The Darkest Days with only the Faintest Hope.
There was once a world known as Lore, a beautiful land of magic and adventure. This world has seen many battles of war, times of peace, and ages of chaos. There have been legendary heroes, monsters, and villains born of this realm. This is a tale of the Lord of the Undead Legion and Master Lich, Dage, and this story begins at the end of the world.
Within the rocky barren wasteland of the old kingdoms of Lore lies the black castle of the dreaded Lich Lord, Dage. This dark onyx colored building was filled to the brim with Dage’s undead slaves. Each of which were quickly taking various resources from building materials and weapons into a deep storage room even though it would do no good. The undead with even some brains left, knew what this day meant the end,as the ground quaked violently and the sky darkened in a mix of reds and blacks. No one knew how it happened, but the world was ending as the earth and the sky reshaped into a new form that would obliterate all on the planet.
Within the deepest part of the black castle, the Lich Lord Dage looks at a coffin glowing with a dark blue magic.
‘So this may be either my only hope to survive or my final resting place...’
The quakes become more frequent as Dage looks out a nearby window and sees the world fall apart, the once glorious civilization that he helped make was gone, leaving only the empty wastelands. Dage thinks back to his life and unlife as his plans had allowed him to rule the lands for many years, all to be reset and ruined. Dage walks to window.
‘Maybe I should have fought to the end, find a way to stop this, but there would be no tomorrow for me if i don’t try this last option.’
‘This special magical stasis chamber should lull me to a hibernative state for a time until the world reformes back and life returns.’
Dage lies in the coffin and closes it, sealing himself with elder magics long forgotten. Outside the coffin, the castle crumbles by a mighty earthquake. The undead slaves of Dage are set free for their final rest, so that their souls are free.
. . . .
Within the distant mountains in Equestria’s badlands, an archaeological team is digging in a recently cleared spot, caused by a small earthquake, for elder relics. The team has spent weeks working on this dig site as they have uncovered various broken texts and tablets.
The team leader, an older earth pony, was examining a old rune when one of this team members yells that they have found something large in the dig site. The entire team runs to the dig site and enter a small cave as the team leader moves in front of the group to see a large coffin.
The team looks over the coffin and make some observations.
“This coffin appears to be pre-Equestria in origin and is radiating an odd magic.”
“How strange that this would be the only intact relic we have found.”
One pony accidentally hits a hidden trigger at the base, causing the coffin to slowly open. The entire team steps back a bit as the dust coming from inside clears to see a strange creature in ink black robes and wearing a black helmet. Assuming that whatever it was in there was dead, the team slowly moved closer.
Dage’s eyes open and glow a blue magical color as he raises his left hand to a nearby pony. His hand glows a fiery dark blue color as he sucks the life out of the pony. Everypony panics as they see their friend slowly drained of life. They try to run out of the cave, but Dage uses his other hand to grab them with a dark blue magic and drain them of every last drop of life. Dage now filled with life force stands up out of the coffin and walks out of the cave into the dig site.
‘So I live...but to what life I wonder?’
Dage looks back behind him to notice, his new undead slaves are multicolored ponies. This causes Dage to looks around the dig site and the surrounding area.
‘It seems when the world ended, the forces of Light finally got there last wish...a world without darkness, malice, and me.’
Dage walks out of the dig site and heads straight into the woods as he thinks to himself.
‘How sickening...such weak creatures rule this world without knowing about pain, hardship or sacrifice.’
‘Let’s see if I can fix that.’
. . . .
Sometime Later...
"Hurry, we have to keep moving!"
"Just what the hey were those things?"
"I don't know but it's best we keep moving before we find out…..Celestia help us."
Two ponies ran through the thick shrubbery deep within the Everfree forest. They moved as fast as their hooves could carry them, neither looked back in fear of what they saw and what they presumed was chasing them.
"We've got to warn everypony!"
"Shut up and keep running!"
They hopped over fallen trees, ducked under low branches; desperately fleeing from what they witnessed. Up ahead was a pack of timberwolves.
"Sweet Luna! How are we getting past that?"
"Like this!" the older colt shouted.
The pony charged straight through the crowd. The beasts, surprised by the pony's sudden appearance, stepped aside as he and the other pony, sticking right behind him, ran right past. Enraged, the pack began chasing after them.
"I can't believe we just did that!"
"Keep moving, we still got a long way to go."
The colts barreled through, the forest seemed almost endless. Behind them were the roars of the timberwolves giving chase, but further back was what really frightened them. They continued their sprint, but something caught the attention of the lead pony.
"You hear that?"
"Yeah. The timberwolves, They've stopped following us."
