//------------------------------// // The Eagle // Story: The Darkness inside // by SoothingCoffee //------------------------------// “The most terrifying animal is the one that could watch you from a far, without you noticing it.”   ”Happy 1000th petrification anniversary, Jaime.” I lazily thought, staring at the same scenery in front of me. Rare flowers, of various colors circled me, vines covered my head, and bird shits on my shoulders, and head. The sun hung on the horizon, just about to set. And the only thing that’s different was the new statue in front of me. Discord.   It was amusing at first, staring at his shocked expression just hours after his sad escapade, then it just got old. Really, I doubted it was Celestia’s idea that planned to place him there. Probably those incompetent Royal Guards.   It was boring, being stoned I meant. And the only thing that’s good was only lowering the Darkness’ whisperings about torture, rape, slavery, and stuffs that any angst and broody teens would say. It got old when after it whispered the same thing over and over after a thousand times.   I mentally sighed, not for the first or for the last time. It was at times like this that I wanted to kill the Angelus that got me here, or at least, drag her here as well. For a being that represent the Light, she’s really being a bitch.   Even Celestia wasn’t that bad, and she’s the avatar of this world’s sun! Then again, Celestia could make Mother Theresa offer her virginity. So that’s a moot.   And as the sun dropped and the moon rose, it happened. It was so random, that it caught me definitely off guard. So much so, that if I wasn’t petrificated, I would probably stop causing wanton destruction for a day.   A crack appeared on my prison’s back.   It was a tiny thing, almost unnoticeable, but it was enough to confirm it. I grinned as the Darkness inside of me began to laugh sinisterly.   “… Soon.”   I rolled my eyes. A sound of leaves and flowers rustling from the background snapped my attention as the rustling turned into clopping, before finally the source of the noise revealed its way by walking into my restricted view.   She stood in front of me, her starry blue mane and tail flown in the non-existent wind, covering her black tiara and long spiraled horn, with her blue coat. She staring at me with a frown with her sky blue eyes, a black splotch with a picture of the crescent moon on both her flanks, partly covered by her furled wings and a black neck bracelet with a picture of a crescent moon on her neck (duh).   She frowned at something upon my head, before her horn glowed and the vines above my head were levitated away, before she sighed, facing back at me, “Happy 1000th petrification anniversary, Jaime.” She congratulated with a small smile.    I blinked my metaphorical eyes. That’s one hell of a coincidence. I shook my head, feeling the unnoticeable cracks behind my back spread slightly.   Then she took a look at me, before wincing at my chest. Not that I could blame her, of course. My Armani suit, and trench coat were burned away, and a gaping hole, the size of a football, took hold onto my chest with burn marks surrounding it, courtesy of one truly pissed Celestia.   ()_()_()_()   I still remember that day. I stood in the middle of a field, a group of Diamond dogs cowered in front of me in fear as I glared at them.   “You know,” I growled, my hand gripping my Desert Eagle, now enhanced with infinite ammo, courtesy of Dark bullet. “I don’t like you guys as a species. Some would call me neo-Hitler, but at least I got a goddamn reason about it,”   “But we didn’t do anything!” The Alpha of the group defended in fear.   I chuckled, it wasn’t a nice one. “Yeah, well I don’t care. Your ancestors should know that no one should try to control the Darkness, but they did. And if you want to blame anyone,” I held out my Desert eagle, aiming it at the Alpha, “Blame the old fools you call Ancestors.”   And I pulled the trigger. Before I could, however, something smashed to my side, sending me careening to one large rock. I grimaced, holding my side.   I blinked. There, standing in front of me in her full glory, golden armor and all, stood a verily pissed off Celestia. Her magenta eyes flashed into yellow, and her usual rainbow mane and tail became a very angry looking flame, ready to lash at me.   There was also blood on her horn. I glanced at my wounded side, still clutched by my hand, before wincing; I looked back at the glaring Alicorn. My demonic arms had already retreated from the light that her body, mane, and tails emanated.  I hissed at the sudden mild pain she emanated, before smiling nervously.   “So, hey… I heard about Lun-“   She sent a beam of light, making me roll out of the way. There was an explosion, signifying the rock’s fate. “Don’t you dare sully her name, you monster!” she growled, eyes full of uncontrollable rage.   