With all of Xion's experience of Equestria being mostly beautiful lands filled with wonder and majesty, she was a little surprised to find a section of Equestria that was devoid of life such as the wasteland she found herself in. The sun was blocked overhead by black clouds that seemed to follow the pair no matter where they went in the lands, but the clouds did not block the heat that radiated from the ground. Xion found herself grateful not to be stuck in her stuff coat, but what she wasn't so grateful for was that Sombra hadn't said a word since the two of them left Rarity.
"So...once we get this Golem's Core, we'll have everything you need to reform your body, right?" Xion asked Sombra, who was hanging out in one of Xion's pockets. Once again Sombra did not answer the girl, leaving Xion to sigh before she summoned her blade. While she had gotten used to the Happiest Day, she figured it was time for her to try a new style.
She detached Pinkie's keychain and replaced it with Rarity's, smiling as her blade flashed a brilliant light as it took on it's new form. The guard of the keyblade was a long strand of ribbon, one which encircled the handle and met together at a tied bow where the blade extended. The blade was a long, slender sewing needle, giving her keyblade far longer reach than any of her previous blades. And the teeth of her keyblade was a spool of thread, one which shined like the moon.
"Extended reach, that's always appreciated," Xion muttered to herself as she took up the blade in both hands, swinging it a few times to get a feel for her new weapon. "Good increase to my strength, so I want to hit things with this more. Draw? Ugh, what kind of useless ability is that? None of these Heartless drop any munny or treasure, so what's the point in it?"
'Only you could find something to complain about when you are gifted a new weapon from the heavens,' Sombra muttered from Xion's pocket, getting the girl to raise an eyebrow at the fact that Sombra had finally spoke. 'If anything, at least having a needle for a blade means that you'll be able to stab things. Or sew me a sweater, whichever suits your tastes.'
"So you finally decide to grace me with your voice. You know for a while I was actually hoping that you had permanently lost your voice and that I would be able to spend the rest of this journey is blissful silence. Glad to see that my bad luck hasn't changed," Xion joked to Sombra, but once again Sombra returned to his silence. "Geez, I was just joking, don't take it so personally."
'Please, your words cannot harm me. I have a far thicker skin than any pony despite not having skin...or any form of body at the moment,' Sombra replied with a sigh before he sensed that the sky was getting darker. 'We should probably stop here for the night. We're still a ways away from the location of the Core, so we'll need to rest. Don't want you getting too tired now.'
"It's weird hearing you being so considerate for my well being," Xion noted, but she took Sombra's advice to stop. She gathered up what few sticks she could find and clumped them into a pile, before blasting a burst of fire from the end of her keyblade to ignite the wood. "So do you want me to practice more of my training tonight? I've gotten pretty good at summoning the darkness, but I bet that it's not good enough for you. Alright, bring it on."
As she said this, she closed her eyes and summoned the darkness within, creating an aura of darkness around her that was darker than Sombra had recalled. Xion placed Sombra's horn upon a rock before she began to practice her spells, shooting dark versions of all of her magic. Sombra watched the entire time, noticing how far she had improved in such a short time.
'Yes, her grip on the darkness within has truly become stronger. At the rate she's going, she should become completely consumed by the darkness soon,' Sombra thought silently to himself, amazed at Xion's progress and also the amount of darkness that was radiating off of her. 'Perhaps, if I were to keep her going down this path into darkness, the darkness would eventually consume her heart and mind...leaving her a mindless puppet once more. One to command.'
"You know something Sombra, I actually feel that I can go farther with this darkness. Like there's a whole pool of power awaiting me within," Xion began as she closed her eyes and held a hand to her heart, beginning to summon the darkness within her once more.
"Perhaps with this power, I won't have to worry about the organization hurting us. With this power...I can protect us both-OW!" Xion yelled as a rock hit her in the back of her head, spinning around to glare at where the horn was resting. "The hell was that for?!"
'Because you are being an idiot! What did I tell you before?! You must have balance, you stupid puppet!' Sombra roared at Xion from his rock, falling off of it in the process. 'Yes, there is another well of power within your darkness, but if you were to tap into that power with how you are now, you would lose your heart and your mind, truly making you a puppet!'
"Oh...really? Thanks for the warning," Xion muttered as she canceled her dark aura, before glancing down at Sombra. "So is this as far I can go with the power of darkness?"
'For the moment. However, you will be able to tap into that pool later if you have forged your heart and soul to withstand it. And in order to do that, you must master the light within you,' Sombra explained to Xion, who tilted her head and looked and Sombra with confusion.
