Dark Spectrum

Chapters

Prolouge: A Dream
Chapter 1: Remembering Pain
Chapter 2: Emotion
Chapter 3: Strike
Chapter 4: Corruption
Chapter 5: Defeat
Chapter 6: Black Flames
Chapter 7: Healing
Empty: The second interlude
Voices: The first interlude

Prolouge: A Dream

At the summit of the mountain, I am able to see the whole world sprawled out below me. The land has many variations in it, from snowy plains to deserts to mountains. The lines between the terrain variations are blurred. The land is strange; the ways the landscape quickly change from a tranquil meadow to a rough and dangerous forest. No matter the difference of the terrain, the sun spreads light across them equally, making sure not to ignore anything, be it good or bad. The sun stands right in the middle of the sky, showing of the beauty and wonder of the world, from the clouds to the dirt. Its so relaxing, seeing this landscape, as it never changes. The landscape stays constant, always in perfect balance. There is nothing that can make this place better. This place is, in every since, utopia.

At this point, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been up here. It doesn’t matter really, as the same thing will happen over and over again. At this point, I even know I’m dreaming. For the same thing happens every hour. I climb up this mountain, look around, go back down. However, I refuse to complain, as the whole thing is mindless, I have no sensation of time. I don’t think. In a dream, one hardly does. The ability to do the same thing over and over again in a mindless stride, not having to worry or wonder about the mediocrity and uselessness of the entire thing, is wonderful.

In this dream, I can forget all that has happened. I can forget about why I’m asleep, how long, I can just forget. I wish this could go on forever. I wish that I could live every day without worry, without struggle, without pain. To be relieved of having and needing a purpose is a blessing. However, nothing good can last, and change is way overdue.

I sit upon the mountain, calm and mellow. I close my eyes for a bit, as I always do, to continue being in a calm and relaxed state. I breathe in, and breathe out. But as I open my eyes, I realize night has fallen. There are no clouds. The moon is in the middle of the sky, surrounded by gleaming stars, shimmering across the sky. I knew this day would come, but I hoped it wouldn’t. I slowly get up, and make my way down the mountain. The pate is strangely smooth, without any fractures or crevices. But as I stride down the spiraling path, the land behind me starts to crumble. Behind me, the path finally starts to show age, and crumbles to the bottom of the mountain. As I look around, I can also see that the world is aging. The trees rot, the snow melts, the flowers wilt; my perfect world crumbles before my very eyes. And I can do nothing to stop it.

By the time I get to the bottom, the world has turned to dust. The land is featureless, except for small hills of sand and ash. I look up, trying to look away from the ruin, and see that the stars and the moon are gone. They have also seemed to succumb to the end.

I walk amongst the broken world, trying to find something, anything, that isn't the same horrid sight. This once maginficent and beautiful place, now a barren wasteland. There is nothing left, no remnant that the old landscape ever existed. It was wiped away from the world, never to be seen again.

I walk across these hills for hours, wearing my hooves down. I do not care about how sore my hooves are, I just care about finding something. I don't care if it is good or bad, I just want to find something out there that is different.

Eventually, I fall to the ground, refusing to get up. There is no point in doing so, there is no point in doing anything. Everything is gone, and I have been left alone. I would give up, if I could, but it seems that cruel fate has left me to stay here, awake and undying, for a time, I'm not sure how long. I lay here for a long time, trying to think of something. But my mind is blank, unable to process anything but the shattered thoughts and memories of a dead land.

And I am left alone, amongst a pile of dust. It seems that I am to come back to the world, to face the truth. This is just a dream, and yet, somehow, it is all too real.

"You're pathetic!" I hear myself say, off in the distance.

"Why do you care. You left me here, alone, with no sleep and no thoughts. Why do you have to be so cruel?" I ask.

"You need to face reality. You need to remember your past. If you don't, you will never change."

"I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE!" I yell into the black sky. "I never wanted to change. I just wanted to be happy."

"But that time is long gone. You need to change, or else you will never learn."

"Or I can just lay here forever, absorbed in empty thought." I say to whoever I am talking to. It's not like I care who I'm talking to, I just want them to stop.

"Look, if you don't wake up, balence will never happen. Without you, the world flows with positive energy, which will eventually ruin everything. If you don't do it for you, do it for your family!" the voice off in the distance yells.

I stay quiet for a bit. "How, how do I remember." I ask.

"All you need to do is admit the truth to yourself." the voice says.

"Thank you." I say, too late. The voice is gone, leaving me only with the memory of what it said. I decide to follow the directions it gave me. I close my eyes, and try to sleep. As I lay in the dust and ash, I remember. I am the only thing left. I am the only one left. Everything is gone, but me.

Chapter 1: Remembering Pain

I slowly open my eyes, having to force my heavy eyelids apart. I stare up at the ceiling, made of black stone. It is rugged, with bumps and spikes dotting the roof. However, there are no signs of age. I shake my head, and investigate the rest of the room. Amongst me are 14 stone beds, put perfectly around the room. The beds are made of stone, with a small head mast made of dark-shaded wood. The head masts each have a somewhat similar design. Each head mast has two long shoots coming out of the top of it, on the left and the right sides. The tops of the shoots are tipped with a bronze spearhead, glimmering from the light in the room, which seems to have no origin. The lighting has a dark green glow that covers the whole room, yet is originating from no point. In the middle of the two shoots is a strange creature, each of them different. The room is large, large enough so every bed also has room for shelves and plenty of walking space around it. Each stone bed has one small shelf to the right of it, tall enough to reach the top of the stone mass. The shelves are halfway filled, but the items inside of the shelves are in a jumble. It looks as if they were all searched through. To the left of each bed is a small cabinet, about as tall as the shelves. Like the shelves, the cabinets are made of petrified wood. The cabinets are decaying, and it is easy to see right into them through the holes that dot them, all that I can clearly see into appear to be empty. The shelves and the bed are also decaying, the shelves being almost too thin and weak to hold the little junk they bear. The head masts have also shown decay, some missing their shoots, some missing half or their entire unique symbol, and some are a combination. The beds are messy, the single sheets that belong to each bed are ripped and tattered, being virtually useless. The stone of the bed is not too bad, but chipped.

I am laying in one of these beds. I sit up, using all my strength to do so. I see my body; my black coat seems in perfect condition, the complete opposite of the rest of the room. I put my hooves to my eyes, rubbing them, trying to take the pain from the light away from them. To me, the light hurts. My eyes are not used to it. I take my hooves away from my eyes, and look at my bed. I immediately notice that there are pieces of black crystals scattered around. There is so many of them, dotted on the bed and on the floor by me. I look at them for a bit, puzzled. They are so... perfect. It seems as if the crystals have shattered into perfect diamonds, an unnatural occurrence. I reach my hoof, which is a darker shade of black than my skin, to touch a crystal. It takes an eternity to make contact with the crystal, as if all my energy has been zapped away. I finally make contact with the crystal, and it feels hot. As searing pain hits my hoof and climbs its way up my body, I retract it. I look at my hoof, to see how bad it burned me. But as I go to investigate my hoof, the burn goes away. My hoof shows no damage. I look back at the crystal, and it starts to move.

Around me, the other crystals begin to move. The crystal I touched flies up, and comes to be perpendicular with my face. There the crystal stays, trembling. I fell strangely calm, like I know that everything is going to be okay. But I don’t know what’s going to happen. In fact, I don’t remember much of everything. I don’t know who I am, why I’m here, all I know is what my surroundings look like, what my body looks like, and that something is going on right in front of me.

I snap back my attention to the crystal. It stays still for a bit, just shaking. I reach out to it, but right when I start to do so, a hiss is emitted from it. I put my hoof down. The crystals all around the bed and on the bed start to tremble as well. I’m still calm, for a reason I don’t know. The crystals fly up to meet the one right in front of me. As they hit the crystal, the other crystals melt into a strange dark goop. Soon, the entire crystal is engulfed in dark goop. It pulses, as if it is alive. I calmly stare at it, wondering what it is. Before I have time to react, the goop flies right into my face.

The goop climbs around my face, forcing it’s way into my eyes, mouth, and nose. It is excruciatingly painful, yet I remain calm. This is what scares me, the fact that I am not phased by this. The goop finishes entering my body, and the pain stops. Calm before the storm. Suddenly, massive pain flows through my mind. I put my hooves on my head, hoping that it will stop the pain. I roll around on the bed, the pain clouding my thoughts. I fall off my bed, yet I do not feel it. The pain in my mind is too small. I close my eyes, a natural reaction to this pain. I wait for it to end. Or for me to meet my end. The pain is... unbearable. But at its climax, it stops. I open my eyes. I look around the room, and wonder what happened. As I do, I realize that I now know where this place is. This is my clan’s bedroom. Sleeping place of my family. I remember everything; I remember where I am, who I am, and what happened. Thus, I remember the joy, the content, and the pain.

My name is Black Moon, and I live with my family, the Dark Star clan, in the
center of the Everfree Forest. My family and I all have a unique trait, mastery of black magic.

Our family’s abilities originated from my great-great-grandfather. He was always on a quest of noble ambitions. Being disgusted with the imbalance of the world created by emperor Discord, he journeyed for power that would allow him to create balance in the world. During a travel in the Everfree forest, he encountered a small dragon, about the size of a boulder. Apparently, it was not a dragon at all, but a mystical demon. It say power in his my great-great-grandfathers blood, and finally saw a worthy host. For the demon had strange ways of working, it could not simply manipulate the physical world directly. It had to lend it’s power to another creature, that will use the demon’s power. My great-great-grandfather accepted the demon’s request, and the two merged their power. From that day on, the demon and my ancestor were one. Using his newly gained power, he thought he could defeat Discord and return balance. He failed in defeating Discord, as he was untrained. However, due to how entertaining the battle was to him, Discord let him live. He decided from that day on to fully master his powers. But as the years went by, as the demon continued to teach him, he saw that he would never master all of his power. He decided that he would instead get assistance. His two sons, my great grandfathers, willingly took up on their father’s request. The demon was happy to get the assistance. Overnight, the two sons seemed to get their own demons, whose origins are unknown. The three of them continued to study, and write books on the spells, hoping that by passing their learning’s through future generations of their family, they can uphold my great-great-grandfather’s dream. Sadly, he died at the hands of his sons, after he tried to kill them. It seemed that the demon finally got to him, and controlled him. After his death, the demon disappeared.

