The Dance of darkness

by lunarstallion

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Adventure
Length: 10016

The darkness will consume all. The elements were our last hope...

Deca Dance and her party have spent years traveling all over equestria, searching for only one thing, killing anypony and anything that stands in the way of their target. When they finds their target in a remote village known to others as ponyville, they will find a bit more than they bargained for when five ponies start to get suspicious of their motives, their whole mission might go haywire. They were ordered to destroy all that stood in their way, but these six prove to be much more of a challenge than all the others.

Fic stars three OC's, one of which belongs to FreudTastic (I hope i spelled that right…) so, all credit to Freud for The main character: Deca Dance, who from now on, will be referred to as: Deca Vaeri. (Not only is the 'dance' in her name in draconic, but the other two ponies in her group have name in draconic as well. Also, I severely overpower everything in this story, so don't be surprised if shit goes down in a way that you never expected.)

This IS my first adventure fic, so don't expect the whole "adventure" part to be all that good. Alternate universe tag for the fact that Twilight studies dark magic at lethal levels. Not much universe alteration, but there will be inter-dimensional travel in the later chapters.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-09 13:19:25 UTC

Prologue: The Mare in the Moon

"Hush now, quiet now the Moon is watching high above;

Hush now, quiet now, feel safe in all its love.

The morning light shall end your dreams,

So keep them in your heart then.

Wake up with the dawning skies,

and search them out and find them!

Oh, hush now, quiet now, time to rest that sleepy head.

Hush, now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed~"

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The Dance of Darkness

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The Moon. It was once seen as a guiding light in the dark, a beacon of hope for those in need. Once... But that was a long time ago. Few are alive that still remember the night where it all changed; the night of Princess Luna's banishment.

back then, Deca was just a filly. She served under Princess Luna as her apprentice, learning the ways of magic with her master in secret, as to keep Celestia from knowing what they were doing. The night that it happened, Luna told Deca to meet her in her personal chambers, a rare occurrence for Deca Dance, but not unheard of. She walked into the large, midnight blue doors, not being stopped by the reptilian guards due to her status with Luna. The doors closed behind her, hindering her eyesight immediately before the night-vision spell was casted.

"Greetings, my dark apprentice," Luna said, bowing her head slightly, "Hast thy journey been well? Thy final exam shall be executed when thou enters the Summoning Circle." There was another pony that she had never seen in the room, standing with her teacher.

Deca bowed to the lunar princess, "Thy greeting hath been well received, my mistress of the night." Deca stood up, pointing towards the unicorn standing next to Luna, "But, if thou doesn't mind me asking, who hath thou brought to our ritual?"

"Well, I am an expert in the study of Draconian beings, more specifically dragons themselves, " he said, in the high speech, "My name is Darastrix, and I will be aiding in the ritual process." His horn glowed, adding some runes to the circle and making it glow with a faint red light, "I was summoned by the Princess of the night, due to my magical expertise with this kind of thing." When Deca Dance only gave him a quizzical look, he replied, "Look, I swore to secrecy about this ritual. I swore on the moon to keep this in the dark."

"Well then," Deca said, obviously more trusting of him, "Thou hast my trust. Now, wouldst thou care to tell me why thou hast summoned me, mistress of the night?"

Luna bowed her head, preparing to tell her about the Princess' fate, "My time on this planet is coming to a pause, my dark apprentice." Deca Dance was taken aback, but was cut off by Luna, "Twas not anyponies fault but..."

"But whom, my mistress?" Dance said, advancing toward the circle, "Who must I destroy for you?"

Luna stepped out of the circle as Deca Dance stepped in. "Darastrix, activate the circle." At this, the mage nodded and closed off the circle. A low, humming sound emitted as powerful magic went to work. "From here on out, you will be known as: Deca Vaeri." Luna had to shout to be heard over the noise as ancient magic worked itself into her body, rearranging many of her bodily systems, "We are fusing your genes with those of a dragon, so you will be immortal from here on out. We hath done so with two others, who will be your assistants on this mission I will be gone for a period of 1,000 years. After that time, then ka will bring us together again. Your targets will be known as the Elements of Harmony! Do not disappoint me, my dark apprentice..."

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1,000 years later

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'It has been a thousand years since that night,' Deca thought, slowly getting out of bed, 'yet it still haunts my memories to this day...' She walked to the opposite bed, kicking it's occupant repeatedly. "Come on, you big idiot, it's time to get up." when all that she got was a grunt, she got frustrated and shot him with dark magic bolts. "Do not ignore me, you useless excuse for a pony!"

"Gah!" her companion yelped, jumping out of bed into a defensive posture, charging his horn. "You know that I hate when you do that!"

"Please, just because you're the only stallion that I'll allow near me without being vaporized, does NOT mean that I value your opinion at all." She made her way to the third bed in the room, only to find it empty. "Faust dammit, where the hell is Whedab?" She looked around the room for a bit, until she finally lost it. "DARASTRIX! HELP ME FIND HER!"

"Wait, that orange bitch has a name?" He said quizzically. He got locked in a sphere made of darkness, making Deca giggle.

"Listen asshole," Whedab Arcaniss said, stepping out of a wall, "If you call me a bitch one more time, I'm KEEPING you in the orb. Also, how the hell didn't you know my name? We've been traveling the world together for 1,000 years, not to mention Vaeri's constant bickering at how us two mares are better than you!"

Deca turned her head at this, staring with a bored expression at the two bickering ponies. "Listen you foals," she said, gaining both of their attention instantly, "The guards will be here soon, so we need to leave before-"

The guards barged into the room, swords, horns, and wing blades armed and ready. "You are under arrest for theft, domestic violence, murder, dismemberment of anything that moves, use of dark magic, banishing innocents to different star systems, arson, rape, clown slaughter-"

"That last one was just me." Darastrix said, smiling, "I was the one that did the clown slaughter."

"The list goes on, does it not?" Deca said, charging her horn, "But, I suppose that you already knew that."

"Under the authority of Princess Celestia, I'm placing you three under arrest." The guard in the middle said, advancing on the trio, "Just come quietly, and nopony will get hurt."

They all looked back at the guard, looked at each other, and burst into laughter. "You must have us mistaken for some other ponies, good sir."

