The Dragon, the Draconequus, and the Daughter of Man
Does this Darkness Have a Name
Discord sighed, as much as he hated to admit it he was a social creature. As Mother's Day approached he was privy to many stories shared by his royal and not so royal friends. Fluttershy had shared several sweet stories about her mother and how they both worked as volunteers at an aviary in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash even told a few embarrassing stories about her own mother had tricked her into eating liquid rainbow after Dash refused to eat what was left on her plate. The mirth that Celestia and Luna glowed from when talking about their own beautiful mother was intoxicating. And just like other intoxicating substance, it led him to be rather introspective.
His own mother was a pony, as strange as that sounds, a mare with a coat whiter than snow. How and why a creature such as himself and been born to somepony so beautiful and perfect was beyond his understanding. From the start of his life he had been a creature of chaos and just like chaos he had sprang from almost nothing at all. As incredulous as it was, Discord had no father. He was as others would say, a virgin birth.
But, how could something as twisted as himself come from something so pure. His mother had never known the touch of stallion or even a mare. She was young, giddy, mischievous, and full of boundless energy. And yet she could in a moment of sweetness become so still, as she wrapped a loving wing around him, covering him in a soft blanket of white, protecting him from the darkness of the world.
She was also protective. Her tiny frame had so often bolted between himself and other pegasi like his mother, both foal and adult alike, that her own name had been replaced by another— Springforth. And later when the two of them fled the Pegasus Empire she was called just, "The Pegasus".
The last time he saw his mother, she was far from what he normally saw. She was tired, her once taunt muscles were slack, and her eyes were cold— almost lifeless. She afforded him a sweet little smile as she told him, "Everything was going to be alright and that Momma is here." Only after that, she wasn't. She curled around him one last time and by morning she was gone.
Angry was how he spent the next few years and scared. Nopony would give him chance or a moment's peace. He was called monster, freak, and a host of other unpleasant things. He never stopped searching, many years after he knew that she had to be dead.
He wanted to give her a piece of his mind. He wanted to scream and shout at her for leaving him. He wanted too many things. Despite his anger what he wanted more than anything was to see her smile again. To once again breath in her scent and run his paws and claws over the softness of her wings. To gaze into her azure eyes one last time. But, alas that would never be.
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The Dragon, the Draconequus, and the Daughter of Man
By: Definition
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Chapter 1: Does this Darkness Have a Name
Gasping for breath, Melonie fumbled around in the dark. Her hands ran across the cool stone floor looking for her flashlight. A moment before her and her father had dropped through a small shaft leading away from the main body of the cave.
An earthquake the year before had opened up new passageways and new caves, previously unexplored. After given the okay, her father, a speleologist jumped at the opportunity to explore. A few plane tickets later, a short car ride, and an even shorter hike had led the duo to one of Turkey's forty thousand or so caves. And they couldn't have been happier.
They had prepared for an extended stay, having packed enough food and supplies to last a week; they were not however prepared for what they found.
As they traveled down, they came across a passage way that seemed less than natural. After further inspection her father had deduced that it was hand carved, and then he pointed out the chisel marks to his pre-teen daughter. Melonie had felt a sudden rush of excitement, if her reaction was anything to go by as she jumped up and down shrieking in excitement. The two of them were about to live out their own Indiana Jones adventure, hopefully without involvement with the Nazi party.
Following the passage they were led to a shaft which they quickly descended from into a room that had thousands of ornately carved pictograms. At the center of the room were two statues one of man holding out a sword and the other of the mighty steed Pegasus. Between them sat a drab looking gray chest. It looked vaguely like a casket, only larger.
After several minuets they removed the lid of the chest.
Melonie blanched white, or as white as her mocha skin would allow at the contents of the box. Her father took a step back and covered his mouth with a hand.
Inside the box were two skeletons. One was still very much complete and strange. It wasn't much smaller than a Great Dane and was vaguely equine. Its muzzle was shorter and its shoulder blades didn't look much different than a human. The most striking difference was the appendages that were folded over its back and rib cage. Melanie had eaten enough turkey and chicken to recognize that they were supposed to be wings.
The other skeleton was cradling the equine, its face turned towards the muzzle of its companion in death. His or her hands were laid across the others hips. They looked like lovers. Melonie had seen her father in mother laying together just as these two laid now more times than she could count, sharing sweet nothings and innocent giggles to jokes that only they knew.
Pulling out her camera she started to do what she always did when she saw something she wanted to keep, to remember. Snap shot after snap shot, she did her best to capture the entire room in the unforgetting eye of her prized possession, mindlessly stealing the room's contents to be better examined later.
"We should leave this place and get someone who knows how to handle such things," said her father as he reached forward before placing a hand on his daughters shoulder.
Melonie gave him an unsure smile, "Mmkay."
Turning away her flashlight caught something shiny to reflect light back at her. Stopping in her tracks, Melonie passed the light over the area again and just like the first time, something shined back.
