//------------------------------// // The Lesser of Two Evils // Story: Remember the Moon // by Leviathan //------------------------------// I stared at Paradise, slowly exhaling the breath which had encompassed such a moment of definition. The spears were not but a foot from my position. The stars hanging in the sky were so bright at that moment. So very, very bright... Paradise looked intrigued as it saw that its barrier was, in fact, not going to defend it from my spears. I suppose it had been living on the hopes that I had been bluffing. Or not living. I still wasn’t sure whether this monster was un-dead or just regular old un-un-dead. The flames almost shot from Paradise’s eyes. It appeared demonic, with its tongue flicking out spewing hateful words. This new take on Paradise’s personality appeared to be rather...forceful. I would even go so far as to call the new manner in which Paradise presented itself Mephistophelean. Of course, the word itself comes from the ancient griffon tale of the necromancer, Faust, who reportedly sold himself to the embodiment of the demonic realm. Well, it wasn’t so much a tale as it was a completely accurate depiction of everything that happened. Celestia and I ended having to investigate a disturbance near the gates of Tartarus and found a certain griffon and satan sipping tea and trading stories (The tea tasted terrible in case you were wondering). From there it went about like one would expect it to. In the end Celestia and I subdued Faust, while his demonic companion retreated to wherever it had emerged from. I wanted to banish him to my observatory prison as he was a brilliant astronomer and I wished to exchange notes with him. Celestia thought of a much more creative way to punish him though. She and I utilized the elements and turned Faust into a dog. A big one. With three heads. We renamed him Cerberus and set him to guard the gates of Tartarus. Of course, we didn’t exactly think that through as Tartarus happens to be next to a little village that proudly owned, “The Largest Dog Biscuit Ever.” Again, Cerberus reacted exactly as a dog would and everything went as one would expect. Now that village has nothing to be proud of. Except their name. Their village’s name was simply marvelous and to this very day I remember the wonderfully insane name of the town: Gobbletorpon. Try saying that seven times fast! Quite a fun place too. Then again I think I hate fun...yup, I remember having fun once and it was horrible. Oh yes, back to the story at hand... “Die.” The words were silently voiced by Paradise as it glared at me. The look had transformed from demonic hatred to a detestation of my existence and those who had birthed me. The spears were now within bread length of me, I prayed that my accuracy was not off. It would be one thing to die at the hands of an enemy, but to literally fall upon your own spear would just be embarrassing. My breath flowed outwards completely completing the moment... The magic binding my telekinetic grips fell away as the spears zoomed past me. I soared forwards as soon as the opportunity presented itself. I felt a harsh tug on my magic and turned back in time to see one of my defensive spears had pierced the coating of Paradise’s magicked blade. It was good to see the executioner’s weapon stayed. The magic drained away from the apparition as the spell coating the spears took effect and the blade quickly evaporated. Then I felt it, or rather the lack of it. In the back of mind there had been a royal amount of pressure enforced by the sheer amount of power Paradise possessed. Now it was gone. That meant that either my spell had been broken or Paradise had found a way out of it (A one in a million chance). The only way the spell could be broken was if I willed it or if the unicorn effected by the spell had problems with their magic. There were very few ways a unicorn could lose their magic. One, they could be drained of it (which my spears did tend to do). Two, they could let it go, which would lead to vulnerability, and that simply seems unlikely from what I had seen of this being’s power-hungry disposition. Lastly the effected target could die. That was by far the most effective of the three. I turned my head to stare at the spot Paradise had inhabited. I saw the being held fast in the air, edges of my purple spears dug into its translucent form. Some spears dug far enough to simply impale Paradise. Others just sat piercing the tip of the skin. Blood dripped from the open wounds, revealing the extent of the damage. Each drop sparkled a faint shade orange, something that is very un-pony like. Every drop reflected the shimmering light of the Moon, which was beginning to set as dawn drew closer. There was a twitch on Paradise’s lip as it looked upon me, passion slowly fading from the ashen eyes. A small trail of blood trickled down from its lower lip. For a second I thought I saw contentment pass over those features, as if the