The Villain: Darkness Unbound

by Gear Spring

Chapter 2: Dragon Rebirth

The oaken doors are thrown open to the sound of trumpeting fan fair. Princess Celestia trots through the foyer, taking note of the hand-carved décor that leads to the next room. Her horn glows its sunlit color as it enchants the second set of doors, flinging them open. The room is flushed with colorful crystals that hang from the ceiling with a pure white chandelier in the center that bathes the area in a rainbow. A long red carpet leads up to a stone table with six thrones gathered around it. One in particular is larger than the rest, and sitting in it is Twilight Sparkle.

“Princess Celestia, it is good to see you,” Twilight Sparkle addresses the princess in a quick, uncaring manner.

“Let us skip the pleasantries, shall we?” Celestia is unamused as she takes a seat across the table from her former protégé. “I do not enjoy being summoned in such a manner.”

“I am sure you get over it,” Twilight remarks.

Celestia’s eyes flare, “Enough of this. Tell me why I am here!”

“Ponyville was attacked this morning by a malevolent creature called Djinn,” the empress answers. “And following the usual trend of monsters appearing into existence, you usually have some history with them in the thousand years you have been alive.”

“Djinn,” Princess Celestia rubs a wing under her chin. “No, sadly I never contended with a creature by the name of Djinn.”

“I see,” Twilight Sparkle looks down. “That is troublesome.”

“I cannot help, but sense your insecurity about this Djinn,” Princess Celestia looks at Twilight Sparkle with a curious look. “How is it that this creature has the Empress of Friendship rattled?”

“When I confronted Djinn, I used the same magical attack to defeat Spike three years ago. But Djinn, he was able to shrug it off with little effort.”

This grabs Celestia’s attention, “That is troublesome news to hear.”

Twilight takes a deep breath, “Princess Celestia, I know you and I have been at odds these three years. With such a fearsome enemy in our midst, I wish that would be able to put ourselves aside and work together like we had in the past to better Equestria.”

Hearing the plea of her former student, Celestia smiles, “I believe it is time—”

The doors burst open, cutting the princess off in the middle of their discussion. A Pegasus guard hovers in as she leads a giant dragon down the carpeted corridor. The great lizard crawls on its stomach, looking like a large red crocodile. Upon its back is a saddle where a blue dragoness sits with a staff in her hand. As the beast approaches, the smaller dragoness leaps from her seat, landing to the ground gracefully with her dragon wings. She is decorated in golden armor that matches the staff she holds at her side.

“Dragon Lord,” Twilight puts her hooves against the table as she excitedly sits up in her seat.

“You can call me Ember, Twilight,” the dragon lord smiles. She turns to the princess. “And you must be Princess Celestia. It is an honor to be in Ponyville.”

Twilight turns shyly to her former teacher, “I am sorry, Celestia, I had forgotten about my meeting with the Dragon Lord.”

“Yes, we will continue our discussion after your meeting.”

“No, please, stay,” Ember insists. “I came to Twilight with exciting news.”

“News?” Twilight is caught off guard, “What news?”

Ember is smiling ear-to-ear, the dragon lord motions for someone in the saddle to come. A small figure pops its head from behind a monstrous scale. The ponies gasp as the little figure suddenly vanishes in a pop of purple magic, only to rematerialize beside Ember. Standing beside her is a baby dragon. Deep purple scales look almost like deep night as there is a shimmering of stars mixed in. Jade fins run from the top of his head down to the back of his tail. He looks at the two ponies with fierce, emerald eyes.

Seeing the baby dragon, Celestia nearly falls out of her seat, as if she were looking upon a ghost. Twilight shows the same look of shock on her face, but it is less of dread. The little one makes no motion to speak as Ember steps in front of the youngling.

“I apologize for his staring,” she says with a smile, “This is the first time he has ever seen an alicorn in real.”

She looks back to find the little dragon hiding behind her tail.

“Go ahead, little one, it is alright.”

