Soul Fire

Amber felt so much pain that her body and mind was adrift, like she was in some dream. She was asleep, but awake at the same time. She could hear everything around her, but felt like she didn’t have the strength to open her eyes.

“Bliss, get the Princess,” said a mare’s voice. “Siren, get me needle and silk thread. Rosebud, get me the ointment. Hurry everypony.”

“Is she going to be ok Dr. Kindwing?” asked the Captain’s tense voice.

“Leave it to me and we’ll try our best, but I will be honest, we need the Princess to heal her because she is in such bad shape. How did this happen?” The doctor said as Amber felt a pinprick along the wound on her shoulder.

“She was doing her job protecting other ponies, and was attacked,” the Captain spoke only part of the truth. Probably so as not to scare everypony that Sombre was back.

“But Amber can normally handle herself.”

“We suspect an ambush of many. We disposed of many daemons before reaching her, and she was also preoccupied in defending Derpy.”

“ Oh no! Is she ok?”

“She’s fine. Amber healed her before herself and was low on power so she burnt the wounds to close them instead.”

“I swear this mare is going to one day give just too much.”

Amber agreed, but she would not be who she was if she didn’t. It wasn’t something that she could control really. It was like giving to others was almost an instinct more than a choice. It was actually harder for her to not give and take instead then to give to others. If her friends enforced what they wanted to give to her, rather than let her say no, then Amber knew she had good friends. Rather than friends who used her.

She sighed internally. That’s why she knew that he was the most deserving of kindness; he never wanted to accept anything that she gave to him. It was for that reason that she knew that he was the most deserving of anypony. She knew how hard it was to do things on your own, and not have help, or to have your pride or mistrust push help away. She was still learning to accept help and only just starting to learn how to ask for it. Though, she did wonder if he pushed her away because he saw her as a nuisance or if he didn’t care for her that much. She knew that it didn’t make any sense and that she was a bit... ok very paranoid about things.

“Where is she?” Princess Luna’s voice struck the air as the doors swung open.

“Just finished closing her wounds, Princess. We’re about to apply ointment, but she’s fading,” said Dr. Kindwing.

“Please leave us, Doctor. We don’t need the ointment. Captain, please stay,” commanded the Princess.

“Yes Princess,” said the Captain with a tight voice.

“So. It’s back,” the Princess said, as Amber felt her body warm and ease it’s tension as the pain ebbed away. The Captain said nothing.

“You know in order to conquer fear you must face it and let it go. Each time you bottle fear it gets worse. There’s an old saying. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I would hope to see you conquer your rage, by conquering your fear.”

The Captain was still silent and seemed to have shut himself down when he said, “Sombre’s back.”

The Captain looked into Amber’s sleeping face. The once tense brows were now relaxed. She looked like herself again; peaceful, happy, and strong. He wanted to reach out to her but held himself back. The itch under his skin was something he didn’t want to expose her to. He needed to get a hold of himself. He didn’t want to see that face, that face she made where her happy features fell into worry, sadness, and concern. He wanted to run each time that he saw that face. He felt that he couldn’t let her see his troubles because each time he saw that face he felt like he was or was going to let her down.

Amber stirred, moaning a little as she turned over towards him. Even in her sleep she seemed to crave him. He was so scared to make the same mistakes and let her down. His monster writhed inside, scratching at his skin wanting out. Good Luna, he hated himself, hated this beast. Why wasn’t he strong enough to conquer this? Dear Luna, he wanted to scream and never stop. He was itching for a fight. No, he didn’t just want a fight. He wanted to maim, kill, and just destroy everything in his wake. He could feel his back muscles tense to the point where he wondered if they would snap off. He felt like he was seeing red. Luna Damn!

Blinking her eyes, Amber awoke from her recovery sleep. She looked at him, happy but with minor concern behind her eyes. His face stayed hard, but at least he could feel himself soften just a tad away from his malicious bloodlust to the relief that came to tell him that she was okay. She smiled softly and then looked around and sat up quickly, only to waver and place a hoof on her head.

