Striped Ascension

Dark Tomb sighed as the sun set over the Zebafrican valley. She looked over the destroyed archeological site. All her life’s work, all those years of research, Heck, even the site she was researching. Wiped away in an instant. It had been a month since the incident, but the anger still boiled in her veins. She couldn’t believe some… barbaric zebra found the Omni-stone before her. It was infuriating. And the worst part was she could have stopped it if she had just told that stupid zebra to get out of the dig site. But no, she let her curiosity get the better of her.

After all this time the archeological team had finally decided it was safe to go back into the tomb. Zecora’s semen had finally dried up. But it seemed to be an extremely powerful fertilizer, as lush plant growth had sprung up wherever her virile seed had been. Of course, this meant that the remains of the tomb were choked with thick, tough vines.

The dig team had decided to delve back into the ruins to search for any artifacts that may have survived, but progress was slow. The team was afraid the ruins had become unstable, and the lower levels needed to be reinforced before they could be explored again.
Dark tossed and turned in her tent, but found that she just couldn’t sleep. She grabbed her glow-stone and exited her tent. As she went down to the dig site to sulk, she noticed a packet of cigarettes abandoned on a table. Dark didn’t smoke, but she needed something to take her mind off things, and swiped the packet from the table.

Dark entered the ruins. There were a few archeologists milling about, but Dark just ignored them. She didn’t care about them. In fact, she didn’t particularly care about anything, even herself. She wandered past the safety tape and into the unstable portions of the tomb. As she wandered farther in, it grew darker and darker until it was bitch black. Dark activated her glow stone, and saw that she had wandered into a dead end. Dark smirked in pained amusement. To most ponies, it was just a simple pointless hallway. But Dark had endlessly pondered what its purpose was in draconic culture. Heck, she had written a thirty-page essay on just this hallway alone, but both her research and the hallway were destroyed.
Dark pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She knew smoking in the ruins was forbidden, but at this point, she just didn’t care. The hallway was completely covered with vines. Dark couldn’t stand to look at it any longer. She disabled her glow stone, leaving only the faint light of her cigarette.

“All those years of research for nothing. I spent almost a decade writing about this stupid tomb, and I’ve got nothing to show for it.” She started banging her head against the walls. “Gaaaahhhh…I’ve wasted my life on nothing! Damn that zebra! Damn her straight to Tartarus!”

A sharp pain pierced Dark’s forehead. She held up her cigarette to the wall and saw that one of the vines growing on the wall had thorns, which had torn a small cut in her forehead. But just above the vine, she saw a ghostly object phasing in and out of existence. “What the…?” Dark instantly lit up the room with her horn, causing the flickering object to disappear. “Where did it…?” Dark placed her hand over where the object had been.
Dark extinguished her magical light, causing the ghostly object to return. “It’s the fire…” Dark realized. She pulled out a match, lit it and held it up to the flickering object. A stone handle slowly phased in and out of existence. Dark lit another match, causing a gem-studded door handle to appear.

“It only appears in fire.” Dark gasped. “Of course! This tomb was built by dragons!”

Dark knew she should alert the dig team of her discovery. That she should really catalog and document everything before attempting to poke around with an ancient tomb. Much less one that could be booby-trapped. But her curiosity and nihilism got the better of her. She reached towards the handle and pulled it.

A massive door opened, ripping through the choking vines as it did. Dark cautiously made her way to the door. She peered cautiously into the tomb, starting to get a little excited. Throwing caution to the wind, Dark walked through the door and entered the burial chamber.
There was an absolutely massive coffin in the center, easily 30 feet in length. The carving of the facade of the coffin looked sort of equine in nature, but it had two horns and shaggy fur. “A goat?” Dark wondered aloud. “Why would the ancient dragons decorate a tomb with that? Goats have always been considered an un-exceptional race. There’s no way that coffin is holding a goat!”

Dark walked right up to the coffin. She knew she should wait for the dig team before exhuming the contents of the coffin. She knew she would get flak for being in the unstable part of the tomb, let alone opening a coffin, but she just had to know what was inside.

There appeared to be a complex opening system that required eight levers on the side of the coffin to be pulled simultaneously. It would have been quite the bother, if Dark hadn’t been a unicorn. Obviously, whoever designed this tomb hadn’t thought things through very well. With a wave of her horn all of the levers lowered simultaneously.

A series of mechanical arms came down from the ceiling and grabbed a hold of the coffin lid. The mechanism had clearly been damaged by the seismic activity created by the giant zebra, as they looked like they were falling apart. Three of them burst into gears and rivets as the gripped the sarcophagus lid, but the remaining five kept their hold on it.

