Rise of Terror

Spike slept in his bed next to Twilights bed. Suddendly, he heard a noise. He opened one eye. The door to their room was open. A royal guard laid on the floor in the hallway. There were four shadowy figures slowly moving through the darkness towards Twilight. Spike jumped up and yelled:

„Twilight! Watch out!“

Twilight slowly opened her eyes – and startled. The clouds had given way to the moonlight, revealing Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Sombra around her. Before she could do anything, Sombra blew the sleeping powder into her face. As she fell back asleep, the villains turned around to Spike. But he was already gone.

„Quick! We need to catch him before he tells anyone!“, Cozy yelled.

„Don’t worry. Let him be.“, the voice of their new boss said through Sombra.

„But…he’s going to tell her friends everything! And then…“

„And then they will figure out that Cadance is propably our next target. But don’t worry: Without their leader, these five ponies don’t stand a chance against you three and my two puppets. And if need be, I will even enter the stage myself. Now quit wasting time and get to the meeting place already. WE already have the two sisters.“

The villains begrudgingly followed his orders not knowing Spike had hidden behind the door and heard everything.

As Fluttershy arrived in the map room of Twilights former castle, the rest of the Mane Six and Starlight had already gathered.

„Did you read the news, too?“, she asked.

„Yes. Twilight, Celestia AND Luna were ponynapped! All in the same night! That’s a catastrophe!“, Rarity said.

„But why? And who did it? After we beat Chrysalis, Cozy and Tirek, I thought we had defeated all our enemies!“, Applejack said.

Suddendly, the door opened. Spike entered. He was exhausted. The rest of the group immediatly rushed to his side.

„Flying all the way down from Canterlot is really not as easy as I thought.“, he said.

„Do you know what happened?“, Rainbow Dash asked.

„Yeah. Last night, Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow and Sombra broke into the castle and ponynapped Twilight!“

„What?!“, the rest of the group yelled out shocked.

„Yeah! And what’s more: I’ve heard Sombra saying that they ponynapped Celestia and Luna as well!“

„But how did they return?! Tirek, Cozy and Chrysalis should be forever trapped in stone while Sombra should we dead!“, Applejack asked.

„Could it be another one of Discords ‚tests‘?“, Rainbow asked.

But Fluttershy said:

„Discord and I were watching a rare cosmic event last night. I can vouch for his innocence.“

„Should we ask him for help?“, Pinkie asked.

„And risk Tirek tricking him and stealing his magic again? I think we should keep him as far away from the three as possible.“, Rainbow said and the rest agreed.

„If only we knew their next move…“; Applejack thought out loud.

„Ehm, we do. I heard them saying that they want to ponynap Cadance tonight as well.“

The group looked at each other for a moment.

„Then how about we’ll give ‘em a proper welcome party?“, Applejack asked.

Night had fallen over the Crystal Empire as the five villains snuck into the castle. They walked through the hallways. Though strangely, they didn’t see any guards.

„As I thought, they made preperations. It is very likely they set a trap. Be on your guard.“, the boss whispered through both the Storm King and Sombra.

„You don’t need to tell me twice.“, Tirek grumbled.

„Literally.“, Cozy added.

„You know, I could have done this on my own. I have experience ponynapping that princess.“, Chrysalis whispered.

„Which is why it would have been foolish to sent you in alone. Besides, for my plan to work EXACTLY as I want it to, I need all the pieces to be in one place. Now shut up and walk into their trap already!“, the boss ordered them, once more through both the Storm King and Sombra.

The other three rolled their eyes but didn’t say anything. Soon they reached the entrance to the royal bedroom. They opened the door. There was someone laying in Cadances bed though it was hard to make out whether it was really Cadance serving as bait or someone else. They sneaked up to the bed. But as Tirek grabbed the pouch with the powder in it, suddendly, the lights turned on.

„Suprise!“, Pinkie yelled jumping out of the bed and throwing a pie in Tireks face.

„Good. Now, run away.“, the boss whispered through Sombra.

„But it’s just one pony!“, Chrysalis complained quietly.

„No arguing! Do as I say!“

Chrysalis let out an annoyed sigh and yelled in a bored tone of voice:

„Oh no! We have failed! Let’s get out of here!“

The three turned around and ran out of the room. But as they reached the first two-way crossway, they saw Applejack jumping in front of them.

„Turn left!“, the boss ordered them.

The group turned left followed by Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

„Good. There is a four-way crossway just ahead of you. Keep running straight or you will be surrounded.“, the boss ordered.

After they passed the crossway, Cozy took a look behind her to see a dozen guards following Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

„If you keep going straight, you’ll reach the entrance to the library. The doors are open. But it is another trap. Rarity and Shining Armor are inside with some guards ready to block the doors and trap you once you are in the middle of the room. So go right until the next crossway. Then go right again. That hallway will lead you to the other side of the library. But they will cut you off before that.“, the boss predicted.

And he was on point. As the group turned right and then right again, they soon saw that the hallway did not lead to another crossing but kept on going until there was a curve to the right. But as soon as they turned the corner, they saw the group which was supposed to be within the library in front of them while the earth ponies and their group of guards caught up behind them.

„End of the line! Give up and tell us everything!“, Shining Armor demanded.

But Sombras horn glew dark. Suddendly, the floor gave way. The villains fell down a floor landing in the entrance hall.

„Good. Now run out into the streets and keep going straight. You’ll be surrounded soon. That’s when I will arrive and take care of everything.“, the boss said.

„Wait…are we only bait?“, Cozy asked.

„Of course you are. I want to have some fun as well, you know.“, the boss answered amused.

„I don’t know whether I should be insulted or whether I simply shouldn’t care…“, Tirek thought out loud and Chrysalis only shrugged in equal confusion.

