My name is..... What is my name? I forgot that a long time ago. All I know is now that I'm in this black void, listening to this voice that teaches me many different things. Among those things were souls, life and freedom. That last word.... Freedom..... What does it mean? All I've ever known was the voice and this empty void. I don't even have a body. I just.... exist, I guess. A soul without a body. The voice taught me everything. And mind you, that's a lot. It's only natural that I become... submissive to it. It soon offered me my very first taste of freedom and everything it taught me, I would keep. I agreed without hesitating. Why wouldn't I? I was always eager to learn from it.
As soon as I agreed, It opened a window to a world I never dreamed could have existed. It was bright and colorful, unlike the void I floated in. The things that the voice called buildings were huge. They rose up from the ground and they touched what it called the sky. The 'sun' shone bright in the sky as these.... things walked below it. The voice called them Ponies. It said they were fairly peaceful creatures, but not at that moment. They were currently recovering from war. I obviously asked it why. It said that different living things have different opinions, and if those opinions didn't correspond with each other, they would fight about it. Then it told me about the rulers of that world. Those rulers were named Night and Day. As it told me everything about that world, it paused for a full minute and the window opened again. At least, I thought it was a minute. I really lost track of the time a long time ago. Instead of the picture of the city I saw earlier, it was the corpses of the aforementioned rulers. I could tell that the voice was sad. It paused in its speaking to presumably remember Night and Day.
After showing me their deaths, it showed me who were next in line for the throne. It showed what looked like two smaller versions of the rulers weeping over their graves. The voice told me that they were next in line for the throne. I felt sorry for them. Their parents just died and they were given the immediate responsibility of ruling over their land.
Next, it asked me if I wanted to become part of that world. This took me a bit by surprise. I asked why and it said that it felt like it was time for me to live after such a long time. I agreed and it started to lay down some ground rules. First, I would be born like all other ponies. Second, I wasn't to use my knowledge until I was ten. Third, I was not to use any of the magic I would be given unless absolutely necessary. Fourth, I would have to follow the rules of the world I would be born in. With these rules laid down, I felt a warm light glow from inside me. It told me that I wouldn't be able to hear it in that world and that I would have to listen to the rulers instead. Before I could protest, the light suddenly grew from dim to blinding and all I could hear was very loud crying... My crying...
For the first time in a long time, I felt that my life was about to begin. And it felt great...
18 years before the sealing of Nightmare Moon.
A couple sat in front of a lit hearth, with the mare screaming in intense pain, since she had just given birth.
"It's a unicorn colt!" The midwife said to the crying mare.
"That's.... wonderful..." The mare said as she fell unconscious, unable to take the pain.
"Violet!" The stallion shouted as he took hold of his wife, Violet Wish. Violet was a unicorn mare with a white coat and a purple and pink mane. She had emerald green eyes that were currently blinded by tears.
"She's fine, Bronze. She just needs some rest." The midwife said as she gripped Bronze Hoof's shoulder. Bronze was a pegasus stallion with a tan coat and dark green mane. He had bright blue eyes that hovered over his wife's every movement.
"Yeah. You're right, Autumn. Help me carry her to the bedroom." Bronze said as he laid his sleeping wife on his back. Autumn Rose simply cocked her brow.
"What, and leave the newborn here? I'm bringing him to the bath!" Autumn said as she headed for the bathroom to give the foal a bath. She was a unicorn mare with a light pink coat and a red mane. She had magenta eyes that surveyed the foal in her magic as they entered the bathroom to bathe the foal.
Later that night, Violet woke up in their bed with Bronze sitting next to her.
"Violet! You're awake!" He exclaimed as he hugged his wife tighter than he ever hugged her before.
"Bronze.... too......tight...." She wheezed as Bronze let go of her.
"Sorry..." Bronze said with a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Where's the foal?" Violet asked as she looked around the room.
"You mean this foal?" Autumn said with an excited giggle as she exited the bathroom with the now clean foal in her magic grasp. He was wrapped in a towel, but one could clearly see the horn that sat atop his head. He had a midnight blue coat and a black mane. Autumn set the foal down in Violet's hooves and she gave her new son a caring smile.
