Origins of Madness

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1 - To start a new life... again
Chapter 2 - Not in Jail?!
Chapter 3 - The King, the Demon and a Planet full of life

Prologue

Origins of Madness
Written by Twi, edited by TheRoboticFist

Authors Note:
Hey Guys, this is my very first attempt in writing my own fic, i hope you´ll enjoy it! English is my second language, so please have mercy with me :-) Oh, and i´m really terrible with names, so many names are probably subject to change...^^ Thanks go out to my Pre Reader TheRoboticFist /)

Prolouge

Did you ever wonder, why Ponies live in Peace and Harmony?
Why there is no crime, no war, and no hatred?
Did you ever ask what this place makes so special, that the worst thing that could happen is to be late for a friendship report? Or how somepony could forgive a possessed Alicorn for trying to bring eternal Night over the land you love so much?

This isn´t the work of an wise and selfless princess, or the results of the heroism of six Ponies, representing the elements of Harmony. No, this is the work of the Live stream, to which everypony is connected. Earth ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns and Alicorns share the same bond with this mystical Energy and are able to feel its warmth, guided by it to live in nearly absolute Harmony.

Because of the life stream, Ponies do not feel emotions like hatred the way we humans do. When a Pony talks about “hating somepony”, a human would say he slightly dislikes someone. But when a human talk about hate, a Pony would… well, a Pony can´t feel such a deep negative emotion towards another living being. Their mind is not able to develop such a strong emotion, not only bad, but neither good ones.
This is the reason for the peace in Equestria.

But there is always a black sheep in the herd.

His name is Life Dreamer, a young Unicorn Stallion living in outer Canterlot. His life isn’t easy, never was and never will be. Without the connection to the live stream, he doesn’t feel the motherly warmth when he feels down. He doesn’t have the voices that tell him what’s right and what´s wrong. He lacks this natural Guide. Yeah, he can feel emotions on a level, other Ponies couldn’t even think about, for example the undying love to somepony he would die for, just to see this special Pony safe, but he can also feel the deep hatred we humans can feel. He can have the need to purposely hurt another Pony, even to the point of being satisfied while seeing them suffer. When there was, for example, a report of an accident, in which a young colt lost his life, everypony would nearly freak out. They would mourn over the lost soul, and pay him their respect. Life Dreamer, instead, would watch them in silence, wondering why they freak about somepony they didn’t even know? Why should he care for those, he would never see in his life? Everypony acts this way, as if it lies in their nature, what it basically does, but he would act so different, so… cruel; without even knowing why.
It isn’t like he wants to be that way. He loves life more than everything, wants to be part of the community. He wants to make friends, he wants to care for others and be cared for. He wants to find his special somepony to start his own family and to live happy till' the day he dies. But in an world, where no one ever needed to learn how to be friendly, or needs to be taught how to live in peace with the ones around him, who should teach him? Who should be his guide through this perfect world of peace and happiness? His parents died in a terrible Snowstorm in the Year 804, when he was only 4 Years old. No one knew about his lack of guidance and there were no recorded cases of this… disease, this sickness, and no one knew how to cure him. And no Pony could understand that it wasn’t his fault…

___________________________________________________________________________

On his 6th Birthday, he “broke” the first time, that’s what he would later call his dark emotions which he shouldn’t be able to feel. He lived in an Orphanage in Manehatten. “The smiling Mare” stood at the outskirts of the third biggest City, right after Cloudsdale and Canterlot. The building was on the same road that would lead travelers to the new founded village Phillydelphia. It was two stories high and had 7 rooms on each floor. While the living room, kitchen, and other essential rooms where on the ground floor, the sleeping rooms of the orphans and the offices of the Educators where on the second level. The orphans slept in one big room, a bed per Pony. In front of the beds was a single chest for their possessions. The beds where anything but comfortable, but they were better than the cold ground, so no pony ever complained about them. The walls were painted in blue and yellow tones, here and there some clouds or a smiling sun. He lived there together with 9 other fillies and colts, every one of them lost their parents to the cold grip of death.

Even if the other orphans experienced the same things like he did, he took it worse than anypony could ever imagine. He never said a word, nor did he smile. He would always look at the others with an empty look, unable to be read or interpreted by doctors. His eyes were lifeless, like he had no reason to live, eyes that said that Life Dreamer's Soul died with his parents. He was the outsider of the group of orphans; no pony ever talked to him, or even stood in the same room as long as it was for sleeping or eating. Even if he never did something to gain their distrust, everypony was scared of him.

At his birthday the educators got him a plush donkey. Even if they were scared of him, they still wanted him to be happy. It was their work after all. It was a weak attempt to crack his shell, but what they didn’t know was, that he had a plushy of a donkey before, given to him by his parents on his third birthday. He would carry it always with him, never leaving it alone, he really loved “Mr. Donk” more than anything. After the death of his parents, he was not allowed to take the grey plush with him. He didn’t know it at that time, but he truly hated them for taking Mr. Donk away from him. He never felt an emotion that strong before, and he couldn’t understand just how deep this feeling for revenge was but all he knew, all he could feel after some days, was the hurt of his broken heart, losing everything that was left of his parents. No pictures, no letters, nothing was left but his little donkey.

After two Years of pain, he felt something different, something… good. When he saw the present they bought him, he felt happy for the first time in a long time. He never talked about anything to anypony, so nopony knew about his affection to his precious plush donkey. The Educators were puzzled at first, wondering why a simple plush would be able to do, what they desperately tried over the course of two, long years. Everypony was happy to finally see a smile on the mud brown colts face. Gifts like this were very unusual back then, seeing as the Orphanages were fairly poor. So it was only a matter of time, the other colts became envy and wanted a plush to snuggle while they slept. Of course, there were not enough money for 9 additional, expensive plushies, so they always told the orphans that Life Dreamer was a special case and he needed this present.
It was only a matter of time, till the others would begin to try and steal Mr. Donk from him. He quickly realized that he could never stop watching for his only possession. He would always wear it close to him, never letting it lying somewhere for even a few seconds.

