The Bearer of the Apocalypse

Bon Bon groggily woke up as she groaned in pain. She opened her eyes and briefly looked around, seeing large rocks around her and a small pool of blood. She figured it was from herself, although the possibility of it being from Tempest Shadow was also there. Shaking her head, Bon Bon went to get up but released a small yelp as she went back to the ground. Turning her head she saw her back right hoof was dislocated and felt blood going down her hindlegs as she looked underneath herself and saw a small gash on her lower stomach.

She groaned in pain and mild annoyance as she slowly got back to hooves and limped around to find her partner. She should’ve taken care of her dislocated hoof, but finding Tempest was more of a priority to her. She continued her slow walk around the rubble before her ears twitched to the right, hearing what she knew was Tempest Shadow groaning in pain as well. She turned her walk into a brief power walk as she saw Tempest’s hindlegs underneath a boulder.

“Tempest!!” Bon Bon briefly sprinted but tumbled onto the ground as she remembered her dislocated limb. Growling in pain she got back up and looked around before seeing a small wedge. She nodded to herself before dragging herself to the small cluster of rocks and placing the dislocated limb in between them. She took a deep breath before twisting, relocating her hoof as she released a small squeak.

“Heh. You’ve always been just as tough as me, I think that's why we’re good friends and co-workers”. Bon Bon turned her head to see Tempest staring at her with an amused, pained smirk. The earth pony returned the smirk before moving herself over to her friend.

“You have to be in this line of work.” Bon Bon replied before moving to the boulder on Tempest’s legs. With another deep breath, she calmed down as her front hooves glowed brown before slamming them onto the boulder that broke into pebbles. Tempest whisted as the lightly yellow-colored mare sighed and rested beside her.

“Well, I think we can officially say that we had our assess handed to us for the first time in our lives.” Tempest joked before coughing up some blood. Bon Bon knew that neither of them could remain here any longer as they both needed medical treatment. Knowing that she was better off, the earth pony pulled herself up and managed to put Tempest Shadow onto her back as she started walking.

“You still have the lacrima Princess Celestia gave us?”

“No. It’s lying around here somewhere. Let’s find it and–”

BOOM!!

The mares suddenly turned to see a dragon, well parts of a dragon, crash into the ground. Bon Bon hid the two behind a boulder as she peeked out to what was happening, and gasped as she hid themselves again.

“What’s going on? Who’s out–”

“Shhh!!! Acnologia is here!” Bon Bon whispered as the two became quiet. She peered out again to see the dragon king blasting a hole through another dragon, apparently making sure that it was dead. She made sure not to make any noise, but she whispered to Tempest about what she saw before hearing her whisper.

“Since when could dragons use magic? Dragon King or otherwise, the closest thing to a dragon using magic is the scepter the Dragon Lord uses to summon them.” Tempest questioned as she felt her partner nod in agreement. Bon Bon continued to watch Acnologia, waiting to see if he would leave or figure out that they hadn’t died and come to finish the job.

Instead, he stopped all movements and turned his head to face north. He seemingly focused on something, not moving as the mare concluded that he was thinking about something. A few seconds went by before he growled and blasted off into the skies, leaving the mares behind as Bon Bon left the hiding spot and narrowed her eyes.

“Where the hell is he going?” Bon asked her partner who struggled to awake but agreed. Knowing that she needed to be quick, Bon decided to search for the lacrima. Even as she searched, her mind was on overdrive from everything that had recently happened. They saw a human tear a dragon in half before they were blasted off a cliffside by said human, a creature that shouldn’t have been on Earthland. Then they were not only severely injured, but the sudden appearance of Acnologia killing a dragon was strange. Not that strange considering what they knew, but the more she thought about it, the more strange it got.

And then it clicked.

“We need to find that lacrima! NOW!” Bon suddenly sprinted, ignoring the pain she felt as she desperately needed that lacrima. Tempest yelped at the sudden change in attitude as she asked what had gotten her so riled up.

“It’s Acnologia! He’s not just a dragon from the past, but he’s the human that blasted us off the cliff! Don’t you think it’s weird that species aside, the human managed to rip a full-grown dragon in half? He also not only found us despite a camouflage and soundproof spell, but he knew where we were BEFORE the dragon attack! And now the dragon himself is here after the human nearly killed us?! There’s no way any of that is a coincidence! We need to hurry!”

