Darkness in the Light

    "Random Corns?  Ya home?  Oh, hey!  Mommy and daddy, you're having coffee?  How sweet," Light said as she entered her apartment.  The scent of flowers and incense wafted in from the hallway, as she closed her door and took off her hat and scarf.  "It is so snowy out there tonight I thought I might get hit with a snowball from the clouds!  It was really cold too," she said as she shook her mane heavily, small beads of water landing around her.

    "Mom, dad?  You look thirsty, can I get you a refill?"  She walked to the table and leaned in to nuzzle her mother and coughed reflexively as she turned to her father and nuzzled him slightly, retching as she leaned back.  "You two look well, I'm so glad you decided to live with me these past few weeks.  My nightmares have really slowed down and now I'm even dating a really cute stallion.  His name is-" She coughed as she leaned too close to her mother, for a moment she was brought back to reality, and gasped at the sight of her parents rotting and decaying in her living room. The couch staining and rotting right alongside the withered corpses of her parents.

    She heard her brother in the bedroom, groaning, but as her eyes shifted to his legs tied together, her mind slipped back into madness.

    "Oh, where was I?  Oh well, it wasn't that important.  I'm gonna take a shower, don't tell dad, but he could really use one himself.  'Kay, see ya silly guys later.

    She walked to her room and saw her brother's legs protruding from the bathroom.  "Oh, Ran.  You're such a silly colt.  You don't sleep in here, you go potty in here.  I thought mommy and daddy taught you that years ago," she cooed at her brother as she walked into the bathroom, stepping over his rear legs.  His forelegs were tied tightly to the base of the toilet, glancing at his body, broken ribs were visible, healing beneath his skin unevenly.  His breathing was raspy and he trembled when she walked in.  Every step she took his ears flattened tighter to his head until the muscles were cramping, forcing his ears to fall flat onto the sides of his head.

    She opened the lid of the toilet and turned, backing up until she sat firmly upon it as he groaned in pain, trying to move away as she went.  "Random Corns, you shouldn't peek at a girl going potty.  Bad brother!"  She scowled at him as he averted his gaze, smacking his muzzle on the floor.  He curled into a fetal position and wept slightly.  She finished and flushed as she closed the lid and leaned in to nuzzle him.  "You've been really good this week, wanna go for a walk around the house?"

    His ears perked up as he turned to her.  "Mmm-hmm," he replied softly, opening his eyes and turning to her.  He sniffed at her and retched slightly as the stench of his parents flowed from her.

    "Oh, he's a widdle sicky wicky.  That's not good, c'mon little bro.  You need a walkies."

    She leant forward and pulled the rope several times; loosening it to the point he could move and stand, however he could only crawl since his muscles were weak, he wasn't eating healthy, and his only source of water was from the bowl.  He lifted his chin as she looped the rope over him and tied it like a leash, he began walking forward, looking dreamily ahead, until she pulled him to the left out of the room.  Slowly he made his way through the apartment, following her like a dog until she stopped and he felt the rope slacken.  A few tugs and he knew he was tied to the coffee table.  He blinked his eyes and looked at the decomposing remains of his parents with two cold cups of coffee in front of them on the end table.

    "H-hi mommy.  Hi daddy.  Light said you were hungry, wanna try some carrots?  She bought carrots yesterday and they were really good," he said as he looked at them, slowly listing his head side to side.  His eyes were glazed and were unevenly dilated as he spoke.  He chuckled, then laid his head down, staring at his parents hooves and some brown goo around the base of the couch.

    Light returned to the bathroom to wash up in a warm shower after a long day of work before reading the next chapter in her Daring Do novel.

    She laid on her bed and yawned as she opened the book to the chapter and read.  Her mind wandered through the chapter to thoughts of darkness covering the city, ponies melting under the light of a magical cloud of evil.  Her laughter echoed across the city and she gazed upon the skeletons falling to the ground into puddles of their former owners bodies.  She giggled slightly and stared at the image A.K. Yearling had drawn on the left page as she turned it.

    It was her.  She was in the page, behind Daring Do.  She was moving and crying; mouthing the words 'wake up'.  She saw a tear drop onto the page as she shut the book and stretched her hind quarters and climbed off the bed.  "Good night mommy and daddy.  Night little bro.  I'm glad you're feeling better," she called to the living room.

    "If that smell gets to you, let me know.  I convinced the floor to start using herbal incense to ward off evil spirits, ooo~," she said in a wavy voice before laughing.  She yawned as she turned off her lights, returned to her bed, tucked in, and fell asleep quickly.

    A light mist hovered over her in the clouds, calling her name as she trudged through a field of corpses.  What used to terrify her now was as simple as walking through mud with rocks in it.  She began to hop along the corpses, grumbling as she stepped on the occasional abdomen and her hooves sank into the pony.  She tried her best to walk along the ribs that weren't broken, but she kept falling until she stopped and looked to the cloudy skies.

