Dungeon Keeper

Twilight Sparkle looked around her observing the high walls inlaid with stained glass, the white marble gave way to a long red carpet that split the large hall in two, turning towards the throne she saw her mentor, the calm mare sat addressing a small group of ponies with a slight smile on her face.

“You are shirking your responsibility Twilight.” Nightmare moon stood beside her the dark, the mare’s very presence darkening the hall.

“How so?” the purple unicorn asked deciding to humour her defeated foe. This was obviously a dream after all something her subconscious put here to whittle the hours away until she awoke once more.

“You look but fail to see, is it not your duty to protect Ponyville?” the Alicorn’s voice was calm “Stop this nonsense and LOOK!” at the final word nightmares voice became a scream in contrast to the unusual softness her voice had prior, the sudden loudness of nightmare moon's voice caused Twilight to jump.

“What do you mean?” the dark alicorn did not answer but the scene before twilight changed, the pale marble walls became a dull gray stone as the stained glass cracked and shattered, celestia’s ornate throne became smaller, sharper instead of loyal Pegasi and Unicorn guards, pale hairless monsters stood fiddling with crossbows. Glancing around the hall Twilight recognised it as the one hall she and her friends had defeated nightmare moon in, her musings were cut short when the black chitin covered figure that sat atop the throne locked eyes with her.

“Who are you?” the question startled Twilight especially because it was her who asked it. The creature did not respond, its glowing red eyes boring into Twilight making her want to run and hide. Dark spots entered Twilights vision but she dared not move nor even blink as her world turned black.

“Ah can’t tell you how proud of you ah am.” Applejack said as she inspected her Apple Slice’s fine dull brown helmet. The enchanted steel made her coat stand on end but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, just one of warmth as if Celestia herself were standing beside you. “The whole family is going to be here tomorrow, all the apples from Appleoosa to Stalliongrad.” the mare gently put down the helmet “Not just the apples, we got the carrots, cabbages, pines, pies most are here already but golden harvest is looking after them. Eyup, tomorrow’s gonna be one heck of a party all right.”

“Is that smoke?” Apple Slice squinted into the twilight, a long pillar of black smoke rose up from the sleepy town.

“Now why in the hay would there be a fire in ponyville? All the shops are closed.” the orange mare looked over Apple Slices shoulder “What the hay is going on?”

“Do we need more orange juice Tavi?” the gray mare in question looked over at her housemate Vinyl Scratch who was orbiting eight cartons of the orange beverage around her.

“It’s not on the list Vinyl.” the earth pony held a list up to emphasise her point “We need to cut costs after you set the house on fire. How you managed that with lemons, I have no idea.” Vinyl chuckled at the mention of her most recent shenanigans involving a paperclip, some tape, two lemons, and a spanner that had ended in a combustible lemon war with the local mailmare destroying the entire house yet leaving the rest of the town unharmed. Octavia remembered Vinyl refusing Ditzy's offer to pay for the damages, the words “Na man, it’s cool.” echoed in her nightmares still.

“So no OJ? Ah, that bites. What am I supposed to drink then? WATER? Hmpf, not likely.”

“We just need the essentials” just as Octavia finished her sentence a shrill cry could be heard from outside the corner shop, the few ponies who were inside the well lit building froze unsure of how to act, all except for a white unicorn who burst from the shop to help whoever was in trouble. Her movement spared Octavia into motion, upon leaving the shop the two ponies were horrified to find a battered Cheerilee, her front right foreleg ending in a bloody mess, over her stood a squat green monster, something Octavia recognised instantly as a Goblin from Folklore.

“Pony taste nice.” the green biped grinned, the faint light from the shop illuminating the crimson that covered its lower face. For the first time in her life Vinyl had no idea what to do, her coat felt cold making her shiver as she stood looking at the faintly sobbing earth pony. Vinyl felt her stomach clench, her heart felt like it would explode any second, when the Unicorn mare looked up she saw the crushed corpse of the green monster and her roommate standing over Cheerilee and whispering calming things to the crippled mare.

“-VINYL SNAP OUT OF IT!” the commanding voice of Octavia broke though Vinyl’s mental collapse.

“Oh Celestia what do we do?” Vinyl’s voice came out as barely a whisper a contrast to the usually loud mare.

“Go to Applejacks farm and get Twilight! Go NOW!” Vinyl spun around and looked out across town, more of the green things were setting things alight and ponies were being attacked in their own homes, some even lay on the ground unmoving. Vinyl disappeared in a flash alerting a small horde of Goblins to Octavia who gave Cheerilee one last hug before standing to her hooves and bracing herself.

Twilight turned to Applejack, new understanding sparkling in her eyes, she knew what she had to do now.

“Applejack, get the others and bring them here, I think I know what’s going on.” on her final word she once more disappeared from sight.

The town was in chaos, but then that was to be expected. I walked along one of the streets as my Goblins burned and smashed and bashed and ate the town. This was probably the worst thing to happen to this realm in years, he got a smile out of that.

“MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” I was interrupted by a loud cry from the end of the street, it looked like a force of the local... ponies? They weren't horses that was certain, and the fact that they had an armed force made them better then the fairies in my eyes.

I looked to my right to the disturbance, I felt before the one that made me walk all the way into this little town, it was a pile of crushed Goblin bodies with a little gray mare that stood in the middle, I decided I liked her.

“You killed my minions...” my deep booming voice echoed throughout the town as I waited for her response which never came as a sudden blast of powerful magical energy hit me in the back melting my armour in some places. Turning slowly I looked at the little purple Unicorn who dared to strike me.

“This ends here monster.” Twilight's voice was calm as she circled the beast that stood a head higher than even Celestia “I won't let you hurt anypony else.” that made the creature pause before the red dots that made up its eyes locked with hers.

“I will be back with more little pony. More little Goblins and darker monsters still, but just know that if you stand strong there will be a place for you at my side.” with that he let out a deep booming laugh before melting into a black ichor.

Twilight let out a furious cry. How dare the monster even THINK that she would join his dark cause! In her fury she called her magic to her and teleported to where she knew the armored creature went.