Within the tundra of the Frozen North, the frozen being that Flurry happened upon sensed the call of its master, and its yellow eyes glowed a piercing light that alone was able to crack the ice imprisoning it. Seconds later the iceberg was obliterated, and the ice dragon let out a haunting but powerful roar upon being freed. Sensing its call to arms, it broke into a sprint towards the shadow cloud.
*****
Far in the small garden kingdom of Japon where the legendary Mistmane once lived, priestesses at the top of a sacred tower carried out their duties under the watch of a stone statue of a majestic bird that towered over them. Nopony knew how it got there or even who built it, but it was loved and seen as a symbol of peace and harmony by the explorers who happened upon it, and it became the founding point of their culture and kingdom.
However, news of Sombra’s return quickly reached even them, and those who had time to pray did so fervently. Their head priestess led their prayer around ceremonial torches that had been lit. “As we gather here in this hour of darkness, we hold our hearts up in great hope that the warriors we send to the Crystal Empire will be protected and their blades guided. May Sombra’s darkness be forever purged this time and peace be returned to Equestria. Please! Whatever high power may hear our plight, answer us!!”
She got her wish when an inexplicable wave of light surged across the sky, startling everypony and leaving them to wonder what was happening. What startled them even more was that the giant bird statue suddenly began cracking, light pouring out of the cracks more and more and it came closer to crumbling. The fire from the torches even floated towards it began violently swirling around it. “Wha…. What’s happening!?” one of the younger priestesses said.
Eventually, the stone statue exploded into countless pieces, prompting the priestesses to cover their eyes. When they opened them again and looked at what remained of their sacred statue, they were met with a sight both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The statue turned out to be a husk for an actual, humongous red bird with a golden crown resembling monkey tails. It spread its wings, revealing the rainbow and golden color scheme of its feathers. “<CAAAAAAAAWWWWW!!!!!>” It’s caw was majestic and caused waves of fire to surge from it, but surprisingly, nothing was burned; the priestesses didn’t even feel much heat.
They looked up at it, paralyzed in fear while simultaneously gazing in awe, and the rainbow phoenix looked back down at them, but it was strangely calm as it gazed back at them. It then lowered its head to the head priestess, causing the elderly mare to shiver in terror. Rather than being devoured by the fiery avian, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it gently nuzzled her with its beak while lightly cooing, as if to thank her and her disciples for tending to it for all the time it had been in apparent slumber. Its touch felt divine, as if it had been some sort of god watching over their kingdom this whole time and they were never the wiser. The head priestesses found herself giggling in delight at the divine birds gesture, and they all calmed down. The bird then lifted its head away and spread its wings, ready to take flight. It let out another powerful caw before taking flight and leaving its former caretakers to see it off happily.
*****
“COME ON!! SOMBRA’S GONE HAYWIRE, AND HE’S NOT PLANNING ON STOPPING!!” Garble had flown hurriedly from the Crystal Empire at Ember’s command to get reinforcements from the Dragon Lands. A horde of other dragons led by Former Dragon Lord Torch followed him as they soared through the air at mach speed over the Celestial Sea.
“SAY NO MORE, BOY!!” Torch exclaimed, his massive form greatly dwarfing the other dragons. All of a suddenly a wave of light surged across the sky far above them. “WHOA!!” He and the other dragons were startled at the sudden phenomenon, but seeing as nothing else came of it, they resumed their course towards the empire without further delay.
“Huh…weird.” Garble muttered. However, a few minutes into their flight, they suddenly heard something from the ocean below them. It sounded almost like….a song.
“Wha in blazes?” Torch said. The song repeated a couple of times as the dragons slowed down a little to listen for whatever might be making the sound.
One of the other dragons suddenly noticed something in the water. “WHOA! WHAT’S THAT!?” she exclaimed. Everyone followed her gaze to see a gigantic shadow just below the surface of the water that was following them at their speed. It seemed to know that its presence had been detected, and it dove quickly. A moment later, a huge waterspout suddenly erupted from the ocean. “YAAAHHHH!!!” They all banked away from it as they witnesses the shadow swim up its vortex.