Her father was already strapping himself to their climbing gear. He was almost ready to act as Melonie's belayer. Looking up he watched his daughter approach the casket and reach in. Shaking his head, he quickly scolded her.
Straitening up, she gave him a shy smile before wrapping her hand around the circular disk that hung from the human skeletons neck. She knew she was going to get into trouble, she knew but, didn't care. Papa was far too soft anyways. Momma was the one to worry about.
Her finger tips caressed the brass disk eliciting a faint tingly feeling that ran up her arm. It was scary at first but, her curiosity waved dismissively at the warning bells in her head.
Now she could hear not only her father's scolding her but also yelling. She didn't care. Dropping her flashlight she pulled the disk closer, the light falling away. She didn't care. The disk was a scant few inches from her face and her eyes poured over the disk still gleaming in the light of her father's headlamp.
It was warm and it made her feel warm. No, it felt hot. She felt hot. She cared and tried to cast the disk away to have it stick to her hand like glue. And in an instant she was blinded by a deep all consuming darkness.
Screaming, she fell into the thick, hot, and oppressive darkness like a sea of liquid asphalt.
Gasping for breath, Melonie fumbled around in the dark. Her hands ran across the cool stone floor looking for her flash light. A moment before her and her father had dropped through a small shaft leading away from the main body of the cave.
Frantically she searched. Not finding her flash light, she fell to the floor and sobbed. Nothing was right she could feel it. Her eyes danced back and forth in their sockets trying to pierce the veil that covered her world.
"Papa?" she cried wanting nothing more than to hear his voice. Nothing came back, not even the echo of her own voice.
Pulling herself up to her knees she started to crawl about the room, stopping only to wipe the wetness from her eyes. Her fingers slid over something. Feeling the outline of the item she bit her lip, it was the same disk. She wrapped her hands around it and then flung it away screaming, "get away from me!"
Her chest rose and fell rapidly before the cadence of her heart started to settle down. The dark remained. As she calmed down she remember that she had not just one spare flashlight but two, so she unfastened the myriad of straps that kept her back pack in place and started to file through the contents of her bag. Finding the first of her flashlights, she quickly switched it on.
Her dainty fingers quickly covered her mouth. Her other hand shook at what she saw. She was no longer in cave; she was in some kind of stone building. Her pulse increased again as she walked forward and ran her fingers over the wall. The stones were roughly square and the joints were filled with a grayish mortar that slightly oozed from the cracks.
Turning right she noticed a stairway leading up. Swallowing her fear and her questions she trudged up the steps. Her feet felt like they were made of lead. After reaching the top of the stairwell she was greeted by a long hall.
"Papa!" she yelled again and again she received no response.
Following the hall she found herself in what seemed to be a study. Book shelves lined the walls and their seemed to be rows and rows of them. There was also a fire place which was alive with fire. The crackling of fire and shadows the flickered casted strange shaped shadows on the floor, three of which moved in a way that her mind couldn't help but say was unnatural for shadows to move unless the object or creatures that casted them were also moving.
"Are the two of you going to pretend you didn't hear what we heard?" said a voice that sounded like one of the Chippettes, maybe Brittany, only it was speaking a Greek dialect Melonie was unfamiliar with.
"It was nothing Sweetie, just uh... go to sleep," said another.
"Yeah, and anyways if it was something were Crusades, there ain't nothing we can't handle!" said a third, full of bravado.
Melonie propped her bag against one of the book shelves, and then approached. She still couldn't make out the speakers yet but she could feel the warmth of the fire now. A hand covered her mouth again and she started to bite her fingernails, a bad habit that her mother had tried to break her of but to no avail.
"This is the Everfree, so it could be anything," said Sweetie her voice breaking as her teeth started to chatter in fear.
Everfree? thought Melonie as she stepped around the corner.
Lying beside the fire were three sleeping bags and in them were...
Sweetie Belle looked at her two companions. She knew they were tired but they had elected to stay up until she had fallen asleep because she asked them to. They were the best friends a filly could ask for but, by now even she knew that she was pushing it. Swallowing her fear she looked back to the entrance of the Castle of Harmony library and saw...
"Ahaaaaa!" screamed Melonie as she back pedaled from the three little creatures.
Her eyes wide, Sweetie added her scream to the mix, followed quickly by the other two crusaders. The chorus of terror filled the night air and was quickly brought to an end with the pounding of boots on the stone floor.
Her feet carried her further and further from the Greek speaking creatures, no they were miniature horses or ponies, only they weren't like any she had ever seen. And since when did ponies speak Greek or at all. Finding the stairwell she took a few steps down before her feet became tangled in her flight. Quickly her face met the even steps. A sickly pop filled her head and a sharp pain branched out across her the right side of her face. Before she could scream, she watched as her back end flipped over head, her hip slamming against one of the steps corners inciting another thing to scream about.
Falling into a heap at the floor, she willed her body to move. The pain was too much and although she could still feel her fingers and toes it hurt to do anything, even breathe. White hot tears poured from her eyes and she mumbled incoherently, "Papa, where are you?"
