Death; a five letter word that carries with it more power than any army or magic spell, and a word King Sombra was quite intimate with. After his annihilation at the hooves and hands of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and a baby dragon no less, King Sombra's horn, the one and only scrap of his body to survive his destruction, and only remaining vessel for his soul was quickly recovered by a white mist. In the cold of the mist King Sombra's spirit wandered about for what seemed like an eternity, until he was found by a blinding white light.

"Greetings, King Sombra, I have been waiting for you," the light spoke with a sweet feminine voice.

"What is this place? Am I one with the Leylines, as my mentor would say?" King Sombra inquired.

"You are dead, for the moment," the light said quite casually. "I have a task for you, and I assure you it pays well."

"What do I get out of it?" King Sombra asked rather skeptically.

"For starters, a new lease on life, as well as more power than you could ever imagine," the light said playing to his ego. "An in exchange all I ask is that you set up a little array with knowledge from the Arch-Library itself; simplicity itself really."

"I have no love for that place, you have a deal," King Sombra said without a moment’s hesitation.

"I just knew you were the reasonable sort," the light said gleefully as it gave him the details, and then faded away into the mist.

The mist surrounding King Sombra slowly faded away, revealing his very own horn, floating in a void of nothingness, as was he. To most this abyss would be a frightening thing, but Sombra never felt more at home, and his horn reflected it with its crimson glow. Brighter and brighter his severed appendage gleamed in the darkness, bathing everything in its devilish light, and in this light Sombra felt a sudden pull that beckoned him towards his horn. Feeling drawn towards it, King Sombra was lifted off what passed for ground in this infinite void, and then was sucked into his horn becoming one once more. Once body and spirit were whole, the very void around him was drawn into the horn as well, reconstructing the spirit vessel from the skeletal infrastructure to the muscular tendons, organs, and finally the canvas of skin that housed it all.

Whole once more, King Sombra awoke to find himself somewhere in the EverFree forest, his power just itching for a test drive, and a task that was ominously clear. An now, only a few months hence his resurrection, King Sombra was about to fulfill his pledge, and all that stood in his way was an old newt that had a foot in the grave already. Both mages gazed deeply at one another, Grandmaster Areyela sat crossed legged upon the ground drawing in power from the Leylines through a meditative state she developed, and has since refined over the long years. Not content to let his former master take the first move, King Sombra shot a powerful bolt of lightning infused with black magic at the Grandmaster, without even moving, Grandmaster Areyela erected a barrier that absorbed the lighting, and then safely dispersed it through the cavern floor.

Seizing the opening, Grandmaster Areyela had the floor beneath Sombra turn to glass, destroying his sure footing, and in conjunction she had the rest of the ground around the glass lose its stability, and form a small pit. Forced to divide his focus between footing and spell casting, Sombra found it next to impossible to mount any form of offense, and defensive spells were not only expensive for him to cast, due to his shear lack of practice with them, but he only had the bare bone basic shields; nothing with the wall stopping power required to defend against his former master. Unable to hold his own, Sombra was easily knocked off his feet and into the pit; which Grandmaster Areyela quickly flooded with light to prevent any funny business from Sombra.

"Much to learn, you still have," Grandmaster Areyela said disappointed at her easy victory.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you old gecko!" King Sombra shouted as he cringed from the light. "This is nothing more than a small set back."  

"So much darkness is within you. Allow you to live, I cannot, “Grandmaster Areyela said lifting her staff, and then thrusting it in a forward motion so it would point above the pit Sombra lay trapped. Channeling the power of the Leylines through her and, concurrently, into her staff, she conjured forth a sphere of compressed elemental magic; a Nature Bomb , as she has dubbed it.

"That won't be enough," King Sombra said with a chuckle.

"Goodbye, Sombra, I wish you peace," Grandmaster Areyela said, releasing her hold on the sphere, and watching it descended into the pit.

"Save you pity for the weak," King Sombra said, just as the bomb came upon him.