"The light? But I thought I was a creature of darkness?"
'You are. However, that is not the element that you are naturally inclined towards. You, Xion, are a being of darkness that has a natural connection with the light,' Sombra revealed to Xion, who looked down at her hands with amazement. 'A being of darkness that is naturally filled with light. The only being like that I've ever seen. I do not know if it is because you were created that way or if it just who you are, but that makes you both interesting...and potentially the most powerful being I have come across.'
"I think that is the closest you've come to complimenting me," Xion said with a smile, before a serious look crossed her face. "So, how do I train myself to become stronger with the light?"
'Unfortunately for you, I am not a being of the light nor have I ever cast a light based spell in my entire life,' Sombra revealed to Xion, who sighed as she slumped over slightly. 'However, just because I have never done it does not mean that I do not have a few ideas on how one would go about channeling the power of light. You remember how you channeled the darkness, correct?'
"Yeah, I just remember all of my painful memories and use them as a catalyst for...oh, I think I get what you're saying," Xion caught on with a smile, before she closed her eyes and started to remember. "In order to draw out the light within me, I just need to remember all of the good and happy...there we go," Xion finished as she opened her eyes and looked down at herself, finding an aura of light faintly surrounding her. "Huh, not as strong as my dark aura."
'Of course not, you have just started using it. It will take time and training to make your light as strong as your darkness,' Sombra said to Xion, who nodded as she summoned her blade once more. When the blade appeared in her hand, Xion found that her keyblade was covered in a second blade, one made of light. 'I see. Your darkness increases your magic while your light increases your strength. You truly are a cornucopia of surprises, aren't you puppet?'
"I aim to amaze," Xion said with a confident smile before she took up a fighting stance. Sombra felt himself smirk before his horn glowed with power, summoning creations of darkness to surround the girl. One of the beings snuffed out the light of the fire, but the light that radiated from Xion generated more than enough light to allow her to see. "But y'know, this light feels...familiar. Like an old friend I haven't seen in a while..."
'Interesting. Let us see if that aids you during this trial!' Sombra roared while signaling for his monsters of darkness to attack. The beasts did as he asked and lunged towards Xion, who let a smile cross her face as they approached. She slammed the tip of her keyblade into the ground and summoned a barrier of light, but when the beasts of darkness got close to the barrier beams of light erupted from within and decimated the dark creatures.
The ones that weren't destroyed by the rays of light charged Xion the moment her barrier lowered, but even though she was horribly outnumbered Xion's smile never faltered from her face. She charged towards the closest shadow being and cleaved him in half, causing his two halves to vanish into darkness. Xion the spun her blade around and drove the blade under her shoulder, driving the tip of her blade through the stomach of another shadow creature.
As that one vanished into darkness, Xion spun towards the final beast of darkness and hurled her keyblade towards it. The blade spun with a radiant light surrounding it, getting the beast to let out a roar before the blade pierced its body. Xion extended her hand and returned her keyblade to her, before she smiled over at Sombra with pride and gave him a thumbs up.
'By the heavens, that is some strong light,' Sombra found himself saying with a smirk of disbelief, unable to believe how quickly Xion was disposing of his minions. 'I may have said that she has a strong connection to the light, but I never thought would have believed how easily she could make its power hers. I'm almost a little jealous.'
Then Sombra watched as Xion laughed aloud as she spun her keyblade around in victory, before she hefted the keyblade onto her shoulder and gave a victory pose. Her moment of victory was ruined when the hand of one of the shadow beasts grabbed hold of her ankle, getting the girl to freak out before she started to swat at her ankle with her blade. And amidst all the chaos, Sombra found that he couldn't help but laugh.
'Able to learn both the power of darkness and light. Has met with three of the six guardians of this land and survived. Not to mention that even as a being of darkness she managed to befriend the three. She truly is one the most talented learners I have ever seen. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from my student.'
"Thanks for the tips, Sombra. That was fun."
'Well then, fun time's over, puppet!' Sombra roared at Xion, who had just managed to get the hand off of her. She glanced over at Sombra's horn with a look of interest on her face, before her eyes went wide as darkness began to spew out of the horn. The darkness that had emerged from Sombra's horn wrapped around itself and slowly began to form a body, one that was of a dark stallion that was almost up to Xion's height. Xion's eyes went wide as two white eyes opened on the face of the stallion, before a toothy grin crossed his face. "Now you face me!"
"What?! You can reforge your body?! You could do that the whole time?!" Xion yelled with disbelief as Sombra began to walk towards her, a confident grin upon his face. "If you could make a body out of the darkness, then why the heck are we even gathering up these items?! Or have you just been wasting my time?"
