The Miriad King, Callicera ll, looked down upon the great Kingdom of Ccrondil from the highest tower of his palace, Castle Valkhiir, in the city if Caven Isle. From this height, he could see the mountain range to the west, The Cloudsreach Mountains, which stretched along the far north, just grazing the edge of the Zhophziis Empire, to the border of The Kingdom of Wantthai in the south. Below, in Caven Isle, his people were lively, prosperous. The land was rich with grain and iron, and cascading mountain waterfalls poured into the Gressoel River that ran through Caven Isle, eventually bleeding into The Grand Sea that hugged the coastal city. The morning sun was just above the horizon, greeting the day with its invigorating glow.

However, as Callicera looked to the north, he noticed a faint haze in the distance, a dark, purple cloud. This cloud raced towards Caven Isle at blinding speeds, and it began to encircle the tallest buildings, blotting out the sun. A grim gust of wind then ominously howled– an omen that rattled Callicera's bones. Trumpets began to sound the alarm, and the city began to scream and cry; a dreaded evil had arrived, and they did not prepare for it.

"Farrin!" The Miriad King called upon his messenger Ccrondil raven– a creature who could fly as fast as even the swiftest pegasus. He quickly wrote a letter for Luna, detailing the situation at hand, then he gently placed the letter in its talon. "Fly! Go to the Night Princess!"

He prepared his gleaming silver armor and descended into the bowels of his great castle, making his way to where his royal guards began to muster in the entranceway. The king's only next of kin, his daughter, Ocèara, ran to him as Callicera stepped off of his grand staircase.

"Father, the sky! What is happening?!" Ocèara asked the king as she trailed behind him, barely keeping up with his urgent pace.

"You must leave, my dear. Now." The king said as he placed one hand on his daughter's shoulder, disregarding her question. He placed an ancient scroll in her hand; one he had kept close for hundreds of years. "You must take this scroll and head to the secret exit . You must then reach the harbor and climb aboard a ship; Galaeron and Syrune shall accompany you. Ccrondil is no longer safe. You must go to the Equestrian outpost in the south and take this scroll. My letter will soon reach the Night Princess of Equestria, and she will know what to do with this scroll. You must meet with a dragon named Draven Jaggedtooth once you arrive at the outpost, and nopony can open this scroll but Luna, do you understand?"

"Father, what shall become of you?" Princess Ocèara inquired in a panic as the guards locked the entrance and barred it shut. Galaeron and Syrune– the king's personal guards –grabbed the princess and took her downstairs where they could make their escape. "Father!"

"We cannot stay, your highness," Galaeron informed Princess Ocèara as they retreated into the depths of Castle Valkhiir down a winding, stone staircase.

"Go, Ocèara! Go whilst he cannot yet take you!" King Callicera said to his daughter as she descended into the basement of his palace with Galaeron and Syrune. The king then turned to the gates, motioning to his guards to stay close. "Stay sharp! We must stall them for as long as possible!"

"Your majesty!" A guard who had been fighting in the streets ran to him and recalled what he had seen. "Their forces! I've never witnessed something like this! The violet cloud! It made some guards toss their helmets to the ground and abandon their post in fear altogether!"

"That was a sample of the Sorcerer of Fear's power, brave stallion." The king said with a grave face as he drew his greatsword.

"That's not all, sire! They have ponies with Brands in their ranks, and a dragon! And a swordstallion of immense power!" The guard hyperventilated as the gates began to clatter and creak. "How did such an army some to be?"

"Evil is drawn to that sorcerer like a moth to a flame." The king added as the gate began to freeze into a solid wall of red ice. "Everypony! Away from the gate! That is the work of a diafol ice-dragon!"

The gate cracked and groaned as the guards backed away from it, and it eventually shattered with great force as a weapon of immense power struck the giant mass of ice. Shards of ice pierced the armor of some of the guards, disemboweling them entirely. As the remaining guards backed away from the smashed gate, they noticed six figures stepping out of the purple cloud that dissipated as it entered the room. The first figure to emerge from the haze looked much like a dragon berserker from the Equestrian Northlands. He wore a cape made of a bear's hide and a set of leather armor that barely protected his incredibly muscular body. There were scars on his face and chest, many of which looked like claw and bite marks, and his eyes were red with cyan pupils. His scales– like a regular ice dragon's –were cyan, and his back and tail fins were jagged and gray; his horns stuck straight out of his forehead with a slight backward curve. Because of his odd eyes, the guards were hesitant to fight him, as they feared he was a devil dragon.

