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From the dark void of death... Again1,128 words
Ready or not, Here comes Zero!1,691 words
First Blood2,337 words
The journey begins2,508 words
Zero's Super-Fun Creeper Castle of Horror!!!6,605 words

Zero's Super-Fun Creeper Castle of Horror!!!

The Dark Matter searching in the Everfree forest finally had grown tired, after three long days of non-stop searching for the supposed Element of Hope. The large team, consisting of over five hundred minions, searched high and low for days, demolishing all in their path, be they plant, animal, or decrepit building, but could not find anything that might remotely look like a container for the element. However, just as they were about to give up all hope, The five hundred-strong army found what appeared to be an ancient, ruined castle, sitting there in the woods, for anyone to inhabit. Plus, as they approached the old ruin, they felt a soft, calm feeling emanating from it.

So at last, the small army thought that they had found their element, or at least another base of operations. Eagerly seizing the opportunity presented to them, the Dark Matter all started to swarm about and within the ruins, and the old castle began to undergo a terrifying change; large, colorful spikes soon erupted from the ground, becoming tents, metal spikes and wires quickly grew from the ground becoming fences that soon surrounded the premises, and the castle itself, once a chilling, decrepit ruin, soon began to undergo repairs, and then became something even more horrifying, as one messenger flew off toward the horizon, eager to tell the master of their latest accomplishment...

The Mane Six began their trek to the Everfree forest, because where else would a secret, unheard-of element be hidden? First, the six stopped by Fluttershy's house to pick up supplies for the journey ahead, and then they headed out, feeling prepared for anything that Zero threw at them.

As they traversed the forest, though, they headed en route to their first stop, Old Canterlot, but as they approached the area where it was, the six felt an ominous air in the area, which was unusual: Usually, the castle had such a calm, pleasant aura about it. But now, as the six approached the old ruins, they could only cringe at the feeling of dread and oppression they felt. And as they walked, Rainbow Dash shuddered at the cold aura about the place, and commented on the feeling.

"Brr... H-hey, do the rest of you feel that? It feels so cold around here..." Rainbow called, and the other five nodded in agreement, shivering from the feeling of the castle, which they had yet to even see.

"Yeah, it feels like winter's up and come months before it should've!" Applejack replied, and Fluttershy shuddered a bit, and voiced a question of her own right afterward:

"You... you all don't think that... that Zero got there first, do you?" Fluttershy asked, and Twilight turned about to respond to her friend, but before she even could, the six mares suddenly perked up, and listened to the air, to what appeared to be the sound of... music. Suddenly, before any of them could react, Pinky Pie began to smile widely, and began bouncing up and down, faster and faster, until she seemed to be little more than a sporadic pink blur. And as if to complicate matters further, Twilight finally got a good listen to the creepy, shrill sound in the air, and finally recognized it right there.

"Carnival music..? What in Equestria..?" Twilight muttered, but she was quickly interrupted by Pinky Pie, who was still bouncing around like a flea on cocaine.

"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!!!!!! Carnival!!!!! Weeeee!!!!" She screamed as she took off towards the source of the music, without so much as another word.

"Pinkie, wait!" Cried Twilight as the remaining five tried to catch up to her. However, she was too fast for them, and when they finally caught up to her, she was staring in unbelievable glee at what appeared to be a giant, twisted castle, like the ones put up on Nightmare night. All around it were little attractions, like "Test your strength", or those stupid games where you have to knock over the bottles that nopony ever wins. However, It wasn't anywhere near Nightmare night, and the place was empty. And on top of that, everyone but Pinky Pie cringed at the horrid aura emanating off of the tall, dark castle in horrible, dreadful waves.

"Who in Equestria would go out of their way to build such a large carnival in the middle of the Everfree forest, in the wrong month?" Asked Twilight to herself, though none of her friends answered, all but one being to terrified of the place to even talk. As they searched through the carnival, Pinkie then kept on running off to different tents, never staying at one for long due to a lack of attendants, and the little pink spaz finally ran into the main castle, leaving the other five to groan in annoyance, and force themselves to follow her.

The other five mares groaned and facehooved as they went in after her, and as they entered the interior of what once was the old Canterlot castle, they were all quickly terrified by the inside. Clearly, someone put a lot of effort into this haunted castle attraction, because it was downright scary, with bones littered across the floor, cobwebs hanging from the seemingly miles-high ceiling, and the oppressive, heavy air of death that hung in the castle, causing the Mane Six, Pinky included, to shudder in fear. However, despite the horrors already at work, the real show only had yet to start.