The waterspout violently burst, revealing the shadow’s true form. It was a bizarre, monstrous being that wasn’t quite as big as torch, but its sheer power could be felt all the way to where the dragons were. It was a white being that could be described a majestic hybrid of a whale and a dragon with hand-like wings and a sky blue underbelly. It had a few navy blue scales that jutted out from it’s back and around its eyes. It let out a whale-like roar that caused torrential whirlwinds to suddenly blow all around. It was unimaginably powerful. “HOLY SMOKES!!” Torch exclaimed, not in all of his years ever seeing anything like this being. It silently acknowledged its draconic peers without so much as flinching and took off at terminal velocity towards the Crystal Empire.
*****
On the rocky shores of the unnamed village once home to Rockhoof, the descendants of the Mighty Helm were arming themselves and getting ready to depart for the empire to lend their aid. Their families gathered food for them to take for the dangerous mission ahead, knowing that Sombra would put up a strong resistance.
“Let us make haste, everypony! The princesses will be waiting for us!” The battalion’s leader ordered. They all shouted affirmations at him. Suddenly, an unexpected wave of light surged across the sky. “Huh?” the leader said. “Is everypony alright?” Nopony was harmed, but certainly frazzled by the sudden anomaly.
As if to make matters more terrifying, the volcano erupted with incredible magnitude minutes later, sending the entire town into a mass hysteria. However, the lava flow seemed oddly…..controlled, as if some force was directing the volcanic debris away from the town. Even if they had an anti-lava trench dug between their village and the volcano, they still kept their guard up. But what happened next was worthy of another legend.
Looking closely at the smoking summit, they could see enormous claws emerging from the fiery pit, and something began crawling out! What emerged from a wave of lava spewing out of the volcano was a gargantuan red lizard-like monster with black patterns lining its body. When it reached the foot of the mountain it stood up on its hind legs and let out a guttural roar that caused the black lines on its body to glow a deep blue, and it seemed to cause the sunlight to became radiant to the point that the townsfolk could barely look up without almost being blinded. They were nevertheless horrified that such a monstrous being existed right next door.
Its footsteps were heavy enough to cause small tremors as it made its way towards the ocean, largely paying the town no heed, but it seemed to be taking care to not have it burn. When it reached the shoreline, it let out another roar and slammed its claw onto the sand right where the land met the sea. The townsfolk watch as the land below the sea rose above the water, forming a bridge for it to cross the sea. It broke into a blazing sprint, bringing the intense sunlight with it.
*****
In the maritime city of Baltimare, the news of Sombra’s return had thrown its populace into a panic. Some sailors and fishermen started leading their friends and family onto their boats so that they could evacuate, and they found themselves having to fight off some freeloaders that were trying to stow away. The mayor tried his damnedest to defuse the situation. “All of you, please calm down! There’s nothing to be panicking about. I’m sure they the situation well under control over there!” Unfortunately, he was ignored. What nopony could ignore was a wave of light surging past them across the sky. Curious about the previously unseen occurrence, the pony’s hysteria mellowed down as they discussed what it could have been.
Suddenly, they noticed that the sea water began to quickly recede as if the sea itself was about to sneeze. After a few tense minutes of observing the event, the ponies were terrified when they noticed an enormous wave making its way towards their town! They all ran for dear life inland to try and escape the sea’s wrath, but they were relieved albeit very confused when the massive wave suddenly stopped in its path just before it could touch the docks. As they anxiously observed the unnatural phenomenon, they began to notice a massive shadow swimming back and forth within the wave. Something was underwater observing them, and it made the tension even thicker. The wave moved back a little and formed a sort of theatre-like shape, as if it was about to present something, perhaps the shadow beneath it. Lo and behold, it did.
