The hatred of the shadow

Malonex looked at the unconscious princess Cadence for a moment before he heard a changeling landing behind him. "Uhm... What are the next orders?"

Malonex slowly turned around and walked towards the changeling. He lifted his crystal hoof to the throat of the changeling and turned it into a blade. "What was that in the throne room?"

The changeling backed away from Malonex. "Well...we..."

In that moment Tacit landed behind Malonex and he spoke to her. "Remind me to talk with the queen about her so called 'elite' again!"

Tacit nodded and replied with a simple "Ok." While Malonex already looked back at the changeling. "Now make yourself useful and get the prince and the princess in the throne room."

The changeling nodded and bowed in fear. A moment later a few of the changelings came and took the princess away while Malonex and Tacit began to talk a bit. "So, what it the next plan?"

Malonex walked towards the big crystal claw in the center of the castle and used a spell to let it open, releasing the heart. "Till now, no pony has noticed what happened but soon the first ponies will come to see what is going on here. You have to trick them to go away, we will not be able to keep them under control if they find out what happened. We have to keep everything quiet for one day, then the army should arrive here."

Tacit stepped next to him and looked at the heart. "How should I trick them?"

He took a piece of paper out of his bag and gave it to her."This is a copy of a special permission from the mage council. Show it to the ponies and tell them that the council has sent you and that there was an attack on the princes s and the prince. Tell them that no pony is allowed to come close to the castle. Maybe you can get a few guards to build blockades on the street."

She nodded but before she flew away she ask Malonex. "What are you doing till tomorrow?"

Malonex took out a sack made of some sort of black silk and used it to store the crystal heart without touching it. He tied up the end and put it in his bag. "I will prepare the ritual for the finale step of phase one."

Tacit looked curious at Malonex. "And what is the final step?"

Malonex grinned a bit. "I will finally free our kind. Now you should hurry."

Tacit looked a bit perplexed at Malonex but then she flew away without another word. Malonex, on the other side, walked back into the castle. He made his way to the throne room and as he reached tit he saw the prince and the princes lying next to it. Their hooves, horns, and Cadences wings were covered in green goo.

The changelings were waiting for him to give them his next orders. They bowed as he walked past them to sit down on the throne.

As he sat down he spoke to them. "Take the shape of the guards again and leave the castle. Build blockades on the streets towards the castle and get as many guards to help you as possible, tell them there was an attack on the prince and the princess. No pony is allowed to come close to the castle till the army arrives!"

The changelings bowed and changed their shape to the crystal guards and walked out of the room. Malonex leaned back in the throne and took out a book form his bag. It was a red book with a purple eye on the cover. Ever page of the book was filed with descriptions of dark spells, rituals and curses. It took Malonex years to finally master the spells that are described in this book and even now he didn't knew if they would work.

Malonex knew that this book wasn't written by the umbrum or any dark mage that came after them. He didn't knew who the author was but he knew that the spells described in it were more powerful and dangerous than anything he has ever seen.

He quickly searched for the right page and began to read. He studied the ritual for hours, to make sure he wouldn't make a mistake, until he heard somepony entering the throne room. He looked up from the book and saw that it was Tacit. She walked smiling up to him. "Every street is blocked and the guards are watching the blockades. The changelings are patrolling around the castle."

Malonex nodded and levitated the book back into his bag. "Perfect. The only thing we have to hope for it that the army reaches us before the shield around the empire collapses. But if I calculated everything right, the shield should last for at least five more hours."

Tacit nodded. "What are we going to do till then?"

Malonex answered. "I will meditate for the rest of the time. I have to get mentally ready for the ritual. You can do whatever you want."

Tacit smiled and turned around. She left the throne room without another word and began to explore the castle. Meanwhile Malonex closed his eyes and dark magic began to fill the air around him.

After some time he heard a strange noise from outside of the castle. He opened his eyes and walked to the destroyed wall to look outside.

He saw how the shield spell that protected the empire against the snow collapsed and the snow began to fall. But that was not the only thing that entered the empire. From every side changelings began to invade the empire and soon Malonex heard the screams of terror as the ponies began to run. With a small grin he sat back on the throne.

He began to wait for the arrival of the queen but soon he heard the sound of hectic running towards the throne room.

A moment later the door was slammed open and a guard ran inside the room. "Princess Cadence! The empire is under attack..." In that moment the guard realized that the princess and the prince were lying next to the throne and saw that a dark stallion in a black cloak was sitting on the throne. "Wait, you are not the princess!"

Malonex smiled and his eyes began to glow with dark magic. "Exactly!" In the blink of an eye Malonexs shadow rushed forwarded and left the ground. It flew towards the guard and impaled him.

The shadow lifted the guard high in the air, where it disappeared and the guard dropped on the ground. Malonex summoned a shadow minion who carried the dead body of the guard to the side of the room.

In the moment as his minion disappeared he could hear more ponies coming towards the room and only a second later queen Chrysalis and a bunch of changeling soldiers entered the room.

