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The Epic Quest of Ford Mustang

by RoyalRainbow

Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – Out of the Darkness

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Chapter 8 – Out of the Darkness

Moments Earlier at the Castle in Canterlot…

After Princess Luna has finished up her work with tonight’s starry, nightly sky, she is now joining up with her dear sister, Princess Celestia, for a special tea party that was set up by a special guest. To Luna’s great surprise, their host is none other than Discord, their ex-adversary from over 1,000 years ago.

While Celestia has been warming up to Discord’s change in heart, her sister was pretty suspicious to the trickster’s sudden, goodhearted nature. However, overtime Luna’s worries have been put to rest as Discord has proven himself to be a very cooperative friend despite maintaining his trickster persona. Needless to say, the tea party Discord is hosting is rather lovely in its own unique way. In one of the castle’s chambers, the tea party is relatively normal. Except with the use of trickster’s chaotic magic, the utensils and chinaware come to life as they eagerly serve their satisfied guests.

“I must say, Discord. This is very generous of you to set all of this up for us.” Celestia compliments as an animated teapot pours her another cup of tea before she takes a courteous sip.

“‘Twas my pleasure, Princess Celestia.” Discord responds mannerly before casually dipping his saucer into his tea cup like it was a cookie and then taking a bite out of it.

“I agree.” Luna chimes in while a lively creamer cup finishes pouring a generous amount of half-and-half into her cup. “We should do more of these themed parties more often. Anyway, would you mind passing me the sugar, Discord?”

“Certainly, my princess of the night! What would it be? One lump or two?” he asks with a mischievous grin.

Luna gives a deadpan expression with a raised eyebrow before saying to Discord, “There better not be a mallet behind your back.”

“Why Luna! I’m hurt!” Discord exaggerates. “How could you think of me like that?” Celestia only smirks slightly as she sees Discord’s tail grasping a cartoony mallet behind his back. With a flick of his tail, he tosses the mallet away before it disappears into a small flash of light.

Hmm… perhaps I should rethink on my material next time. Discord thinks to himself.

Suddenly, a great burst of blue fire explodes in the middle of the room as it abruptly startles the three guests from their tea party. As the gigantic flame begins to disappear, a dark, silhouetted pony steadily steps out of his magical portal of fire as he reveals himself before them. Luna and Discord are immensely surprised by this, but Celestia however, is absolutely shaking with many mixed emotions when she recognizes that shadowy figure.

Before the three godlike entities is a frightening creature who resembles an Earth Pony with a coat as black as the abyss itself and is as tall as Princess Luna. Covering much of his purely black body is his own custom-made, dark-colored armor featuring sharp characteristics, some deep blue gemstones, and a menacing helmet with earpieces resembling that with a dragon’s. And around his neck is a tightly secured amulet with three primary-colored crystals set up as a triangular centerpiece. But the most distinguishing features from this intimidating intruder are the blue, blazing flames that serve as his wildly, large mane, his flaring tail, and his piercing, soulless eyes.

“Good evening, Princess Celestia.” he greets her slimily as he bows before her. “It’s been what… 500 years since we last met? I know it’s been a few centuries, but I hope you haven’t totally forgotten about me, have you?”

Princess Celestia, who usually is cool, calm and collected, glares intensely at the stranger as she identifies him with condensed rage, “YOU.”

The dark stallion simply chuckles in response before saying to her, “Yes, me.”

“Who is this, Tia?” Luna looks at her sister with worry and confusion.

“Somepony I never want to see ever again.” Celestia answers with absolute disgust.

“You know this… pony?” Discord asks with the same reaction as Luna’s.

“Unfortunately, I do.” Celestia admits as she continues to glare menacingly at the unknown trespasser. “500 years ago, there was turmoil between dragons and ponies. Yet, there were those who were seeking peace between those two races. One group was a clan of noble dragons who raised orphaned ponies as their own. In fact, these special ponies were given the gift to learn Draconian Magic. Within that diverse clan, there was one pony who was naturally talented to grasp the rare, magical arts of the dragons. However, his desire for power was insatiable, and in return, he betrayed both ponies and dragons alike, dealing with those in his way in a most horrifying manner. That atrocious pony is the very same creature you see before you: Arrogon the Destroyer!” The villainous creature just stands there without taking any offense to Celestia’s statement. In fact, he takes pride over his introduction.

“Is that who I think it is?” Arrogon gazes wondrously at the startled Moon Princess. “Princess Luna, back from her banishment! What an honor it is to meet you at last! I hope you've been on your best behavior since your return. We certainly don’t want your big sister to give you another thousand-year timeout, now do we?”

