Memories Of The Flask

by WindigogoGadget

[Bonus Chapter] Another Time.

So. You want to hear that story? It's not like the usual happy endings I tell you.

...All right then. You are a strange child, you know that? Go ahead, sit down. Maybe lay down.

Comfy? Good... Good. Listen closely child, for I will tell you of a little prince of darkness.

...Long ago, before the schism, there lived a brilliant wizard, who lived in the tallest tower.

The spell called forth, unexpectedly and unbound, the prince of darkness. A child, not much older than any filly who would roam the streets today, this child's body was simple and pure darkness. Distant it was to the wizard, who had pulled it far, far away from its home. But as dark as its essence was, it had a heart of gold, and though it never once spoke a forgiving or hateful word to the wizard that had caused it so much suffering, it told them of arts and magics beyond what the wizard had ever dreamed of. The child cooked, cleaned, watched, and learned.

But one day, the wizard began hiding away his research to the prince, and became cold and distant to the child of the void. Instead, the wizards two apprentices became friends with the prince. A pony child of the sun, and a pony child of the moon. The prince lived to serve, and offered tea and treats unbidded, curious of the race that he had never encountered before. Abruptly, and without logic nor reasoning, the sisters offered to create a puppet for the dark prince. A doll in the shape of an earth pony that the prince accepted graciously, and joyously. But he found that he could not find a time to leave the tower. But the prince did not mind, he was content to wait for such a time.

One night, a QUEEN appeared, a shapeshifting demon that ruled over its dominion mercilessly with violence and guile, broke into the tower on the dead of night. The prince, curious and afraid, confronted the demon. The demon, either touched or scheming, took pity on the Prince Without Subjects, and spared his life. Taught him the language of the lightwalkers, of you and I.

From that strange meeting, the two became close friends. The prince of darkness reigned in the queens evil, and the queen taught the prince how to strike. They would meet in secret, and there came a day where the wizard and his apprentices left the tower to return in a fortnight.

The child, alone, chose to explore the world the tower sat upon, and descended with a tether. From there he found a village, and met a curious earth pony. Though the two feared each other, there was talk between the two. Knowing that the two had nothing to fear from each other, the earth pony lead the prince to the village. The soldiers, did not see the innocent soul of the prince, only his abyssal form, and attacked. The prince, confused, attempted to fight back.

The prince was struck low, brutalized by the ponies. He retreated to the tower, and was treated by the QUEEN who had arrived to visit, and the two would seemingly turn their backs on pony-kind forever more, as neither the sisters nor the wizard ever returned to the tower.

...Until one day, the prince would have subjects of his own. Pony followers. Pony villages. Cared for by the prince of darkness, and defended viciously by the evil queen. The-

What was that? Doesn't sound so evil? Well, its how the tale goes, kit.

...The prince even held a court, though it was unlike any court you and I would ever think of. It was a court of friends, scholars, watchers, made from the prince's self. They talked about the joys of the outside world, and how they mingled with the light in peace. Tempted by what the prince had learned, the prince foolishly descended from the heights he was confined to, and once more attempted to reach out to the ponies beyond his reach, the ones he had turned his back on, but never turned his thoughts away from.

The prince, refusing to fight back, was mortally wounded. Once again, he retreated to the tower, to a dark world hidden beneath it, an imitation of his home that he longed for. But his wounds were too great, and the Queen could not reach him in time.

It was said, that when the prince died, a feeling of dread surrounded all that day. A signal of a great and terrible calamity that would soon come to pass.

The demon queen, wracked with grief, took the still body of the prince, and sealed his soul within her, his body returning to the shadows from which he came. The villages that survived him, and his court, disappeared, never to be seen again.

...

...? You want to know if there's more? There is. You still want to know more?

...Very well.

A cat, stone-gray and bearing stripes of the shadows, appeared and brought destruction upon the villages. She showed her child's killers no quarter, and she would bring this world to its knees beneath her paws. Her mournful wails drove ponies to madness as they attacked one another in her will. Her tears, unending and inconsolable, were like acid as her fierce tears burned all that came near, and her claws scorched all that they touched. The grieving mother roamed the earth, delivering judgement, and the innocent from evil.

The sisters, returned from an adventure beyond these lands, came to see a world on fire. They confronted the demon they saw, and failed to beat her back with all their strength. Yes, it was a dire situation indeed. But the mother ceased her rampage, and yielded, finding no reason to continue now that her rage had been slated.

Hehe. You are a silly child. I may be scary, but the cat in the story couldn't possibly be me.

Hmm... Night already?

This is it child, it is time for me to go. You need your sleep too.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

11691425
Why are you adding bonus chapters?

[WindigogoGadget]

11691606
They were chapters that were either originally intended to "close" certain arcs and splits in the story, which chapters they allude to should be a little clear, some of them are a hundred percent their own. I had no real way to actually "add" them to the story, but decided I liked them too much to just delete them outright.

[Starlight Nova]

11831765
Is that really true?

[Starlight Nova]

11831912
Noticed what?