The Dark One

Deep within the Everfree forest at the ruined castle of the Pony Sisters, a hooded figure prepares a ritual in the courtyard. Many lines made from his own blood form a circle and runes spanning across the entirety of the area.

"Bones of the Fallen, check, Shard of Corruption, check, Feather of a Goddess, check, Dragon Claws, check and life force...." He talks to him self as he levitates a knife to himself.

"This had better work," He places his Fore-leg over a bowl and slices into it with the knife, blood quickly fills the bowl once it overflows he wraps the wound in bandages.

"Sanguis bibimus, Corpus edibus, Sunguis bibimus, Corpus edibus, Rolle corpus Satani tekar." He chants over the sigil, "Hear the call of your Master Dra'gos! Return once more to conquer this land!"

The blood from the sigil erupts in flames and rise far into the air, the bowl of blood rises along with the bones and covers every inch of them. The shard rises next, placed on the skull's forehead it merges with the bone to make a horn-like protrusion. Next is the claws and feather, the feather moves to the boney wing-joints and adds a fine membrane to the bone, the claws seem to vanish into it's middle as flesh runs along the skeleton.

The entire form is surrounded in a vortex of flames and they soon are sucked into the mix, once it all disappears into the pony it bursts outwards, sending embers and sparks around the room. The nearby plant-life catches fire but soon burns out as the new form lowers to the ground. Dra'gos awakes with a start, his eyes snap open and take in his surroundings. The Courtyard was covered in a layer of ash and burn marks, his summoner's hood burned away too, his body was coated in flames but unlike natural fire it did not burn him, it merely pulsed across his snout and down his neck.

"At ease, you live once more, do try to be more carful this time." The figure says.

Dra'gos looks upon him and his ears twitch, he knows that voice. "How long was I out?" he asks.

"About two and a half thousand years," The figure steps back, "There was only bones left of you, I'm surprised you're back at all."

Dra'gos finally stands tall, his towering frame ripples as he stretches his various muscles. Then he cranes his neck and arcs his wings, the talons jutting out the ends of them nearly hit the hooded figure. Dra'gos spots a pair of shackles on a nearby table, the chains broken apart and reduced only a single chain-segment on each. Testing his magic abilities, he slips them onto his hind-legs, a constant reminder of his imprisonment from long ago. He shakes himself, ashes fly off his two-tone, Jet-black and dark red mane and tail, as well as his deep dark red coat. His cutie mark glows with an ominous darkness, the dark-phoenix ensuring his eventual return.

"What's our plan this time?" Dra'gos asks, as his strength returned to him.

"I've no idea, I've not left the castle's secret rooms since I recovered your remains."

Dra'gos growls, he would have to learn about an entirely new world, without anything to go on. He leaves right away, ignoring his Master's warnings. The world he now looks upon was astounding, the forest was still overrun by vegetation but no longer had any crazy distortions even after taking to the sky to see farther away, there was no indication Discord had warped the land, he growled again, without Discord to back his reign of terror he would have to do everything himself, but where to start? There were three towns around the forest, two of which where in the middle of nowhere in the dry dusty planes, Macintosh hills could be faintly seen behind the towns. He flew to Dodge Junction first, the residents of the town back away from his fearsome visage as he steps towards the middle of the small town Cherry Jubilee steps forward to greet him.

"Who are you?" Dra'gos asks,

"Why, I'm cherry Jubilee, Boss of Cherry Hill ranch." She says.

"From this moment on you and the rest of this town are my servants, obey me or suffer my wrath!" He announces to everyone gathered around him.

"Say what now?" Cherry says.

"I require a sacrifice, offer one or you shall all be sacrifices." Dra'gos announces..

"Well ah don't know who you think you are, but in Equestria we don't have to follow the orders from a scoundrel like you."

"That was a mistake." He says to her with a growl.

He bears his teeth, many gasp at the sight of his razor-sharp fangs lining his mouth, he ignites his horn next, flames envelope his head before shooting up into the sky, Everypony screams and runs from the fire as it arcs out and impacts every building in the area setting the wooden buildings aflame. He laughs triumphantly as everyone but cherry disappears from his view.

"What have you done! You've destroyed our town! You'll hang for this!" Cherry yells angrily at him.

"You have already... lost!" Dra'gos says as he closes the distance between them.

His eye's turn to black voids as he sucks at the air in front of her, she grows weaker as he continues and eventually passes out. He leaves her where she drops and flies towards the next town, Appleloosa, this dusty town has many buffalo roaming around as well as ponys. He lands in front of the clock tower and looks around the small town, everyone stares at him as he moves towards the center again.

"Who among you leads this town?" He calls out.

"That would me partner, who ya'll supposed ta be?" Sheriff Silverstar says.

"The harbinger of doom!" He announces arrogantly.

"An' jus what can ya do, Appleloosa ain't gonna be intimidated." Silverstar says.

"This!" Dra'gos says before his shadow stretches out across the ground, it rises and grabs everyone in the area with shadowy tendrils.

"What in tarnation!" One stallion says, "What is the meaning of this!" A buffalo says.

Soon the tendrils give off an ominous glow and everyone tangled falls asleep, Dra'gos groans in content as more power flows into him from the newest sacrifices. His form swells up a little bit as his bones expand to cover all his vital organs. He steps to the sheriffs office and spots a photo of six mares with the title local heroes, he picks the newspaper up and looks over the headline again, heroes...

"Hm, heroes, I'll need to pay them a visit for sure then." He says to himself.