What emerged in the center of ‘theatre’ was something from a sailor’s nightmares. It was a gigantic whale-like fish that had a blue body with a white underbelly and red archaic patterns lining its upper half, as well as its fins. “<ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!!!>” Its hollow roar that sounded as though it were still underwater caused its red linings to shine luminously, and it seemed to be what summoned a torrential downpour that the local weather ponies would never be allowed to bring forth during their rain schedule.
The denizens became even more terrified when the water beneath it began rising out in a sort of cushion for the monster to sit it. It roared once more and caused its water cushion to rise out of the ocean altogether and form wing-like add-ons to its massive fins that it used to fly at a relatively low altitude towards the Crystal Empire, taking its heavy rain with it.
*****
In Canterlot’s Museum of Natural History, its guards were being excused by the curator to make way to the Crystal Empire. Even though it was an emergency, he had all of them check out one by one so as not to get their shift schedules confused, and he could reorganize them later once they came back…..if they came back… As they all left, he uttered a silent prayer for their safe return.
All he could do was walk around his empty museum and hope that everything turned out alright. Apart from Sombra conquering Equestria and potentially the world around it, those guards have been nothing but good to him, and he’d feel awful if anything happened to them just because he let them throw themselves to the wolves. Plus, he valued all of the wondrous treasures he displayed in the place he thought of as his second home. It was always such a joy to see them bring smiles to the guests that beheld them, especially the foals. What would become of this place should Sombra succeed?
Suddenly, he felt as though something powerful passed over him, and he got chills running down his spine as every hair on his coat stood up. “G-Goodness me…” He was startled by violent flaring sounds coming from another exhibit room. He rushed towards said room, which happened to be the geology exhibit. For whatever odd reason, two stones in particular had begun glowing, and they were ones that everypony at the museum, namely the curator himself and the researchers found peculiar simply for the fact that they’re origins could not be discerned. Both were smooth, near perfectly round if not for the three concave indents in them that formed a perfect triangle if the dots were connected, but one was a vast white while the other was a deep black. The fact that looked almost identical made the researchers theorize that they were of the same origin, and the event the curator was witnessing was further proof of that notion.
Both stones were floating in the air and moved away from one another as if to give the other space. The white stone suddenly had flames swirling around it while the black stone began violently sparking as though a thunderstorm was about to erupt from it. They suddenly began bursting into flames and lightning respectively, causing the curator to cover his eyes. “MY WORD!” When the light subsided, he could feel two powerful presences before he could even open his eyes again. When he did, his heart nearly stopped.
The stones had inexplicably transformed into two ferocious looking monsters. One was a white dragon-like beast that oddly was furry rather than scaly, as if it were some strange mammalian dragon. It had piercing, yet gentle blue eyes and two wavy manes that flowed from its head much like the Royal Sisters. Its arms acted as it wings, and it had a shackle-like growth on its neck. The other was a black dragon that looked much fiercer than its counterpart and had a smooth body one would expect from a draconic being. Atop its head was single horn that had a blue tip to match the blue lightning that violently sparked from its body. It had red eyes that weren’t so gentle unlike its counterpart. Also unlike the white dragon, it had four limbs apart from the two terrifying wings on its back. Both of them had tails that resembled generators of some kind, but the white one’s radiated intense fire while the black one’s was generated storms worth of lightning.
“<RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRR!!!!!>”
“<ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!!!>”
The white dragon’s roar was strangely graceful and sounded like a high-pitched scream while the black dragon’s roar was far more ferocious and dominant. Despite being in the presence of two terrifying beings, the curator found himself strangely mesmerized by them…..until the white dragon exhaled what must have been a megaton of fire onto the ceiling of his museum, blasting it wide open, and they took off into the Equestrian sky.
*****
Deep in the fabled Everfree Forest was Ponyville’s famed shaman, Zecora out and about. The news of Sombra’s return had prompted her to enact a doomsday plan she had crafted in the event that they would fail to sufficiently hold him back, much less defeat him. She examined a map of hidden shelters she had prepared throughout the forest and planned who would hide where. She sadly only had made enough room for three times Ponyville’s population, but she swore that it would only be for those who were sick or injured, or otherwise were too weak to fight. She was on her way to one of the shelters to make sure it was optimally stocked with supplies and resources for whomever it might house when she felt an odd disturbance in the air. “Hmm?”
