//------------------------------// // In a perfect world... // Story: Buck My Life // by JasontheDemon //------------------------------// In A Perfect World... The being before me was giggling maniacally. At first glance it appeared to be Jason... but I knew it wasn’t. This... this thing was out of his mind. He reminded me of myself when I had lost my grip on reality shortly after resealing Discord in stone. His smile was strained and creepy. Head tilted to the side as his eye and ear twitched. But out of all the things that frightened me, nothing came close to the look in his eyes. They were wide open, which I had never seen before from Jason, however the irises were small and focused solely on me. Everything in his appearance gave off the vibe of a psychopath bent on murder. Only one name came to mind when I saw him... Dusk. He was the dark horrifying side of Jason that I only had a few small glimpses at. He was hatred, despair, sorrow, and every other dark emotion that Jason had always kept locked in his heart behind a mask of pure happiness that he never allowed himself to feel. It was like I could tell everything about him just by feeling the foul aura he gave off. “Takes your breath away, doesn’t he?” Discord said, looking at Dusk as I did and wrapping his arm around me as if he was proud of what he made. I broke myself from his embrace then shouted in anger, “What did you do to him?! THIS IS NOT JASON!” Discord's look of shock from my outrage slid into a smug smile, “Don’t you remember? This is what I did to all your little friends. Speaking of which, where are they? I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces!” “They aren’t coming... I am going to save Jason because he saved me.” I said quietly, clenching my teeth. I was actually glad I didn’t bring everypony along now. Discords betrayal would have broke Fluttershy's heart... and I think he was counting on that. “Oh sweet chaos... YOU ARE ACTUALLY IN LOVE WITH HIM! That is just too rich! I must say Twilight Sparkle, I was not expecting you to make it this easy for me. All I needed was for him to get rid of one Element so I would finally be free. I WAS going to try to separate you all with some chaotic tricks to make it easier for him, but you coming alone saved me the trouble!” Discord then vanished and reappeared right in front of me to kiss me right on the lips. “THANK YOU, YOU STUPID LOVE SICK UNICORN! YOU JUST GAVE ME EQUESTRIA ON A SILVER PLATTER!” I spat and vigorously rubbed my lips to get rid of whatever remained from the kiss. “Ta-ta for... well, forever I suppose! Ha ha ha! Okay... now you can kill her.” Discord snapped his fingers and vanished, leaving us to whatever fate had in store. The absolute terror I felt from before returned as I found myself with the mentally unstable stallion who I once cared for so deeply. I thought it was horrible to see him in such a state and only want to run. I was torn between saving him and saving myself. At this point I didn’t even know if he could be saved. Sure with Applejack, Pinkie, and the others, I could use the element they represented and our bond to destroy the spell that took hold of them... but how could I do the same for somepony who had no element or a strong bond with anything? I knew from experience that Jason’s mind was a labyrinth that even I didn’t dare to tread. I wasn’t going to attempt something that had such a low chance at success, but that left the question; what was I going to do? My focus shifted away from my racing thoughts when Dusk started to move forward. His mad smile never left his face as he spoke. “I have great plans for this world! You would just love it... that is if you were going to be alive for it. You’ve never had a world war before, have you? I thought that was a shame so I started to spread a mind altering energy wave! Once it has covered the planet, every living creature will be filled with so much anger and aggression that they will all fight to... the... DEATH! Hehehehe! It’s funny because that's what we are about to do! ISN’T IT WONDERFUL HOW THINGS JUST WORK OUT THAT WAY?!” It was disturbing hearing him talk this way. His intelligence hadn’t dwindled, but he was using his brilliance to start war! He was pure evil at this point, and I was no longer just scared of him... I was scared of what I might end up doing to prevent the twisted plan he came up with. As he approached me I got ready and teleported away to what I thought was a safe distance. I was positioned to be looking at him, but to my surprise he was gone. I blinked a few times and nervously looked to my left and right. “Looking for someone?” I heard him whisper... into my ear! He teleported behind me! I jumped and quickly backed away from him, making sure he never left my sight. He knew exactly where I planned to teleport before I had even done so! Something about what he was doing didn’t seem right. I knew he was smart and powerful but this took the cake! He was spreading his influence across not just Equestria, but all of Equus if I understood him correctly. Not only that but he was able to predict my moves and mimic them without even showing any effort. To find out if he was truly more skilled than before I shifted the property of gravitational pull around me and fell