This story has information based on that from the origin story of King Sombra from the Fiendship is Magic series in the comics. This is my first fan fiction story, so I hope you enjoy it. I may or may not be adding more chapters. I have a non-mlp version of this story that I am making into a full length, published book, so it is entirely possible that I will simply leave this as a short background story for my OC.
"But who are you really, Ryuu?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're not like us, where did you come from?"
"Well when a mommy pony and a daddy pony love each other-"
"No, good lord Ryuu. I'm seventeen, same as you; don't you think I know that by now? What kind of pony are you?"
"I thought it was obvious, Ash Robin, that I am a Pegasus, what with the wings and all"
"You're such a smart-ass. What could possibly be so bad that you're dancing around a straight answer?
"Fine I'll tell.
"I am no ordinary Pegasus, Ash, as you could probably tell. I am actually an umbrum Pegasus, but even still I am no ordinary Umbrum Pegasus either..."
*Eighteen Years Prior*
A pony darted through the forest. She was young and free... well sort of. She was being chased through the forest by a Daemon. This particular Daemon was assigned to her, but had grown spiteful towards her. He was enraged that she was to live such a long peaceful life and he would not be released from his post soon. He was a Hell Daemon, assigned to tally all the bad that Joy did throughout her life, but she was not destined to do much wrong in her lifetime.
"No use in running, Joy! I was assigned to you. I will always find you!" The Daemon shouted evilly "Why? I thought Daemons were supposed to be guardians?"
"I am your Hell Daemon. I tally what you do wrong throughout your life, and I consider it a wrong-doing that I should be stuck with somepony as pure as you!"
"Shouldn't you stew over this on your own?"
"No, I'm done guarding you, Joy, I will end this now"
The Hell Daemon had driven Joy into a corner and raised a hoof to strike her. Joy flinched as tears streamed down her cheeks. The Hell Daemon's hoof was mere inches away when a tall stallion stepped between Joy and the blow. This daring unicorn took the full force of the blow, unaffected.
"Leave her alone, Daemon!" he shouted, conjuring a powerful banishment spell.
Joy looked on at her savior in awe. It had been many years since she had met anyone with as powerful magic as her.
"I'm Aster. Aster Moonshine, and you would be?"
"I'm Joy. Joy Goodheart." She replied mockingly.
For a time Joy was, well, joyful. She no longer had to worry about the Hell Daemon, but at a cost she did not know of. Everypony is assigned two Daemons at birth, a Heaven Daemon and a Hell Daemon. These daemons tally everything you do throughout your life. The Heaven Daemon keeps score of all the good and fair you do and the Hell Daemon keeps score of all the wrong and injustice you do in your life. If you were to banish one of your Daemon, everything they were meant to tally will be born into your first child. Banishing a Heaven Daemon would ensure that your child was pure heart and a good child, but it would prevent you from ever going to heaven, as nothing good you do is kept track of, but everything bad you do is. This same punishment goes for banishing a Hell Daemon. All bad you do will be born into your first child, giving you an evil, hateful child. This was Joy's Curse, a child of Darkness.
A year passed and she had married. Joy and Aster became a happy couple. At this point, no one could tell Joy was cursed, she lived a perfect life, and she did little wrong, and even less bad. Everypony knew her as the loving mare of Ponyville. She was the kind mare that ponies went to for consoling and counseling.
This was all an illusion, however. Later that year she gave birth to a child. Immediately, she saw darkness in her son's heart. Terrified she rushed her newborn son to the town elder, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was the oldest resident of Ponyville and the reigning Alicorn Princess. Joy had hoped Twilight could help her son.
"What is your problem, Joy?" Twilight asked as soon as Joy walked through the door.
"How did you know I had a problem?" Joy asked dumfounded "You are the councilor, yet you come to me with fear and trouble in your eyes. You must have a problem you don't know how to fix."
"I d-do, Princess. I s-see d-darkness in my s-son's heart" Joy stuttered in fear.
"I see it too, but I see something else. This is not his own darkness. You do not have a Hell Daemon, do you?"
