Faust'ish

Chapters

Chapter 1: 1257 year old morning breath
Chapter 2: What the Nis?
Chapter 3: All The Heresy!
Chapter 4: Not quite as expected

Chapter 1: 1257 year old morning breath

"I don't quite think you understand the significance of this discovery!" The older hagrid unicorn did his best to ignore the insufferable young mare from Canterlot who had just wanted her college credits, he was distinguished in his field and they sent him the prissiest obnoxious mare he had ever seen. Ever since she arrived at the excavation site all she did was complain and ask how much longer they would be there. "Starswirl the bearded himself visited this ruin in some ancient debacle that ended with him leaving as fast as possible, not to mention the deaths of almost everypony present. Whatever it was that caused all the death soon escaped and started to rampage out in the public until-"

"Oh my Celestia I don't care! I am literally here because Magic 102 was full... I need a few spare credits and then just cruise through until I can get into my drama classes... so don't bore me to death with all your history and crap..." She rolled her eyes for what had to be the ten thousandth time sighing as her eyes went to literally any other direction than the old unicorn or his work..

The old Unicorn's light brown coat contrasted greatly with his now red and straining face not hiding his barely contained rage very well. "Well guess what brat... its ME that chooses whether you actually get those credits and if you show this kind of disrespect Ill make sure you never SEE the college again!" He stood heaving in anger, little unsure of whether his power within the college could stand up to the nepotism that her family would force through with the school. But he had a few contacts and favors he could call if it got out of hoof too quickly. To the outside eye that did not know and experience all that had occured between the young mare and the much older unicorn, perhaps it would look like he was overreacting a little. But his patience had long since been worn thin by the entitled pale blue unicorn. He was not sorry for the outburst in the least, he needed to vent his frustration and now that he had he straightened himself out and got ready for her to retort in the method he knew she would.

"Do you have any idea who my father is I'm the dau-"

His hoof clopped over her lips. "Shut it... your father could be some male form of Celestia for all I care. Go to the spots marked on your map and get me rubbings of all the ancient texts that the workers unearthed. And before you start up this is not a request. Do it or I'm failing you, END OF STORY!"

She scoffed, roller her eyes, and stormed off all in one go. Picking up some charcoal and paper for the rubbings she mumbled under her breath thinking of things to tell her father so he would have her teacher chastised for making her 'play with dirt'. "Stupid old fogey ... ok.. Ill get your stupid rubbings but don't blame me when things end up breaking..."

The unicorn smirked spying a few old pots next to what she figured was some old raised flowerbed covered by a stone slab for some old stuff reasons she didn't care about. The inscription was worn terribly but she could see writing that was clearly not equestrian followed by the remains of a badly faded stone carving of a mass burial and overall just dozens of depictions of death and ancient warnings. Of course she could not read any of it and did not care to even attempt to take any meaning from the depictions.

She bumped her hip against one of the ancient clay pots tipping it over. "whoopsie" It fell to the ground with a crash which brought a smile to her face, though something else caught her eye. A perfectly carved crystal key. It had completely skipped her mind that old places sometimes had old treasure in them. Her magic whipped about drawing the key to her from the ruins of the old pot. It had certainly come from the broken pot. She looked to the other pot and quickly broke it as well finding another key. She smiled drawing the other key up and eyeing them both over gently. "I wonder what you two open up..." The two keys let off a visual glow and clear magical reaction the moment the word 'open' had crossed her lips.

"Oh.... hrmmm" She looked back to make sure she was not being watched. Sure enough the old unicorn was off digging through the dirt and going on to a coworker about the great potential in the dig. She focused back on the keys. Holding them closer together she spoke again clearly. "Open..."

Instantly the keys glowed brightly and the stone slab shifted to one side. "Ah!... perfect..." Her mind a flurry with thoughts of gold rubies and diamonds. A treasure hoard worthy of an elder dragon, she greedily stepped up to find a stairwell going down. Caution to the wind she stepped down and followed the path ignoring the sound of the slab moving back into place as she passed through. Her ignorance to danger and ancient evils guiding her she moved further and further down the path.

The area was oddly well lit and she easily found her way down the stairs until she located what she assumed was the treasure room. There was a massive stone penetrated by a thousand keys all turned and locked. There were dozens upon dozens of other items, carvings, and even written words on the walls ceiling and floors. But she promptly ignored them all, save for one that caught her eye. In the center of the room there stood a pedestal with runes about it and in mildly legible equestrian faded by time, there was a short amount of words that were sadly damaged by a piece of the ceiling that had fallen and crashed upon the carving some centuries ago.

Peeking closer the pale unicorn read what she could. "Beware...something something... within this... something... is sealed the great.... something something something... all the desires of your heart?....oooooooo... I like the sound of that... lets see here... something something something... one limitless Wish?...."Her eyes lit up forgetting the rest of the carving she looked to the old stone sealing the old tomb shut. She could have never really known that it was a tomb, much less that the master level magical seal on it had been eaten away by something mysterious and otherwise was damaged to a point where it was now easy to manually open.

"ok... so how do I get you open?... maybe whatever artifact you have inside really will grant me a wish...." She poked and prodded at the big stone before trying something simple. Leaning close her magic bathed over the stone and she spoke. "Open!"

The massive stone cracked and popped apart in a thousand spots unraveling like a massive ball of twine. Behind it was a simple wooden box. Almost looking like a coffin. Slowly approaching she looked for anything that looked magical. She was quite surprised when the top slid off the coffin and up rose a dark form.

As if every bone in his body was popping at once, simply the noise of the Unicorn sitting up drowned out the mare's gasp at movement. He was black furred with a soft gray mane. His horn was oddly wobbly and waving as if it was made of wood. He was quite handsome to her in a "I'm rich and have done everything there is to do in life, sort of way. A little old for her but handsome none the less. However, that ship sailed as he finally reached his upright position. Smacking his lips a few times he let out a loud crass belch that literally released a green cloud.

"Oh bloody hell... I have been in there for a while...gimme a sec girl..." His hooves planted on either side of his head and he twisted his neck to what should have been a fatal angle. The result was a very loud wet set of snaps and pops. He quickly repeated the action in the other direction yielding the same results. "Ok... ok ok ok... what can I do for ya? oh savior of... well... um me I guess..."

She was almost too disgusted to speak, and what remained of her shock tolerance was almost overrun by the oddity of the situation. "um... th... the carvings said something about wishes...is... is that what you do?...um.. wish granting pony?"

"oh.. yes.. I can do that... you did free me after all... go ahead... make any wish... Ill happily grant it for you." He smiled oddly as his gray eyes panned over her.

"I.. oh.. wow.. you had better not be kidding me... My dad is really important... if you are lying then I-"

"Oh shut it, you woke me up and freed me Ill give you a damned wish ok? make it and Ill be on my way. I have a lot to do....and I'm sure somepony as beautiful as you has things to do as well... especially after you get your wish..."

He looked into her eyes with a smile, as if entranced she stared back seeing every last thing she could ever desire simply appearing within the reflection of his eyes.