"What should we name him? If he was a pegasus, I was thinking we'd call him Sky Shatter." Bronze said proudly as he stretched his wings. Violet smiled. Bronze was always one to make a backup when he didn't know what to expect. It was one of the reasons he was Captain of the Royal Guard, after all. He literally had three whole scrolls that had only the possible names of their foal. He promptly tossed the scrolls that held his pegasus and earth pony names behind his back and he began reading from the unicorn name list.
"Radiant Tome? Sunset Visor? Sand Veil? Shining Aurora? Pendant Spark? Chrome Plate? Bass Bolt? Summer Circle? Star Swirl? Scale Dune? Storm Vulcan? Star Wave? Heavy Rain? Morning Dew? Arctic Inferno? Dusk Storm?" Bronze said without giving Violet time to answer. She just smiled. Bronze certainly had an imagination. She had to admit, though. The names they came up with were definitely good.
"Hmm..... I like Dusk Storm. It sounds a lot like you." Violet said as Bronze looked away from the scroll to look at her.
"Dusk Storm it is!" Bronze said as he rolled up the scroll and tossed it to the side. He moved closer to his wife to give her a kiss, but he stopped when he heard a gagging noise coming from behind him.
"Geez, you two. Get a room." Autumn said as she put her hoof to her mouth to show her disgust.
"....But this is our room." Bronze said flatly. Seconds seemed like minutes while Autumn processed this.
"Well, that's embarrassing.... I'll just show myself out. See you guys tomorrow! Everypony's gonna want to see the foal!" Autumn said as she dashed out the door and into the streets.
"Where's she going?" Violet asked.
"She probably went home. You should get some rest." Bronze said as he took the foal to the crib next to the bed and he gently pushed Violet onto the bed.
"Alright. Goodnight, honey." She said as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Hi. My name's Dusk Storm. I'm a unicorn colt with a midnight blue coat and black mane. I'm the son of Bronze Hoof, the Captain of the Royal Guard, and Violet Wish, A scholar in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Being their son gives me an advantage in life and I put it to good use. I have a lot of friends, not just because I'm famous, and I get the best grades. I think I know some mares who have a crush on me. I felt happy and my life was going great.
Then he came along. I don't know where he came from, but I know he was with me since I was born. I don't know what he wants. I know that every time I would let him out, I'd either wake up in bed with very serious injuries or other ponies didn't want to talk to me. I tried to give him a chance at living peacefully with me and others, but he didn't want to listen. He just kept hurting me and other ponies....
7 years before the sealing of Nightmare Moon.
Dusk sat alone on the park bench under Luna's moon. His parents wanted him to go to Amethyst Ring's birthday party, but the attendees didn't want him to. He had been doing this for as long as he could remember. And it was all thanks to this thing inside him.
"What's got you down, Dusk?" The voice in his head asked.
"You know exactly what's got me down, Rust." Dusk said to the voice, venom dripping off of his words as he closed his eyes to speak to his unwanted tenant.
"Oh come on. Don't be so stiff. I was just having some fun." Rust said. Dusk cocked his brow. He called insulting ponies and playing possibly lethal pranks on them fun?
"Why in Tartarus did you do this Rust? What do you want from me?" Dusk asked with a pleading voice. He wanted his life back
"I'm bored." Came Rust's simple reply.
"So, you make my a life a disaster when you're bored? What in Tartarus is wrong with you?" Dusk asked, hoping for an actual answer.
"I'm just a regular old sadist. I enjoy your suffering." Rust said.
"That's sick, you know that? What can I do to get you to stop?" Dusk asked, desperate to get his friends back.
"Alright, you want me to stop? I only have one request. Keep your mind busy." He said and Dusk tilted his head in confusion.
"Keep my mind busy?" He asked and Rust mentally nodded to him.
"You see, I only want to make your life suck when I'm bored. If you give me something to play with like say, the stuff going around in your mind, I won't make your life a living Tartarus. Keep mind busy, won't hurt anypony. Am I painting a clear enough picture?" Rust said and Dusk understood.
"I got it. You know, I have no idea why my life isn't a total disaster yet." Dusk said as he looked to the moon, finding some hope that he can have his life back.
