Under the Black Sky

by ChronicleStone

Chatper 6: The Weight of the Task

Sky skidded around the corner as he touched down after his hasty flight back to the throne room. Behind him, Fluttershy was breathing heavily as she struggled to keep up with him. As he looked inside the doorway, he saw the familiar faces of Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all staring at him.

And just behind them, the four members of the Council watched him with intent concentration.

A rainbow of color whizzed by his ear, materializing into a third pegasus as it came to an abrupt stop beside the small group of ponies. She turned back to Sky with a smirk. “Not fast enough, Sky,” she teased.

Fluttershy staggered up beside him, obviously winded from trying to keep pace with him. He halfway regretted taking off in such a hurry, but his eagerness had overwhelmed his concern for a moment, and he had left her in the dust. Catching her eye, he offered her a sympathetic smile. After a few moments, her breath steadied, and the two of them proceeded to enter the chamber. The doors swung shut behind them.

Sky quickly scanned the room. He could see nopony aside from the Council and his friends, but he couldn’t be too sure. The familiarity of those two guards was starting to weigh more heavily upon his mind, as if somewhere in his subconscious, he knew that they were especially important, for whatever reason.

As he reached the group, Princess Celestia spoke. “Thank you all for coming. We have still had no word about the Chimera’s location, though we suspect that it can’t be too far. Sky Streak,” she continued, focusing in on him, “have you experienced anything that may be able to tell us where it may be hiding?”

He suddenly felt very conflicted. Looking into the eyes of Princess Celestia, he truly felt as though she could help him with any problem he had. Her face was solemn, but Sky had looked into those eyes enough to know that she was always thinking of the well-being of Equestria. If anything could be done, Celestia would do it.

But Sky couldn’t just talk about his nightmare. It revealed the darkest part of his mind, the deepest fear he had ever known. What if Celestia thought that Sky would be too vulnerable to face the Chimera now? What if somepony else was elected to do it? He needed to be the pony to do it. He needed that closure. He needed the satisfaction of being the one to repay it for all the wrongs it had brought upon Equestria.

“Nothing, Princess,” Sky responded. He felt a cold shiver race along his spine as he spoke.

“And what of your feelings that the Chimera is ‘worming around’ in your head, as you put it?” Luna asked, her brow furrowed.

“I can still feel it, but it’s nothing specific. I just know that it wants me to come find it,” Sky said. That was the truth, he thought. So why do I feel so guilty?

Shining Armor spoke up next. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would the Chimera be urging you to come find it if you don’t know where it is? Unless…” His voice trailed off in thought.

“Unless what?” Twilight asked from Sky’s left.

“Unless it’s not ready,” the captain continued.

“Ready? Ready for what?” Spike asked.

Suddenly, Sky knew exactly what Shining Armor meant…and that he was probably exactly right. “He means that I’m not ready,” he answered. “The Chimera isn’t just trying to get into my head…it’s trying to control my thoughts and actions. When it finally reveals its location to me, it’s because I probably won’t be able to resist the thought of going to it.”

“But how could it do that?” Cadence asked. “This creature has not displayed any such abilities up to this point.”

“Why would it?” Celestia answered. “Up until now, all we’ve known is that the Chimera desired destruction, and it has done plenty of that. But Sky told us yesterday that this thing is very patient…and perhaps we are just starting to see the effects of a magic that has long been in the works.” As she looked directly into his eyes, Sky felt as though she could see every thought and feeling in his heart.

“But that still begs the question,” Rarity began, “of what this…monster…wants with Sky in the first place.”

Sky redirected his gaze to Rarity as she spoke. For a moment, everything seemed normal. Then everything seemed to slow down and turn dark. Alarmed, he looked all around the chamber. Everypony was stone-still. It was as if time had stopped.

Sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned back to where Rarity was standing. But now, she stood facing him, her face neutral as she stared lifelessly into his eyes. The air suddenly felt stagnant. He felt his breath shorten and quicken.

Then the impossible happened.

A black vapor began to rise from Rarity’s body like a sickly, oily smoke that corrupted the air. Sky instinctively began to back up to where the Council stood silently. “No, no,” he said through gritted teeth. “This is not real. Get outta my head!”

Another motion off to his left caused his head to jerk in that direction. There, he saw Fluttershy and Applejack, their faces neutral, exuding their own black auras of death and decay. Then, against his own will, he looked off to his right, where he found Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all facing him, the black mist spreading between all of them, engulfing the room.

