From One Villain to Anotherby GalacticJamChaptersMaking FriendsThe HeistMemoriesReformation?Home Sweet HomeDealing With The DevilMaking Friends The small camp-fire lit up a the night as The Warden lay near it and began to poke some more wood into the flame, he put his hand over it causing some of the large chunks of wood to combust; making the fire shine like a beacon in the night. "Well, that sure was eventful," he said to himself. He shot his head up and looked into the dark, he heard bickering of pony's as hoof-steps got closer to his fire. As two young unicorns walked towards the camp-fire, they were met by a crimson coloured unicorn sitting on a log. The Warden's pony form. "Oh, hello there," one of the unicorns said. "Hello, beautiful night isn't it?" The Warden complimented the night sky as he smiled at the duo. "Indeed, we were just on the lookout for anything suspicious because of that massive shock-wave and the crater," the larger one of the two explained. "At this late in the night?" The Warden asked in suspicion. "Yes, we usually do this sort of thing anyway as are retired night guards so it's hard to break the routine," they chuckled. "Anyway, see you later!" The two waved as they walked off into the darkness. The same routine repeated three times, a group of two or three guards wandering around the plains and running into The Warden's camp-fire. As a lone guard wandered into the camp-site, he let out a heavy sigh and stood up. "Can I ask what you are doing, I have had three patrols come past my way and it is starting to bug me!" He shouted, the guard lifted his lantern and walked slowly towards him. "Sorry about that, since Princess Twilight lives in Ponyville patrols are on the double". "Princess Twilight?" "Surely you know who that is!" "Nope, don't come from around these parts so I'm not exactly up to date on news". "Princess Twilight is the new princess who lives here in Ponyville. Can't miss her, purple coat, dark purple hair with a streak in it and is an alicorn". "I see, looks like things have changed since my last visit a long time ago". "Anyway, I got a patrol to do," the guard informed as he walked away. "So, purple is a princess. I thought she looked different to the others," The Warden talked to himself. "I need a proper name to blend in with the populace". The Warden thought long and hard until. "How about, Crimson Flame!" Suddenly, he felt weak and his vision began to blur, his eyes glowed a bright red as he put out the fire. "I need food, who shall be my prey," he grinned. He saw the guard with the lantern a good distance away but that didn't stop him as he began to run towards him like a deprived predator. As he advanced on the guard, he began to get paranoid, looking left and right erratically. "Who's there!" He shouted. "Your fate," a deep voice said as it chuckled. Crimson walked out of the shadows as he charged up his horn. "Fresh prey," he grinned as a single fire beam hit the guard's heart. He dropped the lantern and attempted to buck him, but was too late as purple energy began to escape the guard and enter Crimson's mouth. The guard soon dropped dead as Crimson laughed. "This is easier than I thought". Morning As Crimson woke up, he heard a large commotion coming from a distance. He looked up and saw several ponies crowded around a white tent. He walked towards the crowd and saw several guards standing in a statue-like form outside a border indicated with tape. "Well, didn't take them long," he commented. "If I could all ask you to stand aside please as we investigate this sudden event," A large stallion asked. He was wearing silver armour and held a spear in his right foreleg. As Crimson walked away, he was confronted by a mare wearing a black robe. "Not bad, takes a long time to practice soul reaping spells," she complimented. "Who are you?" Crimson asked. "I represent a cult, your arrival has been anticipated, Warden," she grinned. "So, a necromancer cult. Long time since one of you even dared to surface". "Indeed, I know that you left Tartarus to be free, but you are weaker than you usually are as the lack of soul energy in Equestria. Correct?" "You know a lot about me, are you one of my sirens?" "My family have been with necromancy for thousands of years, we sacrificed souls to Wardens for what we desire and yet never expected one to stay with us". "If you are necromancers, show me a summoning spell," Crimson challenged. "No sweat," she powered up her horn to summon a creature with a ethereal skull covered in black mist. "A seeker, not bad. OK I believe you". "We want to make you more powerful, make you more powerful than any being that walked Equus!" "Many have made that pact and have failed, what makes you think you can do it?" "We have the collected knowledge of thousands of minds, even Starswirl the Bearded did not know what we know!" "I am guessing you want to use that on me, to overthrow the current leaders and put me in charge?" "Yes, we are fed up Celestia's tyranny". "I only have visual feed on my Clairvoyance Orb, The most powerful being I know is sun butt". "That is her, will you come with us to our abode?" "I will, lead the way," Crimson agreed. The mare then put her hoof on Crimson and soon found themselves in a cave. "Is this him?" A elder stallion asked, he walked up to Crimson and pointed at him. "Yes, The Warden did agree to follow us as you said," the mare replied. Soon the elder bowed. "My lord, please excuse our delayed welcoming. I am Scarred Curse, the elder of the Children of Tartarus". "I don't mind," Crimson waved a hoof of dismissal. "I do not mean to be disrespectful my lord, but I was expecting you to be less...Equine". "Oh, this is just a disguise," he informed as black smoke enveloped Crimson. Revealing The Warden. "This is the true form of myself". "I see, you wield Changeling magic?" "No, Changelings wield Tartarus magic," I corrected. "I believe you are helping me to grow strong to help defeat Salad Tier?" "Celestia my lord. This tyrannical princess puts a ban on the path to ascension, she thinks that it can end Equestria once and for all!" "That's because it will". The Warden chuckled. "Dark magic is transferring energies from Tartarus to Equestria, to think that it has no dangerous effect on this world is pure stupidity". "So, will you help us achieve our goal, my lord?" "I could, but how much is this future worth to you?" "I see, how does two souls sound?" The elder grinned as two mares were pushed into the light. "Hmm, you know exactly what I want but that payment is too low for the continuous service," I rejected the deal. The elder rubbed his chin. "I see, we know of an artefact that is a direct link to Tartarus' energy," the elder hovered a page in a book with a picture of a fountain on it. "This is the Fountain of Souls, apparently it is being taken to the forbidden gallery tomorrow so we need a plan". "I have one plan. Disguise, kill and take". "You don't understand my lord, the entire place is warded by Celestia's magic! Only guards can get in" The Warden just grinned. "It's a good thing I have a plan that takes that into account too". The Next Day, Canterlot Several ponies were crowded around a gigantic wooden board and loud chatter filled the atmosphere. "So, let me get this straight. All of the current victims have massive burn marks around the chest area?" A guard wearing silver armour recalled. "Yes sir, this is more than just a simple animal attack. This is murder," a young stallion confirmed as he looked at the several pictures of dead ponies. All with severe burns around the chest. "Of course, the forensics teams are picking up something different to unicorn magic however. Care to explain that?" "Who said anything about unicorns? I think that it is linked to that massive shock-wave two days ago". "Are you considering that this is some sort of invasion?" "Might not be, possibly some sort of inter-dimensional being we do not know. All I am saying is that alert the Princesses, they may have some leads as well". "Watch your tongue! The royals are not tools," the large stallion turned onto the young, thin, weak one. "Of course, no offence but it would be worth at least seeing if they have anything that can clear the shroud in this case," the young stallion turned away and walked off into an office. "Weakling," the large stallion scoffed as he walked outside. Crimson began to trail the stallion as he walked towards the castle, he began to advance and soon turned into an alley. The large stallion turned and drew his sword towards him. "What do you want creep!" He shouted as he walked towards Crimson. "Oh, I am so sorry if it seemed like I was following you. I was trying to give this to you," he handed a letter to him. The stallion snatched it and opened it, a purple gas released from the letter and he soon collapsed. "Sweet dreams, Captain". The body soon dissipated away as soon as another guard walked into the alley. "Hey! What's going on here?" The guard pointed his sphere towards Crimson. "Nothing, isn't that correct? Perhaps I should visit sometime, I mean that new deposit on those locks must make that little house secure? Good protection for your foals," Crimson grinned as walked slowly towards the guard, who's spear was shaking. "Who are you?" The guard asked in fear. "Someone who is doing nothing, isn't that correct?" "Y...yes," the guard gulped as he slowly backed away into the streets. Crimson picked up a pendant around his neck. "Works like a charm," he smiled as he walked back into the streets. "I see you liked my little contraption," a voice said in his head. "I do indeed, this makes intimidation of weak minded mortals easier on so many levels," Crimson smiled to himself as information from other civilians began to flood towards him. "Mary Sue's do not exist, everypony has skeletons in their closet and this opens the door to that closet". "Well, I heard that they are going to enchant guards with new magical encryptions so it may not be so easy this time". "Fun while it lasted, but I still have access to the civilians". "Now we are going to the lower levels of Canterlot Castle, the fountain of souls is being delivered there so try and intercept it". "Will do". Crimson walked up to a set of old stone stairs leading down to a concealed alley. After walking for a few minutes, he saw several ponies guarding a crate which was standing near a small, steel gate. "Bingo. Now, let's get in close," he muttered to himself. Suddenly a guard walked past him and looked at the path behind. Crimson powered up his horn and fired a beam of fire at him and absorbed the energy coming from his body. He picked up the armour and his helmet and put it on. "Fits like a glove". After disposing of the body, Crimson walked towards the wooden crate and ran his hoof over it. "Careful, thing might go off. No idea what this thing does but it's safe to get it inside, once the watch-pony gets off his flank and opens the damn gate!" A young guard cursed under his breath as he waited. "One heck of a first job eh". "Eeyup, so where did this thing come from?" Crimson asked, trying to maintain a southern american accent. "Well, I hear that some creepy fella in robes tried to cast some magic on it in a cave nearby. Some weirdo necromancy cult or something like that". "OK I have had enough with this accent, I am just going to take this off your hooves," Crimson smiled as he stabbed a spear into the young stallion's chest. "Shh, if you don't talk I may just spare you". "Buck you to Tartarus!" The guard groaned. "Been there, done that," Crimson commented as he ran through the guard with the spear. He lifted off the crate panel and saw piles of sawdust. "What! You have got to be joking me!" He picked up a piece of paper that had Better luck next time wrote on it. "I won't need luck, now that the gate will be opened. I will force my way through!" The Heist As the steel gate burst into life, Crimson dived into the cargo crated and pulled the cover over himself. Two stallions proceeded to pull the heavy crate into the deep, dark corridors, the gate slammed shut as Crimson lay in the wooden crate. "So, you hear about that case in Ponyville," one of the stallions said. "Yeah, even the captain is on top of it. Wonder what is so important that he is interested in it?" The other replied. "Dunno, all I got was it some sort of strange death. Anyway lets haul this thing to the storage and get ourselves some lunch, I'm hungry". "Whatever this thing is, it's heavy. We lifting solid steel or something?" "Shall we pop the lid and see what's in here?" "Why not? Who is else is going to see this?" As the crate was slowly set onto the ground, one of the guard lifted off the cover to see Crimson asleep. "What the?" "I don't know, shut the lid before it eats us or something!" The other guard shouted as he slammed the cover back on. "Whatever, it's been a long day. Let's get this thing to storage and go". "Thing needs to lose a few pounds however". "Hey! I can hear you!" Crimson shouted through the thin wood. "What? Open it up, it is still alive!" As the cover lifted off once more, Crimson picked himself up and leapt out of the crate. "Thank you gentlecolts, I think I can walk from here," Crimson thanked as he walked off. He was met with two spears as he attempted to make his escape. "Oh, in that case". Crimson charged up his horn and two fire beams stabbed the two guards' heart, who then fell to the floor almost instantly. Crimson walked off into the dark corridors as the two were left to bleed out. "Right, now the fountain is said to be around here," Crimson muttered to himself as he looked into the empty, stone rooms that were scattered around the labyrinth. He wandered into a room, where several artefacts were on presentation. Unknown jewellery in display cases, statues on massive stone pedestals and unknown books on lecterns were set up orderly lines. At the corner of the room stood a wooden crate. Crimson pried to open and found a dark black fountain with a piece of paper rested on top. Artefact #102 Fountain of Souls. "Bingo," Crimson said to himself as he lifted up the wooden crate with a pallet truck. As the crate lifted off the ground, three sky blue spectral ponies risen from the ground. "Intruder alert, unknown race. Engaging in combat," one of the spectres said as it began to fire blue arcane beams from it's eyes. Crimson attempted to cast a beam of fire onto one of the spectres but it simply left a small scorch on the wall behind. "I'm guessing talking this over dinner is out of the question?" Crimson asked but ducked as a blue beam nearly hit him square on the face. He dashed out towards the corridor. "Behind door number one," he thought out loud as he kicked open a closed door. As he locked the doors again, he looked around the room. Several types of weaponry were hung up on racks. Spears, maces, swords and many obscure types of weaponry littered the walls. "I think one of those things killed me and I went to heaven!" Crimson said with glee as he began to take a double headed axe off the wall. A blue flame encased the edges as Crimson put his hooves on it. A small barrel lay in the corner, Crimson blew off the dust on the label. Unknown Powder #22. "Black Powder" . As the small barrel was lifted, several others were revealed in the dark corner. "Merry Christmas Crimson," he muttered to himself as he began to lift small barrels. The doors burst open and the blue spectres began to patrol the room. The group of spectres clustered together and began to talk to each other. "Intruder not located, begin to search compound?" One of the spectres asked. A small fizzing noise soon filled the room. "Attention, fire detected". "Begin to search for fire source," another ordered as they begin to drift through the room once more. One of the spectres looked a small, metal box with a small symbol sketched on. As the spectre focused, it saw a smiley face with "Happy Birthday" scribbled on it. "Attention unidentifi-" the spectre informed but suddenly the container exploded, releasing a force that shattered the spectre into small ethereal bits. Crimson came out, pushing the pallet truck as fast as he could through the dust with two barrels resting on top of the wooden crate. As the spectres began to chase him, he threw one barrel behind him and lit the fuse. Suddenly a large explosion was heard and a wave of rubble began to chase him. Almost nearing towards the open exit, Crimson pushed the truck as fast as he could. The wave continued it's pursuit. The end of the tunnel was drawing near. The pallet truck was wobbling violently as it rocketed towards the light. Every split second