Sombra in G Minor
A small earth pony caravan traveled along the road from Manehatten to Canterlot, with a covered wagon carrying veggies and trinkets to sell at the market. The wagon was pulled by a rather impressive mare, the top of her head coming to a few inches above her husband’s. The stallion was busy keeping the kids out from under his wife’s hooves, while making sure that none of their wares fell out of the kart onto the bumpy road.
“Will we see the princesses, daddy?” One little foal, whose glasses made him look more like an owl than a pony, sat perched atop his father’s back.
“We very well might… Radish! Get out of the parsnips!”
“Will we be able to see Princess Luna raise the sun?”
“Princess Luna raises the moon, sweetheart… Parsnip! Get out of the radishes!”
“Oh. Will Princess Luna become Nightmare Moon again?”
“That’s very unlikely, punkin’… Stop playing hoofball with the cabbages! Those are for market!”
The mother looked ahead and noticed the silhouette of a peculiar pony walking towards them. “Honey, do you see that?”
The stallion’s keen eyes, trained from years of protecting his veggie patch from stray crows, spotted the pony right away. “I’ll put the kids in the kart.”
With their three children snug inside the cloth covering, the couple walked forwards, always keeping an eye on the pony headed in the opposite direction. The mare shivered, and her husband leaned into her side to reassure her.
The other pony walked slowly, his rear left leg limping from a long-forgotten injury. His unkempt mane was matted together with moss and sweat, and his sandy-tan coat was blotched with missing patches of hair. The gentle aroma of burnt wood followed him as he passed by the silent caravan, and shot a glare at the happy family.
When the stallion had passed, and was some distance away, the three kids quietly filed out of the cart. After walking in silence for a while, the littlest one spoke up. “Is that why we’re supposed to stay in school, daddy?”
“Uh… Yes. Yes it is.”
“No matter what you do, you’ll always be able to find somepony who can do it better”
The words of the disheveled pony’s mother rang in his head again and again, always circulating, never ending. The phrase had become his private mantra ever since he had lost his job, his life’s work. That was when he learned the hard way just how true the saying was.
The earth pony walked down the same path that he had always traveled, ever since that sorry day. He had spent this time taking odd jobs in the towns he came across, before finally growing weary of the townsponies and moving on.
“Well, m-m-mother, I hope you’re h-happy.”
With his mind eternally in the past, he never noticed the raised tree root before he tripped over it. Flailing about, he tumbled off of the forest path and into a small clearing. He got to his feet quickly, ready to face whatever pony that would dare trip him up. His angry, bloodshot eyes settled on a cave, resting in a nearby hillside. An evil, purple-ish glow escaped from the cave’s entrance.
The sandy-coated earth pony then experienced a pause moment.
Everypony experiences pause moments in their life; those little times between coming into contact with something wrong, and succumbing to the desire to join in. Most ponies have a still, small voice that tells them what will happen if they submit to the dark urges, and many are able to exercise the willpower needed to heed their conscience.
This particular stallion, however, had quite a bit of experience with ignoring the still, small voice. He completely ignored the warning that told him the thing in the cave was most likely harmful. He discarded the notion that an earth pony probably wouldn’t have much defense against any potential dark magic within. His curiosity got the better of him and he limped into the cave to observe the root of the evil within.
In the center of the cave grew a lone stalagmite of purple crystal, its arcane radiance filling the room with light. Contrary to what the grey-maned stallion knew was natural; however, the light did nothing to dispel the cave’s shadows. Instead, the cavern’s natural shadows seemed to deepen upon contact with the swirling purple-ish glow. As the tan pony drew close, he caught sight of his reflection on the crystal’s smooth surface. He grimaced at his own disheveled appearance, mane askew and coat matted. He leaned forwards to get a closer look at his yellowed teeth when the reflection rippled.
Within the mirrored surface, he saw his face turn from tan to dark grey, his mane from light grey to deepest black, and his eyes turn from emerald green to blood red. Long fangs replaced yellow teeth as his mouth opened in a maniacal grin. A girlish shriek sprung from his lips as he slid backwards, getting as much distance between himself and the crystal as he could in his panicked state.
When he dared to look at the crystal once more, he saw the twisted reflection flow out of the crystal and into the darkness of the cave. The head of a monstrous unicorn, connected to a flowing trail of black smoke, swirled towards the terrified earth pony. Stopping mere inches from the cowering stallion, the head spoke. “And who might you be, son of earth?”