“Leave them outta this!” Sky demanded.

Suddenly, Sky heard a noise behind him. He half-heartedly managed to break his gaze away from the lifeless forms of his friends to the ominous space behind him. There, he saw the four members of the Council, eyes closed, but looking taller and more imposing than before. Sky had been disturbed by his vision up to this point, but the feeling was quickly growing into sheer terror. He blinked.

When his eyes reopened, he leapt back in alarm. The Council members had moved towards him, and now, their mouths were open in a wide grin, with sharp fangs protruding from the gaps in their lips. Distantly, Sky thought he heard the sound of a trio of voices laughing maniacally. He took a defiant step forward. In response, the eyes of the Council opened in unison, each one revealing a glowing crimson orb of hatred.

The blackness seemed to erupt from everypony in an instant, surrounding Sky and enclosing him in an ever-shrinking circle. He could hear the laughing voices clear as day now; mocking his helplessness and fear. A feeling of desperate rage grew inside him as he closed his eyes in concentration.

“NO!!!!” he shouted angrily. “You can’t have them!” A crack of thunder rang in his ears as he felt his wings tingle with power. He was suddenly aware that the air tasted normal again and that the laughter had faded. Cautiously, he opened his eyes.

The chamber was once again filled with light. The darkness had vanished. Sky’s wings were spread above him, and looks of stunned surprise outlined every face in the room. He saw Fluttershy cowering in the corner, apparently too startled to be bothered.

Sky turned his gaze to Celestia, whose eyes had narrowed in appraisal of Sky’s outburst. “Sky Streak?” she said softly.

“Um…” he stammered. He wasn’t sure what he had missed, if anything, though it was obvious that his outburst, however unintentional, had garnered the attention of everypony there. “Sorry?” he offered as he pulled his wings back against his body.

“What did you see?” Luna asked, ignoring his apology.

Sky steeled his mind. “Nothing that was real,” he replied.

“Then you will not object to telling this Council what it was that you saw,” Luna countered, a bit more forcefully.

Sky gulped. As much as he respected Luna and had always seen her as gracious and kind, he knew better than to make her upset. “I saw…you,” he began. “All of you. Here, in this chamber. But it was dark and lifeless. And each of you were standing perfectly still. Then, one by one, you all turned and faced me and began to…to…”

From the corner, Sky heard Fluttershy whimper. His heart went out to her, but he had no choice but to continue. “…to turn black and misty, like what the Chimera does when it changes form. It started with you, Rarity,” he said, causing the lovely unicorn to recoil in horror, “until all seven of you were like that. Then, the members of the Council did the same. But you had fangs and those same glowing…”

Luna held up her hoof, apparently appalled by the thought. “What then?”

“Nothing, really. It was about that time that I called out. But I remember one other thing.”

“Which was?” Cadence asked.

“It was laughing. I heard it laughing.”

“But you saw nothing that might tell us where it is?” Luna asked, a certain edge to her voice.

“No, Princess. I’m sorry.”

“It’s simply toying with us,” Shining Armor said, his frustration evident. “It’s trying to rile us up by showing how it can strike at us, but we don’t even know where it is.”

“Are you sure you didn’t notice anything that might tell us where it is?” Twilight asked.

The chamber was quiet. The seconds passed uneasily as the question hung in the air, awaiting Sky’s response. He merely sat on his haunches, his head hanging limply toward the floor. “Sky?” Twilight asked.

“I’m just a pegasus,” Sky said quietly. Every head turned in his direction. “I wasn’t anything special. I just wanted to help. And now, I’m this…demon’s…primary target.” He looked around and met each gaze one by one. Every pair of eyes was filled with sorrow and empathy. But a deadness had fallen on the room. His body language finally revealed the crushing weight of responsibility that had been placed upon the young pegasus’ back. A weight he had shouldered admirably until now, when it threatened to overwhelm him. And the sound of brokenness in Sky’s voice rendered them all speechless.

“Oh, Sky,” Twilight said at last. She glanced around the room for a moment. “I’m so sorry. I think we’ve all been so distracted by trying to find a way to stop this thing that we forgot to consider what it’s been doing to you.”

“Twi’s right,” Applejack chimed in. “We’ve either been too focused on tryin’ to cheer ya’ up, or on tryin’ to help ya’ find this thing so ya’ can stop worryin’ about it, that we never really asked what we could actually do to help ya’.”

