Dark Light

Dark Light woke up, rather early and noticed that both the apples were still asleep, so he started getting ready for the day ahead. After he had finished (about half an hour later) Big Macintosh awoke and looked at Dark Light’s Bed, turning towards the grey unicorn and giving him a death stare and just as he did the orange mare bed woke up, and got out of Dark Light’s bed. She looked at her brother and saw where he was looking at.

“Big Macintosh! Why the hay are y’all starin’ at Dark Light like that for?” She said firmly.

“What the Hay are you doin’ in his bed?” He argued

“I went out of our room because I couldn’t sleep and looked at some of the stain glass windows. Turns out A.J. had the same problem so she went out of her room as well and we started talking. She fell asleep on me and I didn’t want to go in to the girl’s room in case I disturbed them so I took her here and put her on my bed and slept on the floor. Nothing explicit happened, Big Mac. I do have a wife, and a foal, and A.J. has a Coltfriend,” The Grey stallion said calmly.

“OK, Ah believe y’all. Sorry fer being suspicious of y’all,” Big Macintosh said.

“it’s fine fella, y’all had every right tah be suspicious,” Applejack said before Dark Light could say anything.

“A.J. bein’ fergivin’. Now Ah AM suspicious,” Big mac said and laughed, joined by Dark Light, as the mare sighed.

“Thank yah kindly fer lettin’ me sleep in yer bed Dark Light,” She said after the two had stopped their hysterics. He smiled at her as if to say ‘no problem’. She nodded and left to go back to her room. The two stallions still in the room started to pack up their things after they had both got ready for the day’s activities, which almost entirely consisted of walking, as they needed to be as subtle as possible on their way to Tartarus. A carriage was out of the question, so they had to go on hoof. The ten ponies that were leaving had a very hearty breakfast in order to build up energy for the day. Dark Light decided to lead the group as the others either weren’t good group leaders or should have to worry about an entire group of ponies as well as having to focus on casting a phenomenally important spell to conceal the group. If they failed, all of Equestria would fall, and Dark Light would do anything to prevent that. Besides he was probably the best leader in the group, if you excluded the captain of the royal guard, who was hesitant about Dark Light leading until his sister brought him to his senses.

They set off at about eleven in the morning, with Dark Light leading and Big mac at the back to make sure they were all together. A certain over eager pegasus continuously flew ahead only to be shouted at by Dark Light to stay in the group. The journey they were taking was long and difficult, bringing them past the boarder of Ponyville and in to an unclaimed piece of land. There was a reason it was unclaimed. It held the door to Tartarus and there was too much of a danger to any ponies who lived there, therefore nopony wanted to live there, and nopony did. The journey there would take at least three weeks with the ten adventurers having to keep a low profile, which would slow them down. There journey back would be quicker. They would have no reason to hide and could walk at a fast pace.

As the day went on, and night drew near the ponies put down their few bags, one large bag that Dark Light carried that had all the food, and a few smaller bags that contained other essentials. Each pony carried a small saddle bag that had a bottle of water with a tube connected to it. This made it easy to get to your water instead of having to slow up the entire group and open your bag, take out your bottle, drink from it and put it back. It was Twilight’s idea. The group looked for a clear but visibly shielded area where they could rest for the night. They didn’t have any tents but they had a fire they could use to keep warm. This was a luxury they wouldn’t have later in the journey, so they made the most of it. They all sat down around the fire and talked for about an hour before there was a slightly awkward silence.

Then Shining armour broke it.

“Hey Dark Light, What did you mean yesterday?”

“When? Yesterday was a long day, I said a lot of things,” He replied hoping that the prince wasn’t going where he thought he was going.

“When you yelled at Princess Celestia, You mentioned what she said ‘all those years ago’,” The prince said.

“Well, what about it?” The grey stallion said getting defensive. Of all the times to share his past, now?

“What did she say?” Shining Armour said, getting a bit frustrated.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business!” Dark Light said aggressively, glaring at the questioning stallion. Shining armour sighed.

“We need to know why you were so against killing Chimera! If we don’t it could jeopardise the mission, and besides he’s your enemy so don’t get aggressive towards me!” He nearly shouted. This time Dark Light sighed. He decided to tell him.

“Fine, but don’t expect some sugar coated namby-pamby story. This is real life, MY life,” The grey unicorn said. He told him. Him and the other eight ponies. He told them all about the factory, and the forced labour, about the torment, the revolution, the deaths, the suffering…Sweet Leaf. As he let the words escape more memories flooded in of his mother and the white stallion with the fedora that came and told him of his parents’ demise, him leaving his house, it falling in to disrepair as he was the only pony that lived there and he started to destroy in it in rage and sadness. Then he decided to tell them about what happened as soon as he had left the factory after the Pyrrhic victory over the factory overseers.

Shining Armour had a sullen look on his face. He knew then why Dark Light had been so defensive.

“Dark Light, I-I’m sor-“ He started only to be interrupted by the now enraged and depressed grey unicorn.

“Yeah, of course you are. Everypony says the same thing. ‘Oh Dark Light, I’m so sorry’,” he said the last part in a high pitched voice. “Here’s the facts, yes it happened, and yes you say you’re sorry but no you are not sorry. If you hadn’t been nosing about in my life, you would have never heard that story in the first place. Don’t tell me you’re ‘sorry’ to me, I’ve had enough of pointless pity. Only when you’ve been through what I have will I accept your pity,” The Angered grey unicorn said. A single tear running down his cheek. He stood up and started to trot away.

