//------------------------------// // Prologue - Joy Becomes Sorrow // Story: Shadow Men: Where Light Can't Touch // by DragonsHeart //------------------------------// Feeling starts to return to the pony laying on ground as she wakes up. She tries to move her hoof and is unable to. She opens her eyes to find herself in near total darkness, the only light coming from beneath her. She is lying in a huge magic circle, and is strapped into the middle of it by four metal clamps ‘How in Tartarus did I get here?’ she thinks, confused and frightened. Yesterday she got up. Had breakfast. Went to school. She aced all her tests. Went to do her part-time job and then went home. She said hello to her family and sorted through her mail. All of them were confession letters that she still haven’t got around to rejecting. She played with her little brother until dinner and after which she went up to her room to study and then went to bed… Then she remembers: during the night she was awoken by somepony breaking down her door, which she always locked to keep her brother from playing with her stuff. The attacker then shoved something in her face causing her to fall unconscious. What had happened to her family? She looks around franticly, searching for any sign of where she is. But it’s too dark and all she can see is a large crystal mirror above her. She looks at her refection, her purple eyes locked with her own. Her long rose red mane and tail were spread across the ground, tangled. Her light blue coat and her thin body appears to be unharmed just dirty. She then catches sight of her biggest shame… her cutie-mark. The white oval with a black outline. Her parents guess it has something to do with math, but she doubts it. She doesn’t have to check her horn or wings for she has none, she is just a plain Earth-pony, just like the rest of her family. Her family. What has happened to them? The sound of a door opening break her from her thoughts. Soon some robed and hooded ponies stand above her. “Is she the vessel he chose?” asks one of them. “No, he just happened to tied down a random pony in the middle of the magic circle for kicks,” says another, sarcastically. “Quiet!” cries one, with an older voice, who wears slightly grander clothes then the others, he must be the leader. “She looks so young,” says one. “And pretty,” adds another. “And that why he choose her,” says another. “Ha, horny old man,” one laughs. The mare shivered, are they going to rape her? The leader slams his staff into the ground with magic, silencing them. He must be a unicorn. “Her looks don’t factor into it,” he says angrily, “I choose her for innate magic and her intellect, which could rival Princess Twilight Sparkle herself! The creature will be drawn to her magic and her intellect, not her looks!” This is not the first time somepony said that she could be as smart as Princess Twilight Sparkle. She doubt it herself, sure she aced all her tests(beside sports), but she is Princess Twilight Sparkle she probably know things that she couldn’t possible understand… right? “I’m not sure we should do this anymore,” says one. “Look we can’t back out now,” one says angrily, “We already killed her family to power the circle.” The mare thought she feels her heart stopping. She finally musters enough courage to talk. “What did you do to my family?” One of the hooded ponies bends down and looks at her, she swears he is grinning under the hood. “Well you see we are going to summon a very dangerous creature, and you see well none of us want to die. So we just used your family’s blood to make this very powerful binding circle so that the creature won’t kill us and will follow our orders,” he says, as one might lecture a child, she heard traces of insanity distorting that voice, “But you see we needed a lot of blood for this circle and sadly your family passed away as we extracted it…” She can’t listen anymore. She wants to cover her ears to stop hearing these horrible things. “… and if you want to see them, they’re right over,” he continues, pointing to the other side of the room. She looks and screams. There laying on the now illumined floor were her family, their throats were slit, but there is no blood around them, they have all been drained. Tears start to flow down her face as she looks at the bodies of her Father and Mother who are still clutching her little brother’s motionless body. “YOU MURDERED MY FAMILY!!” she screams at them, tears streaming down her face, hate and sorrow burning in her guts. “Oh temper,” says the most likely totally insane one. The unsure hooded ponies shivered. “No, we shouldn’t do this,” he says, looking around nervously, “I mean we could get killed for this!” “But once we have this creature under our control, not even the Princess will be able to stop it, right Leader?” says one of them to the older pony. “Yes, these creature cannot be destroyed by magic or even by might,” says the old pony, “It’ll just absorb any spell they throw at it and then swat them out of the sky! Even if they manage to destroy their body it will reform! It will then summon more of its kind under my… our control and then we will conquer the whole world and rule it with an iron hoof!” The insane one giggles. “Oh yes, what fun we will have!” says the insane one dancing on the spot, “I will finally get to cut open a living Alicorn to see how it works!” “I guess you’re right,” says the unsure one, “We’ve have come too far now to stop.” “YOU ARE ALL INSANE!!” she screams, struggling against her bonds. They sound like they are going to summon something