//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Return of Silver Dagger // Story: The Sorcerer Supreme of Earth // by Vishanti //------------------------------// In a dark gloomy castle, located in the town of Varf Mandra in Transylvania, a dark cloaked figure within works of sinister dark magic in a chamber of brick stone. littered with books and scrolls of forgotten texts, jars full of gross dead creatures and lit candles. The cloaked figure stands in front of a pentagram, holding a book in both hands. The figure reads out loud chants of an ancient forgotten language, unknown to any but to the dark ancient masters. “Chthon, magister tenebrarum, auctor magicae nigrae! Da mihi potestatem unius hominis mortuos reducere! For I command it!” The pentagram ignites in flames as something sinister opens from within. A head of an unconscious figure is seen visible from within the void of black ink before falling onto the ground, revealing to be an old man in tight purple clothing, armed with mystic unholy daggers. The flames died down and the cloaked figure walked over to the unconscious man, turning him over. The old man was bald from the scalp and bears a white mustache. “You better be worth it.” The cloaked figure muttered as he carried the old man to somewhere else, for he had plans for the old man, known as Silver Dagger. Meanwhile in New York, Greenwich Village, at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Doctor Strange has returned from grocery shopping, wearing modern and normal clothing; such as jeans, a brown jacket, and a red scarf for the chilly weather. Beside him was Bats, as ghostly transparent as ever. “I hope you're proud of scaring the dog owners.” Strange remarked. “I just wanted to play with the other dogs at the park, they were having fun!” Bats whimpered.  The sorcerer sighed in understanding. “You should have told me that you wanted to play, I would have put on some illusion spell to make you look alive. You know how people are when they see something unnatural.” Strange scolded.  Bats lowered his head. “I’m sorry…” Strange looked down at his friend, seeing Bats hang his head, dejected. He sighed as he caved in. “You know it’s fine, right? I’ll give you some chocolate, only if you promise to behave.” He stated. Bats lifted his head immediately, his tail wiggling and his breathing heavy in excitement. “Sure!” Strange chuckled in response to his friend before placing his groceries on the kitchen counter. Unknown to the both of them, a sinister force was at play in another world as Silver Dagger snuck into the Canterlot Castle gracefully at dawn. His footsteps were as silent as a cat with his boots against the checkered marble floors, inching closer to Celestia's personal library. Two Royal Guards, clad in gold armor and armed with spears, were at present, standing guard beside the entrance of the library doors. Silver Dagger brought out two daggers between his fingers and threw them directly to their chests. The Royal Guards collapsed to the ground, making a loud sound of metal armor against the marble floors, Silver Dagger marched on inside the library. Unknown to him, the sound was heard by another Royal Guard on patrol through the corridors of the castle. The Royal Guard investigated the sound and spotted two of her fellow guards down. “Intruder! We have an intruder!” The Royal Guard alarmed, her voice echoed through the corridors, reaching to the ears of other guards. Silver Dagger wandered through the library of what seemed to be endless shelves of books, pony statues with fabulous sculpted manes, but this was not his main reason to admire some books and statues, he came for something more. Walking into the deep parts of the library, after passing a giant hourglass, a vault door presented itself. The door itself is old, ancient even. A very large round disk with a wheel. Silver Dagger stepped in front of the vault door, his first attempt at opening the door, but the wheel would not budge. He put all his surprisingly muscle effort, and yet to no avail. Silver Dagger grunted in annoyance. He thought for a moment, thinking of a way to enter the vault. Suddenly, he heard loud clops behind him. He turned to see a large squad of ponies in gold armor, pointing spears in his direction. One stepped forward. “In the name of Princess Celestia, you are hereby arrested for breaking and entering in the Canterlot Castle and for the murderer of two ponies.” The old man ignored the ponies blabbering of justice and instead started attacking the guards by throwing daggers at them, aiming the most vital parts to his guess, his enchanted daggers flying. “You unholy magic creatures are the creations of the devil! I will purge your disgusting kind from existence! In the name of god!” Silver Dagger shouted, attacking the Royal Guards, surprisingly showing agility despite his old age.  