One night, a young Pegasus named Cloud Chaser decided to simply take it from Life Dreamer. They were all Orphans, they all lost their parents, and they all suffered the same pain he felt. So why should he be special? Why should he get better treated than any other Pony? She thought it was unfair, and she wanted to do something against this. She waited for everypony to be asleep, and sneaked over to Life Dreamer's bed, In which the brown colt with intense green eyes would lay asleep, snuggling his plush like it was his passed away mother. He would dream of his mum and dad, how they would embrace him, how they would tell him that they loved him. In his Dreams, he was truly happy. He had no fears, no pain and no sorrow to deal with. But this time, his beautiful Dream would be interrupted by a Pegasus, trying to steal the most precious thing he would ever possess. As soon as he realized what was happening right in front of him, he seized both left legs of the grey bundle of fabric. Even if the plush was expensive, the quality back then was anything but good, so it was only a matter of seconds, before the sound of tearing could be heard, soon followed by a loud snap and the thud of a Pegasus, falling over to the ground.

Life Dreamer couldn’t comprehend what happened this night. He probably never will be able too, but the moment he saw his beloved Mr Donk lying in pieces, ripped apart by an envious Pegasus, something in him snapped. It was the same hatred he felt two Years ago. Tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, he stood in front of the dazzled Pegasus, who still didn’t get what happened a few moments ago. The Unicorns cheeks grew hot and deep inside him he felt one desire to grow rapidly:

He wanted, no, he NEEDED to hurt this Pony.

For the first time in his life in the Orphanage, he managed to say something. However, every Pony who heard him would soon wish he didn’t hear the malicious, hate filled words the little Unicorn screamed:

“I HATE YOU! I WILL KILL YOU I PROMISE!”

Was all he screamed again and again, while attacking the helpless Pegasus. He jumped on Cloud Chaser, assaulting her repeatedly with punches and kicks, trying to end the Pegasus´s life. The other Orphans woke as soon as Life Dreamer screamed for the first time, watching in horror as the event occurred in front of them. Some of them just watched, some of them screamed at the rage filled Unicorn and one of them even cried at the sight of his close friend getting beaten up. Cloud Chaser was stunned, she couldn’t do something, and she couldn’t even say something. All she could do was suffering the assault of the Outsider on top of her.

By the time the Educators came rushing in, the floor underneath the two Ponies was red from the blood of the crying Pegasus. They instantly took hold of Life Dreamer, whose face was littered with tears and an expression, they could never forget. His face had shown only one feeling. One feeling, no Pony ever thought anypony could feel. It was the first time in Equestria's young history, that a Pony felt and expressed pure hatred.

____________________________________________________________________________

From this time on, he was seen as a Freak, as an Outsider who shouldn’t exist at all. He tried to explain himself, but nopony would ever listen. He was thrown out of the Orphanage, and had to live on his own. He would soon learn, that this incident wasn´t the only time he would break, nor would it be the worst event that would happen in his life.

This is the Story of a young Stallion on his way to find peace and Harmony, walking down the road to madness…

Chapter 1 - To start a new life... again

Origins of Madness
Written by Twi, edited by TheRoboticFist

Chapter 1
To start a new Life… again

“What am I doing here? I could go straight to prison as well!”

Grumbling under his breath, Life Dreamer walks through the Streets of the middle District in Solaria, the new Capital City of Equestria. The Town itself was merely 3 Years old, but had already reached the population of Canterlot. No matter which Way you take, you would always see construction sites and architects planning the next building. The ruler, King Starshine, wanted this City to become the biggest City in Equestria as soon as possible. Solaria was built in cycles, representing the different Districts. The smallest one was, of course, the District of the Nobles and royalty. Big, breathtaking and glorious Houses could be seen everywhere, even the poorest Ponies in this District had enough money, to feed their family without having a Job, and that for more than one Generation. The Ponies there would act a little snobbish from time to time, but never would one look down on those who weren’t as wealthy as they were.

The second Ring was the most important District: The Trading District. It was the Heart of Solaria, seeing as the City was built in the middle of nowhere, there were no valuable natural resources nor was the ground good enough to conduct agriculture in a scale needed to provide enough food for the locals. If you needed something, you would go there, no matter what you desired. From Bred and Daffodils to rare iron or precisely crafted Gems you could find anything a Ponies heart could ever desire. This was the reason for why the population would increase this insanely fast: Soon the markets of Solaris would be the main junction of Equestrias trading network. And everypony wants to be part of it.

The outer ring was the district of the commoners. Countless, humble buildings would soon fill the Area around this City and would house thousands, if not millions of Ponies. There is nothing special about this District, if you don’t count the sheer size of this Sea of Structures, but it would become the home of countless families and single Ponies coming from every place in Equestria, with the hope of finding their luck or to start a whole new life.
The same goes for the mud brown stallion, who now realized why it was a bad idea to come here in the first place. Equestria and Draconia, the land of the Dragons, are on the verge of war, both sides seeming to be ready to strike as soon as the next day starts. Given this fact, you would at least see one royal Guard per 10 Ponies. Their eyes scanning the surrounding, ready to stand up and serve their Land till the very end. Every time one of the Peacekeepers even looks in his direction, Life Dreamer starts to grow nervous, hoping they wouldn’t try to advance on him.

He isn’t a criminal, nor would he change this fact anytime soon, but ever since the incident in his old Orphanage, he would occasionally get in troubles, proving the Ponies around him that Ponies are capable of developing such horrid feelings like hate and anger. It was just a matter of time till the word of an evil Pony would travel across Equestria, and after a few Years he would be named the “Demon of Equestria”.

Yeah, it wasn’t nice of them, but in comparison to every other Pony, this title was fitting him, so he couldn’t argue against it. He would need to prove them wrong. But that’s easier said than done, because no one would really trust him. Every time he thinks he made a friend, he would have one of his breakdowns, even if they were small ones, causing his “friend” to abandon him within the hour.

