Dissonance
I trotted nervously through the shadowy dungeons of Canterlot castle, Celestia's wing draped over my back. Our shadows danced in the torchlight as we walked past empty cells, my legs shaking from exhaustion. Suddenly, a sharp screech assaulted my ears, echoing through the dungeons, prompting me to freeze in place. My chest feels heavy all of a sudden, my constricted throat robbing me of precious oxygen. Her Majesty's wing pushed me closer to her as the two of us stopped, her soothing words drowned out by the pained screams of my friend down the hall. The air around us filled with the sound of wind chimes as Celestia charged her teleport spell. As the familiar tugging sensation gripped my core, a guttural screech reached my ears, the horrific sound merging into something resembling coherent speech.
"G̸̘͝r̷͖͛a̴̗͠v̵̟̈́e̷͑͜s̴̪̿ ̸͉͗w̷̨͂ą̶͆s̷̛͚ ̷̞̈́s̶̬͋ṱ̷̽r̸̜̀e̸̞̊t̷͕̄c̸̗̏h̶͚̃e̷̖͝d̶̨̽"
Oliver Graves appeared in Ponyville five years before the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, and when I say 'appeared', I mean 'crashed into Applejack's barn after falling a good fifteen feet'. It was a miracle he made it out with only cuts and bruises, especially after the head of the Apple family went to check what was causing all the ruckus in their barn in the middle of the night. Thankfully, Oliver turned out to be an honest and hardworking man, soon making a name for himself as a brilliant handyman around the town. Soon enough he had enough money to rent his own house, a cottage not unlike Fluttershy's, although in a desperate need of a fixer-upper.
It was after an unfortunate accident involving an out of place nail and the heel of his foot that prompted an emergency visit to the hospital, when a most peculiar trait of his was discovered. When a unicorn doctor attempted to treat the puncture wound with a clotting spell, the energy was absorbed into his body, with no discernible effect. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the situation using magic, the doctor used a more conventional treatment, disinfecting the wound and applying a bandage.
The incident was soon forgotten, and the fact that the man was 'invulnerable' to magic became the norm, ponies around him not paying his quirk much attention.
I first met him during my visit to Apple Acres, the man finished fixing Applejack's barn just as I was ready to leave, agreeing to escort me back to Ponyville, much to my excitement. He was an alien, after all! One very extensive and very exciting conversation reined in my expectations, Oliver striking me as a very honest and upbeat man, although not one with extensive knowledge of technological wonders of his world. Still, he had a sharp mind and couldn't help but mention his 'quirk' after learning about my special talent.
"Who else can make sense of me better than Princess Celestia's own pupil!" He said with a smile, the two of us scheduling a meeting that evening at the library. It was only after the entirety of Ponyville shouted surprise at my face did I realize the reason for his sly grin, the man following me to the second floor, away from the party to honor his promise. It was a short interview, but it came with a good deal of insight. Through various tests I deduced that his body lacked a proper point through which it could focus magic, but was capable of accumulating it through direct exposure.
Oliver described the feeling as 'wanting to sneeze, but being unable to do so', and after some questioning admitted that the magic within him spoke, but not with words.
"I can't really tell you what it feels like when it speaks." He confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's like your internal monologue, but the voice is not your own." He went silent for a moment, a distant look on his face. "And it's not a voice, more like a chime or a melody, but it speaks." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I can hear it better now, after all the spells you cast." I asked him what it was saying. "It's saying I should trust you, saying that you're a good pony." He smirked, opening his eyes. "And it says you're lonely."
I changed the subject, asking what he meant by saying he 'heard it better now'. "It goes away over time, growing quieter and more distant if I'm not subjected to magic." He grew quiet after that, his expression prompting me to ask if it ever said something he didn't like, or scared him. He shook his head. "I felt like I was going mad the first time it happened, but aside from that? No, it's not bad. Kind of calming, actually."
He accompanied me to the Summer Sun Celebration, he was there when Nightmare Moon made her entrance, watching her vow to bring everlasting night to Equestria. He followed us to the Everfree, to the Castle of The Two Sisters, waited with the others as I concentrated in an attempt to empower the elements back to life. Rushed to my aid when I confronted Nightmare Moon, and although he was incapable of magic, he saved my life that day. Just before the Elements hit Nightmare Moon, she used the last of her strength to shoot a bolt of magic while I was distracted, and had Oliver not dove in front of it to protect me, I may have been seriously injured, if not outright killed.
The situation was frantic as is, and with your sister's return I didn't think to check up on him until a painful retching sound grabbed my attention. While the others were marveling at your reunion, I was horrified to see Oliver choking on the shadows pouring from his mouth, the darkness swirling in the air around him, flowing back into the man through every orifice on his face. I remember screaming, but by the time you and the others noticed, he stopped convulsing, the space around him momentarily obscured by concentrated darkness as he returned to normal.
