Chapter 13: This Is Who I Am
A puff of purple smoke condensed on the northern side of the Canterlot mountain. It was barely visible in the faint glimmers of moonlight through the broad oaks swaying in the wind. Had it not been for the buzzing cicadas and screeching owls, Namworth’s muffled moans of pain would have been the only sounds in the quiet night.
“Be quiet!” yelled Loré in an equally muffled tone as she restrained Namworth, feigning anger while keeping his mouth fully covered up with magic.
She groaned in annoyance from his continuous struggle, he clearly didn’t consider the fact that ponies could be out there searching for them at that very moment. They could be close by, in the shadows or the sky, watching them. Loré wasn’t going to get caught, and Namworth wasn’t going to shut up unless she did something to ease his pain.
“Hold still, you big baby,” grumbled Loré through her rapidly beating heart. She applied her horn to his covered up eye. A beam of magic crept along her horn-ring, through the air, and into Namworth’s eye, silencing his squirming for freedom.
“There, it shouldn’t hurt anymore,” she added with a hint of relief, finally releasing him from her magic.
Namworth immediately crawled along the short grass to a just as shallow pond of water. His own reflection was barely visible in the dim lighting, but from what he could see with his one working eye, the right one had gone completely white with blue veins bulging along the sides.
“Stop worrying about it, Namworth. I can definitely fix this, mistake.” Loré’s air of confidence was poorly masking the quiver in her step, the worry in her eyes, and the hesitation in approaching him.
“Don’t come near me!” screamed Namworth as Loré took one single step.
“What?..”
“I said, don’t come near me…” Namworth had turned away from the pond, skulking along its shore till he had it between the two of them.
“It was an accident, Namworth. I never meant to hur-“
“You tried to kill them, Loré!” As if his words had a bearing on nature itself, only a desolate wind rushed through the small opening in the forest, howling in pain and silencing all other sounds.
“I… I didn’t mean to,” said Loré in a far more apologetic tone than she had ever done before.
“You did… I saw it in your eyes. Their lives meant nothing to you. You said you wanted to change Equestria for the better. Killing never makes anything better, Loré.” There was no laughter in his voice, no happiness, no innocence.
“Namworth… I also said I would maybe take over the world! You knew what you were getting into! My promises were not lies, and I haven’t done a thing that you didn’t agree yourself into,” protested Loré while taking a step forward.
“You promised that nopony would get hurt! Remember that?” snarled Namworth.
“I…” Loré had no proper response for being called out like that, she merely lowered her head a smidge and kept her mouth shut.
“You never meant anything you said about taking over Equestria!” yelled Namworth as he stomped one hoof into the pond. “Your eyes, Loré. They always gave you away. It’s really hard to know what’s actually on your mind, Loré. You almost always lie or say things sarcastically. But, you can huff and puff all you want, for I notice what your eyes said to me. You never wanted to hurt anypony. You were looking for something. You wanted to do something special.”
“I couldn’t help myself! I was lost in the moment… or something… and how do you know what I want?!” Loré stomped in return, flaring her teeth some. “You don’t know anything about me! Don’t even think you know why I went on this journey. This is a quest of power, to follow in the hoofsteps of Sombra. I made all of this very clear to you at the start of it!”
“Did you also mean to hurt me?” His voice resonated with Loré’s anger. “Then tell me, Loré. Tell me what is going on in that head of yours. You obviously didn’t care for my safety or your own! You obviously never meant to keep any promise you ever made to me…”
“I never meant to hurt you!” she stomped the ground with even more wobbly legs, her body almost caving in on itself. “If you really were my friend, you’d understand how I work! You would forgive me for one tiny mistake! You wouldn’t be so demanding of me!”
“Friendship is a two-way street, Loré! You can’t just take and take and never give anything back. I am your friend… or at least I thought I was… But maybe the Loré I thought I knew wasn’t real at all. After what I saw tonight, that look in your eyes, it wasn’t you Loré, not the Loré I knew at least. It was something darker and more sinister than you. I don’t feel like I know you anymore,” mumbled Namworth while turning his back to her, his fragile frame in the dark quickly became less and less distinguished as if it faded into the forest itself. “I can’t do this with you, not if it means you’ll turn into what I saw tonight… Goodbye, Loré…”
“Namworth, wait! Don’t leave me!” A sense of terror streamed through Loré as she saw him disappear out of her sight. “F-Fine, I’ll tell you everything! Do you really want to know how it’s like to be me!?”
