darkSpyro

"My light?" Hellena laughed, though her expression remained cold. "It burned out, a long time ago. Ask Loony, wherever he went. Maybe he can explain my secrets where I can not."

"Then you are saying you are nothing... No soul, no life, no emotions, no feeling, and no heart? I've been cloe enough to you to hear what beats in your chest, you cannot say there is no light." raising a good to his own chest, "Even I have some darkness in me, but I don't let it control me. I fight back with all my strength, and sometimes it isn't enough. But you know what, I have someone who cares for me, someone to comfort me when I'm lost. And I know personally the pony who cares for you, sure he talks a lot and isn't always as smart as every other pony, but he has a big heart, strong enough to hold his and some other pony's head high." his hoof dropped and so did his face, "Don't let those who care get hurt, then you will truely be alone."

"Colton, are you over there?" he could make out Hellena, but slendermane and Colton were in certain locations that made it hard to recognize them.

"And that's the point," her voice grew louder. "I DID hurt those I care about! My violent nature brought about a painful betrayal! Don't you get it?" Hellena screwed her eyes shut, burnt locks of mane falling about her face. "And in spite of all that, he still cares about me. I'm just a traitorous firebug. My split personality is more than what meets the eye. And still I kill. Still I torture the enemies that come back again and again and AGAIN!"

OOC: *Insert Meet the Pyro here*

Colton shook his head, "Your words will not make me stop trying, I will not let you be like the real murderers. Either you didn't notice or you didn't tell me, were you not paid, as a mercenary, to kill, and weren't they the evil ones?" he did not let her voice make him step away, he forcefully leaned closer, "Were they not dark? You said it yourself, "Loony said that the fillies were radiating a powerful dark magic,"... Was that not a reason to not feel shame or sorrow? Yes they were young, but you did what you had to do, they could have hurt somepony else."
--
Raptor sat on the porch of the apartment house. She was currently renting a room, but the payments stopped after the shield went up. Her bright green eyes would reflect whatever light possibly touched them. She had witnessed the arrival of two pegasi and decided to go see what it was about. Jumping down to the dirt bellow, she walked toward their landing location.

"I've done many jobs. My team and I have faced many things. Others, just like us. They die. They come back. We die, we come back. Simple stuff. But the fillies and the colt in the forest were different. From what the colt said, they'd been like that for centuries. Equestria hides many dark secrets. A so-called Sunny Town, I've heard about. But the Sisters... Maybe it wasn't their faults, but they were malicious entities who had to die." Hellena stopped to sigh. "But the Brother, the guardian, he took them and twisted them. I won't forgive myself. The new Sisters had to die. The new guardians were salvageable, I still saved them. At a cost.
"But what happened to the Brother?"

"Fine I'll help you find a piece of paper, but you got to fix me up. I have stayed in one place my whole and now I have freedom, I don't want to waste that" Sicolus said anxiously.

"If you must be who you think you are... don't be it around me." Colton started walking off, ignoring Slendermane, walking toward the lantern's light, only nodding to the white skinned 'monster'. Though in his mind, the tux wasn't too bad.

"Colton. What are you doing out here?" Clayton asked as Colton walked by silently, "What happened, you always have something to say..." he ran up next to him, "Save me the trouble of begging-"

"That's just it," Colton started quietly, "Someponies can't be saved..." his mouth shut all the way back to the shop.
--
Raptor came to a stop at the corner just a ways from the new pegasi, "Who are they, and what are they up to?" she peered around for a second to spot the things they brought, "Well it certainly isn't to ply."

"You came back?" the Brother sneered, landing down by the water's edge. "Oh, I wonder why."
"I'm not here to fight you." Hellena said quietly. "I- Is there anything I can do to help them?"
"It's too late for the mares. But your little killer friends, maybe you can help them." He peered over at the unicorn mare, a twisted smile upon his face. "Maybe you can."

---

Hellena watched him leave, ears flattened. "A killer knows what she is." Hellena whispered. "I had to save them. I cared. But it doesn't matter anymore, little pegasus. Find Loony, ask him."

---

Loony slowly calmed down, his ragged breath becoming more even.
"Can ponies see it?" he asked himself. "A pink leg walking by itself?" The imaginary unicorn got back onto his hooves unsteadily. Everything felt normal, but now he could actually feel the grass under one of them.

OOC: Completely unrelated to anything ever, but I think a cy-bug Hellena is pretty neat.

