Walking in between the fabric of reality
The only decision to make… is wrong
Darkness exists in everypony’s mind. Covered under false laughter, false happiness just waits to consume the mind of its host. The few friends and family had always kept Soul’s inner demon at bay. One after another had passed away. Bitterness filled his heart, though he couldn’t show any real emotions.
Since then he lived only to serve, to pay back the debt of saving his life. He ignored everything to keep himself away from anything that could hurt him. He burned down entire cities, murdered, and scavenged without hesitation in order of his master. Nothing could get through him. Inside his darkness glimmered only three lights.
The first light was the eternal motherly love that his master had offered him, always leading him through his life, training him to the perfect warrior.
The second light was his friend and lifetime rival that always pushed him forward, made him stronger.
The third light was his love to a certain mare. She was just a mere servant but was the only one brave or stupid enough to oppose him. This was one of the things he loved so much about her: her honesty.
Every fire has to burn down. So did his lights, fading through time. He left his mentor in order to create peace. His friend died in the very battle that should have spread peace and harmony over this world. The love of his life was killed by the hoof of his mentor's sister, using her as weapon against himself and his mentor.
Everything in his mind became numb. He lost everything, the darkness inside of him taking hold of his mind, releasing a sheer unbelievable amount of magical power. The only thing he could see was to take revenge on the one who had hurt him so badly. The loss drove him into madness, ripping everything apart, pulling them along with him into this eternal darkness. It left nothing behind but his master and her weakened sister. The entire army had fallen with him, leaving no chance for a new conflict to boil.
He banished himself into the past to pay for his sins. He had committed so many of them without a bad conscience. He sealed himself up for all eternity. At least he thought so until a little purple thing appeared in his prison. Every time he saw it wander around, it took more and more the form of a unicorn. It began to seek for him. It seemed like it wanted to find out the truth behind him.
He was never the kind of stallion that would run away when things are getting hard. He always stood his ground and fought for his convictions even if he knew they were terribly wrong. So many decisions seems to be good in the beginning but would end so bad. He wanted to be left alone, nothing would be around him, just loneliness. It was just like fate to play games and torture the ones who had the biggest losses. It decided to pull him back along with the unicorn, into her time period. A thousand years later he reappeared in Equestria. Although the thought made him sick, he was kind of relieved that his actions weren't in vain.
Ponies were never creatures of loneliness, only a few of them seek the isolation. He had never really thought about what would greet him in this new Equestria.
It was kindness. Everypony treated him like a friend and not like a stranger. Nopony knew anything about him, they just trusted him kind without reason. This attitude had held him for some time, stopping him from moving on. Maybe this new world wasn't that bad.
The friends of the little unicorn seemed to be so nice, so generous, so kind, so full of laughter... But everything shattered inside his mind as he realized who these ponies were.
The kindness that the butter-coloured pegasus mare had offered him, the generosity that this fashion maniac had shown him, the laughter he could share with this crazy earth pony, the attitude of the little purple unicorn that befriended him, the loyalty from this stupid but brave cyan pegasus to her friend, and finally, the honesty of this orange farmer pony all made him understand the world that Equestria had become. She reminded him so much of his own bride-to-be. The moment he wanted to embrace her so badly, he realized why he liked them so much. They were literally everything his loved one had stood for. His heart filled with agony and sorrow. He couldn't stand this pain when he was around them. So he disappeared again, leaving them behind, with no answers about himself, nothing they could hold on.
Again, he was alone, wandering alone in the darkness, in a place where nothing exists. No space, no time everywhere, just pure darkness. There was no floor he could walk on or something to orientate with.
He just walked through this eternal emptiness in between time. Nothing could ever find him here. It was the place of perfect isolation. Here he could suffer in agony and pain, sealing himself again. His hooves didn't make a sound when they touched the invisible ground. The only audible things were his thoughts and his own heartbeat. Everything in this place seemed to be so unreal. In here there was nothing, like his eyes were covered and then he was shoved into a dark room. There were no birds in the background that could distract him from his thoughts. Nothing but one thing.
“Much time has passed since we could talk to each other.” The deep male voice rang from every imaginable point, like the darkness around him was talking.
