Beatrix Belladonna Versus the Vampiric Planet

Beatrix Belladonna knew she wasn't the type to inspire the public at large. She was a nobody in the grand scheme of things so far as they were concerned, at best a minor heroine in her father's campaigns. In order to revive Shining's force she would need a potent symbol; her half-sister Flurry Heart. Her cone-shaped hat bounced atop her head, tilted to one side, the eyes that adorned it and her cloak searching about, the jagged mouths chittering, making the unicorn's ears flick in response.

“Cut it out,” she snapped worried they'd someday bite her head off. A forehoof coiled about the gemstone that held her cloak together, the last remainder of her human side. “Not even a body left to bury.” She sighed and watched the fireworks go off in the distance while she headed towards the Crystal Palace. Her small group of friends trailed close by.

Heck, she'd led a team into the Necronomicon. She could do this. What worried her more was her mom; Trixie seemed inconsolable. Not that she blamed her poor mother. “Mom?” She swept her cloak aside to reveal her back. “Why don't you hitch a ride?” With a sniffle and a nod, Trixie climbed aboard, and she set off again. They passed more crystal ponies chatting, drinking, and flirting, a constant reminder of what they had struggled so hard to protect.

Eventually the party arrived at the Crystal Palace, and the few Guardsmen on duty saluted Diamond Tiara, lowering their spears and snapping to attention. “Thanks, you're doing wonderful.” The gates creaked open and she led the way inside. Clops sounded with an echo across dim hallways where only the occasional enchanted torch burned on the sconces.

Blueblood rushed to meet her halfway. “Ah, you're back?! Good news! We've captured the invader! Come, follow me!”

With a chuckle Tiara set out after her fellow advisor who'd sobered up. “Better stick close together, just in case there's any more weirdness. For all we know, Sombra could have more minions all over the capital!”

“I don't think so,” said Beatrix. “Even so, no harm in being cautious, I suppose!” They followed Blueblood through a maze of corridors, into a series of walls that slid away, where Sombra had once kept a secret prison that served as both an elaborate torture chamber and a laboratory. The first nemesis cult leader had uncovered it upon her infiltration, this section at the time unknown even to Shining Armor and Cadance, and it had been reconstructed by the architects with the new Crystal Empire.

Thankfully now it was simply a secret study known only to Flurry Heart and her closest companions. But they'd turned it into a temporary jail, Flurry and Starlight drawing complex runes across the floors of the library and binding the succubus who hunched helpless at the center. Bellatrix stared at Beatrix. “Come to mock me? To gloat in your usual smug fashion?”

“Not at all.” Gently she set her mother down and drew her maw into a line as she took a cautious step forward.

“Careful,” warned Starlight. “Don't step into or disturb the circle we drew around her!”

“Of course.” She came close as safely possible, somehow feeling responsible for her. What was she to her? A sister? Daughter? Just another monster? Definitely not that. They were linked now. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I'm Bellatrix Primadonna,” she announced with obvious pride. “Beloved servant of King Sombra, true heir to the Crystal Empire!” Her naked scarlet flesh shimmered under the lamplight, her face framed by silken black locks.

“I'd like to talk with her more later, if that's okay?” Starlight, Blueblood, and Diamond Tiara all made dubious faces, but Flurry nodded. “Good. And, um, I need all the parts of the Smooze back. We'll both die if we're not fully reunited, and the longer he sits in you all, the more likely he'll make you sick. Downside of our symbiotic bond, I'm afraid. It's only thanks to a very specific formula that enabled me to combine with him to begin with! Follow me, will you?”

They headed to a connected room which was mostly empty. She felt incomplete without the Smooze and sensed he felt the same. Of course the revelations about her true nature made her wonder if her link to the Necronomicon was what made them compatible to begin with? Were they both just eldritch horrors cursed with self-awareness, despite her cutesy appearance?

“I do feel, like, a little bogus.” Tree Hugger plopped onto her haunches, her insides churning. Diamond Tiara, Rarity, Suri Polomare, and Trixie felt a similar discomfort as the Smooze sloshed within their wombs as his component parts were summoned back by the original. Instinctively they laid themselves out in a birthing position, spreading their hindlegs.

