I’m My Own Master
Chapter 5:
Which Path Do You Walk?

After the events of last night, all Nightshade wanted to do was work to clear his mind off the nightmare, to rid himself of the horrors they brought to his sanity but also to ignore what that thing said to him before he awoke.

“Oh how you suffer is just beautiful... you all may continue I don’t care for this thing”

Who was he? What was he? And at this point, Nightshade was once again broken out of his train of thought as three fillies stood in front of him and was they smiled he felt a wave of dread wash over him

“Howdy Nightshade I was wondering if you can help us with something?” asked Applebloom as she gave him a smile and damn it seemed to be working

“Yea sure what is it?” Nightshade asked as their smiles got bigger “oh no”

“See told you he would agree,” said Scootaloo then the white unicorn, Sweetiebelle piped up

“See we were wondering if you can help us get our cutie marks!” she asked with an adorable face which once again Nightshade complied because he knew it was pointless to resist, at least that’s what Applejack told him

“*Sigh* ok how do you suppose I could help,” he asked and before he knew it they dragged him away to and open field where... well Nightshade didn’t know what it was until it spoke.

“Oh I see you finally brought him,” said Discord as he made the chair he sat on disappear and he balanced on Nightshade's nose “You my friend are a very intriguing pony, at least that’s what Fluttershy told me”

“Alright, what do you and these girls want?” Nightshade said as he tried to stay positive

“Well my big sis told me how you saved her and such a month ago I,” Applebloom said

“And thought you could show us your awesome moves” Scootaloo finished whilst doing some form of karate

“And Discord would help us set up the area” Sweetiebelle responded as Discord rolled his eyes

“Yes that and Fluttershy told me it would be *nice* if I helped out so I made this open area for your *training*” Discord said as he air quoted

“Well I guess but I need to figure out how to turn whatever this thing is, on and you planned this didn’t you?” Discord nodded and Nightshade sighed and then began to focus on whatever energy he may have, he thought about the feeling of being I guess turned into a machine, the feeling of metal encasing his body as he stood upright, the power surging through him, oh the power

Then in a flash, his body reappeared as he was encased in the metal contraption again and Discord held a camera out then made it disappear and clapped his hands together

“Talk about a flashy performance, ” Discord said as Night rolled his eyes

“Alright, girls get ready!” Discord said as he sat back on a recliner and waited for the lesson to begin

“How did I get myself into this?” Nightshade thought as he felt the power surge through his body as he glared at the fillies making them nervous

“Ok listen up!” he shouted as they fell in line “You are going to follow my instructions to the letter and no complaining! Got it!” as he finished they saluted with serious faces “Alright then let's get started!”

“Oh I’m going to enjoy this!”

For the next hour they were training, but not to fight but to defend themselves, every now and then they complained but Discord *encouraged* them to continue, to Nightshade’s surprise he was actually enjoying this, for once he felt calm just like when he hangs out with Applejack and by the end they were exhausted Nightshade though was not, he felt still a strong but soon dropped out of the power armor and sat down

“Well that went well” Nightshade concluded but then Scootaloo asked

“Hey Nightshade, why did you show us to defend? Why not show us how to kick flank!” she complained

“And it looks like we didn’t get our cutie marks either” Applebloom frowned making them all feel worse

“Does it matter?” was all Nightshade said as they gave him baffled looks

“Why you have yours,” Sweetiebelle said pointing at his wolf symbol

“But why do you care?” he repeated and this peaked Discord’s interest

“Because it tells us what our special talent is, so of course we care!” snapped Scootaloo

“You like doing crazy stunts on your scooter right?” Asked Nightshade as Scootaloo nodded “well you don’t have a cutie mark in that and you are really damn good, so you see my point? You don’t need a cutie mark to tell you what you’re good or bad at, only you can say what you’re good and bad at”

“Wow that’s quite the message Nightshade my friend,” Discord said as he smiled, “But you have yours but you don’t know what you're good at?” Discord then had a question mark above his head as he kept thinking

“Yes well they all can’t be so clear” Nightshade responded with a shrug “Alright you 3 should get going I've got work to do” they all nodded and ran off “Well I say that went well”

“Yes but I’m curious why did you train them to defend not attack, it would seem more efficient would it not?” Discord asked with a confused look as he held a blade and shield in hand

“Well you don’t need to attack to defeat your enemies, sometimes it can only take one slip up for them to fall” Nightshade concluded

“Hmm, I guess...” Discord said in a tone showing he wasn’t quite happy about the answer then he wiggled around frantically and then faced Nightshade with a *oh boy* expression

“What’s up-ahhhh!” Nightshade asked but felt pain surge through his head as he heard the voices again but they were louder and made his head rattle as he turned into his armor form and began to grasp his head in his hands as he yelled in pain.

Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy... Kill them...

You are stronger...

Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy...

You are stronger...

“Kill, Kill, KILL!!!” yelled a voice and as Nightshade looked up he saw something but it was transparent but still seeable

“Yo-you-ge-get out of my HEAD!!!” Nightshade yelled as he ran forward with a blade and slashed at nothing as it moved and Nightshade followed and kept trying to hit it

“What in tarnation! Nightshade what are you-"

Applejack froze when she saw him trying to hit something as he kept yelling

“YOU-YOU GET LOST, GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” he yelled as Discord warped behind Applejack, startling her then she began to glare at him

“Discord, Are you behind this!?” she shouted but the draconequus held his arms up in defence

“Oh no Applejack it was something else and it gave me the chills and for some reason has caused dear Nightshade to loose control... shame if only he knew” Discord explained as he held a puppet of Night on strings

Nightshade kept going as the voices kept repeating the words.

Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy...

You are stronger... Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy...

You are stronger...

Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy...

You are stronger...

Kill them... make them suffer

No mercy...

You are stronger...

“Leave me alone!!!” yelled Nightshade as he began to tier, he then charged towards where Discord and Applejack stood but his fatal punch his the tree behind them and they both saw his eyes where blood red, then indigo and then back to normal as he fell to his knees and his body converted back to his normal state but he reached his hoof out to the empty space that lead to the Everfree “No- get back here you fucking bastard...” then he fell unconscious and didn’t move an inch

“Discord quickly go get Twi!” Shouted Applejack as she ran over to check Nightshade’s pulse which was faint thank goodness

“Yes, yes on it,” he said as he clicked his fingers and in a flash was gone

“So close... so.. Very... Close...” whispered Nightshade as he felt his sanity fade with every word

So close... but so far...

Monster... But so far...

The line... The line... Is drifting...

Is drifting...
So close... but so far... Evil..?

Good...?

Monster... Good..?

Monster... Evil..?

“Which are you?”

“I’m-i’m... Nothing...” Night thought before blacking out

Over by the edge of the Everfree the foliage slightly moved and soon a tree’s trunk began to distort as a grunt was heard from the subtle outline of an above average beast as it mumbled in multiple voices.

We. Are. Rampant...

We. Are. Rampant...

We. Are. Rampant...

We. Are. Rampant...

We. Are. Rampant...

Author's Note

Was what Night saw real or just the voices snapping what's left of his sanity?

This was my first time writing Discord so sorry if i didn't get him right. Same with CMC's.