Chapters Perfect Harmony – Arrival
There is no good and evil, no black or white when it comes to balance, every event, every action taken, has only one ultimate goal, which is reaching the universal harmony. Knowing this, it’s obvious that there cannot be a realm, so a part of the Universe, touched only by order or chaos alone. Both have to be introduced to the World for the sake of equilibrium. Equestria is no exception, as the avatar of Chaos, Discord was a way for the Universe to keep the perfect harmony. This World however has promptly restricted the chaos and its role, dangerously tipping the scales to one side. Furthermore with first and second appearance of blasphemous tools called “The Elements of Harmony” the scale will soon fall and consequences of that would be disastrous. Universe cannot wait any longer and because of that, a drastic measure has to be taken… Damian Vermont, psychopath, murderer and a monster in human form, takes his last steps among the living. His green mile soon coming to an end, Damian was sentenced to death by electric chair for brutally killing and mutilating 117 innocent people. The media called him The Headless Shadow; police could never hope to catch this demon as the crime scenes were always clean of any condemning evidence. The trademark he left was a carving of letter H on the chest of the victim, but also a fact that every single corpse found by the law enforcers was headless (heads were never retrieved). The cuts surgically clean, the carving almost artistic, this psycho treated his victims and his doings as art. He eventually gave himself in, stating that his work is done. Death sentence was more than a sure bet in his case… However with his end the murderer shall become a tool for the Universe to once and for all get rid of the Elements of Harmony, the abominations that shouldn’t exist and came out of control, away from the Universes reach. Of course it can be expected that they won’t go down without a fight thus the new avatar of chaos has to be prepared. This is why the Universe… Or rather God (according to Damian) has whispered to Vermont, teaching the murderer the art of killing. Diagnosed as insane by the ignorant human race, Damian stayed true to his beliefs doing everything he was asked for by the voice, training his skills on 117 sacrifices. Time has come for the Headless Shadow to be reborn; time has come to fulfill his role…
Location: Earth, United States of America, California, California State Prison, Corcoran (COR), Super-maximum security wing
„Dead man walking! We have a dead man walking!”
Shouted the enthusiastic prison guard. Dressed in black anti-riot armor he was more than prepared for an act of disobedience coming from the murderer whose arm he was holding to. Damian Vermont was a tall muscularly build man, his skin almost white, this man had a dangerous and dark aura around him. His face covered in various tattoos was showing a cold analytical expression. His bones visible through his skin were giving the man ghastly and predatory looks about him. Every single prisoner went silent when The Headless Shadow was walking his green mile, every single prisoner, even the alphas of the prison world were literally unable to speak, the overwhelming feeling of dread paralyzing their vocal cords. A Catholic priest was following the dead-man. His long robes caused him to sometimes lose balance, as Damian was taking very long steps with his muscle rippled legs.
“Green Mile! It’s a Green Mile!”
Shouted the guard yet again, his companion on Vermonts other side gave the man a puzzled expression.
“I don’t think they are planning to do anything Charles. They’re not even moving…”
The one called Charles frowned a little and proceeded to guide the inmate to his doom. The Green Mile wasn’t really a long distance to take, but for the sentenced prisoner and the prison guards next to him it tended to become longer then it seemed. Minutes turning to hours in their minds this Green Mile definitely took way to long for everyone concerned. The priest was saying some prayers and rambled something about redemption and regret for ones sins. Headless Shadow however was very much not listening to the priest, as a matter of a fact he didn’t even know what a Catholic priest was doing on his Rebirth Ceremony. Finally after a few long minutes the guards, priest and Damian reached the thick iron door, not replaced since the beginning of the prison, this iron door was all rusted, decayed and had 143 years of constant usage to show for it. There was also a yellow piece of paper glued on a wooden board in the upper section of the door, obviously an old message that still applied to current practice of death sentence in this state.
“May God have mercy on your Soul… That pretty much sums it all up nicely Mr. Vermont.”
Said the slightly calmer guard, his head nodding, as he read the message out loud. Damian didn’t respond, his expression still the same as it was a minute ago. He seemed dozed off; deep in his thoughts and whatever they were, the guard could bet, they weren’t pleasant.
“Damian, it’s the last chance for you to repent in the eyes of God. Are you willing to look for God’s forgiveness? Are you willing to confess your sins?”
Asked the priest, short but slim Afro-American. He was wearing a small silver cross over his neck. His voice was very soothing and melodic. If Damian had an aura of foulness around him, this priest had an aura of positivity, meaning that he clearly believed he was helping everyone who was willing to accept the help. Vermont simply stared the man down, jagging his self-confidence with ice cold murderous look that would probably freeze over water if there was any in vicinity. The priest felt cold sweat dripping down from his brow…
“I don’t need forgiveness…”
Said Vermont spitefully, seizing the priest up.
“All I have done is GODS WILL!”
He shouted angry at the priest for his ignorance.
“I take it as a “no””
Answered the priest quietly
The guards looked at each other slightly scared that the situation might go out of control. Fortunately for them, Damian didn’t say another word and went silent. The enthusiastic guard sighed and proceeded to open the iron door, using old valve lock, similar to ones used in submarines. The door protested with an unholy moan that could easily frighten the lesser man. The moaning of old metal and rusted hinges quickly gave away, as the door opened inviting the four men in. Old light bubbles slowly lit up, dispersing the disturbing darkness and uncovering the final destination of Damian’s life. He flinched, slightly and unnoticeably, but didn’t protest when the two guards in riot-armor slowly dragged him closer to the wooden contraption. The chair had visible marks of usage as it probably took no less lives than the Shadow. Dents and cracks on the chairs armrests could tell a lot about the procedure of being electrocuted to death. It had to be painful and agonizing, as convicts were squeezing their fingers so tightly around the wooden armrest, it caused the armrest to crack and dent even. The iron door was slowly closed by another man. This one was not wearing any armor, but standard blue uniform of the prison staff. His black short hair were wet, covered in sweat, the man was very much stressed, as this was first execution he was attending to. The two guards turned Damian around and placed him on the wooden chair. He still seemed very calm, but inside of him a tempest of anger was slowly rising.
He will be reborn but still through a very demeaning way.
The guards quickly strapped him in leather belts, limiting his movement. Then a wet sponge was put over his bald head, covering him in ice cold water. The demon however didn’t even blink. Over the sponge a kind of metal helmet was put, leather straps holding it on his head. The lights suddenly blinked a little, but then returned to their full potential. The man with black hair looked around unsure of himself, but then shrugged and took a place next to the main switch. Seconds were passing by, turning into minutes quickly. The guards were getting impatient and then they heard the atrocious moan of the old iron door as the Head of the Prison himself entered the small concrete room. He was a fat sort of fellow, wearing blue suit with ugly, dirty, yellow tie that didn’t match the rest of the clothing. He obviously gained a few pounds recently as his suit was visibly barely containing his rather large frame. Gasping for air desperately, the Head took a few minutes to recover as he probably ran to the execution chamber. Then steadily he approached the large window in front of the Monster. Curtains slowly went up and faces of four people could be seen. There were no next of kin and people attending to the execution were probably exclusive reporters. They nodded with anticipation, no sadness in their eyes, as World knew that in fact a rabid animal is put to rest and not a human being.
“Any last words Damian?”
Asked the Head of Prison with his husky voice, taking a measuring look at the demon. Vermont raised his head up and swept the concrete room with his sight.
“You are all… GOING TO BURN IN HELL!”
All his anger, disdain and rage exploded, as he was looking at these puny worms that tried to interrupt his work.
They didn’t deserve to be a part of it! They should all perish in flames!
Saliva coming down his chin, the monster raged, his skin color turning to red as blood was pumped rapidly through his system. The madness in his eyes terrifying everyone that dared to look at him. All in all he looked indeed like a rabid animal. The Head of The prison looked at his watch and then nodded. A gag was quickly put in Damian’s mouth, and soon after that the switch was moved. Ten thousand volts of electric current went through the body of the murderer that convulsed and thrashed about violently. Shortly after that the murderer left the Earth realm.
Location: Equestria, Sweet Apple Acres
Damian Vermont opened his eyes, his vision blurry, he was not able to process information from his optic nerves for a while. The clearness came slowly, as one by one his senses were rebooting and kicking in. First he smelled something, sweet and fresh, he knew that smell somehow…
Apples, fresh apples smelled sweetly like that…
Then his sense of touch awakened as he could easily tell that what he felt under his palms was soft grass. Vision slowly cleared out as he noticed, he was looking at pastel, bright, blue sky. He turned his head slowly to the right, bones cracking as if not used for a while; the Headless Shadow slowly took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in some kind of apple orchard… And all this, to his bewilderment, was slowly making sense…
The voice was right, it indeed had to be God, speaking to him… He was reborn anew in another World!
He stood up slowly, his muscles rippling under his skin, as 120 kilos of murder raised from the green grass and stood up slowly. He took a deep breath and smiled… Smiled, like he was always smiling just seconds before beheading one of his victims. The psychopath made his own reasoning about the situation he was in right now. Normal person would probably start looking for signs of civilization, possibly freaking out at the same time. But no, Damian Vermont was not freaking out; he was smiling widely and disturbingly
“My mission begins here…”
He said in enthusiastic deep voice, that was perfectly matching his visage, chuckling darkly soon after that. This new World was about to face its greatest challenge yet, as pure hate, madness and wild brutality came to the beautiful innocent realm of Equestria to actually save it from a greater disaster... How crazy was that?
Location: Equestria, Canterlot, Royal Gardens
Discord, despite being petrified was very much conscious, not able to see, smell or touch, but able to feel… He felt energies around him and also felt the scales of balance being touched by something new, something very chaotic and, using the ponies terms, evil.
The Second One has arrived…
A whisper echoed in his head, low and gentle one.
“I can feel him…”
Thought Discord… Then he suddenly felt a surge of power go down his body…
You will be freed First One, despite failing the equilibrium terribly… You shall teach this New One of the universal harmony, become his mentor and recruit allies for his cause.
Discord felt a slight pinch of fear in his heart. The Universe was freeing him but also knew that he failed miserably, consequences were sure to come, and he feared them…
You are forbidden to directly interfere with this World and will be severely punished after the balance is returned!
The whisper got sharper, hissed the sentence, voice full of venom.
