Equal and Oppositeby KhanatharaChaptersThe Planting Of The Tree, The Growth Of The RootsMeeting Of The Monster And The Root Of All Evil (Edited)HuntedThe Planting Of The Tree, The Growth Of The RootsA long time ago there were six ponies, the six pillars of Old Equestria, Rockhoof the Strong, Flash Magnus the Brave, Somnambula the Hopeful, Mage Meadowbrook the Healer, Mistmane the Beautiful, and Starswirl... the Bearded. They were the countries most powerful defenders, and when one of there own turned on them they disappeared. But not without leaving behind a gift for the future, a seed. This seed grew into the now well known Tree of Harmony. But at the time there is a theory that was not well known, 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. This magical theory has since been proven true multiple times since then. As the tree grew one of its roots grew far faster, and far further, until it began to sprout up and out of its own cave far outside Equestria. This root, once in its cave, began to mach the speed of growth for the tree. It grew up and out wards, until it looked like a four storey tall, and wide, dead bush. And as the Tree of Harmony developed the Elements of Harmony this 'bush' began to grow the opposite. The Elements of Disharmony. However it could not make items meant to be used by others like the tree, so it made its own wielders and made the elements in their hearts. First was birthed as nothing more than a dark shadow, making the all ready deep and dark cave nearly impossible to see in. It was Cruelty, and it took on the name Umbra the Shadow of the World. The next grew from the root in a glowing green pod, it caused a number of other pods to grow and lines of green to shoot thru the 'bush'. Ghastly images appearing on the walls from their sickly green glow. The largest pod broke open and unceremoniously dropped a being covered in green slime onto the floor. The creature rose from the ground revealing its self to be a grotesque and twisted form of an alicorn, holed legs and insectile wings with a crooked horn. And so was born Deceit, the first of her kind, many names she took but the most prominent was Chrysalis Queen of the Changelings. The third was a ghostly being only visible in the realm of dreams, its appearance mutable to serve its purpose. It was Despair the Tantabus, Nightmare. The forth and fifth grew as one and the same, the twins Betrayal and Greed. Betrayal took the form of gargoyle and the name Scorpan, and Greed became a twisted combination of a Minotaur and a Centaur with the name of Tirek. With the first five birthed they left fleeing each other and the sense of death that came from their 'mother', and with those five gone the roots could finally create the last. However it could no longer from living beings on its own, and so it reached out with its foul magic and influence to cause a number of creatures to come to it with parts of their dead. And from those parts and creature that strayed to close, it made the final element. Solitude, a being like no other. At first Solitude was content to remain alone in the cave. However like all living beings he began to want for company, and so he left in search of companionship but all he found was fear and discrimination. If they were going to treat him like a monster then he would become the monster. And so began the age of Discord the Lord of Chaos. "...And the rest is history." The being, no creature, no not even that described this thing, he-it was a monster, finished recapping the story he forced me tell. It took in a deep breath and leaned over me to release it. "Oh my," Its smooth and husky voice began. "So many think that the smell of fear is something made up in order to scare the non-predatory races. But I can tell you right now that is not the case, would you like to know what fear smells like? It smells like you right now, your sent mixed with the smell of urine and a primal pheromone." Another deep breath and the monster began again. "I oh so love it when my prey doesn't even try to hide their fear. It makes them so much easier to track down and kill." I try to say something, anything, but I can't I am paralyzed with fear. Unable to move speak or even whimper he stands back to his full height. "Don't worry, my little pony" He says with statistic glee. "You did your job well. This village meant to guard this... 