Far away, out in Tempus's Equestria, his wife, Princess Starlight Glimmer, was looking out at the sky in Equestria while standing on the balcony opening into the room she and her husband shared. She missed her husband dearly, even if she never said it aloud, but she also knew there wasn't much she could do about his absence. He had his reasons for leaving and it was of grave importance that he be gone. Still, it didn't make her anxiety lessen and she silently hoped that he was alright...
"You know, I've actually seen your husband recently." A voice said, and Starlight turned to find a pony wearing a dark purple hooded cloak standing behind her a few feet away, their face lost in the shadow of the cloak. A pair of glowing orange eyes stared out from under the hood, focused on her. Starlight was startled, but still managed to face him down.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "And what do you want?"
The pony pushed back his hood, revealing he had purple skin and a dark orange mane.
"My name is Atlantia," The pony said, taking a couple steps closer, his glowing orange eyes still focused on her. "And I want you."
His eyes suddenly turned into spirals of orange and purple as he stared into her own eyes, a small wicked grin on his face. Starlight knew immediately what he was trying to do, and attempted to fight against the hypnosis. But it was too powerful and she didn't even have time to marvel at the strength he wielded before falling under his spell.
"That's one down, three to go." Atlantia chuckled, before glancing at Starlight. "Take me to Princess Celestia and Princess Nightmare."
Starlight nodded, then started leading him out of the room to where the two were located. Atlantia followed her, smirking to himself as he thought his plan over in his mind once again, chuckling softly to himself at how foolproof it was. Starlight led Atlantia into the throne room, where Celestia and Nightmare Moon were both sitting together as they watched them enter. Upon seeing them, Celestia stood to her feet.
"Starlight, what is it?" she asked, but then sensed something off about the figure beside her as well as Starlight's behavior... She straightened and aimed her horn at Atlantia. "Get back! You may have gotten her, but you won't take us too!"
"You should have tried to stop me when I entered your world then," The figure said, smirking. "Because once Atlantia starts something, he plans on finishing it."
Nightmare growled, before her horn glowed and she pulled the two scythes attached to the back of her throne off, bringing them up as she advanced on Atlantia.
"I don't have time for this," Atlantia grumbled, before his eyes flared brightly and the two elder Alicorns were suddenly frozen in place. The villain glanced at Nightmare as his eyes turned into spirals again, and as soon as he sensed she had fallen under his spell, he walked up to Celestia with a smirk on his face.
"You were saying, Princess?" He asked, before making eye contact with her, his eyes still spirals from when he'd hypnotized Nightmare.
"What- no! I... won't..." Celestia tried in vain to stop him, but she too was soon overcome.
"Now just to find Crystal Shard," Atlantia chuckled as he released Celestia and Nightmare.
"Well, you've found her." A voice snarled, and Atlantia turned to find the unicorn in question standing in the doors of the throne room, the Harmony Axe unslung as her ethereal armor shimmered over her skin.
"Good. Then I won't have to go far." He cackled, before snapping. "Celestia, capture Crystal Shard immediately."
Celestia gave a dazed nod, then her magic powered up and she fired a blast at Crystal that was supposed to be a binding spell once it reached her. Crystal yelped and leapt out of the way, swinging the Harmony Axe and slicing the spell out of the air.
"What have you done to them!" She yelled, glaring at Atlantia.
"Made them join the winning side," He snarled, before snapping off another order. "Celestia, take away the axe from her. Starlight, capture her as soon as Celestia has the axe."
Celestia nodded and then the axe was suddenly grasped in her much stronger aura and wrenched away from Crystal in an instant. As soon as this occurred, Starlight fired a spell that struck Crystal and trapped her with several magic cords at once, even making sure to block her horn to further prevent retaliation. Atlantia smiled as he walked up to Crystal, his eyes glowing wickedly.
"You were never destined to beat me," He snarled, getting in her face, as his eyes turned into spirals once more. Crystal struggled, managing to resist the longest out of the others, but in the end she too succumbed to his power.
"Release her," Atlantia snapped at Starlight, before looking at Celestia. "Celestia, tell me this; if I were to order you to attack Prince Tempus, would you do it?"
"Yes, my master," Celestia nodded while Starlight released Crystal.
"And you Nightmare?" Atlantia asked, glancing at the black Alicorn.
"Of course, my master," She said, nodding, and finally the villain turned to Starlight.
"If I ordered you to, would you kill Tempus?" He growled. A pause, a very long pause, occurred, then finally she answered slowly, "Yes... my... master..."
Atlantia snorted in satisfaction, before he chuckled to himself.
"And now... I think I'll take you all with me on my next errand." He said, smirking. "It will certainly make things much more favorable for me."