The disturbance then extended to a surge of light racing across the sky. Her sensitivity to the flow of Nature nearly caused her to vomit from how powerfully she felt the light’s influence on the area around her. “Argh! What is this great power I feel?” She then felt another disturbance coming from nearby, one that even caused some manticores and timberwolves to flee, so she rushed in that direction to find a lake at the bottom of a pit that easily 150 feet deep. Zecora became worried when she realized that it was for some reason turning a murky black.
Suddenly, an unknown object began rising out of the lake. Looking closer, Zecora could make out a large black cocoon-like mass with white diamond patterns around, and she felt a dark aura emanating from as it inexplicably hovered far above the lake at about the level of the cliff’s edge where Zecora stood trembling. Whatever this thing was, it felt ominously unnatural.
The cocoon then flared an oppressive burst of energy, and Zecora could sense everything around becoming weak. She then realized that this mass was absorbing the vital essence of everything around it, even her own! She choked and sputtered as she struggled against the devouring force that caused all of the surrounding flora to wilt exponentially faster. After a few tense moments, the cocoon suddenly began to fold open! It turned out to be a gargantuan, monstrous red bird with its wings and tail feathers spreading out to form a sort of ‘Y’ shape and had claw-like growths on their tips. It had black vein-like growths under its wings and torso, and its body was glowing in such a way that the vital essence it was devouring was being drawn into its heart. It had a large tuft of fur around its neck that resembled a storm cloud, and its head held its two horns that curved forward like scythes, and its piercing blue eyes.
“<CRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!!!>”
It bellowed a blood-curdling mix of a caw from a bird of prey and a roar from a dragon, and a now skin and bones Zecora could only weakly cower as she stared at the seemingly demonic avian. It didn’t seem to acknowledge her as its body suddenly glowed a bright red before taking off like a rocket.
Zecora could do naught but desperately take heavy breaths as her bones felt as though they could collapse into dust at any moment. She could even muster the strength to speak, much less scream for help. However, some other force must have heard her silent pleas, and there was a sudden swell vital essence surging from within the forest on the other side of the lake. Everything that had been drained by the demon bird had been instantly revived and rejuvenated, Zecora included. “What is this madness?” she wondered, despite being thankful for whatever restored the natural balance, even though it too felt unnatural.
She heard something coming out of the bushes in the direction of the vital surge, and when she looked, another bizarre being appeared before her. It was a majestic blue stag with eight tree branch-like antlers, four jutting out equally from either side of its head and strangely bearing various gems on them. The lower half of its body was a soft black with a bushy tail, and its legs had ivory colored growths lining down all the way from the sides of its knees to around its hooves. Zecora was awestruck by its angelic presence.
It gently gazed upon the shaman before leaping clean over the lake and landing right next to her. Even if she was surprised by its agility, she sensed its purity and wasn’t at all frightened. It was a good nine feet tall and was looking down at her, making no sounds. The look in its eyes was somehow….motherly, as if it was assuring Zecora that all would be well and that she had nothing to worry about. It then sprinted away in the direction of the monster bird.
*****
After receiving news of Sombra’s return from a courier, attendants of the king of Griffonstone began rallying guards and warriors that had stayed behind and taking volunteers from the townsfolk as militia to fight against the dark king. Being a proud species, any unrest one would expect from a threatened society was instead filled in by sheer seriousness. Even if their relationship with the ponies hadn’t been eased by the mediations of Princess Flurry Heart, the possibility of Sombra conquering their kingdom was one they could not ignore regardless of the circumstances. Taking action was the only option.
