A Change in Heart

The stage was set and the combatants were ready. It was truly going to be a fight of the century. Both sides had a lot at stake, but Daze's side had more to lose. Chrysalis would lose her safety, Trixie would lose her ally, and Daze…might lose his life. He knew that this was a serious fight and both sides had (seemingly) just causes. This was a battle of power and wills. The match-up was Rarity and Twilight against Trixie and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack against Black Daze.

The three mares fighting Black Daze charged first. However, Daze did not charge back. He knew he had to fight this out by thinking and out smarting them. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were enraged, so they would be easy to exploit and take down. Pinkie Pie on the other hand…He'd just avoid her for now if at all possible.

Meanwhile, Trixie took her magician's hat off to reveal her horn. It began to glow a bright blue as a beam of magic shot out towards Twilight. Twilight countered with her own beam of magic and the two beams collided with a thunderous noise. The beams met at the middle, not moving from either side…Trixie had gotten stronger, much stronger. She wanted a day where she could take down that mare named Twilight and now was her chance. Twilight wasn't liking how hard it was for her to overcome Trixie this time. Was she really just as great and powerful as she boasted?

Rainbow Dash struck first, with a right hoof. It was easy to dodge for Black Daze and He countered by side-stepping, taking hold of her arm, pulling her close and bashing their heads together. Daze, being the bigger and stronger one in this case, was nearly unscathed. Rainbow Dash on the other hand got a splitting headache and her eyes rolled around for a bit before she shook it off and prepared another attack. Just then, two strong legs hit him in the back and Daze threw Rainbow Dash to the side before falling over. It was Applejack! She snuck around behind when Daze was up close and personal with Rainbow Dash! That sneaky little…She had quite the leg muscles too, as that really hurt Daze. He'd have to mind her in the future. For now, Daze got up and immediately dodged some of Pinkie Pie's spinning punches and upside-down kicks. Geez, how agile was this pony? It's like she's spring-loaded!

Daze had to think of more ways to fight these mares if he was to win. At least Trixie was handling the magic users. He really didn't want to deal with magic right now.

Speaking of Trixie, she was locked in magic combat with Twilight Sparkle. The magic beams weren't favoring either side, a bad sign for Twilight. Somehow, after all those years of being Celestia's most faithful student, she didn't quite surpass Trixie. At least Trixie wasn't surpassing her, either. Trixie was disappointed in herself as well, why wasn't she able to surpass Twilight! It made no sense after all her preparation. She concentrated her very hardest and finally got her magic to begin slowly move to the right towards Twilight. This was PREPOSTEROUS to Twilight. Her rival from long ago was actually beating her! What was she to do?

Black Daze was getting highly annoyed with these ponies. They were hitting him left and right and although he occasionally got a good hit in, such as kicking Applejack down when she tried leaping on him, but generally, he was not faring well. He underestimated these ponies…again.

"CONFOUND THESE PONIES!" He growled.

Daze took a left hoof from Applejack, then a back-hoof from Rainbow Dash. They were ganging up on him and Pinkie went over to Rarity for some odd reason. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hitting him left and right. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to passing out. This was humiliating. He was going to end this now. In order to beat them, he had to becomethe monster they feared.

And so, with that, his pupils shrunk to menacingly thin slits. His teeth became longer and more pointy, as they always did when he was particularly enraged. His tounge hung out of his mouth, and smoke started streaming slowly from his nostrils.

"I've had it with you two…" Daze hissed in a considerably more threatening voice.

And with that he sprang up and held Applejack in one hand and Rainbow Dash in the other. He let out a thunderous roar which was louder than the one used on Applejack earlier by a great deal. This scared Twilight and Trixie out of their magic fight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity out of their conversation, and the four youngsters in a nearby bush out of their wits.

"Rainbow Dash! Nooo!" Scootaloo said, on the verge of tears. Was her hero at her last stand?

