//------------------------------//
// The Past 
// Story: DLairgkht World 
// by Groupiegatalo 
//------------------------------//

	The sun rises and along with the slumbering lighter Morbiss. He rises and Dark Morbiss resides back into the mind the they share and soon their power swap between the two easily. Light Morbiss stands stretching out the body, popping bones, and getting limber. He looks down at the sleeping pegasus and considers leaving her there for the vultures or any hungry creature of the sorts. He shakes his head. He figures if he brings along her dead body he'll drop the body down in front of Twilight to see what'll happen. Hell maybe she'll even be there as soon as she feels Celestia and Luna die. 
Well of course if they do die. 
Morbiss walks down to the pegasus, "Up and atom!"
Morbiss holds up his right hand into the air and a orb of light forms into it. He walks over to the still sleeping pegasus, "I said..."
The orb falls from his hand on top of Fluttershy, "Up and atom."
When the orb touches her it spreads out and all over her. Fluttershy shoots straight up screaming and rubbing her body all over. Nothing fatal of course. Just a little scare for the morning to make sure she's up and ready to move our. It'll only last for a little bit, but the effect should last a life time. Fluttershy rolls onto her back before she stops panicking and starts panting and sweating.
"That's a way to start off a day. Screams of horror, the face of panic, and running around like your entire body is on fire or something." Morbiss says with a toothy grin.
Fluttershy starts crying, "W-W-What h-h-h-a."
"You didn't wake up so I woke you up my style." Morbiss says shaking his head at the crying mare finding her to look more pathetic even more..
He can already tell this is going to be a longer trip than it has to be. Probably in her favor though if she truly wishes to change his mind. Also who knows, she might be fun to mess with on this long trip. So far she has proven to be entertaining. Especially when she thinks she's on fire.
"Now be quiet. If you're going to cry the entire trip than go home." Morbiss says grabbing up all the stuff on the ground while taking out an apple and eating it.
Fluttershy shakes her body out shivering the entire time tears still flow down her face. She wants to be strong even though she knows she isn't. Than again, she has been trying a lot more lately. Especially for Morbiss. 
Morbiss starts to walk off and soon finds himself looking over his shoulder to find Fluttershy walking behind him still as confident as ever. Like always. 
"So, How you sleep last night?" Fluttershy asks trying to start a conversation.
"I slept fine. Though I wish the dark one, as you put it, wouldn't tap into my power like he does. I'd rather have him use his own power and  I use my own power. Though I guess if he's going to be a monster about it..." Morbiss says biting into the apple. 
"Um, about that. Why could he."
"Because he's a part of me as I am a part of him. We're two halves that don't form a whole. The whole is something completely different. Than again, after all of this we don't have to worry about anything anymore. That can be taken two different ways. We kill the bitches or we die trying." Morbiss says throwing the husk of an apple away.
"So, you guys don't exist really. I know you explained it all before, but magic like this just doesn't."
"It's better if you didn't understand." Morbiss says pulling out an apple and tossing it behind him that lands on Fluttershy's head, "Now eat up. After something like that you must be hungry."
Morbiss chuckles to himself wondering what other things he'll be able to do to torment the pegasus. Maybe make her be blind one morning. The possibilities are almost endless. Thought just being here with him should be torture enough or her. With that in mind he looks at the looming tower ahead upon the mountain face.
"I'm coming home dear." He says looking from the castle to the sun, "Just wait for me."
Fluttershy picks up the apple, while rubbing her head, and starts eating while rushing to keep up with Morbiss. She watches him look from the castle to the sun saying something to himself.
"Do you like the sun?" She asks after swallowing a bit of the savory apple. 
"Yes, but that is no concern of yours."
"I know. I was just wondering why you would get rid of it." Fluttershy asks hoping to make a break through with him.
"I won't. Celestia truly doesn't control the sun. Nor does Luna control the moon. But you'll find that out. Maybe." He says looking away from the sun to their destination now.
