//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: An Anonymous Gift 
// Story: Somber Meetings 
// by Ralfil 
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	Twilight sighed as she returned that night to her apartments at the Royal Castle. "Wow, as great as that was, it was absolutely exhausting." Spike was already asleep in his own bed, as he didn't have quite the stamina of a full grown pony. She found that there were already several gifts just inside from ponies wishing her the best after the coronation. There were quite a few flowers and packages there. She chuckled wearily as she sorted through some of them. She figured she could open one or two before retiring to bed for the night.

One particularly inauspicious box caught her eye. There was no note attached, but when she opened it she found one inside along with a small piece of what looked to be obsidian. She turned it over in her hooves as she read the note,



As soon as she finished the note her attention turned to the crystal. Her general inquisitiveness had a tendency to cause the occasional problem like when she had recently switched her friends' cutie marks, but that had turned out to be a good thing in the end once she had fixed it. She was extremely cautious when doing field study, but that was thrown out the door when it came to books of any kind. As far as she could tell, this crystal was just a glorified book. She giddily thought of what the index alone might contain.

She lit up her horn and channeled some energy into the crystal in her hooves. As she watched the crystal it pulsed slightly with her magic for a moment before suddenly going from black to grey and shattering. Startled, she jumped back as the shards actually melted into the floor, turned into shadows, and vanished. Her head whipped to the side to see the note burst into flames and disappear in a similar manner.

"Well," her mouth hung open, "that wasn't ominous at all." Her mind was rushing to figure out what had just happened. The adrenalin coursing through her gave a temporary boost as she performed a quick scan of the room as calmly as she could. There were no traces of residual magic. She couldn't find any trace of what had just happened besides the empty box. She examined it and found no label of a sender or even the address to her.

Not knowing if there was any danger or not, Twilight set a few warding spells around the room just to be safe. She would have done more, but adrenalin fueled magic when you are already worn out is extremely tiring. It removes the boost previously held and leaves you in even more need of rest. She trudged over to her bed, shaken at what had just occurred. Hopefully she would be able to research it properly in the morning. For now she just pulled Spike's bed next to her own and wrapped herself up in her blankets, shivering. It didn't take long for her to fall into a deep sleep.





Normally Twilight had simple dreams like most ponies. She would dream about things that were fun or interesting. In her case they tended to be about books and mathematics. She rarely, if ever, had a lucid dream. This was...something she didn't know how to describe. She was still in her coronation outfit and found herself in the middle of nowhere. Everything around her was just...blank. There seemed to be a light coming from an arbitrary source above her. It did little more than illuminate her immediate surroundings. There was nothing to see really. She started walking, hoping to find something in there that held some form of explanation.

Soon she began hearing a slight chuckling in the distance. It was the first clue she had that she wasn't alone in this place. "Hello?" she called out, "Where am I?" The laughter increased. "Who are you?" Now it seemed to be coming from behind her. She shouted louder this time. "Show yourself!"

"Ah ha ha... at last we meet face to face..." a deep male voice intoned. "Twilight Sparkle." Twilight whipped her head back to see a stallion emerging from the shadows that she had never imagined to meet as more than just a cloudy entity. She hadn't had the misfortune to do so when he had attacked the Crystal Empire since his safeguards on the Crystal Heart had trapped her temporarily in the tower. King Sombra's glowing eyes glinted evilly as he smiled at her.

Twilight immediately took a defensive stance despite the shock at his appearance. Though his preparatory measures in his castle hadn't been much to sneer at, from what her friends had told her he didn't really seem to have much strength in person beyond intimidation. She felt no need to refer to him by his title as she looked upon him with scorn. "What do you want, Sombra? And that's Princess Twilight Sparkle to you!"

His response made her look at him suspiciously as he actually sidled up to her. He spoke in a way that implied he was merely having an intellectual discussion. His voice was far smoother as he continued, "Ah yes. My apologies, I wasn't invited to your...coronation." He looked her up and down in a way that frankly led her to feel dirty. "I must say, you wear your new wings well." His eyes lighted upon the Element of Magic resting on her head. "Although your new title is hardly befitting somepony of your stature." He eye contact in a way that almost implied disinterest.

Twilight shifted away from him in disgust. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded suspiciously. She turned to face him at a more head on angle. It was a typical fighting tactic. With the way ponies' bodies were built, it was best to face your enemy if a unicorn so as to present a small target while opening up the full capacity for your own attacks to hit them.