As the six wandered the haunted castle, large masses icky black slime began to ooze from the cracks and crevasses in the walls and ceiling, and before the six ponies could react, the masses of ooze formed into basic, but incredibly strong tendrils, and proceeded to grab the six, who all screamed and struggled as it enveloped them, but to no avail. Twilight could only watch as her friends were dragged to the floorboards below, before the black ooze fully engulfed her, too.

Twilight struggled against the gunk that now was trying to kill her, and fired multiple magic bolts at random to ward it off, but the ooze seemed to ignore these shots, and quickly enveloped Twilight's face, suffocating her. Twilight struggled furiously at this, but before long, the lack of oxygen got to the little princess, and she quickly blacked out, forced under the floorboards like her friends at last.

When Twilight Sparkle finally regained consciousness after what seemed like an eternity, she looked around quizzically, abserving her surroundings, and soon discovered just where she'd been left: a most peculiar room of the castle, the bedroom.

"Ugh, what the heck was... Girls?" She called, and though she looked around, Twilight couldn't find her friends anywhere. And soon after realizing that she was now all alone in this dark, insane perversion of the Old Canterlot castle, she began to get really, really scared.

"Uh, h-hello? Applejack? Pinkie Pie? Rarity? Anypony?" Twilight called weakly. But when nopony answered, she looked on the bed she was placed on, and found a very badly written note, covered in droplets of the same gunk that grabbed her and her friends in the first place. Thinking it to be a clue, Twilight made a sour expression at the ill-written note, and powered through the task of reading it, hoping to at least get a sense of where she was, and how to get out.

"Dear Twilight,
I have Your friends and the Element of Hope. If you Desire these things, you must get through this maze and others I have constructed. However, know that I have tasted your fears and regrets, and seek to employ all of them against you and your friends, as demonstrated perfectly in this note alone. Find the exit, and the Element, at your own risk, bookworm.

With love, your soon-to-be best friend, Zero."

Twilight looked at the note with distaste at first, then pure confusion at the last part.

"Soon-to-be Best friend? What does that even mean?" She asked with much confusion and frustration, not understanding Zero's reasons or consistencies. He tried to kill them first, and now he wants to be friends? It made no sense to Twilight. Deciding to ignore that part, she instead focused on the more important objective: Her friends, and the Element. That goal in mind, Twilight finally got off of the bed, and tried to open the door.

As she turned the knob with her magic, however, the door flew open, revealing a giant mouth full of shark-like teeth, and it tried to eat her! before the "door" could devour her, though, she jumped back with a yelp, and stood there, panting as the door closed, then opened again, revealing a hallway outside.

Testing to see if it was a trick, she took a book from the bookshelf and threw it through the doorway. Surprisingly, and to Twilight's relief, the door didn't even twitch, and she quickly jumped through, still not fully trusting anything that this new, twisted castle presented to her. After Twilight jumped through the doorway, however, the door shuddered a bit, and slammed closed, causing the area to shake with the force it exerted on itself. And as it did, a tiny spider dropped from the ceiling onto Twilight's nose, having been shaken from its web.

After looking at the tiny, confused arachnid for a while, Twilight laughed, underwhelmed at such a low, cheap scare. However, another spider almost immediately dropped on her head afterward, and another fell next to her after that, and then, a drop of strange, green liquid dripped from the ceiling, causing Twilight to freeze in place in utter fear as she looked down at the sizzling, noxious puddle it left.

Finally, looking up in horror, Twilight gasped as she saw a giant, pitch-black spider, even bigger than she was, it's dripping mandibles clacking hungrily, and its single orange eye focused on her with intense precision. Twilight stood still for a moment, her own heart refusing to beat for a while. Then, almost instantly, the gargantuan monster dropped from the ceiling and slowly crawled toward her in a predatory fashion, its jaws dripping and clicking, causing Twilight to back away slowly, and then start running.

As soon as Twilight broke into a run, however, the giant, horrific spider pounced to her location, missing the little alicorn by mere inches, and it then proceeded to chase her down the hall, skittering down the narrow, long hallway with the speed and focus of a freight train, and likely with all the lethality, too. Searching frantically for a door, Twilight quickly turned and went in the first one she found, regardless of whether it was a trap or not, which caused the spider to barrel down the hall, its claws skidding as it tried to stop itself, and the monster then hopelessly slid into a trap that involved a giant square plate on the ceiling slamming into the ground, squashing the colossal arachnid.

