The Elements of Darkness: Element #1 Suffering

The Human Option

I awoke with my arms wrapped around a pile of bones in a featureless cave

Things could be worse

I tried to escape back to the hill but the cave remained. So I started trying other memories: happy memories, sad memories, angry memories, recent memories, vague memories but nothing could take the cave out of focus

Am I locked in my own mind? Who would do that? Lust? She was angry with me but would Pride let her?

ALL THESE FUCKING QUESTIONS! WHEN WILL THEY STOP?
SHIT THAT’S ANOTHER QUESTION!

I was so angry that I did the very next thing that came to my mind, suicide. I grabbed the tibia of the skeleton next to me, broke it on the cave wall and cut my own throat with it. I stood perfectly still as I watched the blood come out at regular intervals, sixty beats per minute, forty, thirty, and finally ten.

No light headedness, no death I must be in my mind.

But the blood that was now covering the floor was very different from any blood I’ve ever seen before; it was darker than usual and moved freely about instead of pooling or drying.

Interesting. I also can’t sense it or move it with magic so is it truly my blood?

The blood started to hiss and the floor quickly melted away beneath me sending me falling down a dark hole.

Well shit

My legs hit something solid and immediately broke, the pain was immense but I was able to remain conscious for a good ten seconds before the darkness claimed me once again

______________________________________________________________________________

This time I woke lying on top of two piles of bones

Dear whatever is doing this, FUCK YOU.

I broke the first bone I could get a hold of and repeated my previous experience except this time I blacked out before I hit the ground

______________________________________________________________________________

“How long is he going to be up there.” a disembodied voice rang through my head

“Not too much longer; he seems to have made his choice.” a masculine voice responded

I tried to get a feel of where I was or even what I was but a dark void had surrounded me allowing only outside influences

“You have nothing else to contribute?”

“No your majesty.”

“You are dismissed; let no one know of your involvement.”

I could feel the now familiar crackle of magic through my legs

*Drip*

Ok I still have legs now if only I could open my eyes

*Drip*

“Guards!”

I guess that answers the question of where I am

*Drip*

Redness appeared before my eyes with a blinding intensity

*Drip*

I put my hands over my eyes to try and block out a little of the light

Hands? I wiggled my fingers Yeap hands

*Drip*

What is dripping?

“And why are we upside down?”

Pride is that you?

“Who else would it be?”

I don’t know! I can’t sense you anymore!

“Good thing I’m not the type of person to take advantage of that.”

Whatever

*Drip*

“Aaa it burns!”

“Everypony keep your distance”

And that’s the final nail in the coffin

*Drip*

My eyes suddenly focused on the scene before me; there were three guards in my cell, one’s right front hoof was smoking as the other two tried to get his armor off.

I turned my head around to get a better view of my own situation and discovered the source of my confusion. A viscous red fluid had me held fast to the ceiling but it was quickly falling away from me and onto the ground.

If I don’t do something fast I’m going to end up face-planting

*Drip*

“We’re getting nowhere! Bruiser take this pony up to the forge! If they can’t get it off of him take him to medical and have them do what is necessary!”

The afflicted pony gave the other two a terrified look as the one known as Bruiser threw him on his back and ran out of the room with him

“It’s just me and you now.”

“Could you help me down?”

The guard’s horn lit up with a custard colored cone of magic as he gently lowered me onto my feet

“Thanks bro.”

I crouched down and put my hand in the growing pool of red liquid

Why does this stuff burn ponies?

I put my hand to my mouth and stuck out my tongue

“STOP!” an unfamiliar voice yelled

I stood perfectly still

“Put it back on the ground.”

“Ok man just chill out.”

I wiped my hand on the floor

“One wrong move you chaos breeding son of a Trixie and I will shove this blade through your Celestia damned heart

“What blade?”

“This one”

A lightning bolt of pain shot through my back as a pony did a flip over me landing next to the guard

“If he does anything you don’t like just move that stiletto another two centimeters in.”

