The Rise and Fall of Chaos

Chapter 8 - An End To The Pain

“The time has come, my child. Make them pay for their insolence! Wake them, and watch as they tear each other apart!”

Goatroth circled around his victims, satisfied to see an eerie green glow surrounding them all. He glanced at their necklaces once more, and Twilight's crown, wondering whether he should remove them or not. He decided it wouldn't be a problem, that they'd be too wrapped up in their own insanity to even notice they were there, let alone be able to use them.

“Very well then... wake up my dears... wake up and let's have some fun!” he said with a wicked grin. He made his way back to his throne, sitting down slowly. His horns flashed briefly, and the girls snapped out of the trance they had been in.

“Huh? What happened? Oh, my head...” Twilight said, rubbing her head with one hoof. She looked around and saw something she knew to be impossible. “Rarity? No, this can't be... you're dead!”

“Hmph. I'm not speaking to you.” Rarity said, turning her head away in disgust.

Pinkie gasped “I did it! I knew I could see all of you again! You... you do all forgive me, right? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-”

Rainbow interrupted her, snarling viciously. “Didn't mean to do what? Try to kill me with a meat cleaver? I won't let you get away with that!”

Pinkie frowned and sat down, looking confused. “What?” She began to cry, “I didn't kill you! I tried to help, I really did, but it was too late! Please forgive me!”

“Not possible... not possible!” Twilight said, backing away from Rarity slowly. She bumped into Applejack and turned around, startled. Applejack stared at her angrily. “Oh no, you know don't you? You know what I did!” exclaimed Twilight, her teeth grinding.

“Know what? That you're all jerks that aren't worth my time? That... aww forget it. Just leave me alone.” she said, turning her back to the rest of the group.

Rarity looked down and saw Fluttershy laying on the floor, crying. “You! You thieving, conniving, wretched excuse for a friend, how dare you show yourself here!”

“Please, leave me alone... just go away!” Fluttershy screamed, tears streaming down her face.

Goatroth looked on, pleased with the results of his mind corruption spell. He had succeeded in driving Equestria's heroes insane, and soon they would all be dead. It was that thought that caused yet another twinge of remorse and pity to wash over him. He could feel something deep inside, something he hadn't felt for what seemed like an age.

“What's wrong, my child? Is this not what we wanted?” “No... it's what you wanted...” “What?” “You... you monster... what did you do to me?!”

Rainbow Dash plunged at Pinkie, her rage consuming her. The two tumbled around, knocking into Applejack. “Hey!” she shouted, pulling the two apart, “what in the hay do you two think you're doing?” Rainbow turned her attention to Applejack. “How dare you!” she shouted, lunging at Applejack.

“What ever do you mean? All I've ever done is to help you... you know that... think of all the great things we have done together!” “Enough! This, this is all your fault! All of it! I never wanted any of this...”

Applejack threw Rainbow off her, causing her to crash into the wall. She slid down and rolled, getting back to her hooves in one swift motion. Applejack stood her ground, ready for another attack. Twilight wanted desperately to stop her two friends from tearing each other apart, but knew she couldn't do anything without her magic. She had made a promise to Rarity, nevermind the fact that Rarity seemed to somehow be alive again. Twilight figured it was just her nerves getting the best of her.

“I will stop this...” “No you will not! We have... I have worked too hard for this and I will not let something as foolish as your guilty feelings get in the way!”

Pinkie approached Fluttershy, sniffling slightly. “At least you forgive me, don't you Fluttershy?” Fluttershy looked up at her, her face soaked with her tears, “No! Please, just go away, I want to be alone...” Pinkie began to cry again. “Forgive you for what, darling? If anything she should be apologizing to me! And so should you!” Rarity said, her face twisted with rage. Upon hearing her voice once more, Twilight looked over at her and thought to herself, “Nope, just an illusion... she can't be real... no, no way.”

Scamp, having broken through for the first time in centuries, stood up. His face was set into a look of fierce determination, as if he were fighting some invisible force that only he could see. He slowly began to make his way toward the girls, each step more difficult than the last. “You... have... no control... anymore...” he said out loud.

Rainbow flew into the air and dove straight for Applejack, knocking her down hard. The two struggled, neither one wanting to let the other gain control.

“What do you think you're doing? Stop this at once!”

