Tara, Fleur-Di-Lis, Camille, and the Moochick followed Claudius down the path that led to Midnight Castle. No one knew it at the time, but Enchantra had them right where she wanted them.
The foursome walked up to the dark, black, castle at the edge of the land. The castle was surrounded by a large moat.
"So how are we gonna cross that?" Tara asked.
"That's easy," Claudius said. "Watch this."
Claudius held up his magic wand and gave it a wave. A blue ribbon of light shot out of it, and gathered itself around the groups' feet. It lifted them into the air, across the moat, and over to the castle. It flew them to the top of a tower, and dropped them off.
"This way," Claudius said. He opened a door, and led the others down the stairs.
"I hope you know where we're going," Fleur-Di-Lis said.
"I would if we could get some light," Claudius said. "Unicorns are known to light up their horns, you know."
"Yeah, Fleur-Di-Lis, give us some light," Tara said.
"I don't know," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "I never know what's going to happen when I light up my horn."
Fleur-Di-Lis closed her eyes and bent her head. She lit up her horn, and the strangest thing happened. A bright blue light shot out of it and began bouncing against the walls of the hallway. The group had to duck to avoid getting hit!
"What in the world is that?!" Camille shouted.
"My word!" the Moochick shouted.
"How do you stop it?!" Tara yelled.
"I'll handle it!" Claudius shouted. He held his wand high in the air. "Alakazam!"
The blue ribbon of light flew directly to the crystal ball on Claudius's wand and it was sucked in. Fleur-Di-Lis blushed scarlet, and dimmed her horn.
"Oh Claudius! Everybody, I'm so sorry!" she shouted. "I didn't know that was going to happen!"
"If that's one unicorn's magic, I hate to see what would happen if a whole herd of them got their horns together!" Camille commented.
"Never mind that now," Tara said. "Come on!"
To avoid any other ribbons of bright light, Claudius lit up the crystal ball on his wand. They were lucky Enchantra hadn't seen them! In any case, they arrived at the throne room, but didn't go inside. Claudius and Fleur-Di-Lis pressed their ears against the door and heard mad cackling inside.
"Soon, the world will be mine forever!" she shouted. "Eternal darkness will cover the land, and I will reign as queen. And there's nothing Claudius Nelson and his friends can to do stop it. There's no defeating the Rainbow of Darkness!"
Claudius immediately backed away from the door and got a sick look to his face. Fleur-Di-Lis stared at him, worriedly.
"Claudius?" she asked.
"Oh dear lord, not the Rainbow of Darkness!" Claudius shouted.
"What's wrong with the Rainbow of Darkness?" Camille asked.
"If Enchantra unleashes that thing, we'll be stumblin' around in the dark for all eternity," Claudius said. "She hates the light."
"Oh my," the Moochick said. "Then we must get it away from her. Yes, yes."
"But how?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked.
"We'll break down the door to the throne room and swipe it!" Tara shouted.
"We can't do that!" Camille retorted. "You can't just rush into things without a plan of attack!"
"What's so hard about going in there and grabbing it?"
"The fact that she can slice us to ribbons? We have to be cunning about this. She'll probably be expecting us charging in there. We need a better plan of attack. If you'll just give me a moment, I should be able to come up with one."
"This is no time to think, this is a time for action!"
"Would you two keep it down?!" Claudius hissed. "She'll hear us!"
"Well, I can't help it if she's all talk and no action," Tara said. "I don't see how she can help us. Thinking of a plan will take too long!"
"I don't see how barging in on her will do anything, either," Camille said.
"Come on, knock it off, girls," Fleur-Di-Lis said, trying to restore order. "Camille's an asset to this team because she's got a brain. Tara's an asset because she's got brawn. We all have to work together."
"Right," Claudius said. "And we can't wait for a plan, Camille. We have to go in now."
Claudius was about to open the door, when it slowly creaked open.
"Everybody hide!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted, and everyone ducked out of sight. Fleur-Di-Lis winked out.
Enchantra walked out of her throne room, smiling to herself. She was thinking the world would be hers soon.
"Tomorrow night," she said. "At midnight, by the light of the full moon, I'll bring in the night that will never end! The world will be mine!"
And with that, Enchantra walked down the hall, cackling madly, leaving the door to the throne room open. Claudius watched her go, until she was out of sight. Then he ran into the throne room.
"Come on!" he shouted.
The others followed Claudius into the throne room, quickly and quietly as they could. They had to act fast, before Enchantra could come back. They came across a table, where a pouch sat. The pouch seemed to be pulsating, and a strong, heartbeat type sound was coming from it.
"What's that?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked.
"The Rainbow of Darkness," Claudius replied. "It's what gives Enchantra her power. Well, part of it, at least."
"What can she do with that thing?" Tara asked, picking up the pouch.
"Plenty," Claudius replied. "It's more powerful than it looks. Tara, put that thing down, you're makin' me nervous!"
Tara shrugged, and put the pouch down. Immediately, the Moochick picked it up and looked at it.
"My, my, it doesn't look like much to me," he said. "I'm inclined to agree with Tara. What could be inside that could cause such commotion?"
The Moochick started to open the pouch. The others got a nervous look on their faces.
"Mr. Moochick, no!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted.
"Stop!" Claudius yelled.
