Return of Evil and A New Beginning

Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying next to each other while the other four were running on hoof. Twilight got off and flew by Fluttershy. “See what happens when you ‘take care’ of rats” Twilight asked in annoyance.

“I honestly didn’t expect that to happen” Fluttershy responded. They ran and flew out of the forest, escaping the rats as well.

The six continued some more. They found themselves in a cave.

“D-do, do we HAVE to go in there” Fluttershy asked with worry.

“It seems to be the only path to take” Applejack responded. “We’re gonna HAVE to travel through this cave if we’re gonna get Dante back.” They continued until they all heard grunting in the distance within the cave. They stopped to look around, but they couldn’t identify what was making those sounds, so they continued their journey.

“PONIES” they heard a loud voice from the distance, when four ogres walked out of the shadows. “EASIER THAN ELVES” the one in the front yelled. They also were beaten and bruised up.

“Wow” Pinkie shouted “Dante is REALLY really popular around here.”

“Yes” one of the other ogres responded “Very popular. Let’s see if YOU’RE popular to him.”

“Uh, yeah” Pinkie said “We’re totally close to him. We’re like family to him.”

“Pinkie” Twilight started “They want to take us prisoner.”

Pinkie pondered for a minute. “Oh, okay.”

Twilight turned her attention back to the ogres. “Sorry” she started “but even if you DID capture us, Dante wouldn’t be able to come back. He’s been captured.” She began to walk up to the ogres, now blocking their path “So if you don’t mind.” The front ogre raised his arm, holding a giant club, and slammed it down in front of Twilight, causing her to jump back in fright.

“Ponies make good prisoners still” the ogre said. The four walked up to the ponies slowly, thinking that they would corner the six in order to capture them. To their surprise, they failed when Twilight noticed that the ogres opened the path, giving her opportunity to teleport her and the others to the path. The ogres turned around to chase after them, but Twilight shot a beam of light at the ogres, causing them to freeze in place, giving the ponies the chance to get to a safe distance away from them. They safely got out of the cave and continued.

They were continuing on some more, when they were walking by a river, they noticed a figure sitting on a rock peeking out of the middle of river. The figure was cover with mostly blue fish scales with some shades of green here and there on the body. The figure noticed that the six were looking at it, and turned its attention toward them. “Can I help you” the figure asked.

“Oh, sorry” Rarity started “We’ve just, just.”

“Just never seen a merfolk before” The creature asked with a grin while standing up. “It’s fine, ponies and merfolk don’t know that much about each other.” The merfolk chuckled.

Twilight began “Well, have you seen a slightly tall, long-maned creature?”

“The elf with the red and black eyes” the merfolk asked. “Yeah, I guided him to that mountain over there.” He pointed to the mountain that was located a few miles away.

“Thank you so much” Rarity said in joy.

“Yeah, no prob” he responded “but I heard that one is dangerous. So you should be careful around that one if I were you girls. Hey, the trail is kind of tricky to track through, mind if I guide you through it?”

“I reckon” Applejack said in joy.

“Terrific” the merfolk shouted. He walked off his rock, through the shallow water of the river, and up to the six. “Let’s go” he said, walking in front of the six, with the six following.

About an hour later, they arrive at the entrance to the mountain trail.

“I will stop here. If I travel farther, the elevation will cause harm to me. But just follow this trail and it will lead you to your destination and your friend.”

“Thanks mister” Twilight said.

“Talrand” he interrupted “And you are very welcome.” He walked away, back to the river of where he met the ponies. The six looked at him walking, and then turned their attention to the path of which they would travel to get to Dante. They journey up the path, and finally reach the entrance of the cave.

Twilight pulled the map out and browsed it. “We’re here.” She put the map back and looked around “Now, to find Dante.” The six walked further into the cave. Fluttershy heard a rock fall from the ceiling, scaring her in the process. She looked around to see where that came from, when she notices a shadow-like figure standing in a pathway. The figure walked out of the pathway, revealing Dante.

“Girls” he shouted, catching their attention. They all ran after him in excitement that they found him and that he was alright, but when they were close to him, his eyes turned black and red and he formed an evil grin. They stopped running in fright, then Dante released an energy barrier, expanding out and knocking the six back. Dante walked forward, and then stopped when a shadow-like figure, in the shape of a pony, formed next to him. The shadows vanished, revealing King Sombra, sporting the same evil grin as Dante.

“Dante” Twilight shouted “what is going on? Why are you doing this and why are you with Sombra?”

“Well, you see Twilight” Dante began “A while ago before Celestia and Luna sent Sombra away, him and I made a deal. If one of us were to vanish, the remaining evil energy would go to the other, storing it and build it up until there was enough energy to revive the other.”

“But” Twilight began “what about the elements, I thought they’ve absorbed your evil energy.”

“This happened a month after Discord’s defeat” Dante replied “And now, since Sombra is back, we can both take Equestria and defeat Celestia and Luna ONCE AND FOR ALL” Dante yelled as he opened his hands and forming an energy orb between his hands and blasting it towards the six.