• Published 14th Dec 2014
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My Endless Darkness - Garfield23



This is the story of Bravesteel a Pegasus pony driven to the edge of his being. His home and a large part of his family are wiped out by an unknown enemy. His heart could turn to darkness but will that happen.

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My Endless Darkness Chapter 2 Our five days of Hell Part 1

If you asked me what the meaning of the word despair was, I would say the five days that followed the destruction of Hopetown. It was a nightmare beyond that word, our journey was full of all sorts of dangers and the darkness of our doubts nearly broke us.

The first night was the beginning of our doubts, I sat up all night keeping watch, and it was a terrible ordeal. We had set up camp by a river that ran next to a field full of heather and in a patch clearer than most we prepared for the night ahead. As the night dragged on by, I was filled with a sense that some pony was watching us but I was wrong, what was watching us was far worse.

It was just an hour or two before dawn when I heard the sound I had feared, the sound of many steps in the distance and I knew we had a minute maybe less to run for it. I began to shake Silverlight and Applebliss awake but we didn’t have time to run so we hid in the long heather. Applebliss was still not quite awake; Silverlight was a quick riser and was staying quiet. It was then we saw what we had feared, into the clearing a creature that all ponies feared entered and began to sniff the ground, a Timberwolf. These were wolves made entirely of wood, they had a reputation as well that only foolish foals didn’t respect and fear. One of these monsters was bad enough but then seven more of the accursed beasts followed the first one.

I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs as they drew closer, they were almost following the same root we had taken to the heather and I looked up praying to anyone to help us. A tear trickled down my face, I was terrified and I wanted to fly but if I did that would mean leaving my sister and Applebliss to a fate so terrible it didn’t merit thought. I decided to prepare to fight, I was a solider and this was what I was trained for. I looked to Silverlight trying to tell her my plan and she shook her head with tears flowing down it.

There was suddenly a noise coming from the other side of the clearing and it drew the attention of the wolves from us. It gave us all the time we needed to slip away. It was the first of too many close calls and it wasn’t even the worst.

As we walked along, the landscape slowly changed into terrain that made me nervous, there were far worse things in equestria that Timberwolves and the terrain was now more dry. It spanned out into a vast dessert, I knew from experience there were things that lived here that were bad news and I estimated it would take us a day and a half to cross the dessert.

The sun was beating down as we walked, the sand was coarse and it made my poor hooves itch with pain. We kept walking but it was clear by halfway through the day we couldn’t walk any further, it was too hot and Applebliss was struggling to keep up. As we rested next to a sand dune, I looked around for water but couldn’t see a speck.

“Mr Bravesteel, I’m so thirsty” complained Applebliss, who was sweating profusely, she looked terrible, the heat was clearly getting to her and if we didn’t do something soon she would be in real trouble.

“Bravesteel, you have to go look for water and food!” cried Silverlight her voice was full of panic, it scared me that she was so scared and it must have shown “We have no time for this! Go! Now!” she then snapped.

I didn’t need to be told a third time, I began to flap my wings and took off. I gained as much height as I could, my eyes then began darting across the countryside and it wasn’t long before I spotted a source of water. It was far away and would have taken us a few hours to reach on hoof not to mention it would have taken us far off course.

I flew towards it, I pushed myself to fly faster but I wasn’t at my best. Ordinarily I’m not the greatest of fliers, I don’t venture into the higher skies unless absolutely necessary but my body was so tired it hurt to flap my wings. I also seemed to be struggling to get anywhere as fast as I usually did.

“Come on!” I yelled in frustration, I had already been gone for twenty minutes and it was annoying that my wings weren’t working as they should. `”I have to hurry!”

Finally I landed next to the lake. It was enormous, I was lucky to have found it and I grabbed a nearby bucket, I suppose that should have alerted me to the illogic of there being a bucket there at all but I just dipped the bucket into the water. As I pulled the bucket out I noticed something was missing, the water.