My clan started with his dream. The information was passed down, just as this story. My family has always strived to perfect the magic, in memory of him. It seems that the demons also appear from nowhere, as if they were naturally attracted to our determination. But the real reason they were attracted to us, was our blood. Our founder, my ancestor, was told by the demon that he was selected because his bloodline was pure, and yet also corrupted. It was in perfect balance.

My life was good. Even though it was hard work, I had fun. Learning the ways of the dark magic, learning how to control it, was my pass time. I played with my brothers and sisters, and Discord never touched us. Life was perfect. But it had to end.

One day, Discord was over thrown. Two sisters, Celestia and Luna, defeated him, and turned him to stone. We all could sense it. We were worried, what these two were going to do. So we waited. For a while, nothing happened. Then one day, everything went downhill.

Celestia and Luna sensed the dark energy we were emitting as a result of our studies, and came after us. We felt it, and started to prepare. We packed our things, and were going to leave. I was only 18. When we got out of our house, leaving all our research behind, we ran. We didn’t get far. The two caught us, and used their combined magic to capture us. The mixture of light and dark magic, it was too much. We were defeated.

I remember that dark cell. I could see the stone all around me, covered with moss. The floor was damp, from what, I didn’t want to know. The door was made of enchanted wood that resisted everything I threw at it. In the room was a stone bed, cracked and withered. It was so dark; I could only see the outside of my cell. I sat there in the dark, scared. I tried everything I could, removing the door, teleporting, everything. The place was resistant to magic. For the first time of my life, I was scared.

One day in that cell, after waking up, I found myself being carried by two guards. I could see my family up ahead, they all looked asleep. I knew what I had to do. I desperately tried to use a spell, using all my power. I finally managed too. Using a time manipulation spell, I was able to freeze the two in time. I ran away. I ran away from my family. I wouldn’t be able to do anything, I was too weak. I ran out of the castle I was in, not paying attention to my surroundings. I was eventually able to make it out. Just then, I heard the voice of my grandfather in my head.

He was using a spell to talk to anybody with a telepathy spell. I was the only one who heard him. He told me that there was nothing I could do to help him. He told me to go home, and use a spell to suspend myself in a field of dark energy. He told me that when the time came when positive energy was in a surplus, I would awaken. I tried to ask him something, anything; I had so many questions. But after he gave me orders, his voice was gone.

The walk home was long and confusing. I didn’t know how to react. I tried to think of something, but my mind was jumbled. After leaving Canterlot, my mind exploded. The screams of my family ringed inside my head. I could only look into the horizon as tears filled my eyes. I felt numb, as the truth came to light. My family was killed. As tears filled my eyes, I ran home.

By the time I got home, I wanted to give up. Everything that was important to me was now gone. The whole world had shattered right in front of me. I felt so helpless. All I could do was follow my uncle’s last request. I went to my bed, and used the spell. My demon and I were frozen, waiting to awake. I remember the last thing I though when I was about to freeze. “They’re all dead.”

I have awoken. This means that positive energy has taken the world, and flooded out the negative. But that does not matter now. All that matters now is that I finally get my revenge. Celestia killed everything I loved, so I’ll make sure I do the same to her.

Chapter 2: Emotion

I push myself off the ground, now fully energized. I am at the far end of the sleeping halls, the place where my old life ended, and my new one begins. I walk across the hallway, moving in a stride. I finally reach the end of the hallway. There is no visible door, only the outline of an archway carved into the wall. In the center of the archway is a hole, big enough to perfectly fit a unicorn’s horn in. I wipe my mane out of my face, revealing my horn. As I always did, I put my horn through the hole, and use an unlocking spell. After doing this, I immediately steps back, removing my horn from the hole in the door. The lines outlining the archway light up with a purple glow. In front of me, the stone inside the archway fades away, as if it was erased from existence. I continue my stride into the next room. Upon crossing over the archway, the stone reappears, letting me just barely get through.

I step into the pedestal room. The room is extremely large, big enough to fit 50 ponies. Despite its size, it is very featureless. The room is perfectly circular, and unlike the rest of the place, the walls and ceiling are completely smooth. The walls are completely featureless, except for two archways (that look exactly like the one before) in front and to the right of me, and the spiral staircase to the left of me. The four points are completely perpendicular with the center of the room, which inhabits a structure about the height of a regular sized pony. It is made out of dark crystal, and is perfectly rectangular. At the top, it is slanted, as if it was cut of at a 45 degree angle. The larger edge that originates from this points to the right of the room, and is perfectly aligned with the pedestal. It has a hole in the top of it, fitting in perfectly with the slant. The hole faces left of me, towards the staircase. The same green glow in the bedroom is also present here, and is throughout the entire establishment.

I ignore the other doors for now, and proceed to the spiral staircase. It goes up past the roof, and connects to a hallway. The hallway runs through all the rooms, which instead of having magical archways have doors made out of dark shaded wood. Engraved on each door is a symbol, representing which room it leads too. I head to my left. The part of the hallway left of me only has one door, which are two double doors directly ahead of me. Engraved on the door is a table. I use my magic to casually open the door.

In front of me stands a long stone table, occupying the middle of the room. On both long sides (which are horizontal of me) have 6 stone chairs, rooting from the ground. They each have a different symbol of a demon, showing which table is whose. At both short ends of the table have one stone chair, which share the pattern in the other ones. On the wall in front of me, near the ceiling, is a large stained glass window. It depicts my great-great-grandfather meeting the demon at the entrance of this cave. It is in perfect detail, as it depicts the dead trees, ash covered ground, scattered rocks, just as I remembered it. The window generates a green glow, which is strong enough to fill the entire place. Under the window are smaller stained glass windows, each depicting a different demon. Just like most of the house, the walls and ceiling are riddled with bumps and spines, but no cracks.

I continue my casual stride around the table. It saddens me as I look at them. Here my family conversed our findings, we ate, we lived. All I see now are the empty spaces that are in the chairs, and the empty space that is in my heart. I shove that thought aside, as there is work to be done. Celestia must pay for disrupting balance and killing my family. At least Luna had the courtesy to ask if there was another way. But Celestia just let it happened, she just let those who were so called “evil” die. I finally reach the window I was looking for.

The window third from the right of the door had a picture of my demon. He is shown as a round ball of blackish purple fur, having its left eye bigger than its right. His red eyes have an innocent look, despite his nature. His mouth leans to the right, resulting in a smirk. Coming out from its mouth are two fangs, in which the right fang is bigger than the left. It also has small horns, which are curved to end at an angle. The left horn is bigger than the right. Coming out of its sides are two bat wings, which are big enough to completely surround him. These break the pattern occurring in its structure, as both wings are the same size. I use my magic on the window, using a spell that will awaken my demon.

“Come on Puff, I don’t have all day!” I say, exasperated.

Just on cue, the window forms into a dark goop, much like the goop that originated from the crystals in my room. I step back, knowing what happens next. Suddenly, the creature from the picture flies out at full speed, flying right past me. It slams right into the wall in front of it, resulting in him bouncing to the ground. It bounces towards me, it wings surrounding his body to allow it to bounce. I grab it in mid flight, using my magic.

“Puff, we don’t have time to play around,” I say.

Puff peels away his from his face, and starts to flap them. I let him go. Despite him being the size of an orange and the fact that it’s an all-powerful demon, it is quite reckless. Puff looks at me, and then yawns, pulling his wings back to stretch them. I don’t even know why he needs wings, as he doesn’t need them to fly. I guess there are still things about demons I still don’t know.

“Look Puff, I know you’re still tired, but I need to know how long we’ve been asleep,” I ask him in a serious manner.

Puff squeaks a bit, in his adorable little mouse squeaks. To most, it would just sound like squeaks, but due to our connection, I know what Puff says. He tells me that we’ve been asleep for 2,184 years.

“Really, that long?” I say, astonished.

Puff squeaks in acknowledgement.

“Well, I guess we need to get to work.” I say.

Puff makes a confused squeak.

“You know what happened; my family and your brethren are dead. I’m going to avenge them, I’m going to make sure that the person who did this pays!” I say, determined.

Puff makes a strong squeak of acknowledgement.

“Let’s hit the books!”

I exit the room with puff, and step back into the hallway. I stride down the hallway, past the stairs and two other doors, and turn right. In front of me is a single door with the engraving of a book in it. This is perhaps the most important part of the house. I open the door with my magic, which shines a transparent black.

The study is the largest room in the entire place, with row after row of bookcases. The room has a hall in front of the door, on the sides of which have rows of dark wood bookcases. They are filled with books, most of which are written by my own family. I walk down the hall, passing many bookcases. In fact, the walls of the room are covered in bookcases. The rows are not labeled, as each of us have been here so many times, we know where everything is. In the very back is a reading area, with three tables. The tables each have four pillows, in which we would sit upon as we read. I miss the days when I sat there enjoying my studies. Over to the right of me is my piano. That piano was my way of keeping sane, my way to vent the excess dark energy. The process didn’t hurt, as I would always be too deep in the music. Only I can play that piano, as it is built with my enchantments. But with it, any sound I imagine can come out of it.

“Alright Puff, let’s do this!” I say, determined.

I splash the water into my face to bring my mind back into focus. I haven’t slept in three days, and I am surprisingly tired. One would thing that after all those years of sleep; I would be good for another few years. I look at myself. My black coat is surprisingly clean, despite the three days of hard studying. There are bags under my red eyes, pulling my eyelids down. My long pitch black mane is spiked in a chaotic, yet smooth, fashion, as it has always been. The blue streak going down my main runs right to the left of my horn, almost highlighting it. No matter what I do, my mane never moves; the affect of a spell I preformed when I was 13. In the mirror I can also see my cutie mark, a picture of Puff. My tail is also visible, and it is as spiked as my mane. The blue strand stays constant on my tail, continuing on from my main. But with all the signs of exhaustion, I look like an absolute mess.