“Go to Tartarus!” Luna responds in an offended growl.

Arrogon chuckles deviously before saying, “Where do you think I've been all this time?” Then, he turns his attention to the surprisingly chivalrous draconequus. “And this must be the 'Big, Bad Discord' I’ve heard so much about when I was a colt! 'The Master of Chaos', now serving tea parties, I see!”

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Discord responds nonchalantly as he mannerly sips his tea cup.

“So, we the high and righteous Celestia making friends with the two of most dangerous and feared entities the world has ever known! How the mighty certainly have fallen!” Arrogon shakes his head in mocking disappointment. “And how come I wasn’t invited to this little get-to-together?”

“Sorry, sir.” Discord answers casually. “But besides Celestia, only reformed villains are allowed into this party.”

“Hey!” Luna glares at the slightly grinning trickster.

“What do you want, Arrogon?” Celestia ignores the two as she is still eying furiously at the intruder.

“Ah yes! Straight to business as always! You really haven’t changed one bit!” After a brief chuckle to himself, Arrogon states his visit in a more serious, intimidating tone. “But yes, let’s get down to the matter at hoof, shall we? What I want, Princess, is quite simple actually. I want what was mine from the very beginning before you and that accursed dragon took that away from me! I want my rightful place as supreme ruler of all Creation! And whether you like it or not, you are going to help achieve that for me!”

“If you think I’m going to lend a single hoof to a coldhearted monster like you…” Celestia responds with absolute fury as her horn radiates an intense, solar yellow aura. “…THINK AGAIN!”

But before she takes immediate action, Celestia is stopped by Discord’s extended eagle-clawed hand as he says to her. “Wait, Princess. Allow me to handle this myself.” Then, the surprisingly collective spirit of mischief steps forwards as he glares at Arrogon. “You know, I’m normally not against party-crashers. But for you to intrude into our party like that as well as for disrespecting my friends like this, I’m making you a special exception!”

“Discord, I’m very disappointed in you for someone with such a fearsome reputation.” the smug intruder casually shakes his head once more. “And to think you would appreciate my own brand of chaos that I can unleash upon this world.”

“You see, Arrogon… that’s the big difference between you and me. I only take joy in bring chaotic fun, not senseless destruction!” Discord spats out in infuriating disgust as his disproportionate eyes change from yellow to black with his red pupils glowing intensely.

Suddenly, Discord begins to grow extraordinarily in size as his once-slender figure is bulked up with massive muscles. Other than the change in his eyes’ color, his once-single fang is now accompanied by many razor-sharp teeth as they extrude out of his jaws. Discord becomes so large, that he nearly takes up the entire space of the room they are in.

“I may not know what you have done back then to make Princess Celestia this angry, but you should certainly know better than to piss me off as well!” Discord threatens in an unsettling, aggressive voice. “With a mere wave of my finger, I can change you into anything I want; making you practically harmless before me! You’ve made a nice entrance for yourself, Arrogon, but this is as far as you go from the moment you’ve crossed with me, let alone with the Princesses! So I’m only going to say this once while you still have a chance to make this out alive: GET OUT NOW!

After Discord’s threatening speech, the two sisters freeze in place as they are slightly startled by Discord's sudden, scary transformation. They are even more surprised by the fact that Discord didn’t appear this way when they last clashed over one thousand years ago. Meanwhile, as Discord is breathing down on his strangely composed challenger, Arrogon takes a moment to himself while closing his fiery eyes before laugh arrogantly at his intimidating opponent. The monstrous Discord and the Princesses are quite perplexed by this usual display of confidence as Arrogon continues with his devious laughter.

Once his laughter dies down, the amused Arrogon lets out a sigh with his eyes still closed before he finally states his case. “I must say… this really is a nice surprise for me. You know, I was actually expecting someone else to complete my ultimate plan. But now that you are here, Discord, I’ve decided to add you to my special collection instead!”

When Arrogon’s flaming eyes snap wide-open as they laying sight on the monstrous target, something else is glowing as the red orb from his tri-colored amulet illuminates a strong, intense light. Suddenly, the crimson crystal fires a spiraling beam of immense energy before it quickly hits its target. After hitting its mark, the orb’s tractor beam begins to pull Discord into its swirling vortex. Discord tries to resist this, but strangely enough, his own powers aren’t enough to break free out of this cursed jewel’s magical grasp.

“Not… again…” Discord groans as his struggling comes to an end before his entire essence is pulled into jewel’s entrapment. After Discord becomes the cursed amulet’s first prisoner, Arrogon gloats to himself with a menacing chuckle once he captured one of the most powerful beings in Equestria.

“Discord!” Celestia cries out for her former enemy.

