Twilight wakes up in a dizzy stupor. Her head is throbbing with massive pain as if something had struck her over the head. She opens her eyes to see where she is, but even in this dimly lit room, she winces at the light. As her eyes adjust, she sees a giant metal door in front of her with two slots on it, one just above eye level and the other at the bottom.
She slowly lifts her head up and looks around the room. It’s mostly empty except for a thin bed of hay laying next to the wall opposite her and a bucket stuffed in the innermost left corner of the room. She looks over at the inner wall and sees a barred window that seems to face the outside world. She slowly picks herself up off the floor, one hoof at a time.
Her headaches flair with every movement but she continues to push herself to get up. She plants her forehooves, pushing herself up, and then gains footing with her hind hooves. Slowly shaking off the pain in her head, she walks over to the window. It’s just above eye level, so she leaps up onto her forehooves and plants them against the wall. Her view of the outside is fuller now, though it’s near impossible to make out the landscape.
The sky is a rusty, auburn color with black clouds looming in the sky. The horizon is sequestered in shadow and darkness, making it impossible to see what’s beyond. Twilight tries to look down below but she can’t see much, not enough to know where she is. Another headache spikes, causing her to get back on all fours and rub the area of her head most affected. The pain only lasts for a brief minute. Once it’s gone, Twilight begins to try to recount past events prior to her ending up in this room.
“Alright, think Twilight,” she mutters to herself, “what did you do? I was sent somewhere for a special assignment? No, a test, it was a test from Princess Celestia. Where was I sent? Think!” She paces in the small circles in this small cell. “I was sent to the…something empire. The Crystal Empire, that’s it! Was I alone? No, I had Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy with me; Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were there to greet us. We came here to stop, no, to find something…the Crystal Heart, that’s what it was. Did we ever find it? Why were we looking for it? What happened after we got here?”
Twilight tries to think harder, pushing her brain to dig deep into her memories. But by doing so, another headache spiked. She rubs her hoof against her where her horn is. However, when she places her hoof there, her horn is nowhere to be felt. She moves her hoof around trying to find it, but it’s not there. She turns around and looks over at the bucket and concentrates on it, hoping to levitate it. The bucket doesn’t move.
“What’s going on?” she says in a panicked tone. “What happened to my horn? My magic?”
The door behind her becomes unlatched from the other side and creaks open. Torchlight pours into the room but it doesn’t do much to light up the dark cell. Another light, a red aura, appears, outshining the torchlight and blinding Twilight. The owner of the illumination, a tall black unicorn, walks into the room and dims his horn. Twilight’s eyes begin at the subject's hooves and slowly make their way up.
The hooves are clad in armor, as is the chest but not the main torso. A red cloak with a fuzzy black and white fringe drapes over his torso. A charcoal black mane flows down the of his neck. She looks at his face and notices the red and green eyes with purple smoke pouring out of them. A long black horn that fades into blood-red protrudes from his head. On top of his head sits a grim crown of black and red crystals. Twilight looks at the figure and begins to tremble in horror.
The menacing subject looks down at the little unicorn, his facial expression is neutral yet intimidating. A shiver crawls up Twilight’s spine. “I trust you know who I am?” he asks in a deep and firm tone.
“K-King S-S-Sombra,” Twilight says nervously. She stands in horrified awe of him. She feels like an ant looking up at a giant. Her legs shake with fear and the color in her face disappears. Both of her eyes, wide open, are fixed on him and won’t separate from him.
Sombra notices her fearful demeanor and breaks a gentle smile. His smile is off-putting for Twilight, but her emotions don’t change. “It’s good to see your memory is still intact to a certain degree,” says Sombra as he walks past her towards the barred window. Twilight’s fear holds her in her place, her eyes staring out the open door. “I was worried I might have hurt you too severely. Seeing you unconscious on the floor at the top of the tower,” he turns his head to look at her, “you’re a lot tougher than you seem.”
Twilight doesn’t know what to say. Why was the embodiment of dark magic, greed, and evil concerned about her health? She slowly turns around to face the grim creature. She looks at him and sees a proud face looking at her. “Wh-why--,” she tries to ask but is cut off.