They walked up to the throne and Malonex looked down at them. "Did everything worked out like I planned it?"

Chrysalis nodded and answered. "My troops are patrolling through the empire in this very moment. They will have taken every pony as prisoner in a few hours."

Malonex grinned. "Then I will move on with my plan. I would recommend you and your soldiers to not leave the empire till I am done."

Chrysalis stepped forward. "I demand to be present at the ritual."

Malonex looked at her and stepped off the throne. He decided that there was no point in arguing with her. "Fine. Then let's go to the edge of the empire."

Malonex walked away and left the castle without another word. Chrysalis followed him and a moment later they were on their way through the empire. While Malonex walked on the street he looked around to see how groups of changelings were marching everywhere.

While they walked Malonex heard Tacit flying above them for a moment and then landing next to Malonex. "Where are you going?"

"We are going to the edge of the empire. I need more space for the ritual." answered Malonex.

Tacit then quickly asked. "Can I come too?"

Malonex shook his head. "I think it is better if you stay here in the empire. Look if you can find Lock somewhere and then you two can come after the ritual is done."

Tacit nodded and flew away again and after a few minutes of walking they finally reached the end of the empire.

Malonex looked upon the frozen land of the empire. In the distance they could see the mountains that cut the empire form the rest of Equestria. The sky was filled with clouds and snow fell slowly to the ground.

Malonex made a few steps forward, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Everypony stepped back and watched everything that he did.

His horn began to glow with dark magic and he opened his eyes again. They were now completely black and red mist came from the corner of his eyes. Black smoke came from under his cloak and began to spread over the ground around him.

Then Malonex began to speak in an unknown language. As he began to speak his voice became loud and dark.

(Great darkness! We call you to aid us, so we can fulfill your will.)

The air became cold and his voice echoed over the whole empire.

(Give us power to free shadow from light.)

The earth began to tremble and the wind began to rage over the empire. The clouds turned black and began to circle in the air, creating a big cloud in the sky. Warping the entire empire in darkness.

(Give us power to unleash ancient hate on this world.)

Black red lightning began to shot from Malonexs horn, striking directly at the cloud. The lightning storm form his horn stopped and red lightning began to strike inside of the cloud. Leaving the empire with threatening red flashes as the only source of light.

(Give us power to finally conquer this world in your name.)

As Malonex spoke the last words the cloud began to shoot with lightning at the ground of the frozen land. The thunder could be heard everywhere in the empire and the earth began to tremble even more. He could hear the earth crumble open as more and more lightning began to strike down. Soon a big lightning struck down in the middle of the area and the light blinded everypony for a second.

As they all could see again they saw a big hole in the ground and black smoke began to leave it. It began to cover a big area in the frozen land and soon Malonex looked upon a gigantic black cloud.

For a moment it seemed like nothing happened anymore but then the smoke began to slowly vanish and it reviled millions of dark colored ponies.

Malonex eyes turned normal again and he used his magic to raise his voice. "Brothers and sisters of darkness! I am Malonex, son of Tenobris and master of dark magic and I freed you, with the help of our new allies the changelings, in the name of our king! It is time for us to finally rise again! Whoever speaks for you shall meet me in the castle of our kingdom! Everypony go into the empire and find a place to rest! "

In this moment Tacit walked up to him with Lock following behind her and Malonex turned to them and spoke with his normal voice. "Make sure that everypony gets a place to live in the empire. The changeling should have brought enough tents."

Tacit and Lock nodded and while Malonex made his was towards the castle, followed by Chrysalis, Tacit and Lock watched how the shadow ponies began to walked towards the empire. Soon Tacit and Lock began to talk with the changeling generals about the accommodation for the changelings and the shadows.

They walked together with the generals towards the mass of shadows pony and began to coordinate everything.

Meanwhile on the way towards the castle Chrysalis began to talk. "You realize that we don't have enough recourses for so many ponies."

Malonex nodded. "I don't plan to wait long till the first attack. Tomorrow I will bring the king back and then he will sent out the first troops."

She nodded and soon they reached to throne room. Malonex took out the small crystal an placed it on the throne.

While they waited for representative of the shadows Chrysalis spoke again of her concerns. "You know that if they don't follow us that we are doomed."

Malonex chuckled a bit. "They will follow. They will always follow their rightful king."

A moment later the door was opened and two ponies stepped inside, the one walking ahead looked much older than the other one.

The older one bowed before Malonex and Chrysalis. It was an old unicorn in a black steel armor. His mane was short and light gray, he also had a light gray goatee. His coat was colored in a darkish gray. The unicorn was something around the high of Malonex. He also wore a purple cape on his back and Malonex could see that he carried a sword under the cape.

The younger shadow pony was a robust looking earthpony. He was a half head bigger then Malonex and wore a heavy looking armor. Under his helmet Malonex could see a bit of his dark purple mane and his purple eye looked at Malonex suspicious. He didn't bowed like the unicorn and just growled a bit.

