Almost over. Ferl's only consolation was that the ten years were almost over. His plan had worked perfectly. As the dragons swept through the land, destroying everything, Ferl had picked up after them, requiting from those who want nothing more than to see the end of the dragons. His army was now up to around three million. Only about 50,000 were unicorns but that was excusable. They had all been taught black magic, or ,if unwilling, battle magic. However, the stress of the work of the past ten years was getting to Ferl, and he needed a let. He knew of a place, perfect for venting his sadism. On the fringes of Everfree, there was a cottage. Enough animals lived there for hours of fun. As he made his way to the house, a mere ten minuets away since they positioned themselves close to Canterlot, He telepathically sent a message to his subordinate, Serce.
"I will be back in a bit. Make sure nopony other than yourself disturbs me."
"Yessir!" an enthusiastic reply reached Ferl's mind right before he approached the cottage. There was a form the size of a pony moving inside. As his plans changed, ferl realized it was an easy task to still the animals hearts.

-<*>-
The door banged open.
"What is it Serce."
Ferl seemed to be in a good mood. The cream colored pony he had beaten was lying on the floor, still conscious and i a lot of pain.
"The dragons are approaching Canterlot! You must speak to the army if we want to take Equestria!Its now or never!"
Ferl turned back to the pony who was starting to speak in a voice once beautiful, ragged from screaming.
"P-please s-stop..."
Ferl's horn glowed dark purple and the ponies head and neck rose off the ground.
"Fine."
SNAP.
The ponies body fell to the floor, head twisted almost all the way around. Through swollen eyes and bloody tears, Fluttershy watched as her tormentor walked out of the front door. Then, unconsciousness finally took her body and mind.

-<*>-
"Princess! the dragons are approaching!"
Princess Celestia was looking out a window at the snowstorms in the distance.
"Are Frostbite's storms working?"
The guard at the door's eyes went downcast. "Not at all."
Celestia's eyes closed and she turned toward the guard. "Then let the battle begin."

-<*>-
All walls and buildings in Canterlot were covered in a makeshift army. Under banners hastily requited generals stood. Under a mustard colored flag with a yellow lightning bolt the general Zurge. Under the white with a black snowflake, a general named Frostbite. Under the black and white banner, Celestia and Luna stood, watching the 7 black forms heading in their direction.
"Sis! look!"
Luna pointed about a mile in front of the dragons, and nothing was there. It was magical then. Luna has the ability to see magic naturally, when Celestia has to put effort into it. When she did, she saw a teleportation spell waiting to happen.
"Wha... that's not a normal teleportation spell," Celestia took on a baffled appearence."Its strange. Ive never seen that spell before."
Luna's expression went from confused to frightened. She hid her eyes behind her wings and amplified her voice; "LOOK AWAY!"
As everypony obeyed, the entire world seemed to erupt with blinding white light. As all turned back, the dragons were gone.

-<*>-
The flash. The herald to Ferl's domination. The time was now. Serce should...
"Sir?"
There he is.
"What is it?" Ferl said loud enough for the ponies around him to hear, but not so loud as to arouse suspicion.
"What? The dragons are gone? Just like that? Well that answers a few questions."
As he turned to the ponies arranged in an audience, he put on a mask of anger.
"Celestia has betrayed us! As you know, the dragons have destroyed all! Except, of course Canterlot, and we all thought this was luck! However, i have learned that the dragons have disappeared! Next to Canterlot which means the dragons disappeared right before they attacked our "beloved leader"!"
Ferl said this with passion and anger to prove to those gathered that he had just figured this out, which of course he had planned on.
"I say we move on the Princess!"
It was a planted statement, but the combined anger of the army and the not-first-thought of Celestia being evil responded in making the population not think about it.
"Down with the Princess!"
"Let the Crown fall!"
The cries for blood ran up and down the small ranks that had gathered. Ferl had made sure all of his captains were there. 100% participation was needed.
"Do you want war against the Princesses?"
The overwhelming response was a resounding "YES!"
"THEN WE MARCH!"

