The Bearer of the Apocalypse

Twilight and Ember appeared just outside the Dragon Lands. It was the place that everyone was visiting, the place they kept returning to. It was, after all, the epicenter for everything that was happening. From Garble’s mental breakdown to two agents being called to track down the culprit, and finally Starlight’s choice of choosing to take Nightmare Moon’s offer. Not that she knew of the last two, but she was growing more nervous as the days went on.

Twilight audibly gulped as she surveyed her surroundings. She managed to swallow the bile that had been gathering in her throat, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to throw up her breakfast if she saw something that broke her. Ember kept a stoic look on her face, managing to herself together as she pressed forward.

“Come on Twilight. My Dad’s den isn’t too far from here, and we’ll get there faster if we fly.” Ember didn’t wait as she took off to the skies, forcing the alicorn to catch up with her. Twilight didn’t need to ask the dragon lord to know that she was just keeping up a mask. A mask that was hiding what she was truly feeling, a mask that she didn’t want to break, a mask that Twilight knew all too well. There had been a few times when Twilight had hidden her emotions or what she was truly feeling from others, not because she wanted to hinder them with her problems, but because she didn’t want to seem weak in front of her friends.

Still, Twilight knew that there was a time and place for everything, but not now. The duo silently flew across the dead kingdom, doing their best not to be distracted by the corpses. However, they still had some good looks of them, looks that would haunt them for a few days as they continued their flight. Ember said nothing, choosing not to address the situation as she signaled for Twilight to descend.

Following her, Twilight saw a large den that led underground. She figured that for Torch’s size, he would have chosen a place on top of a mountain to oversee the other dragons. Ember saw her confusion and explained that her father preferred being underground because it was closer to the lava, making his den warmer than most others.

“Here we are. Don’t take anything without asking, put whatever you find back where you found it, and don’t touch his treasure.” Ember immediately laid out the ground rules as Twilight slowly nodded. She didn’t know why Ember thought that she would take things belonging to her deceased father, especially with Ember present, but she kept quiet and chalked it up to Ember dealing with the loss of her father.

The two went in separate directions, entering different parts of the den as Torch apparently kept things separated. Twilight respected that as she entered his bedroom, while Ember inspected his treasure room. Exactly like Ember said, Torch’s room was warm, almost hot enough that Twilight could’ve fallen asleep if she really wanted to.

But she didn’t, Twilight knew that she had a job to do and that was to find anything of importance or something that would seem out of place in a dragon’s den. Twilight lifted various objects and moved them around to find anything, even lifting Torch’s sleeping rocks but she came up empty hoofed.

After putting everything away, Twilight sighed as she gave the room another look. Everything looked as though it belonged, nothing was out of place, and nothing screamed ‘I definitely don’t believe here’. Twilight was about to leave when the realization came to her, she was looking for whatever didn’t seem right instead of looking at what already existed. Smirking to herself, Twilight magically scanned the room, something she should’ve done in the first place, to search for any magical objects.

And, just like she thought, she found something. What she thought to be a unique dark stone ball, was actually a lacrima that had a transformation placed on it. While she was happy that she found something, it suddenly struck her as odd how it could’ve been transformed for a few reasons. One of the reasons was that Dragons couldn’t use magic, and even if they could, transformation magic was very advanced, even for her. While she couldn’t have known how long Torch had this lacrima transformed, she was impressed that he knew magic in general.

“Hey, Ember! Come in here I found a lacrima.” Twilight shouted as the dragon quickly flew in. She didn’t find anything in his treasure room, but she was confused after hearing and now seeing the lacrima.

“That’s weird. Dragons have no use for lacrimas because we can’t use them for anything.” Ember explained as Twilight replied how she had found it. Now with both of them confused, Twilight grasped the orb in her magic and quickly figured out that this was a recording lacrima with footage. She turned and placed the orb onto the rock bed before giving a glance to Ember, who nodded as the alicorn turned her attention back to the lacrima and started to play its contents with her magic.