I stare into my eyes, and think to myself.

“I’m the only one left. There is nobody supporting my cause. I’m weak. I couldn’t save my parents, I just ran away. Celestia... she was powerful enough to capture all of us, how can I expect to beat her.”

“Use your pain,” a voice in my head says. The voice of Puff. “You have something she doesn’t have. You have emotion. You have the will to do this. You need to let your power, your pain, and your hatred, seep into your powers. If you do this, you will be able to defeat her.”

“But how?” I ask Puff.

“I’ll show you. It’s time you and I get some payback.” Puff says.

“I’m going to do it” I tell Puff.

“Go ahead. I see her” Puff replies.

It has been two years since I awoke. Two years of sorrow. Two years of pain. But today, I activate my plan. I’m ready. I can connect with minds, Puff has Celestia in its sight, and I know what to do. I’m going to enjoy seeing her writhe in pain as I communicate with her.

“Hello again, Princess.” I say.

I see through Puffs eyes. I see Celestia feel the pain. The pain strikes her mind, forcing her to let out a shriek. She falls to the ground, holding her head, experiencing true pain. Of course, the telepathic link didn’t have to be this painful. But with all she’s done, she deserves it. Her pathetic armored guards rush to her, as she squirms around like a worm. I hear her voice.

“Who are you, where are you?!” Celestia says.

“Don’t worry, I’m far away. I’m talking to you through a telepathy spell. There is no need to speak out loud.” I say, in a devious tone.

“But who are you?” Celestia says, still obviously in pain.

“You don’t remember me? Pity. I remember so much about you.”

“And how would you know anything about me?”

“Well, why wouldn’t I know the person who killed my family!”

“What!?” Celestia says, surprised and confused.

“Doesn’t narrow it down enough for you. Let me clarify. My name is Black Moon. I was a member of the Dark Star clan, before you killed them.”

“No! I can’t be you!”

“I want you to meet me on the edge of the Everfree forest, near that pathetic town. I believe you called it.... Ponyville.”

“What if I refuse!?” Celestia says defiantly.

I laugh at this remark. I was not expecting her to be this... inquisitive.

“Why are you laughing?!” Celestia says angrily.

“Isn’t the answer simple? If you don’t, I’ll find you myself. And I’ll destroy everything in my path.”

I sense it, Celestia is worried. I feel her pain. Her terror. It’s everything I wanted, and expected. Finally, I am so close. I will finish what she started.

“I’ll be there from when the sun is in the middle of the sky to when the sun sets. Be there. I’ll be fair, and let you bring anyone you want. You’re going to need it. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I say, in a serious tone.

I severe the physic link between us. Looking through Puff’s eyes, I am disappointed to see that her suffering stopped. Wait, no it hasn’t. It has only begun.

Chapter 3: Strike

I lay back against a tree, hanging in the shade, trying to relax. I’ve been here for hours; I’m not quite sure how much time has passed. It’s difficult trying to relax. Yes, the tree provides enough shade against the blistering heat created by the sun, and I am surrounded by a serene scene, on the edge of a mystical and mysterious looking forest, and a calm and luscious plain. I can see off in the distance a small town. The dirt path I am near leads straight to it. The leaves of the trees flow through the wind in a rhythmic pattern, as if the wind was conducting the leaves. Everything seems so perfect. It’s a pity that I will have to befoul this land with the harshness that is about to commence.

I use a spell to change the configuration of my eyes, allowing them to reject light. These self-configuration spells used to be incredibly painful, as it is always. Experiencing your body violently shifting for the first time is never a peaceful experience. However, these spells are usually my favorite, discovered by my father.

I gaze up at the sun, needing to determine what time it is. Even with the alteration of my eyes, gazing into the sun still burns a little. It seems that today the sun shines brighter, making it especially hot and uncomfortable out. It seems that Celestia is resorting to her god-like powers to get the upper hand on me. It’s good to see that she still remembers who I am.

I feel off. I am excited to finally accomplish my goal, to finally get revenge against the person who took everything away from me, yet I’m not that excited. I don’t know why, but I feel that I don’t want to hurt her.

I quickly get rid of that feeling. I remind myself that this has to be done. She is not only the person who destroyed everything I care about, but it also seems that her power has surpassed her sister’s. This means that her existence is causing an imbalance in the world, as positive energy is overtaking negative. She didn’t just kill my family, she is even ruining the balance they, we, strove for.

I look up into the tree I’m laying against, staring at Puff. I can see Puff suspended in air, peaking out from the branches to see the dirt path. It is acting as an outlook, waiting to inform me if anyone approaches. It’s been hours, yet we are both wide awake. The current circumstances have led us to anxiously wait for them to come.

I hear Puff squeak to me. It’s starting. I want to jump up to see for myself, but I stay cool. Instead, I look through Puff’s eyes, to see exactly what I am dealing with.

Up the dirt trail, leading out from the town and into the forest, I can see figures approaching. The first things I see are six royal guards, their golden armor gleaming in the sunlight. Their straight faces make it hard for me to identify what they are feeling, leading me to believe that these guards are highly trained. They seem to all be unicorns, no doubt sent to counter my abilities. Leading five of them is one in the same uniform, only purple, with golden outlining. His bulk seems to make him appear dominant against the five other guard, causing me to assume he is probably their leader, if not head of the entire royal guard. I’m touched.

Trailing behind them is the face of the enemy, the one I came here for, Celestia. She hasn’t changed a bit from since I last met her, probably due to the fact that she is un-aging and immortal. Her impressive build seems to stand out from the rest of the landscape, almost making her seem godlike. If I didn’t know better, I would say she is a god. However, I know better than to think that. Even through her immense magical power and fancy title, she is still a pony. And like every pony, they have their strengths and weaknesses.

Now, I knew Celestia wouldn’t play fair, but what I saw was something I never thought would happen. In front of Celestia were 6 other ponies, that were obviously civilians. This made me confused. What purpose could these ponies possibly serve to defeat me? I must ignore the fact that they are not trained, and remember that they are sided with the enemy.

Their presence is… unnerving. I’m not sure what it is about them, but they seem strangely calm. Well, most of them. The yellow one is barely keeping up with them, and is extremely scared. I’m not sure what is up with her, or why they would even bring her. I mean, why they would bring somepony who is too scared to fight. And the pink one. She is smiling, hoping her way up the path. She is so… unusual. But the worst one is the purple one. Something about her, she seems to radiate positive magic. She could possibly be a problem. I’m not sure what is going on with them, but they are confusing me.

They now approach the edge of the forest, right on time. Their mach ends with a final stop at the edge of the forest. The royal guards survey the landscape, not yet seeing me, even though I’m only a little ways away.

“Be wary, my pupils, we don’t know what we are dealing with,” says Celestia.

“Alright!”says the head of the royal guard, proudly.

“Uhh… excuse me but… um… maybe we shouldn’t… um… be here,” the yellow pony says, seeking shelter behind those amongst her.

“We have to do this Fluttershy, or else horrible things may happen,” says the purple pony, showing determination.

“I agree with Twilight, we can do this! This is no different than the time we defeated Discord!” says the flying blue Pegasus.

Now this is interesting. I now see their purpose. If they defeated the lord of chaos, then they must hold unlimited power. That’s when it hit me. The jewelry they are wearing, it makes so much since. I recognize their symbols. Honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic. These are the spirits of harmony, the bearers of the power that defeated my family so long ago! No wonder this “Twilight” character was radiating positive energy. She is the spirit of the most powerful element of harmony, magic! This may be harder than I think. Let’s see what they can do.

“Well, it’s nice to see that you made it Celestia.” I say.

They all immediately grow tense, jumping to their feet and looking around frantically. The yellow one, Fluttershy, quietly shrieks and runs away, only to be brought back by Twilight.

“Show yourself!” the head of the royal guard says.

I step out of the shadow, standing on the dirt path, facing the enemy. They all focus on me. I can see the worry in their eyes. They weren’t expecting me to be so mellow, so relaxed.

“Now, let’s see who you all are,” I say, using a magic spell.

Black light beams from my horn, and reaches the head of the royal guard and the spirits of harmony. It quickly runs around their brain, (which is much less painful then you would think) and quickly the beams of light retract back to my horn.

“Very interesting setup you got here, Celestia. Using the royal guard elite and the physical embodiments of the elements of harmony, I’m impressed.” I say, sporting a devilish smirk.

“Uhh… can we just go.” says Fluttershy, terrified.

“No, we can take him on!” proclaims Rainbow Dash.

“His mane is an absolute mess.” comments Rarity.

“Well, they’re two of us ‘m one of him, I reckon this will be a piece of pie!” says Applejack, proudly.

“I love apple pie!” says the bouncing pink pony known only as Pinkie Pie.

“Alright, let’s do this, for Celestia, for Equestria!” says Twilight Sparkle, confidently.

“A proud statement, but a useless jester. Both Celestia and I know that this is a quarrel between the two of us! It’s a pity that she sacrifices her own subjects to prolong her life a little bit more.” I say.

“He’s right, I have to do this myself.” Celestia says, moving towards me.

“Stop Celestia!” Shining Armor says, reaching his hoof out in a gesture to stop her. “We have all sworn loyalty to you, and will gladly give our lives for you.”

“You don’t know what you’re…” Celestia says, right before I cut her off.

“You’re loyal to that pathetic excuse for a princess, eh? Prove it!” I say, smiling the whole time.