She stomped through the waters like nothing could stop her. She waded through the darkness and into the moonlight where Namworth had stood, revealing the tension in her face, her bloodshot eyes, and the overall worry she experienced.
“The world is gray to me. You, me, the sky, everything is gray. Everything is ugly, unappealing, and annoying to look at, and I’m the only pony who sees this. I don’t get along with anypony, ever. It’s all because I just can’t stand friendship. It’s not a choice, Namworth. To me, friendship is like poison, it literally hurts my very existence to even think about it. It’s like a vice tightens in my chest whenever I utter the word.” She paused for a moment as she emphasized her statement with placing her right hoof onto her chest.
“Friendship, love, and any other concept or feeling like that is hurtful to me… I can’t stand being around other ponies, they make me miserable, and to top it all off, the only emotion in the entire spectrum I could sort of relate to was hatred. It was something that made me feel empowered, something I could use to make all those painful ponies go away… It felt good to me. Hatred was the only thing that felt right to me… until you.”
Surprise took up Namworth’s one working eye as he saw Loré lower her head and close her eyes, almost kneeling in defeat to him. It was enough to cause him to emerge from the shadows, just enough to allow Loré to see he was still there.
“I’ve been condescending, rude, demeaning, downright evil to you. But you somehow stuck around till now. I push away anypony who ever tries to get close to me, and I don’t even understand why I do it…” The words proved difficult for Loré to say, but say them she knew she had to. “Other ponies have always been quick to call me out for being all sorts of things. I’ve been called arrogant, stubborn, mean, cruel, rude, disgusting, and more… but for some reason you haven’t called me anything bad.”
I don’t know why, but I don’t feel sick when I call you a friend, I don’t feel so bad when I say it. You’re not the smartest pony, or the best for anything really, but whenever you are around, I don’t feel so lonely…” A slight hesitation took up her voice. “I don’t want you to leave, Namworth. Please don’t leave me to be alone again…”
I know that I’m probably the most uncertain and indecisive unicorn in all of Equestria with how unsure I’ve been about everything in my life. Even in my profession I never took any pride or satisfaction from what I did. I just drifted through life, hoping for something, anything would come along to change it. Something did come along. I had a purpose, a great purpose in life. I’ve said so many reasons for why I’m doing this Namworth… But in all honesty, I don’t know why. I feel compelled to do this. Maybe I want power. Maybe I want to be special, maybe… I just want to belong… I don’t know… I just feel like I have to do this.”
I act confident, but I doubt everything I say or do… Was it the right thing, was it what I was supposed to do? The only comfort I’ve had in my life ever since it changed has been you. For some strange reason, no matter what I said or did, you brushed it off like it was nothing, like I wasn’t that bad of a pony. You never once tried to change my habits, change me into something I wasn’t. You only tried to get me back on track when I lashed out or lost my way… I know I don’t say it, but, I’m thankful for that. After all we’ve been through, what do you think about me now, am I the villain I thought I’d be?” she asked while raising her head back up, staring into Namworth’s eye with her own flickering orbs.
“There you are, Loré,” mumbled Namworth.
“What do you mean?” she asked softly in return.
“For a moment I thought there was nothing underneath your hate and anger, Loré. I had, before that, always felt like you were hiding yourself from me, from everypony. Your snarky comments never bothered me because I knew it was an act to protect yourself. I just hoped that eventually, if I allowed you to be you, you’d actually invite me into your world. I figured you’d let me know what went on in your head at some point.”
“Does that mean you’ll stay… with me?” Loré’s focus went back to the ground despite her eyes closing.
“Who else is going to keep you in line?” answered Namworth while letting his brow press against hers.
Loré smiled ever so slightly as she felt his coat against hers, and her horn rummaging through his puffy mane of feathers. And although she felt a strange ache in her heart the longer she stayed in this even stranger moment, she didn’t want to move away, she didn’t want to give him any reason to leave.