“Whoa girl, take it easy,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed as he placed hooves on her shoulders to get her to gently lay back down again.

“Where’s the grey mare? Is she ok?” she said and then gasped as her brows and face tensed in ache, only relaxing as she placed her head on the pillow once again. Her face held that normal strong state of mind that she carried, though he could see her anxiety linger on the fringes of her control.

“Derpy is fine. Thanks to you,” he said. She breathed in relief and looked down, but her body didn’t relax entirely.

“Are you ok?” she asked softly. He breathed deep without relaxing due to the itch awaiting him.

“I’m living,” he said, knowing that she was skeptical about how he was doing, and that she knew that something was up. She always tried not to pry when he was like this, because she knew he didn’t want her to.

She focused the subject elsewhere instead, “Derpy? That’s her name? You know her?”

“She’s like my little sister. We were raised by the same... pony,” he said. He should be beaming that she saved her, but the monster in him denied him that. It wasn’t going to let up. He didn’t know why he was still here. He shouldn’t bring Amber’s good spirit down by placing his contaminated one beside her.

“I have to go. You’re going to be ok now, Amber,” he said as he headed for the door.

“Please don’t…” she started to say, making him pause. “Please don’t go, Captain.”

“Why? Why should I not go?” He said, hoof on the door where he’d paused. She didn’t know how to explain it. When she woke, she had felt that eerie calm when she had awoken from the rite. She’d used that calm to stop how she really felt when all of her memories of the battle came back to her, but even using that to make herself seem calm on the outside, she could feel how scared she was. She could tell that his beast was back. She searched his energy, closing her eyes as she snapped back to herself. No. It wasn’t just that his beast was back; it was always within him, though there were times that you wouldn’t even know it was there. It was that his beast was worse than she had ever seen it. It was... It was like his energy was changing. It was becoming... Becoming like Sombre’s.

“Don’t kid yourself, Amber. I’m no good for you. Especially right now,” he said as he left. Amber reached out a hoof, wishing she could stop him, and that she had the voice to tell him everything without fear. Her fear not of him or his beast, or his changing energy, she clearly knew that, but she was scared of losing him. She felt selfish in pulling him back to her as he first tried to leave. She felt utterly terrified of him leaving, and ashamed… ashamed because she was being selfish. It was for this reason that she was also scared of herself, of her wants, and so she stopped herself from saying or doing anything. She just didn’t know what to do or say, not just to help him, but also to save her from sounding and feeling weak.

Staring at the door that he left, Amber could feel her chest and throat tighten as a single tear formed and fell onto her cheek.  She breathed in a tight breath as more followed, feeling as if somepony had taken a hold of her heart and squeezed it almost too tightly to beat. Placing her face in her hooves she cried alone. Thinking that at least no one could see her.

No more. He couldn’t accept her kindness. He couldn’t let her do it, the Captain thought as he let the wind carry him over to Derpy’s tree in Ponyville. It was still very early in the evening, as Amber awoke just before moonrise. Derpy should still be up. He said that he would check on her. He would check in on her and leave. He shouldn’t even be going anywhere near anypony in this state of mind, but a promise was a promise. And he wasn’t going to break his word. Landing at Ponyville’s Post Office, the Captain knocked on the door.

“Hello?” Derpy said on the other side as she cheerfully went to open the door.

“No Derpy. Wait before you open that,” said FreeFall on the other side. “Who’s there?”

“It’s the Captain, FreeFall. You can let me in,” the Captain said, annoyed for no good reason. His beast tinged the tone of his voice.

Freefall quickly opened the door, “Sir. I’m sorry I didn’t know it was you.”

“Stand guard outside,” the Captain commanded.

“Big Brother!” Derpy squealed as she ran into his chest and gave him a big hug. The Captain was shocked by her reaction, even though he shouldn’t be considering it was Derpy. He felt tenser than a cable line, but felt just a molecule of calm in receiving that enthusiastic hug, but even here he could feel the wrath in him towards the one who had hurt her and everything else in the world. The same. It was the same with both of them.

“Yay, you’re here. How is she? Is she ok? What was her name again?” Derpy said with a sweet smile.