"Shes been silent for too long... This is disturbing... can somepony find her?" The old archaeologist was beginning to worry. Sure he would almost be relieved if the stupid mare fell off a cliff or something but he had to remember, she was still a student and he just like all other teachers would never willingly let a student become harmed. No matter how tempting it would be in this particular case.

Pausing for just a moment as his hooves met broken pottery. He was about to inspect the terrible loss of the old art form but he swore he could almost hear somepony scream. Panic set in instantly as he looked about hoping to Celestia that it was just a trick of the wind or his old body finally going haywire on him.

"Well that was a LOT of fun... I can be so witty... " The old unicorn whipped about to see a black unicorn chuckling to himself. He seemed very pleased with himself.

"um... I am sorry... but... who are you?... are you with the expedition?"

"Oh?... expedition?... no no no... Im just... kinda around... oh but where are my manners... My name is Nis.... it is wonderful to finally see other ponies after so long...."

"Nis?....what kind of a name is Nis?"

"What kind of... oh that is just rude... what kind of a name is Celestia? what kind of a name is Discord?... what kind of a name..." His eyes narrowed and he grinned at the old unicorn. "... Is Pebble Step..." The old unicorn furrowed his brow. Almost no one called him by his actual name anymore but it was not too odd. The Unicorn named Nis seemed to take note of this and sigh. "Jeeze.. scaring ponies used to be so much easier.... do you have any mouthwash?.... my tongue has been gathering dust for about 1200 years...." He smacked his lips shaking his tongue back and forth annoyed at the flavor stuck to it.

"Im sorry.. did you just say... 1200 years?..." A small level of ease washed over him as he recalled previous pranks that were similar to this event "ohhh... your one of those prankster ponies... who hired you?...last time it was the whole time God thing... its funny but the prank gets old...I know you were paid to do your thing but can we skip it?"

Nis was taken back a little. "Goodness gracious... does nopony remember me?....perhaps its that stupid little whiner Celestia..... 'meh meh meh meh meh stop turning my ponies inside out meh meh meh meh meh don't boil my guards alive inside their armor meh meh meh... geeze... sunbutt.... at least her sister was hot...moon butt... heh... oh sorry I was going to do something here... what was it... not turn you to dust....not blow you up....lets try something nicer..."

The old pony stared at the dark unicorn still very unsure of whether he was joking, crazy, or perhaps now was a very very good time to run as fast as he could in any other direction than one that this pony was in. "...W...Where... where is Silver Step?...."

"Who?..." He looked back with very little real interest.

"Silver Step... light blue unircorn mare... Where is she?" He stared as other workers took notice slightly concerned about everything developing.

"Oh her... it was an oldie but a goodie. 'what do you desire oh beautiful and young mare?'" He suddenly shifted as if his flesh was folding back on itself and forming into something completely alien. That is until he stood back up, the last of his flesh shifting and he popped up in Silver Step's form. 'Her' mouth opened and the very same obnoxious voice opened up in its usual tone. "oh dear hansom sexy stallion of power and majesty!... I wish for eternal youth! that I would never change from my current golden age!" He whipped about laughing as he turned back into the same black unicorn. "I only wish I goaded her into asking for beauty, so I could have pulled the old 'but you're so beautiful on the inside' bit... Did that to Queen Golden Flower... I'll never forget that answer. 'Then make me as beautiful on the outside as I am on the inside....' HA!"

His skin churned and tore open as he quite literally turned inside out and screamed in a perfect mare's voice. He leaned in with his inside out face smiling as he laughed up at the old unicorn. "CLASSIC!"

Professor Pebble Step shot back eyes wide in horror. Everypony else mimicked his reaction perfectly. One or two even losing their lunch. "WHERE IS SHE?" He roared in anger and shock disguising his fear and disgust as best as he could as his magic flared.

"Down in my tomb... turned to gold... wasn't that one obvious? I did take my time with it.... all things considered she died pretty slow but hell... her golden age has began.....hrmmm no ... no Its not clever enough... 1200 years is quite a while... I'm out of practice... I need to be more witty..." He completely ignored the old unicorn even as his own inside out flesh got caught in the rather large magical blast. The professor was not an expert in magic but he was no pushover either. This qualified as his first actual fight ever. However, it was his last one as well. "Oh?...that's the game?.... as per contract upon magical contact as a combatant, a challenge has been issued... I may retort in any manner I desire....thank you..." The smoke cleared and all that remained was his still talking skeleton with small bits of charred flesh about it. Quickly the bits expanded and covered his skeleton once more as his horn flared up with pitch black magic.

"Now then.... where to go where to go.... I cant feel her in that direction... which means they no longer live at that little forest castle..... Sunbutt... yeah, I think I'm just going to eat you, unless I can think of something witty. Its not going to be very hard to get you to play the game.... and then keep your sister as a pet... she looked so cute when she was scared Damn I wish I still had my perfected wit, I was a damned legend but hell. Lets just focus on the those two....oh?...OH?.... perfection.... there are more now.... two more.... wait... how?... what the bloody Tartarus.... is it just an Alicorn free for all?....oh well...hey... what is this..." His trotting came to a stop at what seemed to be tempered steel in a straight line hammered into the ground with cross planks every few feet. His power flared letting him see all the way down the metal and wood lines. He smiled seeing massive cities and a large iron beast that ate coal to go faster. He had only been able to count the years as he rotted away in his prison that kept him from the source of his power. But now he was free and he had a lot of catching up to do. With his power and with the state of the world.

"This is nice. Iron beast ha!... annnnd this way...." He made his way along the tracks to where he knew he saw a staging ground to enter the metal beast. Though, as he got closer he began to notice a noise. Somepony was booing, not just somepony a lot of ponies.

Finally getting in range he could see a blue unicorn with a starry cloak and hat skid to a stop just outside the small town. "Ungrateful ingrates! "

"Isn't that a little repetitive?" He stepped forward and the mare flinched looking back at him before puffing out her chest.

"What do you mean? are you implying that the great and powerful Trixie is being repetitive?.... I assure you that I am simply being wonderful....if that is a sin then sue me!"

He laughed flicking her horn which resulted in her giving a scowling glare. "Interesting choice of words but, no little one... Ingrate means ungrateful pony.... and you called them ungrateful ingrates. Ungrateful ungrateful ponies...."

Trixie scoffed. "What are you my teacher?"

He smiled coming uncomfortably close to her. "I am... I am YOUR teacher, and THEIR teacher, I am the greatest of teachers in fact the teacher of ALL, I teach even those who have nothing left to learn and still something new is discovered..."

She narrowed her eyes after taking two steps back, then taking a step forward she spoke again. ".... Go on..."

His sly smile widened as a fun idea struck him like fresh arcane lightning.

"Professor! What happened here?" The pegasus shook Pebblestep who simply refused to stop. His eyes wide and his body shaking violently, he frothed at the mouth as his voice continued chanting slowly.

"Forgotten no longer he is in us all, the age of enlightenment has blinded us, the age of darkness is unknown, inside us all, inside us all, inside us all. He has awoken.... our blood and powers and sustains him. Rules rules rules the god's chess game, rules and laws. He does not cheat.... we will all perish... the age of Nis is upon us." His eyes began to bleed and he smiled wide giving the only other living being within ten miles more than just the willies. It was just the single pegasus late to work, the now crazed Professor and the 37 dismembered and already rotting bodies about the old ruin.

