The horn pulsated rapidly, and spun at a consistent slow rate in one spot on the silk cushion, still contained in its embellished confinement. Twilight cautiously observed it, concerned if not a bit panicked about the sudden change in its magical charge. The alicorn’s horn was enveloped in strong magic, intensely searching the horn for vital signs and checking its current state. While the spell operated every other second with an electric pulse, Twilight’s brows furrowed and the tiniest bead of sweat made its way down her forehead. She heaved an exasperated sigh before scrambling for a book amidst a myriad of similar thread binded literature. Within the same moment, Spike walked into the room with a silver tray. If Twilight hadn't been so caught up in her own anxieties, she would have observed the creamy ripples of tea reaching for the edge of each pink cup resting on Spikes platter. There was also an assortment of snacks, which wouldn't be enjoyed by the frantic alicorn. The dragon in the room stared silently at the alicorn as she quickly scanned pages and notes, stressed more so than she has been in awhile.
Impatiently, Flash came up to the adolescent drake and grabbed one of the three tea cups, as well as a freshly made triangular sandwich piece. The dragon eyed him a bit sternly, before Flash furrowed his brow and stated tiredly,
"Sorry. Haven't eaten yet this morning."
Spike relaxed and sympathetically nodded at the pegasus, then quietly made his way to Twilight and her books.
"Twi,...why don't you eat something...? You haven't had anything in your stomach for hours...."
"Spike, I'm busy. Food can wait till later." The alicorn retorted, almost angrily.
"Ya know, you're not gonna be able to think straight if you don't have something to give you some energy." His voice of reason countered Twilight's stressful rummage, and allowed her a moment to look at her son and the finely prepared tray. Her eyes softened as she looked at those precious, slit, green eyes begging her to rest for a minute.
"Sigh...Spike, I--"
"Come on....at least have some tea? I made it just how you like it, strong and creamy." He took a cup from the tray by the rim with his claws, serving it gracefully to the Princess. Her irises shimmered, the corners or her mouth wrinkling her cheeks in the smallest ways as they struggled to make a sign of gratitude. Twilight's horn enveloped in her magic as she grasped the cup in her hold and brought it to her lips after mouthing thankfulness to her assistant.
Flash watched as Spike came back to the stallion's side, after setting the tray on a nearby table, and then taking a sip of tea.
"How does the tea taste?" Spike asked the pegasus quietly.
"Oh...uh...hadn't tasted it yet." With that, the solider took a quick swig of the creamy substance before his face contorted into that of displeasure. The tea was still a bit hot, but as well had no sign of added flavor besides creamer.
"It's..."
"Bitter?" Spike finished for the stallion, his eyes mischievously watching Flash's hurt face.
"Tasteless. Almost like there isn't any sugar at all..." The soldier's orange, round face looked sadly at the dragon beside him with his lip a bit puckered.
"Twilight doesn't like sugar in her tea, or her coffee. Usually, she doesn't like cream either...tea is the exception." The drake explained, humored for a time at Flash's disappointment. The conversation of tea had died, and the anxious atmosphere crept in once more, leaving no pony free from it's hindrance. The armored pegasus gently put his cup back and observed the room about him, which seemed almost like it had darkened.
It was the early hours of the morning, Twilight had gone in full panic mode since the day before, frantically observing Sombra and searching desperately in her books for anything that could be of assistance. The alicorn made no exception to Flash, and had summoned him as soon as the chaos had begun yesterday. Neither Flash, nor anyone else in the room had gotten sleep the previous night, lest they were to change priorities and get chewed out by the tense mare.
With blurry, tired eyes, Flash looked on at everything in the room. It was a guest room, but oddly dark, even for a room with no windows. The candle sets on each wall struggled to keep lit, the bright orange flames dancing in the nonexistent breeze, like fabric being hit by natures wind. Despite the brightness of the candles, the corners of the aching room grew dark with caking blackness and shadow, like the colorful life from the crystals were being choked with disease. The floor closest to the embroidered case and its stand shared the same likeness, more so than the walls it seemed. With in every fractal of crystal flooring, a small tendril of black shadow, with no reflection of light, stretched outward from Sombra's confinement. The door even fearfully swayed back and forth within a small inch of space between the wall and the door's opening.
Flash shivered a bit before tiredly slouching down on a spot near the guest bed, resting slightly on the post of the framing. Everything was fairly quiet, yet the air was clouded with tension and eeriness. For awhile it stayed this way, till Twilight heaved yet another sigh of frustration before coming up to Sombra's horn and slumping down.