He couldn’t help but smile a bit in turn, “Amber is ok. She’ll be fine.”

“That’s great. I’m so happy that she is. She’s too nice to be hurting. She is such a pretty pony too,” Derpy giggled. The Captain smiled internally. Derpy was always so kind to give compliments to everypony. Her bubbly personality also made one feel like nothing in the world could go wrong in that moment that you were with her. Damn it to hell, he wanted to scream and kill this beast within him for ruining that.

“Is she like you, Big Brother?” Derpy asked.

“Like me how, Derpy?” said the confused Captain.

“A protector? She can change like you too.”

“No she is a...” the Captain started to say.

“Healer? Medium?” he thought, not knowing which one. Then he thought of how Sombre called him a Protector and her a Healer. Rage blasted through him that Sombre was even on his mind at all. He breathed deep, attempting to calm himself a bit before answering.

“She’s a Healer, Derpy. And a very good one at that. She’s strong and protects others too. She tries to always put others first,” he said somberly.

“Why are you sad, Big Brother?” said Derpy with a small worried but curious face. He could see the light of her bubbly nature in her eyes. He shouldn’t be here right now. Seeing the worry on her face. He just shouldn’t be around anypony right now. Closing his eyes, he could feel the rage burn inside him. He should be out there hunting Sombre, he thought. If he had this beast, he should at least use it. He just had to make sure everypony stayed away from him and his beast. He wasn’t worth their getting hurt.

“It’s okay, Derpy. Everything will be okay soon,” he said.

Pulling on a brave face, the Captain smiled for Derpy. She smiled brightly return. No pony seemed to have a brighter smile then hers. He looked away, feeling completely torn.

“I must go now, Derpy. Okay?” he said.

“No. Don’t go, Big Brother. Please stay and have some dinner muffins and chocolate milk with me,” she said as she grabbed onto his leg.

“I’m sorry but I can’t. I have to go,” he replied softly.

Derpy pouted; he normally couldn’t resist that but his beast was scratching at every inch of his skin and he needed to get away from here. He looked to the door and walked out.

“Protect her, Freefall,” The Captain said as he launched into the sky.

“Yes sir!”

Through the winding woods and trees of the Everfree Forest, an eerie laugh bit at the early night sky. Sombre couldn’t hide his laughter from Equestria, as he looked to the moon.

“I’ll start by ruling the night, Luna. Your palace shall be mine, but first I must find it. How carefully you hide my dear, but not for long,” he said as he laughed.

He was alive again and now no pony could stop him. He would have vengeance on all those ponies who had shunned him. On Celestia and Luna, for banishing him to the shadows, and on the homes of those ponies in Ponyville who destroyed him. The Crystal Empire would not only be his once more, but it would all be his. No pony in all of Equestria would ever hurt or take things away from him again. And no pony would ever disrespect him. If he couldn’t be loved or respected then he would be feared. And everypony would suffer under his wrath. All he needed was more power.

“You. What’s our status?” Sombre motioned to the obake beside him. The obake was in the form of a smoky giant spider. Stepping forward, he sounded an earsplitting screech that echoed into the sky. Soon little spiders that were some of the other newer obake started to crawl out of the forest and into the ruins that was their current fortress. Climbing up the legs of the larger spider, they all gathered upon the larger obake’s back. Soft sounds of clicking and clattering sounded around the smoky cloud of spiders. The largest obake then squealed and squeaked to Sombre as his large menacing jaws clicked and clacked the air before him.

“Perfect. The Captain is already there. You, the badger! Have we gathered enough souls and energy?”

The large badger let out a hoarse scream and then growled as his form shifted and changed with the wind, moving from smoky to solid and back.

“Wolves, Foxes, Snakes, and Raccoon Dogs. Do we have enough fighters?”

A chorus of barks, howls, yips, yaps, growls, hisses, and screams filled the air as the shadows of smoky apparitions leaked into the ruins. Invading the moonlit cracked flooring into a black and dark expanse of seething shadows.

Sombre laughed at the response, “Then we attack. Make way for Ponyville!”