Pumpkin's Struggle (Part 4): The Darkest Hour

Was Pumpkin really dead; it sure felt like it to her.  Feeling her heart being peirced was the most painful thing she endured physically; but to her emotionally, it was nothing. She was happy to give her life for her brother even though she knew that he might died later anyway. But this way she wouldn't have to deal with the emotional stress of witnessing the death of her loved ones.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a place unlike any place she's ever seen. It looked like a vast space of nothingness; nothing was seen for miles around her.

"Where am I?" she said to herelf out loud, "Hello; hello?! Can anypony hear me?!"

Suddenly, she saw her body looking a pale yellow, and her fvorite hairbows were gone; meaning that her mane was drooping all over her face, "M-m-my body!" All of that proved to her that what she expected to happen did happen. "That's right... I sacraficed myself; I'm... I-I-I'm dead. I can't believe that it has come to this. Now everypony is going to die too, and... th-there's nothing I c-can do ab-b-bout it."

Pumpkin broke down and started to cry and was letting all of her emotions out; and she wasn't afraid to either seeing that it wouldn't have any effect in the living world, "But I... I-I guess this was the inevitable anyway. We couldn't have stopped it even if we kept on fighting. It's all over."

"I wouldn't count yourself out just yet," said a sudden random voice, "You still have a fighting chance."

Pumpkin held her head up and looked all around. She was wondering who else could be here already with her; could it be her brother?

"Huh, wh-who was that? Who 's there?"

The random voice spoe again, "Somepony who is closer to you than you think."

The voice sounded young but she knew that it wasn't Pound; it couldn't have been. But then she suddenly saw another pony come out from te void; and just as she thought it was another foal.  But as the foal came all the way out, Pumpkin felt some kind of strange connection to him, and his appearance seemed familiar as well.

"You're... a Unicorn... like me; except you're a colt!"

He was a dark blue unicorn colt with a blue-green mane. However, despite feeling the strange connection, Pumpkin didn't recognize him... but he recognized her.

"Wow, I never thought that I would be able to meet you face to face like this... Pumpkin."

"Who are you," asked Pumpkin in shock, "How do you know my name, and... why do I feel like we have some sort of connection together?"

"Well, maybe because we've both been through the same kind of life... with the same kind of evil."

Then just like that, it finally hit Pumpkin; she realized but she couldn't believe it, "Wait... a-a-are you... B-B-Blackberry?"

The colt just smiled, "Blackberry the 3rd to be exact, but you can just call me Blackberry if you want."

"No way, y-y-you're him?! B-but how; y-y-you're like... my Great Uncle, but... you look a bit over my age!"

"Yeah; but remember," Blackberry chuckled, "we grow up in life, not after death."

Knowing at what age Blackberry died, Pumpkin realized that he had a point, "Oh yeah, right. Wow, I-I-I can't believe that I'm actually meeting my own Great Uncle; right here face to face!" But suddenly, she ploped down on her flank sadly with her head down once reality struck her, "But... that only means that... I really am dead. I know intended it to happen, but... I still can't believe it."

"Well... yes you are," said Blackberry, "but you're also not; you're kinda both actually in between life and death."

"What are you talking about?" questioned Pumpkin, "How can I be dead and not dead at the same time?! If this some way to cheer me up during this kind of situation, its not funny at all."

"It's no joke, Pumpkin. You're only partially dead because when you got struck down, I quickly intervened from the other side and protected your heart. As of right now, my magic is slowly restoring your heart back to full strength; take a look."

Pumpkin looked down deep in the underside of her body and noticed a light glow surrounding her chest area and she could feeling the magic doing it's work.

"Oh wow, you're right," she said out of shock, "I never thought that somepony whose dead would be able to save my life."

Blackberry just had a good laugh, "Amazing, huh? But of course I knew that I had to do it; I couldn't just let you die like that, because you still have to stop that demon."

Pumpkin was glad that her Great Uncle saved her, but she thought it was no use; going back to the afterlife meant dealing with what was going on back in her hometown and she didn't wish for that.

"Well... thanks a lot for what you're trying to do," she said sadly as she faced away from Blackberry, "but what's the point? That demon is indestructablly strong! It can't be defeated; it's hopeless."

A small smile appeared on Blackberry's as he walked up to Pumpkin and told her, "Actually, that's where you're wrong."

Pumpkin slowly turned around and looked at him like he lost his mind, "Huh?"

"There really is a way to defeat that demon spirit; defeat it... for good."

Blackberry suddenly had Pumpkin's full attention on the subject; however, she was bewildered about what he was talking about, "B-b-but... how?"