Out in the distance the two ponies could hear the sound of something breaking the timberwolves into pieces.Terrified, the duo ran blindly. They had been running for awhile with no sign of the forest's edge.
"This way!" the lead colt quickly turned left. The second pony lost in thought, didn't notice his friend and continued heading forward. By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.
"Where are you?!" the long colt cried out, still running in hopes of seeing his missing companion.
"UWAAAH!" the familiar voice cried out. The colt stopped in his tracks as the scream of his friend shut his entire body down. The colt, immobilized with fear, desperately tried to move; trying to quell his fears enough just to continue running. That's when they struck.
The figures moved in on the pony. They were so swift he couldn't even yell out. The last thing he saw before he fainted was the silhouette of one of his captors and the piercing bright blue un-living eyes it had.
. . . .
The pony dreamed as he remembered images of his last moments before fainting. Images of the cold, foul smelling creatures that were dragging him somewhere and of his friend who he assumed met the same fate as him. The last thing he saw before his dream faded was of the first thing the two ponies saw when they got lost in a uncharted forest near the badlands. A castle, a black castle made of cold onyx stone. It's surrounding smelled foul, with pools with the bodies and parts of ponies lying inside and rotting away. It was such an unnatural structure that one could feel the malice coming off its walls. Both he and his friend came upon it during an expedition near the badlands, but as soon as they approached it, swarms of creatures, the likes of which neither pony had ever witnessed descended on them. So they ran.
The young colt woke up, delighted to still be among the living found himself lying on a cold stone surface. Chaining him to the ground was a collar of ice cold metal which after some trying he realized he could not break it. Getting a full view of his surroundings, he saw numerous cages filled with other ponies who were very much alive, all were moaning and were lost deep in despair.
“Hey! Where are we!?”
“Quiet! You don’t want ‘him’ to hear you...trust me.” said a unicorn in one of the nearby cages.
Suddenly there was a noise from above the lone pony, causing the others to be as quiet as mice, the lone pony now realized he was in this strange castle’s dungeon. The wooden door of the dungeon opened to reveal a creature,that wore a black robe and an ink black helmet. The menacing figure walked closer to the lone pony and stopped in front of him. Freighting the pony into believing he was its prey.
"Ah, so my guest is finally awake I see." The air around the lone pony grew colder as this thing spoke to him.
"I noticed you and your friend admiring my castle, so I decided to have you come in for a closer look. I figured I could throw you in with the rest of my pony collection down here.”
“Who are you…”
“Now that is a good question...the rest of your pony kind usually just ask me ‘why?’ as I drain them of their life force. But then they realized the benefits of being part of the Undead Legion…like a lack of individual free will and to serve a true ruler like myself.”
“You…”
“But as I was going to answer your question...I am Dage, Lord of the new Undead Legion which to even my own surprise consists of ponies and monsters I found who I persuaded to not live anymore to aid me...like you friend.” Dage snaps his fingers and a pony is forced into the room.
It was the lone pony’s friend who was shackled like him on a collar held by an ugly undead griffin. Before the two ponies could say anything, Dage grabbed the pony and in front of all the other ponies in the dungeon used his magic to drain the life force out of the victim. The lone pony was in shock as his friend risin off the ground looking like a drained rotten fruit.
“You monster!!”
“Good, I have you undivided attention and hatred...now I’m going to set you free and I want you to tell every one of your little pony brethren about me...I need more bodies to build my new Undead Legion.”
The lone pony was free and thrown out into the badlands where he ran to every village and city he came by warning them of the Undead Legion. Eventually this caught the attention of Canterlot and the Princesses.
“Why would this ‘Dage’ let one pony warn us and all of Equestria, sister?” Luna spoke to Celestia who was staring out the balcony at the distance.
“Whatever it is, it is either arrogant or confident that it can take Equestria for itself. Luna, gather the guard captain and our finest generals...we must prepare for this ‘Undead Legion’...
“War is coming.”
The stories of towns being attacked and striped bare of its resources and ponies by horrible monsters reached the town of Ponyville, a small village located near the northern edge of the Everfree forest. Just between the town and the forest, a battalion of pegasus and unicorn knights were in formation preparing for the approaching horde. The town itself was mostly empty as dozens of ponies had abandoned the town when the stories of these terrible monsters increased.
The princesses were there, along with the Elements of Harmony. The plan was to battle the Undead Legion until Dage would show himself on the battlefield, there and then the Elements would be used on him, thus stopping his dark magic.
The air grew colder as the Undead Legion approached the Equestria army. As the Legion finally showed itself, the Equestria army felt unnerved at the appearance of these undead monsters with their rotting flesh and foul smell. Suddenly a war horn sounded off from the Legion’s side and the undead horde marched to attack.