One guard decided to take a swing at the ice-dragon with his saber. This did not end well; the dragon's hand became coated in a red mist, and he fired a blast of red frost at his foe, freezing him instantly. "Dragon Mahaha's Freezing Shot..."

Another guard tried to attack the dragon with his flintlock pistol, but he failed miserably and was cut in two by a massive greatsword; this was the next silhouette to appear from the fog. "What admirable bravery..."

The stallion that emerged sheathed his titanic red-edged, black blade. His eyes were red with orange rings around his pupils, and this terrified the other guards, as they were the mark of a high-ranking demon. He wore a torn, short cape made of dark red feathers, and it was draped over his right shoulder. His horns were that of a great mountain goats, and they twisted around the sides of his head, parting his long pink hair so that it did not cover his face; his right horn appeared to be broken off at the end. His cream-coloured complexion greatly contrasted his very grim black knight's armor.

"I could handle him, Amon," The ice-dragon snarled at the sword-wielding stallion.

"I don't believe that to be true, Sven..." The dark knight said stoically.

"A devil dragon and a demon knight...?" Callicera muttered to himself, frozen in fear.

"Now, now, you bad colts... let's not bicker." An overwhelmingly salacious voice purred from within the fog.

The guards felt an overwhelmingly hot sensation as the next member of the group showed herself. She was attractive to the point of non-belief; her tight, black leather suit that hugged her ample chest and hourglass figure. Her half-closed, red bedroom eyes that were dusted with blue makeup, her perfect peach-coloured complexion, and long, wavy white hair flowed down her shoulders and past her hips. Every aspect of her form was utter perfection, yet the guards still felt as if there was something even more alluring to her, something they physically couldn't resist; nopony even seemed to notice the two, twisted red horns sprouting from her forehead. The two guards closest to her dropped their weapons and tossed aside their helmets, their eyes going blank. They went down on their hands and knees, praying to the mare before them as if she were some kind of divine goddess that had just blessed them with her presence.

"You're so beautiful..." One of the entrance guards said in a monotone, empty voice.

"I love you..." The other guard mumbled.

"Oh, thank you, darlings..." The gorgeous mare giggled cutely as her bat-like succubus wings unfurled. "Now... would you two do anything for me...?" She asked them. "Would you die for me...?" They nodded enthusiastically."Oh, good! Please, off-yourselves," The two guards then took their sabers and sliced their throats open, pleasing the sick succubus to point where she moaned loudly to herself, sexually excited by their act. "Oh my... you've gone and made me wet."

"I suggest you keep your oh so numerous sexual triggers to yourself, Lamia..." A gentlecolt with a proper Canterlot accent hummed to the succubus as he stepped into view. "I understand your tendencies, but it would be splendid if you could keep this as professional as possible. We are ransacking the abode of the illustrious Callicera ll after all."

The stallion that appeared next was dressed very formally; he wore an expensive black wool suit with a frilled white tie and a dark purple Garrick overcoat on top, the kind that a lawyer or a banker would wear, and he had a walking cane in his hand that matched his . Upon his head was a fancy dark purple top hat, and he wore a monocle to further accent his gentlecolt demeanor. However, no gentlecolt's attire could take away from the stallion's obviously grotesque figure. His body appeared to be nothing but skin and bones, as his legs that were covered by peach colored leggings were simply frail twigs without any flesh. His hands were long and spindly, and he wore gloves over them to conceal their true appearance. A full-face, white mask covered the stallion's expression and hid his true, possibly skeletal appearance from everypony. On his pale and discolored neck was yet another strange brand, similar to Rainbow Dash's, but the symbols were arranged into a different pattern– a swirling vortex.

A guard fired a shot at the stallion, but it simply was sucked up by his body, as if he were some kind of vacuum. The gentlecolt sighed to himself as he grabbed the handle of his walking cane, revealing the long blade sheathed within the shaft of the cane. "Oh, how bothersome and petty..." The stallion raised his blade and pointed it towards the guard who fired upon him. "Void: Lock," The guard then became surrounded by a white fog that swirled and spun, speeding up until the cloud eventually imploded, vanishing into a singularity. "My deepest apologies, good sir."

