The Child
But love is a dual sword and it can hurt as much as it can protect. Love can be the cold chains holding you down. Love can cut deep sending you into a dark abyss. It is what sends countless so far that the light they once knew is no longer a light but just a flicker in the night…
(part two of three)
“NOOOOOO!!” screamed Spike as he shot up from his bed. He looked around to see that he was laying in his bed back in Ponyville, the room still a complete disaster zone, just like he left it. The dragon massaged his aching brow, his head was killing him, and he was covered in sweat. “That was some nightmare,” he told himself as he crawled out of the bed, kicking away some of the empty cider bottles. “I’ve got to stop eating goat cheese pizza with maple syrup before bed. Goddess, my head feels like it was hit by a train. I gotta see if Twilight has a spell for this.”
He staggered around his room, almost slipping on a discarded doughnut box. How long has he been asleep? He would really have to clean his room eventually. As much as he loved the clutter and hording the garbage, his purple caretaker didn’t seem to approve. When he finally made it to the door, and turned the handle, he noticed that the latch was surprisingly cold, very strange considering the above average temperature he liked to keep his room at.
“Hey Twilight do you know any good headache… spells…”
He wasn’t in the library, at least not anymore. He was greeted to nothing but darkness. Then it all came back to him. The Diamond Dog attack, his near-death experience, how he thought Rarity hated him and how it was all just a misunderstanding that lead to the greatest night of his life, the night he expressed his true feelings for the mare he loved.Then there was the letter the next morning, the urgent summon from the princesses, and being escorted there by her royal guards as well. He remembered the box, and the shadowy world of Conquest.
“Conquest.”
His memories kept coming back as he recalled their first meeting, and the torments that he put him through, and the insufferable teasing and laughing. He recalled waking up in sweats and chills in the middle of the night, and how he was supposed to defeat him. The dragon remembered his training, and the squirrels, and the whole story with Symphony and how he fed her to wolves. There was the memory of how Luna tried to seduce him while under Conquest’s spell, and how it lead him to go back to the dragon lands, where he met his new friends, and where he had his little confrontation with Slitilda and the elders.
He remembered proposing to Rarity, and the wonderful night that followed, and the terrible day that followed that. The grizzly battle followed by the deception of the dark pony, and the battle after that. The fake puppet that enraged him, Conquest breaking his back, the escape attempt and the dark pony capturing him again, the trick he played on him that made Spike think he’d won. He remembered freeing Curator, and being happy, and things looking perfect. And he remembered that is was all a ruse, and Conquest took over Spike, and no matter how hard he had fought, he still killed Curb Hoof and Slitilda, and Rarity.
He remembered that he killed Rarity, ripped her heart out with his own claw.
The dragon fell to his knees, looking at his claws, the ones that he had used to kill his love. It wasn’t a dream, it was all too real, and now he was a slave to Conquest, just like Curator was. How would he ever be able to live with himself?
He started to cry, he didn’t try to hold back or resist, not that he could, as the streams of tears poured like waterfalls down his cheeks. He must have looked like a whelp, it was the first insult that Conquest had ever called him.
“Wait a second…” wondered Spike, as he looked around the darkness. He was crying like a child, and Conquest wasn’t teasing him about it. He wasn’t even here at all, not in his head, or as a puppet or spirit. It was not like the dark pony, and that was what scared the dragon. “Where are you?” he wiped away his last few tears, he would have to mourn later. Right now he needed to figure out where he was, so against his better judgement, Spike headed through into the darkness.
It was just like the Shadowlands of Conquest’s prison, but there was something off about it, Spike wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was there, he could feel it.
“What the?” the drake said quizzically as he seemingly walked out of the darkness and into an overgrown forest. It was still night time so it was still fairly dark, but not impossible to see. He kept trekking into the woods. “This doesn’t make any sense; then again it is Conquest…”
Further and further he journeyed into the dense jungle of trees and bushes, he looked around to see a lack of wildlife, even nocturnal ones like owls and wolves. It was almost unnatural how lifeless these woods were.
Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child…
The odd chanting slowly whispered into Spike’s ear, there was something else in the forest, repeating the same two words. What were they, Devil Child? Who was a Devil Child? What did it mean?
The dragon was determined to figure that out. He broke out in a full sprint towards the reciting chant.
Devil Child! Devil Child! Devil Child! Devil Child!
“Devil Child…what does that mean?” wondered the purple drake, it sounded almost cultish. He could hear the voices getting louder and louder, wherever this was taking place, he was getting close, and the voices continued to chant.
DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD!
Spike pushed through the trees and the bushel of the dense forest and finally emerged into a clearing with a strange building in it. It was about the size of a house but looked very old and unkempt, the brown paint peeling and the shingles falling loose. Spike could see light coming from the house, an amber-orange glow flickering from the holes in the walls and the cracked windows. The dragon cautiously walked up to the large shack, the chanting getting louder and louder as he drew closer.
“Ia Ia Cloud fathagin!” a voice chanted from inside the house. “Ya uln n’gha n’ghtf!”
