Dark Magic

Sweetie Belle entered the training arena.

"Lady Belle! Word has spread that one of your dearest friends, Scootaloo, abandoned the Shadowbolts to elope with a pegasus named Scar Wing."

"This is urgent news, indeed, but do keep the army from sending a search party. We have bigger problems."

"As you wish."

The guard galloped away to tell the general. Stormcloud entered and joined Sweetie Belle on the balcony.

"How are the new recruits?"

"My most faithful unicorn, why must you harass me with such nonsense. You know what I think."

The recruits were terrible. They couldn't even control their horns or open a portal.

"Go and help them. I am needed in the control room."

"Yes, Lady Belle."

Sweetie Belle entered the control room. The other unicorns bowed down in her presence.

"We have heard of trouble with the other bases."

"What trouble?"

The guard led her to a giant panel labeled Everfree Forest. On the screen was pegasus fighting the unicorn guards and ponies sending plants around the others hooves.

"We believe that your friend's rebellion has started the war."

"What did Apple Bloom do?"

"She was spying on the pony base and killed off the more dangerous plants."

"Why should I care? This is my kingdom and no one can take this away from me."

Sweetie Belle walked along side Strormcloud through the forest. They made it to the pony base and entered.

"Why are we here, Lady Belle?"

"Protection of my kingdom. We must find Apple Bloom or Thorn. They can always tell us where the other is. Or we may have to beat it out of them."

Sweetie Belle smiled and used her horn to pick up a nearby branch. Stormcloud was scared, yet continued to follow Sweetie Belle half-heartedly.

"Sweetie Belle, the map, please."

"What?"

"The map in your saddle bag."

Sweetie bell thrusted the branch at Stormcloud and violently hit him again and again.

H

"You were supposed to grab the map, you careless unicorn!"

Sweetie Belle dropped the branch and galloped away. She scanned the the area, looking for Apple Bloom and or Thorn. Her line of sight was blocked by vines. She started to strike them down with her hoof. The vines came back and started to wrap around her hind hooves. Sweetie Belle pawed at the ground, trying to keep from being dragged away. She used her horn to send up a beacon.

Sweetie Belle started to yell, "Stormcloud!"

Stormcloud heard Sweetie Belle yell. He wiped the blood from his forehead and started to limp towards the direction of her voice. He turned his face towards the sky and saw her beacon. His horn flickered as he strained to send up his beacon. His horn sparked and then stopped. The end of his horn turned black. He touched it and winced at the pain. He struggled to get to his feet, but continued on his way to Sweetie Belle.

Stormcloud reached where Sweetie Belle was struggling to hold onto a tree.

"Stormy! I need help!"

He galloped over to Sweetie Belle and stepped on the vines. He strained his face as he used his horn. But nothing happened. Stormcloud tried again, but still nothing. He looked up at his horn and remembered the black mark. The mark was starting to spread and take his magic with it.

Stormcloud stooped down and started to jab at the vines with his horn. When he jumped, more vines crept out of the trees and grabbed him around the neck. Stormcloud pulled at them as he gasped for air. He lost consciousness and his hooves fell. Sweetie Belle screamed as vines wrapped around her mouth.

They woke up in a ring of trees, vines wrapped around all of their hooves and necks. They looked at each other.

"These are death trap vines. The more we struggle to break free, the tighter they wrap around us."

As Stormcloud finished the sentence, Sweetie Belle watched the vine squeeze tighter around his neck. She layer completely still and they sat in silence. In the distance were stomps of ponies. They both debated the thought of yelling for help.

Sweetie Belle stared at him and then yelled, "Help! Help!"

The vines around all of her limbs and necks tightened and her heart began to pound. Her breathing became fast and they kept squeezing tighter.

"Calm down, Sweetie. You're gonna get hurt!."

She closed her eyes as the vines loosened. She opened them, amazed. The vines loosened more and her hooves slipped out. Her head would not slip through, so she relaxed more until they opened enough. She fell on her back and laid still. Stormcloud looked at her body at room on the ground and thought she was dead. He started to panic and the vines tightened. He realized that if he relaxed the vines would release him. He relaxed and fell to the ground. He crawled over to Sweetie Belle and tried to shake her away. With every move he made, the vines grew closer. He closed his eyes and threw himself over Sweetie Belle's side. The vine disappeared and They started to whisper to each other.

"This place is more dangerous than we know, Stormcloud. We need to get out of here, fast. Apple Bloom or no Apple Bloom. Thorn or no Thorn."

"Agreed."

They both started to slowly creep along the forest floor. The vines still crept through the trees, following them. Stormcloud covered his mouth to keep the screams of the pain from his horn inside. They had made it into a clearing where Sweetie Belle pulled a first aid kit out of her saddle bag. She wrapped the cut on his head with gauze and tried to find something for his horn. He wrapped gauze around her hooves and neck where the thorny vines had cut into her skin.

