//------------------------------// // Inner Demons // Story: PONYVERSE // by TopWanted //------------------------------// Inner Demons ---<^^>--- Mare Do-Well didn’t feel the pain when he subdued her. She didn’t feel the metal grooves in the floor scrape against her as he dragged her out and through the palace. She didn’t even feel the pain when he threw her on her face in front of the throne. She was too shocked to even feel anything. And too scared to look up at what sat on that throne. The robed stallion did it for her. He ripped off her hat and grabbed her head, lifting it up so that it was looking right at him. The harbinger of pain and despair, there in his dark blue armor and soulless face like stone, Darkclyde. “The master wishes to speak with you.” Darkclyde simply stared at her from above on his throne, discerning everything about her. It was definitely him. That face she’d seen in all those newspapers and newscasts. The pony that tried to conquer her whole world. “You can’t be real. You can’t be the same,” she muttered under her breath. “In the multitudes of worlds there are none like me, child.” His words held the age and wisdom of thousands of years of pain and rule. “Why are you alive?” Darkclyde took a moment before answering. Finally, he stood from his throne and walked slowly down the steps toward her. “To a god, death is as brief as life.” She shivered as he walked toward her but then walked past toward the balcony. “The mare that defeated me so long ago was a strong warrior. I respect strength to an extent, and so I respected her.” He turned his head and narrowed his glowing red eyes at her. “So why do I not sense that same fire in you?” Mare Do-Well trembled with anger. “She died to stop you. Why would she die and something like you survive?” Why? Why did this keep happening? The good die and never return yet the evil live on? She wanted to believe that good prevails but it was getting harder and harder to accept that. Especially with her gone. “A fake,” Darkclyde mused. “I see now. But the question stands, to which was the fake?” He stepped between her and the wall and Mare Do-Well finally saw it. A massive mural being painted by a blue pony with a gold and silver mane. “Suntrix?” Darkclyde turned as well to the painting and studied it with her. He waved a hoof and Detraad let go of her allowing her to stand up. He knew she could not escape anyway, and she knew it deep inside as well. Reluctantly she walked over to stand by him. “This mare has been painting profusely since she arrived. All in an effort to give us a glimpse at something.” Mare Do-Well studied the mural as well. She almost let her mouth hang open as the detail astounded her. On one side it was her and the others ready to face off against six other ponies, each one a different version of them. She saw Fluttershy in a dark black and purple uniform, Rarity in a gleaming suit of armor, Rainbow Dash in a hakama like Applejack’s, even Matterhorn was there. And at the bottom, a sickeningly familiar smiling face. “Pinkster.” Darkclyde didn’t react to the name. “Just what is this a glimpse of?” He narrowed his eyes at the top of the mural. Above the war going on below, two figures battled it out. One a familiar blue and the other a familiar gray. Why did it seem so familiar? One had to be Mr. 4 but the other… just who was that? “The end.” A large explosion rocked the palace and Mare Do-Well fell slightly. She turned to the balcony and saw a wall of the palace crumble away not too far. Massive wings flapped away the dust and wreckage and a giant purple dragon flew out. From the floor she could see her friends running out of the broken wall and following it. Something about the dragon was familiar but she couldn’t place it. “Regardless,” Darkclyde’s voice brought her back to the uncomfortable reality facing her. His eyes glowed an eery red. “You are not the mare I perceived. Thus you are inconsequential. It would most likely even be prudent of me to dispose of you.” He turned his head and twin beams of energy streaked from his eyes. Mare Do-Well had to move. She didn’t let her fear stop her, instead focusing back on that rage. It gave her purpose and meaning and drove her to move. She dodged the beam but it corrected course in midair and charged toward her once more. It was the same the more she zigged and zagged. The beam would follow. Meanwhile Darkclyde stood perfectly still. He can’t move while using this attack. He has to concentrate. She changed her course toward him. She reached for her utility belt but felt a cold realization that it wasn’t on her anymore. That Detraad guy had disarmed her. Smarter than he looked. It didn’t matter though as Detraad was already at her side trying to pen her in. So she did the unexpected. Instead of going to Detraad or Darkclyde she went toward the existing beam. By now her chase had made the beam curl and snake along most of the balcony and it hadn’t dissipated. It was still connected to Darkclyde’s eyes. She felt like she was running from a snake. And how did you outwit a snake? Let’s see what happens when you tie these beams in a knot. She had to be really careful about this. She narrowly jumped over the existing beam and spun in the air to simply graze above it. Then she immediately fell to the floor and sprinted back the way she came. Her sharp turn resulted in the chasing beam cutting down suddenly and intersecting its own existing beam. A large spark and explosion was the result. Detraad was blinded for a moment and she used that to slam into him. He was launched backward and plunged from the balcony to the red earth below. Mare Do-Well smiled as the beam dissipated and seemed to blow up in Darkclyde’s face. He reared back, blinded, and let out an uncharacteristic cry of pain. But that didn’t seem to matter much as he showed no outward signs of it. Instead he turned to her with his full attention. “It seems you are not that dissimilar. Simply in one regard.” “And what’s that?” His eyes glowed an even deeper red as he approached, his steps echoing with every stomp. “You will lose.” /^(*vv*)^\ Flutterbat didn’t need to fully understand the situation around her. Her friends were in danger and that was good enough for her. The giant purple dragon that had once been Matterhorn landed on a twisted spire of metal on the palace and curled its enormous tail around it before letting out another ungodly roar. “Well, this complicates things,” Applejack muttered to herself from beside her. Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow walked from the billows of dust into the hot air and laid eyes on their foe with wide eyes. “Is that what Spike was back on Maud’s world!?” Rarity shouted in disbelief. “How in Faust’s name did she become that?” Pinkie shook her head. “She was there with us.” “She was?” Rainbow asked. Flutterbat and AJ looked at her with concern. “At least I’m pretty sure. She… she froze my legs to get Mare Do-Well to save me.” AJ waved a hoof. “Never mind all that. Let’s focus on getting’ her back to normal.” The dragon roared again. Rarity gave Pinkie a raised eyebrow. “What makes you think she can turn back?” “Spike did. And all we can do is hope that it’s the same for her, right?” She looked to Pinkie who was biting her lip as she watched the Twilight dragon twist around the spire and bend it in odd ways. “Right?” She nodded. “Right. We’ve got to believe.” “Faith is for fools.” A storm of knives flew at the group and Flutterbat swooped to pick up Rarity out of the way of one. “Okay?” she asked her. Rarity pushed her off, rather forcefully. “I’m fine! I could have avoided it.” “If say so.” They scattered and turned to face their attacker, the magenta robed pony that they had seen from before. Though his neck was bent at an odd angle and the way he stood didn’t look right. As if in answer to their confusion he put a hoof to his neck and cracked it back into place, followed by insect like tendons from his back sprouting and pulling on his body to straighten out his spine. “Ah!” He cried in ecstasy and his tongue lolled out from his sharp tooth smile. “I would’ve loved to slice up that masked mare, but you five will do just fine. And don’t worry about your friend. She’ll be quite busy.” From above the palace a swarm of pegademons flew toward Matterhorn. They swarmed her like bees and began to poke and prod at her scales with pitchforks and spears, some even reaching her sensitive back area. She roared again and began to let out a torrent of black flame, incinerating the flies around her. “I have to admit she is quite new. I look forward to dissecting her.” Pinkie was the first to charge as she disappeared and reappeared slamming her hoof into the stallion’s chin. His head flew back with a crack but his body remained unmoved. The tendons reached back up to his head and cracked it back in place so he was face to face. “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” Before any of them could react, more of the mechanical tendons erupted from his back and shot toward them. Flutterbat dodged the sharp arm but forgot about Rarity behind her. She spun to help but was surprised to see Rarity had stopped it with her magic. She was obviously struggling though so she let it go and grabbed it as it passed by her, bringing her weight down and slamming it into the ground. “See? I told you I could handle it.” Flutterbat nodded appreciatively but rolled her eyes to the others who were trying to fight off numerous other tendons while Rarity could barely hold hers down. It flayed and she jumped slightly then landed on the ground again. “Okay, maybe you could do something for me.” Flutterbat nodded again and slammed her hoof down on the tendon snapping it in two. Then she turned to help the others. Rarity got up to follow her but Flutterbat put a hoof out to stop her. “Go be safe.” Rarity frowned at her. “But I can-” “Go be safe,” she repeated, a little more insistently. She tried to show concern in her eyes for her. “Please.” Rarity still frowned but sighed and nodded. Flutterbat smiled and went to the battle. Rarity stayed behind but looked up for a moment as a flash caught her attention. Several red flashes going on above on a balcony. ---<^^>--- Mare Do-Well felt like she was running out of options. An angry god in front of her. A steep drop and killer dragon behind her. Darkclyde didn’t make the first move. Instead he waited for her attacks and then blocked or simply endured anything she threw at him. Kicks and punches were doing nothing to his incredibly tough skin and unplaceable armor of supreme defense. But what could she do. She was stripped of her gadgets. He gradually moved closer, every step cutting off more routes of escape. She had to think. How did she beat him? Well she never found out did she? She didn’t see it. That fight. What went on there? How did somepony so small defeat something so fearsome. Mare Do-Well took another step back and felt her back hooves hit the balcony. She was truly cornered now. Her legs began to wobble with fear. She’d never felt so helpless. And those eyes just kept staring. Straight into her like a drill. Like… Mare Do-Well had to move fast as she realized too late that Darkclyde had tried out his eyebeams again. She ducked as they whizzed above her and disintegrated the balcony behind. She rolled to the side and began to run for the railing. If she could get jump she might be able to ride down on her cape. The beams were still on her tail, but they kept Darkclyde busy. If she just managed to outrun them, then she could find a way to do that beam crossing trick again when she was safe. Just had to keep running. Had to keep running. Had to- Time seemed to slow down as she approached the railing. A familiar white figure suddenly appeared in a flash of light right in front of her, surprise showing in her face as she quickly came closer. She skidded to a halt as they both nearly collided, but Mare Do-Well’s reflexes kicked in and she ducked back to slide beneath Rarity. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized too late what she had done. Rarity was too dumbfounded to notice as she watched her slide, mouthing her name and turning her head to follow her. The motion made her whip her mane and a small slip of paper tumbled into the air from it, barely coming between Rarity and the beam just as it was about to vaporize her. An enormous flash of light blinded her and Mare Do-Well slid into the wall, knocking her head against it. She blinked profusely as the light faded and time seemed to resume. Standing between her and the god, was another god. This one pitch black with a flowing violet mane and eyes like starlight. “Rarity?” she barely breathed. “I… I’m… Rarity’s eyes were wide, tears brimming in them but she blinked hard and they were gone. Now she turned her gaze to Darkclyde. Her eyes narrowed with unimagineable hate.