In the shadows of a dungeon

   Not even an hour after the incident, Canterlot was back to normal. At least, for the citizens. In her castle, Princess Celestia was dealing with the cause of what could have been a disaster. She had listened to the story of Francisco, who was surrounded by guards, and now she was hearing Twilight’s explanation.

   “... and I guess something went wrong with my spell, and caused Francisco to transform into that monster,” said the unicorn.

   She looked at her teacher. The white alicorn, as well as her sister, had bandages in several parts of her body. Twilight had never seen Celestia wounded, and wondered if she would be mad. But even if she wasn’t, how would the Princess of the Sun react to a force like Francisco, who was able to leave the two rulers of Equestria in such bad shape?

   “It was my fault,” Twilight added, quickly.

   “No, it wasn’t,” said Francisco. “Your Majesty, Twilight Sparkle didn’t know that the Beast was inside me.”

   “And I assume neither did you,” said Celestia.

   “No, your Majesty.”

   The white alicorn walked near the black stallion, studying him.

   “You have quite peculiar powers,” she said. “No entity in Equestria could have give them to you, so I assume that your tale about the drooling god is true.”

   “It is, your Majesty.” Francisco bowed before the Princess. He was trying to be polite and, at the same time, to show that he was really sorry.

   “I can see that you are not a bad pony,” continued Celestia. “Also, my student and her friends seem to trust you, and that’s enough for me. If you tell me that this incident was nothing more than an accident, I’ll believe you. However, you must understand, Francisco, that I can’t just let you go after the terrible power you showed.”

   “I understand, your Majesty. If you allow me, I would like to choose my punishment.”

   Celestia raised a hoof.

   “I’m not going to punish you,” she said. “I just want to keep you under vigilance, to avoid future disasters. About which method should I use, the choice is yours.”

   “Then, throw me in your deepest dungeon and keep me there forever.”

   Everypony gasped.

   “It’s not necessary to-”, said Celestia, but Francisco interrupted her.

   “I can’t promise that I will be able to control that Beast. My mere existence is a threat to Ponyville, Canterlot, and all of Equestria. Please, banish me to the shadows, so the monster may never return.”

   “Neither you will,” warned Celestia.

   “So be it.”

   The six mares opposed the idea, even Luna said that it wasn’t necessary to reach that extreme. However, Francisco was looking directly at Celestia, silently begging her to fulfill his wish.

   The white alicorn sighed.

   “It is his choice,” she said. “Guards, take him to the dungeons.”

***

   In the dark depths of the Everfree Forest, two enormous eyes opened, glowing with a green light and vanishing all the shadows in the proximities. The parasprites, the kelpies and the timber wolves ran away at the sight of that emerald flash, because they knew its meaning. The humongous creature stood up and advanced, crushing trees and stones in its path.

***

   The guard opened the gate, and six mares entered in the dungeon. That place was silent, all the cells were empty. It hadn’t been used in several centuries.

   “Francisco?” asked Pinkie. “Is that you?”

   All the cells were empty, minus one.

   Hiding in the shadows at the other side of the bars, a small faceless creature, not a pony, was curled.

   “Leave me alone,” he whispered.

   “Stop with the theatre!” said Rainbow Dash. “You shouldn’t be here, you know it, we know it, even the Princess knows it! So, come out and let’s go back to Ponyville!”

   “I can’t go back. I will destroy everything.”

   “That’s not true,” said Fluttershy. “You just had a tantrum, everypony has them sometimes, even me.”

   “It was an accident,” said Twilight. “It wasn’t your fault, neither it was mine, you said it. But the Beast is gone now, everything is ok!”

   “No, it isn’t,” moaned Francisco. “Don’t you see? I have caused only disasters since I came to Equestria. First, the nightmares, and now, I almost destroyed your capital...”

   “But you also saved us from those nightmares!” said Rarity. “You defeated that monster, Willy! And I’m sure you would have also battled that Beast to save us!”

   “You don’t understand. I saw it, the darkness inside me. It is a demon, it will try to take control of my powers as soon as I get weak or distracted. But it’s worse than that, the Beast is a mark, a reminder of from where I come. I left my world because I wanted to escape from its ugliness and be happy, but that ugliness is inside me. All the rage, all the negative feelings... No matter how much I change my body, no matter how far I run away, that darkness will be always inside me, because it’s the darkness of the place I come.”

   “Oh, please!”, groaned Applejack. “Ya’re always talkin’ about how horrible yer world is, Ah think ya’re exaggeratin’ a bit. It can’t be that bad!”

   “It is. You haven’t lived there.”

   “Uh... I think...” said Fluttershy. “Maybe the darkness is inside you because you have such sad thoughts about your home.”

   “It is not my home anymore, neither is Equestria,” Francisco looked at the ceiling of stone. “Again, darkness and loneliness are my destiny. No home, no family, no friends. Don’t waste your time with me, and go back to your town.”

   The six ponies looked at each other. They wanted to help their friend, but nothing could be done if the shapeshifter didn’t want to be helped. Applejack shook her head, saying that there were no more reasons for them to be in that dungeon, at least, for the moment.

   So, they went away, silently. They didn’t even said goodbye.

   “Francisco,” Pinkie Pie was still in front of the cell, looking at the small creature. “When you were the Beast, you didn’t touch one building of Ponyville. Do you know why? I know it, I saw it. You looked at us, and you called us ‘Family’. What I mean is, if that bad meanie monster knew that we are your family, you should know it even better, shouldn’t you?”

   Francisco looked at Pinkie. If he had had any face at that moment, it would have been a surprised one.

