Equestria's Darkest Shadow

Everypony gasped in awe as the Pony of Shadows slipped through the bars of the cage and behind Discord.

"So all those fables Granny Smith said about the Pony of Shadows were true!" said Applejack.

"Wait a minute! I thought you said this cage nullified magic!" said Rainbow Dash.

"It does." explained Discord. "But I didn't make it."

"It's one of my creations." chuckled the Pony of Shadows. "I designed it so that it cancels all magic of those inside it instead of mine."

"Then I guess it's time to pour on the Rainbow Power!" shouted Rainbow Dash. Everypony agreed. They all gathered together to power up.....but nothing happened.

"What in tarnation--?" gasped Applejack.

"Yeah! What happened to our butt-kicking rainbow?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I had a feeling that would be your last resort." laughed the Pony of Shadows. "So I decided to 'pull the plug' on your light show." And he reached under his cloak and pulled out six very familiar shards.

"THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?!" shrieked Twilight.

"But I thought the Tree of Harmony repelled all evil magic!" said Starlight.

"It does." explained the Shadow Pony. "That's why I took precautions. When you blasted Tirek to kingdom come, I took a small piece of the Rainbow of Light and used it as a cloak to confuse the Tree of Harmony into thinking I was one of you. It nearly put me in a coma to hold all that positive energy, but stealing the Elements proved to be a cinch. Thanks to Discord here, I would never have known about its existence."

"And thanks to my companion here, I wouldn't even know of your existence." added Discord.

"Wait--then you released Discord the first time?!" gasped Twilight.

"That's right, Twinkle Toes." said the Pony of Shadows. "Those brats on their field trip only woke him up. I just took care of the rest. When I released him, he told me how he failed to depower the Tree of Harmony and I told him about you. We soon made a deal. Once he helped take care of you six troublemakers for me, I could help him not only conquer not only Equestria, but also the entire universe!"

"In your dreams, bozo!" snarked Rainbow Dash.

"You're right, Darling Dash." joked Discord. "It was a dream. And now it's beginning to come true!"

"And how did I drain the Tree to get the Plundervines to grow? I had help from Tirek. Not even the best guards could hear my presence. All I did was literally hide in their shadows until I got close enough to Tirek's cage. I had just created a mirage Tirek to not arouse suspicion when Cerberus had spotted us escaping. We just barely managed to get away from that three-headed mutt when it went on a rampage looking for us. During that time in hiding, I had taught Tirek how to drain magic from ponies. I enjoyed hearing his stories on his escapades, especially the time he turned a prince into a carbon copy of his stupid brother."

"Haha! Classic!" laughed Discord as he sat in a lounge chair and watched a film reel featuring Tirek turning said prince into Scorpan with a black mist he carried in a sack around his neck.

"The sad thing is he actually spared me from his wrath and didn't absorb my magic." snarled the Pony. "And I thought his brother was soft."

"And you knew all about this?" asked Rarity.

"Right down to the exclamation point!" confirmed Discord.

Fluttershy turned pale.

"In fact, I'm impressed you fell for his reformation ruse until this point!" added the Pony of Shadows.

"R-r-r-ruse?" stammered Fluttershy.

"When Celestia requested for you to try and release Discord and for Fluttershy to redeem him," explained the Pony of Shadows. "I soon figured out how she planned to do it. I told Discord to go along with the reformation plan until all the princesses, the Elements of Harmony and all of Equestria's biggest threats were taken care of."

Fluttershy only stared blankly, thinking of all the tea parties and all the fun activities she and Discord had shared together. Her entire friendship with Discord; a lie. She couldn't bare it any longer. She collapsed to the ground and wept bitterly.

"Ah knew there was somethin' about you Ah couldn't trust, Discord." snarled Applejack. "Ah knew you were evil, but THIS?!"

"I'm glad you're back to evil!" snapped Rainbow Dash. "Because once we get out of here, you'll regret the day you even knew of Equestria's existence!!"

"Good luck with that!" chortled Discord.

"Indeed." said the Shadow Pony with an evil smile in his voice. "Especially with all the fun I'm going to have with all seven of you."

