"And check!"
“That's all, adviser Grimm, I already went through the checklist for today and convened with a few ponies as well! I’m sure that farmer was happy that I was able to expand his land without offending anypony.”
“As you wish Princess, have a good night.” The advisor gave a little smirk as she trotted out with the clipboard containing various important paperworks that the Princess had recently signed off or vetoed. The Princess twitched as she gave thought to those stuffy Nobles; despite being Princess of Friendship, she couldn't help but have one or two bad thoughts about them when she began to deal with Prince Blueblood bursting into her court demanding that his mansion be expanded, just because her aunt had already said no at her previous court. She once saw a pony walk into a jewelry store and buy a diamond bracelet with a price tag that would have a set a simple farmer back a decade or so, then trot out with his arrogant nose stuck in the sky, probably to ignore the homeless pony on the street begging for even a simple bit for food.
“I have to figure out what to do about that, speaking of figuring things out. I should go to the library, create a checklist there and then I will have to...”
A cough snapped the Princess out of her little rant to herself as the first one of two Lunar Stallions took their position between her, replacing the Solar guards as it was almost time for the moonrise. The princess coughed to level herself before kindly requesting them to lead her to the castle's library. She sighed inwardly, she now knew how her two "sisters" felt when the guards deemed it necessary to guard immortal alicorns.
The Princess trotted through the halls of the massive palace; despite having lived in the castle for most her life, she would ever tire of seeing the same sight. As the crescent moon rose and dominated Canterlot's skyline, the three ponies finally made it to massive doors of the information room, she trotted in while being flanked by her guards. The library was, as usual, empty, lit up by a few dim torches, and the musk of aged books hit her nostrils, striking a nerve that made her smile—she was back in her familiar territory.
“Hello my little books, did you miss me?” One of the two guards snickered at the Princess's joke while another thought that she actually meant it. Either way, they snapped into attention as the Princess turned around at the snickering. She joined the laughter briefly then informing that she would like to be left alone, they may stand by at the door. Twilight smiled, displaying the regalia that only a Princess could uphold.
“Yes, Princess Sparkle.” The two Lunar Stallions gracefully bowed, then retreated to the library’s door to take their positions. Twilight flapped her wings then resetting it to make herself comfortable whilst taking off her gold tiara, boots, and necklace and placing them onto the long table nearby.
“Ahh, I can be myself, but only if for a moment, before I must enter the lion's den known as Celestia's court! I still don't understand why they squabble over pointless, useless things when we could just move on and help ponies and our country as a whole.” Twilight, entering yet another rant to herself, expressed the frustrations that had been eating from within her since accepting the role as princess. Activating her magic, she began to flatten her hair when a couple strands stood out during her mini rave.
Fishing out some books, a couple being law books—which would hopefully guide her to helping the homeless—and another being the newest installment of Daring Do. A slight frown crossed her face—she couldn’t help but wonder what Rainbow Dash is doing back in Ponyville; probably still working toward her dream of making it into the Wonderbolts. Twilight, at one point, almost considered using her position to pull some strings that would have her loyal friend getting in, but she quickly abolished that idea the moment that the thought of her betrayed friend discovering it was not, in fact, her own skills that brought her to the Wonderbolts, rather it was her friend’s insistence.
Twilight wasn't aware of how much time she had spent thinking to herself until she noticed the room growing dark around her. Suspecting the moon had risen further in the sky, and thus the time having lurched onward—suspecting it to be midnight—she decided to go to bed. She would need the sleep if she was expected to face those entitles nobles again the next morning. However, something felt odd among the dusty, aged bookshelves. An unnatural distortion broke the air around her and drove her to look further into it. The darkness was going further into the library; the black void gripped her heart with an icy hoof, and the torches exhausted instantly.
“Guards!” Twilight called out in panic, desperate to leave. Nothing happened. “Guards!” She took it upon to herself to leave, turning around to take a look at the library door, visually locating a destination for her to teleport to. Twilight’s horn began to glow in purple, but was interrupted when the room suddenly turned black. Instantly dropping everything that she was putting her horn and mind into, instead she began to weave a complex spell that gave light so she could see and to push against the darkness that was threatening to reach out and drag her away.
“Ah, Princess Sparkle, what an indulgence of meeting you in person.” Twilight jumped, turning her head, glancing around the library to find the source of the voice that seemed to come from all directions as it continued, “Or should I say the bearer of the Element of Magic?”