“But where the hell is he going!? Even if you’re right, we don’t know where he’s going to be!” Tempest shouted as Bon skidded to a stop. Tempest nearly yelled but held back after seeing the cracked lacrima on the ground. Bon didn’t care though, picking up the broken lacrima and channeled her magic into it, hoping to reach the princess of the sun.

“Agen–zzt! What’s goi–zzt on?”

“We have news on Acnologia!”

Many thoughts ran through Twilight’s head as she stared down the human known as Rouge. One of the thoughts was wondering how this human had gotten to Equestria from the human world. She didn’t know anyone from the human world by the name of Rogue Cheney, and she doubted that Sunset or their counterparts knew anyone by that name either. Not only that, but he had confirmed Applejack’s guess; Dragon Slayer Magic existed and was based on elemental powers if Rogue’s proclamation was anything to go by.

“...Hn. This isn’t good. If he truly is the Shadow King, or Shadow Dragon King I suppose, then we need to fall back and regroup for a plan. Staying here any longer means certain death.” Sombra told everyone else as they questioned his plan. They didn’t think that he would’ve wanted to retreat from someone who could’ve helped him. Starlight noticed his tone of voice and suddenly glared at him.

“You knew about him, didn’t you? Even before the Pony of Shadows said his name, you knew of his existence?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You lied to me!!”

“Of course, I lied to you!!!” Sombra roared back at Starlight as everyone else watched in silence, including Rogue who watched with a smirk. “Long ago, I had learned of the Shadow King’s name when I first delved into dark magic. At first, his name was shrouded in mystery to me, and I slowly learned that he was a creator of many dark spells. It was never a part of my plans to bring him into the world, mainly because I don’t know what happened to him. And quite frankly, he very much could’ve helped me. But seeing him now and sensing his power…” Sombra trailed off for a brief moment, seeing the outline of a menacing dragon behind Rogue with piercing-glowing red eyes. A bead of sweat went down his face before speaking.

“...He doesn’t make allies, only servants to do his bidding.” Sombra finished as Starlight lost her glare. She knew Sombra long enough to know that he wasn’t the kind of pony whose resolve would waver over something like the presence of a powerful being. Everyone suddenly turned to Rogue who was chuckling before fully laughing.

“You are all so amusing. I have no desire to kill you, not unless you get in my way. Even so, we will most likely be meeting again in the future. So–” Rogue suddenly paused as he stared down Starlight before flicking his eyes over to Stygian. “Well well, I’m surprised that take-over magic still exists. It makes me wonder what other forms of magic have survived throughout the centuries. And it would seem that I need to correct myself, for there is only one among you who will be dying.” Rogue finished as Stygian started shaking, figuring that he was the only one that Rogue could’ve been talking about.

And he would be right.

“Stygian. Long ago I created someone to give you the power to overcome those that betrayed you, and how do you repay my kindness? You allowed it to be banished while saving your fur like a coward.” Rogue’s voice grew colder with every word he spoke, and his killer intent grew along with it. Stygian was shaking with fear, never in his life had he felt such a wave of terror wash over him. “Although, I do suppose that’s how people, or ponies, in this case, act in those situations. Sometimes in life, cowards do survive. But the ones that survive, will never escape their past.”

“Stygian is no coward!” Starswirl yelled as he stepped forward, protecting Stygian who watched in shock. “He would have never accepted that cursed power had we all been better friends. And he was no coward for abandoning that power! Instead, he showed great strength and courage in doing so. You will never lay your hands on our friend, especially while I still draw breath!!” Starswirl declared as everyone agreed, except for Sombra of course. Stygian couldn’t believe that one of the ponies he betrayed had come to his defense, making him realize that Twilight was right.

“Oh, while you still draw breath you say? Well, that can certainly be arranged!!” Rogue yelled as he slashed the air, sending a wave of shadows towards the ponies. The group protected themselves with a barrier that was created by the unicorns of the group, withstanding the power being used against them before cracks started forming. Sombra fired a beam of dark magic towards the dragon slayer, breaking the barrier in the process as he intended to wipe the human off the face of Earthland.

However, Rogue smirked and vanished before the spell reached him. The ponies gasped in shock as they looked around, trying to find him when Flash was slammed against a pillar. They couldn’t react to him as Somnambula was suddenly flung across the cave, they heard his dark chuckle as Applejack’s ears twitched to the right.

