Alea iacta est

The day, rather the night, finally has come. In the Everfree Forest, it's time for an event.

From outside, the attendant ponies could see how the chains surrounding the tree snapped. the enormous tree itself, split in the middle. It broke into two halves, with loud, creaky noise and the sound of breaking twigs. Every pony around, even the two princesses, felt waves of unpleasant emotions running through them as the destruction of the tree enabled them to catch a glance at its insides. Every single look at the blackened wood brought another horrible feeling and association.

Confusion. A room. No windows.

Fear. A deformed body. Blood.

Disgust. Infected wounds. Insects, crawling over it.

Horror.

Between the two halves of the was-once tree, these black abominable pieces of wood, there was a pony. Or something like a pony. A body, lying on its back. Equine in nature, yet giving a feeling while looking at it, which gave the impression it might be just the avatar for something more powerful or maybe it being a deity itself. Four of the attendant knew the answer. Nopony mortal was aware of what the “thing” actually was, who it was. How many.  At some parts of its body, so it seemed, it had wounds, which instead of bleeding, leaked a black liquid that covered its body. On its chest, on the side of the heart, there was something that had similarities to a scar.

Then it started to move. It was a twitch. Nothing more than a twitch, which the royal sisters looked at with a stoic, yet slightly afraid stare, which a few of the guards which stood behind them, ready to strike, took as a motivation to worry.

At last the... pony moved one of its hooves. It moved slowly and every inch it moved was followed by a pain filled groan. It lifted it over his head. Turning it a bit. They couldn't see its face, but it was clear that it was looking at its hoof. A bit of the liquid that dripped from a wound, fell on its face.

“Ah... Aghhh...” That was the first sound that the thing in the tree brought forth, since its prison broke apart. It was a gargling, raspy sound that would be memorized by every member of the more or less confused audience. It wouldn't be a pleasant memory.

“Ah-ah-aghhh... Ah-I... ugh.” at this attempt of speaking the commander of the attendant unit of the guards raised an eyebrow.

It straightened itself and showed each single pony around what its face looked like. Its expression was not what could be described as “one”. While having traits of a a face grimacing with pain it had a smile on that was enlarged by a cut, that was loosely sewn,  giving it features that could've come from the face of a lunatic, which was melting together with a disturbed look that emerged from eyes that could only be described as corpse-like. Once again it was groaning.

The reactions were mixed, while all of the royal guards looked shocked or disgusted, the princesses simply continued their stoic stare. A grey pegasus hid behind the pony-like vulpine, known to the knowing as a Kitsune, that was looking at the whole scene without any obvious reaction.

“P-... Pain!” it stammered. It stood up and while its legs still shook it stammered something else “L...et's... S-s-se...e...”

The thing let sink itself on the ground, heavily coughing, its face still a horrendous grimace. It then proceeded to lift its hoof once again and looked at it with a slightly fascinated, yet stern expression. It took a deep breath and suddenly the wounds on that hoof started to disappear. One by one was closed, without leaving a scar and the coat grew back. The black liquid began to dry and turned into a black smoke. The pony sighed in a relaxed manner before lifting its other hoof in the same way. Again it took a deep breath and watched the wounds close and the coat growing back. He then proceeded to do the same thing with its hind-legs. Each time its breathing became calmer and slower and at the end of the process its face had a more relaxed expression, while still keeping the lunacy-implying traits.

Once again it stood up. Its legs still were shaky, but this time he managed to stay up. Some wounds on its back remained, but it didn't seem to mind them. It looked at the audience, a creepy smile was forming on its face.

A relieved sigh left its body as it breathed out. When, again, it opened its mouth it was speaking with a deep, slightly raspy voice that revived the unpleasant feelings and associations they felt just three or four minutes ago.

“Oh... How interesting. A warm welcome just for me." He snickered. "I hope you got something to eat for me. I haven't eaten something for...” He looked around, looked at the slightly equine vulpine (when he did, his eye twitched for a very brief moment), at the guards that accompanied the princesses and finally stopped when he looked at the royal sisters. “... Celestia, dear...” he said in a voice that was filled with a subtle anger. “... would you kindly tell me how long I was in there?” He pointed at the tree. “I mean... At least it was you who locked me in there.” he snarled a little bit while saying that. The guards, still confused, got ready to take actions, if the stranger should attempt to attack in a sudden moment of rage.

