As I regained consciousness, I felt a sudden pressure in my head. As I opened my eyes, I was only greeted by more darkness. Wait, are my eyes actually open?

"Of course they are." I turned around to see Nightmare Moon there with another male. This male was rather strange, as with every step he took, dark crystals would form where he stood once before. Not the creepiest thing I've seen, but it was up there.

"Who are you?" I asked the strange male. I wanted to say stallion, but half of his body was made of a black substance that I don't know about.

"Allow me to introduce you," I know I'm stronger than her, but something about her grin is intimidating. "This is Sombra, a master in dark magic. He was also defeated by those cursed elements." He looked towards me and held out his.... hoof? I hesitantly attempted to take his hoof in a handshake gesture, but found that my hand went right through. Panicking for a second, I took a step back. He gave off a brief chuckle before speaking.

"It's always fun when someone who doesn't know me tries to issue that gesture." Okay, his voice is deep. Definitely intimidating for any normal creature. No need to comment on it, there is bigger fish to fry.

"Where are we? It feels weird, like the only things my eyes render are you two." I asked.

"You are in my domain. Thanks to the magic that I took most of my youth to learn, I can not die and will only spawn here when defeated. Even you with your wretched strength can't kill me!" Sombra answered. That sounds like god-modding at its finest. Although it's nice to know that he's still salty about that. Nightmare Moon chuckled and clarified,

"Technically if every part of his body in the mortal world is destroyed, this place ceases to exist. I took partial control over the realm, and used that to drag you in here. With that, I copied your mindset and used it upon mine, as my old consciousness was burned to death when I was defeated, the only thing remaining was the incredibly small piece that allowed me to talk to you earlier. If I didn't copy it, I probably would be speaking, to use things from your world as an analogy, like I was in the bible." I gave her a surprised stare before inwardly sighing. She technically mind-raped me. I'm never going to live that down. I looked back up to see her glaring at me. "I can control dreams and mindsets at night, you know. Everything that you think right now, I will know of. I would watch your words if I were you." That is kind of a double-edged sword. On one side, any sort of plans we come up with won't need to be explained, and it saves us some time in the future. On the other side though, any sort of betrayal or doubts won't go unchecked, and I could very well be led into a trap. She gave me her best evil grin, catching my thought process.

"Well, fuck you too."

You'd think being banished by the elements would leave about a feeling of anger and despair, vengeance being the only think that clouds your mind. You'd think that the victim would end up wanting to hurt those to blame for such things, and stop at nothing until it happens. You'd think that you were weak, and will stop at nothing to get stronger than those you hate.

Boredom. That is all I can sum this up to. There is literally nothing to do in this black void. I tried to rest, but I already did that enough, and our plans are only waiting for Sombra to regain his strength so we can leave. Hell, I don't even have a clock! I don't know how long I've been in here!

"Twelve hours. Although, one hour here is about one day in the mortal world."

I glared to my left, in Nightmare Moon's direction.

"You could've told me how much time I've spent here earlier.." I grumbled.

"You never asked." She replied in the most neutral expression possible. Ignoring the smart reply, I looked ahead of me to see Sombra walking towards us, now looking a lot darker than before, and eyes looking a bit more vibrant. "I see you have regained your power." The dark king opened the book, and that's when everything changed.

I held my stomach at first, feeling an incredible sense of nausea. I wanted to cover my ears too, but the pain was almost unbearable. I listened to constant sounds of children laughing that shook me to my very core. I tried to yell out, but found out that I couldn't. Am I going crazy? I suddenly couldn't breathe, and started to panic. In that same instant however, I regained my ability to take in oxygen, and the sudden nausea feeling and children cries went away. I hazily opened my eyes and found myself at the hive; or what was left of it.

"A little warning next time, please." Those thoughts and feelings, I feel, will live in my skull for as long as I live. Sombra only chuckled.

"Oh, it wasn't as bad as the first time I came back. It was equally ten times worse." Now that I heard him, I knew how out of breath he was; about the same as me. I turned to Nightmare and saw her looking to us in amusement.

"How are you not out of breath?" I asked her. She laughed at my question before answering.

"I'm a walking Nightmare, so I have no need to breathe, nor do I feel anything more than pain." Does that imply that nightmares can be injured? That's pretty odd. I'll have to research that another time.

I looked around and saw the hive that we created the plan in, and damn was it completely destroyed. Discord really did a number on these bugs, as all I smelt was chocolate, blood, and death. At least I know one thing; the chocolate is definitely not helping. I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked up. Nightmare Moon smiled at me, this time a bit more genuinely.