A cold ball of agony grew in Sky’s chest. “All I hear is about this monster, and this demon, and this creature…did it ever occur to anypony that I will have to face off with this thing of so many terrible names?” he said, anger rising in his voice.

“Sky…” Rarity said, though her voice came as little more than a whisper.

“Each of you sleeps in comfort at night. Rainbow Dash on her cloud, Twilight in her library, the Council here in the protected city of Canterlot, and the rest of you in your own homes.”

“May I remind you that you also dwell here in this protected city, Sky Streak,” Shining Armor countered sharply.

“But your protective spell doesn’t keep the Chimera from haunting my dreams, Captain,” Sky returned bitterly, as his wings lifted him off the floor. “It’s not YOUR thoughts that turn to darkness whenever you close your eyes. It’s not YOUR mind that is filled with images of this nightmare destroying everypony and everything that I care about! It’s not YOUR existence that this thing wants to bring suffering to in the fullest amount!”

His voice cracked as tears rolled down his face. “It’s mine! The suffering, the pain, the anguish…it’s all MINE!!” He turned and blew open the doors to the chamber and raced down the palace halls, leaving his grief-stricken friends behind as the tears flew from his eyes.

Sky sat on his lonely mountainside perch from earlier that morning. The sun was still high in the sky, and the lands in all directions glittered in a brilliant array of colors. It had been at least an hour since he had burst from the palace in frustration. Since then, he had sat alone, trying to gather his thoughts…though he was becoming increasingly uncertain as to which were really his own, and which were not.

Behind him, he heard a distinct pop, followed by the soft, hesitant patter of footsteps approaching. He sighed and continued to gaze into the distance.

“Sky? It’s me, Spike.” Sky couldn’t help but note the distinct nervous tone in the dragon’s voice.

“Hello, Spike. Hello, Twilight.” He turned his head ever-so-slightly in acknowledgement of the arrival of his visitors. The perch had no path leading to it, which meant that the only way to reach it was by flying…or by teleporting.

“Uh…Twilight and I were worried about you, so we came to find you. We teleported around the mountain until she saw you from below.”

“I see.”

“Twi…er, we thought that since you were, well, a guy, you might want another guy to talk to instead of one of the girls.” Sky could hear Spike turning and looking behind him to Twilight for the words to say. He managed a smile.

“I appreciate that, Spike. Come on over here,” Sky said, tapping the rock beside him with his hoof.

The little dragon sauntered over and plopped down on the rock, keeping his eyes on the pegasus the whole time. Sky felt sorry for the little guy: he had seen Sky take down the Chimera and defiantly try to rescue Twilight from the depths of Everfree Forest, and, from what Sky could gather, that had made a profound impact on Spike’s thinking. Every time since then, Spike had talked about Sky like he was a hero or legend; somepony that he respected and admired. And now, he had seen that same hero fly off the handle and lash out at the members of the Equestrian Council. His idealistic image of Sky must’ve been shattered.

“Spike, I’m sorry for what you saw back there,” Sky began. “It…it was just too much to handle then. I feel like I’m losing control of myself.”

“Is it really that bad? I mean, is the Chimera trying to take control of your body?” Spike responded with a shudder.

“I don’t know what it wants, but it’s trying to make me lose control, at the very least. It’s like getting hit in the head over and over; eventually, you’re not going to remember anything. It’s like that,” Sky continued. “I’m trying to find something to hold on to, so that I don’t lose everything, but it’s not easy.”

Spike leapt to his feet. “Sky, we’re your friends! You can hold onto us, and we’ll hold on to you!”

Sky’s vision leapt back to just outside of Everfree Forest, where he saw Twilight and Spike approach him for the first time. He saw the journey through the forest: to Zecora’s hut, over the chasm, in the ruins, and against the Chimera. He saw himself surrounded by Spike and the girls in Canterlot. And, for a moment, he felt the impact of a soft cushion as Spike began the pillow fight on that night so many months ago.

Sky whipped his head around, looked at Spike, then turned his head as far as he could, where he saw Twilight, sitting against the mountainside, her eyes sorrowful yet sympathetic. “Help me,” he pleaded. “I can’t do this alone. Help me!” He fell on his stomach and put his hooves over his head as he began to cry.

He lay there for a moment or two when he felt another body lie down beside him and put its leg over his shoulders. “We’ll always be here for you,” Twilight said gently. “You were there for us…for Spike and for me. And now, we’re here for you.

“We’re with you.”