The unicorn knights faced the enemy on the ground while the pegasus knights contended with the enemies undead pegasi in the air. The unicorn knights could only stop so many. The undead would fall only to rise again and overtake the knights. As soon a pony died, a strange magic would affect them and they would rise on the side of the Undead Legion. The Equestrian army had to split their efforts between fighting and catching falling ponies, but those monsters, they just kept moving forward.
The princesses were assisting their guards while using their magic to bring falling ponies safely down. When the undead started to overwhelm them, that's when the Dage made his move. A large dark blue magical aura shot out from the forest, headed straight for Princess Celestia. Her back was turned, she didn't see it coming. The magical aura would have gotten Celestia, but Princess Luna shoved her to safety. Luna screamed as the magical aura clamped around her. Everypony watched, losing morale after that.
Princess Celestia lost it. She began flying towards her sister, who was being pulled away. Using her magic to its fullest, she began to destroy hundreds of enemies around her. A group of undead pegasI were heading straight towards her; filled with rage, she no longer cared. If it weren't for that group of pegasus knights who jumped in the way, they would have lost her too. Seeing her knights risk themselves for her safety snapped Celestia back. Then another magical aura shot out, but this time managed to grab Rarity and to the horror of her friends, pulled her into the forest.
Celestia ordered a retreat, causing everypony to run for safety as the Undead Legion took the town of Ponyville and began to tear down building for their materials. In a few hours, the Town of Ponyville was gone.
. . . .
Rarity awoke in a cage alongside Princess Luna, being pulled on a old wagon by some of the Undead Legion soldiers. Rarity noticed that she was chained to an iron collar. She tried to use magic, but found hers was being suppressed by a powerful spell. Eventually, the wagon exited the forest to show the Black Castle at the center of a recently cut down section of the woods.
Rarity noticed that the woods were being cut down and dragged to what looked like a woodworking area. The wood was used to make catapults, ballistas, and other siege weapons. Wild animals were caught by Legion hunter and turned into undead pack animals for most of the work. This was the start of a kingdom of darkness with Dage as the king.
The wagon evently came into the black castle, the caged ponies were thrown out into the muck of the wet and bloody stained stone ground. Rarity and Luna were taken by undead slaves to somewhere different than the other captured ponies. As they moved they suddenly heard the screams of ponies pierce the air, they could not tell if they were lucky to be there or doomed to a even worst fate.
Rarity and Luna were brought to the throne room, long black banners hung from the ceiling as the floor was hard onyx. The windows were open but covered in iron spiked bars, the room itself was cold as ice and guarded by black heavily armored undead pony knights. There on the blackened stone throne was the fiend, Dage. To the two ponies, he was a monster of unrestricted malice and cruelty. He was draped in fine ink black robes with dark metal gauntlets and a horned helmet.
“Well, are you ponies not going to bow before your new king?”
Rarity gave a strong face as Luna yelled at the Lich Lord.
“You vile monster! You have violated the peace and harmony of Equestria, slain hundreds of ponies and turned their bodies into your playthings! You may have me and Rarity, but my sister will beat you and restore the peace!”
“Are you done?” Dage arose out of his throne and slowly walked to the chained ponies, he stopped a few feet in front of Luna and looked down on the Princess of the Night.
“I have seen the end of the world and survived unscathed...only to find this world now ruled mostly by candy colored weaklings.” Dage quickly slaps Luna across the face, cutting her with his metal gauntlet and sending her down on the cold floor.
“How dare you touch the Princess, you brute!” Rarity screamed at the Lich Lord, gaining his attention.
“To make things worse is that these ponies, one of which I'm staring at holds a magic so powerful it could have beaten me in the battle of Ponyville...if I had not done the proper research first.” Dage walks to Rarity.
“You're ‘Elements of Harmony’ can easily beat me or any dark creature I could possibly make...but I have an idea, I keep one of the bearers of an element with me and as long as they live, they can’t work with the other elements to beat me.”
“That’s why you captured us.”
“No, that’s why I captured you, Rarity.”
“How do you know my name?!”
“Well around the second village I plundered, one of my minions found a recent history book on this land...I always research my enemies…Luckily for me, the book held your names and what you have done for your nation.”
“Then why did you capture me, beast!?” Luna found her footing and arose off the ground.
“You're one of the most important leaders of this land and your capture will demoralise your brethren.” Dage lied about that, he intended to capture Celestia but Luna got in the way.
Dage snapped his fingers and the undead took the chains off the two ponies but left the iron collars on them. Before they could try to make a run for it, Dage caught their attention.
“Those collars make it impossible for you to leave the Undead Legion area. However you two will accompany me to a meeting...with Celestia.”