Over the course of Years, the unguided Unicorn would develop the feeling, that everypony hates him, that he would never be welcome in this flawless society. This feeling would soon turn into paranoia and mistrust for anypony who would even stay near him without gazing at him or walking away to bring themselves to safety. Especially towards guards he felt this kind of paranoia, even to the point that he wouldn’t wonder if they would imprison him without any real reason, just to lock the demon away from public. Of course, this would never happen, but you can´t simply shake of this feelings after so many Years of pain and sorrow.

King Starshine wanted to let his whole nation know, that there would be an affordable House for everypony who wanted to life there. And he was right, no matter how much money you had, there was a House that would fit your budget. Of course you couldn’t expect a 2 Stories House if you had only a few hundred bits, but you could live in Solaris, and even enjoy your life there. Life Dreamer was humble, he didn’t need a fancy Villa and thousands of Bits to buy everything out there, for him, a 4 Room Apartment with a few possessions would be enough. As long as his Bed was comfy.

Oh God, there was nothing comparable to a comfortable King sized Bed that would embrace you after a day’s hard work. The satisfying feeling one have when he falls into his bed just to sink in a few inches, before sleep would take over. It wouldn’t be the first time that his belongings were limited to a Bed and a refrigerator. This, of course, wouldn’t help him at finding the one special somepony, not that the mares would come with him very often, when one considers how infamous this particular Pony was.

After hearing this, he scraped up every bit he had (around 531 Bits, corresponding to about 215 Euro) and tried his luck to find a Home in the commoners District. For the first real time in his life, something didn’t went totally wrong, like the incident with a swarm of parasprites, but that was a Story for another Chapter. He strolled around town for a few hours, before stopping in front of a little hut. It was only one Story high, painted in a light red tone with a yellow Roof. The billboard in front of it said it had a kitchen, a bathroom and 4 spare rooms. The price for this House was around 500 Bits – perfect! Life Dreamer took a mental note of the real estate broker and set off to buy his new home.

As he walked down Manestreet, he couldn’t stop to think about some rumors he heard. The Kings daughters weren’t of the 3 known tribes, but a combination of all three of them, beings called Alicorn. One, the purest white you could ever see, with a long, pink mane and tail and matching eyes, the other, younger, daughter had a dark blue coat with stains of an even darker blue on her flanks, were soon would appear her Cutie Mark.

At this point, he looked down his own flank, seeing the Cutie Mark he “earned” back, when he was 6… It was two, golden and overlaid four-point stars, surrounded by 5 grey Gems and one, slightly bigger, black Gem in the middle. He couldn’t think of any talent it could represent, neither knew anypony he asked.

“One day I´ll eventually find out, but then it better is something really awesome!”
With a sigh, he continued walking down the Street, which was now a big, rainbow colored, ocean of Ponies. A few minutes later, he stood in front of a rather tall building, which appeared to be the broking he wanted to visit. A quick look at the sign confirmed his guess and he entered the building quickly. Even if nopony even looked in his direction, he felt uncomfortable being in such an open area, surrounded by countless Ponies.
The first thing he noticed upon entering was the large auditorium in which he now stood, searching the room for the business Pony which would hopefully sell the house he wanted to live in. The floor was made of polished marble, the walls painted in different shades of blue, from dark blue at the bottom, to sky blue at the top. From the ceiling hung a shiny, golden chandelier with rows of candles on it. As soon as the sun sets, they would illuminate the room and give away a charm, which no other building had around the town. In the middle of the room was the reception he searched for. A small mahogany table with a few piles of paper, probably some documents about the plots they had available for selling. Behind the table, stood a grass green, rather small earth Pony mare, probably in her mid-twenties. She wore glasses and her dark green mane was bound to a long Ponytail, that hung over her right shoulder.

As he reached the table, she looked up to him, smiling at the new customer.

“Good evening Sir, my name is Clearly Oblivia, how may I help you?”

“Hi there, I wondered if I could speak to someone about one of the houses, you sell in the outer circle of town? I´m interested in one of the smaller ones.”

“This shouldn’t be a problem at all. I am the one who manages and sells the houses in the commoners District. I need to know which one you are interested in, mister…?”

She stretched her head, trying to see his Cutie Mark, only to be blocked by the piles of Paper in front of her.

“Well, my name is Life Dreamer, and the house I´m interested in has the ID 2341/A”

Now slightly nervous, he looked her straight in the Eyes, hoping she wouldn’t know his name, because the last thing he wanted was a frightened broker who could raise the price as she wished. But the way she looked told him, that she probably only knows him as the “Demon of Equestria”. What Life Dreamer didn’t see was the growing interest in her Eyes.

“Hmmm strange, I could swear I know your name from somewhere…”

“Oh, my name, or similar sounding names were quite common in my hometown, maybe that’s why you heard it before….”

“That sounds quite interesting, how about you tell me a little more about you after I´m done here?”

“That sounds nice, but I´m new in this town, so I don’t know any places we could go to…”

“That won´t be a problem at all, I know just the right restaurant we could meet later tonight. But for now, we should concentrate on the task at hoof.”

She chuckled, trying a second time to get a view of his Cutie Mark. But just as last time, the countless documents would be in the line of sight.

“You said the apartments ID was 2341/A? Just let me see if I can find the papers… ahhh, yes, here it is. Apartment 2341/A, Coltington Street 17. One story high, kitchen, bathroom and 4 spare rooms, the current price is 503 Bits, is that correct?”

“Yep, that’s it”

The brown Unicorn smiled, while doing the same as Clearly Oblivia tried two times before, but because he was taller than the two toned Pony in front of him, he was able to see her Cutie Mark. It was a small house with a brown “sell” board in front of it.

“Actually, I wanted to buy it immediately, if that is ok with you….”

“Of course it is, I just need you to sign this land certificate and the payment of 503 bits, and you can call yourself a homeowner.”