The guard looked quizzical at this, looking at his partners, then said, "Do I have the wrong apartment? You three are Deca Vaeri, Darastrix Sventlin, and Whedab Arcaniss, right?" The guard got out three pictures, looking from the fugitives to the pictures several times.

"Nonono," Whedab said, shaking her head, "You misunderstood us. Deca here said:"

"She meant that you won't be taking us away, but we'll be killing you." Darastrix said, snapping one of their spines with his levitation. "But, unfortunately for us, we must make it quick. Places to go, ponies to see."

"What are you five standing there for, GET THEM!"

The fight did not last very long, though. The guards charged at the trio, hoping to at least get a hit in, but they were highly mistaken. The first one that came forward got ran through with Darastrix's horn, leaving him to bleed to death. The next two got constricted by dark purple shackles that came out of the ground, only for those to be replaced by black hands that dragged them straight to the Sorrel Hells, an oblivion that nopony, alive or dead, should ever need to suffer through. The other three saw this, and, reluctantly, continued their charge. "Some ponies never learn, do they?" Deca, Darastrix, and Whedab each took a guard, killing them in their own unique way. Deca used her dark shackles, as well as her torture spell, to inflict searing pain on every inch of his body. After she had her fun, she walked up to him, and whispered in his ear, "If you ever, EVER, even try to mention that TYRANTS name, I will make sure you get sent to the Sorrel Hells myself." And, with that, she ripped out all of his blood veins, and melted his skull. Whedab created a force field of darkness inside her guards stomach, making it rapidly expand until he exploded in a burst of blood, guts, and the contents of his stomach. Darastrix had a much more creative way of killing the one that he got. First, he ripped the pony's eyes out amd made him eat them. Then, he did the same with his genitals and hooves. Next, he melted his legs, sticking them to the floor and causing intense pain. Then, he plucked every individual hair from his body, using magic to force him to not black out. "Holy shit, Darastrix, that's kinda brutal." He ignored this, and proceeded to rip the guards ribcage out and force that through his throat. Not down it, but THROUGH it.

"Eh, what can I say?" Darastrix said when he was done, smiling like a maniac, "I love it when they bleed."

"Dumbass, they always bleed!" Whedab said, poking him in the stomach, "It's like, a law, or something."

"Both of you shut up," Deca said, glaring at Darastrix, "Alright, that alabaster bitch on the throne is getting fed up with us killing ponies, we can't find the elements, and the guards are after us. I hate to say it, but i think that our quest has been forfeit."

The other two live ponies in the room gasped in shock, but it was Whedab Arcaniss that spoke up first, "What are you saying, Deca? That we should abandon our mistress?"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!" Deca said, growling at her, "I only mean that we should wait until she comes back to continue our quest."

"So... Vacation?" Darastrix said, practically glowing with eagerness.

"Yes, Darastrix, I say we take a vacation."

"But..." Whedab started, "Where would we go? We've been everywhere looking for the elements of harmony, and we've seen all of the sights."

"Well that may be," Deca said, grinning, "But I have neglected to go to a single location for this exact purpose."

"What?"

"WHAT?!?"

"Yes, I have hidden it from you two. But, only because it is just some small country town that could never hold something as important as the elements of harmony." She got out her map, and started to search for a certain village.

"Well? What's it called?"

"Come see for yourself, we will be teleporting to it in 3 minutes anyways." They all huddled around the map, eager to see where they would be going.

"Ponyville?"

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Authors Notes

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Thanks for reading, reader! I hope that you enjoyed it, and if you find anything wrong with it, feel free to let me know. ALL CREDIT FOR DECA DANCE AND MOST OF HER ABILITIES (Dark shackles, torture, dark magic bolt) GOES TO FreudTastic.

Whedab Arcaniss is draconic for dark magic, and Darastrix Sventlin is draconic for dragon slayer. Kinda ironic, but it works. It works.

-lunarstallion

Chapter one: arriving in Ponyville

Okay, so I got a suggestion to tone the violent scenes down a bit... okay, tone them down a lot, so that's what I plan on doing. There may not be any fight scenes in this chapter, but I just thought that I would let you guys know. Well, here goes nothing. Enjoy, and don't hold back on the criticism!

Pinkie Pie has always been happy about everything. She loves everypony, and everypony loves her. When new ponies come to town, she's ALWAYS been the first one to meet them, no matter where they are relative to her location. So, naturally, when Twilight Sparkle came into town, she walked over to meet her.

"Come on, Twilight, just try!" Spike said to her, beckoning to Pinkie Pie.

She smiled sheepishly and said, "Uhh... Hello?"

Pinkie's brain went into overdrive, 'OMIGOSHthere'sanewponyintownandIhaven'tthrownapartyforheryetandIdon'tknowhernamesoIneedtothrowherapartyandinviteeveryponytoitohit'llbesomuchfun!' but, try as she might, all of that came out as merely a gasp as she seemingly flew away.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she bowled into a group of hooded ponies that also seemed to be new in town, because she had never seen them before either. The one in front seemed to be scowling at her, but Pinkie interrupted her before she could speak: "OHMIGOSH! Five new ponies in town just today?!?? This is the greatest day EVER! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

"Annoyed by Pinkie Pie, now move or be moved." The large one said, taking up an offensive stance before the one in front held out a hoof to stop him.

"Now now, Darastrix, there's no need for violence right now." She smiled wickedly, removing her hood. "Why is it that you desire to know our names, child?"

Pinkie started bouncing in place, "Well, you three are new in town, so that means that you have no friends and if you have no friends that must mean that you're lonely and I hate to see ponies lonely so I become friends with everypony here in ponyville and can I ask what your favorite pastry is and OOH sorry I gotta go bye!" She sped off, leaving Deca's party dumbstruck at what just happened.

"Should I even ask what the fuck just happened?" Arcaniss said, sitting down and scratching her head.

"Never mind them, Arcaniss. Darastrix, where are we staying?" She looked at him anxiously, "I really need to get away from these ponies."

He took out the map, looked it over for a couple of minutes, and said "I know something, yes."

"... Well what the fuck do you know, you big fucking idiot?" Deca was getting impatient with him, something that was not as rare as some might think.

"Well, I know that this is a map for Las Pegasus, not Ponyville."

