THE SYMBOL OF PEACE

In another part of Equestria, in a city called Manehatten and in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of said city, a lone figure sat in a chair while watching their new disciples work tirelessly to set up the figure's new lair. "Faster! I want my new lair to be ready within a week!" the figure shouted sternly as they got up.

"Hai sensei!" the figure's students said in reply as they obediently worked faster, causing the figure to smile proudly as they watched them move large boxes, set up some training equipment, or add in some security measures.

"Good! When my new lair is finished, you all will no longer be the weak ponies that you were before! Instead, you will be the mightiest of warriors this world has ever seen!!" the figure said inspiringly. This gave the ponies determination to make their master proud as they worked even harder while their master cheered them on. "That's it! Put your backs into it! Lift with your legs, not your back! There you go!"

"Do you ever shut up?" the figure and his students stopped when they heard a voice from seemingly everywhere, but the figure knew better.

"Come out of the shadows and speak to me like a warrior instead of a spineless coward." the figure said to one part of the room, causing Shade to come out of the shadows.

"Interesting, you knew I was there yet I have made sure to conceal myself. Tell me, how did you know I was there?" Shade asked the figure, who grunts and crosses their arms.

"You been through things as long as I have, you know when to sense danger, and you, radiate danger." the figure said, giving Shade a small glare. "Speak unholy spawn, why are you here?"

Shade chuckles, not at all insulted by the insult. "Why it's simple really, I am here to see if you would join me and my partner's cause."

"And that would be?" the figure asked, wondering what could this cause be.

"To take the hero All Might's power and use it to conquer the world!" Shade said dramatically while throwing their hands up. "With his power, no one will be able to stop us! Not Celestia and Luna! Not even the Elements of Harmony themselves!"

"And what would I get out of this?" the figure asked Shade, holding their chin as if they were interested in what Shade was saying.

"Power beyond your wildest dreams, riches that make dragon hordes look minuscule, anything your hearts desire and more." Shade said to the figure, who looked interested, which made Shade grin. "What do you say? Will you join us?" Shade held out their hand, waiting for the figure to accept the offer.

The figure grinned before grabbing Shade's hand and shaking it. "I accept," they said, making Shade grin even more before their hand was being crushed by the figures. "However, I will not follow your orders like some dog, that means there will be no strings attached, no backstabbing, no mind control, no watching my every move, no nothing that might ensure you I will follow your every command, that includes your partner and other subordinates. Understood?" the figure asked Shade as they were close to breaking their hand.

"Y-yes. We understand, now let go of my hand!" Shade said as they tried to pull their hand free. The figure nodded, knowing that they would keep their word before letting go of Shade's hand, who held it in pain.

"Good, now begone from my future lair spell shitter!" the figure said, making their students laugh while Shade growled angrily at the name before they walked into the shadows and disappeared while one of the figure's students walked up to them.

"Master, is it wise to trust that thing?" he asked them, receiving a bark of laughter in response.

"Of course not! Yet it was an offer I could not refuse! For I wish to find this, All Might and do battle with him till they speak of our battle for countless years. And trust me, our battle, will be legendary!!" the figure cried out, raising their into the air, this made their students cheer in agreement. "Now, back to work! This lair must be ready for when I do battle with All Might! Find the strongest materials, the most powerful unicorns, and more students!!!"

"Hai sensei!!" the students shouted in reply as they set off to do what their teacher ordered them to do. This made the figure smile as they walked over to a makeshift throne before sitting in it.

"Prepare yourself, All Might, for your next foe, will be one you will never forget." the figure said quietly to themselves before laughing loudly.

Meanwhile...

Deep within the Badlands, a figure could be seen walking through the desert, not even bothered by the scorching sands nor the blazing sun shining down on them. "Hmm, what a strange land this is. I haven't seen anything living since I've arrived here." the figure said in a dark tone as they continued walking through the seemingly endless and somewhat lifeless dessert. Then they stopped when they saw something in the distance, something that was kicking up a lot of sand. "Hm? What's that?"

The object or the creature was getting closer and closer to the figure, but they were starting to grow impatient and decided to walk towards the thing. As they got closer, they can see that the object was some sort of group of something, they don't know what though. They decided to get closer and once they got close enough, they kneeled behind a dune to avoid being seen. The group of creatures was big, bigger than the figure, on their heads were antlers and they were wearing some sort of armor. They were pulling a few cages on wheels, they were all empty save for a few supplies from what the figure can see.

