Red, Black, and Insane
It was a cool, clear day in Ponyville, where nothing too out of the ordinary was happening. Kites were gliding in the sky, balls were passed by fillies and colts in the park, and shops in the small town were alive with hustle and bustle.
North of the town was a tall crystal tree, with sparkling branches and ornately carved doors. This tree was the home and workplace of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the former protegee of the ruler of all Equestria, Princess Celestia.
And inside the castle, in a grand, circular throne room, Twilight and her six other friends gathered together at a stone table, where seven distinct Cutie Marks revolved around a spot in the Everfree Forest.
“Well, this is strange,” Rarity observed, peering at the location. “The last time all of us were summoned, it was to subdue the Pony of Shadows.”
“I’m not worried as much about that,” Starlight Glimmer said in reply. “I'm actually confused as to why all of us are needed to go to the Everfree Forest. What's in there that'll warrant a friendship problem?”
“We aren't going to find out until we all go there and see, will we?” Rainbow Dash pointed out, lazily drifting above everyone's heads.
“I agree,” Twilight decided loud enough for everyone to hear. “The Everfree is ambiguous enough for anything to happen. After we get there, we'll do what we can.”
“What does ambiguous mean?” Fluttershy whispered to Applejack.
“It means it can go in any direction,” Applejack whispered back in her signature accent.
“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry for asking.”
“I'm so excited!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing so high in the air it took five seconds to land with a squeak. “We get to make more friends! And we can throw more parties!”
“What kind of cake do you think they'll like? And what do you think they'll look like? Are they going to be biiig or are they going to be smaaalll? Do you think-”
“Pinkie?” Rarity asked, twitching her ear as she marched below the verdant canopy in the warm air. “You've been talking nonstop for half an hour.”
“I know! I just can't help it because I'm so excited!”
“This forest isn't nearly as scary as the first twelve times I've walked in it,” Fluttershy whispered, feeling the smooth surface of a wide leaf on the side of the road.
“The forest wasn't even scary the first time I walked in it!” Rainbow insisted, breezing in the air with gentle flaps of her wings.
“And those trees with scary faces didn't faze ya one bit?” Applejack asked with a smile.
“Well, uh, we were all scared by that,” Rainbow defended hastily. “That doesn't count. But now, I can totally handle anything this forest can throw at me!”
An orange laser blast instantly zinged past her face and exploded on a black tree trunk, making fire blossom out as the tree keeled over and crashed with a cracking boom. The entire group was sent screaming from the sudden attack, and everypony hit the dirt, covering their heads.
“What the heck was that?!” Rainbow incredulously demanded, shaking with her hooves over her neck.
“Stay down! I don't know what's out there!”
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness-”
“Ssh, Fluttershy! It's still out there!”
“Hold on, y'all. Imma take a peek.” Applejack slowly lifted her head above a nearby shrub, making her hat and emerald eyes visible. She scanned from side to side before lowering it again.
“Well? What'dja see?”
“Ssh! Not so loud, Rainbow!” Rarity admonished.
Applejack had a disbelieving expression on her face. “Ah think...y'all should see fer yerselves.”
Twilight, Starlight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie raised their heads and craned them around several bushes to where the laser blast came from.
Twenty feet away, in a burnt clearing blasted away by some colossal impact, a dark, prowling figure stomped in a circle. His wavering mane flowed behind his head like the flickering flames of a candle, and a long lance jutted from his forehead. It was hard to make out any of his other features from that distance and through the foliage, but there was a hot aura to him that made the girl's skin prickle.
Then the figure stopped and whipped his head to face the girls. His scarlet eyes burned in their sockets.
“who are you, also i have a lot of magic, so dont come near!”
Twilight slowly stepped out behind the small bush, raising a hoof in hesitant greeting. “H-hello,” she said with a forced smile. “We were looking for somepon-”
Twilight gaped at the action he did then. He spread his wings with a loud snap, displaying a huge wingspan with spread feathers like little blades.
“Y-y...you're an...an alicor-”
“DONT TALK TO ME ABOUT BEING AN ALICORN, I WAS BULLIED FOR BEING BORN WITH WINGS AND A HORN SO DONT HATE ME FOR BEING AN ALICORN PLEASE OK, THANKS!”
Twilight blinked in stunned confusion. This marvel of biology had revealed much more about himself and assumed more about Twilight's character than she had let on.
