Stygian’s heart pounded in his chest as he galloped down the dark road before him. He ignored the pelting rain and the roaring wind around him. All he felt was hurt and confusion. Why would they cast him out without hearing his explanation? All he wanted was to be like them — to belong with them! How could they do this to him? Now, all he wanted was to be as far away from them as possible.
Finally, he reached an abandoned town nestled in a rocky valley. Huts and other stone structures lay decayed with time. Curious, Stygian entered its cracked streets.
“Hello?” he called cautiously. “Is anypony here?”
The only answer was the howling wind and the pelting rain. He stepped closer towards the center of the town. That’s when he heard it — a voice, almost a whisper, coming from a large well in front of him. It was calling his name. He moved towards it and peered down. He could faintly see a room far below.
“How am I to get down there?” he wondered aloud. Then, as if in answer to his inquiry, a flight of shadowy steps appeared leading down into the room. Surprised, he looked around. When he saw nopony but the rain and the abandoned town around him, he descended into the dark well.
As he reached the bottom, he found that he was in a vast hallway lined with pillars on each side. On the other end of the hallway, he could see that the hallway split perpendicularly in both directions before a wall. On the wall was a stone carving of what appeared to be a type of unicorn beast with four wings, two retracted and two unfurled. And standing before the carving stood a ram wrapped in a black cloak, his eyes glowing lavender from his obscured, shadowy face. He heard the whisper again, this time louder, coming from the area around the cloaked ram. With a compelling force that was against his better judgement, Stygian approached and stood before him, looking down.
“Stygian...” the ram spoke, his voice calm and deep, “the Unsung Hero.”
Stygian ears perked up. How did he know who he was?
“Stygian...the Unappreciated,” the ram continued, his tone changing to that of sympathy. “Stygian...the Forgotten.”
A twinge of pain flowed through him as a tear rolled down his cheek and he looked down at the cold, stony floor.
“What do you desire of me, Stygian...the Gifted?”
“Who...are you?” Stygian breathed as he slowly looked up at the rams mostly obscured face.
“I am the Darkness. You need not be afraid of me, Stygian. I can be whoever you want me to be. I can be your friend, your confidant. I can be your shield, your counselor...even your avenger.”
Stygian looked into the ram’s glowing lavender eyes. “My...avenger?”
The Darkness frowned. “I have seen what your friends have done to you — casting you from their midst. After all you’ve done for them, this is how they repay you. Truly, a tragedy!”
Stygian lowered his gaze, sadness in his face. “Yes...and I don’t understand. All I wanted was to be like them — to stand by their side as an equal. I never wanted to take away their power at all! They...they wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain!”
The Darkness motioned with his cloven hoof at the room around them.
“You know…” he said, “there is an interesting story about this room. This place that is called the Well of Shade. It is a sanctuary for the weary, downtrodden traveller seeking oasis from their deserts of despair and loneliness. I see that you have come to seek solace as well, my friend.”
He sighed, shaking his head.
“It truly pains me to see you like this, Stygian. It also feels me with anger to see how utterly selfish your friends are by turning their backs on you when you need them the most. Not I! I understand you far better than those ponies could ever understand. All you wanted was to belong with them, to be like them! But what did they do? They wouldn’t even give you a chance to prove yourself, choosing instead to cast you out like a weed from their midst. Trust me, you deserve far better than those ‘friends’ you once trusted. They wronged you and they must be punished! In fact...I have a power in my possession far greater than any you can ever imagine. With this power, you can become like them and more, and make them pay for what they did to you!”
Stygian looked away, hesitant. “I...I don’t know.”
“Understand, Stygian,” the Darkness said, taking a step towards him, “I am giving this power to you freely. What did your so-called ‘friends’ ever give you in exchange for all the work you’ve done for them? You helped them, studied the enemies you faced, and what did they give you in return? They are ungrateful, selfish beings who only used you to become popular in the eyes of other ponies. They cast you out because they see you only as a small, insignificant pony with no magical or heroic abilities. They merely see you as a tool for their own selfish purposes. They see you as weak, common, and worthless. Tell me, Stygian...are you going to let them get away with that? Will you sit here and languish in despair, or will you accept my offer and show those ponies who you truly are?”
As he spoke, a fire ignited in Stygian’s heart. The loneliness, the confusion, the despair coalesced into a burning rage for the ponies who had betrayed him. He would show them! He would show them that he wasn’t weak or worthless! He would make them pay for using him like a tool!
“I accept!” he hissed.
The Darkness smiled beneath the shade of his hood, his eyes glowing brighter. “Good! Now, let the rage inside you grow. Let it fill your heart. Let it consume you! Unleash the Shadow within you!”
