Dark Royalty Rising

I looked out on the sleeping village, a dark observer to the peace. It was a cloudless night, and the moon shone high in the air. Despite this, though, it was incredibly dark. Dark enough that you couldn’t see something unless it was an inch in front of your face. I found myself balancing atop one of the spires of town hall, which was a remarkable feat for anyone else since the tip was smaller around than a dime, but it wasn’t all that impressive to me.

I sneered at nothing in particular. The fact that the inhabitants of the village were asleep, sound in their beds, not worrying about anything... It made me sick. “But all of that is about to change,” I thought. A sinister smile crept onto my face as thoughts of what I was going to do this world entered my mind.

I jumped down from the spire I was on, to where I had left my only belongings in this world. To anyone else, these items meant nothing, but to me, they were invaluable. The first is a thick, hardback book, about as large as most atlases, filled with blank pages. The other is a feather quill, pure black, with a tip sharp enough to pierce right through flesh and bone. Like I said, to anyone else, they weren’t special, but to me, they meant the world.

I picked up the book with one hand, grasping the quill with my other, and opened to a random page. With a flourish, I raised the quill high into the air, before stabbing it at the page. The instant its point came into contact with the paper, my arm froze, in perfect position to start writing. I grinned again. The possibilities of what could happen next were endless! “Pace yourself, Lazarus. Let’s start with getting the minions back.”

My goal set, I started writing. My hand instantly became a blur, streaking across the page, filling it with the words I thought as soon they entered my mind. The cover of the book started glowing, softly at first, but rapidly growing in intensity. Soon it was like I was holding a lightbulb in my hands, illuminating a vast area around me.

After a few minutes, I stopped. I had completely filled three pages, each with a different short story. The words were compacted together so tightly that it almost looked like I had merely taken a black marker and run it across the page. With my work done, I slammed the book shut. The light from the cover flashed brightly, then dissipated. A dark chuckle escaped my lips. “The Prince of Darkness has returned.”

In a graveyard, somewhere in Equestria, something was happening. The dirt on the graves was beginning to move, shifting around like sand in the wind. In the coffins, corpses were beginning the break apart, bones shattering in two, decayed flesh peeling off of skulls.

In the center of the graveyard, a cloud of darkness hung. Pieces of dead bodies flew to this cloud like a magnet, shards of legs and strips of skin. The macabre materials swirled around the cloud, like an abominable whirlwind. The cloud began to become compact, smashing the materials together, forcing them into the shape of a beast. The process was quick, and when the body was complete, it flew into its new home.

The beast opened its eyes, terrifying orbs of pure white light. It quickly took to its most natural stance, crouching on its long, brittle-looking legs, splaying it hands out in front of it. These hands, instead of fingers, had long, sharp talons, talons that could tear through steel like it was paper. Though it had the general shape of a man suffering from starvation, and looked just as frail, this monster held terrifying strength within its limbs.

If it could, the beast would’ve been smiling. It had a body again, and if it had a body, that meant its master had finally returned. Oh, how it wished it were with master right now! Oh, how it wished it could be taking its masters orders, killing those he wanted dead, stalking those that he wanted to torture! But, it had to wait. Not long, of course. Master had summoned it. It needed to get to him. But it was still time that could’ve been spent with master.

And so, The Rake started its journey. It scrambled across gravestones, quickly heading into the forest that was behind the graveyard. As the trees surrounded it, it knew no fear of getting lost, as it merely followed its instincts to master.

In the heart of the Everfree Forest, a deep fog spread across the ground. This fog was unusual, which is saying something for the Everfree. Though winter had long passed by now, this low-hanging cloud was remarkably chilly. It was also incredibly deep. So deep that you couldn’t see any more than maybe a few inches in front of you.

The fog spread rapidly through the forest, engulfing the trees and animal nests. Animals fled from the fog, sensing the evil it contained. And those that were either too foolish or too slow to escape quickly began to suffocate, as an unnatural force tightened around their lungs.

At the center of the cloud of fog, a tree erupted from the ground. It wasn’t like other trees, though. Its trunk was slim, and jet black. Its branches, leafless and dead, twisted into the sky like the claw of some great beast. It was remarkably tall, easily growing to the height of a two storey building.

But the strangest thing about this tree was that it wasn’t a tree at all. It was a different being altogether. A being with skin white as a sheet, a dark business suit with a blood-red tie, and a smooth, featureless head like an egg.

The being looked around its surroundings, despite not having eyes. “So, the prince has returned,” it thought smoothly. It relaxed its arms at its sides as the numerous tentacles sprouting from its back pushed against the ground, lifting it into the air. “It’s best not to keep him waiting.”

The tentacles moved across the ground smoothly and rapidly, as if they were just extra sets of legs, propelling The Slender Man through the trees to the prince.

(Canterlot Castle)

Luna looked out from her balcony and released a melancholic sigh. She had just finished raising the moon into the sky, officially making it night. However, while she had made the night beautiful, that didn’t change the fact that ponies couldn’t stay awake forever. Everyone was asleep: he subjects, Celestia, even the nobles that would normally come to the princesses for the most trivial things were sound in their beds by now! And it was that fact, that nopony was awake for her to so much as chat with, that made Luna realize she was bored.

Well, bored wasn’t quite the right word for it. Bored was having to sit through the weekly royal guard status updates, which, more often than not, were mostly the same. At the moment, Luna wasn’t exactly bored. It was just that she found herself with free time on her hooves, a rare occurrence for either princess.

