//------------------------------// // Not of This World (Revised) // Story: A Demon In Ponyville // by Terciel1249 //------------------------------// A Demon in Ponyville Chapter 1: Not of this world Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Little Pony or its characters. All other characters are my own creation. I remember how I died. From the start of this war to my death, I remember all that happened to me and my son. I remember the day humanity faced its greatest threat. For over ten years we fought, but our victory was hallowed costing us greatly. The fall of man was not by fire, disease, or war. It did not arrive with a shout, but a whisper on the wind. This darkness festered from the Earth, spilling over the land in silence. From this darkness, demons attacked humanity with a ferocity never seen before. But it was the children who suffered the most. These demons poisoned their pure souls with darkness, bringing pain and suffering to their bodies and souls. This darkness grew from the light of their souls, turning them dark form the inside. Some died within hours of exposure. Other turned into something else, horrible abominations. But few were able to survive, their light able to become one with the darkness. These few were cursed with the powers of darkness, but still embraced the light. My son was one of them, he was only ten. He suffered for three days before the sickness faded. When he awoke, he was different, capable of incredible things. He looked for light and love in others, but the world was not that kind. Humanity made him into a weapon and I was powerless to stop them. When he was old enough, he fought for them alongside the others. They faced the evil and darkness, alone for our sakes. They fought for us, and asked for so little. They begged for love and companionship, but humanity had none to borrow. Even then, they chose to love us. Why did they love us? My son asked me for a father, for a friend. But I couldn’t deliver. He asked for sympathy. I gave him sorrow. He asked for my love, a child to father. He begged it of me. I gave him ugliness. He chose to love me. He wants the man I was, his father. He needn’t bother. He sacrificed his flesh and bone, to give us another day. Some looked towards him and his companions with respect. All I saw was a monster, no matter how much he did for us. And even when he soared above me, raising all out of the darkness of despair, I tried to clip his wings and drag him through the mud. Yet he still loved me. Even when I fell ill, showing no signs of wanting anything to do with him, Chasing him off, cursing at him, and hitting him with all of my might. Yet he chose to stay by me. Why does he love me? After he buried me, he continued to fight for us with all of his might. Even after I passed, I looked down on him. Humanity and our children pushed the darkness to the gates of Hell themselves. Many of our children died to ensure those gates were closed forever. My son stood in front of humanity, beaten and weakened, but victorious alongside his remaining companions. Light had returned to the Earth, and do you know how humanity repaid them for their kindness? With fear and hatred, for they were the byproducts of the darkness that tried to consume us. Many resisted humanities’ attempt to bind them, they were killed as traitors. Others chose to take their own lives, finding comfort in taking fate into their own hands. And what did you do? You chose to surrender to humanity. You saw their suffering and did not have the heart to cause more. Humanity banished you from this realm. With knowledge taken from the demons and the darkness, humanity threw you into the void between realms with no hope of returning home. I cannot see you beyond the void. But my son, you have my love. I am sorry I could not be there for you. I wish I could change the past, to make you proud of me. I wish I could embrace you in my arms. I wish I could have given you all that you needed. But I am not that strong. You will never hear this, but it needs to be said. I need to say aloud how much I was wrong and how much I love you, your mother and your sisters before I can go to a peaceful rest. Now you fall further away from me and I cannot give you anything of value for you on your journey. All I can give you is my blessing as you sail through the void. No matter how far you will travel, we will never leave you. The richness of your families’ love shall remain with you all the days of your life, comforting you in your darkest hours. I could not be more proud of you son. You grew from a boy to become a better man than I could ever be . . . a man who follows the light of his heart, giving selflessly to others and never asking for anything in return. Never forget this son, for it is your greatest strength. You will face many obstacles in this new world, but one day you will call it home. Because I know you and I know that you will share with its people the light of your heart. It is this reason above all else, I am happy to share with them the greatest joy in my life. I give them you, my only son. Farewell, Matthew 0 0 0 The void was emptiness. No light or sound penetrated the boundary between dimensions. This absolute silence defined the single spirit passing through it. Nothingness surrounded him, filling him with icy dread. Matthew screamed in agony, his voice not heard by his own ears. His soul burned as it passed through the void. Spirit distorting alongside his physical body, bringing him pain as his bones broke and his skin froze. Yet he could not see anything, not even his hands in front of his face. Matthew was the first human hybrid to pass through this empty space. Any normal human would have died, but Matthew’s demonic energy kept his soul intact, the void’s energy continuing to tear him apart. How long have I been here? Time could not be told here. There was only darkness. Matthew cried out for release from this pain, his voice nonexistent here. A tiny dot of light broke the eternal blackness. Matthew looked towards it. The light grew slowly bigger as Matthew approached it, filling him with hope. Where would the light take me? What’s on the other side? Is that heaven? Matthew didn’t address any of these questions, only grateful to be leaving the void. Getting closer to the light, weariness crept into Matthew’s bones. The battles he fought and banishment catching up to him as he drew closer to his escape. The light blurred around the edges, Matthew’s eyes dropping lower. His mind became numb to the pain of his body, drifting further into unconsciousness. Matthew’s transparent lips lifted slightly. Warmth was returning to his frozen body. It felt nice and soft; bringing him closer to the sleep that evaded him for the past two nights. Matthew couldn’t stop himself from closing his eyes, the light covering him completely. BANG! Matthew groaned feeling some very hard stones grind into his back. Sunlight shot through his eyelids, doing everything in its power to wake him up. Keeping his