"Calm yourself, puppet, this is not a form I can hold for long. Thirty minutes at most and that's without strenuous activity," Sombra informed Xion, before he crouched down with a wicked smile. "Now come, puppet, allow me to truly test this light of yours. If it is not strong enough to defeat this form, then we might as well kill ourselves here to save our foes the trouble of striking us down."
"You really know how to motivate, don't you? But I won't pass up the chance to knock that annoying smile off of your face!" Xion said before she lunged towards Sombra, who cackled before he vanished into a pool of darkness. Xion's keyblade struck the ground where Sombra had vanished, before she started to look around for the dark king.
"Where are you looking?!" Sombra roared as he came flying down from above, firing blasts of darkness from his horn. Xion lifted her gaze towards Sombra and spun her blade on her fingers, using the whirling weapon to deflect the attacks before she kicked off the ground and lunged into the air towards Sombra. She slashed at Sombra, only to watch as he rolled out of the way and landed on the ground, smirking at Xion as she landed. "You're quicker on your feet than you used to be. Been practicing when I haven't been looking?"
"Guess you can say I've been leveling up," Xion replied with a smile. "You sure you want to keep fighting me? If I strike you with the blade of light, I guarantee it will hurt."
"Relax, puppet, this isn't my real form. It's just a body made of my dark magic. If you strike down this form, I'll just return to being a horn," Sombra assured Xion, but when he saw the look in her eyes he realized that she had been holding back for his sake. 'I am a king of darkness and evil and yet you still show concern for me. I will never figure you out.'
In a burst of light Xion was on the dark king, keyblade raised over her head and victory shinning in her eyes. Yet once more Sombra vanished into the darkness in time to avoid being struck down by the keyblade, but when he emerged from the darkness he found Xion's boot waiting for him. She kicked his dark form in the side of the head and sent him sprawling, forcing him to pick himself back up with a confused look on his face.
"You forget that I've used the dark passages in the past. I can feel you as you race through them," Xion informed Sombra with a wicked smile of her own, while Sombra chuckled to himself nervously. Sombra used his dark magic to conjure twin blades of darkness, which he spun around his body before taking up a fighting stance of his own. Xion dashed towards him and twirled her body, gaining momentum before she lashed out at Sombra with her keyblade.
Sombra lifted one of his dark blades to intercept, causing sparks of light and darkness to erupt when the two blades struck. For a brief moment the two forces pushed against each other, before Xion's blade cleaved through Sombra's and nearly slashed through his face. Xion then let out a cry as she prepared to stab at Sombra, before her light aura vanished in a flash and she collapsed to the ground.
"Xion?" Sombra asked as he walked over to her side, rolling her over to find that she was breathing heavily and had sweat running down her face. He let out a sigh and shook his head at the girl, who closed her eyes and began to calm her breathing. "Oh you fool. You pushed yourself too hard."
"What...do you...mean?"
"That new light form of yours is incredibly powerful, but it takes a huge chunk out of your stamina. And you're not as adept with it as you were the darkness, so when you took me on you pushed your power of light past what your body could handle," Sombra said with another sigh, before looking up at the darkening sky. "Perhaps it was for the best. We need to stop here for the night and you need to regain your strength."
"Sounds...good. Goodnight," Xion weakly muttered before she practically passed out, getting Sombra to look down at her with disbelief.
"And just like that she's out," Sombra said with a smirk at Xion, before he used his dark magic to ignite the fire once more. He then rolled Xion over next to the fire and drew forth her coat from her inventory, placing it over her. He then sat down on the rock across from her, dissipating his shadowy form and returning himself to his horn form. He sat in silence for a while, before he glanced over at the sleeping girl once more.
'Her progress is extraordinary. The other day she just learned how to channel the darkness and today she's able to use its power to increase her abilities,' Sombra thought to himself as he recalled what Xion had done. 'And then, with her strength already drained from using the power of darkness, she channels the light and manages to infuse it into her blade. Incredible.'
'She would make the perfect, mindless henchmen. With her power and my knowledge I would be able to reclaim what was stolen from me. Hell, perhaps I would be able to take over the entire world,' Sombra thought to himself before he glanced at Xion once more, remembering the city and what had happened within it. He then let out a small laugh before he turned his gaze towards the sky.
'You couldn't make it easy for me, could you? You couldn't send me some goody two shoes hero or some evil monster that I would have no issues turning to my will. No, you had to send me this train wreck.'