He mumbled something about being okay, remaining silent on our way back. All of us were concerned for Oliver, yet he answered our questions with disinterest, stating he was feeling better. I wasn't aware of the differences between our cultures. Ponies usually ask for help when they can't do something on their own, and I was sure Oliver would do the same.
I didn't know Oliver all two well, I knew him for less than a day at the time, but even I noticed that he changed after that day. He wasn't quite as upbeat or jovial, his eyes were always accented by heavy bags , no matter the time of day. He looked pale and spaced out, sometimes I had to repeat the same thing to him three or four times! The rare instances when he socialized, he mostly stayed out of conversations, usually trying to find a quiet spot to have a nap. Rainbow even suggested she was rubbing off on him...
Oliver stopped going out after dark, and the one time we had a sleepover at his place, I learned that he started sleeping with the lights on. "It's the only way I can sleep." He confessed, his expression painful. "Keeps it at bay." He went quiet after that, returning to his room with a weak goodnight. Shy wanted to follow him, but I insisted we give him some space. After all, If it was too much, he'd ask for help. How would she like being treated like a foal?
It all came to a breaking point during Nightmare Night of that year, a holiday Oliver apparently loved, at least before the Summer Sun Celebration. We practically had to beg him to go trick or treating that night, and after a long conversation and the promise of a good company, he conceded. Spike commended Oliver on his zombie costume, and the man was lenient enough not to correct him. I don't know how, but he looked even worse at night, dressed in thick jeans and jacket, there wasn't an inch of his body visible below the neck, his hands covered by leather gloves.
He looked feverish, his eyes glassy and unfocused, and if not for his steady gait, one would assume the man was sleepwalking. Oliver livened up a little by the time we met Applejack at the carnival, I swear I saw him smile for the first time in weeks! That's when Princess Luna arrived. His shriek was heard over the mumblings of the crowd, his terrified eyes fixed solely on your sister. Even Luna was perturbed by the sight, a man her size staring her down with such terror in his eyes, one might think Oliver had seen death herself, maybe something worse.
Luna took a tentative step towards Oliver, words of gratitude for aiding her reformation falling on deaf ears, drowned out by constant, nigh indistinguishable ramblings. "T̷h̸e̷ ̸h̶u̶n̷g̵r̴y̶ ̵d̶a̷r̶k̵n̷e̸s̶s̸!̸" He babbled, backpedaling away from Luna, tripping and landing hard on his back. "I̵n̵ ̸t̵h̸e̸ ̴d̵r̷i̷v̵e̸r̸'̶s̴ ̴s̵e̴a̵t̸.̶.̶.̷" He stammered, clutching his head and and curled into a fetal position. Luna dared not to approach him, leaving it to the girls and I to help him come to his senses.
Applejack and Rainbow helped me carry Oliver to the hospital, the doctors surmising the whole ordeal was but a panic attack. Luna was devastated by the initial reception, but we were able to convince everypony it was all staged as a part of Nightmare Night celebration. Even so, it was an oddly quiet Nightmare Night following Oliver's breakdown, all I can hope for is that the foals weren't traumatized by the display.
I visited Oliver the next day, only to be surprised by the fact they were keeping him in the hospital for the rest of the week. When I entered his room, I understood the reasoning behind this decision. He was wearing a hospital gown made just for him, revealing his arms and legs. There wasn't a patch of healthy skin anywhere on his body. Everywhere I looked, I saw dark, bruised skin, not a patch of healthy tissue in sight. Like something was shifting beneath the skin, pulling and pushing to break free.
I fixed Oliver with a concerned glare and the man began to shiver as I slowly approached, drawing him into a gentle hug.
"It won't leave me." He managed to say, fighting through the tears. "The darkness doesn't want to leave, and because of her, the chime won't leave either." He buried his face in my mane, shaking and gasping for air. "I can't hear my own thoughts anymore. They're both constantly bickering, and neither will leave before the other." He pushed me away just enough for us to see eye to eye. His were tired. So, so tired I found myself remembering your eyes, back when I was a filly and you'd pick me up for a personal lesson after a particularly long day of dealing with nobles. Except yours shined when you saw me, while he was having a hard time staying concentrated on me.
"Please help me."
As you know, Luna and I spent the remainder of the week buried in ancient times and scriptures, hoping to find anything to help our friend.
You don't?
...
Why wouldn't she...
Nevermind. In any case, my study session was cut short by a number of seemingly random magical events happening all over Equestria. Shortly enough we were all summoned to Canterlot and entered the maze in search for the missing Elements. In the meantime, Oliver was stationed at the Ponyville hospital under heavy sedation, to help the poor man catch up on some sleep.
I have no issues with admitting I forgot about him, for a time. His condition was harrowing, but compared to the threat presented to the entirety of Equestria, it had to be put on a back burner. And truth be told, with all of us acting out of line, we've had our attention diverted elsewhere.
When we came to our senses, we rallied to defeat Discord, following his trail of unpredictability to, perhaps, the most predictable place he'd go to. I mean, come on. A one of a kind alien with an odd ability to accumulate magic, how could the Spirit of Chaos pass that up? I reminded the girls to stay sharp, and we entered the silent hospital, our hoofsteps accompanied by the howling of the wind.