After the paper is discarded he steps back outside, Chief Thunderhooves and Braeburn are waiting for him outside.

"You, unclean one, your very presence defiles this land." Thunderhooves says.

"What ya'll done to the rest! They best better be sleepin or ya'll gonna hang for this!" Braeburn says.

"Oh, you can sense me? An admirable trait, but I cannot afford to be tracked." He says to the Chief.

With a loud SNAP, his neck twists around and the chief slumps down.

"Murderer!" Breaburn yells at him.

Dra'gos ignores him at he walks down the road, "Tell others what you saw here, this is only the beginning." He says to Braeburn while flapping his wings to lift off. He passed over Ghastly Gorge next, he senses power coming from something in the ravine and flies down to the bottom. He follows the trail to a rock covered area, he roots around the rocks and discovers a small stone, it's black and glows slightly.

"I thought these were all gone!" He says to himself. He bites on the stone and it chips, a black mist spills out the crack and he inhales deeply, the mist filling him to the core. His form twists again, his wings extend a few more inches and he sprouts another horn behind the first one. "Even after all this time, my seeds remain dormant in the ground." He's lost in thought for a moment, "Perhaps the big one is still dormant too..."

He takes to the skies again, flying over Whitetail woods, he arrives at the Smoky mountains, he finds a landing near the top of the shortest mountain and spots a wall in the alcove. He walks to the edge of the wall and stomps a hoof, the impacts sound hollow. He grins as he charges his horn to pass the dirt barrier. The cave is lined with dimly glowing crystals ranging from a blue glow to a white glow. at the very back of the cave is a massive black crystal, a dark haze surrounds it and it pulses with power.

"Now why did it not spread?" He says to himself.

He steps into the haze and draws in the power of the crystal, his from swells even more as he absorbs even more power into himself. once the crystal turns gray and depletes, Dra'gos is as tall as Princess Luna, he chuckles darkly as he grows bigger with the power absorbed. He soon is consumed in pain as another transformation happens, this time his mane and tail ignite in flames and a fiery aura runs from his eyes past his head. Once the change is complete the searing pain fades to a pleasant warmth. He grins and laughs triumphantly, there would be no stopping him from finishing his age-old conflict with the Princesses this time, one way or another he would get his revenge even if it killed him, again.

He exited the hidden chamber with a burst of fire, he looks on from the mountain and spots two castles in the distance, they must have their own castles now he thought. He arcs his wings and they are engulfed in fire as he begins his descent on the first castle, the large castle at the edge of the small town spans high into the sky three times taller than any other building in the area, the large crystal-tree has a huge star at the very top perhaps a beacon to warn of intruders or a symbol of some sort. He lands right in front of the golden doors, either Luna or Celestia was inside and regardless of who it was he was not only going to humiliate them but kill them in the most horrible way he could come up with.

He charges his horn with fire, it swirls around his entire body before lunging at the door, they both melt under the intense heat within seconds and Dra'gos walks slowly past the raging fire. He steps to another pair of golden doors and melts them down too, this time several gasps of surprise are heard from behind it. The flames die down as he steps past the puddle of the doors.

"What!?" Dra/gos asks no one, those insufferable pony sister weren't here, instead were those heros from the newspaper he read were here.

He turns to leave but is stopped by Twilight teleporting in front of him in the hall.

"Stand aside, I have no quarrel with the like of you." Dra'gos says.

"Who are you? Why did you melt my doors!" She says confidently. The others gather behind him.

"The future ruler of this land and I caution you to not interfere or the consequence will be dire.

"Not a chance, we'll fight you here and now!" Rainbow says from behind him.

He laughs at their resolve, "Do you even know who I am?" He asks.

"No, but I don't think it will matter after we stop you." Twilight says.

"Allow me to grace you with knowledge then, I am Dra'gos! Demon Lord of Tartarus and the first Evil to ever touch this land."

"I've never heard of that..." Fluttershy quietly says.

"A demon?!?" Twilight cries out, "your kind is extinct! and Tartarus is a Prison!"

"What!" He yells angrily, "Impossible! Demons are the true rulers of mortals!"

His mane and tail flare up with his anger. They all back away from the fanning flames.

"Regardless, I am still here! And I WILL NOT BE DENIED! He yells out loud enough to make them all cover their ears.

With them distracted he pressurizes a pocket of air in front of him, it swells to the size of watermelon before it explodes, they can't even react to the explosive decompression before they all are sent flying across the room, they all land wit thuds against the far walls, Twilight is blasted right out the front door into the dirt. He spends several moments looking over the unconscious mares behind him, they're all in great condition, toned muscles, strong features all except one, he took a very special interest in the yellow Pegasus, her softer look suggested that out of the group, she was the least likely to be able to resist his advances.

He lifts her onto his back, but before leaving he eyes the rainbow-maned one, she was the first one to want to fight him, he needed a good warm-up so he draped her across his back too, he walked outside and Twilight was groggily standing up. Once she spotted her friends on his back she darted into action, until Dra'gos plopped them both on the ground in front of him.

"Stay back unless you want some roasted pony," He says to her.

She slows to a stop when her friend's safety is in danger, 'No! Please, let them go!" She cries out.

"Let me think..... No!" He says to her.

He charges his horn, all three of them are enveloped in flames as it's vortex reaches up to the sky.

Twilight darts to the vortex but it's too late, the flames fan out and fade, all of them nowhere to be seen, she runs franticly to the others, they're still here but out cold, she sighs with a little relief before passing out herself.