The unicorn lifted his head and Malonex saw that his left eye was only a crack wide open and seemed to be completely gray, while his other eyes was as wide-opened as possible. The eye was completely black and it seemed to be filled with purple smoke that swirled inside it. The eye never blinked and it was impossible to guess where the unicorn was looking.

The unicorn waited for a moment before he began to talk. "My lord, I am Gladius, the last survivor of the war against the empire, the last of my generation and swordmaster of the umbrum. This is my son Tremor the leader of the army and headmaster of the war academy. It is an honor to speak with the son of my old friend."

Malonex nodded. "My father mentioned you in his book. More loyal than anypony else and the best swordspony in the army. But we are not here to talk about the past, we are here to discuss the future."

Gladius nodded and with that Malonex turned towards the throne and concentrated to call his master. The small crystal began to glow and smoke began to spread. The smoke gathered on the throne and formed the shape of Sombra.

Gladuis bowed again and this time Tremor did the same. "We are here to serve my king."

Sombra laughed. "That is good. From now you will follow every of my words and these of Malonex, my right hoof and head mage!"

Gladius nodded and stood up again. "The dark army is ready to follow every order you give us." His son stood up too and nodded.

Sombra nodded pleased and spoke again. "Now that this is settled, what are the numbers of warriors, mages and the number of unicorns, earthponies and pegasi?"

This time Tremor stepped forward. "Around 70 percent of our adults are perfectly trained warriors. Many younger are still in training. The number of the different tribes is still equally matched but the number of powerful mage has decreased to under 2 percent"

Sombra acknowledged that and turned to Malonex. "Malonex you will speak with the dark council about that and prepare everything for my resurrection. Till then I have to discuss a few things about our recourses and next steps, so I would prefer it if everypony except the queen and Gladuis leave this room."

Gladius spoke up before Malonex and Tremor could leave. "I am sorry but I have to excuse myself. I am not the leader of this army, this task falls to my son."

With that he nodded to Tremor and walked out of the room with Malonex while Tremor stepped proudly forward. As Malonex and Gladius had left the room the old swordspony talked to Malonex. "I will bring you to our dark council."

Malonex nodded. "Good, I plan to take my title as new dark master as soon as possible."

Gladius nodded slowly and spoke slowly. "It will not be that easy. We already have an archmage, which means that you have to discuss that with her."

Malonex just chuckled a bit. "This will not be a problem, she will give me my title or she will face the consequences of disobeying me."

Gladius head turned in his direction for a moment and then responded. "I can see in your aura that you have mastered the darkness like no pony has ever done before. You truly are a master of darkness, you managed to free us from the spell of the crystal queen and the king supports you. I see that you have earned yourself this title but I don't think Venae will accept it."

Malonex began to wonder who this pony might be. "Can you tell me a bit more about the archmage? I don't like to be unprepared."

Gladius began to grin a bit. "You really are like your father, always wanting to know the details about the enemy no matter how weak he seemed. Her name is Venae and she is an alchemist and blood mage. She is eccentric and takes very much pride in the fact that she is one of the few who has a dark name. You have to know that having a dark name is a great honor and is only granted those of great power."

Soon they walked through the empires streets and talked a bit about the events of the last weeks. On the way Malonex saw Tacit and Lock walking in their direction.

Tacit smiled as she saw Malonex and they walked up to them. "Hey Malonex! We managed to get everpony a place where they can stay for a while but we had to put the slaves in one quarter of the empire. Who is that pony?"

Gladius looked at Lock and Tacit for a moment and then remembered what Malonex had told him about them. "You two must be Lock and Tacit. My name is Gladius, the swordmaster of the shadow ponies. It is an honor to meet you."

Lock nodded shortly and Tacit began to bow as she heard the name. "It is my honor, my father told me so much about you."

"Insidius was a good friend of mine. It is a shame that he and Tenobris both died, they have always ruled our kind for the best. I have hoped I could speak to one of my old friends once again but it seems like this will not happen..." A glance of sadness appeard on the face of the oly pony before it disappeared one again.

Tacit began to talk with Gladius about Tenobris and Insidius, and they began to walk again. Lock and Malonex walked next to each other. "Hey where are we going?"

Malonex answered. "I am going to take my title as archmage!"

Lock raised an eyebrow. "How do you know where the council is? They could be everywhere."

Malonex chuckled a bit. "If you look out for magic auras it is hard to miss a group of elite mages."

Lock stopped for a moment but then something came into his mind. "That is probably true but I think I already saw them. A group of ponies in black cloaks similar to yours with the hole for the horn and everything, only without the purple lines. One of them spoke to me like I should do everything she asked for and as I said that I work for the new archmage she just laughed and said that a half shadow who knows a few dark spell is nothing compared to her and that the son of the warlord that lead them to their biggest failure shouldn't think to high of himself."

Malonex raised an eyebrow. "It seems like she wants to make this personal. We will see who is the big failure."

Lock looked at Malonex for a moment and then laughed a bit. "You know that each time you say something like that somepony dies or worse and I am glad that this pony never was me."