the throne and now you want me to just pass him to another pony?!”
“Not to mention I have never even met this Twilight Sparkle”, Darkrim protested.
Celestia sighed. She expected such a reaction from both of them.
“Maybe I should have worded that better?” Celestia thought to herself.
“I understand your concerns, but know that there is a reason I ask this from you”, Celestia began to explain, “Luna, I know you want to help Darkrim get back to his throne, but you have your duties as a princess as well. You have an obligation to your people and I need you at the top of your condition, both mentally and physically, if we are to stop this threat. You will still see Darkrim when your nighttime comes, but I will need you here with me, during the day, to hold our fort and to calm our people”, Celestia explained her reasoning to Luna.
Luna sighed. She knew very well that Celestia was right.
“Well don’t I have a saying in this? I mean it is me you are talking about!” Darkrim protested.
“You don’t have to study with Princess Twilight if you don’t want to”, Celestia said, “but I think you could benefit a lot from spending time with the Elements of Harmony.”
“Wait a sec!” Darkrim said as he tried to process, “This Princess Sparkle is an Element of Harmony?!” Darkrim exclaimed.
“Indeed”, Celestia nodded her head.
Darkrim felt like a huge weight had been put on his shoulders.
“Princess, can I think about for a few hours and then tell you my decision?” he asked.
“Of course”, Celestia nodded her head as Darkrim left for his room.
“I should probably go with him”, Luna said as she got up.
“Please do”, Celestia said and sighed, “I am sorry I had to tell you my decision so suddenly.”
“It’s alright, ‘Tia, I understand”, Luna said, “Have you already written the letter to Twilight?” Luna asked.
“No, I wanted to see how he would feel about it”, Celestia sighed.
“I’ll talk to him, don’t worry”, Luna said and bowed to Celestia. She returned her bow and Luna was off.
She located Darkrim very easily as he was standing right in front of a mural. It was the mural of her defeat, as Nightmare Moon, at the hooves of the Elements of Harmony. She approached Darkrim slowly.
“How did it feel?” Darkrim asked her as she joined him.
“Like a heavy burden was lifted from my shoulders”, Luna responded, “That creature promised me love, but it only filled me with hate. If it wasn’t for the Elements, I wouldn’t be here.”
Darkrim sighed.
“Yeah they’re the greatest heroes of Equestria, or so I have heard”, he said distantly as he looked at the mural.
So many thoughts were swarming through his head and Luna could feel them. She covered Darkrim with one of her wings. He looked back at the dark blue alicorn, giving her a weak smile as a sign of his appreciation for the concern, and sighed.
“Do you think I am better off with this Princess Twilight?” Darkrim asked.
Luna thought about it for a second.
“I strongly believe it would help you quite a lot”, Luna said, “Princess Twilight Sparkle is one of the best magic users I had ever seen. Her powers are most impressive and she is a very diligent and studious young mare. She could help you quite a lot in mastering your own magic. Not to mention that she could learn a few things from you as well.”
“Like what?” Darkrim asked.
“Well”, Luna began, “Equestrian bonds with Tartarus have been weakening lately. You could help strengthen those bonds to their former glory."
“I guess”, Darkrim said, still thinking about the offer.
“And you’ll still see me at nighttime”, Luna said with a kind smile, “I will still come in your dreams and help strengthen your mind and help you as much as I can.”
“True”, he said, still a bit distant. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense for him to move.
“Do you think she would accept me?” Darkrim asked.
“It would stand to reason”, Luna said, “but I could tell Celestia to arrange a meeting for you two, before you move. To get you acquainted better.”
“Sure thing”, Darkrim said, “Could you tell her to bring the rest of the Elements? I would really like to meet them as well.”
“Of course”, Luna smiled as they both went back in the dining room. Celestia patiently waited for their final response. “So what’s the verdict?” she asked.
“I have decided to meet up with Princess Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements of Harmony in order to see if they would accept me”, Darkrim said respectfully. Celestia smiled at his response.
“As you wish prince”, Celestia said, “I will arrange a small get together for you and the Element of Harmony.”
“You mean like a party?” Darkrim asked.
“If you wish”, Celestia winked at him. Darkrim’s smile grew wide.
“Thank you, Princess”, he bowed to the Solar Ruler.
“No problem, dear prince”, Celestia said, “I will send the invitation right away.”
As the Princess wrote the invitation letter, and Darkrim prepared for the party, some shady business was going down in Tartarus.
Next to the Grand Tartarus Castle stood a small opening that led deep into the lair of the Basilisk. Despite its odd location, Radifus’ lair was quite homey.
There were two bookshelves carved out of stone. Inside these two bookshelves were the collective works about all kinds of magic, both shadow and light magic, as well as a few philosophy books and 'The art of conquest', written by Dormius, the first king of Tartarus, Radifus' go to reading material.
Aside from that, Radifus had his own collection of potions lined nicely above his firewood desk.
In the middle of this lair was a large, squared, red velvet carpet.
Radifus was coiled up in front of his desk overlooking paperwork when he heard a loud knock quickly followedd by his doors being kicked in.
“You know you’ll have to pay for that, right?” he said as he watched the knocked down door.
“This is no time for jokes!” Ares screamed “My Intel officers have informed me of your colossal failure to take over Darkrim’s mind. I thought you said it wouldn’t be a problem?!”
“Well, there was always the slight variable of our plan going astray,” Radifus claimed “besides, I am not the one that chased Darkrim away and made my job that much harder!”
“Hey, he was mingling with a light pegasus! If you think I would let a golden opportunity like that slip by, you’re crazier than I thought,” Ares said.
Radifus shook his head.
“You really don’t see farther than your snout do you?” Radifus asked in an agitated tone.
“What is that supposed to mean?!” Ares said angrily.
“If you had stuck to my original plan, we would have something to pin against Darkrim and exposed Hades for the incompetent leader he is,” Radifus elaborated his plane “With his popularity failing in the eyes of the nation you could’ve performed a military strike and taken over the throne. However, you decided to jump into action and now I am cleaning up your mess.”
“And you’re doing a bang up job of it,” Ares commented.
Radifus was beginning to grow tired of him, but he kept his composure. After all, he knew that Iracundia wasn’t the idiot he presented himself to be. “I am at least trying,” Radifus argued.
“Oh yeah, well let’s see your track record, shall we?” Iracundia began “You have failed to dispose of Princess Luna, failed to get Darkrim on our side, and, not to forget, you have completely botched the mission of retrieving the eye of Leviathan,” Ares finished with a pleased look on his face.
Radifus was on the verge of snapping this insolent beast’s neck, but he had to restrain himself.
After all, Iracundia’s militia was his only means of achieving his goals. He had to play nice, for the time being.
“Fine,” Radifus sighed “Then what do you propose we do?”
“I am glad you asked,” Iracundia said with a pleased smile “Bring him in boys!”
As Ares said that, his loyal gargoyle’s dragged in a peculiar creature.
This beast seemed to be skeletal in design, with pale white mane flowing down the side of its head. It had a canine like jaw and grayish skin that covered its bare boned physique accompanied by two bug eyes. It bowed its head in front of Radifus.
The serpent observed this strange specimen very closely as it only stood silently in front of it.
“So what is this thing?” Radifus asked Ares.
“This thing,” Ares began “is the majestic Makita, a beast found in the darkest parts of Tartarus. It is a prime hunter, responsive to any order, given to it by its master. Which just happens to be little ol’ me,” Ares finished with a proud smile.
“Is it sentient?” Radifus asked.
“Not that we know of”, Ares responded.
“So, what? You’ll have this thing hunt Luna down?” Radifus inquired.
“No way,” Iracundia replied “She’d have this thing mounted on a wall, if it went after her. However, if it went after Darkrim, that would be an entirely different story all together,” Ares smiled sinisterly.
“You have to be kidding me,” Radifus closed his eyes “You want to kill Darkrim?! Are you insane?”
“Hey, he’s a loose variable in our plan,” Ares argued “And besides, you have failed. Two times! This time we will do it my way or else you can forget about our cooperation!”
Radifus sighed in defeat. He really didn’t wish it had to come to this, but Iracundia was relentless. He had to agree.
“Fine,” Radifus said “We’ll try it your way.”
“Thank you.” Iracundia said proudly “Oh yeah, before I forget: I am going to need a photo of Darkrim, just so Makita knows what it is searching for.”
“Of course,” Radifus said and walked up to his drawer.
He pulled out a picture of him and Darkrim, studying at the ambrosia fields. A slight feeling of nostalgia took over Radifus, but only for a second, as the serpent handed the picture over to Ares.
Ares looked at the photo with slight amusement.
“How precious,” he smiled and showed it to Makita. The beast took the picture in its bony fingers and observed it.
Ares made a slight gesture, showing it the dark blue unicorn in the picture. The beast looked at him and nodded its head as the gargoyles took it away.
“Are you sure that thing isn’t sentient?” Radifus questioned once more.
“Even if it is, it’s probably the bottom of the scale,” Ares smirked.
“What makes you say that?” Radifus asked him.
“If it was any higher, I wouldn’t be using it as my tool,” Ares bragged as Radifus smirked to his comment.
“Talk about a slip of the tongue,” Radifus thought to himself as Ares left his lair.
As Radifus was left all alone, he was a bit frightened by Ares’ decision. He wanted Darkrim to suffer for betraying him, but his death was something he never wished.
“If that blasted idiot kills Darkrim it will mess up everything,” Radifus thought to himself “There’s only one way I can stop him.”
As he came to that conclusion Radifus moved to the center of his room. He used his tail to get a book called ‘Communication spells' from the top shelf.
“Okay let’s see How to contact a witch, no. How to communicate with the dead, that’s not it. How to contact Equestrian officials, hah, as if… ” he thought to himself, as he searched for his spell “Ah here it is! Gargoyle summoning! Yes that should suffice,” Radifus clicked.
“Egredietur gargoyle Grimoire per ordinem Radifus Morrigan Basiliscus Quarti!” Radifus exclaimed as he read the pass from the spell book.
His golden horns glowed as a bright, white flash appeared in the middle of his room.
Radifus shielded his eyes for the split second as from the flash came out a gray furred, bipedal creature, with bat-like brown wings.
“Grimoire, you old so and so!” Radifus exclaimed as he saw his gargoyle friend come out.
“What’s going on Radifuss?” Grimoire joked with him.
“Sad to say, nothing good,” Radifus replied with a worried look on his face.
“Wouldn’t be expecting anything else,” Grimoire said and shook his head “So what’s the scoop, my man?”
“That fool Iracundia has ordered a hit on Darkrim,” Radifus yelled through his fangs.
“Seriously?” Grimoire said in a wide eyed shock “I didn’t know the old bastard had it in him. Who’s he sending?”
“Makita,” Radifus replied with a deep sigh.
“Ah, I see,” Grimoire said “and I assume that you want me to do something about it, am I right?”
“You know me so well,” Radifus smirked.
“Well you know I don’t do these things out of the kindness of my heart,” Grimoire rubbed his hands together.
Radifus approached his desk and took out a brown bag, filled with irantium.
“I trust this will suffice,” he said and tossed it towards Grimoire.
He opened up the bag and smiled, contently.
“So what’s my mission?” Grimoire asked.
“You are to pursuit the Makita and make sure that it does not harm Darkrim. I want you to shadow its every move, but do not interfere unless you absolutely have to!” Radifus explained “Do you understand me?”
“Find the ugly hunter and make sure he doesn’t hurt your precious Darkrim. I got that part,” Grimoire said “but why must I wait to spring into action?”
“Because I don’t want Ares’ spies to learn about this.” Radifus explained “Plus Darkrim is already under Luna’s protection. You’re just my safety insurance.”
“Ah, got it.” Grimoire nodded, “Will that be all?” “I would trust so,” Radifus said.
“As always, it’s been a pleasure working with you Radifus,” Grimoire smiled and extended his hand.
“May our business be ever so prosperous,” Radifus said and shook his tail with Grimoire’s claw.
While big plans were going down at Tartarus, Twilight was relaxing in her castle.
The cutie map was surprisingly peaceful today. No weird cult like leaders trying to impose their philosophy onto their small town. No annoying yaks that threaten to start a war unless their requests have been met. Just her and ‘Starswirl’s advance astronomy’.
Just as Twilight was relaxed, Spike came rushing in.
“Urgent message from Princess Celestia,” Spike yelled as he carried the golden sealed letter.
“I guess the constellations will have to wait.” Twilight sighed “What’s the urgent message, Spike?”
“I don’t know,” Spike shrugged “I just got the letter. It seemed very important, so I didn’t want to open it.”
Twilight smiled.
“What would I do without you, Spike?” she said with a smile as she removed the seal from the letter.
She gasped as she read the letter.
“What’s wrong Twilight? Is there another creature attacking Equestria?” Spike asked worryingly.
“No, nothing like that,” Twilight said “Here listen to the letter”, she said as she read the following text:
“My dearest Princess Twilight,
I am hereby inviting you and your friends to come to Canterlot Castle tonight at nine. I have a very special guest to introduce you to, and he has expressed his wish to meet you and the rest of the Elements of Harmony. He is a very crucial part in keeping Equestria’s diplomatic relationships with Tartarus and has been wrongfully dethroned. I hope that you and your friends can help my sister and I in guiding this wrongfully accused pony back to his rightful place.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia”
As she finished the letter, Spike felt his jaw drop to the floor.
“Wait a sec,” he said while picking his jaw up from the floor “Did she say dethroned? As in ex royalty?”
Twilight nodded.
“This is big, Spike!” Twilight began to pace around the castle “What if I mess up? What if this prince doesn’t like me? What if the yak scenario repeats itself? I cannot take another Rutherford!” Twilight panicked. She began to hyperventilate as sweat beads were pouring out of her forehead.
Spike knew something like this would happen. He walked up to Twilight and shook her shoulders. Twilight’s head banged back and forth, causing her eyes to roll inside her skull and her mane to become ruffled as Spike stopped.
“Spike!" she yelled at the young drake as she blew out a strand of her mane “Why the hay would you do that for?”
“Because you were going all ‘crazy Twilight’ again. I just wanted to snap you out,” Spike said “Now have you calmed down?”
“A bit”, Twilight replied as she fixed up her mane.
“Good,” Spike responded “You don’t know for sure how this prince will react and panicking about it won’t help you in the slightest. Just calm down and get the rest of your friends to visit this prince character. I am sure it will all work out just fine,” Spike said kindly, attempting to calm the lavender unicorn.
Twilight smiled and hugged the baby drake as he finished.
“This why you are my number one assistant, Spike,” she said to him.
“Aww shucks Twi!” Spike blushed a bit at the compliment “Now come on! You gotta tell the others about this!”
“You’re right!” Twilight replied “Celestia did say that he requested a meeting with other Elements as well.”
As Twilight got ready something clicked in her mind.
“Oh, I almost forgot to ask,” she said “Would you like to come with us?”
“Nah.” Spike replied “I have a fresh stack of comic books with my name on them.”
“Those things will just rot your brain,” Twilight said motherly.
“Hey, you’re the one that always tell me I should read more,” Spike said as he went back to his room.
Twilight rolled her eyes and exited her crystallized palace.
She walked around Ponyville in search of her friends. First up on her list was Rainbow Dash.
Twilight knew she could find her rainbow maned friend clearing up the clouds. It was a post-rain day, and a lot of those clouds still needed some good hoofing to make them go away.
As she flew up, she could see Rainbow Dash was clearing out the sky.
“Hey Twi, what’s up?” Rainbow greeted her friend.
“Well we are, but that’s aside the point," Twilight joked “Princess Celestia has requested a meeting with us.”
“And by us you mean…” Rainbow asked for confirmation.
“The Elements of Harmony,” Twilight confirmed.
“Oh cool!” Rainbow said “Hang on for a sec while I get rid of these pesky clouds and we’ll be good to go.”
“Great!” Twilight clicked.
Rainbow zoomed across the sky, kicking and rushing pass the clouds with less density, in order to destabilize them. In just a few seconds the entire sky was clear as if they never were there.
“Wow, fifteen seconds,” Twilight said “Not bad, Dash.”
“Yeah, well, there were a few sturdier ones,” Rainbow said defensively.
“Sure,” Twilight rolled her eyes, “Now come on! We have to get the others as quick as we can, if we plan to get there in time!”
“Alright, don’t get your tail in a twist, Twi,” Rainbow said as they descended from the skies and trotted through Ponyville “Why does the princess even want to meet us right now? Is there another monster? Because if there is,” Rainbow said, slamming her hoofs together.
“No, no monster,” Twilight replied.
“At least I hope so,” Twilight trailed off in her thoughts.
“So if it’s not a monster, then what?” Rainbow asked her.
“She wants us to meet a member of the Tartarus royal family,” Twilight said.
“Wait a sec,” Rainbow interjected “There is royalty in Tartarus?”
“Actually they have an entire culture down there!” Twilight began “It is a culture built around the principles of war and conquest. In fact the peaceful reign in Tartarus is around the same time as Celestia and Luna rose to power in Equestria, which was during the rule of Tartarian dragon ruler Terragon.”
“How do you know so much about Tartarus?” Rainbow cocked a brow at Twilight.
“I read about it while I was in Canterlot,” Twilight explained.
“Of course,” Rainbow smirked as they entered Sugarcube Corner.
“Oh hi dearies,” Mrs. Cake greeted the two ponies as they entered “Pinkie’s in the kitchen baking pies. Would you like me to get her for you?”
“We’d appreciate it,” Twilight nodded her head, as Mrs. Cake went in to the kitchen. In just a few moments Pinkie Pie popped out of the kitchen with batter all over her face.
“Pinkie what happened to your face?” Rainbow said, barely holding in her laughter.
“Oh just a little baking accident that’s all,” Pinkie smiled as she licked her head clean in one, fairly impressive, lick.
"What brings you here?” Pinkie asked “Do you need some cakes? Or pies? Or cupcakes? Or some Gummy cakes?” she laughed as she pulled out her pet alligator covered in cake frosting.
“No thanks Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled “We just came to tell you that Princess Celestia has requested a meeting with the Elements of Harmony.”
“Really?” Pinkie said surprised “What’s the occasion? Do we have to go in some land very very VERY far away to save some ponies? Or is another villain coming after a thousand year slumber and we have to defeat it? Or…” Pinkie began, but Rainbow just put a hoof on her mouth.
“Actually, we are going to meet a prince from Tartarus,” Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Pinkie’s mouth as she noticed that the pink party pony began to tremble and shake. Suddenly a loud, high pitched gasp flew out of Pinkie’s mouth.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” she began nervously shaking “I am going to meet a new pony! And he is from Tartarus! Oh, I have to start on the party planning right away. What do Tartarus pony like in a party? Come to think of it, I don’t know much about Tartarus other than it’s a big scary place where all the baddies go...” Pinkie began to ponder, but she quickly shook it off “But he must not be such a mean baddie if Celestia is vouching for him! Ahh this so exciting!!!” Pinkie hyperventilated.
“I am glad you’re excited, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “but you have to calm down.”
“You’re right, Twilight,” Pinkie said as she began to calm down, “But I just get so super extra excited when I meet new ponies from such weird places! It just makes me all super giddy,” Pinkie laughed “So, when are we leaving?”
“Well,” Twilight began “Celestia said we should be there around nine.”
“Then we have to get to the seven thirty train,” Pinkie began as she looked at the clock “And it’s already five! Come on guys we have to get the others!” Pinkie yelled as she almost rushed out, “I almost forgot! Mrs. Cake!” she called out
“Yes Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake replied.
