DARK AS ONYX

Who gives a damn about my name? Every time utter those words, every time I try to cast an image of myself, it always ends in regret. The ones I try to become close to push me away. The ones that try to come close are pushed away. They want me to be there and understand when they don’t want to do the same. Ponies are selfish, enigmatic, and pathetic creatures. Always craving acceptance and power at every turn, putting importance to things better left unremarked. Selfishness and poise become more important than natural humbleness and true generosity. Those of such are frowned upon for their will. They are advised to do differently.

And that’s why they deserve to die. They all deserve to die.

Don’t tell me I’m not right. Don’t tell me to not worry, that there is at least one soul out there worth redeeming. Because there isn’t. Don’t accuse me of self righteousness, don’t accuse me of being unfair to judge the world so quickly, because I’m just as bad as the rest of them. I was poisoned by their social conformity just as they were by their parents and others. They deserve to die. I deserve to die. And since no one makes the commitment to fulfill this duty, I may as well.

My name is Onyx. Grimothy Onyx. Prepare to die.

Chapter 1: One Faithful Barrel

The metallic surface of the barrel tasted like when you keep the spoon in your mouth after the food is gone. It was a god awful taste, but the loyalty of the firearm made it all worthwhile. Machines could let you down, people always let you down, so when you have absolute faith something is actually going to work in your favor, it puts a sense of ease in the back of your throat, trailing up to the back of your head. Ironic, considering this gun was about to kill me.

No... this gun wasn’t killing me. I wasn’t killing myself. The gun was simply helping me achieve my goals and ease the pain. I was simply fulfilling my duties. I pulled the hammer back, the gun making an audible click. I was surprised at how calm I was. I wasn’t sweating, it was warm and sunny outside, and I could feel the stoic expression upon my face. I was almost bored.

Hell should be a bit more reasonable, huh?

A sudden crash broke my train of thought. I looked behind myself and quickly hid the .38 revolver that previously occupied my mouth. Letting other people see me shoot myself just wasn’t appealing to me.

“Who’s there?” I said unintentionally flat. I just wanted to get this over with without being rudely interrupted.

After hearing no answer I lifted the gun back up with my unicorn magic and proceeded to pull the trigger. Yet, another small noise, this time coming from the kitchen again interrupted me. I sighed, annoyed, and got up from the chair that sat in the middle of the room. The living room was nigh pitch black, since I kept the lights off, but my eyes had adjusted long ago. I lived just outside of ponyville in an admittedly impressive house sitting upon a lone hill. It had been painted black long ago from the inside and out, just the way I liked it. I had been alone for quite sometime, ever since my dad killed my mom and subsequently shot himself when I was sixteen. I stayed home ever since, only going out for food. No one bothered me.

Another sound of silverware falling resonated from the kitchen, along with the clacks of porcelain coming into contact with one another. I had expected to see some sort of animal messing about on the counters, or for there to be nothing at all except the sneaky suspicion of early symptoms of schizophrenia, but oddly enough, the figure before me was neither of these.

It was a strange slender creature preparing cereal for himself. It wore bits and pieces of various living things, such as a dragon’s wing, a bull’s leg, a griffin’s talon. Everything that was sentient. I recognized this as an animal from old folklore, a draconequus, the one and only Discord. Interesting.

“What are you doing in my house,” I said, unamused by his ‘whimsical’ antics. His eyes shot up at me as he came to the realization he was invading.

“Oh, ho ho, a little lost soul found its way here, now did it?”’

I simply stared as incredulously as I could, leaning on the doorway. He knew. I knew he knew.

After a small staring match, Discord deflated in defeat, but still wore that sly smile he had plastered on his face. “Alright, alright, I know you’ve been living here. Squatting is more like it, this used to be my home, you know.”

“What do you want?” I was tired of games. My life was supposed to end three minutes ago. Death was likely getting pissed at my tardiness. “Aren’t you supposed to be encased in stone?” I followed up.

“You are a sharp one aren’t you?” Discord flew up to me rather quickly, in which I responded in my usual way of not doing anything. He trailed his talon over my back leading up to my neck. While I didn’t exactly appreciate the contact, as long as he didn’t reach anywhere I was fine. “As you probably know, my name is Discord. I have learned to cast my soul out of that damned marble prison, but at the cost of not really being able to do anything. It’s taking a lot of energy to actually manipulate the physical world.”

“My point is being, I need you to do something for me, something I wouldn’t be able to accomplish without someone’s help. And you’re just the man for it.”

“Fascinating,” I said in response, still looking where Discord previously sat. My interest had been lost. “Now, I’m just going to get back to killing myself, okay, thanks.” I turned to walk back to the lone chair, but Discord rose his arm to stop me.

“Nah uh uh. I need your help... and in return I can help you.”

I scoffed, disappointed at his underestimation of my stubbornness. “Any ‘help’ you can give me is unwanted, shrink.”

“OH come ooonnnn,” Discord begged playfully, clasping his... whatevers together and flashing a big smile. What, does he want me to sleep with him or something? “Everyone’s got something they want... and I can do anything if you can just help me out.”

I was ready to dismiss him once again and eagerly grab my pistol, but a thought dawned on me. Surely he wouldn’t consider...

“Well,” I began slowly. “There is one thing I’d want.”

“And what is that, child?” Discord asked as if he were a mother. The irony is what brought him to say it like that, probably.

“If I help you...” Anxious, I thought of the possibilities. Would he fulfil my wish? “I want you to kill. Everyone.”

“Woah.” Discord actually looked taken aback, though I suspected it was more of his annoying antics. “Dark stuff, amigo.”

“Whatever.” I spat, looking away. “Will you do it or not?”

“Hehehe, anything for you baby.”

“Fine,” I said resolutely. “What will you have me do?”

“Ready and willing,” he commented, much to my disdain. “I like that.”

“Would you just cut to the chase, dammit?”

“Calm yourself child. I want you to go into town, and find a mare. One of six mares. One of the elements of harmony. Your mission is to gain one of their trust... and subsequently rip their heart out.”

“Literally?” I asked, hopeful. “‘Cause I can do that.”

“No,” He deadpanned, to which I frowned. “I need you to destroy their integrity from the inside out, leave a scar so gaping they’ll never recover from the loss. And then kill them, if you please. If you don’t rip the element of harmony out, the element would just get passed on to another. But if you destroy their trust and innocence, then... I win.”

“Essentially I’m making them betray whatever element they posses. And what better way than to make them experience trauma they’re beyond capable of handling?” I deduced from Discord’s painfully cryptic debriefing.

“Exactly.”

“Heh, this is a bit easier than I thought it’d be,” I said, mostly to myself. Discord almost looked proud. “So then, how am I gonna go about doing this?”

“I’m going to leave the creativity up to you. Do as you please, I trust you can get the job done.” Discord stopped me before I had the chance to walk out the door.

“Let me tell you of these ponies first. You can then choose who you want to manipulate.”

“Oh,” I said, smiling for the first time in ages. “This is going to be... FUN.”

DARK AS ONYX

Written by: Lastingimage24

Majority Inspiration: The song “Paint it Black” by Rolling Stones

Dedication: An anonymous friend