The Light Is Swallowed By The Dark...
“If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
I stood at the edge of the blackness that had swallowed half of Ponyville. I don’t know where it came from, but whatever it was, it brought with it, unspeakable terror. I had the ponies move out of town, away from the darkness, and stay in Canterlot. In their fear of this unknown evil, they quickly evacuated without any questioning. Unfortunately, my powers as an Alicorn had allowed me to obtain such knowledge. I knew what was in that darkness, though even with my curious mind, I wish I didn’t. Death, destruction, unbearable pain, mind altering images, blood chilling screams, and other horrifying things. Things that would turn saints into soul eaters. Saints like one of my closest friends.
Saints like Fluttershy, who was now standing at the edge of the blackness.
She looked at me with glazed, dead eyes. Her coat was an ashen yellow color with patches of it missing, exposing her pale, grey flesh. Her tattered wings hung lazily away from her body, and her mane and tail were scraggly and a strange shade of faded pink. I could feel my fur bristle up at her presence. I had been watching the once gentle Pegasus slowly fade away, being consumed by the vile energy, and turn into the depressing thing that stood before me now. She was no longer the epitome of kindness and friend that I called Fluttershy.
I stared into the eyes of Oblivion.
The blackness was slowly but surely spreading. It won’t be long before the hellions of the dark come to terrorize my citizens.
“Why?” I ask. "Why are you here now?"
“It’s all consuming.” She spoke in a cold tone. “And It won’t stop until you all belong to It…”
“All consuming? Really…and what happens if we don’t want to belong to It?”
She placed a hoof on her chest, “You will end up like me…”
My right eyebrow rose up, “What?”
Her eyes got a little brightness to them. She stared sadly at me, and it was then that I saw the old Fluttershy.
“Please, don’t try to stop this. It will take away everything from you. It will take everything, like it took Dashie from me…”
My eyes widened. Rainbow Dash went into the black void after Fluttershy disappeared in it. She was a powerful pony, with a fighter’s spirit. One would not dare to try and take on the Living Legend of Wind. Even if she wasn't known as a legend, she could defend herself none the less. One would think that she was able to take on any and everything. But she never returned. Now I think I know why.
She had been consumed by Oblivion.
“‘Shy, come home. You know you can, and I want you to. So do the others.”
“No. I want to stay here.”
“What? Why?”
“I just…I do. I want to stay here.”
I make a face, “I…what? What?! ‘Shy, please, just come home!”
“THERE’S NO POINT TO ME COMING HOME!!”
“SINCE WHEN DO WE SAY THERE’S NO POINT TO THE THINGS WE DO?!”
“There is no escaping It! The pain has finally stopped! The screaming…and the claws…everything has stopped hurting. If I had just surrendered to It all those years ago…I wouldn’t have had to go through all that hellish torment for almost a century! I fought It, and suffered greatly. Then Dashie came, and by this point, I had been worn down from the constant battling and pain. She came to fight It too. I advised her that she shouldn’t do it. I damn near begged her to turn around, and walk back home, to leave, because I figured she would be able to. She seemed like she was still strong enough to be able to get away from it, for the time being. She ignored me, and her love for me…was the cause of her destruction. I…was the cause of her destruction…”
An icy ache dug into my heart at the confirmation of finding out what had happened to Rainbow. I lowered my head and paid some quick respect to my fallen companion.
“After that moment…I just had enough. I didn’t want to live anymore, much less fight. I had lost my lover and my closest friend. I had lost my reason to live. So I gave up. It had consumed me, and I could not escape it. The grip it has on me…is too strong…”
I shook my head. I don’t know what this thing has done to her, but I damn sure wasn’t about to give up on my friend who had been lost in the blackness for almost 100 years!
“Fluttershy, I promise, I can get you out of here. You will be safe if you come back to Canterlot.” I grab her foreleg,
“No, stop! Let go of me! NO TWILIGHT!!” Fluttershy’s wrist twisted in my grip. The Oblivion had driven her into the deepest pits of insanity. She clearly wasn’t in her right mind to make the proper decision.
“This is for your own good, okay?”
I began to slowly pull her from the void. The vileness had its tentacles wrapped around her hind legs and on one of her fore hoofs. Her foreleg was basked by some of the rays of sunlight, and her fur began to sizzle. Steam rose off of it and she hissed in pain. The tentacles snapped as she drilled her hoof into the side of my face. Had her hoof become sharpened like a claw? I whinnied in pain as I felt my left cheek be ripped open. I quickly let go of her to cup my cheek. I felt the warm fluid slide down my hoof, and looked down at it. I was surprised to actually see my blood, and looked up at her in shock. She stepped back into the dark as tendrils slid their ways up her foreleg. They wrapped around it for a few seconds, then slid back, only to have her injuries healed.