“Is it alright if I take the rest of the day off? The princess has asked me to meet a new pony…” she began to make an excuse, but Mrs. Cake stopped her.
“Say no more, Pinkie. If it’s for the Princess, you’re excused,” the blue pony smiled at her.
“Thank you!” Pinkie said and hugged Mrs. Cake. She then turned her attention to Twilight and Rainbow.
“Come on you silly Billies! We don’t want to be late, do we?” Pinkie yelled as she rushed out.
Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, a bit confused from what had just happened.
“I guess we should follow her,” Twilight said.
“Already on it,” Rainbow exclaimed as they rushed after Pinkie Pie.
The three mares ran to the Carousel Boutique. The first one to rush in was Pinkie Pie.
As she galloped in, Pinkie pulled herself to a quick stop as she noticed that Rarity was busy working on a new dress. She seemed to have been very concentrated on her work and Pinkie Pie didn’t want to disturb her. Twilight and Rainbow quickly joined her.
“Umm, Rarity,” Twilight said as she slightly tapped the white unicorn on her shoulder.
“What?!” Rarity snapped at her friends, making Twilight flinch a bit and the rest to step back. The white unicorn quickly realized her mistake.
“Oh my,” Rarity said, covering her muzzle with her hooves “I am so sorry Twilight, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that I have been working on this new dress for Sapphire Shores for a few hours now and I am a bit on the edge,” Rarity apologized.
“No problem, Rarity,” Twilight said “Is there anything we can do to help?”
Rainbow glared at her.
“No, it’s quite alright,” Rarity said, taking a towel and wiping the sweat beads off her forehead “I am nearly finished as is. So tell me girls, what brings you here?”
“Well,” Twilight began, but Pinkie Pie jumped in.
“Celestia wants us to meet a new pony!” she yelled.
“Pinkie Pie, I was going to say that,” Twilight scolded her.
“Really? Who is this new pony?” Rarity asked in surprise.
“Well,” Twilight began “I don’t know for sure. All Celestia told me is that he is a dethroned prince of Tartarus. That’s all I know,” Twilight said.
“I’ve never heard of Tartarus royalty. How fascinating,” Rarity began “Well, I will have to finish up this dress, before I can go anywhere. When did she say she wanted to meet us?”
“At nine, but we are going to catch the seven thirty train to Canterlot,” Rainbow interjected.
“That only gives me a little over two hours to make myself presentable!” Rarity exclaimed in panic.
“That’s okay,” Pinkie said “We’ll meet ya there at the train station.” “I’ll see you then, darlings,” Rarity waved goodbye as the three ponies went to inform the remaining Elements. Next up on their list was Fluttershy.
She was in the middle of feeding her little spoiled rabbit, Angel.
“Now, Angel could you at least try to eat this,” she said offering some food pellets to the rabbit.
He slowly hopped over to the brownish dry substance and sniffed it. It smelled okay enough, so he tried one. Fluttershy was getting her hopes up, but they were immediately shot down as Angel spat out the pellet and washed his tongue with water.
Suddenly, she heard a knock on her cottage door.
“We’ll try again some other time ,” Fluttershy said to Angel as she opened her door. As soon as she opened the door Fluttershy was greeted by the pleasant sight of three of her best friends.
“Hi girls,” Fluttershy said “What brings you here?”
“Celestia has invited us to meet up with a banished prince from Tartarus, tonight at her castle. Do you want to come?” Twilight asked Fluttershy.
She knew how meeting new ponies was a touchy subject with the vanilla colored mare.
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy began to mumble.
“Come on, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said “This could be a great opportunity to meet a new pony. Plus think about all the cool animals he must have met in Tartarus! I am sure he has all sorts of stories to tell us!”
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to meet this prince,” Fluttershy said sheepishly “but I still have to feed all my animal friends before I can go.”
“We’ll meet up at seven thirty at the train station,” Rainbow said.
“Alright,” Fluttershy replied “I’ll be there.”
“Great!” Twilight exclaimed “See you then!”
“Bye!” they all waved at Fluttershy as they left her cottage.
“Well that’s nearly everypony,” Twilight said as they walked to Sweet Apple Acers “We only need to get Applejack and we’ll be ready t go!”
“I can’t wait to meet this pony! How do you think he would look? I am thinking he would have like fire all over his body!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Come on, Pinkie, be realistic,” Rainbow said to her “How can he have fire around his body if he is still alive?”
“Actually, one of the side effects of the dark magic that rules over Tartarus is the abnormalities in ponies’ appearance. Having magical fire mane wouldn’t be that far out,” Twilight replied.
Pinkie Pie stuck out her tongue at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow just rolled her eyes as they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was already working hard, bucking apples in the farm, when the three ponies walked up to her.
“Hiya Applejack!” Pinkie Pie shouted while jumping around the orange mare “We have some exciting news!”
“What you on about Pinkie Pie?” Applejack said “Did you eat some of them spoiled cupcakes again?”
“Well duh, but that’s beside the point,” Pinkie exclaimed “Celestia invited us to meet a new pony! Isn’t that fantastic?” Pinkie yelled as she got into Applejack’s face.
Rainbow pulled her back.
“What’s this about a new pony?” Applejack asked.
“Well,” Twilight began “As it turns out there is a dethroned prince of Tartarus that’s staying at Canterlot and he wanted to meet us.”
“Sounds interesting,” Applejack responded “When’s the meeting?”
“Tonight at nine,” Twilight said “We’re going to meet down by the train station at seven thirty. Can we count on you to show up?”
“I’ll be there in two shakes of a rattlesnake’s tail,” she said “just gimme a bit to finish up the applebuckin’.”
“See ya then,” Twilight said.
“Sure thing sugarcube,” Applejack said as the three left.
While Twilight was preparing the girls for the meeting, Darkrim was freaking out about the meeting. He was going through a hundred and one thoughts a second in his room. Luna had a feeling that he might be stressed out, so she knocked on Darkrim’s chamber door.
“Oh Luna, I’m so happy you are here,” Darkrim said as he pulled the night regal into his room “What do you think? Should I go with the cape or without?”
“With cape,” Luna replied calmly.
“What if they think I am just a bit too stuck up? I should go capeless,” Darkrim thought out loud “but if I go without a cape they might think I am being too causal with the princess and they’ll certainly hate me!” Darkrim panicked.
“I purely doubt the likeliness of that scenario, dear prince,” Luna said “And I am assuming that this nervousness isn’t just about the cape, now is it?”
“It’s that transparent, huh?” Darkrim said as he blushed.
“Just a little bit,” Luna smiled.
“I’m just so nervous about this,” Darkrim sighed “Ever since I got banished from Tartarus, I only had real interactions with a hoof full of ponies. Heck even back in Tartarus I only had like three real friends, one of which is now my worst enemy,” Darkrim sighed “What if something like that happens again?”
Luna thought about his reasoning for a bit and then embraced the banished prince with her wing.
“Trust me, Darkrim, everything is going to be fine,” she said kindly “The Elements of Harmony are some of the most endearing ponies I ever had the honor of meeting. I am sure you would get along just fine.”
“What if they betray me? Like Radifus,” Darkrim said, with a glint of fury in his eyes.
“You have nothing to worry about.” Luna smiled “These six ponies would never do such a thing to you.”
“Are you sure?” Darkrim asked.
“Positively,” Luna said “Now we better get you dressed. The Elements will arrive soon and you don’t won’t to be underdressed for the occasion, do you?” Luna winked and left Darkrim to get ready.
Darkrim breathed in deeply and put on his cape.
He watched himself in the mirror as he placed on his pendant. Sweat beads were pouring out of his forehead, but Darkrim paid little mind to them. His heart was overwhelmed with a mixture of joy, fear, and excitement.
“It’s show time!” Darkrim said to himself as he straightened his cape. Before he left, he heard a knock on his door.
“Mind if I come in?” a violet mare spoke, barely peeking through the doorway.
“Not at all,” Darkrim responded “What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to say goodbye to ya,” Amethyst said, extending her hoof “We’re going to miss you. Sure, you were a bit of a pain at times, but overall, you’re a good kid. I hope Twilight can help you!”
“Thank you, Amethyst,” Darkrim said with a smile as he shook her hoof “That was very kind of you to say.”
“Aw, don’t worry about it!” Amethysts waved her hoof “Now, come on. Celestia wanted to see you, before the Elements arrive! We don’t want to keep her waiting.”
“Of course!” Darkrim replied and followed Amethyst, as they left for the main entrance hall.
Celestia and Luna were already waiting them in front of a giant red carpet. Since this was a special occasion, both Luna and Celestia were wearing their finest dresses. Celestia wore her red gala dress, while Luna wore her purple night dress.
Darkrim stepped in front of them and greeted the two royals.
“My Princesses,” he said “Thank you once more for giving me this opportunity.”
“It’s nothing, dear Prince,” Celestia said with a smile as she returned his greeting “Now let me show you to the meeting room. Will you be joining us, Amethyst?” Celestia turned her attention towards the violet mare.
“Thank you, dear princess, but no,” Amethyst said “I have to get the guards ready for the merger, so I have my hooves quite full!” Amethyst said awkwardly.
“I understand,” Celestia nodded “Well, we will see you tomorrow then. Good night!”
“Good night to you too, Princess,” Amethyst responded and rushed off to her duties.
As Amethyst left, Darkrim followed Celestia and Luna to the reception room. Darkrim could see that Celestia really went all out on this preparation.
There were tables filled with various food items, ranging from fruits to fritters and other delicacies. Just looking at these delicious creations,
Darkrim could feel his stomach rumbling, but he had to restrain himself.
In the background he could hear the divine sound of an expert cellist playing her wonderful notes as she was backed up by a white mare blasting her electronic beats. The odd mixture of elegant classic notes and the electrifying beats really eased Darkrim’s heart. The two experts were playing off wonderfully.
“I thought you might like it,” Luna whispered and winked at Darkrim.
Darkrim just smirked back at her.
He breathed in deeply, letting the atmosphere sink in, as he prepared his heart for the arrival of the Elements.
Back at the train station, the Elements of Harmony were slowly making their way towards the castle. Twilight was quite visibly nervous to meet this prince, so she took extra precautions to prepare herself for this encounter. She even brought her ‘Guide to Tartarus’ in order to catch up on Tartarian tradition.
“Yeah, Twi,” Rainbow interjected “You’ve been staring at that book ever since we left from Ponyville. “
“I’m sorry, girls,” Twilight began “But I want to be prepared to meet this prince. I don’t want to insult him or make a bad impression.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, darling,” Rarity comforted her “You know more about Tartarus than any of us. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“You really think so?” Twilight asked.
“We know so,” Rarity replied as the rest nodded their heads in agreement. Suddenly, their train pulled to a stop. Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped into their cart.
“We’re here!” she yelled as she quickly bounced out of the train. The rest soon followed. Once departed from the train, a chariot with two Royal Guards awaited them.
One of the Royal Guards trotted towards them.
“Greetings esteemed heroes,” he spoke boomingly “By the order of the Princesses we are here to escort you to the castle.”
“My, what a wonderful reception!” Rarity clicked as she entered the luscious golden chariot “They really want this reception to go well!”
“Boy, I’ll say!” Applejack commented as they entered.
Once all six ponies were settled in, the two Royal Guards began to pull the vehicle up to the Canterlot castle.
As they crossed the mountain Twilight looked nervously out of the window. Fluttershy noticed it and inched closer to her friend.
“I don’t know if it will help or not,” she began sheepishly “but I am feeling very nervous as well.”
“I just want this to go over very well, Fluttershy,” Twilight sighed “This prince obviously means a lot to both Celestia and Luna and I don’t want to disappoint them.”
Fluttershy placed her hoof on Twilight’s should and smiled kindly at her.
“You haven’t failed them, so far.” She comforted the lavender unicorn “And I know this will not be your first time. Trust me, you’ll do great!”
Twilight returned the yellow pegasus’ smile.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” she said.
“What are friends for?” Fluttershy blushed a bit as they arrived at the castle. The chariot pulled to a stop.
“The Princesses will see you shortly,” the guards told them as they entered the castle.
Pinkie Pie could barely hold her excitement as the guards went to get the rulers of the sun and moon, and their esteemed guest.
“Princesses, they are here!” one of the guards announced.
“Thank you, Silver Sword,” Celestia nodded.
“It’s show time, dear prince,” Luna said. Darkrim took in a deep breath as they exited the reception room.
Princess Celestia exited first while Luna soon followed. Darkrim stood behind zhe night regal, since he was still a bit nervous to meet the Elements.
As Celestia came into view, Twilight’s eyes lit up.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight clicked at the vision of her mentor “We got as soon as we could!”
“Yeah!” Pinkie responded “Where is this new pony you wrote about?!”
Applejack pulled Pinkie by the tail.
“Pinkie, please behave,” Rarity scolded her as Celestia chuckled at Pinkie’s antics.
“He’s right here,” Luna said as she rejoined her sister. She nudged Darkrim with one of her wings as he trotted next to the night regal. Everypony was quiet for a second. Their silence was broken by Pinkie Pie’s squeals.
“I KNEW IT!!!” Pinkie yelled as she rushed over to Darkrim, inspecting his flames “I told you guys! “
Darkrim looked at the pink pony with quite the amusement.
“Would you mind if I touch it?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Not at all,” Darkrim said, barely holding in his laughter. Pinkie Pie placed her hoof through his fire mane.
“Amazing!” she said “It doesn’t burn you guys! Check this out!” she yelled as she pulled her hoof through Darkrim’s tail.
Twilight looked at Pinkie with a scolding gaze.
As soon as Pinkie saw her eye burning a hole in her mane, she retracted back to the group.
Darkrim chuckled a bit.
Pinkie’s shenanigans were just the thing he needed to loosen up.
“I am so sorry for my friend,” Twilight apologized “she just gets quite excited around new ponies.”
“That’s alright, Ms.” Darkrim said confusedly, remembering that they had not been properly introduced.
“Oh, where are my manners?” Twilight blushed “My name is Twilight Sparkle and the pink pony that just played with your mane is Pinkie Pie,” she said and pointed to her puffy maned friend.
Pinkie happily waved at Darkrim.
“I am pleased to meet you both,” Darkrim responded with a smile “I heard many great stories about you. It’s quite an honor, actually.”
Twilight blushed a bit.
“And what’s your name?” Pinkie Pie interjected.
“Just call me, Darkrim,” he introduced himself to the group with a bow.
“What a strange name…” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well it’s a rather common name in Tartarus,” Darkrim said “And who might you be?” he asked the cyan mare.
“The name is Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow introduced herself with a sturdy hoofshake “I am the fastest flier in all of Ponyville. Possibly all of Equestria,” she bragged.
“And the cockiest one to boot,” Applejack interjected. Darkrim chuckled at the comment.
“Oh, pardon mah manners,” Applejack said, lowering her hat “Ah forgot to introduce mahself. The name’s Applejack. Put ‘er there,” she said and extended her hoof.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Darkrim said as he accepted applejack’s firm hoof “That’s quite a strong grasp you have. Let me guess: a hard working pony?” he asked.
"You betcha!" Applejack smiled at his response.
As he shook hooves with Applejack he noticed a white unicorn, staring intensely at his cape. He looked at his cape and then back to the unicorn.
“I knew I should’ve gone capeless,” Darkrim thought to himself.
Rarity noticed Darkrim’s discomfort.
“I am terribly sorry, darling,” she said “but I can’t shake the feeling that I had seen that cape somewhere. May I feel it?”
“Sure,” Darkrim replied, as everypony else glared at Rarity.
As Rarity felt the fabric, she easily recognized her hoofstiching. She gasped at the realization.
“What’s wrong?” Darkrim quickly panicked.
“This cape… I made this cape!” she exclaimed ecstatically. Darkrim shot a glare at Luna. She pretended not to catch his gaze by looking around the room.
“You made it?” Darkrim asked confusedly.
“Yes,” Rarity said “I remember Luna’s order to a tee. Frankly, I thought it was a bit bizarre, but when a princess calls I had to answer. I just don’t know why she kept you as a secret from us?”
Everypony’s eyes were now staring at Luna.
“I just thought it would be inappropriate at the time, considering his background and the delicacy of his situation,” Luna responded.
“Fair enough,” Darkrim said and returned to Rarity “but you still have not told me your name.”
“Oh, I am Rarity,” the white unicorn politely bowed to Darkrim. He returned her bow.
As he looked around, Darkrim noticed that there were only five ponies standing in front of him.
“Umm, forgive me for asking,” he said “but weren’t there six of you when you entered?”
“That’s right,” Rarity replied “Where is Fluttershy?”
Everypony searched around the room for her, when, all of a sudden, Pinkie Pie emerged from behind a statue.
“Here she is!” Pinkie said as she pushed the yellow pegasus over to Darkrim. Fluttershy looked at Darkrim, meekly. He smiled at the shy pegasus and offered her his hoof.
“It’s nice to meet you.” He said as the yellow mare accepted his hoof “Fluttershy was it?” he asked.
“Y-yes,” Fluttershy whispered and smiled sheepishly at Darkrim.
“Well, I am glad we are all properly introduced,” Celestia said with a pleased smile “Now if you will follow me to the reception room. I hope you’ll find the music and the refreshments quite to- -“before she could even finish that sentence, Celestia saw a pink blur rush past her and rush to the reception room.
The rest followed her slowly to the reception room.
By the time they arrived, Pinkie Pie was already dancing her flank off.
“Come on, you guys!” she yelled as she practiced some of her moves “The dance floor feels just fine!”
Rainbow Dash joined Pinkie Pie almost immediately, while Rarity and Applejack weren’t that far behind. Fluttershy took some time, but eventually she joined the rest of her friends.
“Shall we go too?” Darkrim turned to Twilight.
“Sure!” she replied as they both jumped in and began to party with the rest of the Elements.
Darkrim felt such joy as he showed off his moves to the rest of his new found friends. Even though he wasn’t the best dancer of all time, after all, nothing could beat Pinkie Pie's head spinning, he was still having fun, shaking and bumping rumps with these mares.
“Should we join them too, sister?” Luna turned to Celestia.
“Well we’re not going to just stand here and let them have all of the fun,” Celestia winked.
“Let’s show them how it is done!” Luna smiled as they joined the merry group on the dance floor.
Twilight and Darkrim couldn’t help but laugh as they saw the two rulers of Equestria, waving their mane and dancing like it was the last night of their lives.
At one point, Luna even took Darkrim by his hooves and twirled him around.
Even though he got a bit dizzy, Darkrim still felt happy. This party was truly what he needed to get his mind of the latest events.
In this moment all that he had suffered before didn’t matter. Radifus and his shadow army were long gone in Darkrim’s mind. The tears of his banishment were now replaced by laughter as he danced the night away with his guardian and his newly found friends. If only this could last forever.
However, as they danced the night away, an evil began to lurk around the Everfree forest.
Grimoire laid in wait, near the town square. He knew that the hunter had to pass through here if he planned on leaving the city.
Patiently he waited, observing each and every citizen carefully. Nearly half an hour passed as he finally saw them; two gargoyles and a shackled Makita.
As soon as the trio passed, Grimoire sprang into action. He knew that the crowd of beasts surrounding him would give him quite the cover. Slowly, Grimoire followed them, blending into the mass like a chameleon. He knew this was only a temporary solution, so the brown winged fiend reached for a much more reliable tactic.
Reaching into his satchel, Grimoire pulled out a pouch of green emerald dust, the perfect tracking tool.
“Quaerite et invenietis, Makita,” Grimoire whispered and blew the magical dust.