Discord would gulp if he could, however punishment was better than disintegration. But what exactly “directly” meant? He didn’t know so he said the only thing reasonable
“Yes, my Creator…”
He replied with respect and loyalty. The whisper didn’t reply and Discord could feel enough power running through his veins to claim his freedom yet again…
Location: Equestria, Canterlot, Royal Service Recruitment Center
Clean Street was very much furious, anger boiling in him as he was being fired from his work… Again…
“It’s my name isn’t it? You’re firing me because of my stupid name, right?”
He asked angrily, eyes narrowed.
The mare responsible for recruitment of staff for Canterlot Castle sighed deeply, her blue wings twitching slightly as she wasn’t really good when it came to arguing and stress resistance. This weirdo was definitely making her stress levels go up. Why was he a weirdo? Well, she never ever saw a pony this old, without a cutie mark. That’s not the only problem, Average sized with crimson coat, the guy was an unicorn without an actual horn to begin with. Okay he had one but it was broken in half, which probably made casting magic impossible (How did he even break it in the first place… Weird, huh?). And those freaky eyes… One black and I mean completely black, no iris or pupil whatsoever and some kind of scar (I think) going down from his brow to the end of his muzzle. The other eye would be normal if not for the pupil… It simply looked like a lizard’s eye, oh yeach and the iris was red, so again weird color. His hoofs were actually normal looking, but white, which didn’t exactly match the coat. And lastly he was, well, bald… No mane to begin with and his tail was poorly kept, white hair dropping down as if they made of something heavy, scarcely covering the whole tail… In some places his bare skin was visible.
“I will answer all your questions soon, sir…”
She said as calmly as possible, but then curiosity took over and she just had to ask
“Mind if I ask a question first?”
She asked smiling widely
“Is it about my eyes?”
He asked with a sight, rolling his eyes
“No, no… Well… A little”
She said staring at him directly
“Shoot…”
“What’s with the eyes?”
Asked the perplexed Pegasus. Clean Street facehoofed and took a deep breath.
“I’m a victim of black magic, okay? Can we just skip this nonsense and get to the point WHY the F… Why the hell are you FIRING me?!”
The Pegasus didn’t react much to this and seemed to be completely devoid of emotional sensitivity, as she asked:
“What magic now…?”
Her expression was that of bewilderment
Clean street simply stared her down
“You can’t be this ignorant, can you? NEVERMIND! Why was I fired for Luna’s sake?!”
He screamed and gesticulated at the annoying Pegasus. She was immediately intimidated.
“Like shit?”
“I wouldn’t say that… But yes… Pretty much…”
He sighed; nothing was ever easy for him. His parents both accused of practicing “black arts” were banished from Equestria, turned out he was a test subject for both of them, hurray… And of course nothing could be done to repair the damage. Doctors said some parts of his body were… Replaced… He didn’t want to know the exact details. Until he reached adulthood, he was raised in Canterlot Orphanarium, where they gave him this ridiculous name, not reflecting his skills or character in ANY way. Orphanarium was not a nice place to begin with, but still beat dying horribly from starvation. This was his 3rd job, from which he was fired. Every employer reached the same conclusion after a while – they can’t have a fruit of hideous magic working in public place. Only after they studied his past more closely would they always come to this decision.
Crack
He suddenly stopped and looked at the sculpture of Discord… He could swear he heard a cracking sound from this direction.
Crack
He came closer to the sculpture and took a good look at it.
Crack
Visible cracks were appearing on its surface, pieces of stone falling down from various places. Clean Street took a step back, mouth agape his heart racing a mile a minute; he couldn’t stop staring at the sculpture.
“That’s some kickass trick…”
He said to himself
Crack
Suddenly the sculpture exploded, stone debris coming down like rain, high silhouette of the Draconequus took the sculptures place. Discord stretched and then cracked his fingers.
“Aaand, free again! Teehehehe!”
He laughed cheerfully and then noticed the weird pony looking at him intensely
“Well?”
He asked, confusion on his face. The pony shook his head suddenly, as if coming out of trance
“Well, what?”
He asked not really thinking the question through
“Aren’t you going to run away? Scream, as I laugh menacingly and plan to wreck chaos upon this land?”
The pony put a hoof on his chin, seemingly deep in thought.
“Are you… Somepony I should know or something?”
“…”
“Wait! You’re this illusionist! Whatcha call him… Silver Star!”
Discord didn’t really facepalm much, but this was one of those times… Then suddenly he remembered his very important task of tutoring the new Chaos Avatar.
“Darn it! I have to go… But you and me are not done yet, pal! Wait, scratch that, you’re coming with me, I can’t simply let somepony who doesn’t know about Discord go, walking freely like that! I worked hard for my reputation!”
Discord snapped his fingers and then, both dumbstruck Clean Street and Discord teleported to meet the new avatar, with Discord thinking he’s ready for what’s coming. But hey, everyone can come to wrong conclusions! It’s a matter of how wrong they are that’s important, and Discords assumptions… Well, they were simply dead wrong…
Perfect Harmony – Contact
Damian Vermont was standing in the middle of what he assumed was an Apple Orchard, completely still, a frown visible on his tattooed face. The murderer didn’t really know how different from Earth the new World is, but one thing he was sure of. The rules still applied and they were pretty simple to follow. His thoughts brought back a vivid memory of his first kill when God gave him these rules…
Three years ago, Earth, United States of America, California, Miami
A body of young woman was lying on the ground, drops of rain hitting the pavement and metal staircase in the alley. The rain was heavy today and that was something unusual, but Damian Vermont had other things on his head right now. He was standing in front of the laying body, the killing stab in the chest, was an amateurs doing at best. Forensics could quickly come to a conclusion, what the murder weapon was. Because of his shaking hands the strike was very uneven, lacked precision and confidence of the person delivering the killing blow. In his bare hand, Vermont was still holding the sharp knife, blood being washed from its surface by the persistent rain. He was soaking wet by now, his jeans and white t-shirt with black words “Game Over”, became heavy from all the absorbed water. Damian’s eyes were widened; terror easily visible in them, as he did something hideous, he took an innocent life and his mind was still not able to take in the whole situation. The woman had a simple yellow dress, some gold jewelry adoring her ears and fingers. Her beautiful eyes were now empty, devoid of life and her long blond hair strewed about, floating in the puddle of water, which formed around her corpse, slowly being mixed blood coming out of her fatal wound. One of her high heels boots was missing. She lost it while running away from Damian.
“God! I did it! I did your bidding! I killed an innocent woman!”
Shouted Vermont at the night sky, simultaneously dropping the knife to the ground.
Very Good Damian, you completed your task. Do not be angry, she was a necessary sacrifice. You have not done anything sinful.
A soft, calm and manly voice echoed in his head. God has spoken, he did his Lords bidding, he did what he had to as the chosen one.
Your work is not yet complete tough. This might be a simple, mortal woman, but when it comes to the evil abominations, you will have to do much more than simply stab them. I shall give you the only effective method to truly slay an abomination…
Present time, Equestria, Sweet Apple Acres
“First stab the heart And their soul is torn apart Cleanse the wound with water And their powers will scatter Carve an H in the chest And their will is put to test Put a rock at their side And their courage is denied Cut off their head And they are finally dead”
Vermont recited silently, his frown quickly disappeared as he realized that no matter what he will face, God is on his side and gave him a method, method to kill that which is immortal. He smiled widely yet again and then proceeded to search his orange prison suit for a thing that he was able to hold to himself. He quickly found what he was looking for, a homemade, or rather prisonmade knife, very sharp and very much able to stab someone’s heart. How did he manage to keep it? Well, no one was willing to fully search a man that beheaded 117 people, was probably insane and had a death sentence on him. The knife was pretty-much simple, with the exception of the blade. This was a proper military blade, without an original handle that went missing. The blade itself however was still very much sharp. The wicked weapon reflected the slowly dusking suns light as Vermont was inspecting it with delight. His expression changing to a smile, as he truly believed that he will go to heaven for serving God so well.
“Remember Damian that nothing living in this world can stand between you and your mission. Nothing here is more important than your task and if you deem it necessary you may smite your obstacles.”
Said Vermont to himself, remembering the words of God. First time he killed, he didn’t much like it, had some nightmares and guilty conscience after that. However after God assured him he is doing the right thing, Damian quickly came to like the feeling of taking someone’s life for the greater good. That is why right now, he was almost shaking with excitement. His bloodlust was rising and the psychopath knew, he has to sate it soon. It was getting darker with every passing second, Vermont liked that, night was always closest to him, shrouded his movements and made him a true predator. He rotated the knife in his hand, weighting it down, he knew he was ready. There was however a question of what direction he should take. He looked around again and saw the thing he was looking for. Light… It was a light of a town or village, dispersing the deepening darkness in the distance.
“Best way of staying hidden is staying out in the open, where no one expects you…”
He mumbled to himself remembering the phrase from somewhere. Even if he was in a completely new World, it was hard for him to believe it could be much different from Earth. Humans were in fact the only children of God and thus they were bound to be even here. He could bet the technological development wasn’t also much different and so he won’t be having hard time adjusting. He started to walk in the direction of the light, moving between the apple trees and some shrubberies that were growing here and there. Knife still drawn Vermont was moving like a ghost, not audible to anything but the very sound-sensitive animals. His steps were light and silent as he wasn’t about to walk casually through this orchard. It was bound to be in someone’s possession and so there were definitely people in vicinity. In his prison clothing he looked very suspicious as it was no Halloween to explain his weird choice of clothes. His carefulness quickly paid off as he saw movement in front of him, quickly confirmed by a voice. It was whispering, which made it impossible to understand. It was clear that there was at least one person behind the thick line of Shrubs in front of Damian. He slowly kneeled down and took a peek through the growth, making close to no sound. What he saw on the other side was more than surprising and confusing to him, for it was a horse… A green horse, it had some kind of tattoo on its flank and shortly cut red mane. With its tail also red, the horse looked like a hallucination to Damian. The huge brown eyes currently fixed on the tree in front of them, were also a biological impossibility. The small horse had some kind of baskets filled with red apples on its back. It appeared that this creature was paying a lot of attention to its surroundings, looking around nervously once in a while. Then it turned around and bucked the tree with audible thump, causing a lot of sweet red apples to fall to the ground. Damian was not able to see any more details as it was getting even darker, but it appeared that the horse put the baskets down and was trying to gather the apples…
Green Runner was much stressed right now, as he knew that he was doing something very wrong and very evil. He was stealing the apples from the Apple family…
“I’m so gonna be caught and locked in the Canterlot dungeons…”
He whispered fearfully to himself putting yet another apple in his basket. He felt very bad already by doing something so terrible, but he knew he had no choice. He didn’t have any more money, his food supply was getting scarce and he was too prideful to ask for or accept any help; there were also no current job offers that would match his special talent, which was running very fast and at long distances.
