//------------------------------// // 7- Written by the Victors // Story: A Noble’s Shadow // by LSTS Connor //------------------------------// “So Twilight, what are we looking for in here anyway? What’re a bunch of dusty old books gonna do to kick Sombra’s flank?” asked a bored Rainbow Dash as she skimmed through another ancient book before unceremoniously tossing it to the ground behind her. Twilight caught it in her magic without looking. “Because I am sure that somewhere in here is the answer to how they defeated him a thousand years ago.” “But why can’t we just like… y’know, blast him with the elements? That's worked pretty well last couple times we dealt with a big bad from a thousand years ago,” she called over her shoulder as she tossed another ancient book about crystal sculpting over her shoulder. This time it was caught in Rarity’s magic. “You saw what Sombra did to my brother, to… Six.” The mood suddenly dropped at the memory of what the King had done to the two ponies. Even Pinkie, who had been building a castle out of the books Twilight was finished with visibly slowed from her usual hyperactivity. While only Twilight had been privileged to get to know the Spartan as something more than what the papers made her out to be, all of them knew of her contribution and role in defeating the changelings. And to see that living symbol of Equestria’s defiance brought low by Sombra…  Rainbow Dash turned and continued to search in earnest now before noticing a button hidden behind the book she had just removed. “Hey Twi, I found somethin’.” Informed Rainbow as she tentatively raised a hoof and pushed the button. With a click that made all of the Element’s gathered ears perk up the bookshelf retracted, revealing a dusty passageway with a spiral staircase of dark crystal leading down. Twilight stared at it for several seconds in confusion as an image of the palace flashed in her mind’s eye. The library they were located in was on the first floor just above the plaza underneath the palace. If one squinted hard enough it was possible to discern movement below them from the many crystal ponies helping themselves to the supplies her brother had brought. This staircase in front of them shouldn’t have been able to physically exist. Applejack was the first to speak up. “Well, that’s… certainly something ya found there, Dash.” “Well? Where does it go?!” questioned Pinkie in her usual squeak as she peered down the winding staircase. “Hopefully somewhere with far less dreadful decor than that... Do you feel that darling?” Rarity called out to Twilight. “Blech. Dreadful, I tell you,” Rarity complained like she had just tasted something rotten. “I feel it too. Dark magic, this must be one of Sombra’s secret chambers.” “And If I were a betting mare, that’s where we’ll find what we’re looking for,” finished Rainbow who, upon crossing the threshold, glided to the ground. “Huh,” she questioned as she flapped her wings harder yet refused to leave the ground. “Can’t fly.” “I can’t cast anything either,” responded Twilight with a small grunt as she tried and failed to channel her magic. The mana simply ceased to exist the moment it attempted to leave the confines of her horn to light up the surrounding area. While it wasn’t dark inside the discovered passage, it certainly wasn't bright. The dark crystal construction eating a majority of the light that attempted to bounce off of it from deeper below. “Well, we aren’t gonna get anything done just sitting here-“ “Let’s go exploring!” Shouted Pinkie from behind as she bounced past the gathered mares and hopped down the spiral staircase into the space that shouldn’t exist. The others looked at each other sighing and shaking their collective heads before following and crossing the threshold. “So… girls? Anypony know what exactly I’m looking at?” “Sweet Celestia…” A chorus of surprise rang out from the gathered ponies as they reached the end of the impossible staircase. They had entered into a large room of slightly grey translucent crystals, the area beyond their boundaries swirling with purple and crimson flux that made the stomach lurch when put in focus. Two large archways, obscured by what seemed to be solid shadows lay to their left and right but the real focus of their attention is what lies at its center.  A painting of a unicorn…a crystal unicorn. She wore a long flowing light blue mane with matching color eyes. Her fur is a slightly lighter shade of purple than Twilights. She bore an expression of love and compassion, a slight smile on her face that could disarm even a charging minotaur. Twilight’s mind raced as she tried to figure out why such a painting was in the impossible chamber Sombra had made. She and her friends began to spread out and investigate the room. “Darlings? Any idea who this pony is?” questioned Rarity as she inspected the painting closer. “I do have to say that she is quite striking for somepony a thousand years ago.” “I don’t understand. The books in the Canterlot library said that Sombra killed all the crystal unicorns so that nopony could threaten his power. But then why does he have a painting of one here? And why is it the centerpiece of a room behind a secret staircase in a space that shouldn’t exist?!” “Calm down, sugarcube. Take it one step at a time. First, mind explaining to us non-magical types where in Tartarus we are? It's giving me the heebeegeebees,” Applejack began with a shudder as she glanced toward a nearby wall and the swirling liquid behind it. Taking several deep breaths, Twilight centered herself, “Okay… We went down a staircase that shouldn’t exist, there was no space for it. It must have actually been a portal, teleporting us somewhere else. We know the area around the empire so we cannot be located above ground, we must be underneath the city… As for why I can’t cast any spells or Rainbow can’t fly…” She sat on the cold, swirling floor and began to think, every time she so much as attempted to channel her mana it vanished the moment it left her body, its energies simply ceasing to exist. While her first thoughts were on any standard anti-magic fields and spells, they did not do that. They worked by absorbing any and all magic used within its radius into itself, this was complete annihilation. Could… could the amount of dark crystal surrounding them cause such an effect? Possible, but from her calculations regarding the rate at which the crystals give off their dark magic radiation it would require an astronomically large power sour- Twilight froze, no… that wouldn't be possible, it couldn’t be possible. The energy to even accomplish such a feat and not have it be detected for leagues all around would be impossible. The only way this could even exist would be in a pocket or a separate dimen- The walls swirled in the corner of her eye much more forcefully and her stomach began to lurch. The air was so utterly saturated with dark energies that it made her feel like a fish out of water. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak. All she needed to do was get out. She didn’t belong here—none of her kind belonged here. Get out. They had entered the Anthema, the origin of Sombra’s power, and the source of all dark magic. A place all unicorns had only heard whispers about in the darkest recesses of their soul. GET OUT! “Uhhh, y'all alright there, sugarcube?” Asked applejack as Twilight blinked the tears she didn’t know she was crying out of her eyes. She was surrounded by her friends, each glowing ever so slightly with the color of their element, though this seemed to be unnoticed by all except her. Twilight smiled slightly as she resurfaced. “I-I’m fine. We…” need to leave “have to find a way to stop Sombra.” Her determination won out, the whispers receding for the time being. They had a mission to accomplish, and if they ran out screaming they would never find a way to defeat Sombra. “Okey dokey!” began Pinkie. “How?”. “Have one of you tried anything with the archways?” “The one on the left wouldn’t budge. The right one seemed to have some give, though. Felt like a bunch of spider webs on my hoof,” Rainbow replied, sticking out her tongue in disgust at the memory. Though she quickly regained her brave posture with a small shake of her head. “Not like it bothered me!” “Then let's go and see what's on the other side.” After a short, and highly uncomfortable, trip through the archway, the group appeared to find themselves back in Equestria in a space near the tip of the crystal palace. The walls to their left and right were transparent, giving a rather pleasant view of the Empire save for the light blue shield and the unnatural blizzard raging outside of it. Several knee-high bookshelves lay just beneath the windows, each filled to the brim with books that looked to be brand new, but upon further inspection were over a thousand years old.  Against the far wall was a quaint desk with a rather comfy-looking chair. The desk was covered in various knick-knacks and books with multiple colored indentations sticking out from between their pages. A pink feather and multiple pots of various colored inks lay opposite the books. A small picture of the same unicorn from before smiling happily framed on the desk. If it weren't for the overbearing feeling of wrongness permeating the air like sludge one might be forgiven for thinking themselves back in Equestria and perhaps the office of a local governor or low nobility. Was this the study of the King knocking at the city's door?  “My this is rather… humble,” Rarity was the first to vocalize what they were all thinking.  “That same unicorn from before is also here,” spoke the, until now, silent Fluttershy as she moved to pick up and inspect the picture frame. Until this point, she had been practically catatonic and opted to hide behind Twilight or Rainbow Dash at any opportunity. The less reality-opposing scenery had put her somewhat at ease. She turned the frame in her grasp, inspecting it for any writing. Meanwhile Twilight had flipped open the book at the centre of the desk. Her inner librarian was both elated and mortified upon flipping through the book’s pages. It was the latest edition of the book ‘From Herds to Cities: The History of Equestria.’ A version that was not set to be published for at least another month! Questions as to how Sombra got a hold of this early swirled in her mind before they were swiftly overtaken by a more pressing development.  The book's pages were filled with annotations, scribbles, and footnotes by the King himself! Multiple times a page, for almost every page, were what looked to be corrections, each more condescending than the last. With a ‘wrong’ here and a ‘oversimplified’ there. His notes spoke of these events as if he was actually there to witness them. Which should be impossible with him being in stasis along with the rest of the Empire, right? Turning around, Twilight grabbed a book at random from the shelf behind her, flipping it open and gasping as this book was equally filled with the words of the King. Sensing the golden opportunity this was she scanned the bookshelf for anything relating to the Crystal Empire. Her eyes caught one lying on the bottom shelf. It looked old, its pages having turned yellow from time and its cover having faded to a shadow of its former self. Her eyes caught the corner of a letter engraved into its surface before her blood turned to ice within her veins as a voice reverberated through the very fabric of this broken reality. “Ah… visitors.” The King stepped through the darkness obscuring the doorway, his every step forward making them flinch as throughout the room each mare stared at him in awe. It was as if some very part of their soul couldn’t help but gape at seeing the umbral stallion in the flesh. “While I would like for nothing else than to stay and chat, with us currently being considered enemies that would not be very tactically sound on my part, hmm? Wouldn’t you agree, Elements of Harmony?” he finished with a rhyme, grinning toward them as if they had met at a dinner party. With the slightest tilt of his head reality around them began to unravel. The sound of tearing paper and rushing wind filled the room as each mare found themselves being pushed through a portal behind them. Knowing they wouldn’t get another chance like this, Twilight grabbed the book and held onto it with all her might as she was dragged through the hole in reality. The mare's ears popped with changing air pressure as they suddenly found themselves back in the Empire’s library. All of them were breathing heavily like they had run several miles as the final words of the King reverberated in their minds. “Tick-tock, ponies. My patience will not last forever.” Twilight clutched the book close to her chest, holding onto it for dear life all her gathered friends caught their breath. Her eyes darted to where the tear in reality had been. All her eyes met with was a disheveled crystal bookcase. They were back in the Empire and back in reality. First came relief at escape, then terror at where they had been before, finally, curiosity took hold of Twilight's mind as her gaze switched between the dark staircase and the book in her grasp. She held in her hooves the source of information they had been looking for, a text annotated by the dark King himself. Would… would it even be safe to open it? To read its contents without going mad or falling to the King's manipulations? Questions for another time. Right now Cadence, her brother, and all the ponies of the Crystal Empire needed her help. They needed what was contained in this book. The unicorn placed the book on the ground and opened to the first page as deep within the palace infirmary, an Angel began to dream.