Soul halted in his tracks, he recognized this voice somehow but couldn't put a face with it. “Yes, you talked to me the last time when I was a little colt. So what do you want now?”
Dark laughter ringed through the darkness. Soul's eyes zoomed around trying to find the source. A cold chill ran over his back when the voice returned. “No reason to be so nasty to me. I just want to help you.”
A deep sigh escaped the old stallion, he let his head hang low. A small smile formed on his mouth. “Well, then go on. Tell me what you want to.”
The dark voice crept into his mind. “You lived so long without knowing your own name. How did that feel?”
Soul kept his eyes closed the whole time. He tried to detect the origin of this voice with his magic. Nevertheless, he answered him. “The night before I proposed to my filly-friend, I asked Star to send me back in time, only a few days before Discord attacked my home. I observed my own parents, how they treated me. There was so much love in their voices. I would have had such a good home. And so I learned my birth name, Soul Tearer.”
The voice laughed at this sappy monologue. “But I suppose not everything was bad while you were the student of the Princess, right?”
He waved his head back and forth. He tried to remember every single thing that happened in his entire life. Regardless if it was bad or good.
The dark voice echoed in his ears. “I'm sure you remember the day you woke up in the castle.”
On Soul's left side something began to glimmer. It expanded until it took the form of a window. It's brightness slowly decreased and a picture became visible. His eyes widened as he understood what this window was. The illusion was showing him his own past. He stared for a brief moment on the window, closing his eyes and seeing the memories flash before his inner eye.
His eyes slowly opened again. His surroundings were blurred and unreal. He could merely feel that he was laying on something soft, and a warm body laid next to him. His mind became clearer every second as he became more aware of his surroundings. He felt a warm feathery thing on his back that slowly moved in a breathing pattern. Carefully, Soul lifted his tiny body to take a look at the being next to him. They laid in a huge bed decorated with dark blue fabric. Everything inside the room seemed to be so cold, like night. He turned his head to the sleeping mare beside him. His eyes widened in shock with who actually laid next to him. The last thing he remembered was that he had fought the Spirit of Chaos, and now he laid next to a beautiful midnight blue mare. Her eternal mane waved even without wind. Her long horn pierced through her mane and wonderful wings stretched from her body over to Soul. They glimmered majestically their full length. If Soul didn't knew who this mare was, he would probably fall in love with her. A loud swallowing noise escaped him. In fear to wake her up, he tried to keep the sound down and covered his mouth with his hooves.
But it didn't keep the mare from awaking from her dreams. Her eyes slowly opened. The bluish-green orb put Soul into focus immediately. She released him of the grip her wings were holding upon him and raised her huge body. Her mane fell over her face. She tilted sideways, and looked at him for a few seconds. Soul didn't know what to do. He just sat there watching her moves. He began to sweat, his heart began to race. Only one question was important to him now. Was his fight against Chaos in vein? What if he won and the Princess saw him as new threat and wanted to kill him?
The midnight-blue mare lowered her head carefully. She didn't want scare the little colt. Soul closed his eyes in fear of what she will do.
It was just a brief moment, painless and quick. The beautiful but scary mare in front of him had kissed him right on his injured horn. When the sensation left him, he opened his eyes. The mare had already moved back to her original position, giving him a warm smile.
“Good morning Sweetheart, my name is Princess Selene and from now on this will be your new home.”
Small tears formed in his eyes. He dashed forward into the hooves of the Princess, sobbing into her coat. As the first tear touched the ground, the pictures froze, becoming blurry again. They pulled him away from his memories back to the darkness he wandered through.
Soul shook his head violently. He quickly opened his eyes. But everything around him was dark again. “Why are you showing me this?”
Something seemed to move in the darkness. His eyes followed the unreal shadow that was circling him. “I want you to remember the emotions you're suppressing. There was so much in your life.”
