//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Gate of Purity // Story: Of Light And Darkness // by BarthoBalchi //------------------------------// [center]Of Light and Darkness Chapter 3: The Gate of Purity[/center] I wake up in a dark void, barely able to see myself. My eyes go wide, knowing the inevitable horror that will soon occur. I curl up, close my eyes, and cover my ears, in anticipation. Then, I hear a scream and it forces my eyes open. I stand up noticing the room was now pure white. The room was so laminated that I couldn’t even see my own shadow, but at least I could see my surroundings. I begin to walk in a random direction, wondering if there’s a way out. After a few moments of walking I see a black liquid starting to bubble from the floor. I sprint as fast as I can from the gunk, but more gushes out in front of me and I turn in another direction, however more spews in front of me. I continue trying to run until it eventually surrounds me, trapping me like a cornered mouse. The puddles form into what looks like humans and walk up to me like an armada of zombies. “You killed us” one of them says. “You murdered us all” another one states. “You don’t deserve to live” “Nobody cares about you” They continued to insult me as they drew closer and closer. All I could do was stand there, paralyzed with fear. One of them touched me on my shoulder and instantly a vision popped into my head. The vision was of a man getting a hole punched into his stomach from a single jab. Another without arms bit me on the neck and another vision came. This one was of a woman getting her arms pulled from her sockets and then getting beaten to death by them. Continuously, more of the human-like creatures came up to me and I kept getting visions of people dying in brutal ways. I started to scream in agony at the top of my lungs as more and more visions of torture came into my mind. The people then formed into a huge puddle under me then shot hands from the puddle and started to drag me down into the darkness. “Hush, now, quiet now, It's time to lay your sleepy head, Hush now, quiet now, It's time to go to bed, Drifting off to sleep, Leave exciting day behind you, Drifting off to sleep, Let the joy of daylight find you.” As I hear the song, a bright light appears from the sky, burning away the puddle of darkness. The light then brightens, forcing me to close my eyes. When the light dims I open them only to see I’m on top of a grassy hill, surrounded by flowers and a large cherry blossom tree behind me. At the bottom of the hill I see someone starting to walk up the hill. I try to make out who it is but before I can, I wake up. I sit up, hoping that I was home but sigh as I see I’m still a pony living in a cottage at the edge of the forest. I then jump up a little when I notice Fluttershy is sitting on the floor with her head and front legs sleeping on the edge of my bed. I get out of bed and gently lift up the yellow Pegasus and put her on the bed. I lift the blanket with my hoofs and cover her with it. Then I pause for a moment and look at my hoofs with twitching eyes. I ponder how in god’s name I’m able to pick stuff up like I have hands for a few moments then brush it off. I then reach into my bag and pull out my Ever Clean Rag that my teacher gave me while traveling through Prontera. This piece of cloth will never get dirty and lets you clean almost anything with a single wipe. I then start cleaning the house out of courtesy to repay the hospitality. As I clean the house, animals start to help me and I give them a “you don’t have to help” kind of look but they still continue to do so. I just sigh and continue cleaning for another two hours. After I was finished I went into the kitchen to find something to eat but only found flowers and hay. I face hoof myself and think about cooking one of the animals here but decide not to. They helped me clean her house so I wouldn’t really feel right doing that. Instead I go outside and see a town close by. Thinking maybe I could get something to eat there, however I put that out of me head immediately since I don’t really want to get to know anyone. So I figure I could just find something in the Everfree Forest. I walk in and begin trying to find something to eat. I walk down the trail, making sure to avoid the field where that hydra was sleeping. Eventually I come across a river with glass clear water. I get some sticks and some wood from some nearby trees and get out some flint and tinder from my bag. I start a small fire and go to the river to find some salmon. I slowly position my right front hoof as close to the river as possible, observing the salmon in order to predict Its movement. Then, with a swift strike I pull the salmon out of the river, he flings to the side and starts trying to flop back into the river. I grab one of the sticks and stab it in his mouth and through his tail. I then put my catch over a fire. I do this three more times and wait for the four fish to cook. Once the fish are brown and crispy I eat them one by one. After finishing my breakfast I notice the river was starting to show a shade of black flowing down it. I grab a bottle of holy water and pour a little in the river and it sizzles and boils as if a piece of hot iron was thrown into it. I put my stuff in my bag and begin to run up the river to find out who is responsible for this. The river gets darker as I run further upstream. I soon make it to the base of the river where I see a pentagram in the center. I open my bags and pull out a silver crucifix, another bottle of holy water, and a tome of celestial chants. I open by book, dowse my cross with holy water, and begin saying a chant in celestial. As I do the pentagram disappears and the river water stops flowing. After two hours of prayer I finish the