//------------------------------// // (Past Chapter 32) Darkest Hour (Part 1) // Story: The Unique Properties of Dark Magic // by Shadestyle //------------------------------// "You and I, Sam, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more.'" — Frodo, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book IV Years ago, everything had been leading up to that fateful meeting between The King of Monsters, King Sombra and the Sage of Darkness, Lord Weiss Noir, and it had all truly began with the Crystal Heart. He had been afraid to use it, afraid to let it be used. He still remembered the day of the Crystal Faire, when the love in the air had almost destroyed him as a young stallion. He didn't know why at the time, as young as he was, but the power of the heart, the power of the fair had left him bedridden, worse and worse with each passing year, and it was only on the day he confronted Princess Amore herself that that pain came to an end forevermore, the day when he had stolen the heart away, to never be used again. As he watched Mercy order around a bunch of changelings who were lowering their own drones into massive pods to enact his plans for them, and as he glanced at Chrysalis, who in her own corner had been staring deeply into the Crystal Heart, embedded in a giant green mass of changeling amber, he briefly allowed himself to be immersed in those memories. He would have died as a colt, if not for the help of his only true friend, Radiant Hope. The unicorn, practically a filly at the time, had gained her cutie mark when she desperately tried to heal him as the power of the Crystal Heart tore away at his body, and when she succeeded, it was perhaps the only time in his entire life when for once, there was no pain at all. She had taken it away, and soon, after many revelations, after realizing what he was, and what he was meant to do, he finally confronted the former Princess Amore, and learned a talent of his own. One that needed no cutie mark to prove it. Unlike her, or perhaps precisely like Radiant Hope, he discovered his talent through defiance of death. Even at his angriest, he failed to kill Princess Amore properly. The magic he blasted her with in his desperation hadn't killed the unicorn princess of love, but had imprisoned her in crystal. A crystal born from fear. His fear of punishment, of consequences. His hesitation to finish the job had given birth to a spell unique to him, and made him realize the truth. The truth that fear could be stronger than love. He remembered, even as the fear melted away, the fear he felt of everypony around him gone as he prepared to take his place as ruler, he still felt a cold hesitance in his gut as his friend confronted him. A fear that could never be extinguished, so long as he used its power. He could have killed Princess Amore then and there, but instead he shattered her crystalline form, and cast the fragments to the far corners of the world. Perhaps one day, she would be reassembled and revived, but that day would not come in time to stop him. Returning his attention briefly to the sight before him, he watched as the changelings were manipulated inside the pods, made to shapeshift new organs to store the love that Chrysalis had been refining using the Crystal Heart's power. He watched as crystals of his own design were lowered into their open thoraxes, buried close to their heart to maximize emotional transfer. It was clear that the queen knew much more about love than he ever did, judging from how he was able to be so close to it without feeling pain. It leaked no love, no wasted energy had made its way into the air. Sombra mused on this idly as he thought back to that friend of his. 'I wonder where she is now? She refused to join me as my queen. She set those damnable princesses on me. Perhaps she fled back to Equestria, or even further beyond,' he considered. His thoughts were interrupted by Queen Chrysalis, who approached as the new "Android" Changelings were being raised back out of the pods, now implanted with small crystals, ones he personally had created, inspired by vague, foggy memories that refused to leave him. "It's done. Your little 'Eternal Furnace' idea bore some fruit. The crystals are allowing my changelings to share love-energy freely between them. A limitless supply of magical stamina. I still don't see why they must be marked with these silly ribbons, however," Chrysalis mutters, holding up one of the red ribbons in her aura. He frowned. "They have to be. It's..." He isn't sure why he felt the unrelenting need to have the 'Androids' wear red ribbons. It was some part of the idea that seemed paramount to him, and he couldn't explain why. His eyes narrowed. "It is important. Leave it at that," he finally says. Chrysalis rolled her eyes in response. "Fine. It isn't as if they will be visible, once transformed," she retorts, stalking off to study the Crystal Heart more. Mercy looks at him with an unreadable expression which he simply meets with a glare. "Get back to work," Sombra barks insistently at his doctor, who quietly obeys. The androids had proven to be superb, if a bit short. Chrysalis hadn't wanted to use any of the older changelings, for fear of them growing ill where the smaller, denser, new