Requiem for a Ghost

by ChronicleStone

Chapter 4: Monsters of Our Own Making

Storm Emblem’s Family Graveyard

September 30, 1:26 AM

In an instant, Sky was in the air, bringing a lightning-wreathed leg around in a vicious spin kick.He felt his leg connect, only to find that it had been blocked by the outstretched paw of the Chimera. The impact caused a flash of sparks, illuminating the graveyard. The Chimera skidded across the ground for a few feet as Sky pirouetted through the air, landing gracefully a short distance away.

“My, you have gotten better, haven’t you?” the monster teased in a low growl.It shook its paw a few times, apparently trying to work out the pain from where it had taken Sky’s blow.“I can’t say I’m surprised, though.”

“You need to learn to stay dead,” Sky returned. His back was arched as he crouched low to the ground, prepared for combat. “You don’t scare me anymore.I know how to beat you.”

“You knew how to beat me,” the Chimera corrected. “But I am not the same creature you faced before. Here, in this place, in this time, I am indestructible.”

Sky snorted. He began to slowly walk around the edge of the graveyard. “You’re a lousy liar. But I will give you credit—you were right. You did come back.”

“Did you doubt that? Did you honestly believe at any point that I didn’t mean what I told you?”

“No, not really. Somehow, I always knew that you weren’t completely gone.” He smiled grimly. “But that just means that I get to finish you now.”

Suddenly, the Chimera threw back its three heads and began to howl in laughter. Sky instinctively recoiled as the hideous sound sent a wave of shivers through his body. “Oh, Sky Streak!For all of your determination and resourcefulness, you still haven’t figured it out, have you? What it was the allowed me to come back. Why I cannot be defeated now. Why it is here and now that I have reappeared.”

Sky’s brow furrowed as he listened. “It’s what I’ve been bound to for years upon years. The one constant throughout the centuries.” The monster laid an enormous paw on the nearest tombstone. “They summoned me. Sealed me away. Kept me waiting for hundreds of years. Until, at last, it came to its culmination…in him.”

Sky followed the monster’s gaze until he found himself staring into the hate-filled eyes of Ghost. The anger and rage that Sky had been facing mere moments ago remained, but they were now directed against the six-eyed menace before him. “What are you talking about?” the unicorn growled, defiantly striding forward to face the three-headed beast. “You were hardly a willing servant to my family. You tried to double-cross me countless times! I’d rather that Blitz had vanquished you entirely the first time!”

“Oh, Phantom Star, you naïve little pony,” the Chimera snickered. “Your family was dabbling in magic that they couldn’t understand, much less control. They thought they could bend me to their will; force me into their service. And I let them think that. But they never had the power to fully control me. Not even you, the most magically gifted of your line, could completely dominate my mind. Instead, all you and your ancestors have done is granted me immortality.”

“What!?!?”

“Oh, yes,” the Chimera continued, smirking as it paced back and forth. “Your ancestors thought that by sealing me away, they were effectively forcing me to obey them whenever they released me. But in truth, all they did was link my existence to theirs. And, of course, being a creature of hatred, my essence was forever bound to the hatred of your bloodline. And so, all that pent-up anger and rage you’ve carried all your life has just made it impossible to destroy me. I suppose I should thank you.”

“Save it,” Ghost snarled. The fire in his eyes had only grown, undaunted by the monster’s words. “But let’s just assume you’re being truthful. Why shouldn’t I just kill myself and destroy you that way?”

“Because you would still need somepony capable of beating me in a fight.” Its three mouths smiled in tandem mockingly. “And I can promise you, nopony can beat me as I am now.”

A blaze of blue rocketed through the air, crashing into the Chimera’s foremost head, lifting it into the air. A split second later, a sky blue leg slammed into the monster’s chest, sending it plummeting back onto the ground in a cloud of dust. Sky hovered in the air, looking down with disdain. “Immortal, huh?You’re gonna need to do better than that!”

A low, sinister laughter rose in volume as the dust settled. The Chimera stood undaunted, slowly brushing the dust from its fur. “Noble effort.But surely that’s not all you’ve got?”

