Tales of the Forgotten: Eternity

August 3rd, 2027 9:16 A.M.

Baltimare, Equestria

The blood in my veins started to boil with anger as I looked towards the battle that was still raging between the overtaken civilians, who had started to decay and take on more skeleton like appearances, and the two dragons. Yes let your anger go… a voice spoke into my mind but was quickly drowned out by the wind as I ran towards the first skeleton and brought my staff down into it’s skull where it promptly slammed into the ground and its bottom jaw broke in half. I quickly shifted the bottom of my staff to slam it into the side of the head as the skull was launched over a few more skeletons and hit the building across the way.

“You...you’re nothing more than lies...nothing but the shambling bones of the creatures that once inhabited Baltimare.” A pegasus skeleton charged me only to be met with the tip of my staff being shoved through the back of its skull as I glared angrily into its lifeless eyes. I pulled the skeletonized pegasus closer, “Grimoire...you’ve made a grim mistake bringing dead family back to life.”

Many of them turned to face the two other dragons while a small group started to walk towards me, and I towards them. My hand burned as the magic in the surrounding air was sucked into my sword as it started to generate a green miasma around it. The veins in my hand started to glow green under my skin as I felt the burning sensation start to travel up my arm. Stop fighting it, you know you wish for power.

The power to make him pay… I thought back as I looked up towards the skeletons approaching me. ...to make him regret doing this to innocent ponies… I started to walk forward as the burning sensation started in my eyes now as well but I ignored it. ...to show him what it means… three skeletons charged at me as I brought my sword up in a diagonal arc ...TO KNOW DREAD! The sword cut through their bones with ease as they flew past me and landed in a pile of bones.

The pain had subsided in my body and was replaced with a profound coldness that bit deep into my bones. The blood in my veins came to a standstill and yet my body still moved on its own without me commanding it as if another creature had taken hold entirely. My body moved with ease as I danced through the sea of skeletons with ease, the darkness from their now fully lifeless bodies was absorbed by the blade, feeding my now desolate mind. Robert, STOP! a voice in the back of my head tried to scream but was easily tuned out with the sound of crushing bones and the roaring flames that danced at the other end of the army.

STOP AND LOOK AT YOURSELF! it screamed once more as I was thrown into the back of my own mind as my body moved without my command. When I opened my eyes I was presented with a large circular image in front of me that looked like the outside world.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” I heard a familiar voice say from the darkness that loomed around me. I tried to move my head but found it was locked in place by a strange device. My arms and my legs were tied down with leather straps. “To see one so ‘pure’ to turn into one so dark.” I could hear footsteps now as the voice drew closer. “So strong and yet so weak, so easy to manipulate, perhaps I should have done this long ago.” I saw the shadows move in the corner of my eye as I looked at the screen in absolute silence.

“Why do you insist on being silent? It’s only us two, and we both know you can’t hide anything from me.” The voice said once more as it stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light. I didn’t speak nor did I feel anything but annoyance and antipathy for him. “Tch, typical. Do you plan to stay silent or must I broach the words from your throat?”

“Robert! You’ll die if you keep this up!” I heard Faelan scream from the screen in front of me as my eyes were diverted towards her.

“FAELAN! RUN!” I screamed but the words never reached her but fell flat as they reached the screen. At that moment the dark version of myself appeared at my throat with a malicious smile on his face.

“There’s the screams I want to hear!” he exclaimed excitedly as I glared down at him. He cocked his head sideways as he started to clench his hand tighter around my throat as I clenched my teeth in pain while his nails dug into my neck. “This is no nightmare nor a dream Robert, I may play with you to any extreme I wish. But I fear my time is short, I do after all have a daughter to kill.”

“Don’t you fucking touch her.” I warned with a calm anger as I felt his grasp loosen, proceeding to smile at me.

“Oh no no no, you misunderstand. It’ll be a show, a spectacle for all to see! For now they will know no difference from us.” he smiled as I stared at him calmly.

I shook my head, “They will know that it isn’t me, your plan will fail and we will fall together. If my life must be taken to take you to Tartarus, so be it.” I threatened as he shook his head and walked towards the screen before phasing through it.

I watched as the dark magic that had been seeping into my body be expulsed into the ground below me, dissipating without a trace. I started to struggle in my bindings to try and free myself but it was to no avail as I thrashed around for what seemed like hours before finally giving into the bindings that held me there.

For hours I watched the events unfold before me as the dark side of me controlled my body, “working together” with my daughter and the others. Skeleton after skeleton fell to his sword but not without punishment towards my own body as he let the skeletons get a few hits in. When it was over my body was bloody with wounds all over my body, it was only then when the last skeleton had been dispatched that my other side rescinded control and the screen faded to black as it crashed into the ground.

After that there was nothing, no sound, no light, no cries for help. The silence had been absorbed into the darkness that held me and the area I was trapped in felt to be slowly shrinking in on me as I tried to keep a calm head. I let my mind wander back to a similar situation when I was younger and my brother had trapped me in a closet, it was almost similar. The darkness around me was terrifying, the thought that anything could be lurking was even worse as I sat in that closet and simply cried. I wailed for someone to help me but no one would listen as no one cared.

My brother had used a chair to block the door so that I couldn’t get out and plugged the little amount of light that entered the closet at the bottom of the door. I don’t know how long it was but all I could think of during that time was if I was going to die, what I had done to deserve it. I was 4 at the time so it was almost understandable why I was so scared, why I thought I was going to die, and more importantly why I felt so betrayed by my own brother who I looked up to.

Eventually I had fallen asleep with dried tears resting on my face as well as the crusty snot that bled down to my shirt.

A few hours later I remember waking up as my stomach growled loudly, I knocked on the door repeatedly with no response. I shouted that I was hungry but the outside was all quiet. I put my ear against the door but heard no footsteps and not even the fan hanging from the ceiling. It was all silent. It was about 8 minutes before I heard the front door open in the other room and my mom came inside and said, “Go get your brother, I’m about to start cooking.”

My brother didn’t say anything in response but I did hear him come into the room. I knocked on the door and he kicked it, “If you say anything I will kill your lizard.” where he then proceeded to exit the room while I whimpered in fear. “Mommy, he’s still sleeping.”

“Alright well leave him be, I’ll get him in the morning.” she replied. I spent the rest of the night in the closet trying to cry but nothing would come out, in the morning my Mom came into our room and said “Wake up you two, breakfast is almost ready!” I heard my brother come down and run out of the room while I heard my mom step towards the bed. “Bubby, wake up.” I heard the fwoosh of the covers followed by my mom yelling, “WHERE IS HE!?” I took that as my sign to slam on the door multiple times before I heard the chair being thrown and the light piercing into the closet as I covered my eyes and hugged my moms legs.

“Steven trapped me in the closet! And, and he threatened that he would kill Lizzie last night if I said anything!” I proceeded to wail into her as she picked me up and shushed me.

“STEVEN ANTHONY! GET IN HERE NOW!” she yelled. I don’t remember what happened after that but I know my brother didn’t like it as he was taken into my moms room and he was screaming at the top of his lungs.

I was violently thrown out of my memories as my body slammed onto the ground and the lights returned to illuminate who saved me. As I looked up I felt happiness along with a mix of a few emotions rise inside me as I saw who it was.