In the dead of the night, right around 3 AM, in the distant island where the castle once stood and now reduced to rubble, a great disturbance was about to unfold. In the catacombs of the castle, where everything was still intact, a large, dark crystal remained there undisturbed, still chained up… until now. The dark crystal was slowly beginning to crack and within this crystal, a figure was curled up as if in a deep slumber.
Suddenly, the area around this crystalized figure began to rumble. The disturbance caused the crystal to crack more and the figure's eyes opened wide, revealing his golden yellow eyes and slit, demonic pupils. Soon, the crystal broke apart and the figure was freed. It was a human, a young male who was probably still a young adult.
He let out a deep breath, gazing at his empty surroundings. As he stood up, he let out a loud, thunderous roar. A roar that would shatter mountains and make the gods themselves tremble beneath him in fear. The shockwaves of his roar caused the rest of the castle to crumble, but through his sheer brute strength and newfound demonic powers, he rose out of the ruins of the already decaying structure. He dug his way out and found the night sky, then some lights out in the distance.
The demonized young man roared again, having found the perfect place to start wreaking havoc and destruction upon. And he’ll feel no remorse, nor mercy at all.
Meanwhile in the realm where Death and Harmony live in, both divine entities felt this strange disturbance as well and both of them knew this was no natural enemy they sensed.
"You felt that, too?" Death asked.
“I’m afraid so… the rage, the bloodlust… I had never felt that in ages.” Harmony replied.
"And that's not all. His power will just keep growing stronger the longer his anger and rage continues to linger. I've never sensed this much hate in over a millenia," Death said in shock. "I only hope the others can stop this menace."
“I hope so too, but this evil will not be the only one they’ll face…. I sense another evil at play. One who wishes to bring upon Equestria something that has never happened in many millenniums before.” Harmony stated with worry.
“And what do they wish to bring upon, my love.” Death asked while grasping his wife’s hands. Harmony turns to her husband with a calm, yet fearful expression on her face.
“War.” She said.
Death was never one to fear anything. But a war is something he hopes will never come to pass in this situation. And another thing that fears him the most was that; whenever there is conflict, his brother would surely follow, along with his other two brothers. Ever since he fell in love with Harmony, Death left his brothers a long time ago. Leaving them to squabble with one another. But if what Harmony said is true, then he’ll be forced to see them once again.
Morning had arrived. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The birds were singing and Sunset had woken up from her well-deserved rest. It was 9:30 A.M and she looked to her right, seeing her new boyfriend still sleeping peacefully with his long, red hair covering up parts of his face. She chuckled from how peaceful he looked.
Knowing that it was morning, Sunset decided that it was time to get up. She sat up in her bed, stretching out her arms and groaned as she did it. After being fully awake, she got up from the bed and went downstairs into the kitchen for a glass of water. Apparently, she woke up with a dry throat and needed to hydrate it.
Minutes later, she heard the bed creaking upstairs and heard footsteps descending. She knew what was coming and was waiting for it. Soon, she felt arms wrapping around her from behind. "Good morning. Sleep well, my sleeping beauty?" Eternal whispered.
"Sure did. How about you?" Sunset asked before she turned to give him a peck on the lips.
"Yup, sure did. So what are the plans for today?" he asked, letting her go while he went to get some water himself.
"Nothing much. I was thinking of maybe just watching a little TV for a bit and then ask my friends out for some lunch at Sugar Cafe," Sunset shrugged.
"Is that so? Well then, I guess I'd better get ready," Eternal replied. He chugged down his cup of water before heading over to the bathroom to get washed up. The whole time, Sunset couldn't stop eyeballing his well-toned butt. She felt like she was living in a fantasy world. Then again, being born into a magical world of talking ponies is fantasy in itself. But even so, this was her reality and for once in her life, she's glad to be in it as long as she has Eternal by her side.
Her thoughts were then interrupted by her phone going off from upstairs. Curious as she is, Sunset headed upstairs and searched for her phone. After a few seconds, she eventually found it and answered the caller.
“Hello, Sunset Shimmer, speaking.” She said.
"Sunset! SUNSET!!! DID YOU SEE THE NEWS?!" Pinkie's voice yelled.
"No, Pinkie. What's going on? Why do you sound so freaked out?" Sunset asked, confused.
"Turn on the TV! TURN ON THE TV!!!" she shouted. Sunset had to put the phone away from her ear from how loud Pinkie was getting. She walked over to the TV and turned it on. "Change it to channel 13!"