“I got you!” Apple turned and bucked the area where Rogue should’ve been, but she hit the air as she felt his fist connect with her face. Applejack flew into a pillar as Rainbow Dash flew over to her friend to help, but was instead sent crashing into the ground. The ones that were standing didn’t know how he kept vanishing and appearing, not until Sombra caught a glimpse of a moving shadow.

“He’s become a shadow!” Sombra roared before he spotted Rogue’s shadow form and became a shadow himself. He chased after him as the two clashed, which was not as epic as one would think, but the ones that weren’t attacked didn’t care as they rounded up their fallen friends. The two shadows that fought traveled around the cavern, curling around pillars and across the ceiling before making their way towards the others with Rogue exiting his incorporeal form; grabbed onto the shadow that was Sombra as he forcefully brought him out and punched him to the rest of the group.

Sombra got to his hooves and wiped the blood from his muzzle. This wasn’t how he expected the fight to go, sure he knew that it would be difficult to fight against a creator of dark magic, but this was something else. They saw Rogue’s shadow form zipping all around them, none of them being able to strike him due to his incorporeal form as Twilight made a decision.

“We need to get out of here! We stay any longer and we’ll all die!!” Twilight shouted to everyone as they agreed. Rogue suddenly appeared in front of them with a smirk on his face, making Sombra ready for another spell when he couldn’t summon his magic. Sombra growled in annoyance as he charged forward, only to slam face-first into an invisible barrier. The ponies looked around them to glowing purple runes that surrounded them and were ineligible to them. None of them knew what they were looking at, but it made no difference as they were trapped.

“We’ve been had. And it’s been that way since the Pony of Shadows was released, hasn’t it, oh glorious Shadow King?” Sombra sarcastically spoke while everyone else wondered what he meant, prompting him to explain. “See that magic circle over there? That’s what was used to summon him, but it would seem that the Pony of Shadows needed magic, powerful magic that he didn’t possess from his weakened state. So, whether he planned to be sealed away is irrelevant, because while he had Stygian as a host, he foresaw the use of the Elements of Harmony, and decided to use their magic to summon Rogue.”

“But that would be impossible!” Twilight countered as she was barely able to summon a small portion of her magic. “The Elements of Harmony represents literal peace and harmony as their given name. It wouldn’t be possible for them to summon anything remotely related to darkness, especially someone like Rogue!!!”

“No, Twilight. Sombra…is correct.” Starswirl uttered before continuing, hating to admit that. “Normally that would be true, but the affinity of the magic doesn’t matter. What was truly needed was the power, the power behind the Elements of Harmony opening the portal to Limbo is what set him free.” Starswirl finished as Twilight was at a loss for words. It was only confirmed by Rogue’s chuckling, who manifested himself in front of them before he left it with an amused sigh.

“Indeed. You are…almost, correct about everything. You or one of the other three Unicorns here could have released me had you used enough magic, but that is neither here nor there. Once Stygian has been dealt with I will leave you all in…relative peace.” Rogue calmly, but coldly, explained as he lifted his hand and pointed one of his fingers at Stygian. Dark energy gathered at the tip of his finger, and his smirk grew as Stygian sighed in sadness.

He had just been accepted back by the friends he betrayed, and now he was going to be killed by the shadows he once accepted. There was a bit of irony in that, and in the back of his mind, he knew how right he was in how Twilight couldn’t save him even if Starlight confirmed how she was saved from her darkness.

Only his was literal.

Out of the corner of his eye, Stygian saw Starlight staring down at the runes with a quizzical look on her face before they returned to a regular gaze. He was about to ask what was wrong, seeing as he was about to die when she spoke.

“Any equine creature within this barrier will be unable to leave or use magic until a unicorn has died.” Everyone suddenly stared at her, wondering how she was reading the runes. Rogue had dropped his hand and canceled his spell as he narrowed his eyes at her. How she knew such an old language was beyond him, but he was going to find out.

“You there, the one reading the runes. How are you able to understand them? While I can somewhat accept that you possess take-over magic, reading dead scriptures from my time should be impossible.” Rogue questioned as he discreetly extended his shadow to the ones nearby. Rogue wasn’t scared that she possessed knowledge from long ago, but he didn’t want to take any chances that she could learn anything to become a threat to him.

“That’s none of your business! But I’ll give you the chance to leave peacefully or else I’ll make you.”

