As I let myself get drawn closer to the light, I noticed it getting brighter. And the closer I got, the brighter it got. It kept growing and growing until I had to cover my eyes. And even then, it still felt like I was standing in a white room with a hundred floodlights beaming at my eyes. Then, suddenly, it faded. It was so quick, it was like someone had flipped a switch and turned it off light a light bulb.

I opened my eyes and gasped. I was standing at the base of a mountain in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. There was nothing but dirt, dust, and rocks everywhere. But that's not why I gasped. No, I gasped because it was an absolute rainbow. Of purple. It was like everything was under a blacklight. And purple. It looked like the whole world was covered by some sort of glowie-glowie aura thing. Even me! Yes, As I looked over myself, I saw I was glowing like a purple Christmas tree. As I looked, I noticed that the aura crap actually fluctuated and grew and faded. Sometimes my skin color bled through the aura.

I looked around for some sort of clue as to what I was supposed to do. Unfortunately, I found nothing. Figuring nothing could go wrong, I went off in a random direction, wandering closer to the king of the Griffin Nation's castle, and sealing my fate as a not-so-good-guy.

In his castle overlooking Canterlot, Prince Solaris looked out on his Kingdom. All was well in Equestria, and had been for a while now. The pure white alicorn sighed as he observed his subjects' comings and goings.

All around him, a group of mares nuzzled up against him.

"What is it, Master?" A tan Earth mare asked.

"Do we not please our Prince?" A green Pegasus wondered. The alicorn ruler chuckled.

"No, ladies. My displeasure lies in other matters." He explained. He stood at his full height, towering above his brood mares.

"And, as such, it requires a discussion with my dear brother." Solaris' concubines whined in a harmonious quartet, and he couldn't help but chuckle again.

"Fret not, my little ponies. It will be finished soon enough, I'm sure. We can continue our romantic pursuits when I return." With that, he trotted off to his brother's chambers in hopes that they might converse. He made his way through the labyrinthine halls of the great castle, eventually appearing at the base of the only other spire in the castle which served as the co-rulers' personal chambers. Then it was a walk up the curving staircase, ending at a large set of double doors. And what magnificent doors they were. While Solaris had long since removed his original doors depicting his Cutie Mark amid fantastically detailed floral designs, Artemis had opted to retain his own. They were tall and imposing- centered on his crescent moon Cutie Mark- and delicately carved out by hoof and magic, subtly inlaid with silver and moonstone. It made quite the display on top of the broad, solid slabs of ebony.

"Artemis? May we speak together for a moment?" Solaris asked through the doors. A faint clopping of hooves on stone could be heard before the doors were enveloped in a magical sapphire glow and swung open, revealing the Ruler of the Night at his desk- which was equally as detailed as his doors. Artemis looked up and smiled at his sibling.

"Good evening, dearest brother. What do you wish to speak of?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid." Solaris said with a frown. Artemis turned more towards his brother, perplexed.

"Oh dear... What is wrong?" The Sun God sighed.

"I sensed something today, brother. Something quite troubling. If what I felt was indeed what I think it is, we may be in troubled times again."

"Troubled times? Are you saying... Contentia has returned?!"

"I fear much worse than just her, brother. Not even she has influence over the souls of the dead."

"The disturbance was an interference in the Spirit Realm?! By my own beard!"

"Hellooo? Anyone home?" I called out to no one in particular as I wandered the halls of the castle. I had been there maybe five minutes, and I still didn't manage to find anything. Either this castle was too damn big, or nobody was home. Or so I thought. After a little more wandering, I heard a whisper. A really strange one too- it sounded like some foreign language, but I felt like I knew what it meant; it wanted me to follow it. Not entirely sure as to how or why, I let the voice guide through the twists and turns of the castle. Down hallways, through passages and walls, and up and down God knows how many flights of stairs.

My escapade came to an end at a big rough wooden door. The small whispering voice and insisting I go in. I took a moment to breathe and roll my shoulders in a bout of nervous energy before passing through the door. Suddenly I was in a large circular room. Candles flickered along the floor, arranged near the wall in a big ring. There were five stone altars situated around the room even distances from each other, each adorned with candles and small bowls. Red lines were drawn between them, creating a pentagon inside the ring of candles. A sixth and larger altar was in the middle of all of this. Placed on it were bowls full of things I didn't know and didn't care to learn of, outlining a pile of more random ingredients.

"What the flying purple fuck is this shit?!" I gasped. I heard a rush of air move somewhere.

"Oh, hell no! I've seen enough horror movies to know what happens next! I'm getting the fuck up out of here!" I turned and ran back to the door, firmly smacking into it as I tried to ghost the hell out. I wasn't deterred, however. Quickly, I ran at the curve of the wall. Unfortunately, it wouldn't let my ghostiness pass through it.

"Oh fuck! Mother of fuck! I'm trapped in here! I'm gonna die!"
Wait...
"No, wait. I can't die... I'm already dead! I'm a ghost! So what the hell is going on here? I can't leave..." I looked at the satanic-esque summoning circle thing again, taking note of the various piles of shit in the bowls. There wasn't anything too serious. In fact, it looked like an array of kitchen spices with a few random things thrown in. I stepped up to an altar and tried to guess what was on it.

"Hmm... Green plant. Another green plant. More green plant. Reddish/brownish stuff?" I dipped my finger in it out of curiosity, blinking as my finger displaced the powdery stuff around it. Somehow, just by touching it, I knew what it was.