To the Grandmaster's surprise nothing happened, the bomb and Sombra simply vanished from his senses, without a trace. Strengthening her barrier, Grandmaster Areyela patiently waited for Sombra to make his move, though she did not wait long for coming straight down from the ceiling was her own Nature Bomb; except it was tainted with darkness and shadow. Colliding hard with her barrier, the sphere threatened to smash right through due to a much harder denser structure, but that was not all, for from every dark cover of the cavern several volleys of black, jagged, crystal spears struck her barrier, and many pierced through further weakening the barrier's integrity. Now it was Grandmaster Areyela who was on the ropes, or so it would appear to King Sombra, who foolishly came out of his perfect cover so as to view his former master's final movements. With her foe once more in the open, Grandmaster Areyela quit playing possum and demonstrated her full power by not only restoring her barriers strength, but also extracting all the impaled crystal spears, as well as instantly halting all incoming ones in midair, and then redirecting every single one back at Sombra.

Facing a dense wall of incoming spears, King Sombra opted to meet force with force, and so had the tainted Nature Bomb collide and explode within the center of the spear wall. The explosion annihilated every single spear to a dark powder that blanketed the two mages vision but only for a moment, and the exact instant Sombra could see he breathed a black fire that enveloped Areyela's barrier. Sombra's black fire breath was so intense it was actually melting the Grandmaster's reinforced barrier, and its heat was enough to make her, a dragon, sweat. Grandmaster Areyela was completely without a counter measure to this situation, for in all of Equestria black fire was the one thing impervious to any form of magic, and without any practical solution she merely opened a hole in her barrier large enough to leap out. Outside of the protective yoke of her barrier, Grandmaster Areyela was at a disadvantage, but hardly would one consider her helpless, and Sombra was aware of this all too well.

With Grandmaster Areyela out of her defensive bubble, King Sombra seized this moment by breathing forth a colossal stream of black fire at her. However, while black fire is impervious to magic, dragon's fire isn't magic, and with a simple puff of her own, Grandmaster Areyela not only countered Sombra's flames, but completely overwhelmed them. Before King Sombra could retaliate, Grandmaster Areyela smashed his skull into the embrace of the solid granite floor with a powerful strike from her magic staff, and then followed through with an equally powerful push consisting of an intense downward draft that further cemented him into the stone. Grasping him by his mane, Grandmaster Areyela hurled him into his own black throne, and used another air push to pulverize the throne to pieces and embed him into the wall behind it. Breathing heavily from such exertion, Grandmaster Areyela leaned against her staff, barely able to stand, and clutching her heart dearly as it suddenly became erratic and very painful.

"What's wrong Grandmaster? Has your age finally caught up with you?" King Sombra said with a mocking tone, as he dislodged himself from the wall, and then healed himself. "Growing old must be so awful, fortunately I'll never have to experience such moments of frailty and weakness."

"I have no shame in my aging body, for unlike you I have lived a life to be proud of," Grandmaster Areyela said regaining her composure, and gazing at Sombra with a crestfallen expression. "Fallen far you have, and pity you, I do."

"After all I have displayed, and still you look down upon me. Everything I have ever done was to make you proud, but only Star Swirl seemed worthy of your attention!" King Sombra shouted, as he unleashed more black fire; which the Grandmaster easily dodged, despite her deteriorating condition. "Tell me how proud you are, Grandmaster Areyela. Tell me. Tell me!"

Clenching her left hand, Grandmaster Areyela used her telekinesis to grasp Sombra's collar, and fling him towards her feet. While upon the cavern floor, dazed and confused, King Sombra suddenly felt a sharp pain in the small of his back from the Grandmaster thrusting her staff there, and then he felt himself being flung again; this time towards an adjacent wall. Regaining some control, King Sombra healed his injuries once more, then in mid tumble he corrected his body position so he would land on his feet, and as he did he discharged a powerful bolt of lightning from the tip of his horn. The lightning snaked its way towards the Grandmaster, who met it with a bolt of her own, conjured from the tip of her thrust staff. The two bolts struggled for dominance, arcs of excess electricity branching off, and striking in all directions; portions of some of the walls were atomized, and whole sections of the ceiling came crashing down around them.

