One Human, Different Paths 'Dark Saga'

Ponyville has always been known for the unusual events that happen every once in a while. Any pony who has lived there for a while can tell that this isn't the average town with simple, yet a little boring environment where everyone is a normal folk with a job and a fixed role, such as a blacksmith, a carpenter,a cake baker or any sort of example.

The town was full of different people that managed to make life more interesting. But that's isn't the main reason why Ponyville is more unique than other towns. It's the habitants that makes it special. Especially The Mane 6, who consist of two earth ponies, two pegasus, and two unicorns. Each one of these ponies hold a special characteristic that makes the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, six are supernatural artifacts representing subjective aspects of harmony. They are arguably the most powerful force in Equestria and each one of these artifacts represent a part of friendship who obviously are part of these six ponies.

We have Applejack, a hard working pony who runs with her siblings the Sweet Apple Acres. She represents the element of Honesty.

Next is Fluttershy, a sweet, shy pony that loves animals and takes care of them. She is the represntation of Kindness.

Following the order comes Rainbow Dash, one of the fastest pegasus of Equestria. She cares a lot about her friends and holds the Loyalty element.

Upcoming, we have Pinkie Pie, a cheerful, yet random pony who loves to party. People have lost count of how many parties she has thrown. She represents the element of Laughter.

Now, here comes Rarity, she is a glamorous pony whose passion is beauty. She loves making dresses, even if they take too long.. She represents the element of Generosity.

And finally, we have Twilight Sparkles, a very wise pony whose teacher is none other than Princess Celestia herself. She loves books and she would rather look for answer in a book for any kind of problem. She holds the element of Magic.

These ponies are the heroes of this world and they are willing to give everything for Equestria.

That's what Rhoe remembers and thought things were. Tp put in a way, that is. Sometimes a book was a good thing for him, since that's where he found out about everything. He thought things were always like this and he didn't mind at all.

The funny thing is, everything was different. Equestria has changed a lot since an incident no one was aware about. Before Rhoe came to this world, a pitch-black cloud that made anyone who looked at it sick, weak, angry, among other symptoms, came like a thunder. It was so fast that even Rainbow wasn't avaiable to avoid it. It stayed for a whole day and nothing actually happened.

No pony was reported missing or anything like that and everyone assumed it was an supernatural event, such as rainbows (actual, not the mare), or the polar lights. With that given, the cloud vanished from sight and everyone seemed to have forgotten about the cloud incident. The cloud must have somehow erased the event from everyone, causing an unbalance in the universe. As crazy as it seems, the unbalanced universe didn't show any kind of effect. And by normal, it means a different universe to what they remember. People would act different to what they used to, their likes were randomized and everything seemed varied. No one noticed the changes since the cloud affected them, not even Celestia could figure out what effects did that cloud had. Everyone was clueless to what happened and things went on like nothing happened.

It was night time. Everyone had already headed home and lights were out for the time being. Inside the library, an individual was still awake in the darkness, who apparently had some trouble sleeping. It was Rhoe. He remained still, sitting on his bed thinking about something. He had arrived from the hospital a few weeks ago after a recovery program the nurses gave him. As he stared into the floor emotionless, he felt something was really wrong. Somewhere in his heart, he could feel someone whispering that a dark magic was roaming in Ponyville. Rhoe struggled to keep the voice shut and tried to ignore it, but it was futile. The voice in his head grew stronger and stronger. It was something like this:

"Rhoe-... a dark magic-.... in Ponyville-... nearby-...you must stop it."

"Argh! Get out of my head!" thought Rhoe as he grabbed his head and shook it, "You are just another illusion!"

The message kept repeating over and over, which Rhoe believed it was an after effect of the coma. With such uncomprehensible material he has seen recently in his dreams (Luna has nothing to do with this),  he actually thought for a few moments he was going insane. The reason? Unknown as always.

The room was felt really heavy, like something was trying to consume him slowly to the very soul. The darkness around him acted like a rain of arrows piercing him endlessly. Negative effects were all over the place.

Rhoe rubbed the back of his head mumbling uncomprehendable things and spoke to himself, "Why do I feel so weak? I thought the nurses said I would be back to normal in no time."

He dropped his hand and let it hit his thigh lightly as he tried to calm down. He couldn't sleep, which caused him to get a bit annoyed about it. Knowing that just sittng around wouldn't help, he got up from his bed and headed to the door of the room. Rhoe opened the door and proceeded to go downstairs for a glass of water.