With a cry of rage, Stygian transformed into the Pony of Shadows, dark and terrible. He looked down at the hooded ram.
“I can feel the power coursing through me!” he said with a bow. “It is beyond anything I could have ever imagined! Thank you, my friend.”
The Darkness motioned with his cloven hoof, his voice echoing. “Now go, Stygian the Pony of Shadows, and fulfill your destiny! Make all of them pay for their treachery!”
With a loud roar, the Pony of Shadows launched from the well and sped towards the Everfree Forest in a cloud of pure darkness.
***
Starswirl smiled, motioning to Twilight Sparkle. “We would be honored. But if it’s wisdom you seek, look no further than your own pupil. She showed me that the power of Friendship is a magical force indeed.”
He turned to Stygian and the others gathered about him. “And that, in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well.”
They all happily embraced, a warm feeling in their hearts. For several moments, all was right once again.
“Not...so...fast!” a voice suddenly exclaimed in a loud eerie whisper.
They withdrew, frightened, as they looked around. The voice seemed to be everywhere. The door to the throne room suddenly swung open with a loud clang and Canterlot guards flew backwards with a cry as a thick cloud of darkness and electrical energy crashed into the room. As the dark cloud entered the room, it became larger and formed into a perfect black sphere. The mass of the sphere caused the gravitational pull to shift so that everything in the immediate vicinity started to be violently drawn towards it. Potted plants along the hallway and banners that hung on either side of the throne cracked and tore from their places and flew towards the black sphere and spun around it like cosmic dust around a star. Golden armor flew from the backs and heads of the frightened guards and took their place in orbit around the sphere. Then, individual shards of the stained glass windows displayed in the throne room came loose from their places and flew towards the sphere like tiny daggers.
Upon seeing the danger, Starswirl and Celestia quickly illuminated their horns and two shields of white and yellow light formed around the group, protecting them from the glass shards. Twilight did the same for herself and Starlight Glimmer, who was standing next to her. Soon however, the pull from the dark sphere began taking its toll on the shields; for even light was being absorbed in its invisible grip. Starswirl could see his forcefield visibly stretching towards the black sphere, despite his attempt to keep it intact. He glanced towards Celestia and Twilight and saw that they, too, were having the same trouble with their shields. Luckily, as their shields were beginning to collapse completely, those around them formed their own shield to replace them (Luna for Celestia, Starlight for Twilight, and the Five Pillars with the Mane Five for Starswirl). Twilight, who was nearest to the black sphere, tried to form a forcefield around the fallen guards, but she couldn’t find the strength to do so. As a result, the guards were promptly dragged towards the sphere and disappeared in it like a pool of thick ink.
The pull from the sphere grew more intense as large pieces of material that comprised the throne room’s walls, ceiling and even the throne itself were ripped from their places and hurled into the sphere, causing purple lightning flashes to erupt inside. The ponies inside the forcefields struggled to keep their magical shields intact as the sphere threatened to pull them inside as well. Everything grew increasingly dark until only the light from their shields remained.
“Hold...your...ground!” Starswirl shouted, igniting his horn and forming another shield around the group as best he could. He could feel the immense pull now, like invisible hands taking hold of his cloak. The magical energy started to buckle from the strain as the light from their shields stretched further towards the sphere.
Just as the ponies were about to exhaust all their energy and give in to the darkness, the pull from the black sphere suddenly stopped, the objects orbiting around it floating in midair. For a few long, unnerving moments, all was silent in the darkness. Then, a shadowy form of a skeletal ram’s head with two additional long horns upon its head suddenly appeared in the midst of the black sphere, its eyes glowing dark lavender and white. It let out a terrifying roar, causing light and color to be violently thrown back into its original state. Debris and ash flew from the opened jaws of the beast, including the frightened guards, who were now covered in black with the exception of their eyes which were left white. They took one look at their new forms and cried out in terror as they fled the premises.
Upon viewing this scene, Fluttershy cried out in fright and shivered as she embraced Meadowbrook for support. Spike hid behind Twilight, and Stygian stepped behind Starswirl, fear registering in his face. Starswirl and the others stood in horror as giant black wings sprouted from behind the skeletal face and wrapped around it. When they unfurled, the beastly face and the sphere had dissolved into thick darkness that slowly descended to the ground and took the form of a tall charcoal-black ram. The giant wings above him likewise dissolved into darkness and descended upon the newly formed ram, wrapping itself around him and materializing into a long black cloak. A hood materialized upon his head and draped over his face, obscuring it in shadow except for his mouth, chin and the tips of his horns. Across the front of his hood materialized a small golden Thurisaz rune. When the ram had fully materialized from the thick darkness, he stepped forward and gazed upon the ponies before him, a curious smile crossing his face.
