Dark Descent II: Fall

Chapters

Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7-1
Part 7-2
Part 0
Part 3

Part 1

Part 1

Dreams

Twilight Sparkle sat on the hill.

She had a magnificent view of Equestria and everything that made it spectacular. She could see the small town that she had grown to love called Ponyville, the plains of Appleloosa, and even the royal city where she spent most of her life, Canterlot. Equestria was a place of magic and mystery and Twilight could only admire it all in awe.

How did she get here?

She didn’t know nor care. The view calmed her heart and soul; a feeling that was very foreign to the lavender mare these days. She didn’t feel angry nor hateful, and any dark thoughts that once had hold of her mind for so long were banished by the sheer beauty of the land.

Twilight looked up into the airborne sea of colors.

The sky was red with tinges of orange and yellow, and at the center of it all was Celestia’s sun. It didn’t hold that bright yellow it once had, but a burning blood red. The birds and pegasi seem to not mind as they casually flew through the air with not a care in the world.

Twilight watched with admiration as the sun began to set down, signaling the end of the day and welcoming the night.

But something was wrong.

The sun was setting down, but there was something appearing across the star of fire. They looked like cracks of some sort and more of them were appearing as it descended lower.

Consumed in fire...

Twilight’s eyes went large hearing a voice she once thought was gone forever. She looked around her lonely hill but no pony was present but her.

Cleansed by the ashes...

Twilight now held her head as she felt a small throbbing pain in her skull. This voice she held dear to her heart was tormenting her with riddles that she didn’t understand. She tried to speak, ask where this voice was coming from, but no audible sound came from her mouth.

Only when the twilight appears will she be redeemed...

Twilight now screamed her lungs out, but still, she was silent. She didn’t know what was happening. The feeling of calm and peace were leaving her and were replaced with sudden confusion.

Everything was beginning to set in; her once sedated mind was now running with questions. Now she was asking how she had gotten here and why she was hearing her deceased teacher’s voice. Why couldn’t she speak and why the sun was riddled with burning cracks, but no answers would come and what happened next threw her questions to the wind.

Some odd force made her look back at the setting sun, telling her that there was more to see. It disappeared from the horizon and gave way for the night; not this time though.

Twilight’s ears rang as they heard something far off into the horizon. It sounded like something had exploded. She looked off into the distance, her eyes searching frantically for the origination of the sound.

The Sun does not forgive...nor forgets the sins committed against it...

What Twilight saw was not something that some pony caused of some sort and she knew it was nothing of the natural. A tidal wave of flames appeared and headed for Equestria, spreading and consuming everything in it’s path. It spread over mountains and grassy terrains, reducing them to nothing but ash. Twilight could feel the scorching heat from it and it was nowhere near her.

Her eyes went to the small village of Ponyville as the flames came closer toward her beloved town. She could see the crowds of ponies that were gathered and their looks of confusion, oblivious to the burning death that was coming. Twilight tried to scream to them, trying to tell them to run, but still no sound came.

With no control, there is no salvation...

In a blink of an eye and to Twilight's horror, the flames swept across Ponyville. She heard screams; blood-curdling screams of searing pain. She could hear their pleas of help but none could save them, not even her. In seconds, there was nothing left but more ash. It was as if Ponyville never existed.

Tears ran down her face and she wailed in heart-aching pain, but this world would not hear her cries. This world that she had moments ago thought as beautiful was now burned and black, reeking of death. No matter how hard she cried, these flames would not stop and continued it’s destructive journey. Appleloosa burned and Canterlot disappeared in the fire, along with every soul that was caught within it. Like a plague of death, the fire swept over Equestria and left but scorched land, erasing every living thing and every sign of life.

Only when the twilight comes will it’s rage be calmed... and life itself be spared it’s wrath.

The flames consumed Equestria and the echoes of stallions, mares, and small foals screamed in her head. Her mouth was agape and tears poured from her eyes. They were all dead and nothing- not even a blade of grass- remained.

Except one.

None will be spared if it’s not stopped.

Twilight wanted to run but she was held in place like stone. Even if she could, where was there to run? Everything was ash and soon she would become one with it. Her heart raced and her body went cold, preparing herself for her imminent death. At long last the grip of death would finally have her; it’s ultimate prize.

So she waited in terror as the roaring flames came to claim her. She closed her eyes and waited to be taken from this world. The roar of fire came closer and closer, screaming into her ears, until it passed over her. Her fur instantly burned right off, revealing her bloody flesh. Her mane disintegrated and her face was torn away, revealing muscle and nerves... but not even this would last. She opened her eyes and silently screamed, but this would only make it worse. The flames penetrated her eyeballs, making them explode in her skull. The blood didn’t even have time to pour from her sockets and evaporated away from such searing heat. Finally, the muscle and nerves were burned away and only skeleton and organs were left. Her bones turned to dust along with her innards and just as quickly as it came, the flames consumed her and Twilight Sparkle was finally dead, nothing left to even tell she ever existed.

Equestria burned and not one soul remained. The sky was full of fiery remnants and meteors plummeted from the sky. Everything was lost, and only one voice remained as it said it’s final message.

This is the way the world ends... my faithful student.

DD2

Twilight ran the faucet, and filled her glass to the brim. She quickly brought the cup to her mouth and drank the liquid hastily. Sweat ran down her forehead and she was having difficulty keeping her breathing controlled. It was erratic and shallow; her heart pounded in her chest.

It was just a dream Twilight... just a dream... we’re all still here.

She repeated the sentence in her mind over and over but the image of Equestria burning was still there, imprinted on her brain. Dreams were just a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a pony’s mind during sleep. It wasn’t reality. She knew this but, yet, it seemed so real.

Was it the same dream again?

Twilight went over to the small dining table in the kitchen and sat her rump on the chair. Only one candle burned and lit the semi-dark room.

I don’t want to talk about it.

This was the fourth time this week that she had had this dream, though this one seemed much more real than the others. The past other times they were just vague images, like some type of slideshow and simply confusing. Never had she seen things so clearly, let alone hearing Celestia’s voice. It sounded hollow and sad, almost in despair, as if there was no hope left in her voice.

This was worse, wasn’t it Twilight?

I said I don’t want to talk about it. It was just a dream and that’s all.

If you talk about it then maybe you will feel-

I SAID I don’t want to talk about it.

Very well then.

Twilight didn’t mean to go off on... herself... but she really didn’t want to recall such confusing and horrific images. For a month she has let this entity simply known as the essence of magic have presence in her mind but still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that it was there and could hear her every thought. It’s not that she hated it or loathed it; it was actually pretty helpful at times but there were just times she really didn’t want to hear it. Regardless, it was the one who told her that bringing her friends back was possible and about the necklace that was the key to their liberation, Rebris.

Rebris...

Her hoof went up to her neck as she now thought about the dark trinket that now hung around it. She ran her hoof across the jagged black gem. How she hated this necklace, but she knew that was a lie. It wasn’t this gem that she hated, but the pony who used it for such a dark goal. A pony who killed her friends so long ago and made them suffer in ways never thought imaginable.

Princess Luna.

The mere thought of her name made Twilight’s blood boil. There was a time where she trusted Luna, even viewed her as maybe something more than just a princess, but a friend that cared for her. She was a fool then. Either way, Twilight now knew better than to surrender to her anger. If one thing she had accomplished over this month while hiding from the self-proclaimed ruler of Equestria, it was maintaining her anger and rage, but she still had her moments, just not as many... and not as destructive.

This is the way the world ends... my faithful student.

Twilight rubbed her temples, trying to push the sound of Celestia’s voice out of her head. Her voice was haunting her, repeating the same last sentence. Though her voice sounded much darker and filled with sorrow, the fact that she knew that it was Celestia’s made her heart ache. It reminded her that in reality, Celestia was dead.

No matter how much time passed or how bad she just wanted to simply forget about her, she couldn’t. How could she? Celestia had essentially raised her, taught her everything she knew. Nopony could forget one who had such a big part in one’s life.

Even if she could forget, there was one thing that she knew would stay with her in her mind forever.

She had witnessed Celestia’s final, painful, bloody moments. She saw the pain she was in; she felt her pain, and where was she? Lying in a hospital bed, safe and sound. It was because of her that Celestia was dead and no matter what Pinkie told her or her brother, that was something she would always carry with her.

The guilt of not being there for her teacher.

The regret of not being stronger.

The anger of not being able to kill Luna while she had the chance.

All of this she carried inside her heart, bound by the darkness she so wished to wreak upon the dark alicorn. She wanted her to suffer more than ever, wanted her blood sprayed across the walls, and her head ripped from her body.

Alas, this was all just a dark dream of hers and only until she had her friends back would she be able to have her revenge.

Twilight rubbed her eyes as they now began to burn. Exhaustion was beginning to sweep over her. The mare ripped herself away from all her reminiscing and heart-wrenching memories to focus on the sensations of fatigue. She looked over to the clock wondering how long she had been up now.

Two in the morning...

Only an hour had passed since she woke in a cold sweat. She really didn’t want to go back to sleep, fearing that the same dream would come back to haunt her, but she had another long day ahead of her. There was more research to be done on Rebris and she also had to get ready for Sweetie Belle’s birthday. Of course Pinkie would be in charge of that but Twilight wasn’t going to let her marefriend do all that work by herself, though Pinkie had insisted that she didn’t have to help. Her brother and Cadence would be taking Daisy Song for her checkup and Sweetie Belle would accompany them so they would have time to set up her surprise. Spike on the other hand would stay with them so he could also help, considering that he knew a lot about what his special somepony liked.

Twilight finally got up and pushed her chair in quietly, resolving that she needed to get back to sleep and not wanting to wake the other residents of the small apartment. She left the kitchen and entered the living room. It had it’s black couch with a small coffee table in the front of it. Pictures of Cadence and Shining adorned the walls along with their small foal, Daisy. She dragged herself until she made it to the stairs. She ascended them and made it to the narrow hallway that held sleeping ponies and a dragon.

Let me just check on them.

Twilight didn’t know if this was her being paranoid but anytime she got up in the middle of the night for a drink or some other reason, she would have this habit to check every room and make sure everyone was accounted for. Did she know why she did this? Not exactly, but inside she had this hidden fear of somepony going missing... or worse.

She went to the first door to her left and quietly opened it. Her number one assistant snored in his bed, drool coming down the side of his mouth but he had his arm over something. She entered the room to get a better look at what he held onto so tightly. There snuggled in his scaled chest was Sweetie Belle, also snoring the night away with a small smile on her face.

Twilight couldn’t help but a smile at such a heartwarming sight. How proud Rarity would have been to see Spike being so caring and loving of her sister. She pulled the blanket over both of them and kissed them both on the cheek. Call it a motherly instinct, but she had raised these two for most of their young lives and despite being a shell of what she used to be, she still maintained her love for the dragon and mare.

She left the room, leaving the two lovers to their dreams and proceeded to the next one on her right. She opened the door to see how her brother and wife were doing. She poked her head in and saw that they were both sound asleep with Daisy in the middle of them. Twilight couldn’t help but stare at the small foal and admire how innocent she looked. There was a time she thought the world and ponies were innocent and good at heart, but that was long ago. Anypony could be consumed and corrupted... just like herself. She turned away and left, gently closing the door behind and went to her room.

Opening the door and making her way to bed, she climbed in next to the pink mare that was sprawled out over the sheets. She gently laid herself next to her and laid her head on the pillow that awaited her.

Twilight...

She grimaced inside, hearing the return of her inner companion.

If it’s about the dream from earlier, I already said that I don’t want to talk about it.

No, you made yourself clear earlier. There was something I just wanted to say.

Twilight sighed softly. It was either going to be some lecture or self-righteous wisdom she was going to hear but she went ahead and let it speak.

Okay. Tell me.

You know none of this is your fault right?

Twilight’s heart stopped. She knew what it was referring to.

I never said any of this was my fault.

You don’t have to lie Twilight. You may not say it, but I can feel it in you. You blame yourself for Celestia’s death and putting everypony in jeopardy.

It was right. She did blame herself for all this.

I... I have to sleep.

The voice didn’t reply and left Twilight in silence. She turned over in her bed, now face to face with a sleeping Pinkie Pie. All of this was her fault and she knew it. She had already mused over this earlier but it was now really hitting her inside. If she would have just ended Luna, everything would be back to normal, she would have had her friends back by now, and they would all be truly happy once more.

Twilight scooted near Pinkie and wrapped her legs around her. Pinkie’s body was warm and the smell of candy and other sweets filled Twilight’s nostrils. Pinkie Pie stirred but didn’t wake.

Twilight closed her eyes and let sleep take her once more, in hopes that her dream would not come back to haunt her.

Deep down though, she knew her dreams would return along with her horrible vision...

It was just a matter of when.

Little did she know that the pony who slept by her was having a dream as well, a terrible, frightening dream. One that Pinkie would never dare tell her in the morning when they wake.

DD2

We’re going to have so much fun, aren’t we Pinkie Pie?

She trembled violently. She wasn’t cold or scared, but filled with excitement. She held the long, shining butcher knife in her hoof, trying to just keep her body still.

Are you ready to have the most super party ever?

Pinkie Pie nodded.

Four tables appeared before her and had bodies on top of them, covered with white sheets. They did not stir and lay idly, not moving an inch.

Go ahead... I know you want to.

Pinkie looked at the knife that she held. It seemed to glisten and tease her with it’s sharp tip. Thoughts of what this tool could pierce into clouded her mind, filling it with gruesome thought that nopony would even fathom.

Use it...

Pinkie Pie went over to the first table. She didn’t lift the sheet and obeyed the voice. This voice only wanted to help her have fun, and Pinkie always wanted to have fun. She was the very definition of fun!

So why not?

She lifted the knife, knowing what she had to do. It almost felt like second nature to her.

Do it.

She obeyed and thrust the blade into the body that lay under the sheet. She felt the blade pierce smoothly right into the bodies flesh, hearing it sink into the body. The sheet began to turn a dark red and her heart raced within her chest. It’s beautiful color spread until the sheet was no longer white, but drenched in blood.

Take it out. The fun is only beginning.

The pink mare pulled the knife out with a sick, slipping sound. She looked at the blade covered in dark blood, her eyes wide in admiration. It had such a mystical presence about it. Was this the very liquid that gave every pony life? Was it this precious fluid that she had an urge to touch and feel?

“What... what do I do now?”

Whatever you want to do with it. Ponies don’t appreciate our parties Pinkie... remember Luna? Remember how selfish she was, not letting us spill her blood? She hated our party...

Pinkie’s head began to throb and she heard a small laughter echo in her brain. She put her hoof up to her cranium.

You like it don’t you?

Pinkie held the blade closer to her face. She could smell the blood. It smelled of a metal but also sweet... like candy. Pinkie knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this, but something inside told her otherwise. It told her that she should be loving this, adoring it, relishing it.

What do you want to do with it Pinkie?

Pinkie Pie brought the knife even closer. She knew what she wanted to do. The burning desire in her stomach knew what she craved. The shaking mare stuck out her tongue and gently slid the knife across it, licking up the red fluid. The thick blood splashed around her mouth and covered her taste buds.

See how delicious the blood of others is? See how good you feel now?

Pinkie felt more than good. She was elated; exhilarated. She wanted more. The urge for blood grew stronger within her and she needed to not just taste it, but feel it all over her body. She wanted her fur now drenched in it.

“I... I … I want more,” she stuttered, keeping her bubbly, innocent tone of voice. In the back of her mind she knew this was sick but something kept her from caring.

Then get more...

Pinkie went back to the now blood soaked sheet, hiding the body that was underneath it. The fire that filled the bellows of her stomach was insatiable. She didn’t want to stab the body again. No, she couldn’t settle for just that when now she finally had a taste of such a beautiful sweet substance.

Pinkie needed it all. She needed to tear the body open and have all it’s blood drowning her. She put her hoof on the sheet and threw it off, revealing the body underneath, but it was not what she had expected.

She yelped and dropped the knife, staggering away from the body that now terrified her. Instantly she felt tears well up in her eyes and her sick thoughts and lust for blood disappeared.

The body that lay on the table before her threw her mind in shock and confusion, but mostly horrifying terror. What lay on the table, no longer concealed in the sheet, was herself.

Her body began to move and suddenly began to laugh maniacally. Pinkie continued backing away in horror. The other Pinkie began to get up, lifting herself from the table. Her eyes were a dark red, her pupils dilated, and her mane and tail was flat. Her coat was a dark shade of pink and blood spilled from the hole that Pinkie had stabbed into it earlier.

“What’s the matter Pinkie? Why do you look so afraid of me? I am you after all...”

Pinkie shook now with terrible fear, now realizing what she had just done and what she was facing.

Pinkamena Diane Pie.

“No... I’m not you!”

Pinkamena snickered as she began to walk toward to the frightened pink mare.

“Then why did you enjoy it Pinkie? Why did you enjoy seeing the blood come out of me?”
Pinkie had no answer. She didn’t know what came over her earlier. It was unexplainable. She simply just had a lust that was present within her that she didn’t even know about; a lust she didn’t want to have.

“No! I’m not that way! I’m not a monster like you! I don’t want to hurt ponies like you do!”

Pinkamena scoffed.

“I wanted to hurt Luna... I wanted her blood and we had the chance to do it! But you had to be a party pooper and stop me Pinkie! You know how mad that makes me?! It makes me super-duper, really mad!”

Pinkie cowered and covered her ears.

“I had to save Twilight... you were going to let her die...””

Pinkie suddenly felt a hoof lift by her neck, choking her.

“I don’t care about her! WE don’t care about her! Our fun is more important than some pony’s life! Don’t you understand?! I was the one who helped you all those years when you ran away and hid, and then you turn around like a big, fat meanie head and deny me my fun?!”

Pinkie gasped for air, flailing her forelegs around, trying to break free of Pinkamena’s grip.

“You can try to hide me away and forget about me but you can’t keep it up forever! When Twilight and the others find out what you really are, they will abandon you and fear you. You’ll be alone again... alone with me.”

Pinkie Pie dropped to the floor. She coughed and gasped, trying to regain her breath. Tears streamed from her cheeks and her heart broke.

“I... I care about Twilight...and the others... you're a liar...” Pinkie said though her gasps.

“You think you do, but I’m your only one, true friend. I love you for the sick and twisted pony you are. Twilight doesn't know what you truly are and will never accept you for it. You know this to be true and yet you say I’m a liar, liar pants on fire? Then why haven’t you told her how you got that necklace from Luna when WE fought her?”

Pinkie recalled her fight with Luna. She remembered how... insane she had become... even to the point of scaring Luna herself. She knew how had she gotten Rebris away from Luna and it wasn’t by sheer luck like she told Twilight, but because of Pinkamena.

“Leave me alone...go away...please,” Pinkie begged, closing her eyes and whimpering on the ground.

“I’m never going away Pinkie Pie. We’re in this party together and you and I are going to have a hell of a time.”

Pinkamena picked up the knife that Pinkie had dropped and ran her hoof across it.

“One hell of a time...” she repeated in her maniacal dark tone. She went over to Pinkie and stood over her with a hellish grin.

Pinkie Pie looked up to the towering shadow over her and saw the knife in Pinkamena’s hoof.

“No... Wait... you're going to kill me?” Pinkie whimpered, realizing what her other self planned to do.

Pinkamena grabbed her Pinkie’s bouncy mane and lifted her forcefully by it, making the pony yelp.

“Why would I kill my favorite pony? You and I are best friends Pinkie; I would never hurt my best friend. I just simply need to teach you how great blood is, and what better way than to show you your own?” she said with sarcasm but also a satisfied tone.

Before Pinkie could even mutter another word, Pinkamena slammed Pinkie’s head against the wall. Pinkie Pie yelled in pain as she felt warm blood run down her face. Pinkamena then pinned Pinkie, her back against the wall, and lodged the knife into her throat. Her blood began to spurt everywhere and she could hear herself choking and gurgling on her own blood. The world around her began to black out and her body was rapidly beginning to turn ice cold, but she wouldn’t die.

Not here.

Pinkamena had much more fun planned for her and she had a whole night to do it.

At least until Pinkie wakes up to only realize it was a dream...

Part 2

Dark Descent II: Fall

Part 2

Hunted

“Pinkie, you sure you're alright? You been in there for the past hour now.”

“Yep! I’m fine Twilight, just getting squeaky clean!” Pinkie called out behind the bathroom door.

Twilight wasn’t so sure about that considering that she swore that she heard Pinkie crying in there and talking to some other pony this morning, but she didn’t want to push it. Besides, after last night’s nightmare, she wasn’t sure if she was in her right mind in the first place and maybe it was just her brain playing tricks on her, making her hear things that weren’t really there.

“Well, alright then,” she said reluctantly,” I’m going downstairs for breakfast so I’ll see you down there alright?”

“Yeah! I’ll be down lickity split!”

Twilight left Pinkie to her business and went over to their bed so she can fix it up. Just because they didn’t live in Ponyville and in her beloved tree home anymore didn’t mean she was going to deviate from her tidy nature. Her horn lit up and lifted the blanket into the air, straightening out and laying it back down onto the bed. There was no wrinkle or blemish on it; it was perfection.

She then began her next order of business and went over to her desk that was placed right next to their window. Books, parchment, quills, and even spilled ink littered the desk from her tedious research from past days. Twilight reached over her neck and took hold of the chain that was wrapped around her neck and lifted it, taking the black gem off. She held it out in front of her and stared into its swirling black cloud. Something entranced her about this artifact, but it also frustrated her. For weeks she had studied every text on ancient artifacts, rituals, and relics of magic, but there was none about Rebris. To put it simply, she was no closer to finding how to bring her friends back then she was when Pinkie gave it to her.

Twilight set the necklace down atop the mess she had and stared at it. She didn’t want to wear it today. It was Sweetie Belle’s birthday and she didn’t want anything reminding her or anypony else about the hell they currently live in and the looming shadow that was Princess Luna; waiting for them to reveal themselves and kill them all. She just wanted today to be normal, something she hadn’t had for such a long time. Something that none of them had for so long.

You should probably get downstairs Twilight. Staring at that won’t get you any closer to figuring it out.

Twilight sighed, ripping her gaze away from the trinket.

I know. Just I have to figure this out soon. I don’t know how much longer we can hide. Luna’s going to eventually find us and everypony’s life is depending on me getting our friend’s back.

Well, don’t ponder on it for now Twilight. It’s been awhile since you actually took a break and you need it. Besides, I believe you and Pinkie have a lot of party preparations to make.

She couldn’t agree more but could she afford a break? Was Luna taking a break from finding them? Her mind was tired and she really didn’t want to think about such things. They just had to go day by day and hope for the best and if Luna did find them, she knew she would do anything to protect her loved ones, but she wasn’t sure if she would do it for the right reason.

“Hey Twilight!”

The mare heard the boyish voice and knew it was her one and only assistant calling from downstairs for her. She quickly made her way out the bedroom door and went to the top of the stairs and looked down to meet a set of green eyes. Spike was much taller now than her, especially after his sudden growth spurt over the past few weeks. His wings were tucked into his body and he was much more defined and toned, a quality she was sure that Sweetie Belle had no objection to.

“Good morning Spike. How did you and Sweetie Belle sleep last night?” Twilight said with a smirk, knowing the reaction she would get out of him.

As expected, his purple face turned a dark crimson and he gave a very coy smile.

“Oh, heh, yeah she slept fine... I guess.”

“Oh, I’m sure she did Spike,” Twilight replied slyly. It was amusing seeing her lifelong friend this way. It was no secret that him and Sweetie Belle were smitten with each other and have definitely taken their relationship quite far but he always seemed so nervous every time somepony brought their relationship up.

Spike scratched the back of his head, shifting his eyes around and finally brought them up to meet hers.

“Okay, um well, Cadence wanted me to tell you that she has breakfast ready for you and Pinkie Pie.”

“Okay. Pinkie is cleaning herself up and I’ll be down in just a few moments anyways,” she replied.

“Alright.”

Spike left and Twilight went back to her room and went over to a chest with a mirror attached to it. She opened a drawer and pulled out a brush with her magic and began combing her unruly mane. Looking into the mirror at her own visage, she studied herself. Her mane was a bit longer than she usually liked it to be but other than that, she still looked like the same Twilight Sparkle, but inside she was far from that. She didn’t feel like Twilight Sparkle, not the one from so long ago. She didn’t know what she was and looking at her own image only reminded her of what she used to be.

What am I now?

You are Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn. Have you forgotten your own name and race now?

“Ugh,” she said quietly as she finished grooming her mane.

That was rhetorical and no I didn’t forget my name or race, thank you.

Oh. Why ask yourself such a question then?

Forget it.

Twilight put the brush back in the drawer and looked back at the mirror. Her purple eyes stared back at her, almost as if she was looking back into her own soul. She stood up on her hind legs and looked at her underbelly. There was a small faint scar that was present right in the center of her stomach. The mark that Luna had left on Twilight by impaling her with a blade; a mark that would have never been there without Celestia’s help. Her heart ached once again at the thought of Celestia. She didn’t understand why she was subjecting herself to this torture but something inside her told her she had to, like some type of punishment for her failure.

She set herself back down onto her hooves and made her way out of the room. She refused to dwell on such things. That was all the past and she had to worry about the present, regardless of the constant reminders. Twilight wanted to be happy or at least fake being happy for Sweetie Belle’s sake. She wanted her to have a good birthday, as hard as that was when they all knew that her one and only sister wouldn’t be there, just like her past birthdays.

But this time was different.

Never had Twilight actually held a party for her nor did Sweetie Belle want one. Of course, she didn’t know she was actually getting one but Twilight had decided that now would probably be the best time to do so, especially now that they had Pinkie Pie back. That pink mare could make anypony happy with her parties.

The lavender mare left the room and began to descend the stairs. The smell of oats and something sweet like syrup filled her nostrils, making her stomach ache for it. She was surprised by how hungry she was feeling now. Maybe last night’s episode took more out of her than just mentally. She passed the living room and went inside the kitchen, welcomed by the image of Sweetie Belle and Spike sitting at the table together, gobbling their breakfast down. Cadence stood, feeding Daisy Song who didn’t feel like cooperating and turning her head when her mother tried to put the spoon to her mouth. Twilight looked over to the end of the table where her brother, Shining Armor, sat. He had a glass of milk beside him and reading what looked like a newspaper.

“Well, about time you got up Twily,” Shining Armor said with a grin, being the first one to take notice of her.

Sweetie Belle and Spike began to snicker hearing her brother call her that but she disregarded it.

“Hey Shining. I would have been down here earlier but I was checking on Pinkie Pie. She’ll be down soon hopefully.”

Shining Armor cocked his brow, wondering what happened to his sister’s marefriend.

“Did something happen last night? Did she-,” he paused, trying to think of how he was going to word his question to her, “Well, you know?”