to the ceiling. What he did next threw me for a loop. He pushed himself up and fell on his back, but when he hit the floor, he didn’t stop! he fell through it and disappeared. After a few brief moments, he re-emerged in front of me with his hooves on the ceiling. He shifted his atomic structure so that he could phase through the solid floor and then he came out after he changed the effect gravity had on him! I couldn’t even phase through things yet! That was highly advanced magic that was only accessible to the most powerful unicorns in existence! “You look surprised! Let me explain. My cutie mark gives me nearly unlimited knowledge, and unbeknownst to you, I was training with microscopic black hole spells to increase my power! I was going to use my new strength to go home, but what fun would that be?! Here the saying ‘knowledge is power’ is actually true, and that makes me a god!” He shouted, laughing yet again. “You don’t have to do this! You can stop and come back home with me! Please...” I begged him, hoping this was all just a bad dream as I felt my eyes begin to water. What he did next was... unexpected to say the least. He ran up, threw his hooves around me, and began to waltz. “I knew you still loved me! Oh this is great! Now we can be together forever and rule over everything in the new world order... just me and my Queen!” He quickly threw me to the floor (or ceiling if you want to be technical about it) and laughed. “HA! I bet you actually believed me! Too bad Master Discord ordered me against loving you back or I might have considered it. Well orders are orders, goodbye!” I was barely able to put up a magnetic energy field in time to deflect his blast. He was now shooting at me with lasers. I knew that basic laser spells were just focused radiation beams so putting up a magnetic shield like the natural energy field that protects our planet from the suns most intense rays was the best defence. However, I knew that he would not stop at lasers alone and he would quickly find a way around my strategy. I had to stay three steps ahead of him. It was like when we played chess a few weeks ago... but this time the stakes were our lives. He started charging his magic again, so I flipped and readjusted the pull of gravity again in order to get some distance. Dusk countered by leaping through the air, bouncing off of nothing and changing direction so fast that it was hard to keep up. I knew he was using a technique of shifting spatial force and pull to give him access to such maneuvers. It was yet another advanced spell that only the best and most talented unicorns could perform. Lucky for me, I was quite talented myself and had a wide selection of spells to attack as well as defend. He flew towards me with his hooves stuck out. Before he struck I turned away and got ready to buck. When he got close, we clashed. I estimated correctly and our power output was even, cancelling out both attacks in a stalemate. He may not have believed I was as smart as him, but I could certainly hold my own if I had to. Before he was able to get away, I modified his excess kinetic energy to smash him against the ground. He got up and rubbed his foreleg across the blood that began to drip from his lower lip. He looked at it and laughed in manic delight. “FINALLY! I was afraid that this was going to be boring! Now that you’re fighting back, the REAL fun can begin!” He said before erratically flailing about his legs. No, it wasn’t erratic... it was precise and focused strikes, but they were seemingly aimed at nothing. His movements reminded me of a group of fighters that once came to Canterlot when I was still a little filly. They were from a far off place that trained in martial arts and mind over matter. I noticed that his speed was increasing and coming to a climax of whirling fury. I thought he was just being random until I suddenly remembered what happened at the end of the martial arts performance... the unicorns of the group used the built up energy that came from the fighters to shoot out an invisible wave of intense magic. He was charging his attack! When he released the torrent of magic, it kicked up dust from the floor out of sheer power alone. I managed to use that to teleport away in time behind a pillar. If he was going to be attacking like this I was going to need to make a plan. “Twilight... Come out, come out wherever you are! We need to finish our first game before we start a new one! Hehehe...” I blocked out his voice and focused on what I could do so I could use what I had to stop him and Discord. As he got closer and closer, I felt that my options became fewer and fewer. I knew one thing I could do that would give me an advantage but I was too afraid to use it. I forbid myself from using it after I heard of the potential long term after effects it could have. Celestia told me that if I were to use it again, I might not be able to control the power and harm myself or even my friends. The spell I speak of is not even a spell as much as a way of thought really, but it can consume you if you aren’t careful. It was the dark magic that I learned to use while trying to stop King Sombra. The thing was that if you filled your heart with hate and malevolence you could tap into massive reserves of magical