Do not fear my son for soon you will worry not about that ancient power you have just absorbed.

So close now, I can sense your Alicorn counterpart just aching to be free. Yes, soon your mind and soul shall be mine and no one will be free from their demise.

Dracula stared up into the moon as he heard the dark voice of his father. Dracula had not met his father personally but he could tell his father was not a likable pony. Dracula dug through his thoughts and with all the magic he could muster he spoke back at Living Shadow, something not even his Mother could do.

Then come. Come and meet your own demise. My power is as nearly infinite as yours, if not more so. What chance do you have against me now? And if I ascend into an Alicorn my powers will only double in strength. You cannot win; you will not win. You’ll be nothing more than just a forgotten shadow.

Dracula waited for a response from his father but he heard not another word. Dracula smiled, this was a first of, hopefully, many victories against his father. With absorbing the ancient power, his father has been showing up in his thoughts more so than usual. Ever since he had gotten his new powers they have been popping in his mind and new spells he did not even knew existed. He could now break ponies minds and have them go insane, he can even change somepony’s thoughts so they switch sides. Some more of his powers include, Marrok’s special talent of becoming nearly invincible to physical pain, he can as well manipulate the dark powers themselves. The elemental powers of Starswirl the Bearded are his but they fit his characteristics as they are black or red. Dracula found himself staring at the moon in the garden while he waited to meet the others when they set out.

Dracula felt great power emanating from the moon, he can as well have the moon be his source of mana. He no longer needs to absorb the magical energy in ponies. Dracula turned his head as he heard the sound of a pony approaching him. It was his Mother, Luna. Her dark blue coat glistened and shined in the moonlight and she walked next to him and said,”Your power is still growing Dracula. Unimaginable power.”

Dracula said in response,”You never really told us what kind of power this is. Its not yours, and it is certainly not Living Shadow’s.”

Luna sighed closing her eyes and said,”You must not tell anypony about this. As what I am about to tell you something that only me and Celestia know, for good reason. Celestia and I purged everything about the Alicorns when we had ascended.”

Dracula nodded and Luna continued,”When we look back to our past we begin to think and question. But one of the questions most cannot find an answer to is, who created the ponies? In the beginning there only existed only Alicorns, they believed that they were created by Almighty beings. These Almighty beings were named Cerberus and Faximas. Faximas was wielder of Aether energy and Cerberus wielder of Nether energy.

“They were very much ponies, they manifested many times into ponies. However they were brothers and Cerberus became jealous of Faximas. The Alicorns began to fear him instead of love him. So he decided that the only way for them to learn their place was to be his eternal slaves. Faximas was at a cross roads. He could not harm his brother, simply because he loved him so much. But he could not watch as his brother takes over the world.

“So as punishment for his misdeeds and threatening the lives of an entire race, he was broken into thirteen pieces and imprisoned in the core of the world. Only to be consumed in his own darkness. You have absorbed one of his thirteen pieces, becoming a part of him. The Harvest Well in Shadow Garden was only a phylactery of my power, this is why I was so defending of you and so worried when you wished to perform the ritual yourself. But you appear to have resisted the corruption completely, which is amazing. If the strongest Alicorn tried they would have gone permanently insane.”

Dracula looked away from Luna and shot his head back at her and said,”If you knew this then, how did you know I wouldn’t have gone insane.”

Luna smiled and said,”That is because when you were just a little colt you were stronger than Starswirl the Bearded. You are powerful, throughout your life you have shown that your power is nearly infinite. Your destiny still has yet to be revealed, you have only just begun your long journey ahead. So has Twilight, I know the plans my sister has in store for her.”

Dracula was happy to know that his one true love was on the path to greatness. But this news astounded him, stronger than Starswirl the Bearded. But he must focus on the task at hand, defeating Chrysalis and Sombra. Since Sombra was a Child of the Night, Dracula and Luna can sense him. Sombra was in control of a pony but Dracula did not know who.

Dracula turns to meet the eyes of his mother and said,”Who is Sombra controlling?”

Luna closes her eyes and activates her magic. Blue energy swirled around her horn and for a few minutes this went on. Luna slowly opens her eyes and said,”I had feared something like this would happen. He has taken the body of Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle’s older brother.”

Dracula had not known Shining Armor existed, let alone know that he was Twilight’s brother. Dracula thought for a moment. The only way he saw to have Shining Armor return to his normal self is to stab him with Whiteash. It will kill Sombra and will return Armor to his own body and mind. Dracula sighed heavily and said,”We have to tell Twilight about this, she’ll find out sooner or later.”

