//------------------------------// // Lamentations // Story: Dark Cloud // by D5ky //------------------------------// Without the sun to give it energy, the large field of grass and assorted plants had turned brown some time ago. A slight breeze blew across the land, creating a rustling noise in the shriveled-up bushes and dead grass. The grey storm clouds overhead just hung there, looking dull and completely still. Weather duty was something that was shuffled aside when the war turned so bad, so forecasting was easy; overcast skies, with a slight chance of rain. The breeze wasn't the only thing making sound, though. The rustling of the dead plants turned to thick crunching, as they were squished underhoof. Three figures walked across the dead field, their hooves threatening to splinter and fall off from the pain of waking all day. "Why couldn't you have just teleported us there, Discord?" Spike whined for the eighth time. "My feet are killing me!" "I've told you, I'm the God of Chaos!" Discord replied, throwing both hands into the air, quite literally. "We could've ended up anywhere!" They walked in silence for a while. "I wonder what Twilight and Ventus are doing," Spike said. "What did Ventus mean when he said we weren't in the clear yet?" Pinkie and Discord sighed in slight exasperation. They had already explored this subject thoroughly several times, and couldn't figure out what Ventus had meant, or why he had been so scared. But Spike continued on, adding something he hadn't said previously. "When Twilight yelled... when her eyes turned red..." he began, eyes glistening, "...it was scary. She was scary." Neither of the others could think of any words of comfort to give him, so they just continued walking in silence. As they drew very, very close to Ponyville, Spike stopped in his tracks. "You guys hear that?" He asked, straining his ears to pick up the faint sound. The other two listened hard, and heard it too. It was slightly muffled, but it sounded like... "Music?" Pinkie said. They approached the town borders, and the unmistakable sounds of celebration reached them. Pinkie gasped dramatically, making the other two jump. "Somepony threw a party and didn't invite me?!" she practically yelled. She hovered in the air for a second, then streaked off towards the center of town. "That's the Pinkie Pie I remember," Spike chortled, laughing at the mare's sudden departure. As they walked further, he quickly grew serious again as he turned to Discord. "How're we gonna tell everypony what Ventus said?" he asked. "Oh, lighten up, Spike!" the Draconeqqus replied, his old voice having returned. Out of nowhere, he produced some cotton, and some grabbed some old, rock-hard candy from the pocket of the passing Granny Smith. He merged the two into bright pink cotton candy, which he then held out to Spike. "Sombra is gone! Have a little fun for a change!" Spike was not reassured, and his face still held a worried expression. Discord put his lion's paw around him, bringing his own head down to Spike's level. "Look around you. Is anypony here really likely to leave?" he asked, growing more serious now. "Where would they go? Equestria is gone, and no one outside would be willing to help." Spike opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't come up with a counter-argument. He knew Discord was right. Almost everypony who had survived were civilians, who had been hidden during most of the war. None of them really knew how to fight, and wouldn’t take their chances in the outside world. "SPIKE! DISCORD!" They turned to see a yellow pegasus streaking towards them at high speeds. The pegasus slammed into Discord, hugging him tightly as he fell over and they hit the ground. Spike turned, immediately wanting to leave them be. The friendship of the two had grown greater and greater ever since Fluttershy had reformed Discord, and Spike strongly suspected that they were more than friends these days. He was actually quite happy for the pair of them, but seeing romance at the moment was not good for him. He walked down the road, passing ponies who were enjoying the end-of-war festivities. He couldn’t find the heart to join them, even though he knew he should be happy. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a fire ruby. He had been growing this gem carefully, but he had no intention of eating it this time. He clenched the gem in his claw. “Rarity...” Spike teared up as his memories of the mare he loved cut through him like a dagger. He attempted to push them away, but to no avail. He couldn’t help thinking about her now, wishing she was standing beside him, with the chaos of the war finally gone. A lump formed in the dragon’s throat, and he tried to fight it down. He didn’t want to be caught bawling in public. However, as the lump rose up and out of him, he realized that it wasn’t a sob; It was a letter. Knowing who this must be from, he unfurled the scroll in a slight frenzy and quickly read it. He almost shouted aloud in horror, but managed to restrain himself. Shaking with fear, he ran into the partying crowd. He ran right to the town square, and found one of the ponies he was looking for almost immediately, who was near the DJ stand. “C’mon, everypony!” Pinkie yelled. “I wanna see you DANCE!” Spike walked up to her. “Pinkie, come with me,” he said urgently. She looked as though she was going to protest, but the unusual look in his eyes silenced her. They moved out of the crowd, also finding Fluttershy and Discord along the way. He headed for the first secluded place he could think of at the moment; the library. “What’s so urgent?” Pinkie