The Bearer of the Apocalypse

The frail centaur known as Lord Tirek paced around his cell in thought. Scheming his next plan at not only escaping the accursed place known as Tartarus, but also getting revenge against Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Until he could even escape, Tirek would comply with getting his revenge in his dreams; assuming that Luna would choose to bother someone else's dream instead of his own.

After all, villains do have dreams and goals. Just because world domination didn’t fit into the agendas of Equestria didn’t mean he’d have to change his.

“Tirek!” The centaur turned to the entrance of his cell to see Princesses Twilight, Celestia, and Ember. He was very surprised, knowing that they were quite angry when he had stolen their magic and turned Discord against them. Well, he never got to the dragons due to being defeated, so he honestly didn’t know why the new Dragon Lord was here.

“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure? It’s not every day that one meets royalty, well aside from when I had taken your magic, but I’m sure that’s in the past.” Tirek taunted, feeling some amusement in seeing the brief flash of anger go across Celestia’s face. However, instead of a retort from her or her friends, the white alicorn summoned her magic and moved him to the back of his cell while creating a table with tea and a few cookies.

“I would recommend sitting down, Tirek. You may have answers to a threat that runs amok in Equestria, and considering what has recently happened, I’m not in the mood for games.” Celestia’s stern tone, one that was reserved mainly for Discord when he got out of control, told him that he didn’t have a choice. He walked towards his chair and reluctantly sat down as the three walked in and sat across from him. Tirek could see that Ember was getting impatient, about what he didn’t know, but considering that they had come to him for answers he knew that he held some of the cards.

“What is it that you wish to know? By coming to me it means that it involves something that neither you nor Luna know of. Something that can’t be found in a book somewhere or isn’t inscribed in stone.” Tirek took joy at the shots he had taken at Twilight and Ember. The two gave him a hard glare, but Celestia calmly sipped her tea before speaking.

“First things first, I thought that I should let you know that all of the dragons in the Dragon Lands, save three, have been killed.” Celestia broke the ice by getting straight to the point. Tirek gave her his full attention with a bewildered look on his face. Surely she didn’t believe that he had killed them? He had been imprisoned here for quite a while, nor did he have the power to do so. So who could have—

An eerie, cold shiver went down his spine. Tirek managed to hide his sudden discomfort by eating some of the food that Celestia had graciously brought. He couldn’t still be around, could he? Tirek had heard the rumors from all those years ago, he assumed them to be true because there had been no sightings of him. Shaking his head, he swallowed his food before speaking.

“I’ll have you know that it wasn’t me who—“

“We are well aware that it wasn’t you. Beings such as you, and even King Sombra and Chrysalis, realize the folly of ruling a kingdom with no subjects to rule over. We have a basic idea of our culprit, but we don’t know where or who he truly is.” Celestia interrupted with the knowledge of how most villains of Equestria had been. While she knew that they weren’t above killing to get what they wanted, with Discord being somewhat of the exception, killing everyone would leave a kingdom full of corpses. Nothing to rule over except animals and their soldiers.

Tirek quietly drank his tea and ate his snack. While he savored the flavor, with this being the best meal he’s had since being here, he couldn’t truly enjoy it as the coldness worsened. Memories from years ago started to surface, but he forcibly pushed them back down and locked them away. Tirek was doing his very best to ignore it, and most importantly, to forget.

To forget that day entirely.

“And for what reason do you believe that I possess that answer?”

“Because you’ve been alive longer than Celestia. You’ve met Starswirl the bearded when he was a young unicorn, and you might know about the black dragon that killed its—“

“WHAT!?!?” Tirek roared, shattering his cup as he stood to his hooves, bucking his chair across the cell as it shattered against the wall. The three stared at him with widened eyes, completely surprised at the reaction. Twilight went to speak again, but Tirek was quicker.

“The black dragon…Acnologia still exists!?” Tirek asked again, still shouting in pure terror. Out of the three, Ember was the most curious, seeing as the dragon may have been a historical figure for her people. To the princesses surprise, they heard the other creatures in Tartarus whimper and howl at the dragon’s name. They too were afraid of him, and they were all silenced when Celestia slammed her hoof on the floor; sending echoes throughout the prison as Ember spoke.