clutches of changelings did not. The proof of their superb ability to channel love from afar was all the more apparent with what they had managed to obtain, and how they managed to obtain it. It was disturbing, what Sombra had been given, and reading it, he felt new fear grow in his gut, but also... exhilaration? By using a shell of love, and a suitable disguise, the androids were able to bring something back to the hive that was nothing short of incredible. They brought him a copy of a tome that the Sage of Darkness had been publishing. Without a care in the world! He had been distributing vast copies of this 'Grimoire Noir' to his subjects. His own personal bible of dark magic, one that contained not only the secrets of his spells, but commentary, theories, diagrams! It took time, Sombra had to admit, to wrap his head around the tome. The way it was written was so plain, so straightforward and common, that it failed to poetically evoke many, if any emotions in the reader at all. But what it did do, once Sombra had begun to study it in earnest, was teach. Where the Black Flame is infuriating, the black crystal is intoxicating. I find it difficult to cast at times, between my holding back as much as possible, and my own fear shattering the careful magical forces at play. I've learned that a strong enough "incorrect" emotion can interrupt me casting a spell, after enough instances of it happening in this exact situation. I don't want to use this spell anymore. Despite that, I must. Any advantage that I don't take may spell doom in the trying times that this book was written in. I refuse to believe that this magic can only be used by a tyrant, I have to refuse it. To that end, I shall name this spell Sombra's Corrupt Crystal Creation, to remind me of what I risk becoming during this study, and of who I must surpass to achieve mastery of it. He read the excerpt from the book's second chapter, and felt... flattered? Infuriated? No, it was more than that. Weiss's work had left Sombra intrigued. Some part of his mind twinged as he read. He could see between the lines where Weiss chose to leave things unspoken, where the sage had left chunks of his text vague, and unhelpful, to prevent his most powerful techniques from being disseminated, or discovered. It wasn't enough. Sombra knew now that the sage had held the lion's share of his power in reserve. 'This tome alone doesn't hold the entirety of your secrets, does it, my pale shadow?' he thought to himself. He began to grin as a particular entry stood out to him. "But I know where to find them," he says to himself with a malevolent smile. "Where to find what?" Chrysalis barks, intruding on his reading and interrupting his monologue. He glances at her bitterly. "Bring me a piece of Timeshift Crystal. I have an idea," he demands, having thought of the perfect way to infiltrate the Shadow Realm himself. He wasn't sure why he assumed this would work, it was a hunch that came from nowhere at all, and yet, it did. He was able to craft a Materia that held the changeling shapeshifting spell, and use it himself. With Chrysalis available to cast a powerful shielding spell, and an Android to accompany him and provide power to the defensive magic, he took his first steps into the Shadow Realm once more, disguised as one of those 'Longma' creatures. He glanced over himself. He had gone from grey and black to black with red streaks. He wasn't sure why, but the color scheme seemed appropriate for whatever reason. It was so easy, to just walk in. The Shadow Realm was so confident, so sure of themselves with their precious Kingdom Heart to protect them. If they hated it, it couldn't survive entering! As if the world were really so kind to his ungrateful former slaves. He walked down the tunnels with a smile on his face and a song in his heart, his blank-faced changeling companion following along at a measured clip. His goals in this filthy pit were simple. Discover the secrets of Weiss Noir's power. Find the defenses he relied upon to protect this place. Disable them in preparation for the true final battle. As he walked to one of the many 'vents' that pumped pure hatred throughout the entirety of the realm, he studied it carefully, perhaps a bit too carefully, as a particularly interested auburn colored stallion approached him and his companion. "Awfully interested in the vents, are you?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "The name's Bruto," the stallion says, raising a hoof in greeting. Sombra's eyes narrowed as he shook the proffered hoof. "Shadow. Charmed, I'm sure," he responded. Bruto smirked in a nasty way that reminded Sombra of himself. "You're not from around here, are you? Your little buddy is way too calm to be one of us," he explains. Sombra and his companion glanced at one another. This one might need to be podded. With a shake of his head, the red-flamed longma laughed. "I don't really care who you are, or what you're doing, friend. Just make it interesting. I've gone too long without a good fight." He points over to one of the nearby walls. "The flaming vents are just for show. The real ones are kept in the walls. They pump out more subtle magic. Don't disappoint me, now," the brute says, walking off without a care. 