Torch’s image appeared, staring down at whoever was using the lacrima before speaking. “To whoever finds this, although it should be my daughter Ember, I am going to tell you an ancient piece of history veiled in darkness, one that is no longer whispered, one that no longer exists in present times. When I first became Dragon Lord so long ago, I was told the tale of Acnologia, the first Dragon King, a being whose very existence epitomizes horror and atrocity, and embodies death and destruction beyond mortal comprehension.

Long before the era of Equestria, perhaps even before the unification, in a world far removed from our own, Acnologia existed. But he was no ordinary creature; he was a dragon of unparalleled might and insatiable thirst for destruction. Acnologia's scales were as black as the void itself, and his presence instilled fear into anyone who encountered him. On Earthland, where magic flows like a river, Acnologia wrought havoc upon all creatures. His lust for destruction drove him to slaughter indiscriminately, leaving behind a trail of devastation wherever he went. With each village razed and each life snuffed out, Acnologia's name grew, becoming a nightmare whispered in fear-filled tones.

But there was something that truly set Acnologia apart from other dragons, and it was his insidious nature. Unlike other dragons who revered their kin and, admittedly, somewhat respected the balance of the world, Acnologia harbored a twisted desire to eradicate all dragons, viewing them as nothing more than lowly vermin. With unparalleled ruthlessness, he hunted down dragon after dragon, reveling in their demise as he bathed in their blood and grew stronger with each dragon that he killed and consumed.” Twilight paused the recording as she turned to Ember, who had been trying to force down her anger. Twilight knew that the room had gotten warmer, and it wasn’t from the lava underneath them.

“Ember, are you–”

“Keep going! I want to hear what else he has to say.” Ember interrupted, causing Twilight to flinch before deciding to comply with her wishes.

“Even those well-versed in magic couldn’t harm him, and everyone trembled at the mere mention of Acnologia's name. His strength knew no bounds, and his cruelty knew no mercy. Entire civilizations fell before him, their people scattered like leaves before a storm. For Acnologia, there was only joy in destruction and satisfaction in mass genocide.

But then…he vanished, and there was no trace of him. No one knew what happened to him, not that they cared. Many optimistically thought that he was killed, that someone ended his reign of chaos and destruction, others thought that he grew bored and left Earthland itself, but it was never proven. But from what I could gather of this piece of dark history, of his overwhelming strength, it was that his power knew no equal, and his wrath knew no limits.

Eventually, he seemingly faded from the world. By the time my daughter Ember was a little drake, Acnologia no longer existed. His name, power, and very being were gone from the mouth of every creature. How this came to be…I do not know. But for better or worse, no one would live in fear of Dragon King Acnologia again.” Torch finished his thought with a sigh of relief. While he may have been pleased with the outcome, Ember and Twilight weren’t. They were furious that Torch hadn’t informed anyone of Acnologia’s destruction or informed anyone that he once existed.

“The moment the tale was done, once everything had been processed through me, I abolished the Dragon King’s festival for it had a different meaning, and changed my title from King to Lord. No one, not even the elders themselves, could force a reason out of me. And with the very little magic that I possessed, I wiped the memories of the younger generation while forcing the rest under an oath to never speak of it. None were too happy with my decision, but I knew that deep down inside them all, they were grateful. Grateful that no youngling would ever have to fear or learn the name Acnologia, to cower beneath his shadow as he flew across the skies, or most importantly, live in fear for when he would come and kill them.

However, at the time this is being recorded, I have felt a disturbance in the balance of magic, a stirring of ancient powers. And with it comes the haunting specter of Acnologia's looming presence. He will soon find us, the remaining living elders know this, and they know that there isn’t much we can do to stop him. I have chosen to keep this a secret, for the sole purpose of ignorance. I’m well aware of the stupidity that this is, but sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss, and this is one of those times.” Torch paused with a solemn look on his face. The watchers could tell that even he wasn’t happy with the decision, looking regretful, but Twilight knew that leaders made the tough decisions because no one else could. Even if others don’t agree with it, it was a decision that Torch and Torch alone made.