“What the what?” wondered Spike as he approached the building. He peeked through the window, but he couldn’t make out what was behind the closed curtains. “Maybe I can peek through the door if I’m careful…” He slowly pushed the door open and looked through the crack. “Still too dark…” He pushed it open a little more. “Almost there…”
Suddenly, the door flung open by itself in a blast of white light. The dragon covered his eyes from its brightness. He felt compelled to walk into it, like there was something within the light, so that’s what he did. Spike clenched his eyes shut as he charged into the light and almost immediately slammed into the wall on the other side.
The drake fell on his rump as he carefully reopened his eyes. “Ouch,” he groaned, rubbing his head. He noticed that he was inside a small barren room, and judging from the window, it was now the middle of a sunny day, probably summer. The dragon got up and got a better look around. There was a small barred window with a purple rag blind, a small pile of hay that made what looked like a bed, and a dirty looking plate that was covered in grease stains and crumbs. “Am I in a jail cell?” thought the dragon.
“And don’t you think you’ll be going outside again, you little brat!” an angry voice said from beyond the room.
“What the hell was that?” Spike asked himself.
“Dad, please I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do it!” a frail young voice.
“You almost blew a colt’s face off!” the angry voice roared. “Do you have any idea what could have happened, runt?!”
“I said I was sorry!” the frail voice cried.
“What are you, a foal?” the father groaned as there was a pause. “Then stop acting like one and go to your room!”
There was more crying as the loud pitter patter of hooves started to come to the room that was in. Spike looked around in a panic, the two voices sounded very emotional and the last thing they probably needed was to find a dragon standing around in this room, but there was nowhere to hide as the door slowly opened, and Spike stood paralyzed as a small little colt walked through the door.
The male pony walked towards Spike, not even noticing that he was there. Tears were flowing down his dark amber face and peach shaded muzzle. He had a large circular scar on this forehead, and several cuts on his back and shoulder blades. The colt quietly walked past the dragon, unaware of his presence and curled up into the bed. His face was stained with tears and blood, like he had gotten into a fight, but his face was clear of cuts, save the scar on his head.
“I’m sorry…” the little guy whimpered, trying his best to push back his tears, but to no avail. Streams of his salty tears squeezed past his eyes as he dug his face to muffle his moans.
“What the hell happened to him?” thought Spike. He cleared his throat a little, “Umm, hey…”
The pony looked up and gasped, as he stared blatantly at the dragon. “Hello?”
So he could hear him. Maybe he could tell him what was going on. “I know that this is a little weird but—”
“Is somepony there?” asked the colt.
Or maybe not. “Kid, can you hear me?” The pony didn’t respond. So he was invisible to him and he couldn’t hear him. “Well so much for that plan…” he droned.
The small colt got up from his bed, small pieces of hay was stuck in his thick black mane. The colt walked right past Spike and looked to the window. “Are you there?” he whispered.
A small furry head popped up from the window, and scurried onto the ledge. It was a squirrel. The small rodent easily weaved through the bars on the window and hopped on the little colts head.
“Mr. Squirrel!” the red colt laughed excitedly. “You came back!” The small creature started to play in his mane, popping in and out, tickling the little pony. Mr. Squirrel eventually jumped out on the floor look at the colt as he started to calm down from his laughter and returning to his more fragile look. “I had a really bad day, Mr. Squirrel.”
The rodent looked at the colt quizzically.
“I…. I did something bad…” droned the colt. “Dad got really mad at me, and it wasn’t even my fault! I just got really mad at these kids at the meadow… They were picking on me, calling me a freak again…” he sighed.
Mr. Squirrel tilted his head sideways, looking concerned.
“I don’t know how it happened, Mr. Squirrel,” sighed the pony. “It just sort of happened. I asked them to stop but they just wouldn’t, and then I…” he leaned into Mr. Squirrel’s ear. “I got really angry.”
The squirrel brushed his face with his tail, before running around in a few circles.
“I was really upset, that I thought of his head blowing up and well…” gulped the colt. “It just sort of happened! But I didn’t really want to hurt him! You believe me, don’t you Mr. Squirrel?”
The rodent nodded in agreement as the small little pony scooped him up into a hug.
“Thanks for understanding,” smiled the pony, “You’re the only real friend I have…”
Spike just stared at the squirrel hugging colt. How could an earth pony blow up a ponies face just by thinking of it? There was something odd about this pony, but the dragon couldn’t put a claw on it.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Who are you talking to in there, boy?!” the voice called from beyond the door. It was the father.
“Uh oh,” gulped the colt, looking at the squirrel. He quickly threw the small creature into his hay bed, the little rodent burrowing into his bed.
Behind him, Spike could hear the creaking of the door. He turned around to see not the boy’s father, but a bright white light, the same one that had pulled him into the room. “Oh great,” muttered the drake, covering his eyes as he was consumed once again.
When he opened his eyes this time, Spike found himself standing in the middle of the forest again.
“Why does that keep happening?” the dragon asked himself. He decided to see if he could find his way back to that house in the forest, he just had to listen for the strange chanting again and he would be able to locate it. So he trekked deeper into the forest.
He walked and walked for what seemed like hours, but to no avail. He was most definitely lost.
“Where the hell is it?” Spike said, “Did they stop chanting or something? Where the heck am I?”
"Sniff….. Sniff… “Why…”
Spike turned around. He heard the quiet sobbing in the bushes, so the dragon went to investigate. “Hello?” he called out.