Luna turned towards him and she said,”Then perhaps it should be thou that tells her.”

Dracula nodded and left walking into the night towards the inn, no doubt she was resting along with Rainbow Dash and Spectra. They might be very capable beings but they were still very much Children of the Day, except Spectra. She was most likely still awake trying to figure out her new powers. Despite all of his powers he could only sense Spectra and Sombra. As he trotted closer to the inn he could hear the voice of his father laugh evilly in his head. Living Shadow said,

Yes, your powers are great but you will be mine. Hardships are only starting for you, fear and sorrow will be all that assail you. Fear the Light.

Broken and torn, Twilight opened her eyes and she found herself in the throne room of the Castle of the Two Sisters. She struggled to move her head and she was that a large stone and marble pillar had fallen and she saw the dead body of a dark blue pony. She only knew one pony with a dark blue coat, that was the lifeless body of Princess Luna.

She looked to her left and saw a scene she never ever wanted to see. She saw Dracula stab his Blade of Shadow into Princess Celestia. With all of the strength she could muster Celestia looked over at Twilight with large eyes and gave her a look that told her,”I’m sorry.”

Dracula pulled out his sword and Celestia let out a loud groan of pain, falling to the ground. Dracula turned and she saw a pony she never knew. His coat was dark blue and his mane and tail were still jet black but now they had a white stripe in them. Dracula’s muzzle was the same strong and muscular shape but his eyes were made of pure dark energy and he gave Twilight a stare telling her that she was next.

As quick as lightning he dashed towards her ready to strike when all of a sudden.

Twilight burst awake screaming,”No, Dracula!”

Twilight was breathing heavily and looked around the room and found she was alone in the dark, nopony had heard her and that was what she wanted. Nopony could know about this, that dream was way too vivid to not be real. She looked around in the shadows and thought to herself. Everything gave her a dark feeling deep inside her gut, one that she could not shake.

Twilight spun her head around when she heard the door open, light crept into the room and revealed the outline of a pony. All she saw was the shape and saw it with a horn and wings, then she noticed the red eyes and Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs. She was terrified, she heard the familiar accented voice of Dracula say,”Whoa it’s okay. It’s just me and Rainbow Dash, we came up because we heard you screaming from outside. What’s wrong?”

Twilight squinted and saw the mare in the doorframe, it was Rainbow Dash. Twilight blew out a sigh of relief and said,”I am fine, really. Just...just a bad dream.”

Rainbow winced and said,”That’s it. A bad dream, we thought you were being murdered with the screams you were making.”

Twilight heard the usual arrogant tone of Rainbow Dash and it faded when Dracula shot her a look and she shifted uncomfortably. Dracula turned back to Twilight and he said with a sarcastic smile,”I was expecting to see you up studying something, this surprises me.”

Twilight blushed and she said,”All I did was catch up on my reading. Nothing that I don’t already know.”

Twilight looked at Dracula and he gave a nod to her response and she noticed Rainbow Dash had a sorrowful look on her face. Twilight asked,”What’s wrong Rainbow?”

Dracula turned to face Rainbow Dash and studied her. Twilight knew from the way he looked at her, Dracula could read her thoughts and tell himself what we should know. But he stopped and said,”Yeah what’s wrong?”

Rainbow looked down and sighed heavily,”I...things...things aren’t the same as they were before.”

“I don’t follow?”Dracula said in response to Rainbow’s reluctance. She continued,”I mean since Spectra came in. I miss Rarity, her frufruiness and her odd obsession with detail.”

Dracula hung his head in shame and said,”I feared something like this would happen. So I had prepared a spell for this occasion. Although, you wish to have your old friend back I cannot break the curse of being a Child of the Night. It will reactivate her connection to the Elements of Harmony and some of her old appearances and behaviors. When she comes into contact with somepony she knew in her old life it activates and her appearance turns to normal. And while we are on the topic of spells.”

He turned his gaze towards Rainbow Dash and said,”I can cast a spell that can connect you to me instead of Princess Luna, granting you more control of your new powers. What do you say?”

Rainbow thought for a moment and said,”Alright, I’m game.”

Dracula nods and he says,”I will return when the spell has been successfully cast on Spectra. Everything will be fine.”

Dracula turned and left the room. He walked down and left the inn. He activated his magic and sensed Spectra’s magic. Spectra was near the outskirts of the town, she was most likely trying to come to grip with her newfound powers. Dracula suspected as much, she was a mare where she was not taught too much offensive magic.

After at least two minutes of trotting to Spectra he finally found her. Dracula slowed his advance and said,”You should not be in the outskirts of town alone. You never know what you might encounter in these woods.”