Twilight knew what he was referring to and was grateful that he was trying to be discreet, especially in the presence of Spike and Sweetie Belle. They had no clue about the series of nightmares that Pinkie would sometimes have about their deceased friends, and Twilight didn’t want them to know. Pinkie made her promise that she wouldn’t tell anypony, at least until Shining Armor found her one night in the living room crying her eyes out. Of course Cadence knew; her brother was not one to hide things from his wife and Cadence swore she would never say anything directly to Pinkie about it.

“No, at least that I know of. Pinkie is just in the restroom cleaning herself up.”

“What are you two talking about? Is something wrong with Pinkie?” Spike asked, now finally taking note of their conversation.

“It’s nothing Spike, just eat your oats,” Twilight quickly said, diverting the question.

“Oh speaking of oats,” Cadence interjected, “Here are your oats Twilight.” A bowl floated over to the table and set itself gently down before Twilight. She looked into the bowl of the hot substance. She could smell the sweet scent of what she thought to be brown sugar with a mix of a variety of berries. Her stomach began to twist from hunger and she couldn’t blame it. Ever since she was a small filly and Cadence was her foal-sitter, the alicorn had an affinity for the culinary arts.

Twilight looked up to give Cadence her thanks, but she stopped. Spectral vein-like structures appeared within her brother’s wife. It was the side-effect of Celestia’s magic appearing once again. Twilight wasn’t really surprised by this, as this was now becoming a bit more frequent but yet sporadic. She knew these vein-like structures she saw weren’t natural, seeing that there was no blood flowing through them but something else. There was a glowing pink substance flowing through them at a constant speed, but she still didn’t know what it was, nor had the time to really study it. There was one thing she had noticed about it over the past few weeks though. The phenomena that flowed through these spectral veins were a different color for everypony and some flowed faster than others. She had determined that in unicorns, the flow was faster while earth ponies and pegasi were much slower. For what reason, she didn’t know yet.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Cadence now said, taking notice of her staring right at her.

She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them. The spectral veins were now gone and now everypony and a dragon were staring at her.

“Uh, yeah sorry. I didn’t even notice I was staring, guess I’m still a bit tired from last night,” she lied.

Why do you not tell them about what you see?

They wouldn’t understand and they would only worry. We all have enough to worry about and I just want everything to be somewhat normal today.

Do you know that for sure?

Yes, now please leave me alone for now.

“Did you have trouble sleeping last night?” her brother now asked.

She did, more than he could know but he didn’t need to know that.

“No, just stayed up too late was all. So, what time do you guys have to go for Daisy’s checkup?” Twilight asked, wanting to avoid any more questions about last night.

“We’re going to be leaving here in a few-” Cadence began but was quickly interrupted by a bubbly voice that they all knew.

“Goooooood morning everypony!” Pinkie exclaimed, hopping right into the kitchen. She plopped her rump right on the chair next to Twilight and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“Morning,” they all said in unison.

“So what’s for breakfast?” Pinkie asked, not wasting time in letting her hunger be known. She turned her gaze to Twilight’s bowl of oats. “Oh yummy! Oats!” Pinkie opened her mouth and her tongue rolled out and she gobbled the whole bowl and its contents.

“Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed, “That was mine!”

Everyone else was just staring in bafflement except for Daisy who was laughing at such a feat.

Pinkie popped out the bowl out of her mouth back onto the table.

“Oh sorry Twilight, I was super hungry and it looked sooooo good!” Pinkie said apologetically.

Twilight shook her head but she couldn’t really be upset at her. Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie and she wouldn’t have it any other way. For her not to act weird wouldn’t be normal, especially with her suspicions about her this morning. She guessed that she was just really hearing things because if something was wrong with her, it would definitely show and Pinkie would tell her.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t hungry anyways.”

She was ravenous but it’s not like she had went without food anyways before. The ten years she searched for Pinkie proved that she didn’t need food that much, as during the time, searching for Pinkie was the only thing she did.

“So, what were you saying? You’re leaving in a few what?” Twilight continued, going back to what Cadence was saying before Pinkie interrupted her.

“We’re going to be leaving in a few minutes,” she said, now pulling Daisy out of her high chair. “She has to get a few shots unfortunately so we’re probably going to be there for most of the day.”

Perfect.

That was more than plenty time to get the small party set up and with Pinkie’s abilities, it should take minimal time. She might even have some free time to do some research on Rebris.

“Wait, were leaving like right now? I thought the appointment wasn’t until noon?” Shining Armor questioned, looking over to his wife.

“No honey, I re-scheduled for early this morning so we’re not caught in Manehattan rush. We’re going to be in the waiting room for a good period of time so it’s best we just get this done as early as possible,” she said, lifting Daisy out of her high chair.

“Oh...alright. Well, if that’s the case...” he now looked over to everyone else, “Guys, I need to speak to Twilight alone if that’s okay.”

What?

Twilight looked over to her brother, wondering what he had to tell her that everypony had to leave for.

“Wait, why? Does it have something to do with Luna?” Spike questioned.

Twilight felt a sharp surge of anger hearing that name but she quickly quelled it.

“It’s not about her Spike. Don’t worry about it okay? I only need a few minutes with my sister. Besides, I think you should probably be helping your marefriend here get ready to leave,” Shining said with a smirk.

“Yeah Spike, I sure do need your help,” Sweetie Belle said slyly, making the dragon blush heavily.

“Yeah, let’s get the birthday girl ready!”

Pinkie Pie hopped out of her chair and grabbed the two in a blinding quickness, leaving her and her brother alone. Twilight turned her attention to him, curious to what he wanted to say to her.

“I’m going to get Daisy ready. We will meet you at the hospital alright?” Cadence said, holding Daisy as the foal played with her mother’s mane.

“I shouldn’t be that long but sure.”

They both gave each other a small kiss and Cadence left, taking her foal upstairs.

Letting curiosity now take hold of her, Twilight asked the question.

“Why did everypony have to leave? What’s wrong?”

Shining Armor looked down at the paper he was reading earlier and handed it to her.

“Look at page eight, section six.”

She obeyed and went straight to the excerpt and read what her brother instructed her to.

Deaths in Trottingham

Last night, four families were found dead with one stallion missing in Trottingham this morning, mangled and some almost beyond recognition. The Lunar Guard has investigated the deaths and has determined that they were caused by an enraged Manticore that has now been put down. They suspect no foul play in these horrendous deaths.

The families are as follows:

The Hammer family: Husband, wife, and two foals deceased.

The Lerit Family: Husband, wife, and filly deceased.

The Shield Family: Husband, wife, and colt deceased.

The Brass Family: Husband missing, wife and two filly’s deceased.

* Specific names will not be given out until investigation is complete and relatives had been contacted*

Twilight finished the small article and knew exactly why Shining Armor was showing her this. She knew that this was no manticore attack, especially in Trottingham. Thanks to her studies of wildlife migrations when she was younger, she knew that a Manticore’s migration path didn’t even come near the town. No, this was foul play and it was Luna who killed these unfortunate families.

"She's searching for us."

Twilight brought her gaze back upon her brother. His face was expressionless but she could see through the mask; he showed signs of sorrow.

“I know... but there’s something more to this, isn’t there Shining?”

By the look in his face, she knew there was something more, but she didn’t know what. Luna was making it very clear that she was coming for them and this was her way of sending that message.

“I know those families Twilight,” he said, resting his head on his hoof against the table, “They were soldiers in the Solar Guard before we disbanded. I knew their wives and kids...”

She knows? She knows who were parts of the Solar Guard? How?

Why don’t you ask him?

As much as she didn’t want to, especially seeing that he was obviously in distress about this news, she needed to know how Luna knows what pony’s served Celestia.

“Do you think she knows who was part of the guard?”

Shining Armor looked up at her and swallowed hard. She could see he was holding back tears, but his training as a soldier wouldn’t let him.

“I suspect so but I don’t know how she does. All four of those stallions served the guard and that bitch killed not just them but their whole families.” He slammed his hoof onto the table, making even Twilight jerk a bit, “She killed them all, even small foals.”

Twilight looked back down at the paper. She didn’t have any words that could comfort her brother but she knew the pain.

...Husband missing...

She read it again.

Brass Family...husband missing.

It seems Luna is taking prisoners?

The inner voice’s suggestion was right. That could be the only reason why Luna would let this stallion live, but why? Why kill the others and yet take him alive?

“Well, what about this one who’s missing? The stallion from the Brass family?”

“Yeah, his name is Golden Brass. He was a corporal and specialized in defensive magic and communications,” her brother answered.

“Do you know why she would take him and not the other?”

Twilight didn’t see what Luna would want with a stallion like that. She expected some high ranking officer that held maybe sensitive information and such. This stallion was just a corporal with talents that didn’t seem to be in any way shape or form beneficial to Luna.

“I have no idea Twilight, and what’s worse, there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s nothing none of us or the other guards in hiding can do.”

He was distressed but there was nothing Twilight could do for him. She had hoped to just have a normal day without any mention of Luna, but it seems even small wishes couldn’t even be granted. Hearing her brother and reading the article only told her one thing: time was running out and she needed to get her friend’s back soon, very soon. If Luna inexplicably knew who served Celestia before, it was only a matter of time before she came to their door and made a bloody mess out of them.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

She didn’t know what to say other than that. She was sorry that these poor families had more than likely suffered horrible, drawn out deaths. She knew Luna loved to draw out pain; she was not in the business of mercy. She was sorry that her brother now probably felt more than responsible for this but she was mostly sorry that she wasn’t faster. She should have her friend’s by now and Luna buried six feet underground. So now, it wasn’t just their lives on the line, but anypony that was still loyal to the late Celestia. If pressure wasn’t on her before, it definitely was now.

“I’m sorry Twilight... I just didn’t want to ruin everypony else’s day with this. I mean, I didn’t want to ruin yours but I just thought that you would like to know because you're my sister and all.”

She knew her brother meant well and he was not one to hide things from her, though she couldn’t say the same for herself, but she appreciated that he would come to her with this.

“I understand and don’t worry. I’m going to get my friend’s back and Luna will be stopped from all this...I promise.”

Shining Armor nodded.

“I know you will Twily. You're not one to break promises,” he said with a small smile.

I hope you’re right...

She didn’t say anything and returned a hollow smile. She wasn’t sure if she could keep this promise but if it provided her brother momentary pause from his hidden grief, so be it.

“Shining, are you and Twilight still talking because Sweetie Belle and I are ready? If not, we will meet you at the hospital,” Cadence called out from the other room.

“I’ll be right there! Gimme a few seconds!”

Shining Armor took the paper back and quickly got up and stuck it in the trash. Twilight scooted out of her chair, seeing that there was nothing left to say about the matter nor did she want to. Her mind ran with too many questions and the image of Luna looking for them pressed her inner eye.

“Well, I better get going so you three can get started on your arrangements,” her brother said with a wink.

He could act normal all he wanted, but Twilight knew better. His mind was consumed with guilt and hate for Luna, but his skills as a soldier proved well enough to hide his true feelings from everypony else.

“Yeah, I suppose we should, and you better get going.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later then.”

Twilight nodded and her brother left the kitchen. She stood still, listening for the door that led to the outside close. She heard the door click and knew that Cadence, her brother, and Sweetie Belle were now gone.

That bitch... she has to make others suffer...

Twilight began to shake as she thought more about Luna and what she did to these poor families. What Luna was doing to her brother. What Luna was doing to her.

Damn her...

Her anger was filling her to the brim. Flashes of images of her friend’s screaming in pain and Luna smiling filled her mind, and she could only imagine the screams of those unfortunate children she killed.

She killed foals... defenseless, innocent...

“Damn her!” she yelled, slamming both her hooves on the table.

Calm yourself Twilight.

She wanted to kill her more than ever. She wanted to rip her body apart, limb by limb.

Why is she doing all this!? Why does she make others suffer?! How can I be calm with the hell she is putting us through?!

Because there is nothing you can do about it Twilight. Your goal is to get your friends back and nothing more. Get them back and kill Luna. That’s all that matters. You should expect ponies to die but you getting angry doesn't help the issue. You will only get yourself killed, just like you almost did last time. If you fail, many more will die.

It was harsh but it did have a point. There was nothing she could do about it and she knew the dangers of her getting angry would bring. She took a deep breath and calmed herself as best she could.

Good. Just focus on today Twilight and don’t worry about the outside for now. I think the last thing anypony needs here is for you to get angry. Go get this birthday set up.

Yeah... yeah okay... thanks.

Anytime.

Twilight rubbed her forehead and waited a few more moments longer before she would make her way upstairs to see what Pinkie and Spike were up to. She couldn’t focus on things she couldn’t control, but Luna remained in her brain.

Luna was hunting for them and she was going to kill anypony that was in her way until she found them. Families, mares, stallions, colts, fillies, foals, it didn’t matter. Luna now made that clear to her and she would have to stand by and watch while she worked to unlock Rebris.

They were sitting ducks and the hunter was coming for them.

Next: Part 3
The Hunter

Part 4

Dark Descent 2: Fall

Part 4

Sweetie Belle’s Secret

Later that night....

“Wow Pinkie...this is great!” Spike praised.

“Thanks Spike! It’s been awhile since I got to do a party!”

“Well, it is you’re special talent after all,” Twilight said with a gentle smile, trying hard to hide the inner turmoil within.

For the majority of the day Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie Pie had been rearranging and decorating the apartment for Sweetie Belle’s return. Granted, it didn’t have everything that a full blown surprise party would have but it was acceptable to Twilight’s standards, and more importantly, Pinkie’s standards. So now here they were, all standing and waiting in the kitchen for the last piece of the party to finish.

Twilight Sparkle had tried her best to hide that inside she was a mix of worry, anger, and frustration. Worried for their safety and what Luna was doing, anger because she had no way to stop it, and frustration that she still couldn’t figure out Rebris. That dark trinket was the key to Luna’s demise and to end everything that Luna had wrought, but until then, Twilight figured she might as well do her best to act normal today...for everybody’s sake. Besides, this was a day she should be enjoying. It signified another year that Sweetie Belle had endured and grown.

“Sweetie Belle is going to love this guys!” Spike praised even more.

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh a bit inside. Spike wasn’t usually this enthusiastic when it came to setting up for parties, especially since it meant some type of labor, but today he was more than willing to. Why wouldn’t he though? Sweetie Belle and Spike were marefriend and dragon...a combination that was unusual but Twilight saw nothing wrong with it. After taking Sweetie Belle in, they both had spent much time together during the many years she was tracking Pinkie. It was no surprise to her to learn that they both fancied each other. They both had lost one that was important to them, though in different context.

Rarity.

One loved her as a sister and one loved her as an interest. Either way, they both lost her but in turn gained each other.

It was somewhat poetic justice for the two. They at least had some relief in each others embrace from the pain and hell that surrounded them.

“Now all we have to do is wait for this cake to finish and get the frosting on. I hope she likes strawberry,” Pinkie stated with a wide grin.

“I’m sure she will appreciate the effort Pinkie,” Twilight replied.

“Sweetie Belle loves strawberry stuff. She has a thing for those,” Spike said, encouraging the pink mare.

Twilight let a small laugh escape her, gaining the attention of her purple dragon.

“What’s so funny?” Spike asked, raising his brow.

Twilight simply shook her head with a smile.

“It’s just funny to me that you know so much about her.”

“Ohhh yeah,” Pinkie chimed with a sly grin, “Spike really knows a lot about her.”

Spike got what Pinkie was getting at and began to blush violently. It was no secret to anypony that lived under this roof that Spike and Sweetie Belle were adolescents and with it came raging hormones. Twilight couldn’t even count how many times that she had passed by their room and heard the soft moans of a mare and grunts of a dragon but she never brought it up to them. She saw no need to. She felt that they genuinely loved each other and if sex was their way of escaping the outside world, she couldn’t blame them.

The same couldn’t be said for her and Pinkie though. Twilight had been too engrossed with her studies of Rebris to really concentrate on their relationship but Pinkie never voiced any concern about it...at least that she knew of.

“Haha, funny Pinkie.” Spike deadpanned.

“I’m just having fun with you Spike,” Pinkie said with her signature wide smile.

Spike chuckled but it was still obvious that he was embarrassed. Twilight put her hoof to her mouth to keep herself from laughing a bit more and making the dragon blush even further. It was cute to see him this way and it felt good. To see him blushing, Pinkie cracking jokes; it was enough to keep her from concentrating on Luna.

Twilight...

At least until now.

What?

Do you notice anything about Pinkie today?

Twilight raised her brow slightly. She looked over to Pinkie who was now intently watching the timer as her cake was nearly finished and Spike who was now doing the same. She looked over the pink mare and tried to see if there was anything different about her. She still had her bouncy tail, bouncy pink mane, and her bubbly attitude.

What are you talking about?

Her demeanor today...its been really....cheery.

Twilight didn’t understand what her mental companion was getting at. Pinkie was always this way. Was Pinkie as bubbly and bouncy back many years ago? Of course not but anypony that didn’t know Pinkie wouldn’t have a clue. Twilight sometimes still didn’t know how Pinkie was able to keep such a positive attitude at times, especially because of the many years she was gone and what they faced only but a month ago.

Uhhh...she’s always like that in case you haven’t noticed. It’s her personality. It’s when she’s not is when I’m concerned.

There was silence for a few seconds but the voice replied.

Yes, I know but...she’s more happy than usual today. I had never seen her bounce off the walls so much in the time I been with you. Why do you think that would be?

Twilight had a simple answer that she thought would quell her inner voice’s concern about her marefriend.

Well we do have a birthday today. She gets real excited when she gets to throw a party and such.

Yes...I supposed that could be it but yet I feel it’s something different...as if...

As if what?

I don’t know. I guess since you were analyzing Spike’s and Sweetie’s relationship, I started to analyze yours with Pinkie. Guess I’m just overthinking things-

Ding!

Twilight turned her attention to the stove, ripping her mind from her the other Twilight’s concern and to a very excited Pinkie Pie.

“It’s done!” Pinkie proclaimed through a half-yell and half-gasp voice.

The party pony wasted no time as she pulled out some stove gloves and put them on her hooves and with swiftness and technique, pulled out the still hot cake out of the oven and onto the table. Spike’s eyes grew wide as he admired the chocolate good. Twilight couldn’t help but admire Pinkie’s work also. It was almost a perfect shaped cake; almost identical right out of a cookbook.

She’s still got it.

“Now we just got to let this baby cool off and then it’s frosting time!” the pink mare said as she pulled out a bowl filled with strawberry frosting, ready to be used.

“Oh! Can I help?” Spike asked with a very sheepish smile.

“Of course you can! She’s your mare friend after all,” Pinkie replied with another sly grin.

“Well while we’re waiting for that, is there anything else that we need to put up before Sweetie Belle gets back?” Twilight said.

She looked over to Spike and he knew exactly what she was looking for. He immediately breathed in and blew out a small green flame and within it was a scroll. Twilight’s horn lit up and took hold of the parchment and opened it to reveal her checklist that was titled Preparation for Sweetie.

Lets see here...decorations.

Twilight didn’t have to look to see if that was done. They had been decorating the place with balloons and streamers for the entire day after all.

Check...birthday cake?

That was obvious.

Check. Presents...

Twilight felt her stomach churn inside as she knew this wasn’t something that she or anyone would be able to fulfill. As much as she wanted to get something for the white mare, she couldn’t risk going out and getting one. It was risky enough whenever they went out for groceries and such, especially her and Pinkie. Twilight knew that Luna was looking for her and Pinkie and the last thing they needed was to be noticed. Thus, this was why Pinkie and her barely went out anywhere unless they had to.

Twilight sighed under her breath.

It’s okay Twilight. She knows the situation and will understand. You don’t have to have presents for a birthday party.

Yeah, I know...but still. I wish I could get her something. She’s been through a whole lot too. and I want her to know that I care for her. I know I don’t show it much with trying to get my friends back and everything.

“Hey Twilight.”

The unicorn turned her attention to Spike while Pinkie examined her baked creation.

“Yeah Spike?” she answered.

“Could you come upstairs with me? There’s something that I want to talk about with you,” the adolescent dragon asked sheepishly.

“Sure Spike but why not just tell me here?” Twilight asked, wondering why they had to be in private.

Spike’s eyes went over too Pinkie who was now engrossed with her cake and licking her lips. What a temptation it must be for Pinkie to keep herself from eating the baked sweet.

“Well...it’s just I rather talk to you upstairs so....,” Spike shifted his eyes to Pinkie.

Twilight understood at what he was getting at. It must have been something about Sweetie Belle and the dragon didn’t want Pinkie to embarrass him anymore concerning his personal life.

“Okay Spike,” Twilight answered with a small smile and turned to Pinkie Pie who was preparing to put the frosting on the cake, “Hey Pinkie?”

“Yeees?” Pinkie sang as she started to spread the frosting.

“I’m going upstairs with Spike for a minute. Do you need help with anything before we go real quick?”

Pinkie shook her head as she diligently did her work.

“Nope. I got it from here Twilight.” She looked up and grinned wide enough to show off her pearly whites.

“Alright. If you need us, we will be upstairs,” Twilight answered with a smile of her own...and a thought that Pinkie did seem a bit more happy than usual.

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie chimed.

So with that, Twilight and Spike left the kitchen and left the pink mare to her deed. The student and assistant made their way up to the steps and the mare followed Spike into his room.

“Can you close the door behind you please?” Spike asked.

Twilight nodded and closed the door but now was wondering why Spike wanted it closed. Was it something bad or something going on with Sweetie Belle that she didn’t know about? OR was it Spike? Was something going on with him?

Maybe it’s about Luna...

Twilight grimaced inside. She hoped that her mental companion was wrong about that. The last thing that she wanted to talk about was Luna and what she was up to, but what if Spike wanted to know? What if it was about why her brother had them all leave the table this morning so they could talk about Luna?

I hope not.

There was only one way to find out.

“So what’s going on Spike? Is everything okay?” she asked, fearing his answer.

“Yeah,” he said, fidgeting with his claws,”It’s just I needed your opinion on something.”

Okay...maybe it’s not about Luna but Sweetie Belle.

It was a moment of relief but she now switched her thought to Rarity’s sister.

“Okay. What do you need an opinion on?” Twilight asked as her mind ran with the millions of questions that Spike could ask her.

“Well...I have something for Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight raised her brow in hidden shock. Spike actually had a present for his mare? But how? They never went out to get anything and she knew that Spike would’ve never just left the apartment without telling anyone...not that he would go out in the first place. He knew the risk and danger if he did and that the eyes of a dark goddess was watching for them.

“What did you get?” Twilight asked, more intrigued about what Spike had.

Spike went over to his bed that he shared with Sweetie Belle and kneeled down and began looking for something underneath it. After a few moments the dragon got up and held out a small red box out to Twilight.

Twilight took control of it with her magic and brought it to her to see what this small box held. She lifted the lid slowly, careful not to damage this red box or what was in it.

“S...Spike,” Twilight stuttered for a moment, not believing what her eyes were now gazing upon.

Right before her was a red ruby gem that was shaped like a heart and had an incredible luster to it; the fire ruby that Spike had given Rarity when he was much younger.

“T..this...I didn’t know you still had this,” Twilight said in utter bafflement, “How did you get this?”

Spike looked down to the floor shamefully as if he had done something wrong.

“I took it from Rarity’s place after...” he trailed off, not wanting to mention the tragedy that had befallen his young crush.

Twilight looked over the fire ruby again. The ruby he gave to Rarity so long ago was still intact and even looked new as if it had never been touched until now. It even still had its golden border around it when Rarity had made it into a necklace after Spike had given it to her.

“When?” she simply asked, now wondering why Spike would go back to the very place that could only bring pain to him.

“After we took in Sweetie Belle. I had to get it so I snuck out one night...it was all I had that made me feel that she was still with us...” Spike said in a saddened but sincere tone.

“Spike...I wouldn’t have gotten it for you if you would’ve asked. You didn’t need to go there.”

“I know,” the dragon answered, now looking back up to Twilight, “But I felt like I had to, you know? You were looking for Pinkie and all and Sweetie Belle was still trying to cope...I didn’t want to burden anypony with something that I needed.”

Twilight understood where her assistant was coming from. She couldn’t count how many times she would go to places that her and her friends would hang out so long ago. For example, she had found herself many times during those long ten years standing outside the fence of Sweet Apple Acres and look over the orchard, always expecting to see Applejack bucking trees...but she knew that would not be so.

“I plan to give it to Sweetie Belle.”

“What?” Twilight said with wide eyes.

Spike began to blush a little.

“Well I figured that I was ready to. You know me and her been a couple for a bit now and I really like her right? When I gave that to Rarity, it was more than just because she liked it and I wanted to make her happy. It was my way of showing that I had a thing for her...but now....”

“It means more,” Twilight finished for him.

“Yeah...a lot more. I want to show Sweetie Belle that I’m serious about her and I’m willing to give up anything...even this...for her.”

Twilight couldn’t help but feel her heart beam a bit for Spike. Here he was willing to let go of his prized possession, the only thing that made him feel like Rarity was still with him, and give it to the mare that Twilight believed he truly loved. This dragon she used to know as naive and rash was now mature and sincere.

Wish I could do the same...

Seeing Spike and hearing his words now made Twilight think of her relationship with Pinkie...before they lost their friends. The times they went out and had fun, the nights they would stay together and look at stars, and sometimes the sinful fun they would engage in under the veil of darkness.

So what about now? What did they do now?

They ran. They hid. They feared. This was their life now. Her time taken by Rebris and her lust for revenge instead it being taken by spending time with her pink marefriend. Would she be willing to give up anything for Pinkie?

She didn’t know...and she hated it.

“So what do you think?” Spike now asked, making Twilight bring her focus back onto him.

“About what Spike?”

“That.” He pointed to the red box that she still held with her magic, “Do you think it would be right to give that to her?”

Would it be right? This was Rarity’s and though the fashionista saw it only as a gift from a smitten dragon, it meant a lot to Spike. So what would Sweetie Bell think about it? Would she take offense to this or worse, bring back the terrible memories of when she had to learn that her sister had been brutally murdered? Or maybe the opposite; a Sweetie Belle who would see that this gift from the purest of emotions?

“I don’t know Spike. Maybe it’s best not to. It might bring up too many things about,” she paused for a moment and looked into the dragon’s green eyes, “About Rarity.”

Spike frowned a bit but he didn’t let it go.

“I know and I thought about that but something in my gut is telling me that now is the right time to give it to her. I know Rarity’s gone but I feel like I have to show her how much...how much I love her.”

Twilight’s ears perked hearing what her assistant had just said.

He loves her?

This was a first for Twilight hearing the dragon say such a sacred word but not only that, he said with deep sincerity. He had always just say that he liked her a lot or he was really into her but not love.

“If you really think that I shouldn’t give it to her then I won’t...I can understand why,” Spike said a bit glumly.