“Sorry about this. But it was the one way I could think up to escape Sombra.” They started to moan in unison, pushing and squeezing the slimy essence out, which slithered from their snatches and crawled back into the host. Their eyes rolled into their heads from orgasmic bliss, as he pumped chemicals into them to make certain they experienced as little pain as possible, their lubrication leaking across the floor in sticky puddles. The heady scent of their musk perfumed the atmosphere.

Belladonna fluttered her own lashes and practically drooled when the warm gelatin flowed back into her. A soothing warmth filled her insides, like they filled a part of each other that would forever be incomplete. “You're my soulmate, you know that?”

(Of course. We share an intimacy the others will never know. Sometimes, our minds are practically one.)

“I hope not!” She tittered. “Anyhow, her sister.” She waved at Flurry. “There's something we need to discuss.”

Flurry Heart nodded. “Diamond Tiara, call some more guards up here to watch over Bellatrix. Preferably ones with lots of magical knowledge, just in case!” She still looked a bit shaken, but tried to hop back to her usual cheery demeanor. “Everypony else, why don't you come along? You're my guests, and I could use the company!” She cantered ahead.

“About that,” said Blueblood who strained to keep up beside her. “Remember, the Crystal Fair opens tomorrow. I know you don't need much sleep, but I'd like us all to be fresh as possible! Oh, what a potential disaster!”

With gentle laughter Flurry led them down the hallways and up the stairs. “I know. That's why you'll host the Fair!”

“M-me?!” Blueblood nearly flipped out. “Now hold on, I-”

“You'll do fine. Ack, this is taking too long! Everypony, hold hooves!” Flurry wrapped her wingspan around the group and blinked them away to the balcony. It was almost time to perform her duties of lowering the moon and raising the sun. She peered over the edge at her beloved citizens while stray snowflakes drifted around them and curtains billowed.

Beatrix strolled up beside her. “We need to reinstate Shining's force. It's a potent symbol across Equestria and we'll need that sort of power to back us when Sombra launches his next attack. But I can't do it alone. I'm not really the type to inspire the average would-be soldier. But you? Ponies and other creatures will likely be lining up to fight alongside a war heroine!”

“But I don't want them to die for me!” She scraped a forehoof over the rail.

“You may not have a choice.” She sat and laid her mother's head in her lap, cradling Trixie and stroking her mane while she quietly wept. “Imagine how many more might die if you don't! It could mean Equestria collapses all over again!”

“We're with you,” said Rarity who looked between Pinkie, Suri, and Hugs, greeted by their nods.

“Excellent.” Beatrix sucked on her lower lip. “Now, who else? Cherry Jubilee?”

“I'd rather not bother her,” said Flurry. “She's retired. She still feels responsible for what happened...”

Suri visibly shuddered, like she was about to run and hide, memories of running a breeding camp to save her own skin resurfacing. While trapped in the Necronomicon she'd punished herself in that paper dollhouse created from her own subconscious, convinced that her sins and cowardice were beyond forgiveness. Her eyes watered.

A forehoof closed with her own. “It's okay,” murmured Rarity. “I have an idea. I've lost pretty much all my closest assistants. But I think you could easily reach the same levels as Sassy and Coco, given time.” She cupped her cheeks tenderly in her hooves. “I want to create more enchanted armaments for our army. Would you aid me? Please?”

“Mmm...m'kay,” said Suri who met her eyes and blushed. “I'll see what I can do!”

“Good! I know you'll make us all proud, darling! Come on, let's get to work!” She led her off.

“Don't travel alone. I'll send an escort,” said Blueblood who swished her blonde mane.

“Wish I could be more help, but I'm with you.” Tree Hugger leaned on the chilly rails too and shivered. “Hopefully the animals will be okay on their own for a while. It isn't cool to always use them in our war. But they are insisted when it was me and Fluttershy, you know? Like Equestria is their home too, and they wanted to do what they could to help save it!”

Staying with her half-sister while she lowered the pale moon, Beatrix watched in wonder as the sun arose. She shivered as the sunlight crept in, continuing to cradle Trixie who'd drifted into a peaceful slumber and gently snored. She wiped tears still clinging to her cheeks and kissed her temple, hopeful that she'd be fit to fight alongside her. Their magic was far more powerful worked in tandem, after all! She blew a few stray snowflakes sticking to her locks, watching them melt away.