“Thanks for the help, but I wasn’t aware the shadow was read into this one.”

“As far as you are concerned we aren’t.”

The guard gave the newcomer a wink and left the room

“Are you as willing to cooperate now as before?”

That voice, the head of lies himself “You should just kill me Pale Stiletto. You know it is the proper thing to do.”

“You could do so much for us, why through your life away?”

“Why torture me for the rest of my life instead of just ending it now?”

“Aren’t you even the least bit interested in what is going on here?”

“Like you would even tell me what is really going on.”

“Come on! You know ponies can’t lie very well.”

“HOW MUCH DO I REALLY KNOW? Please tell me what I am to believe!” I shouted at the unflinching pony “That would be so helpful! I don’t even know MY OWN FUCKING NAME! I was told that the last place was a lie, what makes this one so different?”

“You can have a new life here. I can give you a new home, a new family, power, wealth, adventure, anything your heart desires. In exchange I ask only for you to bow down to the Princesses and the Shadow.”

“The Devil will tempt you with an easy way out when the way to heaven is at it clearest.”

“Starswirl’s beard! Nopony even knows if your religion had any base in the world where you are from, but the only thing that matters here is The Reaper’s opinion of you and what type of message is your defiance sending?”

“DEFIANCE? WHEN I CAME HERE I LISTENED TO YOU! I TOOK YOUR LIES TO HEART! YOU COUL D HAVE ASKED ME TO DO ANYTHING AND I WOULD HAVE!”

“Never trust the first offering of a prisoner.”

“Why even bother me in the first place? Was being separated from everything I knew not enough for you people? Why not leave me in Michael’s hands if you were just going to hold me here? What good could I possibly do from a cell? Is this supposed to make me want to accept your new offer?”

“No, I’ve seen the truth your kind. Sacrificing one of your own for the good of the whole is standard practice.”

“You do know that the only thing standing between me and my freedom right now is you?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“What’s to stop me from killing you and just taking it?”

“You tell me.” Pale responded narrowing his eyes

I tried to manipulate some of the blood that was running down my back but I failed. There was no drain of energy, no mental strain, no change at all. Either I’m imagining the blood or-

“I’ve disabled your magic.”

“You can read minds?”

“No, but I could read or face just fine.”

“How could you do that? As far as I know I am the first magical human this world has ever seen.”

“To be honest I had no idea that a little Poison Joke mixed with some extra enchantments would have any effect on you at all.”

“To be honest? Why would you even use such a phrase? I already know you as the liar you are.”

Pale’s eyes started to water “What could I possibly do to change your opinion of me?”

“Give Colgate a new body and her freedom, then I might be able to see you in a different light.”

“O Come on! You can’t expect him to do anything like that. I say we waste this fucker.”

You want me to try and kill this overly athletic knife wielding pony with my bare hands and a knife in my back?

“Is that the best test you can come up with?”

“Yes. Here you’ll need this.” I said as my hand came across my chest to rest over my heart only to find bare skin “What have you done with her!?”

“I did nothing; the guards cut her from your chest while you slept.”

“Do they understand what will happen when my blood can no longer hold the magic that binds her to the stone?”

“Yes. She will be judged by The Reaper.”

“Fuck you Pale.”

“I can take you to her to say goodbye.”

“Shit bro this guy is as crazy as you”

So you admit I’m crazy?

“Why don’t you take this knife out of my back, and give me the cure to the poison so I can give her this body?”

“You would take her place?”

“Yes, she has never done anything to me but care for me.”

“Interesting. Follow me.” Pale said trotting down the hallway

I ran after him

“What exactly did you learn about humans that you didn’t know before?”

“I saw the report from the first time Celestia made contact with your kind.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad, no one on Earth remembers her visit.”

“That’s because they all died.”

“I’m confused; tell the story from the beginning.”