""They never understand, do they?" Slendermane asked, approaching Hellena. A long tendril caressed her cheek affectionately. "I understand, Hellena. I'm here...if you need to talk." There was no memetic effect this time, as if it was shut off.

Steel sat on the cobblestones, thinking. "How do we draw it out?
"They said it was sentient and intelligent." Pepperwing answered.
"I have to be bait again, don't I?"
"Affirmative."

Hellena remained silent, staring at the ground in front of her. "Twisted freaks of nature. One can only meet so many." she mused, her frown giving way to a faint smile. "I don't care about stereotypes associated with my reputation. I like meeting new people."

"Did you like meeting me?" Slendermane asked, stroking Hellena's mane lightly with its hoof.

"I honestly don't have an answer." Hellena replied. "Well, yet, at least. It's been... interesting, I guess. I stopped here on the way to Canterlot, but then this -you- happened."

"I very much enjoyed meeting you, fair Hellena." Slendermane cooed. The muscles where its mouth should be contracted, as if it were smiling.

Raptor stepped out around the corner, "Two new comers ehh? How did you get in?" she walked over ever slowly, "Better question, what is your..." seeing the more militaristic set up, "Directive?" she asked questioning if she should even try to be nice to these unknown ponies.
--
Clayton and Colton lay together on the bottom floor of the store; Colton on an upright table looking out the window, and Clayton leaned up against the wall closest to the stairs. "If somepony was changed into a... monster, can't they be changed back?" Colton asked staring out into the dark street.

Clayton raised his head from the floor, the lamp out, "I'm not so sure I can answer that... I guess it would be best to say "If they really want and try to change, then they most likely will,"... But then again sometimes it's nopony's choice, they can be turned by magic too." Colton sat quietly, "Is this about the unicorn with the fire habits?" still no reply, "I see..." Clayton got up to walk over to Colton's side, placing a hoof on Colton, "Just see it this way, things can't get worse."

"Worse... this is the bottom level of my conscience." he turned to Clayton slowly, "This is not something I can just set aside..." his eyes dropped to the table, "How many mares have you thought you had a chance to be with, or even got close to?" Clayton was now the silent one, "They use to say friendship is magic... It hasn't worked for me thus far." he stood up as Clayton's hoof dropped to the floor. Hopping down, Colton walked to the stairs and stopped.

"The Colton I knew never gave up on impossibilities. Though he hit the dirt a few times, he always shook it off and kept going until it was completed or done properly." Clayton only turned half way to meet Colton's gaze, "Where is my old Colton? I know he didn't just up and die."

Colton looked to the floor for a second, and when his eyes raised back up angrily, "She took him." he turned to go upstairs.

Sicolus burst out the door of the treehouse. He felt better after zecora gave him those herbs, he didn't even take time totell them where he was going. He ran through the trees weaving in and out, going in no particular direction. He hadn'tfelt like this since he was a young colt, before he was sicolus. 'Freedom' he thought to himself 'no factory, no cages, and nopony can stop me from doing what I was born to, kill'. Sicolus then crashed into a black figure. He tumbled into an abrupt landing. 'Even pain feels better' he thought with a smile. Sicolus looked up to see two ponies dressed in a militaristic black and somepony else. He had just crashed into the male one who had shared his fate on the ground. Sicolus stood up "sorry, clumsiness is most unbecoming of me. I don't practice it often."

Raptor noticed Sicolus, but remained silent to hear what the dark suited pegusi had to say. Only sending a thoughtful glance at the dark unicorn, only to shake her head, He's the one with crazy in his blood and pure hatred on the mind. her physical expression did not show negative.
--
Clayton stayed downstairs in the dark, looking to the window that was exposed. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the table back into place to block out visual contact with the rest of town. "What am I going to do about him now?" he asked himself thinking out loud, "He's never acted like this, always seen the positive side of things... One would almost think we was mentally unstable... Some oddly dressed knights came and almost took him." he stopped to look toward the stairs, And they never told us where he would have gone... I guess it's a good thing he called down before they did, who knows where he would be right now? Clayton strolled around the counter to the register once more to open it. Lifting the over tray to revel an old picture of the two of them when they were younger, their first time ever flying together at that.

"That information is classi-" Pepperwing began before being shoved by Steel.
His gas mask lenses reflected the moonlight as he stood taller, examining the earth-pony before him. "My name is Lieutenant Steel Pteryx. Equestrian Air Force. P.O.N.I.E.S. division. The Princess has personally requested that we terminate this...'Slendermane' issue." He pointed to the open crate. "We brought medical supplies for tbe sick and wounded. Please inform other citizens, especially those trained in medicine."
"State your name and occupation." Pepperwing interjected.

