//------------------------------// // Into The Waters of Darkness // Story: Requiem for a Clone // by FictionaryThought //------------------------------// A parasite. There was a parasite inside of me. And that same parasite was the reason for me living again. One does not simply take that news well. I sat down on the couch Twilight set up earlier. I had a lot to think about. Twilight seemed even more confused than me. It was as though she'd just seen a pony defy the law of conservation of mass by turning into a cat. (Like that would ever happen.) “There's an incorporeal parasite with powerful magic, who managed to bring the dead back to life, and is now trying to gather strength to take physical form... Words do not even begin to describe just how dangerous this is! We could have another calamity on our hands if this thing gets strong enough!” This got me back to reality. “Wait, another? You mean this has happened before?” Twilight looked a little embarrassed. “This world may seem like it's all sunshine and rainbows, but we've had a few doomsdays. It's why me and the others are necessary to keep things in order.” I looked at her sternly. “What kind of doomsdays?” She looked away from me with an awkward expression. “Well... First there was the return of Nightmare Moon after 1000 years of peace. Then Discord, spirit of disharmony, escaped his prison a year later to turn Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the World. And a year after that My brother was getting married to Princess Cadence only to find out she was a Changeling in disguise with an army waiting to take over Equestria-” “In other words there's an annual disaster every year, and we can expect another one soon.” I interrupted. She tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. “Well, I never thought of it like that. But now that you mention it, this does seem to be an annual thing now that the Elements of Harmony have been restored. But I'm sure it's just a coincidence!” She said with an unusual amount of confidence. Great, I live in a world that annually gets itself in trouble. This can only end well for me, I thought to myself. Zexion interjected. “Let's get back on track. There's a parasite that has made Repliku her host. What magical creatures do we know that could be responsible for this?” I rested my head on the cushions of the couch. “Well, Heartless can manipulate the hearts of others, but they have to do it directly. So unless I surround myself with a bunch of heart eating monsters, there's no way they'd effect me. Plus I haven't seen any since I got here.” Twilight paced the section of the library floor that had a noticeable groove worn into it. I presume she does this often. “Changelings are capable of mind control through love magic, but I've never heard of one resurrecting the dead or becoming a part of said undead's mind. Discord was reformed recently, and even if he did defect to the dark side this isn't how he manipulates others.” “Nobodies can manipulate Darkness in the hearts of others, but there aren't any here.” I said. Twilight continued. “Nopony's reported about any monsters escaping Tartarus while Cerberus was gone. And with all the creatures that have not been researched in Equestria, this could be a parasitic life form nopony has ever heard of!” Zexion interrupted “We're only assuming that this creature is parasitic in nature. She could be a dead sorceress who is biding time until she no longer needs a host. Are there any Female enchantresses in Equestria that've died and might want revenge?” Twilight continued pacing. “The only pony I know who fits that description is Nightmare Moon, and she's a special case. She's dead, sure, but she wouldn't leave behind a ghost.” She stopped pacing and looked at me and Zexion. “And for that matter ghosts don't exist!” “Halloween Town.” Zexion and I responded. I decided to let him explain for me. “Halloween Town is part of a world that is split into several sections, each representing a human holiday. There are ghosts in Halloween town, so let's assume ghosts can exist in other worlds as well, including this one.” Twilight looked confused. “But what's Halloween?” I looked angrily at Twilight. “That is off topic, and there is a parasite living in MY BODY!!” Zexion sat next to me. “Calm down.” He looked to Twilight. “You said that Nightmare Moon was a special case. How so?” Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Where to start... A long time ago, after the founding of Equestria-” I was growing impatient. “Short version please?” Twilight looked frustrated. “Fine. There's a princess who raises the moon each night named Princess Luna.” “We've met.” Zexion pointed out, which surprised Twilight. “And we're familiar with the royal sisters. Zecora explained that to us when we first met. What does Luna have to do with this?” Twilight grabbed a book from the nearby shelf with her magic. “Maybe this will help.” The book was brown, with a unicorn's head on the cover made of what seemed to be bronze. The unicorn had a long, sharp horn, a long mane, and a spiral shaped mark beneath it's eye. Around the head were four shapes in each corner of the cover. They all resembled