“It all started when Celestia kept on having dreams of two legged creatures bowing down to her, chanting in a strange language, in and around giant square stone temples deep in a jungle. She searched all over Equestria and the surrounding countries but could find no sign of the two legged animals. Then one day a small portal opened in her chambers and for the first time she saw the creatures when she was awake; all her advisors told her not to go but she couldn’t get the dreams out of her head. Those dreams compelled her to jump through the portal and meet the strangers. When she did this the portal closed behind her locking her in their strange world. She spent ten of your years living with humans. When the harvest was good they would lead her to the altar on top of the temple and kill one of their own bathing her in the sacrifice’s blood. When the harvest was bad they would kill several people and feast on their flesh, at the end of the meal they would force the sacrifice’s heart down Celestia’s throat. Celestia tried every single day to make a portal back to Equestria but the human’s savagery, and the effort she took to try and prevent the advances of the stallions they housed her with blocked every magic she could think of. On the tenth year Celestia gave up hope until the humans started to fight each other, Celestia didn’t even try to convince them to stop and even started encouraging them by shouting the names of the humans that she knew along with all the other words she had worked out. The humans fought over every word she spoke and what they thought she meant. After months of fighting there were only ten humans left in the entire jungle. They had reconciled their differences and identified her as the root of the evil that had felled their nation. One night they came into her stables as she was sleeping with her stallions to kill her. She had to kill them with her hooves to survive! And after the last human lay dead she was finally able to create a portal back. Now do you understand what your people have done to our Princess?”

Mayans holding a sun goddess and worshiping her, trying to understand English, feeding her meat because that’s what they believed gods ate, this all makes sense

“Of course it does! He wants something from you.”

How could they want me so badly that Celestia would look past that and why not simply bind my soul like Dygon claims they did to him?

“I don’t know but I bet we can find out.”

“If she was there for ten years what happened here?”

“It was only a few hours here.”

“That must have been quite a shock.”

“Shh patrol.”

We both pushed ourselves flat against the wall as two armored Pegasus guards ran by
“Clear.”

Let us see what we can get out of him, not everything can be lies
“Weren’t you just saying that everything was I lie?”

So? I’m not allowed to change my mind anymore?

“There is the Rico I know.”

Rico?

“Well we have to name you something.”

I guess you’re right

“Are you done yet?” Pale whispered his breath tickling my face

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Come on the door is this way.” Pale said as he jumped up into the ceiling causing a small ripple in the illusion

Fake stonework? These ponies may be onto something

I jumped up in the same spot he did but the knife caught on a corner and cut deeper into my chest

“Sonofabitch!” I yelled as I pulled myself the rest of the way up

Pale trotted over to me “What’s wrong?”

I pointed to the now gaping wound on my back

“Get it out of me. Now.”

“Just one second.” He ran off into the back of the room leaving me with nothing better to do but examine my surroundings

I was in a room roughly twice as big as my cell with shelves built into the walls and tables scattered about seemingly willy-nilly

All this place needs is some chairs and better lighting to be the perfect model of a mad scientist lab

“Agreed.”

And here comes our number one pony

“I got some alcohol for the pain and a dressing for the wound but we are out of the Poison Joke antidote.”

“Well fuck you. What is the point of coming here if I can’t even do anything but say goodbye to a pony I met a few days ago while all the other ponies conspire against me?”

He pulled out the stiletto and wrapped the alcohol soaked rags around my chest

“I don’t know. Why don’t we find out?” he said as he pulled me to my feet and put the almost empty bottle of alcohol in my hand

I drank all that was left in one swig; it barely even burned my mouth but did a lot to warm my belly and followed him across the room

I haven’t eaten anything since Earth have I?

“You ate that hand and leg from the vampire”

Fuck! You think that thing is what’s making me trip balls?

“That would make sense James.”

James? Why James?

“Is now really the time to argue?”

James it is until we find something better, IF we find something better

“Here she is.” he said pointing his hoof at a table that had only two things on it, a clear gem in a gold setting and the dead body of a white suited unicorn

“What happened to the Stone? It looks so different.”

