//------------------------------// // Demons of the past // Story: Redemption, what a beautiful word. // by Ryoup //------------------------------// I am running, for how long I'm running? I don't know, but I know that I have to run, I look around, houses and buildings everywhere, all broken and burned, I am in Canterlot, Jesus i remenbered! they are coming! I stop and look at a broken building, there are several dead ponies inside, some very famous and powerful, like the wizard Starswirl, they... I... "DAMIAN! YOU HAVE TO DIE!" Are they already here? Shit, I start running again, I can't stop! If I stop they will catch me! I need to run faster and faster, I look at my coat, no knives, no horns, I'm unarmed. I keep running for what seems like hours, they are getting closer and closer, then, suddenly a dragon flies over my head, a sapphire blue dragon, a scar in the shape of four is written on her chest, this is... It's the Miranda's mom! I can clearly see her fighting against a black dragon in the sky, shit I have to help her! Every alley I passed brought me closer to the fight, I know where I have to go, I look at a big building, and there on top of it is a huge ballista, that will kill the dragon. "DAMIAN! HELP!" her voice, filled with despair and hate, keep calm! Shit I'm running out of time! I climb some debris, bodies and whatever else I have to go through, I won't let that son of a bitch hurt Dawn, calm down, I'm coming! I can see flames flying through the sky, buildings shaking and falling, damn dragon he's winning! "CALM DAWN! I'M GOING THERE!" Why I don't have my weapons ?! Why am I not able to use magic ?! Fuck! I'm almost there, I can already see the door of the building! Calm Dawn I'm going there, it was so close for me to enter in that building, but then, a black fog took over everything, it left from the walls, the building, inside the corpses, shit is he here too !? "Mr. Spencer, stop and come with me quietly and I promise to not be too, harsh with you." She was right behind me, I don't need to turn around to know that behind me is a horrible being, a purple alicorn, lifeless eyes and black as the night, only two small purple dots indicate that she has pupils, I will not turn around... If I turn around I won't be able to run, I already feel my legs weakening, if I go with her peaceful-- "DAMIAN !!!" Damn, Dawn! I feel an insane urge to surrender and go with Sparkle, but... but Dawn needs me, I run towards that hellish door that was the entrance of the building, an endless void envelops me as I enter the building, I can hear the monster behind me shouting something. I'm going up, I can't see anything, just darkness, but I know I'm going up, each step seems like it's going to be the last one, with each step it feel like I'm going to bump into a door, I have to bump! * BAM * I found the door! It's locked, I try to break into that door by throwing myself against it, my god how can a wooden door be so resistant ?! I can feel something, there is something sighing behind me, I can feel the hot breath on my neck, it is something big, they are playing with me, I keep trying to break down that door, shit! break break BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK!!! It broke! I am invaded by the light, when my eyes get used to the light I look back, two red dots looked at me from the infinite darkness that was those stairs and a demoniac smile, is he. A torrent of flames passes within a few meters of the building, the fight! I run towards that ballista, unloaded, shit! I look around, over there! some bolts are on the floor! I run and grab one, it's big and heavy, with a black color, dark ingot, great for killing dragons. I load the ballista, there they are! Dawn is winning! They are exchanging blows near the castle. I need them to come closer. "Dawn, bring that son of a bitch here!" They continued exchanging blows, flames coming out of both their mouths, the black dragon receiving blow after blow, finish him off Dawn! It is now, they are close, I prepare the ballista, it's hard to aim with it, closer, bring this son of a bitch here! "HOLD HIM DAWN!" The black dragon is trying to bite her neck, shit, I can't waste more time, I aim at his head, NOW! I press the trigger, the bolt flies in a straight line towards the target,I can almost feel the time get slower and slower, the dragon stare the bolt, the fear invade his face and in seconds it hits, I HIT HIM! The dragon struggles a few times before falling to the ground with a loud noise, falling a few streets away from me, I feel a smile forming, I did it! I won the black dragon! My legs fail and I fall to the ground while trying to support myself on the ballista. "DAWN! WE WON!" I scream while raising my fist in victory She looked at me, landed in a building near mine and... She is... Why is she preparing a breath of fire !? Then I saw, a small black mist fading around my head, since when was that there?! No... It cannot be, I rise and walk towards the parapet of the building, there, fallen with a black arrow crossing the head was not a black dragon , it was... My god it was Dawn, the bolt firmly stuck in her eye socket... I... Jesus what I did.  