Just as I hoped, the elite guard charge at me, charging up their horns to attack me. This is pitiful. They cannot hope to stop the power of a demon, not to mention an angry one. They leap in the air, and aim their horns at me. They make it too easy. I use a dark shield spell. Around me, a shield of pure dark energy forms. The six elite guards hit face first into the wall, and bounce back, almost hitting the spirits of harmony. They get up, stumbling, preparing for a counter attack. They run at me, and I use a spell my aunt taught me, a rotting spell. The spell hits the guards, the guards immediately feel the effects, and drop to the ground. Their commander, Shining Armor, got the closet to me, landing at my hoof. I then watch as they scream in pain, squirming on the floor. In front of me, I see them start to rot, their flesh becoming old and crusty. Their muscle starts to melt away, leaving only strands of connecting tissue. Their bones rot down, making them virtually immobile. Their organs become old and weary, disintegrating, barely sustaining them. Their blood slows and thins, making them weary due to lack of oxygen. I literally watch as the guards rot before my very eyes, and become helpless. They are on the verge of death. I look at the others, and they are awestruck. Even Celestia cannot believe the gruesomeness and brutality that she is witnessing. It is worse for the spirits of harmony, who have never been exposed to this. Watching Celestia suffer, as her best pupils become lonely husks is amazing, and rejuvenating.

“Big Brother!!!” Twilight Sparkle screams.

“You monster!” Celestia says to me.

“I didn’t kill them, I just incapacitated them. If I were to kill them, I would be just like you, a murderer. And that would make me a hypocrite. Imagine it, a monster trying to kill a monster.”

“You will pay for this!” Celestia says.

“Let’s do it!” Rainbow dash says.

They all agree. I must admit, they have amazing willpower. They see those they care about rot right before their eyes, and they still try to fight. I admire this.

Tearfully leading them, Twilight Sparkle calls upon the elements of harmony. The six’s pieces of jewelry start to light up, as do their eyes. They rise up into the air, and unleash the awesome power of the elements of harmony. I blast as much magical power as I can into one concentrated beam of energy. It makes contact with the rainbow that originates from the elements of harmony, and the two forces clash. The initial impact sends me skidding back, my hooves grinding up against the dirt. The elements are strong, pushing my energy back. I feel the pain rush to my head, as if nails were hammered into my head, piercing my flesh, bursting through my arteries and impaling my brain. I cringe, as the pain is unbearable. The elements are overwhelming. A tear falls down from my eye, as I realize that I will meet the same destiny as my parents.

“Use your anger, your hatred. Use your pain to fight!” a deep voice says in my mind. It is not Puff, but something more… sinister.

Painfully, I channel all my energy into my rage. The rainbow is getting closer, so close to hitting my horn. That’s when I remember, Celestia took everything I loved away from me.

My pain flows through my head like a wild fire, and rushes to my horn. Suddenly, my horn bursts with dark energy, and a ripple of black light is unleashed. My magic shoots up against the elements of harmony, and collides with the six ponies.

I watch as they fall to the ground. They hit the dirt hard, probably gaining serious injuries. Rarity is probably the luckiest one, getting stuck in a tree. At least the leaves cushioned her fall. But she also disrupts the balance of the forest. I will have to fix that later. Right now there is a bigger task at hand.

Celestia looks at her subjects, moaning and rolling in the dirt. I have defeated everything she has thrown at me.

“Is that all you got!” I scream.

“You… you will pay for what you have done.” Celestia yells back.

“Let’s do this!” I say, confidently.

I use an configuration spell to summon a weapon. I channel my energy into my back. Violently, a black tendril shoots up from out of my back, making my blood burst out of my body, spraying in all directions. It is incredibly painful, but I’m used to it now. The tendril is made up of a bunch of intertwining strands of black magic, pulsing and moving about each other. Nerves form from my mind all the way up to the tendril, giving me full control of it. Finally, a large dark blade forms at the top of the tendril, making the form of a large scythe. I swing my tendril around, and then point it at her.

“Let’s do this!”

We run at each other, hoping over the bodies of her fallen companions. We leap up into the air. As I prepare my scythe to slice her, she charges up her horn, no doubt to use a solar beam. Before she has enough time to use it, we intersect, and I slash a deep cut into her left side. As I fall, I feel the air rush past me, as I run my way through the air, as if it lets me pass through.

I land on all four of my legs, and look back. I watch Celestia fall on her left side, allowing me to fully see that I have cut a huge gash in her left side. It runs almost the entire length of her body, going from hoof to hoof. It is as deep as muscle, and has cut layers of it down. She is obviously in pain. She lays there, trying to recuperate. I walk over to her in a long stride. I finally kneel right next to her face, and lean my head down so she can look into my eyes and see herself, so defenseless and pathetic. She may see a victim of a brutal beating, but all I see is a monster getting what she deserves.

“I’m… so… sorry.” Celestia says, weak.

“I didn’t come to hear your pleas of mercy. I came here to see you weep.” I say.

Using my magic, I grab onto her horn. She looks at me, both surprised and scared. She can’t believe what is going to happen. Using my magic, I do one quick swing of my horn, and her horn snaps right off. I slam it into the ground point first, right in front of her face.

“I’ll let you live, if only to give you exactly what you deserve. I watched as everything I loved died. Now, it’s your turn. Enjoy your last days as you live knowing that you didn’t have the power to save what you loved. You will know what it is like to be me.” I say.

I walk away, heading down the dirt trail to Ponyville. Looking around, I see all the destruction I have created, the rotten guards, the defeated spirits of harmony, and the powerless Celestia. It’s almost too good to be true. Next stop: Ponyville. After that: Canterlot. She will see everything burn at my hooves.

As I walk away, the voice reappears.

“You are doing good. Go, make this world burn so you may have revenge.”

As I walk into the distance, the sun plummets and falls over the mountains. Looking into the sky, all one can see is a black abyss.

Chapter 4: Corruption

(WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This chapter has some very graphic content that may be unsettling or disturbing to some. If you are not comfortable with scenes of gore or young children being hurt and/or being scarred for life, I recommend you let somebody else who is okay with the things listed above to read it and then tell you what happens. Readers discretion is advised.)

Halfway down the path, on my way to Ponyville, the moon finally comes up. I look up at the night sky, a brilliant sight. The stars surround a crescent moon, illuminating the sky ever so slightly, just enough to balance out the darkness. This is why I always preferred night, as the light never was blocking out the darkness, but simply allowing it to be there. At night, at least the sky was in balance.

I look around, enjoying my slow walk over to the settlement, absorbing the scenery. The land is placid and tranquil, with luscious grass with the occasional patch of flower, each different than the last. I wish all moments were like this, when I can put the worries of the world away for a time. Sadly, the world always comes back, and sucks me in into its maw, forcing me to suffer with the daily pain and toil.

While enjoying my walk, a massive headache surfaces, forcing me to fall on the ground. I hold my hooves up to my head, waiting for the pain to go away. It seems that in my last confrontation, I used a bit too much energy. I slowly get up, and shake my head. Luckily, the pain quickly went away. For the rest of the walk, I need to relax, to regain my energy.

“Show them your true power.” a voice in my head echoes.

I turn my head to look at Puff, who is comfortably resting in my main. All that is visible are its shut eyes, indicating that Puff is deep asleep. Puff always likes to sleep in my mane, a way of recharging while staying close to me. I never mind, really, as I don’t even know Puff’s there most of the time.

I look around, trying to figure out where that sound came from. However, doing this is a fruitless effort, as I know that the voice originated from inside my mind. I decide to simply ignore it as of now, as it poses no real threat at the moment.

Losing track of the time, I suddenly find myself outside of Ponyville. The place looks deserted: the streets are empty, there are no lights in the buildings, if it were not for the cleanliness of the place, I would think it empty. I enter the town, preparing myself for what I must do. I start my walk to the town square, where I am certain everypony is gathered.

Walking down the streets of this town, dark memories start to resurface. I’ve only been in a “civilized” area before, and that was when I was escaping Canterlot. I remember running through towns much like this before, trying to hide myself from everypony that came across me. These places remind me of the confusion and frustration I felt during that time, something I hoped I would never have to experience again.

Looking around the corner of a building, I can see the town hall. It is a large building, clearly standing out from the rest of them. However, it does not try to overshadow them, and is only just big enough to stand out. In the front of the building is a wooden platform, with a podium centered on it. At the podium is a brown mare with a gray mane and glasses, who I can only assume is the ruler of this place. Gathered at the foot of the platform are a ton of ponies, clamoring around in a disorganized fashion, all trying to figure out what is going on. The noise from them is deafening, all their voices sounding off at the same time is completely irritating to me. The pony at the podium is trying to calm them down, with no prevail.

“Alright everypony, calm down, or we’ll never find out what is going on! Now, who knows anything about what is going on.” the pony on the platform says.

I step out from cover of the building, and stand out in the open. I stand away from the back of the crowd, making sure not to be swept up in the chaos. I use a spell to launch a flare of dark energy into the air. It flies into the night sky, and explodes into a wide array of purple sparkles. The explosion causes a tremendous noise, immediately attracting all attention to me.

“I know what’s going on, and I would be happy to tell you, if you all calm down.” I say.

Everypony immediately freezes, as if time itself stopped.

“Well, get up here.” the pony manning the podium says.

I slowly walk through the crowd. As I move, they provide a path, moving out of my way as I pass. I can hear whispered words amongst them, no doubt they are wondering who I am. They’ll know soon enough who I am, and exactly what I can do. I reach one side of the platform, and step up to it. When I reach the platform, the mare at it moves away, allowing me to take position at it. I gaze off into the crowd, as they all stare at me, anxiously.

“Thank you, miss...” I say, looking at the brown pony off to the side of me.

“I’m Mayor Mare.” they mayor says to me.

“Alright. Now, for what is going on.” I say to the crowd, with confidence in my voice. “I’ll skip all the riddles and stalling, and give it to you straight. I have defeated Celestia, and have taken away her magical abilities.”

Worry and panic sweeps the crowd, engulfing them all in fear and uncertainty.

“Why should we believe you, we don’t even know you!” says somepony in the crowd. The crowd agrees, as can be heard in the tone of their mumbling.

“Well,” I say. “Look at the sky. One minute, the sun was high, and now, the moon is in its place. Also...” I say. I lift away my mane from my body, revealing blood. “This is the blood of Celestia, who I just recently defeated, and now she is almost certainly going to die.”

