Chapter 5: King Sombra
Traveling with Micro Chips was fun, but Twilight secretly admitted that Sunset was much better company. She felt an immediate kinship to the girl, and they became friends very quickly.
Micro Chips was a little cold to Sunset at first, but began to warm up to her as they traveled together, and soon they formed a friendship as well. Twilight was glad of it. As the Princess of Friendship, she was always happy to see others become friends.
As the days, for lack of a better word, passed by, Tirek’s castle soon came into view. It was nothing like the castles her fellow alicorns had, but looked more like an old worn out structure that had been carved out of a mountain rather than actually built. In fact, it looked like it might fall apart at any moment. Were her fellow alicorns really in a place like that?
She would find out soon enough. Judging from the distance, they would reach their destination in another day or two. Twilight knew that she could get there much faster if she flew, but she didn’t want to leave her new friends behind.
Seeing as they had been walking for hours, they decided to settle in and get some sleep before continuing for what they hoped would be the final leg of their journey. Both Sunset and Micro Chips sat down beneath a tree while Twilight found a patch of grass to lie down on. It was dry and scratchy, dead like all the rest of the plant life. This kingdom really was a barren wasteland.
They’d had passed by a few villages as they made their way through Tirek’s kingdom, and the creatures and people didn’t look too well off. Twilight wondered how they managed to survive, but, sadly, didn’t have time to help them. Maybe after she found the other alicorns they could use their magic to help.
“I’ve heard some stories about Tirek and Sombra,” Sunset had told her when Tirek’s castle had first come into sight. “Supposedly, Sombra stays in a cavern beneath Tirek’s castle. There’s supposed to be only one way in, and only Tirek knows about it.”
“Guess we’ll find out when we get there,” Micro Chips commented.
That time couldn’t come soon enough. Twilight’s nerves were getting the best of her, and she found herself unable to sleep. She tossed and turned for what felt like hours before letting out a frustrated sigh and opening her eyes.
She glanced at the castle, and a frown crossed her face. Something odd was going on with it. It looked as if the castle were consumed in darkness, a darkness deeper than the night itself. She lifted her head as she stared at it in confusion, wondering what it was she was seeing.
But as she watched, the darkness rose up from the castle and filled the sky, blocking out the moon and the stars. The darkness moved about as if it were alive, and seemed to be heading straight for her. There was something uncomfortably eerie about it. These were no ordinary shadows, and Twilight sensed something dark and sinister about them.
It seemed that even her human friends could feel that something was off as they stirred from their sleep. And as the darkness approached, what seemed to be a horn sounded off in the distance. It drew Sunset’s attention, and she sat up and rubbed her eyes, turning in the direction of the shadows. Upon seeing them, however, she was instantly wide-awake.
“Micro Chips, the shadows!” she shouted.
As Micro Chips sat up and began looking around, the shadows dropped down from the sky and hit the ground near Twilight. She was instantly on her feet as the shadows covered the area like black flames, consuming everything. It certainly wasn’t fire though, as the temperature had suddenly dropped to degrees cold enough to freeze water. Fear unlike anything she had ever felt before filled her as a wave of darkness rose up in front of her.
Inside the darkness, a pair of blood red irises within glowing green eyes with slit pupils opened and stared at her with malicious intent. Strands of purple magic flowed from these eyes like fire to get lost in the shadows, and beneath them, an evil grin became visible within the darkness. The mouth opened, revealing sharp incisors as a terrifyingly evil laugh that sent shivers up Twilight’s spine escaped it.
“King Sombra!” Micro Chips exclaimed in fear upon seeing the face in the darkness.
Sombra emerged from the darkness and became solid. Standing before Twilight was a large unicorn over twice her size, dark gray in color and clad in armor with a blood red cape. He had a mane and tail blacker than the night itself that moved about as if caught in a non-existent breeze, and a curved horn on the top of his head that glowed red.