"'Seven?'" inquired Discord. "I thought you were going to spare Fluttershy?"

"Wha?" The ponies in the cage tilted their heads, perplexed. Fluttershy stopped sobbing and perked her ears up.

"So you do still care about her, do you?" said the Pony of Shadows, suspiciously.

"'St-still?'" whimpered Fluttershy.

"Of course!" argued Discord. "After all, you promised that you'd spare her so she could be my queen once we take over everything!"

"Oh, yes, about that. I wanted to go along with it, but I changed my mind."

"WHAT?! Then our deal is off, buster! Do you hear me?! O-V-E-R! Over!"

"Yes." said the Pony of Shadows. "It certainly is." Suddenly,  something shot from his horn and into Discord's gasping mouth.

Discord jolted, faltered, twisted about, stopped, and fell to the ground.

"What did you do to him?!" demanded Starlight.

"Oh, nothing too serious. I just cancelled his magic and killed all traces of it inside him. Now, he's no more powerful than you are in that cage." The Shadow Pony laughed, evilly.

"WHAT?!" gasped Discord. He snapped his fingers. Nothing. He snapped some more. Still nothing. Now it was Discord's turn to be afraid. The Shadow Pony then lifted him in a magic aura.

"Now," quizzed the Pony of Shadows. "What do you think I'm going to do next?"

"W-w-w-what?"

"Think about it!"

Discord stared at him, quivering in fear of what he might do.

"Ahh, a bit clichéd." said the Pony of Shadows. "But I'll do it!" He then proceeded to slam Discord into every pillar and wall in the room, laughing joyfully and battering Discord badly.

"What was that?!" asked Pinkie Pie, abashed.

"I simply read his mind and did what he thought I would do, isn't that right, Dissy?"

"Y-Y-Yes!" agreed Discord. "But I didn't actually want it to happen!"

"No matter. What do you think I'm going to do next?" asked the Pony of Shadows.

"I-I don't even WANT to think about it!" whimpered Discord.

"Too late." said the Pony. "You just did." He then summoned a disembodied jaw with sharp teeth, placed Discord inside, and forced the jaw to slam up and down, bashing Discord even more. The others in the cage could only turn away in horror.

When the jaw finally spit him out, Discord, mangled and scarred as well as scared, called out. "HELP ME!! SOMEPONY HELP ME!!"

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." smirked the Pony.

"P-P-Please, no more." whimpered Discord. He was close to tears, now.

"Suit yourself." said the Pony. He then lifted Discord, took aim, and blasted Discord with an almighty beam of energy. Discord screamed and disintegrated before everypony's eyes.

"Peh! Good riddance to that class clown." scoffed the Pony.

Everypony else just looked on in horror. Fluttershy was more distraught than the rest of them. How could somepony just obliterate their closest ally so easily?

The Pony of Shadows stared in confusion at our heroes abashed and aghast faces. "Why the long faces?" He asked. "One of your biggest enemies is gone forever! And yet, you stand in bewilderment at what you or those pathetic princesses could've done a long time ago?!"

Starlight finally found her voice. "Discord did everything in his power to help you with your plan and you thank him by just obliterating him when you succeed?!"

"My, my, we are starting to learn things, aren't we?" snarked the Pony. "He was my pawn in helping me destroy Equestria, as was Tirek. Besides, Discord became expendable when he gave Twilight her Friendship key."

"You monster!" growled Starlight. "How many others have you manipulated in your life?!"

"If I told you that, my little hypocrite, you'd never view life any other way." Said the Pony, mysteriously.

Starlight blushed in shame as she knew what he meant by "hypocrite."

"Enough games!" shouted Twilight. "Release the princesses from Tartarus at once!"

"Who said they were in Tartarus?" said the Pony, darkly.

"Then where are they?!"

The Shadow Pony then gave a soft smirk. "Your mentor, Celestia is in my clutches, but the others?" He paused, darkly and chuckled. "Check six feet underground." He concluded.

Twilight's heart stopped, then her blood ran cold. "Y-y-y-you didn't--!"