“Who is he? And why is slaughtering his fellow dragons!?” Ember demanded before slamming her talons into the table. Tirek managed to calm himself down as he momentarily stared at her, and then his face grew serious. He stared directly into her eyes before doing the same to the Alicorns.

“Acnologia…was the world’s first Dragon King.” This revelation caused them to gasp. “No one knows where he came from, but he was by far one of the most, if not the most, strongest beings on the planet. Very few could challenge his might, and those that couldn’t did, were erased.” Ember and Twilight shuddered at his tone. Celestia’s gaze hardened, which told the centaur to explain more.

“Long ago, when I was a child, my father once told me a story; a story of how powerful dragons were. He told me how dragons could level mountains, create valleys, and were very adept in elemental magic.” Tirek’s story left Ember’s jaw hanging. Dragons couldn’t use magic, with the exception being Spike, and to hear that they once could was mind-breaking. “But the Dragon King topped all of that. He could destroy islands, destroy forests with just a roar, and flatten towns just by descending to the ground. But the most destructive thing he’s done during my time was obliterating a country.”

The princesses couldn’t help but be silent. The black dragon was powerful, absurdly so. Destroying a country by himself was horrifying enough, not only pushing his power further but proving why he was the first King of Dragons. They could only ponder Acnologia’s destruction and his reasoning behind it, but couldn’t fathom any reason for killing his subjects.

“I must admit that while the history of the dragons is very interesting, it does not explain why the first dragon king is killing his subjects. It also raises other questions; such as why is he not mentioned in history? Why has he been gone so long? Why has he appeared now?” Celestia stacked question onto question, wanting to know more about the first Dragon King. Ember was more curious than her, hearing the tales of how powerful dragons once were.

“There are a few things that I cannot answer. One of them being why he kills dragons. No one, not even the dragons themselves, knew why he killed his kin. Acnologia vanished after some time for unknown reasons, and Discord may have the answer to that question. He knows more about the world than myself, along with its many secrets as well. But what I do know is this…” Tirek replied before he focused solely on Ember. “…He will stop at nothing until all dragons have been eliminated. And that includes you.”

“You’re wrong!” Twilight shouted, drawing attention to herself. “Sure, he’s killed dragons recently and in the past, maybe doing so as we speak, but me and my friends will stop him. Just like with you, Sombra, Chrysalis, and every other villain we’ve faced, he’ll be stopped.” Twilight boldly stated as Celestia and Ember smiled at her proclamation. Celestia could tell that she had matured greatly since she had been first sent to Ponyville, and her status as a princess boosted that.

“Hehehe…Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha!!” Tirek’s sudden laughter gave him attention. He slammed his hands on the table and used it for support as he held his stomach. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought Twilight to be the Princess of Comedy.

“Something Funny?” Ember growled out, her anger starting to grow with Tirek’s antics.

“Most certainly! Acnologia isn’t like every other villain, because he doesn’t care to rule Equestria or Earth Land. He craves death and destruction, and there isn’t a single creature currently alive that can oppose him. Even then, when I was young, once again, hardly anyone could match his power. Why, I myself believe it would take the likes of Grogar, Discord, the four Alicorns, and King Sombra to even be some kind’ve challenge to him.” Tirek explained his amusement while telling them his honest opinion on what it would take to fight the Dragon King.

“You mean to tell us that even with all of the people that you’ve listed, that we’d only be able to become a challenge? Not only that, but that his one goal is to bring destruction to the world?” Celestia asked as Tirek nodded. Any theories that Celestia could have come up with were suddenly dismissed by Tirek’s claim.

What dismissed her theories was Acnologia’s reasoning. And the reason didn’t exist, because he had no desire to rule. No desire to bend the alicorns to his will, to take the magic of the land, or even enslave any creature as far as the eye could see. Still, hope existed to stop him, and there was still another group currently going to learn more about Acnologia.