“Lousy country doesn’t even need earth pony couriers… Stupid pegasi taking all the jobs…”
He said with an angry snarl filling the basket with enough apples.
“Phew, this should last for a while”
Smile made its way to his face, as he was actually a little satisfied that even though he’s doing something despicable he will probably avoid punishment.
“And now to simply get back to my house and forget about all of it”
He said a little louder, confident that if nothing caught him yet, nothing will. And so he turned around fast preparing to leave the orchard and… Gasped, immediately jumping back startled, hitting the tree with his back and making all the apples fly in random directions.
“Holy Celestia!”
He shouted collecting his thoughts and slowly standing up, at first sure he’s done for. Taking another glance at the thing that startled him he could confirm three things. First, it was no one from the Apple family (that’s a relief), second the one standing in front of him was a bright indigo unicorn (he wasn’t sure of the color tough, as he could barely see it), third the culprit was probably in the same situation as he is right now, because who normally would come here at night and what for? Stealing apples is the most reasonable explanation he could come up with.
“You gave me a scare! Don’t ever creep up to anypony like that, besides who are you and why are you here anyway?”
Green Runner already came up with an excuse to explain him being here this late… He was a guard of the Orchard, making sure no one comes here and steals apples at night! The perfect excuse, this guy won’t be able to check it and will have no choice but to believe and run… Or give himself in?
“Answer me mister! I’m the guard of the Sweet Apple Acres! You have no right to be here at that time! Explain yourself right now!”
He said with a threat in his voice, stomping with one hoof to increase the effect of intimidation…
Damian was not amused, his confusion not entirely gone, he simply stared at the horse. The green thing just talked to him… No, it made a threat! The murderer quickly analyzed the situation and came up with a quick answer to the phenomenon. Devil has to be here, ready to block his path to salvation and interrupt his holy mission. Damian however can remove obstacles on his path and a possessed animal was definitely an obstacle.
“Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in our battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!“
Said Damian loftily, increasing the volume of his voice. He took a step forward, decreasing the short distance between himself and the wicked abomination. The horse looked at him eye-widened and flabbergasted.
The unicorn took a step forward, an expression of scorn on his face. His indigo horn started to glow vile scarlet. Green Runner came to a conclusion quickly. This had to be the real guard and he had been exposed. But what was this unicorn saying? It was some gibberish…
“Come to the assistance of men whom God has created to His likeness and whom He has redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil!”
Continued Damian, feeling no force pushing him back or trying to attack his mind. It had to mean the exorcism was working.
“Look! I was not stealing the apples! I just… it’s just… Okay I was stealing them but please… I have no money and will starve if I don’t eat anything! I can repay you with work! Please!”
Green Runner pleaded desperately, gesticulating with both his hooves, trying to reason with the angry unicorn. But the unicorn was not changing his expression and made another step forward. Green Runner tried to take a step backwards only to hit the tree behind him with his flank. He was pretty much without options. He closed his eyes in fear. The unicorn made another step and was centimeters from Green Runner. Nothing was happening… Green Runner opened his eyes slowly and saw the pony’s face. It was covered in markings… Like cutie marks but all of them were grim and completely black. The Unicorn’s eyes were blue and cold as ice, drilling themselves into Green Runner’s soul.
The demon was not resisting, and it was time to take proper action. Damian quickly extended his arm and grabbed the little horse by the neck, raising it up to his eye-level. The thing was small, 1/3 of his size maybe. It simply looked puny, but the murderer was not about to be fooled by its appearance.
“What’s the name of this World foul demon?”
His powerful fingers squeezed the soft neck of the horse making its eyes bulge out and drool come down its chin.
“This unicorn is a madpony!”
Shouted Green Runner in his mind, when he was lifted into the air by the scarlet energy of the unicorn’s magic. He was expecting punishment, but never something like that! Unicorns couldn’t use their magic to hurt anypony! Green Runner was proven wrong when he felt the grip of magic tightening itself around his neck, making breathing close to impossible. Then there was the question the Unicorn asked. Runner had no time to dwell on it much, as his neck was close to being snapped.
“EQUESTRIA!! IT’S CALLED EQUESTRIA!!”
He wheezed with a lot of effort. The pressure on his neck decreased as the Unicorn was giving him a very hateful look.
“Where are the humans, demon?”
Asked the unicorn grimly, narrowing his blue eyes
“I don’t know what that is! Please, don’t hurt me!”
Replied Green Runner huskily, terror rising in him as he figured out, that this pony indeed can hurt him and maybe even… Maybe even kill him…
“That is your game then monster? Did you enslave humanity?!”
Shouted the Unicorn loudly, his voice filled with hate and anger
“No! Please, I don’t know anything!”
Answered Green Runner, his voice breaking down. He was never so scared before, never… Tears appeared in his eyes, as he sobbed quietly, still being held by the powerful magical grip.
“I wasted enough time on you… I can always ask another demon, can’t I?”
The unicorn’s expression changed after that. A twisted, cruel smile appeared on his face and a chuckle escaped his lips
“First stab the heart…”
He stated grimly…
A/N: Was drunk when I wrote that, appologies for any stupid grammar errors and such, enjoy :)
Perfect Harmony – Initial terror
Discord and Clean Street appeared in the Sweet Apple Acres with a loud pop. Clean Street looked very confused as it all happened in the middle of his thought process. The former Chaos God however looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary he grunted.
“Where can this creature of pure chaos be?! It should be right here, where I’m standing!”
Said Discord pointing to the ground, annoyed. Clean Street on the other hand, shook his head trying to get rid of the confusion.
“How did you do teleportation with like… snap of your fingers?! That’s some serious mojo right there!”
He shouted with excitation. Then he realized he was also teleported for a reason he didn’t really understand…
“Did you just… ponynap me?”
Discord looked seriously at the weird no-horn unicorn, brows furrowed.
“Be quiet you! Somepony not knowing about Discord has no right to speak!”
He said, scolding the pony
“Disc Rod?”
Asked Clean Street yet again not thinking his question through… It was his habit really…
“DISCORD!”
Screamed Discord at the pony, murder in his eyes.
“Okay, okay, no need to get angry pops…”
Said the pony rolling his eyes, not really scared of the Chaos God, he assumed it was some fancy illusion spell that caused Discord to look like that.
“Pops…? Pops?!”
Discord was shocked… Nopony ever called him Pops... It was just too ridiculous.
“AAAAHHHH!”
A loud, ear-piercing sound echoed through the Orchard. It was a scream of terror and dismay. It immediately made Clear Street’s blood run cold and Discords expression turn serious. It came from behind the thick layer of Shrubs in front of them. Discord slowly approached the Shrubs and drew them aside looking behind them. Clear Street shrugged and did the same thing. What they both saw would scar a lesser mind for the rest of its life.
Damian was smiling widely raising the sharp blade in his free hand. He looked directly in the eyes of his new victim. Yet again he could see dread and plead for help in them, yet again he felt the agitation seconds before taking someone’s life. This time however it was different, this time Damian was slaying a true demon, clearing the New World from its filth. Damian brought Green Runner closer to his face and then whispered into his ear
“You’re playing an innocent very well maggot, but you’re not fooling anyone…”
The pony’s eyes were still wet from tears, that couldn’t stop flowing. He started to shake, fear filling his whole being. Damian gripped the knife firmly, feeling its lust for blood reflecting his own. He then brought the knife to Green Runners face and slowly moved the blade’s side across it. Still smiling wickedly the murderer moved the blade towards Runner’s left ear, scratching it slightly with the tip. Then with one smooth, powerful motion the blade sliced its way through the soft tissue of the pony’s ear cutting it elegantly. Because of the shock and fear, Green Runner didn’t feel anything for a while, but the sudden burst of searing pain brought him back violently to reality.
“AAAAHHHH!”
Scream of pain and terror made its way through the whole orchard
Blood covered whole left side of Runner’s face in a matter of millisecond. It slowly ran down, also covering Damian’s hand. The warmth of the liquid was well too familiar to the psychopath. It brought a sick pleasure to him - feeling the essence of life of his victim was priceless to the murderer. This intense feeling however dulled Damian’s senses, so that he didn’t hear the quiet rustle of nearby shrubs.
Discord and Clean Street were looking through the bushes and what they saw was easy to describe at first glance. There was a bright indigo unicorn, his cutie mark… Discord didn’t know what it was, but a human would be able to easily tell that it was an Uroboros. Crimson magic of the unicorn was holding both the green pony and a huge blade. Discord and Clean Street weren’t sure what is going on but it didn’t seem that any of those two ponies could the chaos creature… They were simply too similar to the species of Equestria and Discord knew, that the chaos creature will be very unique. Taking a closer look however, uncovered the horrific truth. The blade the indigo unicorn was holding was covered in blood. One of the ears of the green pony was missing, blood making its way down his face, expression of dismay glued to it. The indigo unicorn chuckled grimly, making shivers go down Discords spine, as he felt something new, something he never thought he will experience in Equestria… It was angst.
“I bid you farewell demon, BURN IN HELL!”
Shouted madly the Unicorn and then the blade moved with lightning speed, stabbing the green pony in the chest. Immediately a gush of blood covered both the ground and the indigo Unicorn. The green pony’s mouth opened as he tried to scream, but instead coughed up more red liquid. The strike didn’t hit the heart, but penetrated the lung, making it collapse quickly as Green Runner was drowning in his own blood. The Unicorn jerked out the blade.
“In the name of the Father!”
Roared Damian as he randomly stabbed the Earth Pony’s body again…
“The Son!”
And again…
“And the Holy Spirit”
And yet again…
“AMEN!!!”
This time the blade hit the heart directly, by then Green Runner looked like cheese as stab wounds covered his body. All his life force leaving him, the pony went pale; his eyes half closed, blood lose making it impossible for him to even think. A few seconds later Green Runner’s eyes became glassed over, empty, lifeless as he became limp. He died, after experiencing severe pain and fear… His soul however didn’t simply leave the realm of the living as the laws of Equestria were quite different from Earths own.
