PART 1
The Miasma
Zekana stood over her brew, satisfied, as Zemana peered down at the gray gunk her sister had created.
"Are you sure? Can it be?
This will be the cure to set us free?"
Zekana replied,
"Of course, sister of mine.
This is it...the end of our rhyme."
Zemana was skeptical, but she knew better than to question Zekana. She was, after all, the best brewer in the town of Everzebra. The gray stuff just seemed...awkward. Was this really it? The end of the curse? The Zebras had tried to find the cure for it for years, none of which actually worked.
"Just one more step to free us all.
Can't you feel this is our call?"
The sisters finished the brew off and a small mist rose off of the pot. Zemana took an empty vial and, with great precision, trapped all of the mist in it.
"Here we go, now it is time.
With this, hopefully we'll all be fine."
Zemana knew what she meant. Now it was time to bring the vial to the Council of Zebra Elders to be approved. Without approval, nopony could do anything with the vial. It would just sit and rot, unneeded in the corner of the sisters' house. If they used it without permission, Zemana and Zekana would be persecuted by the Council, thrown in jail, or worse. So the two sisters lifted the precious vial with great care, and started to walk over to the Council building.
Everzebra was filled with Zebras walking around everywhere, trying to get ready for tomorrow's upcoming Herb Harvest. All of the herbs and plants needed for brews would be ready by tomorrow, and everypony was invited to take as much as needed. Zebras were hustling about, buying extra pots and pans to be filled with plants, and getting their carts ready to be towed.
The sisters had to be very careful, bringing the vial into the Council building. But, eventually, the two were admitted to see the Elders, and the Elders reviewed their work.
Needless to say, the Council was impressed. The air brimmed with excitement as the Elders talked with each other and fought over who was to be cured first. The Old One, however, was not excited or impressed like his colleagues. He was the only one unaffected by the curse, due to fact he had bailed on his community years ago when Sombra first came to put the spell. Therefore, he didn't care much for the cure. In fact, he was angry. The Old One was glad to be the only Zebra that didn't have to rhyme. It gave him a high status in the Council. He wasn't sure if he'd regain that status if everypony was the same.
So, contradicting all the other Elders, he said:
"No."
The Council looked at him crazily.
"Sir, with all due respect,
You are really not correct!
We need to get rid of this curse,
And make our mark in the universe!" Zebran, one of the eldest, protested.
"I said no. I'll take that, thank you." The Old One extended his hoof, reaching for the vial in the heartbroken Zekana's embrace. "Who knows what this vial can contain? For all we know, these sisters can be poisoning us!"
And despite all the murmurs of despair, disappointment, and frustration, the Old One dismissed the Council, telling them all to go back to their homes to get ready for the Harvest. The Old One did the same, trotting over to his home a few feet away from the Council building.
As the Old One entered his bedroom, he set down the vial on his dresser, careful not to damage the remains. This vial could mean plenty of power for him, being the only one with the cure to the rhyme. He could make his "fellow" Zebras have a false sense of hope. But no, the Old One would never give them the cure. He would keep it, cherish it, love it. His precious.
"We dodged a bullet there, Oldie," he reminded himself. Chuckling, he plopped down on his bed, his joints creaking under the pressure, and picked up a book.
Now, while the Old One was reading, happy about the failed attempt to take his place in the Council, the vial was acting up more then ever. Inside, the mist rumbled. It was not happy about being trapped in the cramped space of the vial. Using its newfound powers, it silently popped open the vial, and started to slither out in a misty being. The mist creature looked itself up and down, and smiled, staring at its victim who was reading, of all things, in front of it.
Suddenly the creature decided she was going to be a mare, because mares are cool. Deep in her misty body, a warm sensation flowed, reminding her that her power was growing. The freedom she was feeling! That sweet freedom! Nothing like the cramped space of the vial.
In that instant, she knew that her goal would be to get more power, more freedom, more...victims.
Because she also decided she was going to be evil.
"Hehehehehehehe..." the misty mare chuckled, looking up at the Old One with wide eyes.
Not looking up from his book, the Old One replied,
"Ugh, Zekana, I'm not giving you back your vial. Give it up already. It was a daring effort, but, unfortunately, all in vain."
The laughter intensified.
The creature laughed once more. "Oh, I'm not Zekana. Far from. No, I am Zekana's creation. I am what you call the 'Vial'." Speaking for the first time, the creature noticed how lovely her voice sounded. Like sweet syrup mixed with vinegar, with the raspy tone to it. Pure evil.