“Dawn Spreader thought she could take it out of its setting and use her own body to sustain the magic.”

“And that resulted in her death?”

“Yes, as soon as she touched the gold she fell to the ground dead and Celestia forbade any more interaction.”

I brushed my hand across the smooth surface of the gem

“I’m so sorry Colgate. I can’t do anything right.”

The gem clouded over with blue and the scent of mint filled the air

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have been afraid of you.” came Colgate’s response from the gem
“Colgate! You are still alive!”

“It’s not just me”

“Hello Love”

“Lust?”

“I was keeping watch over her when the ponies came to cut her out.”

“She saved me.”

“And not just from the void, I was able to changer her mind about you with the help of the copy of your memories i brought with me.”

“How does that even work?”

“you organized your memories into that giant book and I took it with me. I LOVE being slowly pulled apart by the strain of keeping Colgate sealed in this hunk of amber but you’d better get us back together soon, I’m running out of magic fast.”

“Well I don’t know what I can do about that. This asshole poisoned me shortly after I woke up.”

“There has to be something you can do!”

“That gold stuff is the same stuff we found in Michael right?”

Yeah

“It seemed to have its own magic; why don’t we try to use it to put them in Dawn’s body?”

You think she would be ok with that?

“Pale said she died trying to save them, so why not fulfill her last wish.”

“Pale! Can you get me some water and a clean knife?”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m making sure that Dawn Spreader doesn’t die in vain.”

Pale ran off and I placed the gem over Dawn’s heart

This better work

Pale came back with a bucket of water and a razor blade

“Here goes nothing.”

I cut below the ribcage and inserted the gem into the thoracic cavity

No blood?

“Lust! If you can hear me push out of the gem with all your strength!”

“Are you sure? If this fails it will only speed up the decay.”

“Yes I’m sure!”

I poured the bucket over the wound and tried to extend my mind to help but the poison held firm

Damn you Pale

“It feels like something is missing.”

I slammed my fist into the table

What am I supposed to do about that? I don’t know the smallest thing about magic!

“For someone who doesn’t know very much you sure have achieved a lot using it. Think! What is the first thing that comes to mind!”

A link to something living?

“Good! How about we try that?”

I put my hand in Dawn’s chest and grabbed the gem. I could feel the magic trying to come up my arm, but it was still stopped by the Poison Joke.

“Pale! Come here and help me!”

No response

“Pale where are you?” I asked as I frantically looked around the room

“What about the hair we took from his tail yesterday?”

Do we still have that? I remember putting it in my own hair back when I was a pony.
“We don’t have time for questions!”

I ran my free hand through my hair and two clear strands of hair came away with it

Clear hair? So Pale has white skin and polar bear hair?

“I said no questions!”

I placed one of the hairs on the gem so that it connected the gold to both the gem and Dawn’s heart

A red light flashed and the skin of my hand started to burn. Then everything stopped

“Lust!”

“Lust!”

“This isn’t working! We need a stronger connection!”

”Polar bear hair is hollow right?”

Yeah

“Fill it with your blood and try again.”

I picked up the blade from the table and wrapped my fist around it forcing it deep into my hand.Then I took the other hair and put it next to the burnt remnants of the first one.

The red light returns and pulses throwing me to the ground.

Did I get it?

Yes you did

Thank Celestia

She's not safe yet, that body is dangerously low on blood

Then why are you here!

To help you finish the job

A steady stream of blood linked my hand to Dawn’s glowing body

How are you doing that?

I wasn’t with you when you got poisoned

Oh yeah, so how much blood does she need?

All of it

Can you make sure she lives a happy life for me?

Of course love

A smile makes its way across my face as my heart slows, forty beats per minute, thirty, twenty, ten-

“Are humans always this exposed? I can see his ribs and he doesn't appear to have a sheath.”

“Goodbye Colgate.”

“Goodbye James.”

"Goodbye? Where is he going?"

"Home"