"Why can't you just tell me what's wrong?" Her lips whispered with no expectation for a reply. She looked at him with desperate eyes, moving slowly, observing the small grooves in his horn. Slid carefully on, his horn ring shimmered elegantly in the candlelight -- such beauty kept him confined and limited.
Twilight's eyes widened, then she laughed a little, which slightly unnerved Spike and Flash. She quickly shot up and grabbed a piece of pink paper, what looked like a letter, then came back to Sombra to stand firmly.The dragon to her left cautiously took a few steps forward to Twilight, before hesitantly asking,
"Uh, Twi, you alright?"
'Yes, Spike...I just had a realization!" She said in concentration, her horn producing a magical glow as she read the words on the parchment she held. Flash came out of his boredom at the sound of Twilight's change in mood, as he walked up to the two standing close to Sombra.
"What's going on?" The solider inquired, looking curiously to both his left and right to observe Spike and Twilight's facial expressions. One was filled with both confusion and worry, while the other was oddly determined whilst she speedily read through instructional writing.
"I've figured something. This whole time I thought there was an issue with Sombra himself. In reality, I believe this is technically my doing." Twilight explained, quickly looking at the two by her side, her hoof raised. They both looked at her with deep concentration, then at one another with dumbfounded faces.
"I don't get it." Flash stated bluntly, his head shaking slightly.
"Me neither." Spike mirrored the stallion. Yet another breath of air left the Princess, whether it was because of the boys or her own exhaustion, neither Spike or Flash knew.
"Basically," The alicorn pointed a purple hoof at the ring on the disembodiment.
"This is the issue. With this on, and without me allowing Sombra to use his magic to transform, I am hindering him. This is my doing, however, unintentional."
"So....how do we turn the thingy off then?" Flash questioned, rather like a foal in class questioning his teacher on the basics of a subject.
"I don't think we turn it off." Spike figured, to which Twilight nodded.
"We can't, not until he's reformed....that was the agreement. The problem is seemingly calling out a spell, or something, to allow Sombra to use his magic, and thus transform. When the Princesses were here, all we did was activate the ring, so it's currently at it's strongest restriction without any exception. I just need to set some kind of....safe-lock or something to allow me control over the ring itself."
"Oh, alright." The solider smiled slightly, still a bit confused, but reasoned it would be best to let Twilight continue without trying to educate him.
"How do you plan on setting up the lock?" Spike's claw rested on his scaly chin in focus, as Twilight skimmed through the pink note in her magical grasp.
"According to Cady's latest letter from when she had returned home, I have to recite the spell itself only once, and then say a word of my choosing that will be used whenever I wish to allow Sombra free will." She, set the paper down carefully on the table closest to her, and stood ready, almost like she were going into battle.
"I have to say it aloud so Sombra can hear me too." She turned to the dragon and the pegasus with a cautious eye. "You guys may want to step back." Which they then did, their bums almost touching the next wall behind them.
The alicorn took a shaky breath, then inhaled again much deeper. Her eyes then shot open, the magic from within her moving in a wisp-like manner toward Sombra's horn.
"By the power within me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I control you and your being. You shall not have free will, and will only do what is commanded of you!" Twilight exclaimed, almost as if she were yelling at Sombra's face.
"Only when I feel you may, will I grant you your will. Only when I know your intentions are not malicious, will you be given your rights. And only when you have changed will you be set free from these bounds." Spike and Flash awed, their mouths agape, as the mare's powerful voice bellowed.
"When you hear the word 'Stars' alone, you are privileged one freedom. Now, I grant your first right. Sombra, tyrant King of The Crystal Empire, you may transform!" The small, purple mare clashed a thundering stomp to the crystal floor, a loud echo circling the walls. The magic had dissipated, the horn's glow faded, everything went still, and the world went silent. After a moments pause, nothing occurred, and Flash hesitantly whispered to Spike.
"Was that it?"
Twilight's muzzle scrunched up in confusion, as she then grabbed the letter again.
"I don't understand, I thought that would work? Why didn't it--"
"He stopped glowing though, that's something right?" Spike comforted, before Twilight stress-fully shouted.
"Sombra! Transform!"
"Twi-" Flash sympathetically came to Twilight's shoulder, gently resting a hoof on her.
"I grant you this right! Stars!"
"I don't think it's going to w--" Spike didn't finish as a loud creak sounded from the bedroom door as it came to a close. The two ponies, and dragon, nervously looked on at Sombra's horn as it began to shift and deform. It took the appearance of thick, gooey ink, melting quickly and enlarging into several odd shapes. The oily substance moved about without a care for gravity, going every which way. It began to pop, and a revolting smell came out from its core making the ponies and Spike cover their snouts in distaste. Before long, the goo formed what looked like a pony’s mouth, which took a large gasp of air as if it had been drowning in the blackness of the oil.
