//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: MLP: Darkest Night // by kurusagi16 //------------------------------// Chapter 11 Both Sunset and Starlight were tiring out, it seemed as though they were on the verge of passing out, but they didn't want to give up, believing that they were fighting a horrible monster and were on the verge of victory. Erebus arrived on the scene, pleased with how well things had been progressing. It was just about the time to cast the spell upon them, but he needed to wait for them to give out. Starlight and Sunset head-butted each other, leaving them a bit discombobulated. They breathed heavily, and at long last, gave in to exhaustion and fell to the ground. Erebus lowered down to the ground, taking on his unicorn form and cast the spell onto the unicorns. They groaned as it hit them, their groaning turned to mumbling as the unicorns became trapped within a bad dream. A black aura surrounded them, the aura flowed into Erebus and filled his stomach, giving him power. As filling as it was, he knew he had to stop, this energy would be needed to free the king. "Time to report my success to Master Nightshade, and see what the next step shall be." Erebus reverted to cloud form and took to the air, soaring above the treeline. But as he was heading toward Nightshade's position, he ran into Petra, who seemed a bit frantic. "Master Erebus." she said. "We have a bit of a problem." "What kind of problem?" asked Erebus. He couldn't have any sort of interference with the plan, not when things were progressing so nicely. "Well, we were casting the spell that Master Nightshade told us to use on the thorns, but something went wrong! The thorns attacked some of the Tenebris who were in their disguises." "It doesn't sound like too serious a problem, have it fixed and tell all the Tenebris to stay out of their disguises until it's corrected." "Yes, Master Erebus." Petra flew back in the direction she had come from, and Erebus continued on his way to find Nightshade. He'd inform him of this minor inconvenience after reporting his progress to him. He couldn't help but scoff to himself. It was things like that that made Erebus regret having to work around a bunch of idiots. Just how do you mess up a spell to attack Tenebris when they're in... "Oh no." he said with realization. Erebus picked up the pace, flying faster, needing to find Nightshade as soon as possible. The thorns of the Garden of Shadow curled and uncurled as they inched toward the Nightmare and Unicorn. Nightshade got a feeling that something was following them, at first assuming that it was one of his fellow Tenebris looking for an opportunity to report to him. But then, one of the thorny vines lashed out and lifted him off the ground. He let out a cry of surprise. Eve craned her neck to see what caused him to scream, he eyes widening with shock and fear. "Nightshade!" she cried. The vines acted line a giant python, curling around Nightshade, the air being squeezed out of him. And if that wasn't bad enough, the razor sharp thorns cut into him, forcing themselves in deeper with each tightening squeeze. For just the faintest of moments, Nightshade was afraid. Afraid that this would be the end of him. Nightshade felt light-headed, his vision became cloudy as he was about to pass out. Until he felt something jump onto the vines, pulling at them and attempting to free them. Nightshade squinted and saw Eve, desperately trying to rescue him. "I'm gonna get you out of this." she said as she strained to pull him free. "I promise." The vines snapped and the two fell. More vines were starting to gather toward them. Eve placed Nightshade onto her back and galloped fast, trying to escape from them. As Nightshade rode on Eve's back, he passed out. 'It's for the best.' thought Eve. She looked every which way while concentrating on avoiding the vines, which led to her almost tripping on her own hooves a couple times. Luckily, she spotted cover made out of two giant rocks slanting toward each other. Eve kicked up a large dust cloud behind her and slid into the cover. The dust managed to confuse the thorn vines, like they were actual creatures, and they retreated into the denser confines of the garden. Eve was glad to be able to catch her breath, as she set Nightshade carefully onto his back. Who knew how long they'd be hiding out here? And what dangers would come after them. 