The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

Darkness called upon his steed, Fear. Fear had a black coat with burning red runes running up his neck and down his legs. He had a black mane and tail that shed darkness in the form of dark flakes rising into the air. His hooves had dark blue cracks and black flames on them.. His eyes burned a bright red and black flames spewed from his nostrils. His saddle was made of some sort of ebony material and Darkness jumped on it. Darkness made a slight motion with his arms and the two sped off as Chaos latched onto the Phantom Horse's saddle.

They rode through the forest and they stopped when they reached the treeline. Darkness banished Fear and he crouched to stay hidden as he spied on the unsuspecting pony. The pony had a yellow coat and a pink mane. He quickly deduced that it was one of the dominant species in this world and he turned to Chaos.

"Okay, I need you to become something like that and spy on the ponies for me." Darkness said to the crow that sat atop a branch.

"Okay." Chaos said as she shifted her form to match a pony. When she fully changed, Darkness almost laughed. She was an orange pegasus with a blonde mane and tail; her mane and tail were a bit shaggy, but not completely unpresentable. She retained her azure eyes, but they were sized to match those of a pony. Darkness couldn't suppress the laughter and he held his hand over his mouth to silence it.

"What's so funny?" Chaos asked as a blush grew onto her face. Darkness removed his hand from his face as his laughter died down.

"Sorry, you just look so cute! It's just not like you!" Darkness suppressed another wave of laughter and Chaos looked away to hide the blush on her face. Darkness wiped a tear away from his eye and he got serious.

"Whoo... Okay, could you go out there and spy on these ponies?" Chaos just gave a hasty nod and she walked out into the open.

Chaos walked out of the forest and started to have second thoughts. She was about to go back to Darkness, but he already returned to the castle. Chaos shook her head and walked towards the town, the yellow pony returning to its home. She approached the town and was amazed at how colorful everything was.

"Darkness would've been knocked over by how bright and colorful this place is." Chaos said to herself as she walked into town. She noticed that all of the ponies were really friendly.

"Darkness wasn't kidding. This place really is peaceful." Chaos said as she wandered through the town.

She eventually reached a tree that had a house built inside it.

"The fuck?" Chaos whispered to herself as she knocked on the door. She was answered by a lavender pony with violet hair and a pink stripe running down the length of her hair.

"Hello. I've never seen you around before. Are you from around here?" The mare asked. Chaos shook her head.

"No. If you count that forest as 'from here', then yes." Chaos pointed her hoof to the forest.

"You live in the Everfree forest?" The mare asked with a little shock. Chaos just nodded.

"What's your name?" The mare asked.

"Chaos. Yours?" Chaos said as she held out her hoof. Twilight was confused by her strange name, but she ignored it.

"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said as she took her hoof in a hoofshake.

Chaos had spent the rest of the day meeting various ponies of the town and she noticed it was getting dark.

"Listen Twilight, I gotta go. I'll see ya tomorrow, alright?" Chaos got a nod from Twilight and she ran off into the forest. As soon as she reached the forest, she switched forms to a crow and flew the rest of the way to the castle.

She reached the castle and flew up to Darkness, who was sitting on the roof.

"So, what happened?" Darkness asked as Chaos perched on his finger.

"These ponies are really nice and trusting. I kind of feel bad that we're spying on them like this." Chaos said.

"Yeah, but we'll have to get used to it. Now, you go to sleep." Chaos complied and flew down to her favorite rafter and fell asleep. Darkness looked to the moon and sighed.

"What is up with this world?" Darkness asked to no one in particular. Darkness crossed his legs and slipped into his 'sleeping' trance.

Celestia could feel a strange hint of dark energy in the air.

"What is this?" Celestia asked as the energy started to fade. She shrugged it off and went to bed. Whatever that was, it's long gone. She decided she would deal with it in the morning.

The next day, Celestia woke up and raised the sun. The minute she finished raising the sun, a huge wave of dark and chaotic energy hit her like a sack of bricks. She looked over to the source of the energy.

"The Everfree Forest..." Celestia said to herself as she called for her elite team.

"What is it, Princess?" the squad leader asked.

"I need you and your team to accompany me to the Everfree, Captain Air Wing." Celestia said, earning her a salute from the captain.

"Lead the way, Princess." Air Wing said, getting a smile in response.

"Let's go." Celestia said as she teleported the team of six and herself to the Everfree.

Darkness broke out of his trance and looked to the rising sun.

"I better go wake up Chaos." Darkness flew down to the rafters and shook the sleeping crow awake.

"Chaos, wake up." Darkness earned himself a sleepy groan from the crow.

"But I wanna sleep in..... Just five more minutes..." Chaos moaned as she turned and fell to the floor.

"Oof!" Chaos woke up from the fall.

"You awake yet?" Darkness asked as he picked up the crow.

"Yes, I am." Chaos snarled.

"Woah, why the hostility?" Darkness asked as Chaos switched to her human form.

"Did you push me?" Chaos asked.