"The news? What's so important on the news now? More crime?" Sunset asked, changing the channel before she gasped at what she saw.
"--multiple casualties were reported on this once supposed deserted island. Keep in mind, the footage you're about to watch… is extremely graphic," the news anchor woman said. The screen then showed footage of some people on a boat, watching what looked like Timber Spruce entering the island. And then out of nowhere, a strange flaming demonic figure pops out of the rubble of the destroyed castle, startling the lifeguard.
This strange creature then lets out a mighty roar when he sees his target. Timber in the video attempts to flee, but the creature lept in front of him,grabbing him by the waist.
"Help! HELP ME! HELP ME!!!" he shouted. Suddenly, Sunset sees a gruesome scene that'll never leave her. The creature, who was twice the size of any man, takes Timber by his legs and his upper torso and proceeds to pull him apart little by little. Timber was screaming and shrieking in pain and agony before his body completely pulled in two and then tossed aside, left to bleed to death. This brutal monster let out another roar that was different from its previous one, as if shouting in victory.
The video ended and the screen went back to the news anchor woman. "Truly… a terrifying sight to behold. The incident of this terrible massacre took place at 6:37 A.M this morning. What is this monster, how could it cause such carnage to our beloved citizens, where did it come from and what is its true motive? Police are ordering an immediate evacuation from the beaches to ensure their safety if this monster tries to escape the island. More on this story as it develops," she said.
"Pinkie… get the others… and meet me at my house. And I mean everyone! Get here as soon as you can!" Sunset said, urgently.
"Aye Aye, Captain!" Pinkie replied before both girls hung up.
After hanging up, Sunset immediately got herself dressed up and soon rushed over to the bathroom, where Eternal is in, to knock onto the door.
“Eternal, get dressed. Our friends will be arriving here soon.” She said as she rushed downstairs before he could respond back.
"Oh? What's the occasion?" he asked from inside. After receiving no response from Sunset since she headed downstairs before he could reply. Eternal just finished up his daily personal hygiene routine and then came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and cleaned up. "Sunset, what's going on? Is something troubling you?" he asked again.
"Eternal, someone just got killed today. I think it might've been a demon that slipped out from under our noses," Sunset implied, putting her boyfriend on high alert.
"What?! Shit! How did that even happen?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I've told Pinkie to get the others here as soon as possible," Sunset said.
“Already here, Sunset!” Pinkie’s voice called to the two, who turned around and saw all their friends entering the front door, looking tired and restless as if they were pulled out of bed.
“Wha-Wait, What! How did you all get here so fast?” Sunset asked out of shock.
“Pinkie barged into our homes, told us that you wanted us over to your house, and then dragged us to our music band bus and drove us all the way here.” Fluttershy answered.
“And I never got to have breakfast or spend some me time.” Israel stated.
“Nor did any of us.” Applejack added.
"What's all this about anyway?" Rarity asked.
"And what's with those disturbed looks?" Lightning pointed out.
"Apparently there was something on the news that Pinkie wanted me to see. Do any of you know about Timber Spruce?" Sunset asked.
"You mean my ex? What about him?" Twilight asked.
Sunset paused for a second to take a deep breath, then looked towards everyone. "Earlier this morning, Timber Spruce… was murdered." This shocking news struck almost everyone with shock and awe. "He was… literally torn in half by what looked like a demon. It happened out on the island where the castle once was.”
“A demon? What kind was it?” Heat asked.
"I don't know what it was, I couldn't see its face. But it was definitely 2 times bigger than Timber and it looked like sparks of fire were flickering all over his body.” Sunset explained.
“We never saw a demon like that, after all, we spent 5 years under the influence of one.” Blazing stated, gesturing to himself and the other boys.
"Wait… I think I remember something about this creature while the guys and I were still under the command of Grogar," Israel stated.
"Yeah, I remember, too. He was once a human who showed nothing but bitter hate and had a desire to destroy someone. Grogar deemed him untamable and crystalized him in order to keep him at bay," Copper said.
"I didn't know Grogar couldn't handle a human," Rainbow asked.
"This one was a very hard case. We tried to train him, but there was no point. He had beaten us all, but it just wasn't enough for him. Grogar had to use some of his power to knock him out AND crystalize him. In turn, it shortened his life energy a bit faster," Israel explained.
"It sounds like he might be some sort of rogue demon we've never heard of. We're gonna have to put out all the stops to take care of him," Twilight said.
"Like the old saying goes, when one journey ends, a new one begins," Frostbite said. "Or was it "When one threat is defeated, an even greater one'll take its place?"