'I hope the others are alright.' It was time to spring the plan into action. Moros was to take care of the first two dreamers, while Pseudea would handle the one the called Discord. Simple enough. They wasted no time in surprising them. There were cries of confusion as a fog came out of nowhere, thicker than pea soup and separating everypony from one another. Drowning out their voices so they could only hear themselves and the Tenebris. Twilight was the first to be attacked by Moros. When Twilight saw him in his pony form, she cautiously backed away. "Who are you?" she asked warily. "I'm Moros." Moros answered dully. "What are you up to?" "Sigh! Nothing really. I don't care either way. Seeing as how everything is so meaningless." Twilight was befuddled by his words. What was with this guy? Was he trying to psych her out? "Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work! My friends and I will stop your plans and free Aestas." she said confidently. "How?" asked Moros indifferently. "It's very well impossible. It's better to give up. Think about it. You're in a forest with no way of knowing where you are. You could wander here for all eternity, and never find a way out. And what'll happen when you do get out? We're collecting quite a bit of energy for our king, and Amalthea is so weak she doesn't have much longer. She was you're hope for finding a solution, right? What'll happen then? You can't do it. Why even try? I've accepted it. Why don't you accept it too? There's no point in trying. You'll only suffer. All of you are better just accepting that there's no meaning in this world, give in. Give up." With each word, Twilight felt it ooze into her, bringing forth all her negative and depressing thoughts. Every bad or sad memory, thought, or emotion she ever had came to the surface. Twilight sat on the ground, her head lowered so that her bangs covered her eyes. She started mumbling to herself a gray, dark aura surrounded her, turning her gray as well. "...Pointless...Why bother?...I'm a failure...so much better...give up...I can't do anything right...not worthy of being a princess...can't do anything useful...pathetic...useless...it's hopeless..." "Hmm. You've given up. Whatever." said Moros, honestly not caring if he succeeded. Discord had his paw and claw primed and at the ready to use against whatever or whoever thought they could best him. There was a flapping of wings, and from the fog came Pseudea. Discord frowned in disappointment, having hoped for something more challenging. "You must be kidding." he said. Pseudea didn't say anything, having only a knowing smile plastered on his face. He then spoke, his words coated with his own special spell, a spell that had succeeded countless times before. "Poor little thing, tell me your troubles." Discord looked at him, not understanding. "What troubles?" asked Discord. "Why, your love troubles of course. It's as plain as that Alicorn's face,that you're in love with the pegasus dreamer. I will admit, she is a fine specimen, though personally she's not nearly as grand as Master Nightshade." "If you're trying to convince me of something, try looking someplace else. I learned my lesson with Tirek, and I'm not going to listen to one of the minions of a little upstart." Pseudea kept his little smile, playing around with the fog. "She doesn't even know. It must be agonizing. Loving somepony, but unable to tell them your deepest feelings." "You don't know what you're talking about." Pseudea looked into Discord's eyes, looking into the emotions inside. He could see the love he had, but it was still small. A strong desire to protect, but it was boringly pitiful. His heart was only beginning to accept this emotion, there wasn't enough...spark. Yes! A spark was needed, to force this creature to feel the full force of love and all of its pain. It was a key part of his plan. Discord was a tad weirded out that the Tenebris had been staring at him silently for the past few minutes. He waved a claw in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to weirdo here." said Discord. Pseudea was pulled back and knew just what to say. "I can see right through you, you know." said Pseudea. "If you listen to your heart, you'll know it to be true. You love that pegasus more than anything. You'd do anything for her. You'd sacrifice lives for her if it meant making her happy or protecting her from harm." Discord was wondering what kind of junk this guy was spewing, until, he felt as though something had enclosed itself in his chest. Pseudea could see that his spell was working. As the master of lies, he had a way of altering perception, making things seem like they're one way when they're actually another. He just needed to keep talking. "Deep down, she loves you too. But she's afraid like you to express her feelings. If only she didn't have distractions around to keep the two of you apart. Ponies who get in the way of the undying bliss the two of you so richly deserve. You know it in your heart to be true. Why else would you get jealous? Those ponies who do nothing but try and steal her away from you. Those friends of hers, especially Moonlight Eve, they're nothing more than an obstacle in your way." Discord put his claw to his heart, feeling it tug inside of him. What was this Tenebris trying to do? Pseudea could see that Discord was resisting him and was in the verge of breaking through the spell. He was getting worried that he might fail, until he noticed, that Discord gave in a little when he mentioned jealousy and Moonlight Eve. At last, a weak spot he could work through. "Fluttershy wishes for you to move past your jealousy, saying that you can't move forward if you don't abandon it. But jealousy is a natural emotion, like love. You can't have one without the other. You have every right to be jealous. After what Moonlight Eve did, taking away your true love from you, trying to turn her against you, conspiring to come out unpunished for her crime." Discord gritted his teeth, he'd considered what Fluttershy had said and was actually willing to give Eve an actual chance, but his already existing jealousy coupled with Pseudea's poisoned words, made him give into the spell without him even realizing it. By giving in, he allowed the Tenebris' control to take affect. His heart and mind began filling up with twisted truths about his real thoughts and feelings. Pseudea grinned. 