But it was too late. The Moochick opened the pouch, and a dark, purple streak came shooting out of the pouch. The group ran to avoid getting hit with it.
"What did you do?!" Camille yelled at the Moochick.
"Oh dear," the Moochick said. "Something tells me I shouldn't have done that. Hmm."
The Rainbow of Darkness flew back into the pouch, which was laying on the floor. The evil laughter of Enchantra was heard at the door of the throne room, and the group turned around to look. There she was, standing at the door, holding the Rainbow of Darkness.
"You fools," she said. "Do you honestly think you can defeat me?"
"Good always triumphs over evil!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted. "Don't you know that?!"
"Not this time, little pony," Enchantra said. "Soon, you will join all your unicorn friends."
Enchantra started to open the pouch, when a beam of light hit her right in the eyes. She screamed and dropped the pouch.
"I warned you, Enchantra," Claudius said. "I'm not about to let you plunge the world into eternal darkness."
"Light is so overrated," Enchantra said. She pointed her index finger at Claudius. "You've been asking for this a long time now, Claudius! And now you're gonna get it!"
Enchantra began blasting her magic out at Claudius. Claudius deflected most of it with his magic wand, and shot out his own magic at the sorceress. Magic was flying everywhere. The Moochick, Tara, Camille, and Fleur-Di-Lis ducked in every which way to avoid getting blasted with all the magic!
"Do something, Mr. Moochick!" Camille shouted.
"Well, ahh, I'll do my best," the Moochick said, rolling up his sleeves.
The Moochick aimed at the ground under Enchantra's feet, and wiggled his fingers. Suddenly, the entire castle began to shake, and everyone lost their balance and fell. But that didn't stop the castle from shaking!
"What did you do?!" Tara yelled.
"Oh dear," the Moochick said. "That didn't work out as well as I thought. No, no, it didn't!"
Enchantra tried to maintain her balance, but she ended up falling. She jerked her arm as she fell, and a piece of her magic shot out of her finger, blasting Claudius directly in the chest. Thrown off guard, Claudius fell. Finally, the castle stopped shaking. Realizing she had zapped Claudius, Enchantra stood up and smiled evilly.
"Time for this to end," she said. "Claudius Nelson, you may have lived for six hundred and fifty years as a wizard. But now, heh, heh, you're not going to live much longer."
Enchantra kicked Claudius's magic wand away, and hovered her hands over his back. Claudius's body began to glow in a dark purple light, and his magic left his body, turning him into a mortal.
"Now that the magic that was stored in your body is mine," Enchantra said, walking for the wand. "I have to destroy all the magic you ever had in the world!"
"You have to get the wand first!" Claudius shouted. He may have been down, but he wasn't out. He grabbed his magic wand, and threw it to Tara. She caught it, and ran with it. The others followed.
"Let's get out of here!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted.
The Moochick, Camille, and Claudius ran out of the castle as fast as they could. Enchantra let them go. She watched them leave, and smiled.
"They'll never defeat me now," she said. "Enjoy your last hours, Claudius. By midnight, I'll never have to worry about you again."
The quintet went back to the Mushromp, far, far away from Midnight Castle. They wanted to get away from that awful place as fast as they could.
"What do we do now?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked.
"I'm not sure," Claudius said, sitting down. "All I know is that I'm fully a mortal now, and there's not much I can do."
"But isn't there still magic in your wand?" Camille asked.
"Yes," Claudius said. Then he sighed. "But I'm not long for this world."
"What do you mean?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked.
"Mortals can't live over six hundred and fifty years," Claudius explained. "The magic that was in my body kept me alive all these years. Without it . . . . ."
Claudius didn't need to go on. The others got the point.
Late that night, Claudius could feel his strength deteriorating. The group was gathered at the Moochick's cottage, all standing around Claudius, who was laying almost lifelessly on the Moochick's bed.
"It won't be long now," he said, weakly, as he made some final notes in his book. He closed it, and handed it to the Moochick, along with his magic wand.
"Mr. Moochick, take great care in these," he said. "You can't let Enchantra get them. The wand contains all the magic I have left, and the book contains my secrets and spells. You must give them to someone deservin' the power they contain."
"How will I know who to give them to?" the Moochick asked.
"You will know," Claudius said. "Believe me, you'll know. I don't have much time. It's up to you four to stop Enchantra. You must find the other unicorns in order to do so."
"But Enchantra has them all," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "And besides, Claudius, we can't do this without you!"
"You have to," Claudius said. "You all play important parts here. The Moochick has his magic, Fleur-Di-Lis has her spirit, Tara has her strength, and Camille has her brain. The four of you must work together and overcome Enchantra. Have faith. The whole of Dream Valley is countin' on you."
"But Claudius . . . . " Fleur-Di-Lis started.
"Fleur-Di-Lis, you are the most important part of this mission," Claudius said. "You must use your unicorn powers to stop Enchantra, and free your friends."
"But I can't. I can't do anything except wink in and out. And that light I made . . . . . it's just useless blue ribbon!"
"You have to, Fleur-Di-Lis. You have to."
The wind began to blow just then. It came threw the window, and blew out the candle that was in the room. The Moochick's clock struck midnight. The cottage in the Mushromp was silent.
Claudius Mikhail Nelson was dead.