He glanced at Celestia. "And I'm sure you won't mind abandoning your throne for an indefinite amount of time, right Celestia?"
"Not at all..." Celestia answered. "Lead the way."
Atlantia cackled to himself, before with a flash of orange fire the five of them vanished, leaving behind no trace they had ever been there.
Things were a little quiet around Canterlot today. It could be said that it was a beautiful day, except for one thing; the Prince Joy and his wife had gone out of Equestria, and even out of Equus for the time being. Even though she knew that as a Guardian it was his first mission to carry on, and how necessary it had been for him to leave, Celestia couldn't help but feel sad, lonely, and a bit worried. But she was doing a good job of taking care of a few other things.
There were a few who weren't aware of this situation right now, but seemingly purposefully though. These few were the grandfoals of Joy, the children of Sunny and Mortem; twin fillies, one a unicorn and the other a pegasus, who sported almost the same appearance, each with a black coat, and a mulberry mane, except for the fact that their eyes were different colors, for the unicorn had light purple eyes while the pegasus had parrot green eyes, their different cutie marks and a couple of other obvious differences; a yellow pegasus colt with a red mane; and the cutest, youngest, and seemingly most cheerful of them all, an Alicorn filly who had a bright, creamy yellow coat, and a dark shade of brown for her mane.
All four of the siblings were in the park right now to enjoy the beautiful day, and enjoying themselves by playing, while one of their aunts, Libel, was there to keep an eye on their surroundings, and to protect them; just in case.
"Sunrise!" The yellow pegasus colt called out to his sister, using her nickname, as he threw the ball towards her.
"I got it!" She smiled and hit the ball towards her unicorn sister, who then tossed it to her twin.
All the siblings looked very happy, totally enjoying themselves. But Libel didn't look so happy at all at the moment, even though she was extremely good at hiding this from others. There was a sudden cracking sound, and with a flash of orange flames a pony figure appeared nearby. He was wearing a dark purple hooded cloak with the hood around his neck, revealing he had a purple coat and a dark orange mane, his eyes glowing orange.
"Pleased to make your acquaintances," The pony said, smirking wickedly. "Now, I'll be taking that Alicorn filly off your hooves."
Libel frowned and looked to the pony with a glare.
"And who says we'll let you take her willingly?" She stated, then called to the kids, "Run for it!"
The siblings were surprised as they listened to what their aunt had just said, and the pegasus colt took a hold of their little sister, while they all trotted and flew away as fast as they could.
"What happened?!" The Alicorn filly was surprised. "Big brother, why are we running away?!"
"Who said I'm not just going to take her no matter what?" Atlantia growled, before his eyes narrowed as he walked towards Libel. "However, I can't afford delays like yourself."
His eyes suddenly transformed into spirals of orange and purple, and he stared Libel in the eyes. Libel's eyes widened and she tried to look away, but felt her will crumbling fast and slowly started to move out of his way... just as something large and heavy struck her in the back of the head and made her pass out. The culprit being what looked like Screwball... but the eyes were not purple spirals. They were dark voids, with only the tiniest red orbs as pupils. Dark shadows danced around her form, and her propeller cap had been replaced with what seemed to be a crown of fire.
"Don't you dare take this from me!" She shouted at Atlantia. "They're mine to take! MINE!"
Atlantia growled, before his form glowed with fiery purple light, and he shifted into his true form.
"You can try to fight against me, but you will fail." The dragon growled as he twisted a talon in the air, causing Celestia, Nightmare, Starlight, and Crystal Shard to appear on either side of him. The dragon glared at "Screwball" as his talon glowed with fiery purple magic.
"Celestia, Starlight. Get the Alicorn filly." He snapped. "I have some trash that needs to be taken care of."
Celestia and Starlight nodded and then in a flash they both appeared in front of the fleeing foals, and then trapped them inside of a forcefield.
"No!" The evil Screwball screeched. "They're mine!"
A wall of fire appeared in front of her and she shot it forward into Atlantia. Atlantia simply raised a talon and the wall of fire froze as it slowly turned purple, before dissipating.
"You're angry," The dragon growled, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the evil Screwball. "You want revenge against those who have wronged you."
"What would you know?!" Evil Screwball demanded. Meanwhile, the captured foals were brought over to Atlantia, and the Alicorn filly then separated from her siblings. The foals were scared, and the pegasus colt and unicorn filly glared at the figures in front of them, the familiar figures akin to Princess Celestia and Starlight, they knew. But the Alicorn filly was really shocked right now; she began to cry, and so did the other foals. Then she stared at Starlight for a moment, before only one word escaped from her mouth:
"G- Grandmother?"
"She's daddy's mother!" Sweet Sunrise cried "Why are you doing this?"