chant, get the crucifix and impale it in the middle of the dry river to keep the dark water from flowing again. I climb up out of the now dry river, and grab my bag so that i may leave the woods. But as soon as I stat to walk back a bright flash pops in front of me. when the light fades Twilight Sparkle is standing in front of me. “Can I help you?” I asked “Yes, you can start by explaining why the river is dried up” she responded. “This river has been cursed and tainted and will need to be kept in check until I can find a way to fix this”. “Curse? There is no such thing as curses”. “ Uh yes there is and if it weren’t for that cross over there everyone would be suffering a very painful death” Twilight noticed the silver cross and tried removing it with her magic, but she couldn’t even budge it. She then slid down to where the cross was and tried pulling it out with her teeth but once again she could not remove it. “You know that only those that can speak celestial can remove that” I said She then glared at me, with a face of pure rage and anger. “Then get down here and pull it out then” she said with great fury. I facehoof and sigh in annoyance at how stubborn this mare is. “For the last time the river is tainted and cursed” I say in an agitated tone. “There is no such thing as CURSES, now get down here and pull this thing out, NOW!!!” I sigh again and go back to the center of the river. “Well, two hours of work, all for nothing” I say to myself. I grip the cross, whisper “nasuna(unlock)”, it immediately glows white and I pull it out with ease. The boulder then starts cracking and the ground slightly shakes. We both run out of the water basin and a geyser of water shoots out of the ground and the river starts flowing again. I get small vial from my bag and put some water in it, then take a close look and notice that the water is crystal clear again. I look over to Twilight who is giving me a big ‘I was right’ kind of smirk. I sweep it off with an annoyed grunt and begin trotting my way out of this forest with twilight close behind. Twilight then began giving me a long lecture on how curses where illogical, then she started giving scientific explanations to supernatural phenomenon and by god it was boring as all hell. In a desperate attempt to stop this sleep inducing yapping I interrupt her and ask “how did you find me”? “I put a tracking spell on your bag before I left and I’m glad I did. Fluttershy is worried sick about you since you didn’t even leave a note letting her know where you ran of to.” I stop and give a very shocked and confused glance at Twilight and ask “Why”? “Well, me and my friends are supposed to be watching you during your stay here so I cast a tracking spell on a-“ “No, I mean why does she care?” “Well of course she’s concerned that’s normal” “Being concerned with me will only get you killed, so fuck off.” Twilight stared at me gritting her teeth and smoke coming out of her fur. I walk past her giving her a mocking smirk and she starts screaming at me. “YOU BUCKING JERK WE ARE ONLY TRYING TO HEL-“ She stops yelling for some odd reason so I look back to see a giant scorpion tail impaled in her stomach. Then out of the bush comes a manticore with a black liquid coming out of his mouth and eyes with fly sized pupils. I charge at the manticore who tries to swipe at me with his claws. I jump to avoid the claws and land on the back of his head. I use it as a platform and jump again, this time to get to the tail. I hug his tail and pull using my forelegs and put my back legs together and push down on his tail. In moments the end of the tail rips off and the manticore roars in pain. While the manticore is cringing in agony and seeing twilight’s life hanging by a thread, I open the bag and put the tail in. I then put my back legs in my bag and pull them out one second later. My back legs now each have a boot of force: a light brown leather boot with gray and squishy sole that lets you release a burst of power that you can use to deal massive damage to a enemy or to get one hell of a jump. The boots then glow and change into light brown leather bracers and gray, squishy horseshoes. I immediately grab my bags, pick up Twilight with my front legs, jump a few inches off the air and shouted “RUGA(force) DIMAS(five)”. Upon landing I was instantly flung into the air with the velocity of like which you would get if an elephant fell on the other side of a see-saw. While in the air I see the same town I was supposed to go to before I bribed the guards. After half a minute I landed in the center of a plaza that had a huge assortment of stalls. As I landed everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me with shock and surprise. It was dead silence until I asked “Which way to the hospital?” “It’s a couple blocks down that way on you right” one of the stall merchants replied pointing in a direction. I simply nodded and put twilight on my back, running as fast as new legs would let me, arriving at the hospital moments later. I slam open the double doors and rush to the front desk where a white earth pony with a pink mane was sorting though some files. I slam my front hoofs on the desk to get her attention and she immediately saw twilight on my back and ran to get a doctor and a stretcher. Swiftly afterwards she came through a pair of doors and puts Twilight on a stretcher. She then rushes her through the doors and I follow close behind. “What happened?” the nurse asks. “Manticore sting” is all I reply with. After a few moments of running we put Twilight in one of the empty rooms, put her on one of the beds and I left the room so I wouldn’t get in the way. After thirteen minuets of waiting the nurse comes out of the room. “Will she be ok?” I ask. “Yes, as long as she gets an antidote she’ll be just fine” she