At this point, the crowd is in full panic. There is no more order, there is only chaos. The crowd moves amongst each other in a frenzy of confused movements. The crowd is yelling, and screaming.

“Quiet, all of you.” I yell into the crowd. This seems to do the trick, as they all stop and look at me.

“Now, since I have defeated Celestia, this leaves you all vulnerable, and thus I am declaring that I shall now be mayor of this town. If anybody has questions, please ask them now.”

“Yes, I have one” a voice from the crowd says. Looking at the crowd, I see a small unicorn filly, standing out from the crowd. Her mane is curled at the ends, being half purple and half pink. Her eyes are green and wide, the most noticeable feature on her white body. She has no cutie mark, signaling to me that she is quite young. She stares directly at me, her eyes wide and open, almost staring inside of me. “What makes you think we’ll listen to you?! You obviously aren’t nice, and we still have Princess Luna. Another thing, this town already has a leader, our mayor, who is a nice and caring leader.”

The crowd becomes quiet, as she continues to stare at me. I am shocked by this. A small child is telling me off! She must either be brave, or have a death wish. Either way, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I mean, she’s just a kid.

“Remember, no mercy. She took everything from you, you do the same to her” the voice says.

“Well, that’s a very good question. What did you say your name was again?” I ask her.

“My name’s Sweetie Belle!” She says, proud and brave.

“Well, Sweetie Belle, I’ll show you” I say.

I focus my energy to my horn, reluctantly.

(remember)

My horn starts to glow black, as the energy flows to the tip.

(Remember!)

I point my horn to the child, and close my eyes. I don’t want to see what happens next.

(REMEMBER!!!)

I open my eyes wide, and stare into hers. I release my energy, and a beam of black light flies straight to her. Some ponies try to block it, but it is too late. It hits her right in the head, and passes right through. She is left seemingly unharmed. There are no wounds, and she looks okay. Everyone crowds around her, trying to see if she is okay. They all let out a sigh of relief. She steps out of the crowd again, to face me.

“I’m confused, what was that supposed to accomplish?” Sweetie Belle says, confused.

“It starts now.” I whisper. I stare at her, ready to see the what I have done. I smile.

She falls to the ground, and holds her hooves to her head. the headache starts. I can see her squirming around, gasping for air as her head screams in pain. She screams for help, and everypony gathers too her, trying to help her. There is nothing they can do for her now, it is already too late. I watch as something pounds on her skull from inside her head, causing a bump on her forehead to surface. Her head starts to shake, and expand. It grows, and grows, and grows, as she screams for help. The last thing I hear from her, is her screaming “RARITY!!!” Her head bursts, pieces of flesh flying everywhere. A Blood splash over the crowd and her brain is laid out across the ground. The crowd is in awe, terrified, confused, angry, and unsettled. Parents with their kids cover their eyes, not wanting them to see the scene before them. Looking at her body, I see her neck, with severed veins and arteries poking out, spraying whatever blood is left out of the body. They surround her severed spine, sticking out from her neck. It’s satisfying to see such a sight. But why?

“Sweetie Belle!!” two voices from the back of the crowd yell. Two young fillies push through the crowd and head to the body. They both do not have a cutie mark, and are about the same size and age of the diseased filly before them. Possibly they were friends? Not that it matters now. One is a pegasus and one is a regular pony. The regular pony is yellow, with orange eyes, and a red mane and tail. Her mane is tipped with a large pink bow. The pegasus is orange with purple eyes and a pink mane. Her wings are small, making it quite clear that she cannot fly yet. They are both crying, tears running down their faces.

“Why would you do such a thing!” the young pegasus yells.

“She asked a question, I answered it. Now, does anypony else want to be a martyr and try to stop me.

There is silence amongst the crowd, as to be expected. I mean, I can barely stomach what I just did. (Yes you can, you pathetic mortal)

“In that case, Mayor?” I say, turning to face the mayor, who is just as distraught as everypony else.

“I... I... decree that... “ The mayor says.

“My name is Black Moon.” I say, surprisingly untouched by current events.

“Al... Alright.... Black Moon is... is... now in charge of Ponyville.” She says.

“Thank you, ex-mayor. Now, for what I plan to do.”

Using my magic, I use my horn, and dark magic shoots up into the night sky. It falls to the ground, seeping into the soil. All is calm, until bony hooves shoot out of the ground. All over the place, around the town square, even in the crowd, skeletons of long dead ponies come out of the ground. They crawl out of their holes, and stand in place. The ones around the crowd circle around them. People in the crowd stay close, some hugging. I since fear in all of them, which means I am truly in power.

“I plan on taking over Equestria, and all of you are going to help me. Let’s get you all to work, shall we.” I say, with a demonic grin smacked on my face. I can’t believe it, but I am exited. With this new town helping me, I will soon be unstoppable.

“You are doing well, my friend” says the voice in my head. “Now, mortal, continue on your path. There is a lot more to be done.”

Chapter 5: Defeat

Eventually, I came too. However, when I did, I could barely stand. I was incredibly disorientated. My vision was blurred to the point where I could only see blobs of color, all merging together. The only possible thing to make out with my vision is that night has fallen. My head is in massive pain, as if it is filled with many small drills, all moving around and tearing through my brain. I stay lying on the ground, weak in my current state.

After quite a lot of time, I finally regain control of my mind, and my vision comes back. I look in front of me, and stare at a tree. Looking around, I see more trees, and a path, leading to Ponyvillle. I seem to be at the edge of the Everfree forest. I can barely remember anything about why I’m here. I remember coming here with Celestia... we were here too..... no!

I spring up, shake my head, and look behind me. The sight was horrible. Seeing my friends like this, I couldn’t believe it. I looked around, and saw my big brother, Shining Armor, lying on the ground on his right side, his skin peeling off of him. He is in a horrible condition, as his skin and muscle are gray and rotted. I can see into him, his organs a small pile at the bottom of his body. His bones are crumbling away, turning into dust. He is surrounded by a small pool of dried blood.

“NO!” I scream, and rush towards him. Logical judgment is all but lost in this moment, as all I care about is my brother. I don’t think of anything else, only the sight of the rotting corpse of my big brother, which appears to have been dead for ages. I run up to it, and grasp his body in my hooves. As I look into his face, I can see his skull, hollow and lifeless. What is left of his face shows no obvious emotion, most of it is gone. His eyes are now empty holes, as is his body. His organs have fallen from there place, and now lay at the bottom of him, near his spine. The organs are shriveled up, dried out and rotted away. I slowly held him up, tears escaping my eyes and falling down to the ground. As my tears hit my brother’s corpse, they cause it to erode. I sit there and watch, as my brother disintegrates into a pile of ash. I had to face the terrible fact, he was dead.

In that moment, my entire life has changed. I felt defeat for the first time, and it cost the life of my big brother, my first true friend. I don’t think I ever cried so much in my life.

“T.... T... Twilight?” a small and scared voice mutters behind me.

I slowly turn around, still crying, to see Fluttershy standing behind me, quivering. I can only imagine how distraught she must be after everything that happened.

“I’m.... I’m... sorry” she says, as tears come from her eyes.

Looking around, I can see my other friends slowly start to get up, looking around cautiously.

“What happened? Did we win?” I can hear Rainbow Dash say, shaking her head and trying to regain her thoughts.

“Why, my mane looks hideous. Why am I in a tree? Hello, can anybody hear me? I need some help getting out of this tree.” I hear Rarity say from a nearby tree.

Slowly, my friends get their bearings and approach me and Fluttershy. Looking around, they remember what happened who knows how long ago. They are all in shock, trying to understand what happened. I would expect as much. We always lived in such a peaceful environment, where very rarely did someone get hurt, even rarer did they die. But this! This was impossible! Nothing could have ever prepared us for this!

“I’m... so sorry Twi,” Applejack says, trying to cheer me up.

“Thanks” I say to her. Rainbow Dash lends me a hoof and slowly helps me up, still puzzled, confused, and horrified with the current situation. I look around, to see my friends, who all have seemed to change. Pinkie’s mane and tail are flat, and she is seen just staring into space, unable to laugh at the current predicament. Rarity, for once, doesn’t care about how she looks (despite having a frizzled mane and a tree branch stuck in her tail), and instead remained silent. Applejack looks the calmest, just waiting for her chance to help. Rainbow Dash is trying to stay calm, and is trying to hold back her shock so she can help out. Fluttershy, was the worst. She just stood there and stared at the scene before her, tears pouring out of her eyes. She’s so sensitive, I can only imagine what this is doing to her.

“Look guys, the princess!” Pinkie yells, in a not-so-hyper tone of voice, pointing her hoof beyond me.

We all immediately look where Pinkie is pointing, and see Celestia, laying down in the dirt, a huge gash in her side. We see her move her head slightly, signaling that she is alive! All of us but Fluttershy immediately get up and run to her. Closer up, we can see she is badly damaged. On her left side is a large gash going across her whole body length. The gash is very deep, so deep that I can easily see her rib cage, amongst the torn muscle and dried blood. Her coat is soaked in blood, but it appears that the bleeding has stopped. The worst part, however, was that next to her head was her horn, slammed into the ground right in front of her. It was torn off, a feat that should be impossible, even for Celestia.

“Princess, are you alright” we all say, in a panicked manner.

“T-T-Twilight? Are you there?” says Celestia, very weak in her current condition.

“Yes, I’m here, and so are my friends. What happened?!” I say. I already know what happened, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“We.... I... failed.” Celestia mutters.

At that moment, we all lost something. We failed to protect our homes, our friends, our lives. Somehow, the Elements of Harmony and Celestia failed to protect Equestria. What is going to happen to us?

A long silence fell upon all of us. For awhile, none of us dared to speak. Eventually, Fluttershy walked over to us, her tears starting to clear up.

“What... what are we going to do?” says Rainbow Dash, quivering.

“I.... don’t know” Celestia says.

“What we need to do is to get help. Y’all know as well as I do that we aren’t going anywhere without Celestia.” Applejack says, gaining her confidence back.