A thick cloud of dust was kicked up as the coffin was unsealed. Dark fanned the air with one hand while coughing into the other. Once the storm of dust had settled down, she climbed up to the coffin to take a look at her prize, keeping one eye on the massive stones being held by the rickety arms above her.
Dark reeled back in shock. Inside was a perfectly preserved massive, black goat! There was a thick layer of dust surrounding the giant goat, possibly decayed bandages. His body was completely bare save for an ebony metal bell with gold trim in the shape of spiraling teeth. At the top of the bell was a miniscule crack, with faint blue energy glowing from within.

Dark couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her brain raced to figure how a body could be preserved like this, even outlasting its burial shroud. Dark walked over to the necklace around the giant’s neck. She couldn’t believe this object had survived either. It was almost three feet across. Dark gently picked up the object with her magic. She wiped the object clean with her hand. As she did, the object shrunk down to only a few inches across.

Dark examined the necklace, which rung slightly in her hands. She heard a stirring behind her. She looked up and saw the giant body rise out of the tomb. “Holy crap!” Dark yelped, nearly dropping the necklace.

The giant goat sat up and opened her eyes, looking down at the tiny pony in the room with her pendant. He roared with anger. “That’s mine!” He roared before leaping towards Dark. “I’ll kill you!”

Dark quickly ran out the tomb and into the dead end. The doorway was far too small for the giant goat to squeeze through. He reached through at Dark, but she was just outside of his reach. “FUUUUCKKK!!!” The giant roared. “You’ve got to be kidding me! The one century I decide to sleep, and this fucking happens!”

Dark lay in the rubble, her chest pounding up and down. “Who…who are you?” Dark trembled.

“I am Grogar, the devourer of worlds!” The giant goat snarled. “And that is my bell! Give it to me!”

“How are you still alive?” Dark panted “Is your body artificial? Is the pendant keeping you alive?” She asked, still eyeing her cautiously.
“Technically, I’m not alive. I died eons ago. But the pendant’s magic keeps my spirit from passing. Inside are the souls of billions of beings! They sustain me.” Grogar explained.

“Billions of souls!?” Dark gasped.

“I didn’t earn my title from nothing.” Grogar grinned. “I traveled from world to world, harvesting their populations to sustain my own life. Unfortunately, the dragon Bahamut overpowered me, and trapped me in this wrenched tomb.”

“Why not just destroy the bell?” asked Dark holding a rock over the bell. “Wouldn’t that eradicate you?”

“Indeed it would.” Grogar snorted. “However, the bell carries a terrible curse. It can never be fully destroyed. If it is, it will reform itself and corrupt the soul of whoever attempted to demolish it.”

“But why put you in such an easy to find place?” Dark backed up. “Certainly they realized you’d be released sooner or later.”

“I am afraid your kind was not accounted for because you did not exist at that time.” The goat snorted. “When I was imprisoned on this planet, it was completely devoid of life. They hoped that the energies in my pendant would eventually run out. But after a few billion years, the primordial space dust created, and I use this term loosely, intelligent life’ on this planet, giving me a chance to escape.”

“Well, I’m not letting you escape!” yelled Dark “You’re stuck in that tomb! And you can’t do anything without your precious bell! You can just rot in there for all I care!”

“Big talk from a two decade-old being.” Grogar mocked. “I can wait an inconceivably long time. Whether by natural causes, the doing of ponies, or my own effort, I will escape this tomb eventually. And when I do, I will make sure you suffer greatly before I absorb your soul!”

Dark shuddered. She had become nihilistic enough that she didn’t fear death, but the thought of an immortal goat devouring her soul terrified her. She thought about destroying the bell to gain its powers. But what sort of irreparable damage would that do to her psyche? Would she even still be Dark Tomb after the artifact’s corruption took hold?

“Tell you what, insect.” Grogar snorted “If you give me back my amulet now, I will show mercy on you and your pitiful race. And as a reward for not wasting my time, I will make you immortal, and powerful to the point where your ignorant species might worship you as a god. You have my word.”

Dark sighed. She had lost everything, and the prospect of becoming a powerful alicorn sounded pretty endearing to her. Maybe she could join the ranks of Celestia and Luna, or at the very least have her very own kingdom like Princess Cadence. At the least it would give her something to do with her life. Dark timidly took a step forward.

Grogar immediately lunged forward and grabbed Dark. “Foolish little thing!” He immediately threw Dark across the room, easily cracking one of her ribs. Grogar’s bell skidded across the room.

