My Little Pony:

Friendship & Courage

Chapter: 4 "Ignitos the Dark"

"YAAAAAAY!" shouted a group of three young fillies as they ran thru the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom, along with her two friends: Sweetie Belle (A unicorn pony who was also Rarity's little sister) and Scootaloo (A pegasus pony who had particular skill on a scooter) where having a great time on their playdate, having gotten out of school and were eager to have fun, following close behind them was Soul, whom had been given the job of fillysitting the three to make sure they didn't cause too much trouble.

"Guys wait up!" he pleaded as he chased after them panting slightly from tiredness, he had been chasing after the three young pony's ever since they had arrived on the farm and even with his good endurance he was having trouble.

"Come on Mr Soul keep up!" called Applebloom as she looked back and giggled at Souls worn out appearance.

"Oh leave him in the dust if he can't keep up!" Scootaloo added with a smirk as she flipped over the gate of a fence in front of them and opened it for her friends. "We don't need a sitter anyway" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle happily ran after Scootaloo thru the gate, kicking it closed as they went, forcing Soul to basically tumble over it as he continued to tail them as best he could.

While the group played in the apple orchards, a dull wind blew through the trees on the edge of the Everfree Forest, just a few feet from the orchards, out of the darkness, two orange glowing eyes shone brightly and the shadows around them seemed to grow, engulfing the trees and shrubs nearby, any and all of the animal noises that could be heard where suddenly silenced instantly as the eyes moved towards the edge of the forest, the glowing eyes belonged to a lone pony, dressed from head to hoof in a long black cloak and hood which covered the upper part of their face, except for their left eye, the other eye was covered by the pony's red mane which hung partly over the right side of their face.

"My my…such a peaceful place" the figure began in a calm and feminine, yet sinister and dark tone, the unknown female figure smirked as she noticed the cutie mark crusaders playing catch with a ball in the middle of the orchard, however her gaze soon fell upon Soul who was leaning on the fence and catch his breath, the figures eyes narrowed slightly. "Now what have we here?" she asked herself, her eyes then fell upon Souls cutie mark which made them widen slightly. "Oh my…how…interesting" a dark and evil sneer stretched across the figures face as a dull chuckle fell from her mouth, an orange glow shined from her horn which soon engulfed her entire body and in a flash she disappeared, leaving the Everfree calm once more.

"We really should be heading back you three" Soul said as he strode up to the three girls, having finally having recovered. "Applejack told me to make sure you three do your homework, Applebloom does her chores and you have a healthy snack before she gets back from the market"

"But Mr Souuuuuuuul!" Applebloom whined looking up at him with the best cute puppy dog eyes she could muster. "I promised Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo I'd play ball this afternoon, can't we stay out for just a little longer?" she pleaded, as much as Soul knew she was only putting on an act to get her way, he couldn't resist her cute expression and soon caved in with a sigh and smile.

"Alright" he finally concluded "you can keep playing for another half an hour, but then we're all definitely heading back to the farmhouse to do our work" the cutie mark crusaders cheered happily at these words and instantly ran back out to play, Soul smiled as he walked back to the fence and sat back on the grass watching them, he chuckled to himself a little as he saw Scootaloo head-butt the ball towards Sweetie Belle who missed the catch and was forced to chase after it, it reminded him of when he was a young colt himself, running around his godmothers farm and playing ball with one of the farmhands he had grown up with.

Souls reminiscing was cut abruptly short however as a strong bright orange flash of magic exploded out from the shadows of the Everfree and struck the ground only metres from where Applebloom and her friends where playing, the shockwave of the blast sent all three fillies' flying back and screaming in surprise, Soul instantly jumped to his feet and ran to them, worry and confusion covering his face. "APPLEBLOOM!? SWEETIE BELLE!? SCOOTALOO?!" he shouted out worryingly as he got to them, all three of them seemed to be unhurt but where shocked and stunned by what had happened, a second powerful beam of orange magic shot at them from the forest, Applebloom saw it and cried out in surprised but this time Soul was ready for it and glared in anger towards it, instantly his aura symbol began to glow in a bright light and soon his body was covered in a magical cloak, Soul then stomped a hoof into the ground and brought up a thin, silver magical barrier Twilight had taught him as a shield, the orange beam struck the barrier with such force that is caused Soul to skid back a few inches, however his shield held and the beam bounced off the barrier and exploded harmlessly against the ground behind the group.

