The Lust for Power

by All of the Above

Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Okay, maybe I lied about this chapter. You didn't have to wait all that long. But chapter 4 for sure will take a long time. I'm sure of it!

As I walked into the house, I immediately wanted to walk right back out. My brother sat at the table, staring up at me. He had a crooked smile on his face and he looked like he'd been waiting for me for a very long time.

Gild is... Not right in the head. He's not dumb in any way (he's actually quite cunning), he's just... A little... Mad. When I was younger, I believed him to be a serial killer intent on murdering everypony in my life. No, he's not a murderer. He's crazy, but not ax-wielding murderer crazy. He's actually a toned down version of said murderer.

Gild was a tall, tough guy. At the time he was seventeen. Five years older than I was. His skin was sickly yellow, and his hair was brown with streaks of regular yellow. His hair was nothing too special. Just comb it and it will be good for the rest of the day.

"Hi there, little brother," Gild said with a bit of a chuckle. "How was school?"

"Fine..." Sometimes if I just spoke like he wasn't an animal, he would leave me alone and I could go do what I wanted without having to deal with him or my parents. If I was lucky.

"So... Mom and Dad went to go do some things at a place... So it's just you and me for a little while." He got up from his chair.

I clutched the book in my hooves, prepared to swing it at him at a moments notice. "Okay. Do you know when they'll be back?"

Gild stepped forward slightly, making it look like he was coming in for a hug. "Nope. But why are you so eager for Mom and Dad to come home?"

"No reason. Just, uh... Curious. Normally they'd be yelling at me right now-" Gild thrusted his hoof into my gut with resounding force. I shouted in pain. He shoved me to the ground.

He loomed over me and circled around my body like vultures circling a dead animal. "You don't talk bad about Mom and Dad! They've done so much for you! They've fed you, clothed you, gave you a place to sleep, and yet you don't appreciate it!" He just about kicked me in the ribs, but I managed to stop his leg before it made contact by using telekinesis on him.

"I appreciate what they do for me, it's just that I don't like how they treat me." I pulled his leg out from under him and rolled out of the way so his hooves wouldn't land on top of me.

I could hear his head make impact with the wood floor. It sounded like it hurt a lot. I thought I heard him start to cry. I leaned in closer to see if he really was. Big mistake on my part. He turned himself over in a flash. He jumped up and grabbed my shirt. Pulling me down, he placed his hoof on my back and forced me down onto the ground.

I could see some blood on the ground where Gild made a friend with on the floor. I was making him bleed. That meant I was hurting him.

He pinned me down on the floor and chuckled to himself. I felt his hoof leave my body. I thought that he was raising it to strike my back. I took a chance and turned myself over. I used this spell that created a bright light. I closed my eyes. The light was really bright, but it didn't affect me. Gild shielded his eyes and fell backwards. As he was on the ground, I used my telekinesis to force him onto the floor. He kicked and screamed trying to free himself.

As he squirmed on the floor, I decided to try this spell I learned on him. It was a spell that I could implant images into his head and they would stick until I stopped casting it. I closed my eyes, thinking of something that I could use. After deciding to implant an image of a bloody murder scene (there was just something about those things...) into his head, he started to stand up.

"A real stallion doesn't let magic fight for him!" Before he came at me, I performed the spell. He stopped himself and made a confused look. "What the actual hay is wrong with you?!"

I pulled one of his legs out from under him and made him fall. I chuckled to myself.

Behind me, I heard a door open. My parents were bantering about something as they walked inside the kitchen. Gild was on the
ground, saying something incomprehensible, and my horn was glowing.

Mom just stared at me while Dad stepped closer to me. I stepped back slightly and was suddenly turned around. Gild pushed his ugly, toothy smile into my face. He raised his hoof and punched me straight in my nose. I stumbled backwards and my father shoved me to the ground as hard as he could.

They all stood above me and laughed at me. Gild even kicked me in the ribs a couple times. They were taunting me like they were twelve years old. My father was even calling me names. “Dreck.” That damn word. The word that he’s been calling me ever since I was born!

I felt so angry. I could have ended if right then and there. I could have made them beg for mercy. But something was stopping me. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, I was more than capable of performing a spell to make them all stop. But I froze. Until some time ago, I didn't know what it was that was stopping me. It was fear. The fear that I would screw up the spell and make them taunt me even more.

The fear that I couldn't do anything right.

I crawled away to my bedroom. They were still laughing, but they left me alone.

---

The last few drops of blood dripped from my nose and into the sink. I stuffed part of a tissue into my nose to help stop the bleeding. Softly I wept while washing the blood out of the sink.

I dreaded seeing myself in the mirror like this. There was something about the look of my face when I cry. I felt like I was seeing an awful beast as my reflection. And yet, I felt that I had to confront it. I looked up and stared at the monster.