terms of its fate were not unfavorable. I released my spell and instantaneously my entire set of spears evaporated. The second they did Paradise’s body fell, spiraling downward, plummeting in an uncontrolled, crude fashion towards the hungry soil. There is no grace in death, no resounding crack of a whip. We perish with a faint whisper, merely fading away as Dust in the Wind. Even the greatest of us are not immune to this simple truth. I heard a dull thud indicating that the body had landed. I slowly lowered myself, still cautious of Paradise. I would not make the mistake of underestimating this being again. I hit the ground a few feet from Paradise. It was sprawled out upon the grass, body grounding into the indent of dirt created by the fall. Its front-hooves were crossed, as were its back-hooves. Wounds marked every visible part of its flesh. There was no mane anymore, only scarring and clumps of hair from where they had been seared off. In some places I noticed lesions so deep that the starling white of bone was visible. The spears had dug in to every possible part of the creature’s flank, creating a sickly pattern. If one had not observed the events that had transpired they could just as easily assume that Paradise had been part of some satanic ritual sacrifice. That would probably be preferable to having actually seen what led to the mangling of the beast’s body. The frostbitten area that marred the majority of the left-half of Paradise’s visage was no better for the wounds. It was a literal mask, a memorial if you will, to the insanity that inhabited Paradise, and in a more indirect way it represented the possibility of insanity in us all. If such a structured hunter and brilliant mind could succumb to this oddity then what couldn’t? Of course, that all depends on your definition of insanity. Some may find Paradise’s various quirks endearing. I will admit that insalting sounded rather interesting. The smile still frozen to Paradise’s face was made rather sadistic blood forming around the edges began to congeal. It also appeared that some blood had managed its way down the lining of the beast’s eye. The rather peculiar result of these two mixing created an image of a bleeding smile. A crying smile... “Princess!” My stupor was broken as a young filly tackled me to the ground, gripping me in a rather tight bear hug. I returned the gesture embracing her smaller form with my wings and fore-hooves. I still favored my injured shoulder, of course. “Hello, my dear.” I laid my chin upon her head. I could feel a faint wet sensation on the nape of my neck. Great more blood...no, this did not carry the scent of blood. I looked at the young filly on my shoulder. Her eyes were closed tightly and tears were falling freely from the corners. I just held her closer. There was nothing I could do at this point but comfort her. After a moment of silence she spoke up. “I’m so glad you’re okay...” I could hear the relief in her voice. Apparently I did have a friend in this world. I loosened the hug a bit so that I could look at Rainfall. “You still should not have come back. It was very dangerous, and now Celestia doesn’t know about our predicament. If I hadn’t won that duel then she would not know of that creature’s presence until it was too late.” Rainfall took a moment to wipe away her tears before replying. “Actually I ran into a road a little ways away from the forest. I found a caravan with some ponies in it. I told them where I had just come from and told them the whole story.” She emphasized each point with her hooves, taking extra care to make a wide arc on the word “whole.” “I said that someone needed to go tell the princess at Canterlot,” continued Rainfall, “And they went pretty much the minute I said that. I barely managed to keep them from taking me with them. Ponies in Equestria are so hospitable.” Rainfall ended the last line with a mock sneer. I looked the young filly up and down. She had a fair amount of endurance if her tale held true. “Then you proceeded to dash back here, I take it. That is quite a lot of effort for one little filly.” I gave her a smile that I felt encapsulated the word “enigmatic.” A wide toothy grin is what I received in return. That is, until Rainfall’s gaze strayed over my shoulder and fell on the limp form of Paradise. I felt a cold shiver pass through the filly, which in turn set off another wave of pain in my shoulder. I pulled back and used my wing to bar Rainfall’s field of vision. “Do not look, Rainfall. Your innocence may be preserved yet.” I gave her a stern look to back my words. She stared up at me at me and posed a question. “What was that...thing?” Her eyes did not bear the curiosity I had seen present in them earlier. No, they only bore fear now. Fear of the unknown, a fear of the answer. I thought for a moment. What was Paradise. True, it was an Ectoplasmic Phantasm, but reducing a creature to a species was disgraceful and immoral. What had Paradise