Starlight’s group should already be on their way to the Dragon Lands, and Celestia hoped and prayed to Faust herself that Acnologia had chosen to leave. Tirek would have no reason to lie about his strength if he feared him too, and she was now more worried than ever about Equestria…no, Earth Land itself. As for Tirek, well, he was perfectly content with remaining in Tartarus. With the Dragon King running amok he wasn’t concerned about revenge or escaping, as far as he was concerned, he was in a very safe place. After all…

He wasn’t about to fight the Arcane Dragon and think that he would escape as the victor. Not again. He once thought that before and paid for it, and he wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. Tirek spaced out at those thoughts before regaining his focus and seeing the three staring at him with confused and even worried looks on their faces.

“If that is all, then you can leave. I have no business in dealing with Acnologia, and staying out of his way is the best chance of survival, unless you're a dragon. Even so, if he sees you as something that he wants to destroy, or even worse, a threat, then he’ll leave nothing left of you.” Tirek finished as he vanished into the darkness of his cell with his plate of food and drink. Celestia watched his figure before she sighed and removed the furniture that was within his cell. Then she teleported herself, Twilight, and Ember out of Tartarus and into the throne room where Luna was seated and waiting.

“Can I assume that things have gone well sister? Or at the very least gotten some useful information out of him?”

“I cannot say that it was well, considering the information, but we’ve certainly gained very useful information. While I will give you a brief summary, we should wait for Starlight’s group to return so that we may all have the same information. And with Discord there…”

“…He may find more than meets the eye.”

“Ah! I just love the dark side of the moon!”

“What are you talking about?” Starlight turned her head to the chaos god, wondering what nonsense he was talking about this time. “It’s the middle of the day.”

“True, but the dark side of the moon is filled with many fun mysteries, but Luna won’t let me near ours. Besides, the Fallen is someone that Celestia wouldn’t like. Destroying suns and ending the lives of civilizations, you know how it is.” Discord replied before he created metal spines on the side of his face as his eyes suddenly glowed a bright red. Starlight sighed and shook her head, deciding that she was going to save herself the headache. Despite being reformed, he still had his mischievous tendencies, and those tendencies would work Starlight’s nerves.

“We’re almost at the Dragon Lands. Although, I’m still nervous about actually being there. When Twilight told me what happened, well, I was a little hesitant about going. But seeing as she’s trusting me on this I couldn’t refuse her.” Starlight admitted as her ears folded back. She felt very unnerved about leading this expedition, even more so when she was interested in what had happened. But she also felt very honored that she had been chosen to be the leader instead of the spirit of chaos or the pony with actual military experience in leading others.

“Trust me, being nervous for something like this isn’t uncommon. Quite frankly, I’d be more concerned if you weren’t feeling nervous. Twilight wanted you here because she believes you are capable of handling yourself, and with me and Discord here, we have nothing to worry about.” Shining calmly said as he trotted alongside her with a small smile. Starlight gave a confident one back, now knowing where Twilight got her confidence from.

“Come along now! While I’m sure that the speech was inspiring, I can assure you that the land of the dead that we are at will crush it.”

Way to ruin the moment Discord.

“I try my best.”

Anyway, the group arrived at the dead land and could already smell the putrid stench of rotting corpses. The sun that had been beating down on them made it even worse, so much so that Discord snapped his fingers and created three nose plugs for them all. But while the nose plugs blocked out the scent, they couldn’t block out the horrifying sight that was before them.

“I know the princess said that it was bad according to the survivor, but it was worse than I imagined.” Shining stoicly said as he made his way towards the land. He entered into military mode, knowing that he needed his nerves calmed so that he could calm down the others if need be, mainly Starlight. Starlight was frozen in place, for as far as the eye could see, she saw countless mutilated corpses. Many were littered on the ground, others were pasted on the side of rocks, and others were completely unrecognizable. Starlight audibly gulped before following Shining.

“C-C’mon Discord. We won’t know anything until we get more information.” Silence was what she received. “D-Discord? Let’s go already, what’s the matter?” Starlight turned and asked, but what she saw caused her to pause mid-stride. Discord’s face was one of terror, although she could see how uncertain he looked as he viewed the landscape.

“I need to confirm something. Let’s go!” Discord quickly said before snapping his talons and teleporting himself, Starlight, and even Shining in an area where there were no corpses. The prince was briefly disoriented before she shook his head and glared at the draconequus, but he couldn’t get a word out before he snapped his talons again and vanished.