asked the moment the door had shut behind them, annoyed at being pulled away from the party that she had swiftly commandeered. Spike was unable to speak from all the running he had done, and instead handed the letter over to Fluttershy. She began reading it aloud. Spike, I've got some terrible news. The Dark Spirit that was attached to my soul was Erősszél Sötetvarászlo, the first unicorn mass murderer on record. He escaped from me. He's incredibly strong, strong enough to slaughter everypony left. He's headed right for you guys. Gather as many ponies who can possibly fight, and try to hold him off. We'll be there as soon as we can. -Twilight As she finished, fear was evident on the face of everyone present. They were all thinking the same thing. "We're totally bucked," Discord said. "Ten times over." "Maybe we can still gather some forces--" Pinkie began, but was cut off mid-sentence. “I think it’s too late for that.” Spike was pointing out of the window, and they all rushed over to see what he was talking about. A large orb of fire, larger than what had hit Rarity's hotel, was flying towards them. "GET DOWN!!" he yelled, pulling Fluttershy down with him. The world around them exploded in a blast of heat, and Spike was thrown against the opposite wall of the room, bringing Fluttershy with him. He held her under him, protecting her from the torrents of tree debris now crashing down onto them, which he could withstand due to his scales and strength. He waited until the explosions subsided before he stood up. The explosions were finished, but there was still a large fire brewing. He realized, with horror, that the tree would fuel the fire very quickly, as would the books. They had no time to save the place. Fluttershy ran from him, digging through the debris. After a few seconds, she found who she was looking for. Blood was running down his whole body, due to the many cuts in him from the splintering wood. But the most alarming thing was the large piece of wood that had found a home in the Draconeqqus’ ribcage. “No... NO!” Fluttershy cried, as she held his head in her arms. He stirred, as his glazed eyes focused on the mare with difficulty. "Fluttershy... go," he managed to choke out. Tears were falling from the dragon, as he watched. He knew Discord was doomed, for there weren't any powerful unicorns close enough to get there in time. Fluttershy was sobbing as she clung to the head of her dying coltfriend. "Discord!" she cried. But the eyes of the ancient creature had gone entirely blank, and he slumped back to the ground. The mare dove onto his chest, sobbing harder than ever. Spike too was having to fight the urge to cry, as he walked up to the yellow pegasus. “Fluttershy! We’ve got to move!” he called, above the creaking of the tree and noise of the flames. “This place is gonna go any second!” “I can’t leave him here!!” she cried back, clinging to the dead draconeqqus body as though it was a life raft. “Come on!” Spike cried, trying to bring her to her senses. “The last thing he would’ve wanted is for you to stay here and die, too!” She still would not let go. Spike knew they had seconds before the library collapsed. He hated to do it, but he grabbed onto her and pried her off of Discord. She was not going quietly, though. She fought against him the whole way, trying to get back to him. Spike didn’t have time to see if Pinkie had survived the blast or not. He pulled Fluttershy out of what had been the front door, and down the road slightly, before stopping. Pinkie stirred in the rubble, coming to. The world had transformed into pain. Third degree burns covered her once-soft pony skin, and she was covered in blood from her several slashes from the debris. "I'm sorry, Ventus," she said, though she couldn't hear her own voice as her eardrums had taken heavy damage from the blast. "You couldn't protect me... See you in the next world." The tree, finally taking more damage than it could handle, began to collapse. Oddly enough, Pinkie smiled at her rapidly approaching death. "At least I can see my other friends again... maybe I should throw them a party." Fluttershy and Spine turned back to the library, just in time to see most of the remainder collapse in on itself. He winced, as he imaged Pinkie and Discord being squished by the heavy wood the tree had consisted of. Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, sobbing harder than ever over Discord. Spike knelt down, putting an arm around her shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” he said, knowing what was happening within her mind. “But I had to do that. You wouldn’t be able to avenge his death if you died in there.” She looked up at him. “Yes, I know,” he said. “You want to kill the thing that killed him, right?” “How did you--” “How do you think I felt when Rarity died?” he asked. He had acted the exact same way in Manehattan. He briefly flashed back to how Big Macintosh had dragged him out of Manehattan kicking and screaming. Shaking it off, he continued. "Lets round up whoever we can. We've got to try and fight." Fluttershy nodded, and they galloped towards the town. As they went, they saw a black cloud of smoke, launching many of the deadly fire orbs down at the town. "Do you even know how to kill a daemon?" Fluttershy asked as they ran. Spike thought for a second. "Now that you mention it... no," he replied, dully. "But we've got to try. Twilight and Ventus won't get here in time to save anypony." They galloped through Ponyville, attempting to find anypony who wasn't already injured or dead. To their horror, however, they couldn't find anyone. They did, however, locate