//------------------------------// // Return of Darkness // Story: Flurry Heart and The Original One // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// Flurry spotted her family and rushed over to them, wondering what was going on. Ponies ran for cover wherever they could find it while others looked curiously at the phenomenon, wondering what was about to happen. “Aunt Twilight!” “Flurry!” Twilight said. Everyone became more and more apprehensive as the cloud expanded and blanketed the sky. Guards stood ready to fight while capable magic users had their horns lit, but what formed in the clouds was everyones’ worst nightmare. An effigy of a familiar face constructed from the black clouds. It was a unicorn stallion with a curved horn and malicious green eyes. His smile was the only thing more frightening. “Well, well, well…. It’s been such a long time.” He slowly hissed. “SOMBRA!” Celestia exclaimed. Sombra demonically purred. “How nice of you to remember me, Celestia, and how nice to see my empire so pristine since last I left it.” The empire’s residents trembled in terror as they were being addressed. “It’s not yours anymore, Sombra! You better just stop now! We’ve gotten more powerful over the years!” Shining declared, poising his sword towards the dark king. Sombra just laughed as his true form slowly lowered himself to the ground. “So have I. How do you think I was able to awaken just now?” As his hooves touched the ground, surrounding bouquets quickly withered and all of the food suddenly spoiled and rotted. He then locked eyes with the Princess of Balace. “So I see Equestria has crowned their newest royalty. How exciting!” he hissed. “And she’s the daughter of the two who usurped my throne to boot….. That, I’m afraid is going to be a problem.” Flurry found herself panicking as his glare became more intense. “YOU DON’T DARE GO ANYWHERE NEAR MY NIECE!” Airheart shouted as he charged Sombra, his sword at the ready. “AIRHEART, NO!!” Twilight exclaimed, but her words didn’t reach her husband in time. Airheart soared towards Sombra at blinding speeds, and when he was close enough to draw his sword, he tried to slash it across the evil king’s face. However, he was stopped by a dark force field that shielded Sombra, who smiled maliciously. “Huh!?” Sombra charged his horn and caused the force field to expand in such a way that it practically exploded, sending Airheart flying back to his family, and tumbling along the ground. “Honey!” Twilight immediately went to his aid and was relieved to see that he was largely unharmed save for a few minor cuts and bruises. But she helped him up, and she got her game face on and rallied her friends. “Girls, let’s take him down!” The Elements of Harmony wasted no time letting their magic surge as the most powerful spell known to ponykind began to cast, but Sombra seemed eerily unfazed. Rainbows violently spiraled around the Mane Six, congregating above them into a ball of magic that then let loose on the lunatic. The intense blast of magic enveloped Sombra, giving everyone hope that he’d be so easily defeated. How foolish they were…. The swirl of rainbows darkened into shadows and violently burst, throwing the Mane Six back and cancelling their spell, revealing a sneering Sombra, who was alarmingly unharmed. “Wh-Wha!? HOW!?” Twilight exclaimed as Airheart came to her aid. Sombra guffawed like a maniac. “Do you truly believe that those little accessories will even be able to touch me!? HA!! I’ve built my power over so many years that even they have become impotent! I’VE BECOME A GOD!!!” He stomped his hoof, which caused a wave of darkness to surge across the ground. For a second, nothing happened, but everyone then noticed that they’re shadows were looking up at them with glowing red eyes! “Wh-What!?” Cadance stammered. Their shadows rose from the ground and stood up as though they were corporeal entities just as their casters were. They let out hollow moans as they stared daggers at everyone else around them. “What’s this supposed to do, scare us!?!?” Ember retaliated as she breathed fire on her shadow, causing it to dissipate momentarily, but it regenerated within seconds. “Oh, crap…” “HeheheheheHAHAHAHAHA!!! SEIZE THEM ALL!!!” Sombra commanded. The shadows heeded their master without question an began their assault of the empire. While most of the townsfolk showed little resistance, Ember and Pharynx led their toughest forces throughout the city and fought back against the risen shadows. However, they only kept coming and were seemingly invincible. Airheart and Twilight worked together to defend surrounding townsfolk while Cadance, Flurry Heart and Shining Armor went to the Crystal Heart. Celestia and Luna battled with Sombra to keep him at bay, but his power had certainly grown over years of resting, and they were being weakened little by little. When the Crystal Empire’s royal family reached their most treasured artifact, they were met with a terrible sight. “OH NO!!!” Cadance exclaimed. The Crystal Heart was still intact, but it had been corrupted by Sombra’s dark magic and was being guarded by