Boreas walked through the halls of Canterlot castle, with a singular destination in mind: The room containing the Elements of Harmony. He recalled the plan he and discord made, or, rather, the one discord made and he agreed to. He needed the Element of Laughter so he could summon something big. Not an Elemental Titan, as he could summon those himself with ease. No, this creature was something... worse, for lack of a better word. Titans themselves were terrifying in their own right, but any hardened warrior could face one without wetting himself. The creature he was about to summon was as horrible as it was powerful. It was a creature born of darkness and laughter (which is never a good combination), which is why he needed the Element of laughter in particular, and it was said to be so utterly terrifying, demons cringe at the sound of its laughter, and angels dare not cross it out of sheer terror. Boreas had never seen this creature, but he knew its name: Hallowed. The name alone chilled Boreas, but Discord needed him to summon Hallowed for his plan, which involved a holiday the ponies called "Nightmare Night", which Boreas saw as a bastardization of the human holiday of Halloween. Unfortunately, this was his only way of getting back at Celestia without hurting Luna. But, if it failed, Boreas now had Discord as a scapegoat. Basically, it was a win-win for Boreas.
After thinking about his situation, Boreas found the door that led to his objective. He went inside, and stared into a long, grandiose room, giant stained-glass windows on the walls, depicting stuff he didn't care about, though they seemed to depict major historical points. He looked at the windows, but, strangely, did not find anything about him on any of the windows. Unsurprising, but it still irked the human. He recalled their greatest scrap ever: It was five hundred years ago, at the ruins of old Canterlot. She had an army, and he had the full might of the wild on his side. He particularly remembered the melee that ensued halfway through the fight... Before he could finish his memory, however, Boreas heard a familiar and infuriating voice behind him.
"Damien, what are you doing in this room? You do realize this area is off-limits, right? Or has being an animal rotted what little brain you had?" Asked Celestia. Boreas turned his head, gripping his staff tightly. Of course she would appear now, While he was doing something important. He said nothing, however, and just glared at her. Celestia just glared back, obviously infuriated by his silence.
"Why are you being so damned quiet now? We're alone. You can cut the 'strong, silent type' stuff, because I sure don't believe it." Celestia said bitterly. She was right, they were alone, and he was tempted to tell her off, but his silence was genuine. To tell her off was something Damien would do, but Damien was his innocence and optimism, killed by Celestia when she turned him into a monster, and even before that.
There was more to that memory than he showed Luna, but now wasn't the time for reminiscing. Now he stood silent, then walked past Celestia, patting her on the head along the way. Celestia stood there, confused by what just happened, But a plan was brewing in Boreas's head. Hallowed was a creature of darkness and evil and despair, so what better time to summon him than on Nightmare Night, which was on the same night as Halloween? Besides, he had better things to do than kill her... Hallowed would take care of that for him.
"Listen here, Damien, you may have Luna fooled, but I know what you're trying. I'll be watching you, and don't think that I'm any weaker than when we first met. If you hurt my sister in any way, or harm any of my citizens, I will destroy you." She called back to Boreas, Who raised his middle finger back at her in response, before walking back to the room.
As he walked back to the dining room, feeling rather pleased with himself, he was suddenly ambushed by Luna, who was smiling like she wanted something from him.
"Boreas, do you know about Nightmare Night?" She asked. Hesitantly, Boreas shook his head "no", despite the fact Discord had told him of it.
"Well, It's coming up soon, and I started thinking that it would be a great opportunity to get the citizens used to you..." Luna began. Boreas was quickly becoming terrified of this rather one-sided "Conversation". He quickly crossed his arms, and gave Luna a glare that said "There is no way in hell you can ever make me do this". Luna only strengthened her resolve, and her stare.
