//------------------------------// // 15. Heart of Darkness // Story: Dash of Humanity 2: A New Dawn // by Kaidan //------------------------------// It was a gloomy day in the Everfree. The butterflies were flying into spider webs, where they were quickly envenomated and cocooned. The poison joke was blooming, tempting the foolish to trot amongst them. And the ponies were staring at a dark cave entrance deep in a forest full of predators created by one of the most powerful and vindictive beings to threaten Equestria. “If this were a horror film, I’d be shouting at everypony not to go in,” I stated. Applejack nodded her head. “Ah think that’s sound advice.” “Well, if you’re scared I can hold your hoof,” Dash said. I shot Applejack a glance to see her reaction when I noticed Fluttershy approaching the cave first. She seemed to be staring at something inside the cave, or perhaps just keeping an eye on the darkness for movement. After a moment she took the first step into the cave, and I quickly followed to join her. “Look at that, us pegasi are going into the cave first when an Earth pony dare not,” I remarked. I passed the border between the outside world and the cave and found it not nearly as foreboding at it had seemed moments earlier. The air had a gentle breeze originating from deep inside. It carried the smell of damp rocks and moss towards us. Fluttershy, Dash, and I stepped aside as the rest of the ponies came in. Both Twilight and Rarity were using their horns to illuminate our surroundings. The light reflected off the walls, casting our shadows in every direction. “See girls, this isn’t so bad,” Twilight said. “I can definitely sense a lot of magic here, though. Hopefully with Discord gone some of that magic has faded.” “So you think this is really his lair? His home away from home? The summer house in the Everfree?” Pinkie asked. “You don’t need to be a unicorn to figure that out, this place just feels wrong.” Applejack tilted her hat back to help her see, and ran a hoof along the wall. “I just hope Shining is here, I don’t know where else to look…” Twilight cast her light forward revealing a crevice in the wall that led deeper into the cave. “Discord seems like the kind of guy who thinks a few moves ahead, so I’m sure he stashed Shining away as a bargaining chip for later,” I said. “Let’s just stay optimistic, ok?” I walked forward to the crevice and turned around, smiling “Okay who wants to go first? Narrow hole in the wall, dangerous cave, any takers?” “I’ll go first, I’m not scared.” Dash looked at Applejack, giving her an unspoken challenge. “What? Ah’m only half as scared as you, Ah’ll go first!” She took her hat off and stepped forward, starting a staring contest with Dash. “Dash it’s too dangerous for you to go first, why don’t you let AJ?” I said. Both mares turned and glared at me. Dash spoke first. “You’re the one asking us to go first, scaredy pants, now let me show AJ here who the braver mare is.” “Hah! Ya remember the Best Young Fliers, don’t ya?” Applejack smirked as she turned her gaze back to Dash. Dash gasped as her nose flared. “What?! You… that’s not how it happened! I just felt bad for Rarity. And what about when you—” “Hey, Twilight,” I whispered. “Shouldn’t you break them up so we can get a move on?” “Nah, I’ve seen this dance enough times to know there’s no stopping them when they want a ‘friendly’ competition.” I looked over at Applejack and Dash, who were using Pinkie as an impromptu table for arm wrestling. They were both straining and staring daggers at each other. “Yeah, friendly.” I turned to the others. “Come on Fluttershy, Rarity, let’s get this show started.” Crouching down enabled me to see through the crevice, it was only a few feet deep then seemed to open up. With Rarity lighting up the crack for me, I crawled through to the other side. Rarity came next, followed by Fluttershy. We waited for a minute for the others to come through. “Twilight? Dash, AJ? You done bickering?” I asked. There was a huff as Dash slid through the crevice, appearing to have been pushed through rather than crawled. Applejack came through a second later, followed by Twilight. “You got lucky,” AJ said. “Ah expect a rematch.” “Sounds good to me, we’ll do a best of three!” Pinkie smiled as she jumped next to Applejack. I hadn’t seen her come through the crevice. “Hah! Anytime, anywhere. Come on, Dawn, let’s find us a Knight-Captain.” Dash trotted forward down the hallway. “Wait, we need to stick together and go slowly,” Twilight said. I took off