“We... We should take her to Zecora to see if she can...” Rarity says nervously, before getting cut off by a sudden explosion.

We all turn to find out where the deafening explosion came from, as it leads our attention to the distant Canterlot. In the distance, we can see fire and smoke engulfing Canterlot.

“Quickly, you need to hurry.” Celestia says, with fear in her voice.

“Don’t.... Don’t worry... we’ll get you help and stop that meanie. You can count on us.” Fluttershy says, wiping the tears from her eyes. This caught us all of guard.

“Yeah, we can do it.” Rainbow Dash reassured Celestia.

“I know you can. I have faith in you.” Celestia says, regaining some strength.

“Alright, Rarity and Fluttershy, you stay with the princess. The rest of us will go get Zecora.” I say, trying to take cause and create order.

“Alright” my friends say in unison.

I run off, leaving Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Princess behind. We all stay in silence, trying to hide our thoughts. It doesn’t matter, we are all thinking the same thing, and feeling the same confusion. Canterlot is on fire, no doubt by this Black Moon. If he can do that, how can we ever hope to defeat him?

I shove all doubt out of my head. I have to be brave. We have one more shot of saving Equestria, and I’m not about to give up. I have to do this. For the princess, for my friends, for Equestria!

As I run, I stop for a second. I look in the trees, scanning the branches. I swore I saw something? After a little bit, I continue to follow my friends deeper into the Everfree forest, with the unsettling feeling that I am being watched.

Chapter 6: Black Flames

(Warning: Has even more gory content, possibly much worse than chapter 4. Turn back now if you want to live! Just kidding, enjoy, but readers discretion is advised. Mleh, warnings)

We stand upon a cliff, hanging out the side of a mountain. It is rigid and sharp, causing spikes formed in the small cliff to stab our hooves. But we stay still, gazing off into the distance. Ahead of us is a beautiful landscape, with luscious trees and peaceful pastures. However, that is not what we gaze upon. We look closer, at the nearby city. It is built into the side of the mountain, and harbors a grand castle. This is Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, and home to Celestia. We can’t wait to watch it crumble at our hooves. It is surrounded by a force field, made out of light magic. It seems to be the work of many strong unicorns, but alas, it shall not hold forever. There is one clear way into the city, and that is by the train tracks below. I can see that guarding the tracks at the edge of the city are two guards, both unicorns.

“It is time” we say.

He allows me to strike, finally. I use my configuration magic to form wings out of my back, based off the design of Puff’s. As they burst out of my back, my blood spills out, soaking my coat. It feels great, the sensation of blood falling upon us, even if it is our own. I start to beat our wings, and lift off the cliff. The cliff lets go of our hooves, and as I lift, blood flows from my hooves to the cliff. It soon stops, but leaves a stain on the rock. We ignore it, and head to the tracks. We land on the tracks far enough so that the guards don’t notice us. After carefully landing, we retract our wings, and start our walk to the tracks.

“Are you ready for this, my host? Yes, I do believe I am. Good. We shall make them all burn for what they did to you, for what they did to me, for what they did to the world. The world is out of balance, and we must restore it. Yes. Spare nobody. Make the world at balance. Bring the darkness to the light, so that this world might be saved.” we say, as we continue our march down the tracks.

We finally reach the edge of the city, in which the two unicorns in guard armor are guarding. They stare straight forward, free of distraction. They stand in front of the purple force field, which I will have to rid of. As I come closer, they spot me. They point their horns towards me, and prepare to attack.

“Who are you, and what your business here” one of the guards asks, threateningly. We continue walking, ignoring his question. “Tell us who you are, or we will fire.” We stop, and stare at them.

“We are here to restore balance.” The guards flinch at his voice, as they are not used to his demonic voice, which sounds quiet and serpentine. “You are impeding our quest, and thus, you will pay!”

Through me, his dark energy flows, and strikes my horn, allowing me to tap into his power. I use his power to use conjuration. At first, the guards look confused, and change confused glances, as nothing happens. Little do they know that my magic has taken effect, as a small thread of our body has grown into the ground, and rushes to them, unseen. It splits between them, and rests where they stand, waiting for our command.

“S-stop what you are doing, and lay on the ground.” one of the guards say.

I act. From where they stand, the dark tendrils grab them. They wrap around them, engulfing them in darkness. I pull back the tendrils so we can see their faces. He wants to see their faces, as they realize what is going on. I walk up to them, as they squirm around, trying to break free. I look at the one on the right, and move my hoof down the side of his face, feeling as his body stiffens and he gets nervous. I step back to look at them both.

“Experience true bliss, you bastards.” we say.

We make the tendrils slowly close in, crushing the guard’s bodies. They squirm more and scream in pain. We open holes in the tendrils, so we may see the skin crack. In these holes, blood bursts out, as they tendrils close in. It crushes more and more, and the screams get louder, until they burst. From the spaces I opened in-between the tendrils, blood bursts out, covering us and anything around in blood. We retract the tendrils, to see our work. The guards lie on the ground, their coats soaked in blood. They have holes in their body, which their blood flows out of, and their organs and bones pop out of. Their faces are in pure shock, the last thing they ever felt. Their faces also are bloody, as blood came out of their mouth and nose, due to tremendous pressure. Not our best work, but still good.

We walk up to the force field, and look inside. The track extends from there, heading to a station. We prepare ourselves, getting ready to unleash energy. We lay our horn against the force field, and breathe deeply. When we are calm, we jab our horn through, and release dark magic. It is a little painful, but his energy makes it much more bearable. I watch as the force field turns black, being corrupted by us. Inside, I can only imagine the confusion as the citizens of this town see their defenses melt away. Once fully corrupted, I cause the field to disappear, allowing the way to be clear. We continue our march.

The station appears empty, as nothing moves. This is a curious sight; one would expect that they would be waiting for me here. I continue walking, to leave the station, as a sharp pain climbs up my back. I look behind me, to see a large pointed rock is stuck in my back. From it, blood seeps down my sides, hitting the ground. We push it out of us using our magic, and look around. Behind use are 20 royal guards, which were hiding behind a docked train. We turn around again as 20 more guards reveal themselves from their hiding places inside the station. They are a mixture of unicorn and Pegasus, and interesting development. Until now, I have only faced unicorns. This will be interesting.

“Attack now!” one of the guards say.

They all rush at us, thinking they have the jump on us. We prove them wrong. Around me, we form a force field, which they all collide with. The field shocks them, and causes them to plummet to the ground, weak and dazed. We use conjuration, a favored skill at this time, to cause tendrils to burst out of my back. The guards look at this, and fear strikes them. The tendrils tips turn sharp, creating 40 weapons for us to use. We lunge the tendrils to our enemies, and it pierces them. Pain engulfs them, followed by death. The tendrils pierce their fragile bodies, causing major damage on most of their organs, resulting in death. We retract the tendrils, now soaked with blood, into our body. The blood feels so good as it touches us, the reward for our hard work.

We proceed out of the station, and into the streets of Canterlot. WE see many ponies, who flee at the sight of our blood soaked mane and coat.

“I am ready, unleash it. It will be done.”

The dark energy rushes into me, and is let outwards in a large blast, into the sky. It explodes, raining down flames of pure darkness into the streets. The flames engulf buildings, leaving nobody safe from their terrible power. We watch as buildings crumble, as ponies burn before us, and as the light is replaced with darkness. Soon, balance will be restored. For now, we wait for her, as we regain our power.

Even though we try not to, our mind wanders to the outside world. I notice, and feel good, as I see a pony run past me, black flames consuming him. His coat is being charred and roasted, his mane and tail burning off, and his organs melting. A truly wonderful sight. We also notice another sight, a family, a mom, dad, and child, running out of a burning building. He wanted me to, and thus, as they run out of the building, I make the supports fall, crushing all but the child, who runs away. We eventually remember that we can’t focus on the destruction, no matter how tempting, and focus our energy for the upcoming battle.

We wait, and wait, and wait. We expected her to arrive sooner, speaking that her sister’s city is on fire. However, this does give us time to get our power to its full potential, so we cannot complain. We waited, staring up into the sky as the world around us burned, until the wait finally ended. From the sky, a blue alicorn came from the sky, and landed across the street. We prepare, our body stiffens, our attention focuses, and our mind clears up. From the smoke that has engulfed the street, she finally emerges. Luna, princess of the night, and Celestia’s sister. The last thing in our way. She slowly approaches us, and we notice she is quivering. She must know about what we did to her sister.

“My sister… She… You will not get away with this” she says, with a hint of fear in her voice.

“You are not like your sister, you did not try to… Shut it! You, just as your sister, must perish!”

“That voice! Do you know what is going on!? You are being used!” she says, shocked.

“I know very well who he is, and he is my friend. Surrender now, and we will not have to fight you.” I say to her.

“The last thing my sister told me to do was defend Canterlot, and I have not failed yet. Come at me, you fiend.” Luna says, determined to defeat us.

“This is going to be fun.”

She flies up into the air, and charges her magic. We do the same, if only to make the battle more fair. We all unleash our energy, and they collide. For once in a very long time, dark energy fights dark energy, in a battle that is impossible to win. It is only a distraction. We quickly release our energy, and move out of the way, trying to dodge the attack. We fail, and we are flung into a burning building. As we hit the building, we hear a sound. We look up, and see a balcony, crumbling under it’s failing supports. It gets loose from its mornings, and falls to the ground. We nearly are hit by it, but we were able to dodge the balcony.

We look around, unable to find where she has went. We soon notice that the fire has stopped. We are at first astonished, and wonder how she could have done such a feat, but then we remember we are facing somebody with god-like powers, who is also not afraid to use dark magic. We walk forward, being cautious and wary. This does not help us, as we are hit by the back, and trampled onto the ground. On top of us, holding us down, is Luna, who looks especially angry. She must have seen the damage we have caused, and entered a state of rage. This makes it much easier for us. She charges up her horn, and prepares to end us, but we stop her. We touch our horn to her head, and use our energy to corrupt her mind.