My face was as red as a tomato. It didn't clash well with my white skin, considering that my face was the only part of me that was red. My black and brown hair drooped down the side of my face. My horn remained where it was supposed to be, though it felt like it had been kicked off and reattached several times.

I stared at myself for a good long while before wiping away my tears and blood off of my face. I felt my sadness disappear as I cleansed my face.

Normally I would go straight to sleep right about now, but I didn't feel tired in the least bit. I felt like I had to do something about my parents. I just had to find a way to make myself stronger. I had to read the book.

I left the bathroom, making quiet steps back to the kitchen. The book was still in the kitchen, hopefully still laying around and not in the hands of my parents or Gild.

Luckily for me, nopony was in the kitchen. The house was quiet. It was usually a sign the either everypony was asleep or they were all gone. The latter seemed more likely, seeing that it was probably around seven at the time, and they never go to sleep until the alcohol had taken its toll on them.

The book was on the table. Undamaged by the rugged hooves of my family, nor disturbed by the earlier skirmish. It was as peaceful as it was when I discovered it on the shelves.

Picking up the book, sounds of laughter filled the air with its joyful noise. It was a thing that was rarely heard in this house. Outside the window, there they were. Mom, Dad, and Gild, all having a good time like they decided to ignore that fact that Gild attempted to kill me not ten minutes ago.

They sat out on the porch, taunting me with their laughs. Their raspy, ugly laughs. As much as I hate to admit it, I was jealous of Gild. He had parents that actually loved him, despite the flaws that he clearly had. He was going crazy and they still loved him. What was wrong with me? For years I have tried to gain their attention by doing something amazing. I always did what they told me to without a fuss, I was excelling at my magic skills. What else could I do?! I did everything that I could think of to make them be proud of me. To show any emotion towards me that wasn't hate or anger. Why did they hate me? Why didn't they hate Gild? Why did he get their love? Why didn't they hate my sister? They never hit her, scolded her, they never did anything to her! What did Glisten Vial and Gild do that I didn't?

Why did they hate me?

Questions like those drove the nail in my head deeper and deeper into my brain. I had to kill them, I just had to. I had to make them burn for what they've to me. What was I doing, staring out the window like I was waiting for them to turn around and apologize for everything? I had to find something, and I had to find something soon. I yanked the book off of the table and ran towards my room.

---

I continued from I where I last left off in Red and Black.

Could it be the Didec? That has to be it! Nopony can just slaughter and entire race and not bat an eye, not even Celestia.

She tried to make everypony happy. I knew that I wasn't the only one who felt sorrow for the poor creatures down there. We almost through a party when the last of them started to drop like flies. What kind of a pony would do that?

The Didec was changing Celestia. It still is, I know it. I just know it! No one else believed me, though, and I didn't know how to prove it to them. I thought about several different methods, all over the top, all flawed in some way, all completely stupid. It wasn't until I remembered something. The Creators. If they managed to take her powers away from her before, it could be done again. But I didn't know how to strip her of her powers. How did they do it?

It wasn't until we finally went back down to Earth that I found out. While everypony returned to their business, rebuilding the world in their own image. They rebuilt Earth, or according to me and me alone, they defiled it.

I found out where Celestia was born, and I went to the ruins of that old, decrepit science center. Untouched by the ponies it lied. Like a human in a coffin, it slept. I entered the science center.

I walked passed a pillar and felt a breeze coming from underneath the wall. After feeling around the wall for something, something clicked and I found myself in a room with a man in it. A human man.

He sat in a chair, cradling a box in his arms. As soon as he saw me, he stood up and gave me the box and told me that I could use what was inside to take it away from her.

I asked him what he was doing in there and all he said was that he knew what he had to do now.

I opened the box and inside was a knife. A sharp, new looking knife with a wooden handle and a small red jewel on the bottom. The human told me that I had to shove the knife into her neck and press the jewel, and the Didec would escape into the jewel-

A sudden noise from outside jarred me from my thoughts. It sounded like it was somepony or something breaking a branch off of a tree. I think I also heard a muffled scream after it. And it sounded lke it was just outside of my window.

I hesitated to get up from my bed at first, thinking it was some prank that Gild was playing. He once screamed so loud when he was outside of my window, when I opened it up he grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me outside. We live next to a forest, so after dragging me out he threw me into the forest and left me there. That was some two years ago, and back then I always thought that something lived there. Something tall, white, and had tendrils coming out of its back. Needless to say, I was terrified out of my mind and never voluntarily went back in there. And I resolved never to fall for that trick.

And yet, I felt something... different. I could hear a faint conversation coming from the front door. I heard a mare and a stallion. Then two stallion's. If Gild was with my parents, then who was outside of my window?

Carefully, I parted my curtains. The window was shut, so all I would get was a jump scare if this was some kind of trick. I braced myself and waited for a little while. Nothing happened. I opened up the window and looked outside. There was nothing. There was just our overgrown lawn on my right and the forest to my left. I looked down, seeing what caused the noise.