“What is wrong with him? Chaos he may be, even Discord needs to have some reasoning to him.”

“He has reasoning every now and then, but that’s like trying to place some form of logic onto Pinkie Pie. But actually, I think the reason is that something spooked him.” Starlight countered as she examined a nearby corpse. “Whatever has Discord worried, makes me wonder if it has to do with this black dragon. No, it has to do with it, but what that is I’m not entirely sure.” Starlight explained as steeled her nerves before walking around.

Shining did the same as they each took a separate direction. The prince of the Crystal Empire was trying to see if there were more survivors, despite how low those chances were. As for Starlight, she was trying to figure out what had shaken Discord. She had done numerous magical scans on different dragons, and each scan remained the same but something was missing.

Starlight continued her scans, desperately trying to figure out what was missing, or what may have been taken. She had gotten so focused on scanning the dragons that she tripped over a rock and fell into a crater. She rolled down for a bit before landing with a small splash, which greatly confused her as water was quite scarce in the dragon lands due to its climate. However, she suddenly had a metallic taste in her mouth before realizing what she was in.

A small pool of blood.

She went to get up and get out of the blood when her eyes fell upon the dragon that created the blood. Torch lay on his side, his empty eyes staring into her own. Starlight immediately screamed and teleported out of the red liquid. Starlight furiously shook herself, wanting to remove every drop of blood on her fur. Even as Shining and Discord appeared, she didn’t stop as shook off her saddle bag and used her hooves to try and remove the blood. However, she only accomplished smearing the blood on her hooves and her body, and upon remembering that she had also tasted the blood made her gag.

Before Shining could try and calm her down, Discord snapped his talons. Instantly, Starlight’s body glowed as her frantic breathing and movements slowed down. Now she was far calmer, and with another snap of his talons, her fur was clean and shiny. Even sparkling as the sun beamed down on her.

“I thought it’d be quicker to use a clean and calm spell on you.” Discord answered the question within their minds, knowing what they were probably thinking. “I've managed to confirm my suspicions, and I was hoping to be wrong.”

“What did you find? I’ve been scanning the dragons and they’re missing something, but I can’t figure it out.” Starlight explained as Shining agreed. He found that, outside of being dead, the dragons looked pale. Their scales were faded in color, and some of their eyes had a white hue over them.

“Yes, I confirmed that—Actually, I think it’s time we head back.” Discord interrupted himself as the two ponies looked at him in confusion before protesting. Even though their hopes of finding any more survivors were shattered seeing the state of the dragons, they felt that they could find more useful information.

“We just got here. I think we can explore the caves and dens of a few dragons before leaving. More so the elders to see if they have anything regarding this black dragon.” Shining argued as he could see that Discord wasn’t pleased. He was assigned to search the Dragon Lands to find anything of importance, and he wasn’t about to leave with so little information.

“Shining’s right Discord. We’ve hardly done a deep search, and I think looking into the caves of the Elder Dragons is a great idea. And once we’ve gathered more information, we can leave and share it all with Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.” Starlight explained as both she and Shining stood their ground. They knew that the chaos god could forcibly take them back if he wanted, but they could see that he was thinking over their argument.

“Fine then, we can stay longer.” Discord relented as his companions smiled. “But no more than an hour. I do have places to be, chaos to create, and so much more. Believe it or not, I do have quite the busy schedule.” Discord met in the middle as a scroll appeared that rolled itself out into a long list. The ponies didn’t care, knowing that the draconequus complied with their wants as he started to walk alongside them.

“So he’s left, despite the fact he wasn’t here very long. Either he’s only come to see the damage, or wondered what we’re doing here. Mmm, well so long as he’s gone then it doesn’t matter how long we stay unless he comes back. Not that they need to know that.” Discord thought to himself as he hummed a tune. Deciding to withhold the information that he possessed for the time being, the spirit of chaos followed leader Starlight into the first of many caves.

The group’s trespassing into the homes of elder dragons proved unfruitful. Many of them possessed gold, trinkets, and what Starlight assumed to be magical artifacts. Although, said artifacts were either broken, useless, or oozed dark magic. For whatever reason the elders possessed objects containing dark magic, were better left to the unknown, and Shining swore that one of the objects was calling out to him.