For a time both mages were deadlocked, however something had to give, and while Grandmaster Areyela was the superior spell caster, she had one disadvantage Sombra did not share in; her staff was not designed to maintain a spell for so long. Eventually the telltale sound of a very loud crack rang throughout the cavern, and then Areyela's staff was no more, it snapped in two, releasing all its stored magic, and knocked the Grandmaster onto her back.

"I told you, did I not, that that archaic piece of junk was useless in this modern era," King Sombra gloated, but in truth he was more exhausted than he appeared, for had Areyela's staff lasted but a moment longer it would have been she who would be standing, and not him.

"I have failed you Sombra, that much is apparent," Grandmaster Areyela said willing herself to her feet, only to drop down to one knee. "But you were wrong, proud I have always been of you. Now...Then...And always..."

The last of her strength gone, Grandmaster Areyela's eyes faded to a pitch black, her body cracked then crumpled, and then a golden orb rose from the ash pile for but a moment before it too faded away; Grandmaster Areyela was at last one with the Leylines, her children as she would refer to them. For the first time in his existence, King Sombra felt invigorated, joyous even, while contrariwise, Iscariat and Fyee were in emotional, and to a lesser extent physical, pain. Spell casters, especially the more powerful ones, have a deep connection to other magic users, so deep that when one dies a sudden pain courses through all other mages nearby, as if they themselves were dying. One never gets use to it, it's impossible to bear such pain casually, and for those like Iscariat, those who live to an advance age, the emotional trauma resulting from it can lead either to madness or the subject devolving into a sociopath. Iscariat could see the maddening glare in Fyee's eyes, for him this death was painful, but for her it was excruciating, she and the Grandmaster were quite close, each bolstering the other, supporting one another, and in a matter of minutes that deep connection was gone; she was completely alone, just like in her childhood years.

"I can't...I can't, Iscariat," Fyee said beginning to panic, her normally confident persona ripped from her like one rips the covers off another early in the morning.

"Master Fyee, control yourself, you are not alone," Iscariat said reaching out with his left fore hoof to grasp her shoulder. "I ‘am with you, and I will standby you for as long as you need me."

"Do you really mean that?" Fyee asked, her eyes gleaming as if lite by starlight.

"Of course, we are colleagues, are we not," Iscariat said with a charismatic smile, Fyee felt a strange sensation pass over her, and her cheeks started to blush. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Fyee said rather loopy and embarrassed, hiding her face behind her hooves.

With Fyee once again restored to her cheery self, the two mages continued down the long corridor towards their goal, but instead of some closure, only confusion and shock did they find. Princess Luna was not just unbound, but actually drawing Sombra's array, as well as making preparations to set the Moon in proper alignment, while all the while humming a cheery ditty. What in the hay is going on here?! would sum up Iscariat and Fyee's reaction quite nicely, however that is neither the words they used nor the tone they used to convey their confusion.

"Pardon me, your highness," Iscariat said making his presence known, and startling the Princess.

"Iscariat?" Princess Luna said blinking twice to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, and once she was sure her heart leaped with joy as she flew at Iscariat, and gave him a huge; though he used his magic to stop her in mid-air.

"Sorry, your highness, boundaries and all that," Iscariat said calmly, as he gently lowered the Princess.

"If there was any doubt it is gone, for only Iscariat could maintain his mannerisms, even in a place like this," Princess Luna said with a smile, as her gaze shifted to Fyee, and her smile doubled. "Master Fyee Chrysendia, it is a pleasure to be in your presence once more, how is your mother doing?"

"Still absolutely livid since the last time she was in Equestria, but that bottle of Ebonmeir Wine did ease her tension, if not lightened her mood," Fyee said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, Queen Chrysalis always was a sucker for rare and fine wine vintages," Iscariat said letting out a decently strong laugh, which made Fyee blush and join in the mirth.

"Well, what have we here?" Princess Luna said with a devilish grin, instantly recognizing this particular bond that while too young to even be dubbed newborn, was forming between these two mages. "Seems to me like a certain stallion won't be on the market for much longer."