No response, Spike was getting the feeling that he didn’t really exist in this world, kind of like a ghost. Was he dead? No, others were dead because of him, because of Conquest. Which again made him wondered where the dark pony was hiding.
He continued to push past the trees and bushes until he found the source of the noise.
It was the same child from the room.
The little red and pink pony was just sitting there staring at a very large weeping willow, crying again. What was he doing here?
“Why…” sniffed the colt. “Why did you have to die…”
Spike walked up next to the little pony, to see what he was looking at.
“Oh dear…” said the dragon solemnly sighed as he looked at the base of the tree.
There was a little hole in the ground that had been freshly filled and a small rock on top of it. It had a message scratched into it.
R.I.P MR SQUIRREL.
“Why did you have to die, Mr. Squirrel?” sobbed the colt, his tears running down his red cheeks. “You were my best friend, why did you have to die…”
Spike couldn’t help feel bad for the kid; the death of a pet was always tragic. He remembered how upset Twilight got when Owlicious passed away, even if he had once been jealous of him, he had mourned the loss of a friend.
The ground started to rumble a bit as he was thinking of this. He grabbed a tree branch for support and looked towards the kid to see how he was doing. The pony didn’t seem to be affected by the sudden earthquake, he just rolled with the quakes.
When they finally stopped the dragon fell to the ground. “Okay, that was strange, what the hell was that about?”
The colt sighed over the grave. “I miss you, Mr. Squirrel.”
“Aww, poor little brat…”
Spike and the pony both looked around. Somehow, six stallions and mares had managed to sneak up on them. They each wore a heavy red robe, and their hood up that shadowed their faces. The middle one, probably the leader, walked up to the child.
“We’ve spent a long time looking you,” the strange pony smiled. “That little stunt with that colt in the meadow was quite remarkable.”
“W-who are you?” the scared colt asked.
“A friend,” grinned the cloaked pony. “I am the leader of a wonderful….. Let’s call it a ‘social group’ and we think that you would be a great addition.”
“I-I don’t know…” whispered the little red pony timidly. “I’m not supposed to go with strangers.”
“Well then,” said the strange pony, lifting a hoof and pulling down his hood. He had long spiky blonde hair that covered his horn and a white coat with blue eyes. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Stray Cloud, and these are my associates.”
“Hello,” the little colt said quietly.
“You don’t have to be afraid, I assure you. We are good ponies.” Stray Cloud extended a hoof out to the little colt. “We want to take you somewhere safe and warm, you must be freezing here in the middle of the forest, so why don’t you be a good little pony, and come with us.”
The small colt looked at the extended hoof of the hooded pony, shivering as a gust of wind blew by him, causing a chill to crawl up his spine.
But he backed away from Stray Cloud. “N-n-no thank you, I just want to go home now.”
The robed pony sighed, “So much for the easy way…” He turned to his associates. “Grab him!”
“Wait, no!” cried the colt as he backed up against the tree. “Please don’t hurt me!”
“Then you should have come with us nicely,” laughed Stray, as his horn started to glow blue with magic. A nearby rock started to float up. “But this way works just as well.” The rock was flung at the small child, hitting him in the head. There was a small trickle of blood coming from his temple as the colt fell down unconscious. “Pick him up,” smiled Cloud, looking over the pony’s body, “I think we have found the Devil Child.”
Spike gasped. “So this was him?” the dragon said to himself. “This little colt was what those cultist were chanting about?”
The cult ponies started to levitate the limp body of the ‘Devil Child’ and placed it on the back of Cloud.
“What a beautiful night to do this,” smiled Stray, looking into the night sky. It was a full moon that night.
Spike couldn’t help but look up too, the moon seemed very bright, brighter than usual, and it seemed to be getting stronger.
“Crap…” muttered the dragon as he closed his eyes again, letting the light consume his body as he was jumped into a different time and place. When he opened his eyes he was standing in the middle of a sunny meadow. “Huh…” wondered Spike, as he felt the soft grass between his feet and toes. “This seems a little too nice.”
“Hey, where are you going, freak?!” voice called from beyond a hill. Spike could hear of ponies laughing cruelly at something, so the dragon went to investigate.
Over the hill, Spike saw a small crowd of ponies, they all seemed to be no older than eight, and they all were huddling over something, laughing at it.
“Please… Just leave me alone…”
Spike recognized that voice. The dragon slowly approached the group of ponies and looked over their heads to see the red and pink colt. The other kids were relentlessly taunting him to the point he was huddled in the fetal position on the ground.
“Stupid dumb freak!” laughed a yellow pony, kicking the familiar colt in the stomach. “What’cha gonna do about it, cry to your mommy?” The rest of the ponies laughed, as they continued to call him freak.
“Please stop!” the little colt cried as the bully kicked him in the face. The pony started to cry harder as a small river of blood leaked from his left nostril.
“Look at the baby cry!” laughed the bully, egging on the rest of the ponies in the crowd. “Crybaby freak!”
Spike watched helplessly at the terrible assault the kids gave the pony. He was helpless to try and stop it, this being a some sort of illusion or bad dream. All he could do was watch the small child get beaten up and feel bad. The pony seemed like such a nice kid, and he didn’t deserve any of this.