“I must say when I first saw you, I wasn’t expecting much of challenge,” Sombra says walking past her again. He stands in the doorway and continues, “But you were able to find where I hid the Crystal Heart and you even decided to go hoof-to-hoof with me. Celestia really knows how to pick her students.”
“How did you know--,” Twilight tries asking but is cut off again.
“Well isn’t it obvious?” he asks. “The magic you used, all tricks that only Celestia would know. None too different from when she usurped me all those years ago. Well, except I came out on top this time. It felt good to finally have used my old form again and to put it to the test. It’s a shame that the puppet and her colt toy couldn’t give me an equal challenge.”
Puppet and colt toy? Twilight thinks. She then realizes who he’s talking about. “What happened to Cadence and Shining Armor!?” she blurts out, her fear is overcome with worry for her brother and sister-in-law.
Sombra is taken aback slightly by her sudden change in emotion. Realizing her concern, he quickly comes up with a statement. He walks up to her and puts his right hoof on her left shoulder. “They’re perfectly fine,” he says. “Once I took the Crystal Empire for myself, I sent them and whoever didn’t belong back to Celestia. She somehow found out the empire was lost and sent for all Equestrians to return home immediately.”
“So my friends are safe?” she asks.
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific,” says Sombra.
Twilight begins to describe her friends to him; her tone is rapid and riddled with concern. “Two Earth Ponies, one pink the other orange. Two Pegasus’s, one with a light blue coat and rainbow mane and the other with a butterscotch coat and light pink mane. One unicorn with a white coat and violet mane.”
Sombra begins to slowly nod and slightly chuckles. “Yes, I remember seeing those five ponies leaving with an Equestrian guard escort. Rest assured that your friends are safe.” Twilight sits down in front of him, a wave of relief and emotional exhaustion rush over her.
Her friends and family are safe and out of reach for Sombra. Celestia can protect them for now. However, there is still one member whose fate is still unknown. She looks up at Sombra and asks, “What about Spike? My dragon friend, what happened to him? He would’ve been a small dragon, he’s still a baby.”
Sombra looks at her confused as if she just asked him a deep philosophical question. He purses his lips together, trying to remember, or at least appearing to. “I don’t remember seeing any dragon, big or small. I’m sorry,” he says in a forgiving tone.
Twilight gets up, walks over to the window, and looks out towards the horizon. The last thing she remembers of Spike is telling him to get the Crystal Heart to safety. She was caught in one of Sombra’s traps, Spike was the only one who could get the heart to Cadence. That’s all she remembers of him though. She couldn’t see where he had gone or even what happened to him after that moment. Concern for her friend, one who she considers a little brother, strikes her heart. However, a glimmer of hope appears as she knows her friends would never leave Spike behind. If what Sombra says is true, then Spike should already be on that train bound for Equestria along with the rest of her friends and family.
“It’s okay,” she tells Sombra. “My friends are safe and that’s all that matters right now.”
“It’s just a shame that they had to leave you behind,” Sombra says.
Those words from him strike her with anger. He dares to suggest that her friends, ones who have been loyal to her without fail, would forsake her? She turns around and faces Sombra, giving him a stern look. “You really think that my friends would leave me behind?” she says accusing him. “You trapped me here when you stole the throne of the empire. They will come back, along with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, my brother, and the entire Equestrian Army. Your tyranny will be ended, and I will be freed.”
Sombra is amused by her bravado, but he hides his amusement from her. He looks away for a brief second and clicks his tongue. “Oh, you are most certainly like her,” he says as he looks back down at Twilight. “Not only has Celestia taught you her tricks but also how to act like her. High and just, I used to admire that about her but now it just comes across as arrogant.” He turns around and walks out the door.
Twilight is confused by what he said. “Admire?” How could he possibly admire anything about Celestia? How could he even know anything about Celestia? “You don’t anything about Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouts at him.