And from there... Blackberry told her everything he knew.

"Just like you i felt the same way you did; I believed that there was no way that I could beat this demon that was inside me. I kept believing that I was too weak, helpless and unable to protect those I truly cared about. But after I died, I was finally able to see the truth."

"Truth, what truth?" Pumpkin questioned.

"The truth of how this demon was... created."

"How it was... created?"

"Being part of the afterlife, I able to see into the past; and being linked to the this spirit, I've found out that it existed even before Celestia and Luna were even born."

Pumpkin was shocked, "No way!"

"That's right, it was during the ancient times of Equestria when it happened; back when it was full of turmoil and so much negativity. Many ponies didn't trust each other and they always argued, fought and brought much conflict to many lands. The sinful nature of those ponies was so great and so unstablly wretched that an incrediblly evil force was created from their auras; that evil force is the very spirit that I delt with and you're dealing with now."

Pumpkin didn't believe what she was hearing. Was this really how the demon spirit that was inside her for all of these years created?

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on! Are you seriously telling me that this spirit was created out of bad, and rageful emotions of our own kind?!"

"It was... a dark age for Equestria." said Blackberry awwardly, "With the dark, evil spirit created, ponykind soon began paying for their actions. The demon scarredmany land; slaughtering many victims and bathing in their blood. It didn't matter how old or young; all it knew was having the obsession of to kill anything in its path. But... most of ponykind had brought it on themselves; their actions was their own undoing."

"I... I-I never knew about any of this," said Pumpkin surprisenly, "So fighting this thing is like fighting the powerful emotions of the world, right?"

"In a way, yeah. However, there one pony back then who barely stood his own against the demon spirit."

"Wh-wh-who... could take on something... that Celestia or Luna couldn't?"

"Star Swirl the Bearded."

Pumpkin was suddenly silent; she was blown away by this big reveal from her Great Uncle. It was surpising to her that such a powerful and famous pony was part of her curse's past.

"You 've got to be kidding me; Star Swirl, the Star Swirl?!"

"I know, I couldn't believe it either. Seeing the way that he stood up to this demon was incredible! He went toe to toe with it and their battlefield became a ruined wasteland as their powers clashed. It was unlike anything I've ever seen!"

"So how did he defeat it?" Pumpkin curiously asked.

"That's just it... he didn't."

"But... then how did he..."

"As much as Star Swirl held his own, he used almost all of his power and stregnth against the demon; and while they were effective, it never stayed down. He soon realized that it couldn't be stopped; it was too powerful for even him to fully destroy. So there was only one thing that he knew to do."

"I'm a bit afraid to ask," said Pumpkin feeling a bit on edge, "but... what?"

"He used a spell that he held back as a last resort and successfully sealed the demon spirit in a special highly titanium box that was locked extra tight; nothing could escape it. Once he did that, he buried it deep underground under a huge mountain where no pony would see it. Once the spirit was cut off from the world, Equestria started to change for the better, and love and peace started to begin anew. The spirit was now safe, buried hundreds of feet underground where no pony would find it thousands and thousands of years; that is until... I found it."

"So you mean to tell me that after it was sealed for all those years, you're the one who released it back into this world?!"

"Yes... I did, and I completely regret doing that, believe me. One day, my family and I were on a traveling trip back to trottingham and I was about 6 years old at the time. One point during the travel I accidentally wandered off from the trail cruious of something I thought I saw. I felt that something was drawing me away from my family, but unfortunately all I did find was some old ruins and the very box that held that evil spirit. Being the curious colt that I was, I opened it and released the evil demon. I began to feel very frightened as it came at me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. When it happened I blanked out completely, but when I woke up I was in Trottingham with my family who was relieved that i was okay after they found me unconcious in the forest. I had no idea what happened that day and neither did anypony else. BUt thankfully nothing else mainly bad happened since then. But it eventually led to that dreadful day when the demon's power began to leak out of me ad caused me to murder my Father's friend, Green Thicket at the age of 8. After that... well, I guess the rest you already know about; and now you had to go through the same thing that I did. But I never would've thought that it would start to show signs of it's precencee when you were just a toddler foal; that meas that you had it worse than me; and... I-I'm sorry about that."

Now that Pumpkin knew all about the orign of the demon and of how it came into her life, she finally felt a sense of comfort knowing that it didn't originally come from her blood or her Great Uncle's.

"I can't believe this. To think that something so diabolically evil as that demon was inside of us all this time. I never imagined that my situation was even more serious than I already thought." But then she walked over to Blackerry was suling a little and gave him a little nudge on his cheek and smiled, "But you know, there's no need for you to apologize about what you did; you were too young and didn't know any better."