after Dash. “Yeah, no need to rush ahead.” “Come on, the only thing we’re gonna find in this cave is dust and moss.” I heard a soft click as Dash walked forward, and without thinking dove forward and used my shoulder to roughly knock her aside. I felt a searing pain in my side as I blacked out. I woke up at Ponyville hospital, my side sore and bandaged up. With a loud groan I felt around for a nurse call button. It was bad enough I’d blown our little search and rescue mission, but I had expected Dash, if not all of the others, to be here when I woke up. Once I found the button I began pressing it over and over. My throat was dry and I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, I wanted to get out of here and see what had happened after I’d been knocked out. “Come on, what is this?” I coughed and tossed the button aside, deciding to just get up and leave to find somepony. As I sat myself up I felt a pain in my side and grimace. Finally I backed up and rested against the wall, using the pillow for support. As I caught my breath I felt a sense of dread as a being I’d hoped to never see again walked, floated, and slithered through the door all at once. “Long time no see, Don. Terrible shame you went through all that for naught, and they didn’t even spell your name right on the commemorative plaque!” “Discord!? How? What?! Celestia said you’re dead!” I ignored the pain in my side as I stood up on the bed and tested out my wings. I wouldn’t be winning any races but I might be able to fly far enough to knock that smug grin off his face. “Me? Gone? Why, as long as there’s chaos and disharmony I can never be gone. So, how about we strike a deal?” Discord came closer to the bed and looked down on me as if I were an ant. “I’ll let you and Dash live if you bow down to me. Swear to obey and serve me.” “I’d rather die!” I dove forward, punching him in the nose as hard as I could with my hoof. The hardened keratin of my hoof proved more than a match for the thin bones shaping his nose, which snapped in a sickening and satisfying way. After my tumble to the floor I turned to look back at Discord who was wiping blood from his nose. Then with a flick of his fingers his face was healed. “Too bad, Dawn. We could have done this the easy way. Think about my offer as I take away everything you care about.” Discord snapped his fingers and the world vanished. I blinked my eyes, only to find myself in the middle of a deserted Ponyville. I was horrified as I saw the door to Sugarcube Corner swinging in the wind, and tumbleweeds rolling through the streets. It seemed almost cliche, but it was a ghost town. I turned and leapt into the air to fly to Dash’s house, hopeful that I’d beat Discord there, but fell to the ground and landed on my face. After getting up and spitting the dirt out I looked back. My wounds had healed, but Discord had removed my wings. I was an Earth pony now, powerless to warn Dash. Another thought struck me, if I couldn’t fly I could find somepony else that could. Scootaloo’s house seemed close enough so I raced towards it, hoping she could warn Dash. As I rounded the corners of the houses I quickly made my way to her street and raced down it. As I approached the house I saw smoke pouring out of the front door. I froze in my tracks when I got close enough to see the source of the smoke. There, on the ground, were the charred bones of two ponies: a larger pegasus, and a smaller filly. I could feel rage boiling inside of me and looked around for Discord, eager to break more than his nose this time. “You think this would convince me to serve you? You bastard!” No sooner had I fallen to the ground crying, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Looking up I saw a mirror image of myself, only with a bit more fat on his bones. “What? Who are you?” I said. “Eh, Laziness….” He tugged on my foreleg to help me stand up. “Come on, I don’t got all day.” I blinked a few times, staring at my doppelganger. “No… this is a trick!” “No, this is your dream. Now come on, we’ve got to go deeper,” Laziness said. “Hah! A pony wouldn’t know that reference!” “Whatever, I can go back to sleep if you don’t want the help.” I tilted my head and remembered back to one time in a dream that’d I had seen a pony that refused to wake up. “Wait… I remember you, asleep on the bench. But you wouldn’t wake up then, why now?” “You stopped being lazy, stood up to Twilight. Figured I owed you the same.” I finally got back to my hooves and looked at him. “So this is a dream?” “I’m too lazy