Here death always occurred naturally, as the order-overdosed World didn’t know any other kind. All the souls passing through the Underworld were always peaceful, calm and understood why their time has ended. Because all aspects of Equestria were embodied within the two Godlike Sisters and because death was something natural, one of the two Goddesses had a delicate connection to the Underworld, feeling every death as a wave of sadness. Luna was always the one responsible for more grim aspects of the world and so with every death she always saw an image of the dead pony as a silhouette appearing next to her. The images of all the ponies were always calm and smiling, disappearing after a while in a bright light that enveloped their being. She was sad but also relieved that they always accepted their fate and seemed to be saying their goodbyes to the World, through Luna.
Currently she was on the balcony of her room. She didn’t really have a whole segment of the castle to call her own.The room she had was a simple one. Painted magically so that the walls and the celling were showing a night’s sky with stars shining brightly. The floor was made of obsidian, which curiously was warm in touch. There was also her bed, simple one not much different from any other except for its sheets and bedclothes, all made of delicate navy-blue silk. She also had a stylized table in the middle of the room, made of dark blue oak. Various bookcases and cupboards also filled the room, with books, scrolls, notes and such filling their shelves. Except for that the room wasn’t anything special, no fancy decorations, no huge paintings, no gold or silver ornaments. The doors to the balcony were also made of oak (black this time), with smoked glass panels in them. For Luna however it was just right, as according to her, she didn’t deserve to have the same amount of status and power as her sister, after all she did something she couldn’t forgive herself. Luna was still bothered that she wasn’t really punished for any of her actions as Nightmare Moon. She should have been the same as any other pony committing a crime, but she was simply forgiven, just like that… And why? After all she WAS Nightmare Moon, who was not a different being, it was Luna’s darkest side brought to life. Her line of thought was quickly interrupted, as wave of sadness washed over her. She knew the feeling very well… Somepony died.
She turned around and entered her modest room, now waiting, as any second a phantom of the pony will appear, bidding her farewell with a smile. This time however the feeling of sadness was different. Previously it was somehow warmer, promising a fast return of happiness as the soul will find itself in Heaven. This feeling had no warmth, it was cold, deep and was clawing at her insides viciously. She gulped, getting a little anxious. Seconds were passing by very slowly, Luna had a feeling that time itself slowed down, frozen from all the cold she felt around her. Wait… She took a deeper breath and released it immediately, as it came out it turned into white vapor. It wasn’t just a feeling of coldness, the temperature in her room was indeed dropping down and fast. She heard a cracking sound behind her and quickly turned to see what made it. The smoked glass of the balcony door was slowly being covered in white frost. Her eyes widened, now she was getting scared. She turned around again and gasped as the phantom appeared out of nowhere in the middle of her room. It was flickering in and out of existence every few seconds. Luna felt something was not right… This phantom was not smiling; it had a blank expression on its face and was sickly pale. It was looking at her, its eyes empty and cold, making Luna shiver slightly. Then she heard a dripping sound, as if drops of water were hitting the obsidian floor. She quickly realized it was no water… The Phantom started to cry soundlessly… A trickle of blood was coming down its face, drops hitting the obsidian floor. On its chest 4 red spots appeared, blood slowly started to flow down from them. The spots became deeper and darker as Luna noticed with terror that they turned into 4 wide stab wounds. Soon the phantom was standing in a puddle. It slowly opened its mouth, just to make more red liquid come out of it and suddenly it let out a horrifying wail, making Luna deaf and immediately drop to the ground, close her eyes with pain and try to block out the sound with her forelegs. For her the wail lasted eternity, but in fact it was a few seconds of torment. The Phantom was then enveloped in black flames that ate it away leaving disgusting smell of burned flesh. Luna opened her eyes and slowly stood up. She heard only ringing in her ears and was breathing heavily, still shocked by the phenomenon. She could still smell burned flesh and see marks of intense heat on the floor, where the phantom was standing. She shook her head to regain her senses. An expression of confusion and fear on her face. She didn’t know what all of this exactly meant but the stab wounds were enough to make a wild guess… Somepony was murdered…
Discord simply couldn’t believe his eyes and Clean Street on the other hand was frozen on the spot, blankly looking at the scene that unfolded itself in front of them. The indigo Unicorn, having fanatical expression on his face just murdered the other pony… And he was smiling disturbingly… Not at all affected by what he just done. Clean Street seemed to regain his composure as he started to back away slowly, trying not to alarm the unicorn. His attempt however failed as he stepped on a root making it crack loudly. Discord didn’t seem to notice it, his eyes still fixed on the Unicorn, which now turned his head towards them. The smile gone from it, only hatred was visible in his blue eyes.
“I can see you filth!”
Surge of crimson magical energy enveloped the Unicorn, starting from the tip of his horn. The raw power making the grass around him burst in flames
“This power… It is him… He’s the Second One”
Whispered Discord feeling intense heat from the Unicorns magic.
“What on Equestria is this thing?!”
Asked Clean Street, panic apparent in his voice
The Unicorn started to walk towards them, the blade still enveloped in the crimson magic pointing at them both.
“It’s an unicorn obviously! Stop asking stupid questions!”
Retorted Discord cynically not even looking at the no-horn Unicorn
“What?! I don’t see any Unicorn there! It’s some kind of bipedal bald ape… And it just murdered somepony!!”
Clean Street was now in full-blown panic mode
“I’m getting out of here!”
That said Clean Street turned around and was about to gallop his way out.
Damian was not surprised or confused anymore. He was certain now, this World was overrun with different kind of evil demons and possessed animals. This time, despite the darkness around him, he saw another possessed horse and something only able to spawn in hell. It was a grotesque animal, composed of different parts of other animals. What dark hole it was created in, Damian didn’t know. What he noticed though was an attempt of the possessed horse to run away.
“I won’t let you run…”
Whispered Damian, tossing the knife up in the air and then catching it skillfully by the blade. He then took a powerful swing and threw the military knife towards the horse. It flew through the air with a swish and Damian was rewarded by a meaty sound of cut flesh, a thud and scream of intense pain.
“Pathetic! You stand no chance against the wrath of God!”
He roared passionately.
Just when Clean Street was about to run away with haste he heard a swishing sound and then immediately felt something penetrating his skin, ripping muscle tissue and tendons apart and scratching the bone of his left leg. He fell to the ground headfirst and screamed in pain. Discord quickly turned around flabbergasted by what just happened. His surprise didn’t last long as he figured out, that this Unicorn did not understand chaos as Discord did, but rather took it to a completely new hideous level. Discord didn’t like that, murder was not chaotic, it was simply despicable. He couldn’t allow the Second One to simply wander around Equestria killing everything and everypony he met. Universe was right, that this guy needed a mentor… And he just seriously maimed Clean Street, thinking he’s some kind of demon… This didn’t look good…
“Anger and crazy management issues I see… Nothing else to do but disable you temporarily, so you won’t do something… wrong…”
Said Discord looking at Second One and snapping his fingers. A huge brick appeared over the head of the Unicorn and before he could even notice it, the brick fell down hitting him in the head, successfully knocking him out. The Unicorn fell to the ground with two parts of thick brick around his head.
“That’s a pretty tough skull, you have…”
Discord then turned around to look at the no-horn unicorn and as he suspected his condition wasn’t great. He lost consciousness because of the pain. Only the handle of the knife was sticking out of his leg grotesquely. This meant that the whole blade pierced his leg.
“Not good...”
Discord however had a remedy even for that. He snapped his fingers again and the knife teleported next to Clean Street, away from the wound. Immediately a burst of blood got out of the it as the blade severed an artery.
“Hope my healing magic is still somewhat good…”
Said Discord to himself cracking his fingers. Then he snapped them and the wound closed, the damage repairing itself.
“Not bad, still got the juice!”
Discord smiled smugly
Then he saw light coming from the direction of the Apple Family home. The various screams had to finally awake them. Discord didn’t lose any more time, as he snapped his fingers and he, Clean Street, Damian and the knife all teleported out of the Orchard… Leaving the body of Green Runner in the open...
Perfect Harmony – The Allience
Damian’s eyes shot open, his vision adjusting to the surroundings quickly. Dim light slightly illuminated the place he was in, doing a poor job dispersing the darkness. He could hear dripping of water echoing through the place, for it was a cave. Shadows danced on the walls as the light was very irregular as if coming from a fire. The murderer could feel heat on his back, as he was laying on his right side. It had to be a bonfire then. His ears twitched when he heard a voice he already knew. It was the hell spawned abomination which, as he suspected, knocked him out cold with its devious supernatural abilities. Damian came into realization that he was tied up. His hands felt numb as the rough rope disrupted his blood circulation system. He smiled wickedly to that, and tensed his arms muscles, testing the rope’s durability. He heard a straining sound, as the rope moved slightly. He knew now that with all his physical strength and resolve he could simply rip the rope apart and free himself. For now he decided to pretend being unconscious tough and listen what the demons were plotting.
“You can’t be serious! It threw a KNIFE at me and maimed me for fuck’s sake!”
He couldn’t recognize this voice much, but it was obviously the possessed animal, he threw his blade at.
“That he did, but I healed you didn’t I?”
Responded the abomination in a monotonous fashion
“It doesn’t change the fact that he outright attacked me! Why am I even talking to you?! I’m out of here, whatever it is that you want to do with this thing isn’t my business Disc Rod! As a matter of a fact I should press charges against you, for using your stupid magic to teleport me without consort”
The animal seemed to be angry, judging from the tone of its voice
“Fool! Do you even know who I am?!”
The abomination hissed, death intent filling the cave.
“A… An illusionist?”
Clean Street gulped, feeling the dense atmosphere.
“I am the Chaos God! I am the one that almost defeated the Elements of Harmony! I am DISCORD!”
Roared Discord, his eyes turning red as if reflecting his rage
Clean Street’s eyes widened with realization. He took a step back when the truth dawned on him. How could he possibly believe that Discord was an illusionist pony? Who normally can teleport with a snap of his fingers?! He wanted to bang his head against the wall for his stupidity but was currently preoccupied with a pissed Chaos God and a monster. The latter fortunately tied up.
“Look… I… I didn’t really… Umm… Please don’t turn me into a frog!”
Clean street shielded his face with his foreleg, shutting his eyes in fear
Discord’s arms fell down to his sides and his eyes turned back to normal when he himself sighed.
“I won’t, but I can’t let you go either…”
He said lazily
“What? Why?!”
Clean Street asked in desperation, obviously unhappy with this decision
“It’s easy! You saw the Chaos Creature and know its identity. If I let you go you would run off and tell your pretty princesses!!”
Discord said mockingly
Clean Street snorted to that and then started to laugh, tears quickly coming to his eyes.
“What?! What’s so funny?!”