says with a smile. The nurse then trots away to the hospital’s medicine cabinet and I just wait outside, leaning against Twilight’s door. After a few minutes of waiting I see the nurse running back with a panicked look. “What happened?” I ask “Somepony destroyed all of our medicine” “Why don’t you make more?” “We get our medicine shipped in from Canterlot, and the next shipment doesn’t arrive for another two weeks.” I begin thinking through different options until I’m left with only one. Thanking god I had taken the manticore tail with me I pull it out of my bag and go back into Twilight’s room. The nurse followed me with a stunned look on her face. I make an opening on the top of the blood bag attached to her and start to meditate. After meditating I grab the tail and stab it in one of my forelegs. The nurse’s face grew whiter than I thought possible. With the hospital mare too shocked to speak I began forcing my chi to flow again and redirecting it to where I stung myself with the tail. “Oh powers of life and redemption, I call upon you to bring peace once again.” I chant, getting a small aura around my body. “Gate of Salvation open, Purity” the aura then goes into my blood stream, as it does i begin to feel as if my blood just turned into lava as I grind my teeth to stop myself from screaming in pain. The chi gives my veins a black glow and cleans my blood of the venom, turning it into a harmless steam. While I’m still bleeding I put my foreleg over the blood pack and let the blood drop in. As my blood drops in it starts to create black flame that mixes with the blood and slowly goes down the tube and into Twilight. The purple mare’s veins begin to glow black and steam starts to emit from her body, evaporating the venom. After a few seconds her veins stop glowing and the steam stops exiting her fur. I then put my foreleg back on the ground and the wound closes almost instantly. I immediately chant “close” and the chi in my body stops flowing, although the pain still continues. The pain now begins to intensify after forcing it out of my body. With no more will to keep the pain in check I begin to scream in torment and my body starts to get really hot, making me feel like I’m in the middle of a desert in summer. The nurse picks me up, places me on a bed and hooks me up to a heart monitor. After a few moments she returns with an ice pack and puts it on my head, but it instantly melts, the nurse runs out of the room again and I blackout. Twilight slowly opens her eyes and sits up, looking at her surroundings and notices nurse Red Heart injecting a vaccine into a patient. “Nurse Red Heart?” Twilight asked, getting the nurse’s attention. “Twilight, thank Celestia your awake” “What am I doing at the hospital?” “Well, you got stung by a manticore.” All the memories came back to Twilight like a cart of bricks, the last thing being hit in the chest by a scorpion like tail. She looks at her torso but there was no bandages or wound to be seen “How long was I out?” “A couple hours” Twilight’s eyes grow wide with shock “but, I don’t feel any pain and there isn’t even a wound” “I’m just as shocked as you are.” “How is this even possible, I’ve never heard of any spells that could heal somepony to this degree.” “Well..” as the nurse explains what happened, Twilight’s face goes from one of shock, to one of fascination after the story settles in. Twilight then looks over at the other patient and notice it’s Bartho, asleep with a look of pain on his face. “Is he going to be okay?” “I don’t know, we’ve never dealt with something like this before. But from what we can tell, it seems his blood is decaying and his organs will soon follow” Nurse Red Heart said with a sigh and her face looking at the ground. Twilight got out of her hospital bed, and walked to Bartho. She then started to concentrate and her horn started to glow purple. “What are you doing?” the nurse asked. “He saved my life, now I'm going to try and return the favor.” “But you just recovered from a severe injury, you might strain yourself.” “I……don’t……CARE” the room was then flooded with a lavender light that surrounded Bartho’s body. The light then started to gain a taint of black, becoming a darkness soon after. Swiftly after, the black aura detonated, slamming Twilight and Red Heart into a wall and shattering the room’s window into hundreds of pieces. I wake up; my body still a little sore, (around the equivalent of doing pushups for two hours straight) I looked around, soon remembering why I was in a hospital and noticed Twilight looking at me with a big smile and tears running down her face. “So, looks like you live to see another day” I said plainly. Twilight jumped on my bed and gave me a big hug and to me whispered “thank you”. I got up, stood on two legs, grabbed Twilight, pried her off me, and dropped her onto the floor. “Okay, enough of that sentimental crap, I only saved you because, even though your annoying as all hell, you’ve committed nothing that deserves death, and killing innocent people is something I scorn more than anything else. So I ask that you refrain from touching me.” “Sorry” she responded with a sheepish grin. The hospital room opened and the nurse entered with a cheerful mood. “I see you’re awake, just let us do a few tests and you’ll be good to go”. I nod and ask “how long was I out?” “It’s quite amazing actually; you were only out for around thirty minutes. Even though your blood was starting to decay” the nurse replied. “Huh, I guess opening one of the gates while my chi is still sealed will do that.” “What’s chi?” Twilight asked. I found that my bag was on the floor on the left side of my bed so I picked it up, opened it, pulled out an ancient faded brown book and a pair of green lensed glasses, and threw them both on the ground in front of the