“Hmm.” Grogar mused. “It appears my body has grown weak since the loss of my bell. Had I been able to tap into its power, I could have turned you to jelly!”

Dark winced in pain. She crawled away as fast as she could as the giant goat stomped towards her.

“What is it you fear?” Grogar laughed as Dark weakly reached for the bell.” The end of your trivial existence? You are little more than a speck! Less than a germ! You are nothing!” He kicked Dark across the room, sending her flying away from the bell.

Dark could feel blood running down her face. The bell was all the way across the room now. She sprinted towards it, but Grogar easily was upon her and lifted her off the ground with a single hand.

”You’re entire race is younger than my nap! A mere blip in my infinite existence!” Grogar gripped her stomach, causing her damaged ribs to flare up in pain. I’m going to make your pathetic soul watch as I devour your planet. It’s small compared to the other worlds I have consumed. A mere snack! But the important part is that you will suffer for daring to touch my precious bauble!”

Dark stared at the bell. There was no chance she could telekinetically grab it without Grogar seeing her. She looked up and saw it was lying underneath the precariously balanced stone lid, held up only by the ancient mechanical limbs. That would have to do. She focused her magic on destroying the damaged machinery and hoped for the best.

“I have suffered your presence long enough!” Grogar raised Dark towards his salivating mouth. He was going to swallow her whole. “Time for you to become a part of me!”

The mechanical arms simultaneously failed, sending the massive chunk of stone crashing into the ground with a devastating crash. The tablet shattered, sending a massive cloud of dust into the air.

“What!?” Grogar looked back, dropping Dark to the ground. “NOOOooo!” He frantically sifted through the shattered lid’s remains. Hoping desperately his bell had survived the impact.

A wispy glowing blue soul rose from the rubble. Then another. And another. More and more rose from the rubble and surrounded Grogar. Billions on billions of them. They moved so fast that Dark could barely see them. The souls were blue and cold at first, but when they realized they were free and flowing around the body of their former captor they turned red and fiery, burning millions of microscopic holes into the undead goat’s chest.

“NO!” Grogar cried. “This cannot be! I cannot be killed by… an…insect…like…you…” He wheezed as he finally crumbled to dust.

Realizing their captor was now finally defeated, the souls color changed to yellow. Dark leaned back and gave a sigh of relief, basking in the light of the seemingly endless torrent of souls, who fluttered around for a few brief seconds before disappearing into the aether. At last, there was only one left, which floated in front of Dark’s muzzle. “Thank you…” it said in a quiet female voice, before disappearing into the peaceful afterlife.

Dark could barely comprehend what had just happened. She had probably just saved the world, and no one would ever know. She looked at the rubble and saw a stream of liquid metal ooze out of the rocks and form into the shape of a simple, black amulet with the same spiraling teeth motif as Gorger's bell. Dark stared at the cursed amulet. It called to her, beckoning her to use its amazing power.

Dark thought about resisting it. But the thought crossed her mind, what if some one worse than her got their hands on it? They'd be able to devastate Equestria in a matter of hours! She timidly picked up the amulet and put it around her neck. "Okay..." she said to the cursed artifact. "But I'm in charge, got it?"

The amulet was indifferent.

Dark heard yelling coming from the hallway. It was Caballeron. "If it's not one thing it's another! I swear! Where does one go to find good hench-ponies these days!?"

"Shit..." Dark quickly tucked the amulet under her shirt, just as Caballeron and two of his guards burst into the room.

“What the hell is going on here!?” the Doctor roared.

Dark knew her boss wouldn’t believe her if she told him. “Nothing…”

“This isn’t nothing, Dark!” Caballeron growled. “The entire dig site shook! You obviously triggered some sort of elaborate booby trap!”

“She’s lucky the whole place didn’t collapse.” A pegasus guard commented.

Caballeron slowly walked up to her. “I find it very fascinating that despite how much research you’ve given me claiming that this hallway was nothing more than a dead end, you were miraculously able to find this massive tomb while everyone else was asleep. What a coincidence!” He poked at her chest, just missing the amulet.

“Boss…” Dark gulped. “It’s not what it looks like…”

“Oh, I think it is, Dark.” said Caballeron “I think you knew this place was here the whole time. I think you thought there was going to be a grand treasure here. And with your silly research destroyed, you went with the plan of trying to steal from me. You planned on sneaking any treasures you found out in middle of the night, didn't you?”