Slowly coming into view from a hill top is cobblestone towers that surround a single area. Buildings of wood and stone also surround some of these towers, but the majority of them are farther away coming out of the hills that surround the area. The tallest tower is on the east side, Morbiss' left, by some three hundred feet at least. Not many ponies walk around there. In fact the majority of the population seems to be either Griffons, to his much enjoyment, or Zebras. 
"Well well well, What do we have here?" He says standing atop a hill so he can see some more of the small settlement.
"Oh!" Fluttershy speaks up, "This must be the archeologist dig site. They said that they were investigating this area because of the weird looking stone and bricks found here earlier this year."
"Really now? How about we take a little detour route.. Say hello to the locals and what not." He says a piece of yellow energy flowing into his hand and then forms a long pole with it. 
"What are you going to do?" Fluttershy asks quickly becoming nervous, "You shouldn't hurt any pony, or griffin."
"Well, you better have best stop me before I do." Morbiss says walking towards the group of creatures using the pole of energy as a walking stick.
"But they all probably have a family and." She protests.
"Don't care. I might beat the griffons close to death. Other than that..." Morbiss states ignoring the pestering of his, now flying, companion. 
Fluttershy bites her bottom lip and crosses her arms, "What if they were you..."
"Than I would fight back and except my fate... Now just sit in the back and relax. I never did like back seat drivers..." He says rolling his eyes as they reach two pillars, that have a road going in between them, that probably marks the entrance of the little site. 
Walking in, Morbiss begins to look up and down every building they walk past and observing the towers built towards the sky. The sight reminds him a bit of his own home village. The royals lived in towers attached to buildings and the poorer people, like himself, lived in houses made of wood, brick, or dirt. Didn't really do well against the raiding and dragon attacks. But its what they lived in and they didn't really care for all of that once they became known as a threat. 
The first to take notice of the creature known as Morbiss is a griffin who is carrying on his back scrolls of some sort. He takes a look at Morbiss and completely freezes his eyes locked with his. 
"Morning. Thought I would stop by and say hi." Morbiss says walking towards the griffin. 
The griffin sits down and lowers it's head towards him as he approaches, "I-I-I."
"You what?" Morbiss asks a bit confused about the griffin's actions but he dares not show it. 
"I never thought. I would." The griffin is all chocked up and seems to be trying to find the right words.
Morbiss is about to strike him with his pole when Fluttershy flies in front of the griffin and hugs him, "There there. Now tell us. What has you so chocked up?"
"This-This human. I never thought I would see one. The legends are true. Tell me, did you truly have the power to shape the world as you pleased?"
Morbiss likes this. Morbiss likes this a lot. Just because the ponies don't know of their past doesn't mean the others won't.
"Sadly I wasn't one of them that could. I knew the ones who did though. I was even trained by a legend. But the past is dead. Along with everything we worked for and everyone I knew. Tell me Griffin. What are you looking for here? This pest here informs me you guys might be archeologist." Morbiss walks over and takes one of the scrolls from the Griffin's back. 
"We-We think we might have found a hint about our past. As you might know we have gone through a lot and a lot of our history has been lost." He says quickly taking off more scrolls. 
"Sadly I don't. I've been locked away for longer than you've been alive. Though you can think the pony "gods" for that one. Though I'll be paying them a visit soon." He say chuckling. 
"Re-Really? Even after."
"The past is better left in the past!" Morbiss yells his hand clutching the stick harder, "We all have our limits..." 
The griffin flinches back, "S-Sorry. I don't mean to reopen wounds..."
Morbiss says nothing as he looks the piece of paper up and down. He can't read a lot of it. Mostly because of the language difference and a little bit since he hasn't read in a very long time. What he can make out is that they've been finding strange pieces of structures around in this area. Brown and orange bricks never seen before.
"Mind if I see some of the stuff you've found? I have to say you guys have peeked my interest." Morbiss says rolling the paper together, "Well my annoying companion I hope you're ready for a history lesson."
The griffin stands and heads for a nearby tower, "Sure! They're right over here!"
Morbiss nods his head and follows behind walking with Fluttershy right at his hills. They enter one of the shorter towers to find themselves amidst a collection of different rubble and broken things. Some of it is still in tact, but probably don't work anymore. 
