Memories are always there, even when nothing else is...
-NightShade
Chapter 12
Resurfacing Memories
Light
The nightmares swirled through the darkness, torturing me with the memories of my life. All of the bad times returning to me in an instant.
That's the one good thing about being a statue, you never need to sleep. Never need to dream.
Never need to remember.
It seemed that all of the time without sleep had built up, and almost every nightmare that I had ever had resurfaced that night while I viewed from the sidelines, unable to help or intervene. I watched everything, from violent beatings, to the brutality, to the death of all of Fire, and later Air, Earth and Wat-
No, I can't go down that road. It's too painful, even now, in a different world being hunted.
I was only too glad to feel the fog of sleep start to retreat from my view and I embraced the clearness. Anything to beat back the memories.
I opened my eyes and looked around...
Well this seems familiar...
I closed my eyes tightly, before reopening them and scanning my surroundings. For a moment it crossed my mind that I might have gone back in time, everything looked almost exactly the same as when I had first arrived in Equestria. I was lying on a small couch in the middle of a small room. A small table was in front of me, with a small pegasus frozen next to it, eyes wi-
Wait a second...
I snapped my eyes back to the yellow pony in front of me. It was the same pony that had taken care of me the last time I had been here. And that went so well…
I tried to get up and move, but a wave of fatigue and pain washed across me, and I collapsed back into the couch with a groan. For a moment I mimicked a broken computer monitor as I partially phased in and out, a bad signal in a tv, but that too passed as I settled slightly. If the pain and the way that I was flickering was anything to go by, I was pretty beaten up. I was bruised and battered, and the damage coupled with the lack of energy had weakened my nature. My clothes were only moving weakly, and the segregation between my Dark and Light sides had broken down a little, moving my total color to a more uniform grey, with only a small difference between the two tones.
My whole body was still threatening to break up, and the excruciating pain was coming back in force. I gritted my teeth and lay there for what felt like hours, but it must have only been a few minutes.
I was on the verge of passing out from the pain when I felt a soft touch on my shoulder, pressing down on my injuries. It was incredibly light, and I barely felt it at all, even with my whole body in its state of sensitivity. I opened my eyes again to see what it was...
Fluttershy
The timid yellow pegasus shrunk in fear as Light opened his eyes and looked around. For a moment he tried to rise, before pain clouded over his eyes and he fell back onto her couch. It became obvious to Fluttershy that he was in terrible pain. Her instinct for caring overshadowed her fear.
Only by a little...
She rose to her hooves and slipped slowly towards Light, watching carefully for any sign of hostility. He was writhing slightly on the couch as bits of his form swirled around in a weird invisible turbulence. Even his color had changed as the tones drifted lazily across his body. She reached out a hoof to touch him, trying to soothe him in some way. The moment she touched his shoulder, the movement stopped and he turned to look at her, opening his eyes.
Fluttershy retreated immediately, fear flooding her system. She knew what Light had been capable of before, and knew that even in his severely weakened state, he would easily be capable of harming, and possibly killing, her. She lay there quivering on the floor awaiting Light’s attack. That seemed like the only thing that he had wanted to do the last time they had encountered him. He was going to attack her any second now...
Any second now... (See? Red! No wait, wrong scene...)
Nothing happened.
A soft sigh echoed quietly around the enclosed space. Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked to the source, curious as to what had made the noise.
She took in a sharp breath when she saw Light. He was still lying on the couch, not having moved. But that wasn't what caught her attention.
He was crying. His eyes had a far-away look to them and glistened with small tears. As she watched, he rested his head in his hands and started to shake his head, muttering under his breath. He let out another sigh and actually started to sob quietly into his hands.
Fluttershy was thunderstruck. To her, Light was a dangerous, unstoppable, unfeeling creature. It had attacked her friends without a moment's hesitation before moving to the princesses. Even after being trapped for 2 months, the first thing that he had done after becoming free was attack the princesses, escape Canterlot, and then cause a massive commotion around Ponyville.
He was supposed to be evil. He was supposed to be bad.
He was supposed to be a monster.
But he was not meant to be crying on her couch.
Fluttershy stood rock still for a full minute, shocked at what was happening. Light seemed to be honestly sad, not even aware that she was watching him. The animal lover cautiously crept closer, and closer, and closer, until she was standing right next to him. The strange white, no, grey creature was sniffling under his breath. She hesitated, her hoof hovering over his head, before she touched him...
Light
Oh god, what have I become.
Am I really that scary? Am I really that bad that a pony can't even look at me without cowering in a corner?
We made a promise that we wouldn't harm innocents. I broke that promise.
I broke the promise.
I let them down...
My head fell into my hands, while I felt something trickle down my face. It took me a moment to realize that I was crying. I tried to fight it, but whenever I closed my eyes I would see my friends in front of me.