He tossed her the bag with the golden Coins, called Bits over to her. She counted the money and handed him his certificate and the Key to his new home.

“Congratulations, I hope you will enjoy your life in Solaria, and I´m looking forward to meet you. There is a restaurant only a few hundred meters away from your house, how about we meet there at 6 O’clock?”

“Sounds fine by me, but for now, I better get going. See you later, Miss Oblivia”

Life Dreamer turned around to leave the building, but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard a quiet gasp coming from his date.

“Is something wrong?”

“N-No, I-It´s just t-that I remembered something really important and got startled for a moment, but now it’s alright…”

“Well then, see you later at six”

He waved her a last time before turning around and leaving the building. As soon as he left it, the broker mare collapsed to the floor, letting out a long sigh. Now, that she saw his Cutie Mark, she remembered were she heard that name before. She realized that she nearly dated the Demon of Equestria! At least, she now knew what place she would avoid for a very long time…

_____________________________________________________________________________

It was 5:55 P.M. and Life Dreamer was more excited than he was for a very long time. A new town, a small, comfortable house, a real comfy bed, that already stood in one of the spare rooms and the best of all the things, a date on his first Day in this wonderful town! He hummed happily as he walked down the Street he now lived in, approaching the restaurant in which he would meet the green colored mare. He stopped in front of it, taking a last look on his appearance. His mud brown coat was freshly washed and groomed, his black, short mane combed.
“Not bad,”
he nodded to his mirror image that looked at him from the reflection of one of the windows. The now dressed up Stallion entered the restaurant and took a seat near the entrance, so that he wouldn’t be overseen by Oblivia. A short time later, the waiter came by and asked, if he wanted to place his order. Life Dreamer politely declined, he wanted to wait for his arrangement to arrive.

The minutes passed, but Oblivia was nowhere to be seen. The Unicorn started to wonder, what could have happened that she would be late, but decided to simply wait for her to show up. Maybe she just lost track of time…

Another twenty minutes passed, before he called the waiter again, ordering something to drink. When the clock indicated half past six, he started to realize, what could have kept her away. His Cutie Mark! Everypony knew how it looked, and maybe, when he turned to leave the broking, she saw his Cutie Mark and remembered who he was? It stuck him like a freight train that his date wouldn’t appear. He drained his glass and paid for the drink, leaving the restaurant as fast as possible.

_____________________________________________________________________________

‘I should have known! Something like this never ends well when I´m involved! Why did I even THINK that I had a chance at making a friend on my first Day in this town?’

He trotted down the road, anger in his thoughts and pain in his heart. There weren’t many Ponies on the streets, now that the Day´s end was near, only a group of Ponies in front of him would be out on the Street.

‘Stupid, why am I so bucking Stupid?! No one would ever want to be with me. Not in the past, not in the present and definitely not in the future!’

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice where he was walking until he bumped into another Pony.

“Oh Buck!”

Was all that was heard before he could shove his front legs into his mouth. Being the only Stallion in Equestria that would use such rude words let the Ponies around you recognize you fairly easy.
The Citizen around the two, on the ground lying, Ponies immediately started to whisper to each other, some of them with shocked expressions, some of them with a glint of fear.

“Oh my, I´m so sorry, I hope I didn’t hurt you? I was lost in thoughts and didn’t….”

He was cut short by the screams of some of the guards who watched the whole incident.

“The Demon is here, and he attacked the princess!”

‘Yeah, what a wonderful Day,’ was his last thought, after being hit by something hard and before passing out.

AN: Thank you for reading this fic, I hope you enjoy this Chapter!

Chapter 2 - Not in Jail?!

Origins of Madness
Written by Twi, edited by TheRoboticFist

Authors Note:
Ok, at first, sorry that it took so long to make this Chapter. It is more of a filler Chapter so you know that I didn’t abandon the Story and will continue it and update it way more frequently and with bigger chapters than I did until now. Please write a comment about my writing style, what I should change, what´s good etc, you know, as feedback for me  The next chapter will be online tomorrow or as soon as I finished it/my pre reader edited it.

Chapter 2
Not in Jail?!

Life awoke from a dreamless sleep to the sounds of Birds singing and the sun shining at his face. He fought the urge to kill the sun so he could sleep a little longer, before he started to remember the events of the previous day. He remembered arriving in Solaria and buying his new home. He remembered Clearly Oblivia and what happened between them… or what didn’t happen between them.

“That bitch…”

He remembered how she didn’t show up in the Restaurant and how the feeling of loneliness and hatred begun to grow in him again. He remembered how hard it was to suppress the need to cry out then and there and attack everypony who dared to even look at him. But then he remembered bumping into another Pony just before some Guards yelled at him and took his consciousness from him with some precisely planted hits on his head. After that? Nothing. Neither how late it was when he woke up, nor how he found his way home afterwards. The Guards could impossibly know where he lived, seeing as he moved in only a few hours earlier, but if they didn’t bring him home, and he didn’t walk home…

“Where the buck am I if this isn’t my home…?”

Life Dreamer finally decided to open his eyes and try to find out where he landed. It didn’t feel like he was in a dungeon of some sorts, that meant he didn’t do anything wrong. That was good, he hoped. Wouldn’t be the first time some crazy Stallion would try to hold the infamous Demon as his pet. His reputation was that of a freak, he knew that, but the day he saw the wanted poster of a circus that wanted him for some sorts of freak show, well, it made him sick to know that there were monsters like that out there and HE would be named “freak” or “spawn from the depths of Tartaros”. In fact, the only time when he physically hurt someone it was back in the orphanage and even if most couldn’t understand him, he HAD a reason after all.

