I think about the decisions I’ve made in my life, both this one and my previous, as I walk away from Fluttershy’s cottage.

I feel like I’m being watched. From the forest... I turn and see a bush shift. I walk into the forest after it. I see another bush move. I realize that whatever this creature is, it’s leading me somewhere. “I know you’re there, and I know what you’re doing. Show yourself.”

A figure walks out of some tall grass. A Changeling. Of course. I summon some coal, forming a sword, and prepare to smite the creature, but I stop. “...Take me to your Queen.”

The Changeling nods and walks off. I follow.

After a while, the Changeling leads me down a hole, and as I continue through the cavern, the ground becomes that of the strange material of the hive. We come to the chamber where I was brought earlier. I can tell because it seems not all of the Changeling blood has been washed from the floor.

“So, you have decided to return.” Chrysalis.

“Yes, I have.” I see her from the balcony. She looks down on me, and her horn begins to glow a bright emerald green. I blink and I’m in her chambers once more. “So, Anthony. Have you made your decision?”

“I’m not sure...” I know these creatures wish pain on others, but it’s for their survival. Was I much different as a human? Our history of violence and greed, murdering for what we wanted? No, it was different. These Changelings do it because they must do it to survive, and they don’t kill, either.

I close my eyes and Fluttershy’s words echo in my mind.

Sometimes we just have to give something the benefit of the doubt, even if it seems dangerous.

Maybe... maybe you do fit, but not in the place you think you do.

I stand at the balcony and turn to Chrysalis. A Queen. My queen. I look down on the black, insectoid forms of my subjects, their heads bowed in respect and eternal servitude. I decide to test them. “Those who will follow my word as the law, raise your hooves!”

I see as at once, they all respond the same in unison with each other. I see thousands of hooves in the air, and hisses of approval. Is it approval? Yes. I know it is, for I am their king. King of the Changelings.

I move into my shared chamber, and approach a mirror. I see myself adorned in chitinous plating, armor created from the broken bodies of the Changelings I defeated when I first arrived here two years ago. Two years? Had it really been that long? Yes, it had. The Changelings were much stronger now, stronger than they ever had before, because of my guidance. They were no longer oppressed, they were superior. They had infiltrated countless locations, from the smallest of hamlets to the largest cities in Equestria. My forces were everywhere. There was nothing I could not see, no foe I could not overcome.

But there was still one matter. The princesses. They were still a problem... but not for long. I return to the balcony and address my army. “Subjects! We have waited for far too long. Today, we shall take Canterlot, and the royal sisters shall fall!”

They begin hissing, pleased with the news that they would finally win. Yes, pleased. They had emotion now. They had will. Over time, they were given the freedom to evolve and grow. Once they were not so oppressed, they gained will, sentience. They were not mindless drones anymore. Thanks to my guidance, they were living creatures, and were free.

No, not free. Not yet. The princesses and the Elements. They still fight us. But that will soon be remedied.

A dark cloud spreads over the shining royal city as my fleet blocks out the sun with their sheer numbers. How appropriate. The sun, turned useless and black by the might of the Changelings. By my might. But the sun is not enough. They will both fall. Soon, night and day will belong to me and my Queen, as I hold the world in my grasp.

There is a barrier in place around Canterlot. This was a problem in the past, but my Changelings were not the only things to evolve. I walk up to the barrier and place my hand against it. I dispel it, shattering the barrier into nothing. My power had become far more than it once was. I am charged by guards.

I Spark up, no longer blue but a shimmering green. The power of the Changelings flows through my body. Their countless numbers all loyal to me, with honest trust in me, willing to do anything to protect their king. It empowered me to a point I could not achieve otherwise. I discard my chitinous armor. It’s merely a showpiece compared to my power anyways.

I grab the guards by their helmets, and Ignite. I push waves of fire from my hands and melt the metal of their helmets. I hear their screams as the hot metal burns through their skin, stripping away fur and flesh revealing bloody skulls and muscle. I watch as their forms crumple to the ground, life slowly leaving them as they pass on.

Pathetic.

I decide I’ve had enough games. I charge forwards to the castle, my fleet raining down on the city, destroying everything in sight. The royal city quickly becomes an inferno, a giant bonfire, cleansing the place of the last of those who would oppose us.

“Anthony!”

I look up, and see Celestia, quickly followed by her sister.

“Anthony there is still time, call them back, don’t do this! You don’t have to do this!” Luna pleads.

“You are right, I don’t have to.” I whistle, and a group of Changelings fly by, dropping a large amount of coal. I fashion it into a blade and grasp it in my hand. “I want to do this.”