Discord asked, annoyed. Clean Street contained his laughter immediately, going dead serious all of a sudden, lowering his head in a threatening manner
“I hate them… I despise them, for what they allowed to happen to me, when they could stop it!”
He shouted, as his black eye responded to his hatred and started to collapse on itself, creating a black hole in the place of an eye. Discord felt something menacing emanating from it, Clean Street on the other hand behaved as if nothing happened.
“Necromancy… Soul Wheel in a living creature… Remarkable…”
Discord whispered awed by the ancient magic he felt and believed to be forever gone from the order ridden world. He didn’t get to continue his line of thought when a powerful steel grip caught him by the neck surprising him and making breathing close to impossible. He turned his head slightly only to see an unicorn with a wicked smile on his face, magically holding him by the neck from behind. Clean Street almost fell backwards surprised, but regained his senses fast and saw the bald ape, holding the Chaos God in a death lock that was close to snapping Discord’s neck. Clean Street’s black eye returned to its normal state.
“Fuck…”
Was the only thing that came to Clean Street’s mind and was appropriate to the situation. Damian leaned close to Discord’s ear and said, still smiling.
“Tsk, tsk, it wasn’t nice of you, knocking me out like that, monster…”
Discord was completely confused by a number of things. First, how did this unicorn managed to actually grab him with magic? It was impossible for any magic, except that of Elements of Harmony to do anything to Discord. Second of all, how did he get out?! He was bound by a spell! Impossible!
Discord quickly snapped his fingers and… nothing happened… That’s the third thing! Why did his magic stop working?!
“Well I don’t know what would snapping your fingers accomplish, other than make me laugh, but I have to punish you now… How sad…”
Said Damian with a sad voice and then chuckled breaking the steel grip. But before Discord could do anything, he was kicked in the back with incredible force, throwing him forward into Clean Street. The latter tried to jump away, only to fail miserably. Both of them crashed into the wall. Discord slowly opened his eyes knowing everything was wrong. He shouldn’t be able to get hurt physically, so how come he could feel intense pain in his back and taste something coppery in his mouth?! The former Chaos God tried to stand up, slowly raising his head, only to see the unicorn looking down on him. His eyes widened when he felt the steel grip on his neck again.
Damian quickly approached the two demons, before they could even properly regain their senses. He looked down on them, smiling widely, knowing that these demons couldn’t do anything to him, as he was the Child of God and he could easily dispose of them, alas he needed information first. He bent down and grabbed the two by their necks with his muscular arms. He raised them up, both were a little beat up, but salvageable. He smacked them into the wall with such power, that he could hear the sound of bones cracking as the two grunted with pain.
“One, two, three, whose death will it be?”
He laughed maniacally, madness filling his bloodshot eyes. Both of the demons seemed to be scared now… And he loved it.
“Now, hell spawns, please do tell me kindly what have you done with humanity, hmm?”
Both looked confused, but Discord recomposed himself fast.
“I don’t know of any humanity!”
He said through his clenched teeth with hardship and anger. He then felt excruciating pain when Damian’s knee connected with his stomach, making Discord lose air and grunt in pain.
“Lies, lies, lies! Let’s try it again and this time the horse will answer!”
Damian said happily smacking both his victims into the rock wall, again causing a few bones to shatter. The fire illuminating the cave created shadows on Damian’s face, making him look menacing. Clean Street held his forelegs on the muscular arm of the ape, but little could be done in his position. He quickly assessed, that this thing was completely delusional and in order to survive he should probably play along.
“Okay! You got us! Our… Lords enslaved… Humanity?”
Damian’s smile disappeared as he looked at the possessed horse, measuring him up seriously.
“Like I suspected! What’s the name of your Lords and where are they, demons?!”
Damian roared in Clean Street’s face
“Their names are Celestia and Luna, and they both reside in a castle you’ll be able to see from here…”
Discord said calmly… Then he felt a very powerful presence, his ears perked up, knowing the presence very well. And even though breathing was a little harder than usual, Discord took a deep calming breath anyway. Damian on the other hand looked up as if awaiting something.
Second One… Release the two creatures, for they are allies in your mission.
A warm, deep voice echoed through the cave.
“Yes God!”
Damian said enthusiastically, releasing the grip on both Discord and Clean Street letting them fall to the ground. Both of them slowly got up. Clean Street looked around nervously not knowing where the voice was coming from.
“What the hell?”
He said in surprise. None however paid any attention to him. Both Discord and the ape were looking up listening to the voice, as if it was something of a tremendous power.
Second One… The one you think is a hell spawned abomination is in fact the First One… He was tasked to do your mission and failed me miserably.
Damian looked at Discord, disdainfully. Discord lowered his head as if in shame.
He will teach you of this World and help you the best he can. He cannot however directly interfere with it anymore. Consider him your advisor.
“Yes, my Lord”
Damian said respectfully
You should also know that this World is drastically different from Earth. There are no humans here, the talking animals you thought were demons, are in fact the citizens of this World and the Elements of Harmony also took the shape of the ponies, as the people of Equestria call themselves.
“God, why didn’t you tell your humble servant of this earlier?”
Damian asked fearfully.
I cannot interfere with any world much, as it would upset the Perfect Balance. You didn’t live up to my expectations and didn’t see this World for what it is Second One. This made me interfere, upsetting the balance further. Do not fail me again for I won’t be as forgiving as I am now.
“Yes, my Lord”
Damian lowered his head
Remember Second One, only those who saw both white and black can see you for who you truly are.
With that, the presence was gone. Discord raised his head and took a good look at Damian as if trying to see something that wasn’t there. Damian’s image distorted suddenly and Discord couldn’t see an unicorn anymore, but a tall, muscular, bipedal creature, that looked really menacing.
“Who the hell are you two really?!”
Clean Street shouted unable to process all the new information.
“You know of the Perfect Harmony?”
Discord asked calmly, still looking at Damian, who answered
“I know my mission here, I know what I have to destroy in the name of God…”
Discord nodded to that
“It’s good enough for now”
He said firmly
“What’s your name?”
Damian asked in return
“Discord”
Answered the former Chaos God
“Damian Vermont”
Damian introduced himself slowly to his new advisor, not daring to question his God’s decision. If the God himself told him those were his allies and no demons, who was he to question the Father? He turned his head towards Clean Street.
“Who would that be?”
He asked. Discord turned towards confused Clean Street
“His name is Clean Street and he is the only pony I came across, able to use necromancy, even if he still doesn’t know about that.”
Discord explained with Damian nodding to that, placing his hand on his chin.
“What?! Seriously, what the hell is going on here?!”
Clean Street shouted at Discord, taking a step back as if preparing to simply run away. Discord smiled to that disappearing with a pop and appearing behind Clean Street. The latter gasped.
“Let me shed some light on you my bald pal! You see world is not only bright colors, candy and love!”
Discord said with a toothy grin on his face
“World is also pain, suffering, despair and death… It consists of all of these, both order and chaos. If there is something nice happening somewhere, you can bet that something not so nice is happening elsewhere…”
Discord put his arm around Clean Street’s neck and poked the pony’s chest with his other paw’s finger.
“But not here, not in Equestria… Here if something nice happens, there is nothing chaotic happening elsewhere to even out the nice thing.”
Discord said sadly
“If there is no chaos, there can be no order. This World is unnatural and if it continues to shun chaos something really bad will happen not only to it, but also to other worlds.”
Discord explained with distaste
“I experienced the good and the bad things. I saw death Discord, this world has both sides…”
Answered Clean Street firmly, ignoring his own confusion about the entire thing he was told so far.
“Oh, that WAS the truth, very long ago my friend. Now ponies like you are unique here, very, very rare. That’s why I was sent here and that’s why he is here.”
Discord pointed at Damian.
“My methods of creating chaos were… Insufficient obviously…”
Discord said with a huff
“I failed when the Elements of Harmony trapped me in stone... Twice… That’s why this guy was sent here. He’s the new Avatar of Chaos, whose methods are… more drastic to say the least…”
“Like murdering somepony randomly?”
Asked Clean Street with distaste
“It seems so… To me it’s despicable however and I’ll teach him to use other methods, than taking somepony’s else life.”
Damian approached them after that, with dead serious expression on his face
“Lives don’t matter as long as my holy mission is complete. Any who stand in my way will feel my wrath, any who dare oppose the will of God will be punished!”
He roared. Both Discord and Clean Street were looking at him somewhat nervously
“You have no real influence over me nor my actions and if you will become a liability to me, I will end you!”
He said with a booming voice
Silence fell over the cave, only the dripping of water disrupted it every now and then. Damian then slowly moved past the two creatures and directed himself towards the exit from the cave. He could already see sunlight slowly replacing the darkness of the night.
Clean Street sighed with relief when the ape left the cave
“It will be harder to change his ways than I thought…”
Discord stated. Clean Street on the other hand came back to a quite important topic for him
“What would… Avatars of Chaos want with me?”
He asked with suspicion
“Oh that’s simple. We, or rather the Second One, wants you to become his ally, just like the voice you heard said.”
Clean Street raised an eyebrow
“Why should I help somepony just because some weird voice said I’m his ally? He threw a knife at me and then tried to strangle me…”
Discord stroke his beard for a while
“Well first of all it wasn’t some voice but The Universe…”
Clean Street’s eyebrow went up even higher
“Second of all, I guess if you won’t agree to help him, he will simply rip your heart out… You can guess how unhealthy that is…”
Discord said without a trace of humor
“Oh…”
Was all Clean Street was able to stammer…
Perfect Harmony – Traumatized
The screams of pain and possibly agony were echoing loud through the orchard and somepony was simply bound to wake up to this cacophony of terror. Apple Bloom happened to have a shallow sleep tonight, so after the first screams her eyes shot open and the filly’s ears perked up, carefully listening to her surroundings. For a while there was dead silence and Apple Bloom could swear that it was only her imagination. At least she wished it was. However the moment in which Damian threw his trusty knife at Clean Street proved the screams of agony to be reality.
“AAAAAAHH!”
Yet another inhuman (or inpony) scream made Apple Bloom shudder in fear and put the bed cloth over her head. She was trembling slightly inside her newly made fortress.
“W-What if it’s some kind of a monster?”
She whispered to no pony in particular, scared of the idea. The scream was so unreal and full of primal rage, that she simply couldn’t believe it was somePONY, more like someTHING. The filly stayed under the bed cloth for a good few minutes, until an idea struck her mind. A crazy one that is:
“If Ah’m the first tah find that monster… Maybe Ah could catch It!”