Spectra turned her gaze towards Dracula as he approached her. She stood up and said,”I am more than capable now than I was before. Everything is clearer now.”

Dracula stopped in front of her and he says,”That maybe so but you have powers you cannot control at the moment, you have much to learn. Children of the Night magic is much harder to learn and master than Unicorn magic.”

Spectra shrugged in agreement and Dracula continued and said,”Twilight and Rainbow seem to think that their long time best friend is dead. I can revive the mare that was once there, partially. I can cast an illusion spell that will change your personality and image to the mare you once were when you are around your friends or anyone else that had relations with Rarity. And once you become strong enough, I will give you the control over the spell.”

Spectra sighed and turned away from Dracula. She lowered her head and said,”Perhaps my new image is pushing them away. And Equestria would be without one of its greatest means of defense. I suppose this is the right thing to do.”

Dracula slightly smiled and he said,”Good. Now hold still.”

He lowered his head pointing his horn at Spectra and a red aura enveloped and swirled around his horn. The magic then began to flow off of his horn and envelope around Spectra. For a few minutes it engulfed around her and she began to feel something resonate and revive deep inside her. Like a feeling she had long forgotten, it was through this that she had noticed something. There was a connection between her and Dracula, he had granted her some of his powers. A very small fraction but powers none the less. Finally the aura dissipated and she remained the same.

Dracula lifts up his head and looks Rarity in the eyes. They told her something, something important. She felt the magic he had granted her activate and she felt her magical ability improve ten fold, she could manipulate shadows to her bidding and use Dracula as her mana source. Finally Dracula said turning around to leave. His voice was still accented but it gave her the feeling of hope and wisdom,”There is war on the rise. I do not know if we shall play a part in it, but we must be prepared if this happens. Blood will spill, whether or not it is from our comrades or from our enemies is uncertain. But all of our true destinies will be found out. And it will be our duty and responsibility to know when to finally embrace who we are. But if one thing is for certain, we can push past all of these hardships with community and teamwork. With those traits guided by strength and wisdom, we cannot fail.”

With those last words he blinked his eyes slowly and looked up at the moon that was high in the sky. He then slowly moved his head away from the moon and walked away. Rarity was dumbfounded, she had never heard wiser words come out of somepony’s muzzle. As she watched her friend walk away she had a feeling deep inside of her. She could feel his magic and the feeling was that he was a leader. He had the time and experience of being a true ruler of many. Also, she knew that he would be her future mentor.

Change was on the rise and she was going to be apart of it. It was when she watched him walk out of sight that she heard an unfamiliar voice speak in her head. It was not Dracula’s and it was not Living Shadow’s, but the voice of a wise and old pony. It said,

The Dark Soul will lead the future to a new beginning and nopony will be able to stop him. With his leadership he will bring order and a new meaning of light. He will bring a Dark Generation to the land of Equestria. War and Conquest is on the rise, and a new leader in a land of Princess’. A first Prince of Darkness.

Rarity shot back into reality and saw the image of Dracula as an Alicorn. Dark blue coat, black steel armor, jet black mane and tail with a white stripe in both, and his same piercing dark crimson eyes. Feelings began to swirl relentlessly in her body and thoughts flourished in her mind, but one particular thought stood out above the rest.

If Dracula is to ascend into an Alicorn then that means…

Rarity’s eyes began to swollen and she fell to the ground in defeat. She buried her face in her hooves and began to cry. She knew that with Dracula’s ascension into an Alicorn meant one thing. Luna would die, The Goddess of Night must die. Nothing struck her harder in all of her life, it cut deep. Luna helped her along in her recent hardships, Luna did not deserve the thousand year banishment, Luna only wanted what was best for both Children of the Night and Children of the Day. She was by definition a good leader, nothing could change that. Rarity now realised she was worshipping the wrong Princess. Rarity thought that only Celestia was in the right, she knew what was best for her subjects. But it all changed that night.

If there was a war on the horizon then Rarity knew exactly who she would follow. She would follow Princess Luna. Spectra stood up tall and strong and wiped away her tears, it was about time to meet with the others anyway. She looked up at the moon before she walked off and said,”Thank you my Princess. I couldn’t have asked for a more brave and wise leader in my rather short life compared to yours.”

With those final words she went to meet the others in Gemini. Now was the time they would head out and face the darkness that was threatening their land, and return the Children of the Night to their former glory. Darkness against darkness, exactly what Luna had intentioned with the Children of the Night. Broken ties will be mended and old ones broken. Now was the time of action, and for a new world order.