"Well maybe," said Blackberry as he wiped away some of his own tears, "but that still dosen't help me too much of the guilt I feel. But I guess... you are right; all of that is in the past." He then gained his confidance again as he did when he came face to face to his Great Niece, "It's time to focus on the present and rid the world of this demon once and for all."

"So how can it be stopped?!" Pumpkin pleaded, "Please, go ahead and tell me!"

"Just like me when you were old enough to be aware, every possible thing this demon could be capable of clouded your mind. Deep inside you doubted yourself that you couldn't control it and protect others around you. But worse of all, you showed fear of it all your life. Whether you let it show or kept it hidden treating it like it was nothing, you showed fear and it felt it. You and I were the same in this same department and all of this just gave that demon more power over us."

Blackberry placed his hoof on Pumpkin's shoulder and looked at her stright in the eyes as he made sure that she understood everything that he was about to tell her.

"When you get back to the living world and you look at that demon straight in the eye, clear your mind of all of the demon's capabilities; take away any doubts that you might have and fill it up with pure confidence; but most importantly, you must... show... no... fear... no matter what. It's only by doing that the spirit will finally be weakened and you'll be able to destroy it forever. And being the present host of the spirit, only you can do it."

Pumpkin was taking it all in; she took a deep breath and finally understood what she had to do, "I get it now; I finally understand. That's why we suffered so much all of our lives; we were just blinded by or own inner fears to even realize how to even do that. I could've mostly had a normal fillyhood after all."

"Well, like some ponies say," said Blackberry with a little chuckle, "better late than never."

Suddenly, a bright light shined behind Pumpkin and she could feel her body being slowly drawn to its brilliance, "W-w-w-w-what's going on?!"

"Well how about that; it looks like your wound is almost healed. Once its complete, your spirit will return to your body in the living world."

But Pumpkin was freaking out a bit; she wasn't ready to leave quite yet, "W-w-wait, I don't want to go just yet; there's still so many questions I wanted to ask you! I just met you and found out about this hidden truth; I can't just leave yet! Can't I stay a little bit longer?"

"Pumpkin, you know that unless you're fully dead that's completely impossible; you know that. Besides, you're runing out of time; take a look."

Backeberry waved his hoof above him and Pumpkin saw a portal-like screen appear. In it she saw all of her family and friends; practically all of Ponyville going at the demon. Most seemed to be badly bruised, but that didn't stop them from continuing their onslaught.

"All of your family and friends of your home town are now all fighting that evil demon together. They're risking their own lives to take it down; all for you."

Pumpkin couldn't believe it; her eyes very wide and filled with tears seeing how everyone was risking their lives to fight for her supposed death, "Oh no, they don't stand a chance! They're going to get themselves killed!"

"All the more reason that you have to go back," said Blackberry, "But make no mistake, I was glad to spend some time with you, Pumpkin, my Great Niece. And once you get back there and this whole curse is over, tell your family and all of your friends that Blackberry the 3rd said hi."

Pumpkin smiled and wiped away some of her tears as her body was still headed towards the giant light, "Don't worry, I will. But, I still wish that I could leave without you being all alone again."

"What are you talking about, Pumpkin?" wondered Blackberry, "What makes you think that I'm alone?"

Pumpkin suddenly witnessed as many other ponies began to emerge from behind Blackberry; many of them very old or farily old, and sadly some of them young or younger like him. Coud these be the very ponies that were in his life? Well, the two elder pony couple that came up to him and hugged him very much proved that.

"Oh my... Celestia."

She even saw the female pony who was in love with him with the secondary stallion that she fell for after Blackberry's death; and she even saw Envy's Great Grandfather who looked at her and smired as he nodded his head. It was truly a marvelous sight.

"For many years, the ones I loved and protected are now aged and here with me. So don't worry, I'm not alone; and one day, you'll see me again, but hopefully it will be much later than sooner."

Pumpkin now felt satisfied and felt happy for Blackberry that he was happy as she now was. Her body drew closer and closer to the light and she said her last words to Blacberry for now, "Good-Bye, Blackberry; I won't forget you!"

"Just remember, Pumpkin; clear of mind, have zero doubts, and show no fear! Get out there and destroy this curse once and for all; and give it a few extra hits for all of us! Good luck!"

Pumpkin smiled looking at everyone there once more and then closed her eyes as she shed a few more tears once; and then she said to herself...

'Thank you or everything, Great Uncle; i'm glad I met you. I promise... this eternal, cursed pain we had to bear with for all these years... will now finally end.'

Pumpkin then felt her wound get fully healed, and her spirit disappeared from the afterlife.