“What the?!” I spat, I kept trying to fill the bucket but it would not fill “Come on, please, work” I cried

“Hohoho” a voice suddenly laughed, a creature suddenly appeared it was a confusing mix of a creature. It had the head of a pony but the rest of it didn’t match “Oh what fun”

I was now angrier than ever, I looked up at the creature and I was unable to hold back my total rage “You son of a nightmare!” I swore I stamped my hoof in rage “This isn’t funny!”

“Now, now no need for such language!” said the creature who seemed totally bemused by me and my apparent totally desperation “How about this? I’ll help you if you do something for me!”

I was not in the mood to be some deformed creature’s play toy but what choice did I have. No, I didn’t need his help and I didn’t want it. Applebliss, if I don’t get help she could die and it would be entirely my fault. But I didn’t want to because I didn’t like him.

“Well, what is your decision?” asked the creature with an almost all-knowing expression on his face

“What do you want?” I growled dreading his response.

The creature smiled, which made my stomach do a 180 and he said “I want you to do as I say in five days’ time”

“Okay deal” I said without a second thought.

The creature raised an eagle’s claw and snapped its talons. We were suddenly back with Silverlight and Applebliss. I did what came instinctively; I got myself between the creature, Silverlight and Applebliss. The creature drew closer; I readied myself to defend my sister and the ill foal.

“Come now there’s no need to be so defensive” said the creature in a hurt voice, which led me to believe he was making a fool out of me but he was here to help

“Now first off for introductions, my name is Discord and yours are?”

At the mention of his name my mind began to race, I vaguely remembered an old legend about a creature with that name but couldn’t think of its importance to the situation. Regardless my mind was telling me to prepare for a fight. As it was the creature had a look of mischief about his face and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face.

Silverlight was the first to speak up “I’m Silverlight, this is my brother Bravesteel and the foal is Applebliss” she said clearly trying to judge whether Discord was friend or foe “Can you help Applebliss?”

Discord was now looking between Silverlight and me “Wait you two are siblings?” he enquired looking about ready to laugh “So you are both blood relations?”
I was about ready to stick my hoof where the sun didn’t shine when Applebliss coughed “Can you help our friend? Or not” I snapped

Discord then snapped his paw and was suddenly he was in a doctor’s uniform complete with silly glasses “Now what appears to be ze the problem?” he asked in a very silly voice that sounded like he was from the town of Hooflin “Open up and say yah” he said to what I assumed was Applebliss until he took my shout in his paw and rammed a thermometer in.

“Mmmm” I mumbled

He ignored my attempted protest “You are suffering from a condition called Supaseriousitis, it’s a curable condition but first you need face paint stat” he said as a painter’s pallet appeared in his paw “Now to apply ze cure”

“Wait! Stop” I yelled, too late the paint went on and I couldn’t do much to stop him. It took him less than ten seconds before he was finished. As I looked at Applebliss and Silverlight, I knew I must have looked ridiculous as they were having trouble containing themselves before they both were rolling in laughter. “Get me a mirror” I groaned dreading the outcome.

Discord was also trying not to laugh at his own work as he handed me a mirror “Oh my” was all he managed. As he rolled with laughter “You look tickled pink”

He wasn’t wrong I looked into the mirror and was horrified “I’m Pink!” I screamed, it wasn’t just my face but my whole body looked like a different pony’s body “What happened to my wings?”

Discord calmed down long enough to say “I used a special paint called body switch paint; you switched with a pony in Ponyville” he explained laughing part of the way through “Before I forget I promised to help you didn’t I” with a snap of his claw a rug with what looked like a picnic appeared next to Applebliss “Now there should be enough water in the basket to get you to Ponyville”

Silverlight calmed down and said “Thank you, Discord”

“Remember Bravesteel in five days, I’ll collect your debt and I expect payment” he said with an element of danger in his voice before he added with joy “Good luck everypony” then he disappeared.

As we sat and ate the lunch that was on the blanket, my mind swarmed with thoughts as dark as a moonless night and it ate me up inside. What was Discord about? What did he have in mind for me and how would it affect my fate? Did he know something about Hopetown’s attackers? Regardless we had a mission, I would burn Discord’s bridge when I came to it and I would not allow Hopetown to go unavenged.