"I love cinnamon..." I muttered as lifted my hand back out of the powdered cooking spice. I looked down at the floor, tracing the red lines. Definitely a pentagram thing. I walked over to the line closest to me and kneeled over to check it out. It wasn't a long liquid streak of blood after all. It actually looked like little diced up pieces of something that was red and solid at one point. The pieces were lined together carefully enough that there weren't any gaps between them to see the floor beneath.

"Whoever set this up has too much damn free time… And might also worship Satan." I commented.

At that moment, I heard the slow creaky swing of rusty hinges. I looked up, and saw that the door had opened, allowing what looked like a kinda cute little cartoony sort of creature in. It stood on four legs, with wings and a beak, and the body of a lion. It also had bird legs, and a bird head. I read about it before, but I can't remember for the life of me what it's called.

Its gaze swept across the room, passing over me of course. It stepped further into the room, allowing another in behind it. A comparison quickly revealed a big difference between the two. The first looked a little ragged and tired, with slight bags under its eyes, and a handful of wing feathers missing. He also looked like he had a bad case of molting going on. Must be spring.

"Valkry has done it, King Stoneclaw! The spirit believes it is in the cloudfield, where it is safe from getting strikes, but Valkry has fooled it!" The mangy one chuckled. He sounded like the crazy guy that you run into at Wal-Mart sometimes. You know, the one that's like "The aliens are coming! The government's in cahoots with 'em, and they're gonna melt our faces off and eat our brains!", and he wears that crappy tinfoil hat and hangs on to a towel like it's his life force or some shit? Yeah, that guy. The other one- King Stoneclaw, I guess- just nodded and looked around whatever torture pit we were all in.

"I can only reiterate that this had better be worth the effort you've put into it. After so long and with so little progress to show, I'm beginning to think that you've been pulling some shenanigan. And I will not take such disrespect lightly." He growled in a loud and "More Royal Than Thou" tone.

"Valkry would never perform such a heinous act, your Highness!"

"Yes... Well, get on with it, Valkry." Wait, Valkry refers to himself in the third person? That's some weird shit, dude.

"Yes, sire! Valkry lives to serve His Majesty in all efforts!" The gruff one said before moving to the Satanic-ish pentagram in the room's center.

"Bring in the samples, you dirty peasants!" King Douche Pickle shouted at the door. Moments later, a line of other creatures began to pour in, each carrying a pack of some kind wrapped cloth. None of the packs were identical either. Some were long and thin, others short and thick, and others were just plain weird-shaped. About eighty or so packs were set in the diagram in one big stack, with a big gallon of what I seriously hoped what cherry Kool-Aid set off to the side. All of the things that had brought something in left in order and closed the door behind them.

"And now, we begin with the blood of the innocent spread about our offering to The Dark One!" Valkry said happily.

I don't like where this is going. But apparently, what I like or don't like doesn't fucking matter here, because ol' Dr. Frankenstein just pulled out some Necronomicon looking book and started to read it out loud.

"Oh Great Spirit of Darkness and Evil, The Forbidden Summons has begun! I call upon your infinite villainy to grant me a wish, that I might please whom I serve!" Valkry announced in a commanding tone. He raised a foreleg and twisted his claws as they began to glow in a glittery field of dark purpley sparkles. The container of blood was highlighted in the same field and floated over the pile of packs before tipping over and pouring out its contents. Then the pile itself was covered in more of the aura before igniting into a giant burning hill.

"I offer to you the ingredients you require to create the manifestation of darkness and the soul to be bound to the vessel! Take what you wish from my offering, Dark One! Create the tool that will serve to carry out my master's will!"
No, no, no! No, no, no! Getting right the absolute shit out of here and hopping on a train to FucThatVille before some fucking Satan Demon jumps up and drags my ass down to Hell or whatever the fuck!

“Materialize, Sire! Be born again to perform heinous crimes and torturous acts! Become alive once more!”

Suddenly, the inferno of flesh and unholy ingredients shook. The towering flames burst outward, singeing the tips of Valkry’s feathers. My ghosty body locked up. My arms were bound to my sides, and legs felt like they’d hardened into steel. I was forced to watch the horror of the sacrificial materials melt themselves down into a giant pool of lumpy black goop, and screamed in revulsion as bones formed a pair of dog-like legs. The black liquid kept gathering and forming more bones, and before long a whole skeleton had formed.

It was more disturbing than any horror film or CreepyPasta. Its legs were like a dog, but there were only two, and they grew thicker the higher up they were. At the waist, a torso formed that grew out like a tree. The ribs were huge and thick, and the spine was one big curve from bottom to top. At the shoulders were two massive arms which ended with absolutely gigantic claws, both as big as what the chest was. Five fingers on each hand, with long thick claws. And, to top it off, the skull was long and thick. It was shaped like a dragon’s skull, but without the pronounced nose, and the jaw was smoother but thicker, and jutted out a bit more. The sockets for the eyes looked more recessed, too. This monster would cut through a car like rice paper, easily grab any human up to 400 pounds in one claw, jump at least the length of a soccer field, and chomp a log in half like it was a toothpick. It was also a big bitch. 11 feet tall, at least, from head to foot.

Then, a stabbing pain shot through my whole being as Valkry bound me to its bones. I could feel myself get sucked into the marrow of each bone, and it was like I was burning alive while getting stabbed in my everything.
The last thing I remember was the searing pain as flesh was mixed together from the black essence and bound itself to my feet.

Author's Note

Solaris: R63 Celestia
Artemis: R63 Luna
Contentia: R63 Discord