".... He is inside us all...."

Chapter 2: What the Nis?

Celestia's mind churned as she double checked to see if Luna was there. The last time this happened Luna did not shut up about it for a week. Standing tall prim and proper she waited looking back and forth before she was satisfied that her sister was not present then dove head first into the giant cake.

It was one of her favorite dreams but her sister always teased her for her as she called it 'cake thighs' teasing her 'what kind of a princess dreams about nothing but cake?' Though as she told her last time and the time before. A princess's dreams should be sacred and not to be just barged into when you are not invited.

She shoved all negativity into the back of her mind. This was HER dream and Luna was not here to ruin it. It was made all the better knowing that dream cake had no calories.

"SISTER!"

Celestia reeled back at Luna's voice. Clearing her self of frosting and ducking out into a hiding spot she nervously got ready hoping she could pull off the 'oh hai! I just got here' bit and feign ignorance about the giant cake she had already been frolicking through. Though when the voice sounded again it drew a little bit of concern.

"Tia! Wake up!"

Her eyes narrowed. Luna was not in her dream, she was outside of it. Her eyes finally opened and she sat up with a yawn. Rubbing her eyes with a hoof she looked back at the clock. She had gone to sleep only a mere two hours ago. She REALLY hoped this was a prank, very rarely did Luna Wake her up for anything. Her eyes caught site of something that drastically dashed her hopes. There were guards present. Luna had used her nickname even in front of the guards. Whatever it was had to be important, drastically so.

"What is it?.." Luna stood up fully gathering magical strength to bolster her energy in the face of her fatigued state.

"You must come, somepony is here to talk to us, I was going to send them to the dungeon for daring show their faces here. But something is very wrong, very VERY wrong. Please come...."

Celestia was now a little more worried though with the way Luna presented it, the situation would be much easier to see than to hear explained. It took mere moments to be presentable and to make her way down into the throne room where even more guards stood. Though standing in the center of all the guards were a small handful of undisguised Changelings. What made it even more strange was that they were battered and wounded, young and old. The one in the center looked to be far too young to rule but was clearly a queen. Her eyes were puffy and drenched with tears.

"YOU!.... how DARE YOU..." The changeling spat. Despite her rage she sounded utterly defeated. The only Changeling that looked untouched was very tall and muscular, it touched her gently shaking its head as if to tell her to calm down. Which surprisingly she did. Still visually weeping she stopped and bowed her head, kneeling before the Princess of the sun. "... We surrender... We don't know what we did to deserve this, but congratulations... you win.... we surrender I only ask that you spare the few of us left...I hope it was worth it" Her mouth was full of disgust when addressing Celestia.

"Luna... what is going on?...." She looked back at Luna who shrugged.

"They came right in right away surrendered and begged for parley. Already another dozen Changelings have come forward from the populace to surrender unconditionally. There are reports in various other cities that Changelings have appeared there too in small numbers and simply surrendered. So far there is no explanation...."

"EXPLANATION? DON'T PLAY COY MURDERER.... THIS GENOCIDE IS ON YOUR HEAD...." She winced breaking back down not even able to stand. "Thousands..... tens of thousands... you murdered them all...they are all dead.... you won... call off your monster... I hope you are happy with yourself murder..."

Celestia came forward looking down at the pathetic creature so damaged that she could not even present herself. "Changeling... I swear to you... I know not of what you speak... what happened?"

She looked up but simply stopped. The young queen lay her head down and wept as the solder at her side stepped forward. "Your killer....or rather... killers. The two Unicorns... they found their way to the hive... Crysaliss naturally ordered their deaths but the two effortlessly defeated her. casting her to the ground they tortured her. As every one of us charged them these two unicorns tore us to pieces. Once our soldiers were dead they moved on, killing the children and the elders. We tried to flee but our exits simply stopped existing, blocked by our own walls like they never existed. Then... they slaughtered us all. Sparing none save for the few you see here." Even the hardened obviously elite soldier seemed shaken and chilled to his bones. "He rounded up everyone you see here and told us that Equestria has won. Pony kind won't fall victim to us anymore. He then left with the younger one in tow. We left immediately to surrender.... we don't know where you got somepony that strong, nor do we care. You won... you made your point. We will not fight you ever again, we only want to survive...."

He bowed again. "We are at your complete mercy...we only ask that you not turn that monster on us again...."

Celestia did not know what to say. Whatever this was it did not make any sense. She had basically completely forgotten about the Changelings, they had not even been brought to her attention for months. She was not surprised to hear that they had a presence in all the cities, but this mass surrender and apparent genocide was something she knew nothing about in any sense of the word. It was all wrong, the most elite of Changeling soldiers were born special. They were incapable of various forms of emotion, this kept them from fleeing a battlefield and made them relentless terrors. Celestia eyed him closely, this Changeling may not have originally capable of fear but he was soaked in it. It broke him and now he was willingly surrendering to the thing his kind considered food.

"Sister!.... gather up the guardsmen and find out what happened to the Changelings, this group any any further Changelings will be kept in a holding area, be sure to keep a lot of guards and prevent them from transforming but treat all their wounds." She moved closer gently touching the young queen's face. "I swear to you, I did not do this, I would NEVER allow something like this happen even to my worst of enemies. You are welcome here for now. Don't cause any trouble and you will be allowed to live in peace when this is done..."

Celestia stood firm before turning about. "Luna... stay here and make sure nothing happens to Canterlot. I have a feeling this is not over, something very wrong is happening and blame is being laid right at our hooves...Now, there is a very distant possibility... I do not want to speak of it... but I have to check to be sure..."

Luna looked unsure but nodded. "Send me a signal if you need help I will be there with all the speed in the world..."

"Good... now sister... be ready with your armor... its been a millennia but we may need it.." She turned about and started off towards the royal armory.

"This is her?"

Twilight coughed looking up from her meal, Fluttershy had just stopped off and they had decided on a quick meal before they left to the cottage for the rest of the night. Owlowicious had been sick for a while and was just recovering at Fluttershy's. However, this did not explain why this pitch black adult unicorn without a cutie mark was staring down at her calmly. "Um... can I help you?"

"Yes... that is her...Twilight Sparkle... Princess Twilight sparkle..."

Twilight's eyes widened in question as her mouth opened forming the word. "Trixie?...goodness I haven't seen you in forever... how have you been?"

The other unicorn smiled interrupted. "Oh she is fine I took her on as my personal student. I do hope I am not bothering you too much... she just spoke so much about you and your power. I was hoping I could trouble you for a test. You faced off against her before, just a quick game to see how much she progressed..."

Twilight did not quite know what to say. "Trixie?... you have a teacher?"

"Yes Twilight, the very best of teachers...." Her smile was vague, it lacked her usual bravado and confidence.

Twilight could not help but shiver. Something was wrong. This was obviously Trixie but something was very odd. It was like she was constantly drawing power to perform a spell. It warranted investigation but she wanted to be sure that Trixie was not harmed in any way. Though the more Twilight stared into Trixie's seemingly vacant eyes the more she worried. Very worried, but she did not want to jump to any conclusions. In her time she had seen plenty of weird things this was just one more thing to add to the pile, she needed only to find out if it was bad or just weird.