Sombra let out an intimidating breath as he leaned in close Twilight, and he chuckled at her, his eyes shining hungrily as if she were prey cornered by a fearsome predator. His tongue snaked out and licked his lips as if he were looking at a tasty treat.
Terror unlike anything Twilight had thought she could possibly feel filled her, and she turned and fled from the evil unicorn. Sombra became shadow once more, with only his face retaining its shape, as he sped after her. Twilight continued to run, too afraid to look back, but the places she could go were limited with all the shadows covering the land. She could hear Sombra laughing behind her, getting closer, and she charged ahead even faster, all thoughts of her friends and the alicorns forgotten in light of her terror.
A dark mass flew over her and came down in front of her, reshaping itself into Sombra. Twilight skidded to a halt, and turn to run in the opposite direction, but the shadows moved again, and Sombra was in front of her once more, moving about almost like a flying snake.
And then Sombra spoke for the first time in the most evil and menacing voice Twilight had ever heard. “Where are you going, my little pony? Not leaving so soon, are you?”
Twilight was shaking from head to hoof. She was in complete flight mode, wanting nothing more than to get away from the living shadow that was Sombra. She used a teleportation spell and vanished. She reappeared a distance away, but was still surrounded by shadows. A tidal wave of blackness rose up, and Sombra’s face appeared within it in front of her and began moving closer to her.
She teleported again, but couldn’t get away from the shadows. They were all around, stretching for as far as the eye could see, and her teleportation had a limited distance. What more, she couldn’t even see where she was or where she was going with all this living darkness around, and it seemed that Sombra could appear anywhere within it at will, as it seemed to be a part of him.
Realizing that teleporting was getting her nowhere, she fled again. This time, Sombra did not chase her, but instead fired a beam of dark magic from his horn. It struck the ground in from of Twilight, and a large black crystal burst from the ground, cutting her off. She ran in a different direction, only to be cut off by another beam of magic and a new black crystal. And so it process was repeated with Sombra repeatedly cutting her off with blasts of magic and the black crystals that it grew.
Soon Twilight was completely surrounded by black crystals, with the only clear path leading towards Sombra. The evil unicorn manifested from the shadows again and began to stalk towards her. Twilight panicked and spread her wings, taking to the air. If she couldn’t get away on foot or by teleporting, then she would simply fly away.
The shadows rose up after her, and she was soon cut off from above. Sombra’s sneering face appeared in the darkness above her, and she quickly sped away. The shadows followed, not letting her get out from under them, and she realized that she wouldn’t be able to get away by flying. She came to a stop and simply hovered in the air, looking around for a way out.
Sombra’s face suddenly popped out of the darkness in front of her, and Twilight pulled back and went tumbling down from the sky. She hit the ground and the shadows lowered once more. Sombra emerged from them, laughing at the helpless alicorn before him. Twilight got to her feet and backed away from him as he approached. The shadows parted behind her, giving her only one direction she could go in, directly towards Tirek’s castle.
Micro Chips and Sunset looked on helplessly as Sombra overwhelmed Twilight, directing her towards the castle. He hadn’t so much as spared them a glance, his whole attention focused on the alicorn.
“He’s driving her,” Micro Chips realized. “If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it already. He’s trying to lead her to Tirek like he did with the others.”
While it may have been their mission to go to Tirek’s castle and find out what happened with the other alicorns, Sunset knew that getting there Sombra’s way would not end well. Whatever happened to the other alicorns would happen to her as well.
“Well, we have to help her,” she insisted, and glanced at Micro Chips. “Can’t you do something?”
He threw his hands up in the air helplessly. “Like what? Do you think Sombra likes lectures on the history of magic? I don’t even think he realizes we’re here. We’re so insignificant to him that he hasn’t even noticed us.”
Sombra moved closer to Twilight, and she back away further. She looked around for a way out, any way other than the direction Sombra wanted her to go, but saw none. The evil unicorn chuckled at her desperation as he closed the distance between them.
