The Kingdom of Darkness

by abcd_z

Chapter 5

Eventually the mountainside gave way to a black forest. The gnarled and twisted trees were made of dark red bark with black leaves. The bushes were black, streaked through with red and purple veins, and the black, dead leaves underfoot covered the ground completely. The path wound its way through the forest and the trees around it had grown in a dense pattern, hemming us in. The forest seemed to absorb what little light the eclipse cast in the sky; though there were the occasional gaps in the trees, they were too dark for me to see anything beyond the path.

Somewhere in the distance, something made a horrible monstrous screeching noise.

"What was that?" I asked nervously.

"Be at peace," Lunatic said. "As long as you stay on the path, no harm can befall you."

I relaxed a bit but didn't move away from Lunatic.

We walked for another hour or two when I heard a soft and subtle song drifting through the forest: an ethereal melody sung in an unknown language. I couldn't make out any words, but it reminded me of hope and longing; of safety and reassurance. I looked around but I couldn't spot the source of the music.

Through the gaps in the trees I saw a flowing white garment that almost immediately disappeared into the forest again. As Lunatic and I walked, the song rose and fell around us. It was joined by another voice, and another, creating a chorus that tugged at my heart and made me cry from the sheer beauty of the song.

I spotted a large gap between the trees. Through this opening I saw several women in the distance that were gracefully dancing around the trees and each other. They wore long, flowing white garments.

Curious, I walked towards them. As I got closer to them I could make out more of their features, but somehow they always turned so that their faces were obscured from me.

"Derrick, no!" Lunatic yelled.

The women gracefully spun around to face me. There were six of them, and they were had no eyes or ears or noses. Instead, they each had a single mouth that stretched from ear to ear, full of sharp fangs where normal teeth would be.

I sprinted back towards the path as quickly as I could. As I ran, they jeered at me and taunted me. I could hear their voices coming from directly behind me as I attempted to outrun them.

"Come with us, child," one of them called in a horrible high-pitched, whining voice.

"Yes, come play with us," another said.

"Let us dance with you!"

"And we shall feast on your body and sup at your soul!"

"Yes, let us feast upon you!"

I managed to make it back to the path and looked behind me. The creatures flew back and forth just short of the path, as though some sort of barrier blocked their passage. They cursed and yelled, but they couldn't touch us.

I was a little out of breath, but I didn't want to spend another minute near those horrible creatures. I continued walking down the path with Lunatic. For whatever reason, the creatures didn't follow us.

"What were those?" I asked.

"I do not know," Lunatic responded. "This realm contains many things that are darker and older than I am. I do my best to make it safe for my dark ponies, but there are always things that lurk out here in the shadows, just waiting for a chance to destroy you... or worse. You have seen one of the threats, but I fear that other things exist out here that are far worse."

Lunatic turned to me.

"Derrick," she said, "you must promise me something. No matter what happens, you must never travel into the darkness here; the uncharted territories. Even if I used the fullest extent of my abilities to protect you, I still could not guarantee your safety."

I gulped and nodded. "I promise."

We made the rest of the trip in silence.

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We emerged from the forest and entered Nightmare Town. As Lunatic and I walked through the town many of the ponies stared at us. They were similar in some ways to the ponies I'd seen in Equestria: four legs, a head, and a tail. However, that was where the similarities ended. Some of the pegasi had feathered wings, while others had bat wings. Some of the unicorns had malformed horns, or two horns. The pony coats and manes tended to be darker in color than their counterparts'. The most common color was black, followed by red and purple, followed by a sickly white color. A few of the ponies had fangs, and several of the ponies had almond-slitted eyes instead of the usual round ones. Overall, the ponies were taller and more muscular than their Equestrian counterparts.

As I passed by the ponies in the town (who were still staring at me. A little creepy there) I noticed that their cutie marks were also darker in nature. One was an image of a rose wrapped around a bleeding heart symbol. Another was an image of a grinning skull. Yet another cutie mark was an image of a pair of handcuffs.

I made a mental note to hit on the mare with the handcuff cutie mark later.

I saw a pair of stallions that had feathered wings and a horn each. One of them had a black mane with a red coat, while the other had a red mane with a black coat. They were bickering with each other about which of the two were cooler.

As we walked I realized that several ponies were following Lunatic and me. They didn't say anything; they just stared as they quietly followed from a safe distance. As we walked the herd behind us grew larger as more ponies followed us.

"Um, Lunatic," I said, "I'm starting to get a little weirded out here."

Lunatic responded, "I apologize, but this was the most effective way to gather them in one spot."

"And why do you want to do that?" I asked.

"I felt it would be best to get introductions out of the way as soon as possible. Unless... you're uncomfortable speaking to large crowds?"

I stopped walking and looked around. Every single pony in the crowd was staring at me. I sighed.

"No, I guess not. In the future, though, please discuss your plans for me, with me, before you make them."

"My apologies," Lunatic said. "I'll do as you said."