"What?! Don't be ridiculous, your highness," Iscariat said feigning a chuckle, while he nervously exchanged glances with the two ladies, and tried to think of a way to change the subject. Looking around the room frantically, his eyes soon fell on the array, and suddenly something very serious caught his full attention; a rune, just one of the hundreds etched upon the ground, but this particular one told him almost everything he needed to know, and all due to the fact that it was upside down. "Master Fyee, look at this rune, please tell me my eyes are deceiving me."

"No, an inverted transmutation rune, this is not good," Fyee said with a stunned expression.

"I don't understand, so the rune is upside down, what of it?" Princess Luna inquired, her grasp on runic magic having waned a bit over the years.

"Upside down transmutation runes are only used when Dark Magic is being implemented on a massive scale," Iscariat explained as he ushered the Princess towards the exit. "I don't know Sombra's plan, but we are not staying to find out."

"Iscariat! The tunnel...it is gone!" Fyee exclaimed pointing at a bare wall where the tunnel use to be.

"Impossible," Iscariat said as he poked and prodded the wall, but to no avail; it was solid, and in no way an illusion.

"Look here, it’s a transmogrification seal," Fyee said now pointing at a partially obscured rune that seemed to go under the new wall.

"Bloody fridge, we walked right over it. How did this happen, we're smarter than this!" Iscariat said kicking the wall with enough force to shake their circular prison, but not knock it down.

"So, what do we do now?" Fyee asked dropping to her haunches, feeling defeated.

"Now we wait for the show to start," King Sombra said manifesting himself through the darkest corner of the room in the far back.

"Sombra, you will pay for killing the Grandmaster," Fyee said shooting up to her feet as fast as lightning.

"You little foal, I did not kill her, she died of old age," King Sombra said gritting his teeth at the last part of his sentence. "Just another thing she has denied me, but now that is all over, and this time she won't be able to save you, any of you!"

"So, all this time you were lying through your teeth, and using me to fulfill your own ends. And I like an idiot believed you," Princess Luna said tears gushing from her eyes.

"Oh, but I had a good reason to, your highness," King Sombra said as he used his magic to teleport the Princess into the array, just as the Moon entered into position. "If I told you the truth, I never could get your guard low enough to move you into the array."

"What are you doing, Sombra?!" Iscariat shouted as his magical aura flared up around him, and Fyee followed suit.

"I'm doing just what I promised. I'm a stallion of my word, not that you'll live long enough to see it through," King Sombra said discarding his regal cape, and then leaping from the back of the cavern to land between them and Princess Luna. "You want to stop me, you'll have to destroy the array, and you better do it quickly, because in five minutes the energy required will complete the circuit. After that, it's the point of no return."

For a pony who normally always reaches a dead line, no matter how short, five minutes was a stretch, even for Iscariat, but he had to try. Together, Fyee and Iscariat, tested Sombra's defenses with a combined sonic shock wave; the sonic vibrations tore asunder the very ground, and if Sombra should dodge the array would be broken. However nothing is that easy, and not only did Sombra not dodge, but he bored right through it with a volley of opposing vibration spears. The jet black spears vibrated at an opposite frequency, thus screwing up the natural sound waves of the cavern, and when the two collided they created white noise; effectively neutralizing the spell. Shifting gears, Fyee took to the sky above Sombra, while Iscariat struck from the ground, each mage casted a different spell; Iscariat struck with a volley of bone crushing iron balls, and Fyee used her illusion mastery to alter Sombra's sense of perception so as to make believe Iscariat was attacking from behind.

Sombra appeared to have been fooled, as he side stepped to avoid the non-existent attack, lining himself up for Iscariat's true attack. It was all a ploy, for Sombra had secretly deflected Fyee's spell on to Iscariat, and when the unsuspecting fool thought he moved, Sombra instead had shot another volley of black spears. Quickly realizing what had just happened, Fyee zoomed in an scooped up Iscariat just in time, and then reversed her spell on Iscariat. Now it was Sombra's turn to attack in earnest, using his dark magic Sombra blasted at the two mages with infamous black lightning; a lightning that as has the unique ability to use patches of darkness and shadows to lash out at its target without a definitive end, thus making this spell almost impossible to dodge in dark areas, such as a cave. To make things even more difficult, Sombra used his black fire to completely limit their number of moves available, and to top it all off they had only sixty seconds left to destroy the array.

