Inside a small hut in the middle of the Everfree Forest, a female zebra wearing a set of dirt brown robes along with various bits of jewelry was putting together a potion of some kind in a large cauldron. This was Zecora, and she was the only one brave enough to live in this strange forest.

As Zecora continued to work on her potion, adding more ingredients to the mixture, someone knocked on her door.

“I will be with you soon, first I must add the Essence of Moon,” said Zecora, adding the contents of a small, dark blue vial to her mixture before she made her way over to her door and opened it. There, she was greeted by the sight of Princess Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and…

At the sight of Bill Cipher, Zecora cried out as she fell backwards onto her ass and began to scoot herself away from the yellow and black clad being until she hit the far wall of her hut.

“Have you all gone mad?! What you’ve unleashed will bring results far beyond bad!” said Zecora, terror evident in her voice.

The six ponies and dragon all gave Bill looks, to which he just shrugged. “Zecora, what are you talking about?” Princess Twilight asked the zebra on the floor, although she had a pretty good idea what the zebra meant.

“That being in yellow is no ordinary fellow! He is Bill Cipher! A sinister trickster and devious monster!”

“Aww, c’mon that's a little unfair dontcha think? I haven't done anything to hurt anyone *cough* yet *cough* so there's no need to be afraid.” Bill said as he moved his head to avoid a small empty bottle thrown at him.

“You are never one to fulfill your promise. How do I know that you are being honest?” The zebra asked with hostility.

“Look, I'm gonna be serious here for a moment, all I want is the location of my wife's temple then I'll be gone.” Bill floated down to Zecora. “That's all, I have no interest in you or these ponies, all I want is my wife.” His voice was now demanding. “I know you know the location of her temple, it's the only thing I don't know, so tell me where it is and I'll leave.”

Zecora took a moment to think. “I do indeed know the location of the house. You really only want the location of your spouse?”

“Yes,” said Bill, seriousness in his voice, “There is nothing more valuable to me in the multiverse than her.”

Zecora sighed. “Very well, I will tell you where your wife dwells,” she said, getting up off the floor and making her way over to the cauldron and adding a few more ingredients to the mixture, causing an image of a large temple and six keys of some kind to appear.

“Your wife lies within those stone walls, the keys however I do not recall. The temple is north of the mountain of Canterlot, although guarded by a demon-like juggernaut.” And image of a huge being made of dark purple mist was shown in front of the temple, it's glowing yellow eyes staring off into the distance.

Bill nodded in understanding. “Thank you, Zecora,” he said, floating out of the hut.

Twilight and her friends just stared at him as he left, then turned their attention to Zecora. “What's with him? When we met he was like Discord with a dash of Pinkie Pie, now he's calm and determined.”

Zecora sighed. “Love can do many things to a creature, even demons it seems have soft inner features.”

Rainbow Dash pushed through the group. “Wait a second, you mean that there is another one of him out there?” She asked in slight panic.

Zecora shook her head. “There is indeed another being off in the distance, but you would be a fool to not notice the difference.”

Twilight pushed Rainbow back and turned to Zecora. “How do you know so much about them?”

“Stories of my homeland with traditional tales, of a lone demon in search of his female. However, among them there is a cautionary tale that warns of the male,” said Zecora, using her fingers to make a triangle over her left eye. “‘When Gravity Falls and the Earth becomes the Sky, beware the beast with just one eye.’”

Twilight and the others gulped and looked amongst themselves in fear of what that Bill character might do to not just Equestria, but the entire WORLD if somepony didn’t keep an eye on him.

Twilight turned to face her friends. “Well, girls, I think we know what we have to do,” she said, her voice full of confidence.

“And… that is?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“We have to go after Bill and help him find his wife. But, more importantly, we have to keep him from destroying the entire world if it comes down to that,” said Twilight, earning nervous looks from her friends. “Oh, come on, girls. He’s no different than Discord when push comes to shove. We can handle him, I know we can.”

“I wish what you say was true, but an assumption like that you will rue,” said Zecora, shaking her head. “Bill Cipher may act similar to the Chaos God, true, but his power is far greater than him, the Canterlot Royalty, or any of you. And what’s more, keeping him in line will be no easy chore. Bill is not known for his meekness. He only has one true weakness.”