As the fillies and colt continued to harass the kid, the ground started to rumble again. With nothing to grab onto this time, Spike fell onto his back. Again, the kids and the world around him didn’t seem to notice this strange quake, the group of bullies still going at it like nothing had happened.
“Why does this keep happening?” muttered Spike as he gripped into the ground, trying to not fly of the surface of the earth.
“What are you doing, dragon?!”
The sky itself began to tear as two giant hooves ripped a hole in the sky as if it were paper. From the little tear a large glowing red eye peaked through, pulsing with hatred.
“How the hell did you get in here?!” Conquest roared.
“How should I know!” Spike yelled back. “You’re the crazy one!”
The dark alicorn’s eye moved away from the hole in the sky and he stuck his large ark hoof through. It extended towards Spike at an alarming rate, and the dragon was barely able to roll over to dodge the hoof.
“Get back here!” the insane pony roared, as he blindly flailed his leg around, trying to get at the dragon. “Get back here so I can kill you!”
Spike just ignored him. “What the hell is going on around here?”
"WHAAAAAA!!!!”
The dragon jerked his head around in time to see a large explosion of blood. All the little colts and fillies backed away in shock as the yellow bully’s face was blown open. His face was bloodied and cut up; you could hardly tell it was a pony.
And the red colt stood there flabbergasted. “I’m…I’m sorry!” he tried to apologize. “I didn’t mean to do that, I don’t even know how—“
“Get away from me, you freak!” cried the bully as he ran off, the rest of the ponies following suits.
“What did he do to him?” Spike wondered. He wouldn’t get to find out as the sun started to glow brighter and brighter. “Here we go again,” he groaned as he willingly let the light take over and get teleported into a new area.
He was back in the forest, but something felt strange…like there was something a little…off.
Spike had been transported right in front of a house this time. Not the cultish one that had the chanting and strange lights, but this house had a more homely feel to it.
Thoughts started to flow through the dragon’s head. He knew that there was a sort of connection between these strange memories or visions or whatever that he was seeing. The incident at the meadow was probably the reason that the little kid was sent to his room, and later that night he must have ran away to bury his squirrel, because Stray Cloud mentioned that kids face blowing off as something recent, after which he abducted the child and took him to that strange house in the forest. He also knew that for whatever reason, Conquest did not approve of his being here, and would most likely try and get the dragon if Conquest were to find him. But the real question was where was he right now?
“This cannot be…” a voice said behind him. “This could change everything…”
Spike didn’t have to look behind him, as the pony that had been talking walked right through him. It was a star-cloaked pony with lots of golden bells and a long pointed hat. Spike gasped as he recognized the pony. The dragon had never met him personally, but everyone knew of the famous look of Starswirl the Bearded.
“How could I have missed this… I was sure that I accounted for all variables…” he muttered to himself, he seemed distressed about something as he walked to the house. “What does this mean for the prophecy?”
“Prophecy?” Spike said to himself. “Does he mean…”
Knock, knock, knock!
Spike watched as the door slowly creaked open. And a shadowy looking figure opened up, he remained hidden behind the door so it was difficult to see what he looked like.
“Can I help you?” the pony behind the door said irritably.
“Sorry to disturb you,” said Starswirl, bowing his head in respect. “Do you mind if I come in?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I see,” whispered the wizard. “Then perhaps I will just tell you here, has your wife conceived a child this evening?”
“Who the hell are you?” the pony grumbled.
“Sorry, where are my manners. I am Starswirl the Bearded, and I have something dire to tell you about your child.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” growled the pony. “But we don’t take kindly to unwanted guests, especially unicorns!”
“Please sir,” begged Starswirl, “This is very important, I know that you’re son was born with a horn and wings, even though you and your wife are earth ponies.”
“How… How do you know that? What do you want!?”
“Nothing, just to deliver a warning,” sighed the old wizard. “You’re son is one of a few alicorns that have been born tonight, and that one of these children will grow up and threaten to destroy the world. Originally, I thought that there would only be three born tonight, but you son’s birth has me in a strange set of mind.”
“Ever think that your…what did you call it, ‘prophecy’ was nothing more than just hocus pocus?”
“Of course not!” gasped Starswirl. “The stars never lie; this was just a variable that I must have missed. But I can still correct! I must see your son so I can make sure that he can live long enough to—“
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” yelled the pony from beyond the door. “I don’t care that you are some sort of fancy ass magical unicorn that thinks he has the right to enter my home, but I will NOT let you cast your witchcraft on my son!”
“But it’s for the good of Equestria! Your son could save us all!”
“Or he could kill us all!” retorted the other pony. “But you don’t have to worry about this anyways, the second I saw my son was a little misformed, I dealt with it.”
There was a pause. “What do you mean by dealt with it?”
“We’re earth ponies, we can’t have our kind branded with some feathered, horned freak, so I dealt with the problem.”
“You didn’t,” gasped Starswirl in shock, “How could you—“
“What? Cut off his wings and horn? Look, don’t judge me. He can’t perform magic or fly, he’s just an earth pony now. So back off, grandpa.”
The door slammed shut on the wizard’s face.
“Wait!” pleaded Starswirl, banging on the door. “That’s not good! Without his horn his raw magical energy will build up inside of him. He won’t have a proper outlet to release it! The results could be disastrous!” He turned around and reared his back legs, and bucked the door open, just as a bright stream of light shot out from the door.