He then addressed her sister. “And... Luna. How long has it been?” Luna wasn't showing any signs of amusement. ”Even more important, how was your vacation? I hope you had time to relax, I imagine 900 years already were enough, but as it seems I have been gone for quite some time myself.” He then looked at Celestia, then again at Luna. Then at both. “Goodness, you two have become fat, are the royal cakes really that good? Would have been nice to have some, I mean, I was stuck in a tree for chaos-fucking-knows how long.” For him it was amusing to watch the eyes of the two alicorns narrow.

Suddenly the commander of the unit lunged at him, with his horn charged, ready to cast a spell. With an infuriated expression he made ready to strike the stranger down, somepony was a little bit emotional when it came to royalty, so it seemed. He hardly made any obvious attempts to move to the side or stop him somehow.

The commander was aiming at the shoulder of the stranger. One short stab with the subsequent release of the charged spell, would be enough to paralyse and contain the target.

Apparently that never happened. When he was just about to hit the stranger, he was surprised to find out that no resistance was waiting for him. He just fell through the body and hit the ground, bouncing over it and then hit the destroyed tree with an audible impact. An event that left the strange prisoner chuckling.

“Is that your guards now?” he pointed at the guard, looking quite amused. “How hilarious, I thought after the whole thing with Sombra you'd learned.” He levitated the guard towards him, faced him eye to eye and just stare at him with an insane smile. The guard struggled to escape the grip but failed to do so. Every attempt to use magic failed as well. There was no escape.

He could hear a voice in his mind.

Oh, hello new friend, call us Dread,

the voice you hear, comes from our head.

The voice had, strangely, a striking alikeness and at the same time a notable dissimilarity to the voice that he heard before. It sounded like the voice was distorted

“Can I keep him? He looks so adorable and after all the time in there, I think I need a hug.” He snickered again.

The guard looked to the princesses with a look, that had 'What the buck' printed all over it, to which the sisters didn't respond verbally. Instead Celestias horn lit up and one second later, the guard had another unpleasant meeting with the ground. Though it was  ground farther away from his attack target. Finally she spoke.

“I'll give you a chance... We... will give you, a chance.” Her tone was serious. Very serious.

“A chance?” he looked confused. “That's the first thing you have to say, cake killer? A chance for what? A chance to do what? Because...” He rubbed his neck. “I can't read minds, you know?” He made a short pause. “Well... At least not... your mind.”

“We give you a chance to give up and use your powers for good.” Celestia said.

“If you are willing to do that...” the princess of the moon added “we are willing to drop the charges against you. All of them.”

The only reaction he had to this deal, offered by the celestial sisters, the bringer of day and night, the alicorns worshipped as the goddesses of the firmament, was that rolled his eyes.

“Uh-huh. Sure. Why not, I mean, as far as I can tell, you don't have any preparations for this case. Last time, you tricked me. Said you would bring me Sombras little... pet.” He chuckled.

“I am not here because you wanted to negotiate, I am here because someone has let me out. Not you. Maybe one of the others. Maybe another councillor. Probably. But you... Cake killer... You weren't prepared for this, didn't want this to happen, you thought the prison would keep me contained for at least, mhhh, let's see...” For a short moment he seemed distracted, he stomped on the ground for a few times, as if he was looking for something. “another 400 years. You wanted to seal me away for 500 years? I've been stuck in there for a 100 years, a long time, most ponies I knew are dead now... In my opinion that was really... really... unnecessary. And by the way, I didn't even know crystals of this size existed, their magical properties are amazing.” He referred to the gem that was used to keep the spell up. An easy, effective way to keep up shields, time-locks and barriers.

Celestias face was taken over by a worried expression. There was a distaste for this situation. The two looked at each other. None of them liked where this was going and the guards seemed to notice exactly that.

“But anyway, as much as I admire your capabilities when it comes to magic amplifiers, I still am a little bit... How should I call it... angry.” The duo didn't like at all where this was going.

“What I mean with that...” Another pause. His voice, though calm, was filled with perceptible anger. His already oversized smile grew more.

“You obviously don't have a back-up plan.” A black area, a liquid or mass similar to the one that he bled when the tree had broken, started to emit from his hooves.