Extremely limited on options, and time, Fyee proposed that while she distracted Sombra, Iscariat, whilst cloaked with invisibility, would try to save the Princess. In a nutshell this plan was desperate, stupid, and had no guarantee for success, but in the end they had no choice, and so put it into effect. Cloaking Iscariat in invisibility was child's play for Fyee, though fooling Sombra that she still had him on her back, whilst dodging his attacks proved more challenging; challenging, but not impossible for a master. Once upon the ground, Iscariat rushed towards the array, however with only precious seconds left he heard Fyee cry out, and when he turned to look he saw that Sombra had managed to clip one of her wings with his black fire, and to make matters worse the black lightning was crackling towards her. Fyee or Princess Luna, he didn't have time to save both; "Damn it all! I'm not God, I shouldn't have to make this kind of decision! It's just not fair!" Iscariat said damning himself, his emotions, and most of all damning his own inadequacies for the choice he has just made.

With a heavy heart, Iscariat teleported in front of Fyee and took the lightning bolt head on, and by some fluke it didn't hit him directly, but instead struck his faceted stone under his vest; however that wasn't a good thing either. Iscariat's faceted stone was no ordinary gem, it was constructed by Starswirl the Bearded and Princess Platinum, so Clover the Clever and her future successors could perform their curator duties without worrying about growing old; for simply put the gem absorbs all the aging effects they would experience, so long as it was worn upon their person at all times. Normally when removed the curator's body would resume to age at a natural rate, however things get infinitely more complex should the gem ever be broken. Upon its destruction, a large explosion propelled both Iscariat and Fyee into an adjacent wall, Sombra remained unfazed by the blast. From the shattered remains of the gem, three wisps of temporal energy buzzed around, spontaneously aging anything they touched, two of the wisps were insatiably drawn towards the array, and being absorbed into it; while the remaining wisp homed in on Iscariat and melded with him in a blinding display.

"Iscariat, you idiot! Why did you do that?! I was more than willing to die so you could have an opening!" Fyee exclaimed, her anger tempered by her singed wing.

"I don't know, I was compelled to not let you die. Something overrode my normal logic," Iscariat said unable to stare Fyee in the eyes.

"Of course you were compelled, I willed you to, with a little help from this spell," King Sombra said holding the Sixth Scroll in front of himself, and pointing at a specific section.

"The Red Fate, but that is impossible, that spell can only effect lovers," Iscariat said skimming the spell's text in his memory archive.

"Not just lovers, but any ponies that have a strong emotional attachment," King Sombra said tossing the scroll at Iscariat's feet, and Iscariat quickly scooped it up before Sombra could change his mind. "And now at last, I have amassed all the energy I require to commence my grand scheme, and crowning achievement!"

"Just what is all this?" Iscariat asked wobbling to his feet, his body unusually sore.

"Still don't understand, do you? What a pity, but then I expected as much," King Sombra said as a loud rumble shook the whole cavern, the array gave off electrical discharges, and Princess Luna was quite nervous.

"Sombra stop this!" Princess Luna said as the array began to channel the electrical arcs into her very body, causing her discomfort and raising the hairs on her coat.

"I realize there is some mild pain, but trust me that in the end it will all be worth it, and you might even thank me," King Sombra casually said positioning himself once more between her and Iscariat.

"Enough, I say, release her!" Iscariat shouted regaining his strong composure.

"You dare make demands of me, fool! You are nothing to me, and your inability to deduce my plan is proof of not only your incompetence, but your failure as a Wizard! Yet you still use that pompous tone with me!" King Sombra bellowed having just about enough of Iscariat's presence.