"My my how courageous of you!" came the dark and sinister voice from the forest, followed by a shrill laugh, Souls glare deepened as he dropped his barrier, however the magical aura around him continued to flare out like flames.

"Show yourself!" he yelled angrily back. "What kind of pony attacks a group of children!?" from the depths of the forest, Soul suddenly saw the orange glowing eyes gleaming out at him which made him tense, the hooded and cloaked pony then calmly walked out of the shadows and into the open and stood opposite Soul with an evil sneer on her face.

"So it seems the many rumours I've been hearing here are true" she began, her sneer widening as if with glee as she spoke "An Aura does exist…it will be give me great pleasure to destroy such a unique individual such as yourself!" with another evil cackle, the unknown unicorn jumped backwards as her horn shone with an electrifying orange magic, she then swung her head in an arch and a large spinning spell in the shape of a crescent moon appeared and rocketed across the orchard towards Soul and the cutie mark crusaders, unable to dodge without risking injury to the fillies', Soul stood up on his back legs and threw his front hooves forward as his eyes began to glow light blue and his aura flared up stronger, summoning another magical barrier, the unknown assailant laughed as the spinning magical attack struck the shield, Soul winced from the strain of holding the barrier in place, the offending attack slicing away at the shield until finally with a loud crack the barrier shattered like glass, knocking Soul backwards into the ground, thankfully however the deadly spinning projectile was also dispelled and Soul groaned, frowning darkly at the hooded unicorn as he got to his feet panting slightly.

"You three!" he shouted looking to Applebloom and the others who were sitting huddled up frightened by what was happening. "You need to run back to the village right now and tell Twilight what's happening!" he ordered before looking back at the dark unicorn who simply stood smirking back at him.

"B-but Mr Soul what about you-"Sweetie Belle began.

"I SAID GO NOW!" Soul yelled back with urgency, the three Fillies' instantly jumped to their feet and took off at a run back towards the farmhouse at his words.

"Do you really think sending for reinforcements is going to help you little Aura?" the unknown pony taunted as she began charging another spell into her horn, Soul glanced back at the cutie mark crusaders as they ran then glared back at the dark unicorn, his Aura flaring like a roaring fire.

"My friends are never a waste of time" he replied, stomping a hoof again, the ground under it cracking slightly thanks to the magical power around it. "but more importantly" he continued, his teeth barred as he spoke "I don't want the girls to see violence!" with a yell, Soul sprung from his position and lunched himself at the unicorn, he swung a front hoof back which began charging with lightening magic and as he closed in on the unicorn he flipped in the air and thrust his leg towards her, now cackling with lightening. "LIGHTENING LEG!" he shouted as he made contact, the sound of electricity filled the air before a small explosion erupted between the two combatants, soon filling the orchard with thick smoke, Soul frowned with his teeth barred as he stood on his back legs, his front hoof still connecting with the assailant.

"….Your very committed to a fight aren't you dear?" the unicorn suddenly stated which made Soul gasp slightly, he saw the unicorns dark sneer and glowing eyes thru the smoke and before he could do anything, a large and powerful orange blast of magic hit him in the stomach at point blank range which sent him flying backwards across the orchard, slamming him into a tree and making him cry out in pain as he fell to the ground coughing, he held his side as he propped himself up on a leg and glared looking up at his opponent, the smoke had cleared, showing the only thing Souls attack had done was blow off the unicorns hood and he could now see her face, the unicorn was an older mare with a slightly dark fair coloured coat and a scarlet red mane which hung over one side of her face slightly, her eyes were a bright orange and she was smirking evilly, the attack seemingly not fazed her at all. "Honestly I expected more from an Aura, you seemed so mystical and mythical in the story books" she said with another laugh, Soul glared shakily getting to his feet, his side still hurt from the impact with the tree.

"Who the hay are you!?" he asked thru barred teeth, his aura was back up and flaring, ready for an attack, the unicorn stood up on her back legs and held out a front leg at him, her horn charging her magic into a magical ball in front of her hoof.

"Me my dear?" she questioned back then sneered again "My name is Ignitos….Ignitos the Dark!" with a final evil laugh, Ignitos fired her energy ball which flew across the orchard towards Soul like a cannon ball, ripping up the grass slightly as it soared along it, Soul tensed and stepped back, having no time to summon another shield all he could do was clench his eyes tight and wait for the impact.