-<*>-

As anxious as he was to get this over with, Ferl was not one to charge into things unprepared. The pegusi that he had requited were very suited to the task of scouts. Especially the one he had picked up at ponyville. When that blue mare had heard of Cloudsdale being destroyed, she almost charged after them herself. That, and the fact she was the fastest out there, inspired Ferl to make her captain of reconnaissance.
"Fly over Canterlot. Give me a rough estimate of numbers and groupings. Get back to me before we reach the city."
"On it!" she motioned to a small group behind her. "Lets move it!"
As they disappeared into the distance, Ferl mentioned to the army for a slow march. Ferl looked at the sun, directly overhead. Before the day would be over, Ferl would have to lower it himself.

-<*>-
Celestia turned nervously to a possible war front. The pegusi that flew over Canterlot a few hours ago didn't respond to her calls. The sound of marching was audible, even though it had to be at least 3 miles away. She had ordered the force from before back together. She had placed the two other groups at the south and west entrances to the city while keeping her guard spread throughout it. It was a stretch to call it an army, but it was the last hope for Equestria if the army approaching was as big as it sounded. As the hours passed, the sound of rhythmic marching grew, then all at once, stopped. All of a sudden, it got darker. Celestia looked above the wall that surrounded Canterlot. A cloud of rubble was flying at the wall. Celestia watched in horror as hundreds of ponies and the wall fell to the stone and wood that used to be Ponyville.

-<*>-
Ferl's genius and innovation knew no bounds. On the march through Ponyville, he had made a simple artillery cannon and gave it to the earth ponies and a few unicorns. They would work from the rubble, and could keep the shot together until impact. He kept Serce with them since he was to only unicorn within the ranks strong enough to receive magical messages. Then the army continued marching. As they approached the city of Canterlot, they stayed about 100 paces back. Ferls horn glowed as he sent a message to Serce.
"Fire."
A distant THUD was heard, followed closely by a flying wall smashing right into the wall and the enemy ranks behind it. A white banner with a black snowflake fluttered over the now thinned ranks of Celestia. Ferl knew his army would need a push to kill all these ponies.
"DESTROY THE SERVANTS OF THE TREACHEROUS PRINCESS!"
With those words, another black cloud rose. This time, from the unicorns that knew black magic. Those that didn't simply threw fireballs or lightning. Hundreds of the faux warriors in the city fell, but they didn't give up. A light blue pegasus rose above the rest of the army and roared over the din of death.
"CHAAAAAARGE!"
The makeshift weapons of the citizens of Canterlot did their work and both sides clashed, hooves flying and teeth gnashing. Ferl was in his element. His magic worked independent of his mind, reaching into the enemy and dismembering them many at a time. But this was not his prize. The palace. He called to his six most trusted soldiers and started off toward the large palace in the city, ripping ponies apart all the way. As he walked past building, his magic sunk into the foundations of buildings and made them crumble. As Ferl and his small escort reached the palace, he focused all his magic on the wall. It was protected by ancient magic, older then the building itself. It confused Ferl, but he didn't care, he had to break it. In a few moments, the magic barriers shattered, as did the wall. Perfect. Right into the antechamber. 3 guards stood there and soon fell asleep on their watch. Permanent sleep. About 20 guards burst in the room and Ferl calmly motioned toward, them and started walking toward the throne room. Celestia burst through the door and almost bodily collided with Ferl. Ferl's magic reacted before he did. Large invisible manacles erupted from his horn, blasting against Celestia's fetlocks. As Celestia bounced back into her throne room, Ferl chuckled at his good luck.
"The Princess? Already? This will be over before it starts."
The manacles were a special kind that bond to anything they touch harder than the toughest metals. Since Celestia had fallen backwards, she lay on the ground in a very venerable position. Ferl's sick humor kicked in as he walked over and straddled the Princess. He looked lustily at the terrified form of the alticorn beneath him. But he did not lust for her body, no his sickness was not the same. He lusted for her blood. Celestia did not know this, and looked up at Ferl in disgust. She had magically checked the manacle. Impenetrable.
"Oh princess, you must think you know what is coming next. You very well might, after all I can't read minds." Something moved from out of Celestia's vision. as it grew closer, she realized it was the head of one of the statues of her.
