Wow, now this place brings back memories. I heard my darkness whisper as I walked through the remains of Ponyville, her voice slithering up from the dark recesses of my mind.

“Too bad all the pleasant memories I had of this place are now tainted with blood and the memory of diamond dog entrails. Not to mention your corrupt influence.”

Aw come on, Dashie, isn’t that a little over dramatic? I mean it’s not like you weren’t the one who did it. Just you and some rusty sword you found, gutting and cutting your way through this place, it almost brings a tear to my eye.

“I find it hard you could ever have a tear form, let alone shed one, given what you are. For that matter, where were you when I was here? Don’t act like you didn’t play some part in the massacre.”

Oh, I was here, right here where I’ve always been, residing deep within your soul. I just happened to be silent then, without a voice or a reason to make my voice known. Thanks to the actions of Discord though, I was given a voice . . . or more exactly I was given a reason to speak. Because he showed you and I both just how weak you really were, and showed me that I was truly the real Rainbow Dash.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m the real Rainbow Dash?” I replied, walking past a pile of bones with patches of matted fur barely clinging to them and blood stained earth beneath.

I remember those two. The darkness spoke out once more. Those were the two you so adamantly told you were their executioner. I bet you thought that was twenty percent cooler when you said it . . . didn’t you?

“Shut your damn mouth!” I growled back in anger. “I don’t need your commentary, because I clearly remember the things I did here. I carry the weight of the actions I took here.”

I thought you told that other voice you didn’t carry a weight, that you didn’t believe in such nonsense?

I scoffed and kicked at the ground as I continued to walk. “You know that was you. I know that was you, trying to play some sick trick on me to break my will and further your own twisted desires.”

Is that what you think? She replied with a chuckle, Sorry to burst your bubble but that wasn’t me, dearest Dashie. I sat quietly from the shadows as that other voice spoke to you, or should I say I was held at bay by that voice. Held to the darkness, unable to voice my own opinion and tell you both how stupid I thought you were.

“Of course you’d say it wasn’t you.” I said as I reached the edge of Ponyville and gazed out at the Everfree before me, the place I had called home for nearly six years after the fall of Canterlot. “I, however, don’t believe you for an instance. I know it's one of your tricks.”

You can believe whatever you want, but you’re wrong.

I shook off her words and began making my way into the Everfree, noticing almost immediately that even this place had changed. The scents I had once known, the sounds, the atmosphere it was all different. The place was always a place fillies and colts were told to avoid, to never enter, yet I had made it into a home . . . a safe haven. Yet as I walked deeper into it I felt unease and the heavy air of foreboding throughout. “What’s become of this place?” I asked aloud as I kept moving forward, taking note of the twisted and gnarled trees. “It’s as if this entire place has become corrupted.”

Oh there's corruption here alright, it’s everywhere, permeating through every inch. If I had to make a guess I’d say it from all the blood that the trees, the plants, the very earth has soaked up. It’s turned this place into a haven for lost souls, a place where the damned tread freely. Seems like the perfect place for you, doesn’t it, killer?

“Call me whatever you want, that doesn’t make it true.”

Oh doesn’t it though? Let's see, you’ve slaughtered an entire village worth of Diamond Dogs, at least a dozen ponies in Appleloosa, who knows how may Changelings between Las Pegasus and Van Hoover. I’d say that just doesn’t make you a killer, but a damn proficient one at that.

I let out a frustrated sigh and pressed forward, trying to push her words aside. “I did what I had to do . . . what needed to be done.” I finally replied after a long silence. “I only killed when I needed to, when I needed to protect myself or others.”

So you’re going to completely discredit slaughtering all those diamond dogs for the sole reason that them killing Scoots triggered your ass?

“I told you to never speak her name!” I suddenly shouted as I stopped in my tracks. “I killed them because that’s what they deserved! They slaughtered everypony! They deserved the vengeance I brought upon them.”

Ah vengeance, such a pretty word. But you know it’s just a fancy way of saying, or should I say disguising, revenge. Ponies who are too weak to admit that they want revenge hide behind the word vengeance. Just admit it, or don’t because I know what you really think. You wanted to kill them because they killed everypony else.

I was about to reply when I heard the woods creaking around me, I crouched down and absentmindedly reached for my sword, only to be reminded that I had left it when I fled Van Hoover. “Damn.” I whispered under my breath as the sounds around me continued.

I think things are about to get interesting. The darkness within said suddenly, almost in a jovial tone.

A branch snapped behind me, I turned and was horror stricken as the very trees seemed to move and writhe. The branches creaked and popped, as the roots began to burst from the ground, and several white slivers started to form in front of me.

“What in the name of Celestia is happening?”

I told you, you know, the souls of the damned and all that jazz.

The slivers suddenly took form as ghastly apparitions, twisted visages of diamond dogs and ponies, decayed and skeletal. The image of Ponyville ablaze, of skeletal ponies staring at me and cursing my existence flooded my mind, just as what had been shown to me by my darkness before. I stumbled back, falling to my haunch, as I sat there dumbfounded and full of fear.