energy and perform powerful spells that weren’t available otherwise... but if you use it too much you can be corrupted and turn out like Sombra. It's like you let it use you as much as you use it but the more you give, the stronger it gets until you are devoured completely and only it remains. The power can even twist your mind and make it difficult to see a reason for changing back. I heard his steps only a few feet away now. He was so close I could hear his breathing... and I could also hear my own rapidly beating heart beat. I was scared. More scared than I ever had been before. Most of the time I thought I was brave, but that amounts to nothing when you believe you are going to die. Suddenly, the clopping of his hooves on the floor stopped and I could no longer hear him. I slowly peeked around the pillar and found that he was indeed gone. I let out a sigh of relief, thinking I was safe. however, I was far from it... “Oh Twilight. Peek-a-boo...” I heard coming from the floor right beneath me. I looked down to see a crease in the stone, then it opened to reveal an eye. “EYE see you! HA HA HA HA!” Startled out of my wits I jumped at least eight feet away, out into the middle of the hall. I could feel myself trembling from the fear induced adrenaline. As I focused on calming my nerves from the shock, Dusk rose out of the ground. “What’s the matter?! Don’t you like puns!?!” After that last trick I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t let him sneak up on me like that without having some way to protect myself. I needed power... even if it came from the darkest part of the heart. I knew I made an agreement with the princess not to use dark magic, but it was either this or no chance to come out victorious at all. I began to focus my magic, but unlike normal, I forced myself to feel pure hate. Its hard to describe how it’s done, though I will say the sensation you get is euphoric. It feels like you have the entire world at your disposal and that feels fantastic. Another thing about it is you don’t feel usual aches and pains like normal. Instead pain and anything that may normally feel bad is pleasurable. A cut would be like a tickle and a broken rib would be like a nice warm bath. That's what makes it so addicting... you initially feel great and the more you get hurt the better it gets so it makes finding a reason to go back to pain difficult. After a few moments I could feel it changing my magic as well as my body. The dark energy coursed through me like the ocean current, churning and thrashing about... dying to free itself and unleash mayhem. I wasn’t going to let it though. I was the one in control and I was going to do my best to make sure it stayed that way. There was too much on the line for me to go mad with power now. “Ooh! Lucky me! Now I get the chance to beat that pretty green out of your eyes too?! And it’s not even my birthday!” Dusk shouted in glee. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had to in order to save Equestria (pardon my language, but I just realized that being the Element of Magic sucks). He went on the offensive first by materializing ice and firing it at me. We countered each other with various elements for a while after that. First I melted the ice with fire, then he put out the fire with the leftover water, then I mixed dirt into the water to make mud, then he fossilized the mud into stone, etcetera. Somewhere along the line I managed to liquefy the stone under his hoof without him noticing which tripped him. I charged in to knock him out while I had the chance, however he forced me up to the ceiling and I smashed into it rather hard. Thankfully, like I said earlier, while using dark magic, you don’t feel pain. But don’t think I wasn’t upset with his attack. Oh no, I was furious (probably because of the side effects of the dark magic more than anything). To get revenge I sent out intense focused sound vibrations. They were so powerful that they acted like miniature invisible razors. I thought that he would possibly bleed enough from the multiple cuts that he might pass out from blood loss, but the only thing that seemed to be damaged was his jacket. I figured that he changed his cellular structure to make his skin impervious to the onslaught of sound. Undeterred by my attempt to hurt him, Dusk began to free himself from the hardened stone around his back left hoof. He tore from the ground like it was cardboard, then set his eyes on me. Desperate to keep the battle in my favor I tried everything I could, unleashing every spell I could think of at the time. First I put up several layers of Shining Armor's trademark shield. They were ripped apart instantly... so I tried a different approach. I decided to increase the density of his bones and weigh him down. When I finished casting the spell, he should have weighed the equivalent of 2,000 pounds, but he didn’t stop walking. He wasn’t phased in the slightest. The increase in weight meant nothing because he could undo what I set in place. I moved on to a more drastic spell. I quickly oxygenated the air and then put it under a lot of pressure really fast to ignite it and cause an explosion. I learned that from this one thing called a fire syringe. Compressing air fast enough makes the particles