Sombra responded calmly raising a hoof to wave dismissively at her question. He had his eyes closed even. This was something only done when you were fully confident, or overconfident, that your opponent was a not threat to you. "Oh, I meant no offense, my dear!" She cringed internally at his term of endearment. "I simply have to ask: why be a princess," His eyes flashed open, and a crown appeared above his raised hoof. "when you could be a Queen?" He smirked at her. The crown held a disturbing resemblance to her own Element she was wearing, only it seemed wrong. As if it was dark and corrupted.

Twilight could only stare at it in shock as she responded, "Wh-what?" The implications of him as a 'King' offering her the status of a Queen were disturbing enough.

He continued smiling. "Back at my castle, when you first used dark magic..." She wondered how he could possibly know that! "you took to it like a fish to water. But you've barely scratched the surface. There is so much more you do not know!" He looked sidelong at her while the crown held her eyes. "But I know. I could teach you magic even Celestia cannot hope to control." His smirk grew into a knowing smile. "It's funny, we're not so different, you and I. We both-"

"Stop right there, Sombra!" she interrupted. She could see where this was going. He halted in shock at her forcefulness.

"What?" he responded with a scowl on his face. Part of her could only imagine the frustration this must bring him. Villains always hated it when you interrupted their monologues.

She decided to capitalize on his confusion. "I've heard this bit a hundred times in a hundred stories!" She raised a hoof accusingly at him. "You're gonna say we're 'not so different,' rattle off a bunch of traits you think we share, and try to convince me to join your side! Well let me tell you, 'your highness,' we are nothing alike!" She indicated herself with her hoof. "I earned my friends, my wings, and my crown!" She pointed at him again as she advanced forward. "You took your throne by force and enslaved other ponies for your own selfish gain!" Her eyes stared firmly into his without fear. "I got to where I am through love and friendship!" He hoof finally impacted with his armor with a small *tink* as she continued. "You tried to get there through fear and violence, and you were defeated for it! Twice!"

Twilight backed away slightly in disgust. "You are not my equal. You're not even a real king. You're just a clichéd bad guy straight out of a mediocre fantasy book." She felt rather proud inside that she was able to stand up to him like that. If she knew anything, it was that enemies of Equestria had a distinct tendency to follow storybook patterns. Most of them, however, were fairly effective villains, unlike the stallion in front of her. He stared at her calmly for a moment before the floating crown next to him quietly imploded in a poof of dark magic.

"So," he began, "I'm just a 'clichéd bad guy,' eh?" He glanced off to the side fatalistically. "From a 'mediocre fantasy book?' Well then." King Sombra brought his gaze back to full bore on her and ignited his horn suddenly. "You won't mind if I introduce a plot twist." The ground surrounding her crackled as vines of dark magic erupted upwards and surrounded her. She found her fore-hooves and wings entangled quickly as another lashed around her neck and began immediately choking her. She cried out in shock before struggling to escape from the bindings frantically.

"Ah ha ha ha! Final chapter, scene one:" Sombra chuckled as he approached her. She began gasping for breath as the energy around her neck tightened and her eyes watered. "The big, bad villain kills the plucky young protagonist." He leaned in, smiling viciously. "Fade to black, end scene." The asphyxiation was making it hard for Twilight to think as he leaned in close to her face, his horn resting next to hers on her head. "Hows that for a change of pace," he said as he gazed into her strained eyes, "Princess?"

His goading lead Twilight to find the strength in herself to concentrate on freeing herself. She reached for her magic, straining. In her confusion she readied the nearest magical power available inside herself. Snapping her eyes open she felt dark magic flow from her glowing eyes in anger. The strings of energy holding her shifted to her own control and turned on Sombra. He backed away defensively as she rose, flaring her wings in fury. He snarled as she flung the magic back at him and snapped them across his face.

Sombra smashed face first into the ground as he was thrown away from her brutally. Twilight sunk back to the ground and dispelled the energy whips. They fizzled down as she concentrated on removing the dark magic from her system. Opening her eyes, she found herself exhausted at the energy requirements of returning to normal. Almost collapsing to the ground, she breathed heavily as she stared back at the fallen stallion.

He grunted as he struggled back up to a standing position, hissing in pain. He shook himself a bit before opening his eyes and gasping. A scar now over the right side of his face showed him now to be missing an eye. In it's place was simply the glowing smoke evident of the dark magic he wielded leaking out. Strangely, his faced turned back at her smiling. "Eh heh heh heh," he chuckled, "What did I tell you, Princess?" Twilight could only glare at him as he finished.

"Not. So. Different."