“She’s opened the sarcophagus.” said the other guard. “But there aint’ nothing here but dust.”

“That basically proves she was looking for treasure under my nose.” Caballeron said flatly. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be punished, Dark. The real question is whether or not you’ll still be breathing at the end of that punishment.”

Dark started crying. She had just saved the worldt, and now her life was in peril once again.

“What do you think, boys?” asked Caballeron “Should she live or die?”

“Hell yes.” Said the earth pony guard. “She tried to go under your nose. It don’t matter that she didn’t find nothing. She needs to made an example!”

“I don’t know…” the pegasus guard pondered. “She tried to rip ya off, yeah. But is that really worth killing her? She deserves some sort of punishment, but snuffing her over this seems a little extreme.”

“Hmmm.” Caballeron tapped his muzzle. “This is the tough decision. My mind is having a difficult time deciding. So I will leave the verdict up to another part of me.” He unbuckled his trousers.

“Um, Boss? What are you doing?” asked the pegasus.

“Dark has always been in and out of my chambers for various infractions. Of all the scum that was sent to me to ‘repent’ for misbehavior, she was by far the most pleasing. There’s something inherently effeminate about her, probably the low testosterone thanks to her small stallionhood.” He smirked as he pulled out his own, which was easily twice the size of Dark’s. “So I am offering her an opportunity to escape with her life. If she performs well, I will merely throw her out of the camp, if she doesn’t… Well."

“That’s awfully arbitrary, don't you think?” Dark gulped.

"Or we could just slit your throat right now and be done with you." Caballeron said callously.

Dark immediately got on her knees and positioned herself in front of her boss's gigantic member.

"Good." Caballeron said lazily. "Now suck like the slut you are..."

Dark desperately had to put on a good show. Normally this sort of thing came naturally to her, but in this particular instance, she was under a great deal of stress about her performance. “Such a strong stallion. I bet you had all the ponies dying to get a chance with this thing. And here I am being ‘punished’ with it?” She purred nervously.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” The Doctor grunted. “I will be judging you entirely based on your performance. Don’t disappoint me.”

Dark lowered her right hand down Caballeron's body. She cupped his balls with her left hand and played with them for a moment before sliding up his dick, allowing her hands to meet at the tip of his penis. She slowly started to stroke his member, which slowly hardened in her grip. She then leaned in and slowly licked his tip, while her hand continued to massage his stiff shaft.

Caballeron looked unimpressed. He simply let her do what she pleased, but after two minutes of her toying with him, he frowned. “I understand you’re under a lot of duress, but if you stall any longer I’ll make you dig your own grave.”

“Okay…” Dark gulped “Let’s get to the main event…”

She began to stroke his dick in a rapid, fluid motion. She promptly placed his tip in her mouth while still stroking it. Caballeron could feel her hot mouth stimulating his dick. Be he was Impatient and shoved his whole dick do into her mouth, her lips meeting his pelvis. Dark's throat gagged, and as she did, she gave a tiny suck of his cock.

Caballeron’s eyes widened in shock. “GAAAAAAHHH” he yelled.

Dark looked at what her tiny suck had done and saw that his stomach was much skinnier than it was before. Instantly she felt much more powerful. The cursed necklace under her shirt started glowing blue.

“Did she just…?” the guards whimpered.

“She sucked out my guts!” Caballeron screamed, and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.

Dark grinned. She could taste Caballeron’s energies flowing into her. “Mmmm! Fuck! That’s good!” She licked her lips before plunging her lips back over Caballeron’s cock.

The guards rushed forward to stop her, but Dark simply pushed them aside, before giving another mighty suck.

Caballeron wheezed as she slurred him up as if he were a slushy.

Dark purred with joy. “You like that, baby?” She sucked even more of Caballeron’s essence into her.

“Please…” Caballeron whimpered. “I’ll let you go… I’ll give you whatever you want…”

“Sorry honey, at this point, I can take whatever I want!” Dark sucked with all her might, completely absorbing Caballeron until he disappeared completely down her gullet. Dark belched and patted her belly. She could feel Caballeron’s soul inside her. “Don’t worry, I won’t torment your soul or whatever. But you better get used to living inside of me! I'm in charge now!”

Dark’s monolog was interrupted by a sharp pain to her chest. She looked back to see one of guards had stabbed her right through the heart with his sword. “Lights out, asshole!” a guard yelled.

“Ow…” Dark said flatly.

“Holy shit!” yelled the guard.

“S-she’s not dead!” gasped his pegasus counterpart.