"Go ahead now... don't worry, I'm not asking for straight up violence. I just want to see how much she has improved..." The strange Unicorn smiled happily though it seemed almost sinister.

"Very well... I know you were already pretty good at magic Trixie..." She figured it would not harm much to give it a shot. Test the waters and see what was going on. "go ahead.. see how easily you block this" She forced a smile as she gathered up her magical power. Leveling her horn she let off a low powered blast which made its way along the chosen path rather slowly. Though the second it got within two meters of Trixie the air rippled and a perfect bubble formed around her. The magical burst shattered and its energy sizzled until it was no more. "What the hay?....Trixie... that is not a normal level of power in a shield..."

"Probably because she did not raise one...." Twilight's eyes went back to the black unicorn as he smiled and continued. "Your blast just touched her streams... you know where the latent magical field is drawn in and it appears as an aura... I taught her a few tricks... your spell was so low powered that it simply could not handle existing in a field of that frequency and power.... but... lets continue the game...Trixie dear... show me that power you have....oh I just love these games"

Trixie leveled her horn and there was an audible hum. Trixie's eyes fluttered once and Twilight could sense this was all kinds of wrong. Quickly she poured a mass of her power into an extensive shield. At this point everypony in town's eyes were on them. Trixie's horn flashed and a bolt of dark energy shot forward and smashed clean through Twilight's shield. She had just barely had enough wiggle room to dodge.

"WHAT?!?... TRIXIE!..." Twilight stared at the unicorn who did not respond right away. Flinching she shook her head and her eyes widened a little. "Trixie! what is going on...."

"...Power... so much power... I have more than you... Twilight...I... I don't know what... what to..." A tear spilled from her eyes as she looked down at Twilight. "Im... scared..."

The black unicorn flashed over by her side and her eyes zoned out again. "Oh calm down... I'm right here... don't you worry one bit... you are my number one pupil after all...you did well."

"STOP THIS!" Twilight glared at the Unicorn, her power raising. in the soft night air. "Who are you and what did you do to Trixie!" She was done prodding and trying to figure it out. Whatever it was this was wrong and harmful, and she would not stand for it.

He smirked and shook his head. "well aren't you just rude...I am Nis... a very very old friend of a very prestigious Princess named Celestia..." He flashed over to Twilight slinging a foreleg over her shoulders like an old friend. Though her instant reaction was teleporting away. "Goodness Ponies today are just rude...and for your information... I didn't DO anything to her... She asked for my help and I let her help herself to all the power she wanted..."

Twilight's eyes narrowed and she flared up her magic quickly highlighting the latent magical field throughout the entire town. Though something became very clear quite suddenly.The field appeared to be retreating from Nis as his energy flared like the sun itself. He was not feeding off the field, it was as if he was his own field. A field of obviously dark and evil black magic. Though the most disturbing part was that Trixie's aura was feeding purely off of Nis's power.

"Well?... what do you think?..." He grinned stepping closer. "I personally have a renewed hope in all pony kind...THAT! was a clever move...I did not expect that from you...even if you ARE an alicorn."

Trixie shivered and shook silently starting to tear up again. Nis quickly responded with a stamp of his hoof and her shivers stopped.

"STOP THAT!... cant you see shes in pain?...this is not natural... that is black magic... its evil... please stop"

"Pain?...oh you silly she could not be happier....psst.. smile you dork I'm making a point!" Trixie's mouth turned to a smile though her eyes remained vacant. Many of the smarter ponies had already ran for cover or decided to leave entirely at this point but a few who did not know better stayed to watch. "She has everything she ever wanted and more... all that power...and soon fame..." He grinned staring at Twilight who turned to look him in the eyes.

"Stop this right now. You have to be blind to think she wants this and what could you possibly give her that she would be willing to let you do this?"

"Oh she asked I am so happy... girl.. you got it.. now flaunt it.. behold the new great and certainly more powerful Trixie..." Trixie as if waiting for his command kicked back and her starry cloak flipped off in a sudden motion of two powerful wings extending from her back. "Oop... new great and more powerful PRINCESS Trixie... " He grinned happily and Trixie stood just staring vacantly into space.

Twilight's eyes were wider than dinner plates, this mysterious pony had literally gone and created an alicorn then even seemed to be dominating its mind. "NO!... I don't care what you think you are doing for her this stops now"

"Oh silly child... you really don't want to do that... but hey... I'll tell you what lets play a game... you win I'll give you back my star pupil...no strings attached...honest" He grinned wide. "I may not be the most likable type but I assure you I don't lie."

Twilight grumbled lightly before nodding. She was about to speak when Nis cut her off again.

"Though mind you, I cant just give you something for nothing, its not fair to just let you take no real risks... so... how is this..." Black flames rose up from his aura and a long piece of paper formed from them. "By magical contract I swear that if I admit defeat in this game then I shall return Trixie to you free of my influence, though if you admit defeat in our game then I get something precious to you..." Twilight stared at him with eyes jam packed full of skepticism. "Oh come on... Ill even add it to the contract. No pony will die, not a single drop of pony blood will touch the ground here or the deal is off and the contract is meaningless..." He grinned hooking his foreleg over Trixie's neck playfully tugging at her and laughing as she simply bobbed about near lifelessly in his grasp.

"...Fine..." Twilight stepped forward flaring up her power. "But nopony else here will be involved in this game...Only me and you and it cannot be a fight." She did not dare go horn to horn with something that powerful.

He smiled and nodded. "Agreed just me and you... no blood and no death, contract is complete..." The paper caught fire and burst in a mass of magical power. He trotted forward until he was just a few feet from him. He rose a single hoof and pushed it into the dirt dragging it back and forth horizontally then back and forth vertically. "And the game is set... you can go first if you like."

Twilight stared in confusion. "Tic tac toe? The trial you chose is tic tac toe?"

"You did not say I could not choose whatever I liked did you? now lets play this game..." He smirked and she put on her best game face. Though a wave of worry and regret rolled over her. She was so eager to stop this pony from using Trixie that she just jumped into the fray without thinking. It didn't seem like her, she was normally so much more careful than this. Her eyes readjusted and she shook off the worry. She would figure all that out later, for now she needed to focus.

Tic tac toe was very simple and easy to get a draw on. Her mind was ablaze with though on why he would choose this. Left to right top to bottom she looked at the nine squares. Quickly her magic flared and she put an X on space five, dead center. He chose space three to put his circle. Quickly Twilight filled in spot two. He slowly moved and filled in spot six leaving the obvious victory within her hooves. She tilted her head in question but did not waste time. She took up space eight with a smile. "Ha! Got you!"

"Nope... you lose..." He smiled happily looking at her with a calm relaxed gaze.

"I lose?... what?" She looked down and circles had won. "HEY!... that is cheating you cant cheat!"

He laughed loudly leaning in and staring Twilight in the eyes. "I didn't cheat at our game.... but you just lost..."

"What are you talking about you totally cheated plain as day!"