Sombra turns around and gives Twilight a smug look. “I know more about her than you think,” he responds. “Enjoy your stay here at the Crystal Palace, Miss--.”
“Sparkle,” she answers, “Twilight Sparkle.”
“Miss Sparkle,” he says. “If you need anything let one of my guards know. Is there anything else you need?”
Twilight is taken back by his gentlecolt behavior. She’s his prisoner yet he’s treating her, or at the very least pretending to, like she’s a guest. He’s supposed to be a tyrannical and cruel villain, yet he’s shown to be nothing like that. Deciding not to be rude, she asks him one more important question. “What happened to my horn?”
“It was destroyed in our fight,” Sombra says. “It was mostly shattered, what remained I had removed to ensure you didn’t cause an accident when you used a broken horn. Magic from a broken horn could dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Now, I would ask that you try to get some rest. I know this cell isn’t much but we are still trying to get the rooms redecorated. Until we see each other again, Miss Sparkle.” Sombra bows his head and has the door closed.
Twilight stands there staring at the closed door, she doesn’t know what to feel right now. She wants to feel defeated that she is now all along in enemy territory and is powerless to help herself. She wants to feel angry that the villain Sombra made a blatant attempt to try and turn her against her friends. She wants to feel surprised that the evil king is actually a gentlecolt. This is all too much for her to take in at once. She walks over the patch of hay in the room, lies down, and tries to get some sleep. Hopefully, this will all make more sense in the morning.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Sombra looks over to his left and sees his captain of the guard standing there waiting for him. She was apart of the Royal Crystal Guard but has become corrupted by Sombra’s magic. While she retains some semblance of free will, her loyalties now lie with him. “Have you been waiting there all this time?” Sombra asks.
“Not for long your majesty,” she replies, “just came to tell you that our spies reported that your message for Celestia has safely arrived.”
Sombra quickly looks at the cell door then back at the captain. “Come Silver Vein, let’s discuss this somewhere else,” he says. As they walk down the hall, away from Twilight’s cell, they continue their conversation. “It’s good to hear Celestia got the message. Hopefully, it will be enough to deter her from sending an immediate response, giving us enough time to prepare.”
“If I may ask, my king,” Silver Vein says, “what exactly did you send Celestia?”
“A note warning her what would happen should she try to cross me again,” he says. “Along with the horns of her puppet, former captain, and her faithful student. Once she thinks all three are dead, she’ll be too distraught to even perform basic royal duties.”
“Dead? So does that mean you’re going to kill the one in prison as well?” she asks.
“Oh no, I’ve got something special planned for her,” Sombra answers. “She might be a small unicorn but her level of magical understanding is equal to none that I’ve witnessed. I intend to tap into that potential. Is there anything else to report?”
“Yes your majesty,” she answers. “One of the guards found the body of a young dragon. He seems to fallen from the top of the castle tower.”
“Hm, so that’s what happened to him,” Sombra mutters to himself. “Dispose of the body quickly. Make sure that not a single scale can be found after you’re done.” Silver Vein bows and departs from Sombra. He makes his way out of the dungeon and up into his room. He walks over to a tall standing mirror. The frame is black with red and purple gems dotting around the mirror in a repeated pattern. He steps in front of the mirror and says, “show me, Celestia.” Dark shadows swirl around in the glass and disperse to reveal Celestia in her office, standing over a package on her desk. The package holds the three horns he sent to her as a warning.
Five ponies enter the office, they fit Twilight’s description of her friends from earlier. He sees a conversation take place between them and Celestia, though he doesn’t hear what they say. He can, though, see the anguish on their face when Celestia reveals to them the note and the contents of the package. Seeing their grief, he knows this will reinforce Celestia’s hesitance. The grief of her subjects for the deaths of Cadence and Shining Armor and the supposed death of Twilight will keep her from wanting to send any more subjects to him.
He closes the scene. “I never wanted any of this Celestia,” he says, looking down at the floor with a look regret. “I know you did what you thought to be right. I respected your rule, why couldn’t you respect mine?” He walks away from the mirror and enters his bed.