'bush' of disharmony did rather well. I had to fight thru so many to get this far, and kill so much. Would you like to know what I did?" It pauses as if expecting me to answer him. "No? Awell, I guess listing me go on and on about how I went from house to house killing all inside, men, women, and children, until one of the night patrol noticed and set off the alarm would be quite boring. Wouldn't it." "But would you like to know something even better?" It asked lowering itself down to my ear,and whispering. "You're the last one alive... and I'm feeling rather peckish." And before I knew what was happening he reared up and brought his fore hooves down on my skull. Meeting Of The Monster And The Root Of All Evil (Edited)I got up from my makeshift meal of pony flesh and made my way into the cave that held this 'bush' that came from a root and made most of the evil in the world. I stopped in place as I realize that this thing is literally the root of all evil. Deciding to put that thought aside I continue on through the cave til I come across the damnable thing. "Huh, it looks exactly like it was described." I say looking up at the four storey tall scraggly dead bush looking thing with green glowing veins and pods all over it, the shadows of the cave being far darker than natural. I make my way up to it in order to get a better look and maybe find out why this thing seems to be calling me to it. That is until a light slithering voice makes its way into my ears. "It's about time you got here." The voice chided me. "I've been waiting for you for the last thirty years." "Well seeing as I'm only twenty-four I don't think it was me you've been wait-ack" I attempted to say but had my retort cutoff as one of its branches shot down and wrapped around my neck to haul me into the air. "SILENCE WORM!!" The voice shouted as a vaguely equine being made of magic and shadow appeared before me, glowing green eyes boring into my soul as I struggled not to choke to death. "I have called you here in order to put and end to the wastes of life I have created." The voice now had a leathery quality and come from the magic construct. "Cruelty has not made a move since its precious pony was destroyed. Deceit has out right failed and lost control of her kind as well as fallen again and again. Despair has made peace with its host and is helping to stop nightmares. Betrayal hasn't been seen in nearly three thousand years when he betrayed his purpose and me, and Greed has been locked in Tartarus since his attempt to make all the magic of the world his. And then there is Solitude who has not only failed to spread what he represents but has made FRIENDS WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY." The being raged as I slowly lost the ability to stay conscious. "You will go out, hunt them down, and kill them. And I will grant you the ability to use their Elements as you see fit." "H-how am I- supposed to-" I tried to choke out. "Rip out their hearts of course." The being sneered at me. "Now leave, I do not want you here." It said as it flung me towards the entrance of the cave. I hit the ground hard and tumbled a fair distance, after I stilled I brought a hoof up to my sore throat and rubbed it. "Fucking cunt tree root." I muttered to myself and got up to leave the cave. As I left I made my way back through the ruined town and a smell caught my attention. It was not the smell of death but instead the smell of fear. It was old but made obvious path to follow. I of course began to run following the path to the edge of the town. "Hmm, it seems that there were survivors after all." I say to myself. "Based off the smell a pony and a Minotaur, a young one." I make my way back into town to gather supplies and as I do I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and quickly turn toward it only to be disappointed by my own reflection in a broken window. My pony like front half and panther like rear. My forelegs ending in hooves and back legs in clawed paws. My mane something between a ponies and a big cats, and a tail that looks like someone added a ponies tail hair on to a cats tail. My bone structure a combination of a jungle cats and a ponies, a skull more like that of a pony but with cat like grace and fangs. Hazel cat like eyes and a unicorn horn with the same color of magic surrounding it, I touched up on my mane and then smashed the piece of glass. I turn away and go back to what I was doing before, only with more... emotion. Yeah, lets put it that way. A child of rape given up to an orphanage with my sister, the bitch was lucky enough to look like a Hippogriff and adopted into a Pony/Hippogriff family. I on the other hoof had to stay at the orphanage until I was considered to old to adopt. When it comes to pony/griffin hybrids every one wants the 'hippogriff' type, but if you're like me? You're a monster, teased and bullied until you tell an adult or act out, and then you're the one always in the wrong. And it starts all over again. At least until you kill and eat one of your bullies in front of the entire orphanage and run away. Heh, that might not be a bad sob story to tell someone to get free shit... As long as I cut out the part about killing that is. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and realizes that I have subconsciously gathered everything I would need except food, I'm going to hunt that myself after all. "Look's like veal is on the menu tonight." Author's Note Going back over this and trying to make it better. HuntedI ran. Simple as that. I grabbed my son and ran. His father ran out to join the guard with his spear, but it has been over an hour since the sound died outside. So we left. The town was ruined and there was corpses everywhere, most half eaten. I knew we shouldn't have trusted that stranger that showed up yesterday. After all, what kind of creature travels without the basic essentials? No food, no water, not even a tarp to cover themself? He carried nothing with him, and yet no one said a damn anything. He was smooth, charismatic, happy-go-lucky, and made fast friends with everyone he could. He was given free food and lodging, he was a wonder to talk to, and he killed everyone. I carried my son on my back as we ran. I tried to stay on the main roads but our town was small and out of the way, with no real roads for miles on end. And even worse, a forest between us and any civilization. I could only hope for the best for my and my son. I may be an Earth Pony but I am still mortal, and I was forced to stop from exhaustion. I made sure my son was off my back before I collapsed, but collapse I did. I was thankful for the cover of the forest trees. But no good thing lasts. I tensed when I heard gurgling growl, like something between a ponies imitation of a predator and that of a large cat. I jumped back to my feet and looked behind us to see nothing. But then the growl came again and I looked up to see a figure in the trees. It had his hazel eyes, just faintly glowing in the dark of the trees. "Iron Horn, I need you to run." I spoke to my son. "We are near the edge of the forest. There is a town less than a mile way. Just keep going east. Tell someone what happened and try to find your brother, alright?" I continued as I got ready to fight. I would not let this monster get to my son. "M-momm-" "RUN, IRON HOOF! IRON WILL WILL KEEP YOU SAFE! NOW GOGOGO!" I shouted as the thing leaped at my son from the tree. I jumped in it's way and bucked him in the chest, sending him back to the tree. His back met the bark of the tree with a painful *whump. I could hear my son crashing through the underbrush as he ran. "I might die, but I will not let you touch my son." The thing simply laughed as he pulled himself up off the ground. "Oh this might be even more fun than I thought." It spoke as it began to try and circle me, but I would not let him pass. "You will have to perform an exorcism before I let you touch him." "Promise? It can get kinda lonely on the road." It seemed hopeful as it settled to just prowl back and forth in front of me. "But then again, that is the way I like it. If I'm around someone to long I might start thinking of ways to not kill them instead of the usual." The cruel glee on his face more than enough to, in any other situation, make someone think that he should be the Element of Laughter if unaware of his intentions. Why is he just walking back and forth? He has enough magic to easily get past me, he showed off more than that traveling showmare when he turned up in town. So why stay? "Oooo, I recognize that look. 'Why is he still hear?' They ask themselves. 'Why not use his magic and end it?' They inquire." Said the monster to the mare. "'Why dose he leave me to run?' They probe. 'In the end it is simple.' The monster reply's. 'I enjoy the fight.' He answers. 'I love the hunt.' He acknowledges. And then he strikes while the iron is over heated. Exhausted, tired and easy to... mold, to his wishes. Tiny, thin, strips of it here and there and used to eat. Used to satisfy the monsters hunge-" The beast cut himself off as I leaped at him, seeing nothing but him and red. Only for him to duck and aim his horn as I landed on top of him and felt a sudden stabbing pain between my ribs. "You know," It spoke from under me. "I tend to prefer baby back ribs. But I think your's will do for now~" The stabbing pain became that of a burning fire, and I could do nothing but yell in pain and despair. "RUN, IRON, RUUunnnnnnnnn...." I fell to the ground, barely conscious. Every thing from the base of my neck to the base of my tail felt as tough it had been cooked. My mind should have gone by now but... I could feel something keeping me rooted to the waking world. "Go ahead. Let out one more scream. Stir up your sons fear even more for me... No? Oh very well then. Just so you know, I might have cooked you quiet well," He paused and I felt a slight rocking to my head, it was the only thing I could feel. "I-om *ahem* I much prefer my meat bloody and r-om-rare." He add with what sounded like a full mouth. As the implications of my slight movement and what he said set in I felt the anchor holding me here fade, and all went to black. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. My tears staining my face I ran. I knew that mom would be fine. She would always be fine. But that fact became fiction as I heard her yell again. Full of pain and sadness. I wanted to stop. I wanted to save her. But I couldn't. I had to tell someone. I... I had to find Will. Mom wanted me safe. So I will be safe. And I will crush that monster under my hooves. I swear on my name, on my mothers name, and on my fathers. That monster will die. Author's Note "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr. "Every evil begets some good." -Voltaire