The Old One must have noticed the evil tone too.
Slowly, he looked up from his book. In front of him was a terrifying creature, shimmering black, as if it was made of a murky black mist. She was obviously a mare. On the floor, next to her, was the vial, now opened and empty.
"But honestly, I don't really like that name. Oh well. You won't be the one making a new name for me though. Pity."
The Old One didn't even have enough time to scream before the mare possessed him, flooding into his senses, taking over his brain. For the creature, it was quite simple. The mist she called a body made that clear. The Old One, though, was no more. If she got out of him, the poor old thing would break, snap in half. He didn't have the strength to hold her. Even his body changed. It grew taller, more slim. His eyes turned pitch black, and in his mouth grew two fangs.
The creature was proud of her success in escaping and possessing her first pony, but she needed... more. The Old One's body was weak and frail; she felt as if it could crack at any moment. So in order to progress to real fun, the creature needed to get a more 'stable' body. What better way to find one than to go and see who was in the village?
And how fun it was to see all the Zebras screaming in despair, trying to resuscitate the Old One deep inside, stored away, while she destroyed everypony, turning them to mist before her. The fun soon turned into too much on poor Oldie. The creature had caused such a strain on him that his frail body collapsed, turning to mist.
The creature didn't even flinch as she was released into the world, showing her true self. This was fine, of course. The creature could definitely roll with this. But it was just...so fun to turn somepony the townsponies loved into something evil. It was fun crushing their dreams and hopes.
Suddenly an imaginary light bulb flashed in the creature's mind, and she took a new path, the path down the road to Zekana and Zemana's house. The ponies scampered away from her, expecting death. However, the creature wasn't interested in them just yet. Stopping in the doorway of the sisters' house, she blasted the door down without much effort.
"Oh, creator of mine, where are you? You're important to my plans!" She called out in a sing-song voice.
Instead, she was greeted by Zemana, with an angry look on her face.
"I knew you were evil from the start!
Now I will make you -"
Zemana didn't even get to finish before she was turned to mist.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Zekana's yell pierced through the screams of the other Zebras freaking out in the town.
And once again, without hesitation, the creature did something for the second time that night. Zekana contorted into a larger, rugged, green-eyed monster as the creature possessed her, and the creature's power grew immensely.
~~~~~~
Leaving the Zebra community in shambles, with almost half of their population turned to dust, the creature continued on to Equestria. Upon exiting the Everfree Forest, she found herself in the town of Ponyville. The town was fairly new, with only a few generations behind it. The town had been first populated by the Apple family, which continued to expand business with their beautiful apple orchards.
It was fun destroying the apple trees. In fact, they made more sense as dust then apple trees. Who needs apples anyway? Apples are rubbish, the creature hates apples.
Ponyville itself was pretty boring. The buildings were all made of cheap apple wood and was easy to replace. It wasn't a very populated town, and most of the ponies were asleep for the night, so there wasn't any real screaming or terror.
The battle-scarred Zekana trudged through the town, smashing the windows and burning buildings with a stomp of her hooves. The ground was covered with a layer of multi-colored dust, littering the surface of the remaining buildings. Ponies mostly died in the fires, choking to death, but still turning to dust.
The creature got bored, soon enough, but managed to half-run half-levitate above the ground, speeding at top speed to a different town, one much bigger and much more populated.
Canterlot, as always, was overtook with ponies of all species and colors. Today was the Festival of the Moon, an old pony tradition back then. Everypony was partying and enjoying the night when the creature ran in, overwhelmed with the mass crowd of ponies all waiting to be terrorized.
In the midst of the screams of ponies and the mist, another imaginary light bulb flashed in her mind.
What if she could possess Alicorn royalty?
That way she could have both the magical horn, which would give her enormous power over pony folk, and the gorgeous wings, which let her walk on clouds and fly over her opponents. And don't forget the status of them. She could control every army, every pony in Equestria!
So with lightning speed, the creature took off to the Canterlot Castle, the road paved with a pile of mist. When she got there a few minutes later (covered in mist, I might add), she was pleased to see hundreds of Royal Guards were lined up to prevent her attack.
They looked wonderful as mist.
After the fun she had destroying the Guards, the creature escaped the battle-scarred Zekana, now weak and fragile, which turned to mist before her eyes.
Now the creature was in her true form, enough to make a grown stallion scream in terror.