Once he was in the kitchen, he opened the upper drawer and pulled a empty glass. With the glass in hand, he got some water and drank all of it in one try. He let out his breath after the drink, cleaning his wet lips with his hand. He closed his eyes, sighed and felt better. As soon as he turned around to head towards his room, he was shocked to find Twilight standing there looking at him funny. Her stare was different, an unusual stare that caused uneasiness. Her pupils were looking colors and looked like a mindless corpse. Her smile provoked him to back away some inches, which Rhoe thought it was ridiculous.

"Twilight?" said Rhoe, "What are doing here? How long have you been

She didn't answer back, she simply stood there still looking at him. the same way. No one moved a muscle for a whole minute like they were waiting for something to happen, still staring at each other with intensity. The tension could kill anything that dared to move. The kitchen somehow started to grow darker and darker as the light in the room started to die little by little.

"Why is the room getting darker?" said Rhoe as he looked around the kitchen, utterly confused by the event.

"....."

"Twilight?" called out Rhoe.

"....."

"...Why are you so awfully quiet?" asked Rhoe.

"....."

Rhoe lifted an eyebrow to this inopportune silence and waved at her, trying to do some communation with her, "Are you even listening? Hello?"

Twilight didn't answer as expected, but she did move towards Rhoe slowly, which caused him to jump back a bit by the startle he just recieved. She wasn't stopping. The gap between the two of them closed inch by inch, making Rhoe feel more uncomfortable the closer she got.

"You know Rhoe?" said Twilight after a long time of being silent, "I never realized before how good looking you are. I used to read whole books of people and their looks, but none of them compare to you..."

Rhoe knew something was off, plus her voice sounded different. To keep his inner gentlemen, he spoke, "...Thanks?"

"My mind has been filled with pictures of you ever since the day you arrived." confessed Twilight as she held her hand near her chest.

"Okay, now that's creepy", clarified Rhoe "even for me."

"Oh, really? I'm so sorry to make you feel that way... Here-" she got close enough to him and grabbed his hand and placed it in her chest, "Let me make you feel better..."

Rhoe's lips suddenly met hers, shocking to see her acting such a seductive way. He was very confused about the sudden kiss and he thought was wrong. However, he was ready to submit to the pleasure of the heat, until he heard the voice again. This time, it said something different and sounded very clear.

Rhoe.... stay away from her. It's a trap. Don't submit to her. Resist the temptation. Everyone is depending of what you decide.

Rhoe decided to obey the unknown voice's order and backed away from Twilight. Twilight seemed confused by this and spoke, "Rhoe, what is the matter? Didn't you like it?". He didn't answer, he didn't know why he obeyed the voice inside his head. He simply did. Rhoe was looking away, trying to understand the situation without success. Before he knew it, a pair of arms were around his neck despite the height difference.

"Don't be shy, just submit to the heat. It's not that bad...." persuaded Twilight.

"Submit..." repeated Rhoe like he was imitating what she just said, "Submit to the heat....". Rhoe closed his eyes and shook his head sideways, grabbing Twilight's arms to remove them.

"No. Sorry. I won't submit to the heat. I can't allow it." confirmed Rhoe looking at her with determination. Twilight didn't agree with that and insisted for him to submit. His answer was still 'No.'

"C'mon... don't be like that..." said Twilight.

"I said No. That is my final answer. Don't bother trying to convince me." stated Rhoe.

"But-"

"Besides, you are not yourself tonight. I don't know what happened, but this isn't you."

"Why don't you submit to us?" said a familiar voice behind Twilight. It was Spike. His stance was the same as Twilight and had the same look.

"C'mon Rhoe, submit" said both Twilight and Spike. It almost seemed like they practiced to say altogether.

"What's going on?" Rhoe thought as he looked in confusion at the pair.

"You know what?" said Rhoe as he walked away, "I'm going for a walk. You two need to snap out of it.". Rhoe decided to head out despite how late was already. It was foolish, but staying wasn't a better idea.

"Maybe some fresh air might help." he thought while he walked right to the main door. It wasn't that long before someone grabbed Rhoe's arm from behind as an attempt to stop him. He looked back to see Spike grabbing him. He was getting more annoyed within the minute.

"Let. Go." Rhoe ordered.

"Submit" he repeated.

"I said 'Let go'!". Rhoe offhandedly pulled his arm breaking free of Spike's claws. This caused the pair to get angry as well. Both of them got into a battle stance, getting ready to tackle Rhoe.

"Submit" . They seemed to be like a tape recorder. Repeating the same things over and over and over. After he saw how they prepared themselves, he inmediately knew something was really off. Something dark, very dark was going on.

