The Dreaded One, Dormammu

Dormammu Fact

During World War 2, Dormammu gained power by absorbing the destruction that raged throughout the earth, but Doctor Strange stopped him. How was Doctor Strange around at that time? Time magic. It’s less bullshit the less you think about it.

“What’s going on? Zecora, what’s going on?!” Rainbow asked, as the screams from the ponies outside came screeching through the window.

“The Evil of the Everfree is coming-” There was an explosion from the kitchen, cutting Zecora off. And at a quick glance, I could see large vines slithering their way out of the sink. “Oh no, they are coming out of the plumbing!”

“Girls, we go to get everypony out of town!” Twilight yelled, but at this point, I had stopped listening to them.

“Master, Trixie suggests that we run…” Trixie had muttered, but I gave her a smile.

“Trixie, teleport back to the carriage. Wait there for me. You’ll be safe there…” I ordered quietly, as I made my way to the window.

I started to laugh as I watched the vines wrap their way onto a building, then promptly caving inward and destroying it. It was a low chuckle, not loud enough for the mares around me to hear, but one that showed just how excited I was. Before me was but a fraction of the chaotic power held in this world, a power that I had hoped to take claim to in time. But now? Now was my opportunity to take it! I don’t know exactly why it was here, or just why it was coming from the Everfree Forest, but I am NOT complaining!

My horn glowed and I allowed my magic to go wild. The mares around me let out a scream as I blew the window, as well as the surrounding wall, out. Rushing forward, flames wrapped around my hooves and I leaped up, taking to the sky to get a better view of what I was dealing with. As I did the vines all sprouted up, flinging themselves up at me. My laugh started to get louder, and louder as they homed in on me.

Throwing up a shield, the black vines impacted it with little effect. Thrashing and smacking, the vanes tried desperately to get to me, but with each impact, I could feel the magic they held within calling to me. All I needed to do was reach out, and take it! As one of the smaller vines moved into to smack the shield, I dissipated the shield around where it was going to impact, only to instantly close it around the vine; trapping it with me. Tilting my head down, I charged forward and impaled the vine. It squirmed for just a moment, before withering away, as I forced the magic it held out of it and into my body.

And there it was. Chaotic power flowing through my pony body! I could feel my fire growing, and with a quick glance down to my own body, I found myself taking on aspects of my original form. And now as I flew high in the sky with my whole body ablaze, I allowed my shield to fall so that I could unleash my power, and show the ponies of Ponyville why they should not fear this plant…

“They should fear… me!” I laughed to myself, as I threw my magic out in every which way.  Massive chains of fire burst from my form and implied root after root, setting them on fire as I drained the magic from them.

Now seeing me as a major threat, what remained of the roots turned their attentions to me, instead of the ponies in town. Even going as far as to release several of them just to try to sum of the power to stop me. It didn’t work, because the flames of my body just grew stronger and stronger with each root I burn, destroy, and drain! And the only sounds that could be heard through Ponyville was my laughing, the crackling of my fire, and the sounds of the charred roots fading to ash, just before they got blown away in the wind.

But was all this power going to go to waste? No, it was not! Now I had more energy than ever, and I could feel the chaotic magic of the world around me. Ponyville was not the only place these roots were. I could feel them spreading all across Equestria. From up near the frozen wastelands of the North, to the dry deserts of the Southeast, I could tell that the power that I obtained today was just a fraction of what I could gain. I could gain more power, and all I needed to do was just go and take it for myself!

But I’m not an idiot.

In doing so I would grow too strong, too quickly. My pony form was still too weak for that. Even now as I burned as bright as I once had, with flames and all, I could feel my body being destroyed from the inside out. It was an insult to who I was! To what I had been… But this was the life that I had given myself, just so that I could live, and I was not going to let my ignorance cause me to fail me again… And I could feel something even stranger in this world.

A weak power coming from the Everfree forest.

“Sparkle!” I yelled in a booming voice that could be heard from the whole town. “I will go to the source of this problem and take care of it! I leave the lives of the ponies here in your hooves!”

And with that, I leave the ponies of Ponyville in more ways than one. Not just physically as I flew my way over the center of the Everfree forest, but mentally. Leaving them with the thoughts that I was here to save them from this tragedy like I had done so before. If they only knew what I would do to them once I was at my full power… They would make fine servants, at most. Perhaps food for my minions of not.