As he spoke those words, the dust swiftly took a shape of an arrow and hit the Makita in the back, sinking deep into his corpse like skin. At the impact, the Makita began to thrash around viciously, howling and roaring.
The two gargoyles tried to stop the beast as the crowd panicked and began to run like a chicken without its head. Grimoire smirked and rushed along with the crowd.
They were able to keep the crazed beast from causing any harm as it finally cooled off.
“What’s got into this thing?” one of the guards asked.
“I have no idea,” the other guard replied “All I know is that we will be much better off once we have gotten rid of it.”
“I hear that!” the other guard responded as they continued their mission.
As he was out of sight, Grimoire settled down in the city square and pulled out his trusty tracking stone, a mystical device that would allow him to immediately see the location of any creature infused with the green emerald dust.
However, the emerald dust only works for a few hours, so Grimoire knew he had to act quickly.
The two gargoyles seemed to be just outside the capitol and appeared to enter the underground cavern system. Grimoire smiled as he opened up his wings and took flight.
He knew that the underground system could lead to only one place; the Everfree forest.
As he reached the entrance, Grimoire swooped down from the murky red skies, and quickly pulled out his stone.
It showed him that Makita and his guardians were just at the entrance of the Everfree forest. The two gargoyles picked up the corpse like creature and raised him through the opening, releasing it to roam the forest in search of its prey.
Grimoire knew that the two were just to return, so he hid behind the largest stalagmite. A few minutes past as he heard the banter between the two guards.
“… and then he slapped me with the fish. It was so bizarre,” one of the guards said.
“Just goes to show you that you shouldn’t mess with swirly eyed ponies,” the other guard replied.
“True, true” the first guard nodded his head “But still it was far too, what’s the word…”
“Illogical?” the other guy finished it for him.
“Yes that!” the first guard snapped his claws together as they past right in front of Grimoire’s hiding place.
Once they were away, Grimoire swooped past them.
“What was that?” the first guard looked around as he felt a gust of wind pass him by. He tried to see, but the caverns darkness shrouded his vision.
“It was probably just the wind,” the other guard replied “Come on, the boss is waiting!”
“Right behind you!” the first guard said and rushed towards his comrade.
Unbeknownst to the two gargoyles, Grimoire was already rushing towards the Everfree forest.
In just a few moments, Grimoire was out of the damp cave and into the fresh open fields of Everfree. He could feel a faint surge of dark energy rushing through this mystical place.
“How peculiar,” Grimoire thought to himself as he sat down on a log nearby. He pulled up his trusty tracking stone and searched for Makita.
As the picture cleared up, Makita appeared to be only a few feet away from him. Grimoire smiled as he took to the trees above.
Quickly spotting the hunter, Grimoire gave chase to the bony beast.
A few times Makita would raise his head and sniff the air, which is why Grimoire always kept a few feet away from it. He followed the corpse like monster as it rushed at an incredible speed towards the old castle.
“Why is that beast going to the old castle? It just doesn’t make sense,” Grimoire thought himself.
The more he thought about it, the more Grimoire noticed something very odd.
The beast’s movements weren’t feral, like that of a manticore or even a diamond dog. He seemed very cautious, calculated even.
The swift turns around the trees, the quick leaps through the river rocks, plus the fact that he was going with an actual destination made this beast seemed less and less wild and more intelligent than Grimoire initially thought.
After a few moments of close following, Grimoire noticed that the Makita reached a clearing. The brown winged gargoyle quickly descended from the trees and laid in wait in front of a nearby bush.
He observed closely as the bug eyed monster surveyed its surrounding. Once he saw that nobody followed him, the Makita sprinted into action, leaping over the bridge in one majestic leap.
As the monster was on the other side it extended razor sharp claws from its bony paws and slashed away the bridge, causing it to collapse.
Grimoire stood in shock for a few seconds. There was no doubt about it. This beast was sentient.
“Time to see why Ares really sent you,” Grimoire thought to himself as he flew over the gap and followed the Makita through the castle.
The darkness provided him with quite the cover, but the pale moonlight and the lack of a good hiding place made it difficult for Grimoire to sufficiently hide.
There was only one way he could stay concealed in here. He reached once more inside his satchel to find a small flask with black liquid labeled ‘Caecus’. This potion would allow him to stay concealed, but it would wear off the second the Sun came out. Plus it tasted like wet goat fur mixed with dirt, so Grimoire really wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Down the hatch,” Grimoire thought to himself as he glugged down the potion.
He almost hurled as the aftertaste hit him back like a sucker punch, but he kept it in. The potion worked like a charm and Grimoire became completely invisible to the outer world.
As he followed, the gargoyle noticed that the hunter had stopped moving. He sniffed around once more, but didn’t pick up on Grimoire’s fragrance, another perk of the potion. Once the Makita thought the coast was clear, it sprinted towards the old castle library.
The skeletal beast searched intently through the decrepit bookcase, attempting to finish what Basilisk had started.
“Well well, what do we have here?” Grimoire thought as he watched the Makita tear through the volumes of books. He wanted to stop him at one point, but that would just give away his position and alert both Makita and Ares. It was best that he played it safe, for now.
The beast kept taking away the books, but it did nothing. The damned thing wouldn’t budge.
In a fit of rage, Makita slammed his foot against the shelf, causing one of the few remaining books to fall out. It was called ‘The heart of the sea’. Makita’s bug black eyes twinkled with glee as he opened the book and read from the dedication.
“The wrath of the seas, the king of the beasts, the one who will decide the tides of war,” he read in a raspy voice “I call upon thee. Lend me guidance and open the passage to thine freedom!”
As he finished a loud earthquake could be felt around the castle as the entire bookcase split open to unveil a gem. To a laymen’s eye this gem would be nothing more than an oversized ruby, but to Makita it was much more precious. He grabbed the jewel from its case.
Just as he did that, the castle shook once more, as the pedestal upon which the jewel had been placed began to crumble down. Suddenly, Grimoire could hear hoofsteps marching towards their whereabouts.
The Makita quickly ran, but Grimoire stood still.
As he rushed out, Makita noticed that the castle stone guards were waking up and giving chase to him. The energy emitted from the gem Makita held was like a homing beacon for the ruthless guardians as they lunged themselves at him.
The hunter was agile enough to quickly avoid the terracolt army, as he would swiftly change his direction, causing the terracolts to run smack first into each other or into a wall.
The skeletal monster was nearing the exit, but the terracolts were quickly gaining up on him. Makita focused with all of his might at that clearing. His strength was fading away as he felt his legs slowly giving in, but he knew that he was so close. He couldn’t rest for a second!
Finally reaching the clearing, Makita jumped with all of his might over the treacherous pit. Barely making it over to the other side, the skeletal hunter stopped to catch his breath as he saw a few of the terracolts sliding off the cliff. Their deaths made Makita grin widely as he saw the surviving squadron return back to their post.
“Finally, I have freed myself of those pests,” Makita thought to himself and looked back at the impressive gem in his claws.
However, unbeknownst to the bony beast, Grimoire was still hot on his trail.
Once all of the guards returned to their post, Grimoire sneaked out, still invisible to the naked eye. He pulled up his tracking store once more and noticed that the hunter wasn’t that much farther away.
He quickly took flight and honed in on the beast’s position.
Grimoire was impressed by this creature. It faked being feral quite well and it was impressive at escaping from those terracolts, but why? Why did it take that gem? Why didn’t it fight the terracolts head on? Why did it pretend to be feral?
All these questions plagued Grimoire’s mind. Something was telling him that there were bigger things in play here than just a simple assassination.
Finally, Grimoire caught up to Makita as he observed him from the trees above.
The Makita walked slowly, even more cautiously than before, before finally settling nearby a pond.
The grey hunter sat in front of the small pool of water and crossed his legs. He began to chant as the water slowly rose up. It began to spin faster and faster, before eventually creating a small portal.
Grimoire was not surprised to see Ares’ ugly boar like snout peeking out of the portal. The bipedal warmonger seemed to be in a room filled to the brim with axes, spears, swords and shields. Ares was comfortably seated behind a large firewood desk which had his own insignia on it, a dragon being slain by a fiery spear. Grimoire rolled his eyes.
“Why doesn’t he just freaking marry those weapons!” the gargoyle thought and tried to sustain his laughter.
The general seemed pleased to see Makita.
“What is your status report? Are we making progress?” Ares asked.
“You could say so,” the hunter smiled contently as he showed off the red gem.
“Is that?” Ares asked in anticipation.
“The one and only, eye of the Leviathan,” Makita replied “I nearly lost my head finding this thing for you.”
“You will be compensated finely, do not worry,” Ares replied “After all your performance alone earned you that.”
“Thank you, general,” the Makita replied “but I have to ask: Why did you want me to act feral, even in the city streets?”
“Simple,” Ares said “If you showed signs of intelligence, Radifus would find out about it and become suspicious. And we can’t have that, now can we?”
“Of course, but…” Makita tried to say something, but Ares shot him an anger filled glare.
“I hope you are not growing soft on me now Makita,” Ares said furiously “Remember what we discussed; Once the we overthrow the king and his advisor, I shall take the throne and you will be reward for all your service to the Rebuilt Tartarus.”
“I understand that,” Makita replied “But why are you working with Radifus?”
“Because he is the only one that can ruin my plans!” Ares replied “As much as I hate the scaly bastard, I must admit that he is not a fool. His influence extends to Hades himself and not to mention that his plans are quite impressive. Besides you know what they say; Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
“Agreed,” Makita nodded his head.
“Excellent!” Ares replied “Now onto our next step, the elimination of prince Darkrim. Did you locate him by now?”
“Unfortunately I have not,” Makita replied “I was hoping you had some information.”
“Once again, I must do your work for you,” Ares groaned “We have found out that he was last seen around Canterlot, courtesy of our mole. However, due to recent events, the Princesses have summoned the Elements of Harmony to meet up with him. You must get to him as soon as possible; otherwise your window of opportunity will close.”
“So what do you suggest?” the Makita asked.
“Meet with our mole beneath the Canterlot Mountain. He will give you more information than I could;” Ares instructed him.
“I understand,” Makita replied.
“Oh and one more thing,” Ares said “Our mole would like their identity to remain hidden, so don’t be freaked out if they have a deranged mask or something” Ares warned Makita.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Not really,” Ares replied “Just report once the target has been neutralized. Ares out!”
As he said that the portal dispersed into nothing more than drops of water that fell gracefully on the ground below, disappearing as they were never there before.
Grimoire stood among the trees, baffled by the information he just heard. However, he couldn’t help but smile.
“They’re planning their feast, but the cattle is already out of the pen. How precious!” Grimoire thought to himself as he noticed the Makita taking a nap.
He would have to keep a close eye on the beast. He stayed up as long as he could, until the moon’s soft embrace slowly took him in to its peaceful gaze.
“Maybe if I just…” before he could even finish that sentence, Grimoire felt his eyes close as he drifted away to the land of dreams.
“So let me get this straight,” Darkrim said to Twilight “You fought against Tirek and won?!”
“Well yeah,” Twilight replied “Though I am still pretty sore from that whole ordeal. Trust me, you do not want to be flung into a mountain at high speed,” she said and stretched out her wings.
“Noted,” Darkrim replied and chuckled.
“By the way, how did he escape?” Twilight asked. Darkrim was a bit caught by surprise.
“What do you mean?” he asked confusedly.
“Well, not to be rude,” Twilight began “but we have noticed quite a few escapees from Tartarus. You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?”
“You can chalk that event up to the ‘Tartarian liberation’,” Darkrim said in disgust.
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“What the hay is a ‘Tartarian liberation’?” she asked.
“The ‘Tartarian liberation’ is a group of moronic radicalists that’s what they are,” Darkrim gritted his teeth “They feel that the prison section of Tartarus goes against everything that we, as a nation, stand by. According to their ideology, it is unfair to cage up any creatures, no matter of what they had done just because ‘it is their way of expressing themselves’.”
“So, if I went around breaking rules I should expect no repercussion, simply because that’s who I am?” Twilight asked in a bit of a shock.
“That is essentially their warped vision of the world. No rules, no consequences,” Darkrim emphasized. Twilight let out a disgruntled sigh.
“They sound like a rational group,” she rolled her eyes “but that still doesn’t explain how they are responsible for Tirek’s escape?”
“It’s a bit complicated to explain,” Darkrim said as he scratched the back of his mane “but, from what I heard, someone on the inside managed to release Cerberus from his post and tipped them off. Once they found out, they broke Tirek’s chains and the rest is history.”
Twilight stood there in wide eye shock.
“Were they at least caught?” she asked.
“Well, those who freed Tirek were,” Darkrim said “but we never found out who released Cerberus.”
As Darkrim looked back at Twilight, he noticed she was visibly distressed by this new information. He quickly diverted the conversation.
“Anyway, enough about Tartarus,” he said and waved his hoof “I want to know more about you. I mean, I know you are Equestria’s greatest hero and all, but I really want to know more about the pony behind the hero.”
“Oh,” Twilight said and blushed a bit “Well what do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with something simple,” Darkrim said “What do you like to do the most?”
“Well, I love to organize, but my true passion lies in reading books,” Twilight responded.
“Really?” Darkrim said in surprise.
“Yeah,” Twilight began “There’s just something about gathering knowledge from the tomes, especially if they are really old, that really makes me feel complete. For example, I am currently reading ‘Starswirl’s advanced astronomy’, but you probably don’t want to hear about that,” Twilight stopped herself.
“Actually, that is one of my personal favorite books” Darkrim said.
“Really?” Twilight raised a brow.
“Oh yes,” Darkrim replied “My mother used to read me passages about the stars and constellations before I went to sleep from it.”
“Your mother read you ‘Starswirl’s advanced astronomy’?” Twilight said skeptically.
“Yeah,” Darkrim explained “She said that the book was given to her by an old friend and that it would help me understand my purpose. To be honest, I didn’t really see it while I was younger, but still, the stories about far away stars and planets fascinated me to no end, so I continued to read it even in my older years. Now that I actually understand what he wrote about, it quickly became my second favorite book.”
“Why only second favorite?” Twilight asked in interest.
“It’d be my favorite, had I not read Terragon’s ‘Philosophy of a king’,” Darkrim said with enthusiasm “Have you heard of it?” Twilight thought deeply.
“I heard of Terragon, but not of that book,” Twilight said, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“Oh, it truly is a fantastic read,” Darkrim started “I would let you borrow, had I not foolishly forgotten it back in Tartarus,” Darkrim said and sighed deeply.
Before Twilight could say anything, Princess Celestia approached them.
“How’s everything going my little ponies?” Celestia asked the two.
“Everything is going great, your highness,” Darkrim replied as Celestia smirked at his remark.
“I am glad,” Celestia smiled “I hope your highness wouldn’t mind if I borrowed Princess Twilight for a few moments. I want to discuss some business with her,” Celestia said.
“Why of course, your majesty,” Darkrim replied “I’ll go talk to the other Elements. See ya around Twilight,” Darkrim gracefully bowed.
“Goodbye, prince,” Twilight waved as Darkrim left to meet up with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who were at the food table.
Twilight smirked as she saw Darkrim mingling with the two mares.
“I see you’re making a great impression on Darkrim,” Celestia said to Twilight with a kind smile.
“Yeah, he is a pretty interesting colt,” Twilight responded politely “but I have to admit that your urgent letter caught me off guard. Why did you request an urgent meeting?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I have to be honest here,” Celestia said awkwardly “I did have an ulterior motif for this meeting.”
“And what would that be?” Twilight asked in anticipation. A hundred and one scenarios ran through her head, but nothing could prepare her for Celestia’s reveal.
“I would like you to mentor the young prince,” Celestia said calmly. Twilight felt as if she was going to flip out. Her heart raced, her breathing quickened, and her eyes widened as the violet mare barely processed Celestia’s request.
“You want me… with the… and the…” she babbled incoherently. Celestia waited for Twilight to ease up and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t be asking you this if I didn’t know you could do it,” she said comfortingly as Twilight slowly calmed down.
“Okay, I get that,” Twilight said “but why couldn’t you, or even Princess Luna do it?”
“Well, my sister will still mentor him during the night, to strengthen his mind,” Celestia explained “but we will need somepony to teach him practical magic. And seeing as I am neck deep in Equestria affairs, I figured that you would be the next best candidate.”
“I see,” Twilight said, still gasping a bit, “but this is still a huge responsibility! I mean what if I mess up and teach him something wrong? What if he hates it in Ponyville? There are a million and one ways this could go wrong,” Twilight panicked.
“There are also a million and one ways this could go right,” Celestia replied with a smile and covered her with one of her wings “I understand this is a very hard decision for you to make, which is why I brought you, and the Elements, here to meet him. I would like that my greatest student could share her knowledge with a pony which desperately needs it,” Celestia reassured Twilight.
Twilight took in a deep breath and looked deep into her mentor’s eyes. The glorious regal showed no fear or doubt in her gaze, but only radiated trust and confidence. Seeing this made Twilight feel easier.
“Princess,” she stated “It would be my honor to teach Darkrim as much as I can.”
“Excellent!” Celestia clicked happily “I know you will do a great job.”
“Yeah, I hope so too,” Twilight said awkwardly. Suddenly she heard loud laughter coming from the food table. Twilight looked back at Celestia who gave her a sign to join her friends.
Even though Twilight appeared to be calm on the outside, she was freaking out on the inside.
“There’s so much I have to do now!” Twilight thought to herself “I must find out what and how much he knows about magic, and then I have to make the entire studying schedule and get all the supplies I need. I’ll probably have to stock up on quills as well.”
As she was stuck in her thoughts Darkrim was having an interesting argument with Rainbow and Applejack.
“So you are suggesting you could beat me in a race?” Rainbow argued.
“Or me?” Applejack chipped in.
“Sorry, Dashie,” Darkrim joked “but you are looking at the fastest pony in Tartarus.”
“Pfft,” Rainbow dismissed his premise.
“No offense partner,” Applejack said “but compared to lil ol’ me, you are about as fast as a one legged turkey.”
“Oh yeah,” Darkrim said with a smirk “Want to put your theory to a test?”
Twilight looked confusedly as she stood next to Rarity.
“What’s going on here?” she whispered to the white unicorn.
“Rainbow was bragging about being the fastest pony in all of Equestria, Applejack interfered and then Darkrim stated that ‘he can show them true speed’. Hope it helps you out,” Rarity whispered back.
“A bit,” Twilight responded as Pinkie and Fluttershy joined in on the commotion.
“What do yall propose?” Applejack said to Darkrim.
“You, I, and Rainbow;” Darkrim said “one lap around the garden. Whoever wins will be pronounced the fastest pony. What do you say?” he extended his hoof.
“Ah’m in,” Applejack shook his hoof.
“I know I am already going to win, so of course I am in,” Rainbow Dash said confidently.
“I’ll be the judge!” Pinkie Pie yelled and rushed out of sight. Everypony was confused until she reappeared, just a few seconds later, fully clothed in a black and white shirt with a whistle in her mouth.
“Let’s go then!” Darkrim said as the party moved out of castle and in the garden.
The three ponies stood on a starting line as they prepared their hooves for the ultimate race.
Twilight stood on the sides with Fluttershy and Rarity, while Celestia and Luan set up the track, making sure to protect the delicate flora and fauna.
“Alright Pinkie, here’s the map for your track,” she said and handed it over to referee Pie.
“Thank you, Princess,” Pinkie said and turned back to the contestants “Alright here’s the gameplan,” Pinkie began “First you “Over the bridge, through the hall of statues and back here. First pony to cross the finish line wins. Got it?”
All three ponies nodded their heads as Rainbow looked way too eager to start the race. She was already flaunting and stretching her hooves.
