I watch as demons run around, setting up tents and a makeshift soup kitchen. Other demons start heading out and cutting down the surrounding trees for fire wood and lumber, as well as gathering stone and a bunch of plants to study.

A few howls are heard in the distance with a slight echo to them. I raise my brow as most stop to look in the direction it came from, before an explosion and gunfire goes off. Sounds like the scouts ran into a pack of wolves.

I return my attention back to the castle and take in all the details. Cracked stonework and shattered windows, torn and frayed tapestries, and an old overgrown garden area to the right with a few shattered and moss covered statues.

Might be better to just demolish the ruin and build from scratch. An hour passes and a dark blue furred with black mane and tail incupony named Night Light walks up to me.

"My lord! We've finished inspecting the ruins and about sixty percent of it is uninhabitable. It'll take more time and resources to replace or fix the place up than to just build a new smaller castle," he tells me and holds out a clipboard with a few sheets of paper detailing all their findings. "Though there is a vault under the castle, it appears sealed with some kind of powerful barrier. None of us could open or break the seal," he finishes, making me hum in thought.

An old vault? Did the princesses leave something behind? I narrow my eyes at all the damage the castle seems to have and shake my head. "I'll have a look at this vault. After that, salvage anything usable and make preparations to demolish this castle when we're ready to start building a new one. But first, take me to this vault," I tell him and hand the clipboard back.

"Yes, sir!" he replies as he takes the clipboard and walks towards the castle.

I follow him through the main lobby and see the remains of the first campfire we made here, a manticore's skeleton, as well as a cockatrice's. Been awhile since I was last here, but we continue on and turn left at the first junction. We head down a hallway with shattered windows, cracked or missing bricks, a few bones of animals litter the floor, and a few doors both intact or destroyed and collapsed.

We arrive at a stairwell and head down into the darkness where Night Light's horns glow and a ball of white light forms in his left hand which he holds up revealing a few metres in front of us.

The worn stone steps look dangerous and appear as if they'd crumble from too much weight, but we venture down carefully with only a couple of minor slip ups.

At the bottom, a team of incu and succuponies are examining the door and are trying many different spells to open the large iron or steel door with the depictions of the sun on the left door and moon on the right. A sudden flash of gold and blue light blinds everyone as a succupony screams followed by a loud thud.

I blink till my vision returns to find her unconscious on the floor with a small trail of blood running down her face.

"You lot get her back to the camp, I'll see what I can do about this," I order the others, getting affirmatives as they carefully carry her out.

I look the doors over and frown as I place my left hand on the moon door. I feel the magic flowing through the door before pulling back as it lashes out at my hand with a few bolts of raw magic.

"Tch," I grunt and shake my hand which feels a bit numb now.

Rolling my neck, I activate my demonic form and crack my knuckles with a grin. "Let's see who has more power shall we?" I mumble to myself and flare darkfire over both my hands before thrusting forward and push as much magic and fire as I could into the doors.

They react violently and arcs of raw magic start striking the area around me, but my fire is preventing it from hitting me at least.

My grin widens as I can feel the steel underneath start to melt under the heat of both my flames and raw magic output. My grin fades as I see what looks like spell circles with runes along the edges start spinning all over the doors. I quickly use my wings as shields and wrap myself in them while keeping my hands on the doors, but instead of attacks, yellow magical mist or gas starts spewing out of the circles making me take a quick deep breath.

'Thanatos! Burn some souls to give me more power!' I order him and grunt from the strain of trying to overpower the doors magic and holding my breath.

“At once, my lord!” he replies.

My eyes widen and glow as I feel the power boost flowing through me which I then divert into the door making it melt faster and the spell circles to crack before shattering. A loud and powerful explosion then sends me flying into the stairwell knocking the breath out of my lungs but I refuse to inhale and blearily look up to see the doors blown off their hinges, half melted and shattered and the gas or mist begins to dissipate.

I quickly tear off and hold my torn shirt up to my mouth and take small breaths so I don't pass out and wait for the dust and gas to clear. After a couple of minutes, I hear footsteps rush down with a few others behind them.

"My lord! Are you alright!?" he asks as he kneels down, wraps his left arm around me and helps me sit up.

I shake my head to help reduce the ringing in my ears and to clear my vision. "Yeah, the door proved to be tougher than I thought. But now it's open, so carefully go in and catalogue everything inside. Just don't touch anything until you're sure you know what it is," I tell them and scrunch my face as a headache is starting to form.

My clothes are totally ruined, the shirt is but rags now, my coat is singed and has a few tears in it. my trousers are missing from the knees down and what's left is torn up. fortunately my underwear seems to still be intact.