On Soul's right side opened a new window. He looked at it only from the corner of his eye, but it was enough to pull him into another of his memories. His sight faded into darkness before the light slowly began to return. He looked carefully around himself. He sat right next to the obsidian throne which contained Princess Selene. Soul himself sat in a smaller version of it. They were obviously in the throne-room of the castle in the Everfree Forest. The left side was decorated with a darker colour. The right side was the perfect opposite. It was decorated with much lighter and happier colours. The throne on the other side of Princess Selene's throne was still empty, like the smaller version next to it. They were crafted out of white marble. His observations were interrupted when a big white alicorn and a grey unicorn colt entered the room. The white alicorn looked at him for a few seconds, but turned quickly to her own sister. “Sister, we have something to discuss. Would you please follow me to the planning chamber?”
Princess Selene stroked Soul with her wing and left the room with her sister. The young unicorns remained alone in the room, staring at each other from the distance. Soul raised from his throne and stepped in front of the other unicorn. They never lost eye-contact while Soul approached him. The grey unicorn began to grin. “My name is Star Swirl. I'm the student of Princess Helia. And you?”
Soul looked at him, tilting his head slightly sidewards. “My name is Black Terror. I'm the student of Princess Selene.”
Star Swirl began to laugh maniacally. Soul didn't know what he should do. Star Swirl poked him on the shoulder. “That's a funny name. I never met a pony whose name was that weird. Where did you get it?” He still laughed hard.
Soul's face became sad and a frown formed. “Princess Selene gave it to me.”
Star Swirl's laughter stopped immediately. His eyes widened in shock. “Are you the son of Princess Selene?”
Now even Soul began to grin. “Nah, she just had found me. I didn't remember my real name. I lost my memory when Discord raided my home town and destroyed everything, including my family.”
Star Swirl looked at the ground. He didn't know what to say. He was never in a situation like this. Soul already turned around to mount his mini-throne again. When he felt a weak slap in his back. He turned around and saw that Star Swirl was running away from him. “Catch me if you can, Blacky!”
Soul's pride didn't allow him to let him escape like that. When he started to gallop after him, his sight blurred again and the darkness returned.
He had to smile weakly at this memory. At this time he didn’t have any worries or responsibilities.
The voice seemed to stroke through his mane somehow. “Didn't you find your fortune there, my friend?”
A single tear dropped down his cheek. The pain in his heart increased to an unbelievable measure. Such intense pain, much stronger than the pain any sword or axe could cause. Another white light appeared next to him. His eyes widened in shock. “No! Don't do this to me! Don't show me this!”
With his final words his sight left him again. This weird light brought him once again to the old castle. He remembered the weight of his heavy captain’s armour. It was so unhandy, but made him look even more scary. He walked through the corridors of the castle. All the servants were cleaning and polishing the marble floor and the furniture. He picked random servants and pushed them into the dirt, flipping over flower pots or tripping 'accidentally' against their water bucket to punished them. Every time he grinned a little more. He enjoyed seeing other ponies suffer.
Every time the cleaning squad was done, they had to assemble in a neat row to get a speech from the responsible pony. In this special case, this pony was Black Terror. One after another, he humiliated them, letting them suffer, paying for mistakes they didn't do. He enjoyed how they cringed in fear in front of him. While he was occupied with a servant, another one dropped a brush. His target changed immediately.
Just before he began to yell, the servant next to him stepped protectively before her colleague. “Listen, you jerk! You can't just come here and treat us like that! We do everything for the Princesses and you, but you’re treating us like we aren’t ponies. You treat us like we are worthless! Remember that the smallest parts of a running machine are always the major ones. I see now why 'normal' ponies don't like you! You might be a powerful Captain, but you're a terrible pony that treats others like dirt. Even now you're alone! You have no one besides the Princess! In the end, you will die alone and no one will remember you or mourn over your death. You are the worthless piece of junk here!”
One of the guards that observed the gateway between this room and a corridor rapidly approached this servant. His pike already aimed at the throat of hers. “Know your place, servant!”
Just mere inches before the pike would have pierced through her coat, it ignited in black flames and disappeared into thin air. Soul's face turned dark, a shadow laying over his eyes. Nopony could have possibly known what he was thinking at that moment. “Tell me your name, servant.”
The servant was breathing rapidly and unsteadily. “My name is Harmony, Sir.”
Soul turned around and proceed to leave the room. “Harmony shall remain unharmed. I'm awaiting her in my private chamber this evening.”
