Scourge lay on his back, beside his bed, ready to begin training. Pure determination burned in his eyes. He wasn't going to allow some random creatures to be the death of him. He took a breath, put his fore-hooves behind his head, and began doing sit ups.
"One. Two. Three. Four..."
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"Hundred ninety-eight... Hundred ninety-nine.... Two hundred!" He groaned as he collapsed. He rested for sixty seconds before starting push ups.
"The things I do for this bucking nation." He muttered.
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Scourge galloped quickly on his way to the Everfree Forest. Upon arriving, he dropped his saddlebags and began some cool down stretches before starting his next session.
Once he had rested, Scourge looked around at the dense woods. Selecting a towering maple, he struck out with his left fore hoof. Satisfied with the impact, Scourge hit the tree with the flat of hoof again. He had always thought trees would make good punching bags and it seemed he had been right.
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Scourge fell back on his bed, exhausted from a day of training. This would be his daily routine for the next week, excluding combat training. He fell into a dreamless sleep almost immediately.
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Scourge tensed as he focused every fibre of his being into performing magic. After a few seconds of this, a bast of black magic shot from his horn. taking a large chunk out of the earth some twenty feet away.
"BOOYAH!" He yelled as he punched the air triumphantly.
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After the week ended, Scourge felt much stronger. His muscles didn't ache as much as they usually did after training this intense and he seemed to be gaining strength faster then usual.
"Must be the crest," he muttered as he stopped in front of the doorway to Twilight's residence.
Scourge knew that all six mares would be at Twilight's place, as he had heard Rarity talking about a sleepover for that night.
He needed to tell them that he was facing these things, even if Rainbow and Pinkie were a couple of jerks and Rarity hated him.. and Mac had probably turned Applejack against him... and this would probably scare Fluttershy shitless. At least Twilight might be happy to see him.
Scourge politely knocked on the door and waited for a response.
"Hello?" Spike's familiar voice called.
"Are you gonna keep me outside all night?" He called with a grin on his face. He then heard fast footsteps before the door swung open.
"Scourge! It's great to see you!" Spike said nervously.
"Where is Twilight and her little band?" asked Scourge.
"Upstairs!" Spike said quickly, pointing a claw at Twilight's bedroom.
"Yeah?" Scourge replied as he looked to the door. "Alright, thanks." Then he rushed off to the room.
After Scourge shut the door behind him Spike muttered, "It took me over two hours to fix the front door, thanks for asking." Then he pulled his mirror out from behind one of the bookcases where it had been hidden.
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Scourge opened the door to find all six of the mares he had been looking for, although their faces were covered in a strange, green goop. Well, except for Rainbow Dash, who had been looking at the other five like they were idiots before Scourge interrupted them.
"Scourge?" Fluttershy asked quietly, being the only pony with a mud mask and no cucumbers on her eyes.
"Scourge? Scourge is here?" Rarity said as she jumped up. "Where?"
"Try taking the food off of your eyes for a few seconds." Scourge muttered.
Rarity and Twilight approached him, while the remaining four held back.
"Scourge!" Twilight said as she took the cucumbers off her eyes. "I'm sorry. I bet you are upset because you weren't invited. I really just thought that it was sort of an event for ma-"
"Actually no. I'm not." He said, interrupting her. "I need to tell you something." He took a deep breath and continued. "The day after tomorrow I'm going to-"
"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you darling, but I believe that I should bring something to your attention." Rarity suddenly said.
Scourge's eyes narrowed.
"Ponies have seen you around town lately and they've been saying... Things." She continued.
"Things?" He asked, annoyed that he had been interrupted.
"Yes. They've been saying you look... Dark and- and twisted." She said unsteadily.
"That's ridiculous." He said.
"Um, actually..." Fluttershy said, taking a step forward with a mirror in her mouth.
Scourge took the mirror and looked at his reflection and nearly gasped in surprise. It was true. The purple in his eyes had nearly faded completely to black and those same eyes had very dark circles under them. He touched them to find that they were actually the colour of his coat now. The overall colour of his coat had also darkened significantly.
He set the mirror down.
"I'm fine." He growled.
"There's- there's something else." Twilight said delicately.
"Enlighten me." He snarled.
"Well, I've noticed that whenever you use any kind of magic... You're expelling significant amounts of dark energy." She replied.
"That's- well, that's even more ridiculous!" He shot back.
"Yes darling, I've sensed it as well." Rarity replied.
"Is something wrong sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she too, stepped forward.
"Yes! Yes!" Scourge suddenly yelled. "Dash and Pinkie bucked with my feelings for their own amusement, My best friend Mac thinks I'm a complete douche, and to top it all off the same things that almost killed me in the desert are coming back the day after tomorrow to finish what they started!"
After what must have been over twenty seconds of awkward silence, apart from Scourge panting, Twilight broke the silence.
"Is that what you wanted to tell us?" She asked quietly.
"Yes." He breathed. "Yes, that's why I'm here."
"Scourge if yer gonna fight these things and they're as dangerous as ya say, we could get the Elements of Harmony and help ya out." Applejack offered.
"Yeah!" Rainbow added "We'd be even stronger together!"
"No." Scourge growled. "I'm doing this alone."
"But we'd be so much stronger as a tea-" Twilight started.
"What are you, freakin' stupid?!" Scourge snarled.
Everypony in the room stopped and stared.
"Basically, I'm kind of a big deal. If any of you had fought in any of the fights I had fought in, you'd be bucking dead." He was now an inch from the purple unicorn's face. "So I think that I can handle a couple of freaks."
He turned to leave.
"Don't come looking for me. After this I'm going back to Canterlot." He said, and then he was gone.
As everypony else stood there gaping, Pinkie Pie, who had been silent throughout this conversation, whispered something quietly out the door.
"I'm sorry Scourge."
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(Note: Song is Iridescent by Linkin Park)
Scourge slowly walked into one of the few moonlit clearings in the Everfree Forest. He imagined his hoofsteps were in time with the opening piano. It was one of the few slow songs that he actually enjoyed listening to.
Upon reaching His destination, Scourge closed his eyes, lowered his head, and began to sing quietly to himself. It always had helped calm his nerves in battle before.
"You were standing in the wake of devastation."
"And you were waiting on the edge of the unknown."
"And with the cataclysm raining down, insides crying 'save me now!'"
"You were there, impossibly alone."
"Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?"
"You build up hope, but failure's all you've known."
"Remember all the sadness and frustration, and let it go."
"Let it go."
Scourge sighed and opened his eyes.
"This is it."
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Well, I hope you enjoyed this gargantuan cliffhanger. I, as always enjoyed writing it and would like to thank my awesome editor Firebirdbtops. It seems that I may have spelt his name wrong in previous notes.
Scourge012, out.