“You’re not real! None of you are real! Leave me be!” I shouted out in a mix of fear and doubt, my entire body trembling.

You’re absolutely scared shitless right now, aren’t you? Gotta say I find it amusing and all, but you need to move . . . like right now.

I didn’t have time to question her as I suddenly pulled my attention from the ghosts before me to see a gigantic tree root quickly drawing near, and rolled out of the way barely avoiding it as it slammed onto the earth. Dirt and dust flew into the air, obscuring my vision and in an instant I was on my hooves, running full sprint through the woods. I leapt over fallen trees and slid under branches, dodging roots and vines that seemed hell bent on ending my life, it was if the entire forest had come alive for the sole purpose of doing so. The ghosts of those passed blotted my view, appearing before me, lunging at me as they hissed out ethereal words of hate and disdain. I felt as if my sins, the weights I had been told I carried, now were given form and wanted nothing short of my soul.

“This isn’t real, this isn't happening!” I shouted as I ran. “This is all a trick, a trick my mind is playing on me!”

A really convincing trick . . . I mean let one of those roots hit you and lets see how real all of this really is.

“Shut up, you pest!” I snapped back at the darkness. I continued to run, my heart pounding in my chest, as I tried to gather my bearing to figure out where I should be running. “I think I’m lost.” I said after a few moments, my breath catching as I spoke.

In more ways than one I’d say.

“Will you please just be quiet?!”

Another root crashed down, another vine whipped past, another ghost hissed in my ear, it was all too much. I could feel my body, my senses, becoming overwhelmed and my heart felt as if it would burst. Had I finally snapped? Had I finally gone crazy? Was this really real? I found myself thinking all these things, adding only to the overload my body, mind and soul was quickly approaching. That's when everything suddenly seemed to slow down, like the world around me had reduced to a crawl, almost as it had done when I faced Bane Tooth. Had my adrenaline reached maximum capacity? Did I tap into some unknown ability? I would have prefered those explanations to what I actually saw before me.

“What the . . . what is this?” I found myself whispering as I spoke.

What is what?

Could she not see what stood before me? Could the darkness within my mind, within my very soul not even perceive the shade that stood before? No, not a shade. What I saw, was nothing short of an angel. There through the twisted brush and gnarled trees, the disfigured spirits and soul smothering darkness, I saw Scootaloo.

“Scoots . . . “ I said weakly, the world now seeming to grind to a halt and the darkness within me silent. “My precious Scoots.” I managed to say as I felt tears form at the corners of my eyes.

She stood there smiling, uncorrupted, pure as the day I left her and headed for Canterlot. She raised a hoof and waved at me and I could hear her voice calling to me, to the part of me that I thought I’d lost. She beckoned for me to follow her, to run towards her, as she suddenly turned and began to make her way towards the twisting foliage. Suddenly the world was filled with movement once more and I could hear my darkness shouting at me.

What the buck are you doing!? Are you just going to keep running in circles or has that little brain of yours come up with anything yet?

I didn’t respond, I just kept running. I launched myself over a root that crashed down in front of me, twisting past several vines and landed without breaking my stride. I was chasing after her, I was following her, I had to. Scoots wanted me to follow her and I would trust her, the only thing in this forest that didn’t ooze of corruption and hate. She trusted me with everything, up until the very moment she died, and now I had to put all of my trust in her.

More spirits appeared before me trying to drive me from my course, the trees twisting more viciously as they seemed to rip themselves from the ground and give chase. I wouldn’t be deterred, I wouldn’t stop, not until I reached her.

Things aren’t exactly going our way, Dashie! I heard the darkness roar from within. What are you even doing!?

“I’m going to reach her this time . . . I’m finally going to be there.” I replied as I pushed my body to it’s upper limit.

WHAT!?

“Just shut the buck up and watch!” I shouted as I suddenly spread my wings. My left side stung and flared with pain, but I pushed it aside as I felt my wings slicing through the air as I ran. Another root swung at me, a tree toppled before me, ghosts amassed around me. In that solitary moment I felt something burning, shining, inside me. I felt a determination, an obligation, to be rid of all this . . . I found strength. I slid to a stop as the woods seemed to implode around me and I inhaled deeply, crouching down as I exhaled.

What are you doing!? Don’t stop you idiot!

I closed my eyes and ignored my dark side, taking a moment to clear all thought. I took in the sounds around me, and with another breath I drowned those out as well. “I can do this.” My eyes shot open just as a vine flew from the thick canopy above me, and I caught it between my teeth. Almost as if it could feel the vine pulled back violently, taking me with it. I folded my wings against my side as I was pulled through the canopy, keeping my thoughts clear as I waited for the moment I knew would be coming. Just as I had though I soon saw a small glimmer of the night sky through the thick branches and in that instance I let go of the vine, using the momentum I’d gathered to burst through into the sky.

I opened my wings and fought against the pain my left wing offered me in complaint, before finally leveling out and looking down at the forest that was now below me. I frantically searched for any sign of Scoots, any sign of anything at all really . . . that's when I saw it and here. There, shining like a beacon, was Scoots. She was smiling wide and jumping up in excitement, standing before the ancient castle of the Celestial Sisters, the former resting place of the Elements of Friendship. I made my way towards the castle and after a few moments I landed at its entrance, Scoots standing there awaiting me.