One tried to catch him from behind, but the ex-priest caught on, blocking the spear with his dagger and struck to the neck. Two tried to get him from his side, Silver Dagger jumped as they both accidentally stabbed one another directly to the neck. Silver Dagger landed swiftly between two guards, attacking them to their armor-less spots. As the slaughter continued, one Royal Guard escaped, hiding behind a bookshelf away from the onslaught. “I-I must warn Princess Celestia! She will know h-how to deal with this! She must!” The pony thought as she sneaked off to the corridors to warn and plead for help. Silver Dagger finished the last of the armored ponies, or so he thought, as he turned back to the vault door, pondering what he should do next. Fortunately for him, he let some of the Royal Guards live as he knew he would need information from them. He walked toward two fallen and injured guards. “You, demon spawn.” He called, catching their fearful attention. “You will tell me now how to open the vault and perhaps you can be redeemed to the eyes of god.” He said.  The injured ponies looked at him as if the bipedal creature was insane. They looked at him with fear as dread told them of their doom. “W-we don’t know how to -- only the princesses know how to open the vault.” One guard confesses, the other glares at his fellow guard. “Why did you tell him!? Now he’ll go after the princess!” The other guard shouts before a dagger is stabbed between his eyes. The guard collapses as the only remaining one shrieks in horror. “You have done well to tell me, perhaps there is salvation for a demon spawns like you.” Silver Dagger said with a cold smirk. He kneels down to the pony’s head level, directing eye to eye. Silver Dagger’s eyes glowed a shimmer of gold light that hypnotized the pony who eyed it. “Your will is my will. You will obey me.” Silver Dagger spoke as the pony stood straight up obediently, without a care of his injuries. “You will take me to your princess.” Silver Dagger commanded, and the pony led his master down to the corridors. But only a quarter deep in the corridors of the glistening castle’s walls, a new obstacle has appeared. The princess of the sun has arrived. “What is the meaning of this?” Princess Celestia inquires as the alicron confronts Silver Dagger. Sided by the surviving female Royal Guard as well as backed up by more others. Silver Dagger smirks maniacally as he points his dagger at her. “You must be the princess I've heard about. You will open the vault door at the library, or this guard of yours will pay the price of your disobedience.” He declares as he grabs his hypnotized victim and places the dagger close to his neck, so close that it threatens to cut and spill a drop of blood. The princess glares as she has not moved, only staying still in fear of her guard’s life taken away. “What is it that you want from the vault?” she asks. “Why, the book of infinite power!” He exclaims. Celestia looked shocked. “How did you know…?” She asks. Silver Dagger fumed irritable. “Do not play coy with me!” He shouts as he inched his dagger close to the guard’s neck. “I know you have it, and if you want your satanic follower to live, then you will obey my command!” He shouts. Celestia glares, she could use a simple spell to take down this bipedal creature, but she knew she could not risk getting her pony hurt in the process, she could never forgive herself if that happened.  “Fine… I will open the vault.” She complies. Silver Dagger moves out the way to let the princess guide him, still holding the dagger firmly against the hypnotized guard’s neck. Celestia told her guards to stand down, to not engage with the intruder. Princess Celestia walks past them as she heads toward the library. She passed the many shelves with books, statues of the old, the giant hourglass. Into the deep corners of the library she stops in front of the vault. Her heart breaks at the sight of her fallen Royal Guards, who will not be forgotten of their sacrifice. Nor will it be in vain. She stands in front, knowing that opening the vault could spell curtain doom if anyone acquires the forbidden trinkets and relics made by dark forces of the past. Of a nearly forgotten dark age. “Well? Open the vault door!” Silver Dagger urges, clearly impatient. The alicorn princess lights her magic as her horn