„Less talking, more moving!“, the boss ordered them.

The group ran outside. As the boss predicted, once they were out in the streets, guard ponys swarmed them from all sides. On the ground, the pursuers caught up to them while Starlight and Guarding Filly let the forces coming from the other directions. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Cadance and Flash Sentry descended from the sky with the rest of the pegasi guards.

„It’s over! You have nowhere to run! Surrunder! Now!“, Cadance yelled.

„I don’t think so.“, the boss said.

His voice came from above the pegasi. Suddendly, there was a strong gust of wind coming from above hitting the pegasi, Cadance and Spike throwing them onto the ground. As they looked up, they saw the boss descending from the sky. Fully uncloaked. In a chorus, the heroes yelled out shocked:

„DISCORN?!“

With a much darker tone of voice than when they first met, he laughed and said:

„Hahaha! I’m glad you remember me. I was afarid you may have forgotten who I was and therefore wouldn’t be shocked to see me. We hadn’t had much interactions, after all.“

„We ain‘t forgetting our enemies. Especially not somepony like you. How and why are ya here anyways? Didn‘t our beam depower you leaving ya stranded in the Alicorn Empire? And didn’t Shadowcorn destroy the dimensional portal?“, Applejack asked.

„So many questions. And don’t worry: I’m going to tell you everything in due time. But not now. Now, I’m going to show you the power of my ancestors, the Ancients!“

„Watch out everyone! He’s about to do something!“, Cadance yelled.

A small electrical sphere formed at the tip of Discorns horn. Charges of electricity ran from the bottom of his horn to said sphere. With each charge, the sphere grew bigger. Once it reached the size of the Storm Kings palm, the sphere flew into the air. Then, lightning came out of it shocking everyone around the group of villains. Only Starlight, Spike and the rest of the Mane Six were spared for some reason.

„Step aside, minions. I’ve waited too long for this moment.“, Discorn said as he landed between the other villains and the heroes.

„Sure. Go for it. Don’t mind us.“, Cozy said while Tirek and Chrysalis merely shrugged.

They went to the side of the road and took a seat.

„What should we do?“, Pinkie asked.

„I don’t know. Twilight is the one who comes up with the battle plans. Do you have any idea, Starlight?“, Rainbow asked.

„For now, let’s focus on not getting defeated. Dodge!“, she yelled as Discorn shot a fireball at them.

The group dodged, some with ease, others with some help. Discorn flew back up into the air. He charged up his horn with electricity again. But this time, he stopped after only a few charges and unleashed the lightning directly from his horn. Everyone managed to dodge however. Starlight fired a few shots at him while Rainbow Dash flew directly at him. But he simply put up a shield which absorbed the shots. Then, he absorbed the shield and rapid-fired beams at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash took a curve upwards and dodged every shot – until she realized that he wasn’t even shooting at her anymore.

„What’s wrong? Given up already?“, she asked mockingly.

But Discorn only smiled. He quickly dodged Applejacks attempt to catch him with her lasso and effortlessly deflected a combined fire breath-magic beam-attack from Spike and Starlight before firing another beam at Rainbow. She prepared to dodge it. But the beam stopped before reaching her and became a floating orb. She looked around herself confused and realized: Each and every shot Discorn shot at her became an orb. And now, she was surrounded by these orbs. She tried to escape, but the orbs quickly connected with each other forming a cage. Then, each of them blasted a powerful beam at Rainbow Dash which she couldn‘t dodge due to the lack of space. She cried out in pain as she was hit from all sides and fell down unconcious.

„NO!“, her friends yelled out.

Discorn used their moment of distraction and froze both Pinkie and Fluttershy solid. In the background, the three villains were laughing so hard, they couldn’t even sit upright.

„Pinkie! Fluttershy! No! You’ll pay for that!“, Applejack yelled angrily charging right at Discorn.

„Applejack, don’t!“, Starlight yelled.

But it was too late. Using earth magic, Discorn ripped out the ground beneath her hooves throwing her off-balance. She fell into the freshly made hole below. Before she even had the chance to try to get up, Discorn crashed the ground onto her.

„Applejack!“, the other three called out.

„Oh don’t worry. She’s still alive. I want you to see my plan come into fruition. Which is why non of you are going to die now. THAT will come soon enough.“, Discorn said with a wide grin on his face.

In the background, Tirek and Cozy made a disappointed sound.

„We are not going to let that happen.“, Spike said determined.

„Urgs, really? Such a cliché line! Come now, that’s no fun!“, Discorn complained.

„Fun?! Is this all just a game to you?!“, Starlight yelled.

„Nah. Only this part.“, Discorn responded charging up another magical beam.

Starlight and Rarity both quickly fired a magical beam at him while Spike fired his most powerful fire breath. They nearly hit him before Discorn unleashed his magical beam, easily pushing back their combined attack overpowering all three of them. They all let out a cry of pain as they were hit by his beam. All of them fell down unconcious. With that, the battle was over.

„Bravo! What a show!“, Tirek shouted amused as the three villains and Discorns two puppets walked over to him.

„Indeed. This was very entertaining!“, Chrysalis agreed.

„I’m so glad we joined you! I mean, we didn’t have much of a choice, but still.“, Cozy added.

„Why thank you. I had quite the fun myself. Though I’m a bit disappointed it all went by so quick. I didn’t even really get started.“, Discorn said.

„Should we be worried?“, Cozy whispered to the other two villains.

„Only if you plan on betraying me.“, Discorn said through Sombra who suddendly stood right next to them making all three jump.

„But enough goofing around. Gather up those so-called ‘heroes‘ and the princess and let’s get back to base.“, Discorn ordered.