fleur-de-lis, but with three circles on the bottom instead of three petals, and a curved line between the circles and petals. The spine of the book had two bronze segments that had two bronze nails on each, holding them in place. The book looked old, yet well maintained. If you're wondering why I just described what the book looked like for an entire paragraph, blame my photographic memory. I remember every detail of every moment I've lived in Equestria. Besides, Zexion says it's the job of the author to describe events as accurately as possible. Looking inside, it was a picture book describing a story about the royal sisters. They kept the land of Equestria in harmony by holding its Light and Darkness in equal shares. Over time though, Princess Luna (who was left nameless along with her sister in this story for some reason,) grew jealous of her sister getting all the recognition when she put hours of dedication making her night as beautiful as she could. Over time, Darkness festered in her heart, and changed her into the villainous and tyrannical Nightmare Moon, who refused to lower her moon to make way for the dawn. She wanted Equestria to live in eternal Darkness so that her subjects would finally give her the recognition she deserved. Princess Celestia was given no choice but to use the Elements of Harmony, whose origin is left out in this story, to banish her own sister to the moon. After this, she claimed the responsibility of maintaining both light and Darkness in Equestria for all eternity. I put down the book. “This story leaves a lot left out. It reads that Celestia tried to reason with her sister, but gave no details as to how. It never explains how she felt about banishing her own sister, something any normal creature would hate themselves for. It leaves out the origin of the Elements of Harmony, be sure to give me more details about those by the way. And to top it all off, this is a picture book! Is this a history lesson, or a child's bedtime story. If it's the ladder, why is such an important event reduced to a legend that ponies would shrug off as fake? This only leaves me more confused.” Twilight was left standing there, mouth agape. She had clearly never even thought about most of the points I had just made, making her seem much less smart than I originally thought she was (and that says a lot considering what I thought of her beforehand.) I kept going. “Also, do I even need to point out that Celestia made sure neither her nor her sister were named in this story? I assume that means she felt guilty about it, but you'd think writers of the story would know about this important historical event and include that information. Or did Celestia brainwash the populous into thinking she never had a sister? If that's the case, I'm not so sure I'm willing to trust her as much as you do.” This got Twilight significantly more flustered. Her expression went from angry, to confused, to heart broken. She seemed to have a psychological warfare with herself. “You just... You can't just... You're insulting the...” She was having a difficult time putting anything into words. Namine “What's the matter Twilie? Losing faith in your goddess? Must be hard finding that your family was so willing to lie to you all this time. I wonder what else she's done.” I say with bitterness in my voice. I didn't know what I was saying, but I knew it couldn't end well. Meanwhile, Zexion was silently screaming. Looking at him, you'd see he was writhing in pain. But the problem was, neither of us could see it. My memory is perfect, so I don't know how I could possibly miss what was right in front of me. But it no doubt had to do with the parasite. Twilight's horn sparked and crackled with what seemed to be black electricity. Spheres of purple energy with traces of green surrounded her horn. While this was happening, purple energy flowed from her eyes like tears, as actual tears dripped from her eyes. This was not looking good for me. Namine “Seems you failed yet again Twilie. Only this time you failed to realize what was right in front of you.” Make it stop, I thought to myself. These weren't my words, I wasn't doing this. But I couldn't stop myself, and Twilight's condition was only getting worse. “You...” She started. “Selfish, arrogant, sadistic, blasphemous, untrusting-” She was now floating just a few inches off of the ground, and the Darkness that emerged from her horn crackled and sizzled some more. “foolish, wretched, spineless, worthless-” I could actually feel the Darkness from her pushing through my being, and looking into my mind. “pitiful, ungrateful, not even worthy of existing, MONSTER!!” A beam of dark magic bursted from her horn and into my chest. It nocked me into the farthest end of the library, nocking over several books in the nearby shelves. I felt dizzy, like all my energy was just ripped from me by force. My Dark Mode initiated without me even trying, and I was once again wearing my organic suit of Darkness. An aura of Darkness surrounded my body as I slowly fell to the ground. I felt so cold, like I was in the snowy forest again, except there is no fire to keep me warm, no trees to walk passed, no friend to keep me company, and no sights for me to take in. Maybe I was blind at the moment, or maybe my eyes had been forced closed. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that I was cold, and I was falling asleep. … I was on my hands and knees, with a liquid form of Darkness beneath me. It was cold like ice, but didn't feel like it would freeze. It must have had a freezing point lower than water. It was forming in ripples several feet away from me. I lift my head to take a look, and I see an Organization XIII coat slowly taking shape. It was as though it was willed up from the water and was being filled with a newly formed body. I could hear faint laughter coming from it. A woman's laughter. It continued laughing, though I couldn't place who's laugh it was. It was as though it was trying to choose who the laugh should belong to, changing every second. I could hear the voices of Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttersy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Zecora, Lyra, Zexion, Axel, Vexen, Larxene, all these different voices and I could still tell it was a woman. I can't explain how, I just knew. She looked my way, her body still taking shape. “At last.” Her changing voice said. “For too long I've been lurking in the shadows. Waiting for this day. It isn't enough to make me physical, but at least my spirit is whole again.” Her body finished forming. She finally brought her feet to the ground, and looked at me from beneath her hood. “A heart filled with Darkness, and the doubt of the Element of Magic. These two powers made one, when joined with the shadow that haunts history itself, restores the Dark One. Just as the prophesy foretold.” Just looking at her instilled fear in my heart. I could feel her eyes piercing my soul to its core. Her voice of many names made my mind ache with a pain only caused by uncertainty. It was an uncertainty my mind had never had. Her voice was so impossible to place it actually hurt to listen to. “Oh, you poor thing. Is my voice hurting you? Then I guess its time I take shape.” Namine She and her attire shrunk down to about my height. “How's this?” She said in Namine's voice. I gasped in shock and anger. I felt weak, but I forced myself to get up, struggling to keep my balance as I stood in the liquid Darkness. I looked at her with fury in my eyes. “That voice *pant**pant* and that form *heave* don't belong to you!” The water level around us rose by a few inches, and it rose above the toes of my feet. I could feel it through my shoes like a second skin. I was still wearing my suit of Darkness. She laughed some more, and pulled down her hood to reveal Namine's face. “What power this name has over you. It fills your heart with Darkness. It was through this name that I became strong enough to fulfill my goal.” I was still breathing heavily. “And what goal was that? To make me your vessel?” “You? No. Not you. You are just my next step towards the body I seek. If anything, I want your heart and mind to stay exactly where they are now. In this copy of a body you occupy.” I looked at her with even more rage. “And just what are you talking about!? Namine is the best thing that ever happened to me! You're the one filling my heart with Darkness for your own gain!” I felt the Darkness rise further up my legs. I ignored it, not letting my sights off of this horrid beast of a parasite. She laughed some more. “You are so naive. So was I once. But Darkness makes everything so much more clear. It is the heart's true essence after all. Perhaps in time you will understand-” I pulled out my sword. “UNDERSTAND THIS!!!” I coated my sword with the liquid Darkness beneath me, making it freeze with my hatred, and threw it at a speed that would no doubt slice through her. She reached out a hand and blocked it with her palm. It spun in the air and landed by its handle into her glove covered hand. And all the while the liquid Darkness beneath me rose higher. “Funny. Only one other was able to make this darkness freeze before you.” The Darkness around the blade melted and dripped back to where it came from. “She hated me just as much as you do.” She said as she walked closer to me. “And that is why you are the perfect host. The one who has so much to lose and doesn't even realize it. The one with a thirst for vengeance and a dream that cannot come true.” I tried to back away, but the liquid Darkness around my legs stuck my feet to the ground like magnets. Out of desperation I tried splashing some of it towards her only to have it pull my hand in. I tried and I tried to pull it out, using my other arm to help pull it it out, but the water level kept rising and rising, until it was up to my chest. With my arms now held down on either side, I tried to move. She stood right next to me, not at all effected by the liquid that surrounded us. She held my own sword to my neck. “You will learn soon enough who's side you are on. But for now, I just need you to sleep. With her right hand she held the sword to my neck, and with her left she pushed my chest. She forced me down into the waters of Darkness beneath us. The cold was so intense, my mind filled with an unfamiliar haze, and I drifted into a second slumber.