The other two in the party were stunned into silence as he picked through the luggage, searching for the Ponyville map. "There are no words to express how much I want to kill you right now, Darastrix."

"Well, I try." He stopped his rummaging, "AHA! Found it." He unrolled it, looked at it for a few more minutes, (Making sure not to look at Deca Vaeri, who was ready to take his head off) then said, "That way." and pointed with his hoof.

"We best be getting there soon; I need to relax for a while."

"Well, good luck with that, you still gotta unpack your stuff."

She gave him a sly smile and said, "Well, what else are stallions good for?"

The house - which was really just a large cottage - had been rented to them by a yellow pegasus mare that needed some extra help with rent payments. Deca's party arrived at about noon, when it was feeding time for her animals. "Sweet merciful Luna, the ad said that she had a 'few' pets, not an entire fucking zoo living with her..."

"Stay calm, Deca Vaeri," Arcaniss said, smiling at her, "We might find you a pet so you wouldn't be so lonely all the time!" She made an excellent trollface after that statement.

"Aww, just like you."

"Shut the ff-mmmm, it's true." She was sad now, lowering her head in defeat, continuing their trot to the cottage, "Let's just get this the fuck over with, I'm tired and my hooves are sore..."

Deca approached the door, stopped, and looked at Darastrix, "Ahem."

"Huh? What is it this time?"

"Aren't you supposed to get the door?"

"Bite me."

"Are you sure you want me to do that?" She barred her teeth, which she filed into fangs a few years ago, "Because doing so would cause extreme discomfort for the both of us."

"Fine..." he sighed with defeat, and knocked on the door.

*knock knock knock*

A little white bunny answered the door, clearly confused at the newcomers. "Hello, little rabbit, we are here to see a Ms..." He looked at the newspaper ad for a couple of seconds, "We're looking for a Ms. Fluttershy, you seen her?"

It shook it's head, then started signing to them: (I will put what Angel's trying to say in blue text) "She's training a bunch of stupid birds to sing for Celestia at the summer sun celebration. Are you here about the ad?"

The party looked at each other, and huddled up, trying to figure out what Angel just said. Arcaniss broke away, since she already knew how to tell what he was saying. "Yes, we are here for the ad."

"You can understand me?"

"Those two back there can't, but before I started doing what I do now, I was a vet, and had lots of bunnies in my clinic. You might have been one of them, actually. What's your name?"

"Angel. Your name wouldn't happen to be Dark Magic, would it?"

"My name is in Draconic now, so it's Whedab Arcaniss, but I'll take that as a yes on me operating on you. Hey, Angel!" They embraced, apparently being long-lost friends. "How have you survived for this long?"

"Think about it," Angel signed, "Your name is 'Dark Magic', no matter what language it might be now. What do you think that I did?"

"Black magic ritual. Classic." She waved the two others over, who were staring in disbelief at the pony and bunny communicating with ease. "This is my party, Deca Vaeri, and Darastrix Sventlin."

"... Care for a translation?"

"Oh, sorry, this is Deca Dance and Dragon Slayer. We're answering the ad." She took a bow, as did the other two. "Now, could you show us to our quarters?"

"Certainly! Follow me." The three followed him through the cottage, which was much larger than they initially thought, until he stopped at one of the doors. "Two of you will need to stay in the same room, so who's it going to be?"

"Let me discuss it with them first." She turned to face the two ponies. "Alright, here's the deal, two of us need to share a room. Who's it gonna be?"

"You and Darastrix." Deca said immediately, "Any objections can speak to me."

"Well, I-" Arcaniss promptly placed her hoof in Darastrix's mouth, stopping him from making Deca kick his flank.

"We accept." Arcaniss looked at Darastrix and whispered, "Do you want to face her wrath? You know how much she can't stand stallions, and you're just lucky she lets you within 5 hooves of her."

He stayed silent and went into their room. Whedab stayed outside, so she could translate what Angel was saying for Deca. "Alright, that's their room, so where's mine?"

"Your room is right down here, miss Dance." Angel said, hopping down the hall. "If you would kindly follow me."

We followed him two doors down and stopped at the door. "I'm assuming that these are my quarters?"

"Yes. At least Angel says they are." Whedab said, proceeding back to her and Darastrix's room. Upon entering, she saw that the room was already in chaos. There were clothes scattered across the floor, maps lazily placed onto the walls, somehow there were doughnuts super-glued to the ceiling, and Darastrix was hanging out the window, staring at something. "Sweet mother of Luna, what the fuck happened in here, Darastrix?"

"Well," he started, climbing back into the room, "I came in here, threw my suitcase at the wall, grabbed my binoculars, and started staring at those ponies out there." he pointed to the window, and beckoned her to come look. "I'm guessing that the yellow one is the owner of the house, but guess who that is talking with her?"

Arcaniss took the binoculars, and saw a yellow pegasus shying away from a purple unicorn, and a baby dragon hiding in a bush. "Is that... no... it can't be..."

"Who?" He said, "It's Celestia's 'faithful little student'. I think her name was Twilight Sparkle."

She turned pale, threw him the binoculars, looked him dead in the eyes, and sad: "Get Deca and meet me out front of the cottage." When he just stood there, bewildered at her sudden outburst, she screamed, "NOW, NUMBSKULL!"

He panicked, and ran into the wall right beside the door before going out it and getting Deca. Arcaniss took Angel aside, and whispered, "I'm gonna need you to do me a favor."

"Anything," He said, grinning like a maniac, "After all, you are the one who gave me my powers..."

Author's notes:

Sorry for the short chapter, I've been kinda swamped lately, with a concert, school and homework, and thanksgiving, so the chapter was kinda short. Don't worry, though, the next chapter will be, hopefully, much longer than this one! So, that's about it. Oh, one more thing; I expect to have the next chapter done by Christmas, but unfortunately, school shortened christmas break this year for some stupid reason, so I won't be able to write as much.

lunarstallion

P.S. If you're wondering about what kind of concert that I was in, it was a choir concert. Yeah, I sing in a mens choir, and I enjoy it. If you got a problem with that, then you can suck it.