"Spare me the gentlecolt nonsense, Theodore..." A gravely, slightly muffled voice growled as a stallion wearing black, leather plague doctor attire appeared out of the haze that had nearly dissipated. The last of the guards backed away from him, fearful of his fate after witnessing his comrades being slain before his eyes. "Are you afraid? You definitely should be..." The plague doctor's left arm erupted into a shambling mass of black rats with red eyes, squirming and squealing, and the brand on his gray right hand shone a black glow. "Fester: Feast!"

The mass of tar-covered rats exploded onto the retreating guard, assimilating him into their biomass as the black blob of decay then began to retract, sinking back into the body of the stallion with the plague doctor mask. The powerful group of five then began marching towards the king.

"Your Brand is most foul, Dr. Thatches," The gentlecolt named Theodore shook his head as he sheathed his cane.

The Miriad King raised his blade to his five approaching foes, readying himself for an intense battle. "If you intend to kill me, you will not accomplish that task so easily!"

The ice dragon's hand became engulfed in an icy red mist as he raised it towards the king. "Oh, please, don't kid yourself-!"

"Halt, Sven..." A quiet, ominous voice echoed throughout the grand entrance, silencing everypony. The group stepped to the side to make room for Alptraum, their approaching master. "I shall handle him myself..."

The Sorcerer of Fear lived up to his name. His eyes were pure, crimson red with empty gray pupils, and his pale blue face appeared smooth, like porcelain. His long stark white hair, however, tended to cover his face and eyes as he moved, like a curtain blowing in the wind; his pointed miriad ears poked out of the sides of this curtain as well. Alptraum sported a simplistic black robe that descended all the way down to his hooves¬– or rather, where his hooves should have been. Near the bottom of the robe, the fabric was shredded, replaced by a veil of wispy black shadows that concealed the lower portion of his body. Then, Alptraum's hand emerged from his black robe with a saber in hand, pointed right at the king's heart.

"Where is the scroll?" Alptraum asked the king in his low but quiet voice.

"I will never tell you, fool!" Callicera shouted at him as he prepared his blade.

"So be it..." Alptraum scoffed as he readied his weapon.

Alptraum lunged forward with blinding speed, but Callicera was an experienced duellist, and he was able to block Alptraum's overhead strike with relative ease. Alptraum danced in the air as he continued to hammer away at his defenses as if he weighed nothing, a draft lifting him off of the ground as he spun and slashed with wild grace. The king parried and blocked, strafed and evaded Alptraum's attacks, but he knew he was outmatched in terms of offensive power and sophistication. He was driven back, running backward up the grand staircase as Alptraum continued to relentlessly pursue him. The king knew Alptraum was holding back, as he had in his arsenal a plethora of dark magic and vampiric strength. However, Alptraum, being of noble bloodline, still followed the miriad codes of honor, and he fought with his saber to the best of his natural ability, which was more than overwhelming to say the very least.

"I must stay alive long enough for her to escape..." Callicera thought to himself as he received a debilitating slash to the thigh from Alptraum's saber. "I must!"

The princess and her guards exited the castle through the secret exit, mowing down Alptraum's vampire grunts as they made their way to the harbor where their ship was docked. Syrune managed to fend off enough vampires with her bow to clear a path, and Galaeron's twin blades were doused with holy water. They had fought vampires before, as there were many in Ccrondil. However, they only appeared in small groups, never gathering into an army like the one that had just destroyed the capital so quickly.

"Please, princess! This way!" Syrune shouted to Princess Ocèara as she brought down more vampires with her bow– arrows tipped with garlic extract. They all descended wooden stairs through the coastal district of the city, leaping over the burning debris that covered the scorched ground. The escape ship coasted by the platform pier that stretched out into the harbor, and this forced Galaeron to take the princess in his arms and carry her down, as her gown greatly slowed her pace. If they didn't make it to the ship in time, they would be landlocked in the ransacked city until the ship could loop around again, and by that time, they would surely be killed.