"I am so sorry for giving you that cut. Really, I feel terrible. I got us into this mess and this is all my fault!"

"Shh, Sweetie Belle. This isn't your fault. I could have saved you if my horn hadn't turned black. I don't even know how this happened."

Sweetie Belle pulled out a lotion and put it on his horn.

"Dose that make it hurt less?"

Stormcloud shrugged and tilted his head to one side. More black ran down his horn and he let out a squeal of pain.

"We need to get something for your horn, but I don't know the way back. Even if we had a map, we wouldn't know because the vines carried us when we were unconscious."

There were rustling leaves. The two bobbed their heads up. A unicorn guard jumped out of the brush and pointed a spear at Stormcloud's muzzle.

"Why have you taken Lady Belle hostage!"

He picked them both up using his horn.

"Wait! He didn't do anything!"

"Then why have you fled the unicorn base!"

"Classified work. He is one of my agents!"

He dropped Stormcloud and continued to hold Sweetie Belle.

"There is an emergency at the unicorn base. Lady Belle will come will come with me. You will continue your field work."

Stormcloud reached his hoof out as the guard galloped away, still holding Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle reached back as he disappeared over the horizon.

Stormcloud collapsed as the black of his horn creeped down. His vision started to blur. He tried to stand and go after Sweetie Belle. His breath became raspy and he passed out.

Sweetie Belle and the guard arrived back at the base. They locked her in the throne room.

"Why are you doing this! Stormcloud's in trouble!"

"It is one unicorn's life compared to all of ours. We had to do this."

Sweetie Belle kicked at the door and screamed, "You're all blind! He needs help!"

Eventually she stopped and slowly walked over to her throne. She payed in it, resting her head on one of the arms. She cried as she tried to think of ways to help Stormcloud. About half an hour later, she got up out of her chair and perked up. She started looking under fabric and tables. She found a loose stone and started to use her horn to pull it out. It came loose and Sweetie Belle smiled. She started to hoof the surrounding stones until they came loose. She squeezed through the small opening of the hole to reveal a tunnel. She started to carefully walk through. The path split into three separate paths. Each had a plaque over the opening. The first was a lightning bolt. The second was a diamond. The third was a leaf. She ran through the one with the leaf.

The unicorn general busted through the doors of the throne room. He looked around, breathing heavily. He galloped over to the hole that Sweetie Belle had made. He looked down it. He knew that only a filly could fit down it. He ran out and sent out a message to his family. His wife and son came back. He pushed his son near the hole, nodded, and left the room. The filly crawled in the hole and followed her hoof prints. He made it to the end of the leaf tunnel and opened a trap door. He emerged and saw Sweetie Belle looking around. He sprang up and tackled Sweetie Belle. Stormcloud saw the unicorn muzzle touching her.

"How could you Sweetie?"

Stormcloud's eyes closed and his head fell to one side. The other unicorn's horn turned black and he fell dead. She got up and ran over to Stormcloud. She stroked the side of his face with her hoof and laid her head on his chest. As tears ran down her face, she could feel his soft coat grow colder. She felt warmth and threw her head up. His mane was turning black. The black spread across his body, lastly covering where Sweetie Belle had laid her head. One his body was completely black, it disintegrated. She was completely stunned as she sat there staring at the ashes. Sweetie Belle looked over to where the other unicorn was. Only ashes. She felt a sharp pain in her head. Sweetie Belle fell backwards and put her hooves straight out in front of her. She watched as the black creeped down to her hooves. As the last bit of black covered her hooves, she became unconscious.

She woke up with a start. She looked around to find she was in a big, dark room. She went to get up to see where she was, but her two hind hooves were chained to the wall. She tried to use her magic to unlock them, but then remembered her black horn. She put her hoof in front of her face. It was black. She looked on each side of her to find Stormcloud and the other unicorn. She smiled and started run towards Stormcloud. When she was about a foot away, the chains stopped. She wanted to see if Stormcloud really was dead, or only unconscious. She walked over the other unicorn. He was rolled close enough for her to reach. She laid her head on his head and felt a pulse. She sighed and smiled. She started to shake the other unicorn awake. His eyes opened and she looked at him. The unicorn clutched his forehead.

"Where are we?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged and said, "Your guess is as good as mine. I'm Sweetie Belle."

"Night Crest."

"I know what happened, but it's kinda hard to explain."

Sweetie Belle told Night Crest about the day she had and the black horn.

"So, what about that other unicorn?"

"Well, his name is Stormcloud, but I sometimes call him Stormy, and he has risked his life far too many times for me and I am afraid that he may not walk away from this."

"Do you know a reverse spell for the black horn?"

"What do you mean?"

Night Crest pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages.