Stepping forward, the little one swallows a lump in his throat before speaking in a familiar voice, “Hello, your highnesses.”

“S-Spike?” Twilight looks at him curiously.

“It, it cannot be,” Celestia whispers under her breath.

The dragon clears his throat, as he gives a bolden look, “I am Prince Thorn, direct descendant of the ancient Dragon King, Talon.”

“Dragon King?” Twilight Sparkle looks oddly at the little one. “I thought that Dragon Lands were under the command of an elected Dragon Lord?”

“It was not always the case,” Ember answers. “Long ago, the Dragon Lands was a great kingdom for dragon kind. That was, until the King’s Lineage suddenly vanished. After King Talon passed on, our lands were left without a ruler, and our kind became the dull, violent beasts you may remember. But now we have the offspring of the great kings of the past. He will restore the Dragon Lands to a glory not known for over a thousand years.”

“My hoping is to create peace and prosperity between dragons and ponies,” Prince Thorn answers with a whole-hearted smile.

Celestia abruptly gets up from her seat and begins walking by the two dragons. The young dragon looks up at her and their eyes lock for just a moment. Something in his gaze has the princess trot just a little bit faster as she exits the throne room.

“Is everything alright?” Ember looks back to see Celestia disappearing.

“Yes,” Twilight gives a weak smile, “Princess Celestia and I were talking about matters that needed to be addressed.”

“Is there anything that we can do while we are here?” Prince Thorn asks politely.

“No Spike-I-mean, Prince Thorn,” she covers a mouth over her hoof.

Ember laughs, “It is okay for the slip up, Twilight. The two look a lot like each other. Speaking of Spike, where is he? I would like to catch up with him.”

The question causes a furrow to reach Twilight Sparkle’s brow, “Spike, he, he went on a journey of self-discovery some time ago.”

“I see,” Prince Thorn says. “Princess Twilight Sparkle…”

“Twilight is fine.”

“Yes, Twilight,” he gives a bow, “Thank you for having us. If it is alright with you, I would like to see the rest of Ponyville on my own.”

“I will see if I can get one of the guards to escort you,” Twilight Sparkle says.

“No need,” Ember assures her, “Despite his size, our little prince is quite capable of defending himself.”

“I,” Twilight pauses, “Very well. Ember, if you are willing to stay, I’d like to catch up.”

“Me too,” the dragoness smiles.

Prince Thorn looks back as his fateful friend, Ember, and the princess sit down at the table. A smile crosses his fangs as he heads out of the throne room. The large salamander like dragon is left confused as he looks between the dragon lord and prince.

***

A cold wind brushes through the rocky atmosphere of a cavernous landscape, giving a hollow groan as it passes the jagged spires. Desolation is such a fitting description to the world that is laid out before the few unfortunate souls that inhabit it. In this single plane of existence, there are several towers carved into the rock with stairs leading to the top. At the base, there is a vicious three-headed dog that stands guard, patrolling. Froth bubbles from the ones muzzle, while the other two suddenly let out a low growl. All three bear their teeth.

The air ripples as a sudden tear appears in the sky as blackened talons poke into existence. A hole is thrown open as Djinn is floating on the other side. The great fiend pulls at the wormhole, making it grow large enough for him to float through. He greets Cerberus with a fanged grin that rakes across his entire round face. The dog plants its front feet and begins to bark.

“Enough, dog,” Djinn snaps his fingers.

A steak suddenly materializes out of thin air. The great big juicy piece of meat falls and he snatches it out of the air. Holding it up, he waves it in front of the beast, but it proves to be useless as the dog only growls louder, its snots scrunched to expose its sharp teeth. Digging in its back legs, it lunges at Djinn. The black monster throws one hand up in front of him, and seemingly snatches Cerberus out of the air.

Three heads thrash wildly as they try to continue their attack, but each falls short of locking onto their target. The smile fades from Djinn’s mouth as his eyes narrow, looking at the fierce canine that is attempting to attack him.

“Down!” he snaps.

