The Darkness: Dante Spectre

Once upon a time, there was only darkness.  Darkness shifted, creating worlds with infinite possibilities.  Most of them?  A singular hell.  That was just the way The Darkness liked it.  He decided what happened.  He decided what existed.  He ruled everything, and he loved it.  There was nothing more he could have ever wanted.  His mind and the real world were the same.

So the Alicorns said "Let there be light!"  And there was light.  Planets, galaxies, stars and life became the norm.  Everything was happy and saturated.  The Darkness was pissed.  But he was simply powerless to resist the light.  The only creatures as dark as he was were the ponies.  The only creatures who could be as dark as him were the ponies.  They were life that the Alicorns created.  The darkness made a deal with one lone male, in exchange for infinite power.  and from there, The Darkness carved a bloody path through history.

Only a male could receive the power of The Darkness, and only a male could pass the power at the moment of contraception, killing the host.  Each host thought that they had become the master of the darkness.  The Darkness doesn't possess its hosts.  In a way, they possess him.  They gain his power.  As long as the lights are off, they can do anything.  And everything is what they do.  Until Celestia said "Enough!"  She stole away the power, bringing light and freedom to her people.  What happened?  Will The Darkness ever again emerge?  What will happen if it does?  What is The Darkness?  How can it exist?  How can it bound with ponies, and where did it go?  Can it be used for good?  Perhaps we will never know, and perhaps it is better that way.

Dante Spectre put the book down on the desk in front of him.  "What a load of puffed-up pony tales!"  He declared.  He threw the book into the pack on his side and trotted out of the library, out of the orphanage, and into the sunlight.

It was a beautiful day in Canterlot as Dante walked down the sidewalk.  The grass was green, the sky was blue, and today was a day that Dante looked forward to with cold, hard enthusiasm.  It was his twenty-first birthday, though nopony cared.  He didn't care about that on a day like today, however.  All he needed was some fuel, to check up on his last remaining mark on the world, and he was done.

Dante stopped by an all-to familiar alley and slipped inside.  He looked down the alley filled with trash and dumpsters.  He smiled to himself as he walked into the shadows.  Something about dark, dank places made Dante feel so alive, so invigorated,  Especially on a day like today.

Dante walked straight to the back to check on his closest friend.  He slowly removed junk from a pile until he got to that last item, an upside-down metal box.  With glee, he kicked it over, and heard the most pathetic groan yet.

A small cat, deathly skinny and barely alive, mewed at him.  He stomped on it with his hoof, and felt his penis slightly twitch.  He was slightly aroused.  He took out the knife is his pack and he stabbed the creature.  He stabbed it again.  He stabbed it again.  He stabbed it five times, until he ran out of things to stab.  He stabbed the creature in the eye.  He shoved the knife slowly up the rear end of the helpless animal, not even hearing its cries of horror.  Finally, he gutted the animal and pressed his muzzle to the wound.  He grasped its guts in his teeth and stretched them out, reaching forward with one hoof to play with them.  He was careful not to let anything be swallowed, but that was difficult.  The had multiple times gotten food poisoning and similar diseases from playing with the guts of small animals.  He had long since lost track of how many he had killed.

Finally, he let the sloppy mess fall to the ground, with his clean hoof, the knocked a water bottle out of his pack.  He washed his face and his leg as best he could, the reached in again and pulled out the fire accelerate he had made from the fat of his last kill.  He squirted it all over the goop on the ground, then lit a match and watched the creature's remains burn.  He could probably have left it there, the authorities would think he attacked by a dog or something, but he never had.  He always burned them, in different places all over the city.  He was used to sneaking away from his headmaster, back when he lived at the orphanage, but he still sometimes got caught.  He was especially worried about-

"Hey there, my little sadist!"  Came a voice.

Dante froze, then slowly turned around to behold Broad Back, a blue earth pony, Hoof Heart, a yellow Pegasus, and Heart Vision, a dark gray earth pony.  There were Dante's favorite bullies, and he was probably there favorite subject.  Dante was used to them sneaking up on him, yet they had never caught onto what he was doing before he set the fires.  Apparently, they never would either.

Dante, a dark gray stallion with short, dark-blue mane and tail, and no cutie mark, looked down.  He was twenty one now, but that didn't stop the three seventeen year olds from tormenting him.  He just took it as he always did, dark rage filling his mind as he thought of all the things he would someday do to them.

"Not even you can spoil a day like this!"  He said cheerily.  He knew that they took that as a challenge, but on a day like today, he didn't care.  Soon enough he would leave all this behind.  He thought he heard another voice, but he ignored it.  Probably one of them making fun of him.

"Oh?"  Said Broad Back.  "Whys that?"

He gave them a cheeky grin, and said nothing.

With no other words, they pounced on him.. They beat him, they farted on him, they held him down and made him stick a hoof in the fire.  The usual.  Eventually, he left.  Dante couldn't care less, though he did hope that his left hoof wasn't too badly burned.  He was going to need that in just a moment.

He looked down at the ashes.  "All done,"  He said out loud.  He whistled a merry tune as he headed downtown.

Once he arrived at his destination, he looked up at it.  The sun was just starting to set over head, as the building he planned on climbing just in front of him.  He had limped all the way down here, not being stopped by guards, nor passing pedestrians, nor anybody else.  Some even snubbed their noses up at him.  It only steeled his resolve.  He entered the building.  As he climbed the stairs, he thought about how he had studied this, he had planned this, and he had wanted this.  Even as he thought about the release coming, he doubted himself.

Maybe there is another way?

Maybe i check myself into an asylum?

Maybe i start therapy?

Maybe i-Embrace The Darkness.