“Don’t eat my dust too much,” she bragged to the other two.
“Alright, now to just cover the rules,” Pinkie said “No flying, no cheating, no magicking and especially no knick knacking. Am I understood?” Pinkie Pie asked sternly.
“We heard ya the first time, pinkie,” Applejack said “Come on lets go!”
“Hold your horses Applejack,” Pinkie Pie laughed “Princess Luna, would you mind lifting me up?”
“Sure thing Pinkie,” Luna replied and bowed down to the pink mare. Pinkie got up on Luna’s back as she flew up. The puffy maned pony then pulled out a megaphone out of her referee shirt.
“Alright, on your marks, get set, GO!” Pinkie yelled as all three ponies began zooming through the course.
“We best follow them,” Luna said and flew closely above the runners.
“And Rainbow Dash takes the easy lead, quickly being followed by the Darkrim and Applejack,” Pinkie Pie yelled “They are neck to neck, hoof to hoof, eye to eye, tail to tail,” Pinkie Pie started to take wind.
“I think they got it, Pinkie,” Luna stopped her with a chuckle.
Indeed Applejack and Darkrim were very close together, while Rainbow Dash was taking a comfortable lead.
“Huh, you slowpokes can’t catch up to me,” she laughed at Aj and Darkrim.
However, her laugh distracted her too much as she forgot the sharp turn in front of her and swerved out of the track. Both Luna and Pinkie cringed.
“And Rainbow’s out of bounds,” Pinkie Pie said “I guess she was too distracted so she had to derail!”
Luna just shook her head at that joke.
“Ha ha. Next time you better watch where ya goin’ instead of braggin’,” Applejack said as she passed the cyan mare. Rainbow shook herself off and returned back on track.
Darkrim just took the lead as they passed the bridge.
“And in an unexpected move, Darkrim takes the lead,” Pinkie Pie yelled “I guess you could say he is on FIRE! He is really BLAZING out there! However, Applejack is HOT on his trail.” Pinkie Pie laughed hysterically. Even Luna had to chuckle at these fiery puns.
“Oh no you don’t,” Rainbow thought to herself as she gave it her all, surpassing Applejack. Seeing the cyan pegasus run past her, made the orange mare speed up and give it her all. Soon enough they both caught up to Darkrim.
Once they entered the hall of statues it was anypony’s gain as the leadership was quickly exchanged through all the twists and turns.
“And it’s Darkrim in the lead,” Pinkie Pie began “No, now it’s Rainbow Dash. No Applejack. No Rainbow. No Darkrim. No Appledash. No Dark Dash. No…” Pinkie Pie had to stop talking as she was quickly running out of breath.
Luna bucked her slightly.
“It’s the final stretch, come on Pinkie,” the night regal joked with the pink party pony.
“Oh right!” Pinkie Pie said as she watched the speedy racers below her.
Darkrim found himself becoming more and more tired as the race dragged on. He was having quite trouble keeping up with applejack, let alone Rainbow Dash, who was slowly gaining the lead.
“Don’t ya dare to quit now prince,” Applejack said to Darkrim as she passed him.
“Yeah,” Rainbow yelled back “It’s no fun winning by default.”
Darkrim smiled at the two mares as he gave it his all to keep up with the two athletic ponies. He could already see Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Celestia cheering them on. Quickly running out of breath Darkrim saw the finish line. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were just a tails length in front him. With the remaining of his strength, Darkrim rushed cross the finish line.
“And that’s it mares and mares!” Pinkie Pie yelled “Rainbow Dash takes the first place with Applejack in a close second and Darkrim in an even closer third!” Pinkie Pie yelled.
Rainbow started to fly up in a victory pose.
“Oh yeah who’s the best!” the cyan mare bragged in air. Darkrim fell to his knees out of exhaustion. He panted quickly as AJ approached him.
“You did mighty well partner,” she said “Even if Ah did beat ya!”
“Yeah well, it was an exciting race,” Darkrim responded “<Even if I did lose.”
“You’re not bad kid,” Rainbow smirked as she helped Darkrim back to his hooves “Nothing like the pros, but you’re a pretty good runner.”
“Thanks, I had a lot of practice;” Darkrim joked.
Luna and Pinkie descended from the sky and quickly joined the racers.
“Oh my gosh, that was awesome!” the pink mare stated “You were all like ‘wroosh!’, ‘zoom!’ “Pinkie Pie said ecstatically.
“It was pretty intense even from the sidelines,” Rarity interjected.
“I thought it was good too,” Fluttershy said “but we should probably go inside now. It’s getting awfully dark.”
“Of course,” Celestia said “Come, I’ll show you to your guest rooms.”
“Guest rooms?” the Elements said in unison.
“Of course,” Celestia responded “It’s far too late for you to go home. Come on!”
As they entered, Twilight moved towards Darkrim.
“Why did you instigate this race?” she asked him as they got in.
“I saw that Rainbow was bragging about being the fastest thing since lightning, so I wanted to put it to a test. Plus I thought it would be a good way to make a good impression on her,” Darkrim winked.
Twilight smiled at his notion.
“Prince, you are full of surprises,” she said to him endearingly.
“Hey, surprises make our lives interesting Darkrim responded and waved good night at the mares, as he went to his room for some well deserved shuteye.
“Perhaps this won't be so hard after all,” Twilight thought to herself.
As the ponies lay comfortably in their beds under the cover of Luna’s moonlight, the monsters of Everfree were beginning to wake up.
The silver maned beast woke up with a loud growl which alerted the sleeping Grimoire. The gargoyle almost gave up his hiding place as he lost his grip on the branch, but quickly repositioned himself.
As the hunter stretched out, he looked to the mountain. He could already tell that it was going to be a long way to the cavern, but he wasn’t going to give up. Quickly picking up the precious gem and placing it in his mouth, Makita slouched to all fours and began rushing through the woods, with Grimoire quick on his tail. The corpse like creature rushed through the Everfree forest, making sure not to disturb the slumbering beasts that waited from within.
As the fearless hunter began to rush he suddenly saw thick, green, vine only inches away from him. Unable to stop himself in time, Makita stepped on, what he had assumed to be, a vine, only to hear a bloodcurdling screech of pain.
The hunter stumbled forward, eventually falling over and tossing the gem out of his reach.
He looked as the coils of some unidentifiable beast retracted only to reveal its chicken headed owner. Grimoire watched from the top of the treetops as the cockatrice wrapped its coils around Makita, pulling it closer into its line of sight. The creature stared intently into Makita’s bug eyes, attempting to turn it to stone. The hunter simply stared back as the cockatrice came to a horrible conclusion; its magical stare was not working.
It attempted to look deeper into Makita’s eyes, but it was no use.
The ghastly creature smiled contently and opened up his jaw, full of razor sharp teeth, and bit down upon the wicked beast’s coils, wounding it gravely. The creature unleashed another scream of agony as it loosened its grip and released the fearsome hunter from its enticing hold.
As soon as Makita was free, he rushed back to his misplaced gem. Before he placed it back in his jaw, the Makita turned back to the cockatrice and growled.
The winged beast quickly slithered away in fear of another vicious bite.
The Makita then proceeded to pick up the ‘Eye of Leviathan’ and placed it in his mouth and returned back to his original path.
Grimoire was still in a bit of shock from what had just happened. By his calculations, Makita should have been nothing more than a statue now. And yet he walked away without so much, as a scratch on him. The gargoyle couldn’t help but wonder why.
He continued to follow the hunter for a good half an hour, before the beast stopped in front of a huge mountain. The beast looked all around the gigantic formation as he finally realized that finding this cavern might be a bit of a challenge.
“Typical Ares,” Makita thought to himself angrily “The damn son of Cerberus couldn’t even tell me on which side of the mountain is the cavern located,” the hunter sighed.
Just as he began to search for the entrance he saw a hooded figure approach him. The figure seemed to have a pony esque physique. It wore a dark brown robe with a gold medallion of Ares’ army on its chest.
The darkness concealed the color of its fur pretty well and for his face, the pony seemed to wear an expressionless white mask. The only thing that was showing was the dark blue horn, protruding out of its forehead. The Makita prepared to strike, but the mysterious colt held out a hoof.
“Do not be alarmed,” the creature spoke in a distorted voice “I am here to help you:”
“How can I trust you?” the Makita said to the colt approaching him. The masked pony only showed off his badge as Makita’s mind was eased. It was a flaming eye, no doubt Ares' secret service.
However, the corpse beast still was not pleased, so he wanted to test the colt a bit more.
“Within the darkness we were born,” the Makita said cryptically.
“Conceived by light’s true scorn,” the pony replied as he saluted the hunter.
Makita returned his salute. He was still cautious around this pony, but he seemed legit enough.
“So where is this cavern I was supposed to meet you at?” Makita asked him.
“Why it is right in front of you, of course,” the pony replied.
Makita looked at the bare naked side of the mountain and then back at the pony with a skeptical eye.
“You do know what a cavern is, right?” Makita said confusedly.
The pony facehoofed himself at that remark.
“The cavern is hidden, genius!” he replied “I don’t want those curious guards snooping about,” the pony replied as he passed right through the wall.
“Oh, now I see,” Makita said as he entered the cavern.
Grimoire watched their exchange with intrigue as he quickly searched for another vial from his pouch. He managed to locate his last bottle of tricks; an orange liquid labeled ‘Umbra Noxia’. This potion was his last trick and would allow him to blend with the walls of the cavern and move along them, without making his presence noted. However, the potion had a time limit, as it would stop working after two hours, so he had no time to lose.
Grimoire plugged his nose, as the potion smelled like spoiled eggs and broken dreams and gulped down the concoction. Surprisingly, it tasted like tomato soup.
Once he felt the potion taking effect, Grimoire swooped down from the trees and began to follow the two.
Inside the walls of the damp cavern, Grimoire noticed two purple crystals standing in front of the entrance of the cavern. They seemed to be emitting a field of magic, causing the entrance to blend in with the rest of the mountain.
“So that’s how he did it,” Grimoire thought to himself as he followed the two creatures deeper into the cave.
Both the unicorn and the Makita were silent during their traverse into the cave, but the hunter could feel something odd in this cave. He felt like something was tracking them, but every time he would turn around he could only hear bats scuffling about.
“I hope you’re not getting paranoid, Makita,” the unicorn said in a distorted voice “I wouldn’t want you to do something foolish.”
“It’s nothing,” the hunter responded “I just have a strange feeling about this place.”
“Yeah, the caves will do that to ya,” the unicorn responded distantly.
After a few moments the hunter and the unicorn arrived at a sealed door with a small hole in it. The masked unicorn approached the hole and inserted his horn inside. The unicorn's horn glowed only for a moment, effectively openinning the door, as a sudden light blinded the corpse like beast.
Grimoire noticed that they were going towards the light source, so he moved to the ceiling of the cavern. After a few moments, Makita’s eyes were adjusted to the sudden change as he was led into a room.
The hunter could barely believe his eyes as he saw a luxurious room inside this damp place. Red, shag, carpeting covered the floors of this place, while the walls were covered in marble, giving it the appearance of a normal room. Upon the walls were bookshelves filled with scrolls all neatly organized and labeled. These scrolls seem to range from basic information about Ponyville’s citizens to the tactical strategies of Ponyville.
The hunter rubbed his claws together as he attempted to open one of the scrolls, but he was quickly met by a letter opener being fired at his direction. The beast growled and turned its head towards the unicorn.
“You have to pay quite the price to get a look at those,” the unicorn responded smugly.
Makita shot him an evil glare and moved away from the bookshelf. As he stepped away, Grimoire slid into its place for a better viewing of the exchange between these two mysterious figures.
As the decaying hunter prowled around the room, he noticed a strange metallic box in one of the room’s corners. The metal box gave off a weird buzzing sound and it seemed to be connected to the source of light in this room. He could barely look at the blinding orb that illuminated this place.
“Do you like it?” the unicorn asked the hunter.
“I have no idea what it is,” the hunter responded.
“It’s a device I made,” the unicorn explained and opened up the metal box. Inside it was an enchanted spinning device hooked with to the ground and to the line leading up to the ceiling.
“It gives off much more light than a plain torch,” the unicorn explained.
“Fascinating,” the hunter thought to himself amazed at this unicorn.
“I try,” the unicorn acted coy as he trotted over to a large stone desk upon which were stacks of papers, documents and other various things.
The unicorn sat behind the desk and signaled for the Makita to sit opposite of him. The hunter obliged and sat down. As he sat down, the hunter placed the ‘Eye of Leviathan’ on the table. The unicorn immediately looked at it with intrigue and picked it up with his magic.
“What do you think you are doing?!” Makita jumped up to his feet, furious at the unicorn.
“Calm down,” the masked pony said “I am just going to put in a pouch for you, so you don’t lose it. My payday depends on it as well,” the unicorn explained and placed the gem in a small, brown, bag and handed it back to Makita.
“Thanks,” Makita replied “but you know I will still have to carry it around.”
The unicorn sighed.
“Just tie the pouch to your mane, genius,” the pony said annoyed at the hunter.
“Oh,” Makita said, embarrassed by his mistake.
The unicorn tapped his hooves, impatiently, as Makita tied the pouch to his luscious mane.
“Now, if you’re done, I’d like to get this over with, before the break of dawn,” the unicorn said “If I understood Ares correctly, you wish to execute prince Darkrim. Is that true?”
“Yes, it is true,” Makita replied.
“Well, I am sad to say you won’t be able to do that,” the unicorn replied. Makita felt his bug eyes were about to pop out of his skull.
“What?!” he yelled at the unicorn, preparing to strike.
“I am sorry, but that is true,” the unicorn replied “Currently, your precious prince resides with the rulers of Equestria themselves. He is heavily guarded by a specially trained Royal Guard and not to mention the princesses themselves. Getting to him would be damn near impossible, at this point.”
Makita was already flaring up, but the unicorn was smirking under his mask. He loved playing games with this short tempered beast.
“However,” he began “There is a chance.”
Makita’s head rose up and his ears pricked up in attendance.
“Rumor has it, that the prince will be transported to live in Ponyville under the wing of the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. He will be much more vulnerable there,” the unicorn finished up his explanation and leaned back in his chair.
“Well, if you knew that information, then why didn’t you start with it?!” Makita yelled.
“Hey, what can I say?” the unicorn shrugged “I just love your reaction. I find it rather amusing.”
Makita was getting annoyed by this unicorn’s actions, but he decided to play along.
“So, tell me, how do I get to this Ponyville?” Makita questioned.
“Oh that is quite simple,” the unicorn replied and pulled out the map of the Great Canterlot Area “As you can see here, Ponyville is just a few miles away from this place. You should be there in no time,” the unicorn explained.
“Sounds great, except for one little detail,” Makita said.
“What’s that?”the unicorn.
“I am a freaking Tartarian abomination!” the hunter yelled “I can’t just waltz into Ponyville! I’ll be notice in less than a millisecond!”
The unicorn laughed.
“Don’t you worry, my friend,” he said condescendingly “I have you covered.”
As he said that, the unicorn’s horn glowed blue and a ray of concetrated magic hit the corpse like hunter.
Makita could feel his whole anatomy convert in one painful transformation.
Due to the extreme pain he felt, the hunter was forced into a crawl position. He could feel the bones in his front and back limbs gain more mass and his skull to be shaped into that of a pony. He felt his bug eyes transform into large, adorable, eyes with deep blue irises. His mane was still long and flowing, with the pouch properly hidden, but the most painful part was about to come as a tail, the same color as his mane, came out of his behind. On his flank, a cutie mark was formed in the shape of a black book. As the transformation was finally complete the once corpse like hunter looked at himself and then back at the unicorn.
Grimoire barely held in his laughter as he saw Makita’s adorable new form.
“Well at least he will be miserable,” the gargoyle thought to himself.
“What did you do to me?” he asked in shock, but found out his voice a bit higher pitched.
“I have turned you into a pony,” the unicorn replied “but, it’s not permanent.”
“Oh what a shame,” Makita responded sarcastically.
“Hey, don’t you get snippy with me,” the unicorn warned him “The transformation is there so you can just spy on Darkrim and lure him into the Everfree forest. Once there, you can do to him whatever you pleas and nopony will be the wiser. They will just assume that he was mauled by a manticore or something like that,” the unicorn said proudly.
Makita looked at his new body and nodded confidently.
“Alright, I can make this work,” he said proudly to himself “so how long do I have until this wears off?”
“Anywhere from two days to a week,” the unicorn responded calmly.
“Great,” the Makita groaned.
“It’s not perfect, but it will work,” the unicorn said calmly.
Makita nodded his head. Just as he was about to leave, one question popped into his head.
“You know,” he began “I forgot to ask you something important; Why do you do this?”
“What do you mean?” the unicorn asked in confusion.
“What compelled you the help out general Ares and Tartarus in general? Aren’t you ponies supposed to love each other and be happy and whatnot,” the hunter.
The unicorn fell silent for a second.
“Let’s just say that I am not satisfied at the way things are done around these parts and would like them to change as soon as they can. Your general has promised me that much, so I am happy to oblige to his whims,” the unicorn explained and waved the grey coated stallion out of his cavern.
As their conversation continued, Grimoire could feel his potion wearing off. He could almost feel that he would drop out of the wall, so he rushed to the exit of the room. The brown winged gargoyle barely made it out of the cave, undetected by the watchful gaze of the Makita. He repositioned himself on the same tree and waited for a few moments.
Soon enough the hunter, in his pony form, stepped out and smelled the evening breeze. As the scent of dawn’s awakening hit his nostrils, Makita smiled.
With the first rays of sunlight Darkrim had woken up, preparing his things for the departure. Just as he was about to fold his cape, he heard a knock on his door.
“Come in,” he said as a dark blue alicorn gracefully walked in.
“I just wanted to wish you good luck,” Luna said and kindly smiled at the banished prince “Twilight is really an amazing mare. I know she will be able to help you greatly.”
“Thank you princess,” Darkrim said, trying to hold back his tears.
“What’s wrong Darkrim?” Luna asked concernedly, noticing the melancholic undertone in his voice.
“It’s just that,” Darkrim sighed “A lot has changed recently and, I know I tend to put on a façade and play like nothing really fazes me that much, but truth be told, I am scared. I mean my mentor, a creature I thought would be with me through thick and thin, was just using me, while those he said I should fear and loath turned out to be the ones showering me with kindness,” Darkrim’s voice quivered as he said those last words.
Luna’s wings covered him, like a mare covers her foal, as Darkrim began to cry. All of his frustration and confusion that he had been bottling up just poured out as Luna held the young prince in her embrace, trying to calm him down. Once his tears had simmered down, Darkrim turned away from Luna.
“I am so sorry, princess,” he said as he wiped away the last remains of his tears.
“Don’t be,” Luna said “I know how you feel.”
“You do?” Darkrim sniffled.
“Do you know about Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked as they both sat down on Darkrim’s bed.
“Celestia told me she was a monster that took over you, right?” Darkrim recalled.
“She was a bit more than that,” Luna began as she felt the walls she built beginning to crumble down “You see a long time ago I was quite unhappy with the way things were in Equestria. I felt like my sister was getting all the praise for her wonderful day, while my blissful nights weren’t even noticed by anypony. At first it was just petty jealousy, but, much like a virus, it spread through my mind infecting every essence of my being. I felt angry, weak, but above all else, I was vulnerable. And that’s when I allowed her to step in. She promised me so much and asked only to be let in to my mind,” Luna’s face suddenly turned grim at the mere memory of Nightmare’s influence.
“So you allowed her in?” Darkrim asked.