"But you wont be thinking for very much longer."
Celestia clenched her teeth and closed her eyes as the head raised higher. Then, all at once, the head flew away, and an explosion rocked Ferl's side. The magical manacles shattered and Celestia rolled on to her stomach and stood up. Out of the shadows, two walked.
"Luna! Twilight! What are you doing here?!"
Luna looked annoyingly at her sister.
"Saving thy life as it may seem."
Soon all attention was turned to the struggling form near the wall on the opposite of them.
"You dare injure ME?!"
Black tentacles whipped out to the three ponies. Naturally, Twilight, being ever heroic, pulled up a shield around them. The tentacle wormed around the wall of purple magic and found a weak point. Instead of shattering it, it traveled along to the source. Twilight. Celestia tried to cut the magic off but failed.
"Twilight no!"
Twilight's magic collapsed down on her and her eyes lit up. She screamed. Celestia and Luna acted in unison. A wave of magic flew toward Ferl, only to disappear.
"Wha- what is this you foul mage?!"
Ferl was to happy to acknowledge the princess. He was still absorbing Twilight's power, slowly turning his attention to his new power. It was a near fatal mistake. Luna was stubborn, if anything. She launched another wave at Ferl, this time hitting him. Hard. It knocked his control on Twilight, and her power, completely off.
"NO!" Ferl screamed, truly afraid now, "What have you done? Do you know what she is?"
Ferl threw a sleep spell at the sisters and it hit Luna. He turned to Celestia, quickly mastering his fury and fear.
"Excuse me princess, but do i really have to lecture you on the origens of magic?"
"What do you mean?" Celestia was secretly readying herself for an attack.
"As you know, most unicorns do not have unlimited magic. We gather it from things around us. However, the blessed few do produce mana, the substance of magic. They can exhaust them selves using magic, however, this is from the strain of holding back and ocean of mana."
Celestia seemed to remember her studies of magic hundreds of years ago. "What does this have to do with Twilight.
"She is a mana generator. In order to take her power, I had to break the dam holding back it back. If you had let me suck her dry, nothing would have been wrong. Except now her mana is evaporating into magic and filling the entire palace. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem ether, as it would disperse throughout Equestria. But, since there is a healing magical border, the magic will become too thick, and it will kill everyone on the palace grounds. Congratulations."
It took Celestia a little to realize what she just heard. She looked through eyes of magic around the room, which was growing unnaturally warm. As soon as she did, she was blinded by bright white magic.
"AAARRGGHH!"
Ferl looked amused. "Hmmmm. Yes I suggest you don't look at it. If you let me continue, I might be able to save all your pitiful lives."
With that, Ferl opened a hole in the world.
"What are you doing? That's not the same."
Ferl started sweating. "Of course not. its too late for controlled absorption. Oh and i need to dispose of you too."
In an instant, Celestia was sucked inside Ferl, along with all the magic in the room. Luna woke up as the 6 magi burst into the room. She looked at the innate form of Twilight on the floor and at the insane glowing form that was laughing insanely.
"Twilight," she whispered to herself, "You will more of a chance than I will."
With the last bit of her magic, she teleported Twilight somewhere safe.
"Good luck."

-<*>-
Ferl needed to solidify his reign. There was one way to do this.
"Princess Luna." He had set his army rebuilding Canterlot, and had given Luna food, a chance to bathe, and sleep.
"As you know, I wish to rule this wonderful land. However, in order to do so, i must ether be adopted, impossible, or be married into the royal family. So i will ask this once. Will you marry me."
Luna looked aghast. "Of course not you filthy knave! I would not marry you if my life depended on it!"
Ferl didn't look surprised, but disappointed. "Very well then. Serce! Take her to the dungeon!"
"Yessir!"
Ferl walked to a window. "If i cannot be royal, then i must make a new rule. I have always loved the darkness. The Priests of Shadow."
Serce talked to Ferl over his horn. "Well what shall the high priest be called?"
Ferl thought for a minute. "I shall be called the Dark Phoenix."

-<*>-
Luna saw the magic on the cell. Shoddy work. If not to closely observed, it was fine, but closer speculation revealed cracks by the thousands. She easily broke the magic and the cell, and escaped into her beautiful night.

-<*>-
Fluttershy finally rose out of her coma. She felt much better than she had when that monster was beating her. She untwisted her neck. Luckily, she was always very flexible. She got up and limped out, hoping to stay alive until she could warn anypony.