The train ride was short, but when Wisdom stuck his head out the window he realized exactly why the ride was short; they had traveled right to Canterlot. Only this time instead of there being peaceful ponies walking around there were armed guards making sure the train was protected and that ponies boarded without delay.
"What's going on here?" Peachy asked, cowering behind Tick as they passed by the guards.
"I sent a picture of our friend to Princess Celestia while he was in the hospital," Twilight explained, nodding to the guards to allow the entire group to pass into the city, "At first she didn't recognize Rocket, just like all of us didn't know who he was at first, but then after a few minutes she began to recognize him. Apparently Discord has been messing with the fabric of reality and he decided to mess with Rocket for some reason that we haven't figured out yet."
"Wait a minute darling," Rarity said, "That would mean that Rainbow was telling the truth, as frightening as it sounds."
"Hey." Rainbow exclaimed, facing the fashion pony, "I would never make something, like seeing another alicorn, up just to get attention or something."
"Point is that Celestia knows that Rocket used to be an alicorn," Twilight continued, taking a turn that would lead them directly to the tower where the Elements of Harmony used to rest, "Just seeing his picture managed to break through his seals and brought back her memories, but its not a picnic anymore. When she read that Rocket was on his way to see Sombra she issued an order that the city be prepared for his arrival. Guards have been moving around all day apparently, escorting the townsponies out of here in case Rocket comes to attack Discord."
"So why are we heading into the building where the Elements of Harmony used to rest?" Applejack asked, tipping her hat up as she scanned the seemingly empty tower.
The vault door opened to reveal a special set of war armor, a purple robe that was identical to Starswirl the Bearded's robe and a special hat, one that allowed her to keep her Element close at all times, that was also filled with enchantments. Floating next to the robe was a wooden staff, one that seemed to be made from an ivory colored wood. Twilight chuckled to herself and pulled the robes over herself, not surprised to find that her friends were shocked by what was waiting for them.
"So that's what Princess Celestia's been hiding in here since we took the Elements with us?" Rainbow asked, confused as to why she would have hidden something like that in such a secured vault.
"Not quite," Twilight admitted, pulling the hat over her crown and adjusting it so the jewel was showing, "This is my war game armor, the one I wear when I have to meet with the other Princesses. I hid it here so I would have a safe place to prevent prying eyes from seeing it. Wouldn't do to have a princess walking around with a set of armor on. It might actually freak some ponies out and make them think I was doing something dangerous."
"A war game?" Peachy asked, curious as to that little bit.
"Unimportant right now," Twilight answered, grabbing the staff before closing the vault, "Right now we have to meet with Celestia and Luna and plan out our next move. If everything is going as Celestia told me then the entire Crystal Empire should be searching for Rocket this very minute. With any luck we will have beaten him to the punch before he could have found Sombra."
~Sombra's Cave~
"Hehehe. I like what I see."
Sitting in front of Sombra was the same stallion who had foolishly wandered into his cave, thinking he could best the Black King without magic. His blue coat was now a dull grey color, his mane and tail turned slightly black, and his eyes were filled with the same darkness that coursed through Sombra's own body. The only thing different about the pegasus was the fact that he now had a horn on the top of his head, returning the use of magic to the used to be alicorn.
Sombra had shifted through the memories of the stallion while he had originally decided what he was going to do with his prey. He had seen a unicorn stallion who could command such terrible power that Queen Chrysalis envied enough to turn him against her own enemies. Once she was defeated she turned to Sombra for help, tricking him into using the last of the Demonshade on the powerful stallion. They had nearly succeeded in killing him, but his friends had saved him and just before he could punish the two fallen rulers Discord stepped in an caused all of this. Now the stallion was his to use as he wished.
"Awaken my minion," Sombra commanded, watching the stallion open his eyes, "Your going to help me invade the Crystal Empire and take it over. Simple task. Return my empire to me and I'll take care of your Changeling problem."