Chapter 2: Luna's return pt.1

Half an hour before the summer sun celebration began, Deca was fuming. "I still don't see why the hell we need to go! I mean, we all know that she's a tyrant, so why watch her do the only thing that would have even the SLIGHTEST CHANCE to change our minds? It's fucking bullshit!"

"Yeah, sure, why not." Darastrix said, clearly not paying attention. He promptly got struck by a dark magic bolt, flinging him across the room. "Ow! You crazy bitch!" They started dueling, him sending fire balls and putting up shields, while Deca was going all out offense, sending Dark magic bolts and arcs of lightning at him.

"Do they usually do this?" Angel signed to Arcaniss, who simply shrugged. "Because it seems like they know exactly what to do when the other fires."

"Yeah, they do this a lot. Don't worry, I'll pay for whatever they break."

"You're a good mare, Magic." Angel said, turning to hop away, "Probably the best there ever was."

She looked down, "I'm not the mare that you knew, Angel bunny. I've grown dark in my time spent with them. But," She said, thinking about all that they have ever done for their imprisoned goddess, "If I could go back and do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Well anyway, Flutters won't be home until after the celebration, so why don't we throw a party?"

She thought about this, but shook her head, "We need to be at this celebration. Plus, I don't think Deca would like the idea of seeing that pink... I don't even know what to call her." She looked to Angel, who simply shrugged and hopped into the other room. Arcaniss turned back to the two unicorns, who stopped fighting shortly before their conversation ended. "We going?"

"Like hell we are!" Deca said, clearly still angry that they need to go. "I just don't see the big fucking deal about WHY this one is just so important!"

"Well," Darastrix started, sitting down, "According to the records, the Elements of Harmony banished her to the moon for a thousand years, and on the thousandth year, then the stars will aid in her escape. Now, this is where we will come in, she will show up near the most powerful magical being under the moonlight when she materializes, due to her need for power after her banishment, which, unless a full grown Amethyst Dragon is in Equestria, would be Celestia. So we need to kidnap her, and, as soon as Princess Luna returns, cut off her magic supply and imprison her on the sun using THIS spell." He finished, pointing to the open spell book on the hat rack, "Any questions?"

Arcaniss raised her hoof sarcastically. He called on her, and she asked, "so, how, exactly, the fuck are we going to get close enough to Celestia to make sure that this goes off without a hitch?"

"Oh, THAT?" He said, an evil grin working its way up his muzzle, "Don't worry about that, I've got it covered."

"How?" Deca said, clearly doubting his skill and resources.

"Oh, you'll see when we get there, Deca, you'll see..." And with that, he stormed off in a seemingly random direction, leaving the two other ponies to contemplate what he just said.

"... I'm assuming that I'm the one that will be cleaning this up?" She looked at Deca, who immediately nodded and walked out of the room, leaving her to fume in peace. "It's always me that needs to clean up their fights..."

9 MINUTES BEFORE THE CELEBRATION...

The celebration was in full swing. The birds were getting ready to sing, Rarity was done with her final revisions, and the rest of the ponies were simply standing around, eating or socializing. Princess Celestia was in the back room with a regiment of her guards, preparing to show the town her special talent. "Oh, I always hated this part," She said, pacing back and forth, repeatedly checking her necklace to make sure that it's strait.

"Your highness?"

"Before the show, I always get nervous and think about what could go wrong." She stopped the guard from speaking again, "I don't exactly know when it started, but for a few hundred years, I've been doing this. I know that nothing will go wrong, because you six are here," She smiled at them, and they saluted. "And I know that nothing can get past my personal guard, so I-"

At that moment, Deca, Arcaniss, and Darastrix jumped through the window, landing on three of the guards. "That's where you're mistaken, Celestia."

She stared, shocked, then looked to her remaining guards, "Well, what are you three waiting for? Get them!"

"Big mistake on your end, but I like a challenge." Darastrix said, "You two get her, I'll take care of the guards." They surrounded the three unicorns, until the two mares teleported out of there, surprising the guards and allowing Darastrix to get a preemptive strike. He froze one of them in a large ice spike and shattered it, leaving him in pieces. The other two charged their horns, but he already fired his magic needles. One of them got scraped, but otherwise deflected the other ones. The other guard got struck twice in the throat, leaving him gasping for air. "Well, looks like he got the POINT of this!"

The last guard just shook his head, saying, "Wow, that was terrible."

He got impaled onto a large metal spike as soon as Deca and Arcaniss returned with an oddly glowing crystal. "Ooh, nice death spike!" He let that sink in, but got smacked in the head by Deca.

"Who are you three, and what do you want with me?" Celestia said, charging her horn, "My guards might have fallen at your hooves, but I can defend myself just fine!"

"Not while I have this, you don't." She showed the crystal to Celestia, making her gasp.

"But how? How could you get a hold of such an artifact?"

"That's not important." Deca said, trotting closer to Celestia, "Now, you will do our every command, or I will use this against you, and what I do with it will NOT be pretty."

Celestia, thought about this for a while, then sighed with defeat. "Very well. If you answer one question."

"I guess I can oblige," Deca said, while Arcaniss and Darastrix went to secure a perimeter, "what's your question?"

"How did you get a hold of a fallen star? There's only been one pony in Equestria that is able to even HOLD one of those, and she-"

"Got banished to the moon." Deca advanced on Celestia, pushing her against the wall, "I remember that night, when you unleashed the powers of those stones onto our mistress and sent her to the moon. I lived through that, and I will not, I repeat, WILL NOT, BE DENIED MY REVENGE!" She struck the goddess, careful not to touch her with the star yet.

She reeled back for another strike, but at that moment, a blinding blue light filled the room, causing her to back up and cackle like a maniac. "Here she comes, Celestia. It appears that our time together has come to a stand still." When she finished, the light faded, revealing a pitch black Alicorn mare, with a mane that seems to be alive, and dark blue armor that shines in the moonlight. Deca bowed immediately, and said, "My mistress of the night. We have waited a thousand years for this moment."

She looked at Deca with curiosity, for being gone for a thousand years clouds one's memory, but recognition showed on her face after a couple of seconds. "Why, if it isn't my star pupil, Deca Vaeri. We should catch up when this is all over." She motioned for her to rise, then looked to her sister. "Well well well, if it isn't the very pony who put me in that prison in the first place."