“Well, well, well….” he breathed as he thoughtfully stroked his goatee. “Most...interesting….”
Starswirl felt a chill up his spine as the ram stepped closer to them and gazed upon their faces one by one.
“You think that you are safe behind these walls of light, little ponies?” he said, his smile twisting into a frown. “Even with your ‘artifacts of light’, you cannot escape the darkness...no matter how much you wish to.”
His gaze settled on Stygian, who was now cowering in fear behind Starswirl.
“Ah...Stygian the Auspicious. I see that you have made your abode with your so-called ‘friends’ once again. I must say, my friend, I am rather...disappointed. You showed great promise.”
Starswirl stepped between the cloaked ram and Stygian, a look of fixed resolve on his face.
“Stygian is no longer yours, Fiend!” he declared. “He belongs with us, and we will not let you hurt him.”
The ram let out a laugh that shook the earth.
“Oh Starswirl the Bearded...do you not know who I am?”
His smile turned into a growl. “You should. All of you ought to fear and tremble before me like all the others! Rulers, civilizations, races, and species across the land bow before my hooves. You ought to be wise to do likewise.”
“Why should we?” Starswirl challenged, standing his ground.
The ram smiled an evil smile beneath his hooded face. “Oh my naive ponies...you must still not know who I am, do you. I am called by many names...the Darkness, the Great Evil, the Great Shadow...but you can call me...HADES.”
The ponies stepped back in fear.
“H-Hades!?” Twilight exclaimed. “I-I thought he was just a myth!”
“Apparently not,” Rockhoof said, nervously glancing at her.
“Regardless of whether you think I am a myth or not,” Hades declared with a wave of his cloven hoof, “I am here merely to congratulate you for your...performance. I must say, you rather surprised me by the outcome. However, I have also come to warn you...that the time of your basking in the protection of the light is speedily coming to an end; for even the light of the stars in the heavens die through the passage of time. The time speedily cometh when even your efforts and your artifacts won’t save you from my power. No matter what you do, no matter what artifacts you hold, no matter what magic you possess, no matter what words you speak...you will fall and all the land of Equestria with you...unless you surrender to the darkness within your hearts and worship me...your true ruler and king.”
He smiled, his jagged teeth gleaming in the sunlight. “Then again, your fates are sealed already. You will submit to my power and become my slaves all the same, no matter what your choice. So, in the end, you do not have a choice.”
“Well, we have a choice right now,” Applejack declared.
“And we choose for you to leave!” Mistmane finished.
“We may not be as powerful as you,” Sonnambula added.
“But we’ll fight you with all we’ve got!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“Because we have a magic that’s more powerful than anything else,” Twilight said, her horn illuminating.
As they all spoke, bright colorful magic swirled around them, rebounding from one pony to the other until all of them were enveloped in its light.
“The magic of Friendship!” they all declared in unison.
A flurry of energy beams shot from them towards Hades. Bright magical flashes exploded around him like a living battlefield until the area was covered in light. Then, all was quiet and still.
“We did it!” Rainbow Dash cheered. “Oh yeah!”
The ponies’ smiles were short-lived, though; for no sooner had Rainbow Dash said those words than the light where Hades was standing suddenly spun, fading away into darkness until Hades again appeared once more, standing there as if nothing had happened.
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, I’m afraid!” Luna exclaimed, her eyes widened as she motioned towards Hades.
Hades, meanwhile, had turned to his shoulder and saw a shining speck of light resting there. He huffed and simply flicked it with his hoof.
“Is...that all the strength you can muster?” he said, turning to them with a smirk. “Well, I can only imagine how the real confrontation will end...for you.”
The ponies stepped back in fear.
“Know this, Heroes of Equestria,” he added. “It will take much more than your magic or your precious artifacts of light to stop me. I am more ancient than the stars in the heavens. I am beyond your power, as you can plainly see.”
He paced, his head raised so that his glowing, menacing eyes stared into their very souls.
“As long as you possess even one fragment of darkness inside your hearts, you cannot ever hope to defeat me...and I know that each and every one in this world possesses a darkness within them...even great heroes like yourselves. All obey my voice. All are susceptible to corruption. All can be swayed with the right tactic...whether it be through FEAR (he flashed his eyes at Fluttershy, who cowered back in terror), PRIDE (he shifted towards Starswirl, who narrowed his eyes and frowned in response), ARROGANCE (he turned towards Rainbow Dash, who gave him a growl), GREED (he glanced at Rarity, who gave an offended gasp), WRATH (he turned towards Stygian, who looked down in shame), or ENVY (he turned towards Princess Luna, who blinked in anger, pain shimmering in her eyes). You...are...mine...no matter what you do; for if you cannot conquer yourselves and your darkness, how can you ever hope to defeat one who is Darkness itself?”