“You would know,” Sky retorted.

“Ha.” The Chimera again began to pace. Its snake head remained focused on Sky, the goat’s head was engaged in a staring match with Ghost, as the lion’s head seemed to stare off into the distance. “That witty banter of yours seems to have no end. Come then, pegasus,” it said as the lion’s eyes locked in on him. “I have two years’ worth of vengeance to repay you for, and I’m not known for being exceptionally patient.”

“Get with the times, ugly,” Sky fired back, extending a leg in invitation. “Revenge was so six months ago.”

With surprising dexterity, the Chimera leapt into the air, razor-sharp claws angling straight for the smug-looking pegasus hovering before it.

But Sky was ready. With a sudden surge of magic, he reached out and caught the monster in a telepathic grip, stopping it right in its trajectory. Then, he launched it high into the air, allowing himself a moment’s satisfaction as he watched the Chimera spiral uncontrollably into the sky.

A split second later, a bolt of lightning seared the air, crashing into the center of the graveyard. Gravel and leaves whipped past him as he beheld the scene. As the rumble of thunder slowly faded, Sky called down to the scorched body of the Chimera below. “How was that one?”

The monster looked up, and each face bore a look of growing annoyance behind the burn marks. But he could only look on in disbelief as, within mere moments, the blackened skin and singed fur seemed to melt away, replaced by its normal hues and tones.

Three jagged-toothed smiles flashed back up at the pegasus. “Good as new.”

Sky groaned internally. “Wonderful,” he muttered.

“Still haven’t figured it out, have you?” the Chimera mocked as it began to walk in a tight circle beneath Sky. “Why you can’t hurt me?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Toothy,” Sky retorted. “I’m still warming up.”

“Wasting your time, you mean,” came the correction. “You can’t beat me.You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

To be honest, Sky hadn’t figured it out. Not entirely, at least. The Chimera had always had a knack for coming back. It had returned after every defeat, without fail, though it had usually taken several weeks, if not months, for it to do so. But now, it was back to full strength mere seconds after being lit up by a full-fledged lightning bolt. It was completely unexpected.

His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at his enemy below, searching for an explanation to the creature’s sudden healing factor.It had never demonstrated anything like it before, so it had to be new. Something it had learned. Something it had encountered. Something it had brought with it…

…Or something it had come to find.

“Here, in this place, in this time, I am indestructible.”

Sky’s gaze slowly shifted over to the unicorn standing near the entrance to the graveyard. He seemed to be staring at the ground near the Chimera’s feet, where Sky’s lightning had left a giant black mark in the dirt.

“Yes, you see it now,” Sky dimly heard the Chimera speak to him. “You’re beginning to understand.”

“But…why?” Sky asked no one in particular. “He was always the source of hatred.” He looked back to the Chimera. “He was your source of hatred, but you never had this kind of power before!”

“True,” the Chimera admitted. “But just look at him, Sky Streak.” The Chimera lifted a massive paw and gestured to the unicorn.“ After all he’s been through, his hatred and anger run deeper than ever. And even his anger stems only from his ancestors…who are buried beneath us as we speak. This is the literal source of my existence. And I can feed here forever and never run out of hatred to quench my thirst. This place is full of fury and rage and malice. And that is why you cannot beat me here.”

“Oh?”

Both Sky and the Chimera turned to face the stoic unicorn who had just spoken. “He might not be able to beat you, but if I’m the source of your power, then you’d better believe that I can stop you.”

A roar of laughter burst from all three of the Chimera’s heads. “You!?Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were able to still use magic with that broken horn of yours! Please, feel free, master, fire away!”

“Shut up. If you can feed on my anger, then how about I just turn it on you, you backstabbing coward? See if you can use that!” Ghost shouted.

Sky shuddered as he looked at his former commander. The look in his eyes reminded him of when they had fought in the Vault back in Canterlot. He looked as though he was barely on the edge of reason, clinging to sanity merely by a thread.