"No. You rolled over and you fell from the rafter." Darkness said. Chaos sighed and walked to the door.

"Well, what do we do now?" Chaos asked. Darkness walked to Chaos.

"You have to go back to that town and keep spying on them." Darkness said.

"What about you? What do you do while I'm gone?" Chaos asked as she turned to face her friend.

"I don't know. I just sit around. I can't do anything beyond that." Darkness said. He was going stir-crazy and he had to do SOMETHING. He flew over to the throne and sat on it.

"Yeah. Okay, I'm going." Chaos said as she headed for the door.

Celestia had spent about an hour trekking through the forest and she came upon the source of the energy.

"The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters... Air Wing, you and your team have to stay close." Celestia said and the team of six understood. They got into a lance formation and the Princess breached the door with a powerful knockback spell. She was surprised at what she saw. She saw two human figures. One was sitting on the throne and the other was standing.

"State your names." Celestia said with authority.

"Why should we give you anything you want?" The one sitting at the throne said as it stood.

"I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. I request you come with us silently." Celestia said in a booming voice. The one standing at the throne laughed.

"I'm sorry, but your request is denied." He said as he gripped his blade.

"Then we will have to take you by force." Celestia said as she shot a fireball in his direction. He released his grip on his blade and charged at the lance of pony troops. He grabbed the spear of one of the guards and slammed it into the ground, leaving a pony sized bloodstain on the floor.

He leaped into the air as Celestia fired a lightning spell and was chased by two guards, who were shot down by his gun, Eclipse. He threw his blade down, cleaving one of the guards in half. He fell to the ground and picked up his blade. He looked to the three remaining ponies.

"Just come with us quietly." Celestia said again.

"What reason do we have to do what you say?" He said as he prepared his blade again, but Chaos stopped him.

"Dark! Stop!" Chaos tackled Darkness to prevent him from killing the rest of the ponies.

"Why? She attacked first." Darkness said as he pushed Chaos off of him.

"Let's at least hear her out." Chaos said as she turned to the terrified ponies. Darkness stood up and dusted himself off.

"Sorry about that. I've been itching for a fight since I got here." Darkness said as he sheathed his blade.

"Why did you fight back?" Celestia asked. Darkness gave her a deadpan stare.

"Oh, um, let's see. You barge into our home, demanding us to go with you to God-knows-where when we clearly didn't do anything wrong. Tell me, who's the bad guy here?" Darkness said. Celestia shrunk back when she realized she had just done all that and she asked another question.

"Who are you and why are you in Equestria?" Celestia asked with a bit more confidence. He couldn't have an answer, could he? Wrong. Darkness looked to Chaos and whispered to her.

"Should I tell them?" Darkness asked.

"Okay, but make them promise not to tell." Chaos whispered back. Darkness pulled away from her ear and he turned his attention to the ponies.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise me that you will not tell a soul about what you hear. If you tell anybody, you die. That goes double for your guards. Am I clear?" Darkness said and Celestia nodded. Satisfied by her answer, Darkness prepared to tell her.

"Okay. My name is Darkness. I am a Horseman of the Apocalypse." Darkness said to the ponies.

"Horseman of the Apocalypse?" Celestia asked.

"It's not important. I was sent here by the Charred Council under the order of the Creator. My mission is to observe and defend this world. Should I find anything wrong with it, I will report the problem to the Creator and He will call the other Horsemen so that we may ride upon and destroy this world to make room for the Creator to restart this world. This world's history will play out as it has the time before." Darkness said, causing the Princess' face to fall.

"W-What exactly are you l-looking for in this w-world?" Celestia stammered with a horribly panicked tone and Darkness laughed.

"No no. I'm not looking for things like wars and disputes within the government. Those are natural for all worlds. I'm looking for things like demons and angels finding this world and using it as a battleground. Should they find this world and use it as a battleground, I am tasked to stop them by annihilating them." Darkness said and Celestia wiped a few beads of sweat forming on her brow away. Then the realization dawned on her. His mission could annihilate Equestria!

"How do I know that Equestria is safe with you around?" Celestia asked and Darkness gave her a deadpan stare.

"Does this face look like it's lying?" Darkness said as he pointed to his blank face. His eyes were half open, as if bored, and his mouth and brows were incredibly relaxed.

"Besides, what do I get from destroying this world? I'd rather kill myself than defy the Creator." Darkness said matter-of-factly. Celestia was hesitant, but she accepted his explanation. What was she going to do about it, anyway? Chaos stepped forward and began to speak.

"My name is Chaos and my job is to assist my friend, Darkness, in assessing the relative peace of this world. Should it come to the point of battle, I will assist him in that as well." Chaos said. Celestia was relieved that they weren't here to kill them all (sort of). While she thought this, Darkness spoke up.

"When can we walk among you?" Darkness asked, causing Celestia to snap out of her reverie and let her jaw hit the floor. They wanted to walk among the ponies? This is going to be trouble... Celestia thought.