A single leg twitched once or twice on the remains of the monstrous creature, and it was finally dead. Twilight gulped, wondering what would have happened if she hadn't went in that door, and needless to say, she quickly suppressed the thought. Finally, she turned around, relieved of having survived her first real deathtrap, and headed down the new hallway presented to her, praying that she wouldn't run into any more giant spiders.

Meanwhile, Rarity woke up in some kind of basement, dazed and confused as to just where she had been taken Last she remembered, the horrible slime that knocked her out came from the floor, and took her right back down with it. However, everything after that was blank, and next thing she knew, she was here, in this dark, decrepit cellar. So, dusting herself off, Rarity looked around for any clue as to what was going on, but ultimately finding nothing but dirt, stone, and a few torches here and there, their eerie, dim glow seeming to only add to the dreadful feel of this place, not made any better by the constant noises Rarity heard, likely to be rats.

Despite her nervousness due to the filthy nature of this place, though, Rarity continued onward into the depths of the dungeon she was now in, determined to get out of the dank cellar. Thankfully, the exit to the darkest, dirtiest part of the catacomb she awoke in was not far, and after exiting the cellar, she soon found a pony skull, hopefully fake, with a note pinned to it by some kind of bony spike. Pulling it out, Rarity read the note in earnest, hoping to finally glean some manner of information from the dirty, ragged sheet of paper.

"Dear Rarity:

I understand you like clean, beautiful things, so I, Zero, took it upon myself to make this gauntlet the filthiest, muddiest, most horrifying and disgusting string of rooms you've ever seen, or ever will see in your miserable life. But if you want to see your friends again, and maybe retrieve the Element of Hope, you'll just have to grin and bear it. However, if you think this is because I hate you, it is, in fact, quite the opposite; you should actually consider this to be the ultimate gesture of our budding friendship, as I have taken time out of my rather busy day to make a nice, challenging gauntlet just for you, so that you can finally get past your own shortcomings! So, consider it a labor of love, from me to you. After all, what are future friends for?

Sincerely yours, Zero.

P.S, this letter was dropped in mud several times."

After reading the letter, Rarity was left with no clues, to her chagrin, but instead a mixture of confusion and disgust overwhelmed her, Mostly disgust. Deciding to go for her friends and forget this awful place, Rarity then set out to prove this Zero character wrong. After all, how bad could a little dirt be? She got out of that room, and walked onward, unaware of the low, wailing sound that now approached her, and how the torches, though thankfully numerous, where slowly turning from orange to green as she passed through the hall, into a different room. As Rarity walked through the large, stone archway into the odd, dreadful-feeling room, the unicorn of generosity looked around it, studying its placement, and quickly judged that the place was probably some kind of altar, judging by the intricate designs in the stone, and the stone construct in the center. She felt compelled to walk up to the altar in the center of the room, feeling some unseen force guide her to it, but Rarity stopped herself halfway to it, using all her willpower to free herself from the presence's grasp, and immediately figuring out just what this room really was.

"Wait! This has to be trap of some sorts! Well, I'm not falling for it." Said Rarity matter-of-factly, nodding her head for emphasis. As soon as those words left her mouth, however, a dark, foreboding voice came from the altar, its presence filling the room, and it seemed to dim the torches as it spoke, causing Rarity to back up, not wanting to see what exactly was talking.

"Well, then... If you will not come to me, then I will go to you!" The dark voice shouted, and from the altar came a mass of black ooze, which flew toward rarity with startling speed. Shrieking in terror, Rarity picked up a discarded board with her magic and hit the orb, causing it to fly into a wall, quickly creating a big mess as the orb of Dark Matter impacted the wall, and was smeared all over it.

However, as if in defiance of the Element of Generosity, the orb soon pulled itself together, and dove into a pile of bones, causing them to form into some kind of mess of black, necrotic ooze as the orb grew and shifted, with spines and ribs and skulls placed haphazardly on it. Then, a single, orange eye opened on the ooze-like monstrosity, and it began to tower over Rarity, causing her to freeze up in fear, and the mass of vile slime then started to throw black, vile-looking gunk at her, glaring at Rarity with annoyance and dislike as it launched volley after volley of black ooze at her.