The other servants pulled her into a tight hug every of them were so happy that nothing happened to her. The servant she had protected held her tight. “I can't believe it! He didn't harm you and even called you by your name! This has never happened before.”
Harmony looked at the ground next to her friend. “Yeah, I think so... .”
Soul went back to his chamber and placed himself right in front of the window. He just sat there, following the sun in the sky. The sun slowly took its path through the firmament while time passed, the sky turning from blue to a crimson red. His trance was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. He didn't respond, just watching the door open. A pure white mare with a rainbow-coloured mane and wonderful magenta eyes entered the room. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”
Her bravery was gone by now. In the meantime, she got afraid that he could harm her after all when nopony was watching. Soul turned around and walked towards her. She closed her eyes and waited for his hoof to strike her face, but it never came. She only felt a heavy hoof on her shoulder and the clinging sound of metal in front of her. Her eyes shoot open. With her watery eyes she saw the massive stallion staring at the ground. “Thank you Harmony. You are right: I'm alone. Nopony would care if I disappeared. I would just be replaced. I have no friends and no family. Everypony left a long time ago, before I became… this. I really appreciate that you told me the truth. I'm sure somepony like you has a family that is waiting for you everyday. I will raise your pay so at least one pony in this wicked castle is happy.”
He could hear a small sob from the mare before him. He raised his head to looked directly at her. She had began to cry. But why? She shoved his hoof away and threw her own around his neck and pulled him in a caring embrace. “You're not the only one. You're not alone!”
The pictures stopped and blurred away. Back in the darkness he couldn't contain himself any more. He sank to the ground heavily, sobbing and crying. “Why! Tell me why you are doing this!”
The darkness played with the hair around his neck. It carefully stroked him like a caring friend would do. “Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry.”
A wicked laughter rang through his ears, like it was already inside his head. “I didn't think that somepony that had slayed thousands without regret would cry like a little foal when I showed him what is long gone.”
Soul raised once again to his hooves. Anger was written in his bloodshot eyes. His horn ignited in a bright sapphire-blue light, shooting lightning bolts in random direction in hope to hit the owner of this voice. “Stop digging in my memories! Stop reminding me what had led me to my madness!”
For a second the voice seemed to disappear, but soon the voice spoke up again. “Hmm... you're really upset I suppose. Let's see how you will react now.”
Around Soul lit a circle of light. His view became blurry again. He fought to keep consciousness. “No! You won't send me somewhere else!”
His horn began to glow again, bright enough to blind anypony that would have been watching. The dark voice silenced for a short moment before it continued, bold and cold. “You have no choice.”
Soul's eyes refused to work for a second. When he regained his ability to see, he found himself in his personal chamber in the old castle of the Princesses. He looked around his old room. In front of him was his desk. It was made of a dark glazed wood with obsidian handles on the drawers. Various notes were dispersed on its surface. Laying around were notes that ranged from training schedules for his soldiers to letters from his beloved fillyfriend. He picked the short letter that laid on top of the neatly arranged pile of letters and read it one more time.
[/hr]
Dear Blacky,
We need to talk. It is really urgent. I'm not saying too much, but I tell you that this will change our lives forever. I will come to your working chamber when my shift is over.
Your fillyfriend,
Harmony
[/hr]
He laid the letter aside, turned around and looked out of the window behind him. The sky already turned crimson and the sun almost disappeared behind the endless forest beneath him. Harmony's shift was nearly over. He had told her that she should quit being a servant or at least become his personal assistant since he earned enough bits to provide for both of them easily, but she refused. She said she wanted to work with her friends, that she wouldn't leave them, and that she knew her origins very well and she won't forget them.
He lost himself in his thoughts until the door behind him unlocked and slowly swung open. Harmony stuck her head inside the room to check if he was there. She pushed the door fully open with her shoulder while her head hung low. She didn't look up to him while she approached him slowly. “Sweetheart? We have to talk.”
Soul's heartbeat paused for a moment. His worst fear seemed to fulfil itself. “Yes, I think so...”
Harmony tilted her head carefully to look in his eyes. The difference in height was undeniable. He was already much bigger than Harmony but she made herself as small as possible in this moment. “I think you should sit down first.”