'And I'm to believe it's better to be loved than feared? If this is the quality of 'adoring' subjects, then perhaps I'm doing them a favor,' Sombra laughs to himself, bidding his companion to follow as he examines the real vents connected to the kingdom heart. Even with these shells of Love Magic, Sombra knew that wouldn't be enough to wage war on this empire, not so long as they were one broken shield away from annihilation at the hands of hatred. A subtler touch would have to be employed, long before the coming battle. The shell of love around him burned his skin, his body screaming at him to dissolute into smoke to escape the pain, but he fought through it, drawing on his years of focused willpower to do what must be done. With care and caution, Sombra placed a small chunk of crystal in one of the vents, one with an inactive portal embedded in it, one that, with a moment's effort, would begin to pump love into the ventilation systems. How foolish could the sage have been? He neglected to explain how to create portals in the Grimoire Noir, but left examples of them practically everywhere. Their ships, their travel systems, even trinkets and toys employed the enchanted gateways. Sombra was able to figure out how to cast the spell, of course, and all it cost him was three measly bits for a "weightless bouncy ball" from one of the tourist traps. The item had been enchanted to run portals along its surface to disrupt gravity, and with his bond to the sage, it was the work of moments to divine the emotions that had gone into it. Now, that carelessness led to a key part of Sombra's victory. He quickly left the area, searching for the next vent. He would have much work ahead of him, in order to poison their precious hate. Raw emotional love energy wasn't going to cut it. A method was needed to bind the love to a physical substrate, to ensure that it could persist long enough to taint the hatred in the air. Luckily, the Grimoire Noir had provided an interesting source of inspiration. Crystals grown from ice remained ice. It didn't take long for him to find a way, working with the changeling queen, to create a form of love-infused steam by simply exploiting a few bits of crystal pony trickery he had snatched from their ancient tomes. 'Ironic, in a way. Flames of Hate being counteracted by Waters of Love.' Sombra mused with amusement, collapsing into his smokey umbrum form and flowing through the tunnels of the hive. A project was being constructed to aid in the battle soon to come. It was inspired, as if the myth of the muse had proven true for the sole purpose of giving him wondrous ideas. He saw how the joints could go together, how a changeling drone could be used as a substrate for creating something incredible, paired alongside his own dark magic. The word "Biomechanical" popped into his mind, of its own accord, as did flashes of a strange green bug-like creature. He resolved into physical form in front of the drone, whose mind had already been taken from its body and replaced in a new body. The empty shell left behind floated in a thick love-saturated goop, shaped to his specifications. It looked just like Sombra, and if not for the lack of tension, the lack of stress in its face, he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between it and himself. To think, he would find himself in a position to use something that he had only entertained in idle fantasies as he subjugated the empire all those years ago. Something he thought impossible without resorting to necromancy, or worse still. Something he could never truly enjoy, after realizing what he truly was, after realizing that his physicality was dependent on constant vigilance, that his material form would be revoked should he grow too weak. The changelings had forged a vessel to house his true umbrum form, one not held together by fragile dark magic, one not strictly vulnerable to the bitter sting of love. "Physical form? Don't mind if I do!" he shouts with glee, rushing into it and possessing the empty unicorn-shaped shell. Suddenly, the body jerked, and his eyes opened wide with excitement. So much love in this disgusting pod, and his skin didn't burn! His head didn't ache! He burst free with a laugh, purple smoke erupting from his eyes as he took a deep, true breath. The little changeling who had been subject to the experiments needed to produce this form shivered as the pod gestating their replacement body spat them out. The bug stared at his form fearfully, looking at Sombra with an intent gaze that seemed to be trying to feel out whether he was displeased by it or not. It made sense, considering the difficulty that the bug must have gone through to withstand the modification of their old form, the sense of loss that likely came from them being made to discard it. If Sombra didn't like the results, then this little changeling suffered for nothing. Sombra felt an odd feeling well up inside him, one that made him uncomfortable as he stared at the bug. "It is adequate. Cease your shivering," he grunted, stalking out of the room unaware of the naked shock of the changelings in the room who tasted a faint hint of gratitude from the tyrant. The first sign of untainted positive emotion they had tasted from the king of