Dodging the first volley with relative ease Rarity then paused a moment to catch her breath, as the monster just didn't stop firing at her, no matter what. But as soon as the unicorn stopped moving, the creature of filth locked onto her position, and launched the next volley of filthy projectiles at her, getting Rarity all over with its foul, slimy attacks, and the ooze then, to Rarity's horror began to melt into her, leaving black, sickly marks on her flash as they vanished.

Yelping in shock and horror, Rarity quickly used her magic to pull the remaining blobs off, but their infection was already apparent, mucking up her brilliant white coat, turning it and the skin beneath it pitch-black. She also felt terribly ill as the infection took it's hold, and soon became a chore just to stand, as the Dark Matter began to take hold of her body, and slow it down. Sensing her unease, the monster then seemed to almost smile, and quickly launched another volley of black sludge at her. However, Rarity dodged it as quickly as she could, straining herself to her limits to avoid the black spheres. Then, just then, Rarity felt her saddlebag open, and something then fell out, getting the vile beast's attention as it bounced and slid toward it: Soap.

The massive, dark slime stared at the bar, and feeling that she'd need it later, Rarity lunged for the bar desperately, only to have it snatched away by the slime, and consumed by it, to the unicorn's dismay. However, soon after absorbing the bar of soap, the massive, slimy Dark Matter quickly paused, a look of surprise and horror apparent, and it shuddered violently, and spat the bar out, seeming to have been weakened by the object of cleanliness. And at that moment, Rarity picked the bar back up, and grinned as the massive slime shuddered, and idea forming in her head, and it wasn't long before the idea was put into action;

"Oh, you don't like soap, huh? Let's see how dirty you play when the tables are turned, you pile of barf!" Rarity shouted, throwing the bar at the slimy, black, germ-covered abomination. The soap did it's job, and the creature recoiled as it was hit by the cleansing bar, and Rarity then pulled out several more bars, some shampoo, a bottle of toothpaste, and several bottles of perfume, and smiled as the slime looked in horror at these things, sensing its imminent demise at their hands. Before Rarity could act, though, the massive beast of black filth reared up, bellowing its anger at the little unicorn, and launched yet another volley of dark matter at her, forcing Rarity into defensive measures until the volley ended, whereupon it was HER turn to play offense.

"Eat fragrance, you sack of bile! HYAH!!!" Rarity screamed, and the monster tried and failed to dodge as a stream of pink and white bars where flung into its face, and the beast again recoiled, roaring in dismay and agony, and once the bars were depleted, Rarity brought out the perfume bottles, undid the tops, and proceeded to fling them like grenades, each time causing more and more damage to the Dark Matter slime, withering the thing away until it was but a ball with an eye on it. The creature, then sensing its imminent defeat, looked side to side in fear, and fled quickly out of the room, leaving a small dust cloud in its wake.

"That's right, run, you filthy little goblin!" Shouted Rarity at the retreating black sphere. And so, feeling quite proud of herself, she used her last bar of soap to scrub off the black gunk the beast left on her, which seemed to do wonders, seeing as the gunk within her and on the outside both fled from the hygienic product, and where quickly destroyed by it. After restoring her coat to its pristine white, Rarity then pocketed the bar and trotted out of the room her mood lifted, but as she trotted, something small tripped her, and she landed face-first in a puddle of mud, much to Rarity's shack and horror.

And then, her assailant, the black sphere-like creature from earlier, laughed at Rarity, doubling over in mirth as tears of laughter filled its eye. Rarity, however simply laid there, stunned, then looked at the mess she was, then at her assailant. Filled with fathomless rage, the now-filth-covered mare chased the creature down the hall, which then flew into a wall at the far side, escaping Rarity's unbridled wrath. Still fuming, Rarity trudged through a doorway, not bothering to look where it led to. In fact, all she could see was the color red, as her anger was reaching critical levels.

Finally, though, all her anger vanished seemingly at once when a miraculous sight filled her eyes: A clear, pristine pool of water filled the center of the room, and the light reflected off of it from the ceiling danced all over the room, resulting in a breathtaking sight after such a long time down in a giant, rat-filled sluice way.