"At tic tac toe yes I totally cheated but at our game... I just won..."

"What?" Twilight's mind went a flurry and she tried to figure out what he could possibly be talking about. But then it clicked. "Wait... no.. you can't be serious...."

"Eeeeeeyups!... As I said and as the contract was bound... By magical contract I swear that if I admit defeat in this game then I shall return Trixie to you free of my influence, though if you admit defeat in our game then I get something precious to you.... word for word star butt!... I never said if you win against me at tic tac toe, I said if you admit defeat... in other words if you say and I quote..." He grinned opening his mouth and in Twilight's voice he spoke. "I lose"

Twilight's face showed her confusion and fright. Though her mind chewed on the details. According to the magic he was using she actually lost. He used a technicality and a word game to beat her.

"HEY! that is not fair mister!" They both stopped and looked at Fluttershy who stood up glaring at him.

"It is perfectly fair, I challenged her, the rules were set and I did not break any of the rules... I literally can't break those rules which effected her exactly the same as it did me...so it could not be anything BUT fair..." Fluttershy growled a little glaring at him but he just smiled and focused back on Twilight. "Oh... that is right.. Winning... I get to have something precious to you...so long as nopony dies or bleeds... that is easy"

He turned about and his eyes leveled on Fluttershy. She was about to speak when her eyes went wide and Fluttershy's voice shot up into a scream. What looked like white magical mist began to stream out of her as she fell to the ground screaming in pain.

"What?... STOP... YOU SAID NOPONY WOULD GET HURT!"

"No... I said nopony would die or bleed... Ripping off years of her life is not killing her or making her bleed ... well not killing her so long as I don't take the last year of her life...and I do say that your friends are something precious to you... so don't try whining about that... She is mine...you lost her fair and square..."

He pressed his hoof onto Fluttershy's head firmly making her wince further as he had stopped draining her life. "According to the contract which is bound by magical law I am allowed to do ANYTHING to her so long as nopony bleeds or dies at this time... you can thank yourself for that one..." He grinned as his magic began to flare up again and her screams returned.

Twilight's wings flared out and her magic rose to its highest point as she prepared to attack, though her rage was cut short with an odd distraction.

The sun shot up in reverse hitting its high point in the sky as if it were noon. Everypony present had less than a second to look up in wonder and confusion before the mass of fire and power blasted through the air at Nis.

A golden glaive pierced Nis at his chest. Striking so hard and so fast that his body was torn asunder. His hind legs toppled end over end as his torso and up blasted into the ground. Celestia's eyes were molten white hot with rage as her power was lit up like the heart of the sun. Her lips parted and the booming Godlike voice pierced the heavens themselves. "FOOL!... YOU WERE SEALED AWAY FOR A REASON...YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED YOUR LESSON AND LEFT EQUESTRIA ALONE!"

Near instantly Fluttershy gasped in relief but still stayed put, so shocked and pained nothing but terror rushed through her. With Nis no longer present Trixie too fell to her knees gasping and weeping. "T...Twilight!...m... make it stop... I can hear him whispering in my head... please... make it stop make it stop!..." Nothing but tears streaked out from her eyes as she broke down shivering in pain and fear. "...I...I'm scared...."

There was a chill in the air that managed to get past Celestia's burning livid hate. The chill reached out from the decimated remains at the end of her weapon. "Heh... good to see you too Sunbutt. Though you should know better by now...." His head tilted up. There was a sudden explosion that Celestia almost did not escape. Her power still revved up high, flames from her eyes and seemed to replace her mane and wings. Adorned with golden armor now singed and dented she stared with anger filled eyes at the mangled body before her.

Slurping up back together like a crudely stitched up puppet, Nis became one again. "Ahhhhhh... not bad... not bad at all but was it wise to attack?... you know the rules.... and speaking of rules..." He looked past Celestia and the white mist began to rise up from Fluttershy again sparking the torturous pains. "Taking another year will be fun..."

Twilight's mind flashed back and poured over the events in desperation. This being just tanked Celestia at her fullest power and at least appeared unharmed. From what she could see his physical and magical power was on par with a God's. Though one other thing caught her attention. He kept talking about rules, rules, contracts and his incapability to do certain things. An idea shot into her mind and in desperation she jumped onto it. Throwing her foreleg into her own horn she winced at the pain but watched as a soft dribble of blood flowed from the open wound and then onto the ground. Instantly the white mist stopped and Fluttershy gasped at the release from the pain.

"Oh you clever little bitch...." Nis growled as he stood up firmly. "Play time is over...Student!.."

Instantly Trixie's eyes glazed over and she teleported to his side. "Yes Mr. Nis?"

"That is fine assed master Nis thank you..." He chuckled to himself before looking back at Twilight. "...Kill Starbutt..." His hoof pointed firmly at Twilight.

Trixie flinched and shivered but Nis did not waste time. His power surged and her shivering stopped. "Yes Master..." Darkness poured out of her and she leaped forward only to be countered by Celestia.

Not wanting to kill one of her ponies Celestia did all she could not not harm Trixie but she needed to act and could not recklessly. The flat end of her polearm smashed Trixie over the head sending her into the ground. As predicted the power absorbed most of the blow but it still left the mare dazed even with the massive level of mind control magic flooding her.

Celestia turned to let loose a blast of her highest level of magics. Though as she panned her horn she could not see Nis. "Slow as usual Sunbutt... too much cake methinks...."

Celestia's eyes shot wide and she let out a wet cough accompanied with a fine spray of blood from her mouth. A spear with an obsidian head pierced her through the ribs. She held in the pain as she looked to her left seeing him and his calm happy smirk of which she promptly wiped off his face as her blazing wing smashed into him sending him through a few buildings and into the side of a hill.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed forward but something quickly countered her. A blast of heat and force knocked her off her hooves. Before Twilight even landed Trixie was over her, a suspended crystal shard quickly dropping right at Twilight's left eye. Thankfully somepony a whole lot less careful came along just then.

Luna's horn released a mass of energy which blasted Trixie literally beyond the horizon. "SISTER!" Luna rushed up to Celestia slashing a dark purple sword through the spear shattering it and withdrawing the tip from the solar matriarch and layering up some healing spells.

"I am fine Luna...I have suffered worse... Twilight!... quickly take your friends and leave as fast as you can... this thing is NOT a pony and its not anything close to safe...Just run and and let us take care of him.

"But Celestia.. I can help..." Twilight started forward again but Celestia raised her hoof firmly.

"NO.... this is something Equestria almost did not survive last time. Just go, if we fail you NEED to be safe...Go find Discord and tell him Nis has returned. We will hold him off and try to contain him. Don't worry Twilight I have faith tha-" She froze. Not out of shock or fear but literally froze. Her pure white coat had turned to dull gray. She had been completely turned to stone.

"Jeeeze! Sunbutt still likes to talk... where is my pet?..." Nis trotted up happily despite his head hanging loose from an obviously broken neck. "Oop!... Just a second" He clopped his hooves over his head and twisted firmly cracking and popping the bones until his head was on straight.

