Chapter 13

It was warm.

Darkness around me but instead of a cold feeling of emptiness there was warmth all around me.

'Where am I?' I ask myself, trying to find any way to orientate myself.

Nothing. Only darkness.

'You are in it's embrace' a voice whispers, a strong voice, a kind voice.

'Which's embrace?' I look around, still searching for anything else than darkness.

'The suns' light errupts from the darkness itself, blinding me. I close my eyes, shielding them from the rays that are about to burn my eyes away.

'Open your eyes' the voice whispers, her calm tone taking every fear away, every sad thought, clearing my mind of all the sad memories that were burning in it.

'Who are you?' I ask, opening my eyes slowly, the darkness is gone, everything turned white.

A white figure, big but slender, sits before me, on the light, her long pink mane reaches down onto the invisible floor.

She smiles.

Celestia smiles.

'Celestia!' I shout, trying to get closer to her but my legs won't move. Celestia tilts her head a little bit, wearing a asking expression.

'Why do you call me Celestia?' she asks.

I'm confused, more than a little bit.

'Aren't you... Celestia?' I stutter. Celestia shakes her head.

'I am not the one you call Celestia' she answer, turning her head, a big black light apears, pulsing like a heart.

'This is Celestia, her being' she looks back at me.

'Her soul'

My eyes open.

And the first thing that strucks me is pain. Massive, tormenting pain digging deep into my brain.

I growl and look around, looking for clues where I may be.

"You are nowhere" the same voice from before answers.

I turn around and see Celestia sitting right next to me, her long pink mane curling around on the floor.

"Nowhere?" she nods.

"A place where souls go that show remorse or any other strong emotion of having died" my eyes widen.

"No" she looks at me, still wearing a calm expression.

"No!" my voice rises, I start to breath heavy.

"NO!"

The room around me shatters.

I see myself.

Lying in a bed, blood soaked bandages around my both shoulders, Shining standing right next to me, a sad expression on his face.

"Shining?" I look at him, no reaction.

"Shining? Please, say something" I walk closer to him.

"Shining!" I raise a hoof trying to shake him but my hoof passes through him.

I stumble and fall through him, hitting my head hard on the floor.

"This is you."

She stands on the other side of the bed, looking down on me, still wearing a calm expression.

"This can't be" I answer, looking up at her, anger filling my voice, "I'm here! I'm not lying there!" my voice turns down, my tone gets sadder and sadder with every spoken word.

"I'm here" I whine.

Finally a reaction from the not-Celestia, sadness.

"True" she answers as she walks right through the bed, through me, through Shining Armor, "but at the same time, you are not. As I said, you have remorse" she looks back at my corpse.

"Remorse?" I look at myself, my doppelganger.

'Remorse!' a dark, heavy voice shouts, echoing through the hall.

'Celestia' turns around to me, her calm expression back on her face.

"Do you want to see your remorse?" she asks almost happy, a warm motherly smile appearing on her face.

Slowly, so very slowly I nod.

The light disappears.

Darkness again.

A spotlight appears, right on me, a second appears in front of me, shining down on a doppelganger of me.

My eyes widen.

I turn away and empty my stomach. I wasn't prepared to see that. I look back, trying to prepare me this time.

My eyes widen again.

My doppelganger has twisted and broken limbs, long black nails keeping them in place, dark blood oozing out of every cut on it's body. Long, boney horns rise out of my head and my eyes melt away. Its teeth grow longer and pointier now the weapons of a carnivore. Its back breaks in half, rising back on it's backlegs the whole upperbody turns in 180° showing now it's back to me.

It turns around, it's face covered in the black blood, the hollow eyesockets now filled with red slits. The fronthooves break and crack, every last part of the bones break away as long nails grow out turning them into claws.

It looks at me.

One of it's hooves reaches back. A loud sound echoes through this place as it pulls out a dark twisted form of Garnjiel.

It screeches.

The sound is empty, hollow, sad.

"Reeeeemorrrseeee" it gargles, pointing at me with the other hoofclaw.

It gasps and wheezes, red tears streaming down it's broken face.

It throws the blade up, it disappears in the darkness.