"Actually both of those statements are true. Good call, Frostbite," Fluttershy said.
"So we've got some rogue demon we gotta stop, but we have no clue on how to stop him. What's our best course of action?" Lightning asked.
“Guys, guys… Don’t we all know a certain drakai who is the current Lord of Tartarus and may have a stockpile of demon knowledge.” Pinkie hinted.
"Ya mean Daris?" AJ asked.
"We could ask him, but none of us have our demon powers… well, except for Eternal because he has demon blood inside of him," Lightning said.
"So how do we contact Daris?" Rainbow asked.
As the group tried to come up with a solution, an idea suddenly popped into Eternal’s head. "Hang on a second, I think I might know of a way to contact him!" he exclaimed. “Some time ago, when Equestria was under the threat of the Storm King, I saw Tempest using a type of communication spell to speak to him. What if we used that kind of spell to contact Daris?”
“That sounds fantastic, Eternal! But there’s one problem…. How do we get a communication spell in a world that has no magic?” Twilight asked.
The group would have lost hope, until they heard Fluttershy grab their attention. Once the group had their eyes turned on her, they saw a potion bottle in her hand which Eternal immediately realized as the potion to make the communication spell.
“Would this help?” Fluttershy said.
“Fluttershy, where did you get that?” Eternal asked out of confusion.
“Well… before he left, Daris gave me this; saying that if I ever needed to, I would always keep tabs with him. I didn’t know what he meant, but when you talked about the communication spell, I thought maybe this potion could be related to it.” Fluttershy explained.
"Fluttershy, you're a genius!" Sunset said with glee, hugging her friend.
“Oh, it's nothing. Besides it’ll be great to see Daris again.” Fluttershy replied.
“Fluttershy, it's been one day since we’ve seen Daris.” Heat said.
“But it feels like a year!” Fluttershy complained. “I’m worried that the other demons are gonna give him a hard time. What if they hurt him?!” The animal lover was in panic mode.
“Shy, this is Daris we’re talking about, the Drakai that punched a hole through Grogar’s heart. Plus, he's the reigning king of Tartarus, I think he’ll be fine.” Rainbow assured her friend.
"Well… I guess you're right," Fluttershy said.
“Well now that we have the potion, all we need to do is contact him.” Eternal said as Fluttershy hands him over the potion. Soon he grabs a large metal bowl from the kitchen and fills it with water, then he activates the communication spell by pouring the potion into the bowl of water. Soon, the smoke rises and the image of Daris' face appears. The Drakai was now a foot bigger than he was before and now has red stripes on his body, and he was wearing silver armor which looked similar to the Alpha Drakai’s armor.
“Who has commanded my presence?” The Drakai said with a very commanding tone.
“Hi Daris! Remember me?.” Fluttershy said after she shoved Eternal out of the way in excitement to see her demon friend.
“Fluttershy?! Well I'll be damned in the Afterlife! It's wonderful to see you, even though it's been a day after we last spoke.” The Drakai replied with greater joy.
“We see that you improved your voice use.” Heat said.
“Well, when your Lord of Tartarus, You need a strong commanding voice to force all of the entire underworld to obey me…. It's exhausting I tell you.” Daris replied. "Anyways, what is that my most trusted and wonderful friends ask of me?”
“Ooooh, looks like Daris has even learned how to speak like royalty as well.” Rarity whispered to Lightning.
"We have some bad news to share, Daris. Recently earlier this morning, there was a murder that took place out on the island where the castle was. We have reason to believe it might've been a human who was captured by Grogar and kept under lock and key. He escaped and slaughtered someone and he might attack the city," Sunset explained.
The group awaited for a reply from the Drakai, but Daris didn’t say a word and sat silent in his throne. However, when he did reply…. “HE GOT OUT?!?!?!?!” He shouted with rage, which caused the smoke of the spell to spark lightning as he shouted. “I was informed by my guards that they would have him transferred back to Tartarus. Now I’ll have to deal with them once this problem is solved.”
"Is he really that bad?" Rarity asked.
"If you witnessed the amount of hate that lurks within his heart, you'd be doing the same thing I would've done. He's worse than Grogar and the Fallen Souls put together!" Daris explained in a deep tone.
"What can we do to help?" Fluttershy asked.
“No Fluttershy, you and all your friends need to stay away from him, at all cost!” Daris responded out of concern. “This soul is far stronger and more destructive than any other demon you have seen before. No mortal soul can ever defeat him. Which is why I don’t want any of you risking your lives to defeat him… Its suicide!”