Heart pounding, Twilight did the only thing she could think of. She sent a blast of magic at the evil unicorn. Sombra dodged the blast, moving in a serpentine-like way that only a shapeless shadow could to avoid the beam. Then he sent his own blast of magic at her. Twilight tried to counter, and the burst of magic threw her back.
Sombra chuckled at her futile attempt to attack him and manifested in the flesh once more as he moved in closer. Feeling dazed, Twilight got to her feet and turned back to Sombra as he approached. She tried to shoot more magic at him, but nothing happened. Her eyes moved up to her horn, and she saw that fragments of black crystal were attached to it. These crystals seemed to be blocking her magic, as only a few static sparks escaped her horn when she tried to cast a spell.
Sombra’s sinister laughter echoed around her, and he suddenly rose high into the air as a tower of black crystal burst up from the ground beneath him. Twilight leapt back in surprise as Sombra towered over her. Was this what the other alicorns had faced when Sombra had come for them? No wonder they had been taken.
Baring his fangs, Sombra hissed at her, and Twilight cringed. Slowly, she rose to her hooves and hung her head in defeat. Sombra sneered, and the shadows directed her to follow his path towards Tirek’s castle. Feeling helpless, Twilight began slowly making her way in the direction he wanted her to go in. Sombra hopped down from the crystal tower he was standing on and began to follow behind her.
“He’s taking her!” Sunset exclaimed. She turned to Micro Chips and grabbed his arm, shaking him hard. “Can’t you use your magic to help her?”
He gave her a bewildered look. “How? You think my magic will work on Sombra when hers won’t? The only thing that can stop Sombra is the Crystal Heart.”
Sunset glared at him. “Well, we have to do something! Anything! Just open your fancy device thing and use whatever magic you have!”
“To do what?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t just let him take her! Please!”
Micro Chips bit his bottom lip nervously and looked over at Twilight as Sombra moved her along. Taking a deep breath, he rushed over to them, getting as close as he dared. Twilight saw him in her peripheral vision, and turned to him with sad eyes and a defeated look on her face.
“Run!” Micro Chips shouted to her as he pulled out his magic device. “Get out of there!”
“Move!” Sombra commanded her, and stomped his foot, causing the ground to shake.
His bellow seemed to startle a reaction out of Twilight, and she teleported away. It was a pointless attempt, as she reappeared a short distance later, and Sombra immediately emerged from the shadows surrounding her, once again displaying his ability to seemingly move anywhere within the shadows instantly.
Twilight took off running again, and Sombra sped after her. Micro Chips watched her flee and opened his magic device, letting out far more magic than he had ever dared to before. “Please, magic, help us!”
There was a great flash of light as the magic exploded outward, blinding them all. Even Sombra shut his eyes as the land was lit up. He hissed angrily and cracked his eyes open when the light died down. They widened in surprise when he saw no sign of the alicorn anywhere.
Micro Chips shut the device as he blinked the spots out of his eyes. Sunset quickly rushed over to his side to see what had happened, and her mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief. Slowly, she turned to Micro Chips and spoke in barely a whisper. “What have you done?”
Both she and Micro Chips rushed to Twilight’s side as Sombra looked around for his prey, but all traces of the alicorn had vanished. All he saw were three insignificant humans, and a frustrated snarl escaped him.
“You can’t hide from me, princess!” he shouted to the night as he dissolved into shadows once more. “I’ll find you!”
The darkness lifted, rising up into the sky and disappearing into the night as Sombra went in search of his quarry. The others watched him go, but Sunset didn’t feel the least bit reassured as she lifted the unconscious Twilight so her head rested in her lap.
Reaching out, she brushed the shards of back crystals from Twilight’s forehead, which now clearly lacked a horn, before turning to Micro Chips and once again demanded, “What have you done?”
She looked back down at Twilight, but the alicorn princess was gone. In her place was a human girl. Same lavender skin, hair the same dark sapphire blue with strips of violet and magenta as her mane, but she was most definitely a human. At least the magic had been courteous enough to manifest clothes for her as well.