represented? I let my smile drop from my face as I tried to think of terms in which I could explain the transpiring events to Rainfall. “That was a relic of the past. Something that was present once but has no place in the now. A creature that lives to survive. Something based off instinct.” I saw confusion on Rainfall’s face. “It is something you shouldn’t worry about anymore.” I said. She stared at me for a moment before, my answer obviously not having sated her curiosity. “Oh...I don’t think I get it, Luna.” I let loose a sigh. “Truthfully, I am also experiencing such feelings. Some things are just never meant to be understood.” Paradise had remained mysterious and cryptic until the end. Motive was still a question as it seemed that Paradise had been prone to changing it quite often. Perhaps what I had said had been true though. Perhaps Paradise was just instinct, something that lived only to survive. Something that existed because it had nothing else. Rainfall lifted her head from my shoulder. “That’s um...not what I meant.” Rainfall’s voice came out as a whisper. Very low, quiet, almost as if she was ashamed to of her thought. “Then what, my dear, did you mean to ask?” I asked inquisitively. “I meant I don’t understand why? Why do all this? Why hurt you? Why do...that...to my mother? Just why?” I thought I heard a whimper, a certain pleading in Rainfall’s voice. Again I sighed. It was inevitable that the filly would have to be corrupted to some extent. For me to have hoped that I could resolve the bastardization of this young filly was foalish. She had already been exposed to enough to have certain thoughts roam into her head. It was only natural that she have questions about the subject of death. Or, I suppose when concerning Paradise, it was more the subject of depravity and wickedness. Explaining it would be hard. And it wasn’t like my Night hadn’t been strenuous enough already. For the third time I released a heavy sigh. I didn’t have an answer, only a guess. An educated one, based on my analysis of Paradise’s traits. “To cause pain. This was just a grand evil. Just a monster bent upon torturing others. The only reason it had was a sadistic compulsion, what it called ‘survival.’ Survival to it being the murder of others and feasting upon their natural magic. The essence of their body, that which fuels their souls. It was evil in every sense of the word.” I stared at the Moon as I spoke. It was always a great comfort to me. Whenever I found it especially difficult to cope with the reality of a situation I just drifted away to my Moon. I let my soul rest upon it for a moment. The Moon had been my only friend for a thousand years and for that reason I would always appreciate it. It may be hard to believe that I had nothing to do on a giant orbiting space rock, but I couldn’t entertain myself while trapped upon the surface. My magic was suppressed by the Elements of Harmony so all I could do was talk to the stars. Sometimes they would talk back too... “Who are you to stake such claims about me?” The voice pierced the cold air. I spun around to face where my opponent was laying. The wounded and battered form of Paradise was rising, although clumsily. It stumbled as it worked its way to its feet, twice falling back to the ground. Finally it managed to bring itself into a standing position. The wind caused Paradise to sway dangerously. Its eyes were both a gray color, slightly glazed over from the amount of blood loss. It took a tentative step forward, body still swaying dangerously with the gale. Paradise had its working eye focused on me, a new emotion now gracing those features: determination. It was an impossibility. Even after having sustained numerous “mortal” wounds and having its sources of magic depleted it stood, striding towards its prey with confidence. It was, in a rather curious sense, admirable. Rainfall just looked at Paradise, shock and horror being the only recognizable features on her face. I instinctively took a step in front of her. Paradise’s lips parted, indicating she was going to continue. “This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the fervent evil within ourselves. To deny what we are, to try and change that, is an act of treason. Treason against that which bore us: the world.” Its voice was hardly a whisper, yet I had no trouble in hearing what Paradise said. There had been a sort of passion behind Paradise’s words. These words were different from the deranged ramblings of earlier. They rung a certain truth, as if only now was I seeing the true Paradise. It was only now that it dropped the masquerade. “You cannot mask what you are with boots of silk and masks of gold. You are bound to evil, same as I. You simply deny it. You are a slave to fear, a pain that is only born of vice.” Paradise’s voice was barely a stutter as it stumbled closer to us. “My success, my misfortune, the dreary days of my life and the far brighter ones, everything has