"Light, what have you done?"
"Air! What are you doing here?! I haven't seen you guys for se long."
I moved towards Air, but she just shook her head, turned away and walked away and walked off into the darkness.
Next was Earth. He walked up to me, gave me a disapproving glare, and retreated. I tried to speak but he raised a hand behind his back to cut me off.
I started to cry. Seeing those two hurt more than words could describe. But nothing could prepare me for the hurt that came next.
Water appeared.
She looked me right in the eyes. "I don't even know what to say to this. You've done what we all promised not to do. You hurt those that we swore to protect. I can't speak to someone that would commit such travesties. Goodbye Light." She too vanished into the darkness, leaving her soft-spoken message to haunt me.
My breath caught in my throat. I didn't think that it could be any worse.
It did.
Fire arrived.
His was the simplest, the shortest, and the most hurtful of all. He just looked at me and said four quick words. They cut through all of the layers of caked on emotional detachment, straight to my core. He was my oldest and closest friend, and no-one, absolutely no-one, knew me as well as he did. Those words shook me and threatened to send me off the edge.
"You've let me down."
Then he was gone.
I floated through the dark void that was my mind, lost in the spiraling world of depression. The loss of my only friends, and then their denouncement of me, was too much. All I could feel was sadness, blackness. Happiness was a concept suddenly lost to me; hope became an illusion, the silver lining dull and rusted.
I'm not sure how long I stayed in the darkness of my soul, falling deeper into sadness, but it felt like forever. Time lost all meaning in its hell, having absolutely no hold whatsoever on me. And then I felt a small pressure on my head.
I didn't move, not caring about anything, not even checking to see if it was dangerous. Death would have been a welcome relief then. I might have then had a chance of escaping my past.
But something, or rather somepony, was trying to save me. The pressure turned into a stroking motion, accompanied by a soothing humming. The humming progressed to a quiet singing, almost a lullaby. It almost sounded like Air...
That thought redoubled my crying, and I lost all restraint, turning into a lump of crying and whimpering. Whatever was stroking my hair stopped, and for some reason this made me more sad, something that I hadn't thought possible. Suddenly the pressure returned in the form of a hug. Something had wrapped itself around me and was hugging me, murmuring sweet nothings into my ear.
I finally took the effort to open my eyes, and the sight brought the tiniest, tiniest of smiles to my face.
It was the little, scared pegasus. And she was hugging me. When she saw that I was looking at her, she stopped her stoking, but then smiled and started again. I would like to say that I held out in the face of sheer adorableness, and kindness, and that I restrained myself in my depression.
I would like to say that.
What actually happened is that the moment I saw the smile, I gave in and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her and sobbing into the incredibly soft pink mane. I felt her tense up under my touch (Not that way, jeez...), before relaxing and returning the hug.
I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, but it must have been at least 10 minutes. But all good things must come to an end, and I untangled my arms from around her and wiped my face, removing all of the tears, and looked her in the face. She still had that smile on her face. That amazing smile that had rescued me from the very brink of darkness and depression.
But the memories were still there, lurking in the shadows, the corners of my mind, ready to pounce at in an instant and take over. At least for the meantime they had been beaten back, forced to retreat.
I sighed as I leaned back into the folds of the couch. The yellow pony looked almost sad to have lost contact, and had a forlorn expression on her face. I smiled sadly. "Thank you."
The pony gave a start when I spoke. "Uhhh, you're welcome." I had to struggle to hear the words she spoke. She was incredibly quiet. "It's alright, I don't like seeing anypony sad. But would you like to tell me why you were crying? I mean, if that's alright with you..."
I gave a small chuckle. This pony really was the pony that I had first met when I arrived here. What was her name? Fluttershy? Yes, that was it...
I reached out and stroked her mane. "It doesn't matter. Just old memories is all. Nothing for you to worry about." I paused. "But if you don't mind me asking, where are we again?'
She smiled. "Well, you're in my house, and I was going to help you with your injuries. If you would like that mean."
I nodded. "Aha. And what happened to make me get here. Last thing I remember I was practically destroyed, and then alive, and then unconscious..."
She suddenly looked really nervous. "Well..."
Fluttershy
The conversation with Light was actually going quite smoothly. He didn't seem hostile, or dangerous, or even panicked. He was just, calm. It was just like Fluttershy had remembered the first time she had met him. Back then he had just sat there and talked. Well, at least until she fainted... Then it became a bit of a blur with her friends and the princesses...
But right now he was just sitting there, a sad smile on his face, dried tears reflective slightly. He had sat there, hugging her, for about 10 minutes, just crying into her mane.
And then he asked her what had happened.