“Now where is that faint power coming from…” I muttered to myself as I gazed down into the Everfree. It didn’t take long for me to find what I was here for, and as my eyes rested on a cave, I had to start laughing to myself.

The strange weak power that I felt coming from the Everfree was the same power that came from the six element bearers. And as I floated my way down into the cave I found it fading away. But I could feel the worry it held. I didn’t care for these plants, no, it knew who the real demon was, and as I slowly made my way closer to it I could tell just why it was withering away so quickly. It was using the last of its power to call for aid. To let those of the universe know that I was still alive. It allowed the chaos of these vines to take hold of it because it knew that there was a much, much more deadly foe at its doorstep.

But I’m not an idiot.

If it’s call for help is answered then I would be done for. If everything I had done up to this point was for nothing because this thing wanted to thwart my plans then I may as well take my own life now.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that…” I muttered, placing a hoof on the tree. “Oh, don’t fret, Tree of Harmony… Your calls to the stars will go unheard, at least, for quite some time… And by then I’ll have gained enough power to leave this world. But the question is this…” I let out a sigh as I let my fire fade, and my body quickly returned to normal. “How many ponies will die before that moment? How many will die before someone comes and stops me? The answer is up to know, depending on how you answer my next question… Yes or no, do you want your ponies to live? To do you want this world to burn, like so many others?”

Though the tree could not speak, I could still feel the echoes of sadness vibrate through it. I knew what it wanted. It wanted peace, it wanted harmony, and if it was not as weak as it was, it would have sealed me away right then and there. In comparison of power, if I had come here when I first arrived I would be dead! Killed by this tree of peace…

“Allow me to bring balance into your world, and I will spare your ponies the death in time to come. Allow me to place a piece of myself within you to take ahold of this chaos in the world, and I will spare all lives on this backwater rock…” I offered. “You asked for help, but you didn’t ask from where… Take this deal, or watch as your harmony fades forever…”

And with that, my threads of chaos had been sown into the world.

It didn’t take long after that for the vines of chaos to fade away. With a piece of my magic within the Tree of Harmony, and in return a piece of its magic within me, it was able to wrangle the last of the vines with little effort, and I did grow in power because of the whole ordeal. The exchange did require quite a bit of work on my part, and the power that I had gained today was gone, but it won't be for long. Like a lake of lava that is ever expanding once emptied it will be filled again… But my lava lake was drained, and yet again I was magically exhausted. Force to walk back to Ponyville, slowly, left alone to my thoughts. Normally I would take the time to assess what had happened, and to adjust my plans as I saw them, but with the magic, drain came another headache… The creatures of the forest knew well enough to not bother me at this point, so it was more of an annoying slog than anything.

“Trixie,” I yelled at the top of my lungs, as I could see the carriage from over the hill. “Get the  cart ready, the battle with the plants has left me drained once again!”

“Master?” Trixie started, popping her head over the cliff side.

“Bishop?” Twilight then said, popping up next to her.

My eye started to twitch as one by one, ponies made their way over the hill, and I had to muster up all that I was to put on a fake smile. There was the Apple family, several foals and colts, the element welders, and even the town drunk. I only knew of here because Trixie had gone on a ten-minute rant about her, which was rather amusing at the time.

Faking an injury, and allowing the weakness of my body to fold over me, I stumbled to the side before landing on the ground. All of the ponies let out a gasp and rushed to my aid. I put on a smile as they did, partly because it was to show them what I wanted them to see, but also because this was just one step I had to take for recovery.

“You saved us again, Bishop!” Twilight smiled.

“Th-thank you…” Fluttershy muttered even though I could barely hear her over the crowd.

“You’re a real hero!” Apple Bloom called out.

“Perhaps my worries were in the wrong place, for we would all be goners if it was not for your heroic grace...” Zecora had rhymed.

“Master, shall I take you to your bed?” Trixie had asked, and with a simple nod, she had used her magic to teleport us past the crowds and into the cottage. Then turning around, with the door wide open, Trixie pulled up a bright pink megaphone with Pinkie’s name on it. “Master requests rest, and relaxation, and requests that you all leave him be for now. Also, Miss Pie, you left your megaphone here two days ago, and Trixie won’t give it back.”