“Shut... up...” Scamp said, pushing forward with every last ounce of his strength. Two small green points of light appeared on his horns as he closed his eyes, growing larger with every second. He began to groan, his body wracked with pain as he struggled to use the demon's own magic to cancel the spell. Finally two wisps snaked out of his horns, expanding into a large bubble. As he continued to struggle, the bubble surrounded the girls, stopping them in their tracks completely.

“I DEMAND THAT YOU STOP THIS AT ONCE!!!”

The bubble dissipated, and the girls could move again. The green glow that had surrounded them previously had faded away completely. Scamp stood there panting heavily, his head hung down, eyes closed.

Rainbow looked down and noticed she had Applejack pinned to the floor. “Huh? What's going on?”

“I don't know, but would ya mind gettin' off me and helpin' me up?”

“Oh, right, sure thing.” Rainbow said, obliging her friend.

Rarity shook her head, “Oh my, I had the most awful dream...”

Twilight ran over and hugged Rarity, “I'm so glad you're okay! I had a terrible dream that I had... well, that you had died!”

“Really? I dreamed that Fluttershy stole my fashion designs and you all sided with her...”

Pinkie looked around, “And I dreamed a hydra killed all of you... it was horrible! But now you're all alive and so am I!”

Fluttershy stood up slowly, her face still wet from her tears. “Fluttershy! You're okay!” Applejack shouted excitedly, running over to hug her. Fluttershy gasped, then hugged her friend back, happy that her dream hadn't been real.

Rainbow stood in the back, rubbing her hoof against her shoulder, looking away from the group.

Twilight noticed her and asked, “Rainbow, what's wrong?”

“I...” she smiled, “aww, nothing. Hey!” she shouted as Pinkie tackled her to the floor. “It's okay Dashie, it was just a dream!” Pinkie said, laughing.

The rest of the girls joined in, laughing joyously. They all hugged each other, happy that they were all alive and well, and that their dreams weren't real.

Two figures walked out from the shadows, looking disheveled but otherwise no worse for wear.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Twilight shouted, running over to them. “How did you get back?”

The sisters looked at each other, then back at Twilight. “We have no idea!” Celestia said, “We were just brought back suddenly. We thought you had defeated the evil monster that locked us away.”

The girls gasped, remembering that he was still on the loose.

“We have to get him!” Rainbow said. “Where is he?!”

“I'm afraid you won't have to look very far, dears.” Celestia said, pointing to Scamp.

Scamp looked up at her, his eyes sunken and tired. “I... please, you must listen...” His voice sounded different, no longer having that eerie ethereal quality to it. It sounded normal.

“Why should we listen to anything you have to say?!” Rainbow shouted angrily.

“Please, I haven't much time... he-”

Before Scamp could continue, the green aura around him seemed to tense up, radiating out from him in waves. His eyes opened wide in terror as he fell to the floor. “Run...” he managed to choke out.

“What's going on?!” shouted Twilight.

Scamp put his hooves to his head, screaming out in pain. He stopped screaming for a moment and tried to stand up, but was immediately wracked with pain once more. He stood up on his hind legs, holding his head in his hooves, stumbling backwards into the throne. “Run!” he screamed.

The girls hesitated. They wanted to do something to help, but fear kept them from doing anything. All they could do was stare helplessly as something tortured this poor pony in front of them.

Scamp shouted with such a ferocity that it made the girls jump back with fright, “RUN YOU FOOLS!” With that, he let out one final scream of agony and collapsed.

***

Scamp awoke in a strange place, filled with darkness as far as the eye could see, with an almost unbearable silence. A hazy green mist began to form in front of him. He knew what it was, and shuddered violently.

The mist spoke in hushed tones, with a voice that could only be described as pure evil, “You little worm, how dare you defy me. I have given you the gift of great power and this is how you repay me?”

For the first time in his unnaturally long life, Scamp was finally able to think clearly, no longer under the influence of the demon. Repressed memories began to flood his mind, memories of the demon's voice in his head controlling his every move, of a lifetime of loneliness and sadness, followed by thousands of years of torture.

Scamp shook with anger as he answered, “You... you monster! You call what you did to me a gift?! You've controlled my every move since the moment I was born, making me do things I never wanted to do, hurting other ponies, when all I wanted was to make friends and feel loved!” Even in this strange landscape within Scamp's own mind, he found he was able to cry. Tears started to form in his eyes as he spoke, falling freely by the time he finished.

The demon chuckled, “Love... meaningless. Tell me, my child... what could love have given you that I couldn't?”