"I may enjoy your pain, but I don't want you to suffer too much. If that happened, you'd just become like all the others. An empty shell of a pony." Rust said and Dusk sighed.
"You are evil." Dusk said as he began to head home. He was tired and he needed his sleep.
Still, I think it's a love-hate relationship we have going here. I have to admit, if I didn't have him, I wouldn't have met the princesses.
2 years before the sealing of Nightmare Moon.
Dusk was in deep shit. He had no idea what Rust did, but he knew it was really bad. He was in the dungeon under the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.
"Rust, what in Tartarus did you do last night!?" Dusk mentally screamed at his unwanted tenant.
"Oh, I slept with a couple of mares and I think I insulted a guard this morning. Didn't you notice that your thing was wet this morning?" Rust replied and Dusk looked down and sure enough, his member had dry patches of a mare's bodily fluids on it. Dusk simply sighed.
"While I am grateful for that, I'm still pissed that you insulted the guard." Dusk said and Rust gave pause.
"Well, I might have gone a bit too far with the guard..." Rust said without emotion.
"What's everypony going to think of me now? The son of the Captain of the Royal Guard just insulted a guard and is now in the dungeon." Dusk despaired.
"What about my parents? What are they going to think of their son who just got put in the dungeon?" Dusk said and Rust just couldn't give two bucks about the whole situation. Then it hit him. If this kid was to become like his other hosts, he wouldn't be able to leave and get a new one. He was bound to this kid for life.
"Dusk, I'm sorry. I didn't think this would happen." Rust said and Dusk was taken aback by this.
"I thought you enjoyed my suffering. Well, I got tons of that right now." Dusk snapped and Rust pulled the mental equivalent of a flinch.
"Look, I may be pretty sadistic to you at times, but I need you. I'd never do anything that would hurt you too bad." Rust tried to comfort him, only for Dusk to swat his efforts away.
"Well, you just did something that hurt me real bad, Rust." Dusk said and a deathly silence descended between the two. It stayed this way for about ten minutes until the cell door was thrown open to reveal Dusk's parents with worried looks on their faces.
"Dusk! What happened?" Violet said as she hugged her son with tears in her eyes.
"This had to be some sort of mistake..." Bronze said to himself. With all this going on, Dusk told himself that he would tell them about Rust.
"You can't be serious, Dusk!" Rust protested.
"I can't keep hiding you forever, Rust. I have to tell them." Dusk thought as he turned his attention to his parents.
"Mom, Dad. I have something to tell you." Dusk said, catching the utmost attention of his parents.
"What is it, Dusk?" Violet asked.
"I.... have someone in my head. He's been with me for as long as I can remember. And I think it's time for you guys to meet him." Dusk said and Violet immediately focused everything on him. Dusk had no reason to lie to them.
"Of course, but how do we meet him?" Violet asked.
"I have a spell ready that will take you into my mind and you can speak to him, like I have done my entire life." Dusk said and Violet agreed without hesitation. She wanted to know what her son has kept from them for so long. Dusk nodded and they all took hold of each others hooves. Dusk's horn glowed an eerie midnight blue and their minds were all transported into Dusk's.
Inside Dusk's mind was a black abyss. This was the place where he conversed with Rust.
"Where are we?" Bronze asked.
"You're in my mind. This is the part of my mind I use to communicate with Rust. I'll go get him." Dusk said as he disappeared.
"Who is this Rust?" Violet asked her husband.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna kill him." Bronze said as his son and another pony returned to the void they walked in. This pony had a rust brown coat and blood-red mane. He was also a pegasus. He stared at them with dark eyes that usually held no emotion, yet somehow promised safety and comfort if you could get to know him.
"This is Rust. He's been with me for as long as I could remember." Dusk said and Rust waved to them.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Storm." Rust said with a monotone voice. Before Dusk's parents could say anything, Dusk felt another presence.
"So you're the Dusk I have been hearing about." a female voice called out from behind the group. They turned and their eyes widened. Princess Celestia stood in the dark void with them.
"P-Princess Celestia!"
Author's note: You have no idea how long it took me to come up with those names. Just kidding. I used a name generator. Oh yeah, interactions with the Mane Six will not be until later. For now, we will have interactions with the Princesses.