“Namworth… I don’t think I can fix your eye… not yet at least,” mumbled Loré.
“… Why not?” it took him a moment to figure out what to say to her for going back on another promise she made, even if it was in the heat of the moment.
“I don’t know any new spells for healing… and this thing on my horn, it doesn’t allow me to do anything I want, only spells I know.”
“I… understand. I can wait a bit before you fix it.” Although hesitant in his words, his voice had returned to a more tender and loving tone. “At least whenever you look at me, you can be reminder of what you did.”
“I won’t forget…” Namworth could feel Loré’s brow intensely furrow. “Trust me, I won’t. Things will be different from now on, Namworth. I’ll be nice, I’ll be good…”
Namworth couldn’t help but laugh at Loré’s statement. It was enough to make him fall back onto his plot, smiling widely as he did so.
“What’s so funny?” Loré asked while opening her eyes to stare confusedly at him.
“It’s what you said, Loré. You won’t be nice, you won’t be all good. Please don’t make promises you can’t keep.” He looked up at her and playfully nudged her muzzle. “You are mean, that’s just how you behave towards other ponies. I’m fine with you saying mean things. Just try to show you care every now and then. It’s just not in your nature to be good, like me.”
“Okay… I guess modifying my behavior a bit like that won’t be such a bad thing.” She sat down slowly across from Namworth, appearing as small and fragile as a lost and wounded filly. “I still want to go to the Crystal Empire, Namworth. I mean, we’ve made it this far. We’ve done so much to get here. It would be a shame to not see it through.”
“Are you sure about this, Loré? Isn’t the ring good enough for you?”
“It’s not that it’s not good enough. It’s just, it’s stolen, and I will have to give it up sooner or later. The power of King Sombra still awaits me, with it I can have power nopony can take away from me. I will be able to fix your eye. I will be able to get some more answers…” She made one excuse after another to go to the place, to go further down the rabbit hole. But, deep down inside she knew she wanted to go there because something inside her told her to do it. Like an itch that would never go away, not until she went there and fulfilled the destiny of her bloodline.
“You won’t ever get rest till you do it, will you, Loré?” he asked softly. “Sombra haunts your dreams. I see it when you sleep.”
“You watch me while I sleep!?” she exclaimed with a flustered voice.
“That’s not important, Loré! What I meant was… you won’t ever get any rest till you do this. I can’t say I’ll ever understand why you feel the need to do this. I don’t think power will make you special, or better for that matter.” His smile was brighter than the moonlight and brought more comfort to Loré than anything else could in such a dark moment. “I like you the way you are right now, the way you are when you are completely honest with yourself. That’s my favorite Loré.”
The two of them sat in their own contemplative solitude after Namworth had made such a strange declaration to Loré. It was something she didn’t quite understand, but his words wouldn’t stop resonating through her being.
“Thank you, Namworth. I really appreciate your help with this. I know I wouldn’t have made it this far without you. I also know I’ll need you for whatever I’ll face in the future. I know I promised you a better life, and that we’d figure out what your cutiemark will be. I can’t say I’ll deliver on that promise with our current adventure. I’m sorry about that, Namworth, sorry that I dragged you into all of this…”
Loré slowly got up to close the distance between them, sitting down squarely in front of Namworth so she could pull him into a firm frontal hug, her head leaning in over his shoulder and his over hers.
“But, I can promise you that we’ll figure it out your cutiemark after my obsession’s been satisfied. Does that sound good to you, friend?” Her embrace tightened slightly upon saying a word that in any other circumstance would be as painful as a stab to the gut, but this time felt fuzzy and warm in her stomach.
Namworth, still surprised by the sudden embrace and kind words could only do one thing in response to Loré, and that was to simply nod and hug her back.
“Can I ask you for a favor, Namworth?” mumbled Loré.
“Depends on what you have in mind, Loré,” chuckled Namworth quietly.
“Can you watch over my body while I delve into the diary once more? I will be out cold from the physical world for a while when I do that… would be nice to know you’re keeping me safe while I do that.” She slowly pulled away from the embrace so they could look at each other while they talked.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit too soon? We just barely got out of Canterlot in one piece.”