Soul nodded and walked over to the spare bed that he had placed in his working chamber many months ago in case he had to work during the night. He placed himself gently on the bed and offered Harmony a place next to him.
Harmony refused and sat down in front of him. Her lips were pointed downwards. It couldn't be something good. He expected the worst. “Blacky, I don't know how to say it, but sooner or later I have to tell you, though.”
He nodded in approval. He could barely manage to hold back his tears. He knew that everything would change, that everything would come to an end. Everything will change and will never be the same than before. “It's okay. I knew that this day would come.”
Harmony began to show him a little smile and grabbed his hooves. “We have been a couple for two years now and for the last few weeks, I felt different about us. I think this is the right time to tell you.”
Her eyes wandered downwards for a second. He grabbed her hooves tighter. Harmony raised to her full size and had tears in her shining eyes. But she wasn't crying because she was sad. She was happy. Her lips flashed a bright smile. “Blacky! I'm pregnant!”
Soul's mind became empty. He didn't knew what to say. He just stammered senseless word fragments.
Harmony wrapped her hooves around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. “Isn't it wonderful? My doctor already confirmed it. I wanted to be sure before I told you.”
Slowly, Soul collected his thoughts. He pushed Harmony slowly away from himself. Her smile faded immediately, her filled with uncertainty. “Blacky? Aren't you happy for us?”
Soul looked at the ground in front of her hooves and laid down on his knees. He paused for a moment. Harmony began to cry. “Don't tell me you...-”
He grabbed her left front hoof and tilted his head upwards. Despite the fact he was kneeling, he and Harmony were about the same height now. He looked directly into her eyes. “There is only one thing I could say now. Harmony? Will you marry me?”
Harmony halted in shock, tears running freely over her cheeks. She threw herself at him and caused him to fall on his flank. They sank into a deep kiss until they slowly rose again and laid on the bed.
She broke the kiss carefully. “Yes. I will!”
The moment she leaned in to kiss him again the pictures ripped apart. It felt like Soul was thrown into a raging torrent. His eyes still refused to work but his ears did pretty well. The sound of metals clashing together and ponies screaming beat out the majority of the background noises.
Something changed on his inside. The feeling of happiness and delight was gone. It was replaced with regret and pain, though his body felt warm and tensed up. This feeling was familiar to him. It was the feeling when he used the power of the stars themselves, the current of power that flew through his body and connected him with the divine. A cold feeling ran over his back when he remembered the last time he felt this way.
Carefully, he opened his eyes. His worst fear was confirmed in this moment. It was indeed the last time he had used this seemingly infinite power. He was surrounded by a blinding white light, where the power of time and space met. But that wasn't the issue here. The one that opposed him in this battle was his one and only friend. Star Swirl got caught in between the colliding forces of space and time. Both of them were strong, but neither of them were immortal for real. They had their specific spells to keep them young, but someday time would have caught up with them, and they finally would have ceased. But that wasn't the worst part of it. It was the fact that he never screamed or winced in pain. He just remained calm and collected like he always did and endured the misery while his body got ripped apart. Star Swirl looked at him with a weird expression. It seemed like he was … happy. “So this is how it will end?”
A small tear ran down his face. Soul couldn't bear the pain that he had killed his friend with his own hooves. “Why? Why, did we have to fight? Why did this come so far? I don't want to lose you!”
Star Swirl laughed from the core of his heart. “Blacky, I've seen the future. I know what has happened and what will happen. It is destiny that you win this fight, and for the greater good… I have to fade.”
The torrent of creation ripped every fabric of his body apart. He began to disappear, leaving his head only. His face began to crumble. Only his left eye and mouth was left. “Listen. You will suffer great losses, but everything will make sense when you reach the end of your journey.Take my power and run! Run and never stop! Don't look back! You have to fulfil your destiny!”
The remnants of Star finally faded between the rift in time and space. When it fully closed, it expanded rapidly and burst the light cone apart.
White glowing fragments hovered carefully to the ground. Two ponies had entered the cone, but only one had left. Soul's flaming wings carried him through the sky. Tears still ran down his cheeks.
“Star... what was that supposed to mean? Why should I suffer loses?”
