The Darkness Beckons

by Flash Conception

Chpt 4: The Darkness Envelopes

Chapter 4: The Darkness Envelopes

Lemon awoke to find she was now in a crater. She held her head as she laid on her side. She thought to herself, that was the single most painful experience of my life. She laid on her side until the pain faded away. When she stood up, she looked around her, horrified at what she saw.
Everywhere she turned, remnants of buildings she had not seen before. The buildings from Ponyville were light in color, roofs made of straw, and painted as though they were meant to be eaten like candy. These buildings... Lacked any sort of appeal. They towered over her, such that she merely caught glimpses of the darkened sky. The buildings also looked... Wrong, as though they were falling.

Lemon decided she should look for her friends. They can't be far. Try can't be far. She thought to herself. A voice sounded in her ear, taking over her thoughts. They wouldn't LEAVE me, would they? She shook her head, rejecting the thought that her friends would leave her.

She roamed the streets of the desolate city, looking for any signs her friends were faring better than she did. All she could see for miles were broken, barren buildings and craters littering the ground. Lemon couldn't figure out why metal boxes were in the middle of the street, and before she continued walking past the barren building she stopped.
Something had moved in the alleyway. It couldn't have been her friends, it looked too... slender. She went to investigate the alley, looking from left to right. Suddenly, the dumpster next to her started to shake. Lemon lifted a hoof to the lid to investigate, shaking as she did. The moment she cracked the lid open, mice poured from the trash can, spilling into the alley. Horrified, Lemon screamed, and ran.

Lemon eventually realized what had occurred, and stopped mid-gallop to laugh at herself. “I was scared, of a few mice!” she giggled, “I’m such a silly pony.” She returned to her search for her friends. Question was, where should she start? There are so many places to start, she thought. She started into a light trot, and scanned the buildings for movement. She focused on the buildings and thoughts of happier times, in order to press onward. The very thought of her friends abandoning her had brought up thoughts she had not had since she was a filly.

Lemon had been so focused on scanning the buildings, she unknowingly stepped off into a crater. She tried to move away from the boulders rushing up to greet her, but to no avail. As she moved down the steep hill a large rock came to one of her hind legs, and snapped her leg as it connected with Lemon. She bit her lip, biting down to keep the pain of her leg back, and focused on keeping her balance to prevent further damage to her body. The last thing she saw, was another stone, which rushed up to greet her.

---

Flash awoke to find himself in the middle of a field, barren and battered with small holes. As he roused himself, it began to sprinkle, then pour rain. About 200 meters from him stood a house, which seemed to glow as he approached. The house was long abandoned, support beams visible through the now tattered ceiling, black burn marks littered the walls, anything living here abandoned this house years ago. Flash immediately ran into the house to take cover from the rain. As he climbed the steps, one fell from under him, and before he could flap his wings the support from the porch came down, crushing his wing. Flash managed to pull his broken wing out from under the rubble, and continued into the house, aware now that this house was bent on falling around him.

With a broken wing, he could no longer fly overhead to search for his missing friends. He pondered for a moment before realizing that the house he now stood in looked terrifyingly familiar. As he toured the empty halls of the house, he came upon a door, where streaks of blood lead into the mysterious room. Flash felt a cold shiver run down his back. The room looked like the one he found Spects in during his vision. Flash, horrified at his revelation, turned away arguing with himself whether he should open the door.

“If I don’t go in, then the vision won’t come true. But... what if Spects is already inside? N-no... that’s impossible... Spects can’t be inside yet. I’m the only one in this house, aren’t I? Maybe I should check to make sure.” Flash spoke to no pony in particular. He lifted his hoof to the door, and pushed inward.

Suddenly, something large and dense fell out of the room toward Flash. He gave out a shout, startled by the event. The object that had fallen out, was a carcass of a dead animal. It CAN’T be a pony Flash had thought to himself, still recovering from the scare. Its body shape is wrong. It’s too long and slim... which begs the question what IS it?