The Planting Of The Tree, The Growth Of The RootsA long time ago there were six ponies, the six pillars of Old Equestria, Rockhoof the Strong, Flash Magnus the Brave, Somnambula the Hopeful, Mage Meadowbrook the Healer, Mistmane the Beautiful, and Starswirl... the Bearded. They were the countries most powerful defenders, and when one of there own turned on them they disappeared. But not without leaving behind a gift for the future, a seed. This seed grew into the now well known Tree of Harmony. But at the time there is a theory that was not well known, 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. This magical theory has since been proven true multiple times since then. As the tree grew one of its roots grew far faster, and far further, until it began to sprout up and out of its own cave far outside Equestria. This root, once in its cave, began to mach the speed of growth for the tree. It grew up and out wards, until it looked like a four storey tall, and wide, dead bush. And as the Tree of Harmony developed the Elements of Harmony this 'bush' began to grow the opposite. The Elements of Disharmony. However it could not make items meant to be used by others like the tree, so it made its own wielders and made the elements in their hearts. First was birthed as nothing more than a dark shadow, making the all ready deep and dark cave nearly impossible to see in. It was Cruelty, and it took on the name Umbra the Shadow of the World. The next grew from the root in a glowing green pod, it caused a number of other pods to grow and lines of green to shoot thru the 'bush'. Ghastly images appearing on the walls from their sickly green glow. The largest pod broke open and unceremoniously dropped a being covered in green slime onto the floor. The creature rose from the ground revealing its self to be a grotesque and twisted form of an alicorn, holed legs and insectile wings with a crooked horn. And so was born Deceit, the first of her kind, many names she took but the most prominent was Chrysalis Queen of the Changelings. The third was a ghostly being only visible in the realm of dreams, its appearance mutable to serve its purpose. It was Despair the Tantabus, Nightmare. The forth and fifth grew as one and the same, the twins Betrayal and Greed. Betrayal took the form of gargoyle and the name Scorpan, and Greed became a twisted combination of a Minotaur and a Centaur with the name of Tirek. With the first five birthed they left fleeing each other and the sense of death that came from their 'mother', and with those five gone the roots could finally create the last. However it could no longer from living beings on its own, and so it reached out with its foul magic and influence to cause a number of creatures to come to it with parts of their dead. And from those parts and creature that strayed to close, it made the final element. Solitude, a being like no other. At first Solitude was content to remain alone in the cave. However like all living beings he began to want for company, and so he left in search of companionship but all he found was fear and discrimination. If they were going to treat him like a monster then he would become the monster. And so began the age of Discord the Lord of Chaos. "...And the rest is history." The being, no creature, no not even that described this thing, he-it was a monster, finished recapping the story he forced me tell. It took in a deep breath and leaned over me to release it. "Oh my," Its smooth and husky voice began. "So many think that the smell of fear is something made up in order to scare the non-predatory races. But I can tell you right now that is not the case, would you like to know what fear smells like? It smells like you right now, your sent mixed with the smell of urine and a primal pheromone." Another deep breath and the monster began again. "I oh so love it when my prey doesn't even try to hide their fear. It makes them so much easier to track down and kill." I try to say something, anything, but I can't I am paralyzed with fear. Unable to move speak or even whimper he stands back to his full height. "Don't worry, my little pony" He says with statistic glee. "You did your job well. This village meant to guard this... 'bush' of disharmony did rather well. I had to fight thru so many to get this far, and kill so much. Would you like to know what I did?" It pauses as if expecting me to answer him. "No? Awell, I guess listing me go on and on about how I went from house to house killing all inside, men, women, and children, until one of the night patrol noticed and set off the alarm would be quite boring. Wouldn't it." "But would you like to know something even better?" It asked lowering itself down to my ear,and whispering. "You're the last one alive... and I'm feeling rather peckish." And before I knew what was happening he reared up and brought his fore hooves down on my skull.
