Dawn Star: Fear of Night

I quickly realised that this guard wasn't actually taking me to the mage tower, instead he lead me down a twisty corridor down countless flights of stairs. Three more cutie mark-less guards appeared beside and behind me on our trip and something was definitely wrong here.

"As much as I love exploring the uncharted parts of Canterlot-" I began, but was promptly interrupted by one of the guards.

"Trouble at the tower, please Ms Dawn, follow me." The guard who I had first met muttered. I began to cast a spell, this was getting weird.

"Okay, I'm going now, this is getting strange." I muttered. Somewhere in the darkness, a voice laughed.

"I'm so sorry how my. Pets, have treated you Dawn Star, let me explain. They are dead, and can only say a few things. Now, the one to your left is about to knock you out, we shall be meeting soon." The random voice said, I turned to me left spell ready, but too late, a piece of wood came smashing down and I passed out, bleeding.

A light was flickering when I awoke, hurt and I looked around the darkness in a blurred haze. All I could see was the outlines of maybe, a dozen ponies, scattered across wherever I was. I heard laughter, the same as earlier. I tried to get up but couldn't, I was bound by either magic or rope, I wasn't sure.

"Show yourself creature!" I shouted, a few ponies moved about, one groaned but had nothing intelligent to say. The laughter came again and a silver light of a horn began to glow. There was a face, the light was too dim to see any detail, but certainly my capturer, and a stallion.

"Good evening Dawn. I hope my, creations, didn't harm you too much." The pony said, laughing a little.  His voice was strange and sounded foreign, but also educated, a lot higher than anything Dawn had received, she had failed in nearly everything but magic training, and history.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I shouted at the face. In all fairness, this wasn't the best way to handle the situation but I didn't like where I was so will naively panic, all three legs pushed against my magic bonds.

"My name Ms Star, is Karah Vlad, I deal with a, certain, kind of magic. All I want is to simply thank you for what you have done." The pony replied.

"Thank me?" I replied, what a way to thank somepony.

"Yes, you see. I am Fear." The pony muttered, what? Oh. Ohhhh. "The thing the Changelings declared war over, they gave me bucket loads of power from feeding off their war, and when you and the Princesses destroyed them, I thought I was going to have to kill you." This Karah Vlad pony said. I was worried and strained against my bonds again. But his horn only gave off more light.

"But I was wrong, I gained so much more power from their destruction than I ever could with their pitiful battles and Hive Mind. So Dawn Star, I thank you." He continued.

"You are behind Manehatten's destruction?" I asked.

"Well, no. You destroyed it. Nopony else. You killed how many? 2 and a half million, how many were foals Dawn? How many?" Karah asked, releasing  his grip on me slightly. I stayed silent and he repeated the question. "How. Many?" he asked, and started squeezing magic around my neck, I struggled to breathe for a moment but decided it wasn't a good idea to die today. This stallion was going down.

"There- there were." I began, he let go off me altogether and I fell, I wasn't even on a chair, it was just how he had formed his magic, he had such concentration. "My last count before I cast, was." I paused, Karah's horn began to glow again.

"Dawn, you are trying my patience." he grunted.

"Just under a million, 987 thousand, and sixty-three exactly, all under the age of ten." I grunted, I had killed so many.

"Wow." Karah muttered, smiling. He began to clap his hooves together slowly and the fake guards nearby also clapped. Karah began to laugh. "I thought-" he stopped to giggle. "And I thought I was a murderer. You killed nearly a million children, let alone all those Changelings, and the adults. You have more blood on your hooves than Celestia herself!" Karah shouted into the darkness, walking away for a second, he quickly reappeared however.

"I did what I had too." I muttered, feeling tears forming, come on Dawn, now isn't the time to cry.

"Did you?" Karah shouted. "Well that is just fucking perfect then!" he continued, pacing about again. "Well why don't we take a visit to all the families who didn't get to see their children or brothers, sisters, mothers. Shall we? Ask them if they think their lives were worth it?"

"It was either that or Equestria's destruction." I felt weak now, I had a felling he was feeding off this somehow.

