As Fluttershy and a young Discord returned to the pegasus' cottage, they were blissfully unaware of the danger that was coming to Equestria. A threat that was planning much worse than simply turning the lord of chaos into a child.
A young, dark colored unicorn stepped carefully around a patch of poison joke, grimacing at the bright blue flowers. Oh, how she hated the Everfree Forest. She trotted toward a large oak tree, its trunk blackened as if it had been burned.
"Lord Noctis." The unicorn called, bowing.
"Ah, my faithful servant has returned." A deep voice echoed from the tree as shadows swirled around it. "Tell me, is the fourth princess, this Twilight Sparkle dead?"
The unicorn swallowed. "N-no, sir."
The shadows swirled faster and crimson eyes appeared. "And why not? Did I not order you to kill her?"
The mare shivered and crouched low. "Y-you did, master. B-but s-she is more p-powerful than we anticipated. S-she shielded herself from the blast!"
The shadows retreated slightly. "And what of the Draconeqqus?"
"His powers are weaker in this form, my lord. It will be easy for you to defeat him once and for all."
If shadows could smirk, these certainly would have. "Good." A dark chuckle. "With their little guard dog dead, the Princesses will be more vulnerable to an attack."
The shadow seemed to be talking more to himself, like somepony reciting the day's shopping list. The unicorn remained silent, having learned that interrupting her master often unleashed terrible fury. Lord Noctis still was not powerful enough to truly rise and form a corporeal body, but his wrath was still frightening and she had no wish to awaken it. Oh how she longed for the day when she would not have to run errands for what was essentially a shadowy fog surrounding a dead tree in the middle of the Everfree. There was no way for her to escape this though. She had sealed her fate when she had been a filly, separated from her parents during its siege by Lord Noctis and King Sombra.