But none of them possessed any knowledge of Acnologia, not that the ponies knew the black dragon’s name. Discord told them that it was time to leave as Starlight reluctantly nodded, disappointed that she didn’t find anything of importance. As she was leaving, Starlight spotted another book out of the corner of her eye.

What separated this book from the others was that it was black with dark blue swirls and bold dark purple initials on the spine, although the initials were faded. She couldn’t make out what the letters were and the author’s name had faded as well, meaning that she couldn’t tell who wrote it either. Still, something about the book made her very curious, and she stared at the book for a few moments before hearing Shining’s voice.

“Starlight! Come on we’re leaving!”

“S-Sorry! I’m coming!” Starlight replied as she stored the book in her saddle bag. She had a feeling that it would be, somehow, useful. Unbeknownst to her, something had dashed through the cave and collected the books and other magical artifacts that had been cursed with dark magic. It hid itself as it watched Starlight leave, its eyes focused on her saddle bag before it sunk into the shadows.

The small group’s sudden appearance in the throne room startled those present, consisting of the Elements of Harmony, the co-rulers of Equestria, the current Dragon Lord with Smolder, and Spike. Discord found it quite amusing as he chuckled a bit before he appeared next to Celestia.

“So Lightbringer, what did you learn from your trip to prison? I assume that Tirek and the others were very hospitable when you graced them with your presence.”

“For the last time Discord, stop calling me that. I get a strange feeling from that nickname, and the prisoners hospitality made themselves known when Tirek screamed the black dragon’s name in terror.” Celestia replied as she forcibly teleported Discord next to Fluttershy. He shrugged his shoulders before snapping his talons, creating tea and cookies for himself and the pegasus next to him.

“No disrespect o’ nothing princess, but how in tarnation does this dragon’s name scare Tirek of all creatures?” Applejack asked as Rainbow Dash agreed. She couldn’t see any reason why someone should fear a name, almost as if forgetting the names of powerful villains they had all once faced with one of them being in the same room as her.

“Names hold meaning, but certain names hold power. In certain places, these names go a long way. Whether the name strikes fear or calmness into the hearts of those who hear it depends on the creature behind the name. As for the prisoners of Tartarus, Tirek especially, the name Acnologia holds a great deal of meaning and power.” Celestia calmly explained as she noticed the looks on their faces. Confusion at first before turning to concern with Tirek’s name in the same sentence. She understood the reason for concern, with Tirek nearly taking all of the magic in Equestria and almost becoming its new dictator.

“According to Tirek, Acnologia was the very first Dragon King, albeit it was self-proclaimed. Even so, he was the King of Dragons with the power to back up his claim. However, he was no benevolent ruler, nor a ruler at all for he slaughtered dragons. The reason is unknown, but he killed any and all dragons until one day he vanished. Tirek claims that no one had seen him, and no one knew where he had gone or why he vanished. But now he’s returned, and he must be stopped before he kills all dragons.” Celestia summarized the history of Acnologia and she allowed them all to soak in the information.

Twilight’s friends were a mixture of emotions. Fluttershy was unsurprisingly shaking in place, being completely terrified of Acnologia while softly crying about the deceased dragons. Rarity was worried for Spike and her sister due to the attacks that Ponyville faced from its villains. And if she needs to, she won’t hesitate to send Sweetie Belle to her parents here in Canterlot for her own protection. And while she didn't want to admit it, Rarity knew that there was very little she could do to protect Spike, knowing that she had no power against a fully matured dragon along with not having a clue as to where to send him.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt similar to their siblings. The difference is that Applejack would force her family to move out to Appaloosa to live with Braeburn and extended family whether they wanted to or not, and Rainbow Dash would send Scootaloo with her parents to Cloudsdale. Neither of them were going to take any chances, especially after hearing the carnage that Acnologia had left behind in the ancient past and present times.

The resident dragons of the group didn’t know what to think. Ember had been present during Tirek’s explanation of the first Dragon King. She knew that the rulers of nations were vastly different throughout history, but she doubted any of them were as cruel as Acnolgia. She wondered how insane he must’ve been to declare himself the ruler of dragons when he had also be killing them.