“HA!! With what form of magic?” Rogue countered as he gathered shadows in the palm of his hand. The shadow he had by the pillar narrowed itself to resemble a sharpened spear. Rogue decided that he had enough playtime, and he was going to kill them all. As for Starlight, she tried summoning her magic, but like the runes were written she was unable to do so. With no choices left, Starlight summoned Nightmare Moon’s magic as her eyes changed to cyan blue with slits, and her horn now glowed a dark blue.

At the same time she did this, Rogue’s demeanor changed. He went from arrogance to brief shock before sending a large blast of shadows towards them. That power wasn’t magic; which allowed her to bypass his enchantment! Not knowing what she was about to do, Rogue knew he needed to strike first as he flung his shadow toward Mistmane while attacking everyone else.

“WATCH OUT!!!” Stygian yelled as he shoved his friend out of the way and took the attack himself. Rogue’s shadow pierced through Stygian’s side before it retraced as the gray unicorn fell to the floor bleeding. Everyone gasped in horror as Starlight changed her plan from offensive to defensive as she summoned a barrier to protect everyone.

The shadows bounced off and traveled around them as the enchantment slowly started dissipating. The moment Sombra felt his magic, he summoned a dark crystal sphere as an extra layer of protection. He sensed that the shadows that attacked them were corrosive, but as to what would happen to them should they come into contact with it he didn’t know nor did he want to find out.

The shadows died down as Rogue growled at the cursed barrier before him. That was something he thought had been lost to time after the destruction of Tartarus. Well, it didn’t matter he supposed, seeing how he completely outclassed the mare that had no idea how to use such literal cursed power. She had become far more dangerous than he originally thought, but as Rogue stared down the cursed energy, he noticed how weak it was compared to the demons that originally used it.

The smoke cleared as the crystal and cursed barrier dropped, Rogue looked past the two to see Stygian’s corpse on the ground. He got the little weasel, and as much as he wanted to kill the rest he was running low on magic as he started to walk away.

“Where do you think you’re going!?!?!?” Starswirl roared as he glared at Rogue with tears streaming down his face. He had just gotten his friend back, someone he had wrongly betrayed, and now he was dead due to this monster. His anger grew even further when Rogue showed no interest in his emotions as he summoned dark magic.

“Here is a taste of your own medicine!!” Starswirl roared, ignoring everyone else as he fired a blast of shadows from his horn. While none of them were surprised that the wizard knew dark magic, they were surprised that he’d use it. Rogue was perfectly calm at the magic being used against him, and he sighed as he realized that these fools had no idea just how powerful dragon slayer magic was; or perhaps magic in general.

BOOM!!

The shadows struck Rogue’s body and exploded around him. But then, everyone heard a swirling sound, much like a vortex, and they turned to see the shadows that Starswirl used being sucked into Rogue’s mouth. They were completely shocked as the Rogue fully swallowed the shadows before he gave them all an evil smile.

“Fools!! It would seem as though anything related to Dragon Slayer magic, and Slayer magic in general, has been lost to time! Slayers of any sort of element cannot be harmed by the element they use; they instead replenish their strength when they devour said element! So, allow me the honor to show you the magic power that is capable of slaying dragons!!!” Rogue roared as he took a massive inhale. The ponies watched his cheeks puff out as Rainbow Dash shocked her head and snapped everyone else out of their stupor.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!”

“Shadow Dragon King…ROAR!!!” Rogue yelled as he released a large breath of pitch-black shadows. The ponies all dove out of the way from Rogue’s attack as they heard the sound of a powerful dragon. The attack soon died down as everyone was buried underneath some rubble. Rockhoof managed to throw off some of the rubble from his back as he protected Rarity, Fluttershy, and Mistmane. Flash Magnus shoved his shield upward as Sunburst, Pinkie Pie, and Meadowbrooks also came out from their rubble.

The rest were encased in a barrier created by Twilight, Starlight, Sombra, and Starswirl. Their barrier held up against the attack and whatever debris had struck it. As they all regrouped, Starswirl looked for Stygian’s body, wanting to bring it back for a proper burial. However, Flash pointed his hoof down the middle toward where the mural once was, as they saw Stygian’s corpse with multiple cuts and bruises and was missing his right hoof and his horn broken off. He lay on the mural underneath the dragon’s maw, almost as though he was being devoured whole while the shadows encased him.