"Perfect! Now I can get rid of this bothersome grime." Rarity exclaimed, and she immediately jumped into the pool, washing off the mud that she'd gathered after the vengeful Dark Matter tripped her. When she finally got out, Rarity muttered angrily to herself, making a grim promise as she spoke:

"If I ever see that little black chew toy again, I'm going to drown it in this pool." Rarity threatened, and at that, she finally wandered off, feeling quite sure she could take whatever this "Zero" could throw at her. Except a giant spider, of course. But, as luck would have it, that particular Dark Matter she faced in the altar room just so happened to have friends. And as Rarity wandered down the hall towards the exit, she soon bumped into one of these friends, who just so happened to take the form of a giant, one-eyed spider. And so, with that, Rarity's quest was thus quickened, mostly on account of being chased down by a giant, vengeful spider.

Next, awoke Fluttershy, Who soon became quite terrified after finding that she was alone in what appeared to be a kitchen. Indeed, chunks of rotting meat hung from hooks that hung from chains to the ceiling were scattered about the room, blood covered the floor, and a bloody mascot costume, which looked to have been some kind of bunny or something, lay in a seated position in a corner, like there was a dead body inside it. Fluttershy trembled in fear as she slowly walked around the room, looking for an exit.

She found a large metal door and opened it, but a rush of freezing air rushed out to greet her. As she looked inside, She saw a single body in the center of the freezer, hanging by a hanging meat hook through it's abdomen. There was nothing else in the room, so fluttershy quickly closed the door and looked behind her. When she did, she noticed that the mascot costume was no longer in the corner, but was now laying face-down four feet from her! Terrified out of her wits and beginning to panic, she backed away from the costume, and into another door. Fluttershy pushed it open, and she heard a crash behind her. She quickly turned around, and the Mascot costume had vanished! Practically gasping for air, Fluttershy took off out the door, and down the hall, which was like that of a school.

As Fluttershy ran, she heard footsteps pounding behind her. She looked back, but saw nothing. She turned back around, and found herself in front of a door with a window on it, despite the fact she didn't even move since she turned behind her. Peering through the grime-covered window, she could make out somepony behind it. Thinking it to be one of her friends, she opened it, And screamed. There, before here, was the skinned, headless body of a pony, suspended from the ceiling by hooks. It didn't move, but something else did. A black shadow crept along the ground, just outside her field of vision. When she looked for it, she turned toward where she entered this sick room, and found the bunny mascot sitting in the corner,a steak knife stabbed into its forehead, and a note attached to it by that steak knife. She then looked at the note, tears of terror in her eyes:

"Dear Fluttershy,
They can't hurt you if you don't believe in them. Don't you know that? Nothing can, if you don't believe. Your friends are safe, but are you?

Something is in this place, hunting you. Hurting you. And I'm watching, trying to make you safe, but only you can protect yourself.

Run

Don't look back

It's right behind you

-Zero."

Fluttershy stopped reading, then slowly turned around, and the skinned, headless body started to squirm and writhe, as if in pain, and the bunny mascot stepped from behind it, a bloody steak knife in it's hands, and a stab wound in its forehead. Fluttershy was too terrified to scream, so she skipped straight to running, fleeing as fast as her four legs could carry her. But the costume was just as fast as her, and was catching up. She flipped furniture and paintings onto the floor in order to slow it, but it simply climbed over them, and proceeded to catch up to her. Suddenly, in a fit of blind fear, she bucked it in the face, and a sickening snap resounded from the costume, like actual bones breaking and sinew tearing, and the "costume" fell limp as it bled, the floor quickly pooling with viscous, red liquid.

Fluttershy stared in horror at what she had just done. She stared, and the thing suddenly started jerking wildly, like it was having a seizure, and it tore its own head off, its neck spraying chunky, red gunk everywhere, like old, coagulated blood pudding. Then the blood stopped flowing, and a black orb squeezed out of the hole in the costume's neck, and opened an orange eye, staring at the horrified yellow pegasus. Fluttershy wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything, but all she could do was stand there and whimper softly. She tried to run, but her legs were glued to the floor.

Suddenly, she screamed, so loudly, and for so long, the dark matter gave a strained look, and fled, as fast as it could, and several glass objects exploded. When she finished, she saw that nothing was there; she just stood in a barren, dusty hallway. So, now traumatized, Fluttershy then walked through a door on the far side, and found a room just like the throne room of the ruins of old Canterlot, and found Pinkie pie and Applejack laying in the center, unconscious. After a while, they woke, and began to exchange stories on how they got there.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash awoke in a dungeon-like setting. Looking around, she noticed a single door in the middle of the room. She tried to move toward it, but stopped when she noticed that it was a lot farther than it looked. She tried to move toward it, but as it got closer, it got a lot bigger. She panicked at first, thinking at first that she was shrinking, butas she looked at the bricks that made up the wall, she quickly realized it was just a fun house trick.