“You don't have the magic capabilities to contain me again.” The black mass took the shape of chains, which light as a shadow, headed towards the trees.

“As far as I am concerned, there is nothing that comes close to the magic powers of the elements, otherwise you would've brought them with you.” As the shadowy chains reached the trees, their leaves turned black and their bark twisted itself into something that loosely resembled facial expressions.

“That means just one thing...” Down from the leaves, out of the trees, like dolls and puppets on strings or rather chains, many disfigured marionettes in various shapes and forms, equine, vulpine, feline, humanoid, hanging down. About twenty from each tree. “...you, the most powerful beings ponykind currently has to offer, won't defeat me.” It was clear by now, that this wasn't going to end good.

“Personally... I love the sound of that.”

-

He slowly approached the pult. Here, where possibilities were not limited to the laws of reality. The one place, where the capabilities of his creativity were theoretically endless. In front of him, in front of the pult, a wide room with similarities to the theatre in Canterlot. The oldest one, which was the first one built in Equestria.

On each of the seats a shadowy figure was sitting, hooded without any facial traits. It was how he always imagined them. The other half. The shadows, the darkness, the nightmares, his food. Spirits which were hungry for freedom, some of them for years, some for hundreds of years. Altogether 3796. And he remembered the taste of each single one of them. They all were what brought him the titles that described the nature of his preferences. Bringer of darkness. Father of nightmares. Kchsychkka. A word from the changeling language that translated to God of darkness. A little bit too dramatic for a pony which only wanted to dedicate his life to enjoyment... But, oh what fun he had. Before the banishment.

However, nearly every single piece of this power was sitting in this one room. Enslaved, hungry for freedom to create and consume misery. This was certainly going to be an interesting evening.

The room was filled with an nearly endless network of voices. One by one had been added to the enormous canon, that he would sometime let speak to when he felt like he wanted to listen. Self induced schizophrenia. Most ponies would kill themselves.

When he stood in front of all of them, Darkness in its purest representations, they went silent, they were forced to remain silent. Being in control had so many advantages.

“Filliiiies and gent...” They are not equines. “Wait... Eh...” What are they called... Eh... Er... “Okay, you know what? Since I don't know what you actually qualify as, would you all mind to tell me how I should address you. And... Now!” For a single moment Tartarus broke loose in this world beyond a sane ponies imagination. The endless storm of voices turned into a cacophonic disgusting chorus and for a short second, the creator of this realm turned into the equivalent of a screaming madpony, before he turned everything silent once again.

“Riiiight...” was the beginning of a dialogue that certainly would bring a wave of chaos to the citizens of Equestria. “... since I believe that we won't get to a compromise that way, let's skip to the actual reason we all are here. Well, we've been 'here' for quite a while. Some up to 1000 years now, when the self-proclaimed  King of Shadows floated over the ground in Equestria. Originally I hoped that he would accompany us all in this... little prison, but well, I got a little offer for you all. Are you all listening?” He waited for a few moments if any of them had something to say. “Just joking, of course you don't answer, you don't speak unless I let you. Oh, but I know how sick you are of this, you all are, of this.” For a second, he chuckled. “And I totally understand that, you are not here for fun, you all have ambitions, which I am shamelessly cock-blocking.” He grinned. The cut once again added a creepy trait to his appearance. For a second he just stared at his audience, his forced, dark audience.

“But I am here to offer you a deal. A deal we all will love.” While they couldn't speak normally. They could whisper. And they did. This was the first time in a few hundred years they heard something like that.

“The thing is this, we've been stuck in a tree. For a hundred years, to be more precise. And, after all this time, I thought I change my plans. I'll let you go. All... of you.” For a moment he just listened to the hooded creatures whispering. Fun evening. It just had to be.

“Of course there are conditions. You will play by my rules. And there will be the risk that some of you won't escape. You still will be free from me though. But... let's get to the point, shall we? I want to escape and start all over again.” Whispering. Less than before. Still they whispered.

For a few moments he explained his conditions. The rules which they would play after. When he was done, there was just one thing to complete the request with.

“Understood? If you want to escape this place, if you are ready to leave, give me a signal, that I will understand without letting you speak.”

Under the hoods, each single one of them, wide, silvery, crescentic smiles formed. 3796 in total.

“I thought so.”

3797.