The warm feeling inside of him faded, and a cold feeling appeared in his heart. “HARMONY!”
His wings expanded. With insane speed, he soared through the sky, leaving a trace of destruction wherever he flew over, burning down every living creature down there. One of the soldiers of the Solar Guard saw this scene. He knew what this had to mean. He screamed desperately. “Captain Star Swirl had fallen! Retreat!”
The Solar Guards fled from the blazing rage of Captain Black Terror. He was heading directly to the place where he had felt the presence of Harmony, Princess Helia, and Princess Selene. They hid in a small valley. He flew as fast as his magical wings could carry him. The moment he crossed the cliffs of the valley, he rocketed up to the sky to dive down and kill his enemy with one single fatal blow.
His head tilted downwards, but what he saw shocked him deeply. His own teacher, mentor, and somehow stepmother stood there, badly beaten. Harmony didn’t look much better. Two guards held Harmony in place. They pinned her to the ground and pushed her head into the dirt. A third guard stood in front of her with a alabaster white pike.
Princess Helia stared directly into his eyes. It was only for a moment, but before he could react, her mouth formed one single fatal word. “Exterminate!” Her white wings flared.
Her head shot upwards when they pulled violently at her mane. She stood nearly upright and had to present her round belly. The little filly inside her had quite grown in the past few months. The third guard took his arms, lashed out and pierced the pike through her belly. Over the alabaster white pike flew a stream of blood, blood from two different ponies. From his one and only love and from his unborn daughter. The blood dripped, drop for drop, to the ground. Something liquid and shiny seemed to elevate from within her body up in the air. It hovered there for a second before it devided and merged with six circular relicts that were placed around them.
Soul’s common sense faded, and pure wrath and anger overthrew his rational thoughts. There it was again, the feeling of this infinite power, but this time it was different. This time, he didn't control it. Something different had controlled him. It felt like he was only a spectator, that he only watched himself casting one of the most powerful spells casted in history. The last thing he saw was the screaming face of Princess Helia before he entered the void. Nothing could escape, everything would fade. He ripped everything apart. It didn't matter if it was enemy or friend. He took the whole Nightmare Legion with him. He left no place for a new conflict to boil. Princess Helia was gone. He thought he had killed an immortal. Later he had to learn that this was already the second time his immortal opponent had survived.
He had fallen through the cracks in the fabric of time. The last thing he heard from his own time was the voice of a bright and motherly tone that he had never heard before. “Sister, I'm so sorry... I created the Elements to create my own world, but now I understand. I have to use them to create eternal peace! Please forgive me... .”
The crack was directly in front of him. He passed through the crack and woke up in reality. He looked around him and learned that he was back in the void, where his journey had began. Alone? No. The voice was still there. “I'm surprised, no tears?”
Soul had become stern and the emotions left his mind. “Do you know what happens if you hurt a pony over and over again?”
The voice didn't respond. Soul's voice echoed back to him. He didn't need to wait for a reply. “This pony will become a monster, and that is exactly what I have become. A monster.”
Laughter rang through the darkness. “Haha, really? You didn't seem to be such a monster when you laid on the ground with this cute little farmer mare.”
Soul knew that this might be the truth, but he was still a murderer and war criminal that took the lives of thousands. “So what? She reminded me of Harmony. Well, actually, she possesses a part of Harmony's personality. I lost my stance for a moment, that is all.”
If the darkness had a face, it would have grinned now for sure. “So it wouldn't matter if… something would happen to her?”
For a moment, Soul's breath stopped, but for the first time since the voice talked to him here, he continued his path. “No.”
The voice had to suppress his wicked laugh while he continued to speak. “So you wouldn't be interested in what will happen to her in the future?”
He stopped for a slight moment but walked further. “And how would you achieve this? There is only a single living creature that can mess with time itself, and this pony… is me!”
Around him the air got significant colder. “I know.”
Something seemed to form in front of his eyes. Some sort of thin tendril began to take shape. The black background didn't allow him to located it exactly. Only its movement was slightly visible. The tendril extended and forcefully touched his forehead before Soul could react and dodge.
His view faded again. He really began to hate this feeling. His view returned much faster this time. It wasn't like the visions before. In there, he was the main character. Now he was only a silent spectator from one corner of the room.
The scenery distressed him. There were three alicorns sitting in chairs with the insignia of the sun, moon, and a crystal shaped heart. A single unicorn sat beside them. He recognized two of them immediately. Even though the blue mare had changed, she still looked like his Princess Selene. The pink one wasn't familiar to him. He didn’t recognize her in any way. But what really stressed him was the white alicorn in the middle. Her mane, eyes, and voice may have been changed, but still he recognized her as Princess Helia. He didn't pay much attention to the unicorn, since she was a mere mortal.
Soul observed his surroundings and looked for well known faces. His gaze stopped upon Applejack, but it didn't last for long. The air pressure fell and became cold. The windows flashed open and a dark blue mist entered the room. The audience fled in fear while the mist materialized.
His eyes widened in shock when he realized who entered the room. The mare looked even more like Princess Selene than the blue alicorn in the chair, except for her eyes and voice. Even the magic shared similarities. It felt like the magic of Princess Selene back then.
He got distracted and lost focus. Slowly, he felt something changing again. A second, very familiar magical source roamed up. Applejack and her friends stood around the wicked mare and fired with their shining trinkets at her. This magic was the very same magic that made Harmony so precious to him, the magic that brought peace everywhere it was used. But something was different. One of the aspects got constantly weaker and unstable. The swirl around the darker half of Princess Luna got pushed away from a dark pulse. A loud cracking noise followed a heavy shock wave that blew over the ground. The tiara on Twilight's head had shattered.
The pictures in front of his eyes became distorted. He knew this phenomenon. It happens when a pony tries to travel through time without leaving reality.
The next thing he saw was as if Nightmare Moon was pierced through her back, and fell to the ground . But as soon as they came closer to take care of her, a pillar of flames appeared around her and a white alicorn mare took her away, a mare with reddish eyes that seeked for blood. He only could see her for a short moment, but he would never forgot this particular face.
His vision ripped apart completely. He quickly shook off the after-effects of the spell and yelled out into the darkness. “HOW? How could she return! I banished at least this part of Princess Helia for all eternity!”
The dark tendril multiplied and stroked around his body. “For all eternity? Don't make me laugh. You should know best that nothing is truly eternal. Like your exile and your ‘eternal’ love towards Harmony.”
The tension inside his body reached its peak. Magic began to leak from his horn. “Shut up, Monster! Don't you dare question my love towards her!”
The dark matter tightened around his left side and crawled slowly up his legs. “Oh really? You just had said that you don't care about the Elements, and as far as I know, they are Harmony. So you lied when you said you would protect her for as long as you lived?”
Soul bit his lip until blood dripped down his chin. His eyes showed the urge to rage and destroy. “Harmony is dead! Helia killed her to create that weapon! So stop talking rubbish!”
The darkness tightened more and more. It had crawled up to his back and began to form. Out from Soul's, horn more magic began to leak. The darkness began to whisper into his ear. “In this case, you will be more than happy to see their fate.”
In front of him, a half-fluid, nearly circular surface began to expand. It looked like a pond that was placed perfectly vertically in the air without spilling a single drop of its water. The pond glowed in a bright beige light. Within a second, he saw the Colosseum of Canterlot. Countless black creatures surrounded a much smaller group of ponies.
Soul took a closer look at the situation he pressed air out of his nostrils and leaned back again. “I don't know this building. What purpose does it have?”
A feeling of heat swept over his back as the voice whispered again. “This is the Colosseum of Canterlot. The Princesses were holding there a little tournament to create a squad that should be able to defeat you. They wanted to kill you and even your Princess Selene, or at least what is left of her wants to see you dead. Please feel free to take a more precise look.”
Once more, Soul closed the distance between him and the pond. The pictures changed and showed him the horrible happenings down there. The sinister laughter of the dark Princesses rang through his ears. Underneath them laid the bodies of eight ponies. Princess Luna's and Princess Celestia's wings were torn away and their horns were broken. They didn't move nor did they breathe. The black creatures began to eat from their flesh to gain strength from the princesses that seemed to be immortals. The other six corpses belonged to the Elements of Harmony. A cyan body that was pushed inside one of the Colosseum walls. Remains of a pink puffy mane were scorched to nearly unrecognisable fragments. A trail of blood lead to a white, headless body. Butter-coloured feathers were distributed all over the ground with sprinkles of blood on them. A lavender unicorn, dried blood surrounding its chest, lay in a heap on the ground.
The creatures started to devour their flesh as well. In the centre of the arena laid an orange mare, her gaze pointed upwards to the sky. Her eyes were dull and grey tears underlined them. She died only minutes ago. At last, the creatures began to feed from her flesh. Soul would never forget the expression in her watery eyes. They asked one simple question. 'Why?'
Soul turned his head away from the awful future. A single tear rolled down his cheek. The weight upon his back increased. It wasn't the weight of the darkness. It was the weight of his guilt. A weird feeling of heat and pressure occurred inside his left eye. He could feel something crawling up his neck. The faint whispers in his ears made him more and more nervous. “And the best is that the credit for everything goes to you.”
His eyes widened in shock when he realized how true this statement was. If he hadn’t returned, then they would still be alive and living happily. “That is enough!”
He turned around and looked once more into the pond. The pictures of death and decay were gone. They were replaced by his own reflection.
The matter that had climbed up his back formed to a draconian wing, and his eye had turned blood-red with a slitted pupil. Stunned, he stared at his own wretched form. This was the very first time he saw himself turned. It was an awful sight. It looked so sinister, so... evil.
The darkness inside his head continued to poison his mind. “You and I, we could rule them all, destroying everything that doesn’t suit us, taking revenge on everypony that has hurt us!”
Soul's eyes changed. He slowly lost control of his own thoughts. The whisper felt so trustworthy, so right. Wrath and anger crept into his mind. He began to speak to himself with a demonic voice. “Yes, we should kill them, devour their souls, and let them suffer as much as I had to suffer… I-”
“NOO!” The atmosphere inside the void began to tremble. Soul's horn ignited in a bright blue aura. “This is not the fate I wanted for Equestria. This is against everything I stood for, against everything that Harmony had stood for!”
The pond widened in its diameter, expanding that so far that a fully grown stallion could easily walk through it. The darkness around him pushed into his flank and ribs to suppress his breathing. “What are you up to? Stop it! I thought you didn’t care?”
The surface of the pond began to snap, long cracks extending from one side to another. “I will save them, no matter how much I could mess up.”
He felt the weight on his back decreasing with every single word. But the darkness wouldn’t give up so fast. “You can't change fate.”
A wicked grin formed on Soul's lips. It was the same grin he flashed every time he knew that he would win for sure. “I can't change fate but time still can be rewritten.”
The cracks on the pond's surface multiplied in their numbers. They created a fine web that only needed one simple weak hoof-push to break. He felt lighter with every second that passed. The darkness was still there, but its whispers were barely audible anymore. “This is a fixed point in time. If you prevent these events, you could throw Equestria into absolute chaos.”
Once more, his horn ignited brightly. Confident, he stared at the cracked image of a pond. “Then I will save it again and again, over and over, until I take my last breath.”
With a blast of his magic, the pond finally cracked completely and left a hole in the exact same spot that led to the time it had showed before. With a single powerful step, he walked through the gate and entered the Colosseum. The void was empty again. Only the sound of a giant bell sounded through the still open gate inside.
The darkness around Soul had faded. It was left behind, inside the endless stillness of the void. The sound of the bell fainted slowly. The crack inside the fabric of reality repaired itself and closed completely. Nothing was left, just darkness and a single dark voice. “May your wish become true. It is so delightful to play the puppeteer. A weighty choice was yours to make, a right selection or a big mistake. If a wrong choice you choose to pursue the foundations of home will crumble without you. And you fool chose wrong! Your own sorrow is your greatest weakness, my dear friend.”
The voice succumbed to his own laughter again. Madness had clearly taken the better of it. The insane laughter lasted for minutes before he spoke his final words. “I am the sin, and the temptation, and the desire, and the pain and the loss. My army and I will rise from the pit of hell to make war against God. My legion shall be many, and my legion shall be free. I have woven myself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. I will be free again and devastate the world of Harmony!”