“Let’s do this…” sighed Spike as he walked into the light and ran into a wall on the other side.
Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child!
“Wait a second,” said Spike as he got up and looked around. “This is that cult house…” He rubbed his head to see the door right next to where he was standing, and he could hear the strange chanting coming from within its walls.
Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child!
“Yes, definitely the cult house,” mumbled Spike as he stared at the door. The last time that he had tried that, he was teleported into a little colt’s room, so he carefully grabbed the handle and pulled it open. No white light, that was good, and he stepped into the room.
The room was set up a lot like a theatre or an old church, there were rows of chairs all lined up facing the back of the room, and were a small podium was set up. The room was packed with chanting ponies, each one chanting the same two words over and over again, and at the front on the stage was a single pony with a spiky blonde mane. Behind him was a stone table with a lumpy blanket cast over it.
“Mares and Gentlecolts!” Stray Cloud called, the leader of the cult of ponies voice drowned out the songs of his patrons. “The time of peace and love is over!” The crowd grew silence. “We are about to enter an age of darkness and despair, an age where if we do not act, we will be drowned in the darkness of our own insanity! But I know a solution my good ponies, yes, for you wise and enlightened ones heeded my call and followed the Path of Cloud, the great god of the degraded mind!”
“FOLLOW THE PATH OF CLOUD FOR TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT!” everypony said.
“It is on his twisted path that we will survive! For to survive the monsters and beasts of the dark world, we will need to summon and control a greater power than our opponents! Ponies, we will conjure the powers of the Sky Devil himself!”
“THE TWISTED PATH OF CLOUD SHALL SAVE US FROM OURSELVES!”
“But how will we achieve such power? I hear you ask, my children,” the white pony smiled. That couldn’t be good. “Well, we have been searching for one who is of a pure dark soul, a perfect vessel to carry the power and form of the great Cloud!” He sighed. “Sadly, none such things exisits, but behold!” he threw off the cover on the rock. “The Devil Child!”
On the stone table lay the kid. He was stretched up across its surface and his legs were all tied up and his mouth gagged with a cloth. The poor colt was crying, scared of where he was and what was about to happen to him. He tried to scream, but this pleas were drowned by the cruel laughter of everypony around him, laughing and chuckling at his misfortune, giggling at his pain. These ponies were insane.
“Behold the Devil Child!” announced Stray Cloud. “Since we cannot summon the great god himself, he has blessed this child with his dark power, a dark power of the very Cloud himself!” He gazed over the ponies, “But we cannot expect a mere child to save us. No, my ponies…he is just a gift, and like all gifts…” his horn started to glow. “He shall be unwrapped!”
Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child, Devil Child!
“I shall take the power of the Devil Child for my own. I, who have been so blessed with a part of our master’s name, shall wield the power of the gods to fight back the darkness!” he laughed. “So sing with me brothers, laugh and cheer as we take what is ours!”
The colt was terrified as he squirmed helplessly on the table as the rest of the cult laughed and sang the two same words over and over again.
DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD!
“Ia Ia Cloud fathagin!” Stray Cloud chanted. “Ya uln n’gha n’ghtf!”
Every unicorn in the crowd had their magic initiated, their spells weaving together like snakes in the air, all combining into a large magical stake that hovered over the child.
“And now child…” smiled Cloud, as he took hold of the stake. “DIE!!!”
Spike flinched away from the sickening sound of cut flesh. He blocked the screams from his mind. Was this what Conquest was, a pony drunk with an insane gods power? He had killed a child for power, and that should have evoked more rage from within…
But when he turned around all he felt was sadness as the small child’s hoof hung lifelessly from the table, dead, a large hole in his chest where dark crimson blood trickled onto the stones below. Spike’s heart strained with an uncanny amount of grief and wretchedness.
“You bastards…” cried Spike as he fell to his knees. “He was just a child, he didn’t do anything wrong!” He pounded his fists into the ground. “He was just a child!”
"How unfortunate,” sighed Cloud as he poked the dead child. “I guess you weren’t the one we were looking for. A pity, really. However, I suppose we at least rid the world of another foul little pony,” he laughed.
"You…” a voice whispered in the air.
The room was dead silent, all the ponies looking around, trying to see what caused that disturbance.
“Who’s there?” asked Stray Cloud. “Show yourself!”
“Look on the table…”
Slowly, everypony looked down at the dead boy. His body was still dead, and his blood had stopped flowing, but if one was to look close enough, they would see the corners of the colt’s lips curl up into a smile.
That was when all hell broke loose. The head of a nearby cultist exploded in a burst of black ink, followed by another one next to him. It was so sudden that no pony had time to react until the third head had exploded. The entire group was sent scattering, screaming and running, trying to escape from the house though windows or the doors. All who tried to escape found it futile, their heads, bodies and limbs getting caught between closing doors and shutting windows, taking whatever got caught in between them clean off.
Eventually they were all dead, the interior of the room decorated with blood and the bodies of dead cultists, leaving all but one left alive. The scared Cloud huddling behind the stone table.
“W-w-what madness is this?” he stuttered. “What evil have I unleashed?”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“WHO ARE YOU!?” cried the white stallion, “COME OUT, I COMMAND YOU!”
