//------------------------------//
// Trouble In Paradise 
// Story: My Little Koopalings: Friendship is Obnoxious 
// by LordSiravant 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Three: Trouble In Paradise

Everfree Forest, Castle Ruins…

The forest was silent, save for the call of a lone raven. Suddenly, the bird was spooked by the sound of hooves tromping on the ground below it. The raven flew from its perch, cawing as it vanished over the treetops of the early evening. The moonlight was repelled by the unknown traveller's cloak, which covered their entire body. They walked slowly, as though weighted by great age, and this was not wrong. The figure was ancient indeed, and very dangerous.

The cloaked figure entered the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, unconcerned by the idea of the many traps that lay concealed in this ancient fortress. They walked through the eerily silent corridors until they reached the broken stones of the throne room. They stopped in the middle of the room, and they waited.

After several tense minutes, a shadow shifted into the room, oppressing the atmosphere with its sinister aura. A shadow darker than any that pervaded Equestria's light. It had no form, no physical substance. But it had a mind; it had a will. A will as terrible and ancient as the gods of old.

The cloaked figure slowly knelt before the dark presence, which seemed to regard him with a critical, unseen eye. Surprisingly, while the figure was hooved, they also possessed an extra pair of thin, withered red arms that spread out to accentuate the humbleness of their bow.

"I have returned, oh great one," the figure spoke in a thin, elderly voice.

It was a while before the darkness spoke, and its voice commanded terrible authority. It was unmistakably the voice of a female, but the malice behind it was inequine and otherworldly, nothing borne of Equestria's world of light.

"Lord Tirek," it…she spoke. "What news have you of the world beyond this crumbling ruin?"

Lord Tirek rose to his hooves and pulled back the hood covering his face, revealing a vaguely bull-like face with some slight monkey-like features, two blunt stubs on his head that looked like horns, and a scraggly white beard. "The accursed princesses are still, as of yet, unaware of our presence. We can still gather power under their noses, and dispose of them at the right moment."

The darkness seemed to encompass the whole room now, signifying annoyance at Tirek's reply. "The princess known as Celestia shall be mine alone. I require her body and power to be fully reborn in this wretched world. The fragments of that forgotten spirit I consumed upon my arrival to these hallowed ruins could only do so much for my power. You will do nothing more than bring her to me. The other princesses are meaningless to me; you are free to do with them as you wish. But the Princess of the Sun is mine. Have I made myself clear?"

Tirek bowed again. "Of course, my queen," he replied humbly. "By your will." He then rose once more. "That is, however, not all I have to report."

The dark force seemed to ease up the pressure in the room slightly as she took in Tirek's words. "Continue," she spoke.

Tirek smirked. "It seems our world has gained a few more otherworldly visitors lately. Creatures unlike any I've seen before."

The darkness shifted to another corner of the room, swallowing the moonlight like a black hole. "I have felt their presence. The boundaries between my world and this one have not fully reasserted themselves. The weakened boundary allowed them to pass to this plane of existence. This shall make my ultimate return to my home world far easier than I imagined."

Tirek quirked an eyebrow, filing this information away in his mind for later. "So they originally hail from your own realm?"

"Do not concern yourself with them for the time being," the shadow being commanded. "Your job is to regain enough of your strength to mount a surprise attack on the princesses and bring the Sun Goddess to me. I will keep an eye on them for now. If they prove to be trouble later, I will deal with them myself."

"But of course, my queen," Tirek answered, bowing yet again. "I live to serve you."

The darkness shifted to the opposite side of the room, washing over Tirek in the process and chilling the old centaur to his bones. "Save your flattery for a time when you have proved your usefulness to me."

Tirek involuntarily shuddered as the shadow's presence brushed by him, eyeing it warily. "Remember the shackles you wear, for they are a reminder of your service to me. Do not forget where your loyalties lie, or the consequences shall be severe."

Tirek frowned bitterly and glanced at the dark purple rings of enchanted metal clinging to his arms, a dampener on his power that enslaved him to this eldritch being. He had merely traded one pair of shackles for another, and he secretly longed to exact terrible vengeance upon this thing that sought to make him her pawn. But he was certain that day would come. He would gather power like she asked. He would even help her regain her body and full strength through possession of Celestia's body. But by then, he would be strong enough to break the shackles she had forced upon him after consuming the magic of Princess Luna and that newcomer Princess Cadance and destroy this fool and her vessel for her impudence. And then, with no one left to oppose him, he would become the absolute master of Equestria. But for now, he would play his part dutifully. "I will not forget, my queen," he replied. "I shall do as you ask, and together, we shall rule Equestria, and all the lands beyond it. Side by side, king and queen over all for eternity."

"You assume a great deal, Tirek, but I shall…consider your proposal. Now, begone from my presence. My patience is vast, but not limitless. Do not waste time with the insufferable incompetence of my previous minions, or I will visit upon you a punishment so terrible, you will desperately wish you were back in the pits of Tartarus."

Tirek bowed one last time. "Thy will be done, my Shadow Queen," he said, and he turned around with a dramatic flourish of his cloak, and left the castle.

Now alone, the Shadow Queen allowed herself a dark chuckle. "That fool thinks he can oppose me once he gains enough strength. How adorable that he does not comprehend that my far greater age has made me wise to such petty trickery. I will have no more need of him long before that time. Death will come to him. Death will come to all…and when I return to the Mushroom World with my new body and power, I will at last have my revenge."

And with that final oath, the Shadow Queen retreated into the darkness to await the time in which she would return to her former glory and take this pitiful world for her own.