“Indeed,” Luna sighed “Only later did I truly realize how blind I was. I wanted my night to be appreciated so badly that I attacked my sister, enforced my whim and plunged the entire land of Equestria in to eternal darkness,” Luna gritted her teeth.
Darkrim couldn’t believe his ears.
This benign princess, who took him in when nopony else would, was once a monster like his mentor. He could clearly see contempt in Luna’s eyes even as she continued her story.
“Even after my sister rose up, wielding the Elements of Harmony, and banished me to my beloved moon my blind rage would not give in. It ate away at me from the inside as I accused her for my own transgressions. It took over a thousand moons for me to realize my mistake, but by then, she had won. Nightmare Moon took over my body and mind as I was pushed back to nothing more than a memory. Had it not been for my beloved guardian, the Nightmare would have won. With last breath he managed to keep her away, fading away just as the Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon and released me from this fate,” Luna finished her story.
Darkrim just sat there speechless.
“What happened after that?” Darkrim asked as he snapped out of his shock.
“I was much weaker and I had to readapt to a world I had not recognized anymore,” Luna said, “But, even after all I had done, my sister had not forsaken me. She helped get back to my feet and regain my status as the ruler of the night. The Elements themselves helped me to forgive myself about my horrible mistakes and to get to know this new world I had awoken in,” Luna said with her sorrow slowly fading away and being replaced with a kind smile.
Darkrim still remained silent, but he was beginning to understand Luna’s message.
“Trust me when I say this,” Luna spoke paternally “Life will always throw unexpected changes and challenges at you. However, as long as you have somepony by your side to help you out, nothing is impossible,” Luna winked at the prince and smiled.
Seeing Luna’s smiling face brought a much needed feeling of safety back to Darkrim. “I think we better join the others,” Darkrim said as he took his clothing bag and placed it on his back.
“Only if you’re ready,” Luna replied and opened his bedroom door.
“I am,” Darkrim responded back and followed Luna out.
Before he left, Darkrim took one final glance at the paintings on the walls. With a smile on his face, the banished prince took in a deep sigh and closed the door as yet another chapter of his journey was ending.
As he closed the door Darkrim followed Luna through the main corridor. He looked at the midnight maned alicorn in a whole another light after her tale. Her sins seemed great, but yet she was able to repent for them and even regain her former respect. Not only that, but she managed to become a better pony for it.
“Maybe one day he will do the same,” Darkrim thought to himself.
He was suddenly snapped from his thoughts as he noticed Luna fumbling around her mane.
“Before you leave, I wanted to give you this,” she said and pulled out an amulet from her mane.
Darkrim observed the object. It was a small, hourglass shaped, necklace coated in black gemstones.
“What is it?” Darkrim asked.
“It is the Transcendence amulet,” Luna explained “This will help you to find me in the dream realm, no matter where I am. That way I will still be able to mentor you no matter what,” Luna explained.
Darkrim placed the amulet around his neck.
“I shall wear it with pride,” he exclaimed.
As they approached the end of the hallway, Darkrim noticed Princess Celestia standing in front of Canterlot’s main entrance.
“Where are Twilight and her friends?” Darkrim asked concernedly.
“They are all waiting for you outside, but I wanted to wish you good luck before you leave,” Celestia said with a kind smile “I know these past few days must have fallen hard on you, but I want you to know that we will do anything we can to help you out. Twilight is the absolute best magic user I have met in a long time and I know you two will get along swimmingly. I can see that same spark a in your eye that I saw in hers when she first trotted in my school. Just hold on to that spark and you will be fine” Celestia winked.
Darkrim blushed at her kind words.
“Thank you, princess,” he responded “You have been a most wonderful host. Thank you for everything both you and your sister have done for me. It really was too much and I can see now why Equestria has been so prosperous.”
Celestia smiled and nodded her head.
As one of the guards opened up the steel gates of the castle, Darkrim noticed a carriage waiting for him outside. From it a pink pony he knew as Pinkie Pie was waving her hooves, eagerly urging him to come in.
Before he entered, Darkrim shot one final look back at the regal sisters and waved at them.
Just as the dark blue unicorn turned his attention to the carriage two pink hooves took him by the shoulder and dragged him inside. Unfortunately Pinkie Pie’s grip was a bit too strong as Darkrim managed to land face first on the floor.
“Pinkie Pie, darling, that is not how you welcome our guest,” Rarity said, while barely holding in a chuckle.
Pinkie Pie smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her mane.
“Sorry, prince,” Pinkie said as she helped Darkrim up to his hooves.
“That’s alright, Pinkie,” Darkrim smiled “but do warn me next time you’re about to do that.”
“Gotcha,” Pinkie winked and sat next to Rarity and Applejack.
Darkrim looked around for a place to sit and saw one next to Twilight. As he sat next to her, Darkrim could see she was writing something on a scroll.
“Umm, I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you writing down, Twilight?” Darkrim asked confusedly.
“Oh,” Twilight said, snapping out of her work, “I am just making a small study plan. After all I am in charge of teaching you magic and I cannot be underprepared,” Twilight explained and returned back to her writing.
Not wishing to interrupt her, Darkrim took a glance at everyone in the carriage. Applejack was resting her hat across her eyes, making her appear to be sleeping while Rainbow Dash was looking out of the window, bored out of her mind. Fluttershy was meekly seated next to Twilight while Rarity was fixing her mane. His eyes stopped at Pinkie Pie whom appeared to be bobbing her head. It appeared like she was listening to music, which made him giggle a bit.
“What a fascinating pony,” Darkrim thought to himself.
The silence continued for quite some time, making Darkrim grow a bit uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to say something the carriage suddenly stopped.
“We’re here!” Pinkie Pie screamed and rushed out of the carriage.
“Wait, we’re in Ponyville already?” Darkrim asked confusedly.
“No, darling, that’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie,” Rarity explained “We’re actually at the train station leading to Ponyville.”
“Oh, that makes much more sense,” Darkrim nodded his head and smiled.
“Although if I was taking us, we’d be there in five seconds flat,” Rainbow Dash bragged.
“Ah’m sure yall think so,” Applejack ribbed her rainbow maned friend as they exited.
“Think so?” Rainbow Dash flexed “I know so!”
Applejack just rolled her eyes while Darkrim chuckled at the two. Just as he exited he noticed that Twilight was packing up her scroll.
“All done?” he asked.
“Well I finished our first week of magic training,” Twilight said “It should be enough for now.”
“You really love to be prepared, don’t you?” Darkrim noticed.
“It never hurts to be organized,” Twilight said sheepishly.
Once all ponies were out of the carriage the two royal chauffeurs started their journey back to the castle. Darkrim looked at the long, brightly colored train in front of him and took in a deep breath.
“And so it begins,” he thought to himself ready for a new adventure.
However, just as they were boarding the train, unbeknown to the group, another pony was about to board that very same train. A white maned earth pony with a black book cutie mark was hiding inside the crowd of ponies boarding the train.
Even hidden deeply inside this crowd, Makita could still very well see Darkrim as he boarded the train. Like a predator stalking his prey, the fearsome hunter kept a close eye on Darkrim.
Soon, the banished prince felt the hunter’s piercing gaze as he suddenly turned around, looking through the crowd. However, his efforts were in vain as he could not see the threat among the large mass of multicolored ponies.
“I just thought I saw something in the crowd,” Darkrim said, shaking his head.
“Well, Ah wouldn’t recommend yall get paranoid now,” Applejack said to Darkrim “It’ll just get yall mind all scrambled. Trust me I know.”
“I guess you are right, Applejack,” he said as they joined the rest in their compartment. Just as the two of them settled down, they could feel the sudden movement of the steam driven mechanical vehicle.
“Finally!” pinkie Pie screamed with excitement “Oh, I am so excited for this! I just know you’re going to love Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie started to jump around Darkrim.
“I’m sure I will,” Darkrim smiled “Although I haven’t got a clue on how am I supposed to behave.”
“Just be yourself and you‘ll be fine,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Yeah, it’s easy for you to say,” Darkrim commented “You aren’t from Tartarus.”
“Trust me, Darkrim, you have nothing to worry about,” Twilight said, “Sure it will be a bit weird to some ponies that you are from Tartarus, but over time they will get used to it.”
“Are you sure?” Darkrim asked.
“Trust me darling, you have nothing to fear,” Rarity said comfortingly “Look at Twilight for example.”
“What about her?” Darkrim asked.
“Well, when she first came to Ponyville she was as lost as you were,” Rarity explained, “and just look at her today!”
Twilight blushed at Rarity’s comment.
“That reminds me,” Darkrim suddenly remembered,” I’ve been meaning to ask; how did you all became such good friends?”
“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked him.
“For once, you all seem so different and yet you act around each other so comfortably. I was just wandering how it all came to be,” Darkrim asked shyly.
“Well, it all comes back to Twilight again, really,” Rarity said.
“How come?” Darkrim asked.
“Well, you see,” Rarity continued, “The five of us knew each other before Twilight came in to town, but we were mild acquaintances at best,” Rarity said.
“It’s true,” Applejack confirmed “We all came from different places with different goals to Ponyville. To be honest, Ah barely knew most of my friends before Twi came into Ponyville.”
“It wasn’t until Twilight came that I finally found the courage to speak to other ponies and get some pony friends,” Fluttershy barely spoke meekly.
“Not to mention all of the epic adventures we went on, because of her,” Rainbow added, causing Twilight to blush even more.
“And I was just so happy that I had even more friends after meeting her;” Pinkie Pie smiled widely.
“So in a way, your friendship started because of Twilight,” Darkrim concluded.
“Well that is the reason she is the Princess of Friendship after all,” Rarity added “She brought us all together and we became inseparable ever since.”
Twilight’s face had become completely red now.
“Thank you girls, but really I wouldn’t have even realized what friendship is had it not been for you five,” Twilight said “These five mares have become more than friends to me by now. We shared so many laughs, tears and not to mention adventures together, that I couldn’t even imagine my life without them.”
As Twilight said that the other five mares embraced Twilight in a group hug. Darkrim watched this display from the side and it reminded him of someone he left back at Tartarus.
“I wish you were here, Larbo,” Darkrim thought to himself as tears weld up in his eyes.
The rest of the trip Darkrim spent going over through the study schedule with Twilight and laughing at Pinkie Pie’s absurd jokes. He barely even noticed that their train was pulling to a stop until the conductor yelled their stop.
As Darkrim walked out, his suitcase firmly grasped with his crimson magic, he noticed a pleasant little village surrounding him.
“So, where will we be staying?” Darkrim asked as he saw Twilight exiting the train.
“Right there,” Twilight pointed to a gigantic, crystal, tree-like fortress, shinning its light all around. He watched in awe as this structure’s beauty could match even that of the Canterlot castle. The banished prince barely kept his jaw from dropping at the sheer awe of this amazing structure.
“I think I can work with this,” Darkrim smiled to himself as he followed Twilight to the castle like fortress.
As their friends joined them, the seven ponies trotted slowly towards the castle, unaware that they were being closely observed from up above.
“This could get a little bit tricky,” Grimoire thought to himself as he saw Makita and the seven ponies arrive at Ponyville.
The wide open spaces between the buildings of this rustic town offered little to no room to hide behind, while the clouds above seemed to be littered with flying equine. It seemed to be full of ponies even for a small community.
As he pondered, Grimoire suddenly noticed something beneath his feet. A field of dark green flower stretch beneath his claws. He picked one up and brought it to his snout.
As he sniffed the flower blew a puff of a foul smelling gas in his face, causing him to drop it down immediately.
“What a foul flower,” Grimoire thought to himself as he coughed. He quickly looked at his claw and was surprised to find out it was gone. He could still feel it there, but it was completely invisible. The realization hit him like a brick as he began to laugh like a maniac.
“Invisible Orchid, of course,” Grimoire said to himself as he began picking up the flower.
Once he had collected enough of the miraculous flowers, Grimoire placed them in his snout and began to chew on them like a wild boar. As he looked at his claws they began to slowly fade away and the rest of his body was quick to follow. It would only last him for few hours, but it would suffice.
Once he was fully invisible to the naked eye, Grimoire took flight, quickly approaching Ponyville. He searched the city high and low, but there was no sign of the ferocious hunter.
Just as he was about to give up, something caught his eye. It wasn’t the hunter, but something even better. The dark blue flame gave the banished prince right away to the flying demon. However, he wasn’t alone. Next to him was a lavender pony with both wings and a horn.
“My, my, he’s doing rather well," Grimoire thought to himself, letting out a sigh of relief that the hunter hadn’t gotten to his target just yet.
As he followed the group, Grimoire noticed that they entered in the largest structure in Ponyville. He positioned himself atop the crystallized tree, overlooking Ponyville, as the small group entered below.
Grimoire looked down at his feet and began to see that he slowly began to become visible once more. With all other options gone, Grimoire had to rely on the one trick he knew best.
His claws began to dig into the crystallized surface. He clenched his teeth as his eyes began to turn white. Slowly the crystal began to creep upwards, encasing him whole and turning him in a statue. The gargoyle could still see everything around him, but nothing else.
This was a specific type of preservation magic only available to gargoyles as it allowed them to blend into any environment, but it only lasted as long as there was sunlight. At nighttime they would revert to their normal self.
“Now we play the waiting game,” Grimoire thought to himself as he searched the ponies passing him below.
While Grimoire positioned himself outside, Darkrim was given a tour of the castle inside.
“I’m sorry the rest of my friends couldn’t join us,” Twilight said as she led the dark blue unicorn through the wide hallways of her castle.
“No problem,” Darkrim said nonchalantly “I understand they have their own lives to live and businesses to run.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Twilight smiled.
After a few moments, the duo came to a large green door with a tree symbol above it. Darkrim looked back at Twilight, puzzled by this room. Twilight smirked and opened the door, revealing a large room with a map and six, crystal, chairs beside it.
As Darkrim observed the room, he noticed that each of the chairs had cutie marks on them. However, the chair with Twilight’s cutie mark had a smaller one besides it. This one was markless and just slightly smaller than the rest. Darkrim wanted to ask about it, but his thoughts were quickly drawn elsewhere as a large map was displayed in front of him.
He watched in amazement at this holographic structure. It portrayed the entire land of Equestria right before his very hooves. He could see the entirety of Ponyville with just one glance as well as the majestic Canterlot castle, perched proudly on the side of a mountain.
“I see that you like the map,” Twilight joked.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Darkrim gleefully exclaimed “I mean, I have seen a map, obviously, but this is something quite different! The models are perfect to a tee, not to mention the details and the visual appeal” he blithered out, spastically.
Twilight laughed at his erratic response, causing Darkrim to blush in embarrassment.
“I am glad you like it, because this map is the most important thing in this castle,” Twilight began to explain “Not only does it give us a magnificent view of Equestria, but it also helps us to solve any friendship problems that may happen all over.”
“Friendship problems?” Darkrim asked skeptically.
“Oh you know, helping to resolve a family feud, reinvigorating the once fallen city of griffons back to their former strength, and taking down a corrupt leader of a town,” Twilight explained and laughed awkwardly.
As she stopped, the purple alicorn noticed Darkrim’s eyes completely bulge out and his jaw unhinged in awe. Even the flames on his mane seemed to become dimmer. She waved her hoof in front of his face, causing him to snap out of his daze.
“Yes, quite impressive.” Darkrim cleared his throat, attempting to act unfazed by Twilight’s massive achievements.
“All in a day’s work for the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight joked. As they talked a small purple dragon walked into the throne room.
He seemed to be carrying a wide array of comic books in one claw and a bowl of various gems in another. As the little dragon walked in, both Twilight and Darkrim turned their attention towards him.
“Hey, Twilight,” Spike greeted his ‘big sister’, “I didn’t hear you coming. Is this that prince pony Celestia wanted you to meet?”
“As a matter of fact it is,” Twilight said and turned her attention to Darkrim “Darkrim, this is Spike, my number one assistant and the best dragon in all of Ponyville,” Twilight
Spike blushed a bit and extended his claw.
“Na’ktur selekvim,” Darkrim said as he accepted Spike’s claw.
Spike blankly looked at Darkrim, bewildered by the words he uttered. At that point the banished prince realized that he might have made a mistake.
“You don’t speak drakonian, do you?” Darkrim asked awkwardly.
“Not really,” Spike replied.
“What’s drakonian?” Twilight asked.
“It is a language that nearly every dragon in Tartarus speaks,” Darkrim explained “I always assumed it was universal for all dragons.”
“First time I’m hearing about it,” Spike replied.
“Anyway, it’s very nice to meet you, Spike. So, I assume that empty seat is for you?” Darkrim said, quickly trying to save face after his little mistake.
Spike nodded.
“I may not be an element of harmony, but I did help them enough times to earn that seat,” Spike puffed his chest.
“Not to mention that he has been with me ever since I was a filly,” Twilight said and embraced Spike with one of her hooves. Darkrim couldn’t help but smile at the two of them.
“Sounds like you two have quite the history,” Darkrim said.
“Well, my history begins with Twilight,” Spike replied “After all, she did help to bring me into this world.”
“What do you mean?” Darkrim asked confusedly.
“She was the one that hatched me,” Spike explained as Darkrim looked back at Twilight.
“So, not only did you save Equestria numerous times, but you also hatched a dragon when you were a filly?!” Darkrim exclaimed.
“Well I had some help,” Twilight blushed a bit.
“Ms. Sparkle, you are full of surprises,” Darkrim said and chuckled “Now I can see why Celestia wanted me to study with you.”
“Oh that reminds me,” Twilight said and pulled up her scroll “I planned for our first magic lesson to start in an hour, if that’s okay with you.”
“It’s perfectly fine,” Darkrim replied.
“Great!” Twilight clicked “Spike will show you to your room while I make the necessary preparations.”
“Sounds great,” Spike said “Only one problem: where is his room exactly?”
“Well, I was thinking that he could sleep in the guest room,” Twilight said “It’s the one right next to yours.”
“Oh yeah, I know now,” Spike said and gave Darkrim a sign to follow him.
The two left Twilight in the map room with Darkrim carrying his suitcase. Spike noticed this and offered his help.
“You know, I could carry it for you,” Spike said to Darkrim.
“That won’t be necessary. I only have like three things in here,” Darkrim said and continued to levitate his suitcase.
“Whatever.” Spike shrugged his shoulders.
After a few moments they arrived near a small crystal door. Spike opened it, revealing a relatively small room.
It was modestly decorated and quite vibrant in its decor. Gems in an array of rainbow colors emerged from the ceiling and the corners of the room and covered it in a flower like pattern.
In the middle of the room was a medium sized bed and next to the bed was a small, diamond nightstand. On the wall to his left was a big bookcase, encircled by a tree like gem, full of various tomes aligned in an alphabetical order from ‘Abusyrnipal’ to ‘Zerphone’. On the wall to his right was a small window, overlooking the entirety of Ponyville.
Looking through this window Darkrim finally realized how much different this whole village was from his home. The vibrant colors seemed to have their prevalence and the whole community seemed to be filled with color and energy. Darkrim looked back at his dark fur and sighed. He stuck out like a sore thumb in this place.
Trying to get away from his thought, Darkrim focused his attention back to the young dragon whom seemed to be twiddling his claws anxiously.
“Is there something wrong, Spike?” Darkrim asked.
“Well,” Spike began as he scratched the back of his head “You mentioned that there are dragons in Tartarus, right?”
“Yes, there are almost as many dragons as there are ponies in Tartarus,” Darkrim explained.
“What are they like? Because most that I have met were pretty much the worst,” Spike asked, quickly getting to the point.
Darkrim thought for a few moments, before he came up with an answer.