-

At this point the chains were surrounded by black smoke, that was moving quickly towards the trees. When they reached them, the puppets started to move, starting with a little twitch that turned into spastic movement. From the eyes, if existent, variously coloured liquids leaked, mostly in darker shades.

The stranger smiled at this.

“Does that mean, you reject the offer?” The lunar princess asked. They both hoped to make it through the whole affair without escalation. A hope they probably would have to abandon.

“That means, the negotiations are over.” In this one sentence he used all the capabilities of his voice range to make it sound threatening. He didn't know whether or not it worked, but it certainly was enough to make his point clear.

At this very moment the moon turned red. It was a dirty red with similarities to the colour of blood. At the same time the face of the princess, Luna, turned red.

“Oh, what a lovely colour Luna, fabulous, the moon should look more often like that.” he remarked sarcastically. Then he covered his ears. Lunas eyes turned white, he felt a storm rising while she probably started a tirade about how he was an abominable creature and on the inside, she asked herself how he did that. The same temperament as thousand years ago. But he didn't expect her to consult a psychiatrist while being stuck on a flying rock for a time span that equated the half of his life span.

The storm stopped and the enraged princess seemingly tried to calm down.

“Ok... Whatever you just yelled, I don't care, can we get on with this? I am very bored and out there are many ponies which I surely would love to meet.” Sometimes he wasn't sure whether he has been in that tree just because he was so repulsive.

He kept his ears covered, but even though he didn't hear anything, what the princess said was still obvious, a very short word which made about 60 armoured ponies and thestrals move. Guards!

They positioned themselves around him and simultaneously lit their horns. The thestrals and earth ponies just stood among the unicorns. Apparently they seemed to wait for him to interrupt the spell. Probably their amours we enhanced to prevent direct manipulation, maybe not. It was just too interesting to watch

“Oh, look at that. What do we have here..?” He took his hooves of his ears. The never changing smile still fitting its description. He curiously watched the guards as they gathered around him.

Around him a bubble formed. Starting from the ground, it began as a ring, which turned into a bowl. Into something that looked like a vase and finally a complete bubble. The never ending smile just started to look a little bit fascinated.

“A Runehearth-Cage, splendid! Very clever, indeed." He chuckled. "But not very creative.”

“Talk as much as you wish. We'll give you just one more chance, are you willing to give up?” Luna said.

His grin. Didn't fade.

“You still are going to be contained and Equestria will stay safe. Think about that when you think about your answer.” her sister added.

Fun. This was so much fun.

“Is it?” He demonstratively raised an eyebrow. “Ah... I don't think so.” In that moment a few of the puppets exploded. Clouds of dark smoke or fog flew from the remains and started to circle around the guards. The clouds headed to their muzzles and forced themselves into the nostrils. The bubble started to fade. And so did the hope for the prevention of escalation. Guard after guard fell over and the smoke flew out of their mouths.

“Neat little trick, isn't it?” He made an rather obvious attempt to twist his smile into the most obnoxious one he could do with this face. “An old friend taught it to me.”

“But... Look we are alone. In a certain way. The fox-idiot, is still there and the grey pegasus. Wonderful!” His horn lit up and in short flash the guards and the pegasus disappeared. A teleportation spell. The 'fox idiot', who didn't do anything until yet, uttered a barely audible word, that probably was some kind of insult.

“Ah... Much better, isn't it.” He looked around. The black smoke circled around his legs. “Just us immortals. Now we can talk. Or fight. I don't know what you want to do right now, I would be okay with both. I crave amusement.”

His question was answered when to streams of energy hit him. Right before they hit him, he crossed his hooves and lit his own horn and yelled against the streams. “I like that much more, much more interesting!” The kitsune just stared at the whole scenery. Judging by the look on his face, he currently was considering to interfere.

“Bucking Tartarus, this hurts!” This was followed by a maniacal and hysterical laugh.

For a short moment nothing happened, then he teleported out of the way. The streams hit a tree behind him and left a quite enormous hole.

“You both really became old!” It was an announcement. One of two. The second one premised what was about to come, in a clearly audible fizzling, that came from above the two alicorns. The two just had enough time to look up, to see how a gigantic black fireball-like orb was about to change its shape into a massive beam of fiery destructive force.

“Good night fillies, Equestria is going to be a fun place!” The energy he formed turned into a serpent-like stream of black flames. It was certain that the princesses wouldn't be able to stop this attack.