I throw my sword, running it through Luna’s neck at blinding speed. She chokes as blood enters her air passage and floods her lungs. Time seems to slow down as I watch her gasp, trying to breath as blood pours from the mortal wound. “Quit your whining, bitch!” I command my sword to finish her, a horizontal slice cutting her head off at the base of her neck. Celestia screams as she watches her sister’s headless body fall to the ground and lay still in a growing pool of it’s own blood.

Celestia stammers, tears in her eyes. “You... you heartless devil!”

I laugh. “Devil? A devil am I? Well, then I suppose I enjoy it. Now it’s your turn, but I think I’ll have a bit more fun with you.”

“I will kill you for this!”

“Don’t delude yourself. If you had the power to do that, it would have been done years ago when I had just come to this world!” I accentuate my words with a lightning-fast punch to her midsection, knocking her back.

“I spared you. I was angry, but I wanted to offer you a chance. I had hope for you...”

“Hope is for the weak who have nothing else!” I continue my assault, hitting Celestia with my flaming fists over and over. I stop my berserking to see the result. She was bruised and scorched all over her body, tears streaming down her face. “Submit, Celestia. You cannot win.”

“I.... will never... let you win...” She charges her horn and hits me with a blast of magic, throwing me back.

A changeling charges for Celestia, but I stop it. “No! This fight is mine! She will die by my hand.”

Celestia prepares another spell, but this time I expect it, and the beam of magic disappears before it touches me. “You got a lucky shot in, but that’s all you’ll get!”

I am attacked from behind by a guard. “Fool! You dare interrupt me!? I will show you what happens when you trifle with an immortal!”

I Ignite my entire body and phase through the guard, my flames incinerating him as they cook him from inside and out.

“You are no immortal, Anthony!” Celestia screams in rage.

“How do you know that? I am undefeated! You don’t know me at all, you don’t even know my real name!”

The fight continues until I am standing over a beaten, bloody Celestia. I place my foot at her neck, and I hear her choke as I cut off her air.

“Stooooop!!”

I turn and I see a Rainbow heading right for me. I hold my hand up and the energy is erased instantly. When the light fades, I see Twilight and her friends standing there. Twilight steps forward. “Anthony, I can’t let you do this!”

I snap my fingers and the ponies are swarmed by a bunch of Changelings. Once my soldiers have left once more, the six ponies realize they are unharmed. Twilight looks at me confused “Wh- what?”

The Changelings show up behind me, and they hand me the Elements of Harmony. They ponies gasp in shock, as I take them, envelop my fists in coal and crush the jewelry between my reinforced palms. I separate my hands, and let the crushed, shattered remains of the Elements fall to the ground.

The ponies turn to run, but they are surrounded by Changelings, blocking their progress. Twilight tries a magic blast at one of them, but I negate it. They cower in the middle of the ring of Changelings. Twilight looks at me, tears flowing down her face. “P- please... Anthony... no.”

I lean towards Twilight. “I am not Anthony, you stupid horse. Do you know who I really am?” She looks at me with fear, completely paralyzed. I reply anyway. “I am Death!”

In a blur, I grab Twilight’s horn in my hand and twist, breaking it off. Twilight screams in pain as I drop her horn to the ground and grind it to dust under my heel, the rest of her friends gasping in shock as Twilight slumps over.

I summon the coal once more and, fitting my previous statement, I form a large scythe. In one quick swing I slice off the heads of the group of ponies. Their heads roll off and fall at my feet, their blank, horrified eyes going dark as they die, their bodies hitting the ground.

I turn and see Celestia, sobbing, her spirit broken. “You... Why did you do that? They couldn’t have hurt you, you know this!”

That makes me laugh. “I wanted to do it. Here.” I lean over and pick up Twilight Sparkle’s severed, hornless head and set it ablaze, tossing it to Celestia. It rolls forward, stopping at the princess’ feet. “Have a souvenir.”

Celestia gags between her sobs. She waves her horn and extinguishes the head of her faithful student, picking it up and cradling it in her hooves as it drips blood onto her coat, staining it red.

She looks down at the head in her hooves, then back up at me weakly. “Finish it. Kill me!” I approach her, my scythe now flaming. I grin and laugh. I kneel down to eye level with the solar princess. “No.”

“Wh- what!?”

“I’m not going to kill you. In fact, I’m going to let you go. There’s nowhere for you to run anyway, and in a few days, I’ll have destroyed everything else.” Her eyes go wide. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to make you live with this or commit suicide.”

“N- no, please!”

I turn around and start to walk away, calling off my Changeling army. Celestia calls after me. “Come back!”

I don’t turn around, I just keep walking. But I leave Celestia with one final message. “Welcome to Hell, princess.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 27 Estimated time remaining: 31 Hours, 23 Minutes