A wave of fear swept across her. The yellow pegasus was unsure of how to approach such a... touchy subject. But she didn't think that he would appreciate a lie, so she just went out with it. "Ummm, well... About that..."
His smile dropped, replaced by a look of concern. "What happened." It was less of a question and more of a statement, laced with traces of concern.
"Uhhh, you kinda exploded in a way... And then you just collided and appeared in front of me, so I'm not sure what happened exactly. And then you fainted, so..." She trailed off with a muffled squee. Light's heart struggled between the sheer cuteness of the pegasus and how dire his situation had been.
Fluttershy crept back, waiting for a response, thinking that Light would get angry, or at the very least annoyed. Oddly enough, he just sat there, a thoughtful look and tug at the corner of his mouth the only thing giving away emotion. He chuckled. "Oh yeah, now it's coming back to me. Good old Tia, always jumping to the violent alternative. But then again, I guess that I may have started it in a way."
Fluttershy peeked at him curiously. "What do you mean? And also, weren't you a statue?" She let out a frightened squeal as she realized that that might have been a bit insensitive. However, Light didn't seem to mind, so she continued. "How exactly did you even get free?"
Light stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well..."
Somewhere completely different...
The tension in the room was reaching breaking point. All eyes were on one person. That person had their hand outstretched, closing in on an incredibly important wooden block. To the group, the outcome of this daring venture was valuable beyond belief. The hand retrieved the block, and with a yell of triumph the holder placed it on the table. Fate was successful. Physics was annoyed.
"Now remind me, why the hell you thought that it was a good idea to play Jenga?!"
"Actually, the proper question here would be how Annoyance convinced us to play..."
Fate gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, that would be a better question. But at least you would have an advantage over the rest of us Physics..."
"Not that much."
"Well, considering who you are."
Physics made what could be considered a trollface, and returned his attention to the game. Force was taking her turn, removing one of the middle pieces, and successfully placed the stolen wooden block on the table in front of her. Annoyance was next, purposely making loud noises while thinking, before slowly, slowly, slowly placing his hand on a block and taking it out. The moment it was out and the tower was stable, he slammed it down in front of him, almost knocking down the tower and started flaunting his momentary victory.
"AWWWWW YEEEEAAAH! Suck it bitchaz! HAHA! Annoyance rules, you all... droolz!"
Fate facepalmed, a resounding SLAP! travelling around the room. Physics sighed and leaned forward, ready for his turn. He reached forward to remove a block...
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! DAMMIT! HE'S GONE AND USED ANOTHER ONE!"
The shout tore through the entire structure, making everyone jump. Fate laughed. "Was, it just me or did that sound like Order..." He looked at the table and gave a groan. "Physics! What did we agree about doing that!"
Physics was grinning sheepishly at Fate, his hand holding a small wooden block. The tower next to him had a section supported by only one block, located at the corner, completely breaking the rules of gravity and the laws of physics. But then again, considering who had done it...
He squeezed a nervous laugh out of his mouth. "Oh come on, you know that I would never cheat... hehe..."
Fate glared at him. "Well, then, why don't you just put gravity back in place then."
Physics, knowing he was caught, just sighed. Without further ado, the tower received its prompt and fell over in a clatter of wood. Physics sighed again. "Shit..."
The door burst down. Order leaped into the room and punched Physics in the face, eliciting a loud yelp. "What the hell Order?!"
"Physics, it's bad enough having the Author use transitions. I do not. Need. You. SWEARING!" He jumped through the roof and disappeared. Annoyance burst out laughing, but stopped instantly when Fate gave him a look that could freeze hell.
Physics sat up from where he had collapsed on the ground unnoticed, holding his nose. "Well that made absolutely no sense whatsoever..."
Force just sat still. "Does that mean that the game's over?"
Light
"And that's basically what happened..."
Fluttershy sat there, her stillness not betraying her racing mind. It crossed my mind that I probably shouldn't have been so illicit about me attacking the princesses, but it was too late to take that back now. She started to back away, and I tried to get up to follow her, forgetting my injuries. I collapsed onto the floor, groaning from the pain. I felt a familiar pressure growing inside me. I looked at my hands, and froze, panic setting in. I whipped my head towards Fluttershy. She was nervously standing there, not sure what to make of the new development. She started to creep towards me, but I raised my hand and motioned for her to get out, gritting my teeth against the pain flowing through my body.
"No, don't get any closer. I need you to get out. Now!"
I had barely finished the sentence before she fled from the room, pink mane streaming behind me. I gave a relieved sigh, which turned to a moan of pain. I would never want her, or anyone, to be around me when I Reset.
I glanced at my hands again to check. Sure enough, cracks were forming on the surface of them. From between the cracks, streams of light were shining out, interspaced with shadows. The room darkened, with an amazing light-show dancing across the ceiling, caused by the cracks.
