Prologue. Second Breath
Bored. I, the great entity who was once feared across the lands of Magvel, is bored. Boredom, this is the same boredom that haunted me when I was still sealed into the confines of that accursed stone.
Heh, I suppose you don't even know who's rambling? Well, for simplicity's sake, it is I, Fomortiis, however, I prefer to go by my title. My title is appropriate for someone such as I, the Demon King. For I was once truly the king of all the demons, but now, I am deposed, presumably for all of eternity, or at least, for as long as I am in this cursed
The Five Heroes, or as I prefer to call them, Five Mongrels. Either through great skill, or luck, they managed to best me in combat. Subsequently to my defeat, they evicted me out of their world and into a claustrophobia-inducing orb. The Sacred stones, they referred to it.
For whatever reason, only one particular Sacred Stone was purposed into being my personal sphere of imprisonment. The nation who contained this stone was Grado. They called it the "Fire Stone" due to the fact that it burned with my spite.
A few centuries, or so, later, subsequent to my reluctant relinquishment of my freedom, the nation named Grado had a tragic loss, or rather, that's what they considered it, tragic. I'm indifferent to their despair, no, I redact that sentence, I indulge in their despair.
Bah, I'm loosing sight of the topic. Grado's emperor, Vigarde, has succumbed to death. His son, Lion, or whatever his name was-- Lyon, right, that was his name. Lyon was feeble, as he doubt that he could be held responsible for the well-being of his nation. So he prohibited the news of his father's death. Only he, and a select few of his council of dark mages were aware of his death.
Vigarde's son, Lyon, decided to tamper with the Sacred Stone of Grado, in attempts to resurrect his deceased father. The stone that confined me, somehow, was divided into two; the original Stone of Grado, and finally, the Dark Stone, as he preferred to call it.
I have no idea how he discovered such a method of dividing a relic into two similar to that. After some additional research, he successfully reanimated the corpse of his father. In exchange for his soul, of course. Ha, the fool...
I possessed Lyon, but, I didn't succeed in the reacquisition of my freedom just yet; I was still bound to the weak flesh of this human. I had to shatter all of the Sacred Stones in order for me to regain my form.
I did just that, I managed to shatter all of the Sacred Stones, and despite my unrivaled capabilities of ruination, I was still defeated, and this time, vanquished.
Damn them, damn them all that opposed me... And damn them for somehow retrieving the weapons of the Five Mongrels. If only they were unable to retrieve those relics, it would've been beyond them to defeat the likes of me.
So here I am, trapped in another dull confinement, Tartarus, killing time by conjuring armies... and then proceeding to sunder my own armies into bloody ashes. Just for the sake of my own entertainment. But alas, by repeating such a repetitive attempt at amusing oneself for so long, it inevitably becomes dull.
So I will state my current condition once more, I am bored. Bored beyond your mind's comprehension. I've been here for, without a doubt, years, if not centuries by now...
I just committed genocide on my most recent army, and I don't feel like morphing more any time soon. I feel weary. Yes, even beings that wield indescribable amounts of demonic power gets tired.
I glanced towards the land around me, the stony ground stretched out for miles, at the edges of that land was a wide gap, and at the bottom of that gap is nothing but molten earth. And yes, even demonic beings are able to be killed by lava.
On the grounds of my prison were the corpses of my own creation, freshly singed beyond recognition. I pace around a bit, the earth shook as my steps fall onto the ground.
Suddenly, a bright flash appears in front of me, the flash was bright. Too bright, thus, I had to shield my eyes with my right arm, as the flash's luster shined throughout my prison. Though, this mostly instinctive, as flashes normally mean that a light-based spell was coming my way.
The flash died out, and much to my relief, I was unscathed. Lowering my arm, I scanned throughout the area. There, in front of me, was a horse-like creature. It had a horn, along with wings. But what confounded me was it was lavender in color.
Before I was about to demand the reasoning of why she was here, she spoke, "I... I need your help."