“You’re next, Princess!” Arrogon glares with glee at the stunned Sun Princess as the blue, glowing orb of his amulet activates.

A blue beam is fired from the second crystal as it’s aimed at the greatly shocked Celestia. Still paralyzed from witnessing Discord’s capture, Celestia is unable to get out of the way as the colorful ray almost hits its next target. In that dire moment, the bright, blue beam makes contact, but it wasn’t Princess Celestia this time. To her surprise and even greater horror, it’s her sister, Princess Luna, who stepped forward and intercepted the blue orb’s overwhelming tractor beam.


“Sis… ter…” is all Princess Luna could say as her body is magically swallowed into Arrogon’s mysterious amulet.

“Lulu!” Celestia cries out for her beloved sister as sorrowful tears pour out of her eyes.

“Two down, one to go!” Arrogon declares with anticipated joy in his cold, dark heart as the last colored orb activates with an ominous, yellow glow.

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“Princess Celestia! What’s happening?!” Princess Twilight Sparkle inquires greatly as she enters the room. “I heard noises, and I--! GASP!” But it was too late. Princess Celestia was no match for Arrogon’s newly immeasurable powers as she is magically engulfed by the yellow crystal’s enchanted curse.

“Twi… light…” Celestia calls out to her faithful student as her body is forcefully sucked into the amulet’s last colored orb.

“Princess!” Twilight screams out for her teacher as the amulet is finally finished with its work.

At last, with three of the mightiest deities in his possession, Arrogon starts to chuckles greatly as the amulet’s colorful orbs radiate such immense, unimaginable power. As his chuckling begins to develop into mad, egotistical laughter, his demonic body shakes uncontrollable while it emits an intense, blue, scorching aura.

“The power… mwhahahahahaha! The absolute POWER!!” Arrogon howls like a madpony as he continues with his triumphant, wicked laughter.

But as he is distracted by his inflating ego, Arrogon’s neck, hooves, and torso are suddenly bounded by artificially constructed shackles after they have emerged from a magic circle beneath his hooves. Ceasing his laughing, he curiously glances at the shackled hooves and the magically drawn circle first. Then, he tilts his head to gaze at the spellcaster responsible for this: Princess Twilight Sparkle, whose horn is imbued with intense, sparkling magic as her crying eyes glare furiously at the heinous stallion.

“Release them! NOW!” she demands in irrepressible rage.

“Ooh, another Alicorn Princess?” he observes insultingly. “Hmph, they’re pretty much giving them away these days!”

“You will release them this instant, or else I will have to take you down myself!”

Unfazed by her threat, Arrogon simply responses, “By all means… go right ahead!”

A bit startled by Arrogon’s challenging demeanor, Twilight holds nothing back as she concentrates on her glowing horn before it unleashes a mighty blast of magenta-colored magic. The illuminating wave of immense energy engulfs the immovable Arrogon as its blows a massive hole through the wall of the room. After her powerful spell dies down, Twilight takes a heavy breather as she recovers from performing such an incredible feat for herself. Once she opens her eyes, she nearly holds her breath after she gasps in disbelief when she sees the unharmed Arrogon still standing there once the smoke clears away.

“I’m sorry. Was that’s supposed to hurt me?” Arrogon inquires mockingly with a deadpan expression.

“That’s… impossible!” Twilight exclaims in shock. “I bound you with a spell that prevents you from moving! How were you able to survive that?!”

“Silly filly! My extraordinary powers are now beyond that of Discord or any of your Princesses combined!” And to provide his point, he easily breaks free of his magical bondage with only the use of his dreadful, blazing aura.

“You might have posed as a challenge to me 500 years ago, but as of tonight…”

To further demonstrate the enormous gap of their powers, his flaming eyes flicker intensely before the young, troubled Alicorn Princess is immediately pushed back by an incredible, unseeable force, and she is slammed hard against the wall next to the doorway.

“…you are just as insignificant as the rest of those worthless ponies out there!”

“What have done with Princess Celestia and the others?” the pinned Twilight demands from the overpowering challenger as she struggles from Arrogon's magical grasp.

“If you must know, your former superiors are kept safely right here in my amulet.” he answers with calm satisfaction as he points his irremovable amulet with a shin-armored hoof. “During my extensive recovery after my supposed demise, I’ve been devising a plan. A plan upon which I can not only have Celestia out of the way, but to also reach my ultimate perfection! This amulet I’ve created specifically for that purpose can absorb them into these three magically-crafted crystals as their entrapment will also serve as my infinite power source! Now, with the Alicorn Princesses and Discord trapped inside, they will constantly fuel my immeasurable powers from now on, and I will finally achieve my status as the one and only true god of this world!”