“It’s not too soon. I have to know what it’s all about. I want some answers, Namworth. I finally have the power to dive into any chapter in this book, and do it with ease at that.” A small smile crept into her somber expression. “I have questions to ask, Sombra, things to figure out in regards to how to get to the cave, and I can’t wait to do it till tomorrow or some other time you deem fit for it.”
“I guess I can keep a watch over you…” He reluctantly agreed and sighed before slowly walking into the pitch-black darkness of the trees, motioning for Loré to follow. “But if stuff goes down out here, I’m going to try to wake you up.”
“Deal, though I’m not quite sure how you can even wake me up, Namworth.”
Loré followed him into the shade so she could lie down on her stomach. Once there she fished out the book from her saddlebags and gave Namworth a quick glance to make sure he was nearby. It was hard to see his silhouette through the darkness, but she could feel his presence, hear his quiet breathing, and feel the warmth he emitted.
“Here we go…” mumbled Loré to herself before performing the spell.
She had to barely put any effort into the spell now. It was about as difficult to cast as batting her eyes. A quick flash of light and like the times before, she drifted away, though it strangely enough felt both less violently and more violent than before. The world faded away around her as she was taken into the ancient memories of Sombra.
“Where am I?” mumbled Loré while the spots before her eyes dissolved into a clear vision of her surroundings.
The finest of crystals expanded out from underneath her in all directions. The walls were as blue as the ocean and the ceiling as white as snow. From the entrance of the room stretched a long red carpet, all the way over to a slightly elevated crystal throne. On it sat an elderly unicorn of gray coat, gray and black mane, and a thorny crown of silver hue. Before him stood another unicorn which Loré only needed a second to realize was none other than King Sombra himself.
“This must be where it all began. The real beginning! Ha! Take that Sombra, I cracked your book and I can now see whatever I want in here. I’ll see what you’re hiding.” Loré snickered loudly to herself as she approached the unicorns. “Though, who in Equestria is that old stallion?”
“I cannot allow this my son,” said the elderly unicorn on the throne. “The Crystal heart is pulsating with great vigor. There is no need to venture into the caverns. You have no evidence to support your claim, and it is far too dangerous for a young prince as yourself, to go exploring for some imaginary fairy tale of yours. There are at least a few hundred tunnels to wade through. Are you certain your resolve is up to treading them all? Or is it not best if I believe my best soldiers to be the better choice in quenching your questions of corruption?”
“Oh this old guy must be Sombra’s dad!” Loré nodded in agreement with herself for a mere moment before another thought struck her head. “Wait, I’ve never even heard of his father in the history books? Wasn’t Sombra always a king? I never knew he was a prince once.”
“No father. This is a matter of grave importance. Haven’t you noticed the Crystal Heart is waning? It’s dying father, dying from something right underneath our very hooves. Black stains taint the very crystals holding the heart, and from every day which passes, the more the stains creep into our one source of warmth in the north.” Sombra pleaded loudly even if it felt on deaf ears. “Don’t just send in the guards. I know of your ways, father. It’s all a rouse to lull me. They will comb through one, perhaps two tunnels and then head on home. Or maybe they won’t even step a hoof into the labyrinth.”
The old king sighed and shook his head slowly before he ascended from the throne, walking down the three steps to face Sombra so they could stand at eye height to each other.
“My dear son. You’re young. You don’t understand how the Crystal Heart works. For eons has its power lasted. It has been the sole source keeping darkness at bay. Now you come to me to claim darkness is corrupting the heart?” He slowly shook his head. “My guard has been down to inspect the heart every day since your claims began. They see no taint of any kind. Perhaps this story is merely of your own devices?”
“I speak the truth, Father! There is something ahoof in our kingdom, and I shall get to the bottom of it… Father, if you will not defend our people, I will!” Sombra stomped the ground determinedly before turning away to walk out of the room. “I know something in the caverns is corrupting it, and I will find it and destroy it, even if it means the end of me.”
“What’s going on here?! This Sombra is nothing like the one I read about… he’s so, different.” Loré’s face contorted from one perplexed expression to another as she tried to make head and tail of everything. “Was he, a good pony?”