to explain, so yeah let’s go with that. We’re in your head.” “Hmm.” I rubbed a hoof on my chin. “So I need to unite the fragments of my personality to defeat a personification of evil and unrest in my mind to free myself? I feel like I’ve heard this one before.” “You got a better idea?” “Nope. Let’s go kick some ass!” “Good. I think Desire is still in the park, we’ll start there.” Laziness walked forward towards the park. I trotted to catch up to him and then followed alongside, noticing his wings. I glanced back and tried to will my own wings back. Nothing happened and I frowned. “If this is all in my head why can’t I have my wings back?” “What am I, the cliff notes version to your life? How would I know,” Laziness said. “Fine, fine, no need to be a smart-ass about it.” “Hah!” Laziness stopped to laugh a few more times. “Coming from you, that doesn’t mean much.” I huffed and walked ahead of him towards the park, wondering what else I might find waiting for me there. The world around me seemed to brighten up and get more colorful in the park. For now there didn’t seem to be any manticores or hydras to block my path. Hanging below a tree was a pony in suspension rope bondage. Her colors were like mine, only reversed, and I recognized her as Desire. “Why doesn’t it surprise me to find her like this?” “We had to keep her tied up, she was determined to take control of you again and get you laid. Surely you’ve heard her voice when you’re clo—” “Gah! I get the idea, just help me cut her down.” I shook my head and sighed. “Besides I’ve got to figure out how to make peace with her. I don’t think it’ll be as easy as not being lazy was.” We undid the knots quickly and had soon lowered her to the ground, then took the gag out. “Oh, come on! I was just getting to the good part. Tell ya what, we’ll go behind that tree for a quickie!” Desire said, grabbing my foreleg to pull me forward. I shook her off my leg and stood my ground. “No. I need your help to get out of whatever this,” I waved my hoof around, “is. I don’t need laid, I’m happy with what I have.” “Aww, but why settle for Dash? Imagine the kinky three or four ways you could have? And that night with Fluttershy?” I rubbed my temples with my hooves, feeling a headache coming on. “No, just no, okay? I’m seeing Dash. I desire her, and you need to join my team here. Save all the kinky stuff for Dash, deal?” “Hmm…” Desire sat down and mulled it over for a moment. “Well, I still say you should have picked Fluttershy, the quiet ones are always the kinky ones. Are you at least open to that whole flock idea?” “If it’ll get you to co-operate sure, I’ll start a flock and the entire town of Ponyville can be in it!” “Aw, no need to be a smart-ass,” Desire said. Laziness burst out laughing, winding up on his back and struggling to breathe as his eyes watered. “The hell’s with him?” Desire asked. I just turned and started to walk away. “You mean what the hell’s wrong with my mind,” I sighed. “Come on.” The three of us walked away in no particular direction. I figured since it was my mind I’d either run into the next pony or the next hazard without having to think too hard about it. As we walked along I saw several shapes flying around in the air. It looked like a stunt show at first, then I recognized Iris. She seemed to be my pride, need to show off, and Dash rolled into one. She was fighting off three ponies in black flight suits all by herself. “Quick, we’ve got to help her!” I ran forward, quickly remembering I had no wings. I looked back to the others for help. Laziness was waving me forward, and Desire had taken to the air to help. “I guess one out of two’s not bad,” I mumbled. Desire seemed a bit out of place trying to tackle one of the attackers. Iris hit one in the wings and they came crashing down to the ground. They rolled through the dirt and hit a tree, so I ran over to see who these mystery attackers were. As I got close I could see it had no face, just a black flight suit and a white, furry sphere for a face. While I stood wondering what it was, it sprung to life and leapt on me. I felt a sharp pain as it kicked me in the groin, and I doubled over in pain. By the time I had recovered and stood up, I saw Iris and Desire tying the three ponies to a tree with some rope. Laziness had finally gotten up and came over, offering to help tie the final knot. “Glad to see you, Dawn. You saw how I took all three of those attackers by myself, right?” Iris asked. “I saw Desire and me helping,” I replied. “Hmm, I guess you could call