Applebliss was by now looking a lot more like herself, it was an encouraging sign but the danger creatures like the Timberwolves presented could not be ignored. I began to feel the strength in my legs grow and I prepared to start walking but Silverlight placed a hoof on my tail.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked clearly concerned, as it happens Silverlight can read me like a book “We need to stick together and I know you mean well but Applebliss has to be our priority” she gave me this all knowing stare that always made me fall into line. We waited until Applebliss had finished and was ready to walk.

After that hours continued to pass, as we walked across the seemly endless expanse, I was behind our group keeping an eye on our tails as I couldn’t shake the feeling we were being watched, it was probably the heat playing tricks with my poor mind but still.

As we stopped for the night by an old ruin in the sand, I was still convinced we weren’t safe but that was hardly news because we were as safe as we were the night before and we knew how that had turned out. This night I got the chance for some much needed sleep as Silverlight took the watch. As I lay my head down on my hooves there was one thing I was grateful for, the welcoming embrace of sleep and I had the chance of beautiful dreams.

As I slept my dreams were as pleasant as I could have hoped for, I dreamt of my favourite things in Hopetown and it made me happy. I dreamt of days spend reading the adventures of Blazeheart the great detective pony and drinking a welcoming glass of my mother’s homemade Lemonade. Then my dreams went weird as I turned the page, a shadow appeared over the book and the pages went blank.

A voice boomed out “TELL ME ABOUT HOPETOWN?!” it boomed as I looked around everything was changing and it scared me. I began to run for all I was worth but found myself getting nowhere quickly.

As I turned to face where the voice came from I was meant with a mare unlike any I had seen before, she was a dark blue colour, her mane billowed behind her, I thought looking at her that she was unicorn but what kind of pony had this kind of power. As she approached I found myself shaking, I remembered I was dreaming but did that remove the danger I was in, my mind told me, I was in more trouble than I could comprehend.

“YOU ARE IN DANGER!” the mare bellowed her eyes flashed white.

“Who are you?!” I screamed

Before she could answer my question, I was rudely shaken awake by Silverlight who had a look of pure terror on her face and in the dawn’s early light she never looked so terrified. As I got up I could see why, a huge sandstorm was approaching but it was what was in front of it that scared me and with good reason. A huge herd of Buffalo, there had to be at least sixty and we were only three.

Silverlight looked at me and said “Is it them?!” she still looked terrified.

I gulped and looked at Applebliss; we had to hope this was one of the friendly tribes of Buffalo and on one hoof that was likely. However there was one tribe to consider the tribe of Chief Ironhorn and they rarely spared even a foal, they didn’t tolerate ponies on their land.

As they drew closer we quickly were running out of options, then a crazy idea entered my head but was I brave enough. Then my mind was set “Silverlight, take Applebliss, run for Ponyville and don’t look back!” I screamed preparing to charge myself but seeing Silverlight had not moved I turned my head “GO! NOW, THIS ISN’T UP FOR DEBATE! NOW GO!”

Silverlight used her magic to put Applebliss onto her back and looked at me with eyes that seemed to say, don’t do anything stupid. She then ran and I was convinced it would be the last I would ever see of them. I started to try and use my muscles that my wings were usually connected to but I was still pink and my wings were absent. So I did the only thing I could do, I reared onto my hind legs and yelled “For Equestria’s eternal light!”

As I began to charge forward, I knew I didn’t stand a chance but as long as I bought time for Silverlight and Applebliss it didn’t matter. The buffalo were now close enough for me to feel the sand shift under my hoofs, this made me what nothing more, than to turn and run away but I kept charging.

A few more strides, I could see rocks shaking to my left and it filled me with an unbelievable level of fear. They were so close, I could see the surprised look in their eyes that a pony would dare charge them and I was still terrified at the prospect. It was then that the buffalo stopped in their tracks, I stopped as well but more out of surprise.

