Broken Bird

by Liondancer17

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Tragedy, Derpy Hooves, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 2313

The purest are easiest to corrupt. When the shadows posess Derpy, they find that she will be the most powerful enemy Equestria has ever faced.

"[The hunters' thoughts were] crowded with memories...of the knowledge... that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink." Chapter 4, pp. 63-4 (Lord of the Flies)
After years of darkness growing in her heart, Ditzy Doo has become corrupted. Taking the form of the Shadow Queen, she now rules Equestria in darkness as the most powerful force anypony has ever seen. The only hope lies in Harmony, but with the Mane Six having disappeared, it will be harder than ever before to return the Light to Equestria.

Published 2014-03-21 00:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-23 05:02:47 UTC

Prologue-Moonrise

No, we would never hurt her. Not at all, so do not pity her. Not at all.
We love her, we truly do. We adore her with all of our hearts.
We love her.
We comfort her, we always do.
She is our Queen.
It is almost too easy.
Almost.
Why would you accuse us of hurting our Queen?
No.
We never lie.
Ditzy Doo was never sad.
She did not understand what it was like to be sad. She did not know what it was to be cruel, or to be different.
She was a different girl, of course.
She was slow. She was clumsy. She wasn’t the brightest pony, nor the most beautiful.
She simply floated her way through life.
And that was okay.
She couldn’t see the world properly, anyway.
She was too pure to be treated the way she was.
We saw her beauty-and the light in her heart.
That is what we truly need.
Purity and goodness-we know nothing of that.
We love her, we worship her.
We can show her how she lives.
We can give her better.
We loved her.
Ditzy Doo didn’t notice when things began to change.
She didn’t see the eyes always watching her, or the way the shadows reached and stretched for her.
All she was the light, the simple joy in life.
And the shadows crawled into her heart, and took refuge in her soul.
With every nightmare Harmony destroys, the light grows stronger.
When light burns brightest, the shadows lengthen and swallow the light.
The Lonely Goddess, the Rarest Star, the God of Chaos, the King of Darkness, the Queen of Lies.
In the shadow of their souls, we thrive.
With every end, we grow and strengthen. We multiply, we take form.
And we gather around our new Queen.
And we worship her.
It started when Discord touched her.
That was when Ditzy saw the world clearly for the first time.
She heard the whispers that they said when her flank was turned.
She saw the stares, the glances, and the laughter.
Her own daughter was ashamed of her.
The stallion she loved for so many years was in love with the librarian, not her.
In fact, he hated her. He considered her a freak.
She was nothing.
Alone.
Unloved.
Unwanted.
And darkness settled behind her eyes.
Don’t you see?
We make her happy. We see her for what she truly is.
Perfect.
Without us, she is so, so alone.
And who wants that for such a lovable little mare?
We want nothing more than to make our Broken Bird fly.
We love her.
Ditzy hid her face behind her wings, ashamed.
Shadows caressed her feathers, gentle and kind.
Ditzy opened her eyes.
And slowly, they turned dark.
Let it begin.

It began with a slow hum, almost a whisper. A concept, a thought.
Nothing serious, not to the loving ponies, anyway.
What cause would there be for concern? Their glorious princesses always took care of them, holding their precious loved ones in their wings. The Elements of Harmony would always take care of them; the light of Equestria would forever shine.
Always.
The whispers came in soft lulls, hushes that tugged at the edges of the mind, barely there, always silent, always still. They came in gentle pulls, crawling over the edge of twilight, never overstepping their touch.
Within the center, the most precious one awaited.
She was glorious, as her subjects had always known. Cloaked in the silk darkness was she, cradled in the shadows of the darkest corners of the hearts of millions. She was glorious, stars glittering in her eyes, and tangled in her mane. She was the rare beauty of the night, the one queen, the one hiding in the corners of fear.
And she had yet to truly take form.
Spider webs of shadows reached from her, thin strings of black and silver, as sharp as glass. They hungrily preyed upon the light, piercing it, pulling it closer.
The air cracked, tens of thousands of tiny screams piercing the light of the day.
And it was then that the sky was painted black.
Stars were swallowed up in tongues of shadow, hungrily swallowing the light they so desperately desired.
The sun itself was nothing but prey to it.
The moon fell to the grasp of the darkness, nothing but just a little treat.
And the Queen was laughing, her head tossed back, eyes alight with the glorious darkness she had finally embraced.
They will not hate me anymore. They will love me. They will love me. They cannot ignore us. They will love us forever. Until the end of time itself!
Her wings were blades of obsidian, they were cloaked in darkness and spread for miles on end, reaching from heaven to Equestria, never ceasing in their brilliant glory.
Her subjects-foolish little fillies and colts compared to her-were staring with wide-eyes at her, their entire bodies shaking, and she was laughing because finally, finally they were looking at her with something besides hatred. They were looking at her with love, with respect, and they weren’t laughing or pointing at her, they weren’t ignoring her, they were looking at her, and they would love her and love her and-
“Stop this at once.”
The Queen’s head snapped around, and she tilted her head like a curious child, smiling.
“My dear Princesses, such an honor to see you both.”
Her voice was the echo of thousands.
At once, she vanished, and then reappeared behind the Princess of Light and the Princess of the Moon.
“And such an honor to be the one to kill you both, my beloved Princesses.”
It was over in just an instance.
The beautiful country of Equestria was no more in just one, inconsequential little second.
Because, in that one second, everything was gone.
Screams and cries rang across the land, as at once, every citizen somehow knew. Perhaps it was their love. Perhaps it was some kind of magic.
Perhaps it was because the Queen wanted them to know.
No matter the case, they knew.
As the bodies of the two Celestial rulers fell like feathers, the Queen laughed.
And the world ended, and began anew, under the rule of shadows.

