It was noon. Which meant that Flare Gloom, Goddess of darkness and fire, had to work quickly. First, she made a lifeless clone of Twilight Sparkle that looked (and acted like) she was near death. Next, she teleported Twilight’s friends and herself to the badlands, no need to have “normal ponies” around. And finally, she trapped each element bearer in a circle of dark fire.

“what did you do to Twilight you monster!!!” Rainbow shouted to the villain.

“All I did was incapacitate her, she will be fine. If you can beat my challenges.”

“What challenges you vermin?” Applejack asked with an edge to her voice.

“Simple, each of you have a test, you all pass, I go back to Tartarus and Ms. Sparkle returns to you. However, if one or more fail, Ms. Sparkle is mine to do as I please. If you all fail, you all will suffer a similar fate. Any questions,” Flare said with a look of fake curiosity.

“Um, you forgot your intro,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Hm?” Flare stated, a little confused.

“Well, every time a villain shows up, they have an introduction then there evil plan, you missed the first part.”

“You guys do this so often there is a formula for it?”

“Yea.”

“More or less.”

“Yep.”

“Huh.” Flare says with a puzzled look on her face. “Well, I guess that explains how you are barely phased by this." She shakes her head." Very well, I am Flare Gloom Goddess of Darkness and Flame, and I am from hell and am here to take over Equestria. That work?”

“Yea, that’ll do,” Pinkie says with a grin.

Okay then, off to your tasks, I promise you can beat them, but only if you - Well, I’ll let you that figure it out. Good Luck!” And with that, Flare’s former friends were teleported away.