“Scoots . . .” I said after a moment as I began to tear up. “I’m so sorry. I failed you . . . I failed everypony. I couldn’t . . . I wasn’t . . .” The weight of all my burdens came crashing down on me as I feel to my haunch and cried like a filly. “Please, forgive me.”

She never stopped smiling, never stopped looking at me like she always had done. Hers eyes were full of love and compassion, full of forgiveness and understanding. Suddenly another light appeared and took shape, then Apple Bloom stood beside her. I felt my heart heave in my chest and I fell forward, slamming my hooves into the stone beneath them. I was about to speak when they both stepped towards me, each one holding a hoof to my cheek. Their touch was warm and felt so real, and within it I could feel no malice or hate. Through that touch I could feel as if they were both telling me that they forgave me, that they still loved me, that they needed me to stop feeling the way that I did.

“I don’t deserve this.” I said as I reached out to touch them, and yet in that instant they were gone. I only cried harder as the last moments of their warmth faded from me, but inside I knew that somehow something had taken place . . . something had changed.

I stayed there for a few moments, catching my breath and letting the tears finish falling. I wanted to believe with everything in me that all that had just happened was real, that those two had been before me. I wanted to have something, anything, to believe in. The darkness within me was quiet and it frightened me as I was suddenly aware of her silence, aware that she hadn’t spoke since I’d taken to the sky. I couldn’t sit and wonder what she was doing, or plotting, though as I now stood before the castle. Since I had left Sweet Apple Acres something had called me to this place, told me that I needed to come here, but I don’t know what.

I finally stood once more and made my way slowly into the castles depths, taking note of the state the place was in. Despite the years, the conflicts and the events that took place all around this place, it was still the same. Nothing about this place had changed, not since the last time I was here, the day that we first received our elements and stood face to face with Nightmare Moon herself. I suddenly found myself thinking about Luna, how I had failed her as well, and how I wished she was here with me. She had been swallowed by darkness, become the scion of it’s will and yet she was able to be free of it. I mean I was part of the reason she’d been able to do so, but still she was able to never allow herself to fall prey to it again. Now here I was, a darkness within, eating at my very soul and her council would have been invaluable.

I was so lost in thought that before I knew it I was standing in the throne room, the very room that now housed the stone representations of the elements my friends and I ones ponysonified. I gazed at what had become nothing more than a statue, a reminder of a past that no longer existed in the present, a gilded visage of all my regrets, failures, shortcomings and desires. I suddenly felt a pain in my stomach and quickly grew sick, gagging and fighting back dry heaves. A pain like nothing I’d felt before slowly spread throughout my body and I could feel pressure building in my ears and behind my eyes.

“W-what . . . what is . . ?” I tried to say as I fought against this feeling, when I noticed a faint light. I looked to the light as it seemed to emerge from one of the thrones, Luna’s throne. That’s when I saw her, Luna, standing there bathed in light just as Scoots and Apple Bloom had been.

“It is time Rainbow Dash.” She called out to me. “Now is the moment that you must decide the fate of us all.”

I couldn’t reply, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t force a single word from my body as the feeling that had built in my stomach slowly made its way up my throat. My body was going numb, but the pressure still mounted throughout and made it feel as if I would burst.

“The darkness within will manifest . . . but will you be strong enough to resist it? Will you fall victim to yours, as I did mine?”

Suddenly my throat bulged and I began to choke, I could feel something oozing from my eyes, my nose, my ears. I saw darkness, black viscous liquid, ink like and moving dropping from every pore of my body. It ran down my hooves, my legs, my muzzle, it dripped from my clenched mouth, pooling beneath me. It writhed and twisted, slithering like a serpent as it seemed to rise up and stare at me. I tried to move, but I couldn’t budge, all while the thing in my throat slowly moved towards my mouth.

“Fall here, Rainbow Dash, and we all fall.” With those words Luna stepped back, vanishing into the nothingness that she had somehow managed to appear from.

The ooze feel back to the floor, coiling into itself and pooling into one uniform puddle. I struggled to try and breathe, but my throat was completely blocked by whatever was lodged in it, and my nose was full of the ooze that still ran from it. Suddenly my I threw my head forward violently, then back as my mouth flew open. I gagged and hacked as whatever was in my throat was about to come up, and then it happened. A massive torrent of the black, unholy, ooze erupted from my stomach, forcing out what had been lodged in my throat . . . a heart . . . a beating heart, black as night. The ooze quickly gathered around the heart, swirling around it as it rose into the air, and began forming a shape.

“No . . . No this can’t be real.” I said, my body shaking and my voice trembling.

“Now, now, Dashie. Is that anyway to greet somepony when you first meet them . . . face to face?”

There standing before me, speaking, breathing the same air that I was finally able to breathe once more . . . was the darkness that I had held inside. Within this world, the real world, and not the world of my mind, stood Dark Dash.