   “But, If you want this...” smiled the pink pony. A sad smile. “Goodbye, Francisco.”

   And she walked away.

   The shapeshifter was left alone in the darkness, thinking.

***

   Twilight and her friends returned with Princess Celestia. The white alicorn didn’t have to ask, just seeing the long faces of the little ponies was more than enough to understand that Francisco had refused to forgive himself.

   “I am sorry,” she said. “Give him time. I’m sure that, maybe in a few days, he’ll change his mind.”

   “We hope so, Princess,” sighed Twilight.

   “Allow me to thank you for your quick response to this crisis. After what happened with Discord, I knew that leaving the Elements of Harmony under your care in Ponyville would be the best solution. Your fast reaction has saved uncountable lives.”

   The six ponies bowed, although they were not in the right mood to consider themselves heroes, specially Pinkie Pie.

   Then, a scroll materialized over Celestia’s head in a ball of red fire. The white alicorn took it and read the message. However, as she did it, an expression of horror appeared on her face.

   “Is there any problem, Princess?” asked Twilight, worried.

   “I’m afraid so,” said Celestia, whiter than usual. “It is a message from an outpost in the Everfree Forest. A Scorpius is approaching Ponyville. And, according to this report,  its behaviour is clearly hostile.”

   Immediately, the purple unicorn became pale, too.

   “What’s a Scorpius?” asked Rainbow Dash.

   Twilight gulped and explained it:

   “A scorpion five times as big as the Ursa Minor.”

   “Five times?!” shouted Applejack. “But not even the Beast was that big!”

   “It will destroy the entire town!” screamed Rarity, putting her hooves in her cheeks.

   “We need Francisco!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “He’ll be able to defeat that thing!”

   “You heard him, Pinkie,” said Rainbow Dash. “He’s not going to abandon that dungeon. We can’t count on him on this one.”

   “Besides, he could probably do nothing,” added Twilight. “Only the Beast would be able to fight the Scorpius in an equal match, and I doubt he wants to transform into it again. Princess, can’t you do something?”

   Celestia looked at her bandages.

   “My sister and I used nearly all of our powers to defend Canterlot,” she explained. “I can use my magic to teleport all of you back to Ponyville, but I’m afraid I cannot face the Scorpius. You’ll have to use the Elements again.”

   “Leave it to us!” said Rainbow Dash. “We’ll take care of that bug!”

   “Good luck, my little ponies.”

   Celestia’s horn glowed with a golden light. In two seconds, the six mares found themselves back in their town. There was nopony on the streets.

   They heard a terrible sound coming from the Everfree Forest. They looked back, and saw a gigantic green scorpion tail. Several trees were crushed as the starry body of the Scorpius made its way out of the woods. His two main eyes were glowing like moons, and the other six, significantly smaller, like stars. His two gigantic pincers chopped in the air, threateningly .

   The six mares, even Rainbow Dash, gulped. It was going to be a really tough battle...

***

   In a gray corridor, that seemed to extend to the infinite, a broom with arms was sweeping the floor using a normal broom. Kinda redundant, isn’t it?  

   “Welcome back, boss,” it said.

   “Hi.”

   The bodyless conscience of Francisco approached the big black cage. The glass and the chains had been repaired, and the shapeshifter could feel the Beast behind them, trapped in the shadows of a dungeon, just like him.

   “Stand back,” he said to the broom. “I’m going to release this one.”

   “What?!” the broom with arms dropped the other broom. “Are you sure, boss?”

   “The Beast and I are going to have some words.”

***

   A gigantic sting descended, and Applejack jumped away to avoid it. It didn’t seem to have poison, but honestly, with that size, that wasn’t necessary. The sting left a quite big hole on the ground. The orange pony ran towards one of the eight legs and kicked it, but the starry exoskeleton was too hard, and the Scorpius didn’t feel a thing.

   Rainbow Dash created one of her tornadoes and launched it against the beast, but one of the pincers moved and blocked the spiral wind without any difficulties.

   “Dammit!” said the blue pegasus. “Fluttershy, are you going to use The Stare or not?!”

   “I can't!” screamed the yellow pegasus, flying over the Scorpius. “It has eight eyes! I can’t look directly to all of them at the same time!”

   The monster moved his long tail, forcing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to fly back. Then, he continued his way to Ponyville.

   “We have to do it now!” shouted Twilight. “Everypony, come together! We’ll use the Elements of Harmony!”

   The six ponies stood in front of the giant scorpion, and their magic jewels started to shine. Immediately, a rainbow was shot directly at the mouth of the Scorpius, but he covered his front with his pincers, and the energy beam was deflected. At the same time, the sting descended again.

   “Watch out!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

   The ponies prepared themselves for the impact, but it never happened. A black claw stopped the green tail. The ponies looked up, and saw a gigantic figure of shadows, with three horns and glowing eyes.

   The Dark Beast used his fire breath to force the Scorpius to retreat back to the edge of the Everfree Forest. However, the arachnid wasn’t really harmed by the flames, and moved his tail and pincers in a menacing way. The Beast extended his wings to do the same, but the starry scorpion didn’t got scared by that. No one of the two titans was going to flee, apparently.

   The Scorpius charged and attacked with his two pincers. The Dark Beast covered himself with his wings, making a shield of shadows that protected him. At the same time, he fired two orange energy beams through his eyes, hitting the scorpion right in the chelicerae.

   The Beast opened his wings an roared. Then, he spoke with Francisco’s voice:

   “I won’t let you hurt my family!”

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