"No, but-"
"Do not worry, my dear Joy. This is not your darkness either; I would have seen it in your heart as well. This is Umbrum. The Hell Daemon cursed you, but he did so out of spite, not as a punishment."
"What do you meant Princess?"
"I mean, he cursed you to have children you know not how to raise."
Princess Twilight was right. Joy had no idea how to raise an umbrum pony. To add to this, her son was a Pegasus, yet neither her nor her husband were. This terrified her.
As years went by, Joy had her struggles trying to raise her son, but none, so far anyways, compared to the day when Joy had taken her son to the Crystal Faire. After a few years of saving up her bits, Joy finally had enough to take her son to see the Crystal Faire. By now Ryuu was six years old and wanted to see the Crystal Faire in person and not just on TV or in books. Joy had told her son all about the faire and that it was the most beautiful and spectacular event ever.
Joy and her son arrived a day early for the event and so went sightseeing. Ryuu was very eager to see the crystal heart, but his mother wanted to show him other attractions first. When they finished and came around to the crystal heart, Ryuu ran right up to it. He bore a huge smile as he sprinted up to the crystal, but he faltered when he saw his reflection. The sight petrified him on the spot. Joy saw her son's expression and turned to look upon the crystal herself, but she saw only its beauty and magnificence.
"Mommy!" Ryuu cried in fear, "I see evil shadows in the heart!"
"Those shadows are not in the Crystal Heart, dear one." said a loving voice.
"Princess Mi Amore!" Ryuu said, momentarily forgetting his fear.
"Young one, you said you see shade and evil?" she asked calmly.
"Yes Ma'am" he replied cautiously, remembering his worry.
""You're his mother, aren't you?" Princess Cadence asked, turning to Joy.
"Yes, Princess. I am." Joy responded.
"Does he know what he is?" She asked.
"Not entirely. I have told him, but he is still too young to fully understand." Joy replied.
"I understand," Cadence said before turning to face Ryuu again, "So you know that you are an Umbrum Pegasus?"
"Yes Ma'am." He replied, uncertain of the princesses questions.
"Do not fear, young one, what you saw in the Crystal Heart, for what you saw in the Heart is reflection of what is inside your heart. This does not mean you are Evil, do you think you are evil?"
"No, I'm not evil... but why do I have evil in me?"
"It is the nature of an Umbrum pony. You have the ability to change this fate, Ryuu." Cadence said encouragingly.
"I promise to change this evil, Mrs. Cadence!" Ryuu replied, not knowing the gravity of his promise. He was still unsure of everything, but did not what to be evil.
"Good, now, you will need a powerful protection spell to keep you safe tomorrow. The Crystal fair is meant to banish evil umbrum ponies, and so long as you still have this little bit of evil deep in you, the faire will make you very sick."
"What kind of sick?" Ryuu asked, his heart beating in fear.
Princess Cadence did not respond to Ryuu but turned to his mother and began speaking to her in private, "You have five exposures to the Crystal Faire to get rid of the evil in his heart, or the fifth exposure to the faire will kill him."
Ryuu could not hear any of this but did not like the sudden look of fear on his Mother's face.
Joy was terrified for the life of her son, "What can I do to help fix this evil?" She asked in terror "Do your best to teach him to be good and kind, and every year return to the Crystal Faire the day before and come to me. I will check up on him, and then he will be exposed to the Crystal Faire."
"But why would I bring him back if the fifth exposure would kill him?" Joy asked in shock at Princess Cadence's request.
"Every year, if you are doing what I have asked, the evil will loosen its grip on his heart, and exposure to the faire will banish the bit of evil that loosened." Cadence answered.
"I understand Princess, we will do this."
"Now I must request that you leave the city before the Crystal Faire this year and begin to loosen the evil in his heart, and then return next year. Every year I will send for you to come, and will be able to come at no expense." Cadence said calmly.