That was the plan and the stallion was more then willing to walk out of the cave and approach the barrier protecting the city. Not like he made much of a choice with all the corruption coursing through his veins. But Sombra followed in his shadow, watching the stallion's moves with ease.
A unicorn guard looked up from his post and took notice of another pony approaching the barrier, but there was something strange about the newcomer. He looked over at his partner and tapped his shoulder, pointing out the stallion that continued to approach their location.
"Looks like Sombra's attempting to breach the barrier again," the first guard remarked, his partner chuckling, "We get to see him burst into nothing for the hundredth time this week."
That was their idea of what was going to happen, until the stallion pressed his hoof against the barrier and the magic began to break apart before him. He passed through the barrier, which now had a hole created by what appeared to be dark magic, and he passed by the guards without uttering a single word. Before the guards could stop him he opened his wings and took off, heading directly towards the center of the empire.
"That wasn't Sombra," the second guard shouted, scrambling to his hooves before starting off in the direction the pegasus went, "Quickly, we have to warn the Princess before he arrives."
Cadence, already attuned to the barrier that protected her empire, was already painfully aware that there was a small breach in the western wall. So Sombra had finally created a hole so he could get to her, that was fine, but this time she and Shining were ready for him. The only down side was that they had yet to find the stallion who was supposed to have arrived in the empire a short time ago.
Right now she and Shining were standing at the balcony, staring at the small hole while they waited for their 'guest' to arrive. Shining was dressed in his captain armor, though Cadence was surprised that it still fit after so long of him not wearing it. She, however, wore a set of jouster gear, which wasn't the best armor, but it was better than everything else they had in stock.
"According to Twily this guy's supposed to be an ex-alicorn," Shining commented, trying to pass the time while they waited.
"How does one get demoted from alicorn status?" Cadence asked, the idea seemed ridiculous, "And how did Twilight and Celestia not realized who he used to be until now?"
"Its all Discord's fault apparently," Shining answered, shaking his head, "He twisted reality and forgot to account for Celestia remembering everything that has already happened. Discord has apparently been trying to kill this stallion since he had ascended to alicornhood and he's been failing since day one. The problem is that he's powerful, so Celestia is afraid that the union of him and darkness might be something that not even she can defeat."
"We've got company," Cadence shouted, watching the stallion land directly in front of the Crystal Heart, "Let's do this Shining."
Cadence flew down to where the heart floated, keeping an eye on the stallion who was staring at the heart, while her husband cast a slow fall spell and floated down to where they were. Cadence thought it was strange; if the stallion was under Sombra's control then he would have already moved the heart before they had arrived. If he was as powerful as Celestia claimed that he was then the two of them were definitely in trouble, but seeing how he wasn't making a move they decided to move around the stallion.
"Hehehe," came the eerie voice of Sombra as Rocket's shadow came alive before their eyes, "Shining Armor, Cadence, its sooo good to see you again. I hope you don't mind me destroying the heart and taking my empire back!"
"So not happening," Cadence said at the same time as Rocket, shocking the mare. Usually when somepony was taken over by Sombra they couldn't control themselves or they weren't right in their mind half the time. But this stallion was clearly in control of his own actions, which made Cadence wonder what he was doing then.
"Why do you think I came searching for you Sombra?" the stallion asked, his horn blazing as he pinned the shadow to the ground, "I came not to hoof over the Crystal Empire to you, but to learn the deep secrets of the dark arts that would allow me to exact my revenge on Discord. You may have given me back my horn, but my power still lays beyond my reach and I will not stop until I have returned everything to normal."
"Discord's in Canterlot this very moment," Shining said, drawing a lance as he kept the stallion in his sight, "so tell me this; how do you plan on getting to him before he moves somewhere else?"
"Easy," Rocket replied, the air around him and the three shimmering for a second, "Discord's planning on ending this soon enough."
~Canterlot~
"Oh, where is Discord this time?"
Celestia was annoyed beyond belief. The one time Discord was actually being threatened by somepony who could harm him he was nowhere to be seen. The draconequus had simply gone somewhere where Celestia and her group could not find him, which made protecting him that much more difficult.