"Father!" The princess screamed with tears in her eyes as she watched the king battle Alptraum atop the great tower where he down upon his majestic kingdom. "He's in pain! Can't we do anything?!"

"Please, he is buying us time! We must go! We need to make it to the end of the pier or the ship will miss us!" Galaeron said as he hastened his pace, racing towards the end of the burning pier; the ship was getting closer and closer with each of Galaeron's strides.

Syrune strapped her bow to her back as she prepared to jump onto the ship that passed by. "Get ready! Here it comes!"

Galaeron jumped first, landing on his back to protect the princess from the impact, and Syrune grabbed onto the outer railing of the ship, barely able to hold on. Quickly, Galaeron reacted, setting the princess down and grabbing Syrune's hand before she could fall into the water. He pulled her up, and as he did so the ship turned sharply before it could hit another docked ship.

"Quickly, Galaeron! Use a vanishing stone before Alptraum discovers our whereabouts!" Syrune reminded Galaeron, to which the miriad stallion reached into his pocket and brought out a glowing white crystal. He crushed it in his hand, and within mere seconds, the ship turned invisible. "They won't be able to catch us now. The stone's effect should last us the duration of our trip south."

The princess helped her two bodyguards to their hooves, and as she did so, she heard the sound of clashing swords echo from up above in the king's tower. "Father!" Princess Ocèara exclaimed as she watched struggle to fend off Alptraum.

For the last time, the king looked down upon his city– ruined in mere moments. He looked down at the harbor, where he assumed their ship was. He could feel his daughter's sadness, her confusion, and it pained him to not be able to look into her eyes before he died. The king knew what he had to do for his citizens; he had to sacrifice himself for their sake, for the sake of the Ccrondil and the Blacklands. The king closed his eyes as he began to lighten his defense, letting Alptraum hack away at his armor. As he fell to his knees, Alptraum grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up before he could fall.

"Where is the Eclipse Scroll?!" Alptraum bellowed as his black saber disintegrated into a shadowy mist.

"You fool... I've sent a letter to Equestria. Luna will assemble the Cadre. She will vanquish you..." The king choked.

"Do you think I care?! I want Luna here! I want her to see what I've done! And I will kill her before she even gets the chance to use that blade!" Alptraum snarled as his grasp on the king's throat tightened. "Farewell, fair king! Your rule was grand, but mine shall be eternal!"

"NO!" The princess shrieked as she dropped to her knees.

Alptraum drove his hand through the king's chest, crushing his heart. And as the king began to choke on his blood, Alptraum held him over the edge of his tower. The king felt his life flash before his eyes, and he heard his ancestors call out to him, telling him that it was his time. The king thought to himself quietly as he dangled over the ground below.

"Farewell, my fair city. Farwell, my subjects. And farewell, my sweet child. May your mother's spirit tend to your broken heart. May the Light guide your path, and may you live on into the next age so that you may take my place in this tower. Farewell."

"FATHER!" The princess shouted in horror as she watched Alptraum drop him, walking away with a smile on his face. However, she knew her outburst was pointless, as the vanishing stone completely masked her voice. "Father..."

Galaeron placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but she didn't seem to respond. "I'm-... sorry. He was a good stallion and an honorable king."

"Galaeron, how long should it take us to get to the outpost?" Syrune tried to interject in the most polite way possible, but the urgency of their situation demanded rudeness.

"One week at the most..." Galaeron said as the ship began to make headway into The Grand Sea. "I'm not certain how long it will take for the letter to reach the Equestrians, but I believe they will arrive at the outpost just as soon as we will. Their ships are some of the fastest in the world."

"But, Galaeron, what about the changeling blockade along The Grand Sea? Won't they have a hard time dealing with them?"

"With the Night Princess on their side? I doubt they'll have any trouble." Galaeron answered her as she brought Princess Ocèara to her hooves and dusted her gown off. "Come, princess... let's get you to your quarters."

****

Constantine raised his goblet to his mouth, sniffing the red liquid, savoring its aged perfection. He took a sip, then placed the goblet down on the arm of his throne. As Emperor of the Changeling Empire, Constantine's true colors began to show. He was cruel, unapologetic, and megalomaniacal to the point of no return. He was a tyrant, but he kept the public fooled with his newspapers and his extensive propaganda campaigns. The food in the nation was rationed for the empire's soldiers, and hoarders were sentenced to execution without trial. While starvation wasn't too big of an issue within the urban centers, the peasants suffered greatly under the heavy taxes of Constantine's reign.