Smolder and Spike, while sharing the same emotions, possessed very different thoughts on the matter. Spike was far more distressed than before, knowing that he was now on a targeted list and would soon join an ever-growing list of dead dragons. He had faith that Twilight and the others would stop him, ending his horrible goal before he could claim the lives of any more of his kin, but his fear of being brutally killed rivaled that faith. It rivaled the faith and bonds of his mother’s friendships, and he felt angry with himself that he was doubting it.

As for Smolder, she was now feeling very dejected. She was ready, regardless of Ember’s order, to challenge Acnologia. But then she heard his atrocities, his vast power, and suddenly gained overwhelming fear. None of them in the room had ever encountered him in person, but she could only imagine how intimidating his presence would be. How absurdly powerful he was with having no one to rival him.

“Tirek even gave a list of people that he believes is what it would take to defeat him.” Twilight gained everyone’s attention as she repeated the listed names. “The problem is that he included Sombra, and Grogar. One of them is dead, and no one knows what’s even happened to the last, not like he could be trusted either. He’s probably been banished to some unknown place where he couldn’t be found, and while I hate to say it, Cadence isn’t much of a fighter. We also don’t know all that much about Acnologia, so we’d be fighting blind while not knowing his magical prowess.” Twilight deduced as she held her hoof to her chin. Compared to the former villains, Acnologia’s existence was shrouded in mystery. No one knew where he came from and the only thing he wanted to was kill every dragon on Earth Land.

“What about you Starlight? You guys must’ve found something in the Dragon Lands. Right?” Rainbow Dash asked as all eyes were on her. Starlight, as much as she wanted to give them some form of hope, couldn’t as she gave a weak sigh and shook her head.

“Aside from books containing dark magic, crumbling magical artifacts, and cursed objects, no we didn’t. Also, out of respect for Ember, we chose not to look into Torch’s den, so there might be some stuff in there that’ll help us. Aside from that, me and Shining discovered that something was wrong with the dragons, like something was missing from them. I scanned every one I came across and got the same results but I couldn’t figure it out. Shining said that their scales had gotten paler, as if they lost some of their colors, and their eyes had a white hue over them. But Discord managed to learn something, and now’s the best time to tell us.” Starlight grimly replied before staring at the chaos god for an answer. She had decided to refrain from telling them of the book she had taken, wanting to examine it herself due to being more versed in dark magic than her friends.

Excluding the princesses and Discord of course.

Everyone looked at him to see him changing Fluttershy’s mane color and style, from having a spiky silver mane that curved off to the left side, to then having black spiked hair that stuck out in all directions that also defied gravity, to finally possessing long silver hair that flowed down to the end of her flank as he also changed her coat to be completely white with her one of her wings turned black.

“Oh, I think I like this one. What do you think my dear?”

“Oh! Uh, I-I think it looks nice, although I feel uh, I-I feel like I shouldn’t look like this. Can you change me back, if you don’t mind, that is?”

“True, the original look is better and we wouldn’t want you to try creating the power of supernovas now, would we?” Discord snapped his talons and Fluttershy returned to normal. “Now then, you wanted to know something?”

“Y-Yes. What had you looking concerned?” Starlight reminded as Discord stroked his goatee. Trying to remember what she was talking about before snapping his talons, appearing coiled around Starlight’s neck with a grin.

“Ah yes. I’d nearly forgotten.” Discord replied with a grin on his face, and then it disappeared. He uncoiled himself and appeared floating in the air with a serious expression on his face. “You and Shining were correct about something being wrong with the dragon's corpses. They were indeed missing something, and that something was their soul.” The draconequus could see them all get visibly pale. He was ready to snap his talons to calm them down, but he decided against it this time.

“Thou can’t be serious? Surly the dragon king doesn’t possess the ability to reap the very souls of living creatures? More specifically towards dragons?” Luna asked, not wanting to believe what she had heard. Discord’s face, however, never changed. He remained serious as he stared into her eyes before speaking again.

“I can assure you all that it’s the truth. He’s taken a portion of their soul, leaving any one of them alive in a half-dead state. Not that it matters since they die anyway, but that is my discovery.”

No one had a response after that. How could they? Hearing that he possessed the power to reap souls was horrifying, and the only ones who could have any defense against it would be the elements of harmony, the Alicorns, and possibly Discord.

