> Rainy Daze and the Darkness Within
>  by DUB
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Rainy Daze and the Darkness Within
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainy Daze and the Darkness Within

Once upon a time, in a forest far, far away, there lived a pony named Macaroni. He had six sons, one dragon, three cats, eighteen fish, seven chickens, and one daughter. They lived in a broken old castle which rested in the center of their woodland home. It was a beautiful place with lots of flowers, trees, animals, and streams; everyone was very happy, except for Macaroni's daughter, Rainy Daze.
She, like her mother before her, had been born a unicorn. This meant that unlike her father and brothers, Rainy had a magical horn sprouting from her forehead. Having magical powers made Rainy feel special, but it also caused her a lot of pain because she had no idea how to control the power that she had. Her brothers never wanted to play with her because they were afraid of her accidental magic, and her father never seemed to have time for her since he had lost their mother.
Rainy's mom had been the victim of a curse which ran in her family, and Macaroni feared that Rainy, too, would one day fall victim to it. It was a curse that was only brought upon female unicorns in her mother's family, and it was destined to happen with every generation forever. The curse fed on the inner darkness of magical creatures and drove its victims mad with anxiety and sadness. The darkness would grow and eventually consume everything, destroying both the victim and everything important to them. 
However, since the genetic curse could only be awakened  by true love's first kiss, Macaroni devised a plan to ensure that his daughter would remain safe forever. He simply locked her away in the highest room of the tallest tower in his castle. “If she never falls in love” he thought, “she'll never have to suffer.”
And so, many years passed as Rainy matured, locked away in the castle. She collected and studied a library full of books, and eventually got better at controlling her magic, but she was still very lonely. The darkness didn't hurt so bad when she painted pictures. She grew to be very talented from spending so much time, alone in the tower, painting pictures of the only things that she truly wanted in life. She wanted to find peace and love in the world, and painting was her only escape to do that. She painted pictures of the only things she actually knew nothing about, and they were the most beautiful paintings that anypony had ever seen, but Rainy was not content.
She grew resentful of her father for keeping her locked away, and the darkness inside her began to grow. Rainy knew that her curse would only feed on this darkness, and the only way to free herself from it was to escape from the tower. 
It wasn't very difficult... with a little bit of magic and a little bit of planning, Rainy soon configured a spell that allowed her to walk on walls. This enabled her to simply escape through her window and trot all the way down the tower that had seemingly imprisoned her for so many years. The soft ground felt fantastic under her hooves, and so she began to run.
Rainy finally felt free in the darkness of night. Dancing through the moon flowers, she smiled, because for the first time in her whole life, she felt happy. Driven by pure excitement, she ran through her father's immense garden and then out into the forest that surrounded the castle.
Soon however, she was lost, and it occurred to her that she actually had no idea what she was looking for. But then, she saw him...standing next to a moonlit pond was another unicorn just like her, only different. He was bigger, he had wings, and he was the color of sunshine. He was truly the most beautiful creature that Rainy had ever seen, and when he saw her, he felt exactly the same.
She approached him gently and told him that she was lost. “Where do you live?” he asked, “and why are you in the forest this late at night?” “I ran away from home...” she said, “I live that way” she gestured behind her. “Why did you run away?” he asked as he examined a nearby bush. “My father has kept me locked in a room for the past fourteen years, and I felt that I needed some fresh air” Rainy told him casually. “Are you serious?” he laughed. “Yes” Rainy didn't understand what was funny. “Well that's horrible” he said, “and I'm pretty sure that's illegal as well... would you like to come with me?” he looked at her with his kind yellow eyes, “There are a lot of animals in this forest and some of them are dangerous.”
“What kinds of animals?” Rainy asked. “All kinds of magical creatures and beasts, and handsome alicorns like myself who will all destroy you. The dangers are immense my friend and you will surely be eaten if you don't come with me” he told her with such charm that she had to smile. “My name is Buddy, by the way” he said, “Buddy Brewster. And your name madam?” “Rainy” she said shyly, “Rainy Daze” “Beautiful name!” he said, “Who doesn't love rainy days?”