A large buffalo stepped forward and said “Hey, what are you doing?” he said with a voice that seemed to be completely surprised “We could have crushed you” the concern in his voice left me completely confused. As the buffalo surrounded me, I felt totally done “Relax, we’re not going to hurt you” the buffalo soothed.

“Why were you charging towards our camp?” I asked, looking back it was a stupid question

“We charge through here at this time of year!” another small female buffalo said “We didn’t know there was a camp there. Why were you camping in such a stupid place?”

I then sat on the ground, I explained what had happened two days earlier and I noticed the looks of horror that the buffalo were giving me. As I covered the details of my parent’s deaths, I heard a choked sob from behind me but I kept going. As I drew to our lucky escape from the Timberwolves, the buffalo looked studded and I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t tell them about Discord but I did cover my nightmare. “So when we heard you guys, I tried to cover for Applebliss and my sister” I finished.

The chief of the buffalo remained silent for what felt like a good long while, then he mumbled “So where are you heading?”

“We’re heading for Ponyville to see the princess that lives there” I explained.

“We can’t offer you much help, since we have our kin to think about that live near Hopetown and they may be in danger but we will give you some water and food” the chief said with a sombre look as his herd gave me a bag with a flask of water and a bag of oats “We wish you all luck”

As the herd prepared to leave a few members gave me words of encouragement and respect. It was then that the herd took its leave; the sight was amazing and will be a sight I’ll never forget. As their hooves pounded the sand the sand formed clouds as high as mountains and the sound was loader than the falling of a thousand trees. As they turned and charged past a huge sand dune, I watched as they disappeared from sight and realised they had changed direction away from our camp.
While the situation had turned out to be harmless, I still could feel my heart beating hard and mind breaking under the pressure. I sat in the sand and cried into my hooves. It was all too much, why did we have to suffer, why was fate treating us like this and what gave it the right.

As I walked towards the direction that Silverlight and Applebliss had taken I couldn’t see any pony, I kept walking it was then that I saw the outline of trees in the distance and I assumed they were there. As I walked I could feel the wind whip around me, it dug into my eyes and caused my mane to blow out of order. I had been walking for half an hour when I saw the sight I had been waiting for.

“Bravesteel!” Applebliss screamed as she saw me approach, the look on Silverlight’s face was amazing a mixture of joy and disbelieve. They both had tears in their eyes, as they embraced me in a hug but I pulled away “We thought you were dead”

I shook my head “We got lucky. Now who’s hungry?” I said trying to make it sound light hearted but upon seeing the look on their faces “The buffalo were charging towards us because they didn’t know we were there. They didn’t mean us any harm”

Silverlight sighed “Well I suppose on the plus side, we are ahead of schedule and only one challenge remains” she explained I turned my head towards the forest and knew what she meant “However the dangers we’ll face in there will be beyond what we have faced so far!” as if to drive the point on home, the forest was filled with the sound of a monster and it was terrifying.

Applebliss stared at the forest with a look of complete fear “What is that place!?” she was shaking uncontrollably and I shared that feeling.

I swallowed hard “There are legends told of the forest! It is said not even chaos resides there, as it is too dangerous” I said unable to keep the fear from my voice “It is known as the Everfree forest”

“Wait!” Applebliss stuttered, recognising the name and it clearly terrified her “My grandmother told me stories about it and we can’t go in!”

Silverlight was clearly as scared as we were but she calmly stated “If we don’t, another town could suffer the same fate as Hopetown and we owe it to Equestria to raise the alarm” Applebliss and I looked at her knowing she was right but dreading the outcome “However, I won’t ask you to do something that either of you don’t want to do but I’m going in”

Applebliss swallowed “I’m in”

I had to admire Applebliss’s courage and it inspired me to say “I’m ready to get going!” I raised my hoof into the air and said “Let’s get through this together!”