I looked around and asked Lunatic, "Is this enough ponies?"

"I suppose so," she replied. "The rest will hear by word of mouth."

"Ponies of the Dark Kingdom," Lunatic said, addressing the crowd, "this is Derrick from Earth. He has travelled a great distance to be here, so please do your best to make him feel welcome."

I waved sheepishly. "Hiya," I said.

Every pony just stared at me.

I cleared my throat before continuing. "I was born and raised on the planet called Earth, before an unknown magic brought me to Equestria. Then..."

Here I faltered. I wondered if I should I tell them about what happened with Celestia and Twilight. I decided to be circumspect about it.

I continued, "Then it was discovered that I didn't fit in there, and Lunatic brought me here."

More silence.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "I guess you don't know who that is. Um, Nightmare Moon here took on a new name."
I looked to her, and she nodded approval. "Now she now goes by 'Lunatic Fringe'."

I was unprepared for what happened next. The entire crowd went nuts, cheering and clapping their hooves and stomping their feet. One of them even pumped their hoof in a circular motion in the air while chanting "woof! woof! woof!"

I was stunned. Fortunately, Lunatic quickly calmed the crowd down.

"So are you Lunatic's new Dark Consort?" one of the Dark Mares asked me.

"What?" I yelped. "No!"

"Are you one of the Elements of Disharmony?" asked another pony.

"The elements of what?" I asked.

Another voice piped up. "Is Lunatic one of the Elements?"

Yet another voice said, "You mean Elements of Dark Harmony, right?"

Several voices started talking over each other, making it hard to hear what any pony said.

"No, that would be stupid. We're dark opposites, so-"
"I'm telling you, they're called-"
"No, no, no, it's 'Envy, Wrath,-'"
"When have you ever gossiped about anything? If anything, you're the Element of-"
"Ow, stop biting!"
"Make me, noogie-head!"
"That doesn't even make sense! Ow!"

Lunatic used her magic to part the crowd. In the center of the magically-created clearing was two mares. The first mare had the second in a headlock and was punching her in the head, while the second mare was biting the first's arm.

"Children, behave."

Immediately both ponies let go of each other.

"Now, if there aren't any more questions, Derrick and I are going to visit Green Groves and find a place for Derrick to stay."

One of the ponies asked Lunatic, "Do you mean Dark Shimmer?"

"What?" Lunatic asked, her voice monotone.

"She goes by 'Dark Shimmer' now."

Lunatic sighed. "Of course she does."

Lunatic and I walked away from the crowd, who thankfully dispersed and went back to whatever they were doing before we showed up.

"You see what I have to put up with?" Lunatic asked, sotto voce.

Comments

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

Sirens huh? And one's from the God Of War series apparently, I like it.

[WorldSmith]

I find the fact that "This is Halloween" is playing in my head highly apropriate

I can't tell if I would be amused or annoyed by all the little emo/goths if I was in Derrik's place. Reading it is fun, but actually dealing with them in person en masse sounds ... daunting.

[abcd_z]

5242951 The funny thing is, I never really thought of them as Sirens and I've never played God of War. If pressed for a definition I'd probably call them wraiths.

I just thought, "he's immune to magic, so what could lure him off the path even when he should know it's a bad idea?" The scene sort of developed itself from there.

[Darkest Star]

This story is just asking for a reference to The Nightmare Before Christmas somewhere in here. Good read so far.

[SaiyanUltima]

While I am flattered that it is inspired by me, I cannot be negative or positive as to how it goes from here.

I'm glad someone is inspired by me, but I'm not so glad because I feel that I'm going through another plagiarism war.

Reason I feel that way is I have Lunar Chrome copying my work, including Zamairiacs, and rewording it on fanfiction for his own.

Not that you are plagiarizing, you noted it is inspired by me and I am glad that it is. Plus I never believed that you are.

You're not like Lunar Chrome, you don't steal scenes from my work and reword them for your own, and for that I am grateful.

So keep it up and keep using my chapters for inspiration, if you must.

However, because you are doing this I must confess myself...competitive in a friendly manner.

Guess I better stop lazing on my writing and get serious.

....it is on.

[Epic Brony 4 Life]

5242990
I like this story. Keep up the good work!

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

5242990 Oh yeah those creep beasts always seem to get their target on the move. Great voices but not a very great prize at the end of that rainbow.

[Sprocket Jockey]

5246037 I see that subtle "Hobbit" reference a mile away, but it was original enough to be rather enjoyable. Well done

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

5249257 Caught that did ya?

[Asashi - Dark Fist Inari]

Also, we getting anymore of this anytime soon?

[wlam]

Yet another cutie mark was an image of a pair of handcuffs.

I made a mental note to hit on the mare with the handcuff cutie mark later.

[CosmosGalen]

I don't mind the writing but let's stay away from the bestiality area shall we?

[Red Neck]

I made a mental note to hit on the mare with the handcuff cutie mark later.

Of course lol