I refrained from bellowing an enraged explanation, and simply stared at her. The last time somebody requested for my aid was that fool, Lyon. And through that, I escaped. Could it be? Is it my time to leave this accursed place and wreak havoc once more?
Though, it confounds me, this equine is able of speech, and additionally lavender. I've not seen a lavender colored of one of their kind. Perhaps this is the result of someone's forbidden sorcery? If she is, she must've been sent by her master then.
"Speak," was my short reply.
"My brother, he- he died." She spoke, with a tone of sadness and grief, but still upholding a determined voice, "I heard... I heard that you are able to revive ponies?" She asked, a glimmer of hope within her voice.
It seems that history does repeat itself, after all. I spoke, "Yes, I am able to do such a thing." I had to suppress my excitement, as it may reveal my more grim intentions.
"I've heard of you, but not much." The abomination of a horse said, "You are... Formatiis, correct?" I nod in response. Seeing this, she continues, "All I know that you possess much power, and that you can revive the dead. For whatever reason you are here in this prison, I do not know."
"All you have to know is that I have done some grievous things, due to blind hate, and anger." I said, trying my best to deceive the beast, "But I wish to seek redemption, I am haunted by my past."
She looks at me, with a blank expression, "If you request me to bring your brother back from the dead, I will do so with the intentions of beginning walking down the path of repentance."
She was still silent, I am uncertain that if she actually is believing this nonsensical babble, or not, nonetheless, I continued.
"I have rendered cities to dust, I have broken many armies," I said, not lying, actually. "Think whatever is appropriate of me, but I beg of you, let me at least do this one task, before you let me rot in this place."
Technically, I can't rot. I thought to myself.
"Alright." She finally said, "I'll transport us there."
Her horn was enveloped by a lavender aura, and shortly, the familiar flash of light enveloped her, and me. Of course, I was unable to see through the blinding aura.
The shine finally dissipated, thankfully enough. I felt as if I was going to go blind, should I have stared at that glaring aura for a few more seconds.
I regained my sight, but, confounding enough, the horse grew in size. Puzzled, I asked her, "What? How did you-" Then I noticed, she did not grew in size at all, but it seems that I shrunk.
Before I roared in anger, she stated, "I negated much of your powers, for safety reasons, of course. Though, why you did not retain your previous... form is unknown to me."
Swiftly, I answered deceptively, "Ah... This was my human form. I thought I lost it, once I was overcome by my anger. I am thankful, I have not been in this form for eons."
Though, the last part was completely hyperbolic. I was not in that place for more than three centuries or so. And no, I do not miss this form, I despise it.
I looked at myself, I was wearing the clothes of a necromancer; a purple robe with a golden-colored collar, and with two epaulettes decorating the shoulder region.
I could see the strands of this human's hair, it was purple, around my forehead was something metallic. Ah yes, it is a circlet. And if my memory is correct, it has some jewelry crested in it.
If I'm in the guise of this weakling once more, then that means- Ugh, dammit! I can't cast my more powerful attacks anymore! That also means I am unable to summon armies, but I think I'm still able to form phantoms.
"It is truly... such a joy to be in human flesh once more." I had to force myself to say such a thing. Hopefully, the pause within that sentence was subtle enough to go undetected. "Thank you," I added, much to my spite to this weak fleshed guise.
"No need to thank me." She said, with a smile. "Now then, if you'd follow me, I'll lead you to my... brother." She said, grief laced within her voice.
"Of course." I finished with, "Lead the way."
And so begins my first venture into this world, this place, and soon, personally preferred alterations will be made in due time. We traveled down a stairway of some sort, if I had to guess, I was in a castle. Though, the castle seemed to be composed entirely of crystals.
"Tell me, are the inhabitants of this place mostly horses like you?" I asked, mostly out of concern, a grimace formed on her face as soon I said horses.
"We are ponies, specifically." She corrected, the urge to kill her rose within me, "And no, we are not the only species, there are gryphons, minotaurs... And much more." She said.