“Some of them are like that,” Darkrim said “but most are actually quite nice. Heck, the most powerful king in Tartarus’ history was a dragon.”
“Really?” Spike asked as his eyes lit up.
“It’s quite true,” Darkrim said as he noticed that he had Spike’s attention “During his reign Tartarus entered it’s most fruitful and peaceful era. Legends say that his wisdom could only be matched by his kindness as he made sure that no creature, whether they are a pony, dragon or other, is treated unfairly and that all are seen as equal in the eyes of the state despite their specie,” Darkrim explained.
“Wow,” Spike said and grabbed his head “I thought that all dragons were brutes.”
“Dragons are actually very similar to ponies,” Darkrim smiled “There are good ones and there are bad ones. What they are does not matter,” Darkrim said.
“But who they are does,” Spike finished his sentiment.
“Exactly my young friend!” Darkrim smiled.
“Well, I have to go and help Twilight;” Spike said quickly “Enjoy your stay!”
“Thank you, I will,” Darkrim said and waved Spike goodbye.
As the little dragon left, Darkrim began to unpack. He set his cape and horseshoes in one corner of the room and placed the pendant on his nightstand. Once everything was out, the banished prince took in his surroundings.
For the first time in a long time he felt a sense of tranquility take over him. This strange new place was filled with a sense of calm and beauty that he hadn’t felt ever since he was on a run.
For this one moment, Radifus appeared to be wiped from his consciousness completely. His father’s exile now seemed more like a blessing in disguise as he had met such wonderful ponies in his exile. The darkness still loomed over him, like an unrelenting shadow, but it seemed to be shunned away, repressed in the deepest corner of his mind. It was in this state that the exiled prince felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.
“Maybe a little nap wouldn’t hurt,” Darkrim thought to himself as he yawned.
The dark furred unicorn nestled comfortably on his bead as sleep soon came to him. However, it was not a dreamless slumber as Darkrim soon awoke in a desolate land.
Everywhere, as far as the young unicorn looked was nothing but dried sand and dead trees. The cold atmosphere of this curse place was accompanied by a harsh wind howling through the branches of the leafless trees.
As Darkrim looked through the wasteland, he could have sworn that there was a pony esque figure standing in the distance. Whether by curiosity or by some strange force, Darkrim felt a strange pull towards this figure.
It appeared to be much shorter than the princess of the night, but he was still uncertain whether it was friendly or not. Slowly approaching the figure, Darkrim felt a strange sensation take over him as the pony’s figure appeared to be much clearer.
It appeared to be a regular sized unicorn, just a bit smaller than Twilight, coated in a grey. The mane and tail of this unicorn, both black as coal, were quite long, hiding both her cutie mark and her eyes.
As Darkrim approached this mysterious figure it did something he did not except. The pony kneeled down in front of him and kissed his hooves. Darkrim pulled back and stepped away.
“Forgive me my liege if I offend,” the figure spoke in an airy and feminine voice.
Darkrim stared at the figure in mistrust. The unicorn pulled away her mane, showing off that both her eyes were stitched together as well as that she was wearing a necklace of the Tartarus Monarchy.
Darkrim jus stood there, frozen in fear.
“Who are you?” Darkrim asked, readying up his horn.
“Ease yourself, for I am only here to help you,” the unicorn spoke “You may not know who I am, but I know very well who you are, my true prince.”
As she said that, the unicorn attempted to get closer to the prince. Darkrim still did not lower his horn, but instead shone it even more viciously.
“However, I can sense that you still mistrust me, so I shall introduce myself. My name is Clotho, the Spinner,” the strange unicorn spoke calmly.
Darkrim’s eyes widened as the red magic from his horn disappeared.
“You are the youngest Moira,” his lips quivered as he said those words.
“That is true,” Clotho said “And I have come bearing grim news.”
“What is it? Has something happened in Tartarus?” Darkrim asked rapidly.
“I have seen the future and it is not good,” Clotho said grimly “A dark storm is brewing and only harmony will be able to calm it down.”
“What do you mean?” Darkrim asked.
“Unfortunately, my vows do not allow me to say anymore,” Clotho said “but that is not what I am here to tell you.”
Darkrim gave her a sign to continue.
“The beast with two heads has spawned two creatures and has sent them after you. One is a demon sent to be your guardian angel while the other is a hidden beast that lurks in the calm. Beware of these two for they are the heralds of a much larger threat,” Clotho said cryptically.
Darkrim was baffled by the words she uttered. However, he felt that he knew what he must ask.
“How will I know to find this hidden beast?” Darkrim asked.
“A white mane garnishes its hidden flesh while a black book reveals its truth. Beware for it is a master of disguise and a vicious murderer at heart,” Clotho said as the world around them began to crumble. Darkrim tried to run away from the crumbling ground.
“Farewell young prince. We shall meet again,” Clotho said as the howling wind took away her form.
Darkrim closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he felt his body falling through the hollow ground.
Darkrim awoke with a start, sweat beads coating his forehead. He gasped as he looked around the room, fearing that he might still be dreaming. However, the diamond walls reassured him that he was awake.
“Man, I have to stop taking afternoon naps,” Darkrim thought to himself as his breathing slowed down.
Just as he calmed down, Darkrim heard a knock on his door. He sprung up from the bed, pointing his horn at the door, only to be greeted by a small purple dragon, holding his claws in the air.
“Dude, it’s just me,” Spike said in fear.
As he heard Spike’s voice, Darkrim straightened up and blushed.
“My apology, little drake,” Darkrim said awkwardly “You just caught me at a bad time.”
“I can see that,” Spike said as he lowered his claws “Anyway, Twilight wanted me to tell you that she is ready for your first lesson in magic. So, when you’re ready, we’ll leave.”
“Let me just put on a few things and we’ll go,” Darkrim said as Spike rolled his eyes.
The prince took out his horseshoes and pendant and put them on.
“Now I’m ready,” Darkrim breathed in deeply.
“What about the cape?” Spike asked, pšointing at the starry night cape in the corner of the room.
“Let’s just say that, from my experience, capes and magic don’t really go hoof in hoof,” Darkrim said and shook his head from a sudden memory of his earlier days.
“Tell that to Trixie,” Spike mumbled under his breath.
“Whom?” Darkrim asked.
“Not important,” Spike waved it off, surprised he had heard him “Come on. It’s best we don’t leave Twilight waiting.”
“Lead the way, my dragon friend,” Darkrim said as he let Spike take the lead.
Once they exited the castle, Darkrim noticed how much of an eyesore he was in this world. Everypony seemed so vibrant and colorful and naught one had a flaming mane like his. In fact, as he walked by, Darkrim noticed that many ponies looked at him strangely. His appearance was more than unusual and his flames took quite a few ponies by surprise.
As they walked through the streets one purple pony with a berry cutie mark peeked through a window. She breathed in the fresh air and watch onto the sunny street below. Among the crowd of similar ponies her eyes fixated on a particularly strange dark coated stallion. She rubbed her eyes, before confirming that she was in fact, seeing a fiery maned unicorn. Darkrim noticed her staring and waved hello to her. She slammed the windows shut and retreated back into her house as quickly as she could
“That’s it Berry. No more poison joke juice before bedtime for you,” she mumbled to herself.
“They sure know how to make a stallion feel welcomed,” Darkrim sighed.
“Don’t feel too bad,” Spike waved it off “For the longest time they thought that a zebra was a filly munching witch. Once they see you with the princess, they’ll change their tune.”
“As you say,” Darkrim replied and shrugged.
The duo walked for a short time, before arriving at an apple farm. Darkrim looked puzzled. Before he could utter a single word, Darkrim noticed an orange mare approaching them.
“Howdy there, your highness,” Applejack greeted Darkrim with a firm hoofshake “How y’all doin’?”.
“Well, all things considered, I’m not too bad,” Darkrim laughed awkwardly “Say, have you seen Twilight?”
“Sure thing! C’mon, I’ll talk y’all to ‘er.” Applejack said and led them through the orchard.
As they walked, Darkrim looked around. There were all sorts of apples surrounding him. Green apples, red apples, yellow apples, and even some he couldn’t recognize.
“You guys sure love your apples,” Darkrim joked.
“Of course!” Applejack responded proudly “To us apples aren’t only for eatin’, but they’re a way of life. Heck, we’re even named after them.”
Darkrim snickered.
Applejack raised an eyebrow at him.
“Sorry, I just never heard of a such strange name,” Darkrim let out a laugh escape.
“Said the pot to the kettle,” Applejack responded smugly.
Darkrim’s laughter instantly disappeared.
“Touche,” he responded and nodded his head.
As they continued their walk, a clearing came into their view. Darkrim could clearly see poles with apples and pumpkins stacked on them. Weird contraptions made to look like various enemies, all built out of wood and held together by ropes, were scattered all around this clearing. In the middle of this chaos, stood the purple alicorn, surrounded by study papers and designs for these contraptions. Twilight was working overtime, just to make everything perfect. She barely even noticed Darkrim, Applejack and Spike coming up from behind her.
“Heya Twilight,” Applejack yelled, causing the purple alicorn to jump up a bit “Yer, um, student is here.” Applejack said confusedly.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you for another ten minutes, prince,” Twilight said and watched over her papers “but seeing as I am almost done we can begin our lesson.”
“Sounds good to me,” Darkrim said and rubbed his hooves eagerly.
“Great! Applejack, will you be watching us?” Twilight.
“Nah, Ah have to help Big Mac with the applebucking. Yall have a nice study session,” Applejack said and waved at her friends.
“She seems nice,” Darkrim said to Twilight.
“Yeah, Applejack’s a real sweetheart,” Twuilight laughed awkwardly as she prepared some oranges.
Darkrim shone his horn eagerly.
“So what’s our first spell? Offensive? Defensive?” he asked as a glint of excitement blasted into life in his eye. Even his flames became to flicker quicker.
“Actually, neither,” twilight responded “After doing a thorough analysis, based on what princess Luna told me, I thought it would be for the best that we start with this spell and then work from there,” Twilight said and handed Darkrim a piece of paper.
As he read over the parchment, Darkrim’s excitement dropped significantly and his flames dimmed down.
“This is an apple transformation spell,” Darkrim said, almost disappointed.
“Not just any old apples transformation spell,” Twilight said proudly, “This is a spell, handcrafted by the great Trottinsky himself, guaranteed to improve your beam precision and make you a bit more focused on your target during a battle.”
“An apple transformation will make me do that? Please, even little fillies can do those,” Darkrim smirked, much to Twilight’s annoyance.
“Well, if you think it’s sooo easy, why don’t you try it out?” Twilight rolled her eyes and sat back.
“Really? Aren’t you supposed to tutor me?” Darkrim asked, realizing that he may have gone a bit too far with that comment.
“You have all the instructions you need in the paper I gave you, so fire away hotshot,” Twilight said with slight spite in her voice.
“Me and my big mouth,” Darkrim thought to himself as he bit his lip and read the parchment.
“In order to turn an apple into an orange, you must first clear your mind of all your thoughts and only think about an orange. After that, focus all of the energy in your body into your horn and blah blah;” Darkrim stopped and tossed away the parchment. The instructions seemed too long and he had to act quickly.
The banished prince closed his eyes and began to concentrate his energy. The only thing he visualized was an apple turning into an orange. As he did so, he unleashed a red beam of magic straight out of his pale blue horn and directed it towards an apple. He smirked slightly, and picked up the apple with his magic. Still concentrating, Darkrim began to morph the apple. Sweat beads erupted from his forehead as he tried to control the unstable substance. However, the apple wasn’t giving up. Darkrim felt every single molecule within the apple resisting the change. He tried to focus even more, but instead only grew more and more frustrated.
“Come on you stupid apple! Change already!” Darkrim yelled internally, causing him to increase the power of his beam.
The slight increase of power suddenly made the apple explode, causing its juicy innards to erupt all over the place. Spike took cover as Twilight put up a magic barrier, protecting her from the succulent onslaught.
Darkrim stood, panting, and covered in the remainig of an apple he tried to morph. Twilight placed down her shield and walked over to him.
“Even fillies can do it, huh?” she asked and smirked.
“Clearly, I was in the wrong. I will not question your judgment again,” Darkrim joked as he shook himself clean.
“Good,” Twilight replied “Now, let’s go over what you did wrong and what we need to work on,” Twilight said and took out a piece of paper and a quill.
Darkrim let out a heavy sigh.
“First off, whenever you want to do a spell, any spell at all, READ the parchment in its entirety!” Twilight scribbled down on a paper and exclaimed “Never, and I mean never, toss it away. Even if it’s a mile long scroll, you must read it and understand every word of it. Magic is a precise art and thus you need every bit of information you can get,” Twilight emphasized.
“I understand,” Darkrim lowered his head like a scolded colt.
“Second, while you did start off strong and, admittedly, I was impressed by your eager nature,” Twilight smiled “You seemed a bit nervous and frustrated by the end. Right?”
“Yeah, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me. It seems to happen a lot lately,” Darkrim sighed.
“Trust me, when it comes to magic, sometimes that can be a big advantage,” Twilight said “However, you must learn to control your outburst and your frustration. Let me show you,” Twilight said and walked over to Darkrim.
He observed closely as Twilight closed her eyes and began to breath in deeply. She began to be much calmer than Darkrim had ever seen her. It was like she began to detach her spirit and body as her horn glowed a bright purple color.
As the beam gently flowed out of her horn, like a serpent enticing its prey, so too did it had begun to entice the apple in its figurative grasp, gripping it tighter and tighter. All the while, Darkrim tried to find any sign of stress or frustration on Twilight’s face. Aside from a few twitches of the nose here and there, Twilight seemed as cold as ice and in complete control over her emotions. The beam slowly picked up the apple, filling every pore of the fruit with its mystic glow,m as small sweat beads formed on Twilight’s face. However, no sign of struggle showed on the princess’s head.
She felt every molecule of the apple changing, control each and every process and rearranging it. Before too long, the apple’s previous form was entirely destroyed and, instead, an orange took its place. Twilight felt that the transformation was completed and retracted her beam, before opening her eyes.
Both Darkrim and Spike began to clap loudly.
“That was amazing!” Spike smiled.
“If I had a hat I’d take it off for you, my dear Princess;” Darkrim clapped.
Twilight blushed a bit from the compliments and cleared her throat.
“Anyway, that is how you turn a an apple into an orange,” Twilight said.
“I want to try again!” Darkrim exclaimed, but suddenly felt his stomach roaring “But maybe after a nice lunch.”
“Well, no sense of working on an empty stomach;” Twilight said “C’mon, I’ll buy you a hay burger.”
“Sounds delicious,” Darkrim said as the three of them left for The Hay Burger. Spike munched on some gems, Twilight bought for him on the way, as Darkrim and Twilight discussed over their meal.
“I’m sorry if I came off as a bit too strict back there,” Twilight apologized as she ate some french fries.
“Nah, you had every right to be strict. I was being a bit disrespectful,” Darkrim said.
“Still, it takes quit the pony to admit his mistakes,” Twilight said.
Darkrim smiled a bit and continued to drink his shake.
“Can I ask you something personal?” Twilight said to Darkrim.
“Like what?” Darkrim responded.
“Well, if we’re going to make this arrangement of ours work, I have to know at least something about you,” Twilight explained “And I just have to ask; Why did your father banish you from Tartarus?”
“Didn’t Luna tell you?” Darkrim asked, since he knew that Luna saw that memory of his.
“Well, yes and no,” Twilight said awkwardly “She mentioned a light pegasus, but I barely understood it.” Darkrim took in a deep breath.
“Well, if you have to know,” he began “It all became during the reign of Dormius when the light pegasi ban was accepted. King Dormius considered the light pegasi to be a subspecies, a lower class, since the dark magic in our kingdom has the potential to physically hurt them. Terragon wished to change this, but he couldn’t fully lift the ban. Instead, he loosened it, allowing them to enter into Tartarus, but banning them from fraternizing with Tartarian ponies.”
“That’s horrible!” Twilight said.
“It was the only way. The nobes were firmly against even such a change, but Terragon had to do something. It wasn’t much, but it was neough for me to meet her. My dear, Beatrice,” Darkrim said and sighed nostaligcally.
“So, your father banished you for fraternizing with a light pegasus? That’s seems a bit too cruel, don’t you think?” Twilight said, visibly disgusted.
“Indeed, but, at the very least, I understand why he did it,” Darkrim said and took a bit out of his burger.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Well, the stability of our kingdom is pretty much awful,” Darkrim said sorrowfully “Ares has gone mostly rouge, taking with him a lot of our military. New groups like the ‘liberation’ movement are rising up and getting people riled up against the leading monarchs. If such a scandal had gone unpunished, I could guarantee you that a huge wave of rebellions would tear Tartarus completely, just to get to the throne. It’d be worse than when Furia died without an heir,” Darkrim said with tears gleaming in his eyes.
Twilight was silent. In all her life, she had never known that such a catastrophe was tearing Tartarus apart.
“But, mark my words twilight, I will make sure that Tartarus becomes as stable as it once was,” Darkrim spoke with pure determination in his eyes “And I know I can do it. You know why?”
“Why?” Twilight asked, although she already knew the answer.
“Because I have both you and Luna by my side,” Darkrim said.
“And I will make sure that you return to your throne,” twilight said and extended her hoof. Darkrim firmly grasped her hoof as he finished up his meals.
Just as they began to leave, Darkrim noticed something, just outside the corner of his eye. He turned around to see a white maned pony, reading a black book. It wouldn’t be anything weird, except he was reading the same page for the entirety of his stay. The pony turned his head towards Darkrim and winked at him. Darkrim shook his head in disbelief.
As he opened his eyes, both the pony and the book were gone, as if they evaporated into the ether above. His heart almost stopped as Clotho’s word rang through his ears.
Makita slowly trotted through Ponyville glancing back, from time to time, to determine if the prince was still onto him. Luckily for the disguised hunter, the prince and his companions were nowhere to be seen, allowing Makita to release a sigh of relief.
Once he realized he was in the clear, Makita let out a deep breath of relief. He was still pretty unsure how he escaped before Darkrim turned around. Something saved him, but what? All he could remember was a blinding light appearing and then he was outside. Why did that happen? Last he recalled, he didn’t have any angelic beings protecting him from far above. Maybe some demons?
“Oh what am I thinking?!” Makita shook his muzzle “There has to be a more rational explanation.”
As he pondered, Makita noticed something peculiar peeking out of his forehead. As he realized what it was, he almost burst out in laughter.
“I guess that’s what saved me,” Makita chuckled to himself, but soon enough his laughter stopped and was instead replaced with a wicked grin.
“I wonder what else I can do with this thing,” he thought to himself.
However, before he could test his new found abilities, Makita had to find a proper place to hide out. And what better way than to use his new found powers.
He concentrated really hard, trying to think of a place, just outside the town, where he could be safe to observe and plan. All of a sudden a blinding light appear for a split second and Makita was gone.
As he reopened his eyes, Makita saw he was in the middle of a forest. It seemed his spell worked a bit too well as he was out of the limits of Ponyville, but he had no clue where he was.
The thick groove of the dark leaves above prevented nearly any sunlight from escaping its grasp. The few rays of light, which slipped by, barely illuminated Makita’s path. Their light was the only orientation Makita had in this place, yet he knew it seemed familiar. The various sounds of wildlife, which ranged from snarls and growls from the beasts below to beautiful symphonies sung by the birds above, mixed with the dark atmosphere of this place seemed a bit too familiar to Makita.