'Love, next to lies, is a powerful poison. One that shall not only destroy you, but the pegasus too. Oh Master Nightshade, how pleased you'd be!' The only pony left was Fluttershy, who timidly wandered through the fog, calling out in vain to Twilight and Discord. "No pony can hear you, you know." said somepony in monotone. Fluttershy let out a little cry of surprise when Moros suddenly appeared. "No pony will come to save you." Fluttershy shivered with fear but tried to appear brave. "Then I'll save myself." she said. "How will you save yourself? A weak and helpless pegasus like you, there's nothing you can do. Your world as you know it is doomed." "I'm not strong, true, but I won't give up." "It's better to give up. When you give up, you don't need to care what happens. When you don't care, less is expected of you. If you don't do anything, you won't have to pointlessly fight." Fluttershy heard Moros' words, but didn't let them get her down. "You're right. All you've said is true." said Fluttershy. "So, you're going to give up?" "No. While there is truth to what you say, there are things that you are forgetting, things that contradict your words." "Really? What?" "A pony can choose whether or not they want to give up. Giving up may be easy, and I don't like fighting, but there are things, precious things, that make me overlook all that. My home, my friends, everypony near and dear to my heart. So long as I have them or something to live for, nothing is pointless or meaningless." Moros, for the first time since his long existence, was stunned. He showed...interest, curiosity in what Fluttershy had said to him. He forgot about the spell he was supposed to be putting on her, and instead, asked her questions. "Why are your friends so important?" "They make me warm and happy inside." "Warm...happy...?" "Yes. Don't you have somepony like that?" "Do...I...?" Moros thought about his comrades, Nightshade, Erebus, even Pseudea, who'd been with him since as long as he could remember. They cracked snide remarks at one another, been through thick and thin. "My...comrades...they..." But before Moros could finish, Pseudea appeared to check on his progress. He was shocked to see Fluttershy not under the spell. "Moros, what do you think you're doing?!" asked Pseudea. Moros retained his usual glum frown and said, "Nothing much. This dreamer doesn't want to give up." "That's why you're supposed to make her give up! That's what you're supposed to do! I've already done my part and it wasn't easy." "Sorry." "Sigh! Never mind, let's just get this over and done with so we can..." Pseudea stopped in the middle of his sentence, he'd been so distracted that he hadn't seen Fluttershy slip away. Or noticed that he accidentally left an opening in the fog for which she can escape. "Aw crud!" he said. He turned into his Tenebris form and went through the opening, Moros followed suit. The opening went to where Pseudea had previously been, which was outside of the thick fog. Fear and worry started to fill up in Pseudea. What would Master Nightshade do, or say if he found out how careless he'd been?! "Pseudea. Moros." said Erebus as he landed next to the two. He looked at the thick fog, then back at his comrades. "Have you completed your task?" he asked. "Yes, we've done swimmingly. Everything is taken care of and no pony got away from us." said Pseudea with a false calmness. "Isn't that right Moros?" "Sure." Erebus gave an approving nod. "All that remains is that Nightmare, Moonlight Eve. Master Nightshade should have her all ready to be drained by now. We'll find him and wait for his signal to strike." Erebus flew away as Pseudea and Moros waved goodbye to him. "You're dead." said Moros. "I know." said Pseudea hanging his head. "When they find out, I'm gonna be toast." "Some pretty dense fog, I doubt they'd notice." said Moros. This made Pseudea feel a touch relieved at Moros' point, but he still didn't want to disappoint master Nightshade. "We'll need to keep an eye out of the last dreamer. Wherever she is, she won't get away from us." Pseudea and Moros flew away from the fog bank, not noticing that from behind a tree, they were being spied on by the very pegasus they were talking about. She felt dread looking into the fog bank. What was happening to her friends? 