Life´s Eyes begun to adapt to the bright shines that radiated from the big burning Orb of warmth and he started to see some details of the Room he was in. He was in a really big and REALLY comfy king sized bed that stood in a large white painted room. The ceiling was painted blue with some stains of white and resembled the Sky at summer. To his left stood a little bedside table with a glass of water on top of it. He stopped his exploration and grabbed the glass, downing it in one swig. After this his throat felt much better, he continued his observation. There was a Fire side on the opposite side of the room with a couch in front of it. By the looks of it, the couch was probably as comfy as the bed, but as long as he didn’t know where he was, he wanted to take no chances and stood away from it. On the right side of the room was a transparent glass door that led to some kind of Balcony. On the left side was a wooden door with golden ornamentations on it.

“Well, this is definitely not my house….”

He rubbed his head at the place where he still felt a little sore from last night. And then, it hit him.

“WAIT, the Guards screamed something of a princess! Oh no, I hope I didn’t run into the princess without noticing her. But if I did, and I´m not in a dungeon and instead in some luxurious Bedroom…. I must be at the castle…”

Life dropped back into one of the oversized cushions on the back and didn’t know if he should be happy and smile, or if he should be afraid and jump from the balcony in the hope he would survive and could escape. Well, he wanted to live a little bit longer, and he didn’t want to run from the one he must apologize to, so he just laid there and let a big grin creep over his face. A few minutes later, he drifted back into sleep.

He didn’t sleep all that long this time. Maybe one, or two hours at best, before he woke up again. But this time it wasn’t the slight tickle of the sun or the soft chirps of the birds that woke him up. This time, a guard stood beside his bed and yelled at him to wake up. Life Dreamer wanted to hit him in the face for that and continue his nap, but before he could handle his mind he was awake enough to decide against that. He wasn’t in Jail, for now at least, and had no intentions of going there. Instead of attacking the troublemaker, he grumbled the only question he can think of.

“Huh, what do you want?”

“Get up, the King wants to see you! I will wait outside of this room for you.”

With that, the Guard left his room, the sounds of his steps coming to a halt just outside the wooden door. Life rubbed his eyes and stood up, confusion written all over his face.

‘What could the King want from me? I mean, he is the KING of Equestria and I am the… most… hated… Pony… of Equestria… Could he want to get rid of me? To clean this perfect world of an imperfect being like me? What should I do? Run? Try to convince him to let me live and just banish me from Equestria?’

Question after Question poured in his mind, playing all kinds of scenarios how the upcoming meeting could go. In some, he would be sentenced to death, in others banished from the Kingdom and in some others there was nothing but silly smalltalk between the two of them. He slowly went over to the left side of the room and opened the door. The Guard stood, as he said a few minutes ago, on the right sight of the door, waiting patiently for the guest to accompany him.

“Follow me.”

The Guard walked down the long stone corridor and descended the stairs at the end of it. On the bottom they turned left and walked through another long corridor. There stood some plants and hung some pictures of the King, the palace or some random, but beautiful landscapes on the walls, but still they looked more Spartan then he guessed they wanted it to. He´d never been to the palace so all of this was new for him and in his mind he prayed to all things he knew and pleaded to be never left alone in this maze made of floors. It took them about twenty minutes until they arrived their destination. Life Dreamer and the Guard stood in front of a big double door. It was made of solid steel plates with similar ornamentations like the door to “his” room had. On one of the doors was the Sun embodied and on the other one the Moon surrounded by stars. It represented the lifecycle of this world and how the day would come after the night and the night would come after the day. The Guard turned around to face the Unicorn and told him how to behave in the presence of the King and/or his family. That was a good thing, because he never met royalty before and didn’t know what was ok and what not. But even if he thought he knew, it would´ve been probably exactly the opposite and he would’ve blamed himself like nopony did before. Most of the instructions were what everypony would guess: bowing to the king and staying on one knee until he would say otherwise, or that his answersmust always end with “Your highness” or “Your Majesty”.

After a few minutes Life said that he familiarized everything and that he was ready. The Guard took one last look at the Unicorn before turning around and knocking on the door. It was strange for him. He knew who stood behind him and he heard all those stories about him and how monstrous he was. But in the last half an hour he acted like every normal pony would. Well except for not knowing how to address royalty. It took only moments for the door to glow in a light yellow shine, a sign that a Unicorn used its magic to open the door remotely. The right door with the now glowing Moon opened without making a sound. Life Dreamer took a last, long breath and walked through the Door.

Chapter 3 - The King, the Demon and a Planet full of life

Origins of Madness
Written by Twi

Authors Note:
I really liked writing this Chapter and I'm proud that it's 4,5k words long, wow! I will update the story as soon as I can, but dont expect a Chapter in the next two days, but I promise to finish it faster than last time :D

Chapter 3
The King, the Demon and a Planet full of life

Life Dreamer entered the Throne room where he would meet the King for the first time in his Life. He was Excited but scared. He was happy but sad that this couldn’t be a good sign. He stood at the entrance and took a quick look over the big room he was in. The room was over a hundred meters long and at least thirty meters wide. He walked on some sort of red silk that led to the throne where the King himself sat. To both his sides stood every ten or fifteen meters gigantic stone pillars that supported the rich decorated ceiling. Drawings of Ponies of all kind could be seen. Some of them he remembered as the parents of the Kings and some others as other great Ponies that became famous for one reason or another. He didn’t like it, but he felt a little bit happy that he attended school even if it was a hell as an outsider.

He started walking towards the throne and stopped five meters before it and bowed to the King. He was supposed to kneel before him until he was allowed to stand up so he did as he was told and didn’t move a hair on his tail. He didn’t dare to look up to the majestic earth Pony in front of him and the time he stood there felt like hours to the unguided Unicorn whose future lay in the hoof of the most powerful Pony in Equestria.

“You may raise.”

