King Sombra returns and travels to the human world looking for a book that could give him the power to defeat the four alicorn princesses once and for all. He finds the book, but also two siblings who won't rest until they burn him alive
Muriel the Great Witch had the ultimate power to destroy humanity: a powerful book filled with all the secrets of the devil. But when the witch hunters Hansel and Gretel murdered her, she left the book behind ready to be found by the correct witch.
Meanwhile, in the other world, Sombra freed from his prison and wanders all over Equestria looking for the power to defeat the four Alicorn Princesses once and forever; it's when he feels the dark energy from Muriel's book. Using all his power he travles to the human world ready to put his hooves on the book. Unfortunately, with Hansel and Gretel waiting... that wasn't the wisest idea.
SPOILER ALERT: this story contains several information about the movie Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters. If you haven't seen it yet, you've being warned.
“Ok, so we’re here” announced a young woman (no more than 25 years old) with brown hair, a green tight dress and a white blouse under the dress. “Ben, leave the papers on the table, we should analyze the situation calmly”
Ben, a young eighteen boy with blond hair, green eyes and service attitude left the bounties of lost children on the table. The woman, named Gretel, started to analyze the documents with a small frown; some of them were already marked with a red “X”, sign than the group already took care of the witch who did that but still there was a lot of lost children around the area. On the other side of the table, Gretel’s twin brother Hansel were applying himself some kind of injection making him made a small complain of pain; but once he finished, he sighed in exasperation.
“So once again the damn witches are acting weird. Who cares? They’re witches, act weird is their way of living. What I don’t understand is why the heck they always end up acting weirder than usual around Ausburg”
“Considering this was the Great Witch’s former territory, I’m not really that concerned about that point. What called my attention is the pattern. They look they’re migrating this spot, I wonder why’s that. Any ideas, anyone?”
Ben shook his head. Hansel and Gretel only groaned while thinking with a strange expression on their faces. Yes, something very unusual was leading all the witches to Ausburg once again, but what. That was the question. Then, the last member of the crew, a monstrous being who looked like a deformed enormous human just approached.
“What is it big guy?” Asked Hansel to the troll Edward.
“When I served Muriel, she treasured an old book she kept under her bed and contained all the secrets of the Devil” said the troll with his heavy voice. “The potion she tried to make the last Bloody Moon was taken from there”
All the crew looked at the troll very unnerved.
“Edward, are you sure about you’re saying?” Asked Gretel. “This could be very important so I need you to be sure”
The troll nodded slowly while Gretel exchanged a look with the rest of the crew. Once again, she faced Edward with decision.
“Okay. Edward: can you lead us to the book?”
Again the troll nodded making the group to get ready. Gretel took an old book from a shelf of her old home (her parent’s old cabin) and started to prepare several special spells to make their weapons stronger using her recently discovered power as a white witch with the wand she “inherited” from their old friend Mina. Using her mother’s old book, she always prepared the strength spells for any situation; especially the ones like that one.
“Okay, we’ll head to the witches’ old camp tomorrow at first hour” said Gretel when she finally finished. “As you all know, is too risky attack witches in the middle of the night”
No one put any objection and proceed to sleep for a little; even if they knew their relaxation won’t last. At the next day, after a quick breakfast, the group followed the troll to the Great Witch Muriel’s former maw. Hansel and Gretel were armed with a powerful modified rifle, several pellet bombs, a special whip with metal pieces on it and crossbows. Edward were carrying a chariot where the siblings had their final card: a weapon developed by themselves that shot powerful and big bullets at great speed without need to recharge in a while killing everything on their way. Ready to everything they entered to the forest where they massacred an entire coven. Leaving Ben in one spot to prepare the traps (sharp tensed cables hidden between trees ready to cut into pieces any with who try to escape by air) armed with one rifle in case he need to defend himself; but not being invulnerable to magic like the twins, he was not allowed to go further.
When Edward, Hansel and Gretel finally arrived the place, a quick move called their attention. Not in the mood for stupidities, Hansel shot one arrow where he heard the sound. A horrible scream of pain was heard ant between the bushes, a toad-witch jumped inflating her dewlap and attacked Hansel with her tongue; catching him by the ankle. He felt but quickly took a knife from his coat and cut the horrible tongue making the witch to scream even louder. Gretel sighed preparing her crossbow and began to shoot merciless to the witch. The monstrous being took her wand and sent powerful spells around the hunters (it was well known that the siblings were immune to black magic) hoping to delay them and give her the time to escape. Enormous roots came from the ground and blocked Gretel’s path to the witch; in the meantime Hansel, sick of the stupid fight, threw one of his pellet bombs ripping off the lower half of the witch’s body. She cried and tried to drag away from Hansel and Gretel but Hansel just sent a direct arrow to her head. She stopped moving.
“Okay, that was fun but we wasted our ammunition in vane, we’re not getting paid for this one” complained Hansel. “Ey Big Guy!, where’s the book you were saying?”