"Quite the junk collection you guys got." He says looking up towards the top seeing that this in fact has many floors for different things. 
Torches light each and every hall including the common area they're in right now. The griffins walks over to the back and lifts the glass over an item, "Right here is one of the bricks we have found."
Morbiss walks around and takes the brick from the platform pillar it once rested on. Sure enough he knows the bricks. Red and crusted, "Well I be damned..." 
He tosses the brick between his two hands, "and where have you been finding this stuff?"
"All over this area mister umm."
"Morbiss. I have to say, never thought I would ever see a piece like this entirely whole... I thought Celestia and Luna would be more careful on how they got rid of stuff. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten rid of you guys."
"Oh she has tried. But she doesn't entirely know that we're still here. Plus if she tried to remove us forcefully she might ignite a war between ponies, zebras, and griffins with the zebras and griffins on the same side." The griffin says proudly.
"I see... So the old crone is losing her grip. Just like her mother I say." Morbiss says placing the brick down on the platform, "Take care of all of this. I'll be back for it one day. Right now I've got some things that need to be taken care of." 
"Is-is there anyway I can assist you?" The griffin says stumbling with his words. 
"I don't know. Is there a way to help me? Are you willing enough to help fight guards of the Canterlot variety and die for my cause?" Morbiss says twirling the pole in the air, "Honestly if you came it might spark a war or maybe even a hostile take over from the griffins. Well that is if I win." 
"You-you win? Wait are you." 
"Oh yea..." He sucks the light pole back into him and forms it into a ball of energy, "I'm serious about this too. A "god" will fall. If they can bleed they can die." 
The griffin stares wide eyed at the man before him. In his mind he is considering how crazy this human is for taking on something no one has been able to fight. The same pony who took out an entire species just because they proved to be a threat to her. But that means if she did it because they're a threat. Than maybe. 
"I'm... I'm willing to assist you how ever you please." The griffin says nodding his head, "If Celestia feared you all those years ago she must feat you still to this day right? I'm willing to fight for you. After all Griffins are raised to fight during their younger years."
"If she doesn't than it'll be over quick either way." Morbiss says smiling down greedily at the griffin, "Tell me. How much do you know about us?" 
"A lot. Most of the griffins history starts with what we think is the rise of the humans and how they worked together with the griffins and led us to be as strong as we are today. We looked up to you guys and even today we do." The griffin says proudly lifting his head high into the air, "We take after your pride and ambitious nature."
"Ambitious we were. Prideful only some of us. We were more used to humiliate than we were with our pride, but its all the same. I'm glad to see at least we had some effects on others than just the pony races that have taken a lot of what we've done and molded it in their own way."
"Sadly they're not the only ones." The griffin says looking away, "Though we haven't taken names and made them into puns, we have rebuilt cities in your races image. We have also built statues of some of the key people in the rebuilt cities."
"Name one." Morbiss says looking at some more artifacts.
"Well, my personal favorite would have to be Bonorris. He was rumored to be able to shake the very planet itself. Though many argue whether he could or not." The griffin says watching Morbiss as he inspects different things and use them like the Griffin didn't expect or think of.
"Ha, move the entire planet huh? Maybe a couple of boulders more like it." Morbiss says shaking his head remembering the block headed Bonorris, "Name another."
"Well, our city where we train the most warriors and hunters is called Nitalis." 
"Female?" He says spinning around making Fluttershy jump as a piece of chain flies over her..
"Yes, she was told to be the best hunter of all the humans. She could take on any attribute of one animal she has hunted which made her better than the rest. There we have taken the time to study the animals that benefit to hunting and our sight."
"Ha, so close yet so far. She didn't take the attribute, but she became part of the animal. She would offer up her right arm and turn it into a wing or her legs for a panther's leg and a leopard's leg. It cost her a lot. But man oh man did she have a feisty time of the month..." Morbiss says frowning as memories come back to him about Bonorris and Nitalis, "We all trained under Flint every so often... It was how I got to know them... Well the real me but..."
Morbiss clutches the right side of his head as more memories come to his mind. He makes his way to the exit and pushes out. He falls to his knees and claws at his head as the memories continue to spill into his mind.