“Get a move, you lot!! The king’s in one sour pickle ‘long with the rest o’ the lugs in the Crystal Empire, n’ Sombra won’t be stoppin’ to smell the roses once he makes his way south!” The griffon guard captain ordered. She was a fierce old hen who commanded respect amongst Griffonstone’s populace, not just the military. She had allowed her lieutenant to take her place at the Crystal Empire without her supervision as a test of her aptitude in case it was finally time for her to retire her position after decades of service. Deep down her lieutenant knew that her superior wasn’t into ‘sappy stuff’ like the coronation, but she was nevertheless thrilled to have so much faith put into her, which the king also approved of. Needless to say, the old hen was cursing herself for having too much faith that nothing would go wrong.
Suddenly, all the griffons were startled when a large pulse of light surged across the sky, even the captain. “What in Grover’s name?” She put her talon down and stepped on something squishy. When she looked down, there was a small green mass beneath her talon. She lifted her talon and was shocked to see that it was a living creature! “What’re you s’posed to be?” It was about the size of her talon and had a gelatinous green body with a hexagonal red organ inside of its belly. It had eyes, but one was much bigger than the other and actually had a pupil. It glared up at her, likely not happy that it had been stepped on while the captain was still frazzled that such a bizarre being suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
The creature jumped back and began shining very luminously, and everyone watched as inexplicable bolts of green energy suddenly appeared and began being rapidly absorbed into the little blob. Its entire body suddenly shined to a point where it couldn’t be seen, and after a few moments, the light swell subsided to reveal an inexplicable and almost unnatural looking wolf with green and black skin that seemed almost cellular than animalistic. It had a scarf-like growth on its neck, and the patterns on it body seemed to be comprised of hexagonal scales, indicating that it had spawned from the green blob.
It let out a powerful howl before taking off at breackneck speeds.
*****
To say that all hell had broken loose in the Crystal Empire was an understatement. The dark cloud covering the city blocked out the sun, and the only light illuminating anything was the plethora of red lightning flaring from the shadow cloud as well as the street lamps that were now glowing a blood red. The royalties from all nations were valiantly fighting against Sombra while the guards did their damnedest to defend the townsfolk from the shadows, but were starting to fail. In the time that Flurry had been gone, Sombra had conjured shadow monsters that were black and demonic forms of manticores, timberwolves, ursa minors, giant worms, and even horrific knock-off’s of Cerberus. One by one, the shadows captured townsfolk and imprisoned them in corrupted shackles that sent painful shocks throughout their bodies as they were forced to mine the crystals outside of the castle town.
Twilight and Airheart found themselves in a random street fighting off a pack of the shadow timberwolves when they realized that they were starting to get more and more out of control. The Princess of Friendship was reluctant to have to put heavy amounts of faith into her husband, but she charged his sword with the fiercest magic she could conjure, allowing him to hack and slash through the bestial demons with ease, which he did so with aerial agility that could rival that of Rainbow Dash. He stayed close to her in case any of them tried to sneak up from behind while she blasted them into puffs of smoke with her magic. Any townsfolk caught in their crossfire were ordered to flee and find shelter.
“Airheart, I hate to say it, but……we might not win this time. The Elements were useless, and Sombra’s got us nearly pinned down! On top of that, Flurry left with that…..thing for some reason, and I’m worried sick about her!” Twilight said.
Airheart cleaved a shadow wolf in half before soaring back to his wife. “Don’t you dare start losing faith now! The second you do is the second you become vulnerable! Keep your spirits up, and I promise we’ll pull through!”
Twilight was ready to start crying. She knew Airheart was right, but how high of a price would they have to pay in order to best Sombra as he was now? Her train of thought derailed when his devilish laughter resounding from down the road. They looked over and were horrified to see him carrying the exhausted Royal Sisters and married couple with his magic. Laying at his hooves were Ember, Spike, Thorax, and Pharynx all completely spent and beaten within inches of their lives. “NOOOO!!!!” Twilight exclaimed.
“YOU MONSTER!!!” Airheart exclaimed
Sombra chuckled. “Oh, don’t mind me. Just your average, everyday king claiming his rightful throne. And it just so happens that you’re in the way as well, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be kindly making you wish for death!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!”