Edward guided the siblings inside the witch’s maw. The last time they were there Gretel was taken as a prisoner by Muriel during the ritual of the Bloody Moon; but that was past history. Now Edward was leading them to the altar, an altar to the devil decorated with black candles, human skulls and other disgusting things. Edward moved a heavy stone from the altar and gave the book to Gretel. She nodded satisfied.
“Thank you so much, Edward. Now let’s get rid of this thing before any other witch find it” proposed the huntress.
Hansel in the meantime just finished to burn the remaining of the witch he killed. Gretel arrived ready to add the book to the burning pile, but a strange black fog came out of nowhere and pushed away Gretel taking the book in the process. Hansel jumped ready to fight directing his weapon to the fog; that crowd around of a rock and slowly began to take the form of a person. And for the first time in their long career as witch hunters, the siblings were truly surprised. As a matter of fact, they couldn’t speak about “normal” when they slayed witches for living, but this time they saw something they never even heard of. A male witch; a wizard. The guy was truly intimidating, wearing a black armor with a long satin red cape; showing a sharpened face with red and green eyes with a horrible smile showing large fangs.
Stills, surprised or not, the siblings stayed calm and only directed their weapons to him
“Okay: give us that book or be prepare to face the consequences” said Gretel.
“The consequences, you said?” Asked the wizard. “What should I fear from you, pathetic mortal?”
“I don’t know, a horrible death perhaps?” Provoked Hansel.
King Sombra had to give some credit to those two mortals. With a single look at him (in both worlds, Equestria and this one he found) they all screamed and shout trying to get away from him. Come on! Not even those women who could use magic in that strange world tried to attack once they felt his power. But these mortals dared not only to confront him, but threat him as well.
“Again, what should I fear from you, future slaves?”
As an answer, both of them grinned shooting. Somehow he eluded both shots but now it was his turn and the great Sombra won’t let two mortals to intimidate him. He extended his hand sending a crystalizing spell to the siblings, ready to transform them into simple statues and forget them forever. But nothing happened. Instead of crystal statues, he faced the two witch hunters smiling at him like nothing.
“Well, you asked for it” said Hansel shooting again, but this time the detonation completely destroyed Sombra’s hand; making him scream in pain, but this wasn’t over. Hansel charged at him kicking Sombra at the chin making him fell on the floor. Hansel grinned and stepped on the bloody stump that was once Sombra’s hand.
“I knew you were only appearance” said calmly the hunter while Sombra cried in agony.
Gretel’s arrow penetrates Sombra’s shoulder, making him scream again. Hansel got tired of step on him and kicked on the face. Sombra rolled by the floor, causing the arrow penetrate his body even more. Again he cried in pain. Knowing it was his only option, he turned into the black fog and ran away from the two hunters who began to chase him shooting every often. However, being in his fog form, the projectiles didn’t affect Sombra this time. Accelerating, Sombra finally lost the siblings and recovered his solid form; in his current state he couldn’t resist too much in his ethereal form, that drained a lot of power from him and the King still had to reopen the portal to Equestria and then heal his wounds. It was the first time in his life than his cape was covered with his own blood.
“Damn it, and all because I lowered my guard for a second. The dumbest mistake of all; now I’m paying the consequences. DAMN YOU MORTALS!!”
Gritting his teeth, the dark King tried to move silently; he was not able to fight anymore. On a corner he saw a solitary young tree; and because he saw several witches using branches as a quick transportation in this world, he took in and flew as fast as he could to get back to the portal. But in the middle on the way, his left leg was cut off by a wire hidden between the trees. Sombra fell again yelling and crying. Why he had to overtrust himself? He had being so careful since he freed again, so why he had to made such a dumb mistake? Sombra got up as he could (still holding Muriel’s book) and crawled painfully only to see his beloved leg before him; but he had no time to think when his leg was completely destroyed by a new shooter. Sombra turned only to see Ben directing his rifle to him.
“Is over!”
“FOR YOU!!” Shouted Sombra sending a powerful attack to the young boy releasing the book for the first time even if he was severally injured.
Ben was sent backwards several meters by the impact. Again Sombra recovered the book when a new arrow pierced his remaining leg. Turning around, he saw that Hansel and Gretel finally got him.
“This ends here and now!” Shouted Gretel, infuriated by seeing one partner injured.
Sombra was lost, he was about to die horribly painfully and all because his own stupidity.
“Any last words?” Asked Gretel with her eyes bursting in hate.
“Yeah, I made a child’s mistake and I’m about to die; underestimated opponents who really have intentions to kill me. The idiot of Celestia should learn a few things from you. Still, this isn’t over you foolish child, NEXT TIME I WON’T BE TAKEN BY SURPRISE YOU HEAR ME?!”
And still holding Muriel’s book against his body, Sombra reunited all his remaining power and created a whole new portal. It was a desperate situation and he had to. A flash of black light (the signature of dark magic) blinded the hunters while the portal sucked the five of them inside it. They felt how they fell in an infinite space while Sombra recovered a little and got away from his enemies, as far as he could. In the vacuum, Hansel and Gretel tried to stay together holding hands but at some point their hands became something else, without fingers on it forcing them to separate. They were about to fell in different points when a powerful embrace held them together along with the unconscious Ben.