counted. The wave of rubble began to get closer, closer, closer. Crimson made it just in time, he threw himself and the truck out into the light. The wave of rubble stopped to obscure the entrance. As Crimson dusted himself off and put his hooves upon the bar. Several guards pointed their spears towards him, leaving only a few inches between him and the tip. "Do not move, you are under arrest for crimes against the country!" An officer shouted who was wearing the regular golden armour, but had a platinum star in place of the normal blue star on the chest-plate. "Well done, what gave me away? The explosions or the spectres alerting you?" Crimson asked mockingly. "Silence scum! Take him to the dungeon," The officer ordered. They went to hit him with the base of the pole but was interrupted by a flash and a loud crackling noise. As the flash receded, Crimson was gone with the wooden crate and the barrel. "Where did he go? Find him!" The officer shouted impatiently. "Over here!" Crimson called, holding a small spherical container. "Catch!" Crimson threw the sphere at the squad of guards, as soon as it hit the ground, an explosion erupted. Several guards began to fly towards him but was soon blinded by another flash. A small boat was awaiting for Crimson, there stood an impatient looking mare. She had a black mane with a purple stripe running down one side of her fringe. She had a light grey coat and wore a small necklace around her neck. "Got it, as well as a bonus!" Crimson said with a grin on his face. "About time, you took your time getting this darn thing," she complained. "Now now, is that a way to talk to your lord," Crimson said as he transformed back into his human-like form. "I don't care about these little colts in robes, all I care about is bits. That's all," she spat back. "I thought you were in a family that has a good history with necromancy?" "I do, doesn't mean I agree with their religious views. Anyway, get this thing on the boat and get your flank out of here!" "Will do, meet you at the cave". With a small gesture of his hand to form a salute and ran off into the streets. The entire city was barren, silence filled the streets which made the howling wind be present for the first time in the city in a long time. As Crimson stepped out, the sound of hooves was heard in the distance. As Crimson dashed out into the streets and hid behind a food stand, a parade of crystal guards marched down the streets towards him. As they halted in unison, they lowered their spears and dispersed to search for Crimson. He moved stealthily through the side walk, gliding from cover to cover, turning his head towards the crystal behemoths tearing up parts of potential cover. Canterlot Castle, Throne Room As Princess Celestia sat on her throne, talking with guards clad in platinum coloured armour. A young rookie burst into the room, holding a scroll with his mouth. As the officer grabbed it with his telekinetic grip, he looked in concern. "Are you sure rookie?" He asked in confusion. "Yes sir, apparently some sort of explosion caused the entire gallery to collapse," the rookie responding hesitantly. "That place has the most advanced magic wards we have, how can this be?" "Apparently, after the assailant escaped, he used some sort of black powder to stun the pegasus guards". "I believe I can explain this captain," Princess Celestia interrupted. "This black powder you speak of, what exactly was the behaviour of it?" "The powder detonated when the criminal used a fire spell, your highness," the rookie bowed as he informed. "This is concerning, this powder was found in the ruins of a strange old tribe. This was taken to the gallery as it is a major threat to all of us," Princess Celestia grabbed a scroll and began to write a letter. "If you find a barrel being held by the ones responsible, do not use any fire magic at all. The amount we found it in will definitely harm a lot of my subjects". "Yes, your highness". "This letter should give you the identifying marks for those barrels, also orders for the field officers there. Be careful, this is surely something more dangerous than a common thief". "Did you manage to get anything that can identify this criminal?" Celestia asked. "Only one, a letter signed by the criminal," the officer replied as he lifted a small, tattered envelope towards Celestia. She grabbed it and opened it hesitantly, as the small piece of paper slid out. She began to read. Remember me? Celestia dropped the letter as she saw a small photo of a red, bipedal figure. "Your highness?" One of the officers walked up to Celestia and picked up the letter. "What is this ghastly monster?" "That, is the Warden. He was one of my personal bodyguards and always looked out for me, no matter where I was". "So, how is this bad your highness?" "He went insane after a necromantic cult known as the Children of Tartarus cursed him, he then turned on me and almost defeated me," Celestia shuddered at the memories. "I had to do one thing I hope to never do at all, I had banish him to Tartarus but I had to weaken him first. With the Solar Flare spell". "Princess, you mean..." "He was burned within an inch of his life, I just wish that he didn't make me use it," Celestia walked up to a small crystal ball. "You should know what he is like, before you encounter him". Celestia powered up her horn and fired a small beam at the ball, causing a hologram to project in the centre of the room. "This is the known story of The Warden, or as I knew him before that. Aiden". Celestia shuddered once again as the hologram took shape of a bipedal creature. Memories 1010 Years ago As the sun radiated in the sky, the town of Canterlot was bustling with life. Everypony had a smile on their face as they walked down the street. As Princess Celestia walked down the street, she looked behind her. "Aiden?" She asked in concern as she looked around in panic. "Here," a male voice said as a human walked towards her, holding a bag of doughnuts in his hand. He had a blonde short cut mane on top of his head. He had brown eyes and smooth skin. Save for the small scars on his face. "Don't worry, I got you one too". He smiled as he handed the bag to her. Celestia took one and gave a smile as she shoved the pastry in her mouth. "Right, you've visited all those shops that wanted the 'Celestia Seal of Approval," Aiden said holding his hands up and giving an inverted commas gesture. "Back to the castle then?" Celestia was still chewing as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes, to the castle," Celestia said while spurting a flak of doughnut debris. Aiden flicked it away and gave a small giggle. "Come on then, before you make an even bigger fool of yourself". As Celestia and Aiden walked into the throne room, Aiden leapt onto a small couch and put his feet up. Celestia sat at her usual throne and gave Aiden a disapproving look. "What?" Aiden asked in confusion, looking innocent. "Come on Aiden, you know the rules". "Fine," he rolled his eyes as he dragged himself up and stood near Celestia. "Happy?" "Very, now let's get this on with". A orderly queue of ponies were stood behind the door as it opened and one entered the room. A small frail stallion wearing a business suit and holding a briefcase. The usual topic of conversation began to take place, business deals and more visits were discussed. After a while one large pegasus walked in, he stomped inside and made himself present in the room. "Can I help you?" Celestia asked with her usual motherly tone. "I am Rustic Blade, remember this name as it will be the name that killed the tyrannical princess!" the stallion shouted as he launched towards Celestia, holding a small blade in his hoof. Celestia just sat there while the pegasus was flying towards him like a missile. Suddenly the pegasus was dragged down to the floor and a boot was placed firmly on his face. "Now now, is that the way to greet anypony?" Aiden mocked. "Guards, take this joke to the dungeons". Two guards walked up to the criminal but was soon stopped by another pony who came in with a sword. The guards attempted to stop him but was knocked out the way. Aiden picked up the blade and threw it, landing inside one of the legs and causing him to crash down to the floor in pain. "Stop!" Celestia ordered. Aiden complied and took his boot off the stallion's head. "As you wish". Present Time, Canterlot Castle "As you can see, Aiden was my most trusted guard and we got on very well," Celestia narrated as she looked upon the glowing crystal ball. "I see, but why is he attacking us?" One of the officers asked in confusion. "It's because of this," Celestia frowned as she cast another spell on the ball. This time revealing a crowd of robed ponies in a circle formation around a stake which had Aiden tied up on. 1001 Years ago As Aiden woke up, he struggled. The ropes stayed in place, not budging one bit and not giving way to anything. A pony walked up to him and threw a batch of ingredients towards him. He then took off Aiden's gag, allowing him to speak. "When I get out of here, you will wish to be in the dungeons!" Aiden screamed. "Oh, be quiet you. This will only hurt a lot!" The cultist said as drove a small dagger into Aiden's stomach. He screamed in pain as the stake was then set alight. However, before the flames managed to touch him. A dark purple aura struck him, causing him to have a fit as purple energies began to possess him. The flames blew out and Aiden ripped himself off the stake. As he fell to the floor and raised his head, he opened his eyes, allowing a purple glow to emanate from them. He gave a small grin as he stood back up. Suddenly a platoon of guards burst in, turning the place into pure chaos. As one of the guards approached Aiden, he wrapped his hands around his neck and picked him up off the ground. The stallion stopped twitching and dropped the floor lifelessly. Another one attempted to run his spear through him but he missed as Aiden took a step forwards and grabbing the spear. He pulled it out of the guard's grip and turned the head towards him and stabbed him in the gut without any hesitation. Several guards began to advance on him, Aiden began to form a small purple sphere into his hands. However the world began to go black and cloudy as more and more guards began to pile upon him. Aiden was captured but soon escaped once more Ponyville The entire village was in flames, screams of villagers filled the atmosphere as skulls floated throughout the village which left black clouds behind them. Aiden began to walk through the market as fire engulfed the buildings and rubble fell like rain. He dragged a purple, ethereal sword behind him. Celestia soon landed on the ground, she looked up at the maniac in front of her. "Ah, Celestia. Looks like you joined the party," Aiden grinned as he raised the sword in front of him. "Aiden! Stop this now, you just have to fight whatever that cult did to you!" Celestia screamed as tears welled up. "Ha! They upgraded me, now I don't have to follow your orders and be your slave. The country is mine!" Aiden pointed his sword at Celestia. "Now, let us fight!" A black beam fired from the sword at Celestia. "Sister!" Luna screamed as she dived in front of her, allowing the black beam to hit her. "Luna!" Celestia screamed as Luna writhed in pain. "Now your turn!" "Aiden, I am so sorry. Forgive me," Celestia sobbed as she fired a large fire beam towards him. Aiden's flesh began to burn, he dropped his sword and flesh began to drop off. He screamed in pain as a portal to Tartarus opened. Celestia ran up to him and bucked him through the portal. "My revenge will be sweet, Celestia! I assure you!" Aiden shouted through the portal as it sealed shut. The world engulfed in black clouds and became concealed once more. Present The crystal ball turned black then clear once more. "That is all gentlecolts, now you know what you are up against. This monster that possessed him cares not for anything. He only kills for fun and has no morals," Celestia informed as a small tear dropped from her eye. "So this Aiden is a being from Tartarus, that explains the Fountain of Souls," one of the officers asked. "He stole the fountain?" "Yes, your highness". "That fountain has a direct link to Tartarus energy, if he has control over that then we have to take drastic measures," Celestia put on a small necklace and a cast a small spell on it. Then a shield enveloped her with runes floating around her. "The monster who possesses Aiden does not know his knowledge of martial arts or weapons and relies on magic. Without magic, he is harmless," Celestia informed as she took out a small metal box with a collar. "Attach this to his neck and lock it. It will prevent him from using magic". "Yes your highness, we will try out best," the officer replied as he took the metal box and walked out with his comrades. The door slammed shut and the entire room went dark. As Celestia panicked she look up into the darkness. A pair of red eyes glowed as a column of flames arose from the wall. The room returned to it's usual brightness, but this time with the Warden standing in the centre of the room. "Knock knock," he grinned. "You! What do you want?" Celestia spat. "You had your revenge when you corrupted my sister!" "Ah yes, that nightmare moon business. Quite smart don't you think, getting your only sister to fight against you". "You are sick, I don't even think that you are even Aiden any more". Suddenly the Warden dashed up to Celestia and raised a dagger. "Do not say that name to me ever! I do not go by that mortal name any more, I go by the Warden to you!" "So you took that role, tell me. How did you escape from Tartarus?" "Easy, I call it a vacation and put Tirek to cover for me". "Tirek! You put Tirek in charge! Do you even know what he did here!" "I do, that's why I put him in charge. A tyrannical, power hungry warden for Tartarus. Perfect," The Warden grinned to himself as he lowered his dagger and backed away from Celestia. "You are truly evil, more cold hearted than anything I have ever known! Whatever you are, get out of Aiden!" Celestia spat in rage as she began to fire heat beams at the Warden. However he soon dashed out of the way and began to return fire. "This will go down one way or the other Celestia. You will fall!" The Warden took cover behind a large pillar, preventing the beams from hitting him. "You can still come peacefully. You can live among us, I will forgive you!" "Ha! Friendship still deludes you ponies. I will not give in to your foolish ways," he jumped out of cover and began to fire beams of equal power from his hands as he moved from one pillar to another. Under suppression, Celestia was forced to take cover as well. "Your brutish ways are not effective to me, this time I will reform you!" Celestia teleported behind the Warden and took off her encryption necklace and put it around him and held it in place. "What are you doing? You are foolish as always Celestia!" He attempted to cast a killing blow but his magic soon diminished. "How is this possible? What have you done!" "Getting you out of my friend!" Celestia cast a spell on him, causing the Warden to fall asleep. Unknown Time Later As the Warden woke up, his vision blurry and having a migraine. He observed the room we was in. It was warm and comfy, unlike cold, dark dungeon he was expecting to have. As he looked around, he was in a queen sized bed in a bedroom. A fire crackled where Celestia was sitting near it. Watching the wood burn. As the Warden got up and attempted to cast some magic, he was stopped. He observed himself and found a collar was tightly attached to his neck. "Good afternoon Aiden," Celestia welcomed as she turned towards him. As he raised his fist Celestia interrupted. "I wouldn't do that. The collar is triggered to put you back to sleep on my command". "Well, looks like someone finally has a dark streak to them," the Warden complimented as he lowered his fist. "As I said before, I want to reform you. We also disconnected you from the Fountain of Souls which we traced back to your cultist friends," Celestia stood up and walked to a tea tray. "I will not tolerate necromancy or any magic that puts my subjects at harm". "Oh Celestia, always playing the mother role in the country. Well, a bad mother as the entire country is falling apart!" "Your tricks do not effect me," she sat next to the Warden and levitated a cup of tea towards him. "I have a proposition for you". "I am listening". "You will cooperate with all the treatments and techniques I use to reform you. If that fails then you are free to do what you please in Equestria". "Well, this