worst then Tirek. “No, visionaries,” says the old one, “I’m tired of following a rulers too weak to even defend their own kingdoms. Soon I will summon a creature that will make Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra and Lord Tirek seem like a joke. For this creature has no known weakness, it cannot be defeated by friendship or love, for it cares not for these things and all magic is just food to it. Soon even the gods will fear it,” he learns close to the mare, “And the best part is that there is only one thing that could stop it and it doesn’t exist in this realm!” It can’t be true, no creature that powerful can exist. “Come brothers,” he says, waving his staff, “Now is the time. It is midnight, the time of darkness!” The hooded ponies walk away to the edges of the circle. She over looks at them and sees that there are more of them, maybe about ten or twenty of them. They start to form a circle around the magic circle and then start to all chant. She can’t understand the words of the chant, it is a different language. It sounded very alien. The circle starts to glow brighter, sending out shafts of red light that reflect off the crystal mirror and back onto the floor making a cage of light. She feels a sudden burst of pain as magic starts pouring into her body from the circle. Her body spasms as huge amounts of magic are forced into her body. She blacks out. She finds herself in a familiar blurry landscape, one she hasn’t seen since she was very young. When she was seven her pet rabbit died and she ran away from home because her parents buried her bunny without her knowing or letting her see her bunny. Later she found out a fox got her bunny and there wasn’t much left. When she ran away from home she hid in a small cave near her house. She had cried for hours, that was when she found herself in the blurry landscape and met the tall man. When she woke up, she was back at home and in bed. Her parents had found her. After she got up she found out that she got her cutie mark and didn’t feel sad anymore about the bunny, but she never told anyone about the tall man or the blurry landscape. But now she is back in the blurry landscape and there in front of her is the tall man, as blurry as the landscape. It leans over her and reaches out its long hand and wraps its fingers around her neck. Not choking her just feeling her neck. Its ice cold fingers start wrapping right around her neck, still not trying to choke her. Linking them. Suddenly the landscape fades and instead of the tall man standing above her, she sees the old hooded pony standing there. Carrying a knife! He starts muttering a few words then suddenly stabbing the knife right into her heart. She screams in pain as he twists the knife, letting more blood pour right out. He pulls the knife out and backs away, leaving her to a slow and painful death. Why is this happening to her? What has she ever done to anypony? Somepony save her… The voices of the chanters fade as does her vision. She will be dead soon, she knows it. “Do you wish to die?” She opens her eyes. She isn’t bleeding anymore… well she is, but it has stopped moving! It is like all her blood has frozen, but she hasn’t. She is lying in the blurry landscape again only it is clearer. “Do you wish to die?” the voice repeated. She looks for the source of the voice. It is the tall man, only not blurry anymore. It stands on it two hind-legs, the legs are nearly a meter tall and very thin. It body is small compare to its legs, with long black tentacles sticking out of its back, reaching all the way to the floor. Its arms were long too, reaching past its knees, at the end of its arms were long claws that look like they can rip steel, even though it arms are about as thick as a flag pole. One hand is still wrapped around her neck. She then looks up at its face, which is smooth, round and sort of flat, on it where a pair of sad dark blue eyes and an equally sad dark blue mouth which both looked painted on, they reminded her of an opera mask. It stood above her unmoving. She never knew the tall man is this scary. “Do you wish to die?” it asks a third time. Its voice is hard to describe. It sounds like a million sad voices joined together to make one very sad voice. It almost sound at times like it is wailing. It mouth never moves when it speaks, the voice just comes from it. “Do you wish to die?” “Who are you?” she asks. “Do you wish to die?” “What do you mean?” she asks. “Do you wish to die?” It can’t seem to answer her. It just asks the question over and over again. It must want an answer. “No, I don’t want to die,” she answers, softly. It then says something new, “Will you face the consequences?” “What consequences?” she asks confused. “Will you face the consequences?” it repeats. It doing it again. It just wants an answer. “Fine I will face the consequences, I don’t want to die!” she yells, frustrated. “The deal is complete,” it states, “You will have your vengeance. I promise.” It then melts, oozing all over her. She watches as it covers her legs and body. She notices where ever it covers she loses feeling there, completely numb, it reaches her chest seeping into her wound making it numb. For some reason, she didn’t feel scared as it climbs over the rest of her body, just tired. Soon she was nearly completely covered, beside her head. It is weird feeling only feeling her head, but it isn’t to last. Soon it starts to climb up her head, covering everything beside her face. It slowly makes its way up her face, first onto her mouth seeping between her lips and teeth