Twilight snapped at the voice; the eerie, familiar voice which she could've sworn she had heard before. She could see the eyes in the distance—the raging red and green eyes that made Twilight feel like it was staring down at her very soul with the utmost evil intent.
“It cannot be...” Twilight began to slowly take a couple steps backwards.
“I constructed myself back together...painfully while turning away from the Gates of Tartarus, just to pay you a visit. No thanks to you!” the voice became low and menacing. “I'm not here to talk. I am here to exact my retribution upon on you and your little insolent ‘friends’ who will meet their beautiful bloody end by my hoof after...” The shadow then charged toward her without any warning. Princess Sparkle shut her eyes and she quickly teleported out the way as the shadow crashed into the wall with a loud thud, with the sounds of books falling out of their places into the floors. A maniacal laughter echoed throughout the library, chilling Twilight's core, but she held herself together like Princess Celestia or Luna would when in the face of the danger.
“You cannot run forever, you little purple mule!” The shadow expanded and began surrounding the Princess on all sides. In a vain attempt at self defense, she turned to fire a beam at the source, only to have it phase through the ghostly essence as it continued to envelope her in every direction. From a distance, a set of fangs along a simple face crept out of the smoky shadows.
“I'm not going to flee!” Twilight yelled, “Especially not if you are threatening my friends and my family!” She threw her head up to point the horn upwards, then cast a light spell that Princess Celestia taught her a long time ago to ward off any shade of evil. It rose upward to the ceiling of the library, effectively pushing back all black smoke backwards. Twilight Sparkle quickly stopped when a scream rang out within the room. She resisted the urge to rub her eyes to check if this was reality or an imagination that her mind had somehow conjured up.
The library door began to bang with multiple scared voices desperately shouting out in a panic.
“Are you there, Princess Sparkle?”
“ARE YOU ALRIGHT IN THERE? I HEARD THAT. ANSWER ME! WE’RE FETCHING BOTH CELESTIA AND LUNA; SOME HELP IS ON THE WAY NOW! ANSWER ME!”
Twilight was about to answer, but a growl snapped her attention back to a familiar black Unicorn; his mane and tail resembling a black replica of Celestia's: courtesy of his dark magic flowing through him. Matching her gaze to his green voids, he began to sneer, showing the fangs that he had as he spoke.
“You...insolent curs, don't interfere!” His eyes glowed a stronger green as dark magic flicked into life through his red horn. Twilight couldn't figure out exactly what he did when the multiple screams at the door went silent. She growled as her mind took her thinking of the worst.
“What. Did. You. Do. Sombra?!” The black Unicorn responded with smirk on his face.
“They are now little, pathetic, withering masses being killed by their worst fears within their mind. They will only be a pile of meat in no time if you don't do anything, flank-kisser of Princess Celestia!” Sombra dusted himself off the floor, helping himself up to all four hooves as he bared his red eyes at Twilight, shaking with rage; surely this would be enough!
“That. IS. ENOUGH! You don’t insult Princess Celestia in my presence, and you shall not harm any of my subjects, friends or family!” Twilight retaliated as her eyes began to glow white, and a pure light of magic began to take place emanating from her horn. Sombra sensed that she was putting all of her strength on this one; this is what he wanted! Licking his lips, his green eyes began to intensify in the color. Mirroring his bright counterpart, his horn glowed dark green, and a similar eruption of magic fired to meet her beam. The library, under a heavy strain of conflicting magic, threatened to collapse. Sombra took a stronger stance to level himself for what would come soon after, summoning a shadow crystal for further support.
Twilight flew into the air with a powerful thrust of her wings, aiming her spell at the former tyrant of the Crystal Kingdom. Cackling at the useless bravery of his opponent, he fired a beam of his own black magic to combat the Princess’. The books wilted under the growing heat emanating from their powerful spells. Being both the Element of Magic and a newly inducted Princess gave Twilight an advantage, evident by her spell's domination over Sombra's. He responded by drawing energy from the dark magic throughout the room—namely from Twilight's rage—to form into dark crystals, making him even stronger. Both ponies struggled to match the other's increasing magical struggle, and the increasing outpour of energy broke the stone walls of the library. Twilight, noticing the inevitable, diverted her power—at great risk to herself—to siphon Sombra's magic for her own purposes.