“Now where’d yah think you’re goin’?” Applejack asked. Dark Light turned his head.

“AWAY! FROM ALL OF YOU!” He yelled at her and faced forwards, continuing his trot. The orange mare sat down, and after a minute of just staring at where Dark Light had wondered off to and then she buried her head in her hooves and started to cry. Rainbow Dash flew over and comforted her as Twilight walked over to her brother and glared at him.

“Well look at what you’ve done!” She said. He was his older brother but it was her turn to scold him. “Not only have you upset the pony that is meant to protect us, but because of you, he’s wondered off. What if he doesn’t come back, huh? What then? And look at Applejack! You’ve messed up the group’s moral as well,” The prince was taken aback by his sister’s words and tone.

“But Twilie I-“

“Don’t you dare ‘but Twilie’ me mister. You have a lot to think about,” The purple princess interrupted. All of the ponies still around the fire were staring and the two siblings, aside from Applejack, who was still crying and Rainbow Dash, who was still comforting her. Shining Armour sighed and looked at the ground, completely guilt ridden. His sister went over to Applejack and comforted her as well. Just as she reached her, the crying mare ran off in the same direction that Dark Light had gone shouting his name through hers tears.

“A.J.! STOP! COME BACK!” the rainbow maned pegasus shouted going to fly to her but being stopped by something that was grabbing her tail. She looked behind her to see it was Twilight, but she wasn’t using magic as she usually did, she was using her mouth.

“Dammit dath, we’ve jush loshed two ponieth, we can’th losh anofer,” She said with the tail still in her mouth. The Pegasus gave up and sat next to the fire and Twilight glared at her brother in a ‘this is your fault’ sort of way, discouraging him even more.

“They’ll be back by morning…I hope,”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“D-Dark Light! Dark Light!” Applejack shouted through her tears, re had been running in the mass of trees for a few minutes now. “Dammit, how far’d ‘e go?” She said to herself in a worried tone. She looked around and saw a lake that was glistening in the moonlight. There was a silhouette in the reflected light and Applejack approached it. She was only a few feet away from it now.

“You know why I love sitting by the water, Applejack?” The silhouette said. She recognised the voice. It was Dark Light. He could tell it was Applejack from the sweet aroma of apples that always seemed to linger about her and the weight in the sound of the hoof prints. They were heavy enough to be different from an average earth pony,  with the orange mares muscle that had built up from her years of apple bucking she weighed more than the average mare. She sat down next to him, she was still crying, but it was just tears. No noise apart from the occasional sniff.

“It shimmers,” Dark Light said. A.J. got his meaning, he missed his wife. “Before me and her got together, I always slept alone. I had never shared a bed with anypony,” He continued. “I had nightmares. Every night, I told her about it and she stayed with me for one night. That night, I didn’t have any nightmares.” He looked at the ground. “Last night, when we had our little conversation, about why we couldn’t sleep? I didn’t tell you. Yes, I was worried about killing Chimera but the real reason was that… it was because Shim wasn’t there. The only reason I got to sleep later was because you were there. I felt protected. It’s the same with Shim. I can fight of the night mares with her … and you,”

“Yah know, ah was six when mah parents died, both the same year but at different times. Mah ma died givin’ birth ta mah sister an’ mah pa died savin’ his brother from some timber wolves when ‘e came tah visit. Ah told mah sister that mah ma an’ pa died in a storm, ah didn’ wan’ ‘er feelin’ all guilty like. It still haunts me tah this day. Ah’ve been lien’ to ‘er for ‘er entire life. Ah’ve been able tah sleep without nightmares because a’ clover, an’ that was another reason why ah, couldn't sleep last night, so ah kinda just returned a favour by helpin’ you sleep,”

The orange pony leaned over to kiss him on the cheek but ended up hitting his lips as he turned his head at the last second. It took both of them a moment to realise what was happening but neither of them tried to stop it. So the kiss continued for nearly half a minute before they both backed away.

“Oh Sweet Celestia!”

“Oh Horse apples!”

The two of them said in unison, both blushing massively. They both smiled at each other, both trying to think of something they could say that would break the awkward silence.

“Well, if it is any consolation, you are an awesome kisser,” The grey stallion said, getting a laugh and a more intense blush from the orange pony. “Clover’s a lucky guy,”

“Aw shucks, thanks sugar cube, ta be honest you ain’t that bad either,” The two of them laughed and decided to head back to the others. Just before they left, Applejack put a hoof on Dark Light’s shoulder. “Ya think we should stay here till mornin’?”

“That might be a good idea, we could actually see where we’re going,” The stallion said. They both lied down by the body of water and slept. Dark Light didn’t have any nightmares either.

The morning came and the two ponies awoke, and found their way to the others, that showed great relief at seeing both of them. Shining armour came over to Dark Light and apologised for being intrusive. Dark Light said it was fine and even grabbed him for a hug which, even though the prince wasn’t expecting it, he still accepted it.

“I should be apologising, I ran off, and shouted. So, yeah, sorry guys. And gals,” The grey unicorn said. Everypony joined in the hug that was going on between two of the three stallions in the group. After the embrace had finished the ponies packed up and set of on the rest of the journey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There they were. After three weeks of trotting and being attacked by ponies who had been consumed by Chimera’s evil. They had arrived at the door to Tartarus. They had already planned their move; they had to charm Cerberus with calm music, which was provided by a small harp and some magic, from Twilight. After that they had a small briefing session and cool down,

Then they entered the closest thing to hell that anypony could think of.