I can’t deny him this...who am I to? It took him a bit but he accepted the fact that Pinkie and I are now together again despite what we all believed about her...he didn’t deny me her. Why should I deny him this?

Twilight had seen many things; things she wished she had never seen but one that she had no regret about seeing was one; love.She had learned slowly during the time her and Pinkie had been together that love can withstand and that was proven with Pinkie Pie. For so long she had thought Pinkie to be a merciless killer and hated her for it but then when she learned of the truth, that hate was replaced again by sudden unexplainable love for the pink mare. Who was she now to deny Spike’s wanting to show that he loved Sweetie Belle?

Twilight smiled and levitated the box back into his claws.

“Then give it to her Spike.” Twilight replied.

A cheesy grin spread across Spike’s face as he took in her approval.

“You mean it?”

Twilight nodded.

“Yes. If it means that much to you to give her it, then who am I to stop you?”

Spike smiled even wider and went over and hugged the unicorn.

“Thanks Twilight. I’m glad you see that...but don’t think this makes me completely mushy and stuff though.”

Twilight rolled her eyes playfully and hugged the dragon back.

“Of course not Spike.”

The two lifelong friends hugged for a few moments longer before Twilight broke it as her mind was now thinking about her marefriend and what she was up to with that cake...alone.

“Well we better get back downstairs and see what Pinkie’s up to,” Twilight suggested, “Don’t want her to eat that cake before the party even starts.”

“Yeah, probably,” Spike laughed a bit. He went back to his bed and put the red box back under his bed, making sure that it was not in plain sight.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The dragon and lavender mare made their way out the door and headed downstairs, ready to put in place the final preparations with smiles on their faces.

DD2

She seems very happy Twilight. You guys had done a good job setting up this party.

The truth couldn’t be any further. Twilight Sparkle watched as Sweetie Belle laughed and joked as they her brother and wife, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and herself sat around the table enjoying the magnificent cake that Pinkie had created.

It was only but several minutes ago that they had surprised Rarity’s sister when they returned from Daisy’s checkup. To see the shocked look on her face was priceless but the smile that followed after was invaluable to Twilight.

Thanks. It’s been awhile since I seen her like this.

It certainly has. Never before had she heard Sweetie Belle laugh so hard that her little trademark squeak could be heard and seeing such a scene of enjoyment in front of her. Everypony had a smile on their faces and there was a sense of peace.

It seems even among all the darkness, there is still happiness to be found. You should be proud that you could give that to her.

Twilight didn’t feel proud...she felt satisfied. Sweetie Belle was still young and growing into a fine mare along with a dragon and they lived in a world that was bleak, and with this small party, it seemed to show that there could still be happiness within it.

When she had first thought about planning this party with Pinkie, she was very hesitant. She was afraid Sweetie Belle would be upset because of the memories it was bound to recall about Rarity but in the end she resolved to do it, along with the persuasion of her pink marefriend.

And now it seemed she made the right choice.

“This cake is great Pinkie Pie,” Sweetie Belle said as she munched happily on it,” I love strawberry and chocolate combinations.”

“I love all combinations!” Pinkie proclaimed, her face covered in frosting, “I like vanilla and chocolate and strawberry and chocolate and chocolate and haynut butter and-”

“You like everything Pinkie,” Spike laughed.

“I do! As long as it’s sweet and stuff.”

“Well you certainly outdone yourself Pinkie. You even got Daisy here wanting more of it and she usually doesn't eat a lot of cake,” Cadence said as she held the small foal in her forelegs and fed her a piece.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Pinkie Pie had really came through for this party. She still had the unmatched skill of making parties great, despite all the years she hadn’t gotten to throw them. It seemed the art was almost second nature to her.

“Thanks everypony, but if it wasn’t for Twilight planning it and getting some of the stuff I needed, I wouldn’t have even been able to make the cake.” Pinkie turned to Twilight with a wide grin.

“It was no big deal,” Twilight said with humility.

But in the bigger picture of things, it was. She had went out under the veil of darkness many times to just gather simple party supplies and it was a blessing that she knew transformation spells to hide her identity. She couldn’t risk ponies seeing her and having it somehow got back to Luna. She didn’t want to see Luna until she had her friends back and they would come to end her plans, reign, and most importantly, her life.
“Thanks Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said with a sincere smile, “I appreciate all of this.”

“It’s no problem,” Twilight answered, “I think Rar--”

She stopped as she suddenly realized what she was about to say.

Nothing about Rarity....

It’s no secret that Rarity is gone Twilight. Why do you feel that you can’t mention Rarity around her?

It wasn’t that she was trying to hide anything. It was the fact that she didn’t really know how Sweetie Belle still coped with it. She had heard Sweetie Belle in the past talk and reminisce about her sister and the things they used to do together but Twilight still could sense that is still brought sadness to the mare, regardless of her not showing in it.

This day is about her...not Rarity. I don’t need to go bringing her up and take the chance of ruining her day.

“Err...Spike! I think Spike has something for you.” Twilight said as she turned to the dragon with a coy smile.

“Uhh, yeah,” Spike said as he began to blush a bit.

“Ohhhh really? The dragon has a little gift for his marefriend huh?” Shining Armor teased with a sly grin.

“Oh stop it Armor,” Cadence began, coming to Spike’s aid, but it was only making him blush even more, “I think it’s sweet. Besides, you used to give me gifts all the time when we met...you even went broke because of it even when I told you you didn’t have to.”

Twilight chuckled as she recalled that memory when she was but a young filly. Her brother was head over hoof for her foalsitter, to say the least, when they met. She had taken the liberty of even eavesdropping on Shining when he would be in his room and actually trying to write poems for the alicorn. She never told him that she did and didn’t plan on it now. It was more for her own humour than anything.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Well, let’s see what the guy has got then.”

“Uhhh yeah,” Spike said as he got up from the table and looked over to Sweetie Belle, “I just have to go get it from upstairs real quick.”

“Okay Spike,” Sweetie Belle answered with a small giggle and a slight blush of her own, “I’ll be right here.”

With that, the dragon left the kitchen and headed upstairs.

“Well while he’s doing that, I’ll get these dishes to the kitchen,” Twilight insisted as her horn lit up and took control of all the plates and silverware.

“Let me help you with that.” Shining Armor got up and quickly followed Twilight.

Wonder what he wants...

Twilight could only imagine it had something to do with earlier this morning. Or maybe it was new info on Luna. Regardless, it was probably going to be news she would not enjoy hearing.

She entered the kitchen with her brother following closely behind her and she set the dishes down into the sink gently, careful not to break any of them.

“So I’m guessing everything went smooth setting up for today?” he asked.

Twilight turned to him, still wondering why he really wanted to come to the kitchen with her. It certainly wasn’t because he wanted to do dishes. She knew her brother well enough to know that.

“Yeah, it was pretty easy. The cake was what probably took the longest. How did everything go with Daisy?”

“Daisy did fine. She took her shots and the doc had us waiting there for hours...you know how it goes.”

“Yeah...I do,” Twilight said flatly, trying to suppress the image of Luna impaling her and the scar on her underbelly that served as her eternal reminder of her failure.

Shining Armor took notice and quickly apologized.

“Oh crap...I didn’t mean-”

“I know,” Twilight interrupted as she lifted her hoof to silence him before he went into apologies, “I know what you meant Shining. Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah...sure. Look, there’s something I been wanting to tell you Twilight...I’m sorry for earlier.”

Earlier?

“What do you mean? Are you referring about telling me about those families?”

That had to be it. She couldn’t recall anything else that he would be sorry for but then why was he sorry for informing her about what Luna was doing?

“Yeah. I should’ve have just kept that to myself. You already have so much to deal with and I’m not exactly helping by telling you stuff that I guess isn’t preventable.”

Twilight saw that he felt genuinely bad about telling her such information but she didn’t see it as anything to be sorry for. She needed to know what Luna was doing but was it for the right reason? Was it so she could protect her loved ones in case Luna caught them or was it just more justification for when she brought her death upon her?

Only time would tell for now.

“It’s okay. Besides, I’d rather know what Luna’s up to then be left in the dark. Last thing I need is any surprises from Luna.”

“Yeah, but still,” Shining Armor continued, “Never in a million years that I thought I would have to fight against one of my own former rulers....and that they would want my own sister dead.”

Twilight noticed the way he said the last few words. It sounded as if there was a hidden fear in them.

Hmmm...seems he’s not just sorry for that. He’s scared for you...

Was it that? Was her own brother actually scared for her and her safety and somehow trying to apologize for this...hell? Twilight had never really thought about the concept of her brother dealing with the reality that he could possibly lose her; he was already close to losing her once before. A brother with a constant fear of something much more powerful than him and questioning if he could protect her;was this this fear that was now letting itself show through Shining’s words?

“That won’t happen Shining,” Twilight said firmly, “We’re going to beat her. Alright?”

“Yeah...” Shining Armor replied, still with what sounded like doubt in his voice.

Before Twilight could dispel this doubt within him though there was an angry scream.

“H..how could you Spike! What is this?!”

“Spike?!” Twilight and Shining both said in unison and immediately ran to the other part of the kitchen to see what had cause such anger. The two entered the other half of the kitchen and beheld a sight not of happiness and enjoyment that they had left but now a Sweetie Belle who was shaking with held back tears in her eyes and gripping onto a red gem with a golden border around it.

Cadence had stood up with Daisy who was now crying and Pinkie sat with only wide eyes in bafflement.

Twilight looked over to Spike, trying to figure out what had happened.

“What the hay happened?!” Twilight asked.

“All I did-” Spike began but was interrupted by Sweetie Belle.

“He gave me this!” Sweetie held up the fire ruby for all to see. “This was Rarity’s! He tried giving me this w..when,” the mare paused as she took a deep breath and tears began to pour down her cheeks, “W..When this is hers!”

“But Sweetie Belle I’m giving you it because-”

“Shut up!” she yelled as she turned to Spike and threw the necklace at him, hitting him in the chest but he didn’t flinch nor move.

“I don’t deserve this! You gave it to Rarity because it meant something to you! She doesn't matter anymore?! Is that what it is?!!” Sweetie Bell sobbed.

“Sweetie Belle! It has nothing to do with that!” Spike answered desperately with a look of extreme confusion, “She does matter-”

“No! She’s dead! She’s fucking dead and you dare give me that!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Twilight interrupted, “You’re making no sense right now. Please just calm down-”

“Did you know he planned on giving me this?!” Sweetie Belle now demanded as she looked towards Twilight.

“Yes but-”

“Why?!! You know this is Rarity’s and you thought it was okay??”

Sweetie Belle’s tears ran down her face and she began to tremble violently. Twilight’s heart dropped into her stomach and the sense of acute happiness and peace was now gone. Where had she gone wrong? Everything was going so well and now...this.

“Sweetie Belle. Just calm down and explain why you’re so upset,” Twilight said, trying to get her to calm down.

Sweetie Belle simply bit her bottom lip as she let her tears fall and simply shook her head.

“I can’t do this! I...I’m sorry!” she cried and immediately left the kitchen and upstairs, followed by the slam of a door.

Twilight and the others simply stood and sat in silence and looked over to Spike who was now simply staring at the ground and at the fire ruby.

“What the hell just happened?” Shining Armor asked.

Spike didn’t answer and simply stared at the ground and at the gem.

“Spike gave her that gem and she just...went off,” Cadence answered as she tried to calm Daisy down from its own crying.

It’s my fault...I screwed up...I should’ve known that it would bring too many memories for her...I should have said no.

How would you have known though Twilight? Spike was giving her that gift from his heart...could you really deny him from doing that? Did you not hear his explanation for giving it to her?

Twilight knew that Spike was genuine and he did not intend this but she should have never let him do it. She had let her heart speak for her instead the rationale of her mind. This would have been prevented if she had just said no to Spike; she now ruined the very birthday that she had hoped to make special for Sweetie Belle.

“Someone needs to go talk to her,” Cadence said as she was still trying to calm the cries of Daisy, “Make sure she’s okay.”

“I’ll go,” Twilight said as she began to walk to make her way upstairs, “It’s my fault that she-”

“No.”

Twilight turned to Spike who was now holding the fire ruby in his claw.

“What?”

“Let me talk to her. It will mean more if I do” Spike said as he now made his way out of the kitchen.

He had a point. If anything, Sweetie Belle was probably more furious with her because she knew about it and approved of the gift.

“Okay,” Twilight simply said and watched Spike make his way up the stairs with the heart-shaped gem gripped tightly in his claw.

This was supposed to be a normal day...a happy day. A celebration of another year a mare had grown and matured. A day that was supposed to end in smiles but instead was now replaced by tears, anger, and pain.

And it was because of her.

Twilight hung her head in shame and felt awful for what she had caused. Was this the life that was all that would be known now to her? Tears and pain? Because of Luna, everything was only just a reminder of pain and loss for her and everypony else that stood by her...and now she was only making it worse for the very mare she tried to raise in her sister’s absence.

“Um guys,” Pinkie now said as she sat in her chair, “Did she not like the party we threw for her?”

Twilight looked over to Pinkie and back down at the tile floor into her reflection and shook her head.

“No Pinkie...it wasn’t the party.”

It was me.

DD2

Spike slowly opened the door to the room and closed it behind him with a soft click. He looked over to the bed and saw Sweetie Belle curled up into a ball, holding a pillow and sobbing into it.

Damnit...I really screwed up this time.

He went over to his mare as his heart wrenched inside his chest. Seeing her this way because of him was the last thing he wanted and he had no clue to make it better. He had thought by giving her this gem it would show her how much she care for her but instead it only showed pain to his beloved mare.

“Sweetie Belle?” Spike said as he slowly made his way to her.

“What do you want?” she said through half sobs and gasps.

Spike came closer to the bed and gently sat on the side as he looked over Sweetie Belle who hid her face in the pillow.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for this. I didn’t mean to make you upset. I just...”

Just what? What could he possibly say that could justify all this? To show his love for her? Was that really something to put above the very pain that he should have known he would cause by giving her such an item? Such good and innocent intentions have now seemed to turn on him and make his action appear as ill.

“I’m sorry Sweetie Belle.”

There was a silence for a few moments and Sweetie Belle had gradually quelled her sobs to quiet sniffs. She pulled her face out of the pillow and turned to Spike sitting at her side with red eyes and cheeks that shined from her tears in the light.

“I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have went off like that at you and Twilight,” she said as she sniffed more, “I know better than to think that Rarity meant nothing to you guys...it was just seeing that necklace...it meant so much to her and to be having it given to me...it just made me go off.”

Spike laid his claw on her shoulder. He could easily crack a little clever saying or joke to help cheer her up and reassure her he meant no such thing but he figured that this was not the time nor the place for it.

“I don’t know how much it meant to her but I know how much it meant to me when I gave it to her.”

“Yeah I know...” Sweetie Belle said as new tears began to well up in her eyes.

Spike couldn’t stand looking into Sweetie Belle’s eyes and seeing the pain that he had wrought. What pony, or dragon in this case, induces pain onto the one that he loved?

“Then I want you to know that I wanted to give you it because..” he trailed off a bit as he felt his chest turn into a knot and his stomach turn into butterflies.

Oh c’mon Spike! Tell her! She needs to hear it more than ever now...don’t chicken out!

He took a small breath and continued with red cheeks, “Because you mean alot to me.”

“I know that Spike, you told me that-”

“I’m not done yet...this is my reason for giving you this.” He held out the gem in his claw.

“When I gave this Rarity, I gave it to her to make her happy. But when I look back at it, I also realize I did it in hopes that she would somehow return my feelings for her.”

Sweetie Belle listened intently as she wiped her eyes but spoke up as she saw where he was heading with this.

“Spike...you don’t have to get into that. I remember you telling me how much it bothered you that she only saw you as a friend.”

“I bet you do,” Spike laughed weakly as he recalled that discussion and the ‘activity’ that followed after.

Sweetie Belle even chuckled a bit as she also recalled that discussion, making her own white cheeks turn a tinge of red.

“Anyways, after that night, I was crushed once Twilight told me what happened. I didn’t know what to do and all I could do was sit in my bed quietly and listen to Twilight cry herself to sleep. I would wait for her to fall asleep before I started crying...you know...the whole I’m a guy dragon thing. I had even snuck out to get this just so I could feel that she was still with me.”

He looked over at the gem in his claw and back at Sweetie.

“And then Twilight had you live with us. You know how we started just talking and helping each other out with dealing with all of that back then? During all those times and the years that passed by before we got together, I had that same feeling about Rarity but it was nothing like it at the same time. It was more...intense.

“But why give this to me? You gave this to Rarity because you had a crush on her and wanted to make her happy. I don’t deserve this Spike.”

Spike took her hoof and turned his claw and placed the gem in it.

“Because as cheesy as this sounds, I...” he paused as his entire body turned into ice as he tried to say the word.

Say it Spike! Say it man! Say it!

“...love you Sweetie Belle,”he said with a loud gasp and breath following after.

Sweetie Belle stared into his eyes and smiled but then placed the gem back into his claw.

“I know you do Spike and I love you too but I still can’t take this. This was Rarity’s and I want it to stay hers.”

Spike was perplexed. This was not what he had expected, especially after being so deep with his emotions that he had never done before. It almost felt like a type of rejection.

“But why?”

Sweetie Belle’s small smile left.

“Because I don’t deserve it...not after what I did...Rarity would’ve never...”

“What you did?” Spike said with perplexity, “What are you talking about?”

Sweetie Belle looked over to the floor.

“Do you remember when I told you about how Diamond Tiara was making fun of me in Middle Pony School?”

Spike recalled it.

“Yeah because you still didn’t have your cutie mark but she did that to everypony because she was just mean like that. Why?”

“And you know how I came back that night from Applebloom’s house and I had my cutie mark?”

Spike looked over to Sweetie Belle’s flank and looked at her cutie mark. It had three diamonds that were identical to her sisters but there was what looked like blood covering them. He nor Twilight could figure out what it signified and Sweetie Belle had simply said it just appeared on her way home.

“Yeah. I still don’t even know what it means though.”

“I think I do...”

“What? You know you’re special talent??”

Sweetie Belle looked over back to Spike and her lips began to tremble.

“It’s not a talent...it’s what I did...what I did to her...to Diamond Tiara.”

Spike’s eyes grew wide and suddenly realized something. Something that happened many years ago that was never explained...a filly who had disappeared without a trace just as Scootaloo did.

“Sweetie Belle....Diamond Tiara was never found... Did you...??” he stuttered.

Tears began drop from her eyes and she quietly revealed her secret. The secret of her how her cutie mark came to be.

“I killed her...”

(Next Part: Of Blood and Diamond)

Part 5

Dark Descent 2: Fall

Part 5

Of Blood and Diamond

Six years after murders ...

“I can’t stand her anymore Applebloom! She’s always picking on us because we still don’t have our cutie marks and it’s driving me crazy!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she threw herself on top of her friend’s bed.

Applebloom sat at the side of her bed and simply sighed, trying to somehow quell the anger of her unicorn friend.

“Y’all know how she is Sweetie Belle. That’s just her. Ah wouldn’t get my mane in a bunch about it though.”

Sweetie Belle looked over to the farm pony and shot her look of question and annoyance.

“But I’m tired of it! We’re in middle school now and she’s still doing this! I had to listen to her all day in class talk to her little friends about me and she even made fun of the fact that I like a dragon! I don’t get it!”

Sweetie Belle wasn’t mad about Tiara’s insults toward her. She had gotten so use to them over the years that she was basically immune to them. What she was upset about was the fact that she was still doing it. She thought that when ponies got older, they became older and wiser, but in Tiara’s case, it seemed that concept didn’t apply.

“Ah know Sweetie Belle. Ah have to deal with the same thing too when she sees me but Ah simply don’t give her the time of day. Ah just avoid her and if she says something really crazy, Ah’ll just buck her to the next century.”

Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but laugh a little as that image came into her mind. It would seem so much like Applebloom to do that but she knew it was only because of the way she was brought up. No pony could deny that Applebloom had grown into a strong mare but also one to not be tested with. Sweetie Belle couldn’t recall all the times that Applebloom had gotten into fights but she knew one thing: the unfortunate soul that did pick a fight with her, mare or stallion, was going to end up on the ground with a bloody muzzle...if they were lucky.

“Yeah, I don’t doubt that. Wouldn’t mind seeing you send her to the hospital.”

Applebloom rolled her eyes playfully.

“Ah rather not let it get to that. Anyways, just let it be for now. After we’re done with middle school, we won’t have to see her again.”

Sweetie Belle lifted herself on the bed and looked at the farm pony with perplexity.

“Huh? Why is that?”

“Ah heard she movin out of Ponyville after she’s done.”

This was good news to hear but why would Diamond Tiara’s mother be moving out of Ponyville? As much as she relished the idea of Tiara being gone, she had to know why.

“Have you heard why?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom looked away and spoke.

“It’s about what happened at Sugarcube Corner....”

“Oh...” Sweetie Bell answered flatly.

Of course it was that.

Ever since the brutal murders of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and her sister Rarity, ponies had gradually been leaving Ponyville, thinking that by somehow leaving the small town that the bloody memory would somehow leave them and stay behind. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle knew this but also knew something that horrific and monstrous simply couldn’t be forgotten.

Especially for them.

“Yeah...” Applebloom said as she now looked over back to Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle stayed silent as the terrible memory began to penetrate her mind. The night she learned of Rarity’s death , the intense pain and sorrow that followed after, and the countless nights that she would cry herself to sleep and hold onto some type of hope that it was all some type of dream.

But if that wasn’t convincing enough to show her that it was reality, then what happened two weeks after the loss of her sister would.

We are so sorry Sweetie Belle. We regret to tell thee that thy parents have been killed in a train accident.

Those were the words that tore her very soul to shreds, as if it wasn’t already. It was at that point that Sweetie Belle realized as a small filly that life was not this innocent, happy thing but cruel and unforgiving.

But what was the cause of this? The cause of this pain and misery?

Pinkie Pie. It was that pink mare that killed her sister and though the pony had nothing to do with her parents, she still put the blame on her. Her family, gone and dead, because of Pinkie Pie.

Sweetie Belle bit her lower lip as she tried to repress the image of the party pony. Her bouncy mane and her deceiving smile stood still in her mental eye and a burning hate began to rise within the unicorn. She wanted to do so many things to Pinkie; put her in unimaginable pain and agony just as she did to her sister.

She wanted to kill Pinkie Pie.

Alas, Pinkie Pie was had been gone for the past six years and while Twilight searched for her, Sweetie Belle was only left with her dark fantasies.

“Sweetie Belle....are y’all okay?” Applebloom asked as she took notice of Sweetie Belle’s demeanor and hooves clenching the sheets.

The unicorn ripped herself from such terrible memories and brought her focus back to Applebloom.

“Yeah...was just thinking was all.”

“Ah’m sorry...Ah didn’t mean to bring that back up,” Applebloom said as she put her hoof on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder.

Sweetie Belle didn’t know why she was still like this. Anytime she heard of Sugarcube Corner, her mind would go straight back to that terrible night and the feelings that came with it would resurface. Pain, despair, hopelessness, hate; all of them would come back and try to take her.

She hated it.

It’s been six years and as painful as it was to know that she would never see Rarity or her parents ever again, she thought everything healed with time.

At least that’s what Princess Luna had told her.

Everything heals with time child....

But did it? How could one heal from something like that? How could one heal from being told that their own sister was brutally murdered, maimed, and mauled by one who she thought was Rarity’s friend? How could one heal from losing their parents two weeks after losing their own sister?

“How do you do it Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle suddenly asked.

Applebloom raised her brow, confused about what exactly her friend was asking.

“How do Ah do what?”

Sweetie Bell sighed but explained herself.

“How do you always seem like nothing bothers you? I mean, ever since I lost Rarity and everytime I think about her or anything reminds me of that night, these feelings come back.”

Applebloom stayed silent for a moment, processing her question or maybe simply trying to repress her own dark memories.

“It does bother me but Ah know Applejack wouldn’t want me to focus on it. Everytime Ah do though, Ah only remind myself my sister buckin’ apples, not when she died.”

“Why? All I can see is Rarity and the pain and fear she had to have gone through...because of Pinkie.”

Applebloom’s face grimaced slightly at the name of Pinkie but she kept her composure.

“Pinkie Pie will answer for what she done Sweetie Belle. Twilight and Princess Luna promised us that she would, so Ah don’t focus on her but don’t think for a minute that Ah don’t miss Applejack.”

Sweetie Belle immediately answered.

“No! I didn’t mean to say...I know you-”

“Ah know what you mean, Ah was just lettin’ you know was all,” Applebloom reassured.

Sweetie Belle cursed herself inside. She was wondering how a conversation about how much she hated Tiara turned into one that made her look like she was questioning her friend’s love for her sister.

“I’m sorry,” Sweetie Belle apologized, “I didn’t mean to bring all this back up. Just hearing about Sugarcube Corner...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Applebloom assured, “But one last thing then we can stop talkin’ bout’ all this.”

“What?” Sweetie Belle said, wondering what Applebloom wanted to say about all this.

Applebloom narrowed her eyes a bit and Sweetie Belle saw a glimpse of anger within the earth pony.

“What would you do if you ever found Pinkie Pie before Twilight and Luna?”

Sweetie Belle knew exactly what she would do to her.

“I would kill her. Make her suffer for what she done to Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said in a cold and sure tone.

It was wrong but she had never been so sure of her answer. Twilight was searching for Pinkie so she could be turned in to Luna and the princess deal with her for her crimes but was that justice? Was it justice that Pinkie had taken the lives of ponies that so many loved?

That was not justice...not to Sweetie Belle.

Pinkie deserved to suffer and die, just as she did to her sister. The unciorn could only imagine the sheer terror and pain that Pinkie made her sister go through and she wanted to do the same. Justice was Pinkie torn apart, limb from limb, eyes gouged out, and her body mauled and demolished to the point that the party pony was beyond recognizing.

Justice could only be done with Pinkie’s death.

Applebloom stared at her for a moment. Sweetie Belle didn’t know if her friend was simply shocked at her or wondering what would bring such an answer, but it was neither.

A small smile spread across Applebloom’s face.

“Ah would too...”

They both stared at each other silently. Nothing had to be said to know how dark and wrong their answers were and how evil it was to actually relish in such an answer, but the idea of vengeance for their sisters comforted them. That dark hope for Pinkie to be found and killed by their own hooves actually brought a sliver of happiness for them.

Sweetie Belle looked out to window of Applebloom’s room and saw Luna’s moon glowing brightly within the darkness outside.

“Well, I better get back home to Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said as she hopped off Applebloom’s bed and grabbed her saddlebag with her magic “ Princess Luna is supposed to be coming tonight to see how we’re all doing anyways.”

Applebloom nodded and did the same.