"Where families could be together? Not apart, they could have evacuated, gone out of Equestria. Gone to Horsca for all I care, but no. Because of you, they had to go out with a bang." Karah shouted, smiling, he laughed again. "Not that I am complaining, just you killed so many maybe you should be the all powerful necromancer and me just a humble pony."

"Necromancer?" I asked, I knew what it was, but Equestria was a country with so little dark magic unicorns that the word was barely registered as a kind of mage.

"Yeah. Necromancer, you know. Summons the dead, tortures victims til submission and beyond, dark magic. Who do you think these brain eaters are?" Karah replied, pointing a hoof the guards.

"Oh sweet Celestia, that's why they don't have Cutie Marks." I muttered, figuring it out.

"And only respond with certain phrases and words. They. Are. Undead Dawn." I stood up from where I was on the floor, considering I was getting used to three legs this was still an effort for me.

"You killed all these, they corrupt their soul to your will." I muttered, limping over to one, it just looked straight into the dark, straight through me.

"No, I only killed one, then that one killed another, those two killed two more, and it continued, I have nearly a three quarters of the royal guard under my control, and so many more, all hidden, in plain sight above and below ground. I was hoping to resurrect the Changelings but why waste perfectly good magic on creatures like them, when I can have trained, strong soldiers. No they can't change into other forms, but beggars can't be choosers."

"What, what will you do?"

"Well, Dawn, that is between me and myself, you will be let free. I will begin my planning and you won't hear about me again until it is far to late. Now, I fell you can have a reward, I am debating whether to kill you first, or let you survive, but watching Equestria and the world die seems a bit cruel. So I'll tell you what, me and you will have a duel, no magic. Just arms, whatever you choose. Now, get out of my sight Dawn Star, and do not return here." Karah said, his eyes going darker at that last remark. "Not that I will stay here much longer anyway, Celestia patrols these parts constantly, always gotta be on the move. I would love to corrupt her, but that would cause a panic, the monarch of the land, just repeating one phrase over and over." He giggled again. "Although that's not a bad idea."

"You're a monster." I muttered.

"Are you still here? Go home Dawn, think of your sins and look to the darkness which is coming your way fast." Karah replied, a door behind me opened and a few of the undead guards walked through. I followed.

In front of me was a long flight of stairs back to the castle I presumed, I knew that the moment I was back I would report this pyscopath to Celestia and all of Equestrian would one alert. I began to gallop up the stairs as to give myself and these undead as much room as possible, they didn't seem to come after me, but it didn't mean they weren't following.

As I had thought the stairs brought me all the way back up to the main castle, so I presume they knocked me out and casually dragged me down the hundreds of stairs. I was panting and out of breath by the time I was up them and felt embarrassed at the fact I was so unfit, although it was no help with a missing leg, even if I did have a wood fake one on, I really needed something more stable, like metal.

I paused my limping. Us, metal infused with magic could give me fake feeling. So even if the leg is fake, I could at least feel something was there. I smiled, now was not the time to be pondering this but I needed something to think about on my limp to Celestia.

"I would need a good enough forge, knowledge of forging, knowledge of forging with magic and the magic to do it, but other than that it is an otherwise flawless plan. I made a note to go down to the castle blacksmith and talk to him. The magic I would have to give, being as the only pony above me in the castle was Luna, but the highest command above mine was Twilight, followed by Cadence, Shining Armor, Luna and finally Celestia. I didn't really have anyone to talk to. So I guess a raid on the library was in order.

I made my way through the castle, which I had slowly been getting used too. My first few weeks here, maybe first month, I had constantly getting lost, evidently I ordered a guard escort to lead me around but since my travels mostly confined me to the city, throne room, dining hall and my room. I had eventually gotten the layout of some of the castle.

I walked through the double doors to the throne room, wide open Twilight and Celestia stood talking, Luna stood to the side and Cadence was next to her. Well something had happened in my presence that meant all four princesses were here. They all stopped talking as I limped forward, Celestia looked at me, I wasn't sure if it was anger, happiness, confusion or all three. I had done something possibly? But what?

"Dawn Star. Glad you could join us." Luna muttered slowly. What have I done?

"We have just had a visitor." Celestia said.

"Oh?" I asked, maybe I should just stay quiet.

"My Step mother." Celestia muttered. Oh okay, so Faust had appeared, possibly to tell them about the void and portal and whatever else she was going on about after Manehatten's fall.