“Agggghhh!!!” It screamed loudly, frightening everypony in the room. Twilight couldn’t help but tear up, scared, as she watched the first half of Sombra’s ink covered body pull out from the chest. The stand broke into pieces as the weight of the stallion increased. He began to crawl from the chest on the crystal floor, reaching a forming hoof out to Twilight, still gasping heavily for oxygen.
"Erraagghh haaagg yeeagghh!" Sombra exclaimed, before his ink-soiled torso collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The black sludge began to burn into a dark smoke, a sizzle sound emanating from Sombra's ink figure. He screamed in agony, his face became more real as the black matter evaporated and was replaced with grey fur. The tyrant king, at last, opened his eyes to reveal gruesome red irises. They stared at Twilight's face of fear, as a single tear of pain fell down each of their faces. He stopped screaming, and instead held it back, pressuring his head to shake violently and his mouth to remain open to gasp for air. He continued to eye his reformer, as the rest of his body formed and burned in anguish, and whatever had already been completed shook terribly.
"I-" The stallion struggled. "I hate you. I hate you! I hate you, Twilight Sparkle!" The said mare cupped her snout, and tears fell from her round cheeks.
"I'm...so sorry..." She whispered to him, but he had already started screaming again, hindering him from listening to her.
What seemed like forever, was only a few minutes, before Sombra's body was finished and the last of the oily ink had dispersed into a tendril of black smoke from his hind hoof. His fleecy, muscular, scar covered body laid incredibly still on the cold crystal surface, nothing coming from him any longer. The trio, still standing in utter horror, couldn't pull their eyes off of the spectacle and the ex-King who was passed out on the floor amidst broken furniture. However, Twilight couldn't bare to stand and stare at him any longer. With eyes blurred by tear and discourse, she walked a few steps toward him. He breathed peacefully now, and seemed to be safe, which relieved her.
"Spike, Flash....put him in the bed. Make sure he's covered."
It was so cold. So very cold. It felt like ice grew on his very being, crawling desperately on him to reach no end. It was also dark. Sombra had opened his eyes for only a moment to view the world around him, before he closed them once more in fear, tightly holding the lids against his irises. Only for a second had he taken in the white wasteland engulfing him, and the pointed peaks that stood proud and deadly amidst the snow and ice. Though he couldn't see his body, he felt himself curl up reflexively, holding his face with his hooves as the bitter cold ate as his flesh. He shook violently while he whimpered uncontrollably, the snow from the dark clouds above falling on his little snout and in his black mane.
"I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember...." He repeated, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
"What...what was I to do? Where is the outside? What is my name? I can't remember. I can't..." He hushed as his ears flicked to the sound of crunching snow close by. He made himself smaller in a desperate attempt to hide his noticeable self in the snow. It got closer and closer to him, before it stopped. He could feel his fur stand up as the feeling of another in his presence became more prominent. He could sense someone's hooves just beside his back. He cried. Tears falling down his round, chubby cheeks.
"Hush little one." A gentle, calming voice of a mare spoke to him, like a mother reassuring her foal. "Have faith, my child. 'Tis cold, but thoust will feel the warmth of flames soon. Come to me. I shall cover thee whilst we walk through the storm." The foal turned his head, over his shoulder to see glistening, golden shoes protecting her delicate pink hooves from the snow.
He awoke with a start. Sombra's body flew upright from the comfort of pillows under him, as he panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot. His grey hoof met his racing chest, trying to calm himself and breath. It must have been ages since he was cursed with a dream. But it wasn't a dream. It was a memory.
He solemnly looked at the purple sheets that graced his figure, the thought of snow and her pretty hooves never ceasing to leave his scarred mind. The stallion's breathing slowed and evenly he inhaled deeply as he looked about him. He was in a beautiful room, adorned with crystals and curtains, almost everything fashioning the color purple. Perhaps he was still in the Crystal Empire? He couldn't recall anything after the princesses had put him in that damned box, his confinement.
His cloven hoof met with his brow, frustratingly snorting.
"Hm."A mare's hum pulled him away from his aggravations. He turned slowly to his side to see a mare using a table to rest her head, her bum barely on the cushioned stool. Her hair was down and about her shoulders, beautifully rested on them. The mare's round cheeks were pink with tiredness, as she peacefully moaned, seconds of rest passing by.
"Intriguing." He whispered to himself, admiring her from afar, before he remembered. The stallion's eyes ventured, and observed her body. Her horn protruded from her neatly cut bangs, and her wings folded casually against her curved back, only the bottom portion of her cutie mark was visible to him. Sombra then quickly placed a hoof on his horn and irritatingly cringed at the feeling of a ring on him, which shocked his hoof with a magical pulse.