Luna's tearing eyes strained at the sight of what just happened to her sister. Her eyes strained at Nis with his calm happy smile. Quickly her gaze shot back at Twilight and Fluttershy who were still close enough together. Twilight's eyes saw only a harsh blast of light coming off of Luna's horn before darkness then the musty smell of books, a very familiar smell. The royal Canterlot library.

Chapter 3: All The Heresy!

"You will not get away with this you fiend!" A tiny dark blue alicorn filly growled from her place in what looked like a large playpen for fillies and colts. A light blue Alicorn lay in the shadow of Celestia's statue prison, chains holding an iron stud pushed through her wings. Though she lay on the ground mostly due to the heavy welts across her legs and flank that refused to heal.

"Get away with it?...oh silly widdle Woona... I don't mean to sound so predictable but how am I not going to get away with it?...I mean seriously...think about it... wait... you know what... no don't... I think its adorable... I just can't take you seriously when you are an adorable little filly like this" Nis rocked back laughing before he began to calm down.

Luna gave an angered look at the unicorn, though it was a pathetic display with how young her body now was and it only made him giggle more. "Do you even know what you are doing to this kingdom?... to this WORLD?... Please you HAVE to stop..."

His smile softened and he leaned in. "No... I really don't and you of all ponies know exactly why... I am still surprised you are still trying talk me out of this... I just got this new home... a new apprentice... and a new pet" His hoof shot up panning across his vision at the friendship castle he had just made his new slave labor force paint black, the same slave labor force that showed up in an angry mob challenging his power, those who did't attack lost to his games. His gaze settled back on Trixie. "Yo! Princess Trixie... have you learned your lesson yet?"

The Alicorn sobbed trying hard to stand despite the metal tearing at her wings and the raised welts over her legs. Finally up she choked back her tears. "Y...Yes Master.... I will not be weak anymore..."

"Damned skippy... I gave you all that power and you still get batted around like a toy. Holy balls you think you would at least have the decency to last more than 20 seconds against another alicorn..." His horn sparked and the chains vanished, her magic was allowed to flow again and her wounds began to very slowly heal. "Now go and be useful... do something... maybe stop all the ponies outside from whining... its damned annoying."

Trixie using her magic to tame the massive levels of pain hobbled out of the room and made her way into new Ponyville. Not much in the town had changed unless they directly attempted to interact with the black unicorn. ".... Twilight... please... PLEASE come and save us..."

"Oh thank Celestia... you made it too!" Twilight had just found Rarity asleep in the nonfiction section. Luna's magic was so quick and so effective it appeared to have transferred all six of them while they were doing their own thing.

"Mneh...mya....T...Twilight?..." Rarity's hoof pushed her eye cover up and to her shock she jumped up noticing she was not in her bed. "Twilight! what did you do?... This is not a funny prank!"

Twilight pushed a hoof against her friend's lips before she went into full whining mode. "Rarity, this is an emergency. The princesses are in danger they might even be dead..."

All of her friends were here. Pinkie was a little upset that her baking was interrupted, Applejack was in the middle of cooking as well, and Rainbow Dash was just heading home to sleep and was promptly knocked out when she was teleported with the same momentum two inches from the wall.

"Listen... Something is attacking Equestria... whatever it is, its obscenely powerful, it took on Princess Celestia and Luna with ease and seemed unphased by anything they threw at him..."

"Him?..." Applejack gave a quizzical glance.

"Yes, Celestia said something that had me worried about the subject but yes. The new threat is what looks like a pitch black Unicorn stallion with gray mane and tail named Nis. But I don't think hes actually a pony... Celestia said the same, but he has a massive level of magic radiating off of him and well... if I am right there is a way to beat him we just have to be very careful... we can find out exactly what we are dealing with in a second... but first we have to do as Celestia said and go find Discord..." She crouched next to the still shivering and fear filled Fluttershy trying to coax her into calming down. Though it was not going well.

The small yellow pegasus would not stop shaking and shivering. Twilight did not blame her, Nis had literally ripped pieces of her life out of her with his strange magic. Whatever he was it was cruel and heartless.

"Come on... help me get her up... Pinkie you get Rainbow Dash, we are heading to the throne room. We will summon Discord there and either get our answers or at the very least we will get some help against Nis.

It had taken only a few moments to get everypony together and then into the throne room. Twilight stirred her magic summoning up the power. Slowly she weaved the spell. Rainbow had just started to wake up, Fluttershy just stayed in her huddled up pained state.

There was a flash and the silly figure of the mismatched beast appeared with a couch and TV flipping through channels. "Celesti... oh?.... hrmm... Twilight I thought for certain it was Celestia... what can I possibly do for..." His eyes widened and all the joy and silliness left his face, replaced with anger, which if Twilight had to be honest with herself put a knot in her stomach. He looked utterly enraged. Quickly he teleported past the others and ended up by Fluttershy.

"Who did this?...." He touched her gently shooting his magics through her to see what was wrong, It did not take long for him to see what happened, but he looked back as if to still demand to know the who.

"...It was a Unicorn.... Celestia and Luna might still be fighting him... they just sent us to tell you moments ago."

"This is EXTREMELY high level magic... and dark... VERY dark....I have only seen magic on this level four times before in my entire life...This was not just 'some unicorn'..." He clenched his eyes shut harshly and plunged his taloned hand into his leg. To everpony's surprise he actually bled, wrenching out a small shred of white mist he pressed it against Fluttershy's skin and it melted into it.

"This should remedy the damage... Whole entire pieces of her remaining life was taken... I gave her back more than enough... I will live for a whole bloody lot longer than anypony you know... so I have plenty of life to spare...." He snapped his lions paw and his leg healed instantly without a trace of damage. "Now... as I was asking before.... WHO did this to fluttershy?" There was anger in his voice as he demanded an answer.

"Celestia called him... Nis... She told us to find you and tell you that specifically Nis had returned, I take it that you could help us?"

Discord's face suddenly lost all its apparent rage, it was replaced with a pale mask of fear and pain. "Nis?...you... HOW IS FLUTTERSHY STILL ALIVE THEN? WHAT HAPPENED?...."

"He showed up with Trixie... he... turned her into an alicorn. After starting some trouble he challenged me to a game... and..."

"AND YOU AGREED?....." Discored's voice raised to a low roar as he glared angrily at Twilight. "Look... this is more dangerous than anything you will have ever faced... but you can do it... I will help but I will NOT face him right off the bat. I may be crazy but I do not have a death wish...."

"Wait... can you at least start with an explanation, what is going on... who is Nis... and WHAT is he?"

"What is IT... you mean... You ever notice that I am called Discord?.... Chaos... Discord... I am the spirit of Chaos... and I am named Discord... now, I am a literal embodiment of chaos, of the lack of order... the lack of harmony... Nis... is very VERY similar, though what he represents is taken from a far older and more... well outdated ideal..." He cleared his throat and gently pet Fluttershy who had since stopped shaking, she just looked to be calmly resting. "Nopony knows where he came from... or even what he technically is... but we just know hes some sort of magical entity that is bound to a physical body... or at least something INSIDE a physical body. The only things that are certain here is that he for some reason is not allowed to strike first, his body may be able to be ripped apart but it always repairs itself, to a point he is indestructible, and finally he MUST follow magical laws that are numerous and very specific. He has a bunch of pre set up laws that dictate his actions, and if something is agreed upon he CAN'T go back on his word."