“You have been infected by us. A plague is going through your skin, which will soon consume your mind. If you do not get rid of your skin, you will soon die. You must peel away your skin.” we say.

I pull away my horn from her head, and kick her off of me. She starts to sweat, and becomes frightened. She looks at her hooves, and freaks out. She looks at me.

“What have you done to me!” Luna screams.

Using her magic, she starts to pull the skin away from her legs. The screams in pain as she reveals her muscle, and blood seeps down from her exposed legs and forms a puddle on the ground. The skin peels away as an apple skin is peeled, and looks terribly agonizing. Despite the pain, she continues to peel her own skin away, oblivious of the fact that we have tempered with her mind. I walk up to her calmly, and as she screams, I grab her horn using magic, and snap it off of her head. She screams louder, and falls to the ground, in a puddle of her own blood.

We look up, and the moon and stars fade away, leaving only a black void, filling the world with complete darkness. It has been done, Celestia has lost everything. She has lost her powers, her land, and even her sister. We look around to marvel at our work. All around us are burnt down houses, broken objects, charred ponies, and the stench of death in the air. We have won this day, and have lived to bask in the glory that is vengeance.

“You have done well, Black Moon. Yes, you have helped me. But what do we do now? The world needs to be in balance, and now that they are out of the way, we can make balance. Take up the throne with me, and we will make sure this world does not fall into chaos. Yes, you are right. The only way to insure that the world is safe is to rule it. Fear not, our dreams, my families’ dream, will become a reality.” we say.

We walk to Canterlot Castle, leaving behind death and destruction. I’m not sure why, but I think he know it too, this isn’t over. However, he knows what exactly we are doing, and how to do it. He served my family well, so it is obvious that he will not betray me, no matter what happens.

Chapter 7: Healing

As I ran through the forest, trying to catch up to my friends, logic starts to seep back. I realize that we must find out a way to bring the world back to Celestia. The only problem being that we currently have no way to defeat him. Even with the elements of harmony (which I have seem to lost track of), he has untold power. Something is strange about him; no being I know of can harness that much power and still be mentally stable...

I ram into Applejack, face first, and fall to the ground. I was so deep in thought I barely realized that my friends have stopped in their tracks. I slowly stand up, and shake the mud away from my coat. Applejack does not seem bothered by the fact that I just ran into her back, and continues sitting and looking up. Looking around, I notice that my other friends are looking at the sky, confused. I look up in an attempt to understand what is going on. Looking up, I could see the shocking scene, the moon and stars faded away, disappearing into complete darkness. It was official, Canterlot has fallen, and Luna was defeated. Now, the sky is pitch black.

I quickly act to illuminate my horn, allowing us to see. We all exchange glances, none of us daring to speak. We all know what this means, it is unnecessary and demoralizing to clearly state what has happened. We continue on our way, as I lead them through the darkness that has engulfed the world.

We soon make it to Zecora’s hut, which appears deserted. There are no lights on, and the windows are covered by drapes. I proceed to walk to the door, and pound at it. I put my ear to the door, to see if I get a response. As expected, there is no answer.

“Zecora, open up, it’s me, twilight!” I say. There is no response. “Applejack, kick the door open.” I ask Applejack.

“Wait...” Applejack says, trying to interject.

“Damn it Applejack, we don’t have time for this! This is an emergency!” I yell at her. I don’t care about being kind, this is an emergency, we don’t have time to waste.

Applejack stares at me, bothered, but then acknowledges me. She understands, and walks to the door. She turns around, and bucks the door down. It collapses inward, and makes a thud on the ground. Inside I see all the bottles and containers around the room, just as I would expect. In the center of the room is a barricade of items, a cauldron, table, and chairs.

“Turn and leave, you unwanted foe, or you shall experience eternal woe!” I hear Zecora nervously say, behind the barricade of items.

“Zecora, it’s us. Come out.” Pinkie Pie says, without emotion. I don’t even want to know what is going through her mind; as she can no longer laugh in the face of our current situation. It must be driving her mad!

“Oh, its just you, my....” Zecora says, before being cut off.

“Yes, it’s us. Now, we are in need of urgent help! Celestia needs immediate medical aid, and you’re the closest thing to a healer around. Please, help us!” I say, rudely. I didn’t want to be rude, but I was too stressed out to know what exactly I was doing.

“Yes, I will help you, don’t throw a fit. Now, let me just find my first aid kit.” Zecora says calmly, walking to the back wall. At this moment, I realize something. Zecora must have a speech impediment, because now isn’t really the best time to be compulsively rhyming.

She walks over to her back wall, stepping over her barricade of tables and chairs, and opens a cabinet with her mouth. Inside is a brown silk bag, with a bunch of items inside. She grabs the bag with her mouth, the bag dangling down, slowly swaying left to right. She nods at me, with a small smile. She seems collect and calm, despite current events. I envy her. Anyways, we all exit the hut, and race to Celestia.

After a long run that seemed to go on forever, we finally get to the edge of the Everfree forest, where we see Fluttershy and Rarity talking to Celestia, trying to comfort her. I turn to Zecora, and see that she is now worried. I guess she hasn’t seen how bad this scenario really is.

She rushes over to Celestia, and takes a seat in front of her. She lets go of the bag in her mouth, and it instantly folds out to reveal a bunch of medical supplies: bandages, gauze, surgical string and needle, tons of herbs and liquids, among other things. She goes to her wound, and examines it.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, my friend. If it wasn’t for your immortality, you would be dead.” Zecora says, making her creepiest rhyme to date.

Zecora goes to her bag, and takes out a syringe. She puts some liquid in it, and injects Celestia with it. She then goes rubbing some herb on the wound, and then stitching it up. I turn away from this, and walk over to Fluttershy and Rarity.

“How’s Celestia doing?” I ask the two.

“Well, I believe we did a good job at calming her down. We talked to her about her experiences in Canterlot, and tried to talk about anything but what is going on. She should be relaxed now.” Rarity says, calmly.

“Yeah... she is calm now...” Fluttershy says, finally talking like her old self.

“That’s good. So, how are you guys holding up?” I say.

“Well, I feel that we have had time to relax and regain our thoughts. I know things are really bad, but we can stop this.” Rarity says, calmly. This is good.

“Yeah... I guess...” Fluttershy says.

“Yeah...” I say, sadly. I look behind Rarity, and see a pile of ashes, which causes me to be sad.

“Twilight, I’m sorry for your loss, but you have to remember, Equestria is in danger. There will be time to mourn later, but there is somebody dangerous out there, who will do the same thing to other ponies. We have to stop him, before he... kills anypony else.” Rarity tells me, trying to comfort me.

“Thank you Rarity, you are a great friend.” I say. I admit, I’m sad, but Rarity is right. I’m glad to have her as a friend. And she’s right, I have to fight him. I won’t allow him to do this to anybody else.

I turn around to Zecora, and see that she has done a pretty good job. She was able to stitch up Celestia, and wrapped bandages around Celestia. The only thing that is a problem with her patching up was that her wings were bandaged also, making it impossible for her to fly. Well, at least she’s standing up. I walk up to Celestia and Zecora.

“Thank you Zecora, I am in your debt. Now, I must talk to Twilight” Celestia says to Zecora.

Zecora nods, and walks away. Afterwards, Celestia walks towards me.

“Twilight, thanks for your help. I knew I could count on you and your friends.” Celestia tells me, finally being able to act like herself.

“... What happened to your horn?” I inquire, more nervous than curious.

“I’m not sure how, but this stallion is something I don’t know about. He has the ability to nullify my, and apparently Luna’s, magic. I fear that he is too powerful.” Celestia says, starting to worry a little.

“So... what should we do?” I ask Celestia, finally gaining the courage to speak up, to say what I need to say.

“We have a lot to do.” She begins.” The first thing we should do is try to regain our bearings. Most of you seem to be doing good, but your pink friend is looking uneasy. We need all of you to be brave and strong for the task up ahead. We also need someplace to stay while we do so. Also, I need you to turn off your light spell. We need to work in the shadows if we are to defeat him.”

“Alright.” I say, dimming the light from my horn. “I think we should stay at Zecora’s hut until we are ready.

“Twilight, Celestia, you have to see this!” I hear Rainbow Dash yell behind me. We both turn around to barely see Rainbow Dash in the pitch black. “There is no time to explain, just come!” Rainbow Dash slowly flies away, and Celestia and I follow.

Rainbow Dash leads us to the rest of the group. They are all looking at something floating in the air. At first glance, I think it’s a parasprite, as it is about the same size as one. Looking closer, however, I see it has bat wings, and horns. The creature is very unsymmetrical, it’s eyes being two different sizes, along with it’s horns. Somehow, though, the thing seems cute. I look at Celestia, who looks puzzled. She obviously has never seen this creature before.

“Fluttershy, what is it?” I ask.

“I.. I don’t know. It just suddenly appeared. I’ve never seen anything like it. But... it’s so cute... It looks harmless...” Fluttershy says, with glee in her voice. She seems to have found a bit of happiness in this creature.

“Yeah, this thing is adorable!” Pinkie Pie yells. She is bouncing up and down, her mane back in a mess. She finally seems to be herself.

“My, it looks horrible and uneven, yet undeniably cute. This goes against everything I know about fashion!” Rarity says, disgusted with her appeal to the flying bat thing. It seems that this strange creature has caused my friends to finally be happy. This is good, but I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong about this.

“Wait a sec, what is it doin’?” Applejack asks. I look at the creature, and it starts shaking. It looks like it is about to throw up. Before anyone can say something, a beam of green light comes out of its eyes. It goes forwards a little ways, and then shapes itself into a flat square of light. Right before us, it starts to form shapes, and paints a picture. In it, we can see him, inside Canterlot Castle! Sitting on Celestia’s throne! I can only tell this from the background, as it is zoomed on his face. I thought it was a picture, until he started moving.

“Why, hello there, my friends. How are you holding up?” The stallion in the green light asks. It seems to be some sort of magical communication. I admit, I am confused. I wasn’t aware such a spell existed.