“Alrighty then Sweetie Belle,” Applebloom said, “tell the princess Ah said hi. Ah got to buck a few more apples before I go to bed.”

With that the two mares left Applebloom’s room and shut the door behind them. One to see Twilight and her secret crush, Spike, and the other to attend to her apple trees, just as her sister did before her.

But this night was far from over for Sweetie Belle.

It was only just beginning.

DD2

The night was cool and refreshing against Sweetie Belle’s body. Crickets chirped and she heard the occasional ruffling of woodland critters that were trying to find their homes so they could lay themselves to sleep.

It was peaceful but Sweetie Belle didn’t notice it. She was lost within the own torment of her mind.

The dark memory of her sister’s death wouldn’t let go of her brain and since she had left Appleblooms and was left to her own thoughts, it only made it harder to repress it.

Why did she have to die? Why did you do it Pinkie?

As much as she hated the pink mare for taking her sister away from her, she couldn’t help but ask why. Now she wasn’t looking for a reason to somehow understand or see if it was actually a good reason, for there was no reason in the world that would be good enough reason for Pinkie to kill Rarity, but she just wanted to know what pushed Pinkie to do such evil.

What could bring anypony to kill their own friends?

She knew she could never bring herself to kill her friends, no matter what they did. She couldn’t fathom taking Applebloom’s life nor even think about it. The same went for Scootaloo but that orange pegasus disappeared long ago and that was another memory Sweetie Belle didn’t want to focus on.

I need to talk to Luna about all this...see if she could help me stop thinking about all this.

She wanted these thoughts of Pinkie, Rarity, and her parents to stop plaguing her because they always brought back the pain and anger from so long ago and made her only want to find Pinkie herself and tear her apart.

It wasn’t right to have thoughts of inducing pain and death, especially for a mare her age. It’s not what Rarity would’ve wanted but she couldn’t help it and she wasn’t like Applebloom who could simply ignore such feelings, so what was she to do?

I hate you....I fucking hate you Pinkie.

That’s all she could do. Damn and curse Pinkie’s name and simply hope that out of the odd blue, Pinkie would reappear somewhere where she could find her and make her pay for what she had put her through; for what she put everypony through.

Sweetie Belle continued walking down the dirt road, passing tree after tree as she let her thoughts torture her. Only the moon and stars above watched her from above as the mare’s heart was torn, thrown, and wrenched in every possible way.

“Well, well, well, look who it is,” a cocky, smooth voice said the side.

Sweetie Belle ripped herself away from her inner turmoil and turned her head to meet a pony that made her very heart drop to her stomach and made her want to scream out of complete disgust.

The pony had a pink coat and her pale, light grayish violet mane with white streaks in it was now much longer than when she was but a small filly. Her tail still held the same style along with the signature tiara that sat atop her head.

“Diamond Tiara, I’m not in the mood right now okay? I’m just trying to get home.”

Tiara smirked, as if somehow the unicorn was joking.

“Why would somepony want you home? Especially one without a special talent.”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and simply turned away and began to walk away, not giving the dignity of an answer but the earth pony decided to persist and run in front of the unicorn to block her way.

“Ugh, move Tiara,” Sweetie Belle demanded.

“Why should I? You gonna make me?” Diamond Tiara replied with a nasty look.

Why the hell can’t she just leave me alone?

“What the hell are you doing here anyways? It’s nighttime. Aren’t you supposed to be kissing somepony’s ass or something?”

Diamond Tiara scoffed.

“I was just coming back from Silver Spoon’s house for your information. You know, somepony that’s much cooler than you and your little friends..oh...I mean friend.”

Sweetie Belle knew she was referencing to Scootaloo but kept her temper in check. She just wanted to get home and see Twilight, Spike, and Princess Luna. The last thing she wanted to do was waste time with this pony.

“Whatever. Now move Tiara. I just want to get home. I had a long day and I don’t need you to make it worse for me.”

Diamond Tiara disregarded her request and stood her ground.

“Me make it worse? Isn’t your life already bad just being you?”

“I SAID move,” Sweetie Belle said with a much firmer tone.

“Why? So you could go work on trying to be a failed designer just like your sister?”

A sharp surge of anger shot through Sweetie Belle’s body at Tiara’s remark, making her grit her teeth hard but again, she kept it within herself.

“Oh? Did I get somepony mad? Don’t like hearing about your sister?” Tiara continued, now taking more jabs at Sweetie Belle’s sister.

“Shut up,” Sweetie Belle said through her gritted teeth.

“Pfft, like you're going to make me. Tell me, how does it feel to know that your life is a complete shithole?”

Another shot of anger shot through Sweetie Belle’s body, making her heart race and an urge to shut Diamond Tiara up with the back of her hoof.

“Why are you doing this huh?! I don’t do anything to you and you just keep going!” Sweetie Belle yelled, “I’m just trying to get home, so why don’t you do the fucking same?!”

Diamond Tiara scrunched her face in displeasure, not taking too kindly to anypony yelling at somepony like her. The mare went up to Sweetie Belle and pressed her muzzle hard against hers.

“You don’t talk to me that way Sweetie Belle! You wanna know why?! It’s because I simply don’t like you and just because you were a sister to one of the Elements of Harmony doesn't make you any better than any of us!”

What??!

“Are you serious?! Is that why you make fun of me and Applebloom?! Because you been jealous?! That’s fucking stupid!”

Sweetie Belle was shocked and utterly appalled at such a sorry excuse. Diamond Tiara had been jealous of her simply because of her sister? This was the reason she hated her and made her life more of a hell than it already was?

“It’s not stupid!” Diamond Tiara rebuked, “After elementary and what happened to your sister, everypony wanted to be friends with you and all they would do was talk about you and how sorry they were for you. They acted as if you were special or something and I can’t stand it!”

There was some truth to this. Ever since everypony learned of the murders and figured out that Rarity and Applejack were victims, ponies had certainly given the two much more attention than usual. Ponies that they used to never talked to before wanted to be their friends. Even some of Tiara’s friends, with the exception of Silver Spoon, abandoned Tiara and went to them. It wasn’t as if Sweetie Belle asked for it though. In fact, she despised it. They were only trying to comfort her since she had lost her sister and felt that there was some type of need to, rather than actually genuinely feeling bad that Rarity had been murdered.

Sweetie Belle didn’t need somepony to pity her.

“Special?! What the hell are you talking about?! You think having my sister killed makes me fucking SPECIAL?!!!” Sweetie Belle cried as she pressed her muzzle hard against Tiara’s.

“I don’t know and I don’t care! It just makes me sick! I lost friends because of you, over a unicorn that only cared about her fucking self-” but she couldn’t finish.

Sweetie Belle swung the back of her hoof across Tiara’s face, making a loud thwack sound as her hoof made contact and made the mare spin and land on the ground with blood trickling down her mouth.

“Don’t. You. Say. ANYTHING! About my sister,” Sweetie Belle screeched in fury. Her anger filled her up to the brim and she was ready to beat the living shit out of this pony, this pony that had been torturing her for years over some petty feeling of jealousy.

Diamond Tiara got up and wiped her mouth, noticing the blood on it. Diamond gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at the white unicorn.

“Fuck you. I’ll say whatever I fucking want about your whore of a sister!”

“Shut up!” Sweetie Belle yelled, stomping her front hoof into the dirt.

Diamond Tiara laughed and smiled wickedly.

“Awww, is Sweetie Belle mad? The truth hurts doesn't it? To know that Rarity only cared about herself? To know she was probably the biggest whore in Ponyville? Hell, I bet she sucked off every stallion she met.“

“I said SHUT UP!”

Anger now turned to pent up rage. Tiara’s words stung and jabbed at Sweetie Belle’s heart and the image of Rarity was forming in her head while the mare that stood in front of her with a bloody mouth continued.

“And she probably despised having a sister like you. I know I would. She probably begged Pinkie Pie to kill her so she could get away from a little whiny bitch like you.”

Her body began to tremble violently at the very mention of the party pony and these heavy words of hate that was coming out of this damned ponies mouth. Her very thoughts became clouded and began chanting a terrible but beautiful thing.

Kill her! Kill her!

“Stop...now,” Sweetie Belle said in a dark tone as tears began to form at the corner of her eyes.

But Diamond Tiara did not heed her warning.

“And you know what? Everypony thinks that Pinkie Pie is some crazy bitch that killed her friends but you know what I think?”

KIll her! Shut her up once and for all!

Her own voice screamed in her head and she wanted to do it. She could end her, silence these slanderous words against Rarity but she held on to the little control she had.

“I think she did right by killing your sister,” Tiara laughed, loving how angry she was making her nemesis, “Rarity deserved to die.”

Kill her NOW!

Everything snapped. Sweetie Belle lost the little control she had and her white burning rage burst inside her and her very body went into overdrive. Her horn began to spark and her very eyes flashed a light green instantly.

“FUCK YOU! I HAD IT!” the unicorn bellowed, making Diamond Tiara jump back in shock.

Within milliseconds, Sweetie Belle charged the pony and before Diamond Tiara could utter any type of scream, the unicorn was already on top of her and punching her face.

“Ahhh! Get off of me!” Tiara cried as her face met Sweetie Belle’s hooves.

Blood began to spurt from Diamond Tiara’s muzzle as Sweetie Belle punched harder and harder. She needed to hurt her, put her in pain, but this wasn’t enough. The more she punched and heard Diamond Tiara scream, her rage only became worse and her own voice in her head got louder.

KILL HER! SHE THINKS RARITY DESERVED TO DIE! SHE DESERVES TO DIE!

“I fucking hate you!!!!” the unicorn screeched as she slammed both her hooves at the same time against Diamond’s face, making her scream out in pain as more blood gushed out her nose.

“Stop! Stop you fucking insane bitch!” Diamond Tiara screamed as she tried to fight off the enraged Sweetie Belle but it was no use.

I think she did right by killing her....

Tiara’s words echoed in Sweetie Belle’s mind and the burning fire within her came to a whirlwind.

She had to do it.

She had slandered Rarity’s name;she said she deserved to die.

Beating her to a bloody pulp wasn’t enough. She had to silence her, end her for all the years she had tortured her and made fun of her and Applebloom.

Diamond Tiara had to die and she had to suffer.

Rage took hold of Sweetie Belle and all rational thought that could stop her from this bloody resolution was gone.

Kill her....

Immediately, the unicron summoned her saddlebag over to her with her magic and opened it. She knew exactly how to end her...

“I fucking hate you,” Sweetie Belle whispered to herself as she pulled out items out of her bag. A needle, thread, and a blue diamond levitated out of her bag and onto the ground. Rage clouded her mind, not caring about what she was going to do and who could possibly see.

It only desired one thing.

Blood.

“W..What are you doing?” Tiara coughed and sputtered amidst her bloody state. She saw the look in Sweetie Belle’s eyes and it terrified her now.

It was a little too late for realization though.

Sweetie Belle turned her head slowly and gritted her teeth so hard that it felt like her very gums were about to bleed from such force.

“I fucking hate you so much,” she said in a dark and unnatural tone, “You will never talk about Rarity ever again. Do you FUCKING HEAR ME?!” Sweetie Belle now screeched as she threw both of her hooves and grabbed Tiara’s neck and began choking her, lifting her off the ground.

Diamond gagged and choked as she tried to sputter her answer but Sweetie Belle’s grip only tightened. She couldn’t stand it any longer. She wanted this voice to be silent and gone.

“I..I hear you,” Tiara choked out as she flailed her legs in panic.

“I’m going to make sure of that,” Sweetie Belle answered and threw the mare onto the ground.

Shut her mouth...

Sweetie Belle summoned her needle and thread to her and let dark thoughts take her. There were so many ways to kill her, so many ways to end her life and make her regret ever saying anything about Rarity.

It was a shame she could only do it once.

The unicorn now lifted the broken mare off the ground and levitated her in front of her. She could see the horror in Diamond Tiara’s eyes and it brought a sick and twisted pleasure within her. Memories of how this pony belittled her and ridiculed her flooded her mind.

“S..Stop,” Tiara begged, not knowing what pain and agony Sweetie Belle was going to do to her. She had no clue that her life was only mere moments from it’s final hour. “I..I’m sorry...please stop.”

Kill her...do it!

“No,” the unicorn answered as her eyes flashed green again, “I had enough of your shit. Rarity is my sister and I won’t let anypony talk about her that way! You said she deserved to die!!”

“I..I’m sorry!” Tiara cried as blood now poured from her face and down her body from such a savage beating, “I didn’t mean it!”

Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes and tears began to pour down her face as memories of that night swarmed her mind.

“Rarity never deserved to die.I loved her and Pinkie took her from me! You said Pinkie did right by killing her!! So if you think that’s right, then it’s only right if I fucking kill you too!”

Diamond Tiara’s face went pale as she floated in mid-air in front of Sweetie Belle.

“You’re..you’re...” she looked over and noticed the needle and thread that Sweetie Belle now held with her magic, “No! No! Please, I’m sorry!”

“Too late for that,” Sweetie Belle said as she slipped the thread through the needle’s hole and brought the pointed tip close to her face.

Tears began to fall from Diamond Tiara’s face, seeing that Sweetie Belle was beyond reason.

This was no longer Sweetie Belle. This was something different and it only wanted to kill her.

“Please!” Diamond Tiara begged as she tried to struggle out of Sweetie’s magical grip, “Don’t do this! I didn’t mean any of it! I promise I won’t ever say anything about you or Rarity ever again! I just want to go home!”

She had her chance...kill her...for Rarity.

Sweetie Belle brought her face close to a terrified Tiara and whispered the final words she would ever hear.

“Rarity never deserved to die...” she positioned the needle close to Tiara’s mouth, making the mare bawl and whimper.

“You do!”

Sweetie Belle shoved the needle through both of Tiara’s lips and began to thread her mouth shut. Blood began to squirt from her lips and Tiara screamed out in sheer pain as she felt the needle pierce through her mouth in and out again. The pony only made it worse everytime she screamed, making Sweetie Belle shove it deeper. Diamond Tiara could feel the thread in her lips as it went through and came out bloody.

Only a few seconds had gone by but it seemed like eternity for this poor mare. Sweetie Belle was quick and proficient with her threading of flesh and now the screams and cries from this mare were reduced to muffles.

Sweetie Belle gazed upon her dark work. Tiara’s mouth was sewn shut and blood covered her mouth and the stitchings. Tears and snot ran down Tiara’s once pompous and clean face but Sweetie Belle wasn’t done with her.

This was not enough to silence her. She needed to erase her from existence, make her pay for all her hateful words against her dead sister.

She threw the mare to the ground with a sick crack, making one of Tiara’s forelegs bend completely backwards and making her utter a loud muffler.

Sweetie Belle now summoned the blue jewel she had in her bag and broke it into five sharp shards with her magic.

“MMMMPH!” Tiara cried as she tried to drag herself away, with a trail of blood following her with her broken foreleg but it was foolish to think that Sweetie Belle would actually let her get away.

The unicorn slowly walked over the Tiara who grunted and cried as she tried to drag herself away in the dirt.

Something inside Sweetie Belle was nagging at her, trying to stop her from ending this innocent life, but this nagging was too engulfed and lost under unbridled fury and pain. Six years, six long painful years that she had repressed and tried to keep under control. Hate, pain, and the desire for justice had now all came back up within her in full bloom and she had to channel it; take it out on this mare that she had hated for so long.

One that defiled her sister’s name.

Diamond Tiara couldn’t drag herself any faster and eventually Sweetie Belle caught up to her and now simply stood over her and stared into her terrified eyes.

Her mind began to wander and she thought about Rarity’s last moments. Looking into Tiara’s wide eyes; she could see the raw fear in them and wondered if this is what Rarity looked like. Was she full of this unspeakable fear before Pinkie killed her?

I’m not Pinkie. Pinkie killed her for no reason...I have a reason.

Her mind was clouded with rage and her logic was twisted.

What was this reason?

Rarity deserved to die...

Because she hated Diamond Tiara. She hated her for speaking Rarity’s name. She hated her for all the years of ridicule. She hated her...

Because she wanted to.

Sweetie Belle positioned four of the sharp blue shards and watched as Diamond Tiara cried and tried to beg through her stitched and bloody mouth.

She didn’t care.

With speed and precision, the four shards sped towards Tiara’s limbs. They pierced her front and back hooves and pinned her to the ground.

“MMMMMPHHH!” she cried out as she wriggled in agony. Blood began to seep from her punctures around the shards.

Sweetie Belle gently lowered herself on top of the pony and levitated the last shard into her hoof, gripping onto it’s rough texture. Her body shook for what she was about to do but she had to silence her.

Her mind was twisted and her broken heart told her she had to, as if it would make all the years worth of pain and loss go away.

“I hate you...” she whispered to a bleeding, crying, and soon to be dead Diamond Tiara.

“Mmmph mm,” Diamond Tiara sobbed as she shook her head, still trying to beg her way to some type of salvation.

“You better apologize,” Sweetie Belle said and positioned the shard in her hoof over Tiara’s left eye,”When you see my sister, you tell her you're sorry.”

“MMMPH!”

Sweetie Belle threw her hoof down and jabbed the shard into Tiara’s eye. The sound of squishy organ and hard cystal was heard as Sweetie Belle grinded it into her socket and the jewel went through her eye like butter. Diamond Tiara muffled screams were high pitched and blood and eyeball juices began to squirt in every direction. Sweetie Belle felt the hot liquids spray onto her face but it didn’t distract her. She wriggled the shard deeper and deeper and began stabbing the socket and eyeball until it became a complete mess of blood and nerves.

Finish her...make her lost moments agonizing...

Tiara screamed constantly while blood poured from her socket and only a mass of what looked like bloody sponge was left in the socket.

Sweetie Belle pulled the shard out and went for the finish. She took the sharp end and positioned it over the bloody throat of this mare that she had a burning, indescribable hate for. She had to make it painful and long. Tiara didn’t deserve a quick death.

Rarity wasn’t granted such a gift...

She slowly began to push the tip around Diamond Tiara’s throat and the mare thrashed her body around as she felt it pierce into her, but the shards that were lodged into her hooves and piercing her down to the ground wouldn’t let her escape.

She dug the tip of the jewel deeper into her throat but instead lodging it in all the way, she began to carve around it. Blood gushed and drained as Sweetie Belle meticulously carved some type of oval shape around the throat.

Wrenching pain took Diamond Tiara and one could only imagine the thoughts that were running through her mind as she endured Sweetie Belle’s torture.

Sweetie Belle completed her task and now begin to pry the piece of pink coated flesh. A sick pulling sound was heard and the more Sweetie Belle lifted up the shard, the more the carved flesh began to pry itself away from Tiara’s body. With one last tug, the piece of meat came off, followed by the gushing of blood and the choking from a slowly dying mare. Sweetie Belle wasted no time though. She jammed her hoof into the hole she carved out and gripped Diamond Tiara’s esophagus and ripped part of it out, making the mare’s body jerk and convulse in shock and suffocation.

Sweetie Belle threw the part away from her and brought her head up to meet Tiara’s eyes.

“How does it feel?! Does it hurt?! Is it painful?!” the unicorn cried as blood gurgled at the seams of Diamond Tiara’s stitched mouth, “This is how I feel every fucking day without Rarity and my parents! At least you had yours! Now you know the pain I have to feel!!!”

Hot tears poured from her face as she slowly watched the lights of Diamond Tiara’s eyes fade away and her body slowly became still in a puddle of dark blood that glistened in the moonlight.

With one last twitch, the mare’s head rolled to the side and her eyes stared out into empty space.

Diamond Tiara was finally dead. Forever, she was finally silenced and she could no longer make Sweetie Belle’s life worse than it already was.

She’s dead....

The unicorn’s breathing was hard and erratic and her heart pounded against her chest. Blood of her victim covered her and she only stared at the lifeless body.

The words repeated in her mind, their finality everlasting.

She’s dead...I killed her.

Her vision started to become slightly blurry and the rage that had blinded her to what she had done was now dissipating. Her mind became clear and was no longer consumed by the fog of hate.

“W..what...” Sweetie Belle stuttered as she looked over her bloody and dark deed. Diamond Tiara’s body laid on the ground. Shards of diamond stuck out of her hooves and dark, crimson blood poured out of the hole she carved to rip out Tiara's throat. Her eyeball was just now a bloody mess of nerves and organ.

Sweetie Belle staggered as she got up and her mind went completely blank and felt herself about to vomit.

“I...I killed her..” she now said to herself, trying to comprehend what she had just done. She had been so blinded by hate and rage that she was lost, as if she was simply gone and some type of dark evil possessed her.

Sweetie Belle bent over and hurled on the ground, not able to look at the bloody mess that she had created. Tears ran down her cheeks and her heart twisted and tried to somehow figure out what had compelled her to do such a thing.

“I killed her...” Sweetie Belle said once again a bit louder than last as she stared down at the pile of her own vomit.

She won’t ever say another word about Rarity again...

The unicorn bit her lower lip as more tears began to fall from her face and her legs became weak. Hearing her own voice in her head, her own dark voice, now frightened her. The world around her was fading out, leaving only herself and Diamond Tiara’s dead body. She looked at her front hooves and saw the blood that covered them, still wet and fresh against them.

“What have I done?!” she now screamed as she fell to her hind knees.

Her body trembled not from burning rage from earlier, but now out of shock and heart-gripping fear. What had come over her? She hated Diamond Tiara but she never wanted to kill her, but after hearing those words...

Rarity deserved to die...

Something had broken in her. All the years of pain and loss along with the hate she had harbored for the mare were unleashed in a split moment from such a poisonous sentence. All sense and civility abandoned her and now that it had came back, the realization of what she had just committed was too much to bear.

She grabbed her head, her once clean white coat now covered in her victim’s blood, and tried to somehow justify what she had done.

But there was no justification. What she had said about Rarity was wrong but it didn’t constitute death;she wasn’t like Pinkie Pie.

What have you done darling?

Sweetie Belle’s head shot up in sudden shock and looked around in the darkness that now covered her, her mind blocking out the outside world.

“R..Rarity?” she whimpered as she tried not to look at Tiara’s lifeless body.

You killed her Sweetie Belle....this isn’t what I would expect from you.

Sweetie Belle’s heart wrenched and tore itself into pieces from hearing her sister’s disapproval.

“I...I didn’t mean to! After what she said about you....I lost it!”

You’re no different from her...you are not my sister. My sister was good and pure. You darling, you are a monster...no different from Pinkie Pie.

The young white unicorn looked around even more. Why was she hearing her sister’s voice? Rarity was dead, gone, there was no way her sister would be talking to her.

Little did she realize it was her own mind, cracking and breaking from the realization of her own brutal act.

“I’m sorry Rarity! It was an accident! I’m not like this!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she held her head and looked down at the dirt, trying to somehow convince this phantom of her sister that she was not this monster.

I’m better off dead. I don’t want a sister that kills...just like Pinkie Pie.

“No! I’m not like her!”

Goodbye Sweetie Belle. You have shamed me darling. You don’t deserve the title of being called my sister.

“No!!!” Sweetie Belle screeched and slammed her front hooves on the dirt, “Rarity please! Please don’t go! Let me explain-”

Goodbye Sweetie Belle.

The mare began to sob and her head throbbed. The darkness that surrounded her faded, and the world came back into view. The dirt, the moon, the stars, and the puddle of blood that surrounded Diamond Tiara’s dead body.

“Rarity!” she screamed one last time, hoping somehow her voice would return.

Her head pounded even more and her body became weak. Her thoughts faded and and her vision blurred. She felt her body moving and with a hard thud, her head landed on the dirt and her body followed.

Everything went black for Sweetie Belle and thus her recollection of her memory ended.

Except for one gentle and deceiving voice that she would never know about....

“What have thou done child?”

(Next Part: An Old...Friend?)

Part 6

Dark Descent 2: Fall

Part 6

An Old... Friend?

Back to present...

Spike sat at the side of the bed, his eyes wide in disbelief as he listened to Sweetie Belle’s terrible recollection. For so long he had thought Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark somehow represented some type of connection to Rarity since she had the three diamonds just like her sister’s, and the blood that covered them was a symbol of that connection being taken away from her.

This was just a theory he had; a theory proven wrong now.

Her cutie mark was a symbol of her deed, a constant reminder of the life that she so brutally took.

“I woke up,” Sweetie Belle said as she tried to finish her story, though it was becoming more and more difficult for the mare. She saw how shocked her dragon was and she could only imagine what Spike was thinking.

“I woke up and looked for her body... but I didn’t find it.”

Spike looked at Sweetie Belle in confusion.

“You didn’t find it? But how?” Spike asked, trying to keep his composure as calm as possible.

“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle answered as she looked down at the bed sheets, “I looked everywhere for her body, but I just couldn’t find it Spike. There was...”, she paused for a moment.

Spike could see how hard this was for Sweetie Belle to tell all this to him but he couldn’t let her stop now. He needed to hear all of what she had held so long to.

“Was what? What was there?”

Sweetie Belle looked up at him with held back tears.

“There was nothing. No body, no blood, just nothing. It was like it never happened.”

It made sense to Spike but it also didn’t make any type of sense at the same time. When Diamond Tiara was reported missing, everypony, including Sweetie Belle, had helped look for her. They looked in Ponyville and had even ventured out in the Everfree Forest to see if she was there but there was no sign of her or any indication of foul play.

But somepony had to have known. If she killed her, then who would take the body and cover it up?

“But if you didn’t take her body, then who would? Who would cover it up and not say anything?” Spike persisted.

“I don’t know!” Sweetie Belle snapped at him, making the dragon jerk back a bit, “I just know I...I killed her.”

The held back tears that the mare had been holding back began to slowly trickle down her face and her voice became suddenly weak.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to snap like that.”

Never before had Spike seen his marefriend in such a confusing and painful state. She was a mix of pain, anger, regret, and sadness. It was obvious that she regretted what she did but Spike couldn’t help but ask himself one question.

Would I have done the same?

What if Diamond Tiara had said such cruel things about Rarity to him? Would he had taken the same course of action? Half of him said that he wouldn’t and that Sweetie Belle wasn’t justified in what she did. Taking a life could never be justified, but then there was the other half that completely said the exact opposite.

Diamond Tiara deserved what she got.

He couldn’t help but feel that the mare got what was coming to her. Sweetie Belle had to deal with her petty bullying for years and then to come out and say that Rarity deserved to die? This half of him could see himself killing Diamond Tiara for doing something like that... and possibly doing worse than what Sweetie Belle did.

“Sweetie Belle... I don’t blame you,” Spike said, making the mare look at him with shock, “I can’t say that I would do the same, but I’m not sure either.”

“What do you mean?” she asked weakly.

Spike sighed, not knowing what he should be saying or feeling right now and all he could do was be honest.

“I mean that I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same either. What she said; she should’ve never said what she did about Rarity, but the way you...”