“I'm sorry, but, um...could you explain? No alicorn apart from the princesses has been seen in thousands of years.”
The fearsome black alicorn was now close enough for Twilight to see his features. There was indeed a free-flowing mane atop his charcoal scalp, but it was red and black, twisting together in a myriad of color. His body was as large as Princess Celestia and black as a shadow, and his eyes were the color of fresh blood. And for some odd reason, thick red stripes ran all over his body like he was some kind of zebra.
The alicorn sat on his haunches, glaring at Twilight. Then he took a deep breath and began talking.
“hi my name us Death Star and im an alicorn with wings and a horn. Im 14 years old 7’12 and black and red, also my eyes are the color of Blood and I have a Mane made if fire I'm the Alicorn Of Fire, in case you hadnt noticed and i have a flaming skull for a cutie mark. I was bullied when i was growing up and I didnt have any way to protect myself until i Exploded and killed a bully that way and i got my cutie mark of Ghost Rider-”
“Oookaaay,” Twilight interrupted, holding up a hoof. “I have...no idea what's going on, or why you're telling me this. And...did you just describe your appearance to me? I can see for myself what you look like, you know.”
“im the Alicorn Of Fire im the only one of my kind.”
“Your kind?” Twilight asked, put off by the absolutely awful use of spoken language. “You're the only red-and-black alicorn?”
The alicorn grew a smirk, which seemed to be its perpetual resting face. “Yep i'm the only red and black alicorn. I feel special.”
“Darling?” Rarity called, slowly inching closer to the alicorn. The rest of the girls followed her advance, staring in shock at the newest alicorn in Equestria. “What in Equestria is happening?”
“Girls, meet…” Twilight glanced at the alicorn again. “Who were you?”
“Death Star.” He smirked again.
“Death Star?” Rainbow asked, gazing at the alicorn curiously. “Huh. That's a cool name. Still not as cool as Rainbow Dash, though!”
All of a sudden he seemed to huff and puff with anger. “I dont like you, you understand! Let's fight!”
“Fight?” Rainbow blinked in shock. “Hey, come on, dude, all I said was-”
“I'am have dragon blood in me, also ive got fire powers!”
“We know!” Applejack boredly said. “We got it the first time ya said it.”
“I'm super angerery and depression, also i cut myself.”
“Where'd that come from?” Rarity whispered in surprise.
“You cut yourself?” a sweet and delicate voice whispered, cutting the air apart for hers to break through. Flutttershy moved to the front of the group, looking sympathetic. “Oh, I feel so sorry for you!” She took to the air to get on his eye level. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“I love you.”
Fluttershy was so startled by the remark that she fell on the ground again. “I-I'm sorry, but...wh-what?”
“I love you, Fluttershy, will you be my marefreind?”
While Fluttershy turned beet red and stuttered absently, Rarity took center stage indignantly. “Who do you think you are, Death Star? I cannot allow you to express your “love” for my close friend until you see her for at least more than three seconds!”
“i love you too.”
Rarity stuttered in shock, then turned around and stepped back while escorting Fluttershy, saying, “Well, I never!”
“What are you doing here in the Everfree, Death Star?” Starlight Glimmer asked seriously.
“i was bullied when I was Young, so i’am homeless and cry alot. I went to the everfree because i Heard it was a good place to mope, also…” He grew yet another smirk; he seemed to always smirk for no particular reason. “i want to Look at the Castle Of The Two Susters.”
Twilight exchanged an incredulous glance with Starlight Glimmer. All of them by now had noticed he had a very, very strange way of talking, as if he wanted to get an idea across but he ended up becoming an incoherent mess.
“...Why do you want to look in the Castle of the Two Sisters?” Applejack asked suspiciously.
The black alicorn rolled his eyes like Applejack was a moron for asking. “Duh, because I need to look for the 7th Element Of Harmony.” He smirked yet again.
“There isn't any seventh Element,” Rainbow said. “There are only six!”
“Rainbow's right,” Twilight confirmed. “No mention in any history book or ancient legend speaks of more than six.”
“well there is, ok, thhere's another Element, the Element of Hate, its bean buried underneath the Castle Of The Two Sisters and im the pony meant to bear it ok so it isnt stupid.”
Nearly everypony was giving him the same expression of utter disbelief. The disbelief came from how ridiculous he sounded, not from the news he bore.
Finally Twilight cleared her throat. “If we go along with this...theory...that an Element of Harmony is hate of all things...what makes you think you have the right to bear it?”
Death Star smirked yet again. “Well, You see...it all has to do with my childbitrh. My mom is Princess Luna, also my dad is King Sombra.”
Twilight and the others all adopted even stronger expressions of incredulity. Their mouths were open, their eyebrows were arched, and their foreheads were furrowed.
“Okay, what the crap, dude?” Rainbow Dash finally exploded, throwing her arms out to the side. “Now I know you're just making stuff up as you go along! Your dad is King Sombra? Who was banished as a shadow until he died? And your mother is Luna? Who was stuck on the moon for the past thousand years?”
He seemed to take offense at that. “hey don't make fun ofme I was bullied alot as a kid all right, now shut up!”
“Nopony tells Rainbow Dash to shut up!” Pinkie Pie protested. She cocked her head at Applejack. “Except for her.”
“It's true,” Applejack humbly admitted.
“No it isn't!” Rainbow hissed.
“Hush it, Rainbow.”
Rainbow hushed it.
“Now then, mister. What kind of cake would yyyooouuu like for your “ Welcome to Ponyville” party?”
Death Star let out an incredibly melodramatic sigh. “I never had a party in my life, also my parents were rough on me.”
“Luna and Sombra?” Starlight Glimmer asked in a disbelieving tone.
“No my adopted parents I was hit alot as a kid.”
“Your. Adopted. Parents.”
“I'm a sad case, right?” For the umpteenth time, he smirked, doing a complete 180 from his previous behavior.
Glares hit Death Star from nearly every single pony assembled.
Death Star suddenly broke down and began to weep into his hooves. “I feel like such a loser all the time,” he bemoaned. The fire in his mane died down as tears dripped from his face. “Nopony has ever loved me quite the way you did.”
“We met you literally five minutes ago!” Rarity indignantly pointed out.
“You all are such good ponies...I would have lost my way without you…” He lifted up his pathetically appealing face to gaze with love on all the ponies assembled. “I love you all. Will you join me in my harem?”
“Your WHAT?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, leaping a foot in the air. “Nopony in this show has a harem! What makes you think we have harems?”
“Did he really just invite me to join his harem?” Rarity demanded.
,I dont know why you refuse, I have a monster 9 in cock,” Death Star smirked hard at the disgusted faces that befell the Elements of Harmony. “I alreadyhave Lyraheart strings as my main mare, wont you join me? I can love you the best way i can.”
“You fired a laser at us!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “A freaking LASER!”
“And aren't you the quote-unquote Element of Hate?” Applejack pointed out. “Love is the last thing you're good at.”
Death Star broke into more tears. “I is good at love, also i have fire powers, i can't beleive you hate me/
“Why in the heck do you have fire powers, anyway?” Rainbow Dash questioned curiously.
He instantly stopped leaking tears and broke into a big smirk. “You See...i watch a lot of Anime.”
Pinkie Pie froze in place, an expression of horror plastered on her pink face. “You...watch anime?”
“yeah, dont make fun of me for waching anime alright it's an art form.”
Pinkie shrugged slowly. “I guess it's fine if you like stuff like Spirited Away, or Legend of the Galactic Heroes-”
“I like Sword Art Online, also Naruto.”
Pinkie Pie's face hardened. “Take him out, Twilight. He's too dangerous to be left alive.”
“You know what?” Twilight finally snapped. “This is getting out of hoof. We'll give you a train ride to Canterlot or something so you can meet with Princess Celestia.”
He immediately flared back up and took a menacing step forward. “No! Not celestia! I hate her! She can go and rot in the deepest hole of Tartarus! I hate Celestia!”
“Um...why do you hate Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy whispered in apprehension.
Death Star smirked yet again. “Because she's an enemy of equestrian and she hates everyone. She doesnt do anything to help her subjects, also she hates me.”
“Gee.” Applejack pointed her eyes wryly to the side. “Can't imagine why.”
“So the Element of Hate is accusing Princess Celestia of being a tyrannical overlord?” Pinkie Pie mused thoughtfully. “Because the Element of Hate is more peaceful than the pony who raises the sun each and every day?”
For the first time, Death Star looked stumped.
Then he smirked again! “Well in my Dimension at least.”
That seemed to break the mares. All of them reared their heads back and groaned or gave heavy exhales while staring furiously at the ground.
“I came to this stupid dimens because in my own dimension Faust and the King Of The DragonS are at war and i'am the key to stopping the Dragon King because i'am a Human who got teleported to Equestria Prime and was born @ my OC because Faust loves me so much and i came here to get the element of Hate to use in the War Against The Dragons. Faust sent the Element to this dimension so that the King Of The Dragons couldn't use it, Also i got the Element of Hate already.”
Twilight blanked out from the exposition overload for a second, but when he finished, she threw a hoof out to the side indignantly. “So can you please GO already?”
“I love you all, ”
“Please, leave. You're making me feel uncomfortable.”
Death Star smirked--again!--at Fluttershy. “Oh, Don't Worry. Someday...you'll come To me,”
Death Star threw a small device on the ground in front of him. A black-ringed portal, jagged and swirling, opened up from the device. Death Star flapped up and prepared to fly through.
“You can come to my dimension in You want, girls, ” he called out with a final smirk. “And Remember...Friendship Is Maghic”
And he zoomed through and the portal closed. All that was left was a small black button the size of a pony's hoof.
Starlight picked up the device with her magic and squinted with a keen eye. “This looks like powerful technology,” she said, more to herself than anything. “I think we should study this to see how it works. Who knows? Accessing portals to other worlds could be groundbreaking. Even going to...” She grumbled the name of Death Star reluctantly.
“May I see that, please?” Rarity asked flatly, extending a hoof.
Starlight smiled and passed the portal-opening device to Rarity.
The instant the device was in Rarity's hoof, she reared up, screamed, and hurled it against a stone with all the force she could muster, shattering the fragile device into shrapnel.
The mares all gasped as Rarity picked up the dozen-odd pieces with her magic and flew it into the side of a tree, crumbling the broken device. She then began to stamp on it with a hoof as hard as she could, letting out little grunts of consternation each time.
Fluttershy looked secretly at Pinkie Pie. “Isn't anyone going to stop her?”
Pinkie shook her head. “Nope.”
“It's for the best,” Rainbow Dash assured her.
When Rarity finally stopped destroying the device, she panted hard and threw the sharp black pieces into the woods.
“Was there anything salvageable from that wreckage?” Twilight asked in concern, looking at the resting place of the greatest piece of technology in Equestria's history.
“No,” Rarity replied.
Twilight took a deep breath. “Oh, thank Celestia!” she exulted.
“Hey, girls?” Applejack announced, craning her head to glance at her flashing flank. “Ah think the friendship mission is complete.”
“We what?” Rarity exclaimed, staring at the glowing diamonds on her shapely flank.
“We didn't even do anything!” Rainbow protested, looking at her own flashing cutie mark. “All we did was put up with that idiot!”
“Maybe that's all some people need,” Twilight reflected thoughtfully. “All we need to do for some ponies to feel better...is to be there to listen and endure. Most of the time they figure out their problems on their own.”
“I never thought of it that way,” Fluttershy wondered.
“Because it isn't necessarily our role to solve their problems for them,” Starlight added. “All we have to do is advise and guide, and even sometimes put up with…” She shuddered and didn't speak any more.
“Well, it's nice to know this outing wasn't completely wasted,” Rarity said. “Now we learned something practical. Now let's go. I have a large order of dresses for a fruit-based fashion show in Appaloosa to get through.”
“That sounds equally delicious and fashionable,” Pinkie Pie commented as they began to make their way back to Ponyville.
“Well, I wouldn't recommend eating the dresses,” Rarity said nonchalantly, her voice getting fainter as they left the clearing.
As the clearing was left behind after the girls disappeared, all that was left was the residual flames from the hoofsteps of Death Star.
For a time, all was peaceful and still.
Then a portal opened directly above the surface of the earth and deposited an unconscious human onto the burnt soil before dissolving.
After half an hour, the human opened his eyes and stood up. He had on a black leather jacket with silver spikes, black leather gloves, and black spiky hair with red highlights on the tips. His face was scarred, he had a katana strapped to his back, and he appeared to be fourteen years old.
“Well, that Hurt, ” he wryly commented with a smirk. “Now all I need to do is fight off a few Timber Wolves, get Injured, collapse unconscious @ the front door of someone's house, introduce myself as DarkEdge BloodSword the instant I wake up, fall in love with my caretaker, and start a harem in Equestria without anything to do because I don't have a plot to go on with” He breathed deeply and shook his hands. “All right, Equestria, here I come!”