"Oh no…" Applebloom whispered, watching as her sister was dangling helplessly in Black Daze's grasp. She was afraid of what Daze might do to her sister. And even though daze was completely infuriated, he most assuredly would NOT kill Applejack. It was against the compassionate voice in his head.

(note: Yes, that is a mustard stain on Pinkie's cheek. Gimme a break, I had limited time to sketch these.)

Rarity noticed this change and said to Pinkie, "Uhmm….Pinkie Pie, are you SURE this was a good Idea?"

Pinkie Pie replied with a smile. "Aw, come one Rarity, he can't be THAT bad!" She said casually.

"NOW KISS!" He said with sadistic rage as he bashed their heads together. Applejack and Rainbow's heads hit each other with a *CONK* sound before they were tossed to the floor. Everypony was speechless, especially Trixie. She didn't know what to think after what just happened. Daze could really get angry! She'd never seen anypony display that amount of fury. Daze was so infuriated that his eyes changed, he got stronger, and he had two ponies on their backs within 6 seconds. She felt a surge of confidence with her newfound ally. If he could do that, then surely they'd win, right?

"It appears that your 'friends' are helpless against the raw might of Black Daze, Twilight." She said with a spiteful smirk.

"GIRLS! Are you ok?" Twilight said as she galloped over to her fallen friends. She only got grunts and groans as responses.

Applejack got up first, dusted herself off, and said in a confident tone. "We're fine, at least I am. I'm gonna rope this monster in." She said before galloping over to her saddle pack. Rainbow Dash got up next, her eyes spinning from the impact still. She shook it off and spoke.

"Ohhhh this monster is gonna get it now! No more miss nice mare!" Rainbow Dash threatened. Black Daze was having none of their attitude, however.

"BRING IT ONNN!" He roared, with blue fire shooting from his mouth at "onnn."

"It looks like the fight is not over yet, Trixie." Twilight Sparkle said to the magician.

"Very well then, finish what we started?" Trixie said with another smirk.

Twilight, not wanting to risk losing to Trixie in another magic beam fight, responded by casting a temporary paralyzation spell on Trixie. Trixie, not expecting it, was hit and fell to the floor.

"Ooooh you dirty rotten CHEATER! When I get out of here you are going to GET IT!" She yelled before her mouth froze as well. The spell Twilight cast lasts 3 minutes, so Twilight had 3 minutes to gain the upper hand in the fight. She planned to make every second count.

"NOW EVERYPONY, TAKE DOWN THE MONSTER!" She shouted.

"IT'S BLACK DAZE, WOMAN!" Black Daze yelled back.

Rarity stepped in first, firing a magic bolt at him. Daze side-stepped and deliberately shot a white hot fireball next to her. It didn't hurt her, but she could feel the intense heat waves and knew that he was not to be trifled with by magic.

"IF YOU DARE USE ANY OF THAT STUPID MAGIC ON ME, I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE!" Daze furiously shouted. He hated magic. He HATED it. It gave him trouble his whole life. His elementary school bully would use magic to trip him or spill his lunch all over him. In the Everfree forest, brave Unicorn campers would use magic on him. Mostly they were paralyzation spells. And magic looked so…girly. He just hated it.

The next to step in was the duo of Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Twilight whispered something into Pinkie Pie's ear….then slowly, something happened to Pinkie…

…something that made Daze's blood run cold…(despite being part dragon, he was still warm-blooded)

Her pupils shrunk greatly and turned in opposite directions, her poofy pink mane deflated to be completely straight. She got the most sadistic smile he had ever seen in his life. Suddenly she struck a strange fighting pose that was not nearly as crazy as that pony looked just then. Twilight lunged forward and attempted to buck him. Daze grabbed her by the left hind leg and threw her overhead to a tree off the side of the dirt road. Then Pinkie Pie kicked Daze in the jaw. Hard. What on earth did Twilight tell her? He didn't have time to think as Pinkie landed another hoof on the top of his head. This was serious! He had to fight. Now.