We turned to face the trees, I still remember that first step towards it, my hoof was shaking with a new feeling, hope and I knew in that moment there was no turning back. As we crossed the line that separated the desert from the forest, the air was full of a smell of rotting wood, I had to stare at Silverlight for emotional support but looking at her, I knew none of us wanted to do this.

As we walked through the forest, the thing that struck me was just how quiet it was, there was noise but it was somewhat subdued. The bird songs were so quiet, the sound of the wind was so reduced I found myself going mad but what bugged me was the lack of noise from animals larger than a bird.

As we walked the forest seemed to darken with every step, the sun should have been shinning above us but because of the branches above us, I couldn’t see the light. Applebliss was just ahead of me when she tripped on something, I helped her to her hooves and saw what she had tripped on, and there on the floor of the forest was the still shape of a wolf!

“Is it dead?!” Applebliss asked fear trickling into her words; I placed a hoof on its neck and knew something was very wrong “What’s wrong?”

Silverlight shone a light on the wolf, confirming my concerns; the wolf was dead but was encrusted in diamond which was a billion times worse. There was only one creature in Equestria that could do this, a creature so terrifying that no living thing would live within twenty miles of it, it was the only monster that the army was trained to run from and still one had not been seen in an age.

Applebliss looked at me with a look that confirmed the look on my face “Bravesteel, what’s wrong, why are you shaking?!” She asked

“A Sapphire Dragon!” I mumbled as I turned to Silverlight “We need to get out of here! That monster only need to breath on us and we’ll join this wolf in crystal death!” she looked at me with trepidation

Applebliss suddenly screamed. There it was not twenty feet away, I had only seen pictures of it in class of deadly creatures, back at the training camp, it was eating another wolf that had been encrusted in crystal, its size is what startled me the most, it was as tall as the town hall of Hopetown, it’s skin shone with a bright blue colour hence the name, the tail was ended with a sharp spike and it was holding the wolf like an apple.

“What now?” I whispered to Silverlight, the dragon was now sniffing the air and I felt for sure we were going to be discovered.

Silverlight took lead, she pulled Applebliss and I into a nearby bush “Shhh!” was all she said.

As the claws of the dragon came down to the spot I had been standing in not ten seconds before. It felt around, when its claws came around the still form of the wolf, it grasped it and pulled it up. The next sound we heard was bone chilling, the crunch of crystal, followed the sound of crystal being ground up and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the wolf.

Silverlight however was now using her magic to pull on my mane “Come on, while it’s eating!” she whispered “We can sneak away!” we began the long process of sneaking through the bushes, the sound of the dragon eating never far from ear shot and I thought more than once we were going to be caught. After an hour we could no longer hear the dragon eating, Silverlight poked her head out from the bushes and gave us the all clear. All we could see of the dragon was a small blue dot through the trees. “Safe” Silverlight sighed

“Safe, is the last thing we are!” is all I managed.

“You know maybe, you could be grateful we made it away from that thing!” Silverlight snarled. She and I were now getting ready to fight the other as our faces were practically boiling.

Applebliss then got between the two of us “Please, don’t fight, we shouldn’t let our guard down but we should be grateful we were able to escape that monsters gaze!” she reasoned with us and we all calmed down.

I remember the feeling of fear creeping in amongst us; we had not been in this accursed place for two hours and already were beyond scared. The rest of the journey would take us two more days and we needed to find a place to set up camp for the night before this place became too dark to proceed safely. We continued through the dark mess of the forest danger never far from our minds.

We suddenly spotted what we had been hoping for a place that looked as if it could serve as a defendable location, it was a cottage, it looked as if it had been abandoned for centuries, the windows were broken, the door looked like an old wooden splitter, the paint looked as if it peeled years ago and I could feel something in the air.

“Well it looks better than what’s out here” I joked looking to Silverlight, who seemed to be looking deeply concerned about the cottage “Oh, come on, what harm can a look do and it’s not like we have a list of possible campsites we can go!”

Silverlight sighed “Calm down, you have a point but remember the forest cannot be trusted!” she tapped the side of the cottage, she then turned and looked towards the sky which seemed to be getting darker and we were out of time “Okay let’s go in!”