“Edward!” Celebrated Gretel.
“Trolls serve witches”
They finally arrived to the new world, and everything went black.
Sombra appeared near to his provisional hiding spot in the middle of nowhere; where he was received by dark crystal monsters he created long time ago. The crystal creatures took their unconscious creator inside and began to heal his wounds the best they could; replacing the bloody stumps with dark crystal prosthesis. The only good thing was that Sombra kept the book. Now nothing could stop him to take over Equestria forever; and once he had his kingdom, he was going to return to the human world to have his revenge on the witch hunters. Yeah, it wasn’t over yet.
This wasn’t going well for Gretel. First the group faced a male witch, yes a male witch, but if that wasn’t weird enough; now they were in the middle of nowhere strangely transformed and Hansel was unconscious.
“Hansel! Hansel! Damn it Hansel, open your eyes for god’s sake!”
The young man let escape a small annoyed groan and opened his eyes rubbing his head. It truly hurts; but not only his head, the feeling of being numb was all over his body now.
“Gretel? Where are you sis? All I see is an weird-looking miniature equine who really looks like you. Ey! She even have your green dress and blouse!
“You know, idiot? You really should check on a mirror before say any comments” answered the unpleased moss-green unicorn who wore a green dress and a white undershirt who somehow reminded to Gretel. “Apparently, that guy came from a very different place; a complete different world if you ask me”
Hansel blinked surprised and stood, in four legs. Wait, what? Four legs? Looking at himself Hansel gasped in surprise examining his new body: he turned into a moss-green unicorn just as his sister; but like hers, his hair and eyes reminded the same, just like his black long coat. After analyze his new development, Hansel gasped; he even stared at his hoof without completely accepting the fact he was now a pony. At the end he sighed:
“So that male witch came from another world. Anyway, what happened with Edward and Ben?”
Gretel just pointed behind Hansel with her head, so he could see his partners’ development as well: the troll turned into an equine too; a really big deformed one with his front hooves abnormally big and the same big ugly face. Noticing the siblings were looking, he dragged the chariot to them so they could see Ben. On the chariot, covered with all the blankets the hunters had, was the unconscious Ben who was now a beige coated earth pony. But that wasn’t that called Hansel’s surprise, but the fact he had a giant black burn on his chest and was breathing with difficulty.
“Fuck, was the same idiot?” Asked Hanse looking at his friend.
“Yep”
“And just when I thought nothing could surprise me anymore” complained Hansel standing on his four legs. Luckily for him it wasn’t too difficult, probably his instincts were kicking. “Now what? How can we operate the weapons now we don’t have fingers?”
Gretel nodded, yeah, she haven’t thought on that detail neither. But she had an idea, guided by her new pony nature she tried to pick one of the rifles using her magic imagining she was holding it with her fingers. A brown light appeared on her horn’s tip and the weapon was taken and correctly operated by Gretel, who shot to prove the new situation.
“How you did that?” Asked Hansel.
“Don’t know, but you try it as well. Concentrate your energy on your horn and imagine you have your hands back, at least it worked for me”
“Whatever” said Hansel trying to do the same thing as Gretel. Not being a wizard himself he had a little difficulties, but again his new pony instincts came to rescue and could easily levitate the weapon and shoot.
“You need more practice” commented Gretel.
“I know, but now I highly recommend go look for some help for Ben, don’t you think? He could be an annoying fanboy but still I like him”
Gretel just nodded and began to walk looking for the nearest town to ask for help. With Edward’s help they began to move the chariot looking for a town or a city or at least a house. Luckily for them they didn’t have to wait for too long, after half an hour they found a small town.
“Ponyville” recited Gretel looking at a sign on the way. “Okay, small town but at least they have to have a doctor or something”
“For Ben’s sake I hope you’re right”
And they entered the town, that was just like they imagined: completely populated by those miniature equines who came in all kinds of sizes, colors and shapes: there were with a horn like the siblings, without nothing like Edward and Ben; and even winged ones. Lots of them came to the newcomers ready to ask them where they came from and what they wanted but as soon as they saw Edward they all froze for a little and ran in fear. In a matter of seconds, all town was in a massive panic attack. Gretel made an exasperated groan, if there was something that really irritated her were hillbillies who easily got panicked, usually that ended with someone doing something really stupid and an unnecessary tragedy. Then Hansel shot to the air with his hand pistol. The detonation created a great silence that Gretel used:
“People of Ponyville! Listen: there’s nothing to worry about, I can assure you that Edward is completely harmless. Now, my name is Gretel and this is my brother Hansel. We came from very far and all we want is a doctor for our friend Ben”
“Once we help him, we’ll go where we came from”
At least the people seemed to calm a little. Then a pink pony came to them bouncing happily.
“Oh, why don’t you said that from the beginning? My name is Pinkie Pie, the self-proclaimed welcome committee of Ponyville, I hope you have a great stay with us, so let me guide you and…”
Irritated from the speed of the speech and the tone of the pink pony, Gretel took her by the mane and stared at her eyes with anger.