makes a nice change. I will accept but on one condition". "That is?" "When you fail, I want all of the artefacts that you took from me". "OK then, I will not fail!" "We shall see then, so when will you start?" "Now." Celestia stood up and walked near the only exit. "You may enter." The door opened to reveal a much smaller alicorn who walked out of the shadows nervously. She had a lavender coat and a dark purple mane with a stripe down the one side. Her cutie mark was a large star surrounded by 5 smaller stars. "Well well, nice to finally meet you purple." The Warden grinned as he laid eyes upon Twilight Sparkle. Reformation? "Purple? Oh, excuse me. My name is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight introduced herself confidently. "The 4th Princess and the pony who defeated Tirek, oh how I teased him for that," the Warden chuckled to himself as he poured a cup of tea and handed to Twilight who gladly accepted. As she sipped the tea, she began to cough uncontrollably. "Yummy, salt is delicious in drinks," he began to laugh at Twilight. "Oh I am going to enjoy this". Twilight put the cup of tea back on the tray and sat down on near the fire. "Please, sit down," Twilight pointed at a pillow with her hoof. "Oh thank you very much," he said in a very posh accent. "I say, shall we have some crumpets my dear fellow". Twilight looked at him in confusion. "So, Celestia tells me that you used to be one of the royal guards?" "Yes, before I broke my chains I had to protect sun butt from being hurt". "Sun butt? That's not very nice!" "Oh no, I am so sorry. How's Fusion Flank? Plasma Plot? No?" The Warden attempted to stifle a laugh as Twilight just sat unimpressed. "Oh come on give me a smile". "Ugh fine. Do you want me to give you my history?" The Warden groaned. "That would be a nice start," Twilight smiled. "Well, I come from Earth. Good planet. My species are the most advanced creatures on there. We created things incomprehensible to you pea brained hay eaters. We all stuck together, even if there was a small falling out from time to time. That's what makes my species so unique is that we require human interaction". "So how did you get to Equestria," Twilight scribbled on her notepad as the Warden explained. "Well, I didn't want to come to this cursed planet. I was dropped here after... wow I actually don't remember". "Tell me more about your life on this Earth". "Well, I was an astronaut. Basically people who occupy and maintain spacecraft and study the cosmos. My job was an engineer, basically fix stuff, build stuff. Solve practical problems," the Warden raised his hand to his temple and began to massage it. "Are you OK?" "Yeah, anyway if I put me being stuck on this primitive planet and me being an astronaut it makes sense that I crashed an escape pod here." "So you mean that human technology could be around here?" "Ha! Even if you did find it, the thing would be useless. To prevent reverse engineering it has a self destruct button, which I pressed shortly after escaping!" "That technology could of helped all of us!" "You got magic anyway, Humans only have their brilliant minds!" the Warden then rubbed his chin in thought. "Wait, I have an idea". "This has been very interesting and a brilliant opportunity for me to learn about other culture, you have made a great contribution and for that I thank you," Twilight went in to hug the Warden. He froze in shock and began to panic. "Stay away!" He pushed her away, he began to hyperventilate and back-pedalled into the corner of the room. He then fainted as blood began to drip out of his nose. The Warden's Mind A bright and sunny day. Trees swayed in motion with the soft wind and the birds chirped merrily in the sky. However the ground was much different. Skyscrapers filled the horizon and faint mechanical noises could be heard in the distance. The Warden looked down at his hands and saw they were a pinkish colour. "I...is this Earth?" He asked himself. A small male child skipped towards him. He was similar to the Warden. Except he had blue eyes, brown hair and no scars littered across his face. A woman than chased after the child. She had green eyes, long brown hair. She was tall and thin. "Aiden!" She shouted as she began to cry and ran towards him. She lunged at him and put him a firm hug. "You came back". "My memory isn't that good, who are you?" He asked. "How could you forget your wife and child?" "You what". "Well they did say that the treatments did have possible amnesia," the woman placed a hand on her chest. "Chloe if you forgot". The small child pulled on his trouser leg. He looked down and smiled. "And this bundle of fun is Lucas". He proceeded to lift him up. "My child," he whispered to himself. Suddenly a loud explosion was heard. Avian creatures began to dive-bomb the city, as he studied closer they were pegasi. A gigantic replica of the escape pod floated above the city and thousands of pegasus began to bomb the city. Out came a large disfigured head of Princess Celestia who laughed manically. "Thank you very much for the technology, now we can rid the universe of your pathetic race!" "Pathetic? How dare you, you primitive grass chewing barbarian! Come down here and my foot will give you a warm welcome!" Suddenly a large weapons crate dropped near him. He unlocked it to find a map of Equestria with an x in a certain location. "This is the location of your escape pod, it has became the most mysterious object in Equestria and nothing has opened it yet. This is your chance, in the name of the human race. I order you to active the distress beacon!" A voice ordered him. "Yes sir!" He replied and his dream began to fade. Equestria He woke up in panic to find that Twilight and Celestia at the bottom of his bed. "Ah you are finally awake," Celestia said, stating the obvious. If I am going to escape I have to be reformed. The things I do for you human race. Oh well, can't be that bad. "Yeah, just had a flash back," the Warden waved his hand in dismissal. "We have finally got your first treatment, it is a memory spell that we used in the discord crisis". "Well, I said I had to cooperate. Hit it," the Warden lowered his head and Twilight cast a small spell on him. I have to show some resistance Images began to flash back in his mind. A gigantic spacecraft floating through the cosmos. A woman, a child and a gigantic city. What was even more intriguing was several blueprints flashed in his mind. Weapons, machines, medicine. All of the human technology he known returned. "I need several things. A workbench with some tools and the raw materials I ask for. I will cooperate but I need these to be useful in my time," the Warden informed. Twilight looked at him in joy. "You think that I will fall for that?" Celestia asked. "Wait, he is an engineer. He could help us!" Twilight interrupted. "Why do you need these?" "It's easy. Necromancy is on the rise and I can help create machines that can solve this problem," the Warden smiled as he began to pick up sheets of paper and stationary. "OK, you are using your talents for good which I am grateful," Celestia walked out of the room. "What's wrong with her?" The Warden asked. "She is just on edge, this necromancy business has shook the entire city," Twilight informed. She looked at the blueprints the Warden was drafting. "What is this?" "These are much stronger weapons that you currently have, instead of using spears or swords you can use these from a long range," he pointed at the blueprints of a Arquebus. "It fires a small pellet at the speed faster than any bow can create and can penetrate through nearly all variants of your current armour. However being a human weapon, I have to devise an adapter". "Why would we need these?" Twilight asked in shock. "To pick your teeth with them," he said sarcastically. "It's to eliminate any hostile beings from a good distance with a good efficiency". "We will never use such a thing! It goes against everything we stand for". "You stand for. Your drones will have no problem forcing a lead pellet down the throat of a troublesome cultists". "What did you do to me before I fainted?" The Warden asked in suspicion. "I just hugged you, no enchantments or spells," Twilight reassured him. She gave a small grin to him and he gave one back. Resist, do not blow your only chance of getting out of here! "I want to go back you know. The human world once more, to see humans again. To be home, this is not my home". "We can try our best, if that is what you want then we will help you. I cannot allow you to go home like this though". "Like a demon, monster? Yeah I know, try to do your best," the Warden began to glow a bright yellow and his skin began to change from crimson red to his old human coloured skin. His eyes turned from the deep red to brown, his hair from black to blonde. As he was about to transform, he shifted back to his evil form. "Ha! You won't succeed. Ponies are too small minded for space travel!" He scoffed, going back to his blueprints. Four Hours Later, Private Room "Princess, the spells seem to be working. He actually began to change form," Twilight informed in glee. Celestia gave a smile. "You mean that Aiden could be back?" Celestia asked with hope. "Possibly, he still needs to get used to the spells so we don't cause any damage. The last thing I want to do is cause him more pain than he is already through". "I thank you Twilight, you really are helping us all," Celestia gave a friendly hug. "Princess, what is Aiden now exactly?" Twilight asked in curiosity. "He is a demon, a creature of pure evil. It is not Aiden but something possessing him, we need to use the memory spells to rejuvenate Aiden and expel the demon inside of him," Celestia explained. "He was possessed when he was on a necromancy raid. However he got captured and he was corrupted". "I see. Were you and Aiden close?" Twilight asked hesitantly. Celestia looked down at the floor, she let out a heavy sigh. "He was my personal bodyguard to everypony else. To me however, he was my only true friend at that time. Luna was never happy with me, everypony feared me rather than liked me, everypony just exploited my title. Aiden, he just wanted a friend too. He said that ponies called him a freak and cast him out, I found him in the plains, wanting a friend too. One thing lead to another and we became best friends," she took out a pendant from behind regalia with a small half of a heart with the letter F engraved and another F only half engraved. "He has the other half, I hold on to it, keeping the memories to hope that one day. He will return back to himself". "Princess, I didn't know. I am so sorry," Twilight apologised. She went in for another hug but this time Celestia was much tighter. A small tear began to drop from Celestia's eyes. "It's OK Twilight, I know you will get Aiden back and rid him of this monster," Celestia gave a small smile as she backed off and walked out to a window. "Most nights I wonder if any other of his kind are in Equestria, Aiden said that could find out but he was corrupted before he said so". "If so, I hope they are OK". The Next Day The room had been transformed into a workshop. Massive amounts of raw materials were scattered around the floor like a child with toys on their birthday. The Warden sat, hunched over a workbench tinkering with the new invention he had recreated. He lifted it into the air and put the butt into his shoulder. He smiled for a moment as he loaded it with black powder and a small lead ball. He pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. It went off in a cloud of smoke, sending the ball hurling towards the wall which then cut straight through the brick. "It works, took it's time to work," he muttered to himself as he put it down on the workbench. Twilight burst through the door, she began to cough as the smoke entered her body. "What happened?" She asked as she opened the window. "The sound of progress my friend," the Warden replied with a mock German accent. Twilight gave a confused look as she saw the Arquebus. "The Arquebus is functional and ready for mass production, all we need now is to figure out how to get you ponies to shoot the thing. Unicorns is pretty obvious, but Pegasi and Earth Ponies?" He rubbed his chin in thought as he stood up and observed Twilight. "Perhaps you could make a stand of some sort?" She suggested. "Some sort of deployable stand that attached onto the rifle? Yes that would work, just some modifications to the human version should work for you," he sat down and waited for Twilight to leave the room. As she walked out, he took out a map and laid it across the table. He closed his eyes and thought back to his dream. He looked at the map and saw the x mark over a mountain range in a desert country. A country that is shrouded is mystery. "Zebrica," the Warden muttered. Home Sweet HomeOne Villain to Another By Platinum Shift As the flash receded from the unimaginable power from the magic that gave the mane six the ability to defeat him. Tirek found himself in his cage once more in Tartarus. He looked at himself and studied the thin, weak form that he was for too long. As he looked out of his cage, he saw nothing but steep mountains, all having platforms with cages in them, that went as far as the eye could see. Where the paths joined and the gate to Equestria was, stood Cerberus the guardian of the gates to Tartarus. "How was that possible?" Tirek thought to himself. "I had the magic of all the alicorn princesses and somehow ponies find a mass amount of magic hidden away and defeat me!" Tirek held the thick bars of the cage with his thin hands. "In retrospect, I should of consumed this reserve pool of magic for myself and become unbeatable," he smacked his head against the cage several times before he heard the familiar sound of wings flapping in the distance. "How did I know that you would of shown up?" Tirek groaned as a pair of red eyes glowed in the dark and a grin soon accompanied it. "Oh Tirek, how could you? You left without saying a single goodbye, or a note," The voice was dark and was full of malice. "I would say goodbye if I left Tartarus". "That's because you are not bound to the cage with chains and a three headed dog guarding the entrance that can defeat you without even trying!" Tirek shouted back, raising his fist. "Well, that does make it easy doesn't it?" The voice chuckled mockingly. "I would like to know how you managed to get out of the cage, I know how you got past Cerberus". "A magician never reveals his tricks to anyone," Tirek said as he turned away from the spectre. "Understandable," The voice gave up. "Wouldn't bother trying now, the cages are enchanted to teleport you back to Tartarus if you do escape from them". "Of course". Ponyville, Equestria As the mane six stared in wonder at the new crystal tree towering above the village, they began to discuss what the future had in store for the group. Each sat in their respective thrones, save Discord who appeared behind Twilight and looked around in thought. "I still don't know why I don't get a throne," Discord sulked. "Well, this is the castle for the Elements of Harmony," Twilight explained. "Ah yes, of course it is," Discord rolled his eyes. "Well we best get started girls, if you want to leave say the word. These duties are meant for me but I really appreciate the help," Twilight smiled at the five before her. "No problem at all dear, it's the least we could do," Rarity waved a hoof of dismissal. "I know, it's just I don't want these new tasks to take over your lives. This is what I do and you all have your own places of work". "You don't need to worry about us Twi, y'all just worrying to much," Applejack reassured Twilight. "Maybe I am, who knows what the future has in store for us?" "Well I'm sure whatever happens, we can pull through it!" Rainbow Dash rallied as she began to do a small aerobatic sequence around the room. After a few hours of bureaucratic work and paperwork, the five ponies left, leaving Discord and Twilight alone in the room while Spike began to sort out the several piles of scrolls and paper. "Well if this is what the future has in store, it's going to be a very boring future indeed," Discord commented as he stretched out his arms. "It's what Princess Celestia wants us to do," Twilight said. "Of course, but I think more pressing matters are ahead," Discord rubbed his chin as he began to walk around the room. "What do you mean?" "Well, when Cerberus left his post at Tartarus I don't think Tirek was the only one to escape". "Is Cerberus the only guard at Tartarus?" "Of course not," Discord chuckled to himself. "That would be