//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Demon Within // by DOOT_Slayer //------------------------------// Twilight pondered her mind as to what could've possibly caused that energy surge a few minutes ago. She walked downstairs promptly, and was met with Spike cooking breakfast. "Mornin' Twilight. You sleep well?" He said cheerfully. She smiled at his mood, and was briefly taken away from her previous thoughts. "Honestly, no. Spike?" He looked up from plating the food. "Mm hmm?" "Sorry to interrupt, but I need you to take a note." He quickly found his quill and a sheet of paper. Twilight took a deep breath, and began speaking. "Dear Princess Celestia, I don't know if you felt that surge of energy last night, but I certainly did, which means it can't have been that far from Ponyville; I believe that it came from the same place where that - where those meteorites fell last night; another odd thing is that I still can't tell what type of magical energy it could be, it could be normal unicorn magic, it could be dark magic... What if there's another alicorn! Actually it might not even be magical energy at all. Wait! It's moving... it's coming towards Ponyville. It's slow, like it's walking. Princess Celestia, I think it would be best if you came here and attempted to reason with this being, we still don't know if it's harbouring ill intent towards us or not. I humbly await your reply. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Spike hesitated briefly then exhaled a green flame, sending the letter. "Twilight?" He sounded worried. She turned to face the young dragon. "Yes Spike?" "Are... are we gonna be ok? You sounded really worried at the end." Twilight smiled kindly at Spike. She walked over to him and embraced him in a hug, which he returned as best he could given his size. Twilight spoke quietly, barely a whisper. "Yeah... we'll be fine." Fifteen minutes had passed since Twilight’s letter. After finishing her breakfast, she was delighted to hear Spike release a flame with a loud belch. He quickly caught Princess Celestia's reply before it could fall to the ground. Twilight levitated the letter out of his hand as he offered it to her, then unravelled it and started reading. 'Dear Twilight, I too am aware of this sudden energy, and you're right, it is heading towards Ponyville; it's almost there. Apologies for the short reply, I am on my way and shall arrive shortly. Princess Celestia' Twilight finished reading the letter and immediately went into a panic about what she should do if the source of the energy arrived before Princess Celestia. Just as she started to go into an internal rant, a loud knock shook her from it. Twilight calmed herself down as quickly as she could, and yelled to whichever pony was outside. "Coming!!" She rushed to the door, composed herself, and opened it to the guest. Twilight was met not with the presence of her mentor, Princess Celestia, but with that of one of her greatest friends. Rainbow Dash seemed rather excited, even more so than normal. She rushed in through the door, and Twilight just had to ask. "What is it..." The grin on Rainbow Dash's face grew even wider. "Oh my gosh you won't believe it, it's the best thing ever!" That exclamation did little to explain what was going on to Twilight. Just as she was about to ask, Rainbow Dash quickly placed a hand on her collarbone. "Umm... Dash, what's wrong?!" She only smiled back. "There's not enough space here." There was a sudden jolt of movement, and the pair were standing opposite each other in a plain. Twilight's mind was racing. "Ok! I'm gonna try and ask only a few questions," "Sorry, I was messing around on the way here, and I figured out I could do that so I wanted to try with another pony too. You were saying something about questions." Rainbow Dash managed to contain her rambling. "One; what the hell is going on??" Twilight sounded like she was halfway to having a panic attack already. "Okokok... last night, I found these things in the Everfree Forest right? They're called dragon balls, dunno how I know that. They fell out of the sky last night like meteors. But anyway I touched one, they kinda blew up, I woke up about twenty minutes ago, and now I can do all this!" Twilight was quite informed, but a small detail was still left out. "Ok... two; what is 'all this'?" "I'm about to show you." Twilight was both intrigued and terrified by that statement. "Does anypony else know about this... yet?" "Don't think so, no." Twilight chuckled lightly to herself. "Alright then. So, you gonna stop talking and start showing me?" Rainbow Dash smiled tenaciously. She stood up straight and raised her hands up to her side. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She suddenly reopened them. "Oh... you might wanna step back a bit... ok, a lot." Twilight looked confused as she slowly walked away from her friend. She finally stopped when she was about 20 metres away. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes once more, and focused. Pieces of stone and small pebbles started to rise off the ground. Twilight began to worry, and crouched behind a shield she created from magic, which became transparent shortly after. Rainbow Dash started screaming, and a small dust cloud started rotating around her on the ground. The scream grew louder and ended abruptly. Twilight was astounded by what had just happened. Rainbow Dash had learned to tap into a power that wasn't magic, but certainly was just as strong; and she had become about thirty percent as strong as Princess Luna, which was still quite a lot. Rainbow Dash was looking smug as ever. "So, whadda ya think? Pretty cool huh?" Twilight was speechless. "Lemme try something else." Rainbow saw a distant stone formation, and held a hand out toward it. "Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!!" "Trying to concentrate, if you don’t mind." That was the only response Twilight got. Her attention was quickly snapped away by the yellow ball of energy that had formed in front of Rainbow Dash's hand. She didn't know how, but just after it had formed it fired forward into the formation. It flew extraordinarily fast, and impacted the side of the stone with a small explosion. It left a small crater and some charred blackening around the edges. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hand in awe. "I might start to enjoy this." Her curiosity quickly got the better of her, and she began to power up again! A crater formed at her feet as chunks of rock were torn from the ground, and a translucent grey aura surrounded her. She began screaming once more, and the area around them started shaking. Twilight hadn’t realised it before, but the source of that energy surge last night was Rainbow Dash. Whatever she had discovered had given her use of this unknown power, and from what Twilight has seen and felt already, she knew it was not to be trifled with. Rainbow Dash stopped yelling after a while, and her hands dropped back down, limp. She was stumbling, and Twilight went to help her friend. Rainbow Dash turned to face her with a vicious smile on her face, and the irises in her eyes were light grey instead of red. She uttered a single sentence before she passed out. There was something off about it though; there was a second voice. "I'll see you soon..." Rainbow Dash's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed onto the ground. Twilight was a little creeped out at what had just happened, but she still picked her friend up. She began to walk back to Ponyville, with Rainbow Dash on her shoulder. She spread her wings to take off, but stopped upon seeing Princess Celestia herself land in front of her. She had a look of suppressed rage on her face. Twilight bowed respectfully to her mentor - or as best she could with an whole other pony weighing her down. "Twilight, what happened here?! My sister and I felt that energy surge again coming from around here. Is Rainbow Dash ok, and are you hurt?" The Princess wasn’t doing a very good job of masking her anxiety, Twilight could see it well enough. She wanted to answer Celestia's question, but she needed to help Rainbow Dash. "Princess, I'll answer all your questions, I promise but we must get Rainbow Dash to a healing suite in Canterlot immediately." "...Your urgency is well warranted and I admire you’re compassion," She replied. "I'll take us there right now." She took Rainbow Dash into her own arms, and teleported the three of them to the gates of their castle. They quickly rushed in with the help of some guards. They called for healers as they made their way to the medical wing. Two hours later, and Rainbow Dash was on the mend fast. According to a nurse, the majority of her bones had sustained at least one fracture. Unbelievable, her whole body was being crushed by her own power. She was awake now, and said she didn't mind being spoke to by Princess Celestia. They chose to wait for a bit, so that she could recover from her injuries completely, and so the two princesses could discuss what they thought was going on. "And these 'dragon balls' she mentioned; did she see where they went?" "No, Rainbow Dash said she passed out as they flew up into the sky." Celestia took this in. Rainbow Dash had found a collection of seven orbs that were able to protect themselves, fell unconscious, and awoke with the ability to form energy beams from her body. None of this was making much sense to her. "There's something else..." Twilight began. That ominous phrase piqued Celestia's interest even further. "Go on..." "That energy isn't all that happened. She changed for a bit. It wasn't her... it-it was something else using her body. It said to me: 'I'll see you soon'. I don’t have much to go on, but it seems to me that this entity is using Rainbow Dash's mind as a hiding place, until it's either removed, or gains full control. We've gotta get it out of her." Celestia stood up and started walking to Rainbow Dash's door. "This is lining up much too well with... that story for my liking. Come, Twilight!" She shouted behind her. "If it’s as serious as it sounds, we must deal with this immediately." Twilight quickly rushed to her feet, and caught up with her mentor. They entered the room to find a team of medical unicorns finishing up on Rainbow Dash. Celestia waved her hand, signalling for them to leave. Rainbow Dash was propped up on some pillows, and looked well. She only had a limited range of movement though. There was silence in the room until the lock turning in the door broke it. "Rainbow Dash. I see you've recovered quite quickly, even with the medical team's assistance." Rainbow smiled at that. "Can't stay cooped up in here for too long; now can I?" Celestia appreciated the banter, but moved onto more serious matters. "Twilight tells me this is quite the power you have. Is that true?" "Honestly princess, it's amazing. It's unlike anything I've seen any unicorn or even alicorn do before. And it definitely isn't magic; no, this is... something else." "...What else are you not telling me?" Rainbow Dash was reluctant at first, but brought herself to say what was on her mind anyway. She struggled to the side of the bed, and sat properly. "Well, there is one more thing. When I touched the dragon balls I felt... something, something alive force it’s way into my mind. It's only a voice so far, but soon it’ll want a body to