'Whatever these creatures are, they seem to be some sort of scouting or a hunting party.' the figure thought before they heard one of the creatures speak.

"Come on boys! Let's see if some lost ponies around so we can 'escort' them back to our kingdom." one of them said, and from their appearence the figure could guess that he was the leader of the group, but they weren't focused on that, they were focused on the way the creature said escort, not liking the way he said it. The rest of the creatures seemed to smile at that and voice their agreements of excitement for capturing ponies.

'I do not like the looks of this group. They radiate an aura of something extremely vile.' the figure said before looking at their hand, seeing it sparking a bit and making them smirk. 'Perhaps I should ask them what it is they do exactly.' with that thought in mind, the figure stood up, getting the creature's attention.

"Hey look! We found one!" one of the creatures said before they started to circle the figure, who just gave them studying looks, not that they can see it of course. "Heh, looks like a noble, but what's with that stupid thing on his head?"

"No idea, but who cares, the general will be happy that we'll be adding a recruit to our army." the leader said as they all aimed their crossbows at the figure. "Now, you can come quietly, or we're gonna shoot you. Understand pony?"

"And why exactly should I do that?" the figure asked them, "I don't even know who or what you are."

"Ain't it obvious? We're Caribou! And we're the only species who put females in their place! They are nothing but sluts! Toys for us!" the leader said, making the rest of the Caribou cheer in agreement while not noticing one of the figure's arms slowly start to expand.

"So, you believe women are nothing but things used for sex? Objects for you to use however you want?" the figure asked as their arm continued to expand.

"That is a crude way of saying how we view things, but yes. But we can tell you aren't happy with that thought, don't worry, we'll help you see our way soon enough." the leader said as they aimed their crossbows at the figure, only for them to start chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"Just the fact that you think you can defeat me." the figure said before holding their arm out, making the Caribou realize that his arm looked like a balloon.

"Oh fuck! He's got a-" the leader didn't get to finish as a blast of strong air was shot at them, sending them and their cages flying across the desert sands and creating a large cloud of sand as well that can be seen for miles, making one mistake the cloud for an incoming sandstorm. When the sand settled, the figure looked at the Caribou, seeing some of them lying half-buried in the sand or crushed by their own equipment. "Hmph, I hardly needed to use that power. These 'Caribou' are too weak to handle such a thing."

"I wouldn't count us out yet freak." the figure looked at the leader, who was still alive despite taking a face full of strong winds. The wounds on him were slowly but surely healing, "You're not the only one who has a Quirk."

"Oh? So you know about Quirks, and you have an advanced healing Quirk. How interesting." the figure said before they held their hands out to sides as red electricity circled their arms. "But let's see how much punishment you can take before reaching your limit shall we?"

The Caribou grinned as he held two axes in his hands. "Then, by all means, come at me!" with that, the Caribou charges at the figure while they grinned, already knowing how the battle will turn out.

Shade returned to their lair, seeing Raven watching something through the crystal orb. "What is it that you see?" Shade asked them, causing Raven to smirk and show them what they were watching, which was the figure fighting the Caribou. "So? It's just another creature with a Quirk, big deal."

"Ah but that's the beauty of it, this being is just like All Might and that other figure you talked to. They are humans." Raven said, making Shade hum in thought at this information.

"Have you thought about making contact with this human?" Shade asked them, and Raven shook their head no. "Well why not? In case you forgot, we need all the allies and Quirks we can get if we want to acquire All Might's Quirk, and frankly we are running low on those because you were foolish enough to send our only group of Minotaurs to that school!"

"We still have no idea where their allegiance lies, they could be a hero for all we know and would warn All Might of what we are planning if we foolishly ally ourselves with them and they pretend to be on our side. Do you really want to risk that?" Raven asked Shade, who was silent. "Besides, we can always get more Minotaurs that can be persuaded to join us."

"You mean more expendable soldiers we can just throw at All Might?" Shade clarified and Raven just grinned, making them sigh in annoyance. "Thought so."

"Oh calm yourself, my friend, I won't use up all of our soldiers, I'll keep the very useful ones to ourselves and only send the unimportant ones against All Might." reassured Raven, and Shade rolled their eyes.

"Sure you will." Shade said as they continued watching as the figure battle the Caribou leader, surprising them both when he did something they didn't expect. "What?! Are you seeing this?! This being..."

"I know....they have more than one Quirk."