"What did she tell you?" Celestia asked, buck, I couldn't remember exactly, I didn't understand it fully.

"That the Multiverse?" I began, wording the phrase slowly to try to jog memories. Then it hit me. "The Multiverse is fighting The Void, there are multiple mes and yous, and I'm required for some sort of spell later down the line, she never explained it fully, or if she did, I still don't understand." I added.

"Yes. Faust came to you and told you all this, and you didn't think to tell us?"

"I would have bought she had already told you. May I just ask quickly, why did she say 'step' mother. I thought Faust was mother to you and Luna."

"That is correct, but not us." Celestia said. "You see, Faust created the original Equestria thousands of years ago which is where she favors most, her daughters Celestia and Luna, are the originals. Me and Luna, yes the same ponies, but different examples. We aren't the originals. Every Celestia is told this along with advanced knowledge of the Multiverse, far greater than anything of any ponies understanding, it took me alone four thousand years to learn it. I have only lead ponykind for seven, nearly eight."

"Ah. So why are you all here? What's going on?"

"Well, Faust used to be able to transport herself from world to world tovoid easily, however on her visit her, she was nearly a ghost. Her mind was here, but not her body. She told us that the first of the three. Some Siren named Haste I believe, is about to destroy the Void. However there is a chance of cutting off any and all portal technology. After she said that, she vanished, and is right. As of now we cannot transport off world, and nothing can come here. Until you, Dawn. Reopen the wounds of the Multiverse."

"But why me? How, I thought it was just this world a few months ago. I don't know the first thing about portal or teleport spells." I gfunyed in reply.

"There is a prophecy. One told since Equestria's beginning. Let me try to remember." Celestia muttered, her horn glowing. What looked to be a ghost of a piece of stone slowly appeared in front of the princess. Words slowly formed on it. Eventually, it read:

In Equestrian History there will be but Three.

  Three to save the Light, and destroy the Dark.

  Three to stand apart.

  Then to come together after the Fall.

  One not of this world.

  But of Terra, a broken world of opposite.

  Full of chaos and love, hate and peace.

  Who came with the Wilds, and left with a bang.

  The second who fought Fear.

  And who failed in losing

  A made of the Mane, a city of Fire.

  To bring the Mult- back.

  Through Flame and Unjust.

  The last, but not least.

  As red as his Mane.

  A warrior at heart.

  But will fall in the end.

These three ponies, stand divided and dammed, but soon to a god, who thy call Faust.

Shall the portals be open.

And war of the worlds.

It seemed like a poem, but half of it didn't even rhyme. I made a point of telling the princess. Cadence laughed where she stood, unmoving.all eyes on me.

"Well, no. This is an age old scripture. Forged even before our founding, during the Dark Wars between the three tribes. So this has been translated to Equestrian." Celestia muttered, I nodded.

"So I am the one to face Fear?" I asked, Celestia nodded.

"Who, this Fear is, we cannot know as of yet. But as soon as he is defeated. I'm sure Faust will explain more to us, if she can get here."

I remembered that Karah asshole and opened my mouth to speak.

"I can explain that!" The oh too familiar voice boomed behind me, I turned to see Karah walking toward us, heavy, black armour on. A likewise huge sword being held up by magic floating above him. The zombie guards had likewise weaponry and armour on as they marched behind him.

"You!" Celestia, Luna and myself said in unison.

"You know this pony Dawn?" Luna asked.

"Yes I was about to explain, he captured me, that's why I came here. To warn you, but all this about the prophecy kept me from it. I'm sorry Celestia, I failed." I muttered, looking down, self pity was going to get me nowhere brain, nice job.

"Its okay Dawn, really. Now, run, call the guard. Gather the militia. This pony is a criminal and will be executed." Celestia ordered, I nodded and galloped toward the only door not being blocked by undead.

"Always the same Tia, judge, jury. Executioner. I am Fear, the thing that will rule Equestrian, now. Come get some." Karah muttered. I looked to Celestia before leaving, all of the Alicorns had their horns glowing, I should stay and fight. But if it took four Alicorns to take this guy on,what help would I do but rally the troops?

First the army, then I needed my team.