The two walked through the forest together and Rainy learned about how Buddy made root beer with the ingredients that he gathered in the forest. He lived alone near a small village where he sold the root beer that he brewed. Buddy was such a talented brewer that he even had a cutie mark that looked like two bottles of root beer, tipped toward each other, to symbolize the good times that he enjoyed with his friends. Buddy made many friends everywhere he went, and everypony always remembered him. Rainy felt like Buddy was her exact opposite in some ways, but that made him even more special and beautiful. She envied his confidence. 
Buddy brought Rainy back to his home in the forest where he lived and worked. He had a cute little cottage that was nestled in a mossy bank next to a small waterfall. It was peaceful there, nothing like Rainy's home. “You'll stay with me tonight, and then you can figure out what you want to do tomorrow” Buddy told her as he used his magic to build a fire. The fireplace illuminated the small cottage and made Rainy feel warm inside. 
They drank tea together and talked long into the early morning. Rainy had never met anyone so friendly. Buddy made her feel so welcome and loved... she had never felt that from anyone before. “What's wrong?” he asked her as she stared down at her hooves. “Nothing” she said, “It's just I've never met anyone like you before... You're so talented and amazing... I suppose its just kind of intimidating.”
“Well you're just as special as I am” he told her, “You're a great artist, you're funny, your magic is really powerful, and I think you're really brave for getting out of that tower all by yourself.” “Thank you...” she smiled. “Also you're really pretty” he told her as he fiddled with some roots he had gathered in the forest, “most ponies would have completely let themselves go, being locked up for so many years, but not you” he laughed, “That's pretty special!”
“I've never met an alicorn before” Rainy changed the subject, “ I thought the princesses were the only ones.” “Well I must be a princess then.” Buddy smiled charmingly. “Are you a prince?” Rainy asked. “For you I will be, but no, I look like this because my father was a Pegasus and my mother was a unicorn, like you.” Buddy explained. “Oh....”
“It's getting late.” Buddy brought blankets out to the couch, “You sleep here, I'm going to bed.” “Oh... okay...” Rainy said, “Goodnight, it was nice meeting you.” he took her hoof in his and he kissed it. “Goodnight Miss Rainy, I'll see you in the morning.”
Rainy didn't sleep. She was smitten. She was under what seemed to be the happiest spell she could ever imagine. It was such a pleasure to have an exciting and interesting alicorn like Buddy for a friend, but what Rainy didn't realize, was that every pony loved Buddy Brewster just as much as she did, and she had only just met him.
The next day when Buddy took Rainy with him into the nearby village, Rainy saw just how popular he was with every pony. “Hey Bud!” “Buddy!!” they all called to greet him as they passed by. “Hey there” “Hello” he was very polite to all of them. “You sure have a lot of fans...” Rainy said. “They're not fans.” Buddy laughed, “They're my friends. I like to meet new ponies everywhere I go, that way I have friends all over the place” Rainy thought about it, and Buddy was the only person she had met since she had run away from home. Buddy was her only friend, so to see him with so many other ponies made her feel a bit strange inside. That strange feeling was the curse, feeding on the darkness of envy inside her, but she had no idea, and she tried hard to ignore it.
“Oh my goodness! You're Buddy  Brewster, aren't you?” a pink pony with turquoise colored hair approached them as they walked through town. “Yes. Do I know you?” he stopped and asked her. “Oh wow! We went to school together when I was just a filly. You were a grade ahead of me, but oh goodness I sure had a crush on you! It's fantastic to see you! Is this your special little somepony?” she exploded with happiness and excitement. “Oh” Buddy said, “well that's cool... this is my friend Rainy, we met in the forest, I was just showing her around town.” the excitable pony talked with Buddy for a moment longer before they continued walking, but they didn't get very far before somepony else came to say hello.
By the end of the day Rainy was exhausted. It felt like  Buddy had introduced her to everypony in the village. “I'm glad that you're staying here with me” Buddy said as they returned to his humble abode. “Well there's no where for me to stay in the village... and you're really my only friend... so if anything, I'm so happy and grateful that you're letting me stay here a while longer” Rainy pointed out. “Oh my dear, it's no problem, you can stay here as long as you like.” Buddy told her, “To be honest, I get quite lonely out here by myself. I'm sure that's something you can understand.” he had the kindest smile as he looked into her eyes. Rainy melted inside, like ice cream on a hot day.