Airheart aggressively pointed his sword at the demonic king. “YOU’RE GONNA BE THE ONE WISHING FOR DEATH AFTER WE’RE THROUGH WITH YOU!!!”
“Oh, am I?” Sombra taunted. Suddenly, the atmosphere felt incredibly tense with an ominous pressure, as if something was enraged. Airheart and Twilight grew anxious as they feared that Sombra was about to do something drastic, but what happened next was something out of their nightmares.
A dark swirl suddenly erupted from the space between both parties that quickly expanded into a portal that seemed to lead into a void of darkness. After a tense moment of observing the sudden anomaly, Twilight and Airheart were startled when an enormous pair of red eyes shined from the darkness. Then, a massive hoof cloaked into shadowy goo reached out from the portal and slammed into the street in front of them. Gradually, a gargantuan form of some kind of draconic demon crawled out of the portal, eyeing them as they backed away in horror. When it completely emerged, the portal behind it closed, and the shadow goo covering it just dissipated, revealing its true form. It was a six-legged dragon-like monster with a dark grey body and golden growths around its hooves, head and neck. The underside of its neck had red and black striped patterns lining it, and its wings looked as if they were made of shadows apart from the red claw-like tips spawning from them. It towered over the royal couple of friendship as Twilight cowered beside her husband, who could do naught but eye the monster back in sheer terror.
They looked at Sombra, expecting him to be smirking deviously at summoning such a terrifying monster…….but he was scared stiff as well, as if whatever this beast was came of its own volition. It turned its attention away from Twilight and Airheart as it faced the now cowering Sombra, who had dropped the captive royal out of fear. “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wha…!?.....WH-WH-WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?!?!?!” The monster was completely facing him and lowered its head to stare at him more closely, as if to threaten the mad stallion or even size him up as prey. When it lifted its head once more, it let out the most chilling roar that anypony in history had ever heard.
“<RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!>"
It’s roar sounded as though it had echoed from whatever hell it just spawned from as its shadowy wings began to expand. It roared once again, and Sombra watched in horror as the dark cloud he had cast over the Crystal Empire was slowly but surely being absorbed and devoured in the monster’s wings! “WH-WHAT!? STOP THIS PEST!!!” Sombra bellowed.
All of Sombra’s shadow troops and monsters stopped what they were doing to assault the gargantuan demon dragon, and it glared at him, clearly not feeling threatened. As they all converged towards the beast, some of the shadows fired magic at it, but it tanked every hit as though they were barely flea bites. Just before they could reach the monster, another intense pressure suddenly pressed onto the atmosphere, so much so that it was enough to cause the unconscious royals and Spike to stir. They were shocked back to their senses upon seeing their ‘guest’. They all gasped from the shock of seeing such a terrifying creature suddenly appear.
The pressure intensified when a blue swirl appeared low in the sky beside Twilight and Airheart, and just like the black one, it erupted into a portal. They could all hear the fearsome breathing of another ferocious monster resound from within it, and not even a second later, one burst out. It was an enormous quadrupedal blue draconic monster that seemed to be covered in some kind of metal armor that was growing from its body. Its head was elongated into a sort of diamond shape and head piercing red eyes. It seemed to have a blue diamond centered in its chest. The portal closed behind it as its hooves hit the ground.
“<HHHHHRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!>”
As it roared, Twilight and Airheart noticed in a clock store across the street that the hands were moving too fast and in random directions, and they could feel everything around them being distorted. When it ran out of breath, everything felt normal again, and that’s when they realized that this being’s roar was able to ripple the very flow of time! “WHAT IN THE HAYSEED IS GOING ON!?!?” Airheart exclaimed.
The blue dragon’s chest diamond suddenly began glowing, and the steel plate growing out of its back expanded a little. They could feel time itself being….absorbed into its mouth and congregated into a cosmic cluster. Seconds later, it exploded from its mouth into a massive torrent of temporal fire aimed right at a group of shadow monsters rushing towards its presumed friend. The entire wave of enemies was obliterated in the wake of destruction, and time felt regulated once more.