"I've kept a book of all the dark magic I know of. I think I've written about black horn before."

He stopped at a page near the middle and pushed the book over to Sweetie Belle. She looked at the pages, hoping to find information to help them. She saw that there was no reverse spell. There was an interesting picture that caught her eye, though. It was a picture of unicorns with black horn in front of this great monster. The monster was so black that Sweetie could only see it's outline.

"What is that thing?"

"A shadow dragon. I know that they are very territorial. We must have stepped into it's territory when we all got black horn."

"Then, are we in the shadow dragon's lair?"

As she finished the sentence, the stones in the wall collapsed on them and Stormcloud. Sweetie Belle and Night Crest climbed out of the stones and ran to where Stormcloud was. She started to throw stones crazily, hoping to find Stormcloud alive. She remembered the chain and started to bash the cuff around her hooves with the bricks. They came of and she continued to dig. She saw a glimpse of his blue and green hair. Sweetie Belle started to dig faster. Night Crest saw and bashed off his chains. He went over to Sweetie Belle and helped her pull up Stormcloud. The shadow dragon started to knock down the other walls. They quickly pulled out Stormcloud. Sweetie Belle grabbed Night Crest and held him to her chest and hovered over Stormcloud as the bricks and dust came crashing down over them. Night Crest and Stormcloud were both saved from the rubble while Sweetie Belle took all the blows. Her back was being cut into by the shrapnels from the bricks. She squeezed her eyes closed tight and held Night Crest closer. She knew that if Stormcloud and herself died, Night Crest would not be able to survive because he was much younger than both of them. When Sweetie Belle thought the stones stopped piling on, Stormcloud woke up.

"Where are we?"

"No time to talk! I'm Night Crest. Sweetie Belle needs our help! Maybe we can combine the little magic we have left to create something!"

They all put there horns together and thought the same thing. A swirl of all of their colors of magic, green, blue, and purple, started to surround them. Sweetie Belle collapsed, but the bricks did not fall. They had created a force field.

"We need to help Sweetie Belle, now!"

Stormcloud started to wipe away the blood on her back while Night Crest scrounged through his saddle bag. He handed Stormcloud a big roll of gauze and helped lift Sweetie Belle up. Stormcloud wrapped the gauze around her body from under her front hooves to her hips. They layer her back down on her stomach and laid on either side of her.

"Why do we have black horn, then?"

"The shadow dragon put a curse on us. It doesn't have a reverse spell or any other remedy. Legend says we have to defeat the shadow dragon in order to reverse black horn. If we can't, we will never escape, or worse."

Night Crest's voice started to trail off. Sweetie Belle rolled over and her face cringed. Her eyes started to open and she sat up.

"Are we dead?"

"You can't feel pain when you're dead."

"Then I know I'm alive."

Sweetie Belle looked down and realized she was wrapped in gauze. She put her goof behind her back and felt the blood seeping through.

"How are we going to get out?"

"That's an easy one," said Night Crest, "We'll let the shadow dragon find us and dig the ruins off of the force field. Then we can disable it."

They both stared at Night Crest, stunned that a filly of his age could know so much. They all sat quietly, hoping to hear the dragon or stones crashing together. The white smoke rose from the dragon's nostrils as he looked for the unicorns. He started to scrape his long claws against the bricks as he dug for them. He uncovered enough bricks to uncover the force field. He blew out fire and the force field started to weaken. Fear of being filled their faces as they scrounged through their saddle bags for anything that could help them. Night Crest pulled out two sets of armor and a shield. The two guys put on the armor and Sweetie Belle took the shield. They disabled the shield and ran in different directions. Night Crest ran behind a barrier of bricks. Stormcloud ran behind one of the two standing walls. Sweetie Belle ran under the dragon. She hit it with the shield and sliced open his stomach. The others ran out and threw bricks at the shadow dragon. He shielded them with his wing and spit fire at them. Night Crest ran away and Stormcloud stood in the fire as his armor heated and burned his coat.

"Now, Sweetie!"

She hit the dragon's foot and climbed up it's back. She stabbed at his scales and stood on his head. He stood on his hind legs to grab Sweetie Belle as she jumped on his head. They threw bricks at the gash in his stomach. The dragon stood still, towering over them, and crashed down to the ground.

"That dragon did us a favor by knocking down these walls."

"You can say that again, Stormy."

They stood by each other and Sweetie Belle laid her head on Stormcloud's shoulder. She beckoned Night Crest to join them and he laid down in front of them. They all stared at their hooves and each other as the black horn was cast away. They were left in their natural form. Sweetie Belle's purple and pink hair came back as curly as ever. Stormcloud purple coat and blue main was restored. Night Crest white coat and lime green hair came back. All of them were left with a black stripe through their mane and tail. A sign of their triumphs and unity. The perfect family was born.