that help. If you actually had wings, maybe were a mare so you could out-maneuver them…” I nodded and approached her. “Yeah that’s sorta why I’m here, to convince you that dicks are awesome.” “Yeah!” Desire quickly added. Iris rolled her eyes and laughed once. “Yeah right, the poison joke changes you and Zecora took samples! You could probably turn into a mare anytime you want!” “And I’m saying I don’t want to, and you need to accept that, okay? Being a mare was fun, I’m not knocking it, but I’m happy as a male and with Dash.” “I guess… but you’ll still do stunts and stuff, right?” Iris asked. “Yeah, the point here is I’m not gonna change who I am, I’m just gonna be awesome as me.” “Okay, I respect that. You should have said so earlier, me and Heart have spent weeks planning out the kind of lingerie you’d buy.” I shrugged. “Better luck next time? Now come on, there’s apparently a couple more of you to find and then I can kick this joker Discord out of my head.” “Come on, then, I’ll show you where Heart is.” Iris flew towards where Fluttershy’s cabin would be in Ponyville. Even though this was my dream, it seemed to match the layout pretty well. As we got closer I saw Heart sitting on the bridge in front of a cottage, but I also saw Discord sitting there beside her. He had his tail wrapped around her, pinning her wings and forelegs to her side. “Discord!” I sprinted towards him, followed by the others. I didn’t make it within twenty feet of him when he snapped his fingers and froze me in place. “Dawn, how nice of you to join us. I was just telling Heart here how mean you are. It’s a flaw of all humans, really.” “That’s a lie!” I struggled against his grip, focusing on the fact that this was my mind. I’d be damned if I let him push me around here, and slowly I was able to inch forward towards the two of them. “Wars, starvation, disease, crimes… Humans seem inherently evil and not fit to live in Equestria. Just surrender, and I may forgive you.” “You can’t generalize like that. Heart, I’ve done plenty of kind things! Helping the sick, teaching Scootaloo to fly!” “But you’ve also been in fights with Soarin, or yelled at Twilight. And what about poor Lyra? You didn’t even properly break up with her,” Heart said. “Yeah, you tell him, Heart. I wouldn’t betray you like that,” Discord said. “Look.” I struggled forward the last few feet towards Heart, fighting Discord’s control until I had reached her. “I’m not perfect, but I’m always trying to better myself, to be kind and a good role model. Isn’t that all we can ask for? To try our best?” Heart smiled and looked at me. “Yeah, I guess so.” “No, you’ll regret this, Heart. He’s wicked,” Discord said. “No, you’re evil, Corrupting me, hurting ponies, I’d kill you if I could.” I focused my efforts on getting rid of him, of making him go away. After a few moments of straining, of telling myself this was my mind not his, Discord finally sighed and flicked his fingers, vanishing. With him gone, I hugged Heart. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, he’s just misunderstood,” Heart said. “He’s a part of—” “No, he’s no part of me. He’s evil, that’s all. Now let’s find the last bits of myself, I’ve got to get back to real life and make sure everypony is okay.” “Did someone call?” I saw the pony personifying my loyalty land next to me. She looked the most like Dash, just missing a cutie mark. Next to her was a pony I recognized as my love, both platonic and romantic. “Great, so now that we’re all here what do we do?” I asked. “Well, you’ve already proven your loyalty and love through your actions, and you seem to have made peace with the others to some degree,” Loyalty said. “We just need to bring Discord here.” “Crap, I just ran him off. Maybe we can go find him again and blast him to bits,” I said. “You can do it, Dawn,” Desire said. The other ponies surrounded me as I focused on bringing Discord back. A part of me reminisced about The Matrix as I tried to control the world around me. It became like a lucid dream and I felt my wings return and the cottage in front of me vanish, until I was standing in an empty field. Discord appeared, but this time he didn’t appear so threatening to me. “Well, I see you’ve figured things out. Bravo, but the show must go on,” Discord said. “You’re going to leave now, Discord, and never come back. Me and my friends,” I turned to gesture to the seven ponies I had found, each representing an aspect of me, but they were gone. “Oh, they seem to be gone.” Discord chuckled. “What a pity.” “No, they’re