“Ember, my daughter, if you are watching this, I’m sorry for the secret. Knowing how you were as a little salamander, then as old as you probably are right now watching this, you’re probably containing your anger before burning down my den, and I’m alright with that. Just know that I’ve always loved you, and I always will.” Torch proudly spoke as Ember was slightly shaking, but she made no sound as Torch continued, this time sounding more serious with a look to match.“However, there is one more creature aside from Acnologia that you must be wary of, a creature whose darkness extends into every crack and crevice across the land and could swallow the world whole if given the chance to do so. He is one of the few creators of countless dark magic spells, a being who wished to conquer all of what would be Equestria and beyond. And that creature is—” The lacrima ceased its recording. Twilight went to figure out what was wrong with it and discovered that it had simply finished.

“I guess it stopped recording when Torch ran out of magic to supply it.” Twilight spoke aloud, mainly to herself as she knew that Ember was going through a multitude of emotions. Ember couldn’t hide her sniffles as she requested Twilight to take the lacrima and leave the den, wanting to be alone. Twilight did as she was asked and left, deciding to get her own thoughts and emotions together.

Twilight focused on her thoughts and ignored the sudden shouting, breaths of fire, and objects being destroyed. “Torch knew about Acnologia when he first became Dragon Lord but wasn’t alive during his reign. So it must’ve been a century or a little more after Acnologia vanished when Torch was at least born and at most a young teen, and only after another century or two did he become Dragon Lord.” Twilight hypothesized the beginning of Torch’s life as she heard the falling of a few rocks. She turned her head towards the sound and saw Ember coming out of the den. Despite her eyes being somewhat red she had calmed down considerably after her outburst.

“Hey, Twilight. I-I wanted to say I’m sorry for giving you the colder shoulder and seeming rude earlier.” Ember started apologizing, as Twilight focused her attention on her. “I couldn’t handle seeing everyone here dead, and I didn’t know how to express that without breathing fire or challenging you to a strength contest. So instead, I reverted back to my old self, being closed off and not wanting to deal with anyone and focus on the task at hand.” Ember finished as she held her head down, upset about everything since they first arrived.

“There’s no need to apologize. I understand that you’re frustrated and upset about everything, and I guess after seeing the recording that Torch left only amplified that. But bottling up your emotions doesn’t help you deal with them, it just keeps festering until you snap and it can affect you in so many different ways.” Twilight explained as Ember gave a slight smirk. However, it slowly faded as she placed her eyes on the lacrima.

“So…what do you make of this? While my dad kept Acnologia a secret so dragons didn’t live in fear of him, he should’ve told Celestia at the very least. And I’ve never heard of the Dragon King’s festival, and if I had to guess, my dad changed his title so that he wasn’t associated with Acnologia. He’s proud like that.”

“But that means that this festival was something that Acnologia created or was a part of. Although to hear that he’s ended entire civilizations wasn’t terrifying enough, Torch confirmed my suspicions that Acnologia is durable against magic. I don’t know how someone who has committed such atrocities could simply vanish off the face of the earth without a peep and then be completely forgotten to history with only Torch and few elder dragons being in the known.” Twilight replied as the two sat down in thought. They had gained a massive amount of useful information about the forgotten past, and just how much Acnologia had truly destroyed.

“...There’s still one more big thing. My dad said that there was one more creature to be careful for. Some creature of darkness, one that has created countless dark spells. Know anyone that fits that description?” Ember asked as Twilight pondered on her question. While the candidates for known powerful users of dark magic were big, the creators of those spells weren’t. There was only one known creator of countless dark spells and he no longer exists on Earth Land. The others were completely unheard of, although Twilight knew that there was one pony who had truly gone into the deep end of dark magic.

“The only pony that comes to mind is King Sombra. But not only is he currently dead, he couldn’t have been around from such a long time ago, and he would’ve needed to deal with Acnologia to be the ruler of anything…”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming along.”