*****

Cherry Jubilee had set up a facility for mares that had been exploited and abused on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. It was a sizable but private compound, one she hoped wouldn't look to intimidating, fearing it would trigger bad memories in her patients. They were funded by the Queen and donations, plus what bits came out of her own saddlebags.

She'd styled it to resemble an old saloon, a reminder of home. It didn't exactly fit in with the Crystal Empire's architecture, but had a certain quaintness many found comforting. Garbed in a fancy barmaid-style dress, purple and trimmed in black, the shapely mare smiled sadly upon her patients from the second floor while they chatted, ate, and lounged. Many who'd survived the breeding camps were so shattered they'd never be able to return to a normal life. Her heart ached to see them.

She mixed some non-alcoholic drinks at the bar with a clink. One of the mares played a quiet tune at the piano. It was a place of sanctuary, an attempt to relieve her own guilt and shame, as an eldritch abomination that had escaped the Necronomicon had infected her with a parasite and controlled her. At first it had forced her to lure in lost mares and push them into a life of prostitution, but it had escalated to the point where she ran the most notorious breeding camp of all time.

Her hoof trembled around a glass. Her ears twitched when the double-doors swung open. “Ah, hello there!” She waved. “Rarity, Tree Hugger, and...Suri Polomare?” She balked, having heard she'd aided the cult and ended up dead.

Suri paused in the doorway. “I...I'll wait outside, 'k?” She turned and headed out.

“It's a long story,” said Rarity when she approached. “But she's changed. We all have.”

“I believe you. I reckon we all deserve a second chance.” Jubilee used to be embarrassed about her accent, trying to tone it down to appear more 'proper', but these days it felt more comfortable to simply be herself. The patients under her care didn't need pretensions. “So, what may I do for you? Would you like to partake of my services, Hugs?”

“Nah, I'm cool.” She felt a similar shame when she recalled all the years she'd suffered at another breeding camp. Some of the mental scars would never go away. “It's about Shining's force. We're looking to reunite it. Like, we wouldn't want you to fight. I hate all the violence, too. But maybe you can help us craft some more enchanted armaments, you know?”

“I...don't know. I want to put all these conflicts behind me. But...” She considered the possibilities. “Maybe Equestria needs me. I could put them to work.” She looked over the mares who went about their daily business. “It could lend them a much-needed sense of purpose. However, I'd only take volunteers. I reckon that's worth coming out of retirement for.”

“Thank you.” Rarity returned a small smile. “Do you have somewhere we can set up a workshop?”

“Certainly. Shucks, I'll reserve a special one for you two and Suri.” Dimples framed her maw when she smiled, a beauty mark on one cheek. She kept her auburn mane up in a beehive she decorated with a few jewels.

“Righteous!” Hugs landed a playful smack on Jubilee's ample rump which jiggled. “Can't work any mojo, but I can totally do some grunt work! Let's mosey, Sombra won't wait around and we'll need everypony to stop whatever he has planned.”

Hastily the small team set up their latest project. For all they knew Sombra had an entire army ready to invade. It was a race to prepare, as the Crystal Fair was supposed to help launch and celebrate a new era of peace, but they feared it would be the onset of another tragedy. All because of an old vendetta and an alien book that could corrupt any creature.

*****

The Crystal Fair also served another purpose. It was hoped that these events would help strengthen the Crystal Empire's alliances with a number of other races, particularly the dragons who'd helped them rebuild their country. Blueblood stood in the stadium overlooking the arena, wiping sweat from her brow as the sunshine crept in and made dew glitter in the tufts of greenery that crept into the crystalline city. She tested her microphone, surrounded by a number of Crystal Guards.

She was joined by Diamond Tiara who smirked. “Don't worry, you'll do fine! I even wrote a speech!”

“Celestia preserve us...” She settled her rump into a cool seat and adjusted her shapely buttocks. Tiara took her place beside her. They overlooked the open coliseum where a number of crystal ponies were busy practicing and warming up. Further in the capital stands were set up where merchandise was sold and shows would be put on to help raise funds.