I tried to stand up, before I was forced to roll once again, courtesy of another light beam. I raised my Desert eagle, quickly standing on my feet. “Hey, I know-“Bang Bang“-it’s my fault-”Bang Bang”-, but technically-“Bang Bang“-she did—“   Her aura disintegrated all of the dark bullets. “Silence!” She screamed, sending another light beam on my way, hitting me straight on my abdomen. She stomped forward, as I shot more bullets; all of it went melted by her sheer aura. “You have dared to cause chaos to Equestria, to my ponies and to other races-” Mostly Diamond dogs, went unsaid”- And I have tolerated you presence ever since because of my sister’s benevolence, and this is what you’ve done to her?!”    I winced as a beam hit my shoulder quickly followed by quick light beam blasted my right arm, sending my black Desert eagle careening away from my hand.   I winced at the pain, before I ran from the sudden barrage of beams. “Let’s calmly talk about this, Celestia!” I shouted.   Suddenly the barrage stopped, and I halted, looking to Celestia, quickly regretting such decision.   “CALM!?” a massive amount of light energy focused on her horn, before the massive energy began to farm into one condensed pure light energy. “THIS IS CALM!”   The energy shot straight, and not unlike a laser, the pure energy pierced my chest, clothes and all. I howled in pain, pain worse than being impaled, worse than being tortured, worse than being crushed, in fact, if I had to admit, it was probably the most painful experience I’d felt.   I didn’t even had the chance to fall after the beam ended before a blast of Rainbow engulfed me. Vaguely, I could hear a scream from Celestia.   “AND THIS IS JUSTICE!”   And the next think I knew, I was a statue.   ()_()_()_()   I winced at the memory. It sure left a mark on my mind, and I hoped that it would be healed right after I broke out.   It also taught me not to anger the one that could move the sun with ease.   “I don’t know whether or not you could hear me, but I want to tell you that,” Luna started, before sighing, ducking her head. “I’m sorry.” I raised a mental eyebrow in surprise. “I tried to save you from the being that had controlled your action, saving you from its corruption,” she let out a self-depreciating laugh. “In the end I was the one who got corrupted.”   Wow. I didn’t know whether I should be flattered that she thought of me as redeemable and good after massacring thousands of lives, or that I should be offended that she thought I was being controlled by the Darkness.   Still, misunderstanding aside, it somewhat warmed my heart. Something I’d thought was impossible for a long, long time.   She let out a chuckle. “And then you’ve met my sister’s ire,” she looked at my chest, specifically, the gaping hole on my chest, before sighing. “And it’s my fault. If I wasn’t so foolish, too consumed with my jealousy, this wouldn’t happen to you, and you could still be freed from the being controlling you.”   She looked up at my head, before smiling wryly. “I don’t even know if you could hear me or not, but I suppose this is as good as I could get.”   She unfurled her wings, giving it a flap before she took off to what I could guess to her tower/room. Why she didn’t just use her hooves, the same she came here was still an unknown. Best bet, she’s just lazy.   It was an hour or so after she left that the cracks covered the entirety of my prison. A thick black miasma of darkness leaked from its crevices. Flowers and vines that it touched wilted into ashes.   Crack!   “Yess…”   The statue, my prison, shattered into pieces. I fell to the ground, before rolling to my back, gasping in pain as my face set into a grimace. Feeling the flesh around the hole to crawl as the Darkness regenerated it. Soon enough, I felt my chest beating with a new piece of heart.   I sighed in relief as I stared at the starry sky. “God, that was awful.” I said, poking my healed chest.  It was still slightly tender, and the burn marks still remained, making it look like I was a sun fanatic. I clambered to my feet, before stretching my stiff muscle, groaning at the cracks it resulted.    I looked at the situation my clothing, before shaking my head. The black Armani suit was burned beyond measure, and the brown trench coat over it was gone to god knows where. I shut my eyes, concentrating upon the Dark energy to my body, feeling it crawl like a creepy stalker raping its victim, before I opened myself, straightening my repaired outfit. “Gotta love the advantage of having a dark-material outfit.”   My ever so loyal demonic, serpent-like arms sprouted over my back, and hovered to each side of my shoulder.   I frowned in thought. “There’s something missing…” I looked at my side, before sighing. “Yep, she took the gun as well. I won’t be surprised if she thought it to be an ancient weapon.” I glorified at the feeling of pride over my race’s superiority.   Human’s the master race, bitch.   I walked to the castle, intent on greeting Celestia, though not before I kicked Discord’s statue.   