Flash winced when he realized the carcass had touched his wing, which in response shot searing pain throughout Flash’s body. Flash fell to the ground, and carefully folded his wing to his side. He looked around for anything he could use as a sling, when his eyes fell upon a piece of cloth he thought looked familiar. He knew it wasn’t from his vision, but from his past.

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Flash thought back to his childhood. He had tried to perform a stunt with a few of the other pegasi who wanted to become Wonderbolts. When he didn’t listen to what the fliers were supposed to do, he fell from the sky, knocked down by one of his teammates. Remedy had been there for support. When Flash hit the ground, she was the first one to arrive on the scene.

“FLASH! Are you okay?” she cried.

Flash could do nothing more than groan. He had fallen over 2 kilometers and landed on his wing. The bone stuck out, and Flash dared not look at his injury, knowing it would hurt more if he knew the damage done. Remedy noticed the shape and puffed out her chest.

“Flash... I can fix it.” she muttered

“Are you crazy?! No pony has fixed a broken wing with magic before. What if you end up making it worse?” Flash recoiled in fear.

Remedy sad down “can you let me try? If you don’t, you may never fly again”. She looked at Flash, and he knew she was right. He looked at his wing, and noticed that it was horribly disfigured.

“... Alright... do your best.” Flash gave in. He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

Remedy’s horn glowed a deep blue, as Flash’s wing was coated with the same blue as Remedy’s horn. Soon, her horn blared loudly, as Flash’s wing began to take its form again. The light from her horn grew brighter as each second passed. Finally, as Flash began to feel his wing again, Remedy’s light went out, and Flash felt searing pain throughout his wing and body.

The good news was that Remedy’s spell had reformed Flash’s wing so that it would allow him to fly again. The bad news was that it hospitalized Remedy for a week, and Flash’s arm had a minor fracture, and couldn’t go home. He wouldn’t even if he could, Flash knew he had to stay by Remedy’s side until she woke up. When she did, she looked at Flash and smiled.

“... How’s the wing” she whispered.

“Its fine, has a fracture but better than being turned to dust.” Flash said sincerely. He looked down and asked “why did you push yourself to do that? I’ve been mean to you over the past few years. All the pranks and rude remarks, yet you still saved me... Why?” Flash looked at her, on the verge of tears.

Remedy smiled and grabbed Flash’s hoof “because it was the right thing to do.” she said. “Here”, she grabbed a piece of cloth from her bedside table. “That sling looks loose and uncomfortable. Let me tie your wing.” She took the cloth and, as a mother would tend to her child, wrapped Flash’s wing carefully without error. Flash moved his shoulder around testing the new sling.

“T-thanks...” he blushed. “No pony has ever really taken care of me before.”

“It’s no trouble really” Remedy said, eyes drooping. “Also... ever since we met... I’ve always kind of... of...” she drifted back to sleep, and her hoof slid out of Flash’s hoof. Flash stood up, and smiled as he left the room.

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Flash grabbed the piece of cloth. It was tattered and old, but looked like the material Remedy had used to mend his wing long ago. He thought of her and how she treated him throughout the years, thinking back to her incomplete sentence.

“She always sort of... liked me? No... More than that. She loved me. She loves me! I’ve been so stupid!” Flash slapped his face with his bad wing, and cried out, “Ow.”

He ran to the entrance of the house and stood at the door, looking out to the city. “I know where she is! I have to tell her I know how she feels about me! That I’m her very special somepony, and that I want her to be mine. I’m not just her best friend anymore!” Flash declared “I am her Very Special Somepony!”

As Flash turned to the door, a dark figure stood blocking his path. It was the shadow pony who had trapped him inside the ward at the temple. “Well, too bad she won’t be hearing that you know. I bet she’d be quite pleased.” With that, the shadow pony smashed Flash in the face with his hoof, knocking Flash out.