The boy began to twitch, his head slowly raised as his coat started to shed off his body. “I am what you wanted me to be…” the little pony laughed, shaking the last of his red coat away, revealing a new black one. “A dark gift from your fake god…” He chuckled as he combed through his mane, the hairs turning from pitch black to a misty grey. “I have been beaten, teased, abused, tortured, kidnapped, killed and sent to my room all in one day! And by what?” He got up from the table. “Ponies! They are a blight on this world, can only cause pain and misery… I can smell something, something primal and pulsing, is that your heart? It’s beating rather fast with passion. You look scared but I sense that you are something else… Angry perhaps?”
“Please…please, have mercy,” begged Cloud, dropping to his knees. “Spare my life. I won’t do any more wrongs, I swear! I’ll be good, I swear!”
“Mercy?” the dark colt asked. “I’ve never heard of that word… It must have no meaning then.”
“It means to show compassion… Love… Forgiveness for someone’s sins!”
“More words I don’t know,” laughed the demonic pony. “Especially that last one. All your words are meaningless.” He continued to laugh. “I won’t be a stepping stool anymore, everypony deserve this!” he cackled. “They all deserve to die!”
“Why are you laughing?” asked the terrified Cloud.
“What?” laughed the colt as he jumped on top of the stallion, pinning him to the ground. “Isn’t that what a pony does when he is about to kill?”
“Only those who are insane…”
“Well then,” grinned the pony, opening his eyes, revealing the two most haunting and terrifying pair of glowing red orbs known to pony. “Then I guess I’m just crazy!” he laughed. “Crazy Dark Conquest!”
He sank his teeth into the screaming pony, blood spurting from his neck as Stray Cloud fell limp, gasping and clawing until he sank to the floor, lifeless and deceased.
“GOT YOU!!!”
Spike’s heart skipped a beat as he was suddenly jerked back from the house and into the shadows. He was flung onto the floor and looking down at him was dark pony that had tormented him.
“What the hell were you doing in there?!” demanded Conquest, stomping on the dragon’s neck.
“That was you, wasn’t it?” grunted Spike, clawing at Conquest’s hoof. “You were that child, the one that I kept seeing in those memories!”
“No…” the alicorn said sarcastically, “you think, dumbass?” He lifted his hoof off of the drake, “So congradu-freaking-lations! I’d throw you a party if I wasn’t so irritated right now.”
“You weren’t born evil…you were created by it.”
“Wrong, I was always bad. I just didn’t know it yet!” he snickered. “That night was the greatest moment in my life! It was the moment I realized what terrible creatures ponies were. I guess I always known about it, what with the bullies and my terrible father, who I’d killed later that evening, and learned that I could feed off the anger of others to make me powerful! It was a very beautiful evening, and the first night of the rest of my life.”
“It was just a bad day… One bad day that caused this.”
“One great day you mean!” laughed the dark pony. “A day where I killed everyone, and learned how great killing is and what it is to show the world true darkness and destruction for what they did to me!”
“It’s not your fault…”
Conquest’s laughter was cut short as he spun around to see the dragon standing right behind him. “Excuse me?”
Spike started to smile, not a cocky or sinister one like he would normally would, but a warm and sincere one, one he would give to one he cared about, like his friends or family, one that he would give to secretly tell someone some one that everything would be all right.
It was a forgiving smile.
“It’s not your fault, Conquest,” he said. “Everything you’ve done was out of hatred because that was all you knew. It was all that was showed to you, all that anypony gave you. Things like mercy and forgiveness are alien to you because you were never shown it, and it left you hateful and full of rage. You learned to feed on negative emotions and in order to survive, you caused that in others. Hate, envy, resentment, whatever you could to keep you powerful, and that’s okay…”
“No it’s not…” said Conquest, shaking his head.
“You had a bad upbringing, a terrible childhood, so you thought that ponies were all evil, and that is what you made them. Evil. But I know that is not what you are.” He placed a claw on the ponies shoulder, who quickly shook it off like it was the plague. “All I can see is that poor little colt that was bullied, and abused, and who loved squirrels—“
“I love to eat them,” Conquest quickly said.
“And who was kidnapped!” said the dragon, almost in tears. “Who was kidnapped at his best friend’s funeral and dragged off to be the sacrificial lamb of a cult! That’s the pony that you are Conquest, not this!” The dragon wrapped his arms around the pony in a hug. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Conquest. No pony deserved what you went through.”
“What are you doing?” gasped Conquest, trying to break free from the dragon’s grasp. “Let go of me!” The drake didn’t listen, he squeezed harder. “Spike, I’m not joking, this isn’t funny! Let go of me this instant!” He continued to struggle, shaking and grunting as his skin started to smoke. “I said let go, are you listening to me, dumbass?!” His coat burst into flames. “What is happening to me?!?!!?”
He finally kicked the dragon off as he rolled on the ground, putting out the flames.
“This is impossible. I never burn!” He looked up at the dragon. “What did you do?!”
“I did something that no one else ever did, or even thought of trying, Conquest. The one thing that no one would be crazy enough to actually try…” He leaned down to Conquest’s level. “I forgave you.”