Black Daze stared into the eyes of his opponent. Those cold, sadistic, unmoving eyes. She shot a right hoof to his forehead, but Daze blocked. He immediately dodged another hit, then another, then another. This pony was harder than all the other ones combined.

"Why are you so dang CREEPY!" Daze asked, blocking a kick.

Pinkie Pie said nothing.

"Why are you fighting me?" He questioned again.

Again, no response.

"What did Twilight tell you!" He shouted out of desperation, he failed to block a kick and it hit his gut with tremendous force. Daze flew back and hit the same tree he threw Twilight at, crashing into Twilight in the process.

"Mmph! MMMMMPH!" Twilight tried to speak, her cries were muffled by Daze's large body.

Daze got up, no he's not THAT cruel as to try and crush a pony to death. Then Twilight said something that surprised him.

"Thanks for…not killing me when it would've been so easy... Why didn't you?" She asked.

"As wronged as I have been, I won't kill." Daze said dryly, trying to contain his anger.

"Wronged? Won't kill? You mean you have morals!? And we're hunting you because you're a danger to Ponyville!" Twilight responded.

"Danger to Ponyville! Woman, I've lived out here for eight long years and have NO intention of attacking whatsoever. I even used to live there."

"Wait…used to live there? What happened then?" Twilight asked, her curiosity was piqued.

Before Daze could answer, a bolt of magic hit Twilight, causing her to fall down and freeze completely.

"That's for about 3 minutes ago, neighsayer." Trixie said coldly. She got her revenge, and now, she had no interest in the fight anymore.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" Daze shouted, thinking that she killed Twilight just as she started to listen.

"TWILIGHT! …Wait…why does he care if Twilight's down?" Spike questioned.

"Perhaps we had him all wrong…" Sweetie Belle followed up with.

"After doing that to Rainbow Dash? No way we have him wrong! He's a monster!" Scootaloo responded.

"I'm…not sure what to think at this point…" Applebloom said sadly.

"Well then let's just see how this plays out." Spike said. All four of them continued to watch. Trixie then responded to Daze's question.

"Oh just a little paralyzation spell is all, she'll be back on her feet in a few minutes so don't worry. You have bigger problems though…" Trixie said pointing to the three angry mares facing him...well, at least Pinkie Pie seemedto be angry. It was hard to tell with those cold…creepy eyes… Rarity was in the fetal position in a corner, not daring to get up and fight.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Daze questioned. "That Pink one is quite a handful."

"I have no real quarrels over the others, so no. I'm sure your power will be more than sufficient to win this." Trixie responded.

"Fine then…" Black Daze responded. He went up to the three mares preparing to attack.

"Hey! Can we like…not fight? I'm pretty sick of this." Daze said, attempting to reason.

"Ya teamed up with Trixie, bashed our heads together, and almost hit Rainbow Dash and Rarity with a fireball and ya expect us to just DROP IT!" Applejack responded. Rainbow Dash nodded. Pinkie Pie didn't say anything. Again.

Daze thought for a minute, "Well…when you put it that way…Yeah. I'm sorry that I become sort of a sour-puss when ponies attack me." Daze responded sarcastically.

"And so we're sorry that we defend our friends when they're attacked back!" Rainbow Dash retorted.

"Fine, attack me. See if I care. It's not my fault if you need to be hospitalized afterwards." Daze shot back and stood there stoically. Waiting to see what they'd do.

The three ponies didn't move for a second. He really didn't want to fight them, and was willing to end all the violence then and there. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as they thought…Applejack considered walking away until Rainbow Dash called out to Black Daze.

"I'm sorry…but we can't just leave this alone. I'm going to end this. Now. And Applejack and Pinkie Pie are going to help me. You are going down." She said calmly, seemingly holding back tears. "It's our job as the Elements of Harmony to protect Ponyville from monsters like you!" And with that she flew at Daze readying a punch. Applejack followed up with her lasso and Pinkie walked towards Daze at a slow pace.