“I-I-I-I am…” The stallion took a large gulp of air. “D-d-d-d-dusty Shelves.”
“Hmm, hmm, hmm,” The floating face chuckled deeply. “A librarian.”
“F-f-former.” Dusty corrected the spirit in spite of himself. “F-f-former librarian.”
“What a shame.” The smoke swirled around the stallion as the disembodied head got a full view of him. “Hmm, trouble back home?”
Dusty Shelves gritted his teeth. “I don’t h-h-have a h-h-home.” He grew bold enough to ask a question. “W-what are y-y-you?”
The head retreated back to the crystal. Settled inside and appearing as a reflection, the unicorn turned to the still very frightened earth pony. “You’ve come a long way, what made you decide to leave?”
“W-w-what?” Dusty raised an eyebrow. “How do you kn-kn-kn-know how far I’ve t-traveled?”
“Do you take me for a fool?” The black-maned unicorn lidded his eyes. “We are half-way between Manehatten and Canterlot, we’re far away from everywhere.”
“Well, wh-when you put it that w-w-way,” The tan earth-pony began looking around for the exit, but it seemed that he had gone farther into the cave than he remembered. “I-I-I-I lost m-m-my job.”
“Tragic, for a pony so young to be so destitute.”
Dusty squinted at the unicorn in the crystal. “Who are y-you?”
The unicorn smiled darkly, and his horn began to glow. Purple crystals grew out of every shadow and corner, adding their black-lit glow to the room. The red-eyed unicorn began his explanation.
"You may call me Somber Tidings
For that’s all that I can bring
Tales of sadness
And no shortage of remorse
"I was once very much like you
I had friends and family too
But now I find
That I am all alone. Of course…"
Somber Tidings tipped his horn to the earth pony before him. “You knew that part already, didn’t you?”
Dusty Shelves nodded in agreement.
Somber’s horn glowed again, and shadows of ponies appeared on the wall, dancing to the beat of his song. Earth ponies of varying sizes and ages frolicked and played together.
"I was leader of great peoples
A time of peace came for them all
I even had
A loving mare to call my own"
All of the shadows suddenly cowered before two larger ones, whose wingspan reached the entire length and breadth of the room.
"But there were two who would deny
My peaceful loving cry
So they threw me out
And all I loved cast down"
Dusty recognized the silhouettes that Somber Tidings had cast onto the wall. “Th-th-those are the R-r-royal P-p-pony Sisters!”
The unicorn grinned as the shadows deepened, and only the glow of his two red eyes remained.
"I had hoped that their own kingdom
Would embrace the time of peace
That the conflict
Could take a brief respite
"But their tempers glowed so hot
When I achieved what they could not
They grew jealous
And sent me into the night"
The tan earth pony couldn’t see his own hoof in front of his face, but when he lowered it, the dark unicorn was close enough that Dusty could have reached out and touched the arcane horn.
“You see, Dusty, I need you.”
Dusty gave a start. “But, how c-c-can I help you? I can’t und-d-d-do your enchant-ench-enchantment.” He squinted at the magical disembodied head. “Why should I help you?”
Somber Tiding’s eyes twinkled in the dark. “Revenge.”
The former librarian’s own eyes darkened. “I don’t know w-wh-what you’re talking about.”
“Dusty Shelves, I can see right through you, just like…” Somber grinned as the black-lit glow returned. “A Cryyyyssssstaaal”
The grey unicorn swirled around the earth stallion until the smoke gave Dusty Shelves a coughing fit. “You are driven by revenge; it’s as plain as the nose on your face.” The unicorn came face-to-face with Dusty. “But revenge on whom?”
He returned to his crystal once more, and glared at his companion. “I will help you get your revenge, son of earth, if you help me get out of this prison.” He grinned vilely. “You scratch my proverbial back, I scratch your back.
“So who is it, hmm? A scornful ex-partner? A rich big-wig who decided he didn’t need you anymore? Go on, tell me all about it.”
Dusty hesitated. Another pause moment; another still, small voice.
This unicorn was powerful. If he could do all this magic after imprisonment by the Royal Pony Sisters, then he was more powerful than anyone Dusty had ever seen… No one would get hurt, except for her.
Dusty spat on his hoof and held it out to Somber Tidings, an old earth pony tradition. “Y-y-you have a deal.