Twilight smiled at Ember’s banter. “...But that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have an idea as to who Torch is talking about. While it’s safe to assume that he’s self-taught, he must’ve had someone teach him a few things, and with how powerful Sombra is, his hypothetical teacher must be one of these creators. The two issues we have, however, is that we have no clue who this creature could be or if they’re even alive. And the second is that Sombra is dead, so we couldn’t ask him anyways, unless…” Twilight went quiet at her idea, and Ember picked up on it. She easily recognized that tone, one that suggested doing something pretty bad and idiotic. She had heard the same tone from her father from the lacrima, and Ember couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at Twilight’s suggestion.

“Twilight, you aren’t actually thinking that we should…revive King Sombra, right?”

“Honestly, I don’t think we have a choice. Discord and Tirek may have been alive longer than Celestia and Luna, but neither actually uses dark magic outright. I can’t think of any other pony or creature that could help us while being so divulged in dark magic, but even if everyone else somehow agrees with me, I don’t have the power to bring him back to life, much less know-how.” Twilight explained as she sighed. This had been more stressful than she would’ve imagined, more so than she would’ve liked, but her life had been thrown for a loop since she came to Ponyvile. Reviving Sombra had more cons than pros, and this was based on the factor that not only IF Sombra had a master in the first place but if he would even tell them.

“Ughhh!!! Why can’t any of this just make some sense!?!?!”

“Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?” Discord’s voice echoed around the two as they jumped at suddenly hearing the Chaos God’s voice. Discord chuckled as a wooden coffin sprung up from the ground, with the casket falling to the floor revealing the draconequus. He stepped out and took a deep breath of fresh air before snapping his talons, making the coffin vanish before floating over next to Twilight

“Reviving King Sombra? Now there’s an idea that would bring a good amount of chaos. If I hadn’t been reformed, then I might have gone and done just that.” Discord joked as he found even more amusement seeing Ember’s bewildered face. Even though Twilight had grown used to him popping in and out at any given time, he took great pride in getting the drop on her like he just did.

“H-How long have you been here!?” Twilight asked as Discord replied since she found Torch’s lacrima. Apparently, he had grown bored hanging around Fluttershy’s house after Starlight, Spike, and Kuro showed up, and when learning where Twilight had gone to he decided to third wheel the adventure. “Wait a minute, you said that would revive Sombra for the chaos. So then…could you bring back King Sombra?” Twilight asked, still skeptical if this is what she really wanted, and Discord picked up on that.

“While it wouldn’t take me long to revive him it wouldn’t be with a snap of my talons or paw. Even so, I think asking Celestia and Luna about this would be a smart decision. We don’t want to revive him and then he escapes, thus adding another major problem on top of Acnologia.” Discord explained as Twilight was dumbstruck at how well thought out Discord’s reasoning was. She had expected him to revive him and have her and her friends deal with him and the consequences that would obviously follow.

“Y-You’re right. I shouldn’t just have you revive Sombra without some form of plan to contain him. And Princesses Celestia and Luna would be really angry with me if I did it without consulting them first.”

“They still might be angry with you for even thinking about it. But Discord, if you could bring Sombra back to life then could you…” Ember asked before gesturing to the corpses around her. Her eyes were filled with hope, nearly getting on her knees and begging, pleading to the chaos god to do what was impossible…

Bringing the dead back to life with no drawbacks, with no consequences.

But Discord shook his head, his words shattering Ember’s hope. “I’m sorry but I can’t. It’s not a matter of me not having the power to do so, but it’s more complicated than you think. The first thing is that a portion of their soul is gone, if they were brought back they would be a shadow of their former selves. Others are their bodies, some are destroyed beyond recognition that I wouldn’t know how they used to look. And another reason is another matter entirely, but you get my point.” Discord explained, but Ember had tuned him out when he said he couldn’t. If a being like Discord couldn’t bring her subjects back, she knew they were gone forever. But she had accepted this, knowing that even if they could be brought back, Acnologia would just kill them again.