Chrysalis had given up all of her power to Constantine, and it was only until it was too late that she realized this. After ousting the Changeling Council, Constantine set up his own Dark Council; an amalgamation of his four new, powerful non-changeling generals from the farthest reaches of the Blacklands. They often sat around him on a large dining room table, with Constantine at the end, discussing battle strategies and politics. Chrysalis sat at the end, watching the generals debate as she thought to herself quietly.

"A spy has informed me that Alptraum has taken Caven Isle. The rest of Ccrondil shall surely follow. Everything has gone according to plan, your Excellency ." Said Pierre Moreau, the former miriad general who sat to the right of the table, closest to Constantine. "I assume you wish to mobilize your forces soon...?"

Pierre Moreau was known far and wide for his mastery of the rapier and his powerful Acoustic Brand, a Brand on the palm of his left hand shaped like a sound wave, and one that could level buildings with the power of sound. His attire as a changeling general was similar to that of his previous uniform when he was a miriad general. He wore a feathered musketeer hat with his expensive, general long coat. Pierre also brandished a black goatee with a pointed mustache. And like all miriads, Pierre had a sky-blue coat of fur, emerald green eyes, and longer ears than common ponies and his complexion went well with his mostly navy blue outfit.

"Not quite yet, Pierre. Alptraum wishes to face Luna alone for now. Our troops are spread out far enough as it is, and I am not keen on the idea of fighting a war on three fronts." Constantine replied as he took a sip from his wine glass. "We'll humor him for now and let Luna pass the blockade. Although we shouldn't make it too obvious we're letting her pass."

"I agree," General Sky Runner added as she grabbed her own wine glass. "We must put our trust in this sorcerer for now."

A former commander of the Equestrian Pegasus Corps, General Sky Runner was an influential figure in Cloudsdale. However, she defected from her military position– like most of the other generals – and she joined Constantine, craving action and a higher pay. And like the rest of the generals, Sky Runner had a Brand on her forehead, the diamond Magic Crystal Brand. With it, her body could transform into a magic crystal with many mystical abilities. Her bright orange-red hair was done up in a very long and poofy ponytail that went down to her hips, and her silver complexion went very well with her lovely yellow eyes. Her general long coat was structurally much like the rest, but hers and the other generals had a coat with their own flourish. The epaulettes, the collars, and the cuffs on the coat were made with a general's color of choice in mind. Sky Runner's color of choice was orange-red.

"Granted, we should probably step in if they're gettin' their asses handed to em'. Those damn Equestrians will no doubt be sendin' Luna out with some heavy support. You think they'll be backin' her up with that fleet admiral of theirs?" Said General Rick Racer, a former Ausrüstung field commander, who sat between Pierre and Chrysalis. "If that's the case, we should that little ambassador protégé of yours, Emperor Constantine."

"A good idea..." Constantine nodded his head as he took yet another sip from his goblet.

General Racer was a hot-headed, loud-mouthed individual, but he was well known for his quick thinking in the heat of battle and his unstoppable willpower. Racer defected not long after the defeat of Gek and the signing of the Old Glory Treaty, a trading agreement created by the Ausrüstung government and the Equestrians. It was created to better the tense relations between the two nations. However, the paper was met with much criticism by the right wing of the Ausrüstung Government, who supported isolationism, and it caused some military leaders in Ausrüstung to abandon their posts entirely, looking for jobs elsewhere in the world.

The hot-head general with olive green fur sported a blonde brush cut that was slicked back with hair gel, and his brown eyes were often covered by his aviators. His overcoat's secondary color was a faded yellow, the same as his blonde hair. A cigar was always in his mouth, and his Brand, the Boom Brand– a formation of runic symbols that created an explosion –was just below his right eye. With the Boom Brand, General Racer's body was literally made of explosions.

"Aye, send that dragon of yours," Said General Cain Carmerax, the former Zhophziis chieftain who sat between Chrysalis and Sky Runner.