monsters in years. The time had come to begin the attack. Chrysalis watched carefully over their delicate faint link as her precious subjects began to replace random ponies. Unfortunately for her, the Shadow Realm used defenses that balked in their paranoia. Every pony of any importance seemed to be registered under the most complex and inane procedures. Magical scans were common, and Changelings had long since learned to defeat such measures, but what truly grated and stalled the preparations had been the passwords. It had been impossible to even replace the captains of the guard. Following a pony named "Helmsplitter" invisibly revealed things that bordered on the insane. Passwords he was meant to fail, passwords he was meant to only succeed on a certain attempt, passwords that had no answer at all, and the proof of his being who he was coming down to how well he fought off the resulting dogpile of guards. Once, Chrysalis herself had been forced to tail him, and discovered a hidden chamber of armaments that refused to open unless he danced with another guard at the door. There was no password hidden within the dance, but instead, she found after some research that that specific guard seemed to be a psychologist with a special talent for reading body-language. It irked her, because it meant that the tyrant's vague plan was her only chance of properly defeating these longma-ponies. She could not find a way to safely worm her way into the upper echelons of Shadow Realm Society. Thus, she was forced to take another approach. Replace the lowest members of the society. Even years after their freedom, so many ponies in this realm had little to no documentation, aside from what few automatic systems had been implemented. It wasn't much, but it meant her newly enhanced changelings were able to proliferate themselves through the various zones. She, herself, had another task in mind. There was one, one singular pony who seemed to lack the intense security checks that the others had. One too young to properly succeed at the labyrinthine system of subtle and overt tricks and tactics that the lord of this realm demanded to prevent imposters from getting where they did not belong. "So what's Lord Uncle doing today?" Cadence asked frantically, the filly bouncing around three exasperated looking dragons, having long since absorbed their title for the dark sage by osmosis. "He is training with Eclipse Flash," the blue one explains calmly to the filly. "Yeah!" the red dragon repeats. "She's!" he strikes a pose, dropping to one knee and flexing for emphasis. "Way stronger!" he finishes after a long pause. The pink runt of the litter nods, snatching the filly out of the air and making her giggle. "Yup. They've been working hard, so leave em be for a bit, alright?" the child-drake says. "Oh, fine, but I wanna visit again. He's funny," the filly explains firmly. "Sapphy, do you got any games other than that duel monsters thingie?" she demands, squirming around in the pink dragon's grip to face the blue one. The blue one, 'Sapphy', thinks for several awkwardly quiet seconds, before nodding. "Uncle has produced something worthwhile. Also, my name is Sapphire," he reiterates, as if he had had to do so many times before. "Woo!" Cadence cheers, throwing her hooves up and leaping out of the pink dragon's grip. "Sorry Paddy, gotta go play! Hoard some other ponies for a bit!" she says, making the pink one's body language suddenly turn shy as embarrassment radiated from them. "I don't 'hoard ponies', it's not like that," he mutters with a pout and stalking off with the loudmouthed red dragon following behind him. As Sapphire and Cadence leave to wherever this 'game' is, Chrysalis follows quietly, stalking along the ceiling invisibly. "He totally hoards ponies," Cadence says with child-like smugness. Sapphire is quiet for a time before nodding. "Correct. I think our status as clones may contribute to our quirks." "You mean like how you hide gems all over the place in ponies' houses and in urns and stuff?" Cadence asks as they enter a room with several bed covered with glowing crystals. In some of the beds, ponies are asleep, glowing illusions above them displaying the 'game' they are playing in the dream realm. Sapphire nods. "Correct. Ruby is distraught when father makes him clean his room. We believe he may have a fixation with detritus." They both lay down on one of the cots. "Dew-what-now?" the filly asks as the dragon flips through options on a touch screen, before settling on some sort of image Chrysalis doesn't recognize of a pony in red overalls. They appear to be jumping in an odd pose. "Detritus. Garbage," he explains as a brief spritz of sleep gas has them both conking out, Dream Crystals embedded in the bed allowing them to visit the Arcana Nox. "Oh... That's... kinda gross," Cadence mutters, eyes fluttering as she falls asleep and a hologram appears. Seeing nopony else to interrupt, Chrysalis drops down and approaches the filly. It would be tense to make the swap undetected, but replacing this 'Cadence' would prove to be the safest bet for getting close to secure areas and prime hostages. As the queen approaches however, she notices something about the filly. An utter lack of hatred. Every other