It didn’t take long before I was out of the garden and stood in front of a large castle. Briefly, I pondered whose great idea it was to build a castle on a mountain. Before shrugging, storing it under the file, ‘Stupid things ponies do’.   A hoofstep made me hide behind a bush, watching as a guard in golden armor patrolled around the area. The moment he was near my hiding spot, my demonic arms immediately snatched the poor fellow, by the neck as the other lunged at his heart. He was before he could make a noise.   “Ah… yes, more victims… search for more, and eat their hearts.”   I stood from the bush, looking around for any guard. Finding none, I stealthily entered the castle, using my demon arms’ range to destroy the lamps and torches as quietly as I could. Unsurprisingly, there were barely any guards patrolling the halls. Those who were immediately got their neck crushed, or impaled, or rectum enlargement, or face disfigurement, or raped to death.   “I miss my Eagle,” I complained as my demonic arms dropped another heartless corpse of another patrolling guard onto the ground, his face frozen in a perpetual scream of pain. Understandable, considering the rectum operation he just got.   The perpetrator of such gruesome death just laughed manically in my head.   I shook my head before I turned left at a random section, before I stopped as I found myself standing in front of a large intricate double door. On the right side of the door was a symbol of the sun while the symbol of the moon on the left, signifying the current rulers.   “Bingo.”   Quietly, I pressed my ear to the entrance, in order to confirm that there’s Celestia inside. Part of me doubtful since it was night, another part of me argued that today Discord escaped, that meant the rulers were going to need to clean up the general cluster-fuck that Discord had caused.   I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s going to be a world meeting concerning Discord. I amusedly guessed, before listening to the conversation inside.   “Thank you, girls, for capturing Discord, and helped me clean the chaos that he had caused.” That was Celestia’s voice. Bingo.   “It’s no problem, Princess. We’re always happy to help you.” Said a not-so-unfamiliar voice, Twilight Sparkle, my mind provided; Celestia’s current student, and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought Celestia is a pedophile for picking them young.   “And you can always ask us for help when you need to, Princess!” Said a voice that sounded like a teen barely passing her puberty.   I pulled my head, a grin on my face as I turned around. “Darky, come here.” I whispered, before a grey hunched creature appeared in front of me out of the shadow. A head of diamond dog mounted on his head, wearing a T-shirt of the Ireland flag.   He gave me a mock salute as he grinned at me. “Took you long calling me, eh, boss?” he said in a thick Irish accent. “So what d’ya need?”   I grinned back, giving him a mock-salute as well. “Well, Darky, it’s time for a good round of baseball,” my right demon arm lifted him up by the back. “Just destroy the light, and then incapacitate Twilight, got it?”   “Got it, boss.” He sighed, before muttering, “Hate this fuckin’ shit.”   “Great.” I sauntered to the door. “Get ready,” I kicked the door open like a badass, “GO!” and hurled the Darkling hard to the chandelier that hung in the middle of the room. The makeshift cannonball hit the chandelier with a shatter, resulting in glasses to fall to the ground that somehow missed the six ponies beneath it.   And like Mother Theresa’s sagging tits, the previously bright room was engulfed in total darkness. A part of me was glad for upgrading the Darkling to at least withstand light, if only for a second.     For a moment, there was a tense silence as Celestia stood in her throne, with her horn alight, and the six ponies, element bearers if I had to guess, huddled in the middle of the room, with twilight in the middle of the group and the yellow one hyperventilating.   I let out a wicked grinned, stepping into the room. There was no noise as my expensive shoes hit the floor, as Darkness was my territory; it was my home, my dominion, my control. It felt nice, to be in power after a thousand years plus one hour of imprisonment.   “Girls, come over here!” Celestia shouted, head blindly swiveling to search the perpetrator of this sudden blackout.   The six mares did so, galloping wildly to their protector-slash-ruler as I slinked further into the darkness. Darky, in a speed that would make Bolt to cry, darted to the six galloping ponies, and knocked Twilight by hitting her neck. And the six became five.   Darky dragged, not so carefully, the unconscious Twilight to me. Got ‘er, boss. He said through our telepathic line, as he unceremoniously dropped Twilight in front of me.   Good, you wait outside. Do whatever you want if you spot a guard. I mentally commanded. He gave me a quick salute in reply and a toothy grin before he bounded out of the throne room.   