My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic

Enter the Darkness

Chapter 3: The Thief

Twilight and her fellow mares make their way through the Everfree Forest, bypassing the obstacles they faced when searching for the Elements of Harmony before. Soon, after passing the old abandoned castle of the Princesses, they continued into the deeper and darker recesses of the forest.

"Man, how deep is this forest?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.

"I'm not sure..." Fluttershy replied. "Nopony has ever been THIS deep before..."

The Ponies stopped at a large beat-up sign, written in the language of old, being symbols that are seemingly unreadable.

"'Beware. Beyong this forest lies a world of despair and chaos. Any who enter, shall never return,'" Twilight translated. "Its a warning."

"My, that does sound horrid, but we have a mission to do," Rarity said confidently.

"She's right. Let's get a move on," Applejack ordered as Twilight lead the group.

The purple mare soon spotted a pony hiding in a cloak up ahead, who had a book sack strapped to its side. "Rainbow Dash! Catch him!" Twilight ordered.

Dash raced her way at the mysterious figure, tackling it down and making it drop the book stolen from Twilight. "Alright! Just who are-" Rainbow Dash stopped midsentence after revealing the figure's face, her eyes wide from shock. "No way!"

She was shot off by green beam of magic conjured by the figure. The cloak was thrown off to reveal a black pony-like creature with an insectoid body. Holes were seen near the bottom of its hooves and in its wings. Its long hair and tail were teal in color, fangs could be seen in its mouth, and its horn was crooked. The black crown on its head meaned it was a creature of royalty. Green eyes showed a more demonic nature.

"Mwahahaha! Surprised to see me, girl?" the creature spoke in a feminen voice, followed by a deep after tone.

Twilight and the others caught up to see the strange creature. Twilight was shocked to see who it was. "Queen Chrysalis! You're back!?" Twilight shouted, both in shock and in anger.

"Oh, well, hello, Twilight Sparkle. Long time no see. Has your dear brother been fairing well after I stole most of his love for Cadence and used it to defeat Celestia?" Chrysalis mocked, before laughing.

She used her levitation to bring the book back into her book sack. "What are you up to, Chrysalis!? Last time we saw you, you were trying to ruin my brother's happy marriage!" Twilight shouted more, scratching the ground with her hoof as if wanting to charge head-on at the Queen.

"Hahahaha! What a stupid question coming from a Pony who figured out my disguise during the wedding. Hmph. I am going to reawaken the great evil of all time and make him serve me as my ultimate weapon against the Princess and rule all of Equestria," Chrysalis explained. "I can assume Celestia never told WHAT the great evil was before being sealed into this book that can never be burned. Predictable."

"What...is the evil?" Twilight asked, now suddenly curious.

Chrysalis smiled as she answered, "A Changeling...like me. He is the Original Changeling AND the most powerful in recorded history, even so strong as to control the Spirit of Disharmony himself. With such power, he was even considered the Embodiment of Pure Evil."

"Sounds like a meanie," Pinkie commented randomly.

"We are not letting you reawaken that kind of power!" Twilight shouted as she charged at the queen.

She was tackled by a small black Pony-like creature. It was a smaller Changeling in every way, minus the fact it had no crown. It had a short black mane and tail, a short horn, fangs, and its eyes were completely green.

Twilight kicked off the Changeling only to see a whole hoard more in the air above. "You didn't think I would be stupid enough to come here ALONE, did you?" Chrysalis taunted. "My fellow Changelings! ATTACK!"

The Changeling hoard landed with ready faces. Some even turned into exact replicas of the Mane 6.

"Oh no, not this again," Rainbow Dash complained.

"Come on girls. We took them out last time, we can do it again this time," Twilight said confidently.

The disguised Changelings attacked the Mane 6. Each character fought a group of themselves and a group of non-disguised Changelings.

Rarity stood her ground as she stared down her copies. "Copying my beauty is not at all nice. There can only be one, Rarity!" she shouted. The Changelings attacked her, only to be thrown back by her levitational skills. Some even tried jabbing their horns at her. She dodges with amazing grace, causing the fiends to get stuck on some trees. Rarity kicked some dust at them in a classical victorious lady fashion.

Applejack was having much difficulty beating down her Changeling opponents. "C'mon, ya'll. You ain't goin' to back down now, are ya?" Applejack asked, giving them a glare. Some Changelings attacked and got bucked hard by Applejack's back hooves. Some were elbowed, some were bucked, and some were tied up by Applejack's spare ropes.

Pinkie was singing a song and not taking the fight seriously, like always. The Changelings were a tad confused by this, almost not wanting to attack anymore. Before they could ask what Pinkie was doing, they were aimed at by her famous Party Cannon. "PARTY TIME!" Pinkie Pie shouted before shooting her Party Cannon. The Changelings were dressed up in silly costumes that made them laugh at each other. Pinkie smiled at the results.

Fluttershy was cornered by her copies and the Changelings, shaking like a leaf. She tried to think of something and quickly made a plan. She quickly kicked up a dust cloud by waving her hooves swiftly on the ground, making cover for her. When the cloud disappeared, a Fluttershy was on top another. This alerted the other Changelings to attack the pinned down Fluttershy, causing a riot. The real Fluttershy snuck away from the riot, sighing at her safety. "That was close..." she said, happy to be out of danger.

Rainbow Dash raced through her copies, tackling and kicking them out cold using her amazing speed. She made a battle cry as she beated her chest, frightening the Changelings. With her swift speed, Dash made quick work with the Changelings, stomping down on her last.

Twilight uses her magic beam to defeat her opponents, who retaliate with their own green beams. She levitated a few Changelings in order to throw them at each other. She got in close to a few Changelings and headbutted them into submission.

With the Changeling hoard defeated, the mares looked around to notice Chrysalis was gone. "On no... She's gone!" Dash pointed out.

"That meanie must've went to the Mountain of Dark Fire," Pinkie said.

"Come on. We need to catch up fast!" Twilight ordered as she and her friends made their way to the light, leading out of the forest.

Outside the forest, in the distance, they could see a giant mountain with flowing lava traveling from the top to the bottom in some cracks in the ground. The sky was covered in the clouds of smoke coming from the volcano.

"The Mountain of Dark Fire," Twilight said in awe.