I join Sicolus but stop as I see the two Pegasus with a box and hear what they have been sent to do.

"You're wasting your time Pegasus, Slendermane cannot be killed by any conventional means. He is a dark spirit only with a missing page from a book that my sister and I have can he be destroyed. Anything you do to him he will unleash upon you tenfold. I know, I... used to know him when he was alive. He and my sister were the only friends I had back home, before the betrayal and before the...the...Fire, I say with tears in my ears.

"In what way?" the firebug asked, cocking her head to one side. "Monsters are attracted to other monsters. I'm not. The one I care about the most is one I saved from that fate."

"Oh no don't mind me, I'm just gonna go pick up what's left of my pride" sicolus said a little agitated at being ignored. "Hi I'm sicolus, and I was sent by Doctor Gulaven of the Rainbow Factory to kill Slendermane. I guess you could say I'm an out patient." Sicolus said trying to mimic steel.

Seeing the random zebra Zendral, "A zebra! How intriguing!" Raptor walk around Zendral, "I've never seen a real zebra before, I mean I've heard of Zecora and all, but actually seeing one is rather extraordinary." she looked back to Pepperwing, "Oh, sorry. I go by Raptor," she paused to show her sharpened teeth, "And if you can't guess why then you need to clean those goggles... Why are you wearing such strange outfits anyway, it's not like the air will kill you... Though some of the townsponies might." she eyed Sicolus. Taking a moment to think, "The Rainbow Factory? Out patient? I thought they only made rainbows, crayons, clouds, and glue. Is it part insane asylum too?"

Pepperwing's eyes grew wide at Zendral. "Another zebra? But," she pulled off her gas mask, revealing her striped face and mane, "I thought only my mother survived..."
Steel interrupted. "So we have Sicolus from the Rainbow Factory, and Raptor, who kinda looks like she eats steak. No offense." He added hastily.

Slendermane's muzzle touched Hellena's gaunt cheek lightly. "You're no monster. Just a beautiful unicorn trapped in a bad setting.

Sicolus smiled, about time somepony gave him proper attention "well its more like a prison, to be more specific more like death row. If you enter the factory you don't exit alive. I was apart of a plot created by my wonderful captor. The good doctor figured after he screwed my head up he would let me loose on a different kind of monster." Sicolus turned to steel "you have been missing all the fun. We already fought slendermane twice, of course leave it up to celestia's finest to come in late after the body count is already too high." Sicolus looked at the outfits they where wearing and laughed "come on, you have to be kidding me. You are suppose to be trained specialists, what are you even wearing!?!? I have been killing since I was a young colt and I have never had to use proper equipment" he continued to laugh at the ridiculous looking ponies before him.

"If "steak" is what you call an enemy, then you are partly right. I do not eat my adversaries, but do take one heck of a bite out of them..." she saw Pepperwing's pattern, "Another zebra! How lucky for me?!... But wait, you have wings..."

"I'm half-and-half." Pepperwing said proudly. "Only Zebrasus in the Air Force."
"Confidence. I like it." Steel nodded to Sicolus and Raptor, ignoring how sinister they were revealing themselves to be.

Sicolus glanced over at Raptor 'she had been able to determine something wrong with me before I even opened my mouth. Perhaps she's psychic or maybe she is as crazy as me, I've been able to recognize that look in other pony's eyes before and no that I think about it seems she is hiding something under the surface.' He thought to himself then he looked at steel 'of course I'm starting to get vibes from people now too. I feel like he is really gonna hate me.in the future' sicolus grinned. "Oh don't fret the fact that I have admitted that I am a dangerous sociopath means you should trust me, right?" Sicolus smiled.

Hellena gave out a short laugh. "I'm flattered, really. But putting everything aside, I've done terrible things to other ponies that I'm rather glad I did." Her ears flickered, glancing further down the street. "There're ponies down there, I think."

I gaze at Pepperwing and smile slightly before offering her my hoof.

"I thought I was only the last one, then I found my sister and I thought we were the only ones, but it seems we were wrong. I'm Zendral, my sister is Zecora it is nice to know that a few more of our kind have survived and its a pleasure to meet you a beautiful Pegasus-zebra mare such as yourself."