    "What the hell?  Ya keep making me walk through bodies and making me melt, can't you do anything interesting anymore?"

    The mist changed colors lightly before turning red and beginning to rain blood on her.  She smiled and stuck out her tongue, she began to dance in place counting the drops she could catch on her tongue, until Luna showed up.

    For the first time she appeared in a bright flash of white light and looked in horror at the pony enjoying the carnage.  Being showered with fresh warm blood coating her body, turning her a sickly red.

    "Pony, who are you?  Why do you dream of such horror?  How can I help you return to the realm of good, sane ponies?"

    Light looked at Luna with the most evil expression Luna had ever received from a pony, she reflexively took a step back.  The mist turned a green color, similar to Light, and moved over Luna.  Luna's eyes moved up and she cast a dispel on the dream to wake the pony looking at her.  The spell did nothing: she looked on paralyzed in fear as the mare began to slide along the corpses like she was riding a wave until she was inches from Luna's muzzle.

    "I hold no fear of you, Moon Goddess.  You will die like the rest of the world, and I will lavish in the feeling for all time," Light said in a guttural tone dripping with hatred.

    Luna took several steps back flaring her wings, casting another spell, and another, to no avail.

    The mist fell onto Luna as Light charged her, knocking her to the ground.  Luna screamed in pain and fear, and began to fade away, before being pulled back into her full form again.  Her eyes widened as she tried to fade from the dream again, only to stay in place and scream in pain as Light bit into her flesh, tearing her skin from the muscle from her side to her belly.

Light giggled as the restrained goddess spasmed under the weight of the mist that cancelled all her magic.  She chewed on Luna's flesh while looking into the terrified alicorn's eyes before spitting the hide out of her mouth and lunging back to pull more.

    The ripping of her flesh made Luna panic, fear gripping her at a level she never knew possible.  Luna began focusing all her magic into a spell just as Light ripped a hole in Luna's belly, shoving her head inside to chew and chomp at anything she could reach, Luna vanished mid scream leaving Light with a mouth full of entrails and the mist hovering in front of her.

    Spitting the entrails from her mouth Light coughed and trembled as she looked at the dreamscape around her and threw up.  "Wha-what?  Oh Celestia what have I-?  Oh please let me go, I can't...  I can't live without this.  I need more.  I need more..."

    She woke from her dream salivating and licking her lips, she sat up with a deadpan expression, looking at her doorway leading to the hall.  Climbing from bed she made a quick trot to the door, opening it and closing it behind her.

    Random Corns sat up as the door slammed shut and smiled darkly.  Standing to his tallest he loosened the rope around his neck and walked to his parents.  "Mom, dad.  We have to go.  She loves you and we'll always remember you."

    He began gnawing at the flesh that remained on the skulls and their necks violently ripping them free of their fleshy confines.

Looping his tongue through the eye sockets, pushing out whatever remained inside, he quickly walked to the dining table carrying the rotting skulls of his parents. After carefully placing his parents down on it he slowly cantered, wincing every couple steps due to his poorly healing injuries, to the door.   Emptying Light’s saddlebags onto the floor he gathered the skulls, opened the apartment door, and trotted to the staircase as a door opened at the end of the hall.

He hurried his pace and began his descent down several flights of stairs.  A loud shrill scream resonated through the building as he entered the lobby and made for the door.

    As soon as he opened the door and stepped outside his sister impacted the ground, her head and body cracking into the ground and sending blood splatter onto everything near her as she landed.

He looked at her now pulverized corpse and smiled as he saw one eye turn to look at him before the light in it faded away.  He cocked his head slightly, trotting to her fleshy remains and sniffed her.  "You smell pretty, sister."

    He leaned closer and bit lightly on her ear, pulling it free and placing it into his bags with his parents’ skulls.  "Time for misty and me to have some fun; you weren't fun.  You were only a pony it needed to gather strength.  I'm the strong one.

    "The name is Nightmare.  In the old tongue Luna means moon, for when I took her simple mind I also took her name.  Now my name is Nightmare... Rancor; King of the darkness that dwells within all ponies, ruler of nightmares, malevolence ponified, and I spell the end of the false goddesses.  With this form 3,000 years of trial and error will come to fruition...  The end is neigh."

    He stood tall as a bright orange mist emanated from his body, cloaking it.  A flash of light filled the area, and as he looked at his broken and fading sister, he smiled.  He wore blood orange armor that now covered his body, turning him into a war horse.  His tail and mane shown slightly, waving crimson like Luna and Celestia's, his eyes becoming green and cat like.  With a sneer he vanished into mist, with a guttural laugh filling the night sky his plans were in effect.