“You have so many friends and... admirers...” Rainy said, “What do you know about being lonely?” she asked as Buddy went to the kitchen. He returned with two of his bottles of root beer and gave one to Rainy. “I know I've had a lot of love in my life, from many different ponies,” he explained, “but I've also spent many dark times alone. I know how those dark days feel, and I try to avoid them the best that I can.” “You're very strong,” Rainy said, “I admire that...”
“I think I should tell you why my father locked me away... if I'm going to be staying with you I think it's only right that you should know...” Rainy said quietly. “Okay?...” Buddy said skepticism, “Did you do something wrong?” he asked. “No...” Rainy stuttered, “I just... I was born with a curse... It's the same curse that killed my mother, and my dad didn't want it to hurt me, so he locked me away...” “What kind of curse? A witch put a curse on me once but I went to the clinic and had it cleared up right away, maybe we can fix it” Buddy smiled.
“I don't think so... It's a genetic thing, and it's something I'll have for the rest of my life” she said. “So what good was locking you up if you'll have it forever? Did it help?” he asked. “Well... although the curse is already inside me, it can't come out unless I fall in love... apparently... it's only fully awakened by true love's first kiss... he locked me up so that I would never fall in love. If I never fall in love then the curse will stay inside me forever and never come out” Rainy explained. “Hmm...” Buddy raised one eyebrow, and then leaned over to kiss Rainy. She jumped.
“What are you doing!!” she screamed, “Didn't you hear anything I just said??!” “Are you afraid?” he laughed. “Yes of course I'm afraid!” she said, “I don't want the curse to come out.” “But you said it would only work if it was true love's first kiss” Buddy told her, “maybe a 'just friends kiss' would make the curse go away.” as charming as Buddy was, he was also very manipulative, and impossible to argue with. Rainy kissed him, and, to her surprise, nothing bad happened. “See” he smiled, “no curse.” she giggled and they opened their root beers. “To best friends” Buddy toasted, and they tapped their bottles together.
Rainy and Buddy were so happy together that the days quickly turned into weeks, and the weeks melted into months. Soon it seemed like forever since they had found each other in the forest. Rainy taught Buddy new magic, and Buddy taught Rainy how to make root beer, not to mention how to make new friends. The two made the perfect team, and they were inseparable. However, as awesome as their friendship was, it was only a matter of time before Buddy and Rainy truly did fall madly in love with each other.
It was the happiest time of her life, but Rainy had never felt darker inside, she knew that it had to be the curse, but she had no idea what to do about it. For months it had been building, slowly consuming her. She was obsessed with Buddy. She tried to stay by his side at all times, but when she couldn't, she became terribly sad. The darkness brought worries upon her during the day and night, whether he was with her or not. She was constantly paranoid about him leaving her or talking to other ponies. She became horribly jealous whenever he wanted to spend time with his friends, and she would become furious whenever another female would talk to him, look at him, or even think about him. Rainy felt terrible that she couldn't control her emotions, she felt that her emotions controlled her instead, and that made her even more depressed. She knew that the curse would eventually consume her. It would push Buddy away before it ever had a chance to consume him, but she thought perhaps that was for the best.
“What's wrong baby?” Buddy asked her one evening as they ate dinner together. She looked up at him, she felt drained and lifeless, filled with nothing but darkness for the curse to feed on; it was consuming her. “I think I should leave” she said blankly. “What do you mean??” he asked. “The curse inside me is growing, and I don't want it to hurt you. I'm in so much pain every day and I just know that soon it will all come out. I love you so much, Buddy, you're my best friend. I never wanted this to happen.” she shook her head and tears began to fall from her big brown eyes. “Baby don't cry,” Buddy held her, “we knew this might happen. You can't stop anypony from falling in love. We were meant to be together, Rainy, you're my best friend and I love you more than anypony I've ever known.” this only made Rainy cry more.
“It's okay my love.” Buddy spoke softly but held her tight, “No matter what happens, I will always be here with you. We can handle this curse together, and maybe, one day, if we try hard enough... we can make it go away. I love you more than anything in the whole world, Rainy, and I'm not going to let a silly curse take you away from me.” tears still fell, but Rainy felt better. Buddy always had a way of replacing the darkness with light, which was another reason why she loved him so much and longed to always be by his side.