He didn’t want to say it. Trying to imagine his lover actually killing somepony was hard in itself, but to actually say what she did was even harder for him.

“You think I’m a monster, don’t you?” Sweetie Belle asked as more tears fell.

Many would say yes, that she was a monster and probably deserved nothing but scorn and punishment, but he didn’t see that. Instead, he saw Sweetie Belle, the pony he grew to love, the mare that he would do anything for.

But maybe it was his love for her that was making him blind to see the severity of what she had done.

“Sweetie Belle, I don’t see you as that. I still love you and what you did... well... we all make mistakes.”

“It’s not just a simple mistake Spike!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she now clenched the sheets and gritted her teeth through a barrage of tears, “I killed her! Don’t you understand that?!”

“I do,” he said calmly.

“Then why aren’t you mad at me?!"

Spike scooted over to Sweetie Belle and looked her straight into her watery eyes. She expected for him to scorn her and damn her for killing Diamond Tiara but instead he was doing the opposite; he was understanding and still loving.

“Because I can’t be. Even if I tried... I really can’t. What you did was... understandable... and I don’t see you as any different. What you did doesn't define you.”

Sweetie Belle looked at Spike for a moment in disbelief but soon turned into a weak smile. She went into his embrace and hugged him.

“Spike...” was all she could say now as they both held each other.

No more words needed to be said.

DD2

Later that night, Twilight and Pinkie’s room...

“It’s not your fault Twilight. Spike really likes her and it would be kind of mean to say no,” Pinkie Pie said with a gentle smile as she sat on the side of their bed.

“No, it was my fault. I gave him the okay to do it and looked what that caused,” Twilight said in annoyance, sitting on the other side.

She wasn't annoyed with Pinkie, seeing that her pink mare was simply trying to comfort her, but annoyed with herself. Twilight repeated over and over in her head that she should’ve said no and hated the fact that she didn’t go with her first thought.

All she wanted was a normal day, a day without the memories and the constant reminder of Luna being on the watch for them but it seemed she couldn’t even manage that. Even when she tried her hardest, she yet still failed to do such a simple task.

Pinkie Pie grimaced a bit, trying her hardest to cheer her marefriend up a bit but it wasn’t proving to be the best.

“But Spike loves her. Like, if somepony said I couldn’t give you a present and I reeeeally wanted to give it to you, then I would still do it.”

But Pinkie Pie didn’t understand and Twilight simply waved off her assurance. Regardless if Spike was adamant about giving Sweetie Belle that ruby, it still wasn’t worth the pain that she must’ve made Sweetie Belle remember.

“But not at her expense Pinkie,” Twilight said as she turned to meet party pony’s gaze, “I should’ve said no to prevent all this but instead I ruined her day.”

Pinkie let out a soft sigh, seeing that her efforts were futile.

“Well then maybe just talk to her in the morning about it Twilight. Work it out and just tell her that you didn’t mean any harm by allowing it.”

Twilight wish it was that simple but this wasn’t like working out some type of friendship problem like she used to when she was younger. Those were easy to work with compared to now...especially when it was a topic about a dead sister.

“I appreciate you trying to help Pinkie but I screwed up and that’s all there is to it. I’ll talk to her but I think it’s best that I just give her space for now. I think the last thing she wants to do early in the morning is talk about Rarity.”

Pinkie simply nodded with a frown.

“If you say so I guess.”

“Besides,” Twilight began, now throwing her whole body onto the bed and looking up at the ceiling, “I have to get back working on Rebris anyways. If there’s one thing I can do right, that would be research.”

“Do you mean right now? It’s late,” Pinkie informed, hoping that Twilight wasn’t going to be doing another all nighter like she had in the past concerning that detested trinket.

It would get my mind off things...

As ironic as it was, studying Rebris right now would actually help.

But it will put your mind in worse places Twilight.

Twilight ignored her inner companion. She knew that studying Rebris would only make her mind go from thinking about what she had done to Sweetie Belle to what she wanted to do to Luna.

But she rather have that. As twisted as it was, thinking about the ways she wanted to kill and torture Luna comforted her. Her dark fantasies seem to be the only way her mind ever came to peace within itself now.

But Pinkie Pie...

Twilight was also fully aware why Pinkie was telling her it was late. It was no hidden secret that Pinkie hated when Twilight studied Rebris for hours on end but Pinkie didn’t know now how imperative it was that she figured out the damned gem. Luna was looking and time was now against them.

The longer she took with Rebris, the closer Luna would get to them, and the closer she got, the closer their lives would come to an end.

“I know it’s late Pinkie but I can sleep later,” Twilight said with a firmness in her tone as she got up from the bed.

Pinkie made a more than audible huff at her answer.

“Twilight, I really wish you would just get some sleep at least. You’ve been working since this morning to get Sweetie Belle’s party set up-”

“Which I ruined, so it was a waste,” Twilight interjected.

Pinkie frowned a bit more but continued with her plea.

“But maybe you’re just a bit cranky since you don’t really sleep that much.”

Twilight wish it was just that but thinking about today’s events; Shining Armor and the reports of dead families, Spike and his gift, and Sweetie Belle yelling at her were all taking it’s toll.

She was simply fed up and her only remedy for it right now was to work on the necklace and hopefully unlock its secrets.

“I just need to do some research is all, then I’ll feel better,” Twilight stated flatly as she made her way to her desk that was covered in books, parchment, quills, and ink.

Pinkie Pie got up and walked over to Twilight, still not wanting to give up and let the unicorn attend her desired task.

“Twilight please, just get some rest for tonight. You can study that thing tomorrow. Or if you don’t want to sleep, maybe you and I could drink some cider tonight and have some fun,” Pinkie suggested with a weak smile, now resorting to her last option to somehow stop the mare.

Twilight cleared off her desk and looked over to Pinkie and her awkward smiling self. Twilight couldn’t help but let a small smile escape her, seeing how hard Pinkie was trying to keep her from staying up...even if that meant using sex as a means to keep her from Rebris.

The unicorn gave the pink mare a small peck on the mouth.

“It sounds fun Pinkie but I’m really not in the mood for that tonight. I just really want to work...sorry.”

Pinkie hung her head in defeat a bit and finally gave in.

“Okay...fine.” She looked back up to Twilight, “Just promise that you will at least get some sleep tonight, okay?”

Twilight nodded her head, though she wasn’t too sure if she would uphold that promise. With even more pressure added on, thanks to the information that her brother had given her about Luna, she didn’t know if she really could afford sleep at this point.

Either way, she didn’t want to discuss this anymore with Pinkie.

“I will Pinkie,” Twilight said with a small smile, trying to reassure her pink mare.

Pinkie Pie eyed her for a few moments before returning the smile.

“Okie dokie lokie then,” Pinkie chimed, “Then I'll just go to bed and wait for you.”

Pinkie began to hop away and prepare herself for bed as Twilight now pulled out her desk chair and plopped her rump on it. Her horn lit up and levitated a quill and parchment in front of her amid the clutter. She then began to levitate Rebris out of the clutter and eyed the trinket.

The gold chain still had its luster and the black gem still had what looked likes some type of swirling smoke inside it. She set the necklace down onto the desk gently and stared deep into the hypnotizing black swirl. It looked like some type of storm was going on inside the jewel. These weren’t gentle swirls of black smoke but they seemed fast and aggressive, almost chaotic with no order in the way they swirled.

I will figure you out. I will get my friends back and I will kill Luna. This all happened because of you...now you’re going to help me finish it...somehow.

“Hey Twilight?”

Twilight broke herself from the hypnotizing pattern and brought her attention back to Pinkie. Hopefully it wasn’t more protest about her getting some rest.

“Yeah Pinkie? I thought you were getting ready to get in bed?”

Pinkie Pie hopped back over to Twilight’s desk, her pink mane and tail bouncing in the air along with her.

“My silly brain just remembered that I have to get more tape because I used all of it to hang up the streamers for today, so just wanted to tell you that I’m going to go out to the store real quick and get some...soooo....”

“So you need me to cast the transfiguration spell on you,” Twilight finished.

“Yep!”

Well...at least that gives me time alone I suppose.

It was one thing when her brother and his wife went out. They had friends out here and those friends made sure that they would stay safe but for Pinkie Pie and herself, they couldn’t allow themselves to trust anypony.. They had to keep themselves out of sight as they both knew that Luna had eyes everywhere.

Twilight got up from her chair so she could cast the spell quickly.

“Alright, stay still Pinkie.”

Pinkie obeyed and stiffened her body like some type of statue.

Twilight concentrated for a moment and her horn glowed a warm purplish aura. A stream of sparkling magic started to seep out of it and floated over to Pinkie and engulfed her body. Slowly it swirled around the party pony. This continued for a few seconds longer as Twilight concentrated on what she wanted done until the swirling magic began to dissipate.

Pinkie opened her eyes and looked over herself.

“Hey...it didn’t work.”

Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, seeing that Pinkie still didn’t get what the spell actually did. It was a transfiguration spell but it was a very clever one. Twilight had designed the spell to where it would only make Pinkie look like a different pony to everyone else except herself and the caster. If Shining or Spike would see her now, she would look different.

“Don’t worry Pinkie. This will keep you hidden and no pony will notice you. Just remember, it only has an hour limit so don’t take too long,” Twilight cautioned.

“Don’t worry silly, I’m just getting tape,” Pinke assured and gave a peck on Twilight’s cheek, “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Twilight answered. Pinkie barely went out as it was and when she did, she was always quick about it.

So why was Twilight making sure Pinkie understood that she needed to be quick?

It was Pinkie Pie, that’s why.

“Do you need anything before I go?” Pinkie asked as she made her way to the bedroom door.

Twilight shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just be right here. Just hurry back okay?”

Pinkie Pie nodded with a smile and opened the bedroom door and made her way downstairs, leaving Twilight now in her own solace.

Can’t believe we been reduced down to using transfiguration spells just to get tape...

You do what is required Twilight.

Twilight went back over to her desk and sat down.

No, what I do is so we can survive and not get killed, not what’s required.

The unicorn scooted back into her desk and simply stared at Rebris that laid idly in the middle of everything, wondering why they had to live like this. Why did they have to live in constant fear and watch even their most simple moves? Pinkie simply wanted to get more tape and here she was constantly reminding her of the time limit on the spell and to be quick...but she had to. Twilight didn’t know what she would do if somehow Luna found Pinkie simply because she neglected to remind her lover of how dangerous it was for them now to go out.

Then tell me, what is required?

Twilight sighed, knowing that her companion already knew the answer.

You already know what I think is required.

I do and I can tell you that what you want and what is necessary are two different things Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight scrunched her muzzle in slight dismay.

We been hiding for a month and while we just sit here, Luna is out killing entire families and Celestia knows what else. We should come AFTER her and stop her as quickly as possible.

And why is that?

Because if we don’t, she will take Equestria straight to hell.

Twilight already failed once in stopping her and because of it, Luna now held the throne and was free to do whatever she wished. The mare knew it was her fault, regardless of what Pinkie or her brother had told her.

She had to rectify such failure.

Or is it you are just so consumed by vengeance and regret that you want to kill Luna? Is it really for the good of Equestria...or for yourself?

Twilight clenched her hoof around Rebris, trying to act as if she just didn’t hear such a comment.

I have work to do...

Was it really for Equestria? Did she want to stop Luna because of the lives that she had taken not just from her, but from others that now suffered? Was it to save Equestria from the destruction that Luna would bring upon it?

Or was it for herself? Maybe she didn’t really care for the lives that Luna had taken, but what Luna took from her. Perhaps Twilight didn’t care if Equestria burned around her. Maybe as long as she had Luna’s corpse under her hooves, everything else could suffer?

She wasn’t sure what the answer was but only knew that Luna’s death would surely end it all.

But for now, she had to get past Rebris first before anything.

Twilight stared back into the jewel and it’s chaotic swirls of black smoke. Her eyes followed the spinning smoke over and over again. It was entrancing to say the least. She had seen many magical artifacts in her time with her late mentor but Rebris simply boggled her mind. Twilight didn’t understand it, nor really comprehend what its purpose was .

One thing was certain though: Luna wanted it to ascend to some type of being that was beyond a god.

Twilight turned the necklace over as she now pondered something.

Why would Luna go this far just to obtain power? She was one of the..

She stopped and bit her tongue for a moment.

She’s the most powerful pony there is now...why go farther? What makes her think that she needs more?

It was always that question of why. Why did Luna want so much power? Twilight thought back to the first time she met Luna after ridding her of Nightmare Moon. She recalled how awkward and out of place Luna felt and her desire to simply make friends. She wasn’t full of malice and never showed any signs of one who was hungry for power and control.

It didn’t matter though...not anymore. The question of why would be answered during the alicorn’s final moments. Twilight would make sure of that.

The mare brought her attention back to Rebris once more. She ran her hoof across its jagged texture. It felt cold, though inside her room was plenty warm. Her eyes came back to the black swirls and suddenly noticed that they weren’t fast and disorganized from earlier, but now slow and calm. She brought her face close, trying to see what caused this sudden change but all her eyes could do was follow the swirls as something whispered.

Al fine, c'è caos e nel caos, c'è ordine...

She heard the small voice whisper in her head but her mind couldn’t comprehend it.Watching the slow swirls of black smoke seem to slowly pacify her mind, making it calm and blank while the voice that spoke soothed her. All she wanted to do was watch the black swirls inside the black jewel.

Al fine, c'è caos e nel caos, c'è ordine...

The whisper repeated the same, unknown phrase. Twilight began to feel a comfortable warm sensation fill her body, making her relax. Her head began to feel light and her purple eyes began to flutter.

Al fine, c'è caos e nel caos, c'è ordine...

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and the phrase from this unknown, gentle voice filled her mind. With a soft thud, the unicorn laid her head on her desk and the world around her faded out. The soothing darkness took her and sent her off into blissful sleep.

DD2

“Wake up Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight felt a light wind brush across her face. It felt hot and dry and she felt particles of dust or rock lightly pelt her face

“I said wake up,” the voice commanded.

She slowly began to open her eyes but quickly closed them as a bright, dark red light blinded her.
The mare took a breath but quickly began coughing, as the air was too rough and it was so dry that it felt like it was choking her.

“Wake up Twilight. You and I have much to talk about,” the voice said with a lower tone.

Again, she slowly opened her eyes, careful to let her pupils take in the red light that seemed to hang over her. Within a few seconds that seemed like eternity for her, her eyes were fully open and she saw what this red light was that.

The sun?

The sky was a blood red with very few clouds and the sun shared a darker, bloodier red. Along the burning stars surface was several, burning orange cracks across it. Her body felt hot from the heat and she figured that explained why the air was so arid.

“You need to get up Twilight. We must talk.”

Twilight slowly got up on all fours, trying to control her breathing. She looked around to see who was speaking to her but all she found was dirt and burnt rock. There was no pony or any type of civilization to be seen for miles.

This land was desolate and burned.

What the-? Where am I?

Twilight looked around some more but all she saw was nothing but rock and ash. There was no life, not even a blade of grass, that seemed to to make itself present. There was nothing she noticed about this place to tell where she was.

“Your dream. Where else would you be when one falls asleep?”

“Huh?” Twilight said in surprise.

I was looking at Rebris...I fell asleep?

“Yes, just as I wanted,” the voice answered, making the mare jump a bit.

Twilight turned her entire body, trying to look for who was speaking with her and how they knew her thoughts. There was only one who knew the things she thought about and that was the Element of Magic that resided in her but this was not the wise, gentle voice of it. This voice sounded much younger, more energetic, but she could sense that there was something underneath the voice that made her uneasy for some reason.

“What do you mean? Who are you?” she asked out into the open as wind and dust swirled.

“Oh come now Twilight, you surely know who I am. It hasn't been that long has it?” the voice echoed as the wind calmed down a bit.

Her heart began to pound against her chest and she felt her insides turn and twist. The voice was somewhat low and she noticed the darkness it held. She had heard this particular voice before but she couldn’t remember when or where.

“I...I don’t know who you are. Show yourself and then maybe I will,” Twilight answered to what almost sounded like a plea of some sort.

As if on cue, the wind suddenly died out and the ash and dust that danced within it was gone. A bright white light flashed out in the distance but the intensity of it made Twilight throw her forelegs up to protect her eyes before it blinded her.

“What the hell?” she said as the light became brighter and brighter.

“If you insist,” the voice replied.

Then the light was gone.

Twilight slowly lowered her forelegs, noticing that the bright white light had instantly disappeared. She set her legs down and the sight of barren and burnt land was gone. Instead, it was now replaced by something completely different.

“My dream...my dream from last night.”

She noticed the hill she was now on and the lush green grass that swayed and brushed against her legs with gentle passing. More importantly, she noticed that she could see the entirety of Equestria under the red sun and sky that hung over it. Canterlot stood in all its glory while Ponyville sat idle and peaceful. There was life and Equestria seemed to be buzzing with it, contrary to what she had seen moments ago.

“Nice view isn’t it?”

Twilight immediately turned around. Her eyes met a pair of red seething ones that seemed to burn like fire and without pause, she knew now why this voice was so familiar.

No...no not him!

The figure’s body was covered in some type of black moving smoke that acted like it’s coat. Its pupils were burning red, and the white of it’s eyes wasn’t white but black. Its mane was short but billowed like flame, the figures tail following suit. Its face held the same features of any normal pony but there was no mouth.

She knew now why this voice was so familiar as she slowly backed away from it. She now knew why her body felt wary and uneasy and its visage only confirmed of why she was like that.

“You’re him...from that dream after I brought Pinkie to Ponyvillle,” Twilight whispered in blood cold fear, “You put me in chains. You tortured me and...and...”

Her hoof went over her stomach as she remembered exactly what happened at the end of that horrid nightmare.

“I showed you what you are Twilight,” the dark figure said coolly, “But now you remember me, don’t you?”

She nodded as she backed away more and her body went freezing cold.

“Malum...your name is Malum.”.

He nodded his head, seemingly pleased with this answer.

“Very good. It seems I made a good impression last time we met,” Malum said in a taunting voice.

Good impression was an understatement. Twilight couldn’t help but let her fear consume her. Malum stood before her and his very presence made her fur stand up on her neck and she now only wanted to run and wake up before he did whatever he planned for her.

“W..why are you here?” Twilight asked, fearing of what that answer would be.

“Calm yourself Twilight,” Malum chuckled darkly, “I’m not here for what you think. I simply want to talk.”

Talk? Why would he, the embodiment of everything ill within her, would want to simply talk now? She couldn’t break her mind from that terrible nightmare and all she could believe was that he only wanted to torture her and make her scream for death just as she did last time.

“Why would you want to talk?!” She exclaimed, trying to not break under such intense fear of him, “Because as far as I’m concerned, we have nothing to talk about!”

Malum’s eyes burned a bit brighter but he didn’t move from his still position.

“Because I want to help...just as I always have. That’s all I-”

“Bullshit!” Twilight yelled back, “How is torturing and making that...that...thing rip out of me help me?! The Element of Magic already told me what you really want to do to me. It told-!”

“Enough!” Malum bellowed, making Twilight immediately cower, “You speak as if you know so much when in reality you know so little,” he sneered.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked weakly, careful now not to induce this monsters rage.

“I know exactly, what you call the Element of Magic, has said about me and it’s amusing to see how readily you are to believe everything it says considering everything you been through. It says that I want control of you but yet, it has no idea of what my true intention is.”

Twilight recalled what the Element of Magic had said to her after fighting Luna and before being impaled by the regal. The voice that told her to kill Luna and make her suffer, even to the point of making Twilight say things that was not of her, was Malum, and it told her that he was no simple figment of a dream but something that was actually real within her. He wanted to control her and use her for his own dark purposes, though not even her element knew what those dark purposes were.

“Then what do you want from me then? If that’s not your intention as you say, then why do what you did last time? Why were you there and speaking to me while I was fighting Luna?”

“As I said before, I only want to help you. You may question my methods and I will admit that our last meeting was a bit...” Malum began to chuckle softly, “Messy, but it was all to help and prepare you.”

Twilight didn’t see how this was making sense. How was torturing and making one beg for death a way to help or prepare someone? She didn’t believe a word he was saying but she didn’t make it known. She wanted to see what he wanted from her and maybe understand better what he truly was and why he was back.

“You still didn’t answer my question. What do you want from me if you say you’re trying to help me?”

Malum stood silent for a moment before he spoke.

“I only want you to listen. Nothing less and nothing more. I tried offering you power but you refused it last time. Now that you have seen how far your power gets you, maybe you will understand why you need mine.”

He looked out over Equestria, as if he was trying to admire the view.

“Maybe you can deliver the salvation needed for this land and succeed where I have failed,” he whispered, seemingly forgetting that Twilight was there.

What is he talking about? Succeed where he failed?

The gears in her mind began to grind against each other as she tried to comprehend what Malum was musing about. He spoke of preparation and her succeeding where he had failed and by the way he looked, it almost seemed like he was speaking of saving Equestria.

But he’s just...no...no that can’t be.

Her fear was replaced now by a sudden curiosity and she asked the question.

“Were you...were you an actual pony?”

Malum turned to her with his glowing red eyes and simply nodded.

“Many millennia ago, yes. I was just as real as you..fighting for a cause that I once thought was right, but that was a long time ago. It was through your hate and rage that I have come and now want to help you with your endeavor.”

Twilight kept her mouth from dropping but the shock was apparent. Malum wasn’t only some type of embodiment or entity, but was he an actual pony once.

But then why was he living within her mind? She didn’t understand how that could be if he lived milleniums ago.

“But how? How are you here with me and-”

But he silenced with the raising of his dark hoof.

“I don’t have time for such questions Twilight Sparkle. Just know that I am here to help and I only ask that you accept it.”

“What kind of help?” Twilight asked, though inside she felt like she shouldn’t be indulging in Malum’s offer.

But now she was more interested in him than scared. She didn’t let her guard down but it was that characteristic of her; her hunger for knowledge that now wanted to know more.

Malum began walking towards her but she didn’t move. She only watched as he came to her and looked her straight in the eyes, almost muzzle to muzzle.

“I know the secrets that are kept from you Twilight. I know the world’s evil that surrounds you and I know the goddess that wants your life.” He came closer and brought his face close to her ear.

“I know how to bring your friends back Twilight,” he whispered in his dark tone, “ And I know how to unlock Rebris and deliver your revenge against Luna.”

Her heart stopped and she stopped breathing. Did Malum really know the secrets of Rebris and knew how to get her friends back?

He’s lying...he’s trying to trick me somehow.

Malum backed his face away and stared at her once more and laughed a bit.

“Is that what you think? You think that I would lie about such things when I myself have went through the same and worse?”

Twilight looked at him but she didn’t know what to think. Malum had tortured her and done things that she herself thought were not possible and now he was telling her that he knew of Rebris and how to use it?

“How do you know of Rebris? How would you know how to bring my friends back?”

Malum turned away from her and walked away until he stopped at a lonely tree that sat on the hill.

“I was there Twilight. I saw how Rebris was created and I know the true purpose of it. Now, if you choose not to believe me,” he turned back to her, “Then I can guarantee that you will fail once again and you and anyone that sided with you will share the same fate.”

Twilight gritted her teeth hearing such bold words.

“I won’t let that happen.”

Malum scoffed at her.

“You already let it happen once already Twilight! You failed to kill Luna when you had the chance, refused to use the power that I have offered you, and in turn, almost got yourself killed. Not to mention-”

“Don’t say it...” Twilight interrupted, knowing exactly where this was going.

Malum simply cocked his head.

“Does it make you angry Twilight? I know how you can’t accept the fact that your mentor is dead because of you.”

A shot of anger and pain spiked through her heart hearing that Celestia’s death was her fault and she gritted her teeth even more.

“It wasn’t my fault...she died-”

“She died because of you,” Malum proclaimed, pointing his hoof at her, “If you wouldn’t had been so damn weak, she would be alive and you would have your friends back! Instead, you hide and cower as Luna comes for you. Every life that is taken now is because of you Twilight and if you don’t kill her then all this,” Malum motioned his hoof towards the view of Equestria.

Twilight followed and looked out to see Equestria. The scene of peace and life that she had seen only several moments was now gone. Everything was now burning in flames and she could hear the screams of ponies throughout the land.

“No!” she yelled as she ran to the side of the hill.

“All of this will be because of you,” Malum said calmly as he now appeared by her side.

Tears begun to fall from her face as she looked out to a burning Equestria. She knew this was just a dream and none of this was real but it still broke her to see her beloved home burn while everypony suffered.

“But you can stop it. You can prevent such a fate...with my help.”

Twilight looked over to Malum with teary eyes as he looked out to the fire and smoke.

“How do I do it? How do I bring my friends back?” she begged, now desperate to know if this dark pony really knew how to use Rebris.

Malum looked over to her and though he had no mouth, Twilight could see that he was happy with her question. She could feel the pleasure he took in it.

“You will learn through my story Twilight. As I have said, the only thing I need from you is to listen to me and in turn, I will tell you how to get your friends back so you may kill Luna once and for all..but this is not the time...not yet.”

“What?!” she exclaimed, “I thought you said you wanted to talk? I’ll listen to what you have to say, just tell me how I bring my friends back!”

Twilight was desperate. The scene of Equestria burning and knowing that the truth was that Celestia’s death was ultimately her fault drove her to the point that she was now willing to listen to whatever Malum had to tell her. All the nights she had studied Rebris during the past month never got her any closer to figuring the damned artifact and now she was now being teased with the prospect of finally figuring it out.

Malum put his cold hoof up to Twilight’s face and began to stroke her cheek.

“You will learn Twilight...”

In an instant, Malum bursted into a plume of black smoke, making Twilight reel back and look around for him.

“Wait! Don’t go, not yet!”

What was she saying? Before she wanted nothing to do with this figure but now she was calling out to him, telling him not to go.

“We will speak again Twilight and I will tell you my story then. For now, it’s time that you wake and help your lover.”

Twilight scrunched her face in confusion and the world around her began to melt away.

“What are you talking about?! Pinkie Pie?! You’re not making any sense!” Twilight yelled out into the melting void.

Malum’s laugh echoed and everything began to fade away. Twilight felt herself beginning to fade and she knew that she was slowly waking up, but she needed to know. Her desire and desperation to know Rebris had hold of her.

“Tell me! Tell me about Rebris! Help me make sense of all this!” she cried out one last time but she faded away and all that was left was a black void and her dream came to an end, for Pinkie Pie needed her help.

But Malum spoke one last thing after she faded away.

Now Twilight...

What fun is there in making sense?

(Next Part: Taste The Blood)

Part 7-1

Dark Descent II: Fall

Part 7-1

Taste The Blood

“No! Wait!”

Twilight Sparkle’s body flew straight up and her eyes shot open as she screamed her final words to Malum. Her head swiveled, taking in the change of environment around her. She was back in her room which was now dimly lit by only a few candles.