to collide and under the right conditions, the heat from the colliding air particles causes ignition. I thought that I had brought him to a stop and began to relax but before I could even say ‘it’s over’, he emerged from the fire unscathed and grinning. He was like a demon straight from Tartarus! I began to panic and started telekinetically pushing him back as hard as I could, though it had little effect from him pushing in return. The pressure of our magic clashing made visible ripples in the air. I couldn’t keep him from walking right up to me. I had used the best spells in my arsenal and he brushed them off without so much as flinching! I even resorted to dark magic and it still wasn’t enough! As he neared me, he began to speak. He talked calmly at first but his volume escalated as he started to show his outrage at me. “Is this really all you have to offer, Twilight? You should at least have something creative up your sleeve! Tear me apart with telekinesis! Teleport me to the bottom of the ocean! Conjure a sword to cut my heart out! WHY CAN’T YOU HURT ME?!” That was a very good question... why couldn’t I hurt him? I had the answer, but it was more for Jason than it was for Dusk. Actually it was entirely for Jason and Dusk didn’t come into play at all, though they were essentially the same being. Looking into his crazed eyes I knew I couldn’t continue with this. “I... I don’t want to do this anymore. Let’s just stop this... I don’t want to fight you. Even though you aren’t the same as before, I can’t hurt you. I won’t...”, I said as I slowly let go of my contained hate, releasing the dark magic. The dark essence fled from my eyes and it felt like I was crying though I wasn’t... yet. I didn’t even blink as a strong wave of energy rushed past my face barely missing me. “YOU CAN’T JUST GIVE UP NOW! THE BATTLE MUST CONTINUE!” He yelled in a manner that sounded as if he was offended by my unwillingness to fight. I just shook my head. I then felt his magic wrap around my neck and I was lifted into the air. “If you want to end this, I’ll help you!” He swung me around and slammed me into nearly everything; the walls; the floor; the ceiling; pillars... it’s safe to say I screamed in pain more than once. I went completely limp after the first three hits like I was just a bigger version of Smarty Pants. The more he beat me against the stone and marble surroundings, the sleepier I felt. I could tell that he was beating the very life from my body and I could die from this. I remembered back to when I was sick and Jason told me what it felt like to be at the brink of death... it didn’t sound so bad actually. It sounded... peaceful. While I was thinking back to that night I suddenly remembered something. It was something I had said to him. I told him I loved him! I confessed my feelings to him! It all came back to me... but he knew the whole time. He knew how I felt and tried to hide that he knew. Why would he do that? Was it because he didn’t like me? Was it because he thought it wouldn’t work between us? Or was it because he loved me too and was afraid to tell me? After what seemed like an hour of being thrown into hard surfaces, he finally dropped me. I don’t know if its possible but it was like he broke my sensation to pain because I didn’t hurt as I laid motionless on the floor. He wasn’t kidding when he said you felt like every bit of energy was drained from you. As for it being so excruciating that I wanted to die, I didn’t experience anything like that. I just felt like dying wouldn’t be so bad. However Dusk wasn’t done with me quite yet. My ribs cracked and the lost sensation of pain came rushing back with a vengeance as he pressed his hooves down on my chest. He looked down at me, grinning ear to ear as he giggled at my cries of agony. “Where are your precious friends now?! How is friendship going to help you survive this?! Short answer; IT WON’T! Now give me a beautiful plea for mercy! GO AHEAD!” He yelled, pressing down slightly harder. I knew that this was my last chance to say what needed to be said. I guessed that I would only be able to get out a few words based on how weak I felt. The words probably weren’t the most eloquent or carefully chosen, but it was all I could think of at the time. “I... still... love you.” I managed to say in a strained whisper. I heard him laugh madly in response. My eyelids grew heavy and began to shut as the world blurred. The last thing I remember was hearing him say something that my barely conscious ears could no longer pick up, so it sounded like he was yelling something while I was underwater. Then I felt something wet hit my cheek and after that... darkness. * * * * * * Twisted images flashed before my eyes. They were fragments of what I was doing while still under the influence of Discord. I couldn’t piece together much but what I did gather was that I was fighting with Twilight, and it hurts to say... I was winning. I knew it wasn’t right and I wanted to stop but it was almost like the more I fought against it the stronger the urge to kill her became. When everything about you is changed to be the opposite, what normally would make you desire to stop only causes you to crave it more, if that makes sense. Somewhere along in the fight, Twilight changed