not gone…” I finally begin to understand what their connection to me truly was. “They’re all part of me, everything here is part of me.” “Hmm, yes so many little bits and pieces went into making you. A little Fluttershy for kindness, a little Dash for loyalty, a little Rarity for generosity… truly you’re the most realistic golem I’ve ever seen,” Discord said. “Too bad you’re not real, just a phantom of the old Don. The only reason they tolerate you is they feel bad.” His words cut deep as I felt alone and abandoned in my mind. I thought back to my personas, how each did tend to represent not only a part of me but a strength from my friends. As I looked up at Discord I knew there was no way he could be part of me. Then I realized one pony I hadn’t seen around, the one in the trenchcoat that hid her identity. Discord tilted his head and looked down, finding a pony next to him that had nothing visible but her face. “Oh, in a little denial?” She stepped forward. “Dawn, you aren’t perfect. You can’t pick and choose to only have the good aspects of yourself. You need to stop denying us, Dawn, to stop denying some of your flaws remain.” I looked at her and recalled just how long I had been in denial. First I hadn’t wanted to accept there was no way back to Earth. Then I hadn’t wanted to accept being a stallion, when being a mare seemed so much fun. I was even now denying that something evil like Discord could be any part of me. “You’re not Discord, are you.” I looked at him, realizing he was just another aspect of me. “Sure, maybe some remnant of Discord exists out there, somewhere, but you’re just my mind putting a face to an emotion. My greed, anger, whatever you want to call it… you’re my negative emotions.” Discord gave me a slow golf clap. “And here I thought I could keep you trapped here forever. You always were a pain in the ass.” “Maybe I can’t get rid of you, but I can control you. Thanks, Denial. I think it’s time I got back to my friends. I watched as the two of them vanished and felt a pain in my chest and a bright light blinding me. I gasped as I woke up, back in the dark cave full of moss and despair. However, that despair had little effect on me now as I had made peace with myself and was with my friends. “Dawn! Are you okay?” Dash grabbed me and hugged me with both forelegs. “F-fine…. c-can’t… breathe…” I muttered. She released me, and I got to my hooves. I looked around to see all the ponies watching my every move. “I thought you’d died.” “Well, more accurately been put into a coma,” Twilight stated. “What exactly happened? After I saved your ass, Dash.” I stuck my tongue out at her. “Hey, I coulda… I mean, thanks, Dawn.” Dash blushed as she stood there and brushed some of the dirt from her mane. “You two triggered a trap. I’m not sure what it was supposed to do, but you weren’t responsive for several minutes. You were just laying there, like you were out cold,” Twilight said. “I see. Well, I’ll tell you all about it sometime but why don’t we focus on finding your brother? I’m alive and that’s enough for now.” I smiled and gestured further down the cave. “Perhaps this time somepony else can go first?” Twilight nodded and looked around. “Having discharged that trap, I now know the spell and the magical signature to search for. I should be able to disarm them all as we walk further in.” “Great news. Still, somepony else goes first,” I chuckled. “Sure, sugarcube,” Applejack said and trotted forward. “Always knew us Earth ponies were braver, anyways.” Dash laughed and put a wing over my back, walking forward alongside me. I brought my wing under hers and over her back. The cave didn’t seem so bad after that. It got a bit colder and darker, but the unicorns kept our path lit. Twilight seemed to be on point now, disabling any traps that may have been here so quickly we hardly noticed. A faint flicker of light was the only sign that Twilight had disabled yet another trap. We’d only traveled maybe fifty feet and entered a large chamber. Immediately I heard Twilight squee in joy and run ahead of us, towards a statue of a stallion in the middle of the room. “Shining!” Everypony rushed towards him and began to look at his statue. "Can you fix him?" Pinkie asked. "I think so, I just need some time to concentrate, girls." Twilight's horn began to glow as she focused. We all began to fan out and look around the small chamber while Twilight worked.. “Don’t touch anything,” I said. There were some books, a few obvious artifacts, and a mirror. Seeing nothing