Her world spun out of control once more. First it all became as dark as night, and then from the darkness sprung a whole new place. It was still within the palace, that much was sure by looking around at the crystal surroundings. It was however a much smaller and more intimate place. A quiet fire burned in the hearth, and in front of it stood Sombra along with a white crystal mare.
“Erhk… where am I now? I really wish this place wouldn’t spin so much…” groaned Loré while approaching the two ponies.
“I’m sorry, Opalescent, I have to do this. I’m not doing it for myself. I’m doing this for my father’s sake, for my people… for you.” He tenderly caressed her muzzle with a hoof.
“Let me come with, I swear I can provide you with the assistance you need,” said Opalescent while running a hoof in over his, staring up into his eyes with undying love.
“For crying out loud… could this get any mushier…” groaned Loré while making a childish expression of disgust.
“As much as I’d want your company, my love, I cannot risk your life for this. I’m adept with magic far beyond any unicorn around these parts. I foresee the greatest of dangers during my quest. It might even be more than I can handle… I won’t put you in danger. I am too weak of heart to see you gone, I rather you stay here where my mind knows you’re safe.”
“I cannot say I agree with your choice, my love. But, I shall honor your wish. I will stay here for a day, but if you do not return by then, I shall seek after you.” Determination ran through her face like water in a river, unstoppable by any obstacle he could conjure.
“I can accept that, Opal,” whispered Sombra before leaning in close.
Yet again the world spun out of control for Loré, contorting, changing, and bewilderingly rearranging itself into a brand new environment, much to her uncomfortable confusion once more.
The place had become considerably darker. Where there had once been colored crystals of blue and white were there now only black and gray. A constant aura of darkness lingered in the very air Loré breathed, and malicious flames burned brightly from the balcony before her eyes. On it stood Sombra, changed from the pony he was a mere moment ago.
He was the spitting image of his legacy. Dark, strong, dressed in regal attire and with dark energies gushing from his eyes. A wide grin took up his face as he observed the rows upon rows of crystal ponies slaving away at the foot of his keep. Ponies of colors, whether they were green, blue, red, or… white.
“This can’t be right… The Sombra I just saw is as different from you as day is from night…” mumbled Loré to herself as she watched the dark figure on the balcony, her gears turning rapidly as every event was being processed in her head. “Could this one be… an imposter?”
“Yes,” mumbled the ghostly image of the kinder Sombra she had come to watch from earlier. He had appeared beside her without a sound or hint of his presence till that very moment. “What you see is not a pony, only a mirage.”
“Where did you come from!?” yelped Loré. “And… what do you mean, if he’s not Sombra, and you are, then who is the pony that looks incredibly similar to you, hmm?”
“Look more closely, Loré.” Was all he had to say.
All it took was one long determined stare to cause a realization which cracked the world. The looming figure of Sombra twitched like a flickering light, revealing for a split second something far more sinister underneath the façade. Like a ball of unravelable yarn made up of dark strings, it coiled and slithered around itself. A creature far darker and more horrible than anything Sombra could have conjured. Like a sickness it dripped its oily stains upon the floor, each one tainting the area around the spill.
“What… what is this!?” yelled Loré with fear in her voice, taking a step backwards to get away from the horrid creature. “Please tell me what is that… thing?”
It was during her frightened retreat and questioning that the world had once again changed around, pulling her to a safer area, like she had desired.
“Not again! I’m never going to get a grip on what’s going on around here…” cried Loré. “Wait… this place is familiar.”
She had been there before, more than once actually. It was the same cave as the first time she went into the book, snow on the ground, dark crystals in the middle, and icy walls all around her. Everything was precisely as the last time she was in the place. Though, she had arrived into it a bit later than last time, Sombra was already there, firing away at the crystals.
“Really, I have to watch this again?!” groaned Loré while shaking her head, though, also sighing with relief. “Well, at least that thing isn’t here. Or is it? I’m not sure which Sombra this is…”
Loré yawned and watched impatiently as Sombra circled the dark crystals like he had done the last time she was there. Though, this time around, he didn’t stop to absorb the crystals, he stopped to face her. His eyes were filled with regret and despair as they locked with Loré’s.