Over the next few hours the first attendees started to trickle in. Flurry Heart had debated canceling the festivities, but the truth was if Sombra invaded nowhere would be safe. She gambled at least here they'd had lots of protection. While they had their doubts, her advisors agreed to the plan, knowing an evacuation would likely induce panic. Besides, would it possibly be any safer outside? At least on their homeground they'd have numbers on their side and plenty of places to hide.

Pegasi glittered in the sunshine with their ceramic-like coats while they kicked away clouds into dense puffs that dissipated. Many of the athletes were garbed in traditional armor which was more ceremonial in nature. Some carried javelins across the tracks, and play-jousted, in preparation for the shows they would put on later that day.

Despite how little sleep they had Beatrix and Trixie rode on Flurry's back when she touched downed near Lulamoon's decorated caravan. “We'll put on a show together,” explained Belladonna. “And once we've won over the crowds, we'll announce the reformation of Shining's force! I already called on another popular set of performers to help us out...”

Trixie's ears perked up, her eyes still swollen and pink, her hair tussled. “Lavender and Fuschia?”

“Yep, they'll be there. Vinyl, Octavia, and Lyra's band will support us all the way!” She wrapped a foreleg around her mother and drew her close. “Better refresh ourselves a little!” She hoped the performance would cheer her up.

Trixie smoothed her locks. “Okay. The citizens demand a show and the Great and Powerful Trixie swears not to disappoint!”

“Good! Hmm, I wonder what they're up to now...” She stroked her chin.

The stage was loaded down with heavy equipment. Vinyl Scratch had spent a sizable fortune on her set up. She could easily strike it rich and retire, but creating her music was far more important to her, and she knew Octavia felt the same. Lyra was content to take it easy at their side, but had upped her game when she saw how happy their songs made the populace.

They were backed by Lavender Lace and Fuschia Blush, the multi-talented unicorns able to sing, dance, play instruments, and work some basic but flashy witchcraft which added flavor to their shows. Not to mention what wonderful lovers they made...

The musicians were in the dressing rooms which were littered with props. Coos sound from Lyra, who slumped back in a messy bed, sandwiched between Fuschia who took her from behind and Lavender who penetrated her marehood. They'd been taught a spell by Trixie which allowed them to temporarily develop stallionhoods, adding a smidge of spice to their sexy times.

From the mirror Octavia watched them from the corner of her eye, applying a touch of makeup. “Careful not to wear her out.”

“Yeah, I still want a turn with her!” Vinyl chuckled. She slid down her shades and stared at Tavi's plush buttcheeks smooshed over the chair's sides. “Man, wish I could try a dick for a day. I mean, don't misunderstand, I love my cute little pussy, but I'm still kinda curious, you hear me? I want to try everything once! Well, almost everything!” She smacked Tavi's rump.

“Ouch.” Octavia rubbed her poor sore bottom, now marked by a red, raw hoofprint. She'd learned to adjust to her marefriend's more vulgar side over the years, had secretly come to relish it, but her refined nature kept her from admitting that aloud. “Personally, I'm quite content with my equipment. If we were meant to have a penis, nature would have provided it.”

“Of course that's what the boring earth pony would say!” The DJ smirked, certain she was riling her up.

“Hmph.” Tavi casually dismissed the bait and turned to her double-bass which she tuned. The lacquered finish on the wood made it shine with a subtle brilliance that she hoped matched her own. She had to admit it did look like fun, but she was perfectly content with a strap-on or a double-dildo. Somehow it seemed perverse to alter her flesh.

Glassy eyes and flushed cheeks matched Lyra's dopey smile. She wrapped her limbs shamelessly around the mare on top of her, their cocks pistoning in rhythm in-and-out of her stretched lower holes, her lazily open maw dripping with slobber. With a final hard thrust and a shared moan the witches unloaded into her, warm bursts repeatedly fired into her warm, wet orifices.

“Oh yeah...” She swished her tail about and let another climax overtake her. She squirted over them and herself, her coat now matted with stickiness, down to her heavy teats which smacked about. “I'm good.” She basked in her afterglow while they withdrew horsecocks that started to limp, sticking to her oozing holes by strings of her marecum and globs of spunk.

“Allow me!” The rather hedonistic and adventurous DJ shamelessly cleaned the trio, licking and sucking on the half-erect stallionhoods, and also digging and slurping the mixed feminine and masculine secretions from Lyra's gaped entrances.