For some reason or another, Twilight felt that something was wrong about Discord’s final unnamed reason. He loved being cryptic and keeping things to himself, which was quite normal for when he was scheming something, but this time it felt different. Like he was purposely trying to keep this reason hidden despite bringing it up. But she ignored it, for now at least, and focused on the matter at hoof.

“C’mon then. Let’s go tell the princesses our idea and what we’ve learned.”

“Ah! I’m so glad you used that noggin of yours and saw it my way…oh, and by the way, they’ve already been informed.” Twilight did a double-take at Discord’s words before her anxiety started settling in. She was frozen in shock as Discord chuckled, making the alicorn shake her head and glare at him as she snapped.

“How!? This conversation just happened! King Sombra’s revival wasn’t even a thought until we saw Torch’s lacrima! So how the fuck could they know about it when this was just decided!?” Twilight roared, cursing at the draconequus as her magic flared, demanding to know the answer. Discord’s grin widened at her rage before outstretched his left hand, and with his right, he brought it down in a down like a curtain and revealed a live-fed lacrima. Twilight froze again, realizing that they had been watching the entire time. That had also meant that she had been heard cursing, which wasn’t wrong as she had done so a few times before, but she had never cursed in front of her mentor.

“This, Twilight Sparkle, is how the ‘fuck’ we knew.” Luna seriously spoke with a cold glare as Twilight’s ears folded back and she gave a nervous chuckle. “We will be expecting you, Ember, and Discord in the throne room immediately. Where we will discuss Sombra, Torch’s secret, and the uncouth mouth of a young princess whose anger is unjustified!” Luna roared at the end, making Twilight flinch downward as she didn’t meet her gaze. What made it worse was Celestia’s silence, not speaking a word before she sighed.

“Do not be late. And do not hold them up Discord, this secret that Torch has kept must be discussed at once.” Celestia finished before the fed ended. Ember gave a nervous chuckle, realizing that she was right about the two rulers being angry. She felt somewhat embarrassed since they had heard her throwing a tantrum and destroying her father’s den.

“Well, at least they’ll hear you out, right?” Ember tried lighting the mood with a joke, but it fell flat as Twilight ignored her. She took great pride in making Celestia proud of her, but today wasn’t one of those times. Instead, she gave a defeated look to Discord who snapped his talons, teleporting them all to the throne room of the palace where Celestia and Luna had been waiting.

“Pr-Princesses…nice weather we're having?” Twilight tried to start the conversation, seeing their stern looks but suddenly jumped at the sound of booming thunder. Taking a glance out the window, she saw heavy rainfall, with lightning dancing across the skies and thunder accompanying it.

“No Twilight, the weather is not good. Twilight, for what reason did you yell and curse at Discord? I’m not disappointed about the cursing, just disappointed that you would do such a thing over a matter that we would’ve known about sooner.” Celestia asked as Twilight didn’t respond right away. She knew that she was stressed about everything, with Spike’s safety being one of her priorities along with dealing with Acnologia.

“I’m sorry, and I’m sorry to you too Discord. It's just hearing Torch’s confession made me come to conclusions and ideas that I was ready to enact if Discord didn’t talk me out of it. And when he revealed that you had been watching alongside us, I guess I had a brief meltdown.” Twilight explained herself as Celestia and Luna were silent. Their gazes turned to Discord, who was sitting on a floating throne ignoring the situation as they looked at each other and nodded.

“Well, seeing as how Discord doesn’t seem offended in any way I assume that he doesn’t care. While I don’t want to brush past your current stress Twilight, or your use of profanity during your outbursts, we need a plan of action. First things, first, is the supposed resurrection of King Sombra. Naturally, not only is this a bad idea, but Cadence and Shining Armor will be greatly opposed to this. Not unless we find a way that ensures his cooperation while still maintaining our morals.” Celestia opened the floor to suggestions as they all were in deep thought, except for Discord. As he lazily hovered in the air he noticed how Luna seemed conflicted, almost as though she had an answer but was unsure of it.