proved to me that, in the physicality and morality of the world, good blossoms from evil just as evil blooms from the scraps of good. Many a great feat has been achieved in this world. If that is the product of picking the lesser of two evils than so be it.” I gave the speech in a clear-cut monotone. Even in Paradise’s current condition I did not wish to risk letting my guard down. “To pick between two apples of the same bushel is of no purpose. Evil is the only absolute in this world, the only constant. It holds no surprises, no trickery. It is merely present.” Paradise stumbled a few feet before me. I backed a step away beckoning Rainfall to do the same. It was not necessary, however. Paradise collapsed upon the ground, panting. Its sides heaved heavily, wounds expanding and retracting as the breaths became rapid and shallow. I saw that Paradise’s gaze was still locked on me. There was an old tradition in Equestria that a pony was to never die alone. A tradition that beckoned others to surround the pony with friends and family. Even if Paradise was not a friend, even if it was a putrid monster. I could be the better of the two of us. I could come to it, give it peace in its final moments. Allow it to come to terms with the world It had been a part of. I approached the mass, cautiously and slowly. I gave Rainfall a look that meant ‘stay here.’ She did not need any suggestions to do so, though. I came to sit next to Paradise’s physique and sat upon the ground. The creature looked up at me. Then it spoke. “This pleases me, you know.” Paradise wasn’t my enemy then, just a sickly soul. “What does?” I asked in a soft voice. “Seeing you.” After I gave the being a confused glance it clarified. “You and I are so similar. Powerful, untested, alone. Yet, our paths have differed so much.” “It is not as if you had a choice in being a Ectoplasmic Phantasm. Nor was it was not my choice to be born a Princess.” I replied. “That is not what I meant.” A cough racked its form. “We have become two apples of the same bushel. Only one of us has been plagued by parasites. Leaving the other to be plucked and used. A victor, you, and a loser, me, as it were.” Its tone did imply a certain sadness. I attempted to comfort the dying (mare, stallion?), but it was to no avail. Paradise continued after a moment. “Yet it does not fill me with sadness, oddly enough.” There was a tranquil overtone to the words that suggested a certain happiness. “Sometimes the world works in strange ways.” I said back. I rested my hoof on my foe’s hoof. “No, this is within reason. It is nice to see that I am the lesser of two evils in this situation. It does my heart good, knowing that I have met something more worthy than I of being called a monster. You see the apple that survived, you, was sprayed with insecticide, poisoned by the world around you. Life itself is not good or evil, merely a shelter for the two. And now life itself is upon your shoulders, slowly poisoning you...the final evil...” Paradise’s voice echoed into the distance. I did not argue, I did not try to go against anything Paradise said. A dying creature should be allowed a final word, no matter their crime. Even a crime so harrowing as the abduction of another’s life. I just let my opponent’s breath fade off, becoming shallow and fast until finally it came to a complete stop. I lifted myself from my place in the grass. I walked back over to the young filly, Rainfall. Rainfall herself was laying in the grass, head turned away from Paradise and I. It was not until I rested a wing over her that she even looked about. In those eyes all I was able to see was a young filly, dazed and confused by the situation she was shoved into. I nudged her to her feet with my nose. She rose without protest. I began to lead us off towards the forest, but I was overwhelmed. I collapsed to the ground in a fit of exhaustion. All of my limbs ached and the pain of my wounds seemed to increase. I suppose the adrenaline of the battle had worn off and I was left with the results: fatigue and pain. I landed on my uninjured shoulder rather awkwardly. At least I landed on my uninjured shoulder, though. I familiar tang of metal came upon my tongue. I had bit my tongue. Painful, but bearable all the same. I winced and looked to my right, able to see Rainfall running towards me. Wait, when had she moved away from me? “Oh my gosh Princess! Are you okay? What happened?” She sounded quite concerned. I suppose I would too if I was in her position. “I am fine.” I winced as I tried to get to my hooves. The pain caused by my rib was much more noticeable now. “I just lost my balance. Let’s just leave this accursed place.” Rainfall put her hoof under my wing in attempt to help. I let her continue if only to humor her. I positioned my right hoof on the ground firmly. I used it to leverage the rest of my body into a firm standing positioned. I had to use my wings to properly balance myself, but I managed in the