"Sister," she said, taking a step toward Nightmare Moon, "You know that I had no choice. I had to do it to save Eque-" Before she could finish, Deca touched the fallen star to Celestia's horn, and the effects were instant. Celestia screamed in agony, as her entire magic supply was cut off instantly, making her fatigued and close to unconsciousness, but Deca put a spell on her to make sure that she would stay awake for what they had planned. Then, it cut off the use of her limbs, causing her to fall over and her wings to flop down onto the ground. She was being tortured beyond her breaking point, something that the most talented interrogators in Equestria could do, but Celestia still managed to croak out, "W-w-why..."

"Why? WHY? WHY?" Nightmare was inches away from attacking her sister, but they overheard the mayor starting Celestia's introduction, so Deca teleported out of the building, while Nightmare glided into the shadows. Rarity walked in, looked around for a bit, then went back out, saying, "She's gone!" 'And, there's my queue.' Nightmare stepped out of the shadows onto the little balcony. "Well, my beloved subjects! It's been so long since I've seen you..."

ELSEWHERE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST...

Deca Vaeri, Whedab Arcaniss, and Darastrix Sventlin sat around a small campfire that Darastrix set up, contemplating what to do now that Luna has returned. "We still serve our mistress of the night, so we must assist her in acting revenge upon those who doubted her abilities," Deca started, putting images into the flames, "We have killed, stolen, plundered, and - on occasion - raped many ponies, gryphons, and dragons through our travels," The flames spewed up, showing images of bodies of all three races, covered in magical scars ranging from ice, to fire, to darkness. The images switched to those of broken windows, burned down buildings, and stacks of bits being taken by hooded figures. "We have proven ourselves to be the most powerful unicorns in the land, and yet... It just feels like we forgot something... something important, like we were asked to do it a long time ago but forgot." The images flickered for a few minutes, as if deciding what to show next.

"Wait a minute," Darastrix said, stomping his hoof on the ground, "what about our quest? The reason that Princess Luna gave us our immortality in the first place!"

Whedab looked at him, seemingly astonished that he had a functioning idea for once in his life. "Quest... AHA! The Elements of Harmony! We need to get to them before the wielders get a hold of them!"

"Well, that would be easy, if we knew who the fucking wielders were!"

"Well, I can tell you one thing," Whedab smirked while saying this, "One is the pony that we're quartered with, one is the pink pony that we ran into in town, another is the purple unicorn that was talking with the yellow Pegasus, and the fourth is that snobby white unicorn that was at the summer sun celebration. We either need to kill one of th-"

"That would be the easier route," Deca said, charging her horn, "Where do we start?"

Whedab sighed, "The bearers of the elements of harmony are incapable of being killed until they wield the elements in battle at least once. So no, that won't be the easy way out." Deca looked confused at first, but eventually decided to let it go. After all, it WAS magic. "Anyway, we can't kill them, so we need to either steal or destroy the elements of harmony. And, since the latter is impossible for any of us, then I suggest that we take them."

"Wait," Deca asked, "how come we can't destroy them? Surely it can't be that hard, right?"

Arcaniss just sighed, hating explaining things to her companions, "There are only two beings in the universe who can destroy the elements of harmony, and those are Discord, and Chaos."

"Fine. Let's get to the castle of the royal pony sisters, then. That's where their last known location is." They all nodded in agreement. "Then get this place cleaned up; I want no traces of anypony EVER being here, got it?"

"Got it." Darastrix said, putting out the fire. After the cleanup was done, they set off deeper into the forest. They passed many creatures along the way, and none of them survived. They ended up with some crude but effective weapons because of it: Manticore horns, shards of Timber wolf hide, a cocatrice head, and many more. They heard a loud crash coming from somewhere not so far ahead of them, and rushed to check it out. They burst through the foliage, to find six ponies standing in the middle of some rocks.

The first one, an Alabaster unicorn, had three diamonds as a cutie mark and a purple mane and tail. She seemed very stuck up to the three unicorns. The next was an orange earth pony, with three apples as a cutie mark, and a brown stetson cap. The third one seemed very out of place here. She was a pegasus with a cyan blue coat, and a Rainbow mane and tail, and her cutie mark was that of a lightning cloud with a rainbow sticking out of it. 'If that doesn't scream "Gay pride," then I don't know what does.'

The fourth one was hard to make out, since she was cowering away from the new arrivals behind some rocks. 'She should be afraid of us,' Darastrix thought, 'She doesn't know what we're capable of...' The fifth one, who wasn't facing them, but instead was bouncing up and down in place, was a solid pink mare with three balloons as a cutie mark. The last one, who had stepped forward to greet them by now, was a purple unicorn, with a perfectly strait mane, with three different shades of purple in it. And her cutie mark just happened to be...

'The element of magic.' Deca thought, smirking, 'I've been waiting all my life for this moment.'

The purple one approached them and spoke, "Well, looks like we weren't the only ones that went after Nightmare Moon!" She said, smiling. "Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. And you are?"

They had prepared aliases for this exact moment many years ago. Darastrix refused, however, saying that if he couldn't use his name, then he 'Might as well not fight.' "Good evening to you, miss Sparkle. I am Dusk Shine. These are my companions, Dragon Slayer, and Mystic Orb."

The other unicorn stepped forward, and said, "Well, a fine evening to you, Dusk Shine. Twilight, care to introduce us?"

"Oh yeah. Dusk Shine, these are my friends Rarity," The white one waved, "Applejack," The orange one tipped her hat, "Rainbow dash," She practically swelled with pride when her name was called, "The one hiding behind the rock is Fluttershy," She peeked around, and smiled weakly, before darting back behind the rock. "And the one that's bouncing is Pinkie Pie." At the mention of her name, Pinkie turned and saw the trio, Gasped, then rammed Twilight out of the way, so she could talk to them.

"OH, I KNOW YOU! You three walked into Ponyville about the same time Twilight did, and I said that I would throw you a party, but I didn't have enough time to set one up for you and Twilight and I didn't know where you were staying so I didn't know how to get you to sugarcube corner in the first place so do you like cupcakes?"

