Chapter 6
The sun had been raised and Ember woke up. He looks around him and sees himself surrounded by the ponies he had been with last night. Aurora the lawyer, Illidan the navigator and Berry the party animal. He stood up and tried to avoid standing on one of them. He looked around and saw hay, lots of it, piled on the floor.
“Where am I?” he asked himself as he took another step forwards, only to find nothing under his hooves. Ember looked down and, an instant before he fell, saw he was on a balcony. He crashed into another large pile of hay, thankfully breaking his fall.
He hears somepony laughing hard as his head pokes out from the hay; he spots the orange mare from last night, AJ, lying on her back, tears starting to form as her laughter got louder.
“Hey, what’s with the racket!” yells a voice from above, as the pink colt, Berry, was poking his head out from the balcony.
“Somepony decided to go for a little fall,” says Pinkie Pie, appearing behind AJ.
“Too bad I missed that, could have been funny to watch,” comments Berry before his head disappears.
“Well, look at the…” starts AJ before something crashes through the barn doors, and slides along the ground, finally stopping front of Ember. Ember looks in shock at what had, literally, landed at his hooves. “P..Princess Luna?” he asks, his voice almost a whisper, his mind telling him this couldn’t be true. The princess looked like somepony had nearly killed her. She had cuts all along her body, and a deep gash on her left side, she was also covered in her own blood.
She weakly raised her head, her dark blue eyes pleading for Ember to help her, before her head falls and hits the floor.
“Oh my, is that Luna?” asks AJ, turning to face the princess “She looks hurt.”
“Really? I didn’t notice,” says Ember, his voice covered in sarcasm.
“And what the hay is that suppose to mean?”
Ember stood there before facing AJ. “Listen, you have to trust me. Get everypony you can trust here now, family, friends,” he says, concern written all over his face.
“What’s all the noise about?” complains Rarity, walking into the barn wearing a very large, red sleeping gown with Pinkie Pie in tow, “oh my, is that Princess Luna?”
“Yes it is,” replies Ember “Now, get them. I have a bad feeling about today.” Ember looks over at the mares, Pinkie had been surprisingly quiet this whole time. “NOW!”
The mares started moving, and in several minutes, they had all gone to get help. Ember knelt down beside Luna “Is this why I was really sent here Luna? Did you know this would happen?” He asks her, knowing he would never get a reply he would enjoy.
*30 minutes later, inside Rainbow Dash’s home*
“You know, you are both really persistent. Somepony should record this,” giggled Dusk as she looked over at her pets. Naturally, when they had finally regained conscious, they had both tried fighting her. Neither had even gotten close. Dusk saw them on the floor, trying to fight themselves.
Suddenly, the colt started muttering to himself.
“Speak up, my pet. I demand you tell me what you are saying.” Dusk faced him, only for his hooves to fall from under him ‘Naturally, he’s trying to convince himself he’s in control,’ she concludes.
“My name…is….Shadow.” His voice was strained with each word, a side effect of her spell. He was trying to rebel against her, and her spell was punishing him to for his betrayal “Fl..are,” he growls.
“Name?” laughs Dusk “No my pet. You have no name as of yet, neither does the filly next to you.” Dusk lazily points to what remained of Rainbow Dash, a grey version of her, a shell. She had been fighting since she recovered, being loyalty and all, the spell had eventually knocked her unconscious.
“Her name…is…Rainbow..” He held his head with his hooves, trying to fight her magic “D…Dash!” He collapses onto the floor, rolling around in pain as his sanity was slowly taken away from him.
“My my pet. You are really persistent, you are all mine and you still fight against me,” mutters Dusk “No matter, today is the day when I take Ponyville, and as I promised you, you will be helping me.” An evil smile forms on her face.
“What….What are our n..names?” asks the grey Filly, slowly standing on her hooves.
“Awwww, it seems you have finally awoken and accepted your fate little filly.” Dusk smiles to herself “I have the perfect name for you, little filly. You are to be called ‘Traitor’ for that is who you are.” She turns and points at the colt “And you..you are to be called ‘Abomination’. You are a shell of your former shelf, a monster. You both will become my willing servants, and serve and bow to me.”
“NEVER!” Yells Abomination as he stands up and flares his wings “I will NEVER BOW TO YOU!” He starts charging at Dusk, flapping his wings to increase his speed. Dusk simply stood still in shock ‘How is he overcoming my spell? He must have remarkable will power’ she thinks right before the Pegasus simply collapses, and falls directly at her feet.
“Remarkable, but useless. You waste your energy, just accept your fate like the filly has.” She pointed towards Rainbow, “and your life will become easier.”
Neither of them reply, instead they lie on the ground, obviously fighting the spell she had cast on them. ‘Keep on fighting’ she thinks as she watches the two former pegasi lovers rolling over the floor, the foundations of their mind being assaulted ‘The more you fight, the harder you fight, the quicker you deliver yourself to me.’ She smiles evilly again.
“You have some time to recover, I’d assume by then our reinforcements would have arrived. But be warned.” She starts looking through some magic books she had brought with her, “I’ll be keeping both of you on a short leash.”
Dusk sits down, only to hear another voice. It was weak and dispirit, but alive. It called out to her inside her own head ‘Please, stop hurting them’ it was begging. Dusk ignored it and, just like Twilight before her, sat down to read a good book, ignoring the noise around her.