'I have to save them! Somehow. But first, I need to find Eve. It sounded like she's the only pony left unaffected...yet.' Fluttershy galloped into the forest, desperately hoping that she'd find her friend, and they could escape and end the coming Nightmare, together. Nightshade's mind felt...foggy. As he regained conscious little by little, he found himself in a shelter with Eve, who had been staying awake by his side until she dozed off. He then remembered what happened with the vines. He'd need to inquire about that when he got back, but there was another thing he wanted to inquire about. Why did this Nightmare save him? She had ample chance to run away, but instead she chose to save him. Why? Was there something she wanted to gain? If so, what? "Huh? Oh, you're awake." said Eve tiredly as she woke up to see Nightshade was well. "How are you feeling?" "Fine, all things considered." he replied. "I'm glad. You had me worried there for a while." Nightshade tried to stand up, but felt pain in his physical disguise, forcing him to stay down on the ground. "Are you okay?" asked Eve with concern. "Just a flesh wound." he said. "I can trot it off." "Oh no you don't. You need to wait until those wounds have closed up. Then you can start moving around however you like." Eve emphasized this with a serious look. As much as he hated it, he listened to her and remained still. He was close to bringing the final blow on the Nightmare, only to have all his efforts snatched away. He'd need to try again later, but for now, his pony form required rest. He'd also need to wait for Eve to go to sleep again, so he could shift into his Tenebris form, so he'd be able to heal himself faster. Right now though, he found himself almost, enjoying himself, just sitting there resting with Eve to make sure he was tended to. 'Just what is happening to me? Is this a kind of spell that Nightmares have or something? I can't give in! I can't lose sight of the mission. The king must be revived, and the Tenebris shall rule.' "Why?" he asked. Eve was at first confused by his question until he elaborated. "Why did you save me, when you could've just saved yourself?" Eve appeared stunned, then in thought, and then she answered. "You were in trouble." she said simply. "When I was little, my friend showed kindness to me by being my friend. She could've left me alone, could've rejected having me as a friend. But she chose to be my friend. If somepony needed me or my help, I'd gladly give it to them." Nightshade looked away, feeling a pull in him. No doubt it was the Nightmare's spell, making him want to be drawn to her. He resisted this and went back to sleep. Eve smiled, believing him to just be as worn out as she was. And she too, rested her eyes, and went to sleep. In the fog, Pseudea's power had created an illusion, one that stayed within the parameters of the immense fog bank, and subconsciously compelled those inside not to stray outside. Within that bank, Discord was experiencing an elaborate lie. A lie that involved him believe that his love for stronger than it actually was. And to help fuel that lie, Pseudea had also created a fake Fluttershy(he'd debated with himself on what name to give her, like Pseudoshy or PseudoFluttershy). The illusion showed the most tranquil and serene vale imaginable, set in an endless summer feel. The air was calming and warm, making one feel lethargic and sleepy. A paradise, an Eden, from which there was no escape. Pseudoshy was making a chain out of the wild daisies that grew around her. She let out a gasp of surprise when somepony covered her eyes. "Guess who?" asked the pony behind her in a gentle and loving whisper. Pseudoshy smiled and pretended to think about it. "Is it you, Discord?" she asked. She let out a cry that turned into laughter when she was suddenly picked up and spun around a few times. "Right answer, my dear." Discord stroked Pseudoshy's mane and gazed at her lovingly. Pseudoshy giggled and batted a hoof. She looked up at him with innocent eyes and asked nicely, "Does that mean, I win a kiss from you?" "If that's what you want." he said, kissing her forehead. Pseudoshy contained her disappointment, having thought he'd give her a more romantic kiss. She'd been instructed to make Discord give her his love, for the plan he had in mind to work. But it seemed some part of him was still resisting, knowing full well she wasn't the real Fluttershy. She'd have to be patient. With each romantic gesture, he'd fall further and further into the lies Pseudea had created. Pseudoshy smiled sweetly up at Discord, pouring feelings of false love into him. She put a hoof to his chest. "Would you care to help me with my daisy chain?" she asked. "I want to make into something very special." "Anything for you, my dear." said Discord, sitting beside Pseudoshy and helping her string the daisies. Pseudoshy took a quick glance at Discord. It was only a matter of time. She'd do as Master Pseudea instructed, as she too was curious as to how his plan would work.