“You mean to tell me that this guy can destroy a portion of our soul!? If he can do this to a dragon then he could rule over Earth Land!” Rainbow Dash yelled as her concerns just skyrocketed. Some of the others agreed with her, mainly Smolder and Spike.

“Maybe if we throw him a really super duper awesome big party he’ll stop his destruction!” Pinkie happily yelled with confetti exploding behind her. No one questioned where it came from, having grown used to her antics. Pinkie noticed everyone’s expression and knew that a party wasn’t going to solve the problem as much as she wanted that to be the solution.

“I think a party would have a better effect on Tirek than Acnologia.” Ember dryly said before she sighed. “The issue is that there’s no dragon or creature on Earth Land that knows he’s going around committing mass genocide or even who he is. He has an unknown form of magic that allows him to kill an entire land full of dragons, reaps their souls, and has been alive since Tirek was a kid.”

“So what are yer saying exactly? That the feller has like…Dragon Slayer magic?” Applejack questioned the Dragon Lord, raising a brow at her demeanor. “Even if he does, I find it mighty hard to believe that no one would know about it, or that it wasn’t written down somewhere.” Everyone shivered at the name Applejack had given the magic. The ability to possess the magical power to slay dragons, and possibly other creatures as well, was terrifying.

“Sounds more like Soul Reaper magic to me.” Rainbow Dash commented as she was given a side look from Applejack. “Oh come on! You can have your ideas on this guy’s magic, and besides if he can take, destroy, or consume souls wouldn’t my name for his magic sound much better?”

“I don’t think it matters which name sounds better since either way it’s being used to cause mass genocide. It also concerns me just how in depth you made this form of magic out to be.” Starlight dryly said as Rainbow Dash huffed and looked away. As amusing this would have normally been, everyone sighed at her attitude towards something so insignificant.

“Maybe there’s something in the Royal Library that mentions his magic? Or something that Starswirl has written down or maybe Tirek knows more than what he’s said.” Spike offered as Celestia considered everything that had been said. There were many books and tomes that even she had not gone through, and the possibility of finding something was certainly there. Tirek was a lesser case, seeing as he feared Acnologia, and with that in mind, she believed that he wouldn't try escaping unless Acnologia was defeated or had finished his conquest and vanished once again.

“There are many possibilities and considerations for the Dragon King’s magic. Whether he does possess, as Applejack and Rainbow Dash have said, Dragon Slayer or Soul Reaper magic or not remains unknown. And Tirek withholding information is a possibility as well. For now, I will have a team scour the library for anything that mentions a black dragon, no matter how minuscule. I will also have another team that will be used to track Acnologia and report his location. During this, I want you all to continue about your lives until called upon. I can understand if you’re frustrated or angry with my decision, but hunting down Acnologia with so many uncertainties is a death sentence that I will not be giving. My decision is final.” Celestia sternly explained as she saw them all nod. Off to the side, Ember explained the same thing to Spike and Smolder, even though Spike was more under Celestia’s rule than Ember’s.

“Well, if thou friends have nothing else to add, then you are free to leave. We hope that the next time we meet will be with more information on the Dragon King.” Luna dismissed them as they all started to leave. Starlight was quite surprised that she wasn’t called out for the book of dark magic in her saddle bag, but she was very glad that she wasn’t. She had doubts that her friends had fully forgiven her and was wary that if she was found with this book they would forsake her.

“…free me…”

Starlight shivered and looked around her. No one else heard the cold voice except her, and she knew that no one had spoken. And yet, in the silence of the throne room, a voice spoke to her. She slowly realized where it came from and gave a small glance to her saddle bag, knowing that it was the book. She waited for the voice to say anything else, but the book remained silent as she internally sighed.

“Great, not only does the book contain dark magic but something is sealed inside it. I better prepare some spells and wards, just in case opening the book unleashes whatever’s sealed in it.” Starlight thought to herself as she brought her gaze back up to her friends. None were speaking as they walked out of the throne room, all in their thoughts to fully digest what they had been told. But Starlight was good at reading others, and she could tell they all had similar feelings.

Anger

Frustration

Stress

Anxiety

“...And Fear.”