Spectrum's POV
I flap my dark wings as I fly. I didn't know where I am heading to nor do I know why I am flying away from my friends. The wind whistles in my ears and I see the clouds in the air, beckoning me to take a quick rest. I refuse to take a break on the seemingly luxurious clouds. The sun is setting for yet another night, powered by Princess Celestia's magic and the moon is beginning to rise, thanks to the magic of Princess Luna.
It is then when I realize that I am at the border of the Crystal Empire, circling around the place hundreds of times. I wonder if Twilight or Fluttershy or any other of my other friends are searching for me, calling my name. I know that Pinkie can find me if she tried and the dark streak that I leave behind isn't making it any less obvious. How will the ponies react when I land back into the palace? Will they welcome me and let me in because of Princess Cadence and Twilight or will they shun me out? I know that I deserve the latter from my previous actions but I hope that they won't judge me on that.
I land in front of the gates and immediately, the guards say, "Halt!"
I reply, "Let me in. I am one of Twilight's friends."
"We can not let any enemies in."
Kill... Torture... Don't be such a pushover, Spectrum Crystal.
I snarl, "This is your last warning, guards." At that moment, Twilight trots out and sees me. At that very moment, we stare at one another. Slowly, Twilight trots to the guards and whispers a few words in their ears before trotting away without even looking at me. The guards put their weapons away and step aside to let me into the place.
I gallop to Twilight, "Hey Twi. What happened while I was gone?"
The princess replies, "Traces of King Sombra's return. I don't suppose that you know about it?"
"About what?"
"King Sombra is returning someday soon. Studies show that it will be between anything from three to five days." My wings flares without my permission.
I shout, "No! We need to stop him."
Twilight corrects me, "No, we need to stop him. You, meanwhile, will not leave the room and will be under the watch of the guards."
"Why? What did I do?"
Twilight says quietly, "You killed ponies, Spectrum. The Crystal Ponies don't want to fight with them, in fear of you fighting against them instead." Her eyes looks down at the floor. I didn't talk. She didn't either. Twilight leaves me in the castle, trotting away slowly. She glances at me one last time before joining the rest of her friends. Meanwhile, I go to my room.
I stare myself in the mirror for what it seems to be the millionth time today. I can fight and I want to fight. The Crystal Heart clearly isn't working on him. The Elements of Harmony may be able to destroy him and permanently kill him. My mind even toys with the little chance that he may be redeemed and that he would apologize to me and... and maybe I would have a real father figure in the future. It is a wishful thought though and he can never really become a dad to me again.
I pace around my room, wondering what to do. I need to help them defeat my father. It's my only revenge and I'm not going to waste this opportunity. Besides, what Element of Loyalty will I be if I left my friends to their doom? Sombra will not underestimate the Crystal Empire again, I'm sure of it, and they have no idea what horrors he can create with a simply look.
"Spectrum Crystal," my father snarled, "Get back this instant, you worthless pegasus. You have some things to do. I want you to kill Slave 420. He has betrayed me many times and I'm certain that he's a spy."
I shook my head, "Father-"
Sombra continued, "If you don't do it, I'll have you suffer too. Go and do it, daughter."
I said, "Father, I don't want to kill again. I've killed six ponies already and I don't want to kill too many. Father? Please forgive me for this but I no longer want to do any killing again."
"You will do what I say. This is your last warning, Spectrum." Once again, I shook my head and turned away, refusing to kill. Immediately, he teleported in front of me and stared into my eyes, sending me into horrors that I couldn't turn away from.
"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" The crowd roars outside the palace. I look outside to see mobs of Crystal ponies shouting in fury at my existence. I haven't seen them like this ever. They never tried to resist my father when he was around. In my heart, I like their spirit. My eyes scours through the crowd before landing on one pony who is telling the others to shut up. Can it be...?
I whisper, "Pega?" I glance at the pegasus, trying to catch a better look at him. The crowd pushes him back and starts to beat him up for just saying that they shouldn't kill me. I am not so heartless to let him die. Damn my reputation. It's already into shreds anyways. I open the window and flap my wings to the crowd.
I shout, using my voice, "Stop! Release him now." The Crystal Ponies looks up and sees me. They begin shouting things at me.
I continue saying, "Go back to your homes. This is your last warning."
Twilight flies up, "Spectrum! What are you doing?" Like the good friend I am, I decide to ignore her.
Fluttershy flaps her wings and looks at me in the eyes, "Rainbow Dash! I don't care that you're somepony different but you are still you. Stop this right now. You're not helping matters... If you can." She retreats back into her shy self at the last second.