"That voice was telling me something like this..." Rhoe thought as he was getting ready to make a run for it. "Could it be really a dark magic?"

He didn't enough time to think as Spike rushed towards him in a burst of speed. Acting fast to this, he dodged him as fast as he could and found himself between a pair of magical beings whose minds were apparently controlled by the looks of it. Twilight behind him and Spike in front. The only thing that was between Rhoe and the exit was a teen dragon and a powerful unicorn. He looked for a way out and there wasn't a place where to head.

"Shit, got nowhere to run..." Rhoe thought. A burst of light appeared behind him, which caused him to react instantly. Using his instincts, he dove to where the stairs where located, managing to avoid the attack from Twilight. He noticed the stairs behind him and climbed up a few steps. Twilight and Spike followed him.

"Geez! That was close!" Rhoe thought, "I gotta be more alert!"

"Submit to us..."

"Like hell I will", he stopped looking behind. He had to try talking to them, maybe that would help. "Snap out of it! You guys aren't like this! Get a grip!"

"What do you mean? We were always like this..." explained Twilight as both changed their stance to a passive one.

"Bullshit." protested Rhoe, "That's bullshit and you know it."

"My, my. You got a dirty mouth" said Twilight

"I think he deserves a punishment..." added Spike

"Oh yes he does."

"Do you guys think I'm a some kind of kid!? Mind your own business!" shouted Rhoe

"You know what? You are absolutely right."

"I am? I mean, of course I am!"

"Then we will continue" said Spike as they got in the previous stance, "Submit..."

"....That totally backfired." complained Rhoe as he took off to the balcony in a dash. His pursuers did as well.

Looking at the position he just placed himself into, he was very shocked when he saw his surroundings.

"That's odd," said Rhoe looking everywhere, "It's really dark outside. I can't see very clear. No, I can't see a thing!"

"Submit..." repeated the chasers.

"Damn it, those two again." he said focusing on the situation.

"Perfect, got nowhere to run this time" Rhoe thought as he walked backwards to the edge of the balcony, "Heh, you messed up this time Rhoe. Good job" mumbled sarcastically Rhoe to himself.

"Submit..."

"Gosh, stop! It's so annoying!" Rhoe thought, "It makes me wanna throw myself off a cliff. Wait, a cliff?" Rhoe suddenly came up with a outrageous idea. The voice he heard a while before spoke again.

Get to the edge of the balcony.

"Are you crazy?" Rhoe thought, "I'm not planning to jump. There's nothing there! Besides, I can't see a thing below."

Trust me. Just do it.

"Fuck no! I'm not planning on dying by my own."

Trust. Me.

"Grr... Fine." Rhoe accepted.

Doing as the voice pleaded him to, he got up to the balcony edge, looking at his pursuers. He didn't say anything to make the pursuers understand what was happening.

"Wait, what are doing?" said Twilight with a completely different voice, "That's stupid, don't do it!"

"You got no idea how much I agree with you." he thought. The voice showed up again.

Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get hurt

"You know? For a voice that has been bothering me all night, I really don't trust you." Rhoe thought, "You better be right about this."

With that, he jumped. Twilight and Spike inmediately headed towards where he jumped looking for him. Nothing. There was nothing in sight.

"Foolish man," said Spike with a deep voice just like Twilight had, "he did the unthinkable. Now he pays the price for his actions."

"I better look for him just in case. That guy is tough, he might have made the jump" said the deep voice, this time coming from Twilight.

The two of them turned around and headed inside the library. The only thing that remained was the darkness that Rhoe just went head-straight. It was going to be a long night.

"Emil... plase don't leave me.... Don't go...." Emil, even though he was suffering, smiled at his brother in the brink of death. Emil let a tear run through his cheek as well. With a tearful face, he said to Rhoe something that would keep in his heart always.

"Big bro... Live a happy life... just like our parents wanted to...I might have not lived...as they wanted to but.... I'm happy... to have a brother like you.... Take... care... Good...bye....Big bro....."

"EMILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

....................................................

rh....Rh...Rho.....Rhoe.... Rhoe! Wake up!

"Ahhh!" Rhoe woke up screaming while he sat on the floor. Rhoe was panting from the dream he just had about his past. The pictures seemed so real, he couldn't believe it. After calming down, he processed where he was located. Apparently, he was in the floor of a forest where darkness was consuming everything. The range of vision was at least 3 or 4 meters ahead. Anything beyond that point was hidden in  obscurity.