"Sombra and I are going to construct a castle in the eastern part of the forest. Go ahead and grab your friend, because we'll need her." Wait, how do they know she's in there? I won't question it... this time. I looked back at the door, nodding my head. As the hoof left my shoulder, I turned around.... only to see them gone. I know Nightmare Moon is about the equivalent of an actual nightmare, but what the fuck does Sombra have to be to move as fast as her? I must be incredibly strong to be able to single-handedly take him down. Only decreases the chances they betray me, I guess.

For fucks sake, this smell is damn near unbearable! Makes me miss the joyous privileges of a Febreeze can. I made my way to the throne room and didn't expect her to actually be there. To my surprise, there she was, in a super depressive state, burying her changelings in various spots of the throne room, tears falling down her face the entire time. Even for me, it was very hard to watch.

"W-Who's there!" She turned around in a sudden panic and charged what little magic she had left. Wait, how long had she been burying for her to be almost on empty?!

"Chrysalis, it's me! Chill!" Her horn lost the charge it initially had and she covered her mouth and burst into tears. She then ran for me and put her hooves around my abdomen, embracing me. I let her do it, as she needed it. The terrible smell was then replaced with the smell of her hair; which smelled incredibly similar to licorice. I wasn't complaining, of course, but I didn't expect her hair to smell like that, considering where she lives.

"What happened during your fight?" She asked quietly, still hugging me.

"I technically beat Discord, but never managed to kill him. The ponies, or more specifically Celestia, interrupted me before I could bring my sword down on him. I was defeated by the Elements of Harmony." She brought her head back for a second and looked at me in confusion.

"Sword?" I nodded, summoning Grimfrost. In the Shadow Realm, I had some time to tweak it a bit. Now, I hereby pronounce the sword's name to be 'Grimforger'. Instead of doing prebuilt attacks, it copies the abilities of anything it touches or whoever is battling it. The only difference is that it runs off of my firepower, which probably is larger than Equestria as a whole considering I trained almost ten hours straight in the Shadow Realm.

Chrysalis touched the blade and it immediately got to work, transforming into a sword with a dark green blade and pitch-black hilt; same as the colors of Chrysalis' body. She was surprised for a moment and looked to me.

"Watch this." I pushed her back about a meter and slammed the sword into the ground. It then glowed and transformed me to look like Chrysalis. The shock on her face was priceless to see. I've never seen someone's eyes transform into two small periods like that, almost like life here was an anime.

"How many abilities do you have?" Fair question, although the answer might be different than most.

"Considering I can make them on the spot, I would have to say infinite. Although there are restrictions to doing this." I answered. It isn't that there wasn't any restriction to my power, but that the restrictions are not very strict. I can't bring creatures back to life unless I have an ability to reap souls, and even then it requires almost an entire day's worth of magic power at my level. There are many small restrictions that probably won't limit me too much. Two notable ones, however, are the fact that I can't make or do anything from nothing, and I have to have enough power stored to execute it. For the first restriction, I found a way around it by just making things out of the air around me, and air is practically unlimited here. The second one though, I can overcome in the future by constantly exercising my magic until any spell is considered small.

"N-No creature should have this much power!" I knew that answer would imminently cause fear. Better calm her nerves before things get too heated.

"Relax, Chrysalis. I'm not going to betray you anytime soon. You are about one of the only ones who don't follow the 'magic of friendship'." I used my fingers as I laced over the phrase. Her posture gave off the air that she didn't buy it. Oh well I guess. It isn't like she would have a say if I betrayed her or not, so minus well prove it. "Don't worry. You will be in my care until you birth more changelings."

"You don't have to worry about such things. With enough love, I can create them myself." Wait, what?

"How the hell does that work?" She chuckled at the question.

"Why do you think there is no king?" I put my finger up to say something, but had nothing to say. She had a point there, and I didn't think that the king of the hive was on any business trips either. I sighed and started to make my way out of the room, Chrysalis a second later following up behind me.

"Aside burying your dead children, what have you been doing since you left?" My blunt mentioning of her children sent a chill down her spine.

"Contemplating my vengeance." I laughed at her answer.

"Same as us then, huh?" I commented. She tilted her head to the side.

"Us? Who else did you bring along with you? Wait a minute. Come to think of it, how the hay are you even here?" She seemed to inquire a lot about things she doesn't know. Not that it's a bad thing, of course, but it gets pretty annoying sometimes.

"Nightmare Moon and Sombra. Right now, they're building a castle towards the east, and are expecting us." I assume that they're going to use magic to build it. I mean, Sombra used dark magic to build the Crystal Empire, so it makes sense that he could do it again. One of the many stories we shared while in that dark hell-hole. Sometimes, I wonder if hell would've been better than being bored for twelve hours straight, and I also wonder how the elements feel after having to stone someone.

You know, it might not be a bad idea to do some recon.

I stopped in my tracks, Chrysalis stopping with me in confusion.

"You go ahead and meet our allies. I'm going to do some recon on the elements and see what we are dealing with." I said. She was slightly put off by the sudden request, but nodded nonetheless. I watched her fly through the air and make her way further east.