I wait for a good ten minutes for my head to clear before getting up and walking into the vault. To my left are a few worn but still standing display cases with old jewellery or weapons while the right has large objects ranging from suits of armour to furniture and a mannequin chained up. What intrigues me is the rather creepy looking mannequin has a soul trapped in it, but I'll leave it alone for now. It is black, shaped like a male pony complete with genitals, no fur, mane, or tail, but does have a metal collar bolted to its neck and a few shredded, faded, and frayed remains of clothing clinging onto it.

At the end of the room, is a large full-body mirror with a torn and faded tarp covering it. From the holes in it, the mirror is silver in colour and could very well be made of silver.

Night Light after ticking off something on his clipboard, walks over to me and sighs. "My lord! From what we have gathered, most if not all the weapons, armour, and trinkets have lost whatever enchantment they once possessed. The only objects of note are a closet, the mannequin, and the mirror which unfortunately is made of silver," he informs me with a list of objects on his clipboard.

"Hmmm... Take all the useless stuff topside, we can either return them to the princesses, or melt them down for parts. As for the still useful objects, carefully bring them up and make sure no one touches the mirror," I warn and order him, getting a nod in return. "Meanwhile, I'm heading up to Canterlot to inform the others of what's happening, then once everything is settled, I'll return with Pinkie so we can start bringing in supplies for construction."

"As you wish, my lord!" he replies and walks off giving orders to the demons present.

I give a few last looks to the three objects and frown as I'm not sure if the mannequin moved or not since I last looked at it. With a shake of my head, I make my way back out and give orders to prepare for some relics being brought up and to prep the castle for demolition, but not to start until I give the word. After that, I spread my wings, slip into the Shadow Realm, and make my way up to Canterlot with my Shadow Wraiths following behind me.

I land in the courtyard and just watch the guards run all over the place. It's like the castle is in lock-down now as they start escorting ponies out.

I shrug and walk in through the main doors and follow the same route the guard guided us down until I reach the lounge. I leave the Shadow Realm spooking the guard at the door, making me chuckle as I open and enter the room.

I see everyone is in here and Pinkie made it back safely. "Well, that was an adventure," I say as Mel walks over to me.

"What happened to your clothes?" she asks with a frown.

I raise a brow at her and grin. "I had an epic battle with a pair of doors. If you think I look bad, you should see the doors," I reply as Twilight is staring at my bare chest with reddened cheeks while Desire is biting her lip.

"Doors?..." she asks in a deadpan tone.

"Magical doors, they really put up a decent fight, better than Tirek did in fact," I reply with a shit eating grin.

She stares at me for a few seconds before sighing and walking back to the window. "I'm never going to get used to this..." she mumbles, making me chuckle and Desire to giggle.

Celestia politely coughs to get our attention. "Pinkie has told us what happened at the bay, but not about what you did in the Gryphons camp," she says with a cup of tea in her hand.

I look towards her with a smile. "Oh I just convinced them to let us leave without further bloodshed, the destruction of their siege weapons and defences was a strong motivator to agree with my terms. But in the end, they get the bay and us out, so it's a win win really," I reply and take a seat between Twilight and Desire while Slitherana drapes her arms over my shoulders and her head next to mine.

"My 'refugees' are currently setting up camp at the old castle in the Everfree. So I have to ask, may I demolish the ruin and build a new castle and town there, or would you prefer I find another location to build?" I ask her while Desire starts circling a finger on my chest.

She frowns slightly and sighs. "I'd prefer you'd leave the castle alone, there are many other places for you to set up a town in there and I'd rather leave our old home as it is," she replies and sips her tea.

I purse my lips and frown as well. "Well errr, you're not going to be happy to hear that the doors I fought were under the castle then," I reply, making her spray a bit of tea out and choke a little.

"Thou broke down the vault's doors!?" Selene asks in shock as Celestia thumps her chest while Luna rubs her back.

I nod to her and look up. "Had to burn a few souls to overpower it before the gas or mist it spewed out effected me, didn't take into account the doors magic and mine violently reacting which detonated and sent me into a wall dazed. Once I was recovered enough I saw the door completely melted and nothing but scrap metal," I reply and looked at the sisters. "You kept a lot of knickknacks down there didn't you? Only three things down there have some magic left in them as the rest are just trinkets now. A plain looking wooden closet, A creepy looking anatomically correct pony mannequin in rags, and a silver framed mirror," I say, listing off the three objects.

"Was the ponyquin still wearing its collar?" Luna asks with worry.

"Yes, it had a metal collar on it," I reply with a raised brow.