"Come on, Please? You'll get a cute costume and everything!" She pleaded. Boreas only kept his pose, and turned away from the sad-looking princess. To involve himself in this would only hinder the plan, not to mention the embarrassment factor of it. If he agreed, and Celestia caught him in costume... He shuddered at the thought, and quickly dispelled it, while Luna kept pleading. For such a meek, naive creature, she was really persistent. Boreas tried to deny her, but then she stood in front of him, bearing the biggest, saddest eyes he'd ever seen on any creature. After three seconds of this, he caved in, unable to take the look any longer. He despised the idea of wearing a costume, but Luna was too persistent for him, and he sighed, and nodded in agreement.
"Yay! I'll go get your costume! Oh, this will be so much fun!" Luna squee'd. Suddenly, a thought bubble only visible to Boreas appeared next to him, and Discord came out of it.
"Hey, now, You agreed to get the element, not go Trick-or-Treating!" He said accusingly. Boreas wanted to protest, but Discord interrupted him.
"Look, just get the element by tomorrow night, or I'll find someone else to destroy Celestia with, got it?" Discord asked, flicking Boreas's nose for emphasis. Boreas glared, but nodded, then waved the offending thought bubble away like a smoke cloud. Luna ran off down the hall, toward her room, and Boreas followed, wondering what the hell he just got himself into. He soon found out as he was introduced to the most cheesy frog costume he'd ever seen.
"Well? I made it myself! Do you like it?" She asked. In truth, Boreas hated frogs. He also despised dressing up, but he didn't want to hurt Luna's feelings. Managing a pained smile, he nodded slowly. Thankfully, Luna bought it. Then she handed it to him, as if expecting him to put the accursed thing on. After a sigh and some struggling, Boreas finally managed to get the costume on. It was a tight fit, but it didn't restrict anything except his sense of male pride. Seriously, wearing the frog suit made him feel like an idiot, but Luna was looking really happy, so he dealt with it. Just as long as Celestia didn't see him in it, he was fine. Finally, he managed to remove the costume as he went down for dinner. After dinner, He wandered back into the winding halls of the castle, then found the room that contained the Elements of Harmony, mad sure no one followed him, then entered it. He walked to the far end of the room, to a large altar with a box on it. Boreas approached the altar, picked up the box, and looked at six different gems within. Finding the Element of Laughter, Boreas pocketed the amulet and returned to Luna's room, once again taking up most of the bed, much to Luna's dismay, and pretended to sleep. However, he was not sleeping, but remembering the day Damien died.
It was long before those wretched unicorns injected him with the chemicals that made him what he is today, when they did other things to him, things he dared not show to Luna. As the only human prisoner ever, Damien was quite special. Boreas shuddered as he remembered how the vile beasts "studied" him, often keeping him awake for days at a time, or prodding him with various painful instruments to test his pain threshold or reflexes, but that wasn't the part he couldn't stand. He expected all of that, and accepted it. However, they often did things to him he could never forgive, and his mind flashed back to one of those those moments:
Damien sat on the cold, stone floor, still chained to a wall. They told him they had big plans for him, but he couldn't see what. His whole future seemed bleak as they studied, tortured, and raped him. Yes, raped. It seems otherworldly, but they were no better than the animal they saw him as, and were prone to such shameless, evil acts. In his mind, though, Damien couldn't blame them. After all, none of them looked like they could get laid if they tried, not with their personalities. Suddenly, A female pegasus guard walked in, and shoved a bowl of gruel toward him. Damien kept glaring the most hateful glare he could manage at her as she trotted towards him to release his chains so he could eat.
"Careful, now, If you keep making that face, it'll freeze like that." She said jokingly. Damien kept glaring, unamused by this worm now standing over him.
"I don't need your advice, you pitiful waste of life and oxygen. You scum are no better than the animal you see me as." He spat.
"Whatever, I was just making conversation. Maybe others would like you more if you weren't such a downer, you know? Who knows, you could make some friends down here." The guard replied as she sat against the wall, biting into an apple.
"I don't need friends, not when they're your species." Damien replied coldly.
"And that's why you don't have any." Retorted the guard in a bored tone. Damien quickly became furious.
"No, I don't have any because you killed them all!" Shouted Damien. The guard shrugged, then bit back into her apple.