Sunset Shimmer was lying on the grass clutching her leg while she silently sobbed.

She rocked back and forth, saying some... choice words to herself. She looked up, and our silence spoke volumes.

I kind of wanted to chuckle, seeing that the last thing she said to me was that she hoped to never see again. And now she's outside of my house, and she'll probably need my help. Judging by the look on her face right there, she probably wanted to inch away into the forest to hide herself forever. I nearly laughed. Then her horn started to glow.

"Stop! Don't!" I pleaded.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I should be asking you that question."

"Don't tell me you live here."

"If that'll make you feel better, then I won't."

Sunset smacked her forehead. She stared at me, again with a librarian stare. I almost said out loud that I thought it was cute, but something stopped me. I was forever grateful that I didn't to this day.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm only in great pain." she said sarcastically over her grunts of pain.

"You don't need to get sarcastic with me, I'm trying to help you."

"Fine. Could you *ugh* get me into your room?"

"Okay. I'll just try to levitate you... into my room. Then you'll be in my room. The both of us... alone."

"Just do it!" she said angrily, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

At the time, my telekinesis was... not the best. I could lift my bed, which isn't all that heavy to begin with. Lifting another pony was another story entirely. Their weight varies, ponies are often uncooperative most of the time by not staying still, and sometimes they judge me for my magic ability. I don't work well while under pressure.

Sunset waited as I gripped her with my magic. As careful as I could possibly be, I lifted her off the ground. She was a bit heavier than I originally predicted, but I still managed to lift her. It was a strain, but I wouldn't allow myself to look like this was a struggle. Especially since this was a girl.

I hope that you're not getting an idea.

I managed to get her on my bed. (Okay, that sounded a little dirty. And to make it even worse, we were twelve at the time.) She made a small grunt of pain as set her down.

"I think I know a healing spell to-"

"You guys really don't learn anything, do you?"

"...Apparently not."

She rolled her eyes. "Listen, I'm going to heal myself. It's just that... It's gonna make me fall asleep when I cast it. So unless your parents have something with a filly sleeping in your bed, then we're gonna have a problem."

That was more than a problem. I didn't even know what they would to do if they found out about this. Or what Gild would do.

"...My parents might have a bit of a problem with that, yeah."

Sunset sighed. She didn't seem like she was in much pain anymore. "Then... I'll make myself invisible. Then when they come into the room all they'll see is you."

"If they come in."

"Well that makes thing easy. I'll go ahead and turn myself invisible, then you hop into bed and we'll get all snuggly."

"It's a little too early for me. I'll, uh... Get in when it gets darker."

She nodded, and in an instant she disappeared like she was just teleported away. Then she started to chant. "Sleep. Sleep." she said in a whisper.

Each time she said it she became progressively more silent until she didn't say it anymore. She must have been asleep already.
I continued to stare at the empty spot on my bed. My parents and Gild came back into the house. They still sounded as happy as they did a little while ago. But they didn't come to my room. Sometimes they come into my room just to tell me to shut up and go to bed or to scold me for doing something "bad."

"This is getting awkward." she said with a yawn. "You're not going to ask what I was doing in the forest?"

"I was going to ask when you woke up. And I thought that the spell would send into sleep when you cast it."

"There's a delay when I cast it. Once I become more skilled, then the spell will send me straight to sleep instead of me waiting for a while. I think I have a little while before I black out, so ask me whatever pops into your head."

"What were you doing in the forest?"

She hesitated before she answered. "Trying to run."

"Run?"

"Yep. I've finally become brave enough to run away from the life I've been given."

"Must be a tough life."

"Not really. It's just... Not the one I want."

"Why not?"

"...I could have so much more, you know. And yet... I have to put up with what I have and never have that change until I'm older."

I knew how she felt.

"You're not gonna tell me that I should be happy with what I have, be lucky to have what I have when so many others don't have it?"

I thought long and hard about that question. It was the most important question that I've ever been asked. "No," I told her. "If you're not happy with what you have, then I think you should get more. Get more and more and more until you finally have everything you want."

She replied with snores. She fell asleep on me.

---

She actually had the bravery to run away? I struggled to even talk to my parents, I couldn't even consider running away. But hearing that Sunset Shimmer not only had the guts to jump out a window, but can even run away from home because she didn't like it there baffled me.

I had to find out how she did it. How could she be so calm about something like that? I'd probably bail out in the first thirty seconds.

For four hours I thought about what I was going to do. And when I finally decided to go to bed, I made my decision. When Sunset left in the morning, I decided that I was going to leave with her.

For the first time in my life, I was going to fulfill one of my desires. No matter how afraid I felt, I was going to follow her. No matter if she didn't want me following her, I would do it anyway. Even if my parents catch me and try and take me back, I'll spit in their faces and never look back.

I slipped into my bed, being careful not to wake up Sunset. This was the beginning of a beautiful, forced, and long friendship.