“Loré, finally we can be alone to talk,” said Sombra.
“Wait… really?” replied Loré with a great deal of confusion.
The scenarios had taken a bizarre turn for her, and it became even weirder as time went on. A strong sensation of reality being tampered with constantly pressured the back of Loré’s mind. It was as if an outside force wanted to pull her away from the moment, wanted her to be blind to whatever Sombra had to say. Even more dreadful than the sensation, were the shadowy tentacles emerging from the crystals behind Sombra, approaching him in slow-motion with their greedy appendages clasping and struggling to wrap all around him. Though, despite shadows slowly, but surely enveloping Sombra, he stood like a statue, ignoring the inevitable fate of darkness crouching in on him.
“Yes, Loré. The ring allows you control in here, as much as you can get. Though, our time is brief, so I must be direct with you. I can’t fight them forever, Loré. I did not call for you, but I need you to finish what I started.” His voice echoed softly in her ears, a strong contrast with the Sombra she had spoken to days ago.
“What are you talking about? You were the one who contacted me in my dreams. I even talked to you a bit ago, why are you so different now?” One question after another popped into Loré’s mind as Sombra became only more and more confusing to her.
“You spoke to the darkness, Loré. Whatever you’ve seen or heard before this very moment, was not the presence of me. It was the darkness.” With those words, reality shook and contorted dreadfully, but the ring on Loré’s horn kept everything together.
“Argh… it hurts… the darkness? What is the darkness? Was it that thing I saw a moment ago?” she shuddered from just thinking about, and agitation was slowly filling up her voice as she got more and more impatient with Sombra. “Also, why are there tentacles clasping at you, and why was I even asked to come on this journey?!”
“They are of another world, a place of darkness, hatred, and despair. They wish to be in our world, to drain it of anything good, Loré. I tried to destroy them, but I was too weak. I could not end myself while keeping them trapped inside of me,” said Sombra while lowering his head in shame. “When the Empire returned, so did they, and with me gone, they needed a new host to finish their work.”
“Are you trying to tell me that I wasn’t chosen for some great purpose… and the crystals just wanted me as a disposal bag of meat they could control!?” Loré snarled and stepped forward, finding it all a bit too hard to believe. “No, this isn’t right. History books said you were cold and calculative, that you were a powerful king of hatred. You weren’t a good guy, why are you trying to deceive me?! You were hateful, just like me, admit it!”
“I’m sorry, Loré. I have nothing to admit. The hate was thrusted upon me, and it was what forged your bloodline.” From his chest began to ooze dark liquids akin to what the creature was leaking, and the tentacles embracing his legs and coiling around his body. “From me, a small part of the darkness was passed on, from one pony to another, until it ended with you.”
“What?” With a frightened step she went back as similar ooze began to gush out of her own chest, her heart feeling more tightly squeezed than ever before. She feebly tried to bat away the liquid, but it was to no avail. “You’re lying! I know who I am! I’m Loré, I was destined to rule the Crystal Empire, to follow in your hoofsteps. I’m hateful… I’m… I’m…”
“The last hope for our family,” mumbled Sombra as he closed his eyes, allowing the shadows to take more and more hold of him. “You must succeed where I’ve failed. Do not throw away the one thing you have that will allow you success. You have the one thing that will make you strong. With it, you can end it all, Loré. You can save the Empire before the corruption spreads, once more.”
“I don’t understand any of this, Sombra! I don’t even know how to find the crystals, you have to help me!” cried Loré as her eyes kept on being locked to the dark liquid coiling around her own body.
“In the darkest corners of his keep is a door, break its magic to enter his labyrinth.” His voice became more muffled and distorted with every word as the shadows consumed him. “I won’t be far away, Loré…”
With that, Loré’s world abolished into scattered light and distorted sounds. She was sent adrift on a sea of the unconscious till she landed safely afloat the tufts of grass underneath her body. She gasped for air as if she had been drowning in a bad dream, panting heavily while looking around. The same droning sounds and gushing wind welcomed her home to the familiar face of her friend, Namworth, which in turn calmed her shaky nerves.