I warn them, "Girls, if you wish to not get hurt, I need you two to move away." They move back a little bit continue talking. I didn't even pay attention to what they are saying. How will a Sonic Shadowboom affect the Empire? I have no wish to destroy the place but if they didn't get their hooves off of Pega, it will be worth it.
I decide to use a spell instead, "I gave you warning already." I focus the power in my wings and then I make
most of the ponies fall asleep. I try to not let the spell affect Twilight or Fluttershy but they are way too close to me to dodge the spell. Immediately, they become limp and start falling to the ground but I catch them easily. I set them to the ground before racing to Pega.
Pega gasps, "Crystal!"
Applejack races over, "He ain't know, Spectrum. You ain't tell him about no calling you Crystal."
I shrug, "I said that you can't call me Crystal. AJ, I want to talk to him, alone preferably. Don't worry, I'm not killing him." I lead Pega away from the crowd and we fly into my room.
Pega says, "So you're also Rainbow Dash, the Bearer of Loyalty?"
I nod, "Yeah, but I'm Spectrum Crystal now. Pega, I'm really glad to see you again." I hug him, not even caring that he's a stallion and the fact that we kept out distance due to fear in the old days.
Pega smiles and hugs back, "And you're as awesome as I remember, Crystal."
"You're cooler Pega," I reply with a smirk, "Don't you dare argue with that."
Pega releases me from the hug, "Nah, you took that blast for me and suffered through the spell. How bad was it, Crystal?"
I shudder uncontrollably, "It was horrible but I'm glad that you didn't have to go through it. If it wasn't for my immortality and the limbo like state the spell sent me, I would've died for sure."
"Is it true that Sombra is coming back? I don't know what to believe," Pega says, "I hope that the rumors are not true."
I sigh, "Pega, fath-Sombra is coming back. He's reforming and probably will enslave as many as possible to turn ponies up against one another."
Pega puts a protective wing around me, "I'll protect you as much as I can."
I reply, "And I to you. Except for the fact that I'm not allowed to fight."
Pega smirks, "Do you think I'm allowed to fight either? They are going to prohibit me because I stood up for you."
I smirk back, "When has a law ever prevented us from doing something we aren't supposed to?"
"Never," Pega replies, "And I'm not letting it stop us this time either."
I fly to the ceiling, "Pega, they're going to think that we're on his side."
He flies up to my height, "And we are going to stop him. It should be pretty clear about which side we're on if we're fighting him."
"They'll think that it's a ruse or something similar. Twilight thinks that I'm going to spy for Sombra on this side, which is something I would never do."
Pega laughs, "I would rather die than ever fight on his side. By the way, you did soundproof this room, right?"
My face turns a little pale, "There's cameras in here. C'mon, we can go to the clouds and talk in peace. Are the Crystal Ponies also residing in clouds?"
"Dunno. Guess we'll have to find out, Crystal." We fly out the window quickly and we burst into the clouds. Unfortunately, there are pegasi already there, sleeping and working in the skies. When they see me, they call the others up. Holding spears and other weapons, they charge towards us. Needless to say, I am thankful that I am expecting it and I teleport both of us into a random house of a Crystal pony. Before the pony can call reinforcements, I make the pony fall into a deep sleep and quickly erases her memory of us teleporting in there. All she can remember is that she has decided to take a nap on her bed.
I sigh in relief, "She should be asleep for the next four hours. I can continue to fix her memory of doing things so we can rest here." Normally I will feel bad for doing these things, but the ponies aren't giving me a choice on what to do.
Pega nods, "I'm going to make some food. You should probably continue manipulating her memory." I nod before making the pony think that she had grabbed a quick snack and ate it before she napped. After Pega finishes making the sandwiches, I eat one in a huge gulp. Pega does the same thing.
I say, "We need to find a place to rest. Let's go to my house in Cloudsdale. We can come back in the empire tomorrow."
"Sure! I'm interested to see all the awesome changes modern times has made," Pega answers. I teleport the two of us into my cloud home.
I sigh, "If the news of the two of us didn't already make it into this place, then I'm an idiot. Go ahead and look out the windows. Just make sure to cover them up with the curtains afterwards. I'm going to lock the door."
"Can't you set up a couple wards?"
"That'll immediately tell ponies that we're here so it's not wise."
Pega sighs, "So how long do we need to be here? I want to stretch my wings." I see his wings twitch and I open mine.
I reply, "Tomorrow when we get back to the empire, I'm sure that they'll chase us around. We'll have to fly around no matter what, assuming that the princesses don't stop the crowd. Still, we can flap our wings there."
"And we can finally race so I can show you my awesome skills?"
"Oh, you're on, Pega."