After a long walk through the Castle, sizing up her opponents, the creature came across a long corridor with two big thrones in it, one decorated with suns, and the other with moons. The mare most have gotten lost in its beauty because before long, somepony cleared his throat behind her.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing here, evil being?" The impatient voice growled.
The creature stood up tall and turned to face him.
"Well, I'm just biding my time in this great room. Mind if I sit?" She rudely sat down on the moon throne. The King snarled.
"Prepare to die, silly miasma," he said, preparing to fire a laser from his horn.
"Oh, hold on a second, king of the big asteroids," said the creature, startling the King. She scrunched up her face in thought. "First of all, you can't kill me. Nothing can. I am essentially mist.
"And second of all, I quite like that name. 'The Vial' was much too sci-fi movie." The creature chuckled. "'The Miasma' is creative, innovative."
The creature looked at the King, who was puzzled.
"My last host was very smart," she said, remembering Zekana. "I just hacked into her brain and voila! all this knowledge. I didn't even know that I could use memories and turn them into information for myself! How wonderful!" She clapped her misty hooves in delight.
Suddenly she remembered the King standing there, looking quizzical. Finally, he snapped out of it and spoke.
"Back to business," he said. "Prepare to die." He fired a laser bolt of pure Night at her. The body of the creature split in two, dissipating before the King's happy, stunned eyes. That was easy.
The King chuckled to himself, and then started laughing. Had this silly, stupid creature killed so many?
Then his emotions all turned to horror as the mist that had just dissipated flew back together, readjusting back into the form of the creature, who was laughing.
"My, your majesty," she said in a mocking tone. "Have you no hearing at all at your old age? Or maybe you just can't process something that you can't beat, old-timer."
"What are you saying? How did you deflect that blast?" The King inquired, his dark blue eyes expanding.
The creature looked at him.
"I can't die. That I know. I will always be hidden in the corners of Equestria, no matter what you, or your pony subjects, do. I am the mist that populates this planet. And mist never die." She looked surprised.
"Oh, that's it. There is plenty of mist at nighttime. Everything is dark, damp, and perfect for mist to thrive. Hmm. Maybe you should have sent your wife here, instead of you."
"And why is that?" The King said, humoring her.
"Because, mist can't survive when the Sun is beaming down on them. One blast of Day would have sent me packing for at least the next week." The creature stepped off the King's throne.
"No one goes out at night, do they?" The creature inquired, changing the subject. She knew what she must do now. "They relish and enjoy the daytime, the one your wife is bringing to them, and squander your night. Doesn't that make you, say, a little jealous?"
Her sly smile made the King want to throw up. But didn't it make him jealous? Wasn't he jealous that his favorite daughter, Luna, would be the runner-up Princess for all of Equestria just because the ponies favored the Day?
The King gulped, a wave of nostalgia washing over him, remembering all of the happiness and celebration his wife got, only to be met with indifference to the King and his Night. "Yes," he said. "It does make me jealous." His heart sank.
"Excellent!" the creature exclaimed as she took over the King's body, the jealousy overwhelming him, an open door for the creature.
Oh, how wonderful it was to be an Alicorn.
She felt so much power. So much darkness...
All that jealousy for his wife was boiling up to the point where that was his weakness. It was so easy possessing him. He didn't even put up a fight. All ponies have an imaginary door, the creature noticed. And the negative feeling of jealousy and hatred had unlocked the door for her, inviting her in. Her last hosts had fought so much, it was almost impossible for her to take them over and unlock the door. Now she had a weapon to use.
"Nocturne?" a voice asked, snapping her out of it.
Chuckling, she turned around, noticing the Queen had arrived. "I am no longer Nocturne," the mare replied to the voice.
The creature was not hesitant to blast the Queen with her newfound Night. She cried out in pain as the Night surged through her body, overwhelming her senses, and slumping to the ground.
"Mom? Dad?" A different voice said, belonging to Celestia.
The creature looked at her and Luna, who were standing around the door, hiding, the entire time.
"Run, darlings, run!" The Queen mustered out, as the creature silenced her with another surge of Night magic.
Celestia and Luna started crying as they ran away, somehow knowing they would never see their parents again. The creature would deal with them later. As of right now, she had a Queen to kill.
She felt no pity. She wasn't created with any.
"What are you?" The Queen cried out with her last breaths.
The creature laughed.
"I'm the Miasma," she said as she crushed the Queen with her power, turning her to orange mist.