glows a sparkly yellow. The vault made churning noises of gears, the door slowly opened with a low grinding noise. Silver Dagger gazed into the wonders of the insides of the vault. Objects of evil origin, books of dark magic, relics of malevolent power. But one stands out the most. A book made of black hide of a dark alligator with a leather strap. That one was what Silver Dagger seeks, or so he was told. Letting his guard down, Celestia strikes at the chance, shooting a beam of magic directly at Silver Dagger. He couldn’t react in time as he was blasted away and hit against a bookshelf, causing it to fall and knock down another, and another, and another. Silver Dagger groaned as he tried to get up, but his body was lifted by a visible force of the same sparkly yellow magic that radiates off of Celestia’s horn. He turns to Celestia as they both glare at each other. “Guards!” she shouts, calling in her battalion. All surround Silver Dagger as they point spears at him. “Take it to the dungeons.” Celestia orders.  But before anypony could lay a hoof, Silver Dagger pops out a flash grenade and triggers it, causing a flash bang of light that temporarily blinded and deafened his captors. Celestia’s magic fizzled out, giving Silver Dagger a chance to get the book and escape. As the alicorn princess and royal guards gained their bearings, regaining their eyesight and hearing, they attempted to chase after the intruder, now thief and murderer. Many Royal Guards that were on patrol duty witnessed the running strange creature, they attempted to stop Silver Dagger but were met with death or an acrobatic display of skill as he dodged their attacks. He jumped down a set of stairs as a pegasi tried to catch him, but missed by an inch. He front flipped from a guard who tried to tackle him. The whole castle was on high alert as the entire barracks of Royal Guards chased after the old man with his surprising stamina to keep up this long. Just as Silver Dagger almost made it to his escape, his way out, somepony steps in. The Princess of the night. “Halt thee, intruder!” Luna shouts with her royal canterlot voice that shakes the very room, causing Silver Dagger to grasp his ears. Her wings rise in an attempt to intimidate with her majestic and intimidating figure of a creature. “For thy have invaded our home, and thou shall be punished!” Silver Dagger tried to turn away to find another escape route, but his way back was blocked off by Royal Guards. He furrows in frustration. He gripped the book tightly within his grasp beside his hip, readying his dagger at a moment's notice. Luna charged her magic as her horn glowed a sparkly blue color. As she shot the beam towards Silver Dagger, the intruder backflipped as the beam passed his back mid air, the beam hit one of the Royal Guards in the back as they collapsed. Silver Dagger landed to his feet, knowing he was outmatched he focused his eyes on a window of the hall.  Catching up to his plan Luna sends another beam to take him out, but Silver Dagger, as ever quick, ducked and slid under the beam and broke through the glass, falling out of the castle. You may think he foolishly jumped to his death, but be amazed as he maneuvered his body to an angle to stab his dagger into a cloth banner, connected to the marble walls of the castle, to slow down his descent. As he made it to the ground of the castle’s garden, multiple pegasus flew down to give chase. Passing a fountain and a draconequus statue, Silver Dagger ran out of the garden’s entrance and into another set of corridors. He ran quickly as the pegasus slowly reached him, he made a quick turn as one failed to grab him, he jumped over another as they tried to swoop him. He jumped down another window, sliding against the wall and jumping onto the roof of a house, finally out of the grand Canterlot Castle. Silver Dagger jumps down from the roof and runs into an alley, hiding behind some barrels and boxes, shrouding himself in his shadows from anyone’s eyes. Royal Guards ran past him, not noticing him from the corner of their eyes. In the moment of peace, Silver Dagger communicated to his master through telepathy, to report his findings. “I have retrieved the book as requested.” Someone responds, and it is the voice of the cloaked figure. “Good! Excellent! You have done well in serving me, now I will send you back to me.”  