Grrrrr….. erahhhhhh….. heahhhhhh….
“What was that?” growled Conquest to Spike, his smile still there but fake. “What was that noise!?”
Spike looked up. “Company.”
“What?”
“I might be able to forgive you…” sighed Spike as he looked beyond the shadows, “but I think those guys are still a little sore.”
Conquest rolled over on his side, looking to where the dragon had been pointing. “Oh no,” he mumbled, an alien look of fear in his eyes.
Emerging from the shadows was a pony, a dark green pegasus whose faced looked like it was hit with a battle axe. Behind him was a pair of mares who seemed to have had the sides of their faces sown together and their throats slit. Beside them was a griffon with her eyes ripped out, and another griffon whose neck was broken. Beyond them, more and more ponies, griffons, minotaurs, zebras, even creatures like dragons and hydras started to emerge, the large colossi towering over the smaller beings. Each one of them had missing limbs or holes in their bodies.
“These are all the things I’ve ever had a hoof in killing…” the dark pony whispered to himself. “I blew your head off… I drowned you…. stabbed you, burned you, threw you guys into a snake pit…” There were too many to count as the relentless legions of the dead slowly advanced on the pony, hissing and snarling at him like animals. The dark alicorn tried to get away, but the dead were coming from all around.
“You brought this on yourself, my friend…” sighed Spike, as a headless minotaur walked passed him.
“No… Get back, you filthy creatures!” snarled Conquest as he blasted a nearby mare with a noose around her neck. “Do you know who I am? GAK!”
A trio of squirrels erupted from his mouth, clawing at his lips and crawling on his face, his once faithful minions had turned on him.
“Stupid creatures!” he growled as he tried to brushed the vermin off, tripping as he fell to the ground.
More of his victims came and surrounded him, sinking there teeth, talons and claws into his body, tearing him apart as he continued to struggle. A large purple dragon with a large hole in her stomach grabbed the alicorn and pinned him to the ground. They were everywhere. He could not escape and he was powerless.
Just like his victims were.
“Conquest….” an angelic voice sang above the snarling and grunting. The dead ponies grabbed onto the legs of Conquest as his stomach started to tear open. He didn’t screamed as a pink hoof popped out of his chest cavity, he never hollered as it was followed by a skeletal hoof, both used to pull out the abomination in his stomach. He did whimper when he saw the half chewed face of the mare and the clawed and torn body. But he did not laugh as she smiled at him her lipless smile and stared at him with her eyeless eyes. “Conquest…” she repeated.
“Sweet Symphony…”
“WHO’S GOING TO SAVE YOU NOW?!” she screeched as she dove into the face of the evil alicorn, sinking her teeth in. Spike watched as more and more creatures piled onto the pony. He never heard a scream, but he heard something better.
He heard only silence.
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There you go, there is the reason why he does what he does. Special thanks to Bunsen for that end with Symphony, and for editing of course.
so are you guys FINALLY satisfied? are you all happy with yourselves?
And then there was silence.
I don't need sleep. It's not like I have a marching band competition tomorrow
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Very nice. Very nice.
Well, I gotta say that I didn't expect that in the slightest...well, maybe some of it, a little. This entire chapter was actually very well done. I figured you would be able to pull off telling his origins quite well, and you did.
On the con side of things, a few parts seemed to run a tiny bit stale such as the Star Swirl the Bearded scene seemed a bit slow and dragging, but damn...you should be monumentally proud of the way you wrote that ending. Although it was pretty abrupt, you clarified it perfectly and displayed the anguish in Conquest's childhood that led up to his demise to the T, and throwing in all those he caused pain to was a very nice touch. Bravo Flim, you have indeed outdone yourself on this chapter. If I had to rate it with some of the best fics I have ever read being a 10 on certain chapters, I would give this one a 9.5/10. Bravo my good friend. You have done an amazing job so and are bringing it to an end with a spectacular finish. 
I await on bated breath for the next chapter.
Now I can't wait...
DAMMIT WILL YOU UPDATE THE FINAL FRIGGIN' CHAPTERS SOON?! The suspense is LITERALLY killing me!
And now all is revealed. The whole forgiveness scene with Spike and Conquest reminded me very much of the Tenth Doctor and the Master.
1471994
Marching band competition? Southern California, by any chance?
1472090 North Carolina
Oh my god... THAT WAS AMAZING! HDJKFHGJEKGVFHDJGVHJGHFG
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Yay conquest goes bye bye but i kind of feel bad for him at the same time
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Holy crap. Did not expect any of this. Great chapter
Also, on another note...
ouja.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/mot1.jpg
1471994Or a bachelor's party to throw
!
1472183 YOUR PROFILE PIC! IT'S TOO CUTE! I MUST PUNISH YOU!
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Villain's background given to us to feel sympathy for the bad guy? Check
Protagonist defeating the villain, who is born from hatred, with love? Check
The big bad, the ultimate monster, the cold murderer humanized, given a reason for his actions, and therefore giving him one hell of a background in just 1 chapter? Sir, with each chapter i admire you even more!
Cant wait to see how this ends. And i was wondering, in the near future i will probably start uploading my fanfic, would you give me the honor of being my pre-reader?
Anyways, keep up the good work!