"Soul!" Twilight shouted as she suddenly appeared in a flash in front of him, causing him to step back again in surprise, Ignitos glared as Twilight frowned and lowered her head, her horn glowing and summoned a large silver barrier of her own, the energy ball struck the shield and exploded with a large bang, rocking the orchard slightly, when the smoke cleared, everyone saw the attack had cracked Twilights barrier badly however it had held.

"Grrr….what a nuisance" Ignitos snarled glaring more, Twilight frowned back at her as she lowered her barrier then turned to Soul looking worried.

"Soul are you alright?" she asked, Soul smiled and nodded.

"I'm fine, thanks for the help Twi" he replied, Twilight smiled and nodded before frowning back at Ignitos.

"Who in Equestria do you think you are!?" she demanded "Attacking innocent pony's like this!"

"Ah" Ignitos began her sneer back on her face. "And you must be Celestia's little teacher's pet: Twilight Sparkle… Now I see why this Aura is so pathetic if he's taking lessons from you!" Soul glared and jumped forward, swinging an arm at Ignitos in a rage and making a light blue spinning magical disk fly towards her, Ignitos however laughed and jumped backwards, destroying the attack with a spell of her own.

"Soul stop!" Twilight ordered, grabbing Souls tail and pulling him back. "we can't just attack her!" Soul looked back at Twilight with the intent to argue, however he bit back his retort and nodded.

"Right…I'm sorry Twilight" he replied before looking back to Ignitos who was now floating a few inches off the ground by using her magic, her front legs were held diagonally pointed towards the ground as if waiting for them to attack her again.

"This time we do it as a team ok?" Twilight told Soul, keeping her eyes on Ignitos, Soul nodded doing the same, his aura shining around him.

"You could be 2 or 200!" Ignitos cackled her eyes flaring like fire. "You'd still be nowhere near enough to defeat me!" at these words, Twilight smirked which made Ignitos frown in confusion.

"How about 3 then!" Twilight answered. "Applejack now!" Ignitos barred her teeth and looked behind her to see Applejack who had been hiding until the right moment throw a spinning lasso around her, pinning her front legs to her sides and cancelling out her magic, which caused Ignitos to fall to the ground.

"YEEHAW!" Applejack shouted in triumph. "Now that's how you hogtie a no good vermin!"

"Grrr! How dare you!" Ignitos yelled angrily with a glare, Soul laughed a little and smiled seeing this.

"That was awesome Applejack!" he said, Applejack smirked and rubbed a hoof against her chest smugly.

"Ya'll can't beat a good length of rope, ain't any magic better then good old fashioned ingenuity"

"Now that we have her tied up, we better tell Princess Celestia about this… we can't have a pony using such dark magic just running around" Twilight added, Soul and Applejack nodded in agreement.

"ENOUGH!" Ignitos suddenly yelled as a massive orange flash of magic exploded around her, destroying the rope binding her, Soul, Twilight and Applejack jumped back seeing this and frowned at her ready for whatever she could throw at them, Ignitos glared at the three as she gently lowered herself to the ground with magic. "I've wasted enough time on you already! Prepare for your demise!" with a dark glare, Ignitos stood up on her back legs and put her front hooves together, a large dark orange magical ball beginning to charge between them thanks to the power from her horn, Twilight and Soul instantly began charging their own magic and prepared to defend from the attack with Applejack jumping behind them for her own protection, the three magical pony's staring each other down.

"That's enough Ignitos!" came a fifth voice from the side of the area, all eyes turned to see Princess Celestia standing at the gate, frowning towards Ignitos, when Ignitos saw Celestia, she sneered gleefully, stopped her attack and turned to face her.

"Princess?" Twilight exclaimed in surprise seeing her there, Souls eyes widened slightly seeing her as well but frowned seeing that Celestia was frowning at Ignitos with an expression that looked like hatred, for a long moment, nobody said or did anything as Princess Celestia and Ignitos stared each other down, both not moving a muscle.

"Celestia" Ignitos finally uttered breaking the silence "I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice this little skirmish, your so vigilant about these sort of things" Ignitos made a low and dark chuckle which caused Celestia to glare.

"How dare you come to this place" she began taking a step towards Ignitos, as she stepped forwards, everyone in the area felt the ground tremor slightly, Twilight swallows loudly and stepped backwards away from the two, Soul and Applejack did the same, both very confused and very intimidated by the events. "How dare you attack my people!" Celestia's eyes shine a pure white as she took another step, the sunlight in the area seemed to brighten slightly at her words. "and how dare you force this battle upon them!" Ignitos laughed at the princesses words.