Longma in this realm had been calm and stable due in large part to the sheer amount of their passionate vitriol they channeled towards their blasted Kingdom Heart, but this one didn't seem to radiate anything but love. Passionate, slightly violent love, yes, but love nonetheless. She called forth two of her guards, Sombra's inexplicable portals allowing her to move them in. She quietly turned to the changelings. "When she awakes, grab her immediately. Bring her to the hive, do not allow her to be harmed," Chrysalis explained in no uncertain terms. Something untainted by hatred in this foul place warranted study Soon, she would receive the signal from Sombra, the moment when he began his attack on the Hidden Palace Zone, she would begin her own task here, in the Crystal Egg Zone. The Crystal Heart mounted to her chest pulsed quietly as she and her fellow changelings stared down at the sleeping filly, unaware that this would be her last day in the Shadow Realm as she smacked blocks and leapt over mushroom-creatures in a fanciful dream with her dragon friend. She heard Sombra's voice in her ear, the signal had been sent by magic to her as he spoke. "It's good to see you again, my Pale Shadow," Sombra states simply. Instantly, I began to hear alerts from all over the Shadow Realm. "Scenario: Pestilence" was what roared over the loudspeakers, and my own private golem flitting near my ear informed me of the details as I saw the longma all around us begin to fight off the Changelings near them. They were losing, beams of magic somehow outpacing their insane physical strength. I snapped my fingers, and a portal appeared. "Eclipse Flash, get everypony to the Crystal Egg Zone. Protect it at all costs, activate all the defenses. Override code to trigger all the defenses is three milliliters of your blood and the story I told you," I said, yanking my student to her hooves roughly. I had no choice but to face him. I had to trust my student to deal with the rest. I had to trust my ponies, and the defenses we had wrought, to handle the rest. I had no other choice, with him here in the heart of our realm. If I didn't face him, the risk to others was too great to imagine. "What? Weiss, no! We have to fight him together!" she shouted, trying to get me to look at her with a desperate look. I didn't bother to argue with her. "Force Push," I instead said, shoving my student through it with a low-grade Vance. As the portal closed, I heard her shout, but my eyes never left Sombra. Already, portal-using golems had begun to chase after all the Longma in the area, sending them to the evacuation zone on the surface, snatching them away from the losing battles they were fighting against the changelings seeded in the crowd. Despite the small size of the bugs, they were somehow fighting at a level I could scarcely imagine. He just stared at me with a smile, waiting patiently as the golems quickly turned the odds against me further by removing the civilians who hadn't immediately started running for escape routes. The changelings began to surround both me and Sombra in a loose circle, but I couldn't help but ignore them as I stalked towards the dark ruler, and he walked towards me in equal steps. "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia have already been alerted. I made sure to keep them up to date on communication tech. You made a mistake coming here. They're probably already clearing out the Crystal Egg Zone, and then they'll be here," I state, feeling magic well up inside me as I tapped into my greed as much as I could. Hatred Magic would only destroy my body at this stage. He smirks, widening his stance as his horn begins to glow. "I'm counting on it. You couldn't resist giving us a chance to test our mettle, could you? I feel the same way." I sneer as I raise myself to my full height. "Thundaga!" I shout, unleashing a titanic blast of dragon lightning from my horn, the greed magic striking him head-on as the current rages through his body. I stomp my hoof, commanding the crystals embedded in the ceiling to activate, but as they slide out, I see that the Aeroga crystals have all been rotting away, the pink decay of love eating away at the frustration-powered magic. I glanced at them in surprise. If Sombra wasn't being compressed by Aeroga, then how was he able to take my attack head-on? The answer is revealed as the lightning fades, and I see a giant metal rod jutting from his chest into the ground, as if it had simply grown wholesale from his body. Emerald flames wash over him as the metal pole retracts, sliding telescopically back into him and revealing that he had made some disturbing changes to himself. Changes of the sort that I hadn't bothered to attempt on myself, for fear of the consequences. "Needless to say, I've learned a few things," Sombra says with a grin, cracking his neck and finally firing a spell of his own at me. His classic opener of petrification magic. As I dodge to the side, a shiny royal-crystal mirror erupting to deflect the beam back at him, I scream in agony as something slams into me from behind, a beam of magic from one of the changelings surrounding us sending me to the ground. As I struggle to my feet, I witness Sombra choking the changeling with his