preposterous! Not only do you have Cerberus but you have The Warden patrolling Tartarus' cells". "So how did Tirek escape?" "Tartarus is a big place and The Warden cannot leave, instead he relies on other mortals to banish them to Tartarus, however this is the first time in forever that anything escaped Tartarus!" "This warden, what's he like?" "How should I know, I was put into stone not cast into prison!" "What will happen if anything else comes to attack Equestria?" Twilight asked in panic as she stood up and walked around in circles with Discord "Well, we have the contents of the box of harmony at our side now so it won't be difficult to send them back," Discord reassured. "All I'm saying Twilight is that don't let your guard down". The draconequus soon left using his revitalised chaos magic and with the snap of a finger, disappeared. Tartarus "Well, I can tell you one thing Tirek," The Warden teased as Tirek's head shot up to face the red eyes in the darkness. "You got absolutely thrashed by ponies!" The Warden laughed as Tirek grabbed the bars once more. "How was I to know that they would have that sort of magic?" Tirek said. "Hmm, how about not charging head first like a bull in a china shop?" The Warden suggested mockingly. "Even if I did it in the shadows, I would of met the same demise". "True, I was expecting one pony to beat you down with magic but I did not expect those six to go full on super-charged!" "I don't think anyone could of expected powers that strong". "I could, I have seen powers that change the entire fabric of reality on a scale unimaginable by anything". "What do you mean," Tirek asked in confusion. "I mean, creating stars, destroying them, making planets and the list goes on and on". "What kind of creature wields that sort of power?" "Naughty, I ask the questions," The Warden tutted. Tirek rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I have stuff to do. Don't you go anywhere, not like you can". The Warden chuckled as the red eyes in the darkness faded. A large spire in the middle of Tartarus, guarded by many spirits that could only be conjured in pony's nightmare, protruded out of the landscape. As a gust of wind flew opened the door, a cloud of darkness began to form near the door. Red eyes glowed in the cloud but soon began to take the form of something physical. Two long, stick like legs began to form on the ground which protruded up from the floor. Then a torso which looked similar to a Minotaur began to form on top of the legs. Then two arms began to sprout of the torso and five very thin appendages stuck out of the arm. Then a round shaped head grew on the torso. As the darkness began to clear, a black mane on the top of the round head formed. The being began to have crimson coloured skin, similar to Tirek. The legs and torso were the same as everything else on the body, completely clad in crimson skin with few minor features on the torso. The being stretched out the two long arms and two large, bat like wings and yawned. "Home sweet home," The Warden said as he began to walk into the abode and closing the large, black steel door. The house was expansive and large, most of the walls were just the standard brown rocks of Tartarus decorated with banners and the odd large window. As The Warden walked up to a desk, he lit a candle with a gout of flame that ejected from his hand. He picked up a quill and dipped it into the ink and began to write. "Now, another profile for a new arrival and then I got to check out those three alicorns that came in and finally do a report on Tirek escaping," The Warden sighed. "Who knew running hell was such hard work!" The Warden began to spin on the chair which he lifted with his telekinesis. "Not forgetting assigning those scouts to find the four horseman which escaped as well!" He rested the chair down facing the large window looking out onto the field of mountains that contained the captives of Tartarus. "This is all I do every minute of every day, check them in, freak them out, eat, sleep, repeat!" The Warden gave a heavy sigh as he floated back to his desk and began to write some more. "Sometimes I get some free time and look at Equestria when the planets align on a blue moon!" he growled in frustration. "Oh what I would give to go there once more, I screwed it up last time but everyone makes mistakes". The Warden stood up and flew up the stairs to his bedroom. He walked up to a red ball that was floating over a stone sculpture of The Warden's hand. He put his two hands over the ball and closed his eyes. "That's interesting, looks like purple is having some late night research on..." The Warden muttered to himself but suddenly stopped. "Me? Purple is researching me? Well this is interesting, if I am to go to Equestria it's best go to her first". He grinned as he began to fly around in circles. "Who will take over, someone who has a god complex would be the best," he rubbed his long chin in though with his thin fingers and small palm. His face lighted up in realisation. "Tirek, not a bad candidate I would say". Raising his hand in the air, a scroll flew into his hand and he then opened it. "Let's see, lust for power, pure evil and has a god complex? Too much," he dismissed the idea. "He could also unleash Tartarus upon Equestria knowing him!" He began to study the profile on Tirek in greater detail. "However, I could just seal Tartarus forever with my magic," deep in thought, The Warden transformed into his shadow form once more and floated towards Tirek's cell. "So Tirek, how about we do what you do best. Strike a deal?" The Warden grinned and chuckled maliciously. Dealing With The Devil "Oh?" Tirek raised an eyebrow. "What do you wish to gain from this?" "I wish to go to Equestria," The Warden replied. "I see," a smile appeared on Tirek's face. "Freedom is the best thing to have isn't it?" "That's what I am trading for. I need someone to succeed Tartarus for me when I leave and I couldn't find a better candidate than you". "I am flattered but I want to know why you have made this sudden decision". "Do you want to be the new warden of Tartarus or not?" The Warden asked impatiently. "Well, I want to know the terms of this negotiation". "OK then, in return for my freedom. I will assign Tartarus under your command. You can do what you want as long as you abide by the main rules," The Warden soon conjured a scroll and opened it. "You must not intentionally let a prisoner escape, you must not leave without anything taking your place, you can use any means necessary to keep prisoners in order but must not kill them and you must not delegate this title to anything else unless told to by the previous warden". "Other than that, I am free to do what I want in this realm?" Tirek asked hopefully. "Yes, this is a prison for the truly evil so they deserve whatever you give them but death," The dark cloud moved in closer. "Killing prisoners means that we give them the easy way out but if we contain them, they suffer!" The Warden gave a malicious grin as it receded into the darkness. "However, I want one thing in return. I want you to turn over your soul like many have done in the past who have bartered with me when the deal is done!" The Warden chuckled. "What will selling my soul do?" Tirek asked in confusion. "Wow, I never thought that a wise creature like you would not be clear on the effects of being soulless!" The Warden mocked in astonishment. "If you hand over your soul, you become bound to Tartarus and can never leave. An advantage of this is that you are immortal in this realm and can never die unless the being who keeps your soul decides to end your life". "So it gives me immortality?" Tirek put his fingers together and grinned. "Yes, but I decide your fate not anything else. If you are in a circumstance that you would of died you will simply take the form of a spectre for a minute to retreat". "So nothing will be able to stop me here except you. You interest me in this deal very much, I always heard that The Warden of Tartarus was fair in his deals with mortals who summoned him," Tirek gave a complimenting bow. "Well, the ritual that summons me has been lost for centuries for reasons I do not know". "Oh yes, I know why. Ponies removed all traces of dark magic and rituals," Tirek explained in disgust. "Well, Celestia and Luna are not the one for dark magic. Greedy foals!" "So, I agree to your deal. When will you leave?" Tirek asked eagerly. "I think tomorrow, I need to alert the shades and organise the transfer of power," the red eyes soon disappeared which left Tirek thinking in the cage once more. As The Warden materialised in the dark palace, he noticed a unicorn shaped shadow standing collectively near the door. "Can I help you?" The Warden asked. "My lord, I have returned," The shadow bowed as it spoke in a very deep voice. "Well, you took your time to get back here," The Warden said as he turned towards the bowing shadow. "What held you up?" "I had to regenerate completely, that blasted crystal heart almost killed me!" The shadows faded to reveal King Sombra bowing towards The Warden. "I got to say, you Equestrians are rubbish at being villains! Tirek got his flank handed to him by the mane six and you got disintegrated by a baby dragon!" He mocked. "I got some news for you and the shades". "Yes my lord?" Sombra finally stood upright as he waited. "I am retiring tomorrow and leaving Tirek as the new warden, you are to obey him!" "Tirek, with all due respect my lord, he is a prisoner!" "Are you arguing with me Sombra?" The Warden leaned towards him and stared straight into Sombra's eyes. "N...no my lord," Sombra stuttered as he walked back to the wall. "Good, tell the shades this news. You may leave," he floated upstairs as Sombra turned into a shadow and flew out of the door. Unknown Location "Yes, it appears that we finally found the ritual instructions we have tried to hard to find," a pony said. Several unicorns dressed in dark black robes were standing in a circle facing a ritual circle with several items in the centre, one of them being an unconscious mare. The dark cavern allowed for nature to leave the ritual circles safe and sound. "I hope so, this has been a tough two months for us all but it has not been in vain," the eldest stallion stood at a stone lectern with a light battered tome in front of him. "Indeed, now that we can use this magic that the royals banned centuries ago we will be unmatched in power!" "Easy my child, if we act harshly then all will be lost," the eldest raised his hoof to cease the discussions between the necromancers. "We may have power but we do not have control over it, all magic requires discipline and discipline we shall get!" "What if we get captured by the royal guards?" The youngest asked as he stepped forward but he stepped back as the group stared at him in surprise. "The blood oath requires you to take your own life in the event you get interrogated, we all know that don't we?" "Of course". "Then let us perform this ritual, we need to know if this is valid first". After minor modifications to the ritual runes on the circle and the stabilisation of the sacrifice, the group of necromancers took the formation around the circle. The eldest powered up his horn and fired a beam of energy towards the centre. The runes burnt with a purples flame but soon extinguished after a few seconds. The eldest gave a sigh as he read through the tome once more. "Well, carry on with gaining knowledge. This meeting is dismissed". The formation disbanded as they walked outside and the idle chatter of disappointment filled the dark cavern. "Soon, I will have you within my grasp," the elder muttered as he walked outside. Tartarus, The Next Morning The Warden had collected the gear that he could get hold of, he wore a dark brown leather jacket with several trinkets such as a water bottle and a knife attached to a shoulder strap. His brown pants hung over the black combat boots and had a sword attached to the belt. The Warden picked up a red scarf and wrapped it around his neck, covering his mouth entirely, he then packed a small satchel with a coin purse and a small rune stone. He walked out to the door and spread his wings and flew towards the vast amount of mountains. He landed onto a platform with great speed and looked up to see Tirek looking at him. "Ah, welcome once again," Tirek said. "Well, this won't be your cell soon. Shall we get started then?" The Warden asked as he clapped his hands together. "Your soul first". He clicked his fingers which pulled the cage door open and snapped the chains off Tirek. Lifting his hand and putting it just hovering above Tirek's head, an energy began to escape him and was absorbed by The Warden. Tirek fell over and slowly stood up and looked at The Warden harshly. "Now it is your turn," Tirek braced himself. The Warden raised his hand in the hair, causing mass amounts of energy to strike Tirek within a split second. He grew in mass and size as more and more magic was pumped into him. Soon it stopped and Tirek was in his most powerful form yet. "Happy?" The Warden asked. "Very, farewell Warden. I hope we can see each other soon," Tirek waved as The Warden stretched out his wings and flew towards the gates of Equestria. "See you later Tirek! Take care of the old place," The Warden shouted back as he flew further and further away. After flying past the gates of Tartarus, The Warden began to travel inside a vortex as he reached unimaginable speeds. Suddenly the wings began to fall off as he travelled further into the vortex and skin began to peel off and was replaced with mass amounts of burn marks. The vortex soon stopped and The Warden found himself falling at a great speed towards the ground, the wings were unusable and he braced for impact with the ground. A small shield enveloped him and he collided with the ground, causing dust and dirt to eject from the ground and shoot up. The shield dissipated and the dust settled, revealing a tall, male human who was crouching. He soon stood up and held a stone in his hand. "Well, that worked," he muttered to himself as he threw the stone away. Ponyville Twilight walked around the town centre, looking closely at the items that were on sale at the market. She walked up to a young mare selling carrots who began to shake as she saw Twilight approaching. "Could I have two carrots please," Twilight said as she smiled at the shaking mare. "T...thats one bit please," the mare stuttered. "One bit? Aren't they usually two bits a carrot?" Twilight asked in confusion. "Yes but for you it's one bit". "Please, I am no more important than you. I don't want you treating me differently than the others just because of my new title. I am just the same as other pony folk here," Twilight slid four gold coins on the stall and packed the two carrots and carried on to the other stalls. "That's the fourth one today," Twilight sighed to herself as she had a replay with the next stall. As the monotonous and boring day drifted by, Twilight began to walk towards her new tree castle. As she was about to open the door a booming sound rolled over the hills and the town, a shock-wave then caused the shopping to almost crash to the floor as dust flew past. "What in Equestria was that?" Twilight asked herself as she regained her senses. A group of pegasi flew over the town to the direction where the shock-wave hit the town, Twilight dropped her bag and lifted off to join the group. She met Rainbow Dash who was also en-route with meeting the large group. "Did you see that!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I did, I wonder what kind of object can cause a small dust-storm like that!" Twilight rubbed her chin in thought as several other pegasi flew past. A crater was in the middle of the large plains on the outskirts of Ponyville, several groups of pegasi landed around the crater and observed it. "Hey! I found something!" A young pegasus shouted as he held a white, smooth stone in his hoof. Twilight walked up to the crowd which was assembling and everypony began to move out of the way. "May I have a look at this please," Twilight asked while keeping her trademark smile. "Sure," the pegasus coolly said as he handed it to Twilight. "This stone looks odd, nothing that I know of but my books may have something!" Twilight took off and headed towards Ponyville once more at speeds that would beat Rainbow Dash in a race. The crowd soon dispersed save for one crimson coloured unicorn who stood near the crater. He cast a spell which caused a small black fog to envelop him until The Warden appeared. "That was easier than expected, let's go pay some visits then," The Warden smiled to himself as he began to walk towards Ponyville.
Making Friends The small camp-fire lit up a the night as The Warden lay near it and began to poke some more wood into the flame, he put his hand over it causing some of the large chunks of wood to combust; making the fire shine like a beacon in the night. "Well, that sure was eventful," he said to himself. He shot his head up and looked into the dark, he heard bickering of pony's as hoof-steps got closer to his fire. As two young unicorns walked towards the camp-fire, they were met by a crimson coloured unicorn sitting on a log. The Warden's pony form. "Oh, hello there," one of the unicorns said. "Hello, beautiful night isn't it?" The Warden complimented the night sky as he smiled at the duo. "Indeed, we were just on the lookout for anything suspicious because of that massive shock-wave and the crater," the larger one of the two explained. "At this late in the night?" The Warden asked in suspicion. "Yes, we usually do this sort of thing anyway as are retired night guards so it's hard to break the routine," they chuckled. "Anyway, see you later!" The two waved as they walked off into the darkness. The same routine repeated three times, a group of two or three guards wandering around the plains and running into The Warden's camp-fire. As a lone guard wandered into the camp-site, he let out a heavy sigh and stood up. "Can I ask what you are doing, I have had three patrols come past my way and it is starting to bug me!" He shouted, the guard lifted his lantern and walked slowly towards him. "Sorry about that, since Princess Twilight lives in Ponyville patrols are on the double". "Princess Twilight?" "Surely you know who that is!" "Nope, don't come from around these parts so I'm not exactly up to date on news". "Princess Twilight is the new princess who lives here in Ponyville. Can't miss her, purple coat, dark purple hair with a streak in it and is an alicorn". "I see, looks like things have changed since my last visit a long time ago". "Anyway, I got a patrol to do," the guard informed as he walked away. "So, purple is a princess. I thought she looked different to the others," The Warden talked to himself. "I need a proper name to blend in with the populace". The Warden thought long and hard until. "How about, Crimson Flame!" Suddenly, he felt weak and his vision began to blur, his eyes glowed a bright red as he put out the fire. "I need food, who shall be my prey," he grinned. He saw the guard with the lantern a good distance away but that didn't stop him as he began to run towards him like a deprived predator. As he advanced on the guard, he began to get paranoid, looking left and right erratically. "Who's there!" He shouted. "Your fate," a deep voice said as it chuckled. Crimson walked out of the shadows as he charged up his horn. "Fresh prey," he grinned as a single fire beam hit the guard's heart. He dropped the lantern and attempted to buck him, but was too late as purple energy began to escape the guard and enter Crimson's mouth. The guard soon dropped dead as Crimson laughed. "This is easier than I thought". Morning As Crimson woke up, he heard a large commotion coming from a distance. He looked up and saw several ponies crowded around a white tent. He walked towards the crowd and saw several guards standing in a statue-like form outside a border indicated with tape. "Well, didn't take them long," he commented. "If I could all ask you to stand aside please as we investigate this sudden event," A large stallion asked. He was wearing silver armour and held a spear in his right foreleg. As Crimson walked away, he was confronted by a mare wearing a black robe. "Not bad, takes a long time to practice soul reaping spells," she complimented. "Who are you?" Crimson asked. "I represent a cult, your arrival has been anticipated, Warden," she grinned. "So, a necromancer cult. Long time since one of you even dared to surface". "Indeed, I know that you left Tartarus to be free, but you are weaker than you usually are as the lack of soul energy in Equestria. Correct?" "You know a lot about me, are you one of my sirens?" "My family have been with necromancy for thousands of years, we sacrificed souls to Wardens for what we desire and yet never expected one to stay with us". "If you are necromancers, show me a summoning spell," Crimson challenged. "No sweat," she powered up her horn to summon a creature with a ethereal skull covered in black mist. "A seeker, not bad. OK I believe you". "We want to make you more powerful, make you more powerful than any being that walked Equus!" "Many have made that pact and have failed, what makes you think you can do it?" "We have the collected knowledge of thousands of minds, even Starswirl the Bearded did not know what we know!" "I am guessing you want to use that on me, to overthrow the current leaders and put me in charge?" "Yes, we are fed up Celestia's tyranny". "I only have visual feed on my Clairvoyance Orb, The most powerful being I know is sun butt". "That is her, will you come with us to our abode?" "I will, lead the way," Crimson agreed. The mare then put her hoof on Crimson and soon found themselves in a cave. "Is this him?" A elder stallion asked, he walked up to Crimson and pointed at him. "Yes, The Warden did agree to follow us as you said," the mare replied. Soon the elder bowed. "My lord, please excuse our delayed welcoming. I am Scarred Curse, the elder of the Children of Tartarus". "I don't mind," Crimson waved a hoof of dismissal. "I do not mean to be disrespectful my lord, but I was expecting you to be less...Equine". "Oh, this is just a disguise," he informed as black smoke enveloped Crimson. Revealing The Warden. "This is the true form of myself". "I see, you wield Changeling magic?" "No, Changelings wield Tartarus magic," I corrected. "I believe you are helping me to grow strong to help defeat Salad Tier?" "Celestia my lord. This tyrannical princess puts a ban on the path to ascension, she thinks that it can end Equestria once and for all!" "That's because it will". The Warden chuckled. "Dark magic is transferring energies from Tartarus to Equestria, to think that it has no dangerous effect on this world is pure stupidity". "So, will you help us achieve our goal, my lord?" "I could, but how much is this future worth to you?" "I see, how does two souls sound?" The elder grinned as two mares were pushed into the light. "Hmm, you know exactly what I want but that payment is too low for the continuous service," I rejected the deal. The elder rubbed his chin. "I see, we know of an artefact that is a direct link to Tartarus' energy," the elder hovered a page in a book with a picture of a fountain on it. "This is the Fountain of Souls, apparently it is being taken to the forbidden gallery tomorrow so we need a plan". "I have one plan. Disguise, kill and take". "You don't understand my lord, the entire place is warded by Celestia's magic! Only guards can get in" The Warden just grinned. "It's a good thing I have a plan that takes that into account too". The Next Day, Canterlot Several ponies were crowded around a gigantic wooden board and loud chatter filled the atmosphere. "So, let me get this straight. All of the current victims have massive burn marks around the chest area?" A guard wearing silver armour recalled. "Yes sir, this is more than just a simple animal attack. This is murder," a young stallion confirmed as he looked at the several pictures of dead ponies. All with severe burns around the chest. "Of course, the forensics teams are picking up something different to unicorn magic however. Care to explain that?" "Who said anything about unicorns? I think that it is linked to that massive shock-wave two days ago". "Are you considering that this is some sort of invasion?" "Might not be, possibly some sort of inter-dimensional being we do not know. All I am saying is that alert the Princesses, they may have some leads as well". "Watch your tongue! The royals are not tools," the large stallion turned onto the young, thin, weak one. "Of course, no offence but it would be worth at least seeing if they have anything that can clear the shroud in this case," the young stallion turned away and walked off into an office. "Weakling," the large stallion scoffed as he walked outside. Crimson began to trail the stallion as he walked towards the castle, he began to advance and soon turned into an alley. The large stallion turned and drew his sword towards him. "What do you want creep!" He shouted as he walked towards Crimson. "Oh, I am so sorry if it seemed like I was following you. I was trying to give this to you," he handed a letter to him. The stallion snatched it and opened it, a purple gas released from the letter and he soon collapsed. "Sweet dreams, Captain". The body soon dissipated away as soon as another guard walked into the alley. "Hey! What's going on here?" The guard pointed his sphere towards Crimson. "Nothing, isn't that correct? Perhaps I should visit sometime, I mean that new deposit on those locks must make that little house secure? Good protection for your foals," Crimson grinned as walked slowly towards the guard, who's spear was shaking. "Who are you?" The guard asked in fear. "Someone who is doing nothing, isn't that correct?" "Y...yes," the guard gulped as he slowly backed away into the streets. Crimson picked up a pendant around his neck. "Works like a charm," he smiled as he walked back into the streets. "I see you liked my little contraption," a voice said in his head. "I do indeed, this makes intimidation of weak minded mortals easier on so many levels," Crimson smiled to himself as information from other civilians began to flood towards him. "Mary Sue's do not exist, everypony has skeletons in their closet and this opens the door to that closet". "Well, I heard that they are going to enchant guards with new magical encryptions so it may not be so easy this time". "Fun while it lasted, but I still have access to the civilians". "Now we are going to the lower levels of Canterlot Castle, the fountain of souls is being delivered there so try and intercept it". "Will do". Crimson walked up to a set of old stone stairs leading down to a concealed alley. After walking for a few minutes, he saw several ponies guarding a crate which was standing near a small, steel gate. "Bingo. Now, let's get in close," he muttered to himself. Suddenly a guard walked past him and looked at the path behind. Crimson powered up his horn and fired a beam of fire at him and absorbed the energy coming from his body. He picked up the armour and his helmet and put it on. "Fits like a glove". After disposing of the body, Crimson walked towards the wooden crate and ran his hoof over it. "Careful, thing might go off. No idea what this thing does but it's safe to get it inside, once the watch-pony gets off his flank and opens the damn gate!" A young guard cursed under his breath as he waited. "One heck of a first job eh". "Eeyup, so where did this thing come from?" Crimson asked, trying to maintain a southern american accent. "Well, I hear that some creepy fella in robes tried to cast some magic on it in a cave nearby. Some weirdo necromancy cult or something like that". "OK I have had enough with this accent, I am just going to take this off your hooves," Crimson smiled as he stabbed a spear into the young stallion's chest. "Shh, if you don't talk I may just spare you". "Buck you to Tartarus!" The guard groaned. "Been there, done that," Crimson commented as he ran through the guard with the spear. He lifted off the crate panel and saw piles of sawdust. "What! You have got to be joking me!" He picked up a piece of paper that had Better luck next time wrote on it. "I won't need luck, now that the gate will be opened. I will force my way through!"
The Heist As the steel gate burst into life, Crimson dived into the cargo crated and pulled the cover over himself. Two stallions proceeded to pull the heavy crate into the deep, dark corridors, the gate slammed shut as Crimson lay in the wooden crate. "So, you hear about that case in Ponyville," one of the stallions said. "Yeah, even the captain is on top of it. Wonder what is so important that he is interested in it?" The other replied. "Dunno, all I got was it some sort of strange death. Anyway lets haul this thing to the storage and get ourselves some lunch, I'm hungry". "Whatever this thing is, it's heavy. We lifting solid steel or something?" "Shall we pop the lid and see what's in here?" "Why not? Who is else is going to see this?" As the crate was slowly set onto the ground, one of the guard lifted off the cover to see Crimson asleep. "What the?" "I don't know, shut the lid before it eats us or something!" The other guard shouted as he slammed the cover back on. "Whatever, it's been a long day. Let's get this thing to storage and go". "Thing needs to lose a few pounds however". "Hey! I can hear you!" Crimson shouted through the thin wood. "What? Open it up, it is still alive!" As the cover lifted off once more, Crimson picked himself up and leapt out of the crate. "Thank you gentlecolts, I think I can walk from here," Crimson thanked as he walked off. He was met with two spears as he attempted to make his escape. "Oh, in that case". Crimson charged up his horn and two fire beams stabbed the two guards' heart, who then fell to the floor almost instantly. Crimson walked off into the dark corridors as the two were left to bleed out. "Right, now the fountain is said to be around here," Crimson muttered to himself as he looked into the empty, stone rooms that were scattered around the labyrinth. He wandered into a room, where several artefacts were on presentation. Unknown jewellery in display cases, statues on massive stone pedestals and unknown books on lecterns were set up orderly lines. At the corner of the room stood a wooden crate. Crimson pried to open and found a dark black fountain with a piece of paper rested on top. Artefact #102 Fountain of Souls. "Bingo," Crimson said to himself as he lifted up the wooden crate with a pallet truck. As the crate lifted off the ground, three sky blue spectral ponies risen from the ground. "Intruder alert, unknown race. Engaging in combat," one of the spectres said as it began to fire blue arcane beams from it's eyes. Crimson attempted to cast a beam of fire onto one of the spectres but it simply left a small scorch on the wall behind. "I'm guessing talking this over dinner is out of the question?" Crimson asked but ducked as a blue beam nearly hit him square on the face. He dashed out towards the corridor. "Behind door number one," he thought out loud as he kicked open a closed door. As he locked the doors again, he looked around the room. Several types of weaponry were hung up on racks. Spears, maces, swords and many obscure types of weaponry littered the walls. "I think one of those things killed me and I went to heaven!" Crimson said with glee as he began to take a double headed axe off the wall. A blue flame encased the edges as Crimson put his hooves on it. A small barrel lay in the corner, Crimson blew off the dust on the label. Unknown Powder #22. "Black Powder" . As the small barrel was lifted, several others were revealed in the dark corner. "Merry Christmas Crimson," he muttered to himself as he began to lift small barrels. The doors burst open and the blue spectres began to patrol the room. The group of spectres clustered together and began to talk to each other. "Intruder not located, begin to search compound?" One of the spectres asked. A small fizzing noise soon filled the room. "Attention, fire detected". "Begin to search for fire source," another ordered as they begin to drift through the room once more. One of the spectres looked a small, metal box with a small symbol sketched on. As the spectre focused, it saw a smiley face with "Happy Birthday" scribbled on it. "Attention unidentifi-" the spectre informed but suddenly the container exploded, releasing a force that shattered the spectre into small ethereal bits. Crimson came out, pushing the pallet truck as fast as he could through the dust with two barrels resting on top of the wooden crate. As the spectres began to chase him, he threw one barrel behind him and lit the fuse. Suddenly a large explosion was heard and a wave of rubble began to chase him. Almost nearing towards the open exit, Crimson pushed the truck as fast as he could. The wave continued it's pursuit. The end of the tunnel was drawing near. The pallet truck was wobbling violently as it rocketed towards the light. Every split second counted. The wave of rubble began to get closer, closer, closer. Crimson made it just in time, he threw himself and the truck out into the light. The wave of rubble stopped to obscure the entrance. As Crimson dusted himself off and put his hooves upon the bar. Several guards pointed their spears towards him, leaving only a few inches between him and the tip. "Do not move, you are under arrest for crimes against the country!" An officer shouted who was wearing the regular golden armour, but had a platinum star in place of the normal blue star on the chest-plate. "Well done, what gave me away? The explosions or the spectres alerting you?" Crimson asked mockingly. "Silence scum! Take him to the dungeon," The officer ordered. They went to hit him with the base of the pole but was interrupted by a flash and a loud crackling noise. As the flash receded, Crimson was gone with the wooden crate and the barrel. "Where did he go? Find him!" The officer shouted impatiently. "Over here!" Crimson called, holding a small spherical container. "Catch!" Crimson threw the sphere at the squad of guards, as soon as it hit the ground, an explosion erupted. Several guards began to fly towards him but was soon blinded by another flash. A small boat was awaiting for Crimson, there stood an impatient looking mare. She had a black mane with a purple stripe running down one side of her fringe. She had a light grey coat and wore a small necklace around her neck. "Got it, as well as a bonus!" Crimson said with a grin on his face. "About time, you took your time getting this darn thing," she complained. "Now now, is that a way to talk to your lord," Crimson said as he transformed back into his human-like form. "I don't care about these little colts in robes, all I care about is bits. That's all," she spat back. "I thought you were in a family that has a good history with necromancy?" "I do, doesn't mean I agree with their religious views. Anyway, get this thing on the boat and get your flank out of here!" "Will do, meet you at the cave". With a small gesture of his hand to form a salute and ran off into the streets. The entire city was barren, silence filled the streets which made the howling wind be present for the first time in the city in a long time. As Crimson stepped out, the sound of hooves was heard in the distance. As Crimson dashed out into the streets and hid behind a food stand, a parade of crystal guards marched down the streets towards him. As they halted in unison, they lowered their spears and dispersed to search for Crimson. He moved stealthily through the side walk, gliding from cover to cover, turning his head towards the crystal behemoths tearing up parts of potential cover. Canterlot Castle, Throne Room As Princess Celestia sat on her throne, talking with guards clad in platinum coloured armour. A young rookie burst into the room, holding a scroll with his mouth. As the officer grabbed it with his telekinetic grip, he looked in concern. "Are you sure rookie?" He asked in confusion. "Yes sir, apparently some sort of explosion caused the entire gallery to collapse," the rookie responding hesitantly. "That place has the most advanced magic wards we have, how can this be?" "Apparently, after the assailant escaped, he used some sort of black powder to stun the pegasus guards". "I believe I can explain this captain," Princess Celestia interrupted. "This black powder you speak of, what exactly was the behaviour of it?" "The powder detonated when the criminal used a fire spell, your highness," the rookie bowed as he informed. "This is concerning, this powder was found in the ruins of a strange old tribe. This was taken to the gallery as it is a major threat to all of us," Princess Celestia grabbed a scroll and began to write a letter. "If you find a barrel being held by the ones responsible, do not use any fire magic at all. The amount we found it in will definitely harm a lot of my subjects". "Yes, your highness". "This letter should give you the identifying marks for those barrels, also orders for the field officers there. Be careful, this is surely something more dangerous than a common thief". "Did you manage to get anything that can identify this criminal?" Celestia asked. "Only one, a letter signed by the criminal," the officer replied as he lifted a small, tattered envelope towards Celestia. She grabbed it and opened it hesitantly, as the small piece of paper slid out. She began to read. Remember me? Celestia dropped the letter as she saw a small photo of a red, bipedal figure. "Your highness?" One of the officers walked up to Celestia and picked up the letter. "What is this ghastly monster?" "That, is the Warden. He was one of my personal bodyguards and always looked out for me, no matter where I was". "So, how is this bad your highness?" "He went insane after a necromantic cult known as the Children of Tartarus cursed him, he then turned on me and almost defeated me," Celestia shuddered at the memories. "I had to do one thing I hope to never do at all, I had banish him to Tartarus but I had to weaken him first. With the Solar Flare spell". "Princess, you mean..." "He was burned within an inch of his life, I just wish that he didn't make me use it," Celestia walked up to a small crystal ball. "You should know what he is like, before you encounter him". Celestia powered up her horn and fired a small beam at the ball, causing a hologram to project in the centre of the room. "This is the known story of The Warden, or as I knew him before that. Aiden". Celestia shuddered once again as the hologram took shape of a bipedal creature.
Memories 1010 Years ago As the sun radiated in the sky, the town of Canterlot was bustling with life. Everypony had a smile on their face as they walked down the street. As Princess Celestia walked down the street, she looked behind her. "Aiden?" She asked in concern as she looked around in panic. "Here," a male voice said as a human walked towards her, holding a bag of doughnuts in his hand. He had a blonde short cut mane on top of his head. He had brown eyes and smooth skin. Save for the small scars on his face. "Don't worry, I got you one too". He smiled as he handed the bag to her. Celestia took one and gave a smile as she shoved the pastry in her mouth. "Right, you've visited all those shops that wanted the 'Celestia Seal of Approval," Aiden said holding his hands up and giving an inverted commas gesture. "Back to the castle then?" Celestia was still chewing as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes, to the castle," Celestia said while spurting a flak of doughnut debris. Aiden flicked it away and gave a small giggle. "Come on then, before you make an even bigger fool of yourself". As Celestia and Aiden walked into the throne room, Aiden leapt onto a small couch and put his feet up. Celestia sat at her usual throne and gave Aiden a disapproving look. "What?" Aiden asked in confusion, looking innocent. "Come on Aiden, you know the rules". "Fine," he rolled his eyes as he dragged himself up and stood near Celestia. "Happy?" "Very, now let's get this on with". A orderly queue of ponies were stood behind the door as it opened and one entered the room. A small frail stallion wearing a business suit and holding a briefcase. The usual topic of conversation began to take place, business deals and more visits were discussed. After a while one large pegasus walked in, he stomped inside and made himself present in the room. "Can I help you?" Celestia asked with her usual motherly tone. "I am Rustic Blade, remember this name as it will be the name that killed the tyrannical princess!" the stallion shouted as he launched towards Celestia, holding a small blade in his hoof. Celestia just sat there while the pegasus was flying towards him like a missile. Suddenly the pegasus was dragged down to the floor and a boot was placed firmly on his face. "Now now, is that the way to greet anypony?" Aiden mocked. "Guards, take this joke to the dungeons". Two guards walked up to the criminal but was soon stopped by another pony who came in with a sword. The guards attempted to stop him but was knocked out the way. Aiden picked up the blade and threw it, landing inside one of the legs and causing him to crash down to the floor in pain. "Stop!" Celestia ordered. Aiden complied and took his boot off the stallion's head. "As you wish". Present Time, Canterlot Castle "As you can see, Aiden was my most trusted guard and we got on very well," Celestia narrated as she looked upon the glowing crystal ball. "I see, but why is he attacking us?" One of the officers asked in confusion. "It's because of this," Celestia frowned as she cast another spell on the ball. This time revealing a crowd of robed ponies in a circle formation around a stake which had Aiden tied up on. 1001 Years ago As Aiden woke up, he struggled. The ropes stayed in place, not budging one bit and not giving way to anything. A pony walked up to him and threw a batch of ingredients towards him. He then took off Aiden's gag, allowing him to speak. "When I get out of here, you will wish to be in the dungeons!" Aiden screamed. "Oh, be quiet you. This will only hurt a lot!" The cultist said as drove a small dagger into Aiden's stomach. He screamed in pain as the stake was then set alight. However, before the flames managed to touch him. A dark purple aura struck him, causing him to have a fit as purple energies began to possess him. The flames blew out and Aiden ripped himself off the stake. As he fell to the floor and raised his head, he opened his eyes, allowing a purple glow to emanate from them. He gave a small grin as he stood back up. Suddenly a platoon of guards burst in, turning the place into pure chaos. As one of the guards approached Aiden, he wrapped his hands around his neck and picked him up off the ground. The stallion stopped twitching and dropped the floor lifelessly. Another one attempted to run his spear through him but he missed as Aiden took a step forwards and grabbing the spear. He pulled it out of the guard's grip and turned the head towards him and stabbed him in the gut without any hesitation. Several guards began to advance on him, Aiden began to form a small purple sphere into his hands. However the world began to go black and cloudy as more and more guards began to pile upon him. Aiden was captured but soon escaped once more Ponyville The entire village was in flames, screams of villagers filled the atmosphere as skulls floated throughout the village which left black clouds behind them. Aiden began to walk through the market as fire engulfed the buildings and rubble fell like rain. He dragged a purple, ethereal sword behind him. Celestia soon landed on the ground, she looked up at the maniac in front of her. "Ah, Celestia. Looks like you joined the party," Aiden grinned as he raised the sword in front of him. "Aiden! Stop this now, you just have to fight whatever that cult did to you!" Celestia screamed as tears welled up. "Ha! They upgraded me, now I don't have to follow your orders and be your slave. The country is mine!" Aiden pointed his sword at Celestia. "Now, let us fight!" A black beam fired from the sword at Celestia. "Sister!" Luna screamed as she dived in front of her, allowing the black beam to hit her. "Luna!" Celestia screamed as Luna writhed in pain. "Now your turn!" "Aiden, I am so sorry. Forgive me," Celestia sobbed as she fired a large fire beam towards him. Aiden's flesh began to burn, he dropped his sword and flesh began to drop off. He screamed in pain as a portal to Tartarus opened. Celestia ran up to him and bucked him through the portal. "My revenge will be sweet, Celestia! I assure you!" Aiden shouted through the portal as it sealed shut. The world engulfed in black clouds and became concealed once more. Present The crystal ball turned black then clear once more. "That is all gentlecolts, now you know what you are up against. This monster that possessed him cares not for anything. He only kills for fun and has no morals," Celestia informed as a small tear dropped from her eye. "So this Aiden is a being from Tartarus, that explains the Fountain of Souls," one of the officers asked. "He stole the fountain?" "Yes, your highness". "That fountain has a direct link to Tartarus energy, if he has control over that then we have to take drastic measures," Celestia put on a small necklace and a cast a small spell on it. Then a shield enveloped her with runes floating around her. "The monster who possesses Aiden does not know his knowledge of martial arts or weapons and relies on magic. Without magic, he is harmless," Celestia informed as she took out a small metal box with a collar. "Attach this to his neck and lock it. It will prevent him from using magic". "Yes your highness, we will try out best," the officer replied as he took the metal box and walked out with his comrades. The door slammed shut and the entire room went dark. As Celestia panicked she look up into the darkness. A pair of red eyes glowed as a column of flames arose from the wall. The room returned to it's usual brightness, but this time with the Warden standing in the centre of the room. "Knock knock," he grinned. "You! What do you want?" Celestia spat. "You had your revenge when you corrupted my sister!" "Ah yes, that nightmare moon business. Quite smart don't you think, getting your only sister to fight against you". "You are sick, I don't even think that you are even Aiden any more". Suddenly the Warden dashed up to Celestia and raised a dagger. "Do not say that name to me ever! I do not go by that mortal name any more, I go by the Warden to you!" "So you took that role, tell me. How did you escape from Tartarus?" "Easy, I call it a vacation and put Tirek to cover for me". "Tirek! You put Tirek in charge! Do you even know what he did here!" "I do, that's why I put him in charge. A tyrannical, power hungry warden for Tartarus. Perfect," The Warden grinned to himself as he lowered his dagger and backed away from Celestia. "You are truly evil, more cold hearted than anything I have ever known! Whatever you are, get out of Aiden!" Celestia spat in rage as she began to fire heat beams at the Warden. However he soon dashed out of the way and began to return fire. "This will go down one way or the other Celestia. You will fall!" The Warden took cover behind a large pillar, preventing the beams from hitting him. "You can still come peacefully. You can live among us, I will forgive you!" "Ha! Friendship still deludes you ponies. I will not give in to your foolish ways," he jumped out of cover and began to fire beams of equal power from his hands as he moved from one pillar to another. Under suppression, Celestia was forced to take cover as well. "Your brutish ways are not effective to me, this time I will reform you!" Celestia teleported behind the Warden and took off her encryption necklace and put it around him and held it in place. "What are you doing? You are foolish as always Celestia!" He attempted to cast a killing blow but his magic soon diminished. "How is this possible? What have you done!" "Getting you out of my friend!" Celestia cast a spell on him, causing the Warden to fall asleep. Unknown Time Later As the Warden woke up, his vision blurry and having a migraine. He observed the room we was in. It was warm and comfy, unlike cold, dark dungeon he was expecting to have. As he looked around, he was in a queen sized bed in a bedroom. A fire crackled where Celestia was sitting near it. Watching the wood burn. As the Warden got up and attempted to cast some magic, he was stopped. He observed himself and found a collar was tightly attached to his neck. "Good afternoon Aiden," Celestia welcomed as she turned towards him. As he raised his fist Celestia interrupted. "I wouldn't do that. The collar is triggered to put you back to sleep on my command". "Well, looks like someone finally has a dark streak to them," the Warden complimented as he lowered his fist. "As I said before, I want to reform you. We also disconnected you from the Fountain of Souls which we traced back to your cultist friends," Celestia stood up and walked to a tea tray. "I will not tolerate necromancy or any magic that puts my subjects at harm". "Oh Celestia, always playing the mother role in the country. Well, a bad mother as the entire country is falling apart!" "Your tricks do not effect me," she sat next to the Warden and levitated a cup of tea towards him. "I have a proposition for you". "I am listening". "You will cooperate with all the treatments and techniques I use to reform you. If that fails then you are free to do what you please in Equestria". "Well, this makes a nice change. I will accept but on one condition". "That is?" "When you fail, I want all of the artefacts that you took from me". "OK then, I will not fail!" "We shall see then, so when will you start?" "Now." Celestia stood up and walked near the only exit. "You may enter." The door opened to reveal a much smaller alicorn who walked out of the shadows nervously. She had a lavender coat and a dark purple mane with a stripe down the one side. Her cutie mark was a large star surrounded by 5 smaller stars. "Well well, nice to finally meet you purple." The Warden grinned as he laid eyes upon Twilight Sparkle.
Reformation? "Purple? Oh, excuse me. My name is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight introduced herself confidently. "The 4th Princess and the pony who defeated Tirek, oh how I teased him for that," the Warden chuckled to himself as he poured a cup of tea and handed to Twilight who gladly accepted. As she sipped the tea, she began to cough uncontrollably. "Yummy, salt is delicious in drinks," he began to laugh at Twilight. "Oh I am going to enjoy this". Twilight put the cup of tea back on the tray and sat down on near the fire. "Please, sit down," Twilight pointed at a pillow with her hoof. "Oh thank you very much," he said in a very posh accent. "I say, shall we have some crumpets my dear fellow". Twilight looked at him in confusion. "So, Celestia tells me that you used to be one of the royal guards?" "Yes, before I broke my chains I had to protect sun butt from being hurt". "Sun butt? That's not very nice!" "Oh no, I am so sorry. How's Fusion Flank? Plasma Plot? No?" The Warden attempted to stifle a laugh as Twilight just sat unimpressed. "Oh come on give me a smile". "Ugh fine. Do you want me to give you my history?" The Warden groaned. "That would be a nice start," Twilight smiled. "Well, I come from Earth. Good planet. My species are the most advanced creatures on there. We created things incomprehensible to you pea brained hay eaters. We all stuck together, even if there was a small falling out from time to time. That's what makes my species so unique is that we require human interaction". "So how did you get to Equestria," Twilight scribbled on her notepad as the Warden explained. "Well, I didn't want to come to this cursed planet. I was dropped here after... wow I actually don't remember". "Tell me more about your life on this Earth". "Well, I was an astronaut. Basically people who occupy and maintain spacecraft and study the cosmos. My job was an engineer, basically fix stuff, build stuff. Solve practical problems," the Warden raised his hand to his temple and began to massage it. "Are you OK?" "Yeah, anyway if I put me being stuck on this primitive planet and me being an astronaut it makes sense that I crashed an escape pod here." "So you mean that human technology could be around here?" "Ha! Even if you did find it, the thing would be useless. To prevent reverse engineering it has a self destruct button, which I pressed shortly after escaping!" "That technology could of helped all of us!" "You got magic anyway, Humans only have their brilliant minds!" the Warden then rubbed his chin in thought. "Wait, I have an idea". "This has been very interesting and a brilliant opportunity for me to learn about other culture, you have made a great contribution and for that I thank you," Twilight went in to hug the Warden. He froze in shock and began to panic. "Stay away!" He pushed her away, he began to hyperventilate and back-pedalled into the corner of the room. He then fainted as blood began to drip out of his nose. The Warden's Mind A bright and sunny day. Trees swayed in motion with the soft wind and the birds chirped merrily in the sky. However the ground was much different. Skyscrapers filled the horizon and faint mechanical noises could be heard in the distance. The Warden looked down at his hands and saw they were a pinkish colour. "I...is this Earth?" He asked himself. A small male child skipped towards him. He was similar to the Warden. Except he had blue eyes, brown hair and no scars littered across his face. A woman than chased after the child. She had green eyes, long brown hair. She was tall and thin. "Aiden!" She shouted as she began to cry and ran towards him. She lunged at him and put him a firm hug. "You came back". "My memory isn't that good, who are you?" He asked. "How could you forget your wife and child?" "You what". "Well they did say that the treatments did have possible amnesia," the woman placed a hand on her chest. "Chloe if you forgot". The small child pulled on his trouser leg. He looked down and smiled. "And this bundle of fun is Lucas". He proceeded to lift him up. "My child," he whispered to himself. Suddenly a loud explosion was heard. Avian creatures began to dive-bomb the city, as he studied closer they were pegasi. A gigantic replica of the escape pod floated above the city and thousands of pegasus began to bomb the city. Out came a large disfigured head of Princess Celestia who laughed manically. "Thank you very much for the technology, now we can rid the universe of your pathetic race!" "Pathetic? How dare you, you primitive grass chewing barbarian! Come down here and my foot will give you a warm welcome!" Suddenly a large weapons crate dropped near him. He unlocked it to find a map of Equestria with an x in a certain location. "This is the location of your escape pod, it has became the most mysterious object in Equestria and nothing has opened it yet. This is your chance, in the name of the human race. I order you to active the distress beacon!" A voice ordered him. "Yes sir!" He replied and his dream began to fade. Equestria He woke up in panic to find that Twilight and Celestia at the bottom of his bed. "Ah you are finally awake," Celestia said, stating the obvious. If I am going to escape I have to be reformed. The things I do for you human race. Oh well, can't be that bad. "Yeah, just had a flash back," the Warden waved his hand in dismissal. "We have finally got your first treatment, it is a memory spell that we used in the discord crisis". "Well, I said I had to cooperate. Hit it," the Warden lowered his head and Twilight cast a small spell on him. I have to show some resistance Images began to flash back in his mind. A gigantic spacecraft floating through the cosmos. A woman, a child and a gigantic city. What was even more intriguing was several blueprints flashed in his mind. Weapons, machines, medicine. All of the human technology he known returned. "I need several things. A workbench with some tools and the raw materials I ask for. I will cooperate but I need these to be useful in my time," the Warden informed. Twilight looked at him in joy. "You think that I will fall for that?" Celestia asked. "Wait, he is an engineer. He could help us!" Twilight interrupted. "Why do you need these?" "It's easy. Necromancy is on the rise and I can help create machines that can solve this problem," the Warden smiled as he began to pick up sheets of paper and stationary. "OK, you are using your talents for good which I am grateful," Celestia walked out of the room. "What's wrong with her?" The Warden asked. "She is just on edge, this necromancy business has shook the entire city," Twilight informed. She looked at the blueprints the Warden was drafting. "What is this?" "These are much stronger weapons that you currently have, instead of using spears or swords you can use these from a long range," he pointed at the blueprints of a Arquebus. "It fires a small pellet at the speed faster than any bow can create and can penetrate through nearly all variants of your current armour. However being a human weapon, I have to devise an adapter". "Why would we need these?" Twilight asked in shock. "To pick your teeth with them," he said sarcastically. "It's to eliminate any hostile beings from a good distance with a good efficiency". "We will never use such a thing! It goes against everything we stand for". "You stand for. Your drones will have no problem forcing a lead pellet down the throat of a troublesome cultists". "What did you do to me before I fainted?" The Warden asked in suspicion. "I just hugged you, no enchantments or spells," Twilight reassured him. She gave a small grin to him and he gave one back. Resist, do not blow your only chance of getting out of here! "I want to go back you know. The human world once more, to see humans again. To be home, this is not my home". "We can try our best, if that is what you want then we will help you. I cannot allow you to go home like this though". "Like a demon, monster? Yeah I know, try to do your best," the Warden began to glow a bright yellow and his skin began to change from crimson red to his old human coloured skin. His eyes turned from the deep red to brown, his hair from black to blonde. As he was about to transform, he shifted back to his evil form. "Ha! You won't succeed. Ponies are too small minded for space travel!" He scoffed, going back to his blueprints. Four Hours Later, Private Room "Princess, the spells seem to be working. He actually began to change form," Twilight informed in glee. Celestia gave a smile. "You mean that Aiden could be back?" Celestia asked with hope. "Possibly, he still needs to get used to the spells so we don't cause any damage. The last thing I want to do is cause him more pain than he is already through". "I thank you Twilight, you really are helping us all," Celestia gave a friendly hug. "Princess, what is Aiden now exactly?" Twilight asked in curiosity. "He is a demon, a creature of pure evil. It is not Aiden but something possessing him, we need to use the memory spells to rejuvenate Aiden and expel the demon inside of him," Celestia explained. "He was possessed when he was on a necromancy raid. However he got captured and he was corrupted". "I see. Were you and Aiden close?" Twilight asked hesitantly. Celestia looked down at the floor, she let out a heavy sigh. "He was my personal bodyguard to everypony else. To me however, he was my only true friend at that time. Luna was never happy with me, everypony feared me rather than liked me, everypony just exploited my title. Aiden, he just wanted a friend too. He said that ponies called him a freak and cast him out, I found him in the plains, wanting a friend too. One thing lead to another and we became best friends," she took out a pendant from behind regalia with a small half of a heart with the letter F engraved and another F only half engraved. "He has the other half, I hold on to it, keeping the memories to hope that one day. He will return back to himself". "Princess, I didn't know. I am so sorry," Twilight apologised. She went in for another hug but this time Celestia was much tighter. A small tear began to drop from Celestia's eyes. "It's OK Twilight, I know you will get Aiden back and rid him of this monster," Celestia gave a small smile as she backed off and walked out to a window. "Most nights I wonder if any other of his kind are in Equestria, Aiden said that could find out but he was corrupted before he said so". "If so, I hope they are OK". The Next Day The room had been transformed into a workshop. Massive amounts of raw materials were scattered around the floor like a child with toys on their birthday. The Warden sat, hunched over a workbench tinkering with the new invention he had recreated. He lifted it into the air and put the butt into his shoulder. He smiled for a moment as he loaded it with black powder and a small lead ball. He pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. It went off in a cloud of smoke, sending the ball hurling towards the wall which then cut straight through the brick. "It works, took it's time to work," he muttered to himself as he put it down on the workbench. Twilight burst through the door, she began to cough as the smoke entered her body. "What happened?" She asked as she opened the window. "The sound of progress my friend," the Warden replied with a mock German accent. Twilight gave a confused look as she saw the Arquebus. "The Arquebus is functional and ready for mass production, all we need now is to figure out how to get you ponies to shoot the thing. Unicorns is pretty obvious, but Pegasi and Earth Ponies?" He rubbed his chin in thought as he stood up and observed Twilight. "Perhaps you could make a stand of some sort?" She suggested. "Some sort of deployable stand that attached onto the rifle? Yes that would work, just some modifications to the human version should work for you," he sat down and waited for Twilight to leave the room. As she walked out, he took out a map and laid it across the table. He closed his eyes and thought back to his dream. He looked at the map and saw the x mark over a mountain range in a desert country. A country that is shrouded is mystery. "Zebrica," the Warden muttered.
Home Sweet HomeOne Villain to Another By Platinum Shift As the flash receded from the unimaginable power from the magic that gave the mane six the ability to defeat him. Tirek found himself in his cage once more in Tartarus. He looked at himself and studied the thin, weak form that he was for too long. As he looked out of his cage, he saw nothing but steep mountains, all having platforms with cages in them, that went as far as the eye could see. Where the paths joined and the gate to Equestria was, stood Cerberus the guardian of the gates to Tartarus. "How was that possible?" Tirek thought to himself. "I had the magic of all the alicorn princesses and somehow ponies find a mass amount of magic hidden away and defeat me!" Tirek held the thick bars of the cage with his thin hands. "In retrospect, I should of consumed this reserve pool of magic for myself and become unbeatable," he smacked his head against the cage several times before he heard the familiar sound of wings flapping in the distance. "How did I know that you would of shown up?" Tirek groaned as a pair of red eyes glowed in the dark and a grin soon accompanied it. "Oh Tirek, how could you? You left without saying a single goodbye, or a note," The voice was dark and was full of malice. "I would say goodbye if I left Tartarus". "That's because you are not bound to the cage with chains and a three headed dog guarding the entrance that can defeat you without even trying!" Tirek shouted back, raising his fist. "Well, that does make it easy doesn't it?" The voice chuckled mockingly. "I would like to know how you managed to get out of the cage, I know how you got past Cerberus". "A magician never reveals his tricks to anyone," Tirek said as he turned away from the spectre. "Understandable," The voice gave up. "Wouldn't bother trying now, the cages are enchanted to teleport you back to Tartarus if you do escape from them". "Of course". Ponyville, Equestria As the mane six stared in wonder at the new crystal tree towering above the village, they began to discuss what the future had in store for the group. Each sat in their respective thrones, save Discord who appeared behind Twilight and looked around in thought. "I still don't know why I don't get a throne," Discord sulked. "Well, this is the castle for the Elements of Harmony," Twilight explained. "Ah yes, of course it is," Discord rolled his eyes. "Well we best get started girls, if you want to leave say the word. These duties are meant for me but I really appreciate the help," Twilight smiled at the five before her. "No problem at all dear, it's the least we could do," Rarity waved a hoof of dismissal. "I know, it's just I don't want these new tasks to take over your lives. This is what I do and you all have your own places of work". "You don't need to worry about us Twi, y'all just worrying to much," Applejack reassured Twilight. "Maybe I am, who knows what the future has in store for us?" "Well I'm sure whatever happens, we can pull through it!" Rainbow Dash rallied as she began to do a small aerobatic sequence around the room. After a few hours of bureaucratic work and paperwork, the five ponies left, leaving Discord and Twilight alone in the room while Spike began to sort out the several piles of scrolls and paper. "Well if this is what the future has in store, it's going to be a very boring future indeed," Discord commented as he stretched out his arms. "It's what Princess Celestia wants us to do," Twilight said. "Of course, but I think more pressing matters are ahead," Discord rubbed his chin as he began to walk around the room. "What do you mean?" "Well, when Cerberus left his post at Tartarus I don't think Tirek was the only one to escape". "Is Cerberus the only guard at Tartarus?" "Of course not," Discord chuckled to himself. "That would be preposterous! Not only do you have Cerberus but you have The Warden