"Even myself?" Eternal asked.
"You're better off staying away, too. But should he happen to cross your path, you must get out of there as best as you can. Nothing in the mortal realm can defeat this corrupted monster, not even a former demon king," Daris confirmed. “I beg you all to stay out of this…. This is a fight, you cannot win.” Those were his last words before the smoke of the spell dispersed and vanished into thin air.
“Well… he was very helpful.” Rainbow said sarcastically.
“He was just worried about us, Dash. That’s how he is.” Fluttershy replied.
"Ah know he means well now, but Ah say we still need to find this monster feller and help Daris take him down," Applejack said.
"Same here, we can't just sit around doing nothing," Frostbite said.
"No, you guys have to stay safe. Remember, you just got your regular lives back and you've lost your demon powers. Take this time to reconnect with your families. They mean a whole lot more than saving the world to you right now," Twilight said.
"But, that creep is out there somewhere!" Blazing Waters argued.
"And we've dealt with similar enemies in the past. You guys are still inexperienced in battle. Sure, you fought us as the Fallen Souls, but you don't have the power anymore. I'm gonna have to agree with Twilight, so no, you're not fighting him," Rainbow argued back.
“Hey! We fought Inferno Blaze, you know the most skilled fighter Equestria has ever seen.” Lightning said just to make a point.
“Not actually.... He, uh, was kicking all your butts in seconds.” Fluttershy stated.
“Ok…. Poor choice of words.” Lightning responded. “But still…”
“No BUTS, mister! You boys are staying out of this.” Rarity said.
"Even me?" Heat asks.
"Afraid so, Heat. You suffered some serious trauma when Grogar tortured you like that. I think it's best if you rest up and stay with your mom. But, if we ever get injured, we'll come to you to get healed up," Twilight said before kissing him on the cheek.
"I understand. Just promise me you'll come home safely when all of this is done," Heat said, cupping her cheeks, She nods and they share one more kiss.
"Be careful out there," Heat said. Twilight nods and the two break away.
"Alright, let's go. We've got a job to finish," Twilight said in a serious tone. The other girls nod and huddle up, formulating their next move.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the city in an abandoned building on the south side, a sinister plot was being forged. A man in a black hooded robe, along with three other people were gathered together in a circle.
"Never in all my years, in all my wildest dreams, have I even thought of something like this. Are you sure you heard that old fool right about the crystals?" one deep voice asked from the deepest shadows. "I still say this is far fetched."
"Trust me, there's no doubt in my mind he said it. Gather the demon crystal shards and a moon stone gem and all the power will be at our fingertips," the leader confirmed.
“But what of those pests that reside in this world. I had just gotten word that they too are searching for the shards, all to bring back their friend from the dead.” Another voice asked among the three. “The one that has been framed for your crime.”
"Should they get in your way… capture them and bring them all to me. But there's one individual I advise you to not attack: the one called Sunset Shimmer. I have my own reasons for that," the leader said.
“Well they might not be a problem to our plans. After all I heard of an all-powerful demon wreaking havoc upon this world, one that’ll distract them from the real threat.” The third person spoke out. “But if they do reach the shards and resurrect their friend… you know that you'll be the first one he’s after.”
"I'm well aware of that. Which is why that rampaging monster out there is going to ensure they don't achieve that goal. And what better way to ensure that than by luring the beast over to your enemies and watch them be destroyed”
"Fair point. I can easily have my soldiers lead that buffon to the others. I can already see the power falling into our hands. This will be a glorious day for us," the deep, dark voice said.
“Indeed, and with that power in our grasp, we can finally bring down that tyrant bitch that rules over the land of Equestria.” The third voice proclaimed.
"Yes… she will fall and have no choice but to come crawling to me for mercy while you make all of Equestria bow before you. Now… let's rally the soldiers and search the island for the crystals. But keep a low profile. We don't want to arouse suspicions," the leader said. "And one more thing before we move out: ...all hale the Dark Trinity."
"All hale the Dark Trinity," All three hooded men said in unison. The three men gave out deep, evil laughs. It would seem the battle has only just begun. As darkness has now found new life and has slowly grown across two worlds. Soon our heroes will now fight on two fronts, against two threats that wish to destroy everything they love and cherish. Will they defeat these two evils and bring peace to both Equestria and Earth? And will they succeed in bringing back one of their own from the afterlife? Only time will tell. The true battle of light and darkness… has only just begun.