Pepperwing blushed slightly from the complement and took Zendral's hoof, but said nothing more.
"I've got no choice but to trust you, right?" Steel asked, taking off his gas mask.

Slendermane snapped its attention down the street. "You're right. Let's go say hello, shall we?"

"You should not depend on technology so much, it breaks down. I mean would you rather have a techno leg or a regular one" sicolus joked. He then became serious(well about as serious as sicolus can get) "Well since you're here I might as well give you the low down. Slendermane has a bit of an army, they are children called maskies. if you don't want their blood on your hands leave it to me. As for fighting slendermane, fire seems sem-effective, its good for slowing him down but I haven't killed him with it yet. Also if you get too close to him you will get ahad splitting soundind of like ringing, but if you can turn this around on him he is really sensitive to it. I did this once did this by using a voodoo spell, I literally almost killed myself in the process though." He looked around surveying the crew he would probably have to depend on 'i hate that' he thought to himself. "Also apparently there is a page that we need to find to defeat slendermane. I propose we split into two groups, one searches for the page and the other thins the ranks of the maskies."

"You want to kill the children under the monster's control... Tyen you are the unicorn I've heard of." Raptor glanced at Steel then back to Sicolus, "As much as ripping the flesh off of another pony's body sounds, I will not attack if they do not pose a threat first, and a child has more fear than anything." she sat letting her tail swish some of the dirt up before it settled on the ground.
--
Clayton dropped the picture back under the register tray, and he placed the bit holder over it to close the register drawer. Walking to the bottom of the staircase to see it empty meaning Colton had gone to lay down by himself, "He can be such a child sometimes..." he said with no insulting tone, But he know very well how to take care of himself. Clayton walked back to the store entrance where he locked the door and looked out this window to see the moon's light has finally let out all its light.

"Oh don't give me that BS. They aren't afraid of the monster, they adored him. They tried to kill me, zendral and who knows who else. When I was their age I knew the difference between right and wrong, at their age I wished for death. If they are under the monster's control we will be doing them a favor, they are no longer children they are the enemy" sicolus looked raptor in the eye "I do not need an excuse to kill."

The firebug shrugged. "Alright. It's been a while since I've done anything, really." she said.

"They do not deserve death because their minds could not hold back dark influences. If anything we should contain them until we can free them from the spell." Raptor retorted, "You can look at me all you want, won't change the fact that you do not scare me Sicolus." she said as if she had known him for some time.
--
Clayton stroled back over to the stairs to lay at the base, not asleep, just to wait.

"If I wanted to scare you I would have told you one of my bed time stories and as for containing them, we don't.exactly have the resources to-" sicolus stopped. Something felt off, why was he arguing with them when he should be arming up. His ears perked up and he looked around. "So we are just standing here arguing, without any weapons, while a monster is out there that can bend minds and destroy lives? We need to get into town and go arm up. There is a nice little weapons store, I know because one of the ponies there kept from burning myself alive" sicolus said in a more hushed tone. "of course now I really hate him for that" he mutterd to himself.

Hellena was disturbed by the blue colt's words, before glancing back around her. "I'll- I'll do whatever it takes. As long as they're like what they were before."
"You choose your friends over yourself." his voice was as soft as a sigh, as he tucked his wings against his side. "Interesting. But there's no other way. I've been stuck here for centuries, watching the little ones play. What about you, though?"
"Doesn't matter." Hellena replied shortly. "Better that the team is one short than eight. I can't fight alone, it's unthinkable."
"Hmm. I think I've changed my mind about you, little unicorn. I can't ask you to stay here. You have a life to live." the Brother smiled. "I'm not completely heartless, you know."

---

The gaunt unicorn stiffled a shudder, and her eye twitched.

---

Loony gazed back towards Ponyville. "Go back, or keep going?" he asked himself. "She's gotten herself into something, I know it!" He shut his scarlet eyes as he thought, before sighing and dragging himself back to the town.

Quote: SandmanOfTexas

"If I wanted to scare you I would have told you one of my bed time stories and as for containing them, we don't.exactly have the resources to-" sicolus stopped. Something felt off, why was he arguing with them when he should be arming up. His ears perked up and he looked around. "So we are just standing here arguing, without any weapons, while a monster is out there that can bend minds and destroy lives? We need to get into town and go arm up. There is a nice little weapons store, I know because one of the ponies there kept from burning myself alive" sicolus said in a more hushed tone. "of course now I really hate him for that" he mutterd to himself.