“You're such a tart.” Nonetheless Octavia felt her pussy vulva moisten even more. She closed her thighs, hopeful that it wouldn't be obvious how much her nethers winked and how her asshole clenched with the same desire to be filled.

“You know you want it,” teased Vinyl who sniffed the smell of fresh pussy in the air. Forcing Tavi's legs open, she slid down and started to mercilessly muzzlefuck her, snout buried deep as flecks of cunt juice spattered her. Tavi cast back her head and moaned in a rather whorish manner which made her face burn. Subtlety certainly wasn't one of her marefriend's strong suits, but she couldn't deny the results. She placed a forehoof atop her head in a rare expression of dominance, guiding her about.

Her tongue rolled about Tavi's pink slippery cavern, exploring it, tracing her g-spot and slurping the cream which leaked from her cervix entrance. It contracted upon the tip of her tongue. She'd draw back temporarily, pulling on the dark gray lips of Tavi's vulva, nibbling and suckling on them and making her lover squirm. She also stopped to plant kisses on her heart-shaped clitoris and the ring of her rectum, now drenched in her leaking lubrication. Feeling her love's vagina convulse, she quickly buried herself once more. An extensive shriek escaped Octavia who repeatedly squirted directly down Octavia's throat.

What could have worn them out was more like a warm up before the show. The five of them made love often between sessions, in all matters of pairings and positions, sometimes breaking out into a small orgy. They all worried it would be the last tiny slice of tranquility before shit hit the fan. And if Equestria might end again, why not celebrate its legacy however they could?

*****

Stewing in her tiny prison, Bellatrix Primadonna called for her master, who still refused to answer. Had he truly abandoned her? Or was he simply unable to communicate with her? She turned the possibilities over in her addled mind, hunched naked in a circle of elaborate runes, surrounded by elite troops who doubled as mages. They carried enchanted weapons and armor left over from the war, stoic as ever while they watched the exotic succubus claw at the invisible barrier around her.

She'd broken a few claw-like nails and streaked layers of blood on the air. She sobbed, screamed, threw tantrums, begged, whatever it took to move them in hopes they'd be foolish enough to free her. And when that proved insufficient she lewdly prostrated herself before them, exposing herself in the most intimate of ways, smearing her love juices on the air which trickled down, spreading her ass and pussy while she kneaded her swinging titties. “Want to make me your personal whore?”

One of the stallions swallowed hard and averted his eyes. She flicked her spaded tail about, flexed her leather wings, and stuck out her impossibly elongated tongue which she coiled around a tit and encircled an erect nipple. The guardsmen were surrounding her from all sides, able to drink her in from every angle. She smooshed her wide buttocks upon the barrier, parted so wide her anus and vagina gaped open, and she rubbed her buttocks in circles, spreading cunt nectar which wet her backside.

“You know, you could rape me senseless and get away with it. Who's going to believe me over you all, anyhow?” She winked at them over her shoulder. “I'm completely at your mercy. All my holes open to you. Just come closer...”

One of them took a step forward only for his fellow guard to block him with a spear. “Don't let this harlot seduce you!”

“Aww, are you big, strong stallions scared? I'm not even a denizen of Equestria. Do I even legally have rights? You could probably keep me as a pet without any legal repercussions...” She licked her pouty lips, half-lidded eyes studying the precum-tipped erections her watchers were sporting. Some of them shifted uncomfortably, desperate to fill this bizarre monster.

“Or maybe you'd prefer somepony different?” She wiggled her fingers, working her glamour, their eyes hazed from the hypnotic effect she was having on them helped along with the stench of pheromones from her dripping snatch which smothered the atmosphere. Subtlety she shifted to suit their subconscious desires, taking on the shape of an anthropomorphic Cadance.

She giggled when one of them came on the spot, his spurts spattering the thin barrier that separated him from her sweet ass and puss, the semen dripping down. “Mmm, quick-shot, are we? Well, that's okay, I'm sure you have reserves!” She continued to rub her down plush pink posterior about, her multi-colored tail raised, then she spun and mashed her swollen udders on her vaginal nectar slathered in mid-air, running her tits in circles which started to squeeze milk from her pepperoni-like areola.

