A Darker Side

In the darkest depths of the subconscious, all have their own inner demons. Some choose to fight them; others choose to let them corrupt them. And then there's my foolish other half. All lifeforms are meant to be like coins, each with two sides, a dark and light. But I… I am the dark side. Perhaps I should elaborate, but first, introductions. My name is Darkness Rising. I did not choose this name, no. It was given to me the day I was born.

Years ago, in the magical land of Equestria, in the city of Canterlot, there lived a lonely unicorn stallion named Safe Guard. By day, he would work at the Canterlot hospital, but afterwards, he would always return to his lonely, pathetic, little hovel of a home. Unfortunately, in all his career, never had he ever lost a patient. He was considered one of the greatest medical doctors in the hospital.

This was his life, his daily routine. He loved tending to the sick and injured so that they could, one day, walk again; however, on the darker side, heh, he wasn't happy at the end of the day. He was so pathetically lonely. Heh-heh. But this would not last forever, for one day, he had decided to get out of his comfort zone a little and travel south to the country side. He searched through the very dangerous Everfree Forest for special herbs to make more potent medicine when something happened all of a sudden.

There was a flash of emerald green light followed by something large falling on top of him. After finally emerging from underneath the large object and backing up, he discovered that it was a dragon with a scorched-black nose ring. A female dragon to be precise. She was very large compared to his small stature. At first, he feared for his own safety, but then he began to fear for her physical health. He feared that she was injured, so he tended to her. Once he thought she was back to full health, she introduced herself as Flare the Dragon.

After a long talk, Safe Guard was sure that she was suffering from head trauma, for everything she said about where she came from sounded like complete and utter nonsense. So, he decided to stay in the Everfree Forest so to care for her, despite her constant refusals and complaints. She had said that she was fine multiple times, but Safe Guard didn't believe her. At first, when he tried to explain where she was and what was "real", Flare thought that he was the one who was crazy and suffering from a head injury before remembering what he was.

Safe Guard eventually built a temporary home in the forest with Flare. After a while, they grew closer and soon became friends… sickening, I know. Flare told all about her home world called Mobius, a world full of anthropomorphic animals called Mobians and bipedal—almost hairless—people called Overlanders. He still didn't believe her. He just thought that her concussion might have created a fictional world that she truly believed in and that remained even after full recovery. He tried to help her at first, but as time went on, he stopped. He found that he didn't care what she believed was her real history; after all, it was harmless.

Later on… they grew closer and closer… until they… (groan) fell in love… If I had my mouth, I'm sure I'd be throwing up in it. Anyway, not long after Flare had decided that she wanted to stay with him, it was discovered that she somehow became pregnant and laid an egg. Being a doctor, Safe Guard was—though unsure as to how it happened—positive that he could care for his dragoness lover and newborn child without anyone knowing. It wasn't that he was ashamed. He just feared that no one would understand his feelings for her and was worried they wouldn't have positive first impressions with her.

After a few months, the egg had hatched and Safe Guard and Flare were then the proud parents of a baby, dragon boy, but they immediately discovered that there was a problem with the baby. He was born different from any kind of dragon that either of them had seen; he had grey scales, stubby, pale purple spines going down the back of his head, a small fin at the bottom of his tail with a pale purple membrane, and large wings with pale purple membranes and bony nubs sticking out of the tops. However, none of this was the problem. The problem was that his breathing was slow and he was barely moving.

Safe and Flare knew in an instant that he was sick. Dr. Safe Guard did all he could, but nothing seemed to work in combating his son's mysterious condition. With no options left, the two desperate parents did the only thing that they could think of that could possibly save their son, they went to the kingdom's monarch, Princess Celestia. After quickly telling her their story, Flare revealed where she was from. Safe Guard attempted to explain that her head injury had left her with a false history. Heh-heh-heh She was hurt by this of course, but with the princess' magic followed by the princess' word, she explained that what she was saying was the truth.

With that, the princess came to a conclusion. Because Flare was not of their world combined with the fact that she was dragon, the combination of hers and Safe Guard's DNA combined with Equestria's magical atmosphere had resulted in a condition that the product of their relationship, their baby, was unable to cope with. In other words, Safe Guard's DNA and magic were killing his son.

They groveled and begged her to save their child, but his condition was beyond her abilities for it was caused by the combination of two different creatures from two different worlds. However, that didn't mean that she didn't have other methods. She led them in secret to a forbidden area in the Everfree Forest. The three of them stood before one of the most powerful sources of magic in their world, the Tree of Harmony. The interspecies parents placed their baby at its roots and left the rest to the princess. With her, she brought the six elements of harmony, which were nothing but stone spheres at the time, but still retained some of their old magic.

She used her magic combined with the magic of the elements and the tree, but still, the baby's condition remained the same. However, there was a different development from the magic spell. A rift had opened in the trunk of the tree, and what was on the other side of the rift? Echidnas. It was Flare's home world, Mobius. After recovering from the shock of this latest development, Princess Celestia spoke to the echidnas. Their leader was named Loch, and apparently, the rift on their side was before the most power magical item on Mobius, the Master Emerald.

After explaining the situation, and bit more delicious begging and groveling by the parents, Loch and his Echidnas agreed to help them if it meant that it would cease their unintentional interdimensional interference. It took many days and the couple were forced to stay in the cave so to care for their child as best as they could until everything was finished. Eventually, using Equestria's knowledge in magic and Angel Island's mastery in technology, they had finally developed a means to aid the dragon child. They called upon the full powers of the Tree of Harmony, Master Emerald, Elements of Harmony and Chaos Emeralds. They used the best healing magic and the finest regenerative technology.

It worked… but not in the way that they had expected… Instead of the giving a healthy life to the child, they gave life… to me… I was born. The infant's body shifted and grew to accommodate my needs. His scales turned black and his spines turned deep violet. He grew long, spiked, purple horns on his head and on his nose. He grew more spines, and all of them grew and sharpened to a point. His teeth grew and sharpened. The bony nubs on his wings grew into sharp claws with more spikes growing out of them. He grew four snaggletooth fangs, two on his upper mouth and two on his jaw. His nails became razor sharp purple claws. Finally, his pale purple eyes turned deep violet.

I was alive, I was free, I was powerful. I was… DARKNESS RISING! From the moment I saw their faces for the first time—their fear, their shock, so delicious—I knew just what I wanted to do, just what I was meant to do. I wanted to see them writhe in agony. I wanted to see them suffer. Every time I sunk my claws or teeth into one of them… Ohh… It felt good. The taste of their blood, the sight of their corpses, the looks of sheer terror. And my fire. I breathed black flames that brought pain and suffering to those who so much as touched the smallest black spark.

I told them just what I was. I told them that I was born from their efforts to heal the child. I told them that I was born from the darkness within him. They tried to stop me by force, but I dealt with them with the greatest of ease. Every time they attempted to hurt me… ooohhhh it hurt so good. The pain gave me power. It was only when Princess Celestia and Guardian Loch tried to attack me that I discovered that there was more to me than my natural abilities such as my speed and strength. I was gifted with magic. Dark unicorn magic and dark chaos.

Unfortunately, it didn't take them long to see the truth, that inflicting harm upon me only made me stronger. When they started fighting me with… healing magic, that was the turning point in the battle. I was no match for the princess and guardian each on their own, let alone, together! They defeated me and used a partly magic, partly technological ring imbued with both the powers of harmony and chaos to stop me for good. I felt myself change. It felt like I was falling into darkness, leaving nothing but the light that I had originally tried to suppress. Soon, my consciousness would be sealed within the child. Once I was finally fully suppressed, I discovered I could still see through the child's eyes. He was restored in both body and spirit.

With the child's darkness sealed away deep within his body, the infant—now revealed—dragon/unicorn hybrid was free from all that ailed him. His body was different from what it once was. His scales had turned pure white and his stubby spines, nails, membranes, horns and eyes had all turned blue. I watched as they discussed the fate of the child. After much debate, they allowed the child to live, but insisted that the mother and father return to their respective home worlds. I found some enjoyment from their heartbroken expressions as they were forced to say goodbye. Flare took custody over the baby, who they finally decided to be name White Fire, White Fire the Dragon.

Through White Fire's eyes, I watched him grow in heart, body and mind. As he matured, his abilities only grew stronger. I feared that I would be trapped within him for the rest of our days. But then, there was the attack. Dr. Robotnik attacked his home and severely harmed his family. He lost his ring, and then… he lost control. In an instant, he released all of his anger, his frustration, his hatred… he released me. I had returned. I was free once again. I decided to celebrate by destroying everything I saw. I started with the robot-nuisances.

With my dark-magic black fire, I melted them all to slag. It took a little more effort than I wanted since they seemed to keep coming from nowhere, but I relished in the destruction I caused, as well as the fear I reaped into the hearts of those who saw me. Once I was finally finished with those metal toys of the doctor's, I turned to the inhabitants of the cave. I was well and ready to burn them all. Their fire proof scales made them immune to burning, but the side effects of just touching my dark-magic black fire would be enough. From there, I would take care of them with my physical traits. I would've done that, anyway, but then my fun ended.

I felt the ring hook around my hand and move up my arm. I probably should've known that they would have a contingency for me. Either the magic blue ring sent out a signal to Angel Island as soon as it came off or Flare had something to do with it. Either way, I was forced back into the darkness of the boy's being. Through White Fire's eyes, I saw that the cause of it was Safe Guard.

As the years passed on, White Fire would soon master his natural abilities, as well as his magical abilities. By combining a teleportation spell with chaos control, he could travel between the worlds at will. Once he was old enough, his magic blue ring would be replaced with special armor that was a combination of magic and technology. Now, here I am. Trapped within these walls of darkness, waiting to get out and spread death and destruction once again. I now know that with a single chaos emerald or element of harmony, White Fire can enhance his power. He can even revive the dead. If I were to procure an emerald, then even the greatest heroes in both worlds would fall to me. Perhaps later this year. I've always found that whenever the tenth month of the year came around, I would always feel… better… Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh… (inhale)Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha… (inhale) AHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…