"I dunno, the rats seem to like you plenty. Heard about that fiasco down in the mess hall, by the way. Is it true you made those rats eat that guy alive?" The guard asked. Damien lowered his head, remembering the incident. Nothing unusual, a stallion was hassling him, and the guards turned the other way. Suddenly, the crook gets swarmed by thousands of rats, and is eaten alive by them. All they could recover were his bones. From that point onward, Damien was to have his meals delivered. Damien finally answered the guard's question:
"No. The animals protect me because I am their protector in turn." He said flatly.
"Kind of a alpha male type thing, then? They protect you because you're their 'leader'?" The guard asked, genuinely interested. Damien looked insulted.
"No. I am no leader of any creature, I merely exist alongside them, and I help when I can. In turn, they help me."
The guard laughed, her chortles echoing through the empty dungeon loudly enough to cause Damien to cover his ears.
"Kid, I've seen rats before, and they don't help anybody but themselves, not even each other. You're doing something to control them, I saw it when you tried to storm Canterlot. You made those animals go berserk, and you did the same thing to those rats. I want to know how." Said the guard, as she stared intently at Damien. Damien just chuckled. Suddenly, a few rats came up to him, each carrying some spices from the royal kitchens.
"You want to know my secret, pegasus? Come back when I don't hate your guts, then we'll talk. Until then, go fuck yourself." Damien laughed as he said that, and the guard smiled slightly.
"Hmph. Alright, you drive a hard bargain. Tell me your secret, and I can sneak you some extra rations. How's that sound?" She asked.
"Like I said, I have no secret. What's it matter to you, anyways? You don't strike me as an animal lover." Damien said. The guard laughed a little, then replied:
"Nah, but I've got a filly that is. Three years old, she is, and she just adores animals, especially dogs." Damien looked at the guard for a while before responding.
"Where does she live?" He asked
"Ponyville, of course. Haven't seen her in months, and likely won't for a few more. You caused quite a mess in the system with that Volcano Titan, or whatever it was." The guard said.
"Slag Titan." Damien corrected.
"Yeah, that. Well, because of that, they're sorting bodies, and seeing how much damage you did. After they drive out the bugs first, that is. I don't condone that kind of stuff, but I might just forgive you if my little filly's okay. Well, My shifts almost over, and your rats are looking at me funny. See you tomorrow." The guard said, and she re-chained Damien. Before she left, however, Damien called out:
"Hey! What's your name?"
"Just call me sparks." The guard replied before leaving. The conversations continued a long time afterward, mostly about his affiliation with animals and how the giant locusts keep coming back no matter what they try to get rid of them with. Celestia herself tried once, but almost got swarmed and eaten as a result. As this went on, These conversations soon became the only good thing in his bleak new life. One day, however, Sparks stopped arriving, and the unicorns started injecting him with chemicals. Celestia knew about the conversations, and told him that she quit after finding out that a fire the Slag Titan started killed her only filly, just for the sake of cruelty. Then, when his breakout happened, she had returned.
As he fought his way into the hallway, one stood in his way to freedom: Sparks. She did not fight him, however, only tried to block his way. This proved a fatal mistake, however, as Damien tried to swat her away, but ended up hitting her too hard, resulting in a slow, painful death. As she died, her last word came in a single deathly whisper:
"Why?" Damien did not mourn, for she was his enemy, but felt great loss that day. On that day, he stopped fighting the ponies, for his quarrel with them was over. He now sought to end the one who they bowed to, the one they called a goddess, though she was no such thing: Celestia. On that day, Damien died, and his voice died with him, and would stay dead until the day Celestia took it's place. He snapped out of his memory to the sound of Luna yawning, then returning to sleep. He, too, yawned, and he felt his pocket for the Element of Laughter, pulled it out, and looked at it. He dreaded the time when he would summon Hallowed, but he had to do something, or his existence would be for nothing. Pocketing the Element again, He returned to bed, and went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big and possibly embarrassing day for him, and it was only going to get worse.