Joy and her son left immediately and headed home. When they got home, Joy's husband was confused at their early return. Joy explained everything the Princess had told her. Joy immediately began work trying to locate the source of the evil in her son and get rid of it. When she found the source of evil, she did not understand it. She was the source, but when she looked into her own heart and soul, the evil was not there. No, it was, but Joy could not see it. The light in her heart, blinded her from seeing the darkness that also resided there. She held spite deep in her heart towards the hell daemon, fear of its return, fear of its curse, and hate towards the spite it had held. These things fueled the darkness that was in Ryuu, but this is why Joy could not see it or understand it. This was her own darkness, but Twilight Sparkle had said that her son's darkness was not hers, but the Daemon's.
A year passed and Joy returned to the Crystal Faire with Ryuu. When they arrived, Cadence evaluated the evil in his heart. It had not loosened his grip, but Ryuu's love and kindness had grown instead. They exposed him to the powerful magic of the Crystal Faire. The magic made Ryuu's body weaken to the point that he could not move or stand on his own at all. He drew a fever and did not eat all day. By the next morning, he was perfectly fine again. Cadence could see that the darkness had not loosened its grip at all.
The next year went the same way, no progress on the darkness, only on the light inside of him. The next went similarly as well, and the next. Each year, Joy's anger and spite towards the Hell Daemon grew, fueling the darkness in her son. She had a year left to finally loosen the evil in her son and save him from death's clutches, but this was beginning to look like an impossible task After the fourth year, Joy fell into depression and anger. She became distraught with fear that she would lose her son. Joy hardly left her room except to go through the normal kindness routine she had set up with her son to help teach him love and kindness. Months passed and the Crystal Faire neared. In the last month before the Crystal Faire, Joy never left her room and hardly ate. Her husband was the only person to enter the room to see her. Joy wept and screamed in anger at the curse that had been place upon her. She swore out in spite at the Hell Daemon who had done this to her.
The Faire was only days away. Joy had cried every tear away and could cry no longer, she had screamed her voice away and couldn't speak, and she was deathly thin from refusing to eat. As she lay there, unable to move, the letter from Cadence requesting her immediate company appeared. Aster came into the room and found the letter lying next to Joy. He opened it and read it aloud to her.
"Dear Joy,
"The time has come again for you to visit. Your son has turned Twelve and it is time for his fifth exposure to the Crystal Heart's magic, hopefully all of your hard work has paid off and I can permanently banish the evil from his heart.
~Sincerely yours,
~Princess Mi Amore Cadenza"
Joy said nothing and did not move. "I will write her back for you, dear. I will tell her you are unable to come this year."
Aster wrote:
"Dear Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,
"My wife is very ill and will not be able to come this year. You will have to forgive us for this, but as we have seen absolutely no progress in our son's darkness, she has become increasingly depressed. She has begun to refuse food and get little sleep. She cannot speak any longer, nor can she move. I cannot leave her side, for fear of losing her in my absence.
~Sincerely ~Aster Moonshine"
The next day would have been the day Joy and Ryuu left for the Crystal Empire like the last four years, but they did not. As they day went on, Ryuu asked questions, he had been very worried about his mother, but he had no idea the severity of her condition. No one knew; they kept it hushed. People only knew that she was very ill. People were worried, but no one was terribly worried until Princess Cadence showed up at their door.
"Princess Cadence! What brings you to our home?" Aster asked with fake enthusiasm.
"Your letter from yesterday. May I see her?" Cadence responded, quickly getting to the point.
"Right this way." Aster answered leading her to his and Joy's room.
"I'm coming too, dad. I want to see mom again." Ryuu said quickly "Ryuu, I don't thi-" Aster started, but was cut off by Cadence "That s a good idea, as this involves you as well." Cadence replied.
As soon as they walked into Joy's room, Ryuu saw her condition and ran to her side in tears.
"M-mom! W-what h-happened?" he stuttered weeping.
"If you die from evil magic, I'm going with you honey." She responded in a hoarse, barely audible voice.
"What are you talking about?! If I die? I am not going to die!" Ryuu said in shock "Save your energy Joy, please, we need to get you better. We have two days. Ryuu, Your mother has worked hard since you were six trying to purge the darkness in your heart. She had six years, five exposures to the Crystal Faire, to do this, or you would die on the fifth exposure. This year if we took you to the Crystal Faire again, it would vaporize your body and banish your soul from this world.