I carefully lifted Twilight with my hand, as I didn’t want to hurt her. Especially when doing so would probably get me a hole to the chest, courtesy of another pissed Celestia.   There were gasps as the five ponies reached Celestia sides. “Where’s Twilight?” Was the panicked question of Celestia.   I grinned. “Right here!” I shouted, watching in satisfaction Celestia’s eyes widened in fear. Suddenly, her light brightened slowly covering the room. “Don’t you dare do that, she’s in my hand, now. If you don’t want me to hurt her, you better answer my question!” A lie, I wouldn’t do such thing, especially when doing so would result a pissed Celestia.   “You!” She hissed with so much venom that the ponies in her side actually recoiled. “How did you escape?”   “You’re not the one asking question here, Celly.” I don’t know “Now, I want to know where you keep my Eagle?”   There was a pause of silence as she narrowed her eyes where she thought I was with a terrifying accuracy. The silence in the room was a tense thing, perhaps even more than the silence after Ghandi’s death, as we had our stare-down, with the line of Darkness and Light separating us.   “In the Old castle, Luna’s room.”   I narrowed my eyes, and spotting no dishonesty, I threw Twilight in their direction. “Great!” , and quickly escaped the throne room, away from the angry sun alicorn.   “Dismissed!” I screamed at Darky once I passed him. He saluted before fading in the shadow. I didn’t dare looking back, fearing a certain angry Alicorn. A part of me was hoping that she would care more about her student than chasing me, but I wasn’t taking any chances.   I entered a random guest room, before opening the door leading to the balcony, and immediately jumped. And in almost in instinct, I transformed my demonic arms into a pair of wings and flew the fuck away from Canterlot and to the Everfree forest.    The shrieks of terror from the castle as I neared Canterlot’s border made me quicken my pace.   ()_()_()_()   I descended down to the Everfree forest, and smiled. It had been long since I’ve been here, roughly a thousand years. It was weird, really, the Everfree forest. It reminded me of home, when I was still Jaime Copperfield the soon-to-be writer and not Jaime Copperfield the host of the Darkness.   Sure, I may not live in a forest as Jaime the soon-to-be writer, but the atmosphere that the ponies were scared of, the natural cycle of the world; it reminded me fondly of home. It also makes a good hideout from wannabe heroes and Celestia when I was tired of wanton destruction.   What? You don’t expect me to destroy the world, do ya? I want to fill my homicidal needs, not destroy the world.   I shook my head, no time for reminiscing and took a step to the general direction of the castle ruin that I saw midair.   Thankfully, dear Everfree didn’t want to play with me by sending beasts for me to slay, or holes for me to fall, and soon I was standing before the ruin that used to be the Castle of the two sisters, separated by a gap.   Of what used to be a glorious castle now became a husk of what it used to be. The gate was now rotten that a few kick in the right place would break it to pieces; the walls were covered with cracks, that I don’t doubt a few wrong touch would make a new hole on it; and the towers were now just a total ruin, the strong material that it was used broken by the test of time.   A part of me wondered why the sisters didn’t preserve the castle. Then I remembered how a part of the castle was destroyed, and left it at that.   I looked at the right tower, Luna’s room, before I jumped, using my wings to the right tower, just by the window. Thankfully, the window was gone due to time and I just entered.   The room was like it used to, even if they were damaged by time, and had gathered dust that even I had to sneeze a couple times. There's the queen sized bed, two nightstands on each side, a dresser and a desk opposite of said bed.   But there, on the nightstand beside the bed, an ornate box caught my eyes. Blue painted wood, with silver lines set in complicated style, and it was just the size of my hand gun. Seeing no trap nearby, I quickly grabbed it and opened the damn thing.   I grinned. There, polished and cleaned, lay my Desert Eagle. Carefully, I caressed it like my own son, except with love and care. The gun responded my touch by pulsing with its inner dark energy. "Hello, baby." It pulsed its energy in response before I grabbed it in my hand.   “Mission accomplished.”   Somehow, a small part of me was expecting it to be a trap. But I wasn’t going to look for a gift horse in the mouth.   I took a last look to the room, letting a wave of nostalgia hit me before I jumped over the window, and flew, before I dropped to a random spot in the forest. Took a random cave, killed the major and minor Ursas in it, and took a rest for the first time in a thousand years.