“And, what, pray tell is that flying fashion disaster’s weakness? We’ll need to know it if we’re going to be able to rein him in.” said Rarity, to which the others nodded in agreement.

“I’m afraid the knowledge is not mine. Bill’s weakness has been forever lost to time,” replied Zecora, resulting in a facepalm from the six ponies and the dragon present.

“Well, we may not know what Bill’s weakness is, but I suppose if all else fails we can just get the Elements of Harmony from the Tree and use them against him,” said Twilight, to which the others nodded in agreement. “Now, then, I suppose we should go find him before he destroys a small country or something.”

After saying their goodbyes to Zecora, the six ponies and their dragon assistant headed out for Ponyville in search of Bill Cipher.

…

So, this Ponyville, thought Bill as he floated through the town, twirling his cane as he checked out the scenery. Very quaint and peaceful, actually. Boy, is THAT gonna change once I-

Bill stopped in mid-thought, having started to pick up chatter from the townsfolk via his telepathy… and it was all about HIM.

What is that big yellow and black creature?

How’s that thing flying without wings?

Is it dangerous?

Let’s follow it!

MUFFINS!

As the chatter inside Bill’s mind began to increase, so did the number of curious ponies that were following him, until, finally, he had at least two herds of whispering two-legged Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and Pegasi following him.

Well, it’d be rude just to ignore them, so I guess I’d better introduce myself! thought Bill before his entire head turned a full 180 degrees to face the crowd following him, causing a few ponies to jump and cry out.

“Hey, everypony! My name’s Bill Cipher, dream demon extraordinaire and Master of The Mind!” Bill said. He turned his body around tipped his hat to them. “Now! I'm sure you're all wondering what I am and what I'm doing here. Well I'm just looking for a place to build my home while I look for something. Don't worry I'm not here to hurt any of you, I may pull the occasional prank now and then but mostly I'll just try and liven things up around here, starting with,” Bill put a finger to his chin in thought, “oh I know!”

He snapped his fingers and the children in the crowd floated into the air. Everyone gasped and glared at the dream demon.

“Give it a second.”

The children started to float about on their own, laughing and smiling as they flew. The townsfolk calmed down and smiled as their children played in the sky. “See? I'm just here to bring a little bit of fun into your lives. Don't think I left all of you out.” With a snap of his fingers all of the grown ups were placed in bouncy castles. A few of them looked unsure, but one decided to have a little bounce and smiled as they relived some childhood memories.

Soon the rest began bouncing and a smile was on every face.

There, that should put me on their good side for now. Looking around he nodded in satisfaction.

“Hey Bill!” The mane six and Spike had caught up to him and looked around in confusion. “What's going on here?” Twilight asked as she looked around. Bill slowly rose up from the ground behind the group and wrapped an arm around Twilight's shoulder, causing the mare to jump at his sudden appearance.

“Oh I was just floating around when I noticed that things were a bit boring around here, so I decided to give the ponies here a little bit of fun. Looks to me like it's working.” Bill floated up to the front of the group and twirled his cane. “So, what do you lovely ladies and dragon want to do first?”

Twilight looked at him cautiously. “Why don't we show you around?”

“Nah that won't do, I know almost everything, including the layout of the town.”

Twilight then thought for a moment. “How about I show you the ruins of Golden Oaks Library?” Bill shrugged and motioned for the group to take the lead. Smiling at the townsfolk one last time he followed Twilight and company onward.

…

Meanwhile

Deep inside a forest far from Ponyville there lay a small purple sphere, giving off a dark aura.

As the sun moved to a position where it was no longer shining down on the orb, it began to crack and deep a dark purple mist. The orb disappeared and what was left was a small cloud of the dark mist that began to form the shape of a body. As the body was completed four tendrils grew out of its back. It's eyes were lifeless yellow circles that glowed in the darkness.

Everything in that area of the forest started to turn black and grey, the small plants on the forest floor dying as the darkness spread. “Finally… a world far beyond the reaches of my destroyer.” The creature began to trudge forward with its back slouched, it's arms dangling. “Now… how should I go about destroying this place?”

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