He cut himself off.  Weakness would not do, not now.  He had reached the top.  He looked over the city, his city, where he had spent his whole life.  It hadn't always been like this, you know?  He had dreams.  He would be like Daring Do.

What would she say to him now?

I work alone, anyway.

Who are you?

Why should i care?

Get lost, kid.

Weve been following you, Dante.

He liked to imagine some things, like how Daring Do was actually his boss or his headmaster.  He-

He heard a small crash, and little feet scampering.

He quickly looked around the stairwell.  Nopony was there.  He looked up, he looked down through the steel grating and saw nothing.  He resumed his inner monologue.

He wanted to be a noble, have tea with princess Celestia, entertain people, be rich and famous and powerful.  He wanted to go on epic adventures and have lots of mares to come home too.  But it meant nothing to him now.  Had he fallen? Or had his desires risen him to a higher pane of existence?  Death seemed so rich, so mystical, so freeing.  He wanted anything other than his current life.  His crappy job at a cafe, his worthless love-life.  He couldn't stop going near the orphanage he grew up at to complete his rituals, but they always found him and they always beat him up.  Nopony cared.  No, he thought finally, this is the end.  He reached the roof. He went to the edge and took a deep breath.

"We have been waiting for thee,"  came a mare's voice.

Dante turned around, and beheld a pony he never thought he'd see.  A pony he never thought cared.  An alicorn that he dreamed about entertaining, rescuing, adventuring with.  Researching with.  Saying bad things about politicians with.

Before him, on the roof, stood Princess Luna.

"Wha-"  stammered Dante, as he climbed back towards her.

"We have been waiting for thee," Luna said again.

Dante simply stared.  He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Am I hallucinating?"

"No."  Came Luna's calm reply.  "I am here to help you."

Dante marched back to over the edge.  "Help this."

He threw himself off.

The wind whirled through his mane and hair and he smiled at his fall.  He had done it.  He had-

Oh, What had he done?  He screamed, he thrashed, he cried out.  Nothing would ever help him, nothing ever had.  Until he found himself grasping a blue blur as he sobbed and cried.

He found himself deposited back onto the roof.  He wiped his tears off as Luna told him

"Demons are watching you, Dante."

He wiped his nose and looked up at her, shame deeply etched into his face.

"Wha..."

"I said", Luna repeated, "To jump again.  We shall catch you."

Dante looked at her, and sniffled.  "No, I heard something about demons"

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

"Tip the scales, Dante!  Your weak!"

Dante feverantly looked around.  "Who said that?"

Luna looked around as well.  "I hear naught."

"Tip the scles?"

Luna looked at him with concern.  "We should leave.  You are not well."

Dante looked at her with hate in his face.  "I am fine!  Now let me die!"

Luna looked back down at him.  "No."

The voice, again.  This time, it sounded far above Dante "We can see all!"

Dante stood up.  "What is that voice?  I've never heard anything like it!"

"We gave you the book, Dante!"

"The book..."  Dante murmured.

He quickly opened his pack to find nothing.

"We hate the light!"  screeched the voice.

Dante yelled.  "Stop!"

He rushed towards the edge, but this time Luna held him back with magic.

"We don't want you to die!  We have been there for every nightmare, every dream, we know what you feel! We understand!"  Luna seemed to be begging with him.  "We wont let you die!"

"Why do you care?!"  Spat Dante, tears again flowing from his eyes.

The voice was almost singsong now.  "Hold onto the host!  The host must not die!"

Dante curled into a ball on the dust.  As the sun set, Luna walked over to Dante and curled a wing around him.

"There, there"  She whispered.  "We know what it is like to be alone."

Dante hated the sound of that voice, that insufferable voice, but again it came.  He couldn't even hear Luna anymore.

"She will taste good!"

"She smells like sins!"

"Time up, Luna-moon!"

Luna jumped back from the black thing before her.  It looked like a giant black snake, with a dragon's head and taloned arms and legs.  It sneered at her.

"You had it coming!"  Said the monster.

Luna screamed, and started to fly away.  A long tentacle shot up from the roof and impaled her through the wing, then another one with talons grabbed her other wing, slicing through it.  Luna screamed again.

Laughter could be heard from below her.

"Luna-moon!  Your weak!"

Luna twisted around and fired a blast of magic at the growing snake-monster.  It laughed as the attack made no mark.

"The host hates you!  But we love you Luna!"  It laughed at her again.

Dante woke up.  He barely aware of what was going on.  He saw the world as if though black fabric.  He could, however, see just enough to see that he was torturing Luna.  He was dumbstruck.

He tried to babble.  "I - wha - its..."  He realized that he two new appendages, and that they were long.  He could feel them, feel the blood as they chipped away at Luna's body.  She screamed again, and about ten guards arrived from below.  In an instant, it was over.  The monster shrank back down into Dante's form, and Luna barely managed to glide to the ground.

All was still in the night air.  Dante lay on the ground, unable to comprehend what he had just done.  The guards swarmed around Luna, helping her up and tending to her even as she mumbled that she was alright.

She screamed again, and tried to fly away.  Her guards looked back at Dante to see him standing up, with hundreds of sharp and spiked tentacles growing from his back.  The expression on his face was one of blind rage.

In an instant, hundred of small, black, demonic creatures grew from the ground.  On of the guards tried to throw his spear, and all was over.

The creatures rushed forward, charging, biting, throwing bits of black energy at the guards.  They stretched out their guts over the floor and fought tooth and nail, for no reason other than killing.  Dante's tentacles rushed forward and impaled each of the other guards, then shook them off, tearing many in half.  Blood and other gunk dripped down the tentacles as they froze in their tracks, then vanished.  Only one small creature remained.

"Your fucked."  He said with a smile.