"I can give you your chance at Prince Joy Star," Atlantia said, smiling wickedly. "He is no friend of mine. In fact, he is an annoying pest I need removed so I can regain my control of the Multiverse. And all my allies shall be rewarded richly once this happens."
Evil Screwball looked to Atlantia for a moment, then to the foals, then asked, "What's your catch?"
"There is no catch," Atlantia said, grinning and showing his teeth. "I will give you whatever you want once the Multiverse is mine once again. All you need do is shake my talon, and the deal is done."
The dragon held out his talon, his glowing eyes glinting. She hesitated, then a wicked grin spread on her face and she shook his talon.
"You've got yourself a deal," She said, then turned to Libel's unconscious form. "Now... as you obviously have business with at least one of these brats, what shall we do with the rest of them?"
"Leave them," Atlantia growled, chuckling darkly. "You can dispose of them all at a later date. The Alicorn filly though..."
He walked up to where the filly was and lowered his head, grinning menacingly at her. "We shall use her to get to two of the Guardians of Existence at once."
He glanced at the other foals, before snapping off an order; "Celestia, knock out the other foals. We're done here."
The foals began to cry as they heard this, as they realized that their little sister was being taken away from them; not by anyone they didn't know, but at hooves of their own grandmother. This was extremely shocking for all them.
"No, leave me alone!" Sweet Sunrise cried loudly. "Aunt Libel, mommy, daddy!"
Celestia was silent as she approached the foals to carry out her order, although Starlight seemed to falter for a moment, as if their cries were getting to her. Celestia made the Alicorn filly disappear in a flash, then turned her attention to the others, including Libel. Before anything could be done about either, however, a red blur rushed past them, knocked Celestia to the ground, and caught the rest of the foals, rushing them to a distance aways from Atlantia. It was then that the figure revealed himself.
"Excuse me, may I cut in?" Red asked sarcastically with a smirk. Evil Screwball looked to the hedgehog with a look of surprise.
"Who's that?" She demanded.
"Red the Hedgehog," Atlantia growled. "You have made a grave mistake coming here." He then snapped at Crystal, "Freeze him."
Crystal nodded, before her ice magic powered up, and she shot a beam of frigid magic at Red. However, Red simply lifted up his arm and a fiery red energy gauntlet appeared on his arm as the ice struck it, melting away into steam. He then threw something at Crystal that was familiar to any who had faced the Storm King.
"Sorry about this, Crystal!" he apologized, just as the orb shattered and encased her in a hardened shell. Atlantia let out a shriek of rage, and the dragon began to advance on the hedgehog, before a streak of gray lightning raced up to him, smashing into Atlantia and sending him flying backwards as the blur of lightning shot back towards Red, skidding to a stop beside him and revealing Mortem, his eyes flaring with anger as gray lightning crackled around him.
"Daddy!" All three of them shouted at once as they saw their father, and fell on him for a hug, as they looked so frightened.
"Daddy," The unicorn filly cried. "That thing did something to grandma," She pointed her hoof towards the dragon. "She took Sweet Sunrise, we tried to save her... but then... and then..."
She was unable to continue as she soon broke to tears along with her other two siblings. Mortem growled and glared at Atlantia.
"My daughter. NOW." He spat, advancing as gray lightning crackled around him.
"I have a better idea," Atlantia hissed, before pointing at Mortem. "Starlight, kill your son. Now."
Starlight looked over at Mortem and her horn glowed violently as if to attack. But instead, she just stayed there, not moving as her face contorted into a frustrated and pained expression.
"Someone forgot to read their manual," Red scoffed at Atlantia. "Rule Number Six of Hypnosis: never ask your victim to do any action that would harm anyone close to them, whether it be a friend or family member."
Atlantia glared at Red, before saying in a steady voice; "Celestia. Kill Mortem."
Celestia did the same as Starlight and aimed her horn at Mortem, but got roughly the same results. Red took his opportunity and quickly rushed in and about the two of them, knocking them unconscious, muttering an apology when he did.
"So much for that idea," Evil Screwball muttered, then shouted at Red, "Go back to juggling apples, hedgehog!"
"Okay," Red replied, and then much to her surprise he pulled out three apples from nowhere and started juggling them in front of her, then threw them skyward. When he did, however, they suddenly joined together as one and a beam fired down and immobilized the evil Chaotic mare.
"Works every time," He chuckled. Atlantia growled, before his talons lit up with fiery purple magic as waves of extremely powerful magic started to radiate off him.
"I guess I'll have to take out the trash myself," He spat, before he fired two simultaneous blasts of fiery purple magic, one at Red and the other at Mortem.