Meeting Of The Monster And The Root Of All Evil (Edited)I got up from my makeshift meal of pony flesh and made my way into the cave that held this 'bush' that came from a root and made most of the evil in the world. I stopped in place as I realize that this thing is literally the root of all evil. Deciding to put that thought aside I continue on through the cave til I come across the damnable thing. "Huh, it looks exactly like it was described." I say looking up at the four storey tall scraggly dead bush looking thing with green glowing veins and pods all over it, the shadows of the cave being far darker than natural. I make my way up to it in order to get a better look and maybe find out why this thing seems to be calling me to it. That is until a light slithering voice makes its way into my ears. "It's about time you got here." The voice chided me. "I've been waiting for you for the last thirty years." "Well seeing as I'm only twenty-four I don't think it was me you've been wait-ack" I attempted to say but had my retort cutoff as one of its branches shot down and wrapped around my neck to haul me into the air. "SILENCE WORM!!" The voice shouted as a vaguely equine being made of magic and shadow appeared before me, glowing green eyes boring into my soul as I struggled not to choke to death. "I have called you here in order to put and end to the wastes of life I have created." The voice now had a leathery quality and come from the magic construct. "Cruelty has not made a move since its precious pony was destroyed. Deceit has out right failed and lost control of her kind as well as fallen again and again. Despair has made peace with its host and is helping to stop nightmares. Betrayal hasn't been seen in nearly three thousand years when he betrayed his purpose and me, and Greed has been locked in Tartarus since his attempt to make all the magic of the world his. And then there is Solitude who has not only failed to spread what he represents but has made FRIENDS WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY." The being raged as I slowly lost the ability to stay conscious. "You will go out, hunt them down, and kill them. And I will grant you the ability to use their Elements as you see fit." "H-how am I- supposed to-" I tried to choke out. "Rip out their hearts of course." The being sneered at me. "Now leave, I do not want you here." It said as it flung me towards the entrance of the cave. I hit the ground hard and tumbled a fair distance, after I stilled I brought a hoof up to my sore throat and rubbed it. "Fucking cunt tree root." I muttered to myself and got up to leave the cave. As I left I made my way back through the ruined town and a smell caught my attention. It was not the smell of death but instead the smell of fear. It was old but made obvious path to follow. I of course began to run following the path to the edge of the town. "Hmm, it seems that there were survivors after all." I say to myself. "Based off the smell a pony and a Minotaur, a young one." I make my way back into town to gather supplies and as I do I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and quickly turn toward it only to be disappointed by my own reflection in a broken window. My pony like front half and panther like rear. My forelegs ending in hooves and back legs in clawed paws. My mane something between a ponies and a big cats, and a tail that looks like someone added a ponies tail hair on to a cats tail. My bone structure a combination of a jungle cats and a ponies, a skull more like that of a pony but with cat like grace and fangs. Hazel cat like eyes and a unicorn horn with the same color of magic surrounding it, I touched up on my mane and then smashed the piece of glass. I turn away and go back to what I was doing before, only with more... emotion. Yeah, lets put it that way. A child of rape given up to an orphanage with my sister, the bitch was lucky enough to look like a Hippogriff and adopted into a Pony/Hippogriff family. I on the other hoof had to stay at the orphanage until I was considered to old to adopt. When it comes to pony/griffin hybrids every one wants the 'hippogriff' type, but if you're like me? You're a monster, teased and bullied until you tell an adult or act out, and then you're the one always in the wrong. And it starts all over again. At least until you kill and eat one of your bullies in front of the entire orphanage and run away. Heh, that might not be a bad sob story to tell someone to get free shit... As long as I cut out the part about killing that is. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and realizes that I have subconsciously gathered everything I would need except food, I'm going to hunt that myself after all. "Look's like veal is on the menu tonight." Author's Note Going back over this and trying to make it better.