She giggled, somehow immediately forgetting the previous fear she felt. The thought of getting Monster Hunter Cutie Mark was simply too tempting for Apple Bloom.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster hunters!”
She whispered excited, then went out of her bed cloth fortress and jumped down on the floor. Determination in her eyes, the little filly nodded to herself. Of course she couldn’t simply get out of the house, if her sister was to catch her she would be in mighty lot of trouble. Instead Apple Bloom decided in favor of stealth and deception, as she arranged her pillows and put the bed clothes over them, so that they looked like a filly, blissfully asleep. She smiled, content with the results and slowly and as quietly as possible opened the door to her room with slight squeak of old hinges. Taking a quick look to the left and right of the corridor, she couldn’t spot a thing. Apple Bloom only heard loud snoring of her brother from the room on the opposite side of her own. She put one hoof down, the wooden floor making a slight creaking sound. For a while she expected half of the house to wake up, but fortune seemed to be on her side. Continues snoring of her brother only proved that. The filly began her slow trot through the corridor, little hoofs making close to no sound. She arrived at the stairs leading down to the main room, slight concern visible on her face. This could be challenging as the stairs tended to creak the worst.
“Challenge accepted…”
She thought somewhat unsure of herself but nevertheless proceeded to go down the stairs that groaned, creaked and squeaked like mad. This made her stop every step to make sure no pony was woke up. The painfully long walk down stairs finally ended after few minutes. Apple Bloom thought that it took ages though. Proud of herself and somewhat happier, the filly quickly approached a chest next to the entrance, not caring about discretion much at this point. It was improbable for somepony to wake up now, when they didn’t during the old stairs phase. She quickly opened the chest to retrieve two items. First was an oil lamp, that will disperse the darkness somewhat, and the second was a lasso line. Sure she couldn’t throw it as good as her sister did, but she was learning, and what she already knew would help her nevertheless. Content with all she took, Apple Bloom lit the oil lamp and slowly got out of the house. She quickly realized two things… First it was freezing outside, and she quickly began to shiver, second she had no idea where exactly the scream came from. The filly however wasn’t about to give up that easily.
“Horseapples!”
She swore and her brows furrowed as she tried to remember where the scream has come from.
“Ah think it was… east?”
She thought as she turned her head in the direction. A shiver came down her spine as in the middle of the night, the orchard looked menacing. Somehow she felt the temperature around her to fall even lower. Her heart was beating fast, she could feel cold sweat dripping from her forehead. The filly stared in the direction for a while, unsure if going there alone is really a good idea.
“But Ah might get mah cutie mark…”
The argument in favor of venturing into darkness was compelling to say the least. Steadily and slowly the filly started to trot towards the looming darkness, not even exactly sure where she should look for the monster. She simply decided to go to the end of the orchard and then turn left. She had a hunch that she will find something there. The oil lamp wasn’t giving off much light, so often Apple Bloom had to stop and check her surroundings. At first it was somewhat thrilling, but after a while she was slowly starting to believe that the scream was only her imagination. All the trees looked the same, no footprints, hoofprints or pawprints anywhere, no signs of anything related to a monster whatsoever… No animal tracks or sounds either…
“Why is it so silent?”
She asked herself. Usually even during night there was some occasional bird chirping, bug buzzing and many more wildernesses sounds. Tonight however was different, the silence was unnerving, disturbing even. After Apple Bloom realized that, moving through the orchard became harder, as fear built up inside the filly. Each sound, crack of wood or rustle of leaves, made her jump startled. The pitch black darkness seemed to eat away at the light from the oil lamp making the whole adventure less appealing and more horrifying. She finally reached the east end of the Orchard and in front of her was the border between wilderness and the Acres. She sighed somewhat relieved that she didn’t find anything.
“Ah’m going back home… Ah’ll hunt the monster tomorrow, when it’s not as dark…”
She explained her retreat to sate her pride. She wasn’t about to admit that she was going back because she was scared. She took a sharp turn and prepared to get back the same way she came here, that is until the light illuminated something else. She turned her head to the left and saw the shape of… something. Her heart started to beat like crazy, adrenaline reaching all-time high. The shape however didn’t move nor did it make any sounds, it was simply there. Curiosity taking over her dread the filly made a determined face and stepped forward illuminating the shape wholly. Some say that exposing a child this young to the horrors of reality, the dark side of life, can change the child’s mind drastically - break it, never to be recomposed again, cause trauma that will stay with the young person till the end of her or his life. Theory tends to sometimes reflect practice poorly, this however was not the case. Apple Bloom’s monster hunt ended in tragedy as she was the first to discover something new in Equestria, something so wickedly worse than the worst this land had to offer. Something that couldn’t possibly originate from Equestria but had to come from a much darker realm. There in front of the filly laid a corpse, leaning against an apple tree. Four uneven stab wounds in its chest, dried blood all around them. Its head was turned to the filly, slumped inertly, drops of red liquid still dripping from its open mouth. Its eyes were bloodshot, some vessels burst from the initial choking. An expression of terror and hopelessness frozen on its face. A small puddle of red liquid formed around Green Runner’s body, apples were thrown about and submerged in the puddle next to the corpse. Apple Bloom froze, her eyes widened, she started to shiver involuntarily as her eyes were locked on the horrifying image. The filly didn’t scream nor did she move, her mind shut down from the shock and terror she felt, leaving only a husk. Her eyes became glassed over and empty as she slumped down to the ground losing consciousness.
The night passed quickly, when the first rays of sun gently stroke Sweet Apple Acres and a rooster crowed announcing the beginning of another day the Apple family begun to slowly wake up and prepare for their daily routine. As usual Applejack was the first to open her eyes. She rubbed them with her hoofs to get rid of the remnants of sleep and yawned soon after that.
“Time tah get up…”
Said Applejack to herself as she jumped from her bed to the wooden floor with and audible clack. She quickly grabbed her indispensable hat, putting it on her head and took a quick look at her reflection in the mirror. Deciding that everything looked well and dandy she proceeded to the room next to her own, to wake up her younger sister. She stopped in front of her sister’s room giving the door a few knocks
“Apple Bloom! Wake up sugar cube, time for yer lasso training!”
Silence was the only response she got. AJ slowly opened the door and started to walk towards her sister’s bed, on which a familiar shape laid under the cover.
“Ah know ye would like tah sleep some more, but it’s not the way we do things ‘round…”
AJ didn’t finish as she uncovered the familiar shape, only to see some pillows arranged to look like a filly.
“...'ere... Dang it!”
Applejack turned around and ran downstairs as quickly as possible.
“Where could that little trickster run off tah?”
Asked AJ herself as she went out of the house. Fresh breeze gently stroke her mane, also bringing a smell of fresh apples and some bakery goods. The wind was coming from Ponyville then. AJ smiled a little bit remembering all the adventures and happy moments she had with her friends. Life sure was great. Her smile was quickly wiped off and replaced with a grimace when the wind changed direction, coming from the east this time. Stench of decay and rot forced its way into her nostrils. She almost threw up then, but covered her nose with her hoof just in time
“What in tarnation?!”
She turned around momentarily forgetting that her sister has run off. She dismissed it thinking that Apple Bloom was probably looking for a way to get her cutie mark with her friends… again… She’ll be mad at her later. Meanwhile the stench became a priority.
“What could smell like that… yuk…”
Said AJ making a sour face and begun to trot south. After a few minutes she took a sniff with her nose trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from. Immediately she regretted her decision as putrid stench hit her senses hard. She shook her head and begun to breath with her mouth again, thanks to this little sacrifice however she was able to tell that the smell was coming from the left. She turned around and begun to slowly make her way through the trees and some shrubs that grew here and there. After a while she finally arrived in a clearing… What happened next showed AJ that there are things more horrible than her worst nightmares. First she saw the corpse, and immediately took a step back, eyes wide, expression of fright and shock forming on her face, that is until she saw Apple Bloom laying next to the corpse, unconscious.
“APPLE BLOOM!”
AJ screamed terrified as she quickly made her way to her little sister. Shaking from the amount of adrenaline her organism was producing the mare gently touched her sister and tried to wake her up delicately.
“Apple… Bloom?”
No response. Applejack shook her sister harder, which resulted in… no reaction whatsoever. Panic slowly overtaking her senses, Applejack made one rational decision and shouted as loud as she could
“HELP! HEEEELP!”
And help indeed arrived.
A/N: Took me a while... Well sorry 'bout that but I have a new job that requires most of my time :P However I'm not swamped for now, so will be updating more regularly.
Perfect Harmony – Destination
Damian was everything but content. He didn’t particularly like the fact that he had two demonic creatures as companions and helpers, nor did he like the place he was sent to by God. As he went out of the cave he has woken up in, he took in the surroundings. The rays of light were barely breaking through the foliage. So thick and dense was the flora here. He was in some kind of a forest, the sounds of wilderness apparent all around him. The fresh and crisp air was a warmly welcomed change from the stuffy air of California Maximum Security Prison. The muscular biped closed his eyes, analyzing all that he has done in this land thus far. His mission clear in his mind, Damian put all his maniacal desires to the side for now and allowed his calculating and logical part to take over the steering wheel for a while. He opened his eyes and turned around, a plan already formulating in his mind. He entered the cave again just to see the two of his associates staring at each other slightly confused.
“High time we properly talked, don’t you think?”
He asked emotionlessly not expecting an answer. The horse reacted right away, startled by the sudden echo of Damian’s hoarse voice, the hell-spawn on the other hand simply shifted its gaze towards the human. Damian approached the two, who visibly tensed. This was only expected as he indeed wasn’t exactly diplomatic with them. He wasn’t about to blame himself though, before God has spoken to him, he was sure these creatures were his enemies. He sat down in front of the two, beside the bonfire, folding his arms and shifting his sight from one atrocity towards another. He suddenly stretched his arm forward and with his index finger he pointed at the horse. The movement was so sudden that the latter recoiled back a little bit.
“You, Clean Street, was it? You are one of the creatures that dominate this land…”
Clean Street visibly confused and scared, managed only to nod slowly.
“As far as I am concerned they are a crime against nature, something that has to be wiped from existence!”
Clean Street shuddered, the vicious, venom-dripping look the Human was giving him and the madness in those eyes were beyond unnerving.