their guards’ conjured shadows, who were on the ground defeated. One of the shadow guards charged them, but Flurry blasted it away with her magic. “What are we supposed to do now!?” “We might just have to rely on sheer force until we can find a weakness!” Shining said. Celestia and Luna were suddenly sent flying towards them and tumbled to their hooves, horribly weakened. “Ugghh…” They all gasped as Sombra came floating on a cloud of dark magic, laughing. “Go ahead! I implore you!! Let’s make this fun…” He stepped down from his cloud and absorbed back into his horn. “Go on. Your move.” He taunted. The three tried not to panic as they silently planned their move carefully. Cadance and Flurry began charging their horns while Shining went for his sword. “TOO SLOW!!” Sombra suddenly bellowed. He launched two blasts that each hit either of Flurry’s parents. Flurry gasped. “MOM!! DAD!!” She heard Sombra laughing behind her and looked back at him. “” “Now then….” He summoned shadow chains that wrapped around her legs and bound her to the ground, sending her into a heart-stopping panic. “Let’s get to know one another, Princess of Balance!” he growled. Flurry tried to use her magic to break out, but the chains on her seemed to inhibit her horn simply by being attached to her. She panicked as Sombra slowly approached her with his horn charging with dark magic, and the malefic smile on his face. With the Crystal Heart seemingly captured and the Elements deemed useless, the situation seemed utterly hopeless. On the very day she became a princess, Flurry Heart couldn’t even save anyone, even herself from one foe… “AAAAAAB-SOL!!” Out of nowhere, a gust of wind violently blew over them, but much to their surprise, the gale actually formed blades of air that cut Flurry free of her restraints. “WHAT!? WHO DARES!?” Sombra boomed. He was suddenly struck in the head by a blur moving at blinding speeds. “OOF!!!” He was hit with enough force to knock him to the ground. Flurry looked over and noticed the blur land. It was the creature! “ You again!” It looked at her. “Absol…” “That’s what came to you last night?” Cadance and Shining had recovered and showed up next to their daughter. “Mom! Dad!” Flurry hugged her parents. “Yeah! That’s it!” She then noticed that it was carrying something on its back. “Wait….is that?” It was the pink stone plate that was being exhibited at the museum. Sombra staggered to his hooves. “Nrgh! How dare you!” he roared. He glared with devilish fury at the creature, but it was as calm and collected as ever. “I’ll make you know your place, you little rat!” He charged towards it, but it jumped out of the way with lightning fast reflexes, and Sombra was becoming more flustered. “WHY YOU LITTLE!” He charged a shot of dark magic, but then the creature’s body suddenly started flashing in such a way that it looked though clones were being produced from either side of it, throwing Sombra off focus. “Wha!?” “SOL!” The creature suddenly blurred across the battle field at imperceptible speeds and furiously swiped at Sombra’s face with its claws and scythe-like horn, its horn emitting a dark aura as it did. When Sombra had been sufficiently dazed, it landed in front of him, and the pink slab then levitated above it and glowed a powerful but somewhat calming aura. It absorbed some of the stones light into its horn, and it radiated a spectacular pink that matched the stone, but shimmering, and the creature glared at Sombra. “AAAAAAAB-SOOOOOOL!!!!!!” It fired a blade of what was presumably magic from its horn right at Sombra, who erected his force field, but the blade sliced through it like a hot knife through butter and struck him true. “AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!” He was blown back as though he’d been right on top of a bomb when it exploded, and when he was struggling to stand back up, everyone noticed that he had sustained some manner of a burn where he was struck by the magic blade, indicating malignant damage. “WHOA!!” Flurry exclaimed. Even though it probably broke into the museum to pilfer the plate, it was promising to see that it could make use of it in such a way given the situation. It then let the plate down onto its back once more and looked at Flurry. “Absol!” it said. It then ran off with the plate occasionally stopping to look at her again. “W-W-Wait! Where are you going!?!” Flurry exclaimed. “We need your help!” The creature motioned its gaze skyward. “Sol!” When Flurry followed where it was looking, it was none other than Mt. Everhoof. “Wha…..What about Mt. Everhoof?” Flurry pled. The creature once again motioned for her to follow it. “Ab! Sol!” It ran off again. “Nrgh! Guys, I don’t know why, but I think it wants to take me to Mt. Everhoof for some reason! Maybe it knows there’s something there that can help us! Can you hold him off until then?” Flurry said. They all nodded. “We’ll try! Just be careful, honey!” Cadance said as she hugged her daughter, Shining Armor Following suit. Flurry nodded. “Right.” She raced off just as Sombra looked like he was about to regain his strength and after her new ‘friend’.