But while Sunset seemed quite alarmed about Twilight’s new form, Micro Chips looked quite pleased with himself. “What do you mean, what have I done? I saved her from Sombra with magic. With magic! I’ve never used that much magic before. I didn’t know what would happen. But it worked. It worked!”
“I didn’t mean for you to turn her into a human!” Sunset snapped.
Micro Chips held up his hands. “Whoa, hey, I didn’t do that. The magic did. All I did was ask the magic to help us. The magic chose to make her human, not me. And look, it worked. It saved her from Sombra.”
He looked positively giddy. “This is amazing. There have been studies to show that magic is semi-sentient. This is proof that it can be. I’ll be famous for this discover.”
“You’re an idiot!” Sunset shouted at him furiously. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done? You’ve trapped her in a human body! She’ll go mad!”
Sunset’s screaming seemed to stir Twilight from unconsciousness. Her eyes slowly cracked open, showing off the same purple orbs she had as an alicorn. She began to sit up, getting onto her hands and knees. She very quickly realized that something was wrong, and her eyes drifted down to her hands.
She froze in place for several long seconds, then slowly raised her hands. She studied them for a few seconds longer before a scream erupted from her mouth and echoed through the night, forcing both Sunset and Micro Chips to cover their ears.
A full-on panic attack seemed to overtake Twilight as she began waving her hands around frantically, as if she could make them go away by swinging them around. Then she seemed to realize that those hands were attached to arms, and she traced them until they reached her body.
Her eyes widened in terror as she ran her hands down her body. They reached her legs, and she lifted one to examine it. Then her hands went to her face, feeling its contours, before moving up to her forehead to feel the lack of the horn there.
What happened to her seemed to finally sink in, and she began to hyperventilate. Sunset carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, and Twilight turned to her. Her eyes shifted to Micro Chips as she realized that this must have been his doing. “What have you done to me?”
“Twilight,” Sunset said sadly, “I’m so sorry.”
Twilight didn’t seem her hear her, as her whole attention was on Micro Chips. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!? This isn’t me! I’m an alicorn! I’m an alicorn!”
She began to hyperventilate again, and Sunset grasped her shoulders. “Twilight, calm down. It’s ok, we’ll figure this out.”
“Yes,” Micro Chips insisted. “It’ll be fine. This was meant to happen. I’m sure the magic knows what it’s doing. And look, this way we’ll be able to go right up to Tirek’s castle, and neither he nor Sombra will know who you really are.”
Twilight didn’t seem to be paying attention. Holding onto Sunset for support, she slowly got to her feet. Her legs wobbled unsteadily as she tried to get her balance, and she took first one step forward, then another. When she went to take a third step however, she lost her balance and collapsed.
Sunset gave Micro Chips a concerned look, and he shifted uncomfortably before assuring her, “I can change her back. Don’t worry, I can change her back.”
Twilight looked back at him, only now there was anger in her eyes. “I wish you’d left me to Sombra! I wish you’d left me in that cage!” She held up her hands, unable to stop them from trembling. “It’s been years since I’ve been mortal. I can actually feel myself aging. It’s like I can feel my body dying!”
“But it’s only for a little while,” Micro Chips told her reassuringly. “Soon you’ll have your real form back forever.”
Sunset grabbed his arm to get his attention. “Why not now? You can’t just leave her like this!”
He shook her off. “Why not? Just think of what an advantage this will give us. We can go completely undercover and find out what happens to the other alicorns.” He gave Twilight a pointed look. “Unless you think you can defeat Sombra the next time you see him.”
He and Twilight stared at each other for several long moments. Slowly, the anger left her eyes to be replaced with reluctant acceptance, and she shook her head resignation as tears began to fall down her cheeks.
“No, I can’t,” she whispered in dismay. “But I’ve never been without magic before. I’ve never not been myself before. It’s completely different from my own transformation spells. And this feeling of mortality once again. It’s all too much. It scares me. Even more than Sombra does. It scares me.”