Before they could process what all had just happened, a pink swirl appeared behind Twilight and Airheart and expanded into a large portal, and from it emerged another monster. It seemed to be a counterpart to the blue one that had just appeared, but was bipedal and was a pearly white with pink patterns lining its body. It had small fin-like wings that looked barely big enough to let it fly, and its shoulders were hemispherical and each had pearl-like growths in their centers.
“<AIIIEEEERRRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!>”
Its roar was short and sounded like a resounding whimper of a dog that actually sounded threatening, and as it did, Twilight and Airheart could feel the very fabric of reality shake like a wine glass right in front of a speaker. Already frazzled by the appearance of yet another extradimensional horror, the third dragon began charging vast amounts of energy into the pearl on its left shoulder. Its left claw started glowing a powerful pink light, and after a few seconds later, it released it as a blade of light that distorted space as it traveled towards another pack of shadow monsters, wiping them clean out and stabilizing space as it dissipated.
Sombra could only look on in horror as the shadow cloud became thinner and thinner, to the point where the sun could barely peek through. However, when it got to that point, the demon dragon stopped and began surging the darkness it had absorbed throughout its body. It then let out another howling roar as it blasted its energy in all directions, purging any nearby shadows and completely expelling the dark cloud. “H-H-HOW DARE YOU!!!!” Sombra nervously bellowed.
All of a sudden, a green sparkle appeared in the sky, and moments later, a large meteorite crashed into grassy terrain outside of the town. Surprisingly, it didn’t cause a very big shockwave for its size, as if the meteor itself tried to control its landing. Green light began pouring out of cracks that gradually formed around. It then exploded as a green serpentine form squirmed into the sky. When it was still, it was revealed to be a serpentine dragon with yellow archaic patterns lining its body and no limbs apart from a pair of arms with three clawed digits. It had dorsal fins along its body and four large horns protruding from around its head in an ‘X’ shape. It let out a guttural roar as it slithered through the sky, breathing any assortment of elemental torrents at the shadow monsters.
The awakened royals looked on in complete confusion, namely Celestia and Luna, who had no idea that such being even existed, much less were attacking the Crystal Empire despite the fact that they seemed to be here to help. “Sister….what….?” Luna stammered, completely flustered.
Celestia could only shake her head in disbelief. In all the years she had lived and all the worldly knowledge she had accumulated, she was flabbergasted that she had never seen or heard of any sort of hints of such profound beings within her kingdom. Suddenly, the Royal Sisters’ heads began painfully throbbing. The way their horns were acting up told them that their respective celestial bodies were somehow moving on their own. They appeared side by side in the sky like they had before shortly after Twilight became a princess, and the Royal Sisters could feel something trying to break out of the sun and moon. “Nrgh! RRGGHH!!!” The throbbing was getting worse as they could feel previously unknown seals being broken.
“Are you two okay!? What’s wrong!?” Thorax interjected.
“AIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!”
“ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!”
The Royal Sisters’ horn shined luminously as their celestial bodies burst into light. Cadance and Shining Armor happened to peek up at the lights in the sky and witness a light rocketing down towards them. It landed beside them with meteoritic force, but was oddly gentle. When they looked up, they were met with a huge white lion with an almost metallic-looking coat. It had black paws with golden claws and orange patterns around it’s ankles, and it’s mane had tufts of orange along with golden growth around it. Its forehead looked as if it were made of space, and it even its eyes were in it.
Understandably startled, they were frightened when they heard a hollow sound from the moon. Something just materialized out of the moonlight. Looking closer, it was a ring of gold with a cluster of cosmic matter within. It then unfolded in such a way that it revealed to be some kind of celestial bat hanging upside down. It fell from the moonlight and made a graceful yet haunting bat chirp as it flipped right side up and flew towards them, letting the moon lower again.
Once the Royal Sisters’ headaches had subsided and they could process what had happened, they were in utter shock that there were now apparently beings living in the celestial bodies. However, they were even more flustered when they saw an assortment of more monsters rapidly approaching the empire.