The Prince of Darkness

by Morningstar 2143

Chapter eleven: The End of His Story

“Oh Celestia.”

The taunting voice echoed in Celestia’s mind frightening her awake. She quickly sat up out of her bed, cold sweat beading down her face and breathing heavily. She quickly scanned her surroundings, realizing that she was back in her bed at Canterlot. She continued to scan the room, this time with her mind at ease, and noticed a needle in her arm attached to tube feeding her what looked like blood. With her eyes, she followed the tube back to a blood bag that had been hovering over her head. The bag was half empty with an O-negative scrawled in a white box on the front.

She gently removed the needle from her arm and started clambering out of her bed. Stinging pain shot up and down her legs as she struggled with step. She peered into a mirror that sat across the room on a mantle and noticed the bandages wrapped around her neck. As she unraveled them, they revealed more and more of the large marks on her neck. She tossed the remaining strips into a nearby trash can. Now standing close to the mirror, she caressed the wound with her hoof. They looked like several bit sized reddish holes that seemed as if they were ready to bleed at any moment. As she spent more time gazing at her reflection, she began noticing several other smaller things. There were now dark rings around her eyes, a large cut on her mouth that went from her nostril to her chin, the colors in her main weren't as vibrant as they once were, and the lingering sensation of the blood leaving her veins.

The haunting images of Luna’s death flashed in her mind, the blood pouring from her neck and her body falling to the ground. But the one image that she knew would haunt her for for the rest of her life was the look on Luna’s before she died. Blood covering the right side of her face, tears streaming from her eyes, and the worst of all were the feelings terror and helplessness that flickered in her eyes.

She glanced over at a framed children's drawing that hung on the wall beside the mirror. The paper had begun turning yellow from age and the glass was slightly dusty due to lack of maintenance. The old cedar wood picture frame looked exactly as old as it was in the sense that it was nearly falling apart at the seems. Once adorning 24 carat gold, the only thing that remained of it were small crevasses and grooves were the gold had once been. In the picture were two colorful blobs of paint that semi-resembled ponies, one was dark blue and the other was a whitish in color with big smiles painted were there heads would be. The two images had crudely drawn arrows above them that pointed to the names “Luna” and “Celestia”. Below their hooves, underneath a green zig-zag that represented grass, was the word sisters written in black crayon.

“Princess!!” she turned to see a relieved Twilight standing at the door. Her eyes had dark bags underneath them as if she hadn’t slept for days. “I was worried that you wouldn’t wake up!” she ran over to Celestia enthusiastically and gave her a bear hug. Celestia sucked her teeth when she a large amount of pain shoot up her back. Twilight quickly released her grip “Oh no, i’m so sorry! I got a little excited.”

“You do not need to apologize for your excitement Twilight.” she peeked over at the door. “The rest of you can enter as well!” she called to the rest of them outside the door. A few seconds later, the rest of them entered the room.

“All of Equestria has gathered outside the cities walls. They’re waiting for news on your health.” Twilight stated when there was a knock on the door.

“Enter!” Celestia called. The door slightly creaked open and, with his head down, Morningstar entered the room.

He had bandages wrapped around one of his hooves, the left side of his face, and both of his wings were in casts. His head hung low, attempting to not make eye contact with the scorned princess. “I just wanted to see how you were doing.” he said with his eyes still fixated on the ground.

“Morningstar!!” Rarity beamed.

“Morningstar!” Celestia spoke up.

“Yes princess.”

“You stand trial for your crimes against Equestria that are as follows.” everyone in the room looked at Celestia in bewilderment. “Siding with the enemy, mounting an attack on Equestrian soil, threatening to destroy Equestria, and the death of one of Equestria’s greatest leaders Princess Luna. You’re punishment….” the others continued to look at her with the same expressions. “Banishment from Equestria!” they felt their hearts sink at the news. Rarity, instead of following the others, felt only rage.

“That’s not fair!” she said raising her voice to Celestia. “You’re banishing Morningstar for something that he had no control over?! The only reason he joined them was to save my life!” her explanation turned into a rant. “He carried me on his back for more than eleven days just to find a cure that might not have even existed! Star brings out the best in everypony he meets and you’re just going to send that away?!”