Then the unexpected happened. Out of nowhere, directly above the princesses, a cloud appeared which left an enormous wall of ice behind. The impact shook the ground on which the ice was standing, but the cold blockade withstood the attack. An icy needle flew directly at the stranger and struck him down.

He fell directly on the barrier. While he fell he thought about what just happened. And a name came to his mind.

Isan... Of course...

Just as he thought this, the grey pony jumped on him, messily ripped out the needle and stomped on the wound, effectively pinning the stranger on the ground. The blood leaking from the wound, was red.

He tried to say something that came out as a gargling sound. The projectile went through his vocal cords. Talking wasn't possible

-

This time was different. In this realm, he wasn't in complete control. A point of intersection between ponies who were in possession of the shards. Isan was sitting in front of him.

“What. Have you idiot been doing. That you were locked up through a spell like that? What did you do to anger her so much?” He was angry. Not quite surprising.

The smile faded. “Hm... What I've been doing? I was locked up and to be honest, I don't know what suddenly led too this... radical measure. My take on the whole thing is, that they simply were afraid of my 'food' coming free and... Well... That's it, actually. That is what I believe to be the reason why they tried to lock me up.”

Isan, for a short moment hesitated to take even into consideration that it was only that what happened. Then he gave up his doubts. At least partially. He took a deep breath and in front of him appeared a cup with tea.

“Alright, let us just assume this is true, for now. Then excuse me for... Attacking you like that.” He pointed at the open wound at his throat.

The bucking physical appearance just has to be the one used outside. Saying he hated this rule, it would be an understatement.

“Who cares, we know it won't kill me.” His conversational partner scratched the backside of his head.

“Yes... It still looks like it hurts... Really hurts, I mean.” He just rolled his eyes.

“Since when are you actually concerned about anything else, than your little friends?”

He could see how Isan started to frown.

“And since when are you so snarky? Probably you have your reasons, but as far as I'm concerned this isn't really like you." He took a sip from the tea. "But, to answer your question, the tree scared one of them and since a while, he had constant nightmares. And since I am aware of your...” for a short moment he thought about what could be an appropriate term. “...hobbies, I was sure that you were somehow responsible for this.” He took another sip from the tea. It wasn't real tea but it tasted like it was, joys of illusionism.

I have to correct myself princess, your magic amplifiers suck. Not even capable of containing a pony and a few thousand shadows and their influence.

“Huh... Amusing... Anyway, I believe I have to leave. The princesses aren't really happy to see me, as you might have noticed.” Isan nodded slowly.

“Oh and could you please ask them how my performance was, I doubt they would answer to me. For me it felt a little bit stiff, but I can't tell, honestly.” Isan slowly shook his head, sighing simultaneously.

“Are you really still into that? Just... When did you become so silly, why would... he give someone like... you one of the shards? You are as troublesome as one can get.”

“I already was when I left the changelings. They couldn't decide whether I am the god of darkness or the god of madness.” He snickered. Oh, fun with changelings, that really, was fun. “Interestingly, I was neither, at least to my knowledge.” He heard Isan growl and ignored the last question.

“Alright... I still would like to know, where are you going?” He already knew what was going to be the answer. It was going to be the same one as always.

“When have I ever been able to answer this question?” He disappeared.

-

The ice cracked. While the impact of the attack shook the ground though the wall withstood the power. Now Isan would let it break, it served its purpose, now it would just slow down the progress of the situation.

Nothing happened for a short moment, then the barrier broke and turned into a rain of corned ice that was comparable to hail. Among it was a pony with a normally deadly wound and another that suddenly disappeared, together with the vulpine that had observed the whole situation. They wouldn't be needed any more. Hopefully

The body with the wounded throat fell down right next to the princesses. Both stepped closer with narrowed eyes, as if they were waiting for the next trick he would pull of. He stood up and from his mouth another gargled sentence with unidentifiable was uttered. He teleported a few steps and appeared in front of the tree once again, where he looked up and the wound started to close. It took only a few seconds until the seemingly lethal wound was closed. The fur, however, remained blood-stained.

“Aw, goodness, look at that. How filthy.” He slowly rubbed over his throat. “What an unpleasant feeling. So sticky...”