I made my way north, and that journey was eventful. Most creatures in the Everfree loved to pick fights with those weaker than them. Obviously, despite being somewhat muscular due to training my magic so much, I was on the scale for the weaker creatures in the forest. I had to fight Cockatrices, Manticores, and one particularly pissed three-headed Hydra. Why the hell is this world made up of mythological creatures? As I was making my way down north, I realized I was being followed. I would've ignored it and went on about my travels, but one factor made me uneasy.

There wasn't one of them.

I stopped and closed my eyes, using my ears to better hear where they are. I summoned Grimforger for about the seventh time today and turned behind me in a sudden, quick movement. The blade stopped at the creatures neck, threatening to slash them. The creature howled before smelling my sword.

Wait a minute.

"Alpha, is that you?" It has been an incredibly long time since I've seen him. He stopped inspecting my sword and put his head under my hand.

"Yes it is, master." The fuck?

"You can talk? I don't remember ever creating that ability."

"I've spent my time in the forest finding a way to talk to you. After accidentally using dark magic in an abandoned library, I linked my soul to yours. Not that I mind though, because you were always, and will always, be good to me." The sentiment screamed 'a man's best friend' all over it, and I actually feel like I have someone in this world now. Not to say that I don't trust the others, but they aren't necessarily my friends. We all have different goals, and are only trying to help each other reach them.

"This is actually fantastic! I've always wanted a friend to talk to, but the ponies wouldn't let me do shit, because 'friendship is magic' and all that other bullshit." He chuckled and continued to nuzzle me.

"Well, you won't have to worry about us. We will follow you wherever you go." Wait, we? Like he read my mind, more of the wolves showed up, some bigger, stronger, or even scarier-looking than others. Still, none compared to the sheer size of Alpha.

A true alpha always stands at the top, eh?

"How did you get them to agree with this?" I asked. One of the wolves walked up and bowed his head to me. Considering what they are and how much they treasure social hierarchy, this made me slightly uncomfortable.

"Hello, master. My name is Solus, and we would like you to be our ruler. Ridury, or Alpha as you know him by, says that you are an able man, with power that shakes even him to his hollow core," he slowly trotted towards me and sniffed my hand. "And for much reason, too. You most likely have enough magic to completely dissipate the restrictive magic that keeps us locked in the forest." Oh wow, maybe I don't realize how strong I am.

Wait...

"What do you mean 'restrictive magic'?" I asked. Ridury looked to me.

"The princesses keeps certain species in the forest, mainly those too dangerous for ponies. I am able to leave because your sheer presence completely repels the magic that binds us." Okay, I really don't know my own strength. I understand enough to dissipate a spell if I wanted to, but with my presence? The book, the one I forgot I owned, faded into view and gave off a bright yellow glow. I took it off of my hip, which I forgot I bound to, and the wolves looked at it curiously. Ignoring them, I opened up to the glowing page and saw the new text written on it.

"May I ask what that is?" Solus asked. I never took my eyes off of the page.

"A book that lists all of my skills. At first it was the only way I could create spells and grow my magical power, but now it's more of a tracker than anything." I answered. The wolves talked quietly among themselves while I took a moment to examine the page. 'Defensive Progress' was listed at the top, along with a clear description to its left. To sum up what the explanation was talking about, apparently being hit by anything that could do incredible damage to me will automatically trigger the body to find a defense for it, even to the point of being completely immune to the blow. The process is automatic and can be sped up by repeated hits.

"What does it say, master?" Solus inquired. I looked up from the book to him.

"I don't like the word master. It sounds more like I own you than rule over you. Lord would be a better term to use." I'm totally not saying this because medieval titles are cool.

"As you wish, my lord." That sounds a lot better.

"To answer your question, I'm unstoppable." Some of the wolves, or the last ones that hadn't went to sleep during this conversation, made a noise of bewilderment. You won't believe how adorable they sounded. "I accept your offer by the way, to be your ruler that is. As long as your with me, you will see your overall strength improve." The remaining wolves howled and cheered, waking up the other wolves. Even Alpha was visibly happy that I was accepting the job. "I'll contact the others and tell them that I'm building a separate castle outside of the forest."

"Wait, 'others'? Who are you referring to?" Alpha asked.

"Ponyville's 'greatest' villians. Honestly, they are so weak that it scares me. I'm also bringing Chrysalis along, as she needs to cope from what happened." This made several wolves curious.

"What happened?" A wolf, feminine in tone, asked.

"That's a long story. I'll tell you on the way there."

I asked them to follow me, and we made our way towards them to deliver the news.

Looks like I have some new friends to test my might with.

Author's Note

Any of you ever get the feeling when you want to finish up a chapter or story but you decide against it a second later in a random turn of emotion?

Don't worry, so do I.