Within Canterlot, there were many displaced ponies; all trying to survive the Undead Legions campaign across Equestria. From the sick to the beaten ponies, from a the land flock to the mountain city. Within Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia stares at a map of the region with her generals and city leaders for the possibility the Undead Legion will try to attack Canterlot.
The Princess had not slept in days as the thoughts of what this ‘Dage’ could do to her poor sister. She knew Luna was strong, but Celestia still wished for her sister to be at her side.
Out of nowhere, a large black crow flew in the room scaring some of the ponies as it circled them in the air. Before anypony could do anything about it, the crow dropped a scroll on the map and left as fast as it came.
The ponies were heastent, expect for the Princess, who grabbed the scroll with her magic and looked upon it.
“What does it say, Princess Celestia?” One general spoke up, to which the Princess read the scroll out loud.
‘Dear Princess Celestia
As you know, I, Dage now have in my possession two of your subjects. Rarity, the Element of Generosity, and Princess Luna. I have an offer for you, a deal that can end the bloodshed of you precious ponies.
You may be wondering why I am not marching my forces to your doorstep. You see, I know I can beat you, ravage your lands, and steal the lives of your little ponies. However now that I have cut my own territory out of your land, I now move into my next phases of my plan...and I wish for you to see it.
What I suggest is this… Meet me in the remains of the town of Ponyville and bring whomever you wish and I will bring Luna and Rarity with me and we can begin negotiations.’
Your new neighbor, Dage the Evil...’
This message gave the ponies and the Princess a mixture of confusion and worry. There were some debates over this news by several ponies, but despite the general's efforts, Celestia gathered the bearers of the elements and prepared to travel to Ponyville.
. . . .
Within the remains of the town of Ponyville, Dage and his two captives waited for Princess Celestia to arrive. Rarity and Luna had worried looks on their faces as they saw the approaching caravan of guard accompanying the Princess. The two could have ran for their lives, however the iron collars made it impossible to move away from Dage. The Lich Lord spoke to the two ponies.
“To you, dear Luna, I do apologies for striking you...My hand slipped.”
“You’re a monster. If you think my sister will surrender to you for the lives of two ponies, then I believe you're a fool.”
“Well, if you think all I want is to conquer the ponies of Equestria, then you judge me too quickly… and for your information, death is merely a stage, a part that all living play before they are truly free… I merely alter that stage as you will soon see.”
Princess Celestia and the Bearers of the Elements arrive, leaving the caravan of guards a few yards away as Dage did with his undead. Celestia keeps herself cool and collected as she sees Luna and Rarity standing by the creature she assumed was this ‘Dage the Evil’.
Celestia and Dage stared at each other for some time until...
“Okay, I’m here with your sister, a bearer of the element of generosity, and an offer…”
“I don’t understand this Dage, why are you here, where did you come from, and how can you be so vile to ponies who never laid a hoof on you? There are too many questions…”
“Well let me address some of those nagging questions in your little pony mind.” With a wave of Dage’s hand, a vision made of shadow and smoke appeared in front of the ponies.
The vision was a down scaled picture of a world unfamiliar to the ponies and Princesses. It was a land of darkness and death where monsters roamed the world and A black castle dominated the wastelands.
“You see dear Princess, I once ruled this world millennia before any of your existed. I was the last darkness, the surviving doom, the final king of the world… It was a long time ago that I created a spell that could kill all life on the planet and give me its life force, making me immortal and powerful.”
“However, it seems I made a mistake as the spell caused the end of my world and the start of a new one. I survived the end...like I did so in the past, by being ruthless and always wanting more.”
“But as for why I am here at this moment with you ponies is to offer you a deal.”
“What is this ‘deal’?” Celestia asked.
“It’s simple. You allow one of my captives to stay with me, for as long as I want and I swear on my darkened soul never to attack Equestria or anypony ever again.” The ponies were all shocked by this turn of events.
“I pick Princess Luna. If she stays with me in my castle, I will never bother Equestria again.”
“No! You cannot have her!” Celestia cries out.
“Sister, wait.”
“Luna…”
“If this protects the ponies of our land, then I accept your offer, Dage.”
“Good then, all we need is your sister consent and we’ll be on our way.”
Luna walks to Celestia with a stalwart look on her face as the two princesses hug for what seemed like the longest time.
“I will find a way to bring you home Lulu…”
“I know Tia, but until then we will have to play this fiend’s gambit for the good of Equestria.”
Celestia nods to Dage who snaps his fingers, causing his undead horde to stop their actions and return to the black castle. Luna walks back to Dage as he frees Rarity who quickly embraces her five friends.
Dage and Luna walked back to the Black Castle, Both disappearing into the fog of the forest.