Dammit. There goes my theory... And furthermore, a land inhabited by horses?! First the feeble humans, and now horses. Sapient horses, they're more loathsome than the humans!
Gah, normally, I'd be more outraged by this, but something is... Wait, it feels as if I'm not possessing this body, but it feels as if this is my actual body. No, no, no, I couldn't have-
"Although, we are the most numerous." She added, snapping me out of my trance.
"I see." I replied, it was a short response, but a response nonetheless.
"I'm so glad that you came to help, Formatiis" She stated, of course, I was coerced into smiling, otherwise, I'd be suspicious, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, sorry for not introducing myself earlier."
"Think nothing of it, Twilight Sparkle." I responded. I nearly laughed, it was been such a long time since I had a laugh, and now I'm forced to conceal it. But, really? Does her family despise her? I see no reason to name your child like that, unless you are a sadistic bastard.
"So, tell me about yourself, Formatiis." She inquired.
But I, not wanting to reveal too much information, I decided to respond with this. "My memory grows rusty, I do not recall much of my past, other than that I have caused great catastrophes... So, how about you tell me more about yourself, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Oh, me?" She asked timidly, "Well, I used to be the Ponyville librarian." There it is once more, a chuckle nearly escaped my lips. She added, "Now, I'm the recently appointed Princess of Friendship."
Oh, by everything unholy, end my torment. I regret asking her to give me more details about herself.
...
The barrage of facts about her life was apparently unending, though, I managed to learn the location of this place. Apparently, I'm no longer on Magvel, but I am on Equestria. That troubles me.
She also mentioned that her brother, Shining Armor, ha. Forgive me, it's difficult uttering that name without expressing amusement. Her brother is a captain, or was, now he's a prince. He married the princess known as Cadance. Finally, a name that isn't foreign to me.
She supplied me with a myriad of other facts, such as the rulers of this place. Where she hails from, the many locations of this place... And other somewhat relevant things.
We continued walking down the stairway, me, out of curiosity, reached forth something stored within my robes, something that I presumed to be not here.
I retrieved it out of my robes, it was a tome. It was a purplish book. The cover of said book was decorated, and the title of the book was written in a forgotten language that only a few could still decipher. Me, being an ancient entity, can decipher it. The title read "Naglfar."
I was almost stunned by malice, thankfully, I did not do such a thing. However, the result of me revealing such a book caught the attention of my escort. Dammit, how was I this clumsy? I must've grown decadent...
"What's that?" She asks out of curiosity.
"A memorabilia of my former life." I answered. Of course, this book functions more than a simple memorabilia, it is a weapon that possesses untold amounts of dark magic. With it, I can reduce whole buildings into mere ruins.
"I see." She said. She then realizes that we have reached our destination, seeing that the ungodly lengthy flight of stairs finally ended, "Oh! We're here."
Just in front of us, was a colossal door. Runes were inscribed on the door, runes that not even I could make any coherence from. The equine channeled magic within her horn, and soon, the runes on the door glowed. Shortly after, the door disappeared completely, thus, we are now given entry to whatever lies in this room.
"I- I can't face him, not in his current state." The 'pony' said, in both hesitation and despair. "Please, his body is within that room, do whatever what needs to be done."
I nodded in acknowledgement, and slowly, I walked into the room. I inspected the room, there was no notable distinction from the previous area, the entire walls were crystals. Although this time, there was a chandelier of some sort suspended on the ceiling, illuminating the room.
On the middle of the room, however, was a bed. And laid flat on that bed was another equine. He had a saphire-blue mane, with cerulean streaks. I suppose that this is Shining Armor, Twilight's brother. I sigh, I'm not comfortable with these choices of names...
Of course, I simply retrieved the Naglfar tome from my robes and proceeded to direct the spell at the unaware lavender pony at the outside of the door, who was still looking down at the floor.
Oh, this will be all too easy, I thought to myself.
Author's Note
Naglfar:
