“What are you?”

The dark pony laughed at this. “Oh, come now. Surely you know.” He waved a hoof in the air. “I’m YOU!”

Drax growled. “How is that possible? I am me, there is only one me, and there will always be only one of me. I am a flaw, an enigma, a freak happening. There can never be another like me.”

“Oh what an ego. You are so special.. Oooooh! Look at me, I am so special that nopony can ever be like me.” The doppelganger sneered. “Did you forget already? Oh that’s right, you never told any of your pony friends you were a friggin schizophrenic.”

“No. That’s not true. I’ve always been in control. Each of my little mood swings has always been me, and I control them all. There is no way you are me, or any part of me.”

“Oh really? What about that part of you that you hide from yourself?” The pony looked scornfully down his muzzle. “Your so called Dark Side. You kept me hidden away, only bringing me out to rage at how unfair the world was. You are such a pathetic emo pussy.”

Drax thought hard. He had always felt that part of him, deep, dark, primal. He used to go into berserker rages as a child, but learned to control it, channel it. It had been a long time since that part of him saw the light of day. An now, reaching down inside of himself.. it was gone. Instead of the smoldering rage and resentment he always kept hidden, was calm. The scars were gone, and the hate wouldn't come. But he found a new kind of anger to take it’s place. Righteous fury. The urge to avenge his betrayed friends. The desire to avenge Pinkie Pie.

“You. You are all that I ever hated about myself. My humanity, my evil, the part of me that used to delight in the pain of others. The part I denied long ago and have been fighting against ever since. I HATE YOU!”

The dark stallion sat back and clopped his hooves together. “Oh yes! Now he gets it! I am one of your personalities, given life and power. And finally I have enough power to set up shop on my own. “ He tossed his mane. “I hope you don't mind, but I took the power with me when I vacated. You weren’t making proper use of it, and it rightfully belonged to me anyway.”

The dragon started at this. “What do you mean? It was my power, and you took it.”

“Haven’t you ever noticed how much easier the power was to use when you were distracted? While you were busy ogling pony plot, I was taking control and making things work. I was the part of you that had direct control of the power, not you. And certainly none of the other facets of your fucked up mind. You needed me. But now I am strong enough that I don’t need you.” The pony laughed, long low, an evil laugh he knew too well.

Drax stared hard at his shadow self. Thoughts sped by at a frantic pace. If this was a cliche battle, then he knew all the steps, and now was the time for the talking to end. Gathering his strength, he launched himself at the dark pony, using the speed and strength of his larger dragon body. As expected, the pony merely jumped into the air to avoid the attack.

Drax was ready for this of course. He was used to tricking his own self, and using a different part of his brain to process more than one thought at once. Now it worked against him, but only to an extent. His wings shot up as he passed under the alicorn and clipped him, sending the doppelganger off balance and falling to the floor.

“Yea bitch, you forget how much I am used to fighting with myself in my mind. You really think having a real body will be any different?” The dragon laughed and turned on his fallen prey. There was nothing there to laugh at.

A large chunk of masonry impacted his head, making him see stars and stunning him for a moment. “Really, dude? I am you. I know your moves, I know your thoughts. I know your thoughts about your thoughts. Hell, I am your violent side, so I know fighting better than you!”

“Yes, but that makes me the part that has the smart ideas.” The dragon retorted, as his tail snaked around and yanked the pony out of the air. The stallion yelped, and used sheer magic force to free himself, shooting out of the building and into the open.

Drax followed, taking to the air as soon as he was free of the entrance. He saw the pony hovering nearby, and took a shot at flaming him. The stallion easily shielding himself against the flame, but he didn't see the dragon rocket through the flame and slam into him, hurling him to the ground.

Stopping short of impact, the dark pony hovered in place, laughing. “Oh good show! I am the one that is supposed to be fighting dirty!” He then shot a bolt of pure magical energy at the dragon. As he was larger, and slower to dodge, the dragon took the hit, and shrugged it off. Being a creature of magic had it’s advantages after all.

“Wanna try again, pipsqueak? There is a reason I have always been obsessed with dragons, remember?” He flexed, and readied another attack. He knew it was strength against speed at this point. But what he couldn’t understand was, why he was being toyed with. The old him could have just ripped him apart telekinetically, or sucked the air away from him and killed him in vacuum, or worse. This so-called evil side was playing nice. Too Nice.

The pony smirked, and saw the thoughts at they passed through his counterpart’s mind. “Oh now you finally join the party. Really, I don't see how I ever thought I was so smart, if you are taking this long to figure things out.”

“You need me alive, don't you?” The dragon hovered in place, trying to puzzle the motives of the smaller creature.

“Well, I’m not a big fan on suicide. Well, not this part of me at least, I left that piece of shit behind when I vacated. I am still you though, so I need you alive to exist.” The dark pony started to circle the larger dragon, taunting him, but the dragon just kept pace, hovering and rotating.

“Now comes the part where you get to choose. Remember the prophecy that retard told you? The dark path you get to choose? Well this is it.” He stopped flying around and stopped before the large dragon. "You get to choose, you can go home, and wake up. You can go back to your old life and forget this ever happened. You will continue your dreary little human existence and forget all about ponies.”

A gleam came into his eye and he grinned savagely. “Choice two. You finally have your wish. You can remain a dragon, mighty and powerful. Live for hundreds of years. And as a bonus, I will even make you forget you were ever a human, or a pony. You will be a dragon forever more.”

“How about the option where I rip you apart, and strip the power from your disintegrating corpse?” Drax readied another volley of fire, attempting to test the shielding the other self had in place. As he let loose a blast, the dark pony dodged this time, not wanting to fall for the same trick twice.

“Oh come on! Yer gonna just keep repeating yourself?” He spun around, and expecting the dragon to make another charge. Instead he was nailed from behind as a large rock was thrown at his head. He staggered in the air, and tumbled towards the ground, and the dragon followed, closing in for a kill.

Before the blow was struck though, he snapped out of it and teleported away, using his sudden disappearance as a chance to viciously kick the dragon from behind. Drax bellowed in pain, and spun to face the opponent that had teleported behind him. He barely slowed his decent in time to avoid crashing into the trees below.

The Darkness laughed. “I can keep this up as long as you can, Boyo. You can’t hurt me, because I am you. I can’t kill you for the same reason, but you would be surprised what a dragon body like yours can live through.” His horn flashed, and iron bands of force snapped the dragon’s wings closed, causing him to drop like a rock to the ground.

The doppelganger landed on the ground before him, releasing his wings, but launching a bolder at his head, stunning him before he could react. “You know, I only need you alive. You don't have to be able to move, or even think.” He paced out of easy reach of the dragon’s attacks. “You should just take my offer. Choose your old life as a human, and forget this world, or just let me relieve you of the rest of that diseased mind of yours, and live a long life as a dragon. Dragons are fun after all! Look how much fun you are having tonight. You are big, strong, and if anything gets in your way you can kill and eat it.” The dark stallion cackled madly. “Just like you did to your friends!”

“You know, I really believe you are my schizo half. Because you are fuckin crazy.” The dragon retorted. “I think I would rather die than take your choice. Mebbe you shouldn't have left that piece of shit part of me behind after all.”

“Wrong answer” The pony responded, and then the world went dark.

Drax woke with a start. His room was cold, and he pulled the covers over himself. He blinked awake, trying to remember the dream he had been having. Something weird as usual, and he couldn't remember any details, other being very pissed off. He groaned, and got up, looking around his room, just able to see by the LEDs of his sleeping monitors. He checked his watch, but it was missing, probably on his desk somewhere after a shower.

He got to his feet with a groan, and made his way to the bathroom. Never failed, no matter if he took a 10 minute nap, he always had to piss when he woke up. Finishing, he snuck back to his room before anyone in the house could catch him flashing through. Good thing his room was across the all. He hated putting on shorts for such a short trip.

After that he plopped into his chair and sat at his computer. Another long night of insomnia ahead of him as usual. The computer booted up to his familiar desktop, black space and colorful ponies. He really needed to get over this kick and move on to a new obsession. He already had one family member that was freaked out by it. Good thing they didn't know how bad it had gotten, heh. The image collection alone would probably get him committed.

As he made his normal rounds, he checked message boards and news sites, nothing new since he had gone to bed. That was not too unusual, since he kept weird hours when alot of the world was asleep. He quickly grew bored, and tried to find his watch again, but it was still not to be found. It was unusual, but he did misplace it when he took showers from time to time. It was the only piece of adornment he had ever worn other than his ring.

The ring.

It was missing. That wasn't possible. He never took it off for more than a few seconds. It was as much a part of him as his finger it rested upon. It reminded him of his first love, who he had given a matching ring to years ago, before she left him, like so many others. But he still wore it always to remind him, that once he was loved.

In a panic he searched. He ran back to the bathroom where he had washed his hands. He tossed the bedsheets. It wasn't there. The only time he had been without was the time he appeared in Twilight’s library.

The library. Equestria.

In a rush, he remembered it all. The magic, his friends, the pain, the fight.

He snapped his eyes open. He was on the ground, the rain was pouring down in torrents, as lightening sparked across the sky. Before him was the dark alicorn, like a grim spectre of death. His eyes gleamed as he nodded, seeing that his ploy had failed. He shielded himself from attack. “What a pity. You would have been happier there, not knowing what you had lost. Now we have to go with option two.”

With a crackle of power, he built up a spell, energy arcing from horn to wings and back again. “Say goodbye to your mind, dear, dear Dragon.”

Getting up, Drax grinned insanely. He knew what had to be done. “No. I don't think so. I will die before you use me.” And with that he launched himself into the sky.

He powered his way above the clouds, wings pumping and body taut against the raging storm. He put every last bit of his strength into gaining what altitude he could. The strange Equestrian magics enabled him to launch his body faster and farther than any normal flying beast could. No bird could match his power or peed. Only a pegasus could out climb him. He continued far above the clouds, chest heaving like a bellows in the rarefied air, and frost forming on his wings. His throat burned in the freezing cold of the highest altitudes.

He stopped, seemingly suspended in air as he reached his apex. Looking down he saw Equestria far below him, the forest and storm just smudges stretching to the horizon. Near the edges he spotted a break in the cloud cover. Small colorful dots flitted about, breaking up the edges of the storm, and letting the lights of Ponyville shine through. The moon gleamed a pale silver, muting the landscape, yet the colorful dots remained bright somehow. He knew these would be the magical weather ponies, clearing the skies and letting Luna’s gift shine down.

From the corner of his vision, he saw movement, and looked up to revise his earlier thought. Nothing but a pegasus, or an alicorn could match him. Hovering out of easy reach was his tormentor, grinning wildly. But it was too late, there was nothing that could be done to stop him. So he dove. He remembered all his studies on falcons, able to break the sound barrier by streamlining themselves in flight. He let the natural instincts of his predator’s body take over, and he dove, faster than any living creature, save for a certain blue pegasus. Nothing would survive this fall, and at last he would be free.

As he broke through the clouds, the dragon shook his head. He was in a dive, but he saw no prey below him. With nothing to chase, he braked, and slowed his decent, stopping to hover above the trees. Something was wrong. He couldn't remember why he was diving, or even why he was here flying over the forest. He looked around, but no attack came, no prey was in sight. He should be in a cave somewhere, warm, with a pile of treasure and gems to keep him comfortable.

He glided down to a clearing, outside an old ruins. Long since deserted, there was nothing of value to collect for his horde, but it offered one of the few clear places to land. He tried as best as he could, but he could not remember why he was out on such a dreary night. The storm was blowing over, and patches of stars shone through. Looking up he saw nothing but sky, clouds and the occasional glimpse of the moon.

Something was very wrong and he couldn't remember what. Something had made him angry, but it was gone now. Whenever he tried to think about it, the thought skittered away like a dream after waking. He stomped around in frustration, unable to let the sense of unease go. Suddenly his stomach growled, and he remembered he was out to hunt. Yes, that must be it. His gem horde had been running low, and he wanted fresh meat to fill his belly.

Taking to the air, he flapped to gain altitude. The winds had died down and thermals were almost nonexistent in the cool weather. He managed to circle, looking for prey, and spotted lights in the distance. Yes, there was the town of Ponyville. A ripe buffet full of tender pony flesh, waiting for the picking. He could be in and out, snatching up a meal or two, and be gone before an alarm was sounded.

With a hungry grin, he turned his flight toward the sleeping town in the distance, thinking to himself, ‘Damn it feels good to be a Dragon.’

It would be remembered for generations to come as the Day of the Dragon. A Dark Dragon descended upon Ponyville, strangely immune to magic, and deadly black as the night. It came in the shadows of Luna’s night, killing ponies by the dozen. The death toll was staggering, and the attempts to stop the creature left devastation in it’s wake. The same night, the strange alicorn that had been living among them made an appearance, seeming to lure the creature off. Neither was seen again, but rumors spread that they still haunted the Everfree forest, and occasionally sounds of fighting could be heard on the night winds.

By the time the Princess arrived, the attack was long over, and only the grieving and rebuilding was left to be done. A monument was erected in honor of the ponies lost that night, and nopony would ever forget the evil that was visited upon Ponyville. The prophecy had come to pass, and the path of destruction had been chosen.