"What? Why was I never told this?" Ryuu shouted in anger.
"To protect you from worry and fear, for these are dark emotions. We were trying to heal the darkness in your heart, not give you more." Cadence responded, she was close to tears, "I have work to do healing your mother. I believe I finally understand why nothing she has done for you has worked."
Cadence left to get a doctor immediately. She came back with Ponyville's best doctor and a large amount of medical supplies. An IV was hooked up to Joy's foreleg. This IV supplied water and nourishment into Joy's blood since she was unable to move. After a few hours, colour had somewhat returned to Joy's face and she could move considerably more.
"Joy. I said earlier that I now understand why nothing we have done has worked."
"Please tell me" Joy squeaked weakly "You hold spite, anger, and fear in your heart, don't you?"
"Yes Princess. I do." Joy responded weakly Cadence's horn began to glow and crackle. Suddenly a figure appeared.
"And that was how- huh? What in the-" Said the Hell Daemon.
"This is the source of your spite, your anger and hate and fear? Isn't he, Joy?" Cadence asked.
Joy did not respond, she could not bring herself to look at the Daemon.
"Isn't he, Joy" Cadence persisted. The Hell Daemon knew he was in trouble.
"YES! THAT INFERNAL BEAST DID THIS TO ME! HE CAUSED ME TO CARRY GUILT, WORRY, FEAR, ANGER, AND HATE AROUND WITH ME FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS! INSTEAD OF ENJOYING MY LIFE WITH MY SON, I HAVE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT KEEPING HIM ALIVE BECAUSE OF YOU. I HATE YOU WITH EVERY SPECK OF MY EXISTANCE!"
The Hell Daemon smirked.
"Good, get it all out Joy, you have been holding this all in for years, letting it boil and fester."
"I HAVE HAD TO CARRY THE PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR CRIME, THE WORRY OF YOUR CURSE, AND THE FEAR THAT YOU WOULD RETURN, BUT I'M GLAD YOU DID. I CAN FINALLY GIVE YOU A PIECE OF MY MIND!" Joy continued to shout at him before she decked him in the side of the head. She began getting light headed and fainted. The Hell Daemon stumbled to his feet, somewhat dazed from the blow to his head.
"If I didn't think it might kill you, I would strike you where she already hit you, you son of a-"
"Aster!" Cadence interrupted, "Enough, this hate is what has tormented you family for years. Do you realize that this young Daemon was punished for his actions? He spent five years in reformation."
"With all due respect, Princess Cadence, but I don't think five years is quite a long enough punishment for someone who caused twelve years of trouble."
"Whether you think the time he spent in punishment was enough or not, does not matter, whether his heart changed or not does, and I believe it s high time your Wife loosened her heart towards him." Cadence responded firmly.
Joy began to wake up again while cadence was saying this. She realized Cadence was right. There was no use in holding on to her spite and anger any longer. All it had done for her was put her son at risk of death and kept her from getting to truly enjoy her son's childhood.
"You took the joy of raising my son without worry from me, you took everything in a mother I wanted to be as a filly from me, and you filled my heart with spite, anger, and fear... no I put that there, but all this time I have blamed you for it instead of trusting you would get what was coming to you." Joy stated, "I never forgave you for your actions, even when you were punished and forgiven by everyone else. I apologize for that, and I forgive you for your past actions, now please forgive me for my own."
"HA" The Daemon started before getting elbowed in the side, "Er, I accept your apology, and forgive you for your wrong, and I apologize for my past actions. I lift my curse, but I cannot lift the effects that are already in play."
"Thank you." Joy said, finally feeling peace towards the Hell Daemon. She rolled over and went back to sleep.
"Do not worry, young Daemon, the effects of your curse should disappear in two days."Cadence reassured.
"What do you mean, Princess? I thought you said I had made no progress and that the Crystal Faire would kill me the next time I was exposed to its magic." Ryuu asked worriedly "We will have to see how things go, Ryuu. We have destroyed the source of the darkness in your heart, now we must see if the Crystal Heart can get rid of the rest."