Even though he knew that he was probably the scariest thing in this place, Makita still felt unnerved. There was just something unnatural about the trees that surrounded him, how the glowing eyes seemed to follow him wherever he went. Through the serenity of the forest, Makita suddenly noticed something. Just outside his field of view, the ferocious hunter noticed some slight rustling in the bushes.
Swallowing his fear, the hunter slowly approached the bush. The disturbance only seemed to increase, the closer he got to it. His heartbeat increased and his breathing quickened, but he could not stop himself.
As if by some outside forced, Makita felt compelled just to see what was making all this ruckus. He leaned in to the bush as close as he could. Right at that moment, a creature jumped out at him! Makita screamed in fear and tumbled over himself and fell to the ground. His heart pounded and he began to dry heave.
“Angel bunny!” he heard a soft, yet firm, feminine voice call out to the white creature that was pointing its paws and laughing at Makita.
As his vision focused he noticed a yellow Pegasus with pink mane scolding the nefarious ‘monster’ that startled him.
“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Fluttershy scolded Angel “How many times have I told you not to scare ponies like that. You almost gave that pony a heart attack!” she finished telling Angel off and turned to Makita, who was still on the ground.
“Are you alright sir?” she asked Makita shyly and offered her hoof. Makita accepted it and got up to his hooves.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, barely standing up.
In his panicked state, Makita fell over a rock that was just behind him, causing him to hurt his hind legs. He winced a bit as he stood up. Fluttershy quickly noticed it and offered her wing to support him.
“You seem like you’re awfully hurt,” Fluttershy said compassionately.
“Yeah, I guess the fall made me sprain something,” Makita said.
“Well, then you best come with me so I can help you,” Fluttershy invited the disguised beast.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t ask you for that. Besides I don’t think it’s too bad,” Makita tried to walk away, but felt he would fall again. Luckily, Fluttershy helped him up once.
“Nonsense, you are clearly badly hurt. Besides, it was Angel’s fault you were hurt in the first place and I would feel just awful if anything else happened to you,” Fluttershy said with a kind smile.
Makita looked into her big, puppy dog like eyes. Something about those large eyes felt both unnatural and strangely compelling to him. The instant willingness of this pony to help him combined with her unnerving look made Makita wary of this creature- Still, he felt as if he couldn’t say no. Besides, here willingness could provide him the safe haven he needs to hide away.
“Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no?” Makita said and convulsed his mouth to form something akin to a smile.
“Then it’s settled,” Fluttershy exclaimed as she picked up her basket full of berries and nuts “I will help you get better, mister…”
“Marker,” Makita quickly spat out “Book Marker.”
“Okay, Mr. Book Marker,” Fluttershy said with a raised eyebrow.
Makita was surprised by how fast he could think up a name like that. It almost came naturally.
“So, Mr. Marker,” Fluttershy said, breaking the hunter away from his thoughts “What made you come to the Everfree forest?”
“What do you mean?” Makita answered quickly, trying to stall for time.
“Well most ponies are quite scared to even go near these woods,” Fluttershy said, nervously looking around.
“You don’t seem that frightened,” Makita responded, averting the conversation as quick as he could.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said and blushed slightly “but I have to be brave; If not for myself, then at least for my animal friends. They’d surely starve without these berries,” Fluttershy explained.
“What sort of animal friends?” Makita asked.
“Well, all kinds. Chickens, canaries, bunnies and all sorts of other cuddly critters,” Fluttershy spoke with ecstasy, but quickly stopped.
“I hope you won’t mind,” she said and hid her face under her mane.
“Don’t be silly,” Makita swallowed his pride “I love animals.”
He could feel his brain trying to go against every instinct he had, just to hide his disguise. As a predatory creature, Makita had always been thought to only think of all creatures as either a food resources or a potential target, so hearing this hippy dippy pony talk about them like they were just the most darling things made his skin crawl.
“The ends will justify the means,” Makita reminded himself as he listened to the yellow Pegasus yap on and on about her ‘lovely animals’. It only took them a few minutes to arrive to her cottage, but to him it felt like it was years.
As he saw her cottage, he felt as if his eyes were going to pop out of his skull. The little stream and bridge in front of it, the butterflies flying around a small green field in front and the cottage itself which seemed to be swarming with all kinds of animals, made Makita question the very reality he was thrown in. However,the thing that sealed the deal was the scene that he saw play out as Fluttershy led him to the inside of the cottage.
Outside, in the middle of a green field stood a six foot tall bear, a ferocious animal, playing with little bunnies like they were his cubs. And what’s more, the bear seemed to have honey around his snout yet bees were still following him, without a single stinger landing anywhere near the ferocious beast.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or to just stand there in awe as this scene was near impossible.
“W-what’s going on there?” Makita muttered out.
Fluttershy turned her head from the doorknob to observe the scene.
“Oh, that’s just Harry playing. He may look awfully scary, but he really is a sweetie,” Fluttershy responded and led Makita into her home.
The second they entered, small birds began to flutter above and mice, ferrets and all sorts of rodents began to scurry about. Gently passing around these critters, Fluttershy led him to a small couch and laid him down there.
“Now you just wait here, while get some bandages for your leg,” Fluttershy said and trotted upstairs.
Makita sat there and observed as curious mammals surrounded him, looking at his pony form with intrigue and a little bit of fear. However, the second his eyes met with one of these creatures, they would cower and began to scurry around the room, as if his very appearance scared them away. He ignored them and searched through his mane for his little black book. As soon as he found it, he began to write down something inside.
“Progress report
I have managed to secure a temporary sanctuary. Even though I question the owner’s sanity as she seems to have some unnerving obsession with collecting various animals, she still seems willing enough to harbor me. However, her questions may prove to be troubling. I will have to done a new identity in order to stop her curiosity. I have managed to locate my target, but he seemed to have recognized. I am still unsure how or why, but the prince may be onto me. If my suspicions prove to be correct, I might need to rethink my strategy. I will continue to report as the situation progresses.
Regards, Makita”
As he finished writing, Makita placed the little black book next to him and breathed in deeply. All was going according to plan. Before he could even begin to relax, Makita sharply jolted. He searched through his mane nervously, trying to find his little brown bag. He nervously ruffled through his mane until he finally found it.
As the fearsome hunter brought the bag to his face he le ot a relieved sigh. It was there, still hanging in. With the bag now in his hooves, Makita opened it up to check on the red gem that was inside of it. As he took it out, he noticed that looked no different than an ordinary ruby. Sure it was more oval shaped and appeared to be a bit darker than other rubies, but aside from that nothing really stuck out bout it.
“To think that both Ares and the Royal Sisters want you in their grasp,” he thought to himself as he observed the gem in his hooves “So many are willing to die for you and yet you are no different than a million and one gems I have seen before. What is your secret?”
As he thought so Makita felt that his gaze was directing deeper and deeper into the ruby. He felt as if he were falling through some invisible portal right into the, now liquid, bottom of the ruby. The sea which he saw began to sway as waves began to form and disappear right in front of Makita’s eyes. As if paralyzed by its transcending power, Makita felt compelled to look into the ruby. Instantly he was transported to a dark red sea. As far as he looked nothing but the red ruby sea surrounded him.
All of a sudden he could hear a song, far behind the horizon, increasingly becoming louder. He watched around him, but nothing told him where the sound was coming from. In his last ditch effort, the fearsome hunter watched above only to notice three figures slowly coming towards him. Their voices sounded harmonies and the crystals imprinted on their chests glowed brightly as the Sun.
As they came into focus he could notice their unique look. Their sleek, dragon like body gave off a reptilian design, however their frontal hooves were more akin to the ponies he used to see. They were all in different colors as well, with the middle one being orange while the other two were cerulean and violet.
Once they were but a few feet above him, the sirens stopped their song. The orange began to slowly descend towards him. As she reached him, the other two chimed in as the orange began her song.
“Relinquite Te in rubro Mari, Et nostras voces liberabit vos
In cuius manu te mentiri te perdite Et circa orbem cadit seorsum
Ut et fluctibus , et corusco luceat Tu sentis in ortum Divini bestiæ”
Even though he did not understand a single thing they said, Makita felt their melody calm him down. His senses began to go numb, which shot him wide awake. His primal instinct fought against the soothing melody of the sirens, trying to preserve him from drowning.
Once Makita was fully aware, he began to feel something under his hooves. Scales of a large beast seemed to pass underneath him as the waves themselves shook more violently than ever before. In panic, Makita began to swim away as hard as he could, but it was all in vain. As if everywhere he went he could hear the deadly roaring of the waves as they increasingly got bigger and bigger. No matter where he went, no matter how fast he swam, the beast was one step in front of him. He eventually stopped as he saw a horrifying sight in front of him.
What he thought was a colossal wave, began to rise in front of him. However from the sides of this watery mass two, bat-like, wing and two frontal claws began to emerge. Silver scales covered them whole as they slowly revealed the elongated snout of a horrifying sea serpent. It had three mouths, each one laid atop of another and each one laced with different teeth. The upper seemed to have long teeth, sharp as a dagger and just as effective. The middle one had small, almost fang like teeth, while the bottom one had dog like teeth.
On the top of its head lied two huge, twisted horns and in the middle of its forehead lied the same ruby, Makita felt he was now trapped in.
He couldn’t utter a word. All thoughts seemed to elude him. The only thing he could fell was paralyzing fear in the presence of the behemoth.
The beast opened its beady black eyes and noticed Makita lying there. It lowered its head towards him as if it were observing him. It then opened its lower mouth as Makita embraced himself for the beast’s wrath.
Instead of devouring him, the beast talked. Its voice was as booming as thunder and its words came out like a storm.
“Insolent mortal, you lie in the presence of the almighty Leviathan, ruler of seas and the enemy to the Equestrian land. Prove your worth and release me so I can reinstate my dominion and I shall grant you with riches beyond your wildest comprehension,” the monster spoke.
Makita still remained silent.
The beast growled at his silence.
“As your silence prove you are not worthy of our presence,” Leviathan’s middle jaw spoke.
“Therefore we sentence you to return to your world and find us a stronger creature. One that will understand our divine plan to purify the earth,” the lower jaw spoke as the beast’s eyes suddenly turned emerald.
As Makita watched, horror clear on his face, the beast began to roar as a storm formed around the horrific monster. Loud thunder could be heard as the clouds swirled above. Four pillars emerald, ruby, opal and sapphire light formed around the fearsome hunter. He tried to escape its grasp, but their light had already formed a barrier.
Makita screamed once s the pure white light rained down from the sky, returning him back to his old body.
As Makita returned, he panted heavily and nearly screamed at the sight of the ruby.
“Is everything alright in there?” Fluttershy asked as she descended down the stairs.
“Yeah, everything is fine,” Makita yelled nervously, quickly trying to hide the jewel, back in his mane. Now he knew the secrets it held and wished never to touch it again.
Soon after his response, Fluttershy came down the stairs carrying some bandages for his hind legs.
“You are far too kind,” Makita said as Fluttershy wrapped his hind legs.
“Oh don’t be silly,” she waved “I am just happy I could help you out after Angel scared you like that. Speaking of which,” Fluttershy ended as a little white rabbit came out from her mane.
The little white rabbit seemed to be quite displeased with having to apologize to Makita, much to the hunter’s pleasure.
“Angel, I think you owe poor Mr. Marker an apology, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked the little white furrball.
Angel firmly shook his head.
“Angel! How can you say that?! Mr. Book Marker is badly injured because of you! Now apologize to him right this instant!” Fluttershy said and firmly stared at the little rabbit.
Angel felt a cold shiver run up his spine as Fluttershy stared at him. He quickly hopped over to Makita and extended his paw. Makita accepted it with a kind smile.
“That’s better,” Fluttershy happily exclaimed and watch outside. The sun seemed to have started to descend slowly.
“Oh my, it’s nearly night time already,” Fluttershy said as she watched the moon replace the descending sun “I have to tuck Angel in to bed. Will you be alright there, Mr. Marker?”Fluttershy asked.
“Yes, I’ll be quite alright,” Makita said as he fully laid on the couch “Thank you once again for your hospitality. It really means a lot to me.”
“Anytime, Mr. Marker. Good night,” Fluttershy said as she went to tuck the rest of hr animals in their beds.
As the moon slowly repositioned itself in the sky, Makita felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier. The rest of the animals had gone asleep already and only the nocturnal beasts still prowled silently about. It was in this calm and serene place that Makita began to finally at ease.
The sounds of owls and timberwolves felt like ocean waves, easing him down as he drifted away into the sea of his dreams.
As the fearsome hunter slumbered, Twilight, Darkrim and Spike had just returned from their long day. Darkrim was completely covered in sweat and apple residue.
“Well, you were really close on the last try.” Twilight tried to comfort Darkrim, whom was visibly frustrated by his failure.
“Yeah, the apple exploded after only ten seconds that time,” Darkrim said bitterly.
“Hey, at least it’s some progress,” Twilight tried to remain optimistic.
“Face it, Twilight, today was a disaster,” Darkrim yelled “If I can’t master this simple spell, then how can I hope to master the really complex ones?”
“You just need a little bit more practice, that’s all. Trust me you’ll get the hang of it, in time,” Twilight said.
“In time,” Darkrim repeated and huffed.
Twilight took in a deep breath. She could see that Darkrim’s emotions were taking over him once more.
“Look, I know how hard this whole situation must have been on you and I understand why you are so worried,” Twilight said compassionately to Darkrim “but you have to calm down. “
“How can I do that, Twilight?” Darkrim snapped “Did you forget the impending war and the ongoing instability of Tartarus?! Any second now, everything could fall to pieces and I would be powerless to stop it. Every time I fail, I can feel Radifus and his armies slowly creeping up to the throne of Tartarus. How can I be calm when a blade is looming over my head?!”
Darkrim’s flames flared brighter and brighter as he spoke. All these frustrations, all this pent up rage over his failures, everything just came crashing down at that moment.
As he finished his tirade, Twilight stood silently. She could hear his pain, his fear and his wraith all in that one speech. If she were to get through to him, she would have to calm his inner storm.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said sorrowfully.
Darkrim looked at her in confusion.
“I really do not how or even if you can be calm at a time like this,” the lavender alicorn continued “but what I do know is that you have to be calm, if you want to succeed in your mission. You have to be patient, otherwise you’re just going to mess up. Trust me, it is better to do it slow and efficient than fast and sloppy.”
Darkrim was unsatisfied at the answer.“If you say so,” Darkrim he mumbled, before going up to his room.
After saying goodnight to his new mentor and her assistant, Darkrim slumped down onto his bed. The exhaust of the entire day, combined with his little falling out with Twilight, all took a toll on the young prince’s mind. Even as he lay down, he could still feel some residual rage plaguing his mind.
“It’s so easy for her to say,” Darkrim thought to himself “She had years to prepare for her battles. I, on the other hand, cannot afford the luxury of such time.” “Then again,” he thought as he turned onto his back “It’s not like I didn’t have the time either. I should have prepared better, studied harder, back then. However, I didn’t!” he scolded himself as he turned to his side. “Things just seemed so simple back then;” he continued his train of thought “Everything just seemed so much easier while I was safely protected by the castle. Everything was given to me and I didn’t have to worry about all of these problems. They were probably still rampant back then, but I just didn’t have to worry about them. I could turn a blind eye to it all and let my father worry about it,” Darkrim’s thoughts suddenly closed in to an epiphany “Maybe that’s why all of this happened. Is this Necessity’s way of showing me the truth? Could my banishment be a wakeup call for me?”
As the young prince’s mind became plagued with all of these question, Darkrim could feel his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as darkness took over his vision. For a few seconds he could see nothing more than inky blackness. All of his thoughts vanished. All of his emotions were relieved as the dark blue unicorn fell into his own mind.
As the inky blackness faded away, new visions awakened before his eyes, as Darkrim woke up in a world he could only vaguely recognize.
The darkened red skies indicated he was in Tartarus; however, the land did not seem the same as he had left it. Its floor, once covered in ambrosia, now laid barren and cold, much like the one in the prison section. There were no beasts anywhere to be seen as an eerie quiet took over. Only the silent wind howled, causing Darkrim’s flames to simmer in its wake.
As he walked, Darkrim noticed a distinct and putrid stench of rotting fruit in the air. The stench grew more and more pungent as the young prince approached his old castle. The place he once called home now lay destroyed with different vegetation growing from its sides. In front of the decayed ruins, of a place he once called home, now stood an odd looking apple tree.
Its bark seemed to be peeling off from it and its leaves seemed withered and sickly brown, as if the slightest gust of wind could turn them to dust. However, its ancient form, was still offset by two gaping, circular, holes, similar to two eyeballs, filled with a hellish yellow light glowing from the tree.
Its bright glow was so intense, as if it were trying to beckon Darkrim to come closer to it. The young prince was hesitant, but ultimately gave in to the tree’s temptation. Its golden gaze possessed an almost a hypnotic quality, luring the young prince closer to its clutches.
Darkrim began to slowly creep towards the tree as it seemed to grow with every hoofstep Darkrim made.
Once Darkrim was but three feet away from the tree, its bark in the middle began to crack open, forming a gaping fissure similar to a mouth. Darkrim could hear silent hisses emanating from the very bowels of the infernal plant as small emerald eyes began to peer back at him.
Darkrim stood petrified as little serpents began to slither out from the fissure and move slowly towards him. His sense quickly kicked in as he fired away beams of red energy at the slimy beasts. Darkrim began to back away, trying to evade the hoard, only to discover he was backed against a wall.
As the serpent’s continued their onslaught, Darkrim looked up at the tree. To his horror it had turned into a fearsome creature. Red apples adorned the behemoths head as its wooden claws conducted the nightmarish serpents to rise from the ground. They did so as they were commanded as the tree beast directed them towards Darkrim. As if one, the serpents descended from the skies in an arrow like shape towards the helpless prince. Before it could hit him, Darkrim heard a whisper that shot him back to life.
“Run to the side!” a stern feminine voice commanded him.
Darkrim did as he was told, barely escaping the barrage of serpents. Before the tree beast could comprehend what happened, Darkrim fled inside the ruins of the castle, trying to compose himself. He breathed quicker, fearing the wicked tree beast. He could hear its roaring footsteps as it searched the castle for the prince. “What does that thing want from me?!” Darkrim panicked. His heart rate sped up, sweat beads poured from his forehead.
“Ease your heart, Darkrim,” that same feminine voice spoke to him.
The unicorn looked around himself, trying to see the image of this disembodied voice. However, the only thing he could find was that blasted beast, still searching for him.
“I must be losing my mind,” Darkrim thought to himself.
However his thoughts were interrupted as the tree monster set its glare upon the young prince. Darkrim attempted to run away, but the monster was too quick. It stretched out its roots, enticing Darkrim in its snare. Darkrim squirmed and struggled against its grip, but he was unable. The beast’s mouth opened up as serpents began crawling up its roots, heading towards Darkrim.
“Listen to me prince!” the feminine voce commanded “This creature is not real! It is an illusion created by your mind. It cannot harm you, unless you allow it to! Fight against it!”
“It is too strong,” Darkrim said silently as his breath began to evade him.
“Don’t fall into its trap!” the voice persisted “Ignore your fears. Fight against it!”
As the voice repeated itself, Darkrim suddenly felt something wash over him. Images of his friends, his parents and his country all flew in front of him, as if they alone were lending their strengths to him.
