Ever Last opened his eyes and took in a deep breath. The air smelt of blood, copper, and his father’s natural scent.
The scent of the stallion he had cuddled into every morning after his mother had violated him. The voice and soft fur of the adult that held him close and took away the memories with his magic power of singing.
Even as an earth pony, his voice was magical to the colt and sent him to a world far, far away from the pain and sounds of his mother.
The voice sang to him in the same angelic tone that he had listened to for hours in his youth. He looked around in shock and took in his surroundings.
He was standing on something firm, yet soft. An orange mist with green fire wisping through it, the singing came from all around him, lulling him into a comfort he knew only when he was drunk and sinking into the couch he kept from his old home.
The place he’d be cuddled and lulled into safety was the only thing, other than himself, a few random items, and a few photos, to leave that hellhole.
“Ever Last,” seemingly a thousand voices whispered as the song halted, “why did she do it?”
The breath caught in his throat at the question.
Uncounted time passed before he narrowed his eyes. “Because she’s wicked.”
“Wicked.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Evil?”
“N-no, not evil. S-she just,” he sighed. He knew she was in the wrong in every way imaginable, but she loved him. “She loved me, but showed it the wrong ways.”
“Wicked, molester, stealer of innocence.”
“I wasn’t innocent. The moment I let her start-”
The green fire erupted, startling him and sending a wave of heat to his body. “No pony has a choice when it starts. We are knowing. We are experience. We are many, hurt by those we love,” the voices whispered in unison.
“B-but, what’re you doing here with me? Why not bug her or somepony that matters,” he said dejectedly.
“You matter, Ever Last. You matter most of all,” they whispered as the flames formed an opening to a blue doorway. “You will face the truth, and make your choice.”
The door waited for him as he approached it, the silence was deafening until the handle of the door clicked. His approach opened it, bathing him in yellow light.
He was standing before his father, who was crying in the bathtub.
“N-no, please…”
The bathroom door opened and he spun around, his mother was standing in the doorway glaring at him.
“Mother, please, help him! He’s-”
“And what do you think you’re doing?” his mother asked.
“I-I don’t-”
“Please, Kat, leave him alone.”
Ever stood still and watched as his mother sneered. She wasn’t talking to him, she was talking to his father. He moved back and to the side as she moved closer.
“Leave who alone?”
“Our son,” he replied with a sniffle, “he cries into my chest after every night you… sleep with him.”
She stopped and took a step back, a look of shock on her face. “W-wh-w,” she stammered.
“I’ve known for the last year. It’s ruining him. He doesn’t know what to say or think, let alone what to do. If you don’t stop, I’ll show you the pain it causes him, and me.”
“Oh, really?” she challenged standing confidently. “You can’t even file your hooves, what’re you going to do in a bathtub? Pee and let it drain to teach me a lesson?” she mocked.
“Promise me, that you’ll stop,” he said said trembling looking down.
“I’ll promise nothing, you’re a worthless stallion and a sad excuse for a male. Ever Last is everything you’re not, and with luck, maybe he’ll even give me that filly I always wanted.”
His father winced and knelt down, rising with a knife. The knife. The knife that had ended his life, the knife they couldn’t find… Ever’s favorite knife. He never knew…
“Promise me you’ll stop and keep him safe,” he said as she gulped loudly. He swung his head quickly and the blade pierced his side.
“Father?! NO!”
His mother stood still in shock as the stallion collapsed to the floor of the tub and coughed, nickered, and grasped the handle again.
Pulling it from his body he looked to Kat pleadingly. “Please,” he sobbed, “keep him safe and teach him to be all everything that I couldn’t be.”
The blue door reappeared and he wasted no time running through it, back to the silence, fire, and orange mist.
“Why?! Why would you show me that?”
“You have a choice,” a single stallions’ voice spoke up, “you can represent us, those that have lost. Those that have been hurt and abused. Those that have died in vain. Take our pain to the ponies who wander the world, causing harm to others and show them what they’re doing to others.
“Or, you can live as you have been for the duration of your life until you die and join us.”
“B-but…”
“Son.” Ever spun to his rear and looked at the stallion that just called him.
“...Daddy?!”
In a flash, Ever had tackled his father to the floor and was squeezing him tightly.
“Please, son. Don’t hate her, she’s among us now. Trapped for her crimes, but free because of her own abuse. Be our herald. Share our pain to the world, so none others have to suffer.”
“D-daddy, I’ll do it. I’ll do it for you.”
The whispers returned in a cacophony of cheers as a tall orange pony appeared from the mist.
“You are no longer Ever Last, you are now Legion. And you will bring our pain and sorrow to the world.”
Legion laid down on his belly and adjusted his limbs like he were a sitting cat, his tail curled around his left flank, brushing against his cutie mark of a yellow towel and a spray bottle.
“As you wish… who are you?”
A sharp toothed grin graced the orange pony’s mouth. “Rancor.”