"Thank the stars... It is the prison of a several millennia old necromancer. He raised the dead and used them to attack Equestria as well as other nations, making an army before the nations banded together to bring him down. We used the elements on him and it turned him into a ponyquin, fitting as he raised the dead as his own dolls of sort," Selene tells me with disgust.

I raise an eyebrow at the sisters. "And you just left him there alone for several thousand years? Granted, the doors would be enough to prevent anyone less powerful than us getting in, but as you know I got in and had no clue what it was. I could have accidentally released him, but then again I have myself and my own forces there and many powerful demons that would kick his ass," I reply and rub my chin. "If you want I can take him to Tartarus and encase him in demonite and then dump his ass into the Lost Soul Sea, which is just an ocean of lava, where no-one would find him ever again. You can even come and push him in if you want!" I offer them with a grin.

Celestia has recovered and is staring at me with a frown. "You want to condemn him to an eternity under lava?" she asks incredulously.

"How is that any different than turning him into a ponyquin and leaving him locked away for eternity? Besides, if he was that much of a threat, I would have had him executed with having his soul removed before he could do more harm or damage to my people," I reply, shocking her even more. "A bit hypocritical of you being surprised at my offer when you've basically done the same to him," I say and chuckle.

Selene is the one to reply first though. "We would be happy to be the one to push him into the lava! We lost many friends and subjects during his reign of terror," she tells me with a sadistic grin. Luna, not as enthusiastic as Selene, still has a determined expression, agreeing with her sister.

Celestia looks wide-eyed at them before sighing and taking another sip of tea. "I'll admit, leaving him down there was not a good call... but with the castle overgrown by the forest and the self-sustaining defences of the vault, I thought he would be left there forgotten." Her frown fades before shaking her head.

I hum in thought. "Although if you can't bear the thought of an eternity under lava, I could just kill him and put an end to it if you want? And before you argue or anything, he has slaughtered many in the name of gaining power, he has torn apart families and brought misery to all in his way. I've slaughtered many thousands myself, but in the name of protecting and avenging my people. I guess you can say I'm like an overprotective father, just with my subjects," I say as Desire smiles and snuggles up to me.

Celestia and I argue over this for a few minutes before a Shadow Wraith appears and spooks most of us present. "Master, the strange doll has become animated and tried to kill some of your demons. Porkscratch has subdued him and is restraining him right now," he tells me, making me sigh.

"Typical. Well then, let's go sort this out then shall we?" I say and get up. "Pinkie, can you open a portal to the castle please?" I ask the bubblegum draconequus.

"Okay!" she replies and pulls a zipper tag out of her overalls left pocket and holds it up before pulling it down, complete with zipper noise as it opens a portal to the camp.

"Thank you," I say and step through along with everyone else.

I'm greeted to the sight of Porkscratch sitting on the black ponyquin, the metal collar shattered and littered on the ground nearby.

"Get off me you over sized lard stick!" the necromancer yells in an angry dual echo tone.

"Shut yer gob before I bury your head in the latrine!" Porkscratch tells him in an annoyed tone and a somewhat light punch to the ponyquin's head before spotting us. "My lord! This maggot suddenly started moving and tried to kill some of us, but his magic is pathetic and it was simple to restrain him," he tells me as I walk up to them.

"That so?" I ask as I crouch down. "So you tried murdering my people the moment you could move? Has being turned into a ponyquin or the years of isolation rotted all of your brain cells?" I ask him with an unamused expression.

He growls at me, making Porkscratch punch his head again. "I will have my vengeance! Those alicorns will pay for getting in my way of creating the perfect world!" the necromancer replies angrily before going still as his head looks in the direction of the four demonic alicorns and single normal alicorn behind me.

He begins struggling and snarling like an animal as he tries to break free of Porkscratch's large backside.

I look to the others to see Fluttershy hiding behind Angel and Harry. Rarity comments on how uncouth the necromancer is while Applejack just shakes her head at him. Rainbow, Gilda, and Pinkie are laughing at him while Selene and Luna look furious. Celestia has a neutral expression while Desire is unamused. Twilight is wincing, Shining just has a raised brow. Mel though just looks confused as she looks around the area.

"So, Celestia. What do you want to do with him? You and your people were attacked by him, so I say it's up to you and your sisters to decide his fate," I ask as I get back up and ignore the threats and insults being thrown at me from the necromancer.

Celestia, Selene, and Luna walk up and glare down at the still ranting ponyquin. It's Luna who speaks up first. "I have an Idea," she says and whispers to the other two. Selene starts laughing while Celestia raises an eyebrow at her.

Luna then turns to the others and looks at Rarity. "We would like to ask a commission from you, Rarity. If you would accept it that is," she asks the confused mare while rubbing her hands together.

Next Chapter: Chapter 57: Trial Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 4 Minutes