Ryuu was terrified. It was sounding like a fifty/fifty chance of healing him or killing him. He hoped that it could heal him, but he still worried. "Alright, Princess Cadence, let s go get this over with."
The next day Ryuu and Princess Cadence arrived at the Crystal Empire. Princess Cadence went through her normal evaluation, to no prevail. He still showed the same amount of darkness i his heart. There was absolutely no way of knowing whether anything would actually get better or not.
"You are incredibly brave for taking this chance, despite the odds being stacked against you." Cadence praised Ryuu's heart sank into his stomach _against? I thought I had better chances that that!_ he thought.
Ryuu had terrible nightmares of the next day that night. He hardly slept and when he did it was not well at all. The next morning he was very tired and disoriented. The magic was beginning to pulsate across the kingdom in increasingly stronger and more frequent waves. He struggled to get to the town center where Cadence awaited. He stood, sweating profusely before the crystal heart and looked into it. He saw himself engulfed in diminishing shadow. With every pulse he saw less shadow in the reflection, but he did not notice that his body was slowly vaporizing. Bits of him were fading into nothingness. Half the day passed and Ryuu could no longer stand. He crippled to the floor in weakness. He had lost many bits of his body. Where those pieces were missing, darkness was flowing out. The day was nearing an end and Ryuu was desperately fighting to stay alive. He knew that if he let go and stopped fighting it, his body would completely disintegrate and he would die.
The faire was a mere minutes away from ending. Ryuu was lying on the ground under the Crystal Heart twitching in pain, unable to move (voluntarily). Tears streamed down what was left of his face, others fell into the darkness. Ryuu was almost nothing but a pile of darkness sitting at the heart of the most powerful light spell in existence.
Midnight was minutes away. The magic momentarily stopped pulsating. Ryuu's body began to float into the air. This was it; the last pulse of magic was imminent. It would either kill him right then and there no matter how hard he fought, or it would banish the darkness in him and he would live. He could not feel any of his body, most of it had faded. The Crystal Heart began glowing again. Ryuu knew what was about to happen. He closed his eyes. One last tear rolled down his cheek. WOOSH. The final pulse of magic blew through Ryuu across the kingdom. Ryuu gasped as the pulse dragged all the shadow away from his body. He watched as his body continued fading. Suddenly his body stopped fading. Little bits of light began to appear around him and shoot towards him. He gave a sigh of relief, but only for a moment. He was engulfed in a ball of light as his body reformed around him. The light finally began fading and he lowered to the ground.
"Congratulations, Ryuu. Your heart has been purged of the evil darkness that resided there. You will never have to deal with this pain and suffering again so long as you return to this city every year for the Crystal Faire." Cadence said happily.
Ryuu was overcome with joy; he embraced Princess Cadence in a hug. He held onto her tight.
"Thank you, Princess, thank you so much. I am so grateful for your help." Ryuu said as he hugged Princess Cadence.
"You're welcome, Ryuu. I hope to see you every year at this festival." She said returning his hug.
Ryuu returned home with Cadence. His mother looked considerably better that day than she had in over a month. She was still weak but could move for herself. She ran to him and embraced him. She wept on his shoulder and babbled unintelligibly in joy. She was so overcome with happiness she could not form proper words between sobs.
"I'm happy too, mom. Thank you for your years of hard work and love, I love you." He said to his mom.
"I lo-o-o-o-oooovv-vvve y-y-y-youuuuu t-t-toooo!" She sobbed in joy.
Joy finally let go of her son and turned and hugged Cadence just as tightly, thanking her for what she had done.
The End"
"Wow, Ryuu. I never knew any of that..."
"I don't tell people because they still fear Umbrum Ponies."
"That's understandable, thank you for telling me."
"You're Welcome, Ash."
"Soooo..."
"Yes?"
"Just out of Curiosity?"
"What?"
"Do you have dark Magic powers?"
"What?"
"Do you have dark magic powers? Just answer the questions bro."
"Ugh, yes, but dark magic is quite hard to use without a horn. It makes my eyes all glowey and green with purple aura."
"Oh that's awesome!"
"Yeah, well we should get ready to leave for the Crystal Faire; I am going to introduce you to Princess Cadence."
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