Silver Dagger’s body glimmered a soft light, catching the eyes of Royal Guards, but before they could pursue, Silver Dagger was already gone. Silver Dagger was magically transported back to his home universe on Earth, back in the dark castle of Transylvania. “Have you truly retrieved the book?” The cloaked stranger asked. Silver Dagger smirks as he pulls out the book into his master’s sight. “Indeed I have!” The cloaked stranger cackles before coughing hoarsely into his hand. He took a big breath before he took the book from Silver Dagger with his pale and wrinkly hands with long, uncut nails. He raised the book above his head, despite the pain in his back. “Now with this book, I can regain my awesome power once more!” He cackles. “And once I do, Doctor Strange will be too weak, too beneath my power to face me!” He shouts in victory. Silver Dagger crosses his arms in response. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know that book would bring us power? It was in another world.” Silver Dagger asks.  The cloaked stranger turned to face his reincarnated ally, replying. “Because, my henchman, during my youthful days of fighting the original Doctor Strange, I once stole the Book of the Vishanti.” The cloaked stranger clenched his fist in pure rage at the thought of the book. “The blasted book would not grant me knowledge of power. It was somewhat sentient to decide what the reader was allowed to see of its infinite pages. But it has shown me one page that took my interest so long ago. I still remember it to this day.” Silver Dagger’s curiosity peaked on the page that was mentioned.  “And what secret knowledge was found on the page?” Asked the ex-priest. The cloaked stranger smirked as his sinister smile was visible to the low lighting of his surrounding lit candles. He answers, “More possible knowledge throughout the multiverse and beyond! The omniverse!” His smirked fell. “But I could not just visit this multiverse with ease; there was a wall of some kind, a barrier between multiverses. So I made a meeting with Dormammu, convincing him to aid me in seeking power from the hidden relics locked within the other multiverse. With our combined power, we both managed to break through the barrier, causing a crack in void and reality, small enough for Dormammu to slip in!” He growled, clutching his fist close to his face.   “Dormammu betrayed me and tried to retrieve the knowledge for himself, but unfortunately for him, Doctor Strange intervened, stopping Dormammu from taking what is rightfully mine!” He raised his fist high in the air. He continues. “So then, I convinced Nightmare to invade the dreams of the creatures that reside there. Then, I captured some demons from a hell dimension to distract him. The more I take his attention to the other world, the more he lacks performing his duties.” He finished. The cloaked stranger continued “I knew I could take advantage of Doctor Strange’s kindness and compassion to help anyone and anything, so I decided to divert his attention from his duties as Sorcerer Supreme, for his lack of performance would be his downfall!” The cloaked stranger cackles.  Back with the princesses, both waited in their thrones and their Royal Guards investigated the crime scene; asking for any witness, looking for clues, trying to find anything of the strange bipedal that bears a resemblance to their extradimensional visitor, Doctor Strange. But then an idea hit one of them. “Wait, Luna. Don’t you think that creature resembles the doctor?” Celestia asked. Luna turned to her, confused. “What do thou ever mean, sister? He looks nothing like our dentist.” She replied. Celestia rolled her eyes. “Not that kind of doctor, I meant Doctor Strange.” She restated. Her younger sister expressed a look of realization. “Oh! We understand now, the answer is yes. That intruder does have similar traits of our savior.” Luna agreed, nodding. “Indeed, the creature resembles the doctor; a hairless body, standing on two legs, and wearing strange clothing.” Celestia went on. Luna thought for a moment. “Do thou think we should summon him?” Luna asked. Celestia pondered the idea. “I wouldn’t wish to bother him, but he may be the only chance we have at finding the murderer.” She turned to a Royal Guard that was standing on guard duty. The Royal Guard was the same female pony that survived the attack, who was still in shock of the whole event, but wouldn’t let it get her down on the job. So when the princess of the sun called for her, she immediately responded. “Yes, princess?” She asked. “Please bring me the black card from my room.” Celestia ordered. The Royal Guard nodded and ran off to get the card as requested. Celestia lowered her head, fearing what the strange, old creature was doing with the old book. “I just hope Doctor Strange will help us in this situation.” (To Be Continued)