'HOW COULD SHE DO THAT IN ONE BREATH??!?' She blinked, not quite sure what just happened, but quickly regained her stature. "Well, yes, you did see us. As for where we are staying, we answered an ad for roommate's wanted in the paper. I believe we are staying with Fluttershy, actually." At her name being mentioned, she came out from behind the rock. "Not to worry, Angel already showed us where to put our things. You need not worry."

She sighed with relief, "Oh thank goodness, I thought that Angel wasn't going to be there when you arrived."

After their little exchange, they started trotting in the direction of the castle. About 5 minutes into their journey, an ear-piercing roar echoed through the everfree, making whatever was watching the ponies run away in fear. The nine ponies looked around, hoping to find what made that noise. Another roar came, this one much louder and closer. They looked to the skies, and saw a beast that only Deca Vaeri had seen before.

It was easily 300 hooves long, and that measurement being used very loosely. It was about as wide as a full grown dragon, and had some draconic qualities. It had sickly green colored scales, that gleamed menacingly in the moonlight. It was flying high above them, but didn't have any wings. 'Must be able to use magic.' But the worst part was the HEAD of the beast. Teeth that were easily as big as Big Macintosh, dripping with some sort of corrosive liquid. But the EYES, they were the worst of all. A look at them made all but four of the ponies paralyze with fear, though the four were still frightened intensely.

"Dusk," Darastrix said, still using the alias, "Mind telling me what exactly we're looking at?" He looked over at her, but she was frozen in place, and noticeably more pale than usual. 'DECA is afraid of this thing? Wow, it must be one tough son of a bitch.'

The creature landed in front of them, snarling and drooling the corrosive saliva. It reared back, and roared into their faces. That snapped them out of their trance, and they all backed away from it. Twilight looked to Deca, and said, "Any idea what the hell this thing is?"

"Something that shouldn't be in this forest." Deca said.

"But... this forest is home to many creatures, and it seems like it can defend itself." It seemed to be waiting patiently for them to finish before doing whatever it had planned.

"It's not this thing that I'm worried about," Deca said, turning to Twilight, "It's the other creatures that we need to worry about."

Fluttershy looked out from behind Applejack and into the monster's eyes. She stepped forward. Her friends shouts were lost to her, because she only had one thought: Protect her friends. "Now, listen here, mister giant snake monster," It growled at her, "Just because you're bigger than us, doesn't mean that you can push us around!"

It smacked her into a tree. "FLUTTERSHY!" The rest of the elements said a once, racing over to her. The creature ignored them, and turned it's attention onto Deca and her party.

"Deca, just what is this thing?" Darastrix said, starting to get worried.

"Don't you see? We're doomed," She said, turning to him, "That's a Drakon."

Chapter 3: Luna's Return pt. 2

After the battle with the Drakon, they all stopped to rest and heal their wounds in the clearing. Fluttershy brought a first aid kit, and was acting as a medic to the other elements. Deca, having taken the brunt of the damage from the Drakon, had Arcaniss heal her using magic, mending the flesh with complex spells instead of simple bandages. "We must continue on soon," Arcaniss told Deca in private, "These ponies are not our allies, we would have no regrets if we left them alone."

"Quiet, Arcaniss," Deca hissed, looking to the future elements, "I feel that if we stay close, we can assassinate them much easier." Arcaniss finished, and Deca started to get up, walking around to test her new flesh out. "Even if we wanted to leave, our paths would meet again soon anyway, since they are trying to find our mistress. And if they DO succeed in their mission, if they use the elements of harmony on her, then we will have Luna back, and she will not want revenge as much as she does now."

Arcaniss stood and walked to Deca, putting her hoof on her back. "If they are a threat to the mistress, then we MUST get rid of them, and you know this." Deca shrugged off her hoof and turned away, but Arcaniss stopped her. "We must do it soon, even if they are nice now. Find us an opening, and lead us to it."

Deca smiles slightly, and walks towards Twilight and the rest of her group. She approaches them, "Are your friends wounded?"

"Nothing we can't handle," Twilight said, smiling at Deca, "but we would've been done for if it weren't for you three back there. How can we repay you?"

'By not being the elements of harmony, for starters,' Deca thought, smirking a bit, "There's no need to repay us now," She said, "But I have a few questions for you, if you would answer them."

"Well, sure! If I can answer them then I'll help you."

Deca grinned at this, and took a breath, "I would like to know the limitations of your magic. Back there, you did some fairly powerful spells and didn't seem to get tired, so I would like to know just how far you can go before you give in to exhaustion."

The other elements looked at her suspiciously, but Twilight simply started to think about the question, furrowing her brow in concentration as she thought of the answer. After a few seconds of thinking, she said, "I don't really know the extent of my magic, I've only ever used so much of it at a time and I used it with a little ease, so, I guess I can use it for a while." Deca seemed dissatisfied by this answer, but Twilight payed no attention to it. "Why do you ask, by the way?"

Deca seemed stunned at this, not expecting that answer. She looked to the other elements for a moment, who each had a different easily readable expression, shrugged and said, "Purely for academic purposes. If we are to be more acquainted with each other, then we must get to know one another. Either way, that is all." Deca walked away from their group, leaving them confused.

Darastrix, who had been listening the whole time, rushed up to meet Deca as she approached the group. "What do you think of it?"

"She's lying." Deca said, with no hesitation, "I can guarantee that."

"How do you know?"

"She's not a good liar. Plus," She added, "The lie detection field I cast kinda told me she was."

"Those exist?"

"I made the spell myself."

Darastrix huffed and walked away, mumbling something about her keeping all the power to herself.

Deca payed Darastrix's short temper no mind, having been living with him for just over 1,000 years now. Instead, she decided to do a little espionage work and see if she can figure out just how powerful the elements are.

Meanwhile, Arcaniss was walking to their group, hoping to make sure that, if they were to stay together, then there would be no bad blood between the two groups. "Hey guys," she said, approaching the Elements, who appeared to be ready to leave at any moment. "Are you about to move on?"

Twilight looked at her and sighed, "Look, I know that you guys don't trust us, but you could at least not lie about it."

"I never said anything about trust, I was asking if you were about to leave."

"Either way, yes, we are about to continue. Why?"

Arcaniss frowned a bit, "I'd like to apologize for Deca's behavior," She bowed her head slightly in defeat, "Our leader doesn't trust easily, and is defensive of the group." She looked up, to see a stunned look on the element of magic's face.