“I’m not going back. I don’t belong there anymore. I belong here. In fact, I want to be here.” She said in a flat tone. “There is no pain. There is no suffering. There is no chaos. There is only the silence. Master’s will rules over all of us. We all listen to Master, and there is no fighting amongst each other. There is only the silence and the peace. We give It a little piece of us, and It gives us unity.” She smiled at me in a way that sent chills down my spine. Whoever she was now, she was not MY Fluttershy. “Join me Twilight Sparkle. Join us. If you continue to fight against us, Master will take everything from you, then destroy you.” She suddenly went back to a scared and sorrowful look on her face. “P-please Twilight. Don’t keep fighting it. I’m serious, you CAN’T win. Please, just stop. I’m begging you. Just listen to me. I want you to live. I don’t want to watch you die too. Dashie…she didn’t listen to me. I loved her so much, that I begged her not to fight It so that she would live. But she didn’t, and now she’s dead. She died before my very eyes. I don’t want you to die in front of me too. I don’t want anypony else that I love die. Nopony else that I know has been consumed, but if you keep this up, that's what's going to happen. There's just no beating this thing, I’m telling you.” She stopped rambling and outstretched her hoof to me a little, but stayed in the shadows so that she didn’t burn her foreleg again, “It’s okay my friend…come and be saved from certain destruction…”
I looked down at her hoof, then at her face. It was my duty to protect the pony populace. To protect all of Equestria. If Fluttershy is right about this thing and I try to fight…I will lose. Everything I hold dear will be lost to me, and then I will be destroyed. I don’t want to bring suffering and death to the ponies of Equestria. This now terrifies me, because Fluttershy has never lied to me before. She’s never had a reason to, and even if she did, the magic of our friendship has given me the ability to pretty much read her mind, and I would’ve caught it. I look into her now dark cerulean eyes. They were pleading for me to take her hoof…
“I can’t. I can’t take it, ‘Shy…”
Her frown grew, “Please, don’t do this…please take my hoof, I want you to live.”
“Fluttershy, I have Equestria to look after. To protect my part of this world, just as the other Princes and Princesses do for their lands. I can’t just leave it and my citizens to fend for themselves.”
“The other Princes and Princesses?” Fluttershy repeated. “There are no other princes and princesses. There are no other lands to protect. NO ANYTHING.” Fluttershy emphasized the last two words. “Equestria is the last bit of land left, and as you can see, It’s taking it too! Please don’t turn down this offer of safety!!!” Fluttershy shouted desperately.
“I can’t leave them, Fluttershy. I won’t do it.”
Fluttershy suddenly gained a calm composure. “Then don’t leave them. They can come too. They can walk into It, and It will simply take them in one breathless swoop. They will never see it coming. All they will feel, is an overwhelming sense of peace. Celestia and Luna didn’t know what they were doing, fighting so long and hard against the Darkness. But now you can make things right! Save the other ponies. Turn over your rule and bring them to It…”
I look at her again. I stare deep into her eyes. Celestia had always taught me that as a Princess, the well-being of the ponies was the most important thing. So…I know what I have to do.
I take her hoof and grasp it.
“Help me save them.” I order her.
She smiles gratefully at me. “Thank you. You just saved yourself and Equestria so much pain...”
Her grip suddenly got incredibly tight. I look down at her hoof in confusion, then back at her face. She had that soulless expression on her face again.
“Welcome to our domain.” She says in that disturbing voice. Behind her, appears a large humanoid like creature, wearing an extremely nice business suit. It smiles at me and begins to reach out.
“Hello there, my dear Princess. My name is…well…nevermind. My real name seems to have some side effects on the mind, and we don’t want you to get all nutty on me, now do we?” It said with a sinister smile on it’s face. "But you can however, call me ‘The Darkness’.”
It grabs my hoof and I feel an overwhelming sense of frigid pain. It then turns into an incredible warmth. It snatches me into It’s world and turns me around. I am standing on the outskirts of what remained of Ponyville. Black tentacles snake around me, flicking and writhing around, waiting to pull the rest of the world in.
“Thank you for making this easy. Now…let’s go and bring your little pony citizens here, so that they too, can experience the rule of The Darkness.” The creature says in a calming voice. It’s so soothing, to stand beside it. I know that my people will be safe with it. I smile as we start to walk towards Canterlot. I can’t wait to bring my citizens…OUR citizens into this wonderful world of darkness...