“You may have forgotten, but I absorbed your bosses’ body. I can easily use his heart while mine is broken.” Dark tossed her ruined shirt aside, revealing the glowing amulet. Her pierced heart burst out of her chest. Dark simply removed the blade and tossed it aside, before literally kissing her heart like a skinned knee to make it repair itself. With the damage repaired she simply opened her chest cavity and tossed the organ back inside.

“Y-you have two hearts!?” the terrified guard backed up.

“For now,” said Dark. “But I’m about to have three!” Dark grabbed the guard and shoved his head into her chest. He grabbed her breasts to try to pull himself out, but it proved fruitless. His shoulders started to sink further into Dark’s skin as he was pulled further inside.

Dark moaned in delight, enjoying the struggles of the pony who had minutes ago suggested she be executed. His hands began sinking inside her breasts. His body was pulled in at a steady rate. His legs flailed in panic. Dark looked up at the other terrified guard. “Come here!” Dark ordered.
The terrified guard saw little choice but to listen to the seemingly-invincible pony that was consuming his cohort with her breasts right in front of him. “Y-y-yes…?” he whimpered, visibly wetting himself.

Dark took a deep breath as the first guard's legs sunk into her chest. His feet wriggled pathetically as they disappeared fully into her cleavage, which easily grew at least four bra sizes from the new mass. Dark grabbed her newly-expanded breasts and slowly caressed them, getting a sadistic pleasure from watching them jiggle and bounced. “You have no idea how amazing that felt.” She moaned, patting her stomach. “Wouldn’t you agree that was pretty awesome?” She asked the pegasus.

“Uh-huh…” the terrified pony nodded.

"Well, don't be shy." Dark wiggled her breasts in front of his face. "Give them a squeeze."

The guard timidly ran his hands over her gigantic orbs, prompting a trickle of white liquid to ooze out of her nipples.

"Oooh!" Dark purred, and ran her finger over the bottom of his chin. "Looks like he likes you. Yes he does. I'm guessing you two were lovers at one point."

“Y-you a-ate him!” the guard sobbed.

“Don't worry. He’s still alive.” Dark smirked. “He’s just trapped inside of me. His pathetic little body is mine to do with as I wish, and right now, I am making use of his meat.” Dark allowed the guard’s face to rise to the surface of her stomach. “I can feel him, desperately trying to find his way out. But unfortunately for him…” The guard’s face disappeared into her stomach, and the mass shifted itself into her biceps with a cracking noise. “…he’s mine now!”

The remaining guard got down on his knees and sobbed. “Make it quick, please…” was all he managed to blubber out between his sniffles.

Dark gently patted his head. “Oh… Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat you. I think I owe you that much for standing up for me earlier.”

The pegasus couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Oh thank you! Thank you!” he wept.

“Although, I’m afraid you’ll still have to be punished. It's only fair.” Dark echoed Caballeron’s words, before plunging her hand into the guard’s chest.

The guard shrieked in pain as he felt Dark draining the flesh from his body. His wingbones were sucked out his body with a violent crunching noise and through Dark’s arm and into her body.

“MMMMmmm!” Dark purred. A pair of skeletal wings burst out of her back. Muscles and gray flesh quickly wrapped around the wingbones. “Oh yes! Those are some nice, strong wings. They’ll serve me well.”

The guard fell to the ground and started sobbing in pain and massaging the skin where his wings had once been “It hurts…” He whimpered.

Dark rolled her eyes. “Oh stop whining. You’ll live.”

“W-what are you going to do now…?” the guard choked. “W-with all that power?”

“Whatever the hell I feel like.” Dark grinned. “And I’ll absorb any pony that gets in my way!”

“A-and what do you feel like doing?” the guard trembled.

“You’re asking a lot of questions for a pony who just got their wings eaten!” Dark gave a bemused look at him. “Are you certain you wish to antagonize the pony who just ate two ponies in front of you?”

“N-no! I-I-I meant no disrespect.” He cowered. “I-I just wanted…to know what Equestria’s newest alicorn goddess had p-planned…”

Alicorn goddess. Dark liked that. “I approve of your respect, little pony. My life has a new purpose now! Revenge!" She grinned "I’m going to find the zebra that destroyed my research, and ruined my old life! And when I find her, I’m going to eat her! And then, with the power of the Omni-stone, I will take over the world, and all of ponykind will worship me as their omnipotent, benevolent goddess or be absorbed into my divine form!” The amulet around her neck glowed brightly.

"I-I can't argue with that..." the pegasus gulped, as Dark broke into maniacal laughter.