The Castle of Doom

   “Well, it is done,” said Spike, shaking his hands while the last green flames vanished in the air. “The letter has been sent to Princess Celestia.”

   “I hope you don’t forget today’s lesson, Dash,” said Twilight.

   “Yeah, whatever...” groaned the blue pegasus. “So, what are we gonna do with that Atrox guy?”

   “For the moment, nothing.”

   “Are you going to let him go?”

   “I didn’t say that. We’ll let him live in Ponyville, but we’ll keep our eyes on him. I’ve sent Pinkie Pie to watch over him. We’ll act as soon as he makes any suspicious movement. Until then, I don’t think it will be necessary to reunite the girls and...”

   Then, in a bright flash of light, the two Princesses appeared in the middle of the library, carrying the box which contained the Elements of Harmony.

   “I’ve received your letter, Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia. “Reunite your friends, it is time to act!”

***

   Atrox had finally swept all the remains of his robots, leaving the main square of the town as clean as a whistle. Now, he was sitting in one rock, at the outsides of Ponyville, looking at the skies and ignoring the pink pony who was spying him from inside a bush.

   “Oh, hello, Twilight!” he heard. “Oh, everypony is here! Even the Princesses! Are we having a camping?”

   Princesses? Atrox stood up and turned back. If there was any royalty in that world, they would be his deadliest enemies, and the first ponies he should eliminate.

   “What is this?” he asked when he saw the two alicorns. “A mix of the three types of ponies in one body? That’s new. And there’s two of them!”

   “It is over, Atrox!” said Celestia. “My student has warned us of your presence, and we will stop you before you can cause any damage you our land!”

   Atrox laughed, and his body was surrounded by an indigo aura.

   “I assume you ponies have become stronger since the last time,” he said. “However, no matter how much you had improved, you’re no match for me!”

   “We’ll see that! My dear student, use the Elements of Harmony!”

   “Are you sure, Princess?” asked Twilight. “You didn’t let me explain...”

   “There’s nothing to explain!” said Rainbow Dash. “He’s gonna pay for how he humiliated me before! Let’s kick his ass!”

   Twilight sighed, there was nothing she could do.

   The Mane Six charged the Elements of Harmony, and they were surrounded by a bubble of light. Atrox simply smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. Was he not going to defend himself?

   Twilight and her friends fired the power of friendship, and the rainbow-colored beam crossed the air, directly towards the Dark Conqueror. However, the seven colours dispersed when they clashed with the dark aura of Atrox.

   “It didn’t work?!” shouted Luna. “That’s impossible!”

   “Those puny talismans are useless against me!” laughed the Dark Conqueror.

   “Step back, my dear student!” said Celestia. “My sister and I will take care of him!”

   Celestia and Luna pointed at Atrox with her horns and fired two powerful magic beams. The Dark Conqueror extended his arms and stopped the attacks with his bare hands, without receiving a single scratch.

   “I’ll show you how it’s done!”, he said, and fired red energy beams through his eyes.

   Luna created a shield of blue light and deflected the attack. Then, Celestia launched a big fireball. The aura of Atrox increased its size, and it literally devoured the fiery projectile.

   “I can feel that you two have a lot of power,” said the Dark Conqueror. “Why are you restraining yourselves so much? Unleash all your strength, otherwise this won’t be funny!”

   “Very well,” said Celestia. “But we’ll continue our fight in another place. If we use our true power here, we could harm the ponies. There is a desert in that direction. Let’s go there.”

   Atrox looked at the sky again, and smiled.

   “Sorry,” he said. “Normally, I wouldn’t mind about a change of scenario, but I’m waiting for something to come here, and it will arrive in a few seconds, I can’t move. Look!” he pointed at the sky. “There it is!”

   The ponies looked up. Something was flying through the air at high speed, leaving a trail of smoke and fire. It was going to land in their position.

   “My Castle of Doom!” announced Atrox. “It can move by itself, and it answers to my commands, even if it’s at the other end of the galaxy! Before that damn hero imprisoned me, I hid my castle in the Moon, and now it’s time for it to return with its master!” he pointed at the ground. “This place will be the new home of my Castle of Doom, and Ponyville will become the capital of my new Empire! Now, my faithful fortress, mark this land with your shadow!”

   The castle descended, extending a big curtain of sand and smoke, while Atrox was laughing maniacally.

   Then, the smoke and the dirt settled, and everypony could see the dreaded building: the design was certainly impressive, white and with the shape of a skull, with sharp fangs and yellow eyes.

   However, it wasn’t very big. Actually, it wasn’t a castle at all, it looked more like a small house. Fluttershy’s cottage was bigger. Atrox’s aura disappeared, and the Dark Conqueror grabbed the horns of his helmet.

   “My castle!” he shouted. “What happened to my precious Castle of Doom?!”

   “Oooh... I remember now,” said Luna, suddenly. “When I was imprisoned in the Moon for one thousand years, I spent time by destroying your castle. Slowly. That’s the only part that I left intact.”

   “You did what?!”

   “Really, Luna?” asked Celestia, raising an eyebrow. “It’s not very nice to destroy the properties of other creatures, even if they are dark conquerors.”

   “Hey, I was Nightmare Moon back then. I was angry, evil, and bored.”

   “Watch out!” warned Dash. “Atrox is fleeing!”

   “I don’t think so,” said Twilight. “He’s just walking away.”

   “Watch out, he’s walking away! Follow him!”

***

   The Mane Six and the Princesses followed the Dark Conqueror to the Sugarcube Corner. Atrox entered in the bakery and sat in one of the tables. He looked really fed up. And depressed.

   “Oh, welcome back,” said Mrs. Cake. “Can I help you?”

   “Give me all the chocolate ice cream you have,” groaned Atrox. “I don’t have more gold, but I’ll pay you by destroying your deadliest enemy... or something like that...”

   Mrs. Cake didn’t ask any questions. She shrugged and gave the Dark Conqueror a pot of chocolate ice cream and a spoon. Atrox started to eat, sobbing between each bite.

   “I kinda feel bad for him,” said Luna.

   “Well, apologize,” suggested Celestia. “For destroying his castle.”

   “What? ... Ugh, ok...”

   Two hours later, Atrox had eaten three pots of ice cream. Luna was sitting in front of him, with a box of handkerchiefs. The Dark Conqueror picked one from time to time, while still sobbing and moaning about his life.

   “I never had a true connection with my father,” he explained. “I guess because he wanted someone like him: athletic, hard-working, down to earth... I think I always was a disappointment for him. I only had a good relationship with my mother, but she stopped talking to me when I started this whole Multiversal Conqueror thing...”

   “I’m sorry to hear that,” said Luna, trying to comfort him.

   “She wanted me to go to the University and get a degree, or something... Why she couldn’t conform with the solar system I conquered for her? Dammit, mom, I put your name to one of the planets! To a gas giant! You said you liked gas giants!” and he started to cry.

   “Hey, come on...” Luna approached and tapped him in the back. “It’s not so bad. I designed one of the constellations to look exactly like my mother, and she didn’t even notice...” and Luna started to cry, too. Atrox passed her the next pot of ice cream.

   At the door, Celestia sighed.

   “I’ll better take my sister back to Canterlot before this gets too complicated,” she said. “Twilight Sparkle, keep an eye on Atrox. Although, frankly, I don’t think he’s going to give troubles to us.”

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   Once again, Equestria has been saved from becoming one of Atrox’s conquests... But will our ponies have the same luck the next time?

To be continued... maybe.

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