Renewing her efforts to battle against the malevolent king, pushing against Sombra's magic was finally becoming effective, pushing back his dark beam. Twilight planned to stop the spell immediately as soon it reached his horn, so she could imprison or capture him afterward. Sombra made one final desperate effort to push back against her powerful beam of light, but with not much magic reserve left, he didn't stand much of a chance anymore. At long last, Sombra reached the moment he had planned for since the beginning. He stopped his own beam—much to the amazement of his opponent—and a wry smile spread across his face. Her beam of light, however, continued on and struck the offender with full force and a blood-curdling scream from the tearing throat of the victim as the purity of light infused and rejected his own dark form, splitting him apart in a gruesome explosion. Twilight, realizing quickly what exactly just transpired and what she had done, immediately recalled her magic, but not before sending the grey stallion flying through two cement walls from the pure recoil of the raw magic output, then crashing into the Canterlot's royal garden with loud thud that even Princess Sparkle could hear from the broken library.
Twilight, in a moment of peace, took the opportunity to check upon the silenced guards just outside the door. Relieved to see their chests rising and falling, however faintly, she turned her attention once more to the aggressor and took after him with a powerful leap. She landed gracelessly before folding her wings to resting position: her head was slumping pitifully, her eyes began to water up, her voice shaking, her purple eyes set upon on the body just ahead of her- wanting to close her eyes and wish this whole incident away.
“Why... why did you do that?” Twilight interrogated, recalling the moment he withdrew his power and took her shot with a smirk on his face! Twilight bent his limp head towards her and looked upon his lifeless body. The thought failed to manifest itself in her thoughts: she killed another living being. Harming alone was horrible, but killing!? She just wanted to capture him to bring him to justice, have one of the more experienced, more powerful princess decide his fate, but she decided it; she ended it.
Or she thought. “Tha...t...” A weak bawl emerged from the struggling figure. Twilight’s eyes widened as she took a step back when she saw the dead body began to stir. “Was..n...ot ENOUGH. You tight-flank, aren't you...puiss-”Sombra's dark magic draped over him like a veil, from within it reformed him, one painfully agonizing crack at a time.He clenched his teeth to fight the scream bubbling within his throat so hard his fangs dug into flesh, earning two bright red rivulets cascading down his cheeks and dripping into a growing puddle beneath his head. “Why can’t I die already!”Sombra rose to his hooves as his spine, ribs, and legs snapped back into place. The pain drove him to his knees and bile to purge his body clean of the surreal hell he endured to live once more. ”You..AHHH- Another bone snapping back into place. “aren’t competent! Not even the high and mighty Princesses could kill me back then, or even now.”
“You...you wanted to die?” Twilight squeaked out of disbelief that Sombra was still alive.
“No, I wanted to look at some beautiful, worthless flowers then go by to have some tea with you.” Sombra paused to draw in a breath, “NO YOU NIMROD. I DESIRE DEATH! I’VE ALREADY LOST EVERYTHING!” Sombra growled as he took first painful steps after getting up, his dark magic flicking on then off as he went through the painful and final stages of regeneration; his black mane and tail began to wave, the sign that the regeneration was done.
“I preferred to be killed by some mule that I am familiar with, be struck down like a warrior should be, but I cannot die! The sand of time... flow of time- I'm sick of it all. I wanted to be killed, finally, unlike your precious Princesses who didn't have the heart to kill me outright, only ousting me out of my throne then banishing me to my own darkness for a thousand years with only my mind intact.” Sombra took another agonizing step toward the new Princess.
Sombra huffed whilst his blood belt from his maw into the ground, feeling drained from the laceration from the engagement earlier. Twilight just stood there, dumbfounded, looking at the dark Unicorn before her; she opened her mouth to say something.
“Don't get things wrong, you cur! I'm the same, exact King Sombra as you come to know about at my kingdom.”
”My little pony,” Sombra began, purposefully veiling last bit with massive dose of sarcasm, before continuing.
“Yo-” Sombra quickly dropped into the ground, injured but alive- his magic reserve finally ran out after coming back from life then regenerating his body.
“I beseech you to find a way...” Sombra's green glowing outer eyes slowly fading away, reverting to regular red eyes as his breath grew heavy. “To stop my flow of time, so I can truly become dust for last tim...” Sombra's head hit the ground, with his crown slipping out of his head, rolling away from him then finally coming to a rest next to Twilight’s hoof.
Princess Twilight, the bearer of Element of the Magic and Princess of the Friendship, now, for the first time, faced a true moral dilemma. Should she tend to the broken pony of a king in his desperate plea for his own peace, or take Celestia's speech to heart and turn him in, thus elongating both his life and suffering?
“King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night...” Twilight gently said as she heard two sets of wings landing beside nearby.
“What do I do?” she mused, turning her eyes find two new sets, one blue as night, the other a bright magenta.
“What do I do?”