“Listen to me you weirdo: if we don’t do something now, our friend is going to die so tell us where’s a fucking doctor and go annoy anyone else”
The pink pony seemed surprised and hurt by the tone of the green unicorn, so her mane deflated and with a sad look she pointed the hospital. Both unicorns, followed by the giant and the unconscious Ben, left Pinkie Pie about to cry. Still looking them leaving and restraining her tears, Pinkie felt the friendly hoof of a friend on her shoulder. Whining, she looked at Applejack:
“You see how she talked to me? I thought everypony liked to feel welcome”
“Please don’t blame yourself sugar cube, don’t ya’ see how bad their friend was? Of course the fellas’ were a little worried and urged to help him. Give them some time, alright? Once he recovers ya’ can try to befriend them again”
Pinkie nodded. Of course. How could she not notice that? If one of her friends end up as hurt as the unconscious pony of course she would felt urged to help them as well.
“Okey dokey lokey! I’ll ask Red Head when he recovers so I could offer them a “everything is alright party” and sure they’ll be happy and be my friends” said Pinkie back to normal again.
“That’s the Pinkie Pie I know. Now go back to work and wait for good news” said Applejack relieved for Pinkie Pie.
In the meantime, Hansel and Gretel arrived to the hospital; with Edward guarding their stuff, both of them could find some help from nurse Red Head who seemed very surprised by Ben’s state.
“What happened to him? This seems really really bad?”
“Not the time to answer stupid questions” said Hansel with a threatening tone. “We need a doctor and we need it now”
Red Head gulped and ran for a stretcher to take the poor pony to the nearest free room. Of course she didn’t offended by the aggressive tone of Hansel. Looking at Ben it was just logical to them to be that stressed. In fact she was mentally lecturing herself for her lack of priorities. When she found the stretcher, the siblings blinked surprised. The stretchers they knew were made of wood and leather; but this one was made of aluminum and fabric. It even had wheels! What the fuck? They also get surprised by the modern equipment of the hospital, the coats and everything else. But again, that wasn’t the time to admire pony technology, they had to help Ben. Finally a Pegasus doctor examined Ben’s burn with concern in his eyes.
“This doesn’t seem natural. What happened to him?
“A direct strike of black magic” answered Gretel. As witch hunter she was used to that kind of things, it was strange when a witch send a direct strike instead of canalizing the magic in a spell or curse; but it wasn’t that unusual.
“What? You said black magic?”
“I have a little of experience with that kind of wounds. Now if you don’t mind we need to save his life”
The doctor frowned, this wasn’t looking very well. Hansel only stared at the doctor.
“And what? Can you save him or not?”
The doctor didn’t say anything; this was really concerning. With a serious look in his face he began to treat the wound the best he could; it was a third-degree burning but still he could save Ben; they brought him just in time. When he finished he looked at the ponies:
“Tell me something: is it true he was attacked with black magic?”
“We saw the whole thing” said Hansel. “It doesn’t matter anyway”
“Of course it matters” said the doctor not letting himself feel intimidated by Hansel. “This means we have to inform the authorities right now. Understand that black magic isn’t very common and if somepony is injured by it, the Princesses should know”
Hansel and Gretel exchanged a significant look. In this place magic was well-known, but black magic wasn’t that much. That gave them a little advantage, the idiot who attacked Ben and stole Muriel’s book was going to be easy to locate.
“Go ahead, inform them then” said Gretel. “I just don’t see the importance of this”
The doctor frowned, those two were acting very suspiciously; but as a pony he always thought the best of people and considered their attitude as they were concerned about their friend; who wouldn’t be? So he ran to call the nearest Princess: Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight came flying as soon as she heard the news, and as soon as she arrived to the hospital, she ran to the room the siblings and Ben were. All the personal let her pass respectfully; the news of a pony attacked with black magic quickly spread all over the hospital. She entered to the room along with the doctor, where Hansel and Gretel were waiting checking regularly on Ben and some books the nurses gave them to spend time. Especially history books trying to find some information about black magicians.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle is here” announced the doctor.
The siblings nodded, and waited. Twilight used her magic to examine Ben while she was being watched carefully by the two witch hunters.
“So?” Asked Gretel. “We already know he’s out of danger so it’s only a matter of time for him to recover, right?”
“Yes and no” said Twilight very agitated. “Of course he’ll recover but as soon as he does, we have to make several questions”
“What kind of questions” Asked Gretel defensively.
Luckily for her, again the ponies thought her attitude was that bad because she was worried about the friend who lied on the bed so nopony felt offended.
“Well, first we’ll have to know where that happened. Black magic is uncommon in Equestria and if somepony was attacked by it, that means we have a new enemy to face. Or worst, an old enemy; there’s something on the remains of the dark aura that seem familiar”
On that moment Hansel looked at his sister passing her the book.
“Gretel I think you should check this” he said.