“ENOUGH!!!” Celestia shouted using the royal voice. “You are defending the criminal that murdered Luna, my sister, in cold blood! Whether or not he had control doesn’t matter! What matters is that his actions must be punished!” Rarity fearlessly stood her ground, unphased by the princess’ shouts and hollers.

“Uhh, hey guys.”

“What!!” they shouted in unison, turning their attention to Rainbowdash.

“He left.” she said pointing at the spot where Star was standing.

Morningstar hung his head in sadness as he slowly made his way towards the train station. He could hear the whispers of other ponies he passed on the street and the things they said.

“Isn’t that the guy that killed the princess?”

“Yeah. I heard that he almost killed Celestia too.”

“I heard that the light in the sky was him trying to destroy Equestria.”

He felt something heavy hit the back of his head with enough force to draw blood. He placed a hoof on the spot of impact and turned around to see a sizable rock on the ground in front of him. He looked up to see a small colt peering at him furiously, holding another stone of smaller size.

“Go away.” he said as tears began welling in his eyes. “Go back to where ever you came from!” the tears now streaming down his face. “My daddy was one of the royal guards sent to fight you, but now…….” he paused and looked at the ground. “Now he’s gone, because of you. It’s all your fault.” he chucked another stone at him. The surrounding bystanders turned to each other, nodded, and joined the small colt. They started throwing the surrounding stones of all shapes and sizes at him, not caring if they hit him or not. As he turned to run to the train station, one of the larger stones hit him in the pastern of his back leg causing him to scid on the ground a few feet. He looked down at his leg and saw that it was broken.

To weak to move and with a slowly approaching angry mob, he just rolled to his back and accepted his punishment. They circled around him, closing the gap between them and their sweet revenge when a purple dome suddenly erected it self around him.

“You all should be ashamed of yourselves.” Twilight called as she descended from the sky.

“But Princess, isn’t he the one who killed Luna and almost destroyed Equestria? Why would you defend him!” a mob pony asked from the crowd.

“That stuff doesn’t matter anymore, what matters now is that he’s back to normal.” Rarity pushed her way through the crowd to get to his side. Twilight dropped the shield. “It wasn’t to long ago that Princess Luna was called Nightmare Moon and threatened to destroy Equestria with much more sinister motivations. He aimlessly hiked through the snowy tundra just to bring Rarity closer to a cure that saved her life. He’s a hero that should be commended for his bravery but instead is being punished for something he didn’t do.”

“Would a hero order an attack that could have killed us all!?” one called out.

“Would a hero kill the princess?!” called another.

“Would a hero kill my dad?” asked the young colt.

“While I admit that these actions are inexcusable. I also have to tell you that, like Nightmare Moon, Morningstar had no control of his actions. What makes him a hero isn’t that he saved Rarity, it’s that he was able to overcome the biggest obstacle that all of us will face at some point in our lives, our selves.” she turned and looked at Star with tears in her eyes. “I’ve lived in Equestria my entire life, and if there's one thing that i’ve learned it’s that we are nothing if not forgiving.”

They all turned to each other, dropped the stones they were holding and gathered around Star with forgiving expressions. Rarity hoisted him up her shoulder, acting as his crutch. That’s when she noticed the gauze on his face were shredded to pieces. He turned back in time to see the small colt run away with tears in his eyes. Everyone in the mob had ended up returning to their homes after they returned him the Canterlot hospital. The nurse began unwrapping his old gauze so they could be replaced. Star sat there in the bed, his head still bowed in sadness.

“Why are you guys still here?” he asked the six mares standing in a semi circle around his bed. “I almost killed you and everything you love. What I did was unforgivable.”

“That wasn’t you Star, that was the monster. You can’t blame yourself for actions that weren't your own.” Twilight stated, trying to ease his pain. The nurse finally removed the last of the bandages that covered his face.

“Princess! There’s something wrong!” the nurse shouted as she dropped the bandages and brought her hooves to her mouth in shock.