"Well," Twilight said, smiling, "I'm glad it was just a misunderstanding." She looked at Applejack, "Looks like you were wrong, AJ, she wasn't thinking about attacking us."

Arcaniss stopped herself from saying the truth right there, and simply said, "Really?"

Applejack looked down, and held her hat to her chest, "Ah'm mighty sorry fer thinkin' that y'all wouldn't be nice ponies and all, but can ya really blame me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, three ponies jumpin' out of the forest, an' as soon as they introduce themselves, a giant magic dragon comes out o' the forest an' starts attackin' us, which was stopped by your friend Dragon Slayer, who gutted the darn thing with no mercy. Surely y'all can see how ah thought that?"

Arcaniss shrugged, seemingly indifferent about the fact that AJ was very close to the truth, "It's alright, but I would not suggest saying that in front of Dusk or Dragon, they may take it personally." She smiled a bit while she talked, "They tend to have a bit of a temper even at the best of times. I tend to be level-headed most of the time, though, so you can be honest around me."

Applejack nodded, and got up. "Well ah'm sorry fer jumpin' to conclusions like that, anyway."

Arcaniss nodded, and turned to the rest of the group, "Are any of you hurt? I know healing magic."

They all shook their heads, save Rarity and Twilight, who looked at the mage, stunned. "Mystic, darling, you know healing magic?"

"Why, yes. Did anything break during the fight?"

"Break?" Twilight said, leaning back a bit, "Knowing enough magic to heal basic cuts is one thing, but being able to mend bones is unheard of!"

Arcaniss was about to tell her something, but was cut off by Darastrix calling her name. "Sorry, I would explain a bit further, but, duty calls." She turned and trotted towards her group, losing her smile as she reached them. "What's wrong?"

"We need to leave." Deca said, getting up, "They can fend for themselves, since the magic of the elements is powerful enough to protect them from harm."

"But we could learn useful information from them, or get them lost in the forest!"

Darastrix put a hoof in her mouth, promptly shutting her up. He motioned for Deca to continue. "Our mistress has called us to the castle, and we WILL comply, no matter how much we want to stay."

Arcaniss nodded, knowing full well the extent Deca will go to make sure that she came to the castle with them. "Very well, let's say our goodbyes to the elements."

Deca nodded, and walked over to the other group, the other two servants of Nightmare falling into formation behind her.

Twilight saw their approach, and the elements stood up at a single word from their supposed leader. 'Hmm, they acknowledge her as their leader. I'll have to remember that for later.'

"Are you guys ready to go?" Twilight asked, motioning to the path in the forest, "We still have a short ways to go before we reach the castle of the royal pony sisters."

Deca cleared her throat and said, "Sorry, but you six will have to get there by yourselves."

At the elements' gasp, Arcaniss stepped forward, "What Dusk means to say, is that we really must be on our way. We enjoyed spending time with you six, and it was an honor to fight by your sides."

"You really have to go?" Pinkie Pie said, looking to be on the verge of tears.

"Yes, we have to go, get over it," Darastrix said, flaring his nostrils, "Come on, 'Dusk,' let's go."

Deca turned and left with Darastrix, Arcaniss catching up after saying goodbye properly.

They went a small way into the forest, and seemingly vanished into thin air.

__-=={(+)}==-__

Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters - Decayed Throne Room (B1)

Deca, Darastrix, and Arcaniss warped into the throne room, unlocking the barrier that Nightmare Moon placed around the room, which protected their body heat and magical signatures from getting detected via magical or electronic means. The three ponies appeared at the foot of the throne, and immediately bowed to the midnight Alicorn sitting in it.

Nightmare Moon looked up from her apparent studying, and smiled at her students. "Ah, my students have arrived, at last." She got up and approached them, lifting them back up with her magic. "There's no need for formalities between us. You three have proven to be worthy of my respect many times."

Deca genuinely smiled at this, something that she hasn't done in almost a millennium, "Thank you, mistress. It has been a very long time since we have been able to be in your presence."

"Indeed it has." Nightmare turned to the other two ponies in the room, smiling at them as well. "It seems that your dragon blood transfusion theory worked, Arcaniss, as well as your draconian expertise, Darastrix. I am proud of you three."

They all beamed and bowed, except for Deca, who was preparing to give their master her report, "Mistress, about the elements of Harmony, the-"

"The bearers are coming to the fortress as we speak, and intend to remove my dark powers when they get here and free my sister, using the powers of the elements." She closed Deca's gaping jaw, giggling a bit, "It may seem as a surprise to you, but I can observe things with powers beyond your understanding."

Deca knew of what she was talking about; the concept of lunar magic not unknown to her, though Nightmare was the only pony who knew how to cast it. "So... what happens now?"

Nightmare Moon lost her smile, and grimaced at the question. "Once those six get here, I will be powerless to stop them if they get their hands on the Elements. I must take care of the elements now."

"Great," Darastrix said, smiling maniacally, "Where are they, I'd like to smash them now!"

Nightmare smacked him with her hoof, "Don't you understand? You three cannot interfere with this battle in any way."

"What are you saying, mistress?" Deca said with concern.

"I'm saying," Nightmare whispered, "That you must let me either handle them, or be consumed by the powers of the elements."

All three of them were speechless, to say the least.

"But Mistress, we-"

Nightmare put her hoof in Deca's mouth, effectively silencing her. "I need you three to promise me, that no matter what happens, no matter what the elements do to me, that you will stay out of this fight."

The group was speechless, staring at her like she belonged in a mental institution.

It was Darastrix that snapped out of it first, kneeling and swearing to uphold his oath to obey her at all costs.

Arcaniss was next, kneeling in the same fashion and repeating what Darastrix had said before her.

Deca Vaeri looked to her two comrades, shocked that they were agreeing to not protect Nightmare Moon when the elements arrived. "Mistress, I-"

"Say nothing more, Deca Dance." She winced at the long forgotten name, but looked her master in the eye, "I understand what you are feeling, and know of why you hesitate, but you must trust in me, not as a teacher, and not as a master," she smiled, "but as a friend."

Deca was shocked, to say the least. 'As a friend?' Deca looked down, thinking about what she just heard her say, 'So I'm not... I'm not just some puppet to her?'