magic, screaming and frothing with rage. "How dare you! I told you worms in no uncertain terms that he was mine! Mine you hear me?!" he screams, throwing the changeling aside. As I struggle to patch the burnt part of my back with a thin layer of crystal, he turns to face me, cordial once again. "Terribly sorry. You never can find good help these days, can you?" he remarks with amusement coloring his tone. The changelings boxing us both in now look properly cowed, and I snarl. He's making a spectacle out of this. I should be trying to escape right now, but looking at the exits, I can see he covered his bases this time, the various exits having already been sealed with pink barriers by little midget changelings outside. "Escape Rope," I mutter instead, opening another portal and backing towards it, as I do, however, I spot Sombra cast something as well, and leap to the side, claws skidding as a burst of force allows me to cling to one of the walls. Below, I spot a second portal open in front of mine, spewing a thick black sludge that I have no interest in touching. The changelings take flight as it pours out over the ground. He tsks at me. "This isn't the time to use that," he says as I drop down, summoning a platform to stand on and a blade to fling it at him. The chill I feel as he cites fucking pokemon at me and casts my own spell against me throwing my aim off enough for him to step to the side and dodge the thrown weapon. I frown, thudding painfully to the ground and preparing another Vance as I tried to ignore the growing pain. Something was strange about this battle, and I had a suspicion as to what it was. Cadence squealed with fright as two frightening giant bugs grabbed ahold of her and began coating her in a disgusting green substance that stuck to her and refused to let go. "Sapphire! Help!" she shrieked as one of the bugs, the biggest one of all, caught on fire and turned into her! The dragon looked confused, before alerts began to reach him as well, and he jerked awake, leaping up covered in roiling lightning. As he did, Chrysalis blew a thick cloud of purple dust at him, making him fall back asleep. 'Help! Please, somepony help!' she cried as her mouth was covered with the goop, and she felt something lifting her cocoon into the air. For a moment, she was more afraid than she had ever been before, until she felt a surge of magic that could only have been... Celestia and Luna slammed into the pavestones of the Crystal Empire, pure light and life radiating from the twin deities. Changelings all around froze as they stared openly at the alicorns who had arrived via portal in mere moments when the desperate alert had notified them of a full-scale assault on the place. "HEED OUR WARNING VILE CRETINS." "LEAVE THIS PLACE... OR BE DESTROYED." Luna's voice rang out over the entire empire as the Royal Canterlot Voice made her threat radiate impossibly far and wide, the sound an almost physical presence against the changelings. Chrysalis balked at this in her disguise, Sombra had assured her, promised above all else that he had spells meant to protect her while she enacted her part of the plan! This place was meant to be barred to the Tireless! The Crystal Heart, just as he had explained, was already beginning to glow brightly, charging some kind of twisted array he had carved into the very foundations of the empire using the mines as channels for the energy, years and years ago. He didn't tell her what it did, or why she needed to enact it, but demanded it as part of his terms to assist her in her own goal. Celestia spotted in the distance as two changelings tried to fly away with the pod carrying what could only have been a poor pony, and with a dismissive air, fired a beam that would pierce both of the changelings' heads instantly. Filled with vigor, confusion and panic, Chrysalis abandoned her disguise. The filly's capture was crucial, critical, even. Her plans were falling apart, and there was no way she would be able to face both the alicorn of the sun AND the moon at the same time. It was time to abort this malformed conquest. With a desperate blast of magic, the queen fired a shielding spell at her two escaping changelings, only realizing after she fired it that it would be nowhere near enough. Perhaps this preconceived notion is what led to her subjects to look at her with almost as much shock leaking from them as she herself was emitting through her own dropped jaw when her expectations were defied. The shield had protected them! The princess of the sun had been denied the drones' lives by her spell! Easily, in fact! The two alicorns looked at her standing in the window in unison as the last vestiges of her disguise fell away, and she turned her own gaze on them as well. There was a chance, a chance, however slim, that their plan could still work. "If I survive this, Sombra, I will wring your neck," she hisses, feeling the magic of love pouring into her body, filling her with an unusual strength she hadn't ever tasted before. The alicorns glanced at each other for a moment, before erupting into transformations of their own. The princess of the day was wreathed in flames, and the ruler of the night found her dark coat spreading to cover her entire body. The two stared with