I hear the sound of flames, I turn and see, a dragon of black scales spitting a blast of green flames towards me, I feel the flames envelop me, I feel the pain, my skin is being burned, my God, what... I... did... I look at the ceiling, I failed... Again, my heart is racing, how could I not see that coming? How I hate him, if I could kill him again, can I? He comes back in a few years, yes, I can find him! And he is technically evil yet! So I can kill him and no one will care! Damian you smart bastard. What? Since when did I sleep with a blanket? A yellow blanket with pink hearts, I look around again, yes, I'm at Fluttershy's house, does she like hearts? I thought I would see animals instead hearts, I look to the side, Miranda had a blue blanket with white rabbits, there is the animal blanket. I breathe a couple more times as I try to clear my head, calm Damian, it was just a dream, a dream, a mistake, a memory... A little distorted, but it still remains a memory... Enough of that! I was not kidnapped from my universe twice to be crying about the past! Fuck, Miranda and Cadence telling me to leave the past in the past and I can't... I can't forget. I get up, my neck hurts a little, well, that's what I get for sleeping on a couch, I look around, no animals, strange, I swear I saw some birds on the ceiling last night, now there is nothing. I hear the sound of frying, my god, this is meat? it's meat frying! "Fluttershy, what's for breakfast?" I say as I walk towards the kitchen. "Oh, hello Damian! I was doing something for you and Miranda, I didn't want to wake you up." "It was nothing," I sit at her table, like all other pony tables it is a little short for me, but I already got used to it, "where are your animals?" "They usually leave when I'm preparing meat, in a few hours they'll be back." I breathe, hmmmm, smell of chicken, I love chicken, it almost tastes like pegas--- Yeah, I look to the side, a small window revealed the sun, it was rising, it is still morning, am I already waking up in the morning? Well, do what? Old customs come back easy... I hope only some customs... "Fluttershy." "Hm?" "How did you know that Miranda eats meat? I mean, the princesses didn't think about it, not even Shining, they think she grew up on gems and lettuce." "Well, she woke up in the middle of the night, she was sick and throwing up, I gave her some medicine and she went back to sleep, but before she asked for chicken for breakfast, she said you liked it too." Was she feeling sick? Ok, now it's official, I have to see what's going on, first she decides not to hit me when I woke her up yesterday, then her jokes are horrible and now this? Something doesn't smell good. "There is a hospital in Ponyville right?" A nod from her was all I got, she was there in front of the stove, her mane attached with a rubber band to prevent, well, frying her mane, a little apron on the front of her chest, and on the stove there was a skillet frying two chicken breasts, hmmm, I can already taste it, no! Focus Damian! "When does it open?" "I don't think the hospital can help much, but if you want to take her, we can go at noon." "How can the hospital not help?" She blushes a little, "well, the hospital is more for ponies, but a new doctor has arrived, maybe he can help." "New doctor? * laughs * who? Good Docter?" these ponies and their names. "If I'm not mistaken his name was Silk Touch." My god, I feel my heart racing, it can't be, "we have to go to the hospital!" is he?! must be! these ponies don't repeat their names! I get up and look for a mirror, I have to get ready to leave now! "C-calm Damian! The hospital only opens in the afternoon! Unless it's an emergency." "Of course it's an emergency! Besides, what kind of hospital close on a Tuesday ?!" He stares at me for a few seconds, "but it's Sunday Damian, what kind of emergency do you expect?" Damn, what did they call it? I read hundreds of those letters! Damn, wait, that's it! "Is it an emergency of... Ahmmm, friendship? I think that's it." She smiles as she goes back to frying the chicken, "well, if it’s nothing too serious that involves you or Miranda getting hospitalized I believe we can wait, I mean, after breakfast we can go to the Rarity boutique and the afternoon go there." I sit down, I understand, but I wanted to go now! it's... it's him, man how will the doctor be? My god I want to talk to him so badly! She puts the chickens on a plate and serves the table, "are you friends?" "Yeah... You can say that." She looks at Miranda, her face, I think she's thinking of a way to wake her up, good luck, I get up and head towards the closets, plate? Done, cutlery? Done, now all I have to do is enjoy the meat. "Damian, I ahmm, can you wake up Miranda please?" For real? Look at her, her eyes, shit, look at her eyes! okay, I sit on the chair, just because it's you Fluttershy. "Miranda, breakfast time!" It's done, in a matter of seconds she gets up and is already in the kitchen, Fluttershy's face was funny. "H-how?" "She is a glutton, if you want her to wake up or do something, offer food, preferably meat." Miranda send me a look of few friends while showing me her middle claw, Fluttershy looks confused, well, if it's a lie, say it, but obviously it isn't. I look at the chicken, time to eat then, Fluttershy took some bread and put on the table and started eating with us, Miranda is very sleepy, too sleepy. "Are you okay Miranda?" "Yes ... Just a little ... Sleepy, nothing that a little air and sun won't solve" her voice looked... tired, almost... lifeless "Ok, but you will still see a doctor." "Still?" I nod as I finish the chicken, man, I didn't realize how small it was, I grab a small slice of bread and start eating. "Fluttershy, where did you get that chicken from?" She looks to the side, her face expresses a look of sadness, she... "A while ago one of my chickens died, I... I have a frizer in the cellar, so... So I, you know, use it, no, I don't waste anything, some animals don't like fish, so I use that. " She looks sad, I think she really likes her animals, I smile while I take the rubber band off her mane, with a poof her mane widens and returns to normal, she blushes a little while hiding behind her mane. "From a species that also kills animals to feed other animals, if you