“Damn it,” she whispered to herself, now realizing that she was too late

Her attention quickly went back to her desk and her eyes frantically searched her work area for a certain treasured trinket. Her eyes caught a glimpse of a gold chain and without pause Twilight shoved the parchment that was obscuring Rebris away and held the item in her hoof, looking into it as she did before she fell asleep.

The black smoke that once was peaceful within the black gem was no longer calm, but back to its chaotic and frantic spinning. Twilight sighed and laid the necklace back down on her desk and she leaned back in her chair, letting her head hang back and rubbing one of her temples with her hoof.

He knows...he knows how to unlock Rebris. My friends and Luna...he knows it all.

Twilight’s mind replayed her dream like a broken record. Malum teased her with the prospect of Rebris and the hope of bringing her friends back but what she still didn’t understand was why. Why would Malum want to help her? More importantly, something else that now gripped the unicorn’s frantic mind, Malum wasn’t just some entity within her like the Element of Magic.

He was real, just as real as her at one time many years ago. She was boggled of how this pony was living within her mind but she couldn’t help her curiosity of now knowing more about him. She searched the recesses of her mind and recalled the many history texts she had read in her years but couldn’t remember one that mentioned anything about a character named Malum.

Maybe you can succeed where I have failed.

“Did this happen before?” she whispered in open thought.

She saw how Malum looked out over Equestria and saw what almost looked like pity. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder if this Malum, whoever he was in history, went through the same thing that she was now dealing with. Did he have to contend with a goddess? She didn’t know and it only pushed the notion to learn more about him even more.

As much as she hated to admit inside, she now wanted to talk to him more. She needed to know more about him and what role he somehow played in all this with Rebris.

We will speak again Twilight and I will tell you my story then. For now, it’s time that you wake and help your lover.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight exclaimed, now suddenly remembering the warning Malum had given.

The unicorn jumped from her seat and looked over to her bed, scanning it quickly to see if there was any sign of a pink equine body within the dim light but there was none. Her eyes now went straight to the clock that hung on their wall.

1:00 A.M.

“Shit! I been asleep for three hours!”

Twilight’s heart pounded and her body turned to ice. She remembered that Pinkie Pie had to go out and get tape and she put a transfiguration spell on her, but that was three hours ago. The spell only lasted an hour and Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen in the room.

Oh no! Please no!

Twilight’s mind screamed as she quickly scrambled around the room looking for a bouncy pink mane. She dashed over to the bathroom door in their room and opened it, hoping that maybe Pinkie was maybe getting a cup of water or something in there.

But the pink mare was nowhere to be seen.

Terrible thoughts of what could’ve happened to her lover began to run rampant in the unicorn’s mind, but the prospect of her greatest fear is what scared her the most.

No, no! There’s no-Luna couldn’t have...

Twilight bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind for a few seconds. She needed some type of clarity in her brain so she could somehow think rationally about all this.

Downstairs Twilight. Check downstairs.

Her mental companion was right. Maybe Pinkie was simply downstairs getting a late night snack or something of the sort, but Twilight needed to know it was just that, as she was trying her hardest to keep the worst possibility out of her head; Luna.

Twilight didn’t hesitate and quickly made her way out of the room and down the stairs. She entered the pitch black living room but her eyes couldn’t make out anything. Her hoof began to search the wall beside her, looking for the light switch.

C’mon! Where is it?!

Her hoof searched the wall but she couldn’t find the switch, but instead found something else. There was something wet and warm and made Twilight stop in sudden bafflement. She slowly brought her hoof away from the wall and could feel that whatever she just touched was now on it.

“What the-?” she whispered.

Twilight didn’t know what substance was on her hoof but something about it felt...familiar. Resolving that the light switch was taking too much time, she turned to her magic and within seconds, the very tip of her horn was now engulfed in a small ball of purple light. She put out her front hoof to see what she had touched.

“N..n..no,” Twilight stammered as she now realized why this feeling was so familiar.

Blood covered her entire hoof and all Twilight could do was stare in bewilderment and sudden terror at it. It shimmered in her artificial light and she could see the dark crimson tinge this blood had. It felt thick but watery all at the same time and the unicorn’s mind went into a total blur of fear for her lover.

“Pinkie?” she called out softly and taking her attention off her hoof. She needed to find Pinkie and hope to her late mentor that this blood didn’t belong to her.

Then again, if it didn’t, then who?

“Pinkie Pie? Are you here?”

There was no answer. Twilight pointed her horn toward the wall, now desperately needing more light. Her horn glowed against the white surface and her eyes scanned it until she found a small switch. She flipped it on and the light that hung in the center of the living room flickered on, now revealing to Twilight’s horror what was going on.

The wall was covered in blood with hoof prints and red stains covered the carpet. Twilight’s eyes were as wide as globes as she saw what was in the mess of red against the wall.

I’m a bad pony was written on the wall with the blood and Twilight knew immediately just by how it was written that Pinkie Pie had did it.

What happened?! Is she hurt?!

“Pinkie Pie!” she now yelled in the apartment as fear took hold of her, now not caring about the others that were still asleep upstairs.

There was a small murmur and Twilight’s ears perked up. She looked over to where the faint sound had come from and started to make her way to the kitchen.

“Pinkie Pie? Are you in here?” Twilight said as she slowly went into the kitchen and flipped on the light.

“Twilight...” a weak voice answered back.

Twilight looked over near the counter and sink and her answer was finally answered, but the sight before her made her entire body go pale.

Puddles of blood covered the tiled floor and the walls that used to be an immaculate white were now defiled with bloody hoofprints and the message of I’m a bad pony were written multiple times.

But this was not what had the unicorns heart at a complete halt.

Pinkie Pie stood next to the sink and her body was covered in the sacred liquid. Her fur was caked with crimson blood and her mane and tail were flat. Bruises littered the mares appearance Twilight noticed that her marefriends coat wasn’t just covered in blood, but also a darker shade of her usual bright pink coat.

“I’m a bad pony,” Pinkie Pie whispered to herself.

“P..Pinkie Pie...what happened?” Twilight stuttered but didn’t move towards the mare.

Pinkie Pie turned her head slowly towards Twilight. Tears ran down her face and blood covered her face. Her eyes weren’t the bright blue but were something completely different. Both pupils of her eyes were dilated but they were both different colors. One eye was a faded blue, a former shade of the bright ones that Twilight knew, while the other one was a dark, burning red. Simply looking into that one eye made Twilight shudder.

“Twilight...I’m a bad pony,” Pinkie repeated.

Her voice was weak but there was a hidden darkness to it. It sounded desperate but also maniacal in its own form.

“What are you talking about Pinkie?” Twilight asked gently, careful not to somehow distress her lover more than she obviously was right now.

Something had happened and Twilight now wanted more than anything else to figure out what but she needed to calm Pinkie. She could see the pony trembling violently and she seemed distant, as if in another world of some sort.

“I..I can’t do it. I don’t want her as my friend,” Pinkie said a bit louder and she began to cry more, “I...I’m not her; not a monster.”

“Pinkie, take it easy. Just...just calm down,” Twilight stammered and made her way very slowly to her, but inside she was terrified; she had never seen Pinkie this way.

“I-they were going to hurt me. I didn’t-I was scared. I’m a bad pony.”

Twilight continued her way to the bloody mare but something inside was trying to hold her back. She was frightened seeing Pinkie in this state, whatever it was.

“Just calm down Pinkie. I’m...I’m here.”

“No,” Pinkie said, “Bad ponies get punished.”

Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks. Pinkie brought up one of her hooves and in it was a gleaming butcher knife. The blood soaked Pinkie took the blade and put it up to her throat, now letting more tears escape her.

“Bad ponies need to be punished,” Pinkie said again but with a small, unnatural laugh.

“Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed, seeing what her lover was about to do, “What are you doing?! Put that knife down!”

Twilight saw Pinkie tighten her grip around the handle of the weapon.

“Twilight...bad ponies get punished,” Pinkie replied and looked into the unicorns eyes.

She stared back at Pinkie and felt the burning red eye stare into her very core. Her body trembled and her mind was static. Her marefriend stood in front of her with a knife to her own throat, ready to take her own life.

Twilight! Stop her!

But she didn’t move. She was frozen to the ground and at a loss of why her lover was in this state and ready to cut her own neck.

“Pinkie. Put the knife down. Talk to me...please,” Twilight said with desperation.

She didn’t know if she could stop this unexplained action in time. If she used magic, Pinkie may go over edge and still slice her throat and she be too late.

“I..I can’t...I can’t!” Pinkie suddenly yelled, “She’s mean! I have to stop her! She’s a monster!”

Pinkie pushed the blade harder against her throat and sobbed her final words.

“She has to die!”

“Pinkie! No!!”

DD2

Earlier that night...

Buildings and skyscrapers towered over Pinkie Pie as she trotted down the still busy sidewalks of Manehatten. The lights were bright and Pinkie could hear the different singers and performers on the streets, trying to make a few bits.

Pinkie Pie loved coming out and seeing things such as this big city but she knew it was only due to the threat of Luna that she needed to keep her outings scarce, but still, the pink mare wished that she could come out more often.

Her eyes googled in awe as she kept looking up and admiring such edifices of grandeur. She couldn’t fathom how simple ponies like herself could build such things but it also had a way of making her somewhat happy in her grim situation.

Why? How could anypony find happiness in such a dark reality such as hers?

The answer was quite simple.

Life.

There was life in this city and that’s what she loved. Life was something she saw that went along with her special talent of laughter. Making ponies laugh and smile was the epitome of what life should be, at least according to her.
“Ommf!” Pinkie grunted as she felt something jab into her shoulder.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a pony yelled as it passed by her, walking at a brisk pace.

“Oh! Sorry!” she quickly apologized as she kept walking down the busy sidewalk.

And then there were some things about this city that she didn’t like that much. For example, ponies like the one she had accidentally ran into. Pinkie didn’t like how ponies in Manehatten always seemed glum and rude. It seemed like they were just walking husks.

Not like Ponyville, she thought to herself, now taking that small happiness and replacing it with a sad longing.

Pinkie knew the situation and reality she lived in and that Manehatten was their best place to stay and hide until Twilight found out how to use Rebris to resurrect their friends, but she missed Ponyville.

She had longed to be back in it for many years. It was already soul shattering enough that Pinkie had to be away from her beloved home for ten years but even when Twilight brought her back and told the residents the truth of Luna, she still didn’t get the chance to really be home.

Regardless, she was with Twilight again and she was content with that, though she did have some concerns for her beloved unicorn. It wasn’t the fact that her and Pinkie didn’t really act like a couple, considering that they were facing something much more serious than just a simple relationship, but she didn’t like how Twilight was almost to the brink of obsession with Rebris that she was willing to sacrifice sleep for it.

Though Twilight did promise that she would get some sleep tonight, Pinkie knew deep down that she was lying and that’s what saddened her. She had a feeling that Twilight was treating her more as some type of foal than her mare by not being open to her.

Pinkie sighed as she continued walking the sidewalk. She now missed to the times before all this. Hanging out with friends, making ponies laugh in Ponyville, and a Twilight that was happy and loving.

Not the one she was now, always consumed by hate and darkness, wanting nothing more than to have her revenge against Luna.

Pinkie Pie didn’t care about these things though. All she desired was getting their friends back and as much Twilight wanted to tell her that, she knew that the unicorn would not have it.

You know she truly doesn't want you Pinkie. I’m the only one that loves you.

Pinkie shook her head and tried to block out her inner demon.All day Pinkamena has whispered to her, cracking jokes and telling her things that she didn’t want to hear. Twilight might’ve been hiding things from her but was she really any different? She didn’t tell Twilight how she really acquired Rebris from Luna and there was no way in hell that Pinkie was going to reveal this inner darkness she let fester inside her.

Just like this morning right Pinkie? You lied! You are a liar liar pants on fire.

Stop it! I don’t like you and your annoying me! Pinkie screamed back in her mind, biting her lower lip as she continued walking and let a cold wind blow against her body.

You didn’t say that all those years ago. You loved me and I loved you. We we’re best friends Pinkie! Now that you found Twilight, you just want to forget me? I wonder how many ponies think YOU are annoying? Oh right, they believed that you were a killer.

Shut up!

And what about Twilight? If she loooved you soooo much, then why did she believe Luna? Why didn’t she come look for you and find out the truth herself?

Pinkie’s head began to throb a bit but she refused to let Pinkamena know that she was now in pain from her destructive questions.

She did. She looked for me for ten years. I-

Bahahahaha! Pinkamena laughed hysterically in Pinkie’s head, You’re so silly Pinkie. She looked for you because she wanted to KILL you, not so she could find out what really happened. Remember? She had you wrapped in plastic and a hacksaw just for you. She was going to tear you limb from limb and not give it a second thought until you let her sift through your memory. Is that love Pinkie?

Pinkie’s pace became more brisk now as she now just wanted to get back home and see Twilight and somehow silence Pinkamena in her head..

Answer me Pinkie! Is that love?

I don’t care what you say! You’re just trying to be mean!

No! You’re mean! You’re mean because you pretend that I’m not you! You pretend that we were never friends ever since you got back with that bitch!

Pinkie gritted her teeth after hearing such insult to her mare.

Don’t call her that! If anypony is that, it’s you!

Pinkamena chuckled in her mind with a low dark tone.

So you’re calling yourself a bitch?

Shut up!! I’m not you!

Pinkie scrunched her muzzle and felt tears beginning to well up in her but she held them back. Pinkiamena was trying to convince that they were the same and though Pinkie didn’t believe it, something deep down inside her was telling her something different.

The pink mare ripped her mind away from Pinkamena and now only concentrated on where she was going.

“What the-? Where am I?” Pinkie said to herself, noticing that she had actually wandered off.

She was no longer surrounded by tall buildings and bright lights but a dark and lonely alleyway that seemed to stretch through the city. She turned around to see if she could see any sign of streets and lights, but there was none.

I must’ve messed up where I was going.

Pinkie didn’t put it past herself to make such a silly mistake. There had plenty of times in her life that she would let her mind get the better of her though she wished it wasn’t because of Pinkamena.

She began trotting back, figuring that if she just went the way she came that it would lead her back to the streets and building she was now accustomed to.

Crack!

“Gah!” Pinkie yelped, jumping and turning to immediately what caused the startling sound.

Her eyes scanned the dimly lit alley but found nothing. She didn’t see anything staring back at her or any eerie figures lurking in the shadows but why would one be looking for such things?

Because Pinkie was no fool.

Twilight made it more than clear plenty of times that she always needed to watch her back. Luna had Equestria and that meant that she had eyes and ears for anywhere and everywhere.

She turned away and continued walking.

Why are you scared Pinkie?

“I’m not scared,” Pinkie replied, thinking that she was alone and no pony could overhear her.

Then why can I feel your fear? Are you afraid of Luna coming back for you and finishing you and Twilight off?

“That’s not going to happen! Twilight and I will-”

Pinkie’s ears suddenly perked up, catching something that sounded like a chain dragging across the ground. She turned around again with urgency and her eyes scanned closely for anything abnormal. Her heart began to pound a bit harder and her breath slightly more shallow.

“Is anypony here?” she called out with a gentle but firm tone.

There was no answer.

Fear is so exciting Pinkie Pie! Pinkamena laughed with a foalish innocence, Does it excite you because it excites me and if it excites me and I am you and you-

“Stop!” Pinkie exclaimed, now letting her annoyance turn into anger,“All you do is say mean things to me! Why don’t you ever be quiet?!”

“Maybe you should be the one that needs to be quiet,” a voice whispered in her ear.

“Huh?!”

Before she could blink or even turn her head to see who was behind her, she felt something hard hit her on the side of her head. Her mind instantly shut down and the sheer force she had been hit with sent the pink mare to the ground, her body falling with a hard thud.

The pony looked down at her unconscious body and a sick smile spread across its face. It was dressed in black armor and greaves with a crescent moon burned over his eye. Scars and stitches littered his orange face and his mane and tail were yellow with a burnt orange streak running through.

His name was Blaze, General of the Lunar Guard.

(Next Part: Taste The Blood 7-2)

Part 7-2

Dark Descent II: Fall

Part 7-2

Come Out and Play

Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?

The mare didn’t know. Everything was dark and her body felt pleasantly heavy. In a sense, she felt relaxed and her senses were soothing pacified.

I’m just sleeping, that’s all, she replied back to the unknown voice.

Sleeping? Do you think you really have time for that?

There was something familiar about this voice. It held love, but authority at the same time. It was harsh, but yet soothing. She didn’t know who or what it was, but it was comforting and it only made breaking away from her slumber even more difficult.

I just want five more minutes and I promise that I will get up.

Pinkie Promise?

Pinkie Promise.

The voice went away and left the sleeping mare to herself, but as quickly as it left, the voice came back and spoke to the party pony once more.

Five minutes Pinkie. Time to get up.

Pinkie murmured and stirred, but didn’t wake as she had promised. It had only felt like seconds to her, not nearly the five minutes she wanted.

Get up Pinkie. You can’t sleep forever.

She wanted to though. Sleep felt like bliss to her and in a way, it made her laugh inside. It was ironic that she was enjoying this relaxing slumber, seeing that she was a mare that loved to hop and bounce everywhere, but there was something else that made her not want to wake.

Pinkamena.

She hated hearing her darker ego’s voice while she was awake. Even better, Pinkamena was nowhere to be seen within her mental eye. There was no torturous dream, no words of hate and doubt, only the darkness underneath her eyelids and the unknown voice that wanted her to break away from her peace.

Could I sleep forever? I think that would be nice. I haven’t slept well at all for a while.

There was a silence for a moment, but the voice finally answered, shaking the sleeping mare from her slumber.

Only the dead sleep forever.

DD2

Pinkie’s eyes shot open, revealing her pools of blue. Sweat ran down her forehead and the heavy sensation her body had been engulfed by had dissipated. Her vision was blurry and the back of her head was sore.

“Ugh,” the mare groaned, trying to regain her senses.The soothing peace she had felt during her slumber was gone and replaced with almost a sickening, uncomfortable pain that made her stomach turn.

Finally! I thought you would never wake up! It’s been boring without anypony to talk to!

Not now… Pinkie replied back to her insane mental companion as the back of her head began to pound harder, but Pinkamena ignored her plea.

Did you enjoy your nap Pinkie? You must’ve been super tired cause I been by myself here for awhile and I was soooooooooooo bored!

Pinkie groaned again. Pinkamena’s voice in her head seemed like somepony was smashing glass against her head.

“Stop talking...my head hurts really bad,” she said out loud, hoping that for once this entity that she loathed would once conform to her simple request.

Well duh! Pinkamena laughed, You took a good whacking to the head silly. It was actually kinda funny seeing how quick you went out.

Pinkie immediately lifted her head in shock. Everything began to rush back to her and she remembered being outside, coming back from the store and how Pinkamena was taunting her and saying things to her that made her upset. She remembered being in an unknown alleyway and arguing until she heard a voice that was quickly followed with a sharp pain and a sudden darkness.

She then noticed something very peculiar that sent her heart in a pounding frenzy. The buildings that she remembered surrounding her and the lonely alleyway was no longer existent, but replaced with a ceiling and she found herself not on the ground, but chained against a wall.

“Oh no!” she immediately yelped, her once lethargic mind finally catching up with the present and realizing the immediate danger she was in.

She jerked and wriggled her body, but the chains that wrapped around her limbs wouldn’t relent and grant her freedom and simply jangled, mocking her attempt to be free.

“No! This can’t be happening!”

Frantic fear took hold of her as she fought more with her bondage. She didn’t know who had done this to her, nor needed to. There was only one pony that would want her captured and her mind went into disarray as the feared name echoed in her head.

Luna.

“Let me out of here!” she screamed, “Let me out!!”

I don’t think you’re getting out of those Pinkie. They look pretty tough.

But Pinkie ignored her demon and fought more. The chains jingled their horrendous melody, as if they were laughing at how terrified she was and simply couldn’t wait for what was going to happen to her.

“C’mon!” Pinkie pleaded as she made one last attempt to break her chains, but it was futile. Her mind and body went ice cold as a realization set in and her she ceased her struggle.

How did she find me?! Twilight put that spell on me so nopony could see me! There’s no way she could’ve known that we were-oh no.

If this was Luna’s doing, as Pinkie was more than sure it was, that meant that she knew not only where she was, but where Twilight and the others dwelled.

No...nononononono! She knows where the others are! She’s going to kill them! Twilight, Sweetie Belle, Spike, Cadence, Shining Armor, Daisy Song; they’re going to die because of me!

Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes as her mind wrapped around the severity of her situation. They were careful with everything they did and always made a point never to bring attention to themselves and Pinkie barely went out. Had Princess Luna somehow already knew where they were and were waiting for an opportunity to catch one of them?

Had Pinkie’s want for trivial tape now just cost not only her life, but the others she cared for?

It was a very real possibility.

You know Pinkie, I could help you get out of here if you want. If you be really nice to me-

“No!” the pink pony snapped, “I don’t need your help! All you do is hurt ponies!”

Pinkie had not forgotten the last time that Pinkamena ‘helped’ her with her fight with Luna. Her dark ego wanted to kill Luna for the simple pleasure of spilling her blood, but at the same time, was willing to let Twilight die.

To Pinkie, Twilight’s life was more precious than Luna’s death.

If that’s what you want, Pinkamena chimed in her head in an eerie, bubbly tone, But don’t get mad at me when Twilight and the others are found dead and Luna is ripping you apart.

Pinkie fell silent, her body limp as her chains held her. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Pinkamena spoke the truth. Without her help, there was no hope of getting out of her bondage and stopping Luna from killing her lover and friends.

But she was afraid.

She was frightened by the insanity that nearly consumed her and the twisted thoughts that Pinkamena had. Last time she had barely been able to break Pinkamena’s hold over her and she didn’t know if she would be able to break away again.

The uncertainty and unknown of Pinkamena scared Pinkie, and she was willing to make do without her help.

“I don’t need your help. I’ll get out of here and get to them...somehow.”

There was no answer and Pinkie didn’t wait for one. Her eyes began to scan her surroundings in hopes of maybe finding something that could provide her freedom.

There were two dim light bulbs that hung from the high, dark brown ceiling. The structures and boards that made it seemed old and ragged. She could see cobwebs and warped wood, suggesting that she was somewhere possibly abandoned.

The walls had nothing on them. There were no windows to help indicate where Pinkie was or if it was still even night time. For all she knew, she could’ve been here for several hours, even days, but Pinkie kept that blocked from her mind. She didn’t want to believe that maybe Twilight and everypony else was already dead, their bodies torn and rotting.

She looked more and saw a door across from her. It’s metal gleamed in the dim light, but she didn’t any see type of knob or handle to open it. There was only but a simple keyhole and she bit her lip.

Looks like Pinkie Pie isn’t going anywhere. Now if you just ask nicely-

“Shut up,” Pinkie retorted through her teeth, “I’m getting out of here and I’ll prove to you that I don’t need-”

But she was quickly silenced as she heard the metal door clicking. Her blue eyes stared as the door clicked more and began creaking open. She swallowed hard and tried to gain her bearing, ready to face the dark princess and somehow, someway, try and stop her from taking her and her friend’s lives.

The door opened and the sound of metal clanking against the floor filled Pinkie’s ears. Slowly she began making out a shadow that was coming closer from the darkness beyond the door.

But as it came closer, she noticed the silhoutte of it was not Luna’s. There was no outline of her astral mane and the pony that was coming towards her was not nearly as tall as the murderous alicorn.

This did not deter Pinkie’s fear however.

“You’re awake,” the pony said, now stopping and standing in the shadows at the entrance of the door, “I was beginning to worry I might’ve hit you a bit too hard.”

This must be who put me here.

Pinkie didn’t hesitate in her response.

“Who are you?!” she bursted, “And why do you have me like this?!”

The pony went silent and began to move into the room. The light began to banish the darkness that covered him and the pony became visible and immediately Pinkie’s stomach turned into a knot and she cringed.

A stallion covered in black armor appeared. His chestplate gleamed and a silver crescent moon seem to sparkle on it. He wore bulky black greaves that covered his legs and a claymore of impressive size was strapped to his back between his orange wings. The blade was jagged and had dark red markings and symbols etched into it.

Pinkie’s eyes went up to her captor’s face and met his orange eyes, but she quickly looked away, stunned by how he looked. His orange face was littered in stitches. It looked like his face had been stitched off in sections. One of his ears had a chunk missing out of it and one of his wings seemed bent, twisted almost.

There was no doubt in Pinkie’s mind who this pony served, but for a moment, she wondered what had happened to this stallion. He looked tortured and he gave off a cold chill within her.

“The Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie,” the stallion said, seemingly ignoring Pinkie’s demanding questions,” You look nothing like what was described to me.”

Pinkie didn’t know what he was talking about, nor did she care. She only wished to be free and hurry to Twilight to make sure her friends and lover were safe.

“I don’t know who you are, but please let me go,” Pinkie pleaded, hoping to maybe talk her way out of her situation, “I know all you’re doing is following Luna’s orders, but you don’t want-”

She was silenced as the stallion raised his hoof to her.

“You see the armor I wear and what it represents. You assume I serve the Dark Princess simply because I bear her crest?”

“I know you serve her!” Pinkie bursted as she jerked at her chains again,” She sent you to come find me and the others so you can bring us to her and have us killed! I’m not stupid!”

Pinkie didn’t know if this Lunar guard was mocking her, but her desperation was taking hold of her. Not knowing the state of the others and whether or not Luna was slaughtering them while this stallion spoke to her was tearing her apart inside.

Even worse, she knew there was a way out, but it was a way that frightened her and the fear of losing herself in Pinkamena’s insanity was too much of a price to pay.

Or was she wrong?

Was the price worth it? The price of indulging in Pinkamena’s offer and freeing herself, knowing that she may not be able to break free from her demon again? Was it worth the risk of having Twilight see the twisted darkness within her?

And who was to say that Twilight and the others would be safe if she did? Pinkemana was willing to let her lover die before, what was to keep her from hurting Twilight? Spike? Or Sweetie Belle?
It didn’t matter. All she could worry about now was this stallion who still hadn’t given the mare the reason of why she was in chains and left to his mercy.

“You’re far from stupid Pinkie Pie. Anypony that could outrun and hide themselves from Luna is pretty smart in my book,” the stallion answered to Pinkie’s outburst, “But if you must know my name I will give it to you.”

Pinkie didn’t answer back and simply stared at him, trying to show firmness while inside she was scared, but she didn’t want to show weakness to this pony.

“My name is Blaze,” the stallion continued, taking Pinkie’s silence as her answer, “I am the General of the Lunar Guard, War Assistant to Princess Luna, and Executioner of Celestia Loyalists.”

He listed his titles, but none of it mattered as only one thing rang in Pinkie’s head.