Author's Note

Okay, before you hate me and move on, this is only a prologue. The real story will be told next chapter.
No, we are not skipping the fall of the Princesses and the Disappearance of Harmony. Everything will be told in time.
This Derpy is not Nightmare Derpy, or Discorded Derpy. She is Shadow Derpy, and that will also be explained.
Please comment~?

Prologue 2-Dawn

From the moment Berry Bright was born, there was something empty inside her.
Dead.
Lifeless.
Sad.
Her large, blue eyes were grey, empty, the colour of lifeless stone. Her coat, though it shone with the dazzling, pink radiance of bubblegum and flowers, was also dulled with a sort of vacancy that could not be truly described until one saw it.
When spoken to, she would look upon her new companion with eyes that simply saw right through.
Like they were made of glass. Glass that could shatter with the slightest touch…
Once, her parents tried to make her happy.
Once.
They played music, they picked her up on their shoulders and sang, sang praises to their glorious Queen, but also singing praises to their daughter, the beautiful shine in their eyes, the laughter in their heart…
And all the pink pony did was stare with those impossible, glass eyes. She could not speak, no matter how hard she tried.
And she was silent.
Always silent.
Always falling.

And no one was there to catch her.

When Raider was born, she couldn’t see the colours in the sky.
In fact, she couldn’t see anything.
Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. She could sense everything around her, and was aware of it all. She was aware of the clouds and the rain, and could fly nimbly between droplets of water, faster than any pegasus she knew.
Faster, faster, fasterfasterfaster-I have to get away, I have to get away from them all, I need to be alone, I don’t need anybody, and I don’t need anything anymore-
She was a hero in her town, the Miracle Mare, the blind pegasus with the power to see anyway. Sheer will, they said. It was because she was so stubborn, so determined, and oh so brave…she drove away the bad ponies, the Shadow Soldiers that stormed their neighborhood for extra bloodshed and a few bits more. She drove them away with her speed and skill and she was adulated for it.
She was a coward. A traitor to her people. A liar. Worthless.
Because she let them believe she was good, when all she did was steal from them to feed her younger sister while their backs were turned. And the worst part was that she simply couldn’t bring herself to care. She couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty for it, no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t feel anything. Not anymore.
Raider didn’t know who she was anymore.
Her sister, Glider, a little pegasus filly who would never be able to fly, looked up to her. She idolized her older sister, and at night, she would curl up next to Glider, and listen to her younger sister dreaming of a day where Raider would see, and Glider would soar with her in the skies.
“Everything will be okay.” Raider said. And she hated herself more when she said it.
Because, once again, she was betraying people who looked up to her.

And she couldn’t bring herself to care.

Cobber lived her entire life as a lie.
She was afraid of always being found out. She couldn’t trust anybody, and certainly couldn’t let anybody really get to know her.
She never really had any friends.
And, if she was honest, she didn’t want any.
(That’s a lie and you know it.)
She was born into the Shadow Soldiers, or at least, that was what she fooled herself into believing. (Nobody wanted you, because you were a freak. Just a little jackaroo, a farmmare who was abandoned because she had no magic and nothing she touches will ever grow. You were useless, so you were fed to the Diamond Dogs.)
Every night she served her Queen, and every night she was rewarded with the gift of privilege. She was an Ace, the highest of the Soldiers because of her skill and her intelligence, her gift of lying and getting away with it.
(And it killed her every single day)
She was the Captain, one rank below Major, one rank above Lieutenant. She was the leader of her district, the Queen had always seen something in her, and had trusted her with the commanding rank. She oversaw the night, and protected it, like a good soldier would for her country, her home.
(She saw the cries of the innocent. But she held her tongue, lied, and said that she saw nothing. It was all for her Queen.)
Cobber was a good soldier, and a better liar.
Because she could convince herself the nightmares she saw were just her own creations.

And that the dreams of a past life were nothing to her at all.

Melody could feel the music in life.
It was everywhere, in the thrum of heartbeats, in every breath. With every beat of her wings, she could feel the whistling of the breeze through her feathers, and the song of flight in heart ears.
Of course, she couldn’t hear it, but she could feel it, and that was all that mattered.
It was all she truly felt anymore.
She couldn’t feel joy or sorrow, anger or fear. But she could feel the song. The song of living, and that was all that mattered.
It mattered that she was alone, with nothing but the song.
No matter how long she lay, she felt nothing.
At that was okay.
She couldn’t hear (anything) but the song.

And then her kind, green eyes opened.

Aurora was a selfish pony, and she knew it.
Ever since she was a young filly, she turned water to ice crystals and pretended it was fabulous jewels for her little sister.
Her precious, beautiful, little sister.
Chimer, her entire world, was the only thing that Aurora had. And Aurora was a selfish unicorn, a very, very selfish unicorn.
She would charm her way into the social lives of the high-class ponies around her, and fool them into doing all of her work for the unicorn.
She would steal their bits, and use them for her sister. Her precious, golden little sister.
She would smile, her big, blue eyes, rimmed with false lashes, as she stole the lives of others away. She was a selfish pony. All for her sister…
And because it was for her sister, Aurora would do anything, and never regret it.

Even as she shivered, and her heart grew colder…

Dawn Star was afraid of ice.
It was strange, of course, since her parents were lost in a fire. But she was afraid of ice.
She would sit by the fireplace, watching the flames dance before her wide, violet eyes. It was the only light in her world, to be honest.
It reminded her of the sun.
Of the moon.
Of the stars.
She could make the fire dance.
Magic was something that was lost to the world a long time ago.
But not to Dawn.
In the flames, five figures danced.

And Dawn got to her hooves, and was drawn by the flames to her new life, her destiny.

Author's Note

Can you spot my favorite characters in there?
(And the mane 6?)
Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1-Solstice

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