Moving his one hand, he slams Cerberus to the ground. The impact causes the rock to crack underneath the beast. Cerberus gets up and snarls louder.

“I have no time to play with a puppy.”

He aims his finger at the dog, as a beam of blue light shoots from it. The three-headed beast is struck, and explodes into a billowing ball of smoke. From the plume, three puppies come rolling out. They whimper and run away.

Djinn does not pursue the fleeing canines, as he floats up to one of the mountainous towers. The inside of the mountain top is hollowed through to allow a strange light to pour down. Sitting there is a cage that is bolted to the ground. The floating fiend pulls at the cage, ripping the chains as if they were nothing more than stems from a flower. Peering into the prison with his crimson gaze, he sees a scrawny centaur shackled.

Tirek opens his eyes and sees the monstrosity staring at him. Yet, instead of cowering, a smile grips his goat-like face.

“What kind of fool would come to Tartarus to visit me?”

“I have need of you,” Djinn answers, the smile returning to his face.

“As do I,” Tirek clasps his hands together, “That precious energy.”

Without warning, Tirek opens his mouth and begins sucking in Djinn’s essence. The black monstrosity makes no effort to back away as his life force is pulled into Tirek. Every passing second, the centaur grows, soon becoming too large for the cage, as it breaks against his body. Djinn lets go as Tirek stands at equal height, large and muscular.

“Your essence was exactly what I needed,” Tirek answers in his deep, daunting voice. He stretches his arms, “I can go free to get back at Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of Equestria.”

Djinn laughs loudly, using all four of his arms to hold his sides. This does not amuse Tirek at all as a ball of energy forms between his horns. He fires the beam of energy, but the floating fiend knocks the attack aside without the littlest bit of effort.

“How?” Tirek is thrown back. “How do you have that much power. I absorbed your magic!”

“You are strong,” Djinn smiles. “But I am stronger.”

Djinn’s palms glow a faint blue and suddenly Tirek is wrapped up in that same magic. He struggles to move a muscle. As the fiend watches the centaur struggle, a sinister smile reaches across his face.

“But you are exactly what I am looking for,” Djinn smiles evilly.

Floating closer, he puts a hand against Tirek’s chest.

“There is tremendous darkness in your heart. Let me unleash it…”

Blackness pours off Djinn’s body like a toxic sludge and spills into the centaur demon’s chest. It sinks into the flesh, and Tirek starts to thrash. Djinn lets his magical grip loose as his victim crashes to the ground. The magic begins to spew, causing him to roar in pain.

His large muscles shrink and dissolve, melting off his body in a pool. Only bones remain as he is stripped of flesh. The darkness that belonged to Djinn begins to soak into his skeletal body, and creates an ooze of smoke. It swarms and surrounds Tirek, until a large plume of blackness surrounds him.

Djinn laughs as he takes a deep breath, before blowing away the smoke.

Standing there is a monstrous nightmare. A giant skeletal horse stomps its hoof against the ground, its jagged bones claw at the dirt. Vicious black tendrils intertwine with the bones to hold its frame together. In its empty sockets, a purple fire ignites like eyes. Sprouting from the stallions’ back is a barrel-chested creature that holds some remnants of Tirek. The creature looks more like a knight as it wields an enormous claymore made from bone. Looking up at Djinn, the creature once known as Tirek bows both heads.

“Good,” Djinn smiles. “Now go, my malicious rider. Bring a Knight Mare upon the ponies of Equestria.”

Comments

[HandsomePrisim]

yay thanks!

[Draconicus the Reaper]

interesting chapter
and I cant help but laugh at the knight mare thing at the end simply cause I have a character I created named Knightmare Supreme who is an evil version of another character I have called Kunai Knight and I was really hoping to be the first person to use the word knightmare instead of nightmare

but oh, well either way good chapter and I really like how the new Spike's name is Thorn like his previous evil pony self

[Dark Colt Sabata]

Knightmare? I never thought I could use this music

[NicLove]

Before I read this, what is the Gore and Dark tag for ?
And how bad does it get ?