and then down her throat, covering her innards making them numb, then it covers her nose slipping down her nostrils and finally her open eyes. Soon she feels nothing, not even herself. “Stop, brothers,” commands the leader, “It is done!” There laying in the middle of the circle is the mare. All her colours are bleached away to different shades of grey. Her hooves slip out of the straps like they were covered in butter. She struggles to her feet, her head hanging low. “She got out of the straps?” says one hooded pony, nervously. “Of course,” says the leader, “It is no longer a creature of flesh, blood and bones!” She raises her head and they all look at a face void of emotion. Like a zombie, she stares at them, unblinking, like she is trying to capture them with her eyes. She points one of her hoofs at them. “You killed them,” she says, in a dead emotionless voice. “It is talking,” says another, worried. “The creature is linking us with the death of its host and her family,” explains the old one, “Listen here creature! We have bound you, you will to do what we tell you.” “You killed them,” she repeats, slightly louder. She puts a hoof forwards, magic sparks shoot out of circle. She pulls her hoof back and looks at it, still no emotion passing her face. “You cannot escape this circle,” says the insane one, “This circle could hold the gods!” “You killed them,” she says again, much louder. Suddenly she place one hoof on the edge of the circle. The circle faded until it is just a pattern on the floor. “IT JUST DRAINED THE CIRCLE!” screams one. She starts to walk unsteadily towards them, unsure how to walk. Suddenly black tentacles shot out her back. Pinning three of the hooded ponies to the wall. Her hoof then shoots out transforming into a giant claw, crushing four more ponies against the wall. “IT KILLING US!” yells one. “HELP US, LEADER!” But the leader and two goons are already gone. They have abandon them. “IT’S CHANGING!” And so she is. Her body becoming black, starts bubbling, expanding and changing. She grows rapidly. Soon they are all staring at a huge monster. Its head a huge mouth, full of sharp teeth and covered in spikes. Her hooves now just huge black claws, with spikes climbing up her legs. Her body has become more reptilian and spiky, with a tail with barbs all across it. “RUN!!” yells one. They all rush to the door, trampling each other to get away. The monster roars at them. “YOU KILLED THEM!” It charges them, ripping, tearing and biting them apart. Their screams echoing throughout the hall as each one is torn apart. Outside the door to the hall a crowd of students, guards and staff gather outside wondering what’s happening inside. Suddenly the door burst open, crushing ponies against the wall. A huge black monster jumps out of the room and bites a poor nearby pony in half, her agonized scream echoing though out the hallway. The monster roars and wails at the same time. “YOU KILLED THEM!!” The teachers and students run away in fear of their life, guards ready themselves for combat. It is futile. With a swing of its huge spiked tail it wiped out the entire row of guards. The wall is brought down, exposing a group of shivering huddled ponies hiding. The monster stood above them. “WHERE ARE THEY!?!” it roars/wails, before crushing them underfoot. There screams of fear and anguish quickly silenced. The monster turns its head towards the direction the ponies are fleeing. A small part of the monster falls off and starts to grow and expands like roots, covering the entire building. The monster then heads after the fleeing mob. Escape is blocked by the black roots that now cover the doors. They are trapped! The monster walking towards them. Black tentacles whipping around above it like whips. Some ponies try to teleport away, but the black roots blocks and drains the magic. The monster stood above them. Blood drips from its jaw as it opens and a severed pony leg falls out. Some of the ponies fall to their knees begging for mercy, some cry prayers for salvation and others close their eyes willing it all to be a nightmare. The hallway is filled with screams and cries of pain as the monster butchers the ponies. The monster continues to look for what it’s seeking, leaving behind the corpses, flung against the door. No matter where the ponies ran or hid the monster finds and kills them. If a pony escaped onto the grounds the roots would slice them or fling them against the ground, a nearby wall causing them to splatter. Parts of the building are levelled, killing any pony underneath. Any pony that tried to fight are chewed up. Soon, it seems not a single pony is left alive. The monster starts to climb a large pile of rubble as all the roots flow back into it body. As it reaches the top of the pile it lets out a scream that can be heard all the way across Equestria. “WHERE ARE THEY!?! THEY KILLED THEM!!” The monster suddenly transforms. Soon the mare stands there, staring blankly ahead. She blinks and looks around in horror. She looks at her hoof which is covered with blood. “What have I done?” she quavers. She looks down at a shard of the crystal mirror at her now colourless body. Blood drips from her mouth and she wants to retch but nothing comes. She looks at the rest of her body. Her body is covered with blood. Her cutie mark has changed, it is still an oval, but within it is a sad pair of dark blue eyes and dark blue sad mouth, just like the tall man’s face. “WHAT HAVE I BECOME?!” she screams, and breaks down sobbing. Her cries echo throughout the dead hallways as snow starts to fall.