"Huh? I'm alive! I'm fucking alive!" yelled Rhoe while he checking his body for any kind of problem. There was nothing wrong with him and everything seemed to be in its place.

Shush! They can hear us!

Rhoe placed a hand on his mouth trying to kill the sound. After several seconds passed by, the tension eased up. Rhoe sighed and looked around.

"Yup, still dark." he whispered.

We have to be careful, they are lurking in the shadows. If we make too much noise-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute!" thought Rhoe, "Just who are you?"

> Me?

"Yes you. There no one else" he thought.

....I'm sorry. I can't tell you.

"Perfect!" thought angrily Rhoe as he launched his arms up into the air, "Just perfect! Another freaking mystery won't tell me things I need to know"

Rhoe, please understand. There are things that are better off not knowing. If you knew what-

"Save it!" he thought, controlling his anger so that it wouldn't blind him, "I don't wanna hear it. I had enough. Just tell what I should know since you said so nicely".

......Okay, I understand. What is that you wish to know?

"Didn't you just heard me? ....Forget it. I'll ask."

What do you wish to know?

"First, I got a very important question. What are you exactly, or is that something I shouldn't know as well?" tempted Rhoe as he placed his hands on his hips.

I'm a magical spirit. My power was limited to the amount of neglicence and negative effects the town produced.

"Wha? I'm just getting as confused as the reader. Explain yourself."

> You see, Ponyville has always been an amazing town.

"Aja."

I used to be part of this town before. Well, not physically, but-

"Don't wanna hear it" said Rhoe looking away.

Sheesh, show some manners!

"Hmph" snorted Rhoe despite his position.

Rhoe crossed his arms showing he was still angry about the whole complicated situation he got himself to. After a minute of trying to stay angry at the whole situation, he decided to let it go since it wasn't that much of a help anyways.

........Are you done?

"Yes yes" thought Rhoe as he nodded, "I'm done, sorry about that. Please continue."

Sure. As I was saying, this town has always been a great place to live. Everytime I crossed paths with this town, I felt at peace. Of course, it had problems like any other place would, but.... the habitants of this place always seemed so....

"Nice?"

Precisely. During the years, the town grew into a better place and so did the habitants. When I heard one of Celestia's prized students was going to live here, I knew I had see that.

"You mean Twilight?" asked Rhoe knowing that already.

Correct. Twilight arrived and the town got... let's say lively. She, along the other 5 ponies, managed to protect this town from evil  itself. I was surprised to see all the things these six mares did on their own, most of the cases.

"I was surprised as well, the girls did a lot of amazing things and still continue to. Oh, don't forget Spike. He was also part of their adventures" thought Rhoe  with his eyes closed.

Certainly. They showed the world that teamwork is essencial, even when short in number. Yet, they weren't alone. The princesses and their friends helped as well.

"Huh. They sure had a great life and adventures...." Rhoe sulked at the idea of all the things he wished he could have been part of.

Don't feel sad. I know you always wished to have adventures like they did.

"Yeah, I know. Wait, just how much do you know about me?"

Everything.

Rhoe felt naked in that very moment as he found out that a spirit knew everything about him, which was weird and creepy at the same time, but still. Just as soon as a few seconds passed, a rustle came nearby them. Rhoe inmediately turned towards the incoming sounds as he prepared into a Fight-Flight situation.

This isn't good. We better look for shelter. I feel them getting closer.

"Good idea. I don't want to be the meal of whatever is hidden there."

I sense a house nearby. I suggest you turn around and run straight.

"There's no other option than that, I suppose", Rhoe did a 180 degrees turn and ran like he has never run before. During the escape, he felt the monster showed nearby him and tracked him down. With adrenaline running through his veins, his speed increased at the point where the monster could no longer track him. Within  a few minutes, he spotted a house to which he almost crashed into due to the lack of visibility. Letting out a relieved sigh, he searched the main door and entered the house after doing so. The visibility was as poor as the outside, but at least it was safer. The situation didn't looked so good in any case. He sat down nearby to what it seemed to be a family's living room. Once Rhoe's heartbeat slowed, he talked to the voice whose name was unknown to him.

"Hey, voice? I think it would be appropiate to at least give me a nickname for you. Something other than Voice inside my head."

I agree. You can call me Aeris.

"Aeris? Okay then, 'Aeris'. Mind explaining me the rest of it?" asked Rhoe.

With pleasure. As I said before, I know everything about you. Including your past.