"I did." confirmed the Pony with an evil smirk in his voice.

Twilight's voice began to crack. "But.....but....my brother.....m-m-my niece, she's just--"

"A baby? That made it even more fun." laughed the Pony. "Oh, by the way, there's a reason she was born an alicorn."

"What?!" Everypony gasped.

"Yes, indeed. My own little gift to the baby. So you have me to thank for creating the first alicorn to be born in Equestria!"

Rainbow Dash shuddered. "I think I know where this is going." She gulped.

"Don't be crude!" snapped the Pony of Shadows. "I simply created a magical dart and injected it into Cadance to make it so she became an alicorn early. If it weren't for the Crystaling Ceremony cancelling out the out-of-control magic, she would've been Equestria's most dangerous baby."

"Make that one of three!" commented Pinkie, remembering her own experience with babies.

"And speaking of said ceremony, I've already succeeded in destroying the Crystal Heart itself."

"But that's impossible!" argued Starlight. "The ceremony helped to strengthen it!"

"Maybe so," agreed the Pony. "But I have a learning spell that allows me to learn any spell directed at me. As such, when the baby princess gave that deafening wail, I used the spell to learn its frequency, then amped it up by a few hundred decibels."

"You're crazy!" said Twilight. "Don't you know that destroying the Heart will engulf the Empire in a blanket of snow?!"

"Not my problem." said the Shadow Pony, simply.

Twilight and the others were aghast.

"Oh! I forgot to mention," added the Pony. "Before killing each princess as well as Shining Armor, I absorbed all of the magic they had to make me stronger than I already was. Even the changelings were impressed when I knocked most of you fools out with my magic."

"You know about the changelings?" asked Rarity.

"Who do you think invited them to the wedding?" quizzed the Pony.

"YOU brought the changelings to the Cadence and my brother's wedding?!" gasped Twilight.

"And I happened to find them on accident." added the Shadow Pony. "In my travels, a few days before the big Canterlot Wedding, I happened to stumble across Chrysalis' castle. I was lucky to have the changeling's not eat me raw when I told them about the wedding and the opportunity to rule over Equestria, then perhaps the entire world!"

Everypony was shocked at this revelation. At the same time, Starlight noticed something familiar about the Pony of Shadows considering his magic.

"But the point I'm trying to make here," concluded the Pony. "Is that my magic has now gotten so strong that most of the princesses and the Captain of the Royal Guard are now dead. Besides," he chuckled. "I managed to give Luna the everlasting peace she desperately wanted. Something not even you could ever do, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight didn't say anything, she was in great terror over the death of her niece, her foalsitter and brother, her niece, and sooner or later, her mentor. But Fluttershy came too, at last "You....big.....Dumb......MEANIEEEE!!!" She roared and rammed the bars in an attempt to attack.

"Settle down, sweetheart." chuckled the Shadow Pony. "I've still got Celestia locked up somewhere. But you'll have to play a little game first."

"Bring it, you freak of nature!" said Rainbow Dash.

Then, in a cloud of black smoke, they were transported out of the cage and into a cavern with six exits, but the Pony of Shadows was nowhere to be seen.

"What is this? Where are we?" asked Twilight.

"And where'd that Shadow Pony go?" wondered Applejack.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Applejacks?" The Pony of Shadows voiced echoed around the group. "One of these corridors leads to Canterlot Castle, the place where I'm holding Princess Celestia."

"So she was right under our muzzles the whole time?" exclaimed Rarity.

"Neat trick, huh?" laughed the Pony. "Anyway, if you want to save Celestia, you'll have to choose wisely! Catch me if you can!" The Pony's laughter echoed and faded away.

Our heroes looked at each cave exit, not sure of which to go in.

"I don't like the looks of this at all." shuddered Fluttershy.

"Let's split up." said Starlight. "I'll teleport you all to me if I pick the right tunnel. If I don't, I'll teleport us all back here and whoever does pick the right tunnel can lead is all through it together. I'll go with Twilight. She is my teacher after all and could provide a helping hoof with my magic."

Everypony agreed and split up.