He was asleep, though still sitting up right next to her body. Light had risen above the trees, and she could only assume he’d stayed up all night to keep a watchful eye over her, at least that was the case till he fell asleep himself. She couldn’t help herself from smiling for a moment from the thought of him watching over her like that.
Though, what had just transpired inside the book still haunted her, even when checking out the brand new area she had been dragged to by Namworth. She was undoubtedly further into the forest which she could judge from the amount of trees being around them. It was also evident that they had moved closer to the mountain as above their heads hung solid rocks protruding from the mountain bed.
“He… I mean, it… used me.” With lowered head and drooping ears, Loré left the hiding spot to sit in the sunlight. “I wasn’t special at all… I was just a tool, destined to be cast aside once my pointless purpose was done.”
The images she had seen inside the book kept on playing themselves on repeat in her mind. The real Sombra’s words were difficult to believe, but they somehow all made sense to her. The feeling in her heart and the sickening sense whenever confronted with friendship would all be explained if she was the carrier of something else, something dark.
“No… even if I went on this journey under false pretenses… even if I had all the wrong reasons for why I did anything. It may also be that everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie… but, even if that is so, my destiny wasn’t to become the slave of some weird… thing.” With watery eyes she glared into the distance. “No, for everything that’s gone wrong, and for all the mistakes I’ve made. I know better now. My destiny is to destroy the darkness, to end this… curse, or whatever it put on my family. This changes nothing. I will go to the Crystal Empire, I will make my way to the crystals, and I will do what I was actually destined to do!”
With renewed hope Loré stood up. Never had she felt more confused and determined in her life than she did in that moment. Though, regardless of what went on inside her, and regardless of the reasons, she knew what had to be done. She knew there was still hope for her one chance at doing something meaningful with her life.
“Loré, you’re up?” yawned Namworth.
“Huh?” Loré quickly glanced over her shoulder to see Namworth rubbing his eyes tiredly, still sitting upright where she had left him in the shallow cave. “Well, yes, I’m awake. How long was I gone?”
“I’m not sure, I kinda fell asleep after a few hours of watching you,” he admitted with a hint of embarrassment. “But I see the sun is up, so it must have been like, at least six hours.”
“Perhaps,” was all Loré had to say, her mind still largely distracted with processing everything she had learned.
“Did you find any answers to your questions?” asked Namworth, sitting down at her side in the warm grass.
“I think I found out more than I asked for, Namworth…” sighed Loré while her eyes fixated on a few straws of grass with morning dew slowly evaporating from them. “To be honest with you, I’m starting to lose grip on who I am… But, at the same time, I feel like I’m discovering myself for the first time”
“What do you mean, Loré?” Namworth tilted his head, curiously eyeing Loré and her slightly vacant expression. “What happened inside the book?”
“It’s a bit difficult to explain, Namworth. I saw a lot of things, made the realization that all I’ve come to learn about this journey has been a lie.” She sighed deeply before looking up at him. “Sombra never asked me to come to the Empire, some ancient evil wanted to use me for its evil plans…”
“Huh? What are you talking about, Loré?” Namworth got only more and more confused by Loré’s words.
“I said it’s hard to explain, Namworth!” groaned Loré. “Please, just, trust me on this. Sombra was… a good pony, and he tried to save the Crystal Empire, but he failed… He wants me to finish what he started. I know what to do now, Namworth. We’re going to the Crystal Empire to save it.”
“Once again, I’m not really sure what’s going on. But, for once you sound genuine about this, Loré. I think you actually mean it this time. I promised to go with you for this quest, and saving an Empire sounds a lot better than stealing dark powers.”
“Thank you for sticking with me, Namworth. I don’t know what will happen once I confront the darkness, but I’m certain I can’t fail with your help.” She smiled warmly at him while wrapping a leg around his shoulders.
“Thanks, Loré.” He smiled back at Loré with equal warmth.
“Travelling to the Empire won’t be difficult now,” mumbled Loré while her horn began to glow. “Magic can sure make things easier.”
The two of them once again disappeared into a flash of light and a puff of purple smoke as their energies now beamed through the air with blazing speed as Loré transported them to an area up in the blistering cold, a place close to the Crystal Empire.