With great reluctance, Deca bowed to her master, and chanted the same words her two allies said.

"Good. Now, the elements will arrive soon, so I need you to-" Nightmare Moon's ear twitched, causing her attention to waver for a bit, "They are at the castle. Quickly, you three, hide somewhere. I want you to see this."

They did as they were told, and prepared themselves to see their mistress get defeated for the first time in a thousand years.

---~~(@*@)~~--

Twilight and the elements made it to the castle, after a long trek through the forest. "Alright, girls," Twilight said, turning towards her friends, "Nightmare Moon may already be here, so we need to get the elements immediately, okay?"

"Got it!" Was said simultaneously from the group.

"Good. Now, the elements are supposedly in the first room, so go for them as soon as the door opens." Twilight turned back to the door, charging her horn, "Is everypony ready?"

They all nodded, and Twilight shoved open the large, ancient doors, revealing an underused throne room with a pedestal in the center. The pedestal held the most powerful weapon that ponykind has had since the beginning of time:

The Elements of Harmony.

The six ponies rushed in, grabbing the stone orbs that represented the physical elements. "Be careful with those, girls, they're our only hope in defeating Nightmare Moon."

The pegasi got all of the orbs down, with the ground bound ponies watching. "One, two, three, four... There's only five!" Pinkie Pie said, looking at Twilight with a worried expression on her face.

"The book said that when the elements were together, a spark would create the sixth, and they would be at full power once again." She said, eying the Elements. "I have an idea. Stand back everypony, I don't know what's going to happen."

Everypony backed off, and Twilight's aura surrounded the elements, making them float in the air. She was going to cast a spell that should create a significant spark, but before she could, something large and blue struck her in the side of the head, and sent her into the wall. "TWILIGHT!" everypony cried, before turning to the pitch black Alicorn that hit her.

"Ha ha ha! You thought that I would let you get the elements THAT easily, did you?" Nightmare Moon smirked at them, seeing the fear and anger in their eyes. "Such a shame that you need to be disposed of, you would've made for some excellent soldiers." Her horn glowed and trapped them all in a dark blue bubble. "Although, I at least expected some sort of fight."

Twilight glared at Nightmare, and charged her horn, sending waves of her magi into the barrier that Nightmare Moon created. She was sure that this much magic would have an effect on the shield, but it appeared to be doing nothing but amuse the dark Alicorn. Twilight continued to do this, and was soon joined by the rest of the elements, who were either joining her with magic, or just plain hitting the force field.

After a few minutes of this, Twilight looked up to see Nightmare Moon's smile gone, and sweat on her brow, clear signs of magical straining. 'Good, she'll have to release us soon.'

Nightmare Moon began to grow agitated, and dispelled the shield. "Well well well, it appears that you six are stronger than I thought." Nightmare scraped the ground with her hoof, "But I will NOT be so easily defeated."

Twilight looked to the other five elements, and nodded towards the stone orbs that currently represent the elements. They took the hint and grabbed them, getting behind Twilight. "You five stay back and figure out how to unlock the sixth element, I'll hold her off."

Nightmare Moon laughed and charged, headbutting Twilight and sending her flying again. Twilight recovered quickly, and sent a barrage of magical missiles to Nightmare,who promptly put up a shield.

Back and forth the spellcasters went, each attack getting blocked and countered just as quickly as the last, until Nightmare got a bolt of lightning past Twilight's defenses, zapping her horn and absorbing her magical energy. Nightmare laughed, "Do you see? I have not been defeated since my sister used all six elements of harmony against me, and you only have five of them! Your magic is depleted, and your five allies sit behind you shivering like newborn foals! I hold all the cards here! YOU have nothing!"

The five elements stepped forward and said, "She's got us, and that's more than we could say about you!"

Nightmare laughed, but was cut off at the blinding white light that suddenly enveloped the stone elements, along with Twilight. "No..."

Twilight smirked at the shocked expression on Nightmare's face, "You say that we cannot use the elements of harmony against you, but that's where you're wrong, Nightmare!" Each stone orb went to the pony that represented that element, "Because we ARE the elements of harmony! We alone have the ability to harness their power, rendering your powers useless!"

Each of them knew that they were an element, and somehow knew how to use them. Necklaces flashed into existence where the stones were, and attached themselves to their respective bearers. Then, a blinding light came from the ceiling of the room, as the sixth, and most powerful, element appeared to it's bearer; Magic.

The tiara floated onto Twilight's head, creating a blinding light connected to the other elements. The Elements of Harmony combined their power, and fired harmonic energy towards Nightmare Moon, who could only look on in horror as it collided with her, burning away her dark armor and flesh, leaving behind a long forgotten Alicorn.

The Elements of Harmony had taken away the Nightmare, and left behind Princess Luna, sister and co-ruler of equestria with Celestia.

__~~~--%^(!&#&!)^%--~~~__

Deca, Arcaniss, and Darastrix sat on the edge of the Everfree forest, watching the festivities with Luna and Celestia go on from a distance, not wanting to risk the guards or Celestia see them. Darastrix turned to Deca, "Well? What happens now that Luna's back?"

Deca didn't bother to look at her comrade when speaking, but replied nevertheless, "We assist Princess Luna. We swore an oath many years ago to protect her at the cost of even our own lives, and I will not break that oath for anypony, not even Luna." Deca turned to Darastrix, smiling. "It just changes the kind of orders we will be receiving."

Arcaniss looked in the distance towards Fluttershy's cottage, contemplating what Deca just explained to them. "Maybe we should head home now, I'd hate to keep Angel or Fluttershy waiting for us."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask," Darastrix said, as they walked in the general direction of the cottage, "What history do you have with a little bunny?"

"Oh, I took out his soul when I was a little filly and replaced it with the soul of an ancient horror." She nonchalantly answered, getting strange looks from her two party members. "What?"

"Where did you get the soul?"

"Tartarus, of course."

Deca and Darastrix stopped in their tracks for a second, telepathically discussing this new information. 'She must be much stronger than we originally thought, Darastrix.'

'I don't care, I can still punch her through a wall if I needed to.'

"You guys DO realize that I have a mental connection with you still, right?"

"Shut up, we're trying to plot against you!" Darastrix said, getting smacked by Deca.