dangerous looking, I decided to check on Twilight. She was currently concentrating on a spell, her purple aura surrounding the statue of Shining. I didn’t want to interrupt and risk ruining the spell. Slowly from his hooves upward, the stone turned to flesh as the imprisonment spell was lifted. I turned to check on Dash, who was examining the mirror. I walked over to check on her. “Hey, checking your mane?” “No, this mirror is familiar… We’ve seen it once before, it’s a link to another world,” Dash explained. Rarity saw us and decided to  join us at the mirror. “Yes, darling, this is probably how Discord crossed worlds. When it’s active, he probably could go through or pull things through it.” “So… this could send me home?” I asked. “Probably, but that’s more of a Twilight question, darling,” Rarity said. Dash looked at me with a small frown. “Go back?” “Stand aside, Dash.” I nudged her gently to the side. In one swift motion I spun around and bucked the mirror with both hooves, hearing a satisfying crack as the mirror shattered and fell to the floor. “No, I’m not going back. I’m staying here with you, and whatever other horrors Discord may have known aren’t going to be coming here anytime soon.” Dash smiled and hugged me and I relaxed to enjoy my victory. Finally things had worked out, and I had ensured there wouldn’t be anymore surprises. By the time I’d pried her off, Shining was examining his hooves and his horn was glowing. “Shining, glad to see you’re okay!” I smiled. “Um, do I know you?” Shining asked. “Wait, you didn’t tell him, Twilight?” I walked forward and looked at her, shaking my head. “I’m the guy banging your sister!” Twilight’s mouth fell open and she blushed to the point that her face matched Pinkie Pie’s. Behind me I heard Dash and Applejack laughing pretty loudly. Unfortunately, Shining really didn’t recognize me, since he’d been imprisoned before I’d been removed from Dash and given a body. His first instinct was to knock the smile off my face. It was only thanks to Twilight, who was quick enough to use her magic to push me back, that I didn’t lose half my teeth. “Whoa, brother, it’s a joke! That’s Dawn!” Twilight walked in between us, shooting me a nasty glance. “I’ll get even for this.” She then turned back to her brother. “I’ll explain later. He was joking, a tasteless joke, but I think we should get you back to Cadance. She’s been worried sick.” “Yeah, I’m sorry, Shining,” I smiled and walked up to shake hooves. “It was a tasteless joke, almost as tasteless as being aroused by the Dewey Decimal—ouch!” I yelped as Twilight used her magic to pinch a pressure point at the base of one of my wings, cutting me off before I revealed her ‘love’ of numeric labeling systems. “The, uh, what?” Shining asked. “Nothing,” I said and finally got a hoof shake from him. “So, girls, ready to head home?” Twilight asked. As she looked around she noticed the mirror, rushing over to it. “Oh my, the mirror portal.” I nodded and walked over to it. “Yeah, I sorta broke it, I hope I don’t get seven years bad luck—wait a minute…” I looked at the mirror and there were no longer any cracks in it. “You can’t destroy an artifact that powerful by kicking it, Dawn. I’ll send it to Celestia to destroy,” Twilight stated. I bit my lip, recalling how Celestia had lied to everypony about imprisoning Discord when she’d actually incinerated him on the sun. Would she destroy this, or just save it for a rainy day? “Can’t you just do that here?” “Well I could collapse the cave, without any room to step through the mirror, nothing should be able to come through. At least it’ll work until Celestia can come destroy it.” “I like that option more.” Dash tugged on one of my wings. “Hey, come on, let’s get back home. You just saved my life, found Shining, and destroyed the link to another world to stay with me. You know what that means?” She batted her eyelashes. “Yeah, we’re big damn heroes,” I replied. She rolled her eyes and I could hear somepony giggling in the background. She gave me a firm push on my rear with a hoof and I realized what she was implying. “Oh, yeah, we better get home quick, Twilight!” “Bleh, lovebirds. Nothin’ worse, right Rare?” Applejack asked. “You should try it sometime, darling, maybe tonight at nine?” Rarity smiled and walked a little closer to Applejack. “Sure, you got a mare friend to set me up with?” Further back, Pinkie turned to Fluttershy. “Wow, and I thought Dawn was dense.” Fluttershy nodded and smiled, her eyes still fixed ahead on Dawn and Dash. “Yeah.”