It throws back it's arms and opens it's maw for a loud scream, a sad scream. A hollow scream.

It falls down on it's kness, falling down on all it's four limbs. I look up.

The sound of air that get's split reaches my ears.

With another screech Garnjiel impales itself into the creature, pinning it down on the floor. Another scream, this time filled with pain, it flails around.

"It hurts!" it screams, "IT HUuuuuUrrrRRRtTTSsss!!!" blood filling it's throat.

'Celestia' appears behind it, walking closer to it, it looks down on it with sorrow.

"Sleep" she whispers, silencing the creature.

A last breath escapes its throat as it turns to stone.

She looks at me, her face still showing sorrow.

"This is your remorse" she walks around the statue, stopping in front of me, "this" she turns around and looks at it, "is you" my eyes widen.

I fall down on my haunches, still looking at it mouth agape.

"A manifestation" she turns to me her face still sad, "like Skull" I look at her.

Another light appears, a statue of Skull in her other form, impaled by my sword.

"She was hatred" I stand up and walk closer, looking at her, her face twisted in hate and anger.

"You are penitence" I turn around, seeing her walking closer to me, "you will turn into this if you don't stop filling your soul with remorse and sadness, the essence will grow" my eyes widen again.

"It will grow until your very being can't take it's darkness anymore, transforming into a more fitting form, twisting it into this" she moves her left hoof up to Skulls chest, "in Skulls case, a nemesis" light emits from the hoof, a dark crystal slowly grows out of it, pulling it out she holds a crystal in her hoof, as big as a heart.

"The essence of hate" she speaks quietly, her voice twists, turning it down a few octaves, she drops the crystal shattering it.

My thoughts whirl around, it's too much to take.

"What can I do?" I suddenly ask, looking at my own impaled, twisted form, "what can I do to stop this!?" she looks down on me.

And smiles.

Light emits from her, washing away the nemesis of Skull, a white pulsating orb appears.

"Cleanse yourself from these emotions"

I turn around and see my doppelganger sitting surrounded by a little filly, a colt, Shining Armor and 'Twilie', cuddled up in one big group hug.

'All the good luck there is in Equestria' I hear my own voice echoing through my mind.

'It's right here in this room' my doppelganger tightens her hug.

Tears start to stream down my face.

"This was the other path" I look up, seeing myself, older than I am now, looking down on me, as she speaks to me.

"This was the path you choose not to follow" she whispers walking closer to me.

She hugs me.

"True happiness can be found" I feel something warm dripping down on my shoulders, a sob.

"True happiness can be found"

"Happiness?" I whisper.

I open my eyes.

I open them and the first thing I do is scream in pain.

"Nurse!" someone shouts right next to me. I look down, seeing Shining Armor, a sad expression on his face.

The door opens and a nurse rushes in, a syringe in her mouth.

I look at Shining, gasping and growling.

"Tell me!" I gasp, "tell me they are there!" I don't dare to look down on the blood soaked bandages.

He nods.

I sigh as the nurses injects the syringes content into my veins.

My head falls back down onto the pillow, the warmth of my dreams pulling me deeper down into the darkness.

A memory of Anvil and me appears before me.

We are leaning at each other, looking up to the bright full moon, his wing tightly around my back.

"What do you say?" he asks.

"A little longer" I answer, snuggling deeper into his coat.

"Not that" he shakes his head, starting to nibble on my ear, "the other thing" I look up to him, freeing my ear from his soft nibbles.

The moment holds on, it feels like the tiem itself stopped.

I throw my fronthooves around his neck and kiss him deeply.

Time moves again as I pull myself away from his lips.

"Yes" I whisper and Anvil smiles and hugs me.

"My love" Anvil whispers into my ears.

"My love"

Author's Note

Another short chapter! Yay!

Even Siren isn't safe of emotions and their effects.

I hope to give you all a little bit of insight of the corruption, let me know if now, maybe I can explain it without spoilering, or atleast without spoilering too much.

So yes, another short chapter, another darkness and corruption chapter and.... wow even something like romance, wow. I'm surprised.

Getting pretty late here right now.... I'm going to cuddle my pillow now, good night everybody.

Well.... Whatever...

See ya next chapter.