Gretel did as he said, on the chapter cover they could see a black unicorn who seemed like the male witch they faced on Ausburg’s forest. Same eyes, same gray coat, same long black mane.
“King Sombra” mumbled Gretel. “So Ben was hit by royalty, okay, I bet he’ll feel important when he awakes”
Both siblings grinned, this was going to be fun, and luckily for them; this wasn’t notice neither by Twilight or the doctor.
“You said it was King Sombra? You saw him?”
“Yes we did” said Gretel. “Is there any problem, your highness?”
“OF COURSE IT ITS! HE SUPPOSED TO BE SEALED BY THE CRYSTAL HEART! Now we have a trouble, lots of trouble. King Sombra can’t return that easy; and if he does, Equestria is in grave danger”
“Sealed?” Asked Hansel. “Is that something like locked away?”
“Well, yes. Is that or try to reform him; the only two ways to stop evil” said Twilight a little recovered. Something on the siblings’ expression was odd… like they were having fun of her? No, it had to be her imagination- “Are you sure it was him”
“Pretty sure”
Twilight frowned.
“I need to go to Crystal Empire as soon as I can; to check with Candace and Shining Armor if they can help me to assure if he truly escaped. And I know this is too much to ask but I need you to come as well”
“You mean go to the former domains of the one who did this?” Asked Hansel.
“I understand you’re scared but…”
“On the contrary your highness, it’ll be a great honor” said Gretel. “But at least I wish we could wait until Ben could join us. How much time do you think he needs until he could travel, doctor?”
The doctor smiled, tendered by the concern on the siblings for their friend.
“Thanks that you brought him on time, tomorrow morning he could move. I recommend to wait for a week considering it was black magic but I guess Princess Sparkle can do it for you. Only if you don’t mind your Highness”
“Of course not” smiled Twilight. “And I understand your request, we won’t move until he recovers and in the meantime, you can stay at my Palace for tonight along with your other friend. If there’s something I honor is true friendship”
Both Hansel and Gretel bowed, but rejected to stay with Twilight saying they wanted to spend time with their friend. Again Twilight granted them that, admiring the devotion for their friend. But at least she recommended to have a walk in the town.
“The doctor told me he administrated a very powerful sedative to your friend so he won’t awake in the next four hours so you have that time to kill. What about I show you the town? You know, to think in other thing while your friend is resting”
Both of them shrugged and accepted. In fact they only wanted to be there when Ben open his eyes to explain him the new situation; but if they had some time to kill it would be wise to know their new hunting territory. They needed to be as cautious as they could to avoid uncomfortable situations. In the middle of the walk, some watch Hansel had began to sound it’s alarm making the hunter to stop walking and put an injection on his back leg.
“What was that?” Asked Twilight.
“I have the sugar sickness. If I don’t put this injections every four hours I die” said Hansel like nothing.
“Oh, you’re diabetic. That means bad news for Pinkie Pie; because you see… she set a party for you, to celebrate your friend is out of danger and to apologize for her lack of tact when you arrived”
“WHAT?” Both of them asked.
Twilight stopped in front of a building that looked like a gingerbread house, and of course that didn’t seem fun for the hunters. It was when the pink pony from early came bouncing happily:
“Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner! You see, I have friends in the hospital and they informed me about your situation and I thought, oh they have to be very scared; but, hey! Let’s help them relax celebrating that at least their friend is okay now. Besides you leave tomorrow an I want to be your friend before you leave town and…”
Both witch hunters just began to walk away from the backery.
“Ey, what’s the matter? You don’t want to have some fun?”
“Not only there’s still a bad moment,” said Gretel. “But also if there’s something we learnt in our life is… if you see a house made of candy, you better don’t enter”
Twilight didn’t understood the last part but at least she did the first one: they weren’t the kind of ponies who won’t stop worrying until everything finish and a still there wasn’t the right time for parties. By her way, Pinkie just heard the part of not entering a house made of candy:
“Come on! Is just a little something to attract more foals to our business, nothing bad”
“You said to attract children?” Asked Gretel.
Pinkie nodded. Then Hansel approached and began to examine her eyes, teeth, mane and body.
“Clean” he informed.
“Okay, let’s move” said Gretel coldly.
And walked away from Sugar Cube Corner.
“Please! At least stay for a piece of cake!”
Hansel stared at her:
“First: I can’t eat sugar. Second: this is not the time you idiot”
And they left. Pinkie looked at them leaving again, but this time she felt a little guilty. Again her urge to befriend every new pony she meet made her annoy two strangers who only thought about their friend. Why she have to be that impulsive? Twilight sighed, she understood that Pinkie was hurt but this time she had to be at the side of the strangers, they weren’t from there so they weren’t used to Pinkie and her happiness.
“Okay next stop: Crystal Empire”
If you're going to kill a witch, a wizard in this case, you better burn him alive
The night passed without any new incidents, the siblings stayed at the hospital until Ben woke up and after the early shock, they managed to explain him the new situation. The boy just chuckled silly.