“Like I care,” the Chimera said with a shrug (which Sky thought looked strange with three heads). “My life is fed by your own anger, regardless of where it’s directed…even me.”

Suddenly, the Chimera’s shadow began to grow, seeping across the ground like an oil slick. “And hatred is all you’ve ever known, Phantom Star. You can’t help but feel angry, and that only makes you angrier. It is an endless cycle, always feeding back into me. And that means I can’t die.”

In a blink of an eye, the darkness exploded across the graveyard, drowning both light and color as it spread. Sky instinctively took to the air, but Ghost held his ground. He stood unyielding in place, refusing to give even an inch to the haunting menace before him.

“You both think that you understand everything, but truthfully, your outlooks blind you to reality,” the Chimera continued. “Sky Streak, the redeeming hero. Phantom Star, the Ghost, the misled avenger of past deeds. And me, the monster fated to be your enemy throughout it all. Ah, if it were only that easy for you.”

“I suppose your explanation is much more sensible?” asked a skeptical Ghost.

“It is. You see, you think I’m the monster, and you’re right—I am. But I’m not alone. You two have yet to understand the most fundamental truth about the connection we share—we’re all monsters.”

Sky failed to stifle a snort. “Sorry, what?” he asked from where he hovered in the air.

“I was created as a monster to exact revenge upon Celestia. But not long after I was freed, Sky came to me. Our struggle made him strong—impressively so—to the point that he has become more dangerous than many of the most infamous magical creatures in Equestria.”

“Thanks,” Sky jeered.

The Chimera ignored him. “But his power only gave you, Phantom Star, more and more reason to hate him. To despise him. And the stronger he became, the more you hated him and sought to destroy him. And that deepening anger is what made me in the first place, and it is what has brought me back.”

Sky felt a mixture of unease and disgust brewing deep in his gut. He knew where this was going. But in spite of that, he also felt a certain connection to it, as though, in his deepest thoughts…he knew he agreed. “Don’t you see? We made each other. Ghost’s family created me. My presence drew you, Sky Streak, and our battles have made you into who you are now. And your strength caused Phantom Star here to become the very embodiment of hatred and animosity. Which have made me into the indestructible being I have become. You see, we are all monsters. Monsters of our own making.”

Ghost rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s got a monologue…”

The Chimera redirected its gaze back to Sky. “Surely you know what all monsters have in common?”

Sky tapped his chin in mock contemplation before locking eyes with the Chimera in a look of utter disdain. “Let’s see…they’re ugly, ill-tempered, smelly, usually caught up in some kind of delusion of grandeur, and they all seem to have a knack for being defeated by heroes.” A sneer curled up at the corner of his mouth. “I miss anything?”

“They’re alone,” the Chimera answered itself, ignoring Sky’s remarks. “Their strength demands the destruction of any rival.”

A foreboding orange glow shone from deep in its throats as all three heads spoke in unison. “And that is why I will be the only one to walk away from here alive.”

Author's Note:

Holy crap, it's been a long time since I uploaded anything.

It's been REALLY hard to get anything done with my writing here. Admittedly, I've fallen back in watching any of the show for a while, and I kinda lost my inspiration to write. But recently, I've felt an urge to get back into it, and I wanted to do justice both to the story and to my readers, who have very patiently put up with my maddening infrequency.

So, with that being said...

HO BACON IT IS ON.

I tell people quite often that I'm not a good writer--I'm a lucky one. I sort of plan things out, but I don't really think about much in-depth. When I start to fill in the details, what happens is that I find inadvertent (read: lucky) connections I can make back to previous points in the story. It's like a retcon without the ret...sort of. Anyway, this is one of those instances. When I started writing Sky's story, I didn't really have any kind of connection between these three characters--heck, I hadn't even considered making Ghost in the first place. But as things fell into place, I saw the pieces to form a viable connection between the three. And it became only logical that this be the culmination to that sequence.

So now the question becomes how Sky can defeat a seemingly-indestructible foe. And even if he does, how many walk away from this fight...if anyone is left at all?