slit, predatory eyes as the Ancient and Honorable Chorus of Songs of the Sacred Alicorns began to overtake them, and their array of combat enhancements was complete. "The first to stand against us," Luna said with an imperious stare. Celestia openly sneered at the Changeling Queen. "The first to fall." Chrysalis dared not show fear as she leapt from the window and summoned a shield of pure love to protect her from the alicorns as they both opened fire on her with their full might. She saw no reason to waste perfectly good emotion, just to give the diarchs the satisfaction. I leapt from pillar to pillar, dodging blasts of magic as Sombra tried to keep his horn tracking on me, and erecting new pillars hastily as I ran around the chamber of the Kingdom Heart. My own experimental attacks, I had quickly noticed, were all dodged or blocked. Not once had Sombra chosen to disperse himself into smoke to avoid me. Whatever he had done to his body had made him formidable, and yet... Skidding to a halt with four of my arms gripping the rock wall to the side of me tightly, I prepared to use one of my stronger Vancian spells, at the same time, I was frantically growing crystal cloth from my cloak, trying my hardest to not glance at the Kingdom Heart so as to not give away the game. Sombra's body distorted with another burst of green flames as he allowed crystalline claws to emerge from some hidden compartment inside his body, the structures allowing him to gallop up the walls towards me. Flashing several signs with two of my hands, I threw them down, palms facing the tyrant. "One-thousand Needles!" I shouted, firing an endless stream of needles from my draconic hands. I had spent days preparing this Vance, casting a powerful needle-firing spell one-thousand times and storing them all within a bottle of stoppered time. It had been a massive pain, keeping the spell maintained, but the effects were pronounced here. Sombra roared with pain and rage as the needles pierced his body, and I saw blood, real actual blood, flowing from where he was struck. He threw up a shield, but with each needle individually being a potent armor-piercing spell in its own right, he was forced off the wall and onto the ground, heaving heavily as I leapt off of the wall and landed on him with all of my arms coated in thick gauntlets of crystal. Smashing my fist into Sombra's face over and over, I tensed as his horn glowed, even as my cestus-covered fists crashed into his face over and over, he was still able to focus, charging something particularly nasty. I dropped one of the weaponized gauntlets, flinging it off my hand and grabbing ahold of his horn, as soon as I did, I pulled the arm free of its socket, leaping away from him and flipping over onto my other arms and shoving off into the air as the arm exploded into fragments of gem-shards and high pressure water, disrupting the spell he had been trying to cast on me. As my body sailed through the air, I threw my cape out wide, the massive amounts of crystal cloth I had sprouted earlier billowing as I leapt into the thin, wispy flames of the Kingdom Heart, riding the updraft of intense heat to the surface. As I breached the surface, I cut my cloak free of my body and landed heavily on the ashen ground, coughing loudly as the burnt spot on my back made clear the damage that had already been done to me, even ignoring the exhaustion that was already threatening to overtake me. It wasn't much of a distraction, but maybe... "Agh!" I could help but yell, feeling the burning from before erupt once again. Something had happened, something horrible had happened, and hatred began to well up inside me against my will, the love in the air already attacking my body with renewed vigor as I realized just how thick the love in the air had become. How strong it had become. I saw a light growing in the distance, as my senses screamed at me to flee from where I could see vast amounts of love building in the Crystal Egg Zone. Some sort of spell was being wrought there, and for some reason, this awoke a nameless fear in my heart. As I turned back, I saw Sombra, rising up out of the surface-vent of the Kingdom Heart. He rose out of the vent, levitating in the air on some sort of dark spell that surrounded him with smoke, and I watched as he laughed in spite of his bleeding green wounds. He let out a loud, raucous laughter that sounded to all the world as if it had been born from true utter joy, and I watched in horror as the shield of love surrounding him disappeared, dismissed with contempt, even. He rose from the vent without harm to himself as snow began to fall from the sky into dark ashes surrounding us, something that should have been impossible. Even with a shield of love, it shouldn't have been possible for him to simply rise up through it, even if the heart were weakened. But it wasn't weakened, and drawing myself up to my hooves, feeling the burn of love poisoning my body with every shuddering movement that lifted me up unsteadily. I saw in the distance as the other vents, ones meant to be spewing endless black flames into the sky to stave off the cold of the north weren't weakened either. They weren't weakened... Because they were gone... The Kingdom Heart had been extinguished.