General of the Lunar Guard.

He wasn’t just some grunt or typical guard, but the very leader and head, with the exception of Luna herself, of a dark army that had been searching Equestria for the last two Elements of Harmony.

There could only be one reason he was here.

“You’re here to kill me aren’t you?” Pinkie said as she clenched her teeth, “That’s the only reason why you would be here.”

General Blaze smirked, almost amused by Pinkie’s obvious deduction.

“It would make sense for you to think such a thing, but for what reason should I kill you or the mare that Luna calls 'the purple whore' ?” he said with his taunting smirk.

A quick shot of anger went through Pinkie’s body hearing such an answer.

“Don’t talk about Twilight like that!” Pinkie yelled, her chains rattling, “I know you work for Luna! You know she wants us dead, but it won’t happen! I’ll get out of here!”

C’mon Pinkie! Let’s get out of here and have some fun with this stallion. You know you want to.

Pinkie wanted to.

Blaze was taunting her, and she could only imagine how much he was relishing it. The party pony could only fathom the reward that Luna would give for the pony that killed her and her friends.

Blazes’ smirk left his face and turned into one of seriousness.

“I may bear her armor and her crest Pinkie Pie, but I do not serve the Dark Princess.”

“You’re lying!” Pinkie retorted, “You’re just trying to trick me so I can-!”

Thwack!

“Ah!” Pinkie yelped, feeling the backside of Blazes’ armored hoof go across her cheek. She felt the side of her face burn from the impact of his hoof and felt something warm run down the side of it.

“Enough Pinkie Pie,” Blaze said calmly, though the power he had put in his hoof seconds earlier differed from his tone, “Believe what you want, but if I was serving Luna, I would’ve had you gutted and your head as my prize before you even had a chance to wake up.”

This was true. Though what he wore and his actions of chaining the mare up spoke different of what he was telling her, why wouldn’t he have killed her already?

“Besides,” Blaze continued as he took a few steps closer to the mare, “It would be stupid of me to try and kill you while you’re conscious.”

“What are you talking about?” Pinkie said, confused at what this stallion was getting at.

Blaze scoffed and even chuckled a bit after.

“Oh come now Pinkie Pie, you think that Luna hasn’t warned her servants and subjects about you? We all know what took place between you and her. At first we didn’t believe it, especially after finding out you were the Element of Laughter, but Luna herself confirmed that you were more than that.”

He knows.

Pinkie knew what Blaze was referring to and she swallowed the lump in her throat as the sound of childish giggles echoed in her head.

“And that’s what brings me here. I want to know if what she says is true, if this Pinkamena is really as deadly as she says.”

Yay! Somepony wants to meet me and have some fun!

He came closer to Pinkie and her body tensed up with every inch he walked toward her.

“Are you really as insane as I’ve heard? Do you have such a power that could even frighten the Dark Princess for her own life?”

He came even closer and Pinkie was at a loss of what he was going to do to her. He spoke of Pinkamena, but he seemed to speak in admiration and almost praise of such a dark character.

Blaze was now face to face with Pinkie and his hoof gently touched her bleeding cheek. His orange eyes had a twisted gleam in them as she stared into his orange and red pupils. She turned her face, his touch sending an icy feeling through her veins.

“What do you want?” Pinkie asked as she felt her body begin to shake.

His hoof gripped onto her face and forcefully jerked her head so she could meet his eyes and what she saw in them only made her body shake more. She saw how twisted they were, but also sensed a feeling of familiarity, as if she had seen those same eyes before somewhere.

“I want Pinkamena. Show me Pinkamena.”

“No,” Pinkie answered shakily, “No I’m not her! Pinkamena is gone.”

Liar! I’m right here!

Blaze stared at her for a few moments and released his grip of her face as he turned around and walked a few steps away, seemingly disappointed in hearing such an answer.

“Then it seems that I wasted my time here,” Blaze said, keeping his back to her with his twisted wing and eerie claymore strapped to him.

“Then let me go,” Pinkie demanded, “Prove that you don’t work for Luna and let me out of here. Let me go home.”

That’s all she wanted. She needed to get back to Twilight and the others, make sure they were okay, and hopefully somehow validate this stallion’s claim of not being one of Luna’s servants.

Blaze stood silent and began to chuckle.

“Stupid mare, do you still doubt my word?” He turned with a disturbing smile, “I serve one that despises Luna and only wishes for her reign to end, and I was sent here to see how the one that gave her such trouble did it.”

“I’m not Pinkamena….”

You are! You’re such a liar!

“Now let me go.”

Blaze smiled wider and she saw his hoof reach over to his strange blade and began hearing clicks of latches.

“No Pinkie Pie,” he answered, unhooking his blade and drawing it out. Pinkie’s eyes went wide in terror as she was quickly realizing what he was going to do to her, “I came here for Pinkamena and that’s what I’m going to get. If you can’t provide me with her, then I am to dispose of you.”

He drew out his blade and wielded it’s entirety and stood on his hind legs. The strange red symbols etched onto his sword began to glow and Pinkie’s heart went into overdrive.

“No!” Pinkie pleaded, “Don’t do this!”

He’s going to kill you Pinkie Pie. All you have to do is say please and I can get you out of here and make sure this stupid pony won’t try to come and hurt you again.

But Blaze only laughed at her plea and lifted his blade, readying it at the mare’s stomach, ready to slice it open and let her innards spill out of her. A cold sweat formed over Pinkie, seeing that her grisly death was only one blade away.

“Do what?”

Without notice, Blaze swung the cumbersome claymore with ease and expertise. Pinkie closed her eyes, ready to feel the burning sensation of being cut open and bracing herself, but this was not so.

In two swift movements, the stallion’s blade didn’t meet pink flesh, but instead metal chains, slicing them in half. Pinkie Pie fell to the cement ground with a thud.

The pink pony opened her eyes in shock, not feeling any kind of excruciating pain nor feeling her organs spilling out of her. All she felt was the cold cement floor and the remnants of the chains that wrapped around her limbs, broken.

“Huh?” she said as she began to lift her head. She saw to the side of the ground broken chains

But before she could declare her disbelief of being released, she looked up to see the sharp tip of Blaze’s sword pointed straight at her head as he held it firmly with one hoof.

“I’m not stupid Pinkie Pie. I will get what I came for and you will provide me Pinkamena.”

Blaze suddenly threw his blade in the air and grabbed the handle of the claymore in mid air and slammed the bottom of the handle against Pinkie’s muzzle with such force that it sent the pink mare reeling back and blood gushed from her nostrils.

Her back hit the floor and she yelped as she banged the back of her head against it.

“Uhh,” she moaned out as she turned off her back and kneeled on the floor, letting the blood from her muzzle drip onto the ground.

“What will it take Pinkie Pie?” Blaze asked as he dragged his blade against the ground and walked toward her, “Must I beat you into submission? Tell me, what must be done for you to show Pinkamena?”

What are you waiting for silly?! He wants to play!

No...I can’t.

Why can’t you?!! Pinkamena yelled in her head He’s beating you up and being mean! Give him what he wants! He just wants to have a playdate!

“I’m...I’m not Pinkamena,” Pinkie breathed as more blood dripped into a puddle and the smell of copper filled her nostrils, “You have the wrong pony.”

She looked up to see Blaze standing over her, looking down on her with grave disappointment.

“Do not lie to me.”

Blaze grabbed Pinkie by her bouncy mane, making her cry out and struggle in his grip.

“I do not like being lied to.”

He smashed his head against her skull with a sickening crack and sent a pounding and sharp pain through her entire head and having her cry out even louder.

“Stop!” she pleaded, blood running down her forehead and tears now running down her cheeks, “Stop doing this!”

Blaze gripped harder onto her mane and threw her to the side of the room like a ragdoll or some piece of sickening trash.

“Gah!” she cried as she hit the hard floor once more.

The pain in her head made her stomach turn, putting her on the brink of vomiting.

He’s going to kill me if I don’t do anything.

The phrase echoed in her head as every pulse of electrifying pain went through her. Her body screamed for relief along with her mind, feeling like fragile glass.

Slowly, she turned onto her stomach and lifted herself. Staggering onto her hooves, she stood against the pegasus, but her vision swayed and the urge to vomit was becoming more apparent and blood from her muzzle and head dripped onto the floor around her.

“C’mon Pinkie Pie! End this miserable beating and show me!”

His voice in her ears felt long and sounded slow and her demon spoke to her, taking advantage of her light-headed state.

C’mon Pinkie Pie.

You know he’s going to keep being mean and beat you. Then, once he’s done with you, he’s going to find Twilight and the others and have some really fun times with them.

And you know why?

Simply because you wanted to be a meanie to me and not let me play.

“I...I...can’t” Pinkie stuttered, seeing a blur of black, yellow, and mixes of orange come closer to her, “I’m afraid. I’m scared you’ll hurt her.”

“I see you won’t show me still!” Blaze said in a mix of amusement and anger, “ It will be unfortunate if I must go back to my lord without any report and have nothing but a corpse to show for my efforts!”

He lifted one of his hind legs and kneed Pinkie right into her chin, sending a loud crack through the room as armor and bone met. Her head jerked upwards, blood spraying onto the ceiling, and she felt herself lift into the air. She didn’t know how far she went up, but she came down just as quickly and smacked back down onto her back, yelping out as it met the cement.

“Please stop,” she coughed. Specks of blood spattered onto her fur as she coughed more. Her chest felt tight and her lungs seemed to be constricted, barely letting any air come into them.

But Blaze only ignored her plea.

“Enough of this Pinkie Pie. I’m tired playing this game with you so I offer you a final chance. You will show me Pinkamena or I will kill you within the next five seconds.”

Pinkie heard his ultimatum.

“Five…”

She didn’t understand why he wanted to show him her demon. Why would he want to witness this twisted side of Pinkie? Was he really simply wanting to confirm Luna’s words?

“...four…”

Wasn’t it enough that even the goddess succumbed to the fear that was Pinkamena to confirm such curiosity?

“...three…”

It didn’t matter now. As the sound of his armored covered hooves came closer and closer to her, her decision was becoming clearer.

“Two, Pinkie Pie. Make a decision quickly or I will kill you and then find the ones you hide with and kill them too.”

Pinkie closed her eyes, tears rolling down her face.

I don’t want to. I’m too scared.

She was scared of the insanity, scared of the horrors that this dark shadow could do, scared of enjoying it.

Don’t be scared Pinkie. You know I would never hurt you, remember? Remember when I told you I would protect you cause you’re my bestest pony friend forever? Remember all those years ago? Let me play with him and stop him from hurting you.

“One. Choose now,” Blaze demanded and Pinkie heard him lift his blade, ready to strike her down and end the small light of her life.

She bit down her lip, her eyes still closed and made her decision.

Please. Help me.

There was a small giggle and Pinkamena gave her relished anwer.

Of course my bestest pony friend.

“Zero. You made your decision,” Blaze declared as he lifted his blade and aimed for the pink pony’s head, “I will make sure to let your friends know that you brought them their deaths.”

He began to start his swing, but was quickly stopped at what he saw.

Pinkie Pie was quietly giggling and a dark red aura began to surround her body. Blaze took notice that her bright pink fur was gradually turning a darker shade of itself and the mare’s signature bouncy mane and tail were going flat.

Giggling filled Pinkie’s head and an inexplicable happiness and laughter filled her. She felt herself fading as Pinkamena’s presence was taking her, causing her to now go from giggling to blown out laughter. Her thoughts of rationality and reasoning were drifting away and were being replaced with thoughts of parties and fun.

Blaze began backing away as he witnessed Pinkie’s transformation. It awe’d him in a way to see such a dramatic change of form.

The blue pools that held Pinkie’s innocence began to dull and gray.

Don’t hurt Twilight. Just him...only him.

And as Pinkie’s last thought came to pass, she faded away and let her demon have her. Her pupils filled with a bloody red color and the red aura emanating from her body grew even more. The remnants of chains around Pinkie’s limbs disintegrated off as it met her dark energy.

“This,” Blaze began with a smile, “This is what I wanted to see.”

The party pony opened her red eyes with a wide smile. The pain that had wracked Pinkie’s body was no longer existent and the dizziness that swamped her mind was replaced by thoughts of blood and how much fun she was going to have with this stallion.

She looked up at him and stood on her hind legs and held her spectral red knives, glowing and ready to pierce flesh on her command.

“It’s so nice to see somepony that wants to meet me. I can’t tell you how long its been since Pinkie let me out to come play,” Pinkamena chimed as a part of her flat mane covered one of her glowing red eyes.

Blaze was unphased by her appearance and replied with almost a delightful tone.

“Luna was not exaggerating. You are far more than I expected Pinkamena.”

Pinkamena chuckled at the stallion, amused that this pony had no idea of what he was getting into.

“Aww,” Pinkamena mused, “That’s so sweet of you to say. If you like me now, just wait until I show you a really fun time!”

Twisted thoughts of tearing Blaze to pieces and drenching herself in his wonderful blood filled Pinkamena’s head and she felt excitement and anticipation rise within her. She loved how he stood, confident and amazed by her.

She was going to relish his screams of pain once she plunged her beloved knives into his flesh.

Blaze smiled at her, an almost friendly one, but pointed his claymore straight at her.

“I was hoping you would Pinkamena. That is why I came here. I want to see how much fun you can show me.”

The rational mind would ask itself of why would this pony come looking for Pinkie simply to test Pinkamena? Why would one want to fight with almost the very incarnation of insanity itself?

It didn’t matter to Pinkamena.

In fact, she was beyond excitement hearing this stallion inviting her to play. It had been too long since her battle with Luna and being robbed of her bloody prize by the combined efforts of Pinkie and Celestia.

It was time for her to play and claim Blaze as her prize.

“Well then,” Pinkamena answered with a wide smile, gripping onto her spectral blades harder and pointing them at him, “Let’s not waste time!”

And she didn’t. With sudden force and quickness that made the cement floor crack underneath her hooves, the mare leaped with a twisted grin, more than ready to show Blaze the best playdate he ever had.

I’ll go first!”

Next Part: Abomination

Part 0

Part 0

A Promise

Twilight Sparkle.

How much life has changed for you hasn’t it?

Ten years ago, you were once the studious mare of the powerful Princess Celestia. You studied the magic of friendship and made some friends along the way, friends that I would venture to say that became somewhat of a family to you.

How painful it must have been to learn of their deaths then.

You remember right? Remember that knock on the door in the middle of the night, being told that your friends had ‘passed’ away?

More like brutally murdered. Can you still see their mangled and bloodied bodies as they laid upon the tables in the morgue?

It was devastating wasn’t it? Your soul broke in two and despair and sadness swept over you. It would have taken you, probably forcing you to end your own life... but there was one that comforted you.

Princess Luna.

She was there for you in your time of grief and she took your tears. She told you that Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and poor Applejack were killed.

By whom?

Luna told you that Pinkie Pie did it and you believed her. You swallowed her word and it hurt you more. Pinkie Pie was not only the pony that loved her friends, but she loved you, and you loved her; marefriends I believe.

So you searched for her.

Every passing moment that went by, hate and anger began to slowly consume you, turning you into a shell of your former happy self. I could understand why you weren’t happy nor do I regret you being consumed by such ill feelings.

Without them, I wouldn’t be here now would I?

Ten years you searched for Pinkie, intending to end her life in retaliation for killing your friends, and when you finally had her, you found out the truth.

A truth you should have already seen, but too blind to catch. The truth that it was not Pinkie Pie who killed your precious friends but Luna herself. The one that took care of you for all those years. The one that believes by killing all of you, she would ascend and become some type of god. Only one tool could help her reach such a goal; the tool that you now have safely in your possession.

Rebris, the accursed trinket that holds your friends souls. The tool you will use to bring them back from the dead and together, you all will defeat Luna.

At least, that’s what you plan.

But with Celestia now dead by Luna’s hoof and Equestria now under her control, I ask how do you plan to put this scheme into action? How will you get your friends back when you have a goddess and her army looking for you and Pinkie?

I know you have no answer to this but only one thing matters to me.

Stay alive.

Stay alive until you kill Luna. Only with her death can I finally take what’s mine.

We can finally take what’s ours.

Ponies fear Luna, including you, but you must understand something Twilight.

Revenge is a long and bloody path, filled with pain and suffering of yourself and others. If you wish to obtain revenge, you must be willing to do what’s neccassary, regardless if it’s right or wrong. You must do whatever it takes to kill Luna, even if it means sacrificing others...and you will come to see one thing at the end of this.

That fear comes when shown power, and you have seen power from Luna, but true fear comes from one who shows that even with all that power, a goddess can still die.

What you will learn is that what you should fear is yourself, Twilight Sparkle.

For now, I wait in patience and when the time is right, we will show who must be feared Twilight. With my help we will be feared and one thing will be definite once we do.

You will finally be mine.

Perrohambre Presents

Dark Descent II: Fall

Part 3

**Warning** This chapter contains minor clop, intense gore and violence and the killing of youth. This IS a rated M fic in case some have not realized yet, so do not send me any message telling me how bad of a person I am for I do not care. You have been warned. Also, music has been added for certain scenes and it is your choice to utilize them.

Dark Descent II: Fall

Part 3-1

The Hunter

During the night of Part 1 in Canterlot Castle dungeons...

“I don’t know anything!”

A black magical tendril whipped across his chest once again, sending the stallion into a painful wail. His skin ripped open and blood seeped from his wound, among the many others that riddled his body. Bruises and cuts were aplenty on him and blood covered his face and fur.

“You lie!”

Another lash of the black tendril whacked across his chest, making him yell out in searing pain. His blood ran down his body and the burning stinging sensation was almost overwhelming. He had suffered this torture for four hours, and this was only the beginning of what Princess Luna had in store for him.

“Why the fuck would I tell you anything?! You killed my family! You killed my wife and children you fucking bitch!” he roared in defiance, tears pouring from his eyes.

A silver hoof immediately was shoved into his mouth, silencing his defiant rage.

“I suggest that you hold your tongue Corporal Brass, before I have to cut it out. Your family is of no concern to me and you and I both know that they would still be alive if you would’ve just simply told me what I wanted to know,” Princess Luna snarled, “But I must admit, it’s been awhile since I had fun like that so maybe I should be thanking you.”

She pulled her hoof out of his mouth and he immediately growled and thrashed himself about his chains, trying to free himself.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!”

Luna simply watched and could only help but hold back her laughter. It was amusing to see this pony try and free himself and make hollow threats at her, but what made it even better that she could see the hate in his eyes and the fury he wanted to bring upon her. He wanted to kill her and this was the most amusing part for Luna. She was almost half tempted to let him free and let him have a go at her so she could toy with him.

To think that he could actually hurt her was hilarious in her mind.

The corporal thrashed around a bit more until he finally gave up, seeing that his effort was futile. He huffed and coughed, staring into her eyes.

“Are you done yet?” she asked with satisfaction, seeing him weak and helpless.

“Fuck you,” he spat back. Luna disregarded his treacherous talk.

“Now that you have realized that your hate against me will do no good, maybe you will tell me what I want,” Luna said, putting her face close to his, smiling wickedly.

“I’m not telling you shit. Go ahead and whip me all you like, you’re better off killing me.”

Surges of excitement shot through Luna hearing him say such sweet words. How she would love to kill him and pull his innards through his eye socket, but she needed information and for the time being, that was all she cared about.

Luna’s magical dark tendrils that surrounded her horn dissipated and she chuckled. She was no novice to torturing ponies and she had met plenty of them that were defiant to her, but there were other ways to break one’s will and she knew exactly what would break this stallion.

“Very well then, but why kill you? That wouldn’t be much fun corporal. You see, I am the ruler of Equestria-”

“Princess Celestia is our ruler! Not you!” Brass yelled.

Luna cocked her head.

“And tell me, where is she now?”

The stallion suddenly went silent and looked away.

“Your beloved weak ruler is dead, by my hoof as I’m sure you know already.”

Luna backed away from him and walked over to a table that held tools for specific tortures, but she wouldn’t need any of them. She only wanted to leave the stallion for a few moments so he could muse over her dead sister. It would help further for what she was going to do to break him.

“Now, as I was saying before you interrupted me, I am the ruler of Equestria, and you hold information that is very important to me Corporal Brass. Do you dare deny your ruler of such a right?”

Brass hung his head and muttered, “I told you I know nothing. You’re wasting your time and no matter what you do to me, you won’t learn anything new from me.”

Luna highly doubted that. She was going to put this stallion through a living hell of his own and he would beg for her to make it stop, to the point where he would spill his darkest secrets. She knew he held a secret that only he knew and for some reason her sister had only told him. For what reason did her sister tell him, she didn’t know nor cared, but she knew for a fact that he knew about a certain being that she wanted to know more about.

“Very well then. I see you made your choice. I tried to be kind to you countless times corporal but it seems you simply won’t tell me what I want,” Luna said with almost a sick pleasure in her tone.

The stallion looked up at her with disgust.

“I know what you want Luna. I know along with every guard of Celestia’s that you're looking for her student and I’ll be the first to say that you won’t find her. None of us will betray the student of Celestia.”

Luna laughed at him.

“Ha! You speak of Twilight Sparkle and her pink tramp?! I don’t need you for that, I have others that are already looking for her and tracking every single one of Celestia’s little pests. How do you think I found you? ”

Brass coughed and a small strand of blood mixed with saliva hung from his mouth.

“Then what the hell you want from me you insane bitch.”

“Tell me what the name of the pony that Celestia revealed to you long ago. The name that was removed from the forbidden texts within the Clockwork Library.”

Golden Brass immediately lifted his head and his eyes went wide. He knew the name that she was referring to and the secret library that none knew except him and Princess Celestia. He was never supposed to know about the library but as a young guard, he only happened to stumble upon it on accident. He had read the texts and Celestia told him what they meant, but to never tell a single soul what he learned that day. Not one.

“No, I’m not telling you a damn thing!” he yelled once more,” Go ahead and kill me because I’m not telling you anything you fucking bitch-”

Luna immediately threw her hoof across his face and a loud cracking sound reverberated within the stone room. She felt the bone of his cheek crack under such force as he yelped in pain.

“I am getting tired of you using such words corporal. You need to show some respect towards your princess.”

More blood poured from his mouth and trickled onto the floor below him. He spoke once more through his heavy breathing and wheezing, still defiant towards her.

“I...I will not show you any damn respect... not to one...not to one who controls with fear and lies...if ponies knew the truth, they would rise up and-”

“They would rise up and all die,” Luna said, preventing anymore rebellious talk from him, “You must understand corporal, it would not matter if they all knew the truth or not, they have no pony else to look towards to and they all know I’m the only one that is fit to rule. You continue to rebel and fight me, but you and anypony that is still loyal to a dead ruler have already lost. Equestria is mine and the sooner you accept that, the better.”

Golden Brass looked down to the small puddle of blood under him and hung bound by his chains. He couldn’t fight her and what she said was truth. Equestria was hers and nopony would dare defy her... but he had nothing left. His family was all that he held dear and she took it away from him. Death was all that he wanted, but Luna was not that merciful and now that she knew the secret he held, she wouldn’t grant him such a luxury... not until he told her what she wanted which he refused to say. He didn’t know what Luna wanted with the name but it couldn’t be good, and the way Celestia made him promise was more than enough to never reveal it.

“Enough of this talk. I want the name and you will tell me it. I do not need to induce physical pain upon you to get what I want corporal. There are things that are much worse than being beaten and you are forcing my hoof to put such horrors upon you. I will break you Golden Brass.”

He smiled weakly, though inside he was terrified of what she had planned for him.

”Okay then, bring it bitch.”

That was a perfect answer for Luna.

“Very well then.”

She put her horn to his forehead and the stallion closed his eyes and shook, preparing himself for whatever hellish torture awaited him. Luna’s horn lit up and he suddenly felt a jolt of magic pour into his mind, making the world around him swirl around. He suddenly felt nauseous and he felt himself fading away.

Golden Brass blacked out.

DD2

Part 3-2

Earlier that same night...

“Goodnight Jewel,” Golden Brass said as he leaned down and kissed the chestnut colored unicorn on the cheek. Jewel wrapped her forelegs around his neck and kissed his cheek back. He chuckled, seeing how much his daughter was so lovable.

He went over to his other daughter and began the same procedure.

“Goodnight Ruby,” he said and kissed her red cheek. The small pegasus sighed and reluctantly hugged his neck. Golden Brass didn’t mind, seeing that she was more of a tough filly than her sister. He could only imagine that she had acquired that trait from him.

He pulled the blanket with his magic up to their necks and tucked them in, making sure they were nice and snug. He went over to their window and locked it and pulled the curtain over it, blocking out the moons luminous glow over Trottingham.

Golden Brass made his way to the door and looked back one more time at his two daughters. They both looked at him and yawned as fatigue set in for both of them.

“Goodnight girls,” he said one last time, “Love you guys.”

“Love you too daddy,” they both said in unison. His heart lit up hearing those words from them. He treasured them, cherished them, and would do anything for them. They were his pride and joy, his own flesh and blood.

Golden Brass gently shut the door behind him and left the two fillies to their dreams. He went downstairs and made his way to his room, where his beautiful wife awaited him. She was sitting in front of her nightstand that had a mirror connected to it. Her mane was long and held a shiny light blue luster to it as she groomed it, readying herself for bed.

“Don’t you think grooming your mane is a bit pointless considering that you're going to bed soon Azure?” he said teasingly.

The blue coated pegasus turned around and stared into his eyes with her dark blue pools. She certainly was beautiful and he could have sworn that he was the luckiest stallion in Equestria to be married to such a wonderful mare.

“No, because I’m not going to bed yet,” she said mockingly with a smile, “Are the kids put in bed yet?”

Golden Brass puffed out his chest.

“Of course they are dear, their father is always there before they go to bed,” he said in a heroic and triumphant tone.

Azure rolled her eyes and laughed a bit.

“You're so cheesy sometimes, you know that right?”

He laughed at himself.

“I know, that’s the point.”

“Of course it is,” Azure said as she got up and went over to him, nuzzling his neck. He put his head over hers and took in the scent of her mane. It smelled of something pleasant and floral. He ran his hoof down her back and letting a little friskiness set in, his hoof went lower until it was at the base of one of her wings. He smirked and massaged it a bit, knowing full well the effect that it would have on his mare.

“Brass! I swear you’ve got to be the biggest tease” she yelped as she jerked and backed away, her face blushing. “I don’t know why you have to do that all the time.”

“Ha! Because you like it and maybe it could get you in bed with me,” he said, satisfied with his wife’s reaction.

“Oh so it’s going to be like that then, eh?” she said with a devilish grin, “Well, if that’s your intention, I’m sure I can accommodate it since we have some time alone.”

Yes! he said in his mind.