patrolling Tartarus' cells". "So how did Tirek escape?" "Tartarus is a big place and The Warden cannot leave, instead he relies on other mortals to banish them to Tartarus, however this is the first time in forever that anything escaped Tartarus!" "This warden, what's he like?" "How should I know, I was put into stone not cast into prison!" "What will happen if anything else comes to attack Equestria?" Twilight asked in panic as she stood up and walked around in circles with Discord "Well, we have the contents of the box of harmony at our side now so it won't be difficult to send them back," Discord reassured. "All I'm saying Twilight is that don't let your guard down". The draconequus soon left using his revitalised chaos magic and with the snap of a finger, disappeared. Tartarus "Well, I can tell you one thing Tirek," The Warden teased as Tirek's head shot up to face the red eyes in the darkness. "You got absolutely thrashed by ponies!" The Warden laughed as Tirek grabbed the bars once more. "How was I to know that they would have that sort of magic?" Tirek said. "Hmm, how about not charging head first like a bull in a china shop?" The Warden suggested mockingly. "Even if I did it in the shadows, I would of met the same demise". "True, I was expecting one pony to beat you down with magic but I did not expect those six to go full on super-charged!" "I don't think anyone could of expected powers that strong". "I could, I have seen powers that change the entire fabric of reality on a scale unimaginable by anything". "What do you mean," Tirek asked in confusion. "I mean, creating stars, destroying them, making planets and the list goes on and on". "What kind of creature wields that sort of power?" "Naughty, I ask the questions," The Warden tutted. Tirek rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I have stuff to do. Don't you go anywhere, not like you can". The Warden chuckled as the red eyes in the darkness faded. A large spire in the middle of Tartarus, guarded by many spirits that could only be conjured in pony's nightmare, protruded out of the landscape. As a gust of wind flew opened the door, a cloud of darkness began to form near the door. Red eyes glowed in the cloud but soon began to take the form of something physical. Two long, stick like legs began to form on the ground which protruded up from the floor. Then a torso which looked similar to a Minotaur began to form on top of the legs. Then two arms began to sprout of the torso and five very thin appendages stuck out of the arm. Then a round shaped head grew on the torso. As the darkness began to clear, a black mane on the top of the round head formed. The being began to have crimson coloured skin, similar to Tirek. The legs and torso were the same as everything else on the body, completely clad in crimson skin with few minor features on the torso. The being stretched out the two long arms and two large, bat like wings and yawned. "Home sweet home," The Warden said as he began to walk into the abode and closing the large, black steel door. The house was expansive and large, most of the walls were just the standard brown rocks of Tartarus decorated with banners and the odd large window. As The Warden walked up to a desk, he lit a candle with a gout of flame that ejected from his hand. He picked up a quill and dipped it into the ink and began to write. "Now, another profile for a new arrival and then I got to check out those three alicorns that came in and finally do a report on Tirek escaping," The Warden sighed. "Who knew running hell was such hard work!" The Warden began to spin on the chair which he lifted with his telekinesis. "Not forgetting assigning those scouts to find the four horseman which escaped as well!" He rested the chair down facing the large window looking out onto the field of mountains that contained the captives of Tartarus. "This is all I do every minute of every day, check them in, freak them out, eat, sleep, repeat!" The Warden gave a heavy sigh as he floated back to his desk and began to write some more. "Sometimes I get some free time and look at Equestria when the planets align on a blue moon!" he growled in frustration. "Oh what I would give to go there once more, I screwed it up last time but everyone makes mistakes". The Warden stood up and flew up the stairs to his bedroom. He walked up to a red ball that was floating over a stone sculpture of The Warden's hand. He put his two hands over the ball and closed his eyes. "That's interesting, looks like purple is having some late night research on..." The Warden muttered to himself but suddenly stopped. "Me? Purple is researching me? Well this is interesting, if I am to go to Equestria it's best go to her first". He grinned as he began to fly around in circles. "Who will take over, someone who has a god complex would be the best," he rubbed his long chin in though with his thin fingers and small palm. His face lighted up in realisation. "Tirek, not a bad candidate I would say". Raising his hand in the air, a scroll flew into his hand and he then opened it. "Let's see, lust for power, pure evil and has a god complex? Too much," he dismissed the idea. "He could also unleash Tartarus upon Equestria knowing him!" He began to study the profile on Tirek in greater detail. "However, I could just seal Tartarus forever with my magic," deep in thought, The Warden transformed into his shadow form once more and floated towards Tirek's cell. "So Tirek, how about we do what you do best. Strike a deal?" The Warden grinned and chuckled maliciously.
Dealing With The Devil "Oh?" Tirek raised an eyebrow. "What do you wish to gain from this?" "I wish to go to Equestria," The Warden replied. "I see," a smile appeared on Tirek's face. "Freedom is the best thing to have isn't it?" "That's what I am trading for. I need someone to succeed Tartarus for me when I leave and I couldn't find a better candidate than you". "I am flattered but I want to know why you have made this sudden decision". "Do you want to be the new warden of Tartarus or not?" The Warden asked impatiently. "Well, I want to know the terms of this negotiation". "OK then, in return for my freedom. I will assign Tartarus under your command. You can do what you want as long as you abide by the main rules," The Warden soon conjured a scroll and opened it. "You must not intentionally let a prisoner escape, you must not leave without anything taking your place, you can use any means necessary to keep prisoners in order but must not kill them and you must not delegate this title to anything else unless told to by the previous warden". "Other than that, I am free to do what I want in this realm?" Tirek asked hopefully. "Yes, this is a prison for the truly evil so they deserve whatever you give them but death," The dark cloud moved in closer. "Killing prisoners means that we give them the easy way out but if we contain them, they suffer!" The Warden gave a malicious grin as it receded into the darkness. "However, I want one thing in return. I want you to turn over your soul like many have done in the past who have bartered with me when the deal is done!" The Warden chuckled. "What will selling my soul do?" Tirek asked in confusion. "Wow, I never thought that a wise creature like you would not be clear on the effects of being soulless!" The Warden mocked in astonishment. "If you hand over your soul, you become bound to Tartarus and can never leave. An advantage of this is that you are immortal in this realm and can never die unless the being who keeps your soul decides to end your life". "So it gives me immortality?" Tirek put his fingers together and grinned. "Yes, but I decide your fate not anything else. If you are in a circumstance that you would of died you will simply take the form of a spectre for a minute to retreat". "So nothing will be able to stop me here except you. You interest me in this deal very much, I always heard that The Warden of Tartarus was fair in his deals with mortals who summoned him," Tirek gave a complimenting bow. "Well, the ritual that summons me has been lost for centuries for reasons I do not know". "Oh yes, I know why. Ponies removed all traces of dark magic and rituals," Tirek explained in disgust. "Well, Celestia and Luna are not the one for dark magic. Greedy foals!" "So, I agree to your deal. When will you leave?" Tirek asked eagerly. "I think tomorrow, I need to alert the shades and organise the transfer of power," the red eyes soon disappeared which left Tirek thinking in the cage once more. As The Warden materialised in the dark palace, he noticed a unicorn shaped shadow standing collectively near the door. "Can I help you?" The Warden asked. "My lord, I have returned," The shadow bowed as it spoke in a very deep voice. "Well, you took your time to get back here," The Warden said as he turned towards the bowing shadow. "What held you up?" "I had to regenerate completely, that blasted crystal heart almost killed me!" The shadows faded to reveal King Sombra bowing towards The Warden. "I got to say, you Equestrians are rubbish at being villains! Tirek got his flank handed to him by the mane six and you got disintegrated by a baby dragon!" He mocked. "I got some news for you and the shades". "Yes my lord?" Sombra finally stood upright as he waited. "I am retiring tomorrow and leaving Tirek as the new warden, you are to obey him!" "Tirek, with all due respect my lord, he is a prisoner!" "Are you arguing with me Sombra?" The Warden leaned towards him and stared straight into Sombra's eyes. "N...no my lord," Sombra stuttered as he walked back to the wall. "Good, tell the shades this news. You may leave," he floated upstairs as Sombra turned into a shadow and flew out of the door. Unknown Location "Yes, it appears that we finally found the ritual instructions we have tried to hard to find," a pony said. Several unicorns dressed in dark black robes were standing in a circle facing a ritual circle with several items in the centre, one of them being an unconscious mare. The dark cavern allowed for nature to leave the ritual circles safe and sound. "I hope so, this has been a tough two months for us all but it has not been in vain," the eldest stallion stood at a stone lectern with a light battered tome in front of him. "Indeed, now that we can use this magic that the royals banned centuries ago we will be unmatched in power!" "Easy my child, if we act harshly then all will be lost," the eldest raised his hoof to cease the discussions between the necromancers. "We may have power but we do not have control over it, all magic requires discipline and discipline we shall get!" "What if we get captured by the royal guards?" The youngest asked as he stepped forward but he stepped back as the group stared at him in surprise. "The blood oath requires you to take your own life in the event you get interrogated, we all know that don't we?" "Of course". "Then let us perform this ritual, we need to know if this is valid first". After minor modifications to the ritual runes on the circle and the stabilisation of the sacrifice, the group of necromancers took the formation around the circle. The eldest powered up his horn and fired a beam of energy towards the centre. The runes burnt with a purples flame but soon extinguished after a few seconds. The eldest gave a sigh as he read through the tome once more. "Well, carry on with gaining knowledge. This meeting is dismissed". The formation disbanded as they walked outside and the idle chatter of disappointment filled the dark cavern. "Soon, I will have you within my grasp," the elder muttered as he walked outside. Tartarus, The Next Morning The Warden had collected the gear that he could get hold of, he wore a dark brown leather jacket with several trinkets such as a water bottle and a knife attached to a shoulder strap. His brown pants hung over the black combat boots and had a sword attached to the belt. The Warden picked up a red scarf and wrapped it around his neck, covering his mouth entirely, he then packed a small satchel with a coin purse and a small rune stone. He walked out to the door and spread his wings and flew towards the vast amount of mountains. He landed onto a platform with great speed and looked up to see Tirek looking at him. "Ah, welcome once again," Tirek said. "Well, this won't be your cell soon. Shall we get started then?" The Warden asked as he clapped his hands together. "Your soul first". He clicked his fingers which pulled the cage door open and snapped the chains off Tirek. Lifting his hand and putting it just hovering above Tirek's head, an energy began to escape him and was absorbed by The Warden. Tirek fell over and slowly stood up and looked at The Warden harshly. "Now it is your turn," Tirek braced himself. The Warden raised his hand in the hair, causing mass amounts of energy to strike Tirek within a split second. He grew in mass and size as more and more magic was pumped into him. Soon it stopped and Tirek was in his most powerful form yet. "Happy?" The Warden asked. "Very, farewell Warden. I hope we can see each other soon," Tirek waved as The Warden stretched out his wings and flew towards the gates of Equestria. "See you later Tirek! Take care of the old place," The Warden shouted back as he flew further and further away. After flying past the gates of Tartarus, The Warden began to travel inside a vortex as he reached unimaginable speeds. Suddenly the wings began to fall off as he travelled further into the vortex and skin began to peel off and was replaced with mass amounts of burn marks. The vortex soon stopped and The Warden found himself falling at a great speed towards the ground, the wings were unusable and he braced for impact with the ground. A small shield enveloped him and he collided with the ground, causing dust and dirt to eject from the ground and shoot up. The shield dissipated and the dust settled, revealing a tall, male human who was crouching. He soon stood up and held a stone in his hand. "Well, that worked," he muttered to himself as he threw the stone away. Ponyville Twilight walked around the town centre, looking closely at the items that were on sale at the market. She walked up to a young mare selling carrots who began to shake as she saw Twilight approaching. "Could I have two carrots please," Twilight said as she smiled at the shaking mare. "T...thats one bit please," the mare stuttered. "One bit? Aren't they usually two bits a carrot?" Twilight asked in confusion. "Yes but for you it's one bit". "Please, I am no more important than you. I don't want you treating me differently than the others just because of my new title. I am just the same as other pony folk here," Twilight slid four gold coins on the stall and packed the two carrots and carried on to the other stalls. "That's the fourth one today," Twilight sighed to herself as she had a replay with the next stall. As the monotonous and boring day drifted by, Twilight began to walk towards her new tree castle. As she was about to open the door a booming sound rolled over the hills and the town, a shock-wave then caused the shopping to almost crash to the floor as dust flew past. "What in Equestria was that?" Twilight asked herself as she regained her senses. A group of pegasi flew over the town to the direction where the shock-wave hit the town, Twilight dropped her bag and lifted off to join the group. She met Rainbow Dash who was also en-route with meeting the large group. "Did you see that!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I did, I wonder what kind of object can cause a small dust-storm like that!" Twilight rubbed her chin in thought as several other pegasi flew past. A crater was in the middle of the large plains on the outskirts of Ponyville, several groups of pegasi landed around the crater and observed it. "Hey! I found something!" A young pegasus shouted as he held a white, smooth stone in his hoof. Twilight walked up to the crowd which was assembling and everypony began to move out of the way. "May I have a look at this please," Twilight asked while keeping her trademark smile. "Sure," the pegasus coolly said as he handed it to Twilight. "This stone looks odd, nothing that I know of but my books may have something!" Twilight took off and headed towards Ponyville once more at speeds that would beat Rainbow Dash in a race. The crowd soon dispersed save for one crimson coloured unicorn who stood near the crater. He cast a spell which caused a small black fog to envelop him until The Warden appeared. "That was easier than expected, let's go pay some visits then," The Warden smiled to himself as he began to walk towards Ponyville.