“I think we deserve a night out” he changed the subject. “My friend, Pinky, is throwing a party in Ponyville tomorrow, and I'd really like to go. Would you do me the honor of being my date?” he smiled at Rainy, who still had tears in her eyes. “Of course, love.” she only gave him a small smile, but it came from very deep down inside, and this gave Buddy a small piece of happiness and hope. He knew that Rainy could defeat her curse. It might not be any time soon, but he was the only person who had ever believed in her, and he knew that she was strong enough to do it, with or without him.
Rainy didn't really like parties. She accompanied Buddy to them because he enjoyed taking her. He enjoyed socializing and showing her off, he enjoying sharing his root beer and making new friends, but Rainy only enjoyed being next to Buddy the whole time, every time they went to a party. She never had anything to talk about with the other female ponies, and she feared that they didn't like her. The curse always created social anxieties to feed on inside of Rainy when she was put into these situations, which is why she always tried to stay by Buddy.
Pinky's party was the biggest and loudest party that Rainy had ever been to, and she was immediately uncomfortable the moment they arrived. “This is exciting, isn't it?” Buddy said with glee, “Pinky always throws the most extravagant parties. I haven't been invited to one in a while. I bet every pony is gonna love this new batch of root beer we made. Aren't you excited, love? There's all kinds of ponies here that you've never met, I bet you could make some new artist friends.” was he joking? Rainy had no response, she simply peered around, wide eyed, at all the strangers in the giant room.
It was too crowded, and before she knew it, Buddy had already been whisked away to talk to an old friend. This left Rainy standing awkwardly by herself in a sea of strange ponies that she had never met. “Hello there,” a chubby white pony with curly blue hair approached her, “aren't you Buddy Brewster's girlfriend?” she asked. “Oh... yes,” Rainy responded, “I'm Rainy, it's nice to meet you.” “This is his new girlfriend!” she called back to a few of her friends, who all chuckled with glee. “What's that all about?” Rainy asked, darkness brewing. “Oh” she said, “nothing, it's just that we've all dated Buddy, so we think it's funny whenever he brings somepony new around.” “Why is it funny?” Rainy felt like she didn't understand basic pony emotions.
“Well” the white pony said, “to be honest, he cheated on every one of us. It's not that we're laughing at you, it's him that's the joke here. He can never keep anypony around for very long.” this made Rainy feel terrible inside, so she simply walked away while the other ponies were still laughing. She had never asked why  Buddy's past relationships had ended, she had just assumed that he had many admirers, never did she think that she would cross any of his scornful ex-lovers. The thought of Buddy cheating on somepony was terrible. Buddy was so nice and caring, “Maybe a little too nice and caring, to the wrong ponies, at the wrong times” the darkness was getting into her thoughts. 
Should she trust Buddy? She wondered as she walked through the party, “If he could hurt all those other ponies like that, then what's the difference with me?” the darkness frightened her. “Where is he right now?” she thought. All around the party she walked, searching, but she found nothing. She began asking around, “Have you seen Buddy?” but no pony had an answer. The darkness inside her was growing as she searched. She was filled with worries. What if Buddy was with one of his ex's, or worse, one of his many admirers? What if he had been kidnapped and sold into a pony trafficking ring. He could be lost or hurt somewhere. What if a vengeful lover had found him? What if he had already drank too much root beer and made himself sick!? She had to find him before the darkness of her worries spilled out of her.
Where was he? She felt absolutely dreadful inside and finally gave up searching. She walked out onto a balcony to get some air, and then... she saw him. He was talking to another girl. She was a tall, soft pink unicorn, with long purple and white hair. She was beautiful, and Rainy was very jealous. “Rainy- there you are” Buddy said with a smile, but Rainy dashed away with anger and tears in her eyes. As she ran, a deep blue aura began to seep out of her purple skin and surround her. The aura grew bigger, and followed her no matter how fast she ran. 
Eventually when she reached a nearby forest, Rainy felt as though she could no longer run. Her heart was racing, her stomach felt sick, and she couldn't stop shivering even though she wasn't cold at all. The aura burned her skin and she couldn't escape it, she screamed and cried with pain as her insides bubbled and boiled. “Why is this happening to me!!!?” she screamed. The curse made her want to rip out her mane and peel off her skin, it made her want to hurt herself just to escape the pain, but she didn't.