After hearing those words, Iscariat realized that Sombra was correct, for all his posturing and intellect, deep down he knew that he was a failure. His greatest failure of all, the burden he has carried for one thousand years, was once more unfolding before his eyes; his inability to save Princess Luna has haunted him, even till now, but to have to watch it happen again. Peering at the array, Iscariat could see the Princess suffering, as her body was being altered or deconstructed, or whatever it was Sombra intended for his custom array to do to her.

"Why are you just standing there gawking?! Do something already!" Fyee exclaimed shaking Iscariat in an attempt to snap him out of his daze.

"I can't...There is nothing...I have nothing. No counter measure, no backup plan, nothing," Iscariat deadpanned.

"But you always have a plan," Fyee said surprised at Iscariat's words.

"I took a gamble, I thought I had a strong hand, but I screwed up, and now...and now...and now..." Iscariat could not finish his sentence, tears flowed from his eyes, and his body shook violently. "I'm sorry, your highness. Twice now, I have failed you."

"No, Iscariat, and don't you ever think that again!" Princess Luna bellowed with the last of her strength, as her legs buckled, and her head made a loud thump sound when it struck the ground.

"You killed her," Fyee said in disbelief. "You monster, you killed her!"

"Hardly, she still breaths, idiot," King Sombra said pointing at the Princess' rising and falling chest. "Besides, why kill such a rare flower, when I can have her bloom instead, and restore all that was taken from her."

Iscariat had a bad feeling when Sombra used those exact words, a sensation from an old wound located three inches to the right of his heart; from his perspective. Inside the array Princess Luna's body began to grow in size, her coat changing from a midnight blue to a pitch black, and seeping out of her skin was a kind of indigo mist that quickly blotted her from sight. For a time nothing seemed to happen, a chilling silence reigned over them till at last it was broken when a crackling of energy arced from the array's runic symbols, striking into its center, and out of the indigo mist shot out a column of midnight blue magical energy. A howling wail emanated from the column, random bolts of white lightning struck out from its sides, and at its base a winged figure could be seen rising to its feet; draconian, emerald green, eyes peering through the thick veil of energy. Iscariat's scar prickled with a sudden jolt of pain, not unlike a migraine one would receive after an excessive amount of shouting, it even gave off a light glow of midnight blue, but the most shocking thing of all was that it reshaped itself from a simple stab wound to a crescent moon.

King Sombra eagerly stepped to the side, so as to allow a clear line of sight for his adversaries, and also to ensure the winged figure had ample room to stretch her somewhat rigid body. Placing it's silver horseshoed hoof out of the array, Iscariat's heart sank at the emerging figure, adorned in new silvery armor, as oppose to her previous pale blue attire, was none other than..."No! I refuse to believe this, she was purged, and purified," Iscariat shouted in his head.

"And yet I stand before you, Curator Iscariat Faust," spoke an even tempered, and undeniably sweet, voice within the confines of Iscariat's mind.

"Allow me to introduce her imperial majesty, her grace, her eminence, her highest honor, Princess Nightmare Moon!" King Sombra proclaimed, Nightmare Moon gracefully stepping out of the column of magic, just as it faded from existence, and the array shattered like a glass bottle; its task now complete.

"I must say it feels good to have movement again, though I feel different than before," Nightmare Moon idly said flapping her wings, and examining her legs.

"Yes, you will find yourself infinitely superior to what you once were," King Sombra said approaching Nightmare Moon without her permission. "I imagine your powers have risen tenfold, if not more."

"By a factor of ten, you say, then that means I can do this," Nightmare Moon said as she simply tapped the floor with her left hoof, and in response four small, midnight blue, arrays manifested around Sombra, and then from their centers shot four spear tipped chains that impaled Sombra's legs.

"Argh!" King Sombra screamed out in agony, as the chains then retracted, forcing him to the ground, and causing more tearing to his tendons.

"Oh, I know it hurts, but trust me it will be over soon enough," Nightmare Moon said leaning close to Sombra, so she could speak in his ear.

"I don't understand," King Sombra said completely confused by this turn of events.