HuntedI ran. Simple as that. I grabbed my son and ran. His father ran out to join the guard with his spear, but it has been over an hour since the sound died outside. So we left. The town was ruined and there was corpses everywhere, most half eaten. I knew we shouldn't have trusted that stranger that showed up yesterday. After all, what kind of creature travels without the basic essentials? No food, no water, not even a tarp to cover themself? He carried nothing with him, and yet no one said a damn anything. He was smooth, charismatic, happy-go-lucky, and made fast friends with everyone he could. He was given free food and lodging, he was a wonder to talk to, and he killed everyone. I carried my son on my back as we ran. I tried to stay on the main roads but our town was small and out of the way, with no real roads for miles on end. And even worse, a forest between us and any civilization. I could only hope for the best for my and my son. I may be an Earth Pony but I am still mortal, and I was forced to stop from exhaustion. I made sure my son was off my back before I collapsed, but collapse I did. I was thankful for the cover of the forest trees. But no good thing lasts. I tensed when I heard gurgling growl, like something between a ponies imitation of a predator and that of a large cat. I jumped back to my feet and looked behind us to see nothing. But then the growl came again and I looked up to see a figure in the trees. It had his hazel eyes, just faintly glowing in the dark of the trees. "Iron Horn, I need you to run." I spoke to my son. "We are near the edge of the forest. There is a town less than a mile way. Just keep going east. Tell someone what happened and try to find your brother, alright?" I continued as I got ready to fight. I would not let this monster get to my son. "M-momm-" "RUN, IRON HOOF! IRON WILL WILL KEEP YOU SAFE! NOW GOGOGO!" I shouted as the thing leaped at my son from the tree. I jumped in it's way and bucked him in the chest, sending him back to the tree. His back met the bark of the tree with a painful *whump. I could hear my son crashing through the underbrush as he ran. "I might die, but I will not let you touch my son." The thing simply laughed as he pulled himself up off the ground. "Oh this might be even more fun than I thought." It spoke as it began to try and circle me, but I would not let him pass. "You will have to perform an exorcism before I let you touch him." "Promise? It can get kinda lonely on the road." It seemed hopeful as it settled to just prowl back and forth in front of me. "But then again, that is the way I like it. If I'm around someone to long I might start thinking of ways to not kill them instead of the usual." The cruel glee on his face more than enough to, in any other situation, make someone think that he should be the Element of Laughter if unaware of his intentions. Why is he just walking back and forth? He has enough magic to easily get past me, he showed off more than that traveling showmare when he turned up in town. So why stay? "Oooo, I recognize that look. 'Why is he still hear?' They ask themselves. 'Why not use his magic and end it?' They inquire." Said the monster to the mare. "'Why dose he leave me to run?' They probe. 'In the end it is simple.' The monster reply's. 'I enjoy the fight.' He answers. 'I love the hunt.' He acknowledges. And then he strikes while the iron is over heated. Exhausted, tired and easy to... mold, to his wishes. Tiny, thin, strips of it here and there and used to eat. Used to satisfy the monsters hunge-" The beast cut himself off as I leaped at him, seeing nothing but him and red. Only for him to duck and aim his horn as I landed on top of him and felt a sudden stabbing pain between my ribs. "You know," It spoke from under me. "I tend to prefer baby back ribs. But I think your's will do for now~" The stabbing pain became that of a burning fire, and I could do nothing but yell in pain and despair. "RUN, IRON, RUUunnnnnnnnn...." I fell to the ground, barely conscious. Every thing from the base of my neck to the base of my tail felt as tough it had been cooked. My mind should have gone by now but... I could feel something keeping me rooted to the waking world. "Go ahead. Let out one more scream. Stir up your sons fear even more for me... No? Oh very well then. Just so you know, I might have cooked you quiet well," He paused and I felt a slight rocking to my head, it was the only thing I could feel. "I-om *ahem* I much prefer my meat bloody and r-om-rare." He add with what sounded like a full mouth. As the implications of my slight movement and what he said set in I felt the anchor holding me here fade, and all went to black. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. My tears staining my face I ran. I knew that mom would be fine. She would always be fine. But that fact became fiction as I heard her yell again. Full of pain and sadness. I wanted to stop. I wanted to save her. But I couldn't. I had to tell someone. I... I had to find Will. Mom wanted me safe. So I will be safe. And I will crush that monster under my hooves. I swear on my name, on my mothers name, and on my fathers. That monster will die. Author's Note "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr. "Every evil begets some good." -Voltaire
