//------------------------------// // 5-Hello! My name is... // Story: This Beautiful Darkness Shall Protect Me... // by Timemaster //------------------------------// After an hours of following Nocturnal through the base, we reach a door, pure black as it glows an ominous color. She gets in front of the door, her smile becoming darker. "Come on in," she says, opening the door, "and see the view." What I see astounds me: There are hundred, maybe even thousands, of ponies in chrysalises; each and every one of them seeming to be in an endless slumber. Their faces blurred by the semi-transparent glass, yet I could still feel their pain. "What the hell is this?" I nearly yell, but before I can add anything further, Nocturnal covers my mouth with her hoof. "Shhh! The citizens are sleeping." She says, a maddeningly large smirk on her face, as if this was normal. I follow orders, and silence, though. She removes her hoof from my mouth, trusting me, and guides me to a door behind a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis is empty, but it still feels odd. "Behind this door," she says, her hoof on the handle, "is the pony whose life you are supposed to control as your own on your mission." She reaches for me in a comforting fashion, "Do your best." Without a word from me, she shoves me through the door by magic and locks it with a loud clank. Like the rest of the castle, the room is dark, but an ambient green color emanates from the edges of the room instead of them coming from the candles. It is huge, despite being small from the outside, making me think if it was the same for the rest of the rooms. "So," a voice said in the darkness, "you are to become me, aren't you?" A grey glow shines in the middle of the room, and the lights turn on a second later. A young colt, with a scroll on his butt, looks at me. He looks at me for a long time, his eyes unwavering, and I do the same. We sat there for an unknown amount of time... ... He flinches, "You truly are good," he says, chuckling. But not in a happy way. "Who are you?" I ask him. "Isn't it common courtesy to say your name first?" He smirks. "My name is Alle—" "No it isn't." He frowns. "How do you know?" "Lets say that a liar`s lie is easily perceptible by ponies," he smiles, "who are liars themselves." I look at him with a quizzical stare, but he doesn't seem to stare back anymore. "But, " he says," I guess it doesn't matter." He holds out his hoof, "I am a wandering thief, too many fake names to myself, and none real." I shake his hoof, "How did you get caught?" "A decade ago, I tried to bribe a guard, but it turned out to be a changeling..." *Cough* "in fact, it is the one right outside." He smiles. "Her?" "Yep." Looking at him closer, I see that he is a pegasus with oddly shaped wings, and his grey fur and mane seem to be dry. He looks at me with his green eyes. "Can you just change into me already, I do not want to stay awake for too long...?" "... What is it like, in there?" he just smiles and sits on the hard floor. Time passes I grab the pendent and concentrate on his figure, his voice, and his... weird wings. In seconds, I feel heat around my body, but I keep my eyes closed... and it still burns... I open my eyes, and the thief is gone, replaced by a mirror. In the mirror I saw the thief, but it was me. I started to think of what I had truly done and I made a revelation. I had taken his life. Literally... I look down and see I my four legs on the ground. I hear the door open, "Come on, we got a job to do!" I laugh a bit, a tear in my eye, "If only you teach me how to walk straight!" A long walk back to the dining area and a bathroom break later... I enter the dining are from the bathroom and see everyone facing a large mirror. I return to the the thief's form. I open my eyes, and suddenly the mirror became a screen. On the screen was Queen Chrysalis and someone covered in black. "Ah, you're here Allen, come here for it is time to assign your legal name in Equestria." The person in covers coughs. "I am, " He(?) started, "a very strong person within the Equestrian Reserves, which holds all the information on ponies around the nation—from birth certificates to death certificates." How deep are we?! "I, seeing your person, have decided on your name, but I want to know if you like it first." He coughs again. "Your name, according to this sheet of paper, is Wright Scribe, aged 30 pegasus. The real name was scratched from this paper, so this is all I got." Not really creative, but hey... "Sure, why not." I say. "Good," He says, rolling up the paper, "now, where would you like to start your job?" "What is my job. exactly?" "Your job is to, like us, become a pinnacle of society, for we only need four more to finally free the King: We need the Elected Official Chairpony, you; a leader of the spy agency, Frank; the royal bard, Laffy; and the commander-in-chief of the Equestrian Military, which will be Kyle or Bart." He coughs a few more times. "Are you sick?" "No, it is just that... oh, nevermind..." He removes part of the black cover on his (definitely a he) face, revealing he is a gryphon. "The air in Chrysalis' castle is too stale for even the birds." he jokes at Chrysalis. She frowns a bit. He breaths in deep, "SO, have you decided?" Frank keeps on muttering, "Cloudsdale, cloudsdale..." I look at Frank and ask, "What is Cloudsdale?" The gryphon in the mirror sighs. "If you did not know of the cities, you could have said so..." He coughs, "Cloudsdale is the city of Pegasi, which you may be able to win easily because it is usually uneducated work-ponies that live there." I rub my soft chin.... Holy crap, it is like I finally have a beard! I keep on rubbing for a bit, and realize everyone was looking at me. "Er, um... Sure, why not?" I smile, embarrassed. "All-right~!" Exclaims my queen, "we must hurry and get you there! Nocturnal, you'll be his guide!" Nocturnal salutes, and the mirror fuzzes out. Everyone else gets up, and puts something in their ears. I am about to question it, when something is shoved into mine. "Ow!" I say, flinching away. "Oh, come on, don't be a baby, its just a TK communicator. Very weak magic." "...?" "It lets us speak to eachother during the night, for it siphons off Luna's magic and prevents her from entering our minds as we sleep." "That sounds creepy." "It is." "So are we going now?" "Yeah, use the black soot to make a coat or something—Cloudsdale is cold." I concentrate, and, out of my Freakin' Eyeballs comes a black liquid that becomes a pure black suit with a green tie. I feel disgusted. I follow Nocturnal to an elevator of sorts. Polka plays in it. She frowns.And when we arrived onto the 'garage' of this building, I see a carriage and two changelings. As soon as they see us, they change form to strong pegasus ponies and open the door for us. We enter and it takes off...