and became that weird dark version of her that showed up in the second episode of season three. I had mixed feelings about her transformation. I knew that it would give her new powers, but I didn’t know what cost it came at or if it was even enough. At first I thought that she would have been able to kill me if she only stopped holding back and I remember that my message about it did come out, though it was much more of a taunt than helpful advice. What she did next was the not what I wanted. She gave up here more powerful form and refused to run. Inside I was screaming for her to flee, but what came from my lips was me yelling for her to keep fighting. I tried ordering my body to back off, but instead I picked up Twilight and pounded her into the floor over and over. I was forced to witness everything because my cutie mark prevented me from forgetting anything, even if I wasn’t in control. At long last, it finally ended. Twilight was bloody and bruised, lying on the floor, breathing heavily from the thrashing she received. I felt overjoyed at the sight, but I didn’t want to. Everything I felt and did was not me, but it was still my body that was responsible. As much as I hated what I had already done, what came next made me despise the fact that I was even born. I reared up and put my hooves on her chest. I felt her ribs crack under my weight. “Where are your precious friends now?! How is friendship going to help you survive this?! Short answer; IT WON’T! Now give me a beautiful plea for mercy! GO AHEAD!” I yelled, pressing down a little harder, making her cringe. She looked up at me with those big purple eyes of hers, and simple said, “I... still... love you.” She remembered that night... the first night she told me how she felt. Even after all I did, all the harm I brought her... she still loved me. I couldn’t make sense of it. How could anyone not only be so forgiving but loving as well? Twilight was smart and not like some human woman who would keep crawling back to one who abused her, so how could she say this now, when she was on the verge of dying? Her eyes closed and all I could hear was my own sadistic laughter. I couldn’t take it anymore! I couldn’t let it end like this! I was so sick and tired of what I had become! ‘GET OUT OF MY HEAD!’, I shouted in the confines of my mind. “No! I am not done yet! Know your place you pathetic excuse for a human!” Th-that came from my mouth! I was in control! I just had to keep pushing! ‘This is my body! You are not welcome here! GET OUT!’ “QUIT FIGHTING! I am in power! You are a mere remnant of my weaker half! I am the only thing that will give us what matters most!”, My alter self shouted, obviously losing himself from the pain surging through our mind. I was reverting. Just a little more and I might be able to regain control over my body. “And what exactly do you think matters most?! BECAUSE TO ME IT'S LIFE!”. Well speak of the devil, I regained control of my basic motor functions. “You are ruining everything! Stop or else we’ll go back to being that sad and miserable nobody!” That is exactly what I’m counting on... “For others to be happy, somebody needs to be sad, and for me its well worth the toll. You don’t belong here, so now... I’m getting rid of you.” At that moment, a strange black haze emerged from my chest. It let out a small, high-pitched scream and vanished. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was made of, but I knew that was what Discord put in me. I was free. Snapping out of my thoughts, I ran to Twilight. She hadn’t left my thoughts even for a moment. She looked horrible... and I was to blame. Everything was my fault. My damn obsession with my life goal was what got me here. I was the biggest fool in the world. I grabbed on to Twilight's shoulders and shook her a bit, hoping that she would open her eyes. I got no response. “Twilight! Wake up! PLEASE!” I shouted, shaking her a little harder. “Come on! It can’t end this way! You HAVE to be alright! Don’t do this to me!” I panicked and placed my hoof on her neck, checking for a pulse. I waited and waited... nothing. Her pulse was nowhere to be found. My greatest fear became real. Something warm dripped from my eye and landed on Twilight's cheek. I touched a hoof to my face and looked at it. A tear... I was crying. I couldn’t remember the last time I really cried, but I didn’t care. Nothing mattered to me anymore... Twilight was gone, and it was my fault. It felt like my heart didn’t just shatter... it exploded. I would have preferred the pain of dying over this. Unable to contain my emotions I picked up Twilight's body, wrapped my arms around her, and wept. It was like I thought if I squeezed her hard enough she would spring back to life and tell me she was only kidding... but as much as I wished it was true, it didn’t happen. I didn’t even get to tell her why I hated hugs. It was because I felt that they were a sign that you cared for the one you were hugging and vice versa. I thought that such feelings were never going to be within my reach, but now that I saw I was wrong, I couldn’t even do anything about it. Unable to do anything to revive her, I just stayed there... crying with her in my arms, replaying the last words she said in my head. ~I still love you...~