Chapter 9
(Now edited by Neko Majn C)
Deep within the walls of the crystal palace, a unicorn colt tossed and turned in his bed. The colt had long since kicked off his sheets and was rolling in a small pool of sweat. He flailed his legs seemingly to escape some unknown force. “Stay back!” he screamed as he shot upright in his bed, gasping for air.
The colt leapt off the bed and quickly trotted out the bedroom door and to the next room over. As tears began to well up in his eyes he lightly pushed the door open and stuck his head through. “M-mother, Father, I…had a nightmare. Would it be okay if I slept with-” He stopped as he realized he was addressing an empty room.
The young colt hung his head low and was about to let loose his tears when he heard a warm and familiar voice.
“Having nightmares again, Silver Shroud?”
He hastily wiped his eyes of any tears, as Silver turned, his gaze was met with that of a slightly aged crystal earth pony stallion, sporting a coat of light blue fur and a grayed mane.
“Diamond Chisel,” he said, sporting a forced smile. “Where are Mother and Father?”
“I do apologize, Master Silver, but the King and Queen were called away to a diplomatic crisis.” Diamond stared at the young prince with a mounting concern growing in his eyes. “Do you need anything?”
Silver’s eye slightly twitched as the child fought back tears and every other word would be accompanied by a small sniff.
“No, everything is fine,” Silver said. “Thank you, Diamond, that will be all,” he said as he started making his way back to his room.
Diamond lightly placed a hoof on Silver’s shoulder. “You know they can’t hurt you, no matter how real they may seem.”
Silver broke down and buried his face into Diamond’s chest. “It was just so awful, Diamond,” Silver said through sobs. “It just kept getting closer and closer no matter how fast I ran.”
“There, there, young Master Silver, it’s alright,” the crystal pony cooed as he stroked the young colts mane. “It’s all over now, nothing is going to hurt you.”
“It felt so real though.” Silver whimpered. “And no matter how loud I screamed for help, nopony came to help me.”
“But it was all just a bad dream, Silver.” Diamond said in a softened tone as he raised the young colt’s chin with his hoof. “You know full well that both your parents and myself will always be there for you when you need us.”
Silver smiled and wiped the tears from his face. “I know, Diamond.”
“Good. Now let’s go see about getting you something to eat before sending you back to bed. Does that sound like a good idea?”
Silver sniffed and nodded his head. “Can I ride on your back?”
Diamond gave a heavy sigh and smiled at the young colt. “Oh, very well, but you really are getting a little too heavy for these old bones.”
Diamond lowered himself to the ground, allowing Silver to drape himself over his back.
“Aw, but you never use to complain before.” Silver pouted.
“Yes, well I use to be younger and you use to be lighter.” Diamond chuckled, rising to his hooves with a small grunt. “Alright, off to the kitchen we go.”
“Huzzah! Can we see if there is any leftover cake?”
“An admirable try your majesty, but I think not.”
“So you’re the one the Princesses thought could handle me?” Sombra taunted. “Tell me, young one, do you even know who I am?”
Twilight glared at him as she spoke. “You’re King Sombra, former tyrant of the Crystal Empire.”
“Hmm, you’re smarter than you look,” he said as he turned away from Twilight. “But what I really wish to know is how you expected to defeat me with the help of a yammering abomination and your pet primate?”
Twilight quickly took advantage of the moment and slowly started to crawl her way over to Dipper, who was still lying face down on the ground.
“Dipper,” she whispered. “Are you still conscious?”
“Yeah,” he murmured as he turned his head toward her. “Twilight, what do we do?”
“It’ll be alright, Dipper I’ll get us out of here. Just grab hold of my hoof and I’ll teleport us back to our base.”
As Twilight’s horn lit up in preparation for a hasty teleportation, she reached her hoof out to grab hold of Dipper. But just as the two were about to make contact, a large wooden paw slammed onto Dipper’s hand, causing him to cry out in agony. Twilight looked up in fright to see the narrowed stare of the remaining timberwolf.
“Dipper!” Twilight rose from the ground, a thick purple aura emanated from her horn as well as the corner of her eyes. She pointed her horn directly at Sombra with her ears folded back she stomped her hoof to the ground. “Let him go!” she said in a swift, demanding tone.
“I don’t believe you are in a position to be giving demands right now.” As he said this, the timberwolf placed its other paw onto Dipper’s back and pressed downward, pushing him deeper into the dirt, causing Dipper to cry out in pain once more.
“Don’t worry about me, Twilight,” Dipper said. “Take him out quick before-” He was cut off as the timberwolf removed its paw from his hand and placed it firmly on Dipper’s head and gave him a low rumbling growl.
Twilight’s horn dimmed and she lowered her head in defeat. “What do you want?”
A small smirk appeared on his face as he turned back around to face Twilight. “It’s quite simple really, all I want is for you to take your allies and go home.”
“Excuse me?” Twilight’s gaze widened in puzzled suspicion.
“I don’t believe I stuttered,” Sombra snapped. “All you have to do is walk away from this world and pretend none of this ever happened.”
“If we walk away now, then what’s to keep you from destroying this world and ours?”
“Absolutely nothing. Within six days, I will regain my full strength and become this world’s supreme master. After which, I will come back and conquer our world as well.”
“Why in the name Celestia would I ever agree to a deal like that?” Twilight snarled as she gave a snort from her nostrils.
“Because I’m not giving you any other choice.” As Sombra spoke a dark aura began to pulsate from his body while purple flames emanated from the corners of his eyes.