“Stop calling me that! I am not your child, you beast! I remember everything now... everything you wanted me to forget... I never wanted to hurt anyone, but you made me do it! And then, when I was banished to this place, you...” Scamp stopped suddenly, overcome by sadness, trying desperately to choke back several sobs. “You tortured me! When I wouldn't submit to your will you tortured me...”

“It was necessary.”

Scamp's sorrow turned immediately back to anger. He could no longer hold himself back, he didn't care if the demon was powerful, he would try to destroy it all the same. He lunged at the shadowy form in front of him, and let out a yelp of surprise as he was frozen mid-air, held in place by the demon's horrible magic.

“Listen to me you little bastard, I made you who you are, and I can sure as hell destroy you! Don't think for one second that you could even compare to me. I have existed for countless ages, and I will continue to exist long after your fragile, worthless body has been reduced to dust! I am Goatroth, the very essence of Chaos itself, and no mere mortal will ever match up to me!”

Scamp's blue eyes were locked on the evil demon, full of rage and desperation. “Let me go! Let me go damn you!” he screamed, struggling against the demon's magic.

Goatroth sighed, “And to think, I had hoped that you would be a worthy host. You had so much potential... all that raw willpower. Even now, although you know your struggle is meaningless, you continue to attempt to break free. It was that incredible willpower that I sensed in you when you were born, the will to drive my power forward, to amplify it, to make us the most powerful being in existence!”

“Now, you will suffer for your insolence!”

With that, ripples of dark green energy surged over Scamp's spirit form, sending waves of pain throughout his very being. He screamed in agony.

Goatroth chuckled, “Go ahead, keep screaming. No one can hear you here...”

***

“What was that all about?” Twilight asked.

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed. “There's something you should know about him, my little ponies. His name, his real name, is Scamp. Thousands of years ago, Scamp tried to destroy Luna and myself and take over as ruler of Equestria, but it wasn't entirely his fault. You see, he's been possessed by a demon since birth, a demon that controlled his every action, that demon's name is Goatroth.”

“Wait, wait, so you're telling us that we've been dealing with a demon this entire time?” asked Rainbow.

“Not entirely. Their relationship is more of a symbiotic one. Luna and I made a mistake by banishing him to the underworld back then, but we were unsure of what to do, and we had only seconds to react. During their time there, Scamp had finally been able to think for himself, and he realized he didn't want to harm anyone. But, the demon tortured poor Scamp and broke his will, and they combined into one being, at least on the surface.”

The girls shuddered upon hearing this.

“But wait,” Twilight began, “what does this mean? He sounded different before, normal.” She pointed at Scamp's unconscious body. “Does this mean that he...”

Celestia nodded solemnly, “Yes my dear, Scamp has finally broken free of the demon's control. But, judging from what happened afterward, I'd say he's still in trouble. Girls, the only way to force that demon out of him is to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“But we already tried usin' them!” Applejack exclaimed, “They didn't do anything!”

“The nature of their symbiotic relationship made them both very powerful. I suspect, though, that had you used the elements a second time, the demon would have been expelled, banished back to the underworld.”

“We tried, but then he...” Twilight shuddered at the thought of what had happened.

Without warning, Scamp's body began to rise up, limp and lifeless, as if attached to strings being pulled by an invisible puppetmaster. His head cocked up and his eyes opened, but nothing could be seen in them except a black, empty void. He stared at the ponies in front of him.

“Ah, greetings, my dears... I do hope you can forgive that slight interruption. Now then, where were we? Ah yes... I do believe you all were about to kill each other. I would so much enjoy it if you could continue.”

The voice that spoke through Scamp's mouth sounded even darker and more sinister than it had before. It sent chills down the spines of the six girls, but didn't seem to bother the princesses much.

“It's over Goatroth,” said Celestia, “you won't be able to harm anypony else, not while we're here! Girls, now!”

Twilight and her friends immediately began charging the Elements of Harmony for another blast.

“We'll see about that!”

The entire room seemed to get darker as Goatroth began to cast his evil spells at the six girls. Beams of green light shot out at them, but all of them were deflected by Celestia and Luna.

“What? How? No...”

“You're nothing without your puppet helping you!” snarled Luna.