“Sh-sh-she’s a unicorn mare who c-c-came to Ponyville and stole my j-j-j-job from me. She ali-alienated me from the entire t-t-town. I lost everything because of her.”
Somber nodded in false understanding. “And this wicked mare’s name?”
Dusty Shelves’ face scrunched up in white-hot fury, his eyes blazing as her image came into focus within his mottled brain. A purple coat, a lavender/magenta stripped mane, and a glowing horn atop her head.
“T-Twilight S-S-S-Sparkle.”
Somber’s teeth opened wide, and he couldn’t help the loud bark of laughter that escaped his ethereal throat. “Dusty, I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
When the earth pony limped back to the road, he was no longer travelling to find work in Manehatten, but to find vengeance in Ponyville. Within his saddlebags was a large shard of purple crystal, containing the spirit of a long-buried unicorn king. Within the darkness of the crystal, Somber Tidings chuckled to himself. He was closer to achieving his goals than he had thought. I may even humor this wretched creature for a while, as long as his vengeance parallels my own.
His final triumphant strains never reached the ears of his travelling companion.
"Oh Celestia, my old friend
You’ll soon see how it all ends
When all of my
Scattered pawns fall into place
"For I will be king of everything
Of Sombra’s might everypony will sing
And every pony of every race
Will kneel before my fickle grace"
The train ride to the Crystal Empire was a quiet one. Lyra was half-way through her Flugelhorn how-to, Rainbow Dash was reading up on Crystal Pony Jousting, and Twilight was studying what ponykind knew about Sombra’s dark magic. Here’s an interesting theory… Did Sombra’s magic have something to do with Nightmare Moon’s creation?
Twilight’s mind’s eye saw herself under the influence of the Nightmare magic, gazing at a novel with glowing, catlike eyes and declaring, “This book shall last FOREVER!” She shook her head to clear the uncomfortable thought from her noggin.
Rainbow noticed the movement and walked up to the magical mare. “You okay, Twilight?”
Twilight smiled brightly. “Of course! Why do you ask?”
The pegasus pointed at the pile of precisely placed pieces of pastry on the purple pony’s plate. “Because your donut holes look like a marching band.”
Twilight swiftly knocked the round cakes of donut, which she had absent-mindedly arranged in a perfect three-by-three square, into a small doggie bag. “I hardly see how that-”
“Twilight, your obsessive-compulsive personality always goes into overdrive when you’re nervous.” Rainbow took a seat next to her friend. “So, what’s eating you?”
Twilight sighed. “I’m traveling to a far-off land, to use an untested magical technique, to open the door to a forgotten temple.” She smirked wearily. “My real problem is deciding what to worry about the most.”
Dash nodded. “Well, I’m here for you if you need to let off some steam. I didn’t just come along to play action hero.
“Though that was part of it,” Rainbow winked.
Twilight laughed lightly. “Yeah, thanks. It’s just…” The lavender unicorn looked to the ceiling for the right words. “I don’t know much about Sombra’s magic, except how to use it.” She turned her face to the floor. “It scares me.”
Rainbow stared at her friend. “What’s it like?” she asked. “I mean, what’s the magic feel like?”
The unicorn mare closed her eyes and remembered. “When I use it, I can feel my spirit screaming at me to stop, to never use the magic again. My eyes are on fire, and my stomach churns. Afterwards, my blood pressure is so high I want to scream at everything.” She lay herself down on the train-car booth. “It hurts just to remember it.”
Rainbow rubbed her friend’s back reassuringly. “It’ll be alright, Twilight, I’m sure it’ll get easier as you go along.”
“I don’t want it to become easier!”
Twilight’s shout startled Lyra Heartstrings out of her reading. She considered walking over to join the conversation, but thought better of it. She’s not going to appreciate the help of a mare who didn’t wait five minutes after meeting her to ask a favor… Instead, she began to eavesdrop.
“I can feel how dark it is,” Twilight continued. “It’s wrong, and I don’t want to use it ever again.”
“So, don’t!” Rainbow walked around to look Twilight in the eye. “Write a letter to Princess Luna, and tell her you can’t go through with it!”
“But I have to!” The unicorn gritted her teeth to calm herself down. “The princesses are counting on me to find out what’s behind that door.”