He paused and looked calmly at everpony present. "Now look... I know you will want me to be out there and helping you, but the laws that keep him from harming you do not apply to me. Most likely because I am too similar to him in the fact that we are both physical representations of an aspect. He can and WILL attack me if he sees me. And Twilight, he is EASILY twenty times as powerful as even me. He WILL kill me."

Discord took in a deep breath and stood tall as he looked down at Twilight. "Here is what you need to know, whatever it is... DON'T say yes, I don't care if he says the sky is blue, just say its pink. Never agree with him, never allow him to set the terms of a deal and NEVER put anything on the line you are not willing to see ripped from your hooves and destroyed utterly..."

"Wait.. what is this thing he represents?...." Applejack gave a concerned look at Discord who looked back.

"... isn't it obvious?....Its in his name....Nis...." They gave him an odd look and he sighed. "Its spelled backwards.... He is literally the physical manifestation of Sin.... Every time any of you ponies or anypony else in this entire world is envious, greedy, gluttonous, lazy, filled with hate, too much pride, or lust... He becomes more and more powerful. Hes been sealed away for over a thousand years. During that time Celestia made it a point to craft Equestrian culture to discourage these behaviors and create a nation that for lack of a better word has less faith in things they can't see. This lead to ponies straying from the idea of things being 'sinful' In turn this lessened his power through denying him faith in his existence." Discord snapped his talons and the room changed. They were all in some dusty old tomb, everything was crumbling and cracking apart. The only thing that looked new was a single pure golden statue of a unicorn. Though the girls felt it was in terrible taste. Sure it was extremely well made but it was haunting, the face was one of pure terror and pain.

"He was here, but now obviously some dumb pony let him out... Probably somepony who doesn't care enough about history to learn to read the five hundred something warnings all over these walls saying 'DONT LET THIS BASTARD OUT EVEN IF HE PROMISES TO GRANT YOU EVERY LAST DESIRE OF YOUR SOUL!' Seriously..." Discord let out a long sigh, but Twilight spoke up quickly.

"How did he get trapped in here?"

"....oh... a trick he most certainly wont fall for again... I put him in there." He rubbed his eyes with a pained expression. " It took me a very VERY long time, but I researched the laws of magic enough to formulate a winning hand. I then challenge him to a game and he didn't say no. Then I won by a technicality and he partook in his ONLY weakness. I then proceeded to drop him in this tomb and rig up a magical seal that would never let him out ever again. But according to magical law I had to give him a chance to someday escape once more, otherwise this tomb would have never held him. So, I had to make his tomb like this. I compensated by writing warnings over five hundred times in this tomb and all other areas in this old place complete with all known languages in Equestria and beyond."

"Wait?... weakness?..."

"Yes, weakness... I'll let you in on what his weakness actually is, but its very VERY important you follow all the rules and just don't ask why it works. It will be very confusing... just roll with it." He sighed and snapped his talons again letting them all appear in Celestia's bedroom. "I CAN'T fight this battle for you... but I can do at least SOMETHING to make sure you know how to fight him... But as of right now, my loyalties leave me here.. I will take care of Fluttershy... I owe her at the very least that much."

Twilight nibbled at the tip of her hoof nervously. Everything she had learned so far was utterly terrifying. Discord did not even give a reaction like this when he was betrayed by Tirek. She counted herself and her friends incredibly lucky, as well she now understood why he goaded her so much and why Celestia had told her to run. He could not attack unless attacked, this meant that at the very least they could survive by ignoring him.

Twilight glanced about everypony present and took in a deep breath. "Ok.... Lets get a plan together..."

"I said NO YOU STUPID CREATURE!!!" The little dark blue alicorn shouted at the top of her lungs. She stood defiant her tiny wings spread as she glared up at Nis. The display would have been rather intimidating had she not been so small and as he put it, utterly adorable.

"Oh come on... you will look adorable in the bunny outfit!" He laughed going through a box of various children's outfits leftover from nightmare night. "You do know, I don't have to ask right?....You made a deal with me...you are literally, not figuratively but LITERALLY my possession... I could slit your throat for shits and giggles, I still would not be in violation of the contract...." He grinned menacingly before leaning firmly on Celestia's statue. "Or... I could just cancel the contract..."

Luna flinched, visibly gritting her teeth she nodded. "FINE!... give me the damned costume!"

Trixie stepped in avoiding direct eye contact. "..M...Master?....there are three ponies here to see you... they... they are challenging you..."

"Oh?....is this a last ditch effort of getting rid of me by that other princess?... or some brave knight trio to slay the monster?"

"...W.. well its ... um closer to the latter." Trixie gave a very concerned look, had she not been bound to his will she would have done everything she could to stop this.

Nis arched an eyebrow at the hesitation in her voice but then all was made clear as three fillies jumped out glaring at him, in complete tuned unison they yelled out with confidence. "Evil unicorn guy! The Cutie Mark Crusaders challenge you!"

Nis grinned wide and took one step forward.

Chapter 4: Not quite as expected

"Just stick to the plan girls... He said he would send help when he could... I just hope he hasn't hurt anypony yet...." Twilight and all but Fluttershy slowly made their way into the rather dark Ponyville.

"Oh dear!... just look at what he has done to your castle!" Rarity leveled a hoof at the crystal castle across the distance. Though Twilight was more concerned at the ponies collared and chained at the base of the crudely painted place she once called home.

Gritting her teeth Twilight steeled herself and ignored the cries of anguish as she strode forward. "Just stick to the plan and we should be fine. Just THINK... before you do ANYTHING..."

All five mares jumped at the sudden and very unexpected sound of somepony shouting to them. "RAINBOW DASH!!!" To their surprise something whipped about through the air and fluttered to a stop hovering just in front of Rainbow Dash's face. To her great surprise it was Scootaloo. "Rainbow Dash! look at me! I'm flying!" It did not take long for another two fillies to show up bright smiling faces.

"How in the hay?... Applebloom! what is going on?" The three fillies stopped and their grins wavered but did not vanish.

"We challenged that bad guy... and we won!"

"Wait... WHAT?!..." The five mares stared with open slack jaws.

"Well... we challenged him and he said he was so impressed with our bravery that if we won a game against him that he would grant the desires of our heart.... We won but he totally cheated...."

"How did you win?" Twilight was eager to hear and desperate for hope against this monster, not to mention curious as to what exactly they got from winning.

"Well, he said that he would flip a bit... heads he would win and we would lose, tails he would lose and we would win..." Sweetie Belle slowly explained but quickly came a voice from above her.

"So when he pulled out a bit I grabbed it because I wanted to flip it, but then Applebloom said that was really rude and we started to argue." Scootaloo went on explaining before Applebloom started up cutting her friend off to have her share of story telling.