The overpowering smell of antiseptic still lingered in the air, but a subtle, yet undeniable additive was accompanying it. Something uncharacteristic settled into the hospital, burrowed through the concrete walls and plastic curtains, making it its home. It lurked in between the shadows, lingered in our peripherals, just out of sight, beckoning us to follow.
I ordered the girls to stick closer to me, doubling my efforts to keep the light spell flowing, Rarity following suit. Despite our combined efforts, the hospital's halls were barely visible. We were trekking through a sea of ink, barely holding onto the life vest, and I felt a wave coming. We heard screaming, somewhere deep in the hospital, both male and female, but they were wrong. Pained and short-cut, they turned to garbled strings of words and sentences, pitch-shifted and incorrect, only an echo of whoever the voices belonged to. Fragmented impulses on autoplay.
The longer we walked through the empty, desolated corridors, checking rooms to see if anypony was still trapped here, the clearer I understood the error in my judgment. The thing that made its home here wasn't hiding in the shadows, it was the shadows. I felt the darkness around us hiss as it was burned by the cleansing light, I felt in shriek and shrink from pain, but it endured. It probed and pushed, licked its restraints, receding out of its own volition, almost as if allowing us to pass.
We passed too many corridors, followed an impossible amount of stairs, each and every one flowing with liquid darkness, at some point we stopped checking the patient rooms, we only followed the stream.
Discord was wearing an expression of almost childlike curiosity, mixed with an uncharacteristic touch of worry. He was hovering in the middle of the room, his body coiled around something from which the shadows lengthened. Almost tangible, the tendrils poured out of the thing, swirling and entering it, before flowing out like clean, but dark and cold water.
In a moment of stupefying realization, I recognised the body Discord was coiled around.
"Cool it with the friendship orbital blast, ladies! I'm trying to do something good, for a change."
It was laughable. Discord, doing something good? Clearly whatever he was doing was of no benefit to Oliver, and I called him out on it.
"Oh shush, Bookhorse, a little bloodletting never hurt anyone." He followed with a mirthless chuckle. "Can't say how his condition could be worse, but I'm sure you lot will find a way." His claw touched the top of Oliver's head, and was immediately covered in the inky shadows as the outpour surged, increasing tenfold. "Now let me concentrate, you don't see chaotic energies finally agreeing on something every tuesday!"
It was no use talking to him. Whatever he was doing, it was hurting Oliver, and judging by the quickly gathering water at our hooves, it was getting worse. I called upon the element within me, and felt the five others answer. In a flash of bright light, the harmonic magic within us surged, and the cleansing force of the Elements descended upon the duo.
I swear I saw Discord roll his eyes.
When the proverbial smoke cleared, I saw the river of darkness swirling back into Oliver, his eyes pure white as harmonic magic attempted to cleanse his body of evil. He was still in the air, Discord's petrified visage lying on the damp floor with an unimpressed expression. Oliver was shaking, violently so. His body was shrouded in darkness, swirling just beneath the skin that was threatening to break.
The area around us cleared of the stain as the last of it returned to Oliver. Before we came here, his body was already strained, beyond all measure, threatening to break at a single crack.
And we smashed it to pieces.
His arms and legs elongated with a sickening crack of bone and split of sinew and flesh, his ribs tore through flesh and jutted out of his back, like a twisted parody of wings. His skin erupted with pitch black splotches that looked like bruises, but weren't. Disproportionate and sickly, he landed on the ground and opened his eyes, swirling with miasmic darkness, unseeing and uncaring.
In that moment I realized that he was gone. Was taken. Devoured by hungry darkness. Became the Thing-that-Had-Been-Oliver. Only an echo of him remained. Fragmented impulses on autoplay. Violent, bloodthirsty darkness in the driver's seat.
Whatever Discord did, carves its way through the Thing-that-Had-Been-Oliver. Vibrating. Remolding. The sound changes the darkness. The darkness changes the sound. They both changed what remained of Oliver. They all turned into something else. A third thing. The sound made darker. The darkness made louder. Oliver was stretched. Stretched as anyone when seen from out of time. Like a worm through time. Almost an ouroboros. A spiral. A maelstrom. The gravity well of a black hole. Twisting inward, tightening, taking you deeper and deeper. To the bottom, the heart, and through to the other side.
The Third Thing said: "When you hear this you will know you're in new you." He said: "We build you till nothing remains." He said: "Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away." He said: "Baby baby baby yeah. Orange peel." The Third Thing was a monster.
He crashed out of the darkness towards us, and In a last moment of wakefulness, I took us away from there, as far as I could, as close to you as I could.
...
I never asked if you found anypony in the hospital, and I'm not eager to find an answer.
I...
I know I'm in no place to ask, but he is the only one who can help. Please, if not for me, do it for Oliver. It's the least we can do.