OOC: one thing to say: pay attention to detail: they are in town and Colton's shop is in Cloudsdale...

"We are arguing over children's lives. And it's not like there are plenty of buildings that can hold the welps. I will not put myself on such a low level that I would even consider killing a little filly." she stamped her hoof.

Looking further into his own mind, Loony began to pick up his pace, from a steady trot to a speedy gallop. Something was going on. He yelped as he tripped over by the town hall.
"Trip?" he muttered to himself. "I've never tripped before..." The odd feeling in his back hoof had spread to one of his front ones, which began to irritate him. Was it just in his hooves, or were other parts of his body showing up too?

"Regardless of what everypony is comfortable with," Pepperwing interrupted, "Sicolus is right. We need to find this page and acquire sufficient armaments. So, Sicolus and Raptor, go with Steel to get these 'metal-forging' pegasi." Steel nudged her because of her disgusted tone of voice. "And Zendral, if you could come with me to start locating the page." She put on her gas mask, hiding a blush.

Slendermane began stroking Hellena's mane again. "Zendral may have cut out my heart, but he's not the pony that stole it..."

Hellena grunted in acknowledgement. "I don't know of this Zendral individual." she said quietly. "I don't know of a lot of things. All this burning and killing in my life; I don't have much time for trivial matters."

'Ah what a cute little couple' sicolus mocked in his mind 'it would be a shame if something happened to one of them'."Well let's get going then" he said as he began to trot. Sicolus looked up through the force field and saw the moon. It was the first time he had seen the sky since he was a young colt. The night sky was the only beauty he had recognized beyond violence. 'For what reason do you fight, beyond the love of it?' Sada spoke up. 'What do you mean? To see them fall is the greatest joy there is' sicolus thought back. 'No, there is something else. You could have killed plenty but you focus at the task at hand. Why?' The voice persisted. Sicolus sighed 'pride and honour. One day if I ever return I. Want them to tremble at my name, pride. And that maybe if I die for others that will wash away my past sins, honour' sicolus admitted. Sada began to laugh. "I swear if you where real I would kill you" he said allowed.

I smile and tossing my striped mane I follow Pepperwing.

Loony got back up, panting slightly. He continued his way down the street, seeing a group of ponies.
"If I'm partly corporeal now," he murmured, watching them warily. "Does that mean that they can see me? Can they hear me?"

Raptor bared her teeth to let out a small grown that was similar to a growl, "Good luck with the whole thing. I'm going home." she stood and walked away, back toward the ally she had first come from. She didn't return to her home, she walked past it to stop in the fields just outside the Everfree Forest, "Though they may try to kill me, somepony has to save them." she started walking a pre-made path that lead through the forest, originally ending at the old castle where the elements of harmony were believed to lie.
--
Clayton thought about the times before the nightmare came to life, how the sky was blue and not shield orange(or yellow, which ever Celestia has it as). Even the moon doesn't shine normal light, just makes things darker than they should.

The room was cool and quiet, making it easy to think clearly, When will this all end? When will I enjoy seeing another pony instead of avoiding them? Clayton looked about the almost black room, only seeing the shadows within the shadows.

Deciding that he didn't want to deal with these ponies, he continued down the street.
"Where is she?" he asked himself, ears flattened. Peaking through a window, he saw a stallion resembling the one he saw before. "Hmm, a relative maybe?" He nudged the door open with a hoof, unhappy at the feeling. Normally, he'd just walk through the door.

"Could you take point please?" Pepperwing asked Zendral, pointing down the street unknowingly toward Hellena and Slendermane.

"Bye!" Steel called after Raptor. "Okay, Sicolus. You have Equestrian Military clearance to defend yourself as you see fit." He pulled on his gas mask. "I know you really didn't need permission, but I'm required to say it. Lead on."

"You still haven't realized it Hellena. How can I help you understand?" Slendermane asked.

"Yes, no, I don't know!" Hellena muttered in frustration, blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes. "How am I supposed to know?"

An abnormally tall zebra stallion bent down, his muzzle nearly touching Hellena's. Slight static made his appearance blurry, but his firey orange eyes stood out. "I care very deeply for you, fair Hellena." It-no-he said in a soothing deep.voice.

Hellena narrowed her eyes. "What are you getting at?" she said quietly, horn sparking with agitation. "Where Lo- he's..."

Slendermane's lips met Hellena's for a brief moment before pulling away, brushing his striped mane from his face. The static seemed somewhat lessened, but still present. He waited patiently for a reaction.