"Ha, what a dumb trick. Nothing can trick this brain!" She taunted as she pushed the giant, heavy door open. As soon as she did, a soft, chittering noise came from the room behind the now-open door. Thinking it was just rats or something, she proved her bravery by going in, and was rewarded by an instant punch to the face by something to fast too see. Stumbling back, she saw two strange creatures, both pitch black, lizard-like, and with one eye on their faces, and long scythes at the ends of their arms and legs. However, the difference in the creatures was apparent in that one's eye was deep, sapphire blue, and the other was the harshest, angriest red she'd ever seen.

"I'm supposed to fight you two jokes? Ha! Tell you what, just 'cuz I'm a sporting mare, I'll go easy on yo-" Her taunt was interrupted by another sock to the face by the red-eyed one of the small, frail-looking creatures, which was quickly followed up by a swift drop kick from above by the blue eyed one. Rainbow Dash, after recovering, spit out a tooth and grimaced.

"Ugh, Alright, you freaks asked for this. Time to get crazy!" She screamed, charging the two dark matter. The two quickly retaliated by dodging first, then hitting her with barrage after barrage of coordinated attacks, the blue one favoring kicks while the red one favored punches. This did not deter Rainbow Dash, however, and she charged them again. Then, they kicked her butt as per usual. within a few minutes of this pattern, Rainbow Dash could barely stand. If this kept up, those two things were going to kill her. Yet, she rose into the air, and charged them again. Like usual, the twin dark matter launched their graceful counter assault on her with bored expressions. However, Rainbow sped past them, actually surprising them.

As the two hit the ground, Rainbow Dash turned so that she hit the ceiling with her hooves, the leaped off it at them. Caught by surprise, the twin dark matter dove to different sides, then, while she was recovering, leaped and kicked her in the sides at the same time, causing her ribs to break. As Rainbow screamed in pain, the two dark dark matter leaped again, but Rainbow Dash ducked, and the twins ended up kicking each other in the face. Dazed, they fell to the ground, and were knocked out by a swift kick by Rainbow Dash to their skulls.

Rainbow Dash then finally limped out of that place, critically wounded by the dark matter twins. As she did, she entered a hallway. Suddenly, the ceiling began to shake and rumble, and a boulder dropped in front of the doorway she entered through, and began to roll toward her. Rainbow Dash then panicked at the suddenness of the trap, and started to run, though her broken ribs caused her excruciating pain. Still, she ran, and narrowly managed to avoid the boulder. As it slammed into the doorway she entered to escape it, she turned around and found a note on a pedestal in the center of the new room she was in, and she read it:

"Dear Rainbow Dash,

now you know how I feel, the pain I must endure. However, unlike you, who need only suffer temporarily, my pain is eternal. But worry not, for you will soon feel my pain forever too, and I can finally be relieved of the pain of loneliness, one less burden for me to carry.

Your future BFF, Zero."

Rainbow Dash glared at the note.

"Like heck I am! If he thinks he's suffering now, just wait 'till I'M through with him!" She limped past the note, then through a door. On the the other Side, there was a throne room, and her friends. All six there, they began to discuss why they were here and what they should do... Until a familiar white shape appeared before them...

The Mane Six got into position as zero revealed himself to the mares, fear gripping them as he opened his eye, just like last time, but they were ready for him this time.

"Alright, Zero, where's the Element of hope?" Demanded Twilight. Zero did not answer, only laughed, a deep chortle that resounded through the twisted, mirrored room. Then, as if to taunt the six heroines, he began to change. Zero first folded back his wings, closed his eye, and began to morph into a decahedron, opening 20 new eyes when he had finally finished, one for each of his sides. Then, without another word, the fight began. Zero started the fight off by spinning rapidly, and he charged the meddling mares. When they dodged, however, he simply began to bounce around erratically, hitting Applejack and Fluttershy, but the rest dodged this attack with relative ease.

Finally, Zero stopped spinning and bouncing, and simply hovered there, unfazed by what he just pulled. Twilight and her friends tried to attack him, but nothing they did could hurt him in this state. Finally, he began to change again, his body becoming fiery and round, and pillars of flame began to erupt from him, scorching all in their wake. The Mane six dodged these attacks, but could deal no damage to him before he changed back, and he hovered some more.