“However, It’s not me who has the right to judge what is good and what is wrong. God spoke to me and as his humble servant, my personal opinions don’t matter. I was given a mission and you two are my allies. This means we will work together, whether you like it or not…”
Discord was surprised at what the biped said. He thought there is no rationality in it. That there is only pure torrent of… Well not chaos, but more like evil. Nevertheless both Discord and Clean Street didn’t answer to this statement, they just kept looking at the human. That is until Clean Street suddenly rose up, pure anger visible on his face
“I don’t like it… I won’t help YOU with anything! You murderer!”
Clean Street shouted, all his fright forgotten, he became infuriated. How can a creature so violent and evil like that simply kill somepony and then nonchalantly ask for help?
“I don’t care, kill me if you must! I refuse to have anything to do with you!”
Clean Street stood up and was prepared to simply leave the cave, go back to Canterlot and just forget all about what he saw… Or be stabbed to death… Either was better than participating in a MURDER. Damian’s look was locked on Clean Street, his gaze followed the latter, until the pony went past Damian and Discord and was near the exit from the cave. Damian didn’t change his position.
“You’re a coward…”
The human said firmly, but monotonously.
“What…?”
Clean Street stopped in his tracks and turned his head in the direction of the voice, his body still being turned towards the exit
“You’re a weak coward Clean Street…”
Damian said with the same voice. Clean Street’s eyes went wide, as he remembered a very painful memory. A memory of his evil parents and the words his own Father used
“(…) We did everything, but look at him! Still weak, still scared, still pathetic! (…)”
“I AM NOT WEAK!”
Clean Street roared as he turned around towards to the human. There was silence for a while, suddenly disturbed when Damian whispered
“You hate them don’t you?”
Clean Street’s mouth hung open, his eyes still widened as rage slowly disappeared, replaced with confusion.
“I heard what you said Clean Street. Rulers of this Land, you hate them… Don’t you?”
Clean Street was unable to respond to that, thousand thoughts a second passing his mind. Thousand questions…
“You want revenge… You want to show them the pain and suffering you had to endure for so long…”
How did this murderer know about his past?! He didn’t want any revenge… He didn’t… But the Goddesses allowed all these horrible things to happen to him… They said they are protecting all their subjects, but did nothing to help him… Why should he admire Celestia and Luna? Why should he love them?
Discord remained silent, but unbeknownst to all, he was smiling ever so slightly. This human was one manipulative bastard. He would gladly take part in this beautiful scheme, as he himself loved to toy with others, but unfortunately he was forbidden to interfere… he supposed… He still didn’t quite get what he was truly forbidden to do, what “interfere” meant… Nevertheless he wasn’t about say anything for now.
“If you walk away now, you will never get that revenge… You will live the rest of your life in self-pity, knowing you could fulfill your desire, but didn’t… And why? Because of a petty moral code? “
Clean Street was internally torn. He knew the human was speaking the truth, he wanted revenge more than anything else. He wanted to see both royal sisters in pain… On the other hoof he would become the same as his parents, evil and dread inspiring, doing things only for his personal gain, not caring about the goods of others. Also he would consciously agree to hurt other ponies.
“I hope you know that the moral code you cherish so much was created by none other than the objects of your hate… If you walk away now, you lose. Stay and I promise you… You will have your revenge.”
Something clicked in Clean Street’s head. The biped was right… All the good and evil were defined by none other than Celestia and her sister. Everything he believed was right or wrong was imposed by them. The rules all of the ponies lived by, the friendship and love dogma, all were created by the royal sisters. This was it for Clean Street, he will no longer live like that. Every day in Canterlot he spent abiding the laws of those he despised the most. It was slowly destroying him from the inside. But this creature, this human, had the ability to truly help Clean Street fulfill his desire. Dead silence fell over the cave, no one dared to move an inch for what seemed like hours. Until…
“You have a deal…”
Clean Street’s voice echoed through the cave, sealing the Alliance and making Damian smile wickedly.
“I’m glad you saw reason Clean Street… Now, please take a seat, we have much to discuss…”
Clean Street, still somewhat torn up, not sure if his decision was the right one, went back to the spot he left not long ago.
“Before we venture into this land and begin our mission, there are few things I need to know… And you two can provide the answers…”
Damian’s expression was as serious as ever as he shifted his sight towards Clean Street. The latter was much calmer now, not as jumpy and frightened as before.
“What exactly are the Elements of Harmony?”
Discord expression turned sour as he remembered his enemies, those who so easily defeated him. Clean Street on the other hand was surprised at the question. He also realized he doesn’t really know what is this whole “mission” thing about.
“Well… They are… Weapons against all that’s evil, they purify it… Oh, and they are embodied within six mares…”
Damian smiled cruelly, his cold eyes showing depths of his insanity.
“Do you by any chance know where are they located?”
He asked, excitement in his voice
“Err… Yeach… But what could you possibly want with them?”
Clean Street asked starting to suspect where this conversation was going.
“Oh, it’s rather simple Clean Street. You see God gave me a very simple request. My and now also your mission here is to eliminate these Elements, as they are blasphemy that has to be ended…”
Damian answered calmly, still smiling disturbingly. Clean Street shook his head with disbelief, was about to protest and end this madness… He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Discord, who was, similarly to Damian, smiling in a disturbing way.
“Oh, I know what you wanted to say Mr. No-horn. As righteous and honorable as you are, consider this…”
Discord suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, just to appear next to Clean Street, his paw resting on the latter’s neck in a friendly manner.
“Who used Elements even before the six mares that are now considered “heroes” of Equestria?”
The former Chaos God almost spat out the word “heroes”
The pony lowered his head in thought…
“Celestia…?”
He answered with a question of his own.
“Ding, ding, ding! Correct!”
Discord said happily, looking at the pony
“Aaand, what does that tell you?”
He asked, feeling he already won the argument.
Clean Street again lowered his head, thinking deeply. If the elements were previously used by the royal sisters… And they are very powerful weapons… They would be a perfect way to keep any opposition to their rule at bay, dubbing all that didn’t agree with them as “evil”. Giving the elements to some six random ponies was at the other hoof a very cunning way of proving that both sisters indeed were not using Elements to keep their rule secure and didn’t have control over the tools of order. However if the six ponies controlling the elements were loyal to the sisters, the latter could still easily manipulate and control the weapons, pointing out the evil-doers and leaving the cleansing to the loyal mares. It also seemed that destroying the elements was not really evil. After all, according to the Chaos God, they were upsetting the balance. Destroying them would be in fact good and a favour to the World. Realization struck Clean Street as he rose his head up and looked at Discord, still not quite believing in his discovery.
“Clever bitches…”
The pony stammered. Discord simply laughed warmly, taking his paw from the pony and motioning for Damian to continue.
Damian asked patiently
“All of them are in Ponyville… And that is, err… To be honest I have no idea where we really are right now…”
Clean Street answered truthfully
“Oh that’s simple! We’re in Everfree Forest and Ponyville is straight north!”
Discord said instead, somewhat proud of his precise teleportation magic.
“This is the town I saw from the Orchard I presume?”
Draconequus only nodded.
“And the six Elements… We know how they look like?”
Both Discord and Clean Street answered in unison to that
“Yes…”
Damian let out a laugh
“This will be easier than I thought! Now, First One…”
He turned his head towards the former Chaos God
“Call me Discord, please…”
The latter said firmly
“Very well, Discord… God picked you as my guide and so I have a question for you…”
Damian stood up and walked over to the spot, where he was bound by the two.
“The Lord sometimes speaks in puzzles…”
He leaned down and picked up his military blade
“One of which was - only those who saw both white and black can see you for who you truly are.”
Discord observed the human, getting nervous when the latter picked up his blade.
“What do you think it could mean?”
The former Chaos God struck his beard, thinking. Damian rose up to his full height and turned around to his two allies, throwing up his blade and catching it skillfully by the handle. Clean Street was mesmerized by the human’s agility and didn’t let the knife out of his sight.
“I might have a theory…”
The Draconequus finally said as he looked up at the human
Damian motioned for him to continue
“Hmm… First time we met, in highly unpleasant circumstances I might add, you didn’t exactly look as you do now… To me at least…”
The murderer raised an eyebrow to that
“What do you mean?”
The former Chaos God coughed quietly, preparing himself for an explanation
“You see, you actually seemed to look like a Pony…”
The psychopath snickered
“You’re kidding, right?”
“You were, by all means an indigo Unicorn with a horn, scarlet colored magic and all that…”
Damian winced
“I am pretty sure I’m not and I wasn’t a possessed animal… ever…”
He replied
“I don’t mean you WERE a pony, you only looked like one… Quite an unique looking one as a matter of a fact.”
“But I didn’t see him as a pony! He looked like himself all the time!”
Clean Street budged in. The Draconequus turned his head towards the latter.
“Yees and I believe there is an explanation to this right here. You said you saw death, didn’t you Clean Street?”
Discord asked the no-horn unicorn
“Well, yes… I did…”
The former Chaos God smiled happily
“The Universe sa-“
“You mean, God?”
Discord was rudely interrupted by the human
“Fine, GOD said that only those who saw both black and white can see our bald friend for who he truly is…”
Clean Street turned his head to the right in slight confusion
“You mean, I saw him as… a creature he really is, because I saw death, but also love and friendship?”
Discord clapped his paws joyfully
“Exactly!”
“So it is some kind of… camouflage?”
Continued the pony
“I would think of it more like a very sophisticated illusion spell. However it isn’t a spell, Damian was granted some kind of ability or power…”
The Draconequus pointed at the biped
“Movements of his body were somehow translated into similar movements of his pony camouflage. Moves impossible to achieve by the pony illusion were instead translated into levitation magic and similar… Brilliant really… Brilliant but impossible to accomplish without an extremely potent magical power source…”
He said on one breath
“Like Elements of Harmony?”
He nodded
“Or similar…”
“But he doesn’t have any magic in him!”
Clean Street protested
“He has… something in him. I felt some kind of power when we first met him, but can’t quite put my finger on it. It probably fuels the illusion…”
Discord pondered
“Wait… you didn’t see him as… whatever he is, before… God (?) Spoke to us… You’re thousands of years old, but never saw anypony die or suffer?”
The unicorn asked with disbelief
Discord let out an uncertain laugh
“Well… I didn’t do that kind of chaos…”
Clean Street narrowed his eyes
“You’re shitting me…”
The Draconequus waved his hand dismissively
“It’s not important, I saw death when we entered the Orchard and I can see past the illusion now, no point pondering over the past”
The pony snorted, which only bought him a death glare from the former Chaos God. They both didn’t get to continue the talk, when a maniacal laughter made its way through the cave. It was their slightly psychopathic friend…. Shivers went down Clean Street’s spine…
“This is perfect! This makes everything simple!”