"Gah! Damn these insolent beings, with their damn rainbows and damn magic." He cursed under his breath, his hoof massaging his temples. He looked on at the Princess across the room with fiery irises, his nostrils flaring with resentment. The tyrant wanted nothing more than to blast her and turn her into obsidian for the harm she has caused him, but he knew it would be pointless. He fell back on the many pillows to his backside, and sighed loudly with exasperation.
Soon, the door opened quietly, and an odd looking creature walk in the room holding a tray. Sombra eyed the male specimen, before the scaley beast noticed him.
"Ah...um..." The thing uttered cautiously.
"Pray tell, beast, what horrifying creation approaches me?" Sombra stated nastily, his snout contorting into revulsion.
"Er....ever seen a dragon before?" Sombra looked at him with a straight face while Spike only chuckled nervously.
"I suppose not." The grey stallion folded his hooves against his chest, looking on at Spike with a stern glare.
"Ehm." The drake cleared his throat and continued on his path to the inn table beside Sombra's bed. "I-uh, well, I am considered a dragon. I'm also Twi's - I mean - Princess Twilight's assistant."
Sombra silently observed the purple scaley claws of the beast as he gracefully removed a cup of tea and a plate of some sort of meal to the wooden surface of the table.
"You think me foolish to actually consume these elements? First impression of your kind presumes low intelligence." Sombra swiftly averted his eyes from the dragon, to concentrate on the crystallized walls. Spike snorted indignant, before retorting harshly.
"Listen, you need to eat. Why would we do anything to harm you when we were told to help you?"
"You're mad." Sombra whispered under his breath, then cursed quietly to himself.
"Fine, don't eat the sandwich. At least have tea, though. It should make you feel much better....you feel tired and achy, right?"
Sombra twitched, his ear flicking before turning once again toward the hideous drake before him. Without a word he stared at the cup for a long moment, an awkward pause filling the room. The angry stallion then growled, and pouted, his hooves folding tighter as he stared up at the ceiling irate.
"I can't...I can't pick up the cup."
Spike bit back a chuckle at the tyrant's childish attitude. The dragon sympathetically grabbed the rim of the cup with his claws and graciously stretched it out toward Sombra. The ex-King looked at it, irritated to be served in such a manner, before taking it with his own hooves and smelling the warmth of the cups contents. He took a cautious sip, his eye looking at Spike harshly. The purple drake watched for any sign of thought from the stallion, but his face was expressionless. He set the creamy tea down between is legs on the sheets covering him, curiously observing the waves of tea that tried to leave the edge of the pink cup.
"It may be too bitter, would you like something sweeter?" Spike hesitantly questioned, but Sombra shook his head slightly.
"No need. This is fine."
It's actually quite delicious. Unexpected.
"Well, I've sort of always made tea the same way. It's how Twilight likes it..." Spike explained softly, his cheeks rising in the slightest way as he gave a small smile. With that, the drake walked over to Twilight's table and set another cup down, one that Sombra hadn't noticed was on the tray.
"So she likes to drink tea in the morning." Sombra whispered more to himself, but Spike shook his head and laughed a little.
"Naw, she likes coffee, black coffee. She thinks sugar ruins the flavor." Spike paused before looking over his shoulder at the alicorn.
"She should wake up soon to the smell of the coffee. By then she'll likely talk to you about what is going on and what will happen next. If you need us, just call for Flash outside the room, he guards the door." With that, Spike grabbed the empty tray and left without another word.
"Is he awake?" The orange pegasus inquired, noticing Spike's scaly body quietly exiting the room and shutting the door behind him.
"Yeah. Not sure how long he's been awake. He doesn't talk much, and for lack of a better word, he's rude."
"Wouldn't have expected anything else out of 'em. What happens next?"
"Not certain." Spike answered casually, then slowly walked down the hall. Flash vigilantly stared as the drake left the hall, and happily reached for his prized possession from his pack. The journal glowed an amber shine, as another entry was being made from the other end, the connection between the journal and it's writer unwavering. He had almost been caught with it when Spike surprisingly walked the hall before, and gifted Flash with a cup of sweetened tea.
A breath of relief escaped the pegasus as he gently caressed the leather binding and opened it.
Twilight,
It's been ages since we last spoke. How are you?
And if you have wondered, I am doing good. There have been many new revelations since the last time I've sent you a message.
Anyway, I hope you are alright. If you have the time, I would love to hear from you.
Regards
Sunset Shimmer