“Oh my goodness!” she said upon close examination of the left side of his head. His skin wasn’t burned but looked like charcoal. His mane was still very long and possessed the red tips at the end and his eye still possessed features of the prince. They all gasped as Star gazed into a nearby mirror.

“Evil can not be destroyed, it can only be suppressed.” a slightly more healthy version of Celestia said from the doorway. “The longer you remain in Equestria the better chance of IT returning. I can’t have a monster as evil as you living anywhere near my citizens.” she entered the room and stood at Stars bedside. She peered down at him with an intimidating glare and said “So leave.” she turned around and left.

“Celestia wait!” Twilight called leaving the room. “Don’t worry Star, i’ll talk to her.”

Minutes of uninterrupted silence later, Star sat there still gazing at his reflection. He silently shook his head at the creature looking back at him. He climbed out of the bed and started limping for the door.

“Star! What are you doing?” Fluttershy asked.

“Y’ah can’t walk on that leg yet. It’s gonna heal all messed up!” Applejack called.

“You need your rest Star.” said Rainbowdash.

“Star! You need to slow down and take a breath, you know it’s important if i’m telling you to slow down!” Pinkie shouted.

“Star darling, you should listen to us and lie down.” Rarity suggested as she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

He whipped around to face them and shouted “SHUT UP!!”. He looked at the blood on the floor and realized it was coming from his pastern. “Listen.” he said in a calmed voice. “Celestia is right, I am a monster. I would stay in Equestria if I could, but I don’t want to risk any of getting hurt.”

“Y’all don’t have to worry us Star.”

“But that’s why i’m leaving. In the back of my mind, I can hear him screaming for freedom. The last thing he said to me was “When I get out, I will kill your friends and devour your soul.” he rubbed left eye as blood came streaming from it as if it were tears. “These marks on my face are reminders of that promise. If Celestia thinks it’s the best thing for Equestria, then who am I to argue.” he quietly limped out of the room and everyone followed. A few moments later he met up with Twilight and Celestia in the hallway discussing the terms of his punishment.

“Star what are you doing out of bed, you need to be resting?!” Twilight asked.

“Princess Celestia.” she didn’t make eye contact. “I wanted to let you know that I was leaving now.” she responded with a slight nod. He turned to Twilight. “You guys can have whatever you want from my room.” they all followed as continued to limp down the hallway, through the streets of Canterlot, and finally to the train station.

Just before he limped aboard the train headed for the eastern sea port he heard Rarity call out to him. “Star, wait!” he spun around only to greeted with an affectionate kiss being planted on his lips. It caught him off guard and even after she pulled him in for a hug, he kept his bewildered expression. He could feel the tears running down the length of his neck.

“Please Star, take me with you! I don’t want to be without you!” he lightly pulled away.

“I would if I could, you know that. But i’m not gonna let you uproot your life for me. Your boutiques need you, your sister needs you, our friends need you, and I need you to stay with them and enjoy life before you give it to somepony else.” he gave her another kiss and said “I love you Rarity and I always will.”

“I love you too Star.”

Steam from the train covered them and a voice called out “All aboard!” signaling the trains departure. Star turned to board the train but then stopped before he entered the car.

“Do me a favor?” he asked them.

“Sure Star, anything.” Twilight said, everyone's eyes welling with tears.

“Please…” he spun around to look at them, revealing that the left side of his face had returned to normal all except for his eye. “Please remember me for who I am, and not what I've become. Remember the good times we’ve had and not the bad ones.” tears started pouring from his eyes, both of water and blood. “You guys are more than my best friends, you’re my family.” Pinkie ran up to him crying her eyes out and locked him a massive bear-hug.

“Make sure you write every day, okay!” she said sobbing with each syllable.

“Don’t worry Pinkie I will.” he said returning the hug.

“All aboard!!” the conductor called out one final time. Pinkie released her grip on him and waved goodbye as the door closed, separating them from each other. The trains whistle sounded as the massive engine chugged to life and started moving down the tracks.

Rarity watched as the train sped further and further away into the distance until finally vanishing over the horizon. She could feel her heart shattering in her chest as she cried out in pain knowing that it would never again be whole…. At least, not without him.