“And I thought nothing could surprise me when I became a witch hunter. Apparently I was wrong”
“That’s the spirit boy” congratulated him Hansel. “Now let’s go tell the doctor you’re alright and then go to the Princess’ castle. We have a long day tomorrow”
They called the doctor and after the routine checks and some more, the whole group spent the night at Twilight’s castle. At the next morning they took the first train to Crystal Empire along with Twilight and Spike. At the beginning they had a few problems with the passengers and Edward’s appearance but the siblings protected their troll friend answering for him. Again Twilight liked the cooperation spirit of those guys but still was very worried about the new situation. Also the group seemed distant and silent but again the purple alicorn interpreted it like they were scared by the idea to go directly to Sombra’s domains.
Once they arrived at the Crystal Empire, Candace and Shining Armor received them in person.
“And?” Asked Twilight scared.
“I’m afraid it’s true” mumbled Shining Armor angry with himself. “He escaped and we didn’t even realize! Damn it, he could be anywhere!!”
“But how do you knew he escaped Twilight?” Asked Candace also very worried.
“I didn’t, but luckily I found this ponies who said one of them was attacked by Sombra”
Shining looked at the witch hunters with caution, especially because of the big deformed man behind them who pulled a suspicious chariot, but he quickly noticed Ben.
“So you’re the one attacked by King Sombra”
Ben nodded weakly. After all, he wasn’t completely recover from the attack.
“And how did you survive?” Asked Candace looking at the young one.
He thought twice before answer, he knew Hansel and Gretel didn’t want to call too much attention about who they really were and what they were about to do; but he had to say something. Finally he mumbled an excuse:
“I really don’t know. He was about to finish me when… something called his attention. Something or someone, I really don’t know; so he left me and disappeared, and I really don’t know what happened next, only that I woke up in a hospital and my friends were with me”
Hansel, Gretel and Edward nodded.
“Is like Ben said, apparently he was looking for something, we only happened to be on his way”
The three monarchs nodded, yeah, it had sense; the Dark King would never waste his time with some worthless pray so he acted fast. Shining looked at Spike and gave him a parchment:
“Spike, we already sent a message to Princess Celestia but I think it hasn’t arrived yet. Would you mind, please? This is urgent!”
The small dragon didn’t need to be told twice, he took the message and sent it as fast as he could. Without nothing else to do on the train station, the three monarchs followed by the witch hunters began to move to the Palace where they could think what to do next. When they arrived, Princess Celestia were already waiting for them.
“You got our message” said Candace stragith to the point.
“Yes and I don’t like it” she said with an unusual serious expression, something that never announced nothing good. “Where are the little ponies who faced him?”
“Right here” said Gretel calmly. “And like we already repeated like five times, yes, the one who attacked our friend was no other than King Sombra”
Celestia stared at them, the report said only one was truly attacked, it had to be the blond one. Still she was curious why Sombra didn’t got rid of the witnesses. According to the story something called his attention more than those other three, but what was so interesting that prevented the Dark King to take their lives? She frowned.
“Listen my little ponies, I know this is one of the most invasive spells of all times; but it would be really helpful for us if you let us see your memories. Perhaps we could get a clue for what he found and if it’s dangerous to Equestria”
Gretel shook her head, still calmly.
“I prefer not. Whatever happened doesn’t matter anymore. We only wanted to know if Ben was going to be okay, and now than we know we really like to get back home as soon as we can”
Celestia sighed, still frowning.
“I know you’re very scared to be here right now, but please be reasonable. Those memories could have the key to defeat Sombra. Please my little ponies, I really prefer for you to cooperate instead of forcing you”
Hansel and Gretel exchanged a look. What to do now? If they let the ponies see their memories they could say good bye to their cover, but if they keep denying they’ll use their magic (they weren’t immune to white magic) to see what really happened and nothing would change. It was a desperate situation. Luckily for them, unluckily for the ponies; that was the time when the worst happened: a black fog and several appeared all over the Crystal Empire, surrounded by the power of darkness. And in the top of a black crystal tower that appeared in the middle of the main square, King Sombra appeared more powerful and threatening than ever before. He had two enchanted crystal hooves as prosthesis now but still he seemed very powerful.
“GREETINGS MY SLAVES, DID YOU MISS ME?”
The crystal ponies began to panic, screaming all over the city trying to escape from their evil king. Back in the castle, the four monarchs couldn’t believe what just happened.
“SOMBRA!!”
Sombra grinned to them, showing the large fangs. Celestia moved backwards really scared, the King’s aura seemed different that the one she knew, much more stronger. Something happened that made him more powerful than ever, beyond of the pony limits.
“So what we have here, a meeting of the four beings I hate the most. After those humans but they’ll pay for my lost limbs on their time. Now, what should I do with you?”
The three alicorns flew to Sombra ready to defeat him but they were caught by the black fog of the King. He laughed loudly, taking Twilight in one tentacle of that black magic and putting her eye to eye on him.
“Oh, what a surprise! The owner of the dragon who humiliated me last time. When did you get the wings, sweetheart?”