"Morbiss!?" Fluttershy cries out following behind him. 
"Away!" Morbiss yells bringing up a wall of yellow energy, "Damn it!" 
He closes his eyes and tries to use his magic to suppress the damnable past. The innocent look of everyone. Their healthy bodies and everything. The most sickening part is when they start to desecrates and destroy themselves. The shift and change and all the ruins around him change form. They change from the broken down ruined version laid into the dirt to brilliant buildings with signs, lights, and people. People that walk around as skeletons and mangled flesh burned, broken, cut up, and torn. 
They chat to one another as if this is all normal. As if this is everyday life. 
They all wear different lights around their necks, pinned to their body or clothing, or just wearing it in some type of way. Its too much. Too much. 
"Stop!" He yells slamming his head into the ground repeatedly until something soft wraps around him. 
At the same time it pulls him away from his memories a bit. It also makes him want to destroy the comfort too. He doesn't need comfort. He just needs to forget. He wants to stop the flow. None of these memories matter to him. The one who needs them isn't here. 
"Please..." A familiar voice rings in his head, "You need to stop."
"I can't! I won't!" He yells back, "Not till I forget! Not till it all leaves my head!" He cries out grabbing a hold of his own body.
"It's okay." The voice whispers, "I'm here to help you."
He grinds his teeth as the terrifyingly beautiful, morbid world around him forms back to the cruel joke he has grown used to just a little. He throws the comfort off of him, stands up, and stumbles forward holding his throbbing face and head, "God damn it..." 
"Are you okay?" A weak voice asks him. 
He looks to see Fluttershy laying on her side looking up at him. She looks tired and out of energy. A bit of her is smoking as well and parts of her fur and feathers are burnt at the tip. He looks away, "You would be wise to let a mad man lose his mind..."
"A mad man indeed..." The griffin says standing to the right of Morbiss, "I'm guessing that wasn't suppose to happen."
Morbiss nods his head, "But if you're coming along you'll have to get used to it. Or at least me of it."
"Really now? I guess there will never be a dull moment with a human around." The griffin smiles, as best as he can with a beak, and walks over to the pony, "And I'm guessing we'll have to put up with her?"
"Yep. She wants to change my mind before I decide to fight Celestia and Luna. I won't though." Morbiss says sighing before looking at the already setting sun.
"But look at what just happened!" Fluttershy cries out trying to get up to shaky hooves, "You need help! Me and."
"Your gang can help me out blah blah blah." Morbiss says turning around, "Honestly Fluttershy! Do you only care about others? How are you not dead yet? Sure you're the element of kindness, but you're smothering everyone in it! Also, is this the way you show kindness? By forcing them to try things they don't want to? And here I thought you were shy! If you don't like all of this just go home, wait, and pray that I don't make you suffer a longer death when the time comes! !f at all it does!" 
Morbiss turns, "We're leaving."
The griffin looks between Morbiss and Fluttershy before walking off right behind him. Fluttershy stares at the ground for a while, looks up, and follows more depressed than when she first got her. 
She is hoping to forget all of that happened by the time she can convince him. More and more she considers forgetting the past as a good thing for him. Though she doesn't like it, she starts to understand possibly why its Celestia and Luna's fault. But she would rather not doubt them. No, they did everything for a reason. That's what Twilight says and she's suppose to be the smartest one of us all. Plus she's their friends, and friends don't lie to each other. 
Right?



Night comes all to quickly. The odd group had to stop by a few places before leaving so the Griffin, who is named Nigel, can grab a few things. Now he's with them with a spear on his back and a bag of assorted things he wears around his neck that clings to his chest. 
As night reaches Morbiss stops the group and sets up a fire with his powers. He stretches and sits down before it, "Now watch Nigel. Watch what abomination Celestia and Luna have created."
"What is he doing?" He asks Fluttershy as Morbiss closes his eyes. 
"He's changing between... well, himself... He's not really an abomination... He just likes to think lowly of himself." Fluttershy says laying on the ground and fishing through the bag of food for a snack other than an apple.