“What’s got you troubled Luna dear?” Discord asked, appearing wrapped around her neck as he stared at her with puppy dog eyes. Luna glared and shook him off, but it was nothing but a ruse as she now had everyone’s attention.

“Nothing troubles thyself, but thou ought to keep off of we less you prefer another Stone Age.” Luna snarled as Celestia narrowed her eyes. Luna had a habit of speaking in old dialect when she was nervous, angry, or upset. Even when she would correct herself midway through her speech, Celestia knew that she would need to be tactful in addressing her.

“Well, Luna, do you have any thoughts on dealing with Sombra?”

“…I do, but it requires Sombra to be present, and knowing what this entails and how Sombra is he won’t hesitate to agree with my plan.” Luna replied, knowing that this was Discord’s intention all along. She wouldn’t reveal what she had planned, she made that clear to everyone present before asking about where Sombra would be brought back.

“Well he’s left a piece of his essence near the Crystal Empire’s cave systems. I could easily bring him back from there, but he will need to be contained, which is where Cadence and Armor come in. Just long enough for Luna to do what she intends to.” Discord explained as he drank the glass cup that contained chocolate milk before snapping away the solid-liquid. Twilight stared at him as she once again found something wrong with Discord’s ending response.

She knew that he wasn’t omniscient, but Discord had always kept track of and knew about the events that took place in Ponyville. He also had a knack for knowing things that took place in the far future, but he rarely brought them up and when he did he never elaborated on it. This was the second time he brought something up and didn’t fully explain himself, but she couldn’t force an answer out of him until whatever he was talking about came to fruition. Despite his chaotic nature, Discord was far smarter than he made himself out to be, and sometimes Twilight wondered if he was more serious if he could take over Earth Land itself.

“Since we have a plan, I guess we’ll need the others as well. We also need to convince the rulers of the Crystal Empire.” Ember spoke up as Celestia reluctantly nodded. That wasn’t going to be a smooth conversation, and she really hoped that Cadence and Shining would at least hear them out. The only problem they would have if they refused their current plan was making a new one, but it was more time that they were wasting while Acnologia wandered the land unwatched.

“Let us be off then. We’ll get Twilight’s friends and then set out for the Crystal Empire. If we properly explain the gravity of the situation, they may be willing to take the chance. Court shall be suspended till our return, and Blueblood will need to be left in charge for the time being, seeing as he’s the only other royalty around and someone that’s capable of running the country.”

“Is he really our only choice?” Twilight asked as she was now concerned for Equestria. Celestia assured that, despite his personality, Blueblood was certainly capable of running Equestria for a day or two while they were away. He did have the political skills to do so, although she would leave him quite restricted in what he could actually do and how much power his words could carry.

“I guess there's no choice. I’m delaying us enough as it is with my anxiety over everything.” Twilight thought to herself as she nodded before Celestia summoned a piece of parchment and ink. She quickly wrote a letter and sent it away to Spike, briefly describing the details before she did the same thing but sent it to Cadence instead.

“Alright, I’ve told Spike to gather everyone and be ready at the train station while informing Cadence that we’re heading over there. I’ll have Raven inform Blueblood of his temporary ruling of Equestria while we are away.” Celestia elaborated as she sat up from her throne and headed for the doors with everyone else following. Celestia had taken many chances in her life, some of them paid off while others hadn’t, with Discord’s reformation being one of the best gambles she had ever taken. But counting on King Sombra of all ponies to help them with anything would be the biggest gamble of her life, knowing full well that many things could go wrong with the Dark King’s revival.

“Luna…I hope that you know what you’re doing with this plan of yours, because if it fails then Sombra will be another problem on the board. A board that cannot handle any more large pieces for there is a King that dominates half the board by himself with no army or allies by his side. Adding Sombra will not only break it…but it creates a power clash between two kings who have no problem with destroying the world.”