"Well , then I wanted to flip the coin but Scootaloo wouldn't give it over but finally it fell out of our hooves and landed on tails. He was really angry at first but then he started laughing"

Sweetie Belle scoffed "He has an ugly laugh... oh... oh yeah so he cheated though, he said we won and shot magic at Scootaloo! She was not hurt but we asked him to surrender and turn over control of Ponyville. But he said no. He said we already got what he bet, he said that he said 'the desires of our heart' But he said he was only pointing at Scootaloo when he said it so he gave her one of the desires of her heart... now she can fly...."

"Well.. that certainly is interesting... and kinda a letdown...." Twilight sighed and looked back up at the castle. Her nerves were at their limits. She was frightened and unsure. Entering a battle she had very little chance of winning.

"Oh most certainly not my dear little ponies"

All five mares and three fillies turned to a deeper raspy voice, only to see a cloaked pony slowly walking towards them. Twilight took note that his hoof falls made no sound. She could feel the magic flowing off of him, it was quite impressive and he most certainly was there. But for some odd reason he felt the need to disguise and cast a noise canceling spell on himself.

Twilight took up a defensive stance but the cloaked pony did not move, even when the others joined her. "Who are you?"

"Stay your magic young one... This has been a long time coming, but I do not have long I was sent by a friend and as a friend..." He seemed weak on his hooves but the way he spoke betrayed a sense of power and borderline majesty.

"Discord sent you?.." Twilight did not relax even when his figure nodded calmly.

"I bring with me the only way to put a stop to that vile beast.... Discord talks a tad too mightily. The method as you have heard is very odd, but I believe we can do this with relative safety, its been done before and I will do my best to help and get it done again, though these little fillies bring me knowledge I have not had before... despite all of Nis's powers and his ungodly powerful magic, he can still be defeated by random chance, this is not something I had thought of before.... perhaps chaos can prevail... it must be a last resort however....no sense in gambling when we can rig the game against him."

"Who are you?" Rainbow Dash moved closer trying to get a peek under his hood.

"Do not worry about it, I am here to help and due to the nature of my existence... I will rapidly lose power and my physical form if my name and or affinity is spoken aloud"

Twilight balanced it in her head. If this was a trick of some sort she could sort it out later, but for the moment, she would not turn down free help, especially somepony with that much magic inside him.

"CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!!!" A little alicorn filly lay passed out amidst empty bottles of hard cider while a black unicorn shouted a harsh encouragement for 'Princess' Trixie to keep chugging the booze he provided. "Come on you little weak sauce priss! chug!"

Eyes blurred and stomach churning Trixie struggled to keep the booze down. Though the whole world seemed to swim around her. This drink was not any normal hard cider. She was certain he had done something to up the alcohol content. It nearly smelled like rubbing alcohol poured over an apple. "Ma...mas...mast...er...I... think... Imma ... urk!" She hastily placed both hooves over her mouth.

"Weakness!... again... jeez I might have to put you back up in chains until you learn your lesson .... you do look good in chains though..." He grinned stepping closer.

"NIS!!" His head tilted back at an impossible angle as he sighed explosively.

"WHAT?!?!?" He grumbled angrily as Trixie puked and passed out onto the crystal floor.

"We are here to get Equestria back from your chacoal colored vile hooves!.... he is Charcoal right?" Pinkie pie butted in to answer the question that had been shot at Twilight.

"... Cant you die to me later? I'm busy!" He glanced over to the passed out Trixie then up at the ceiling. "Damn it! She passed out, never mind whatever come on down and form an orderly line so you can loose one at a time and die or whatever" He sighed with a loud over exaggerated annoyed tone.

With a burst of magic Trixie vanished, mere seconds later so did Luna. The hooded pony flashed into existence before Nis who looked at him with a squinted eye glare.

"Oh!... you... I honestly did not think Unicorns lived that long... But you.... I have a score to settle with you...." He grinned wide as the cloaked pony stepped back.

Staring at Nis he spoke calmly. "Then we are to return to the game?.... very well...." Turning back up and glancing up at Twilight. "Start the clock girl... I will no longer have the power to fight in about 1 hour.... My seals will last until then... two hours and I will perish, unable to return to the form you know me as.... but for now... I don't need to hide anymore...."

Everypony present watched carefully, the actions of the mysterious stallion so far being something of awe to them. The magical seal around him shattered, the sound of bells jingling away could be heard with his every movement. Twilight's eyes shot wide as she pieced together the clues. "... no... no that's not possible... no way in Tartarus!"

Starswirl the bearded threw off his cloak and his magic flared. "Now then Nis... its time for another game..."

A weak lion's paw stroked firmly over a pink mane. This caused Fluttershy to stir, whimpering a for a moment she opened her eyes. "Try and take it easy Fluttershy.... you have been through a bit..."

The sound of Discord's voice made her jump, not because she was not expecting it but simply put that it sounded so weak, like he was sick and injured, at death's door. Struggling to her hooves, her concern for her friend burned away her own trauma. "Discord!! what happened to you?" She winced as she stood still feeling the pain of the life altering dark magics.

Discord simply offered a weak smile. "I am fine, I just have to wait a while...." His skin was pale and his magical power was minuscule.

"What happened to you?"

He frowned "I did what I had to... I just hope the old fart has what it takes...."

"....No..." Nis grinned menacingly and chuckling to himself.

"W...What?..." Starswirl looked at him with great concern.

"Why should I risk it?.... you got me last time... and spending all that time in the tomb has done a LOT to my power.... why should I take you on when as you say, I can just wait a few hours and you will die on your own...."

Starswirl growled. "You could do that yes.... But we are going to prevent that....We came quite prepared..." He tussled his robes and a small box fell out. With a grin he pushed it towards Nis.

His eyes betraying a spark of fear as something shot through him. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?....There was only supposed to be a minuscule amount within all of Equestria"

"Oh, we have our ways. And we have weaponize it just the right way...."

"You created it didn't you?....no... YOU specifically could not, you wouldn't know how...but... strange... very well then... lets play a game... I win an-"

"NO!.... you are NOT setting the conditions of this duel.... Miss Sparkle please come down here with your friends...." He watched carefully as they descended. And finally he turned back to Nis. "Take your time and read it....."

Starswirl gestured to Twilight who flashed a contract into existence. Nis scooped it up and rapidly read through it. "Peace loving little shits....I get sealed away for losing and you fight me when you lose?..."

"That is your reward for winning. Its not like we stand a chance any other way, take it or leave it Nis!" Twilight smirked

"I AM SIN YOU LITTLE SHIT!" His voice bellowed and his eyes blasted with fire darker than shadows. "I DO NOT BEND TO THE WILL OF PETTY MORTAL FOOLS!... IF YOU DESIRE A FIGHT SO MUCH THEN COME AT ME..." his teeth bared as menacing blade like predator canines and his flesh developed boils and began to rot, releasing the stench of death and decay.

"... Then that is the game we play.... Girls..." Starswirl steeled his will. "I apologize that it had to go down like this..."

Twilight cursed under her breath as fear welled up in her heart. She should have figured that in his intelligence, Nis would see that they would eventually find a way to put everything in their favor. And when threatened to go along, it was too much of a gamble to assume that he would fear them, even if they provided a way to properly fight him.

Starswirl opened the box and reached a hoof inside. All the mares stood ready for a fight they were unsure they would win.

"Good luck little ponies... you will need it!"