At that moment, the young prince remembered what he was fighting for. In their voices and their smiles he found strengthen and he was not going to allow an old piece of firewood defeat him. With his newfound strength, Darkrim began to focus his fire. Slowly, sparks of red magic began to fly out of his horn. Sparks turned into a beam and that slowly grew larger and larger, until Darkrim could not control it anymore. A bright red ray unleashed itself from the horn and scoured the serpents that were heading towards the prince. In a blinding speed it hurled itself towards the tree monster’s gaping mouth. The monster could barely react as the immense force, unleashed from Darkrim’s horn, hit it right through the gaping moth. Its grip loosened, as Darkrim was finally free.
However, the beast was not dead. It was injured severely, with a giant hole right in the middle of it’s being, but its undying thirst for blood was still present. It attempted to lunge itself at Darkrim once more, however it was struck by a blue light of energy. It collapsed to the ground, seemingly dead.
The young prince looked up only to see a familiar midnight blue alicorn, flying in the corner of the room. Her horn had been pointed towards the tree beast as smoke could be seen coming from it.
“Took you long enough,” Darkrim smiled to his friend.
“I had to ensure you could take it on your own,” the alicorn “It was your own machination after all.”
Before Darkrim could respond, he noticed the being twitching once more, trying to get up.
“It seems our friend still has some fight in him,” Darkrim spoke confidently.
“Well, let us fix that then,” Luna smirked to Darkrim as both of them pointed their horns to the rising tree monster.
It roared once more, lunging its claws towards Darkrim. However, this time the young prince came prepared, as he unleashed one final blow of pure red energy towards the monstrous apparition.
As he did so, Luna called upon her lightning, shooting it towards the oncoming beam.
As the two magical energies combined they created an orange, dragon like, beast. Its blazing jaw unhinged and thunderously roared as its flames engulfed the weakened monster. Their fire devoured the nightmarish apparition. Before fading away into ashes, the tree beast unleashed one final shriek.
As the monster disappeared, Darkrim slumped down to his hooves, panting heavily. Luna descended down from the skies, gracefully, and approached the exhausted unicorn. She stretched out her hoof, but Darkrim declined it.
“I’m fine,” Darkrim panted “I just need to catch my breath.”
“As you wish,” Luna said and observed the ashes of the fallen beast. As Darkrim recollected himself, he joined her.
“What was that thing?” he asked.
“A physical representation of your deepest fears,” Luna said, wrapped up in her thoughts “I just don’t understand why it took the form of an apple tree? It just doesn’t make sense,” Luna tapped her chin.
Darkrim blushed and scratched the back of his head.
“Well,” he hesitated “That could, possibly, maybe be because I kept failing to transform an apple into an orange today.”
The night regal chuckled a bit, but quickly wiped her grin off.
“I see that Twilight followed my instructions quite nicely,” Luna said and winked to Darkrim.
“You instructed her to teach me that spell?” Darkrim said in surprise.
“Well, yes,” Luna responded “I noticed you had quite the accuracy problem from our training session so I advised Twilight to teach you to control your powers. In retrospect, I should have known she would start with Trottinsky’s transformation spell. It was one of Starswirl’s favorite spells after all.”
“Perhaps, but it’s still just a huge waste of time,” Darkrim responded bitterly.
“Do you say this because you truly believe it or does this come from your own inability to perform it?” Luna inquired.
“A bit of both,” Darkrim said and sighed “I’m just afraid that I’m running out of time. Yet, Twilight keeps telling me that I should be patient and slowly master the spell.”
“Sounds like you should listen to her,” Luna advised the young prince.
“But how can I? I don’t have the time she has!” Darkrim protested.
“And that’s exactly where your problems lie,” Luna interjected “Instead of focusing on the problem and trying to resolve, you worry about time. Come with me, I want to show you something,” Luna said as she led Darkrim outside.
She pointed her head towards the sky as Darkrim looked up. He could see the dark red sky moving faster and faster as Luna’s eyes glowed a pure white glow. Plants blossomed and died, right in front of his eyes. Rains fell, birds flew, seasons changed, yet he remained the same. Everything around them changed and conformed to Luna’s will, yet they stayed the same.
Luna finished her cycle as plants themselves were in bloom and Tartarus thrived once more. She led him through the new fields that formed in front of their eyes.
“Time is nothing more than a concept we formed in order to keep our world in harmony,” Luna spoke as everything around them stood frozen solid “It moves along, unconcerned for our feelings. Yet, we have to master it, if we want to live our lives to the fullest. If we concern ourselves too much about time, we become slaves of its whim. We allow it to control us and thus we become ensnared in its eternal grip. However, if we are patient enough,” Luna said as they stopped in front of a tree, nearly in bloom. Its plants were still shy from opening up to the world.
“We can truly do wondrous things,” as she finished Luna closed her eyes, making her horn glow pure white. With a simple thought, the flowers themselves opened up, showering the world with their beautiful colors.
“Maybe you’re right, but what if something terrible happens soon? I don’t think I would be able to face it all on my own,” Darkrim continued.
Luna smiled kindly.
“Don’t you see, you’re not alone, at least not anymore,” Luna spoke softly as she placed one of her wings over Darkrim “Not only do you ha me, but you also have my sister and The Elements Of Harmony, all willing to stand by you, no matter what difficulties you face. All we ask for in return is just a little bit of your patience.”
As Darkrim watched into Luna’s motherly eyes, he could feel tears overflowing his eyes. The words she said combined with her soft tone, reminded him of Persephone. In her he was able to find compassion and kindness of the same kind he had seen in his mother.
He let out a deep sigh and wiped away his tears.
“Thank you, princess,” Darkrim said with a nostalgic smile.
“I truly meant every word of it,” Luna spoke.
Their moment was interrupted asa loud gawk could be head in adistance.
“What was that?!” Darkrim questioned as he prepared his horn for battle.
“That was the Auralia songbird,” Luna explained quickly “My duties seem to call for me elsewhere. Are you going to be alright?”
“Yeah I think so,” Darkrim responded.
“Good,” Luna smiled and waved goodbye.
As the nocturnal regal disappeared from Darkrim’s dreams, the prince decided to rest a bit more in the calm and quiet of his dreams. In this serene place, he finally understood Luna’s message.
“Time is just a concept, nothing more and nothing less,” Darkrim repeated to himself, as he watched the flowers that once bloomed, now bear fruit, before withering away. With a little bit of his own magic, Darkrim was able to recreate new flowers to replace the old ones.
“And from now on I will control it,” Darkrim said deteremenantly as he watched his creation.
Darkrim opened his eyes slowly and took in a deep breath. He was prepared to face another day. With much more confidence he trotted down to Sweet Apple Acres where Twilight and Spike were already waiting for him.
“Ah, I see you have decided to join us,” Twilight greeted Darkrim.
“Well, better late then never,” Darkrim chuckled.
“Well, time waits for no pony. You should know that better anypony else,” Twilight ribbed Darkrim. He just smiled awkwardly.
“I deserved that one,” Darkrim thought himself.
Twilight prepared an apple for Darkrim to transform and took a few steps back.
“You may begin whenever you’re ready,” Twilight said.
The young prince nodded and prepared himself to strike. The crimson energy coated his pale blue horn as he prepared himself for the spell.
“Wait!” Spike yelled, causing Darkrim to flinch.
Just as Darkrim stopped, Spike pulled up a wooden shield and hid behind it.
“Okay, now you can go,” Spike said, cowering behind the shield.
Darkrim sighed and rolled his eyes. He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated once more.
Slowly gathering his magic, Darkrim tried to envision the apple’s transformation. He wanted to feel every fiber, every cell and every molecule turning into that of an apple. Focusing all he got, the fallen prince felt the red beam leaving his horn and capturing the apple. He could feel the apple’s resistance to change, but his will was much stronger.
Twilight observed his actions, with intrigue. His facial muscles twitched slightly, small sweat beads appeared on his forehead, yet he was doing much better. He seemed much calmer than yesterday and his focus was much better. She began to write it all down as she noticed the apple slowly taking a form of an orange.
Within seconds of her observation the transformation was completed and in front of her eyes Darkrim held a perfectly shaped orange.
“You did it!” Twilight exclaimed and began to jump around.
Twilight’s scream made the dark blue unicorn open his eyes swiftly. As he did, he lost focus and the orange fell to the ground.
“I did it!” Darkrim yelled just the same and began to jump around. The two of them were dancing around like fillies, but soon stopped when they heard Applejack laughing from behind.
“Don’t let lil’ ol’ me ruin your fun. Y’all just keep doing whatever you were doing,” Applejack said as she wiped off her tears of laughter.
“I was just congratulating Darkrim on a job well done,” Twilight said and extended her hoof towards the prince.
“And I graciously accept your congratulations,” Darkrim cleared his throat and accepted Twilight’s hoof.
“Whatever,” Applejack smirked and continued her chores.
Just as she left, Spike finally peeked out. Seeing the orange made the young drake let out a sigh of relief and toss away the shield.
“Looks like you finally did it, huh?” Spike said and patted Darkrim on the back.
“Yeah, I just needed to calm down a bit,” Darkrim smiled.
“I am glad to hear that!” Twilight exclaimed “I was beginning to worry bit.”
“Pff, it was easy,” Dakrim said and waved his hoof.
“Well, if you think that then maybe it is time to take it up a notch,” Twilight grinned.
“What do you have in mind?” Darkrim asked, raising an eyebrow.
Twilight began rummaging through her scrolls, before finally grabbing one. It appeared to be rather old, as indicated by its dark brown pages.
As Darkrim read through the scroll, his eyes widened.
“What kind of a spell is this?” Darkrim said as his eyes darted through the complex scroll.
“It’s a special kind of offensive magic, invented by the great Omnibus, The Conqueror,” Twilight said.
“Okay, but isn’t this a bit too much,” Darkrim asked “I mean I just figured out how to transform an apple into an orange and you want me to do this?!” Darkrim frantically pointed at numerous steps the scroll demanded.
“Are you saying that the great prince of Tartarus can’t handle an ancient spell?” Twilight challenged the dark blue stallion.
“Of course not!” Darkrim protested “However, I don’t know if I am ready for such a step.”
“If you are unsure of yourself now, what will happen when you face Ares on the battlefield?” Twilight turned serious. Even Spike was taken aback by her words.
Darkrim thought about her words for a few moments. He knew that the lavender alicorn spoke the truth and that he had to do whatever it takes to prepare himself for that dark day. He swallowed his fear and suppressed his insecurity.
“As always, you speak the truth, Princess. If you think this will help me fight better, I will do it!” the dark blue unicorn stomped his hooves in determination.
“I am glad to hear it,” Twilight smiled “However, we will have to move our lesson. We don’t want to cause a fire, now do we?”
“Of course not,” Darkrim laughed “I’ll meet you up at the gates.”
As Darkrim left, Twilight began packing up.
“Need any help?” Spike extended his claws as Twilight levitated a few wooden orbs, plates and sticks towards him.
“Of course. Thanks, Spike,” she lowered the equipment towards the little dragon.
“No problem, what are assistants for” Spike said.
As they walked through the apple forest, Spike took in a deep breath. He rarely saw Twilight so serious as she was with Darkrim. Her actions have surprised him and he had to know why she was acting in such a way.
“Hey, Twi, can I ask you something?” Spike said.
“Of course, you can, Spike. What’s on your mind?” Twilight asked.
“Well,” Spike began , “I was just wondering what happened to you back there. I never saw you act so harsh.”
Twilight sighed.
“You know that the Tartarian culture is mostly based on the principles of war and conquest?” twilight asked.
“Yeah,” Spike replied.
“You also noticed how Darkrim was acting unsure and stressed out ever since he got here?” Twilight continued.
“So you decided to add even more stress on top of it all?” Spike asked, trying to comprehend Twilight’s reasoning.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Twilight shook her head “I just tried a bit of a different approach. By using disciplinary measures and a more commanding tone I was able to get through to him quicker.”
“I see,” Spike nodded his head “Still, it doesn’t seem very Twilighty, you know?”
“I know,” Twilight sighed “And I felt awful for being harsh, but it had to be done. I promised Princess Celestia that I will help Darkrim take back his rightful place and I shall do that. At any cost!”
In Twilight’s eyes gleamed an unyielding fire of determination.
“Okay, just don’t go overboard with it,” Spike said concernedly.
“That’s why I have you, Spike,” Twilight winked to the little drake.
Spike blushed at her words as they pressed on.
Darkrim stood patiently at the gates, awaiting for the Princess and her trusty assistant. As they appeared on the horizon, Darkrim took in a deep breath.
“Relax, Twilight knows what she is doing. She wouldn’t have given us that spell, if she thought we couldn’t handle it,” Darkrim calmed himself down.
“Are you ready?” Twilight asked the dark blue stallion.
“As ready as I will ever be,”Darkrim smiled “So where are we going anyway?”
“Well, I have one place in mind. It’s deep in the Everfree forest, so it will be far away from any prying eyes,” Twilight explained.
“Sounds great,” Darkrim replied with glee.
As they walked through the town, Darkrim could easily see some ponies whispering to one another. Some seemed rather shocked to see him with the Princess, while others greeted them. Many seemed to behave around Twilight as if she was just their friend. They didn’t bow in her presence but they still respected her as she deserved. Many greeted her just as ‘Twilight’, as if they had known her for years.
“Very interesting,” Darkrim whispered under his breath.
As they continued their walk, the trio passed in front of a small cottage. Twilight stopped in her tracks and walked towards it as Darkrim followed her.
“So when you said ‘deep within the forest’ you meant to say on the edge of it, right?” Darkrim joked.
“Very funny,” Twilight smiled, “I am just stopping by to say hi to Fluttershy.”
“Oh yeah, the quiet one. She seemed nice,” Darkrim said as Twilight knocked on the door.
Soon enough, Fluttershy made her way to the door opened. Seeing the trio there, made her a bit surprised.
“Twilight! What a wonderful surprise,” Fluttershy said gleefully and hugged her friend.
“Hope we are not bothering you,” Twilight began, “but we just dropped by to say hi.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not bothering me,” Fluttershy said timidly “you just caught me in a bad moment. Come in, I want you to meet somepony.”
As Twilight and Darkrim entered, the dark blue unicorn’s eyes widened in shock by the vision in front of him. Sitting on the couch was a gray unicorn with long, flowing, white mane and a black book cutie mark. Darkrim’s surprise was only equaled by that of the pony sitting in front of him.
“You have to be kidding me,” Makita thought with glee.
“Twilight, Darkrim, this is mister Book Mark. Angle bunny made him hurt his hooves last night, so I offered to help him get better,” Fluttershy explained and introduced them .
“Charmed,” Twilight said as she accepted Makita’s hoof.
Darkrim simply nodded as Makita, in his pony form, smiled at the prince. As he smiled, Darkrim felt chills running down his spine. He remembered the way this pony disappeared the second he saw him as well as his wink. However, the unicorn seemed to behave as if it was his first time seeing the prince.
“So you’re the silent type, ei?” Makita asked the young prince.
“When I have to be,” Darkrim responded coldly.
Twilight observed Darkrim for a bit.
His flames began to glow a bit dimmer and his stance was much more protective as he observed this pony with utmost precaution. It was as if the young prince could detect the immediate threat in front of him, even through his disguise.
“So, Fluttershy says she’s been taking care of you,” Twilight said, attempting to ease the atmosphere.
“Yes, she has been a most wonderful host. You must be very happy to have such a sweet mare in your midst,” Makita spoke elegantly. Fluttershy hid behind her mane and blushed a bit at his compliments.
“Well, that’s Fluttershy for you,” Twilight smiled “Although, I must admit that I had never seen you around Ponyville.”
“Well, that’s because I’m not from Ponyville,” Book Mark replied “I am actually a traveler pony. I document the various sites I visit and collect the knowledge of various places and their customs.”
“Oh really,” Darkrim interjected “Then you must have a book for it, right?”
“Of course I do,” Book Mark said and showed them a brown book.
The second Darkrim saw it, the young prince enveloped it in his crimson magic. Makita tried to pull it away from him, but he was too late.
“Darkrim!” Twilight yelled “What are you doing?!”
She was shocked that the prince would do such a thing. However, the dark blue unicorn continued to ravage through the pages.
As he turned the pages, Darkrim was confused. Not a single word was written on them.
“I’ll take that back!” Flutershy said as she handed the book back to Book Mark.
“You know, if you wanted to see it, you should have just asked, prince,” Book Mark smiled smugly.
Darkrim wanted to say something, but just huffed.
“Thank you for your hospitality, Fluttershy, but I’ll wait outside,” Darkrim said and exited the cottage.
“Umm, alright,” Fluttershy responded, confused by Darkrim’s sudden mood swing.
Even Twilight couldn’t make heads nor tails of the situation.
“I am sorry he acted this way,” Twilight blushed “I really don’t know what got into him.”
“It’s quite alright,” Book Mark replied “Tartarians tend to have such a temper. It’s quite understandable.”
“How do you know that?” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“Well, I passed through there on my travels,” Book Mark fibbed quickly.
“Right,” Twilight responded “Anyway, I should probably catch up with Darkrim. We have quite a lot of work for today.”
“No problem,” Fluttershy said “It was nice seeing you Twilight.”
“You too,” Twilight responded.
“I’ll see you around,” Book Mark sad as the lavender alicorn left.
She smiled at the gray unicorn and reunited with Darkrim and Spike.
Even though Twilight seemed calm, she was fuming inside. The dark blue unicorn had embarrassed her quite a bit back there.
“I can’t believe you did that!” Twilight yelled at Darkrim.
“Trust me it had to be done,” Darkrim replied coldly.
“Oh, ‘it had to be done’,” Twilight mimicked his response “You just HAD to grab that pony’s book right out of his hooves. It was simply unavoidable!”
“I admit I made quite the error in my approach, but that pony just didn’t seem right,” Darkrim explained.
“Really? What made you jump to that conclusion?” Twilight asked.
Darkrim didn’t know how to answer it. He wanted to tell her about Clotho and her prophecy, but he was afraid he would seem a bit too crazy.
“It was just his general aura,” Darkrim said “I mean, did you see how he smiled at me? It just felt unnatural.”
“So what if he smiles a bit strange? You’re not the most normal looking pony out there,” Twilight rebutted.
“Okay, but isn’t it strange how he knew I was a prince?” Darkrim asked.
“That is strange,” Twilight began to ponder “but he probably heard about it in Tartarus. “
“How could he do that?” Darkrim continued.
“He mentioned that he visited Tartarus,” Twilight said.
“Funny,” Darkrim replied smugly “I didn’t read about it in his book. In fact, there was nothing written there at all.”
As he said it, Twilight was taken aback a bit.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“There was not a single word written on any of the pages,” Darkrim whispered “Doesn’t it strike you as odd for a traveler pony to have a blank book?”
As Twilight thought, the more things appear to be odd. Why would a traveler pony have an empty book? It’s not like he hadn’t visited other places before. And if he hadn’t, then how did he know about Darkrim’s status. It all began to seem more and more suspicious.
“It does seem odd, I admit,” Twilight said, tapping her chin, “Still you shouldn’t act so hastily. Especially not around Fluttershy.”
“I know,” Darkrim responded “I just had a feeling I had to do something. “
“That may be the case, but you still have to be more discrete, if you want to reveal the full truth,” Twilight explained.
Darkrim huffed and nodded.
“Anyway, you still haven’t told me where are we going?” Darkrim said, trying to change the subject.
“Oh, you’ll see,” Twilight giggled.
As they continued their walk, a feeling of déjà vu crept up to Darkrim. This section of the forest seemed a bit too familiar to him. The dead trees, watching hauntingly over them, the loud scuffles in the bushes, it all seemed too familiar.
“Hey, this all looks awfully,” Darkrim stopped as he saw what lied in front of him.
The young prince felt his knees weaken, his heart rate speeding and his mouth became completely dry.