end. It was then that I noticed a large welt on the side of Rainfall’s face. “Where did that mark come from? Did you injure yourself?” I did not remember seeing that mark earlier, and I was a very observant pony. Rainfall shifted from hoof to hoof nervously. I looked at her for a moment, eyebrows raised. She leaned down for a moment ears flat against her head. “Well no, not exactly. You know just a moment ago when you fell?” I gave a slight nod. “Well,” She continued, “You kind of smacked me in the face with your wing on the way down...” She gave a sheepish look. If I could have brought my hoof to my face in order to express my own regret over the accident I would have. “I apologize Rainfall. My intentions were to regain my balance not fling you across a clearing. I hope you can forgive me.” I tried to bring myself into a bow, only to once again fall over. Rainfall happened to be under my wing when I fell. We both fell onto the dust-covered ground. The residue dust consisted of dirt, parts of Paradise, glass, bone, and more dirt. I landed on my face, dizzied by the second impact. How was it I could fall twenty feet out of the air, launch myself in a “Moon Bounce,” handle landing on the back of a flaming skeleton, but I couldn’t coordinate myself towards doing something as simple as standing? I looked around myself once on the ground, searching for Rainfall. I did not see her anywhere. “Rainfall, could you, perchance, inform me of your whereabouts?” It was rather curious how she managed to disappear so often. The response I got was a few muffled groans and a bump on underside of my wing. I turned my head to the appendage and lifted it. Rainfall greeted me with a warm, amicable, smile. “Hello!” She exclaimed. I smiled back. “Once again, I must apologize.” I tried to place my leg around her shoulder. The strain placed on my muscles proved too great however, and I only managed to give her a weak pat on the knee. “You don’t have to apologize me, Princess! I guess I kinda deserved it for standing right next to your wing like that.” Her smile was quite infectious. Her smile suddenly died, though, and was instead replaced by a deep, thoughtful frown. “Besides I have a scars that are a lot worse than that...” I believed her. I placed my wing over her back and drew her in closer. I whispered lightly in her ear, “Do not fret, my dear. You have an ally in me.” I did my best impression of a reassuring smile. They’re rather hard to do. I started to rise to my hooves again, but the young Miss Rainfall stopped me. “You’re too tired to walk around now, Princess. Even I can see that. I think we should rest here for a while. Just until you get your strength back, that is.” I frowned. I could not sit idly by! I had to inform Celestia of Paradise! I had to tell her of the creature’s summoning abilities and of my thoughts on its origins! I had to devise a way in which we could defend against future threats of a similar nature! There was far too much to do to sit and “rest.” “I must once again apologize, Rainfall. I cannot rest now. No, there is still much to do yet, my young friend.” I tried to rise to my hooves again. “We must get to Canterlot! Come now, you can ride upon my back-” A sudden jolt of pain racked my entire body. I fell back to the ground with a grunt of pain. “Sorry, Princess. We’ll have to wait here.” Rainfall did not sound very apologetic. I let out a rather long winded sigh that likely sounded very odd. “I suppose it can’t be helped. Me and you are stuck here.” “I think you mean ‘you and I,’ Princess.” Rainfall corrected. “Nobody likes a grammar shrewd, Rainfall.” I exhaled viciously. Rainfall simply shrugged. Then she gave me a broad smile. “Well you’ll never amount to anything if you don’t learn proper grammar and speech now.” A small chuckle escaped the filly. The young filly’s chuckles exploded into full-blown laughter after a few seconds. And I was stuck there. Listening to pony with a extremely high-pitched voice laugh at there own joke. A very, very bad joke at that. I performed one last feat that dreary Night. I pooled all of the power I had, all the power I could muster, into my hoof. I slowly lifted it from the ground, determined to do one last thing before exhaustion took me. Rainfall’s eyes were shut and watering from the laughter. She was holding her gut and leaning against me, completely oblivious to everything around her. This made her completely unaware of the large hoof that was shoved into her mouth. She gave out a few sighs of protest, but I ignored them as I enjoyed the sweet sound of silence. “Goodnight Rainfall...” I said as I drifted off to sleep, hoof still muffling the young filly. All I heard in return was a few muffled snorts and grumbles. It was such a wonderful moment. I drifted off to sleep peacefully that Night, able to ignore all the pain coursing through my body. I would need to be well-rested for the following day, anyways. The sun was already rising anyways.