Rhoe remained silent, he never liked to talk about that with anyone. It was a burden he was willing to carry. If there's one thing that makes Rhoe cut his veins is having people pitying him. Rhoe looked away with a sad expression painted all over his face. He shook his head to forget about it and focused on other important stuff.

I know it hurts, but-

"Aeris, I rather go to the next question...." said Rhoe holding the same pose.

......As you wish.

"What are we dealing with?"

You mean the beast that was chasing you some minutes ago? It was a Nightshadow.

"Nightshadow?"

Yes, a nightshadow is a beast that feed on people's emotions if it has the chance. That causes the victim to be fill with all sort of  different emotions, something like a personality changer. However, at some point, the victim won't be avaiable to subexist any longer and that person will have a break-down. Either that person becomes a puppet to the one that control the Nightshadows, or remains a emotionless character. In either case, there is not a good ending. Both the Nightshadow and the victim won't attack beings similar to them in any way. You could say that we are right now, in this very moment, in a world of shadows.

"World of shadows? Okay, now that's a complete....", Rhoe was going to finish the sentence, but he decided to shut up. The complains weren't going to help in any case. "Ugh, nevermind. So, who is responsable for this? I'm going to kick that person's butt so hard..."

I'm afraid I do not know.

".....Excuse me?" asked Rhoe completely curious to this.

As I said before, my power is limited and getting involved with the darkness is not a great idea. It consumes anything that touches it and by doing so, I wouldn't be here.

".........."

Is there something else you wish to know?

"What happened to the others? I can't be the only one can I?"

.....They are being slowly consumed by darkness

Rhoe was impacted by the truth. Everyone he knew was slowly dying and he was doing nothing to stop it.

"Why? How did they got caught and I didn't?"

There was an incident before you arrived.....

Aeris decided to explain everything that happened before he arrived, with the exception of the events he already knew about. He couldn't believe such thing. A pitch-dark cloud? Faster than anything? Nothing happened but at the same time something did happen? It wasn't a story that could be swallowed just like that. Rhoe composed himself after hearing the story and thought his arrival had something to do with it. Now is the time where he didn't feel like trash anymore. Leaving the shocked truth somewhere else, Rhoe spoke again.

"So... does that mean everything I know about them is a lie? They weren't their real selves?"

At some point, they did show a glimpse of how they truly are, but you wouldn't have known or figured it out anyways. When it comes to everything about them, all you ever know about them isn't a lie. The personalities were a lie though. They way they acted towards you, those were fakes. The affection, also a lie. To make a resume of it, everything that happened after the dark cloud incident is a lie.

Rhoe was trying to process this new data he just received. "If this much information keeps coming like that, I'm going to lose my mind." he thought while rubbing his head, ".....I can't believe it was a whole lie."

If this makes you feel better, they are going to know what they did before when the cloud took over them.

"That seems more of a torture than a 'make you feel better', actually" he thought looking up at the ceiling. Out of nowhere, a small howl could be heard from the distance. Some beasts were nearby by the looks of i., "If they reach this place while I'm still in it, it's all over." he thought meanwhile he was standing up from his place.

"This is bad. I can't let myself get caught. There's got to be something I can do about it!" he thought nerviously. "If what Aeris said is true about me being the only one 'alive', I wouldn't forgive myself if I failed right now".

Rhoe thought this carefully, he needed to know the important things. If he wasted any more time on silly question of some sort, either the Nightshadows would find him, or he goes mad due to the darkness pressure.

"I have one more question."

Make it quick.

"How do I break this spell, mind-control or whatever it is?"

I heard rumors that the only way to break a spell like this is by locating their leader and defeating him. The only problem is, I do not know how does he looks like and I'm sure you know as much as I do about the leader.

"He- she- whatever it is, must be different to the others. Then we know that's the leader." Rhoe thought while heading to the exit.

Are you seriously thinking of going outside again?

"Well, somebody has to finish this. Besides, I know how to take care of myself", he thought still heading to the exit, "and even though they are monsters, there's no one else than can do this but me".

[You got to have at least a plan for this, do you?

"A plan? Here is the plan," he thought as he stepped right in front of the exit, "We avoid the monsters, beat the crap out of the leader which is the only option we got, and make it out alive. Is that good for you?"

Sounds like a plan to me, but you gotta be definitively careful outside. I can warn you about the beasts that lurk in the shadows, but I can't protect you from them. I'm practically powerless here.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful. I HAVE to." he thought as he opened the door and stepped outside. The door slowly closed as Rhoe dissapeared from sight into the shadows.