Twilight was at a loss for words. “This can’t be happening,” she thought to herself. “I can’t possibly leave this world at the mercy of King Sombra, but if I don’t,” Twilight looked over to Dipper. Time between each gasping breath had become increased as he struggled under the crushing weight of the timberwolf.
“You’re prolonging this far more than needed,” Sombra said. “And I believe time is running out for your little pet, as well.”
Twilight remained silent as she stared at Dipper with mournful eyes. As those eyes began to wander back to Sombra they briefly widened as they caught sight of Dipper's re-exposed hand. An ever so tiny glimmer of hope ignited in her as she shifted her attention back to Sombra looking for a means to cause a momentary distraction. As luck would have it, positioned right alongside the dark king, a badly damaged tree stood with a tilt, only stopped from its descent by a few visible roots protruding from the ground. A well-focused blast could in fact sever the roots, causing it to fall directly between them. It was a long shot to say the least, but it was the only shot there was.
“Your time and my patience have run out, young one.” Sombra said as his horn ignited in a black aura. “Give me your answer now, or I must assume you have chosen to deny my offer, and as such, I’m afraid you leave me no choice but to-”
Without a second thought, Twilight set her plan in motion, firing a concentrated beam at the base of the tree. Hitting its mark, the sound of straining and snapping roots could be heard as the tree made a speedy descent to the ground. But in Twilight’s speedy calculation, she failed to take in the true path of the tree’s decent and instead of falling between them, it was falling directly where Sombra stood.
Sombra only had moments to react. He pointed his horn directly at the falling lumber and fired a black beam of aura that managed to split it in half. But that only did so much, one half of the tree landed in front of him, whilst the other half fell onto his back legs, pinning him to the ground.
Twilight quickly took advantage of the distraction and dove for Dipper’s hand. She slid onto her stomach, barely avoiding the gnashing jaws of the timberwolf, and quickly took his hand in her hoof. Within a moment, the two had vanished in a bright flash of light.
Sombra burst from his wooden prison with a vengeful roar. He searched for his opponents only to find that the two of them had fled the scene. He slowly regained his composure, making way for a sinister grin to form on his face.
His attention soon turned to the timberwolf, which was making its way back to the Mystery Shack.
“Let them go.” Sombra said as he raised a hoof. “They made their decision, now they must suffer the consequences.”
It was another cold winter night in the Crystal Palace. Peace and silence swept over the palace and its inhabitants, only to be disturbed by the hoof steps of the occasional patrolling guard. Whilst everypony else was in a deep sleep, the light of a candle flickered to life in the Royal Library. Diamond Chisel sat at a desk surrounded by scrolls, belonging to both him and of others long passed. With quill and ink at hoof, he wrote tirelessly on a parchment, only pausing to take brief glimpses at a mysterious item, hidden under a sheet.
“Hi, Diamond!” a small voice screamed from behind.
Diamonds pupils shrank to pin pricks as the crystal pony quickly turned in a fright to see Silver giving him the grandest of toothy smiles.
“Oh, your majesty, thank goodness it’s only you.” Diamond said through deep breaths as he held his hoof to his heart. “You mustn’t sneak up on me like that; my body doesn’t handle surprises very well these days.”
“I’m sorry, Diamond.” Silver’s head and ears dropped in a mournful manner.
Diamond gave a small sigh and patted the prince on the shoulder.
“It’s alright, your majesty, no harm done. Having nightmares again, are we?”
“Mhm.”
“Hm, those nightmares of yours are becoming more and more frequent. I’m starting to think Princess Luna is slacking off on her duties a little.” Diamond said with a snort from his nostrils.
“Well, mother and father say that Princess Luna is guardian to all the dreams of little fillies and colts, and sometimes she can’t make it to all the foals in one night.”
Diamond gave a small ‘humph’, in response before he turned around and picked his quill back up. “In any case, allow me to finish taking down these last few notes and I will be happy to accompany you to the kitchen.”
"Okay," Silver said, peeking over the stallions shoulder at his scribblings. “So, um, mind if I ask what you’re working on?”
Diamond stopped writing and dropped his quill on the table. He looked up and around the library in both directions, confirming that they were the only two present.
“Do you honestly wish to know?”
Silver smiled and rapidly nodded his head.
“Very well,” Diamond leaned over close to the colt’s ear, and whispered. “What if I said there was a way to live forever?”
The small prince tilted his head as if he had heard a strange noise. “But I thought only Alicorns could live forever?”
Diamond scoffed. “That was all too true, my little prince, but I believe I have found something that can mimic, if not best, the abilities and traits of the Princesses themselves.” Diamond smiled as he placed a hoof on top of the covered item. “And it’s sitting right on this table.”
Silver’s eyes lit up with a childlike wonder as his little mouth dropped. “No way, can I see it?!”
“Of course, but you must promise me one thing. This remains our secret, understood?”
Silver’s smile quickly turned to a frown of sorts as he tilted his head. “Why’s that, Diamond?”
“Well, you see, your majesty; this project is still in its starting stages and it would be an utter catastrophe if it were to fall into the wrong hooves. Do I make myself clear?”
“Oh, well, okay then. I won’t tell, promise.”
“I knew I could count on you. Very well then, without further ado, I give to you, the crystal kingdoms most well-guarded artifact.”
With that Diamond yanked off the cloth. Lying underneath was a golden crown topped with three sharp points and adorned with three red gems.
“Prince Silver, I present to you, The Crown of the Ice King.”