"I'm just a simple unicorn Celestia!" she began; her eyes and body began glowing with dark orange magic, her horn glowing the brightest. " I'm just trying to get back what was lost to me!" her smirk turned to a dark and angry glare "What you stole from me!" Twilight looked to Celestia at these words, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Princess what is she talking about?" she asked, Celestia shook her head in response and Twilight knew this wasn't the time to ask such questions.

"I'm giving you one chance Ignitos" Celestia continued. "Leave this place and never return and I shall forgive this act of violence" Ignitos stomped a hoof which send an arc of orange magic thru the ground.

"Or else what PRINCESS!?" Ignitos replied in a mocking tone.

"Or else I will be forced to remove you myself" Celestia concluded, this statement however only seemed to make Ignitos laugh harder.

"My pleasure Princess!" she shouted as she jumped backwards, sending a large spiralling beam of dark magic towards Celestia.

"Princess!" Soul exclaimed in worry, Celestia however frowned more and swung her head back, causing her long flowing mane to spiral around her, the magical attack hit her mane and was instantly deflected into the sky where it exploded.

"If that's your final word then so be it!" Celestia replied as she reared back on her back legs and spread her wings, sunlight seemed to collect against her feathers and as she stomped her front hooves down, two powerful flashes of pure sunlight fired from her wings and spiralled together into a single great attack which hurtled towards Ignitos, Ignitos laughed insanely as she flipped in the air and summoned a glowing orange bubble around herself which took Celestia's attack and split it in two around herself, the two sides of the attack cut deep gashes in the ground, however Ignitos herself was unharmed and landed on the ground darkly cacking to herself.

"What has gotten into you princess?!" Twilight suddenly shouted out, looking close to tears as she watched the battle in front of her, Celestia looked to her with a slightly wide eyed expression.

"Twilight I-"she began, Ignitos smirked seeing this and before anyone could do anything she disappeared in a flash, reappearing on the other side of the orchard fence and looked back at them.

"I think we should leave it there for now, there's just so much to do, but I shall be seeing you all soon, until then my dears!" with a final evil laugh and sneer, Ignitos disappeared in a dark orange flash, vanishing from the area completely, leaving Soul, Twilight, Applejack and Princess Celestia alone in the now battle scarred orchard.

After retreated to Twilights home in the village, Princess Celestia sighed as she gazed out of one of the library windows, Twilight and Soul where sitting at a table in the room watching her, both still shaken and confused over what had happened at the farm, Applejack had remained behind, now busy repairing the damage from the magical battle.

"I'm worried" Twilight whispered leaning towards Soul as they continued to watch the Princess " I've never seen Princess Celestia so angry and willing to attack somepony before" Soul nodded in agreement, he winced slightly and held a hoof to his side, he had bandaged his entire stomach after the fight, having been injured from when he struck the tree.

"I know" he replied in a whisper also, "but who was that Ignitos pony? Why did she attack us like that? And what did she mean by something stolen from her?"

Her name is Ignitos the Dark" Celestia responded as she turned to the two who snapped back to attention, they both saw that Celestia had a saddened and ashamed expression on her face, making them both begin to worry again. "I'm so, so sorry you two had to witness what happened today" the Princess strode over to the opposite side of the table and looked at both Twilight and Soul as she continued. " Ignitos was a powerful unicorn once upon a time, however she was corrupted by the powers of dark magic and became the dark being you met today…I don't know why she has a sudden interest in you Soul…but I do know what she's after…the Book of Dragon Magic"

Both Soul and Twilight looked to each other in confusion before looking back to Celestia.

"The Book of Dragon Magic?" they both asked together, Celestia nodded and started pacing the room as she spoke.

"Long ago…when the Equestrian Kingdom was still young, we were attacked by a massively powerful dark dragon, we tried everything to repel the beast, however its power was too strong even for our most skilled mages, finally the King: my father, managed to seal the powers of that dragon away into a spell book" Celestia stopped and looked back to the two to let the information sink in, both of them nodded, watching her with eagerness for her to continue. "Years later, Ignitos came across the book and became obsessed with the power it would bring, she took it… and used it against us, with her already powerful dark magic combined with the devastating powers of the dragon magic, she almost destroyed Equestria" Twilight gasped slightly as she listened.

"How did you stop her?" Soul asked frowning.

"Ignitos got careless" Celestia answered. "Drunk on her own power, she didn't count on my sister and I confronting her… together we managed to seal the Dragon Magic away once more and defeat Ignitos, however she escaped before we could stop her…I never saw her again…until today" Celestia frowned at the wall as she spoke, Soul nodded and looked to Twilight who was frowning at the table top thinking hard.