the Dark Cloud that was launching fire orbs everywhere. The moment she saw it, Fluttershy was possessed with an uncontrollable rage. That thing had killed Discord, had killed Pinkie, had killed all of Ponyville already. She spread her wings, and launched powerfully into the air. "Fluttershy, NO!" Spike cried in alarm, reaching out in an impossible attempt to grab her, even though she was fifty feet above him already. But it was too late. She was flying full speed at the dark cloud, which was hovering above the town, unmoving. It, of course, sensed her coming a mile away. But she didn't care. She had a murderous fire in her eyes, and didn't care what would happen next. As long as she died trying to kill the thing. Spike just managed to turn away in time, as the dark cloud launched a blue beam of energy at the once-shy pegasus. There was a loud, horrible-sounding crack, and Spike looked back up. Nothing remained of Fluttershy. Not her body, not half of her body, not even a stray hair or feather. She had been completely vaporized in midair. Overcome by pure terror, Spike ran for his life. He fled the town, and found a place that hadn't yet been assaulted. He fell on the ground, heaving from all the running. He pulled out parchment and quill, and quickly scribbled a letter, sending it away once he was done. Tears ran down the dragon's face, as he thought about everypony who had just died. Ponyville was nothing but a firestorm now, and he doubted anypony had made it out in time. The attack had barely lasted 10 minutes, much shorter than anything King Sombra had ever managed. And the city was decimated. They're all gone, he thought to himself. Everypony I care about is gone... and they're never coming back. He heard a soft swishing sound behind him, and turned to see the dark cloud landing on the ground. He knew what was about to happen, and didn't fight. Instead, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the fire ruby from within, clutching it tightly as he stared at the cloud. Don't worry, Rarity... I'm coming. (=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=) Midnight Sky awoke suddenly in the forest, still having not moved from his hiding place. He didn't remember falling asleep, though, and momentarily felt confused. As he sat up, a sharp pain shot through his body, starting in his head. "Damn it," he whispered, grabbing his head with both front hooves. He remembered why he had passed out now. Performing the healing spell on his leg had left him exhausted, but that wasn't it. The time spell... Normal ponies couldn't travel through time without the effects reverting. Even dark blooded ponies were unable to. Sky didn't know why he could do it; he actually suspected it was demonic magic. But he could do it. He had to watch the negative energies, though, as he wasn't built for the magic. Using it always took a toll on him. And this time, it was too much of a toll. He knew that his remaining time was limited. Gale had escaped, but he would be stopped. He was sure Twilight knew what needed to be done to stop him. But as he looked around the forest, he knew what he needed to do before he died. It wasn't going to be easy, and he certainly didn't want to, but it needed to be done. He sighed as he contemplated the task ahead. You need to do this, he reminded himself. You need to fix what you've done to this world. You've destroyed the country you fought so hard to save. If you had just killed Twilight before Gale escaped, Ponyville would've survived. The remaining citizens of Equestria would've survived. But you couldn't do it. Tears began leaking from his eyes. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t quickly kill the mare that was housing one of the most evil beings to have ever lived, and instead had felt the need to explain everything to her. And he was now slowly dying for that mistake. He began to climb back up the mountain, towards the home that had sheltered him for so long. He had made preparations for this very scenario, but had hoped it would end up being in vain. He entered the almost-destroyed entryway of his old home, moving straight to the only bookcase that still stood in the room. His horn glowed, and the bookcase began sliding to the side. When it was finished, it revealed a small, hidden room behind it. Moving into the room, he saw a small safe hidden in the corner. He moved to the safe, opening it with another complex series of spells. Inside, there was a small blue crystal that looked a lot like the one which held the spirit of Gale. He retrieved it, and moved back into the main room. He pulled an old, ancient-looking book from his magic storage. The cover was written in ancient Eqqus characters, but his study of the language was enough for him to understand what it said, thus allowing him to reiterate it. Before he began, he pulled out another parchment and quill, and scribbled a quick note. Similar to what he had done in Canterlot, he set another spell to repress the deliverance of this letter. He didn’t want them reading it before Gale was gone. I think that’s it, he thought. He looked around the library, and recalled the hundreds of years he had spent there, studying magic in it’s entirety. He was slightly sad, but he knew what he was doing was for the good of everypony. In the end, he just might be able to change their fate. He might be able to undo what he had done. He began with the most complex incantation he had ever read, all in Eqqus. As he read, he reassured himself. Don’t worry. You’ll fix this mess, and almost everypony will survive... Except you... Current Equestria Population: 3