Rainbow Dash pursed her lips together, ready to pursue the point, but relented slightly. “Twilight, I’m going with you, I’m gonna stand by your side, and I’m gonna be there if anything goes wrong.” She turned to go back to her seat. “But you’re way more important than anything we’re going to find inside that temple.”
Twilight lowered her head onto her front legs. “You don’t know that.”
Rainbow looked over her shoulder at the dour mare. “Yeah, I do.” She flicked her mane and smiled. “I’m Rainbow Dash, I know stuff.”
Spike had opted to stay in Ponyville, ostensibly to cover for Twilight at the library. In actuality, however, he was mostly swayed by the opportunity to spend time with a certain curly-maned unicorn.
“Spike! Are you coming?” The pure-white mare sashayed down the path to the barrens outside of Ponyville, where the two of them did most of their gem hunting. Spike happily skipped along behind her, just enjoying the company of his favorite mare in the world.
They hadn’t quite left Whitetail Wood before they found the damage. The fire that Pinkie described the previous week had demolished nearly half an acre before the pegasi weather team had managed to put it out. It was a relatively small area, to be sure, but still devastating to the animals that called the trees home. Spike kicked at a tree root, burned to charcoal by the blaze. “What a waste.”
“Maybe so, Spike...” Rarity brushed aside some dust to uncover a small, green object. Upon closer inspection, the small dragon saw that it was a little sprout, the beginnings of a new tree. “But even the greatest tragedy can be turned around for good.”
Spike resisted the urge to gag at the utter sappiness of what he just heard; it was Rarity he was with, after all. “You really think that anything bad can be turned into something good?”
“Well, I think that most bad things were meant for good in the first place.” She smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to corrupt a pony.”
Rarity looked around at the scattered remains of the forest. “What do you know about fire, Spike?”
Spike shrugged. “What do yah wanna know?”
Rarity bit her lower lip as she got a closer look at a burnt-out stump. “The girls and I wanted to know if this fire could have been set on purpose.”
The baby dragon was taken aback. “On purpose!? Who would do something like that?”
Rarity looked back to him. “That’s what we want to find out,” she answered.
The small green-and-purple dragon sniffed the air, searching for any remnants of magical energy on the breeze. He snuffed one last time before turning to his unicorn friend. “Yeah, this fire was magic, all right.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Rarity said.
Spike walked forwards, following his nose to the source of the fire. He stopped in the middle of the remains of three pine trees. “It started here.” He picked up a piece of enchanted flint, covered all over in runes and other magical markings. “They used this to start it, Fire Flint, it could be anypony.”
Rarity nodded, Fire Flint was easy enough to get a hold of. Anypony could use it to start a fire, regardless of magical aptitude. It was a tool.
A tool that some careless soul had turned into a weapon of pointless destruction.
Hmm, the white unicorn considered this thought. Careless, or villainous?
“We’ll have to turn this over to the authorities when we get home, but for now…” She smiled at her diminutive companion. “Let’s hunt some gems, shall we?”
Spike bowed. “After you, my fair lady!”
“And here’s another!” Rarity’s gem-finding spell was at peak performance today, it seemed. Not a half-hour in and they had found nearly all of the gems she needed to complete her ensemble. Spike bounced over to her and began the process of tearing through the soil until he struck pay-dirt. He lifted the gems out of his new hole and tossed them into a little red wagon, dusting his claws off after a job well done.
The dragon looked around; there wasn’t a soul in sight. “It’s a little odd that the Diamond Dogs aren’t coming out to beg for a gem or two.”
“Perhaps the fire scared them off.” Rarity was already casting her next gem-finding spell. She felt a tug at her horn and trotted off.
“I don’t know...” Spike tilted his head quizzically. “All they had to do was crawl into their caves and they’d be safe.”
“They don’t strike me as overly intelligent.”
The substitute librarian shrugged. “They were smart enough to use bait, to figure out that you were the one finding the gems.” He smiled. “And to let you go when they saw a dragon coming to rescue you.”
She laughed, a bit uncomfortably. “I suppose I’m just lucky to have you as a good friend.”
Spike sighed inwardly. “Yeah, a good friend.”
When Rarity reached the spot indicated by her spell, Spike again began to dig. This time, though, he hadn’t gotten more than a few inches before the gems were unearthed. “Huh? That’s weird. Gems usually aren’t this close to the surf-”
Before he could say another word, the ground cracked, crumbled, and swallowed up both mare and dragon, sending them into the inky blackness below.