I felt the cracks growing, the pressure inside me getting worse, trying to force its way out. I knew it would be soon.
Actually, it's surprising that I held out this long after Celestia's attack. Must not have had enough time to recuperate the first time I Reset then. An interruption or something.
The pressure built to a climax accompanied by a beautiful keening noise. It calmed me, feeling like a warm welcome home. And then the pressure released from inside, tearing me apart. But it wasn't painful. No, it felt great.
I would just need to take a little time-out...
Celestia
The Princess of the Sun ran around madly, trying desperately to remedy the damage that Light had caused, especially after the strange shockwave that had spread through Ponyville after his destruction. She calmed down immensely after checking on all of the ponies that had been near the fight, especially Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, two of the Elements. They didn't seem hurt, only confused and disorientated by the strange events. Rainbow was only now returning to the waking world, a full 2 hours after the event, while Pinkie stayed happily and uncharacteristically unconscious.
She ran across the scorched clearing towards them. "My little ponies! Are the both of you okay?!"
The blue pony, Rainbow Dash, shook off her confusion and looked at the new arrival, snapping to a hasty and bow. "Princess Celestia! It's so good to see you! But there's no need to worry, that thing would have never stood a chance against me! I would have just been like whack! smack! ban-" She stopped and blushed furiously, realizing that she was in the presence of royalty, and the pony that had destroyed the threat. "Ummm, sorry about that... hehe... Anyway, I'm just glad that we got him before he could do any serious damage..."
In the distance, Fate gave a sadistic laugh at the pony taunting him...
A terrible keening noise ripped through the air. Every single pony that heard it froze, knowing what it meant. Celestia's eyes went wide in horror and whipped around to look for the source. She shot through the buildings, only pausing to look behind her. Rainbow was following. She considered sending the pegasus back, but allowed her to follow anyway, not wanting to waste any time arguing.
The duo reached the outskirts. Rainbow got there first, having jumped into the air and flown, while Celestia just ran at almost the same speed. They both stopped, horror on their features, as they saw the source across the empty meadows between the town and the small cottage in the distance.
Fluttershy's cottage.
The area around it was fluctuating, going from dark, to light, to dark, every few seconds. The noise was coming from that direction. The pair went to move, but before they could, the cottage exploded. Rainbow was blown backwards, while Celestia only just managed to stay up. Oddly enough the cottage, which was located in the center, was mostly untouched, only swaying slightly before returning to normal.
A huge wave of darkness and light swept on the wake of the shockwave, breaking into innumerable shards until flitting away. The shards broke into different flocks, each sweeping around on their own different flight paths, before turning and meeting in a small point. The clump flew around and shot towards the cottage, splitting up and slipping through any gaps in the woodwork.
The whole display was over in a few seconds, peace returning to the landscape again.
The Princess stood, shocked, while the pegasus staggered to her hooves. Celestia sprinted towards the cottage, desperate to reach it before Light could do too much damage...
Fluttershy
The yellow pegasus jumped out of the room and flew up the staircase. Light had seemed almost scared, and she didn't want to make him angry, so she had escaped the room as soon as possible. She settled to the ground and tried to calm down. She wondered what would make Light want her out of the room. Maybe he ju-
The terrible noise drifted into her ears, and she collapsed onto the ground, hooves over her ears, trying to block out the noise. It was the same noise that had come from the town before she had seen him on the road...
Her eyes widened as she realized what this meant, and went to go to the stairs.
But then the shockwave came.
It was very soft, but forceful enough to make her stumble and fall to the ground. A strange flock of colored shards flew through her house, before escaping and flying away. Moments later, they returned and went to her living room.
Towards Light.
Fluttershy darted down the stairs to check on Light, scared for him and what the shards might have done. She reached the living room and froze, looking to where Light should have been.
The key word there was should.
Where Light was lying on the couch was a shifting, floating cloud of pure light, which was darting through another cloud of darkness. The two intermingled and slipped together, until they were mashed into a single shape. The cloud floated to the ground and alighted next to her table. It slowly changed until it resembled the shape of a human.
The shape of Light.
It turned towards her, and she took a breath. The thing was scary. It was composed of a strange assortment of shades. Patches of bright light would drift around, lighting up everything, while patches of darkness would chase after, giving the impression of a cut-out from the universe, a blank space. All of these patches were engaged in a beautiful ballet, shifting across the form. No features could be made out. It was just made out of these shades, nothing more. Fluttershy gave a terrified squeak and hid behind her mane, unsure what this new creature would do to her.
And then it spoke.
"Hello Fluttershy."
LOLOLOLOLOL
I'm bored, soooooo...
Yeah, not much to say.
...
...
Yeah...
Again, sorry for the late, late, late update.
ENJOY!