Author's Note
Fimfiction user Ferret posted the following in the comments section of Machinations in the Dark of Celestia's Prophet:
I keep imagining this from the pony's perspective, that Conrad is some kind of uber powered ultra divine cosmic being, and he really does have the fearsome magical abilities to change his form like Discord and see through changeling disguises. I keep imagining it as if he's the delusional one, and the ponies are seeing reality. He is deluded into thinking all this stuff is just masks, smoke and mirrors. To him it looks like a bad disguise, when in reality his mind is just so beyond comprehension that he mistakes clever disguises for bad ones. If he points a finger at a pony and says, "Bang, you're dead," the pony keels over dramatically, pretending to be dead, when in reality the pony really did get annihilated on the spot, and Conrad's just deluded into thinking it was a bunch of bad acting and cheap props. Which means that Celestia's irrational reaction towards him as a threat to all of Equestria is
...entirely justified...
I absolutely loved the idea, so I wrote this.
Then I sat on it for several months. =/
I kept expecting to get further with it, and I gave myself a bad case of writer's block for both stories because I didn't. So don't expect The Dark God to update very often.
Still, it was just sitting in my fimfiction account, so I might as well share it.
Enjoy.
"Hello, Celestia."
A tall bipedal creature stood in the Canterlot Dungeons, manacled and chained to the wall with unbreakable chains.
The creature stood 6 feet tall with pale skin and perfectly normal features. The air around it warped with a sense of wrongness, creating a black miasma that was more felt than seen. A pleasant smile graced the creature's face.
That smile, Celestia knew, was a lie. A mask to hide the horrible corruption and cruelty the creature would unleash at its slightest whim.
Though the creature had been imprisoned here a thousand years ago, Celestia still had no idea what motivations guided its hands. Why it would annihilate an entire town with nothing but a few choice words, pitting pony against pony in an orgy of chaos and destruction, then turn around and practically give itself up to Celestia's authorities. It simply wasn't rational by any measure she could imagine.
If it were just Celestia's life and safety on the line, she would have entombed it in cement and dropped it in the deepest, darkest hole she could find. Unfortunately, it was not her own life and safety she worried about, but rather that of her subjects. Somehow, the creature always knew exactly what threatened Equestria. It rarely helped her, but sometimes its cryptic statements were enough to point Celestia in the right direction.
Whether or not its cryptic statements made sense at the time, they always made perfect sense in hindsight, often to Celestia's profound regret.
Any edge, she thought to herself, any advantage I can obtain is worth it if it helps me safeguard even one of my precious subjects.
"Please help me," Celestia said without preamble.
The creature smiled. "What, that's it?" it asked. "No 'hello'? No 'how are you doing today, Conrad?'"
"I have just come from a meeting," Celestia said as if the creature hadn't spoken. "Ponies are going missing. It started small, a few ponies at a time, but the disappearances are getting larger and larger. I've just received word that an entire town has been abandoned. Please," she said softly, "what can you tell me?"
The creature smiled. "What was that?" it said mockingly. "The palace confectioner forgot to make you your weekly cake? How ever shall you cope?"
Celestia gritted her teeth, refusing to let the creature rile her up.
"Well, I suppose I could help you," it drawled. "But first I'd like to play a game."
The miasma around the creature condensed into black semi-solid tentacles that writhed and jerked, gouging random lines out of the stone floor.
Celestia stiffened. "I'll play no games with you, nor will I allow you to play any with my subjects."
"It wouldn't take much," the creature continued placidly. "Perhaps a sheet of paper and a pencil. Or maybe a rubber bouncy ball. Or maybe a helpless innocent foal whose mind I can corrupt and break and drive to the brink of insanity."
The creature's tentacles lashed out at random. The thrice-enchanted magic circle on the floor contained the miasma, but Celestia took a few steps back nonetheless, staring at the creature in barely-concealed shock and horror.
"Creature," she said, "I ask of you-"
"WHAT'S MY NAME?!" roared the creature, its black tentacles slamming against the inside of the magic shield. "It's always 'creature this' and 'creature that'! I HAVE A NAME!"
"Conrad!" Celestia yelled, the name almost dragged out of her by the unexpected onslaught of the creature's fury.
Immediately, Conrad calmed down again, looking for all the world like nothing bothered him.
"That's better," he said. "Now, what was it you wanted?"
Celestia cursed herself. Every time she came here, it felt like Conrad manipulated her into doing exactly what he wanted. Even if she didn't know what that was.
"Ponies are going missing," Celestia repeated. "What can you tell me about that?"
"Hmmm. Where did you say this was happening?"
"On the border of the Badlands."
Conrad smiled. "Oh Celestia," he said. "You put your faith in the wrong thing. Trust not your eyes, for they will be the first to deceive you."
Celestia stood there, trying to figure out the meaning of Conrad's cryptic statement. Don't trust your eyes... that means that something isn't what it appears to be. Is there something wrong with the reports? No, I trust the messengers. So maybe it's the actual situation. Is he saying that the ponies are actually there, just hidden? Possibly. What else could he mean about not trusting my sight? And why did he ask where it was? He should already know that the disappearances were taking place near the Badlands-
And just like that, the puzzle pieces fit together in Celestia's mind.
"Changelings," Celestia whispered to herself.
Conrad smiled. "Right in one."
Celestia turned her attention back to Conrad. "Why do this?" she asked. "I usually don't understand what your hints mean until it's too late, and even when I do figure them out in time it's never this easy. This time you practically gave me the answer. Why?"
Conrad smiled. Something about his behavior set Celestia on edge.
"Consider it an apology," he said.
"For what?"
"For this."
With one sharp motion Conrad pulled his arms apart and broke the manacles holding his wrists together. Two more shark yanks and the chains that had held him to the wall were broken as well. The manacles dropped to the ground with a pair of loud bangs. Conrad walked forward.
One of the guards yelled, "Code Red! The prisoner is escaping!" before grabbing Celestia and dragging her out of the room.
The two mages that had flanked Celestia started chanting, reinforcing the magic shield meant to hold Conrad in place. He walked forward unconcernedly. The air around him glowed as he forced his way through the shield, not even slowing down. The entire construct shattered, but Conrad reached up and grabbed the fading magic, sending bolts of black lightning back through the swiftly-closing magical connection and electrocuting the two mages.
"Close the door!" a guard yelled from outside of the room.
"No!" Celestia cried, "There's still a pony in there!"
But it was too late. Somewhere a lever was pulled and an ultra-dense slab of metal dropped into place with a loud bang, sealing off the only exit.
Conrad looked at the metal unconcernedly. "No worries," he said softly, before turning his attention to the guard that was trapped in the dungeon with him. "Now I have something to play with." Conrad smiled.
The black miasma seemed to fill the entire room, pressing down on Brave Heart with an oppressive pressure that was very much at odds with Conrad's soft-spoken demeanor.
Brave Heart stood, paralyzed with terror, as Conrad slowly walked towards him, one implacable step at a time.
Conrad placed his hand on Brave Heart's head and Brave Heart knew no more.