She made her way to their bedroom door and closed it, making an effort to swish her hips a little more enthusiastically. Golden Brass definitely took notice and knew exactly where this was going, and he liked it. It certainly had been a while since his wife and him had a bit of sinful fun with each other, especially after the fall of Celesta and the guard disbanding at Shining Armor’s command. He had made it an effort to protect his family and relocate to a remote place within Trottingham that no pony, specifically Lunar guards, would find them. So of course, he was always worried and stressed out and never made real time to be intimate with his wife, but she understood. At least now they had some time to get some business done.

“So corporal, are you ready to perform your duties?” she said with bedroom laden eyes.

“Always,” he said confidently.

Azure quickly tackled him to the bed and pressed her lips against his. He adored how soft her lips were and put his hoof around the back of her head, pressing her lips harder against his. A small moan escaped her and he definitely knew it had certainly been a long while. He could feel that she was already getting aroused and they had only just begun, but he wasn’t objecting to it. He brushed his tongue against her lips, asking for permission to enter. Azure smiled and gladly obliged and gave him access. Their tongues wrestled each other and took in each other’s flavor, both losing themselves in such passion that had been welled up inside for them for too long.

Let’s take this a bit farther.

Golden Brass took his hoof and began to massage the base of his wife’s wings, sending her into a small jerk and moan. He felt something warm drip onto his leg and knew that what he was doing was really getting Azure going. He ran up the length of her wing and felt her wings lift and stiffen.

“Damn you Golden,” she said in between their tonsil hockey, “Why do you have to do that to me?” she said in an innocent but pleased tone.

He smiled and replied through breaths.

“Cause I know what my mare likes.”

She laughed a bit, now kissing his neck.

“You’re so cheesy.”

I’ll show you cheesy.

He took his hoof away from her now stiff wings and ran it under her belly until he felt something wet. Azure whined and he knew he was right where he wanted to be. He began to massage her marehood and she broke away from her kisses, moaning and whining in response to his efforts.

“Who’s cheesy now huh?”

“Ohhhh...*gasp*...Shut up Golden...” she moaned, not able to really give a coherent answer.

He moved his hoof over to her small nub and rubbed it with a steady pace.

“Ahh!” she yelped in ecstasy, throwing her head up and his motions sending shocks and jolts of pleasure through her. Her arousal dripped constantly onto his leg and he could feel his own member starting to awake to the occasion.

Thump!

Golden Brass immediately stopped as he heard the loud thump and halted what he was doing. He heard the eerie noise from upstairs.

“What's...what’s wrong honey,” Azure said through her gasps of breath.

“I thought I heard something upstairs,” he replied looking up at the ceiling, listening closely, to see if the sound came back again.

Azure brought her hoof to his cheek and turned his head towards her.

“Calm down Brass. It’s probably just one of the kids coming back from the restroom. Relax, I know how worried you always are but you done a good job. We’re safe here and everypony’s fine.”

He stared into her dark blue eyes and felt reassured. Even during such an intimate moment, his guard was never down. He didn’t want harm to come to his family and he couldn’t let anything happen to them because he was negligent.

“Maybe I should go upstairs and just check on them-”

Azure pressed her hoofs down onto his chest, keeping him pinned down onto the bed.

“Brass, I said relax. The kids are fine. It’s time for me and you. Just relax please.”

He sighed and resigned to his wife’s suggestion.

“Okay fine. You're probably right anyways,” he said as he laid his head back down onto their bed.

She smiled, happy that he was at least trying to relax.

“Now, where were we,” she said in a sultry tone,” I think I remember.” She brought his hoof back to her still moist sex and he got the message.

“Well, guess I better compensate for the little interruption,” he said and resumed teasing his wife but it would not last long.

“Daddy!!!” two voices screamed from upstairs.

Ruby! Jewel!

He immediately shoved his wife off him before she could even react. His soldier’s instinct kicked in and he summoned a silver blade with a black handle. He quickly made his way to the door and looked back at his wife.

“Stay here Azure and do not move from here. Do you understand?” he said firmly and quickly. Her eyes were wide and he could see she was now just catching up with what was going on but he didn’t have time to calm her. She nodded her head and he closed the door behind and rushed upstairs to his daughter’s room, wasting no time.

With his blade held out in front of him, ready for use, he busted through the door and saw two Lunar Guards standing and trying to subdue the two fillies.

No! No! They found us!

Sudden fear and terror filled him but he had no time to take it in. Adrenaline rushed through his veins and he charged the two black stallions.

“Get the fuck away from them!”

Both guards quickly withdrew their blades and let the small filly’s go but they were not nearly quickly enough. Golden Brass sliced the throat of one, sending spurts of blood spraying across the room and the guard fell to the ground and choked. Brass wasted in no time to make sure if he fell as he quickly plunged his blade into the chest of the other one. He pulled his blade out and blood poured out to the ground; the light’s of the guard’s eyes leaving him.

He turned around and saw Ruby and Jewel huddled in the corner, terrified and confused of what was going on. Brass quickly went over to them and knelt down to their level.

“I need you to follow me, okay girls? I’m going to take you to my room and you stay there. Daddy has to make sure there are no more bad ponies in here okay?” he said as calmly as he could. He could see the terror in their little eyes and tears beginning to come down. They both nodded their heads, too confused to say anything.

“Okay good. Stay behind me and stay close.”

He got up and positioned his blade in front of him. All three of them left the room and carefully made their way down stairs. His eyes looked to and fro, making sure there were no more Lunar guards that were waiting in the shadows. If there were two, then there had to be more, and what was worse was that they were coming for his family.

We have to leave...we can’t stay here.

He needed to get his family out of here but he needed to make sure everything was safe first. They were downstairs and began making their way to his room.

Crash!

He turned around and saw the window in the common room was being broke into and knew that more of them were coming. He turned to his kids.

“Run to mommy and daddy’s room and when you get in there, do not come out. You all stay in there okay?”

“Y...yes daddy,” they both stuttered.

“Go. Hurry.”

They obeyed and Ruby and Jewel ran to his room. He listened and heard the door open then close behind him. He couldn’t have them near him or they could get hurt... or worse.

“Find him and the rest of them!” he heard a voice say in the room.

No way in hell you're touching them!

Golden Brass trotted to the common room and there stood blatantly in front of him were five Lunar guards with silver glowing eyes, staring at him as he made his entrance. They all wore black armor and only one wore a helmet.

He must be the commander of the group.

“Golden Brass,” the guard with the helmet said, stepping up in front of the rest.

He put his blade up, pointing it right at the commander, ready to take him out within seconds.

“What the hell you want? What are you doing here?” Golden Brass said with an underlying hatred in his voice.

“You and your family are under arrest for treason against the high ruler of Equestria, Princess Luna, and for also still retaining loyalty to the late Celestia. We have been sent by her majesty to apprehend all of you and bring you in for questioning.”

“Bullshit. She sent you here to kill us, didn’t she? I’m not fucking stupid.” he quickly retorted, not buying any of it.

There was an eerie silence for a few moments that seemed to last forever for Brass, but it was broken from a smirk from the Lunar Commander.

“It seems you are smarter than you look. Very well then, by Princess Luna’s command, all former guards of the late Celestia are to be executed along with their families, but she specifically commanded that you be taken alive, Golden Brass. So, you can come quietly and not have to endure watching your family die in front of you, or we could take you by force and make sure their death’s are long and painful.”

A sudden rush of anger welled up in Brass and he gritted his teeth.

“Then come get me then. Not one of you will lay a hoof on my family!”

The commander sighed.

(Begins Music Sequence: Sent To Destroy)

“So be it then.” He looked over to his soldiers. “Get him.”

They drew their swords and ran towards the corporal.

“C’mon then assholes! Let’s go!”

He charged at them, blade already stained with blood of their comrades. He met the first one and the guard swung his blade foolishly and Brass had no trouble disabling him. The corporal dodged the attack and swung his blade upwards, slicing both of the guard’s forelegs clean off, sending him straight to the floor and blood poured out of his severed limbs. The blood splattered across Golden’s face but he didn’t care. Adrenaline and the thought of his family pushed him to leave none alive.

The second and third came at him simultaneously; one swung at his head and the other at his legs. Brass quickly summoned a spell with his horn and s shield appeared over him, sending both the guards blades bouncing right off. Brass took the small opportunity and spun around, slicing both guards head’s right off. Tendrils of nerves and splintered bone was all the was left of their severed top’s and their bodies fell with a sick thud with both heads rolling on the floor.

The fourth stopped charging at him after seeing what he had just done to his fellow soldiers, but Golden Brass could spare none of them. They threatened his family, and any pony who intended death for them had to die. The guard stepped back away from him but Brass wouldn’t give him the chance. He threw his blade right at the frightened Lunar Guard and it sped at him, lodging itself right into the stallion’s throat. Sending him falling and an immediate death. He went over to the body and pulled it out and now turned his attention to the commander who stood there, stiff.

“So what the hell you were saying here to come and do bitch?”

The commander shook and his silver eyes were wide.

“I suggest you get the fuck up on out of my house and tell Luna that she’s going to have to fucking kill me if she wants to kill my family”, Golden Brass said, pointing his bloodied blade at him.

The commander quickly turned and went for the door, taking Golden’s advice. The corporal wasn’t worried about if he told where they were, for him and his family would be long gone before they came back for them.

The Lunar Commander opened the door to run away in cowardice but was stopped and Brass watched as a black blade was plunged into the armored pony.

“What a shame... it seems I can’t even count on my own soldiers to get something so simple done without being slaughtered by some weak pony.”

Golden’s body went cold and his heart pounded in his chest. He knew the voice that spoke and now threw the impaled commander to the side, leaving him to bleed out and die a slow death. He could never forget that voice that laughed maniacally as it slaughtered Solar guards within the Grand Hall of Canterlot Castle. The same day that the guard disbanded and Celestia fell.

The dark alicorn appeared in the doorway, blood spattered across her regalia, and she smiled wickedly at Brass.

“So, you’re Corporal Brass of the former Solar Guard? It seems you specialize in more than just communication and defensive magic.”

No! NO! She can’t be here...Fuck!

He couldn’t fight her... he already knew he was no match for her. Fighting her would be suicide and now things were much more serious. His family was in his room, probably frightened for their lives.

I have to get them out of here...

He could try to transport all of them away but he didn’t know where it would take them. Did it matter?

Luna held her dark blade covered in what looked like a black fire next to her and simply stared at him. Her teal eyes glowed under what little moonlight was coming in and something about her terrified him. She seemed to be almost demon-like.

“So you know why my incompetent guard was here I assume, so let’s not waste any time. I require some information from you Corporal Brass and it’s very important that you tell me what I need-”

“Fuck you. I ain’t giving you shit except a big, old fuck you up your ass!”

Luna’s face scrunched into disdain and what almost looked like a sudden flash of anger. He didn’t know what he was saying, but his mind was going thousands of miles per minute. He could only think about his family and how he had to get them away from here.

“You insolent peasant! How dare you use language like that against your ruler! I was going to grant your family a swift death but I see that if any pony is willing to breed with you and raise foals, they deserve to die painfully!”

Fuck!

There was only option. He had to run to the room and just shoot his family somewhere, anywhere in Equestria but here. Golden Brass turned and bolted.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Luna laughed out hysterically.

Luna’s horn lit up and a black tendril shot out of her horn and quickly shot at him. The strand of dark magic grabbed him, pulling him back and throwing him right into a wall. He slammed against the brick, scraping his face against the hard texture and fell to the ground with a sickening crack. He quickly got up, a bit dazed, and fired magical bolts at her with his horn.

The dark alicorn deflected them with her blade with ease and scoffed at him.

“Pathetic. You’re going to have do better than that, corporal, if you wish to save your family because as far as I’m concerned, their good as dead because of you.”

A blinding rage filled him to the brim as images of his wife and children.

“No! You will not touch them! You hear me you fucking bastard! Not one!”

Luna eyed him and beamed disturbingly.

“And who’s going to stop me? You?”

“You're damn right! Let’s see what you say once I have my sword shoved straight up your ass!”

Luna positioned her blade and laughed at him and at his vulgar threat.

“Let’s see if you can even get that far.”

Brass immediately shot several bolts of magic at her once again and charged at her. He hoped that he could have her defend herself from his magic and she wouldn’t have the time to block off his physical attacks. He just needed to disable her for a few moments and her horn was his target. She wouldn’t be able to use magic without it and it would buy him time to get his family somewhere safe.

Luna summoned a quick shield and absorbed the magical bolts. The dark shield broke at Luna’s command, sending a forceful shockwave throughout the room and hitting the desperate unicorn. Brass flew back and crashed onto a glass table, smashing it to pieces with his body. Shards of glass pierced his skin and he cried out in sudden pain. He felt the shards lodge into his body and felt the warmth of his own blood trickling down his sides.

Get up! Get up damnit!

He staggered and lifted himself up with much difficulty. His body felt like it had just went through hell and back and she hadn’t even touched him with her blade. He looked up and was met by a pair of teal eyes. His eyes went wide and his pupils shrunk; Luna’s face was right next to his and he could feel the heat from her nostrils blowing across his face.

“I think I had enough of this small game.”

Her silver hoof went across his head with a powerful force and cracked against his skull. The stallion unicorn dropped to the floor, blackening out with one last thought in his mind.

Fuck...

DD2

Part 3-3

“Ahh!” Brass yelled, waking out of his blackened sleep. He felt burning jolts of pain course through his body and his skin felt like it was on fire. Black electricity sparked across his body and he writhed in pain. A few long moments later, the pain ceased and began to slowly go away.

“Daddy!”

Ruby!

He quickly looked around the destroyed common room and saw his daughter, but only then did he realize what was going on. Ruby and Jewel were bound by some black aura that surrounded their bodies and they were trying to free themselves. Next to them was his wife Azure, and her once beautiful light blue coat was now bloodied and riddled with cuts and bruises. Blood poured out of her nose and a black and bluish ring circled her left eye. Her head hung and she seemed dazed.

“Azure!” he called out and tried to move towards her but the same black aura that held his family also bound him, keeping all four of his legs from moving.

“Azure!” he yelled again.

His wife looked up, finally hearing his desperate calls to her.

“Gol...Golden...” she said weakly.

His heart felt like it was cracking seeing his wife beaten so badly and his children bound, and he couldn’t help them. He wiggled around and tried to break free of this dark magic that held him but it was of no use. He tried to use his magic and free himself but something was keeping him from using it.

“You can try all you want Corporal Brass, but you will only be wasting your time.”

The two fillies whimpered hearing the dark voice and Brass looked over to Luna who stood behind his family, swinging her blade around nonchalantly.

“What have you done to my wife?!” he demanded, seeing her in such a horrible state.

“Oh her?” Luna said, looking over to the pegasus, “I was having fun with her while I waited for you to come back to your senses. You should have heard her screams... she called for you multiple times... it saddens me that you couldn’t see the beating I gave her. Alas, it wasn’t all bad. Your precious children...,” she went over and ran her hoof across Jewel’s cheek, sending the filly into tears and terrified whimpers.

“Don’t touch her!” Golden Brass yelled, his heart pounding furiously and terror setting in.

Luna smiled with satisfaction.

“Your precious children were a wonderful audience as I made them watch me beat their whore of a mother.”

“Get away... from my children...” Azure said weakly, blood dripping onto the floor below her from her muzzle.

Luna looked over to her and frowned.

“It seems you still can’t quite that tongue of yours... maybe I have to teach you to be silent.”

The alicorn went over to Azure and slammed her body onto the ground, making the mare yelp.

“No!” the stallion cried. “Please, don’t do anything to her!”

“What? Are you begging me Corporal Brass? I’m sure earlier you were going to try and kill me and now you're begging me?” Luna said with amusement. “You had your chance and I really have other families to kill, so let’s just get this over with since you're finally awake.”

Everything went silent for Brass and his mind screamed at him.

She’s going to kill them! She’s going to kill them!

“No! Please! I beg you, don’t hurt them! I’ll tell you whatever the hell you want!”

Suddenly, a black aura held his mouth shut and silenced his begging.

“You’re going to tell me what I want regardless Corporal, but you decided to make things hard for yourself. So now you must watch as I kill your beloved family and make them suffer because of you. Keep in mind while I draw the life out of them, that this was you’re doing by ever serving my sister.”

Tears began to stream down his face and his very soul broke within him. He felt helpless; weak.

Luna’s horn lit up once more and two black tendrils shot out and grabbed at Azure’s wings, grabbing the base of them. Brass yelled but his voice was muffled.

“So tell me Azure, do you value your wings?” Luna asked the beaten mare. She didn’t answer but instead turned her head slowly and looked over to her children.

“Close your eyes,” she whispered to them.

The two fillies whose eye’s were red from tears did just that, but Luna would not have it.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You two fillies must watch and see the fate that awaits you in mere moments.”

Luna cast a spell and forced both filly’s eyes open and turned their heads to watch their mother. They screamed and cried, confused of what this alicorn was doing to them and their beloved mother.

“You’re a damn monster...” Azure said weakly, tears trickling down her cheeks.

Luna scoffed at her.

“Does not matter what you think, whore. You will be dead, and the dead have no voice in what I do... you can ask my sister about that. Now, any last words to your husband before I end your miserable life?”

Azure looked into Brass’s eyes and he looked back into hers. His heart shattered and hearing the finality of Luna’s words broke his very will.

“I love you.”

(Music Sequence 2: Counting Bodies)

Luna rolled her teal eyes and looked down at the mare disgustingly.

“Enough of this. Love is a ridiculous and weak feeling. I will enjoy killing you and your offspring.”

NOO! NO! Brass yelled but Luna’s damned magic wouldn’t let his protests be heard.

Luna’s magic took hold of Azure’s wings and began to pull slowly. The corporal watched his wife’s face as she closed her eyes and she gritted her teeth. He could hear the cracking of her bones and a sick pulling sound. Luna pulled harder with her magic and blood began to spurt out from the base of Azure’s wings The mare yelled out in searing pain and his children cried and screamed as they watched the dark blood squirt out of their mother.

“Yes! Scream and cry all you want! I will silence all of you soon enough!” Luna cackled maniacally.

With one final tug, both of the mare’s wings ripped clean off her back with a disgusting cracking sound, making the corporal’s wife scream even louder and the kids shake in utter horror. Splintered bone and nerves was that was present as the stubs on her back spewed blood.

Luna threw the wings to the side and positioned her blade over one of the openings of the mare’s bloodied nubs. She grinned, relishing the pain that she was going to put this mare through while her children and husband watched in grief and terror.

She thrust her blade down into the opening, plunging it right into her body and the tip of the blade coming out of her chest. Azure screamed bloody murder and globs of blood squirted out from her mouth, but Luna wasn’t finished with her. Her blade began to radiate a black aura around it and black bolts of electricity shot through it, sending it through Azure’s body. Her body wriggled and thrashed as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Brass bawled and heavy tears poured from his eyes. He was supposed to protect her and here was watching Luna torture her in front of him while he watched.

Oozing blood began to pour out of her eyes, ears and mouth. Luna was melting Azure’s innards from the inside and within moments, her very flesh began to bleed blood out its pores. Her fur began to burn and the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. Azure looked at Brass one last time as blood covered her face. He could see the pain in her eyes but also the love she still held for him, even in her last moments. He screamed and cried but still no sound could be heard from him.

I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! his mind screamed, hoping that somehow his wife could hear him.

The pegasus’s eyes exploded, splashing its contents onto his face and her body went limp, blood still oozing out of her mouth and eyes. Azure, his wife and the mother of two, was dead.

“Mommy!” Jewel yelled while Ruby bawled her eyes out. Brass hung his head and let his hot tears fall to the ground. His entire world was crumbling around him and he did nothing. He was her husband and failed her, but it was too soon to mourn, for only more was to come.

“Now, let’s move on to the small ones,” Luna said with a disgusting pleasure. Brass lifted his head and knew that only the worst was yet to come. His children, his pride and joy, were going to suffer by whatever sick way Luna planned for them.

Luna brought her blade across Ruby’s small neck and placed the edge neatly against the small filly. Ruby’s chest heaved in and out and she sobbed and gasped. Golden Brass thrashed around, screaming and hoping that somehow Luna’s hold on him would break, but there was nothing the stallion could do.

The princess brought her mouth close to the filly’s ear and whispered into it.

“Tell me child, do you love your father?”

Ruby replied through her scared whimpers and rapid breathing.

“Y..yes.”

“Please don’t hurt my sister Miss princess,” Jewel bawled.

Luna whipped a small blast of magic against Jewel’s face, cutting her cheek open. She screamed and Ruby began to scream again seeing her sister’s face.

“I’m not talking to you whelp. Wait your turn.”

DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU TO HELL!

Golden’s mind screamed curse after curse and he constantly tried to break whatever magic that Luna kept on him.

“Now,” Luna continued as she whispered into Ruby’s ear, “Tell your daddy that you love him and you're going to miss him.”

Ruby obeyed and looked at her father and said the words.

“Daddy, I...I lov..love you and... and ...I’m going to miss-”

Luna quickly dragged the blade across her neck and sliced her throat, cutting her off and letting her fall to the ground, gurgling on her own blood and her eyes rolling back into her head.

“Ruby!”

NO!

“She was too slow. Maybe if she stopped blubbering like some foal, she might have been able to finish,” Luna now looked to the last one and smile sadistically. “I have something special for you.”

Suddenly, the magical binding that silenced the corporal came undone and he wailed and screamed without hesitation.

“You bitch! They were innocent! They did nothing to you! I’ll kill you for this Luna, I’ll fucking kill you!”

Luna laughed at him openly as he roared his threats and he cried hysterically over his now dead wife and child.

“None of us are innocent. You and your family are tainted with weakness, something I cannot allow within my kingdom. All of you and your fellow companions that hide in fear of me will meet the same fate, and none will be spared. You only did this to yourself, but don’t fret... I will not kill your last daughter.”

Both Jewel and Brass looked at Luna, wondering what she was thinking. Luna chuckled with a darkness and glared at the broken stallion.

“You will.”

Without warning, Luna shot a black bolt at the stallion and he suddenly lost all control of his body. The black binding that kept him from moving was removed and he gritted his teeth, trying to move any part of his body but he couldn’t.

“You, Corporal Golden Brass, will kill the last of your blood. By your hoof, you will end this cancer that you call a family.”

“No! You can’t make me... I won’t!”

“Are you so sure?”

He got up but not by his own accord. His eyes widened now realizing what the magical bolt that Luna was doing. He looked at the alicorn and saw by the movement of her eyes that she was controlling him against his will.

“Come now...I think it’s time you end this.”

He tried to fight it, but her magic was overwhelming. Luna threw her dark blade on the ground in front of him.

“Pick it up.”

“No! NO! I’m not doing this!”

But he was.

He picked up the blade and his hoof began to burn from the black aura that surrounded Luna’s weapon.

“Now corporal, I want you to plunge that blade right through your daughter’s little chest, slowly, and watch her die.”

“No Daddy! Please don’t hurt me!” Jewel begged, blood still seeping from the laceration on her face.

All he could do was cry and hang his head. He couldn’t fight it. Like Luna said, he was too weak.

“Do it.”

His forelegs lifted the damned blade and pointed the tip right at her small chest. She began to scream and cry and it destroyed his very sanity. He was going to kill his own daughter... because he was too weak.

“I’m so sorry Jewel.” he whispered keeping his head hung. He couldn’t bear to look at her for what he was being forced to do.

“Do it!”

And so he did. His forelegs began to move in and pressed the tip of Luna’s blade against Jewel’s chest and applied increasing pressure.

“I don’t want to hurt Daddy!”

Extreme sadness, grief, hate, and loathing filled the stallion and knew this was it. He had nothing left and her last words rang through his head.

Jewel...

The blade pierced her flesh and began to dig into her. She let out a shrill wail and Brass did not look. He couldn’t look. He was doing this to his beloved child. The ones he swore that he would protect and die for, but yet he was killing them under Luna’s accursed magic.

He pushed the blade deeper into the little filly and her screams turned into gurgles and gagging. Every fiber of his being screamed within him and all that made him who he was, was gone. He was empty and void, letting only the screams of his little girl fill him. Deeper the blade went until he heard the blade come out the back of the small pony.

Jewel no longer screamed and stayed silent, now and forever. She was still with the blade impaled into her by her own father and he shook. His family was gone. His daughters, his wife, everything that he held dear to him were gone.

“Good work my dear Brass. How did it feel to rid yourself of such pests?”

She relinquished her control of him and he fell to the floor along with Jewel’s body. Princess Luna pulled the blade out of the corpse and stood over to the surrendered stallion.

Their gone... their gone...I killed Jewel...Ruby....Azure...Luna killed them and I watched...

He laid there on the floor and looked up, expecting to see a victorious Luna, but she wasn’t there. The unicorn looked around and nothing was there anymore. Everything had become a black void. His house was gone, his family’s body’s were gone, and Luna was gone. Only a black emptiness met him. Confusion set in and he lifted himself up, looking around.

YOU KILLED HER!

“Gah!” he yelled grabbing his head.

YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THEM!

“Stop!” It was his own voice and it screeched within his mind.

YOU’RE WEAK! YOU ENJOYED KILLING YOUR DAUGHTER DIDN’T YOU?!

“No! Shut up!”

SHE SAID NOT TO HURT HER AND YOU KILLED HER... HER OWN FATHER!”

His eyes sunk into his head. He was going mad and the voice wouldn’t stop torturing him.

“No! Shut the fuck up! Stop it!!!!”

Then tell me the name!

It was Luna and he knew that she was now toying with him. He immediately realized this was her magic and she was making him relive his family's deaths.

YOU WATCHED THEM DIE AND DID NOTHING!

“AAAGH! Make it stop! I...I’ll tell you the name! I’ll tell you the name just make it stop!” he sobbed and begged. He had enough of this hell and he only wished to die.

Good.

DD2

Part 3-4

Golden Brass woke up and was back in the stone room, hanging by his chains and freed from Luna’s induced nightmare. He breathed heavily and his heart pounded. The screams of his wife and children reverberated in his mind and he could only cry.

“Now, tell me the name corporal. Tell me the name that Celestia removed from the forbidden texts.”

He didn’t care anymore. His ruler had made him swear to never reveal the name, under no circumstance, but what now? Celestia was dead, Equestria was a living hell with a merciless ruler, and there was no pony that could stop her. He had nothing left and his very will was broken. He could only hope that Luna would be kind enough to end his life once she had what she wanted to know from him.

“I’ll give you the name...” he muttered, hanging his head in final defeat.

Luna put her face close to his and listened.

“Tell me the name.”

And so he gave it, and his answer was not one that pleased her. No, it was one that sent a sudden fear even in the alicorn. It was a name that she hadn’t heard of since Celestia and her defeated Discord. It was a cursed name, a name belonging to a pony that Celestia had barely defeated, but at a terrible price.

“The name....

…is Malum. Malum the Destructor.”