eyes tightly shut, Matthew took stock of his situation. His head throbbed in pain in unison with every muscle in his body. Let’s see, I feel a lot of pain and my head hurts. So, I’m think I'm still alive. Sherlock Holmes would be impressed by his deductive reasoning. Sound soon came to him. Matthew heard the swaying of leaves being tossed in the light breeze and the babble of a river flowing to his left. Matthew breathed deeply; the smell of pollen, damp moss and grass tickling his nostrils. As the pain in his back began to numb, Matthew noticed his body felt weird. It felt like being lopsided, as if his limbs were put on backwards. Ignoring the feeling, Matthew finally opened his eyes to find a clear blue sky. “Meh!” groaned Matthew in a gruff low voice. Did my voice drop an octave while I was in the voice? Guess my voice is a little hoarse today. Matthew rolled to onto his stomach, become introduced face first into the green grass. Taking a deep breath, Matthew stood at his full height and- “Oof!” Matthew fell right on his rump. Boy, I’m kind of a klutz today. Attempting to get back up, Matthew planted his hand on the ground to steady himself. It wasn’t a hand that pushed against the ground. Correction, it was a hoof attached to a short leg looking suspiciously like a goat's. The only difference was the shimmering gold fur. Moving the hoof up to eye level, his heart beginning to pick up the pace, bashing against his rib-cage. Matthew experimented with it moving the appendage back and forth, left and right. When Matthew moved his hand left, it went left. When he went right, it went right. Yep, that’s definitely my hoof, came the surprisingly calm though in Matthew’s head. After that revelation, Matthew’s brain seemed to be stuck in-between gears, a metal grinding reverberating in his hallow head. “Huh.” Looking down, Matthew was greeted by a second hoof with a second pair raring to go behind him. Matthew strained his neck to look over this alien body. The former bipedal experiencing a total lose of words, simply staring at the equine features . His whole body was covered in a layer of golden fur with a pair of matching wings along with a long crimson tail with a line of pure black. What surprised him most was that he had retained the marks from his previous body. Along his left arm two long lines of black running from his hoof to a diamond shaped symbol on his shoulder. Inside the symbol sat a pentagram, a small symbol graphed inside each of the star’s points. Between the two lines of ink a flowing script flowed from shoulder to hoof. Along his rib cage, flowing black ink of tribal print outlined his ribs moving up the sides before ending at the back of his mane. Matthew’s chest retained a black skull on the right pectoral with five sharp teeth pointing down his chest. Matthew retained the physique of his previous body, broad shoulders and trimmed muscles outlined by his fur. Matthew’s body retained several injuries from his previous life, only partially healed and visible against his fur. Four long scratches ran across Matthew’s chest, a deep slice taken from his right side just under the rib-cage, and a long scratch ran down his left hind leg over a tattoo of a white horse head wearing a black crown of thorns with its neck bent in penance. When did I get a tattoo? Matthew wondered, turning his attention to the crimson tail sticking out his rear. Matthew gave the tail and experimental tug, That’s definitely real. Looking around, Matthew took in his surroundings. The stallion stationed between a small river and a tree line of dark foreboding trees. Deciding to get a better look at himself, Matthew shakily got to his feet… err, hooves. Once he was able to hold himself up, Matthew slowly moved over to the moving water. Tripping a couple of times, Matthew was finally able to see his reflection in the clear blue water. Now life had prepared him for many things, ranging from flying demons of hell to soul sucking succubus. This was not one of them. What looked back at him had only retained one feature of his human body, eyes so brown they almost appeared black. The long muzzle, big eyes, square chin and large forehead were completely foreign. From the top of his head and running to the base of his long neck, a tall spiked crimson mane stood. A single section of black fur broke through the deep red. Along the left side of this stallion’s face symbols moved from the top of his forehead along the muzzle and down the neck to stop just above the shoulder. The pony in the water rubbed his head with a free hoof, a sharp pain in his brain growing. That's not to say anything about having a spiraling horn poking out the center of his forehead. Maybe it’s a tumor. Matthew’s mind was already fried. At this point it was like pouring gasoline on a computer and lighting it on fire while being struck by lightning while being ran over by an eighteen-wheeler. “Oh god, I’m the love child of a Pegasus and unicorn!” Matthew yelled incredulously. Upon uttering these words, Matthew instantly regretted it. Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! AH! Get it out of my head! Get out of my head! Now I'll never get this image out of my head! Trying to clear his head, Matthew did the only logical thing that came to mind. He rationalized the situation. “OK… Let’s not panic,” Matthew took a deep breath. “Since I can feel pain and the ground under me, I can assume that this is either a manipulation of my senses by some powerful being or this is really happening.” Closing his eyes, Matthew quested out with his other senses feeling all of the life energy around him confirming his fears. “Alright, I can feel the individual energies of this forest which throws out my first theory. If this is reality, then I must have exited the void in a different world. My body must have been transformed into the image of its natural inhabitants because science?” Matthew continued to ramble. “Or I’m dead and this is my punishment.” Matthew took a steadying breath, “Both answers suck.” Matthew chose to sit next to the stream and close his eyes, breathing deeply to calm his racing mind and heart. When he calmed down enough, Matthew decided to try one more test. Focusing on his right foreleg, Matthew allowed his power to flow into the appendage. Opening his eyes, Matthew was not surprised at the black energy outlined in a deep red flowing across the leg and hoof twisting like wildfire. I still have my power. Matthew thought without much care before cutting the flow of energy. Deciding the best policy shouldn't be to lounge about here, Matthew slowly rose onto all four hooves. The pony’s joints and muscles groaned in pain. Not wanting to perform any physical activities. Matthew took a moment to feel out the area for any potential energy sources, finding one not to far from his location. Hoping that it was some kind of civilized settlement, Matthew made his way north stumbling occasionally on a loose pebble or his own hooves. “How do horses walk with these things?!”