~~~~~~
The Miasma had so much fun walking through the wrecked Canterlot Castle. She had just committed the biggest crime in Equestrian history. Killing their Queen and possessing their King? Priceless! But her job was not done. The little Princesses were sure to stop her... or at least try. Alicorns were very stubborn, she noticed.
Suddenly a random Guard, scared out of his wits, ran past her, and she trapped him in a layer of misty magic.
"You!" She yelled at the Guard. "Where are Celestia and Luna?"
Scared out of his mind, he stammered,
"Um... they... they are going... um... to find the Elements... of Harmony... to...um...stop...you."
The Miasma snarled. "And where are these Elements?"
"*Gulp* I don't know... King...put them...there...I am not... not... allowed...to know."
The Miasma growled fiercely. She looked into her host's mind.
The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, The King's thoughts said.
And so, without hesitation, the Miasma flew on her way to the Castle. As she flew on her way with incredible speed and force, the Miasma smiled. The Castle was in the Everfree Forest! Oh, so many memories!
With the powerful wings, it only took minutes to get to her desired location, clamoring into the building.
"Where are you, my sweets?" The Miasma called mockingly when she got up from the pile of broken glass she was in.
She was surprised to hear that Celestia had answered.
"Right here, monster."
"Oh, is that really a way to behave? Calling ponies monsters?" She said with fake concern.
"It is when it's about you." Turning around, the Miasma saw the two Princesses, who had no luck harnessing the Elements.
"Who are you?" Luna asked. "Where did you come from?"
"I am the Miasma. I come from the now ruined village of Everzebra, as you must have seen coming here."
Celestia gasped. "You did that?"
"I am proud to report that I did."
Luna sniffled. "Get out of my father!"
The Miasma smiled. "Do you really want me to do that? If I get out of him, he turns to mist. If you blast me with the Elements, he turns to mist. And no matter what, I live. It's a win-win for me, not so much for you."
Celestia scoffed. "So why don't you just get out? He's not our father anyway as long as you're in him. You killed him long before that. Let us fight you in your true form."
"Well, I'm quite enjoying being an Alicorn. It's quite invigorating."
"Fine then. We have no choice but to banish you with the Elements."
The Miasma cocked her head. "Nope." She disappeared in a surge of mist, using her power to teleport herself to the opposite ends of the young ponies.
"Get the Elements, Celestia! I'll distract her!" Luna yelled to her sister.
"Luna, no!"
"Just do it!"
And Luna charged at the Miasma. Cackling, the Miasma let go of her host, and the King turned to blue mist. She was in her true form now, and looking through the King's mind, she had learned how to fight.
After a few minutes of battling each other, each pony too fast for the other, the two ponies locked horns.
"I like you, Luna," the Miasma growled. "You have spirit."
"Yeah, well, I don't like you."
"How wonderful if we could work together instead of fight. We could merge and we would be so powerful over ponies. You know you want to, Luna."
"And betray my sister, the parents you killed, and Equestria? Never."
The Miasma chuckled. "But aren't you jealous, just like your father was? Aren't you a little bit pissed that Celestia will always be more important to the ponies? We could have so much power together, Luna. Together we could make it eternal night. Together we could rule Equestria."
"I found them, Luna!" Celestia yelled triumphantly, breaking Luna and the Miasma's conversation. Celestia was levitating the six Elements of Harmony.
Luna thrust the Miasma back a bit, and ran to her sister. But the Miasma wasn't finished. She teleported herself behind them and grabbed an Element from the sisters.
"No!" Luna yelled. "You won't have that!"
She used her powers of the Night to grab hold of the Element, snatching it out of the Miasma's embrace. The Element, which turned out to be Loyalty, joined together with the sisters as they started to use the Elements' power. They levitated, and their eyes turned pure white.
The Miasma didn't know what she was expecting. Whatever it was going to be, it was bad.
For she was wrong. The Elements would not kill her, or attempt to. They would banish her.
A rainbow circled around the Princesses as they unleashed the Elements.
The Miasma started to run. But deep inside she knew she would not escape this. The rainbow aimed at her. It would only take one shot.
"I will always be there, Princess!" She called out as the rainbow hit her, beginning to banish her from Equestria.
"I will always be here! And I will have my revenge! Mist never dies! And Mist always wins in the end!"
A piercing scream rose from the rainbow as the Miasma disappeared, gone from Equestria.