live in, and I’d prefer it not to be mine. She almost managed it too; when I passed out. I felt her take control. It-it felt like I was just a passenger, along for the ride." Celestia and Twilight were reminded of Princess Luna's predicament; Nightmare Moon was still in there somewhere. "I want it gone. Whatever it takes get rid of it, please!" Celestia thought over Rainbow Dash's request. "How badly do you want it gone?" "As soon as possible!" Celestia nodded. "I'll notify Princess Cadance, we'll need all the power we can get." She began leaving the room. "Oh, Twilight come with me. We'll need your help too." "Wait. Really? But I wouldn't even make that much of a difference." "Like I said; We're gonna need all the power we can get. You included." Twilight was anxious and excited. "Come on." Princess Celestia called. "You and I are going to prepare the spell." When Rainbow Dash eventually recovered, Princess Cadance, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight were all standing around a circular pattern of ash and charcoal. Inside the first circle were some patterns and incantations which led into another circle. This was clearly where Rainbow Dash would be. She walked into the circle, careful not to step on any of the powder. When she was stationary in the centre, Princess Celestia's horn began glowing, then Luna's, Cadance's, and finally Twilight's. "There are a few things I must warn you about with regards to the spell we are about to perform: First off, this is an exorcism spell; You will have to channel all your magic into the incantation, even the reserves that keep you alive. The spell will act as a temporary life source for all of us. Secondly, the entity that we remove from Rainbow Dash will need a physical body, otherwise it will just take control of one of us. Also, that body will most likely be based on somepony familiar, and the only pony this thing is familiar with is Rainbow Dash, meaning that it will look very similar to her. "My final warning is this. We have no control over how it will act and react when it's manifested in a physical form. Be careful." Celestia nodded to Twilight, and she regained her focus. "Ready?" Celestia asked. Rainbow Dash prepared herself for whatever was coming. "Begin!" A field of magic formed around the circle, and there was a faint hum. After a few seconds, the black powder mixture began to glow red hot like a ton of embers. The searing pain went from Rainbow Dash's stomach and grew to her head; and the scream that followed was ear piercing. Twilight opened her eyes to see - what was in her books, absolutely terrifying - a mysterious black energy seeping out of her friend's body. Celestia noticed Twilight's anxiety. "Twilight, you have to keep going! If you don't, the spell will absorb your magic and you will die. Not to mention the fact that we won't be able to extract the entity out of Rainbow Dash! Keep going!!" Twilight refocused, only to notice the black plasma was forming a body, an equine body. Then, she heard it again; that second voice, and it was screaming too; only this time it was coming from the new body! As it continued to form, Twilight began to recognise it. It looked like Rainbow Dash! She had dark grey fur, and her mane, it looked almost identical to Rainbow Dash's; the only difference was that the purple streaks were black instead. The body was completely formed, and the spell was complete. It was a pegasus, it had pointed feathers, and it's teeth were very sharp. Rainbow Dash had blacked out at some point, and the mare was getting to her feet. She stumbled at first, but got her balance after a while. She opened her eyes, and they were a light shade of grey. They darted around, afraid and angry. Twilight froze the instant it's eyes locked with her own. They were cold, filled with rage. She turned to fully face Twilight. It began walking towards her. She neared the edge of the barrier, and stopped. The other three princesses were silent. Cadance was the one who decided to break it when she called for the Royal Guards. They ran in, spears at the ready. The mare on the inside of the barrier smirked. She truly spoke for the first time. "Really? Is that all the people you bought for me to kill?! Pathetic!!" She sounded genuinely angered by this display. It was like she thought they weren't worth her effort. She reached out, and touched the barrier with her right hand. It cracked, and bolts of energy flew out from it. She pushed some more, and decided to withdraw. She pulled her hand away, and looked at it. Celestia decided to intervene. "It's no use! That magic barrier was created from the magic of the four alicorn princesses; you'll never be able to break thr-" At that moment, the mare punched the barrier, and it shattered into pieces, leaving everypony in shock. In response, the guards moved in for their assault. They didn't even get close. The mare grunted and a gust of wind blew everypony away. Celestia and Luna were injured a bit from the impact. Cadance bruised her side, and Twilight suffered a broken rib upon landing. The guards were piled up on the floor. She turned around, raised her hand, and fired a beam out of it. It expanded and engulfed the guards. She walked down the steps, and was about to leave through the hole she had made in the wall. "What in the name of Tartarus are you?!" It was Celestia. "Huh. That’s... not a bad question." The mare began. "I just... am. If you want a name, the truth is I don't really have one; but considering what I picked from her mind." She gestured towards Rainbow Dash. "I think I'll go with... Omega. After all, I think it fits. I understand it means 'the end'. With that, she exited the Castle.