“What is this?!” exclaims Rainbow Dash, both confused and angry.

“Sorry, we got off on the wrong foot, didn’t we? I am Black Moon, and my associate who is bringing us this talk is Puff, one of my only two friends left in this world.” He says this with an unsettling enthusiasm. “Look, I don’t want you to ask any questions until I’m done talking, as I want to catch you up. You have been out for two weeks, which I am really surprised about. What I did to you should’ve killed you, but I guess I underestimated Celestia’s allies. Anyways, while you were taking a sweet nap, I have captured Ponyville and Canterlot, leaving tales of destruction and woe along the way. Let’s just say, Equestria is crumbling. So, Celestia, it seems I have taken everything from you. Your power, your land, and even your sister. So, how does it feel to feel my pain. Having everything you ever loved stripped away from you and you just having to sit down and watch everything burn?”

“You fiend, what have you done to my sister!” Celestia yells at Black Moon.

“Not so fast, your “majesty”. I need a question answered before I tell you. How does it feel?!” He says, starting to get a bit agitated.

“I don’t negotiate with your kind, you tell me what you did to her, or I’ll...” Celestia says, afterwards being cut off.

“You are going to do what, kill us? We died the moment you ripped everything we loved away from us! You are powerless, pathetic, and weak! What are you possibly going to do! Now answer the damn question!” Black Moon yells, changing his voice. His voice scared us all, it sounded demonic, the way it sounded. There is obviously something different about him.

Celestia looks down for a bit, and then looks back at Black Moon. “You want to know how it feels? Well guess what, I can’t tell you. You might have taken away my powers, land, and family, but I have my friends. As long as I’m with them, I will never succumb to your sick and twisted ways!” Celestia says, confidently. She is so brave, even in the face of uncertainty.

“I guess your right, your “friends” do give you power. I will have to fix that.” Black Moon says, in his normal voice. “Anyways, I think I owe you an answer about your sister.” Black Moon turns to his left. “Luna, why don’t you say hi?” Black Moon says. This statement sends a chill up my back.

The screen turns to show Luna, sitting by the throne, smiling. Her face and hooves are bloody, and blood flows down Luna’s face like tears. Her horn is missing, as if it was torn away, much like Celestia’s. She looks horrible.

“Hi!” Luna says, merrily.

“You bastard, what have you done to her!” Celestia yells, angrily.

The screen zooms out to show both Luna and Black Moon. “Well, it took some mental altering, but I finally got her to stop peeling away her own skin. However, it did leave her with a... side effect. She has an undying loyalty to me. Quite convenient, if you ask me. She makes a wonderful pet, despite her limited thinking. Oh well, you get what you get.” Black Moon says, with a devilish smirk across his face. He then pets Luna on the head, and she just smiles, like a dog. It’s disgusting.

“You... You monster!” Celestia yells, starting to cry.

“Oh, you haven’t seen the half of it, watch this.” Black Moon says. He starts to use his magic, and holds out his hoof to his side. It rips apart, blood shooting everywhere, and shapes into a thin blade. He gets up and goes over to Luna. He grabs her head with his normal hoof, and lifts her head up. He takes his blade down to the right side of her neck, and peels away the skin downwards from the top of her neck to ¼ down. The whole time, Luna continues to smile, which is the creepiest part of this. He changes his hoof back to normal, and grabs the piece of flesh. Luna’s wound continues to bleed, but she doesn’t notice. She just continues to smile. “Darling, would you do me a favor, and eat this?” Black Moon says, dangling Luna’s flesh to her face. Like a beast, she pounces on the meat, yanking it from his hoof. She lays on the ground, and grabs the piece of flesh in her mouth. She throws it in the air, and catches it in her mouth, swallowing it whole. She then proceeds to sitting back down next to the throne, smiling. Looking over, I can see Rarity throwing up.

“You’re a good girl” Black Moon says, patting her on the head. He then uses his magic to regenerate the skin on her neck, to prevent her from bleeding out. “You all have five days to take back Ponyville. If you don’t, I lose a pet. If you don’t do it in six days, I’ll use these.” He says, holding up the elements of harmony. “And then, all will be lost.

“Now wait just a gosh darn minute, them elements will only work on us ‘ere.” Applejack says, making a valid point.

Black Moon chuckles at the statement. “You obviously don’t know who my friend is. These artifacts are easily corrupted in his eyes. Soon, they will be mine. The clock is ticking, so I think you should hurry. Isn’t that right Luna.” He says. Luna nods.

Before anymore questions can be asked, the green light goes away, and the cute bat thing flies into the air, and heads to Canterlot. We are once again surrounded by darkness. We all stay silent for a while, trying to digest what happened.

“What are we waiting for?!” Pinkie Pie says. We all turn to her. She has stopped bouncing, but still seems like her old self. “We all saw what that meanie did to Luna! We can’t let him do that! Come on, lets show him what the power of friendship can do!”

None of us talk, but we all nod our heads. We know what we have to do, and that message just clarified it.

“Yeah, let’s do this thing!” Rainbow Dash exclaims.

“Yeah!” We all say, except for Fluttershy, who says something along the lines of “Well, I guess so, so, yay.”

“I’m very proud of you all.” Celestia says. “Despite the darkness that surrounds us, your friendship is allowing you to push on, and tackle the challenge ahead of you. I will join you, and together, we will lift the darkness, and vanquish this evil.”

They all exclaim their excitement. I look behind me to look for Zecora, but she disappeared. She must of left after helping Celestia. I now realize that she cannot come with us, but she will be supporting us.

We finally started marching to Ponyville, ready to face the horrors of the darkness. But even in this time of fear and uncertainty, we will be able to overcome this. I am confident that we will prevail with the power of friendship.

Empty: The second interlude

Is there something wrong with me?

What do you mean?

I just... I don’t feel it. Where is the feeling of accomplishment? I did it, with your help; we were able to destroy everything she loved.

Yes, we did. So why do you feel bad? Is this not what you wanted?

It is. But I’m missing something. I feel... empty. Like I don’t feel anything anymore. All that I can feel is sorrow.

I think I know what is wrong. You are with me, and you need to feed.

That’s it? I need blood.

Yes. I need you to kill something. It’s been so long, and I am getting hungry.

No! That’s not it! We are missing something!

You know what; I’m thinking you are getting selfish. You did everything you wanted, yet you still ask for more.

Wait, I have it. I know what we are missing.

I know. Her subjects.

Exactly! As long as they continue to live, she has a life. She has something to grasp.

We will kill them in time.

We must... Have you noticed Luna?

What about her?

I swear I saw her frown.

You are imagining things.

I guess. But still, it’s not just that.

Then what is it!

Even with her paying, that doesn’t make the pain go away. I miss them. I still remember the days me and my dad would play together in the study, or when my sister and I would play a game. I miss them.

Moping isn’t going to bring them back. They are gone, and they aren’t coming back. So you are going to have to listen to me.

Do you mean?

Yes, we will. Once we defeat Celestia’s lackeys, we will finally create the balance we both need.

I’m not sure. I mean, I agree with you, but do we have to really destroy everything?

For perfect balance to exist, there must be nothing left. Only when the world has withered away, and nothing lives, can there be a true balance between the light and the dark. If nothing is around to cause it, it doesn’t exist.

Will I go to? Will I disappear too?

Yes, as will I. But we will die knowing that the world is finally perfect.

And my family’s work can finally be completed.

Yes, now you’re getting it.

I... I see it now. For my family to be truly avenged, we must create balance. Everything has to go, nopony can live. Nopony deserves to live. They must all burn so that the world can live.

Finally, you see things through my perspective.

Yes... I feel weak.

You are going to sleep for a while.

What?

Forgive me, but I have been dying for a meal. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow this body for a while, do you?

... No, go ahead.

Good.

Just do what we need. Feed on them, and finish the business with the elements. Yes, Black Moon, soon, you will be whole. Now, let’s see who looks tasty.

Voices: The first interlude

“Hello, we meet finally.”

“Who is this!? You aren’t Puff! Who are you, and how did you get into my head!?”

“Really, is that how you talk to me!? After all these years of giving you gifts and making life easy. Pity, maybe you are just like the other mortals.”

“Wait, no, it can’t be.... Is that really you?”

“Took you long enough. Yes, it is me.”

“How are you here? I... I thought you were dead?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, what they did to my physical form was quite horrible. But none of that is important right now, I know you have more pressing questions.”

“Why are you here now? Couldn’t you have been there when....”

“No, I could not. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Heh... I missed your complete disregard for life.”

“Well, what would you expect from me. You didn’t really think I would just act like a saint to every bloody person I walked up too, now did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Good, or else I would have thought you for a fool. Anyways, do you know where you are?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“...What have I done?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That kid. She... she... why did I kill her.”

“Look, you know who I am. The answer should be obvious.”

“But still, it was horrible!”

“You better focus on the task. To complete your task, you are going to have to do these things. You will descend into the darkness. You must let it feed on you, consume you, become you. Only then will you be able to complete your task.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m asking you. How far are you going to go to avenge your family? To take back your life, and spit in the face of the one who took it away from you.”

“...”

“Will you join me, as your ancestor did so long ago.”

“It won’t make a difference, he was too weak to fight, what makes you think I can?”

“You have darkness in your heart, but there is also light, entwined and entangled with the darkness. It is... strange. But it shows that you are different.”

“But is it good that I am different?”

“Well, you are so far the only one in the entire clan who has fully mastered their demon, so I would say it makes you worthy.

“But...”

“Shut up! I swear, if you keep on running your mouth I will rip it off and shove it... never mind. Do we have a deal, Black Moon?”

“Y.... Y.... Yes...”

“Good, now, watch as I work my magic. As the two of us become one.”

...

“I see it now... It is so beautiful.”

“Now mine, I mean your enemies will tremble at our might.”

“Yes.”

“Now go, show them that you can do far more than what they have seen. Show them the true power of dark magic!”

“Of course, sir.”

...

“Finally, he has succumbed.”