"This is stupid! How do we beat this guy when we can't even land a hit on him!?" Cried Rainbow Dash. Twilight was about to come up with an answer, but Zero began to change again, this time into a yellow, round ball. Suddenly, spikes erupted from this new form, and tried to impale the six heroes. they dodged, and the spikes started to retreat back into Zero's body, but some broke off at their tips, leaving them behind for anyone to use. Suddenly, Twilight got an idea. Using her magic, she picked up a spike tip, then hurled it at Zero. As soon as she did, Zero immediately changed back into a decahedron, and started gyrating faster, as if pained. Upon further inspection, Twilight noticed that one of his "eyes" was missing, leaving a black, empty hole.

"Girls, use whatever it uses, that's the only way to hurt him!" She cried, and her friends all acknowledged her, scattering as another fireball was hurled at them, leaving a smoldering orb where it hit. Zero continued to launch fire at the six, but Applejack kicked his fireball right back at him, sending him back into his previous form, which turned into a boulder, with smaller boulders surrounding it. Zero launched these boulders at Twilight and her friends, and they dodged them, too.

"That's it? you're throwing rocks now? That's stupid!" Shouted Rainbow Dash. As if in response, Zero then hurled himself at her, catching the pegasus off-guard and smashing her into the ground. Then, he started rolling after the others, causing them to panic and scramble. After crushing the six beneath him, he changed back into his main form, as if to taunt them. The battle lasted for a good hour, with Zero changing forms, and the Mane Six learning how to combat them. Zero threw bombs, shot lightning, and even turned into a giant saw and chased them around, but they eventually learned to combat these forms, taking an eye each time they hurt him.

But Zero was far from finished: With a loud roar, he flung his decahedronal form at the Mane six once more, taking them by surprise and tossing the six all over the room as he ricocheted, until four of them could fight no more, and just laid there. The two that did fight, Twilight and Pinkie Pie, were at the edge of their strength reserves as Zero finished bouncing and returned to the center of the room. Finally, he changed into his last form: His lightning form. The two desperately dodged as Zero cast laser after laser at them, and the beams split as they bounced off of the mirrors, making the fight ever harder, until the beams stopped. Pinkie was hit by one, however, and fell to the ground, screaming and convulsing as electricity coursed through her body.

Twilight, however, saw her chance; Zero had only one eye left, and the beams had now slowed into balls of electric energy, presenting the last blow to her. With a final toss, the ball hit Zero, and he stopped moving completely. Then he twitched once, and light exploded from him, reverting him to his original, ghost-like form. However, he was extremely damaged; his body was cut and bleeding, his eye was bruised, his wings were ripped, and he was on the ground, sobbing and crying blood. The Mane Six got up to face him, and he raised his eye to them, giving them the most hateful stare they had ever seen.

"You lose, Zero. Give us the Element." Demanded Twilight. Zero only stared for a moment, seething with pure anger, then swatted her to the side, and blasted the other five with eye-beams. As the six mares hit the ground, groaning in pain, Zero raised himself up, gathered all his dark matter into himself, and flew off, no longer wanting to make friends with these six interlopers. In fact, he wished that they were dead. As he left the ruins, they began to change back into their original, ruined state, and the Mane Six finally passed out. Zero was defeated... At least, for now.

Meanwhile, at the Citadel of Anguish

Zero laid on the ground as dark matter took turns putting band-aids on him in an attempt to cover his wounds, but the only real damage Zero couldn't stand was in his heart. He didn't understand, he just wanted to win for once. He did everything right: He separated the heroes, put them through grueling, psychologically damaging mazes, he even orchestrated a fight that even Kirby had trouble fighting against, and yet they still beat him up with absolute impunity. Why could he never win? Why did some hero have to always be there to defeat him at every turn? It simply wasn't fair. The more he thought about this, the more his anger grew.

Then, at last, he snapped. Zero, unable to handle any more abuse, cringed in pain at his crushed hopes and dreams, and glared at the castle in the distance, Canterlot, it was called. He stared at the castle, his hatred for the pony race growing with each second, and the Dark Matter, all of them, began to back away in fear as Zero growled, his negative emotions overtaking him, until all hope was gone from him, finally extinguished like a dying candle. And so, with one last baleful glare, Zero slipped back into his cocoon of misery and anguish, and as he did, he quickly began to change, right before his minions' eyes.

Zero two was dead. Now, there was nothing...

No, minus nothing...

Minus Zero.

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