Damian shouted out. Then he suddenly turned serious again, looking at Discord
“This illusion… There is no way of breaking it, except for seeing death?”
The former Chaos God scratched his head
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t feel like conventional magic, so I suppose it’s not easy to dispel.”
The human nodded confidently and turned to Clean Street
“So how many of… Equestrians… could possibly have seen death?”
The unicorn snorted dismissively
“I would say, about 1%?”
Damian’s smile went wide, defying the rules of physics and biology, showing his white teeth and slightly longer than average human’s fangs
“Excellent… One last thing gentlemen. Please tell me how does my… Pony-self look like?”
Discord lowered his head, trying to remember every detail from their first encounter
“First of all the color of your illusion’s coat is indigo, it also has the same markings as you on its face. It has no mane… If I remember correctly the eyes are ice-cold blue in color. Oh also the tail is… bare… No hair there either, which makes your illusion attention drawing.”
He answered finally, a hint of self-satisfaction in his voice. One of his real perks was his near photographic memory. Made things a lot easier sometimes.
“Bare tail? Really?”
Asked Clean Street, not quite believing the former Chaos God
“Yes… Also the cutie mark… I don’t really know what it was supposed to represent…”
Discord continued with much less satisfaction. Actually he was irritated, he hated not knowing things and Damian’s illusion cutie mark was a mystery to him.
“A what?”
Damian asked leaning forward, not sure if he heard correctly
“A Cutie Mark”
Discord and Clean Street answered in unison.
“What is that supposed to be?”
To the human it sounded like another diabolical feat about these talking horses
“Essentially it’s a mark that everypony gets eventually, one way or another telling him or her what is their special talent.”
Clean Street answered as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Damian on the other hand let out a hearty chuckle
“It sounds silly…”
He said
“It’s not silly! It’s really helpful!”
Obviously the human hit a sore spot
“Your race has to be really stupid if it needs guidelines and limited freedom, just to know what they want to do with their lives…”
Discord snorted and then let out a full blown laugh, dropping to the floor and rolling on his back. Clean Street’s face became red as a tomato
“I… You’re stupid!”
He shouted back and with a huff turned his back to them, obviously hurt.
After full minute of laughter the Draconequus stood up from the ground and wiped a tear from his eye.
“Oh Second One, this was pure gold!”
Damian simply shrugged
“So how did that Cutie Mark look like on my illusion?”
He asked
“Like I said, I don’t really know what it is supposed to represent, but to me it looked like a serpent of some sorts, forming a perfect circle with its body and… Eating its tail…”
Damian looked a little surprised
“An Ouroboros?”
Both the pony and the Draconequus blinked twice, making really good poker faces.
“You don’t know what an Ouroboros is?”
Damian sighed, it was like explaining a new word to a child… And he wasn’t really good with children
“In the World I come from an Ouroboros is a symbol seen in many religions and cultures. It represents cyclicality, repetition, unity, renewal but also unending lust.”
“Oooh… I get it…”
Discord’s expression was priceless. It was confusion mixed with child-like interest. The pony on the other hand put a hoof on his chin, thinking.
“But why does your illusion show something as… non-pony like, instead a simple and recognizable Cutie Mark?”
It was a very smart question coming from the Unicorn. Damian shrugged, not really willing to ponder over that
“I don’t know, but honestly it matters not. We can blend in safely between the townsfolk now.”
He finally answered as he stood up with the intention of leaving the cave and carrying on with his holy mission. Both of his allies did the same as they ventured out of the cave, into the forest. The sun was coming up slowly, delicately dispersing the deep shadows of the Everfree Forest. Some spots however seemed immune to light, as the darkness still held them in its cold embrace. The sounds of wilderness, fresh air and the hum of nearby brook made a peaceful and enjoyable atmosphere. Clean Street immediately calmed down, allowing his stress to slowly disappear.
“So peaceful”
He said, a sincere smile on his face
Damian nodded, also somewhat allowing the atmosphere to overwhelm his senses. The former Chaos God however was not in the mood for all this, so he walked past the two and gave them a disapproving look. The pony’s peacefulness however quickly disappeared when he remembered an important detail he forgot to mention during the conversation.
“Err… Damian, There’s still a small issue…”
The human was looking up through the tree branches, towards the blue sky
“Yes?”
He asked calmly
“What do you intent to do with the Elements when we find them?”
Damian took a deep breath and lowered his head. Immediately a sick grin spread over his features
“Oh you know… Whatever God has intended”
He chuckled grimly
Clean Street involuntarily shivered
“A-and what would that be?”
He asked, not sure if he really wanted to know
“First stab the heart, and their soul is torn apart…”
Damian rhymed. This was enough for Clean Street to figure out what Damian would do with the six mares. Clean Street slowly nodded, realizing that he would be helping to execute somepony… But if it meant that the Princesses will suffer…
“O-okay…”
He stuttered out.
“Hey! How long are you two going to stand there? Move it already!”
It was the Draconequus, shouting from a distance. This seemed to break Damian’s grin as he started to move north with Clean Street right behind him.
Rainbow Dash was in the middle of her well-deserved nap. She picked a particularly soft cloud, which was very stubborn and liked to move on its own sometimes. Clouds aren’t supposed to move on their own, so why was this one moving? Maybe it came from the Everfree? In all honesty RD didn’t really care. It was soft so it was as good for a nap as it can be. The sun was delicately shining in her face, this would annoy most ponies, but RD really liked the sun. It was always close when she was flying and she was used to its warm touch and pleasant heat it always gave. So there she was on a moving cloud, napping blissfully, with the sun to keep her company. This was sure going to be a good day. Dashie smiled involuntarily through her sleep.
“HEEEEELP!”
RD lazily opened her eyes, thinking that she simply imagined hearing something. Of course if it was somepony calling for help, she would immediately go. Who else would save somepony if not the fastest flier in all Equestria? Now she wasn’t particularly in the mood though.
“HEEELP!”
She sighed, of course she didn’t imagine it, she was about to continue napping, but NOO, somepony just happened to need help now. She moaned angrily and took a look over the cloud. It seems that the latter moved over to Sweet Apple Acres. Someone needing help on the Acres? Sounded pretty impossible. She was proven wrong when another shout for help came to her sensitive ears
HEEEEEELP!”
It sounded like… AJ?
“Coming…”
RD said to herself irritated and spread her wings flying down towards the source of the shout with amazing speed, leaving a streak of rainbow behind her. She quickly reached the location and landed down powerfully, while having a smug grin on her face. AJ needed help with something and that happened very, very rarely. She couldn’t pass up the chance to wipe this fact into her friend’s face. Her eyes were closed as she (according to herself) announced her presence in an awesome way
“Have no fear! Rainbow Dash is here!”
She opened her eyes, expecting AJ to be stuck under a pile of apples or a branch, but what she saw wiped all her expectations and for the first time inspired true feeling of chocking fear in the Element of Loyalty. Indeed there was AJ sitting on the ground, but her face was wet from tears, as she was swaying forwards and backwards while holding an unconscious Apple Bloom in her hoofs. Next to her was a maimed body of a green pony. RD looked down and realized she was standing in a puddle of blood. Her lips twitched, as her eyes became wide as saucers, she took a step back, not immediately able to comprehend what was going on, she shivered and felt bile building up in her stomach, coming up through her throat. She quickly turned around and vomited on the ground in shock. After taking a few deep breaths, her mind slowly caught up with the situation at hoof. She turned back to AJ, trying not to look at the corpse. RD was still shivering, but tried to put it aside as she trotted around the puddle of blood and approached her friend.
“A-Applejack… A-are you o-okay?”
Of course she’s not okay you dumbass, there’s a freaking CORPSE lying next to her for crying out loud.
She scolded herself in her mind.
AJ didn’t seem to notice Rainbow Dash though as she was still swaying and mumbling something incoherent to herself. Despite the dread she felt, the element of loyalty couldn’t simply leave her friend in such catatonic state. She leaned closer to Applejack and shook her with her hoof. This only made the traumatized mare shiver slightly.
“Applejack…”
Rainbow Dash said louder shaking her friend again. This time the element of honesty shifted her gaze from nothingness towards Dashie.
“She’s dead… She’s dead… She’s dead… She’s dead…”
RD felt a cold shiver run down her spine as with terror she looked at Apple Bloom. The latter was unmoving in the hoofs of her sister, but keen eyes of the Pegasus noticed that her breast was moving up and down and this meant breathing. Rainbow calmed down a little and decided to use more extreme tactics to snap her friend out of the horrible trance.
“Applejack!”
She shouted loudly and smacked her friend with her hoof enough to make AJ fall down to the ground from her sitting position. Dust went up in the air as AJ entered a coughing fit. After a while she blinked a few times and realized she’s on the ground, also in the middle of the Orchard.
“Ow… What in tarnation?”
AJ manage to stammer. Rainbow let out a calming breath, as it seemed that AJ woke up from whatever trance she was in.
“Applejack, can you hear me?”
She asked, just to make sure. AJ shook her head a few times and started to stand up, only to realize she was holding her little sister in her hoofs. Then everything came back to her as she remembered all the events. This time however she didn’t break down, but started to sob as she again sat down and looked at RD still holding on to her sister’s limp body
“Rainbow… Apple Bloom is… Why did this have to happen?!”
AJ screamed, unable to contain her sorrow. Rainbow approached her friend, still trying to forget about the corpse
“AJ, your sister is just unconscious, look… She’s breathing…”
The Earth Pony wiped her tears with one hoof and took a closer look at her sister. Indeed the little filly was breathing and just unconscious. Immediately forgetting about all the terrible things, AJ was filled with relief and even a hint of happiness.
“Mah little angel… you’re fine… you’re just fine…”
AJ whispered smiling sincerely and hugging her little sister tight. RD put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder also smiling.
“Rainbow… Ah… thank Celestia you were near… This… Everything 'ere is just…”
RD simply nodded
“I know AJ, I know… How about we get out of here, get Apple Bloom home and try to calm down before we start digging into this?”
RD was also shaken up, her muscles twitched once in a while, still unable to calm down after the image she was forced to see. AJ shook her head in agreement
“Ah would like that…”
Rainbow Dash took Apple Bloom out of AJ hoofs and put the filly over her back, helping her friend to stand up soon after that. The two mares then slowly trotted towards the Apple family home not exchanging a single word through the whole trip.