The door was stiff, we struggled to get the door to shift, finally after pushing for half an hour the door gave in but what awaited us was something we didn’t expect.

The outside had been so damaged; the inside however looked like some pony had just gone out to the shops five minutes earlier but how?!
Silverlight went in deeper and looked around “This seems strange but it’s not like we have a choice!”

So that was that that, we were all too tired to argue, we bolted the door, I stayed up a little bit longer but tiredness took me and I fell into a deep sleep. The previous night’s nightmare suddenly started again, the same mare was there, she stared at me with the same look and I grew fearful.

“Tell me about Hopetown” her voiced boomed as load as a trumpet “You need to tell me!”

“Why? Who are you?!” I screamed back fear had left me, in its place a sense that I had to prepare to fight and I was not backing down! Not now and certainly not when my purpose was realised. “Tell me!”

The mare suddenly seemed to calm down “Well done!” she said I could how see her more clearly and I realised I had met her before it was, Princess Luna “Your fear of sleeping was clouding your senses”

“So when you appeared last night, I was overcome with fear that you were going to hurt my friends” I said remembering the feeling that I had, had the previous night

“Fear can cloud our minds and in dreams that fear can manifest itself” Luna explained as her expression seemed to be trying to show sympathy “I’m sorry you were so scared but please tell me what hap…”

The sound of the door of the cottage slamming open interrupted my dream, as the cottage stuttered from the impact, I looked up to see a unicorn glad in a white rob, he had a long white beard and his presence in the building seemed to fill it with power. I jumped up, charged him, his horn glowed bright and I was sent flying into the wall behind me.

“Who are you?” his voice was so deep and angry but at the same time it seemed to sound like a voice that spanned the distances of time itself.

Applebliss, I noted was hiding behind Silverlight who then said “We’re sorry, we were just passing through on our way to Ponyville, when we saw your cottage, we needed a place to sleep and we didn’t know that you lived here” she stared at the old unicorn with honesty filling her “Please accept our apologies”

The old unicorn’s eyes suddenly soften “It’s quite alright, I’m sorry your brother just gave me a start but I need to know who you are?” he said his voice suddenly filled with compassion. He then released the spell holding me to the wall.

Silverlight began to tell the story of how we had wound up in the old unicorn’s cottage. A few times his reactions were so subdued, at points I thought would shock him, he seemed bored and he seemed more interested in Silverlight, it made me feel uncomfortable.

Silverlight then said “So we realised we had to set up camp and we spotted your cottage, we thought it was abounded and we forced the door open” to which the old unicorn nodded “Please accept our deepest apologises!”

I then couldn’t take it anymore “Who are you?!” I interrupted.

The old unicorn smiled “I have gone by many names, not just throughout this world but in worlds as varied as the kinds of flowers that grow” he explained, he looked at me and a weird sense of amazement filling me “I have been known as the greatest wizards throughout other worlds some of them had names like Zordon, Gandalf, Merlin and Dumbledore”

Suddenly the cottage was filled with images of strange looking faces that hung to the walls of the building, some were ponies, some were green, some were orange and some had beards. I was amazed “So what name do you go by in this world?” I asked wondering “Why do you travel through so many worlds?”

The old unicorn looked at me with a soft smile “I travel those worlds to maintain the balance of good glorious magic in those worlds. I travel to meet new, fascinating heroes, invaluable heroines, to see sights beyond imagination and to explore magic to expand the possibilities” as he explained this a face of a strange creature flashed in front of my face, then the sight of a beautiful landscape and it was so amazing “In this world I have been known as Starswirled the bearded”

Author's Note:

Okay you must be curious as to why I broke chapter two in half. The reason is simple, I set myself a ridiculous goal for chapter two so I broke the completed chapter in two and will be spending a week or two editing the second half. I have to admit including Discord for me was a tough decision since I'm uncertain how well I can write his character but please review to tell me if you think he is accurate to the show. So please remember to leave feedback. Have a nice day.