“You could chain sweet Princess Cadenza up in your basement, fuck her as hard and often as you want, and she'll never say no unless you wish her to...” She rubbed her cheek on her honeypot secretions, slurping them and her lactation up, rolling the mixture about her mouth and gargling on it. “Come on, you hard-working studs, you do such thankless jobs...”

By this point a couple of them were openly jacking off, and their inhibitions started to crumble, peer pressure rippling out like a set of dominoes. She stifled a laugh at how easy males were, fingering her slit, her now feathered wings spread. She made this stolen image of Cadance behave as whorishly as possible, determined to spoil their perception of the long lost Princess of Love.

More of them came. The semen that puddled down smeared the circle of runes and let down the dome-shaped barrier. “That's right, boys. Cum all over your Princess!” She rested on her knees with thighs parted wide, wings in full plume and arms spread eagle, casting back a mane that coiled at the ends while she opened her maw wide to receive their masculine punk.

Rope-after-rope was unleashed, spraying her from every direction, their grunts and groans mixed with her lusty moans. One grabbed her roughly by the locks, reduced to a savage beast as he coated a tongue she stuck out and fired more down into her gullet. More slathered her now incredibly sticky udders and buttocks. A guard lost control completely, pushing her back and driving his horsecock so brutally into her he jabbed right past her cervix and emptied his swollen balls into her slippery womb.

She full-face flushed and squirted all over his barrel, wrapping her limbs and wings around him, while his companions continued to paint her. Soon they were pushing and kicking at one-another, desperate for their own turn. Within moments they were lowered to their basest states while she worked her charm, rough-housing turning bloody when one of them speared a brother-in-hooves. He gasped and choked on his bloody, falling limp as the tip pierced him under his ribcage.

She cackled as an orgy of violence ensued. They all wanted her for their own. A stud slipped away from the melee, bending her over and taking her up the ass, whinnying when he buried himself balls deep in seconds. The moment he came with a dazed expression, another drove a spear-tip so hard against his neck he practically sawed his head off, the partially severed skull hanging limp as his still bucking corpse was locked inside her now cum-oozing asshole. She laughed even harder.

Eventually a lone soldier remained. His armor was completely stained crimson like the rest of him, his muscles heavily heaving. With a fierce expression he tossed his weapon aside with a clink, seized her mane which he used to wrench her back to her knees, and forced her mouth down directly onto his throbbing meat. He'd often had fantasies about taking Cadance forcefully, ones which deeply shamed the elite guardsmen, but now he could fulfill that repressed desire without reprisal.

He slammed her down repeatedly, grinding her face into his crotch, forcing her to breath in his musk. Her neck bulged from his flared and veiny dick. His hooves tightened around the back of her head when he came, the overflow so great it swelled her cheeks and burned her nostrils as it spurted out, the white bubbles popping. She gulped it down greedily, virile semen like sweet mana to a mage who new how to use it, especially a succubus who thrived on sexual energies and secretions.

The moment she licked his cock clean, she hefted a spear and impaled his heart. He landed with a thud at her feet. She stretched lazily and wiped more splooge and twat lubrication from her matted fur which she licked off her digits. Around her were the dismembered troops, some split wide open or crushed, innards spilled messily over the bloodied floor.

She crouched and rubbed her palms in the blood-pools, lathering her curves in them with a low coo. Casually stalking from her prison, she left bloody footprints on the ground, unconcerned with whether she was discovered at this juncture.

Her disguise fell when somepony approached her from behind, hooves echoing in the crystalline hallway. “Going somewhere so soon?” She turned to see Beatrix Belladonna, clad in a cone-shaped hat and tattered cape covered in almond-shaped eyes and thin lips with sharp teeth. “I had a feeling no cell could hold you! We have some unfinished business.”

Bellatrix snickered. “Fool. Do you really think you can stop me by your lonesome?”

With a shrug she answered, “I have a few tricks up my proverbial sleeve!” Concentrating on the eye-shaped amulet that held together her cape, a reminder that her other half she considered a sister would always be with her, she drew upon the power stored within. The unicorn's shape transmuted while she stood on her back hooves, limbs expanding and breasts shifting from her lower half to her chest, her leotard which now resembled her eye-and-tooth covered hat and cape. “Ta-da!”

She was back to her anthropomorphic self, wagging a finger at her opponent while her fingerless gloves and heeled boots materialized into place. The pair stared the other down. Both started to weave a spell as their duel began.