Just as he was about to laugh maniacally over his newfound godhood, Arrogon notices something odd about Twilight Sparkle’s appearance. He narrows his sizzling gaze as he murmurs to himself, “That crown… there’s something vaguely familiar about that. But why?”

After processing this, Arrogon’s eyes are shot widely as he realizes why that crown with the large, star-shaped jewel looks so familiar. Because of this, he also realizes that there is one possibility that can ruin everything for him. A chance that he can’t afford to overlook at this crucial point of his return. Immediately, he rushes forward before he slams his hoof hard against the wall right next to the immensely startled face of Twilight.

“WHERE ARE THEY?!” he demands in outrage.

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” Twilight replies weakly as she is still pinned to the wall by Arrogon’s fearsome magic.

“Don’t play coy with me, Princess! You possess one of the Elements of Harmony! Where are the other five?!”

“I’ll never tell you!” she answers firmly.

After hearing her response, Arrogan takes a moment to calm down from his outburst and he says to her with crafty eyes, “Well then… if you won’t tell me, then I guess I’ll have to find them out myself!”

While Twilight briefly wonders on what Arrogon meant by that, she suddenly feels an intense, burning sensation inside her head as if she was suffering the biggest headache of her life. From enduring this massive migraine, she suddenly sees various, mental images from all her adventures with her five friends in Ponyville, from how they met individually before the return of Nightmare Moon, to her coronation as the newest princess. However, from being forced to see these wonderful memories, Twilight senses another pair of eyes that are also watching these flashing visions; the piercing, flaming eyes that belong to the very pony who’s has penetrated deep within the corners of her mind.

Once he has gathered all of the information he needs, Arrogon ceases his mindreading spell as he says with disgusting delight, “Ahh… so it’s not just a matter on where they are, but who they are.”

“No!” Twilight whimpers in horror over what Arrogon has in stored for her dear friends.

“Yeesss… but don’t you worry, my little Princess. You’ll be joining them real soon.”

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Presently on the Outskirts of Ponyville…

“Rainbow Dash, will you--?”

But before Ford Mustang can finish his proposal as well as present his engagement bracelet to Rainbow Dash, she is abruptly distracted by something out in the distance where Canterlot is. From that distant area, dark, rumbling clouds spread across Luna’s beautiful night as they block the celestial stars and devour the world’s colors, making everything filtered into an ugly, dark shade of gray. Even the fireflies have stop their dancing before they instinctively flee away from the coming, ominous storm.

“Hey Mustang, do you remember there being a gray overcast tonight?” Rainbow asks as she continues to eye the suddenly cloudy sky.

“No, there wasn’t supposed to be one according to tonight’s weather schedule.” Ford answers as he quickly tucks the hoof ring back into his right wing while Rainbow is too distracted from noticing it.

“That’s strange. Those dark clouds are coming from Canterlot over there.” she points it out as she gazes at the source of the disturbingly unusual forecast. Ford joins at her side as they continue to figure out the strange phenomenon that is happening with the sky above.

“I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.” Rainbow muses with a grimace face before she turns her head and faces Mustang with deep concern. “Ford, I’m sorry for cutting this short, but I have to see Twilight and find out on what’s going on! This could mean trouble for all of us!”

Ford would be lying to himself if he didn’t want Rainbow Dash to go just as soon as he was about to pop the question. But considering that there are more important matters at hand, such as the safety of Equestria, he nods his head lightly and smiles warmly to his loyal marefriend as he says to her, “I understand. You go do what you do best and save the world.”

Showing a gratifying smile on her own, Rainbow happily kisses Ford on the lips before saying, “Thanks for understanding, Ford. I truly appreciate that from you. I’ll wrap this up as soon as possible, and then we can continue where we left off!”

With his heart fluttering with renewed anticipation, Ford Mustang says to her, “I’ll be waiting.”

Just as soon as they are about to go their separate ways, an unforeseen explosion of fire illuminates a blazing blue into the dark gray surroundings. The explosive combustion not only catches Rainbow and Ford off-guard extremely, but it also blew away their picnic and its utensils as well as scorched some of the wildflowers nearby. From that pillar of fire, Arrogon steps out of his unique teleportation spell as he eyes with great interest at the unusually terrified Pegasus mare.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash. Is this a bad time?”

Author's Notes:

So, I might get some gripe on how I didn't use past tenses in the first scene of this chapter. The reason behind that is because is that this chapter's first scene and the previous chapter ideally take place in the same time. And mostly when it comes to using past tenses, I use them mainly for the flashback scenes.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9 – All is Lost Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 6 Minutes
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