Without hesitating he got up on all four hooves and for the first time he got a good look at the Ruler of Equestria. King Starshine the third had a silvery white coat and a golden mane that seemed to float like there was a slight breeze even if it wasn’t there. History said that every pony in his bloodline had this special mane. His eyes where soft looking and had multicolored Iris. They ranged from red to yellow to green to blue. It seemed like his eyes partially resembled a rainbow with slightly paler colors. His Cutie Mark where two crossed golden Keys with a crown on top of them. On the pictures that Life Dreamer had seen he looked different. The King he knew from those drawings looked like he loved his subjects, but in his face was some kind of sternness that told you that you should never anger him. It was like some of the Pictures where hung up to intimidate criminals. But now that he stood in front of him, seeing him for real, he couldn’t spot this sternness anywhere. All he could see and feel was the soft gaze of a Man who loved his subjects to death and wanted them to be happy. There was no anger, no annoyance in his eyes. He didn’t look like he wanted to harm the Unicorn in front of him or even banish him. But besides this love, he could see concern in the Kings Eyes. But who was he concerned for?

“It´s nice to meet you, Life Dreamer.”

“You know my name, your Majesty?”

“Well, who does not?” he stood up and descended from the throne so that he and the Unicorn before him stood on the same ground. Like two equal beings, none better or more important than the other. “After all, you are the Demon of Equestria” he chuckled while he said the last three words.

“Please, let’s take a walk.”

Life looked at him and nodded, not knowing what was going on or why the King acted like he did.
They walked past the door and turned right. They didn’t talk, only walking down the corridors of the Palace, crossing the way of some of the Guards. Every time they walked past some of the patrolling Guards, the armored Stallions and Mares would immediately stop whatever they were doing and bowed down until their King wasn’t in their line of sight anymore. The brown Unicorn would from time to time look around, waiting for the Guards that would take him with them so they could get rid of him. But they never came. After a few minutes of walking they arrived in an open area full of flowers and bushes of all colors. It was the biggest garden Life could ever imagine. No matter where he turned his head, all he could see where some sort of plants. After some more minutes of silent walking, Life gathered enough courage to finally speak up.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful, but may I ask why we are here, your highness?”

“Please, Starshine will do just fine, no need for formalities. But to answer your Question: We are here because it is a beautiful day and it would be such a waste if we stayed indoors all the day.”

“I-I wanted to know, why I am here, at the Palace I mean y-your hi-highn….. Starshine.”

“It was the minimum I could do for you after my daughters Guards attacked you without any reason. And besides, I always wanted to meet you. You are one of a Kind, after all.”

Life Dreamers Eyes went wide as his head turned around to face Starshine, who had a smile mixed with a sense of guilt on his face like he meant what he said. Like he cared for what happened the evening before. But what stood out the most was that he mentioned the princess. So he DID run into her last night. Most Ponies say that she only left the Palace when she was disguised because she was different.

“Y-Your daughters Guards? That means th-that I really bumped into the princess…”

The Earth Pony looked around and locked his gaze with something that seemed to be far away, or like he thought about something. He took a few minutes before he answered Life.

“Yes, Celestia was quite surprised about that. I think you should apologize to her later when we meet her after her History Class ended.”

“Celestia… So is it true, that you keep her, even her name a secret as much as possible… But why, do you tell me something like that? As far as I know I don’t count as one of the more trustworthy Ponies in Equestria…”

“It is true, only a few know about Celestia, and even less know about my younger daughter, Luna. In my eyes you are not less trustworthy than anypony else. You didn’t give me any reason to distrust you so far, so why should I listen to the same rumors that betitles you as a hellspawn? I love my subjects, but they fear what they don’t know and you are something completely new, so, in the name of all my subjects I want to apologize for their behavior. I´ve seen what you did and why you did it, and I saw what happened to you afterwards and how you´ve been since then.”

‘Did the King just apologize to me? The KING?! Wow… this must be some kind of weird dream… I mean come on, the King telling me national secrets about his not only one, but TWO daughters AND practically telling me that he doesn’t think of me as the demon that I am?’

Life lifted his right foreleg took a look at it and bit as hard in it as he could. The King turned his attention back to the brown Unicorn to his right and gawked at him, seeing him hurting himself for no obvious reason. After a few seconds Life lowered his now slightly bleeding leg back to the ground and had a look of confusion written all over his face.

“I-I don’t understand…”

“You don’t understand what? Why did you bite yourself?!”

Starshine turned around and asked one of the Guards to bring a doctor and a first Aid kit. The Guard only nodded and trotted of. Even if it was a much more… personal place for the King, he was surrounded by Guards wherever he was. Sometimes he would command them to take a break but they always refused to. They were loyal as one can be. The Royal Guard was known for their loyalty before, but inside the Guard they followed one rule over everything, even if it meant to refuse a direct order from the King himself: Keep the King safe, no matter what. The King looked at Life Dreamer, confusion and worry on his face, waiting for the Unicorn to calm regain some composure.

“I should have woken up by that bite…. Ouch….”

He quickly turned his head as he heard laughter besides him, now even more confused than he was before. He could even feel frustration building up in him.

“Oh that’s a good one! No, you aren’t dreaming, this is really happening.”

“But why me? Why should I have the honor of meeting you and your daughter?”

“Because you, my little Pony, are without the guidance of the Life Stream.”

“Forgive me if this sounds stupid, but what is the Life Stream?”

Starshine turned around and started walking, leaving the quite confused Pony behind him.

“Before I tell you, how about we fix your leg and eat something? I bet you didn’t eat anything at all today.”

Just as on cue, Lifes stomach grumbled louder than the deepest growl a dragon could make. At least, it sounded like that for the brown magic user.

“Bucking Cliché….”

Starshine stopped a moment, not being used to hear swears at all. Only very very few Ponies would use the term “Buck” the way, Life did a second ago. After that, he started chuckling and waved his company over to follow him to the dining room.

__________________________________________________________________________

After visiting a doctor and patching his leg up, they walked over to the dining room while chatting casually about anything that came to mind. Like why the Palace needed to be so big or how it felt to have countless servants that would do anything for him. Well, the answer to the first question was because of prestige and to show his political power to non-Equestrians like the zebras or even the dragons (And if you asked Life, he could swear that there was a little bit of because-I-Can in the Kings voice). And the answer to the second question hit Life Dreamer totally off guard.