*****

With a shake of her head, Princess Blueblood stifled the urge to chuck the pages from the speech her co-advisor had written, saccharine tripe which she was swift to stick a knife in. “...so thank you all for joining us today, as the Crystal Empire officially reopens the Crystal Fair!” She raised a hoof skyward, as did Diamond Tiara, the crystal guards around them atop the arena, and the thousands of attendees seated in the stadium who roared and stomped their hooves in jubilation.

Diamond Tiara wiped her misty eyes with a fancy napkin. “Aw, how sweet! But why did you shorten my speech? I worked hard on that! All my old pals in the Cutie Mark Crusaders would've been so proud!”

“Yes, well, we can always work in parts of it to fill in time later if necessary.” The unicorn stuck her nose in the air. “It is wonderful to see everypony so enthralled, however.” She softened with a twinkle in her bright blue eyes.

The first contestants were lining up for the show, javelins raised while they took their places on the tracks. Just outside the coliseum Vinyl Scratch had moved her stage to link up with Trixie's caravan as they'd be the half-time entertainment. More fireworks were set off in another dazzling display, the last proverbial calm-before-the-storm.

And then the sky suddenly froze. The bursts of colors turned ashen and locked in place. Awe turned to hushed murmurs, some convinced it was technical difficulties, others pondering if this was some strange new form of magic that was part of the show. From this void no sounds or smells escaped. Guards readied their armaments, all staring above expectant. The grayed-out area above shattered like glass and rained down in fragments that made the mobs scream and disperse.

From the vast darkness of the planet Megiddo arrived the Horses of the Apocalypse; Iron Will who'd been christened War, Garble who was Pestilence, an Ursa Minor as Famine, and finally the Sphinx who stood in as the now lost to myth member, Conquest. At the head of them was a black shadow named Death, the sorcerer-king turned tyrant Sombra, who'd collected this rabble that had ended up trapped in the Necronomicon and infused them with the dark arts in order to craft an invincible army.

Some of the crystal ponies cowered or even fainted dead-away at the sight of their ancient nemesis. He flitted about like a cloud of smoke, opening his maw and siphoning the essence from the mouths and nostrils of those unfortunate enough to be near him, dozens losing all color and dropping lifeless before the twisted abomination. He licked his lips with a low chuckle.

Nor did his minions waste any time as they beset the masses who scattered and trampled all over one-another in attempt to escape. Garble had grown to a towering dragon that crouched on all fours, breathing clouds of noxious smoke which caused those it touched to wither and die. Gnarled, sickly leather skin expanded with each harsh breath he took.

A tow-handed axe was hefted above Iron Will, dressed in no more than a loin cloth, when he brought it down with a ripple of his musculature and cleaved the soldiers that intercepted him in two. He snorted when the blood washed over him, stomping with each step he took, his one disappointment he lacked the wild beasts he usually used to track and hunt his prey.

All he could remember was his treachery when Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer had come to the Badlands to seek assistance from the current Dragon Lord, Ember; that bitch had stifled his schemes and slain him before succumbing to her own wounds and falling into the ocean. Unable to properly avenge himself, he'd have to settle for their surviving allies.

While the scarred over one-eye Ursa Minor and the Sphinx partook in their own bloody feast, the former little more than a savage monster driven to madness when it had ended up separated from it s mother and trapped for untold years in the depths of the Necronomicon, the latter more cunning as she dwarfed the stands and toyed with her scattered food like they were vermin. While he was content to rip them apart with teeth and claws, she batted them about, skin raked and peeled away while she smirked and watched with slit-like eyes. She cared little about her master's ambitions, but relished the freedom afforded her.

Beams of colored light lanced out. The invaders screamed and sizzled when struck, forced to scatter, as the sky filled with so many numbers it blotted the sun and cast thick shadows below. At the head of the reborn Shining's force sailed Flurry Heart, and Smoulder who'd risen to Dragon Lord status, leading an army of drakes and pegasi into battle. Having survived the fall of Las Pegasus when the Smooze flooded it, she'd went into hiding for some time to recover, the Princess now svelte while she carried the Bloodstone Scepter. Within moments the two armies collided in order to decide Equestria's fate.