Buddy had been following slowly behind, but he caught up with his love fairly quickly when he heard the screams from within the forest. He found her levitating about six feet off the ground, the aura had picked her up and her body appeared twisted. She was pale and only the whites of her eyes were showing. She turned to Buddy and asked, “What have you done?” in a voice that was not her own. “I haven't done anything, baby, I love you.” Buddy said sweetly, “Please come down before you get hurt.” “You ditched me at the party to go talk to that other pony!!!” she opened her mouth and more of the dark aura shot out in a powerful beam toward Buddy. He jumped, “Rainy you need to fight this, the curse is controlling you!” but Rainy was already strung up like a puppet, she didn't know what to do.
“Oh is it? Is the curse controlling your little raindrop?” the aura was concentrated and coming directly out of Rainy's horn, it had manifested into the shape of the terrible monster that Buddy had been warned about. It had a long torso that stretched far away from her, with long, sickly arms and fingers. Its face was simply two deep holes and a mouth filled with a thousand sharp, black teeth. The aura glowed red from the inside, but the outside of the monster's body was black, and twitchy like TV static. 
“I won't let you do this!” Buddy screamed angrily, “I'll smash everything before I let you take her away from me!” the monster laughed at his rage. “You are nothing, and she is nothing. You are both worthless scum on this planet and you don't deserve each other.” it said, “All you do is manipulate fillies, you could never truly be capable of loving anypony. You're a joke, Buddy Brewster, Rainy doesn't need you, all you've ever caused her is pain.” 
Buddy was hurt deep inside, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he sent a powerful blast of magic flying at the beast, which made both Rainy and the monster scream with pain. “I'm so sorry, baby” Buddy said before being picked up and violently thrust at a tree. The aura was extremely powerful, but it was dark magic, so Buddy believed that it could be defeated by the magic of love and friendship. Just as he and Rainy were opposites, the opposite of her magic would be his, logically he thought, they would cancel each other out.
And so... Buddy gathered all the energy and light within himself, along with some of the life force energy of nearby plants and animals in the forest. He focused this energy into a large ball of light that grew bigger on the tip of his horn. “You can never defeat me.” the monster said sadly, “I must destroy you, along with everything else that Rainy loves. You are first, however, because she loves you the most.”
Buddy released his powerful burst of magic and it engulfed the monster. Rainy continued to levitate in the center of the explosion of energy, but she seemed unharmed. The dark aura seeping from her horn, however, was melting away from the nuclear power of Buddy's magic. The monster's face and body seemed to burn away as it screamed with the utter pain of death and defeat. Buddy flew up to Rainy as the aura dissipated, and he held her as the monster's grip was broken. He lowered her limp body back to the ground, and he worried if he had really defeated the beast, did that mean that he had lost Rainy too? The monster, after all, had been living inside of her. 
“Rainy?” he said softly as he stroked her mane, “Baby please wake up.” but she didn't. “Rainy please, I was only trying to save you, please don't leave me.” tears fell from his face onto hers, she was not breathing. “I love you Rainy Daze, you're the most beautiful, amazing, and brave unicorn that I've ever known, and I refuse to go on without you.” Buddy held her, and as his sparkling magic seeped out of his horn it was transferred into Rainy's, which slowly brought the color back to her pale skin. Buddy kissed her, with all the love and magic in the world, and Rainy took a breath. 
She opened her eyes and felt reborn. She cried and laughed and held Buddy as tight as she possibly could. There was no way that she could ever properly thank him for what he had done; there were no words. He had saved her life in so many ways that she could have never done on her own, and for that, she vowed to love him for all eternity. It was all she could do.
The two stood by each other, and eventually got married. They were the happiest ponies that anyone had ever seen. Buddy's brewery grew in size, and Rainy began to sell her paintings all over Equestria. Their house got bigger, and their love for each other only grew stronger each day. Soon they had three little ponies, running, and flying around; and not one of them had been born with the horrid curse that had darkened the lives of their parents.
Rainy Daze and Buddy Brewster had defeated the darkness within. Together they had overcome a curse that had taken so many ponies before them and destroyed so many things. The monster never returned because their magical bond of friendship and love was much too strong for the darkness to break, and Buddy and Rainy lived happily ever after.