Twilight tried to free from Sombra, but he sent powerful beams of black magic making her scream in pain. Celestia and Candace wanted to do something to save Twilight but they were immobilize and soon also attacked by the black magic, delighting Sombra with their own screams of pain.
“TWILY!” Shouted Shining Armor shooting a powerful lighting to Sombra, who blocked easily with a black magic wall and answered the insolence with a spell of his own.
And just like the first time they met, some black crystals appeared on Shining’s horn leaving him unable to use magic. The soldier spied from behind how the siblings followed by the enormous troll ran away from the room; and honestly he couldn’t blame them. If it wasn’t for his responsibility as the Prince and the Crystal Captain, he would run too. Anyway, he didn’t had the time to think because a dark magic fog tentacle caught him too along with his sister, his wife and Princess Celestia.
“What a disappointment. Only one of you took the time to improve, so shame the rest of you don’t; if only you had, perhaps it won’t be so easy”
He laughed evilly and none of the four monarchs could do something to stop him now.
“And now than you are unable to do something against me, EVERYTHING WOULD BE MINE! WITH THE POWER I FOUND ON THE HUMAN WORLD, NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW!”
“You said the human world?” Asked Celestia.
“Yes, the human world” smiled Sombra showing her Muriel’s book. “The power from this book makes me invincible. Now than I have all the power from the Great Witch, NOT EVEN THE POWER OF HARMONY OR LOVE CAN STOP ME NOW!!
He restarted his demented laughs. He was happy, truly happy… But suddenly an arrow pierced his chest on the right side, starting the black bleeding. He screamed in pain but also in anger. Who dared to defy him? An explosion was heard and before Sombra could react, he saw in horror how one of his prosthesis exploded in a million pieces. The shock made him release his prisoners, and once free the alicorns flew to the ground slowly, Candace with Shining on her back.
None of the three Princesses knew, but they were sure this wasn’t going to end well for whoever defied Sombra.
“WHO DARES? WHO DARES?” Shouted Sombra on the air, looking all over his subjects, who screamed and ducked in fear. It was clear none of them did, but then he finally spotted the insolents sitting on a bench on the main square: two green coated unicorns levitating with their magic some strange weapons.
“Ey! Remember us?” Smiled Hansel.
“I think we have an unfinished business with you, King Sombra” added Gretel ironic.
Sombra couldn’t believe it. No, it had to be some cruel joke.
“You… but how?”
“Apparently Muriel’s book wasn’t the only souvenir you took from our world” mocked Hansel shooting again, but this time Sombra dodged the attack.
Sombra grinded his teeth.
“How dare to defy me? DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU’LL END ONCE I FINISH YOU?”
The siblings laughed insolently to Sombra’s irritation.
“Come on! This will end in only one way: with the two of us offering a bonfire party for all the new friends we met in this colorful world” laughed Gretel.
“A bonfire we’ll make with your miserable remainings” provoked Hansel.
Sombra had enough, he launched himself to the hunters, who separated from an agile jump. Still Sombra decided to follow Hansel first, who received him with a direct kick on the arrow he still had in his chest, an arrow that penetrated deeper on him. That move made Sombra roll over the ground where Gretel appeared shooting a second arrow to him, this time wounding his stomach. Furious, Sombra tried to tackle Gretel but she received him with a kick on the jaw, making him to spit two teeth. Bleeding and in terrible pain, Sombra sent a new attack of pure dark magic to Hansel and Gretel. Nothing happened.
“I thought it was clear from our first encounter: we’re immune to dark magic you idiot” Gretel at the time she shot a new arrow with her ballista.
Sombra jumped away but the arrow still wounded his eye. No, why? He was so close right now… why suddenly he was fighting for his life with those two aliens he accidentally brought to Equestria? No, he had to do something and do it now; so he transformed into black fog and tried to run away. Hansel just grinned and made an small sign to Edward with his head. The troll pulled the chariot and uncover the giant modified machine gun the hunters spared for especial occasions.
“You have to be fucking kidding me” mumbled Sombra.
A magic aura, from both Hansel and Gretel surrounded the machine gun, that activated and began to attack Sombra who did his best in order to elude the attacks the best he could.
“Ey sis! Did you notice how much easier is operate this thing in our current forms?”
“Yeah, is just perfect, right?”
They continued torturing Sombra, forcing him to make true great maneuvers in the air in order to escape; but it was useless. At this point he was losing too much blood and he was truly exhausted. Finally a bullet passed through him making him fall crashing to the ground hardly. And at this point the whole fight began to attract the attention from the crystal ponies who began to gather around the main square. At the beginning they were just scared, but slowly they began to cheer loudly to this new heroes who were showing Sombra who was the boss. Of course they were ponies and weren’t used to violence, especially one as brutal as that one; but during his days as ruler of Crystal Empire they learnt to hate Sombra and watching him suffering was just great. The situation could be very annoying and angary for the King in normal circumstances; not right now that he was barely alive, crawling to Celestia looking for some protection.
“Help me” he called the Sun Princess before Hansel kicked his face again and put the modified rifle directly to his face.