A brilliant rainbow shot out from the girls, hitting Scamp's body directly. The demon emitted a horrible agonizing cry as he could feel himself being ripped from his host's body. A blinding white light filled the entire room, expanding outward, encompassing all of Canterlot, and then Ponyville. When it faded, it looked as if everything had been returned to normal. The streets were no longer in ruin, the skies were no longer red, and on the floor of the throne room of the palace lied Scamp's body, free of the demon that had haunted him his entire life.

When it was over, the girls rushed over to the seemingly lifeless body of the pony they had just freed from the evil demon's clutches. His head had returned to normal, the two goat horns had been replaced by one single unicorn's horn. His coat had returned to the brown it had once been, and his cutie mark was no longer glowing red. But, he wasn't breathing.

“Oh no,” said a saddened Twilight, “he's dead. He's dead isn't he?”

Just then, a single breath could be heard entering his lungs, and his blue eyes popped open. The girls gasped as he tried to stand up.

“Wha... where am I? Oh... my head...” he said, before collapsing on the floor, exhausted both physically and mentally.

“He's alive!” screamed Pinkie as she jumped up and down excitedly.

Twilight looked at him, worried. “Will he be alright?”

Celestia smiled, “He's going to be okay. He's been through much, he just needs some rest.”

***

Scamp awoke with a startled gasp, opening his eyes wide and springing up. He looked around, wondering where he was, and was surprised to see six smiling faces staring at him. He regarded them suspiciously.

“Where am I?”

“Relax, we're in one of the guest rooms in the palace.” said Twilight. “We brought you here when you collapsed.”

Scamp closed his eyes and relaxed, falling back into the bed. He was suddenly aware of a throbbing pain in his head.

“Ugh...” he said as he rubbed his head with his hoof, “why aren't you all running away from me in terror?”

“Celestia told us all about you, and she said that in order to do what you did you would have had to rebel against the demon by your own free will.” Twilight explained.

At the mention of the demon, Scamp gasped, “Wh-where is he? Is he gone?” he said as his eyes darted around the room.

Twilight smiled, “Relax, he's gone. We banished him with the Elements of Harmony.”

Scamp breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. You don't know what it's like... growing up with its insidious voice in your head, constantly telling you what to do, never letting you have your own thoughts or ideas...” Tears began to stream down his face as he continued to speak. “That thing tried to mold me in its image, and when it failed, it began to torture me. Hundreds of years of agonizing pain... I had no choice but to give in.”

“We understand, sorta” began Applejack, “you don't have to explain to us-”

“No, I do. I owe you that much. I told it that I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore, that I would rather spend the rest of my life as a prisoner in the underworld than accept its gift of 'power' and start hurting others again. That's... when the torture began. It kept me alive through all of it, making sure I would not die no matter what. After it... broke me... it began to change me, until I was no longer myself. It had succeeded in turning me into exactly what it wanted me to be...”

“But, while we were... well, using our mind corruption spell on you...” he continued, “its power started to fade, and for the first time in ages I was beginning to think clearly. I'm so sorry... the things I did to you... are simply unforgivable.”

“Aww it's okay,” said Rainbow, “we know it wasn't your fault. Trust me, Celestia explained all of this to us already.”

Scamp sighed. “Well, I'm glad that you all can forgive me, but I'll never be able to forgive myself.”

“There's more.” said Twilight. “Celestia said that while you were, well, doing what you were doing, you took extra care to make sure that nopony had died.”

“How could she have possibly known that?” Scamp asked, fresh tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

“She said she could just feel it. That despite everything you did, there was still a part of the real you in there, fighting against its control.”

“I remember... feeling as if I was trapped in a haze. I could see what I was doing, what was going on, but I couldn't control any of it, nor could I form any coherent thoughts... and yet, I struggled. I tried so hard to fight it...”

Twilight walked over and put a hoof on his shoulder, looking into his eyes. “We know.”

Scamp nodded his head and wiped away his tears.

“So... what now?”

Twilight stepped back and sighed. “Well, for now you can stay here in the palace, until you can get a place of your own. What you do from there is your own choice.”

“You're forgetting something.” said Pinkie.

“Oh? What did I forget?”

“The party!” Pinkie shouted as she wheeled in her party cannon and shot decorations all over the room.

The other five girls began laughing as Scamp looked on in confusion. Pinkie grabbed him out of bed shouting, “Come on silly, it's your party, get outta bed and let's jam!”

The party lasted well into the night.

Scamp couldn't remember the last time he felt so happy.

Fin