Cain left the Mountain Zhophziis Kingdom of the south after their embarrassing defeat at the hands of their northern neighbors, the Forest Zhophziis. They fractured his warrior kingdom and nearly wiped out his race with the help of the Ausrüstrians. Admittedly, he wasn't looking forward to working with Racer, but such 0artnership was necessary in desperate times.

Cain sported his Spartan armor beneath his long coat, and he wore his chieftain's helmet to hide the terrible scars on his face, and the brand on his chin, the Turn Brand, which was shaped like a revolving circle of arrows. The Turn Brand could shake and shift the land, stir up powerful gusts of wind, and it could even create whirlpools in the sea. It was a Brand of immense power that he had stumbled across in his first battle against the Kusckons, and with his murderous and unpredictable nature, the Turn Brand was a dangerous tool in his hands. Cain's Zhophziis tusks stuck out of his helmet, and his overcoat's secondary color was steel gray, the color of a sharpened spear, Cain's weapon of choice to go along with his massive shield.

"Constantine... what about our subjects?" Chrysalis said meekly at the end of the table. "The peasants? What shall we do about the food shortages in the countryside?"

"They shall endure, my dear, as they always have. This war is not won yet." Constantine replied to her bluntly as he took another drink from his goblet.

"And how long will that take, Constantine?!" Chrysalis exploded as she rose from her seat in a threatening manner.

"I do not appreciate your tone, Empress! And you shall call me 'your Excellency', harlot!" Constantine bellowed as he stood up. "You dare criticize my judgment?! After I'll I've done for you and my citizens?!"

"My citizens, Constantine! And I am not your Empress!" Chrysalis barked at him as he slammed her hand on the table. "All you have given my children is famine, militarism, and defeat at the hands of Wantthai!"

Constantine's eyes darkened as he sat back down on his throne, and his tone of voice changed to a cold, empty growl. "I believe I shall call upon my ambassador now. Thank you, General Carmerax, General Racer..." He snapped his fingers, summoning his ambassador. "Come in, Fang..."

A door close to Chrysalis' chair opened, and a dragon stepped into the meeting room, a malicious smirk on his face. He was average height for a young dragon of his age and quite built. His scales were purple and his round back fins were red, and his green eyes were dark and ominous. His short snout was filled with very sharp teeth, similar to a shark's maw. And he sported a less extensive, changeling scout long coat. His tail whipped about excitedly as he approached Queen Chrysalis.

"What is it your desire, your Excellency?" The young dragon named Fang asked as Chrysalis began to tremble in fear.

"I would like you to go to the Ccrondil capital of Caven Isle. There, you will meet with our ally, Alptraum. You shall do as he asks... but whatever happens, do not let your identity be known to Draven's crew. Do you understand?" Constantine instructed the young dragon.

"Yes, your Excellency..." Fang nodded.

"Very good," Constantine grinned as he looked over to Chrysalis, who was tempted to flee in terror. "There is one more thing I'd like you to do for me, Fang. Please dispose of Queen Chrysalis for me, will you?"

"As you wish, Emperor Constantine," Fang's right hand ignited into a purple flame, one that was poisonous and filled with malice. He opened the glass doors leading out to the balcony that overlooked the canyon below; a canyon that was hundreds of feet in depth with a shallow river at the bottom. He then pushed Chrysalis against the railing of the balcony, raising his flaming hand for an attack.

"No, please! Don't do this!" Chrysalis begged Fang grabbed her by the throat.

"I'm sorry, my dear... but you have simply outgrown your usefulness," Constantine said with a blank expression as he took another sip from his goblet.

"Dragon Duke's Caustic Fist!" Fang's fist impacted Chrysalis' chest, causing her to gasp and her heart to skip a beat. The force of the blow also pushed her off of the balcony, causing her to tumble into the canyon below. "It is done, your Excellency..."

"Well done, Fang! Now go away, and tend to that business in Ccrondil. Get there before Draven or the Equestrians can." Constantine ordered Fang as a cook emerged from another door, serving him and his generals. "Your time will come soon..."

Fang's flame disappeared as he closed the glass doors, turning to face Constantine. "Yes, father..."

Author's Notes:

Sh*t is going to go down in Arc Three... As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!