Daze just stood there. He didn't have the drive to fight back. He was just going to take the hits and let his primordial rage take over when he had taken enough. Rainbow Dash hit his chin with a solid punch first, Daze didn't move a muscle. It really didn't hurt him much and he still didn't want to fight back. Next, Applejack gave a strong buck to his front legs, and that made Daze keel over. He still didn't want to fight back, however. It wasn't going to be long though, he felt the rage building inside of him. Rainbow Dash and Applejack simultaneously struck him in the jaw, and then ganged up on him, trampling him while he was down. Then Pinkie Pie showed up and pulled two knifes seemingly out of nowhere; then attempted to slice off his hands. However, since he was armored with scales on his arms, they landed with a *clink* and broke. Daze was almost ready to fight back now, he could feel his rage building up even more and more. The three mares continued to beat him down until he started to bleed.

"Wha…What are they doing? They are going to KILL him if they go on like this…" Spike lamented.

"I think he's ok, I mean, he didn't wanna fight anyway…" Sweetie Belle followed up with.

"Why don't they just stop! He's down already!" Applebloom said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I say serves him right." Scootaloo said, earning her a slap from Sweetie Belle. "OW! Okay okay you're right he doesn't deserve this." Scootaloo corrected herself.

Black Daze had finally reached his limit, he closed his eyes and let his rage take over from there. The three mare's beat down was interrupted when his fist shot up and knocked them all back. They saw the change in his eyes again, they had menacing smaller slits and again, smoke billowed from his nostrils. His ears were folded back and his teeth were considerably more threatening now that they had grown a little bit larger. He threw his head back and roared again, Scaring everypony except Pinkie Pie, who only stood there. There was no change in her expression.

Daze charged forward and unleashed an amazing combo of martial arts on Applejack. Over the years, he had developed his own form of martial arts which used one's own body weight and momentum to strike with incredible speed and force. It started off somewhat slow, but after a few seconds, the hits became faster and harder to block. Applejack simply didn't stand a chance as she was knocked to the ground with a black eye and many bruises. Then, he flew up into the air where he met Rainbow Dash. She attempted to give him a good kick to the jaw, but it was foiled as Daze grabbed her leg and used it to throw her back to the ground. Then he flew down in pursuit, grabbed her and threw her against another tree.

Trixie was spectating the entire fight, enjoying Black Daze winning after such a seemingly hopeless situation. She loved the fact that Daze was a capable fighter. It sort of…turned her on in a weird sort of sense and found herself somewhat attracted to Daze. It was a weak crush, but a crush nonetheless. She liked the strong bad boys she figured.

Meanwhile, Daze gave Rainbow Dash a scratch on her back from is claws. It started to bleed, which then Daze somewhat regained control of himself. Look what he had done, He took down Applejack and Rainbow Dash to the point where they were beaten and helpless on the ground! He couldn't do it anymore, although he knew he had to do it, he was positively disguisted with himself. He had nearly killed two of his attackers…

…But wait…Where was Pinkie…?

Black Daze looked around, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be found. He began to get rather worried, with a mare as unstable and deranged as she was at that moment, She could be anywhere… He began to call out for her.

"Pinkie…come out, come out wherever you a-"

*SLICE*

"HNNNGH!" Was all Daze managed to get out before he looked down and saw a knife plunged through his stomach. He gasped and fell over, then saw her face. Pinkie Pie had the same expression as before, then brought the knife over her head. There was a small puddle of blood forming from under Black Daze that was slowly getting bigger.

"So this is how it ends, eh? Stabbed to death by a psychotic earth pony." Daze coughed up blood then spoke again in a raspy whisper. "Go ahead, do it. Just leave Trixie alone and leave." Then he let out a wheeze and awaited his demise...