The two alicorns just kept glaring at him. No chance to contain. No chance to defeat. No chance to-

“I give up.”

Huh?

“Fillies, I am done here. No need to fight. I'm leaving.”

Again he lifted his hoof, this time he moved it in slow circles.

“But you know... I still want to play, just... a little bit.” In front of his hoof a dice appeared. “Want to play? Celestia? Luna?” The older sister was just about to answer, when the stranger cut her off. Demonstratively rolling his eyes.

“That was a rhetorical question, I am going to play anyway. So will you.” In front of his hoof a dice appeared. A small, black dice with white dots.

“The actual question is, would you like to know the rules?” He levitated the dice on his still circling hoof, trying to balance it. “Don't bother to answer, I'm gonna tell you anyway...” The dice fell from his hoof, directly before it touched the ground, he catched it with his magic.

“Uh-oh, we don't want this one to fall down already.” Once again his grin turned obnoxious. “But okay, let's get to business, I get really bored and you are, boring... No offense.”

Celestia sighed, she should have sealed him somewhere else. In an isolated place, in the castle. It was too late now, the only thing she could do now...

“What are the rules of your... Game” ... was damage prevention. Their opposition tilted his head. Giving them a notably confused look.

“You give up, already? I mean, not that I didn't expect that, at some point, but really?” This really was unexpected.

“But alright, let's get to the point already. You see this dice?” The two sisters looked at each other before answering the question by nodding. Hesitantly.

“It's really easy. I'm gonna release, the Food!”

...What?

“The dice will determine what is going to happen. How 'they' will be released. In what form, whether or not you will be capable of containing them et cetera, bla. Bla. Bla. Just until I am far away, I mean, after that, the spell will stop working. Maybe you will have to do it alone... maybe you get your guards back..." He chuckled. "Who knows? But the more you catch, the less will do their thing when they reach your subjects, I don't think I have to remind you of what that would be." He tilted his head a little bit to the side and then look up. "And you will have to decide whether you try to catch me or them. Isn't this exciting?!”

“What do you mean by...”

“Dice!” He threw the dice on the ground. Just to see it disappear somewhere in the high grass.

“Ohh... Fun-time.” he muttered. Then the guards reappeared. Something teleported them back. Conscious. “Looks like it was the one.” From the spot in which the dice disappeared, a black sphere rose. It levitated about one and a half metre above the ground were it proceeded to grow until it reached a radius of approximately three feet.

“Or... four?” On the surface of the sphere something started to move. Something crawled over it. Bugs. Small bugs which shared the colour scheme of the dice, that created a craggy constantly growing coat. More and more bugs crawled over it, until the grovelling expansion almost touched the ground. Not one of them fell down. Then suddenly, the whole movement stopped.

“Alright. It's five then. Now let's talk about the last few rules. Currently, all my lovely, hateful little snacks, are bound by a spell. Once I am gone, the spell will stop working and they will run free. Understood?”

The princesses didn't react, instead they looked at him the same stern way he already witnessed before.

“I'll take that as a yes. Spells won't work, rather, won't directly affect them. Work around that somehow. Then it won't be an issue... I guess. Also, don't squash them or they will be released instantly. No second chance, step on them and one pony out there, will be very, very sad. Or crazy, or angry, or hateful, or Sombra...-ry, I am not quite sure what will happen. Or 'who' will happen.” He looked at the princesses and the guards. The smile now rather playful. “ But who cares anyway, let's play!”

He lit his horn and disappeared. Leaving behind a second sphere that again was covered in insects and another chuckle. The bugs started to move in a ecstasy-suggesting way and started to fall of the spheres. Starting to crawl over the ground or flying away. The princesses already made their decision.

“Every unicorn in this unit is ordered to go to Ponyville and create a barrier, everypony else stays and helps to contain the outbreak, the safety of the citizens has highest priority.” the princess of the moon ordered.

“This is a catastrophe.” Her sister muttered.

-

Two miles away from the split tree, the princesses and the royal guard the stranger reappeared. He let himself fall to the ground and started to cough. Several red dots appeared on the ground below him. him. He was bleeding. He was coughing blood.

A bleeding immortal madpony in the Everfree Forest. And I can't decide whether he was doing the fishstick or looking for a box. But free, at last. Bleeding, weak and without audience. But free.

He grinned. This was going to be fun.