took good care of the chicken, her will not care." "D-do you think?" "I heard that once, if I can help my friends I don't care what happens to my body, this mare, she had iron balls, she has my respect, this person, I mean, pony, saw the world as he was, not as the others wanted her to see. " "I think I understand, who was she?" "A friend..." "Another? I thought you said you had no friends, that you only had Miranda." Damn it! Don't say things like that in front of her! Now she will bother me all day! I look at her now! she smiled a little while eating the chicken. "I had friends, but when I realized it was too late, one became a therapist and we saw each other a little, one ran away from me, afraid of what I did, one became my helper, and the others... The others are dead. .. " "I... I'm sorry, Damian, I-I didn't mean to remind you of them!" "Everything is fine, I have to remember them... Remember that they are gone... That it is my fault... I'm tired of running away from the facts." Shit I already feel tears wanting to form, I finish the bread and get up, "I'm going to wash in the bathroom, I'll be right back." "The bathroom is--" "I know where it is, don't worry." I go up the stairs and look at the bathroom door, Jesus my heart... I close the bathroom door, God I'm sweating, the memories... I can hear Dawn screaming my name... Touch Silk screaming at me and running away with his family... Jesus, I think I'm going to vomit! I kneel and open the toilet, god it's full of blood! Shit! I throw myself against the bathtub and throw up, there goes my chicken... Sorry Fluttershy, I ruined your bathtub, shit, I get up and look in the mirror. "Hi Mr Spencer." "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" -------------------------------------------------- ----------------- // ------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Heavens, where is she? I asked the guards to inform me and look for my sister, but we are looking for her for hours! now there is only one place left for me to look, her room, a snow-white door, a sun drawn in the center of it, I sigh as I open the door, I can hear a noise coming from inside.  The room is dark, all the curtains are closed, there are some pieces of armor scattered on the floor and the smell of alcohol is impressively strong, the shelves, countertops and other furniture are intact, really? What happened? I feel a teleportation spell, I can see at a glance a bottle of wine being teleported to Faust know where, so she is awake? "Do you know what time it is? You are late." "C-calm Lulu * laughs * I'm just enjoying a little... The life! * laughs * that's it." "Enjoying life means getting drunk and having 'relationships' with captains? And forgetting to raise the sun?" I walk towards her, the blankets keep me from seeing her, I want to see her face, how can she be so irresponsible! "Y-you talk like our mother, it's not a b-big * laughs * deal... Can't I have some fun? * sigh * get out Golden Shield, she knows." I can see Captain Golden Shield coming out of the bathroom, a unicorn with a golden mane and a yellowish color, it is almost impossible to distinguish him and his mane, almost. He looks at me with a serious look, I don't see fear or concern in his eyes but a small drop of sweat is forming, when he is already in the middle of the room he levitates all the pieces of his armor, slightly reveres me and Celestia and leaves the room without saying a word, I can hear a scream of a maid, I think he was seen. "A captain?" "I like him, so what?" "What? Look sister, this is not what a princess should do, this is pathetic, you don't even act like my sister." "A thousand years reigning alone leads to this." She removes the blanket off her, I can clearly see her unkempt mane, her eyes tired and her smile almost disappearing. I sigh as I sit on the edge of the bed. "Look sister, I hope I don't have to raise the sun anymore, what if I was sleep?" "Discord would raise the sun..." "You always have an answer." "I have to have an answer... Luna... When was the last time you spoke to grandma?" "A few months, why?" "I was unable to communicate with her a few days ago... Discord was unable to speak to Markal... I... I'm afraid Luna." "Is it about Damian? He... From what the guards said is very committed to starting over, I don't believe he is a threat." "The days are darker, the nights colder, the winds more violent... Tartarus is hotter... Luna, don't ignore the signs. " "I don't ignore it, the war is coming, and Discord is on our side, in case you don't remember." "He will not fight our war, his job is to protect our world, not our kingdom, he will declare neutrality when the war starts." "So we must have Damian on our side! You know the power he has! If we can teach him the good ways he can become a guardian of Equestria, with him we would be unbeatable, no kingdom will think of attacking us, we could even attack the caribous in the north! " She smiles as she opens the curtain with magic, the light invades the room, she stays in bed, enjoying the sun, her smile slowly growing until forming the motherly smile that Celestia likes to sketch. "Sister, are you hiding something from me? Anything?" "Of course not, you would know in a day or two, just look at my head." "You know I would never do that to you, but since you brought it up, did you get the books I ordered?" She lets out a little laugh, she would not dare! "So the princess of dreams was traumatized for losing to a nightmare?" she dared, CURSED BE YOUR NAME SISTER! I blush slightly, "you know it's not like that! And that thing caught me off guard... That in his head... It's not just a nightmare... Celestia." "Hmmm?" "if we do nothing ... it could end like Nightmare Moon."