"The Great Wizard King Sombra doesn't know what is going on, well surly life on Equestria is coming to an end," Nightmare Moon said sarcastically, and then took on a harsh glare. "You little foal! You dare to lie to me, use me and manipulate me, and worse yet you have the arrogance to claim that you are more competent a Wizard than Iscariat Faust. Don't make me laugh!"

"Please, I meant no disrespect, your majesty," King Sombra said genuinely terrified by the imposing creature before him, this living nightmare.

"Silence!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed in the Royal Canterlot voice, and then slapped him across the face with her left wing. "Luna already gave you a second chance, and you wasted it. I ‘am not so forgiving, and so by the powers invested in me, as a Princess of Equestria, I hereby sentence you to death, by molten incineration. To be carried out immediately."

"Please don't, I beg you! Don't kill me!" King Sombra cried pitifully groveling for his life.

"My decision is final. Court adjourned!" Nightmare Moon said in the Royal Canterlot voice yet again, and with one tap of her left hoof a volcanic shaft opened beneath Sombra, and then with another the chains snapped dropping him to the fiery pit below; though he turned to ashes long before he ever reached it, due to the extreme heat of the vapors above the flames. With Sombra now gone, Nightmare Moon let out a deep breath, and then instantly materialized a scroll with a check list already prepared. "Now that that annoyance has been done away with, let me check off my list. Item number one; Is it night time?"

Using her godly powers, Nightmare Moon caused part of the ceiling to become see through, allowing for a magnificent view of the night sky; in spite of all the smog that usually choked the skies in Magma Valley. Checking it off with gusto, Nightmare Moon then moved on to the next item; Am I omnipotent? Sort of chuckling at this item, she never the less went through with the test, and with a thrusting of her left fore hoof she caused a powerful gust of air to suddenly manifest, and actually recreate the tunnel that was transfigured by Sombra's transmogrification seal; she doubled checked item number two. Last item on the list was, Have I dealt with all potential rivals?; at first she was hesitant to check it off, because truthfully she didn't really consider Sombra a rival, but since Queen Chrysalis was now sort of an ally, and Discord was reformed, there wasn't any pony else who would try to steal her shtick of world domination, and so checked off the box.

"Now then," Nightmare Moon said as she teleported away the check list, and then turning to gaze at Iscariat and Fyee. "As for you two..."

"You won't take us without a fight, you hear me mon..." Fyee said getting ready for a rumble, before Iscariat literally zipped her lip.

"It is so important for your continued existence that you don't finish that sentence," Iscariat said glaring at Fyee for a moment, and then turning to Nightmare Moon; a great fear over taking him as he stared into her eyes. "Please forgive my colleague's sharp tongue, your highness."

"Finally, some pony who knows their place, but you need not stand on ceremony, Iscariat," Nightmare Moon said a shocking smile on her face. "Unlike the rest of the ponies throughout Equestria, I respect you, and because of that I wish to broker a deal of sorts."

"What kind of deal?" Iscariat asked raising his brow.

"In due time, but first I want you to come with me so we may converse in private. What say you?" Nightmare Moon asked, though Iscariat knew she never asks.

"As you wish, your highness," Iscariat said bowing in respect, and then walked towards the dark goddess.

"Iscariat, no, don't go with her," Fyee said having broken Iscariat's silence spell.

"Sorry, Master Fyee, but I must do this," Iscariat said now standing by the tall Alicorn's side, her left wing draped over him; a devilish grin glaring back at Fyee.

"Shall we be off," Nightmare Moon said as her ethereal mane whirlwind around them, and when it cleared they were both gone.

"Damn it, Iscariat. Why do you always shoulder all the burden yourself?" Fyee asked herself, and without the means to follow she rushed out through the reconstructed tunnel, and rushed through the mountain as quickly as she could. When she reached the exit she instantly took to the skies and made for Canterlot as fast as her injured wing could take her. "I hope Equestria's Princess' can think of something, because this will only escalate."    

Next Chapter: Chapter 6: Would You Care to Know the Real Iscariat Faust? Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 27 Minutes