She also thinks about how confident she was with replying to a complete stranger, "You might just want to rest up." 
Nigel shakes his head, "I want to see what all of this is about."
The air around Morbiss changes from the warm feeling to a cold feeling. It sends a chill down everyone's spine. The change finishes and his features change which catches Nigel by surprise, "Well than..." 
Fluttershy watches from the ground her eyes only half open. Meanwhile, Morbiss lets out a breath and stands up, "Nigel right? I couldn't catch it over all the screaming going on in here."  Morbiss taps his head with his right pointer finger.
"Wha-What was all that about? Your eyes, your tone, the dialect. Its all different..." Nigel says amazed, "What did they do to you?"
"A lot of things. Now, unlike my counter part light Morbiss I, Dark Morbiss, give not a single shit about each and every life around us and here. If ya piss me off I'm a kill ya with no regret and worry about light Morbiss yelling at me in the morning. Now since you want to help me fight I'm going to have to test your fighting skills. Don't worry about killing me because that'll be very hard to do without magic." Dark Morbiss says walking away from the fire with Nigel right behind him, "Now, show me what you got." 
With that Morbiss turns around and makes sure to check that the shields that are around him are still there. He lights up his right hand full of dark energy and forms a dagger with it.. Nigel stands on his hind legs and takes the spear off from off his back strap. He wields it with a low stance and readies for the first attack. 
Seeing as how Nigel isn't going to take the offensive Morbiss acts first. Morbiss lurches forward and runs forward. He throws the knife and leaves a small line of magic from the knife to him. Nigel easily knock the knife to his left with the point of the spear and flies forward. Morbiss slides and yanks his right hand back. He has to give props to the griffin that at least he knows what he's doing as Nigel turns around blocks the knife with a full on spin and making his forearm stretch out. If Morbiss wasn't fast he would have a nice line going across his face, well if his shield didn't hold out of course.
"Good so far." Morbiss says smirking and slamming his left fist into the griffin's side making his back up allowing Morbiss some breathing room.
The knife disappears as it forms back through the line, to his hand, back into orb form. There he form it into a sword. He goes onto the offensive again and slams his sword down at the griffin as he runs up to him. The griffin block the strike with the middle of the spear and slides it off to his right before thrusting his spear. Using the momentum Morbiss drops along with his sword and rolls on the ground to the griffin's right. He pops up quickly and ducks under a long swing from the blade and thrust himself. The griffin dances around the blade and slams the spear into the side of his head. The blunt side unfortunately. 
Morbiss falls to his left and rolls to his feet. Morbiss shakes his head thinking about how rusty he is. He looks at the sword and changes it to a rapier. This time the Nigel takes the offensive.
A few quick thrust has Morbiss backing up. Morbiss finds his chance and throws Nigel off balance by leaning in and using the handle to block off one thrust throwing his assault off balance. A second fist comes around and slams into the side of his beak. 
"Again." 
They continue to practice with Morbiss changing from different tactics. Morbiss tries out different weapons that he might have to go up against. He lacks when fighting close weapons and excels at fighting against magic. 
"My spear is enchanted to penetrate the most powerful of spells." Nigel says polishing the shaft of the spear as they finish practicing 
Nigel sits near the fire a few scars on his body while Morbiss stands above him not a single scratch on him..
"Alright." Morbiss says backing up and spreading his arms, "Strike my center."
Nigel looks at him questioningly, "I don't."
"Strike or I will." Morbiss growls, "I know some magic that you can't penetrate and I'm only testing your skills. You don't want to fight me Nigel. Not for real."
Nigel nods his head a bit scared and strikes forward. The spear hits his chest and nothing happens for a few seconds before Nigel goes flying backwards and his spear goes straight into the air. Morbiss steps back and claps his hand, "Good thing the ponies don't know ancient magic like that. Well, maybe Luna and Celestia but I digress."
Nigel gets up huffing and puffing ready to fall down, "Now rest up."
Nigel falls to his back passed out, "Good enough." 
With that Morbiss starts practicing while the others sleep. Soon after wards the spear falls back down to the earth below next to Fluttershy's skull.