Spirit of Vengeance

"I dunno, Twi. Are you sure this Flamewave guy gave you the right directions?" Rainbow asked, getting a skyline view of Manehattan while looking down to speak to the alicorn. The group was busy searching the busy town in search for the Servants of Darkness, who seemed to not have arrived yet.

Twilight nodded, "Flamewave told me they were in Manehattan. He has given me no reason to lie."

"If you say so." the cyan mare muttered.

Applejack looked at her friends, "Well, they can't be hard'ta miss. They're strange cloaked ponies with demonic eyes. We just gotta keep an eye out fer 'em."

"W-What do we do when we find them?" Fluttershy meekly asked.

"We have to detain them before anypony gets hurt. Unlike the Ghost, we're not killers. They can be redeemed." the lavender alicorn insisted to the nervous pegasus. "That's why we're here."

Starlight looked to her mentor, "Let's hope that they make themselves easier to find."

BOOM!

An explosion was heard next to them, prompting the heroes to dive and cover their ears. Ponies nearby eother began to scream and flee or gsther sround the sight. The girls tried to push them aside, making sure that none of the bystanders would get hurt in whatever was about to happen. Standing on the rubble and debris were the cloaked ponies they hoped to encounter, "Quite an entrance." the assumed leader of the group said to his comrades. "From the ashes of Manehattan, the Dark Army shall rise."

"Not while we're here!"

Twilight made this boast, standing in the center of all her friends, her wings unfurled and an angry scowl on her muzzle. The leader of the semy chuckled, "Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I must admit, it is a surprise to see you here. How did you catch wind of our little plan in this rundown town?"

"I had a little help." the alicorn snarled.

The cult leader whispered, "Interesting. But it won't do any good. We have already grown powerful in the art of Dark Magic." at that he used his horn to reveal a black beam, which hit all of her friends except herself, trapping them in a pitch black bind of rope, making them unable to move in their current situation.

"What did you do?"

"I simply evened the odds. It wouldn't be fair if you had the number advantage over us."

Twilight shot out a magic beam at the cult leader, knocking him back, his horn still glowing black. The unicorn spat in disgust over what happened and he pointed a hoof forward, "Attack. Now."

"Be careful, Twi!" Applejack warned, unable to move.

Starlight tried to light up her horn, but the powerful magic nullified the energy she was exerting. Rarity tried to do the same and got the same results. The violet unicorn huffed, "I-I can't break us free. This dark magic is almost otherworldly."

"Then I guess she's on her own." Rainbow gulped. "Kick 'em for us, Twi!" she yelled.

Twilight nodded, seeing a hooded pegasus come in her direction. She ducked down, avoiding their extended hooves and teleported herself next to another pegasus, using a spell to throw them forward. When the unicorn tried to shoot her, she simply rematerialized in another spot, dodging the black magic.

Smirking underneath his hood, the cult leader narrowed his eyes and drew his head forward, bringing forth another beam of dark magic. Twilight ducked underneath the spell and shot once more at the insane unicorn, turning her head to kick back an earth pony that planned to charge at her.

"Yeah, Twilight!" cheered Pinkie, still in the binding with her friends.

Twilight spun her body around, moving backwards before she could get kicked by a pegasus. The unicorn tried to shoot another beam out of his horn, but Twilight dodged it, using her magic to lift the pegasus out of its crossfire. The alicorn threw the pegasus down as hard as she could, knocking him unconscious. The other hooded ponies tried to gang up on Twilight, but she teleported away from where she was surrounded, appearing in another location.

"Why do all this? For what reason could you all possibly have?!" Twilight asked.

"Retribution, Princess Sparkle. Celestia and Luna have dethroned the true ruler of our world, who many centuries ago brought the world to its knees before being sent to Tartarus with demons like Tirek. We're only doing what is best for Equestria. To bring him back, and to do that, we need an army." the cult leader boasted to the alicorn.

"W-What?" Rainbow asked, hearing the conversation.

"These guys are crazy!" Applejack shouted.

"Not crazy, dear pony. We are merely advanced."

Twilight shook her head, not believing what she was hearing, "That is insane! Celestia and Luna took him out to Tartarus with the others like him for a reason!"

The cult leader snarled, "Yes! Because they were too afraid of his true power! We are doing what is best for our world!"

"No, you're not!" Twilight shot back, "All this destruction and death! It's not worth it!"

The cult leader took a step forward, "Oh, but it is. Maybe not to ponies with feeble, inferior minds like you and your friends, but we are truly in the right here."

In anger, Twilight shot a beam of magic forward and knocked the unicorn through the hole he made. The other cultists tried to attack the alicorn, her friends watching her fight off the ponies on her own. Starlight panted after another failed attempt at freeing her and her friends. "Crud... We have to hurry!"

Twilight stepped backwards and hit an earth pony with a forehoof, making them stagger slightly. She then kicked another in the head, making them buckle in pain and collapse. The leader watched the fight, his glowing red eyes widening and narrowing, annoyed by the princess's attempts to foil the Dark Army's plan.

As he stepped back out, something caught him by surprise. A quiet clanging sound was heard coming from above him and he felt as theough he couldn't breathe. Looking down, the unicorn saw that there was something whipped around his throt, and he let out a quiet gasp, losing air for a second.

It was a chain.

Suddenly, he was thrown upwards, the swiftness of the action actually prompted Twilight and the cultists to stop fighting to see what was happening. Loud begging and screams were heard coming from the rooftop as were other sounds, leaving only grunts to be heard from the pony.

SNAP!

CRACK!

The others were suddenly freed from the dark magic minding, the black hardlight rope fading from existence. "W-What happened up there?" Fluttershy gulped.

"I have no clue." Starlight muttered.

The girls cringed at the noises and saw something fall from the roof. Twilight took a step back as did the others. It was the unicorn's dead body, his face was beaten to a bloody pulp, his cheeks were dark red and all of his teeth were knocked out. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. The heroes gasped at the sight, nearly wanting to throw up at the sight. What shocked them even more was his now lack of horn, now replaced with a bloody lump, dripping red.

"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight muttered, tears threatening to run down her eyes now.

A second later, something else fell. It was a cone shaped object. Twilight's eyes widened, recognizing it as a unicorn horn. She put a hoof to her mouth and resisted the urge to release her lunch. Applejack and Rarity covered Fluttershy and Pinkie's eyes, making sure they didn't catch the grotesque sight.

"Look!" Rainbow yelled, pointing a hoof upward, making sure they would look away.

The ponies, hero and cultist alike, all looked to the rooftop. Standing on the edge was a bipedal figure with a chain in his hands and blood covering his face and black race jacket, getting red on the white stripe. He wiped his face.

Robbie finally revealed himself. And he would make these hooded ponies pay.