Twilight stepped forward. “Then, we’ll do whatever it takes to defeat you, even if we have to face our own...darknesses to do it!”
Hades gave a chuckle as he turned his back to her. “Oh? You think you all can best me, the Darkness? Well...we shall see.”
Giant black wings of darkness sprouted from his back as he rose to the broken ceiling above. As he did so, the sky darkened and black thunderclouds gathered.
“Prepare thyselves wisely, my little ponies,” his whispering voice echoed. “The fate of Equestria rests in your hooves.”
He turned and smiled. “No pressure.”
With that, he disappeared in a shadowy mist and the clouds parted, allowing sunlight to once again fill the atmosphere in its warmth. For a long moment, the ponies stared up at the sky where Hades had left. Then, Luna broke the silence.
“How can we ever hope to stop him if he knows our weaknesses better than we do?”
“We’ll just have to better know ourselves,” Celestia replied with a smile as she placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder, “and do what we can.”
“Celestia is right,” Starswirl agreed. “If Hades preys on our weaknesses, then we must find a way to take that power away from him.”
“But how do we do that?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, he could see right through us.”
She sighed as she hung her head. “I...I wasn’t much help, was I.”
Meadowbrook wrapped a hoof around her. “Now, now, we all have things that need fixing. Besides, I was scared, too.”
Fluttershy smiled, wiping away her tears.
“So, what do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“We must somehow overcome all of our individual weaknesses so that we can have enough power to defeat Hades,” Twilight explained.
“I might be able to conjure up a spell that will allow us to do that,” Starswirl said. “But first, I will need help.”
He turned to Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst. “Twilight, Starlight, Sunburst, will you aid me?”
Twilight beamed as she clapped her hooves. “Are you kidding!? Absolutely!”
“We’d be honored to help!” Sunburst added with a bow.
“What do you want us to do?” Starlight asked.
Starswirl put a hoof to his chin. “Well, we’ll need all of our knowledge to conjure up the right spell for our use. That will require us to do a little research.”
Spike chuckled. “I’m sure Twilight’s up for that!”
Twilight nodded rapidly in agreement, her smile bigger than before.
“Stygian,” Starswirl said, turned to him, “I will need your help as well.”
Stygian started. “M-my help?”
“You know Hades better than us all,” Starswirl explained. “You’ve been in his presence. We need your help to learn about who he is and how he works.”
“I...I can certainly try,” Stygian replied, “but my knowledge about him is yet limited. I have only met him once.”
“Nevertheless, you are a scholar. You can help us find out more about him.”
Stygian nodded. “Alright, I’ll do my best.”
Starswirl turned to the rest of the group. “Now, I must make you all understand. What we’re attempting to do is risky. It will require all of you to face your greatest fears. It will require you to overcome your own darkness. We all need to be in complete agreement. Otherwise, our efforts will be inadequate.”
The others shifted their gazes, pondering the consequences. Then, Luna stepped forward.
“I must be honest,” she said. “I am afraid...but I will do what I must.”
Celestia smiled and wrapped her hoof around her. “As will I.”
“I’d bet that whatever this Hades has in store for us, it’ll be pretty tough,” Applejack said, adjusting her hat. “But with all of us together, I know we can do it!”
Rainbow Dash did a loop-de-loop in the air above her.
“Yeah!” she exclaimed. “Let’s show that Hades what we’re all about!”
Fluttershy raised her head.
“I will not be afraid!” she declared with determination in her eyes. “I’ve come a long way and I’m proud of it.”
She took a deep breath and smiled. “I’m game!”
Pinkie Pie came and gave her a big hug.
“That’s the spirit, Fluttershy!” she gleefully giggled.
“I’ll most certainly go along with this plan you have, darlings,” Rarity said, her hoof raised, “if only to get the chance to punch that monstrous Hades right in the muzzle for DARING to call me GREEDY!”
Twilight turned to Spike.
“What about you, Spike?”
Spike looked up at her and grinned. “I’ve been with all of you from the start. What do you think my answer is?”
Twilight smiled back and nodded. Flash Magnus flew forward and faced Starswirl.
“You can count us in too!” he declared. The other Five Pillars smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Perfect!” Starswirl declared. “Then, let us begin! Time is of the essence!”