"NO!" The foals shouted, as they watched this scene in utter horror and shock. Red easily dodged aside and then looked to the rest of them in time to see a shield appear and deflect Atlantia's attack as Libel slowly stood to her feet.
"Ow... my head..." She groaned.
"Think about that later," Red told her. "Mortem, I need you and your kids to get far away from here."
"Red..." The Alicorn murmured, before he sighed and nodded, before in a flash of gray lightning he grabbed his kids and took off, vanishing in a heartbeat.
"You can't keep up against me forever hedgehog!" Atlantia screamed, before glancing at the last of the four hypnotized ponies he had taken from Tempus's world. "Nightmare, attack him!"
The black Alicorn nodded, before she advanced on the hedgehog, her dual scythes materializing on either side of her as she grasped them in her magic, swinging them slowly before suddenly launching a blindingly fast offensive at Red. Red managed to deflect her attacks at the same speeds she countered with, then an explosion erupted from him momentarily, forcing her to back off. While she was doing that, Red sprinted into her with a spin dash, knocking her over.
"That the best you got Atlantia?" He scoffed. Atlantia glared at Red, before the dragon growled.
"Not at all." He said darkly, before he was suddenly right beside the hedgehog, having moved faster than sight could travel as he swung a talon wreathed in fiery purple magic at him. However, Red somehow ducked under the swipe and then landed a blow that actually staggered Atlantia back a bit. The explanation as to how he had done so was revealed when the dragon noticed Red's hand had temporarily turned gray, like he was from an old black-and-white film. And the power he had used...
"Thought you were the only one who adapts to his opponents in combat?" Red asked with a smirk. "Don't look so surprised. After all... I have been known to do the impossible."
Atlantia took a few steps backwards, his eyes betraying a flicker of nervousness, before with a wave of his talon he freed evil Screwball and Crystal, before he growled.
"This isn't the last time you'll see me hedgehog!" He roared. "Soon all those who stand against me shall fall!"
The massive dragon vanished in a massive flare-up of orange flames, along with Crystal, Starlight, Nightmare, Celestia, and evil Screwball.
Red gave a chuckle. "Glad to see I left an impression on him." He then got more serious. "I need to warn the Guardians. TD... don't let your powers fail me now..."
His image turned gray fully as he focused his energy, then he disappeared as if someone had turned off a television set.
Back at Villain HQ, production of Pyrunian weaponry was now starting to get underway. The entire Dalek army was expected to be outfitted in just a few more days, and the other villains were prepping themselves for a fight they knew was to come. Well, most of them. Bill Cipher was messing around with his magic making time vortexes appear here and there, and Facilier was simply testing the extent of the power he had been offered. With a sudden flash of orange flame, Atlantia rematerialized right in the center of their headquarters, his glowing eyes scanning the activity. During the world jump he had managed to wake up Starlight and Celestia, as well as revitalize Nightmare.
"Cipher!" The dragon called. "Infinite's answer?"
"We have her hook, line, and sinker," the demon replied. "She's more than willing to help out. And I didn't even have to threaten her."
"Yes yes, now could someone please shut that brat up!" Setne complained nearby, gesturing to a cage where Sweet Sunrise was contained. "I'm getting a headache listening to her!"
"Headaches are temporary my friend," Facilier answered him, giving the alicorn filly an unsettling smile. "But the satisfaction of your rewards last forever."
Sweet Sunrise called to her parents loudly, but then in a moment she ceased her crying for the moment.
"You... you... all... are so bad... what you did... with my grandma..." She then looked towards Starlight and cried even more. "Grandma..." She whispered as if to begging her to come back to her senses. "Just... just... you wait... till my... grandpa Joy... know about... this..." She seemed to be sniffling, but at the same time, she sounds somewhat threatening. Atlantia rolled his eyes at Sunrise, before with a flick of his talon he caused a three-dimensional holographic map of Equestria to appear before him. Although, it was noticeable that it was a version of Equestria none of the villains had yet attempted attacking in their war against the Guardians.
"Our big play," Atlantia hissed, grinning. "Cipher, create a portal for Infinite. She must be here while we discuss our strategy."
Cipher gave a smirk. "Coming right up."
"And the little brat?" Setne asked.
"He has a point, friend," Facilier noted. "She ain't gonna stay quiet for long."
"Celestia, if the filly speaks one more time, bind her mouth closed." Atlantia snapped. Celestia gave a nod and looked over at Sunrise with a blank expression, waiting for her master's orders. Sunrise yelped in surprise as she heard this. She was shocked, but she didn't say anything due to the fact that she was still to young to actually do anything. She gave muffled cries, inwardly praying for someone to be there soon, to get her outta there. The tears kept flowing from her eyes, while they gave off a sharp red glow.