"I don't know why we're even protecting the guy," Rainbow said, leaning against the wall as she waited for something interesting to happen, "He nearly ruined out lives a few years ago."
"He's changed Rainbow," Twilight replied, looking up from her book to stare at her friend, "Right now its hard for us to accept that, after everything Fluttershy went through, he would turn on a pony in an attempt to eliminate them. We'll be there to stop him in case....wait, did anypony else feel that?"
What Twilight was referring to was the spike in magic around Canterlot, namely centered in the park where Rocket and his friends had woken up. Chaos magic to be exact, so now the group had the location of Discord. They moved quickly, heading out into the empty streets of the city so they could surround the park in case something happened. When they arrived they found something strange; Discord standing in front of what looked like a veiled mist of some kind.
"Discord, what are you planning this time?" Celestia asked, eying the area carefully.
"I'm going to rid Equestria of the one monster that none of us can truly defeat," Discord shouted, four ponies appearing in the mist, "I'm going to kill the beast that bests the lot of us, the gods and goddess among ponies, and makes us look weak. He's going down before he regains anything."
The air shimmered as Shining Armor, Cadence, Sombra, and Rocket materialized in the park area, three of them wearing confused looks on their faces. Before Rocket could so much as move Discord summoned a spear and swung it at the stallion, carving a large diagonal cut into the stallion's body. Rocket crumpled to the ground, his head hung low as he waited for the draconequus to make his move.
"There, it is done." Discord said, the spear disappearing as he drew the medallion up to the stallion, "See? I told you that I would be the victor this time around. And I didn't have to crush this medallion into a thousand pieces to do it."
"Don't be too sure about that Discord."
Before Discord could move the medallion literally shattered into a thousand pieces, allowing the white spirits of those trapped inside to return to their bodies. When the spirits of Inner Wisdom, Peachy Keen, and Tick Tock returned so too did the armor they wore during the war games. To Twilight and the other Princesses came the terrible truth that Discord had been telling the truth about. And to Rocket came the incredible power he had grown to miss and the form of a fully grown alicorn was his again.
"Discord," Celestia shouted, realizing what was about to happen, "MOVE."
Rocket began to laugh as magic began to gather around him, laughter that began to follow the beat of a familiar song that he once listened to. Before anypony could stop him the magic surrounded him and ascended into the air, the only problem was that the magic was as black as night. Magic so dark that the once good alicorn was now becoming an alicorn of darkness that would turn against them all.
"Discord you fool," Luna cried, shaking her head as the sense of dread filled the air, "Do you realize what you have done? The darkness that we have been trying to defeat has risen again, only this time there could be no chance of us breaking through to him. The darkness will have made it neigh impossible for our combined forces to reach him. Wait, somethings emerging from the whirlpool."
While the entire group of assembled ponies, including Discord, had been expecting an alicorn of pure darkness to emerge from the dark spiral they were even more surprised by what they did see. Instead of an alicorn they witnessed a pony that was able to stand on his hindlegs, completely upright without the slightest bit of discomfort at all. Only it wasn't the body of a pony they were staring at, but it was the body of what looked like a lycan, a werepony. Claws sat at the end of all four of Rocket's limbs, allowing him to grip the ground more easily.
It got even worse as his once grand pegasus wings, which had been as large as Celestia's, were now a huge pair of bat wings. His eyes, his once blue eyes, were now crimson red, the same color as blood no less, and he even had a pair of small fangs growing out of his mouth. His mane and tail were now completely black, as if they were made out of complete darkness, while his body was now an ashy grey color. He still had his horn, which meant he was still capable of wielding magic, but his cutie mark was now the union of light and darkness.
The only strange thing was that he was now wearing iron gloves on all four of his limbs, a chest piece, and a helmet that filled the others with a sense of dread.
"Rocket," Peachy began, only to have the stallion she called friend turn to face her.
"No, I am no longer Rocket Sky," the stallion spoke, his voice older and filled with evil, "I am Eclipse. You, every single one of you, are all royally bucked."