purple unicorn. She instantly picked up the book with a big grin on her face and started to read. “Hmmmmm… I’ve never seen writing like this. I don’t know how I’m supposed to read this.” I face hoof and sigh in annoyance “Put on the glasses you moron”. “I don’t know how that will help but ok” she levitates the glasses onto her face and her jaw immediately drops to the floor. “I’m guessing you’ve never seen emerald glasses have you?” She puts her jaw back up and simply shakes her head “It basically lets you read any known mortal language. It’s a must have for the work I did back home.” She then jumps and skips around the room like a teenager that just got her first car. “Can I borrow these? There are so many books that I have that I can’t read because there in different languages.” “No, this book only” She stops bouncing around and starts looking at the floor. “Okay” I pulled out my bag of money and pulled out another bag containing five-hundred bits and lay it on one of the side tables. The nurse went to pick up the bag of bits and her eyes widened at the amount. “This much isn’t necessary; it was only going to be around one-hundred and fifty bits.” “It’s fine, I probably have enough money to buy one fourth of your country.” “Are you sure?” “I don’t really care for it, so take it” The nurse nodded and picked up the bag of money. “Thank you very much” she said with a kick to her step. “So can I leave?” “Well, you could, but I advise you stay here for another day. Just to be on the safe side” “No, I don’t think so.” I then get out of the hospital bed and put my bag on my back. “Where are you going?” Twilight asked me “Now that that everything is taken care of and you have something that will keep you from bothering me for a while, I’m getting a train ticket out of this town.” “Oh no you’re not, the princess ordered me and my friends to watch over you during your stay here. So you’re coming with me, unless you want to be here for the rest of your life.” She stated with an impish grin. “Damn” As me and Twilight exited the hospital and began walking toward her house which she explained to me was a hollowed out tree in the middle of town and served as the local library I was in a state of disbelief. The town was filled with so many different colorful ponies, all going about their business, and some even greeting us. It made me feel like I was in one of Salvador Dali’s paintings. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, with concern “Too Many COLORS!!!!!” “You’re not used to seeing this many colo-” “NO, I feel like I just drank three bottles of fucking SKOOMA” “What’s skooma?” “….You don’t want to know” “Well, we're here.” I break out from my color shock, forgetting we were still walking and noticed a huge tree in the middle of town. “So you live in a hallow tree?” She nods in response. “This also serves as Ponyville’s library.” “Nerd indeed” “Well are you coming in or not?” *Sigh* “better than being out here I suppose.” As we walked in we were greeted by Spike, who was dusting off a shelf of books. “Hey Twilight” he said in a chipper tone. But his mood went south when he saw me. He gave me a sour look and went back to his work. “Spike, that’s no way to treat a guest.” “I honestly don’t care, in fact that’s the look everyone gives me back home.” “But why, no pony deserves to be treated that way.” “Because back home, after every mission, I always returned with the blood of the enemies I killed, dripping from my hands. That’s why they called me the Red Reaper. They think that simply touching my hands would cause them to implode, and they are right to believe that” I state with grief and barely able to keep myself from crying. The purple mare grabbed one of my fore hoofs with her own two. “Well I think they are wrong” she said with a sad tone. “these hoofs saved my life from a manticore sting and its these hoofs that saved the life of one of my closest friends from a hydra. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for ponies you never met; I think someone as selfless as you could never be a murderer” She finished with tears flowing down and face her looking at the floor. I put one of my fore hoofs on her chin, lift up her face, and gaze into those eyes of arcane lavender. “Stop crying ok? You’re a lot cuter when you’re not crying.” She stopped crying, her face instantly turned a beet red, and she turned her head away, too embarrassed to look at me. “What the HELL, what is wrong with me, your supposed not to care about anyone. Wait, am I….. No of course I’m not, then why am I being so sentimental.” I think to myself, now trying to think this through logically. “Ah hah, emotional after burn, since my chi is sealed and I forced it out of my body like I’m breaking a dam and chi is supposed to flow like a river. Also, since chi is an emotional energy it must also be messing with my emotions.” I conclude in my head, relieving a huge mound of stress. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked “Yeah, but I could use a shower right now.” I respond while trying to change the subject. “You do have one right?” “Of course, second door up the stairs.” I give a nod and head towards the door. “While you’re doing that I’ll send a note to Fluttershy letting her know where you are” Twilight said with a positive attitude. “I’ll probably also start reading that book you gave me” “Whatever” was the only response I gave before heading into the bathroom to take a shower. Twilight picked up a piece of paper and a quill pen and wrote a small message to the yellow Pegasus. After she finished she rolled it up and sent it in a flash of light. She then picked up the tome Bartho gave her and opened the first page. Immediately remembering she didn’t know the language she put the green glasses on her face and began reading.