“It’s over ugly” said the witch hunter. “One move and you’re dead pony•
Gretel aimed her rifle to Sombra as well and smiled to her twin brother.
“Hansel, you know we’re going to kill him anyway”
Candace, Shining, Twilight and Celestia approached carefully to the horrible spectacle.
“Please stop” called Celestia. “I don’t know who you are but as Princess of Equestria I command you to lower your weapons and stop this barbaric acts right now!”
Without moving his gun, Hansel faced Celestia.
“Are you serious? This idiot went to our world, took the Great Witch’s book, provoked us; and do you really expect to let him go just like that? No Princess, we’re going to kill him”
“NO! NOPONY DESERVES THAT PUNISHMENT NO MATTER HOW EVIL HE OR SHE IS!” Cried Candace. “AS RULER OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE…”
“Like we already said: we’re from the human world and we don’t serve you or any other pony” said Gretel.
Celestia gulped, she could see clearly on the hunters’ eyes that they already killed lots of people.
“Please! I don’t care who you are on your world but here in Equestria is forbidden to kill so go back to you came from and let us deal with Sombra at the equestrian way: seal him forever. That’s the only way to face evil if you can’t reform it”
Gretel chuckled.
“Yeah, right. Because seal him away totally worked the first and second time. Admit it: this guy will never reform and now is too powerful to just “seal him”. He freed once, he freed twice and now than he have Muriel’s power be sure he’ll free a third time. The only way to stop him, your highness, is to finish him now than you can”
Both Candace and Celestia couldn’t look the witch hunters to the eyes anymore. They were right, but still…
“I could never do something like that” mumbled Celestia.
“You don’t have to, just look to the other way” suggested Hansel.
Twilight looked at her mentor. Of course she’ll send away, back to their home, those two monsters. There was no way she authorize to…
“Okay. Do it fast”
Sombra whined. Did she just let those two to kill him? No! Edward started to prepare several logs, covering it with oil while Ben prepared a torch. Sombra screamed.
“NO, PLEASE DON’T!! PLEASE DON’T BURN ME ALIVE!!!”
He tried to freed but again he was too weak and his magic didn’t affect Hansel and Gretel.
“Sorry but if you’re going to kill a witch, in this case a wizard, you better burn him alive”
Sombra cried, tried to get free. It was useless, Gretel tied and put him on top of the logs while Hansel spread the oil on his body. Sombra sent Celestia a last look in order to appeal to her mercy… but she looked away.
“PLEASE DON’T!!”
Twilight was shocked, why she stayed there looking how a pony was about to be murdered? A familiar hoof called her attention. She turned.
“Girls!” She said surprise. “Girls go away, you don’t have to see this! Please!”
Applejack, the one who called Twilight, denied with her head.
“Sorry Twi but as soon you left we started to heard rumors about King Sombra’s return. We came to help you but when you arrived”
“We just saw those two attacking and…” Rainbow couldn’t continue and puked. She wasn’t use to that brutality.
Hansel drop the torch on the logs. The smell of burn flesh and Sombra’s screams of pains and pleads of mercy filled the Crystal Empire. Celestia cried and puked; just as Rainbow Dash. Candace couldn’t stay and ran away along with Shining Armor. Hansel and Gretel shared a cruel laugh. Fluttershy cried, covering her eyes and ears; but the smell was still there. Pinkie Pie fainted of impression just as Rarity. Applejack fall over her knees shacking in fear. Twilight was shocked, not only because of the fact she saw a pony being executed; but also because the relieve she felt as soon as she watched him dying. Shining was also relieved. Didn’t want to admit it but in the bottom he was pleased for knowing that Sombra was dead, not to mention the crystals on his horn disappeared at the time the king sent his last breath. At some point Gretel remembered:
“Ey, and now than I remembered, he had Muriel’s book this whole time. Okay we killed the bastard and destroyed the book, we’re done here”
Hansel nodded in agreement. After fifteen minutes more or less, it was over. The witch hunters faced Celestia.
“That’s it. Your wizard is dead now, you are safe now”
“And consider yourself lucky. Usually we charge a lot for our services, but this idiot provoked us first”
Celestia frowned studying their auras and then opening a door to their world.
“Don’t talk to me. Go away NOW”
They nodded and began to move but at the last second Celestia materialized a bag full of gold and nodded. They took it and moved again, but Hansel stopped looking at the crowd:
“Magic can be used for good, we know that now. But those who practice the dark arts, you better watch out”
“Because we’re going after you”
And then left. It was over.
Thanks to Celestia’s efforts, the information about what happened that day lost forever. But things changed forever in Equestria. For example: the guards who keep safe the magical prison Tartarus said one night they saw a short alicorn figure entering and taking Tirek… only to teleport him to an unknown location with a bag of gold tied to his neck. And also everypony who was found practicing dark arts mysteriously disappeared forever.
There was only one thing for sure: that Sombra was gone forever and the Crystal Empires built a monument in name of the two anonymous heroes who finished his life; much for Royalty’s disgust.