A sudden thought popped into Luna’s head. “I haven’t visited the royal statue garden in some time!” For Celestia and Luna, the royal statue garden was more than just a place to admire statues. It was a trophy room of sorts. A place to see all the villains who had foolishly tried to attack Equestria in the past. And she hadn’t visited it in a while. Not before she had turned into Nightmare Moon, in fact.

Luna unfurled her wings and flapped them hard, lifting her a few feet in the air. She gently glided through the air, landing at the entrance of the statue garden. She entered, and started looking at all of the various foes that had been defeated by her and her sister.

As she walked amongst the hedges, Luna decided to make a bit of a game of it, and started seeing if she could remember each villain. “Let’s see... There’s Discord, the trouble maker... Krastos, that crazy stallion... The Smooze...” She shuddered at the memory of the Smooze. It had been a messy fight, and even weeks afterwards, she was still struggling to get her fur completely clean. “Good thing we didn’t have to deal with the Smooze getting released.”

Despite the things she was remembering not exactly being the happiest of memories, Luna couldn’t keep a smile from growing on her face. Each statue she could identify was another villain that she and Celestia had stopped, one more threat to Equestria taken down. She turned a corner, and saw an odd sight: an empty pedestal. Luna paused in her tracks. An empty pedestal meant one of two things: either something was free(unlikely), or Celestia had been swept up by royal duties and had forgotten to set the statue(slightly less unlikely). Deciding it would be best to jog her memory of the statue, Luna trotted over to the empty pedestal.

The hunk of stone looked very different from it’s brethren. Whereas the other pedestals were made of a smooth, grey stone, this one was rough. It looked like the tip of a mountain in miniature. It’s surface was a cold black, and it was cracked all along the top and sides. The small nameplate, used to identify the statues in case one of the princesses forgot its name(very unlikely), was covered in dust. With a huff, Luna blew the dust away and read the name.

Lazarus

Luna froze. It felt like her blood had turned to ice. No, this particular foe most certainly had been put on display. She remembered, because she had personally seen to it. But the lack of a statue could mean only one thing.

The princess of the night started beating her wings together. She flew, faster than she normally did, to Celestia’s room, crashing through the great glass doors to the balcony instead of opening them. With the princess of the day awakening from the commotion caused by her sister, Luna spoke, quickly and with a hint of panic in her voice. “SISTER! LAZARUS HAS ESCAPED!”

((Earlier that day))

Today was like any other. Sun shining, birds singing, yada yada yada. The kind of day that made me want to tear out my soul and stomp it into the ground. Of course, I couldn’t do that. Can’t really do much of anything when you’re a statue.

I glared at the few ponies in the royal statue garden, or, as I call it, the royal prison. I was just another face in the crowd of enemies the Equestrian diarchs faced. Another spot to be wiped. Another brick in the wall. Another garden ornament.

It was that part that pissed me off the most. I am the PRINCE of DARKNESS! I am the RULER of EVIL! My very PRESENCE strikes FEAR into the hearts of men, and can reduce the BRAVEST soldier into BABY BEGGING FOR ITS MOTHER! How is it that I, ME, the GREAT SHADOW, am reduced to naught but a fanciful DECORATION?!

“Scoots, wait up!”

If I could move my ears, they would’ve twitched. I recognized that voice. Any one who had seen the show would recognize it. How could you forget one of the most sickeningly adorable fillies on the show, along with her equally disgusting friends?

Sure enough, before my very eyes, around the corner came the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo appeared first, followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell. They were talking, maybe arguing based on AB’s expression, but they were also looking adorable.

I have never wanted to throw up more in my life. “Oh, it’s bad enough I’m petrified, but now I have to watch YOU THREE?!” When I thought that, the CMC suddenly stopped, before turning to face me. It was weird. Did they hear me? “Um hello? Right here?”

They heard me. They could definitely hear me. Instantly they started talking amongst themselves again, probably about whether or not they should hightail it out of here. I cleared my throat(or projected the sound of me clearing my throat into their minds. Or something.) and spoke again. “Oh, Girls... Would you like to hear a story? More specifically, my story?”

(A few minutes later)

I couldn’t help but laugh as I felt the bonds of my prison weakening. I had enraptured the CMC, and had spun a magnificent tale, painting me as a tragic hero, and Celestia as the villain. In my ‘despair’, I wailed about how ‘if only somepony could free me’. And now, the three fillies were arguing, trying to decide whether or not I could be trusted(I think. Didn’t pay attention too much).

Of course, there wasn’t anything they could actually do themselves to free me. They were just foals. No way they could break Harmony magic. But what’s the best way to disrupt Harmony magic? Disharmony. And nothing is more disharmonious than a fight breaking out amongst three great friends.

Cracks spread along my stone surface, chips of rock breaking off and dissolving into nothingness. I’m impatient, though, so I gathered up what power I could, and slammed into my prison.

Instantly, all the rock covering me dissolved away. I was free. Free to walk, free to breathe. “Free to retake my throne,” I mumbled. The three fillies looked up at me in shock. I ignored them, and stepped down from my pedestal. On the rock, beneath where my feet had been, were my book and quill. I seized them in my hands, relishing the feeling of them. I turned the book to a random page, and wrote a few simple sentences.

‘The Cutie Mark Crusaders passed out at the sight of Lazarus, forgetting all about his release and thinking he was just a dream.

The shadows of the statue garden, recognizing their master, bended and distorted, becoming his personal highway system.’

I heard the sound of three unconscious bodies hitting the ground behind me.I looked at the shadow my pedestal cast. I stepped into it, and was engulfed in shadows. I felt wind rushing across my face. At the same time, I felt exhausted. I hadn’t used my powers in millennia, though, so it was expected that it would be difficult using them again. “I’ll rest, just enough to regain my strength. Then, I’ll take back my throne!”