“They aren’t countless; we have 2.350 Servants who are working in three layers, so there are always at least 760 servants if you subtract the ill and the ones on vacation in the Palace running the whole place.”

The time rushed by and before they knew, they were already at their destination. The dining Room was in comparison to the throne room a small chamber, but for Life Dreamer it was the biggest “small Chamber” he ever was in. It was more or less a big room with a table in the middle that had enough space for twenty Ponies to dine at the same time. Starshine sat down on the upper end of the table and Life took place on the side right next to the King. Only a few seconds after they took place, a servant came into the room and placed a cup of tea in front of the Ponies. The silvery earth Pony told Life that they would wait for Celestia to join them before they ate so that he could introduce her to his guest without interrupting anything. And besides, it was plain rude to not wait for the mare before starting to eat.

Life Dreamer wanted to use the time to ask the King a little more about the so called Life Stream.

“So Starshine, what exactly is the Life Stream? I´ve never heard of it before and you made it sound so…”

Searching for the fitting word the Unicorn drifted off and before he could speak out again, Starshine beat him to it by continuing his sentence:

“…natural? Basic? Like it is the most normal thing in this world?”

Life only looked at him with a blank expression, nodding slowly.

“To put it simple? Because it is the most natural thing that exists. You see, the Life Stream is some kind of everlasting Magic. It is who we are, what we will become. The modern term for it would be our “Soul”. Every living thing, even Animals and plants are made of parts of this Stream. We are connected to it, sharing a bond with it and letting it guide us. It is the little Voice in our head that tells us what’s wrong and what’s right. Because of this connection we can feel peace and harmony. Without it, well, we would be like….”

Starshine didn’t notice the expression on Life Dreamers face, or how it changed from curious to confused and then to sad mixed with anger.

“…Me.”

Starshine only now realized how uncomfortable it was for his guest to talk about that topic, or at least to talk about it in the way he did.

“Yes, that would be right… I don’t know why you don’t have this connection, but I really want to find out and try to help you as much as I can.”

“But why? You don’t know me and all I did in my life was scaring other Ponies and hurting them!”

“Yeah running into another Pony is totally the fault of your lack of a connection to the Life Stream.”

Both, Starshine and Life Dreamer stopped what they wanted to say to turn their head towards the entrance, where a soft chuckle was hearable. Life Dreamer´s Eyes went wide at the sight before him. There, only a few meters away stood a beautiful white mare with a long, pink mane and tail, pink eyes. She was slightly smaller as he was and looked like she was only a year or two younger than he was. But the most noticeable feature about here where the beautiful, well groomed Wings and the long, sharp, Horn on her forehead. She simply stood there, looking in their direction and holding her hoof over her mouth while she chuckled. She had something around her, like an aura that surrounded her that just let him feel… carefree. Like no matter what happened, everything would be good in the end. She walked over to them, exposing her flank to Life Dreamer while taking place on the opposite side of the gawking brown Unicorn. That was the second most noticeable thing about her. Her lack of a Cutie Mark. He wondered why she didn’t have one, but she being another race he didn’t want to ask her now, maybe later after some smalltalk. Before he could even get the grip on one useful thought, his body decided to switch to autopilot, resulting him jumping up and bowing before her as deep, he didn’t even know he could. The Royal Ponies in front of him exchanged quick glances, before starting to laugh. Hard.

Despite the fact that his fur was mud brown, the blush on his face was clearly visible. Just in the moment he bowed he realized, how embarrassing it was and pulled up again, but seeing the King and his daughter nearly holding their sides from the laugh flash they experienced told him, that it was already too late. He sat down and waited for the both to finish their laugh and returning to the issue at hoof.

“Princess Celestia, my name’s Life Dreamer and it’s an honor to meet you. I’m so sorry for what happened yesterday, I had a bad day and was lost in my thought so I didn’t see where I was walking and….”

With another small giggle, Celestia interrupted him:

“It´s nice to meet you too, Mister Dreamer. As you already know, my name is Celestia and as you already stated too, I´m the older daughter of King Starshine. Sadly, Luna, my little sister, can’t make it in time today, so you probably won’t meet her before tomorrow. And don’t worry, there is nothing you must apologize for, it was an accident and no one got hurt, so everything’s ok.”

After that, her smile turned into a small frown.

“But what happened afterwards, I am truly sorry for and I hope that you can forgive my Guards for what they did, seeing that they did it only having my wellbeing on their mind…”

“They did what they thought was right and I’m still alive, so there won’t be hard feelings towards them. If I wouldn’t have been lost in my thoughts this wouldn’t have happened. Besides that, I was allowed to sleep in that awesome bed!”

At that time, a few servants came in and served their food. It was nothing special. At least nothing special for the Royal Ponies. But for Life Dreamer it was food paradise. Before him lay the biggest amount of food he’d ever seen in one place. Dandelion sandwiches, Hay burgers, Apple Pies, Apple fritters, sweet treats like Cupcakes and Muffins of all sorts. His mouth begun to water and after thanking his King, he decided to eat a Hay burger and a piece of Apple Pie. Starshine ate an Apple fritter and Celestia took a Dandelion Sandwich and a Cupcake. While they ate, Life could see a small grin form on Celestias muzzle while she eyed the brown Unicorn opposite her.

‘She's really beautiful…’

Life could feel his face heat up and blood rushing in his face. To his luck, he had a dark colored fur, what made it significantly easier to hide a blush, as long as it wasn’t that strong. He continued to look at her, seeing that it obviously didn’t mind her. She would have said something if she’d mind, wouldn’t she? After they ate their fair share, Life sat back and with a content sigh he looked around with a big grin on his face. He didn’t know why this happened, but he didn’t care. He wanted to enjoy this day, he could wonder about it later. He wanted to thank Starshine for his hospitality, but Celestia beat him to it.

“I’m happy that you found my bed comfortable enough.”