---

“Who’s to say the beings who build these structures were beasts?” Spects noted as he stood atop a skyscraper looking out over the city. His analysis showed that the buildings were not designed for ponies, but two legged creatures, who Spects caught small glimpses of every now and then. “They seem more ignorant than they do monster-like.”

Spects began to pan the area of the city, looking for the smallest bit of movement. Except the small bits of smoke drifting into the endless sky nothing in the city moved. He turned his attention to the outskirts to see a faint blue spec moving across the field towards a house. Spects used his magic to “zoom-in” on the spec and to his surprise found that the spec’s identity belonged to Flash.

“Well then,” Spects muttered to himself “that was quick.”

Spects knew that Flash would be gone in a matter of minutes, so he had to act fast. Doing some quick calculations, he assumed he could jump off the skyscraper he was on, slide down the building pressed against it, run down the stairs and be on the ground headed towards Flash in approximately twenty minutes. He slammed his hoof on the ground and swore.

“Twenty minutes? The distance from the base of this tower to Flash would take less than eight minutes... there has to be a faster way. Knowing Flash he’ll be on the move within the next ten-” Spects was cut off. A faint voice at the back of his head whispered to him, something he couldn’t ignore.

You could always apparate to the house. You know the spell. Do it!

“NO... No I-I couldn’t” Spects stuttered as he remember the last time he used his apparition spell.

He rubbed his left ear with his hoof, feeling the small bit that had been taken the last time he attempted teleportation. He knew the farther he apparated, the more of himself he lost. The time before had been 2 meters, as a small test. Even losing the sixteenth of his ear hurt. It wasn’t a cutting pain, more of a slow burning pain that lasted a month. He shuttered just thinking back. He measured the distance from the house to the top of the building on which he stood. 2 Kilometers. One thousand times farther than his test...

“But...” Spects thought for a moment, “It’s... the only way. There is no way I can be sure Flash will stay at the house.”

Trotting to the side of the building, Spects focused on the porch of the house. He saw himself appearing there, nothing on the outside missing. He continued to watch as he entered the house, as the image faded to black. My hindsight spell showed nothing wrong with me he thought to himself. Maybe I’ll get this one right!

Spects horn begins to glow a light green as he focuses once more on his target. Putting all of his energy into imagining himself standing, facing the house. If he so much as thought of himself in a different location for a fraction of a second, he just very well may kiss his flank goodbye. Spects reared up as his body became encompassed in a flash of green light. When his eyes adjusted, he stood at the front door of the house.

He entered the house to begin his search for Flash, but was astonished to feel the searing pain in his stomach, or rather where his stomach would be. A quick full body scan revealed that Spects had lost his stomach, a fatal wound. He would starve to death within the next few days. Spects knew if he could find Remedy, perhaps she could fashion a replacement with her magic until they found a way to save him.

Spects had told Remedy about the bit of his ear gone missing a few weeks after the incident. She did some research and told him the next time it happens to find her within twenty four hours of the body part going missing. There is a spell where you can temporarily replace other’s body parts, and the possibility that their body will adapt to it are low. But if we ask Lucky if he can help change the odds, we might be able to repair any damage caused Remedy had told him.

Panning around the room, Spects saw Flash was nowhere to be seen. He ran up the stairs to his left to see if Flash had gone to higher ground. The attic was empty, and the roof was clear aside from the bits of debris.

Suddenly, a noise from downstairs alerted Spects that someone else had entered the house. He ran to the stairs, and after placing one hoof on the top step fell down the stairs. Spects imagined the room he had entered when he came through the front door of the house and apparated into the house before his head hit the next step.

When he appeared in the burnt entryway, his left ear had a small chunk missing from it. He turned to cradle it, when he saw what had made the noise. The dark unicorn, Umbra if I’m not mistaken he thought, was standing over Flash. Umbra’s horn was glowing a dark red and Flash had a small bud of dark surrounded his neck. Without thinking, Spects lunged at Umbra and prepared a bolt spell.