"Where is the Dragon Magic book now?" she asked looking up.

"It's hidden away in a location known only to me and my sister…I'm sorry…but I can't tell either of you exactly where…I hope you understand the urgency of this…if Ignitos got her hooves on that power again, the consequences would be catastrophic"

"We understand" Soul said with a nod, Twilight nodded also in agreement, Celestia then smiled to Soul who raised an eyebrow confused again.

"Soul…Twilight" she began. "I never did mention how brave the two of you where today…not many pony's your age could take on such a powerful adversary like Ignitos and live to tell the tale…if it weren't for you two, those young fillies' might have been seriously hurt and we wouldn't know about Ignitos's return" Souls smiled and rubbed the back of his head a little in embarrassment, Twilight blushed slightly for the same reason.

"We didn't really think about it Princess" she said smiling to Soul who smiled back before they looked back to Celestia again, Celestia smiled and laughed slightly.

"Regardless, you two acted out of bravery in order to protect your home…I'm very proud of both of you…and I see that Twilight has taught you very well Soul…I saw all those spells you used during the fight back there…very impressive for somepony only just now learning how to control his magical potential" it was Souls turn to blush as this comment, both Celestia and Twilight laughed in response.

Soon afterwards, Celestia left Twilights home and strode out towards the outskirts of the village with a smile on her face, however her smile turned to a look of concern, she looked to the side at the Everfree as she walked and frowned, seeing two glowing orange eyes glaring out at her, but no sooner did she spot them did they disappear, causing Celestia to frown and with a bright flash of magic she disappeared, reappearing in the throne room of the royal palace, startling Princess Luna who had been left in charge during her sisters absence.

"Really sister" she said with a frown as she walked down to her. "A little warning wouldn't go unappreciated".

"I'm sorry Luna" Celestia replied "I've just had so many things on my mind today" Celestia took a breath before looking to Luna with a frown "I regret to announce that I had a violent encounter with Ignitos the Dark not an hour ago" Luna gasped at these words.

"Ignitos?!" she exclaimed. "Oh my word Sister are you alright!?" Celestia nodded in response to Luna's worry.

"I'm fine Luna, I'm fine" she replied as she began to walk, heading thru a door on the side of the room and entered into a hall, Luna followed her closely frowning intent on details, as they walked, Celestia recounted the encounter with Ignitos and the events leading up to it.

"Extraordinary" Luna stated as they finally reached Celestia's quarters. "To think Twilight and that boy Aura where able to combat her for so long"

"Yes they performed admirably" Celestia agreed. "But this leaves us in a delicate situation… Ignitos will almost certainly try to reclaim the dragon magic in any way she can, we must be extra vigilant to make sure such a thing doesn't happen" Luna nodded now with a frown.

"Of course!" she stated. "I shall double the royal guard's patrols! Cast extra enchantments over the Books hiding place! And summon the Canterlot Mages to offer extra protection!" Celestia smiled and nodded to her sister.

"Thank you sister" she said. "but for right now I think I shall get some rest if that's ok" Luna nodded and smiled as she walked out of the room looking back to Celestia.

"Sleep well sister, and don't worry yourself about these things, you'll see that everything shall turn out ok" Luna added before closing the door with magic and walking away, Celestia waited a few moments then sighed laying on her side on her bed looking at the wall with a solemn expression.

"I wish I could" she said to herself. "however I believe things shall only get worse as events develop" Celestia then lay on her back staring at the ceiling of her room "…I'm so sorry Soul" she added looking to the side out the window as the sun started to set.

Meanwhile, in the dark of the Everfree forest, Ignitos glared as she strode down the barely visible footpath, her eyes and horn glowing with an angry orange, an aura shining around her with the same colour.

"That Celestia" she growled, sending a magical bolt flying to the side which hit a tree causing it to explode. "I'll get my revenge I swear it!" soon Ignitos reached a clearing and stoped in the centre, she looked around and smirked evilly, the shadows under her hooves seeming to spread out and engulf the entire area. "I shall get back what she stole…and Equestria will scream in the fires of darkness!" Ignitos laughed loudly and with an insane tone, the shadows now covered everything around her, she stood up on her back legs and shot a powerful beam of magic up into the air which shone a dark orange light down on the Everfree, filling the beings who lived there with a sense of dread so dark even the shadows of the Everfree itself shuddered in response