“huh? What do you mean, Princess?”

“Just call me Celestia, I never liked my Royal title at all. And you said earlier that the bed you slept in was comfortable and seeing as it is my bed, it makes me happy to know that you enjoyed sleeping in.”

“W-wha-WHAT? That was YOUR bed? But if I slept in your bed, where did you sleep?”

Life blanked out after hearing this, he hoped she didn’t sleep on the couch; he could never forgive himself for being so rude. Even if he was unconscious at that time.

“What? You didn’t notice me lying beside you?”

“Y-y-you d-did WHAT? I-I-I-I… you’re joking, right? You must be joking!”

At this point, Life’s head was a deep crimson red and way beyond recognition. If they didn’t know who he was, they couldn’t guess it anymore. He shuffled on his cushion and looked between Celestia and Starshine, who only looked at him with a look that said “Why do you look at me?”

A few minutes went on without anyone saying a word. His face still blushed like crazy and in his head, all kinds of images run through his mind and to be honest, some of them weren’t… family safe to say the least. He shook his head and banished the dirty thought s out of his mind, but before he could say anything, Celestia looked at him and decided to go one step further. He can’t die of embarrassment, so why not? Well, that’s what she believed anyway.

“If you don’t remember, you could sleep in my bed tonight again…”

They locked Eyes and Celestia gave him a little wink. Now, Life’s mind was full of dirty minds rendered with confusion and embarrassment. He couldn’t turn down an offer of the princess! But what would her father say? What would everypony say?

“I think you teased him enough, ‘Tia.”

“Awww, but dad!”

“No buts, dear. Don’t you see how uncomfortable he feels right now?”

“S-s-so y-you only t-teased me?”

He looked over to Celestia who in response only nodded, not saying a word. It seemed like she felt bad for teasing him like that. His mind raced at an incredible speed, trying to compute all the input he just got.
‘So I didn’t sleep in her bed with her next to me? And I won’t sleep with her in the same bed tonight?’
He felt himself relaxing, but deep in him he started to feel disappointed. It wasn’t every day that you get to be so close to one of the Princesses! But he was happy to be at the Palace in the first place, so his disappointment held itself in limits. Now, that he could think clearly again, he wanted to make her taste some of her own medicine.

“Wow that was cruel, Celestia.”

“Why so?”

“You had my hopes up…”

This time it was Celestias turn to blush. But she didn’t have the luck with the coloration of her coat. Even the slightest blush was visible on her fur and at the moment, she wasn’t blushing slightly. She tried to stammer some words while frantically looking back and forth between the two Stallions in front of her. Before she could say anything, she was interrupted by her father, who started to laugh heartily.

“Hahaha, that’s a good one, Life! I will really enjoy your presence here at the castle!”

Life was suppressing his laugh seeing Celestia acting like she was dumbfounded, but that subsided as soon as the King came up with that statement.

“Wait, what do you mean with “my presence here at the castle”? I thought I should leave after the dinner, I mean, I need to find a job and I still have to furnish my new home and I have a lot of other things to do…”

“You see, the reason why I brought you here, Life, was to offer you to stay for a while. As I told you before, you are one of a kind and I would like to get to know you better and study you. Maybe we could find out why you don’t have that connection to the Life Stream. And after all that you´ve been through, this is the least thing I could do for you. So if you want to stay, I would be more than happy to arrange you a more furnished room for your stay.”

Life Dreamer couldn’t believe this. He now was 100% sure that he was dreaming, but then he felt the wound on his leg again. But this couldn’t be real, could it? He, the most feared Pony in all of Equestria was allowed to live in the castle? The Pony that was literally considered a monster was allowed to be friends with the most powerful Pony and beloved Ruler of the Kingdom that hated him so much? He must be in some kind of coma. Yeah that’s it! That’s why he didn’t wake up from the pain earlier! But when this is a dream, he could also go with it and accept the offer.

“I guess my home will survive without me being there… If you really want me to, I would like to stay at the castle. But you don’t need to prepare anything for me. The room I slept in is more than enough for me…”

“Funny AND humble, I wonder how you ever got that ghastly title you have.”

The Unicorn turned his head to Starshine who eyes him curiously and took a deep breath.

“To be honest, I don’t wear this title because I act like a monster all the way. It´s more impulsive like an overreaction. In some situations I lose control and act the way the others describe me… I can’t promise you that this won’t happen here, but I will do my best to keep my feelings in check.”

The King put on that soft smile of him and nodded in acceptance.

“I believe you, Life. So, now that it is decided that you stay at the castle,” he turned his head to Celestia. “Why don’t you bring him to his room, my dear? I bet he wants to get some sleep after today.”

Celestia stood up, a hint of childish glee in her eyes. She trotted around the table but stopped to Life’s left. She motioned for him to follow her, what he of course did. They walked down the long corridors while he answered all the questions Celestia had. Like what is was to live in the City or how it was not to have to be in company of over twenty Guards just to leave the Palace. Well, most of his answers contained “It feels kinda…. Normal?” of an alteration of this, but the meaning was the same all the time. They reached the corridor that led them to his room but Celestia stopped at the door next to his room. She opened the door but turned around before stepping in and faced Life Dreamer once again.

“The next door will lead you to your room. I think you will live next to me for a while,” then, she pulled him close to her and whispered in his ear. “And just so you know it, my offer still stands.”

After that and a small giggle, she stepped in and closed the door. Now dumbfounded and red like a tomato, he tripped over towards his room. It where only a few meters but all he could think about was what the beautiful Alicorn had just said. He entered his room and wanted to get to sleep. But after hearing this, he really needed to take an ice cold shower first. Once he had finished and was dry again, he walked over to his bed and made himself comfortable on the oversized bed. He let the events of the past day rewind in his head and tried to figure out why he had the luck for this to happen to him. After some minutes he felt his eyelids getting heavier and he decided to call it a day. He snuggled under the blanket and closed his eyes. Only a few seconds later he drifted off to sleep.