They all sorrowfully stared as some of them shedded tears. None of them had any words, especially the pillars as they knew they had failed their friend. They had wrongfully cast him out, forcing him into accepting a dark power that he never should have; and after Twilight saved him and cleared up the misunderstanding between them he was killed.

Rogue watched with cold eyes before he turned around and started to leave. He had many things that he needed to do, the main thing being that he needed to know what the world was now like. He had never, properly anyway, seen how the world had changed ever since that spell was used. And it wasn’t long after that she had sealed him and his shadows away, and he wouldn’t waste any more time dealing with these ponies. Rogue reached the large hole his creation had made and stared out into the darkened sky, and he scoffed.

“Figures that Acnologia is still alive. Although, it is odd that he is not coming here directly to me, much like he did to Fairy Tail at Tenrou Island, and is instead….” Rogue’s thought trailed off as he stared north from his position before he sprouted wings from his back and was about to take flight. Before he could leave, a blast of magic grazed his side as he jumped off to the right. He glared at Twilight who glared back, not afraid of the dragon slayer as she released a puff of air from her nose.

“You monster!! How could you just kill someone over something so insignificant!? You had no justifiable reason at all!! You’re no better than Acnologia; and if this is all how dragon slayers are then maybe your magic was better off lost to time as we will stop you!!!” Twilight shouted as Rogue scoffed.

“You worry about the wrong person. Even so…” Rogue flapped his wings as he blasted off into the sky. Twilight and Starswirl teleported everyone outside, along with Stygian’s body, to see Rogue floating in the sky; almost as though he was waiting for them. “...You don’t even know what this world used to be like, much less how powerful magic truly is. And with my power, no one will stand in my way, not even Acnologia. To which of course, someplace will be meeting very soon.” Rogue ominously finished as he disappeared into the skies, dispersing the dark clouds and allowing the sun to show itself.

Twilight released a deep sigh as she turned her head to see Flash Magnus and Rockhoof making a burial place for Stygian. It was upsetting for everyone, especially herself after she promised him that he could be reformed. Still, at least no one else was killed, and as selfish as it sounded, she was glad that her friends were all still alive with her. Twilight sat on her haunches as she bathed in Celestia’s sun, feeling the warmth and brief amount of peace until Pinkie Pie made herself known.

“No need to worry Twilight!–”

“...That’s when I worry the most.”

“---We’ll get through all this. We can have Sombra or one of the princesses fight Rogue while we deal with Acnologia. Elements of Harmony style! Besiiiiidesss, how much worse can this get?” Pinkie asked as Twilight didn’t have the patience to explain Murphy’s law to the pony that defied physics and had Murphy’s law as her magic. And as much as Twilight wanted to worry, she reluctantly decided to relax like Pinkie seemed to be.

Despite how much worse Twilight knew it could get, she also knew that there were no benefits to worrying about something that wasn’t happening. And yet, she would greatly regret not listening to herself.

In the Crystal Empire, the crystal ponies were celebrating the visit of their hero Spike the dragon. Crystal ponies in the streets celebrated with singing, drinking, and enjoyment of food. Spike watched from the balcony of the Crystal Castle, being ordered at some point by Cadance to relax and to stop putting her books in alphabetical order as she, by her own words, had a system. That didn’t stop him from his fun, but he was now watching the crystal ponies celebrate as he heard a pair of hooves behind him.

“How are you enjoying the festival?” Cadence asked with Shining following as they sat next to him. Spike replied that it was fun, but the alicorn could tell that something was wrong. She pulled him into a side hug with her wing and asked what was on his mind.

“Well, I guess I’m just worried for Twilight and the others. I know I’m here for my safety, at least keeping Twilight’s mind at ease, but they're going to be fighting some dragon that’s stronger than Torch! I know that most of the time they all see me as a baby dragon, and they praise me greatly or recognize my skills when they show. But I now feel more useless than ever.”

“Don’t say that Spike.” Shining spoke up as he used his magic to place the dragon onto his shoulders. “You’re not useless. Twilight sees you like her own child, and she’s doing this because she cares. Aside from her friends, she depends on you just as much. After all, who’s going to make sure that she remembers to feed herself when she becomes a hermit to her books?” The trio laughed at the joke as they watched the fireworks in the sky. The snowstorm outside made it dark enough for them to be set off; although there was a certain spot that grew darker, and something broke through the barrier.

The trio saw something small crash into the ground, and a member of the guard suddenly burst onto the balcony.

“INTRUDER!!!”