Seriuosly... wen will someonejust freckin die!!!?? I swear.... is it really that difficult to kill a dragon or a God!!!
hmmmm, so is Dark Conquest going to end up being good now or is the little colts soul going to move on?
And then he has to figure out what to do back in reality
Well fuck
You're screwed spike
Emotionally and physically
1472296 did you not see that he was torn to shreds by a vengeful horde of his undead zombified victims???? that seems pretty dead to me... i was pretty sure that that killed him, i tried to be very clear about this...
Eh.. something tells me hes coming back... one way or another. If its truely the end ill be happy.
The Nightmare is OVER once and for all and Spike's Mom get her back pay!!!!
1471945 Whatever you do with your story is fine by me. I will admit I love the bittersweet ending for conquest. I humbly and eagerly await the epic conclusion.
~May your life be filled with smiles and endless laughter.~
Path of Cloud... God of debauchery...
Yeah, sounds about right.
I'm being accredited for the death of millions, happy days
1472418 And don't forget being mentioned with near-R'lyehian.
Truly wondrous day for you, sir.
Oh I feel bad for Conquest. Dark and twisted because he was picked on. Sound a tad too familiar for my liking.
Niiice..... and Conguest is finally dead! Have a stache
1472205...But...but...the party...
1472325where is Rarity? What have you done with her?!
FUCKING MORE OR I WILL RAPE YOU!
(nah i wont rape you
)
“WHO’S GOING TO SAVE YOU KNOW?!”
“WHO’S GOING TO SAVE YOU NOW?!
NEED NEXT CHAPTER!!!!
MY friend that was indeed a epic tale
Great chapter, grand feels, dat end
You sir are awesome
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Your updates would deprive me of sleep if I wasn't nocturnal by nature you know. I have to say that Dark Conquest...I don't think there is anything to forgive really. As Spike said it wasn't his fault. The only thing is that if it were me...well...I'd take my time with my victims more often then not, unless of course it were mass slaughter, but otherwise I've take my time, get creative, have fun with irony, strangle my victims with their own *censored*, I'm gonna stop there before this gets really disturbing.
All in all this was a real eye opener of a chapter, and it really made me feel for Conquest. Well done good sir! I SALUTE YOU!
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Conquest is finally dead iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/131327147782.gif?1313405495
never i have hate a villian so much...and never i've felt so sorry for his ending.
Bravo, sir
Well that was by far the most epic chapter ending ever.. I feel real bad for baby conquest he had a really shity childhood. I really want the ti al chapter uploaded now!!!!
Nice job with Symphony too I give you
out of five
Holy fuck. I'm just speechless. Only this is to be said
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HE IS DEAD?
Not to sure if he is.
This chapter... it gave me feelings, to be exact, these feelings:
Saddness, fear, disgust, excitement, confuse, slight happiness, relief, freaked, horror, forgiveness, depression and odd.
This chapter explains perfectly, how a sick mind isn't that sick after all, it's just gone, it's gone far beyond the misty mountains, and everything that is left is the memories and the slowly suffocating mind that only thinks what was thought about it. In this case all the fear, sadness, despair, anger, they all mixed up and caused a great shitstorm that created that sick mind.
Holy hell this chapter, and the whole fic overall is so freaking philosophic that my mind is just running with all the words.
And what do I also feel for Conquest? I feel sad, I pity him... Not a single soul ever deserves to be used as a doll that you can throw and squeeze and hit whenever you feel like it. How could someone stand all that shit that he went through. The woods that had became dark and hollow just like his crazy mind filled with only pure hatred, sadness and fear, and everything being dark, until finally it all snapped and his mind was free from his body, and was finally free to do whatever it wanted, so it did what it knew best... Create destruction upon every living thing in the world, not being able to see anything else than the things it had learned.
...
I think it's time for me to get some sleep...
Holy cow, reading 24 chapters of this in one sitting is a bit much.
And now I have to wait a while for the resolution... I guess I will.
You sir, are amazing.
This is by far one of the best chapters I have read from this story. You nailed it bro, you effin' NAILED IT.
FINALLY AN UPDATE YESSSSHHH
conquest wasnt even reall evil, it wasnt his fault he had such a horrible childhood, and even Spike forgave Conquest for all that he had done, including killing Rarirty. Conquest is getting ripped to shreds for something that wasnt his fault and his momentarily weak moment as he maybe starts to become good again is being taken advantage of.... I must know how this ends! (P.S. i thought the voice was like Celestia or something, i had quite forgotten about Symphony with everything else happening)
well that was.... quite really sad...
What a chapter, it's incredibly stirring and a bit scary but bloody hell i like it!!
Whoa...is it true? The bastard's dead at last?
I'm holding my breath until the next update.
Hmmmm Intriguing chapter looks like Conquest is getting laid to rest no longer invincible evil not when a dragon can forgive him for everything he's done. But I'm still a little worried about the world outside Spike's inner conflict. Looking forward to a brilliant and fantastic finish when this concludes not of course before the author states "The End" however. Good luck keep up the good work.
other than a few word exchanges and grammatical errors, excellent work
example:
Deluded, not Diluted,
Still really pissed at how the girls have been treated, but that's to be expected
SO there were meant to be 4 alicorns....
Required 'It Was Done' vid:
Now, aftermath...