Nyx opened her eyes to a starry expanse.
Isn't this the place where Twilight was made into an alicorn? She thought as she got up and looked around. There was no one there until she heard an unfamiliar voice next to her.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise."
She turned to see a jet-black unicorn stallion wearing royal battle armor. She would've thought this to be a simple construct made by Twilight to screw with her head, but the one thing that identified him was his horn. Instead of being black like his fur, it was blood red.
"Who are you?" She asked as the stallion's eyes examined her.
"Your mother never told you about me, did she?"
"I'll ask again, who are you?" She said as she pulled out her gem blade.
"To some I am a god. To others I am a demon. But you may call me Sombra, former king of the Crystal Empire." He said as the starry dimension gave way to a large room with a single door on one side. A table and two chairs rose in the center of the room. The table had an orb resting on top of it. "Take a seat, young one. I wish to tell you a story."
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Orion was sitting next to Nyx as she lay in a hospital bed. She was brought there after several soldiers witnessed her defeat at the hooves of Twilight Sparkle. Her defeat and the capture of Princess Cadence was just one of the troubles that the resistance was facing. Reports filed after the attack counted at least half of the resistance's soldiers either dead or wounded. Several buildings had sustained heavy damage, including the factories for gem blade's and gauntlets.
He shuddered as he thought of what would happen when Nyx wakes up. He was part of the Shadowbolts during their last mission. He knew what would happen if Nyx lost control of her emotions.
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"This orb contains a story called The Trial of Nightmare. It is not the best of stories, but it is a story nonetheless." Said Sombra as he and Nyx sat down at the table. He tapped on the orb with a hoof and it immediately sparked to life, playing clips of a young alicorn playing with other foals.
"This is the story of an alicorn who will always be faced with challenges." He said as the orb played more scenes of happy times. "The alicorn never remembered most of her childhood, and she grew old to have a heart full of hatred. She overthrew the royal sisters and ruled Equestria for several weeks until she realized that all that hate was not hers, so she returned leadership off Equestria to the sisters. They punished her by reverting her to the age of a filly. She was content with her life for years thanks to her loving mother and her friends."
Nyx's legs were shaking in fear, if he knew all of this, then he probably knew about that event. She wanted to stop him, but simply couldn't find the strength to do so.
"Years later she refused royal status and joined the military. She went through the brutal training and the horrors of her deployment to the war-torn nation of Savannah. She met a nice stallion and married him after her third deployment. She became a legend among the military. Her squad, known as the Shadowbolts, had the least amount of casualties, no failed missions, and over one-hundred confirmed kills in a single deployment. A few years after she was married she had a foal, and her husband was sent on a special mission for the military."
Her heart was racing, the one moment she never wanted to relive was about to be played on a memory orb in front of her.
"The husband did not come home. He went missing in Zebrica and the alicorn went in with her squad to find him. They found him, but he was on deaths doorstep. A village of terrorists and their families had captured and tortured him. I'll let you watch this part as a movie." He said as noise began to come out of the orb.
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Nyx was sobbing uncontrollably as she held the body of her dead husband in her hooves.
They killed him,
"Commander? We need to go." Said a Shadowbolt who was standing over her.
They must pay.
"Commander, they have soldiers surrounding the hut!"
We will make them pay....
"Yes. We. Will." Said Nyx in a voice that sounded like two ponies talking at once as she lowered her husbands body to the ground, her mane and tail turning into starry masses, and her eyes becoming pure white.
She stepped out of the hut as her team looked at each other with terrified expressions on their faces. They had never seen her act this way. And they could only guess what was happening as the screams of mares, stallions and foals echoed throughout the night.
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"She gave into the darkness for fifteen minutes. When she stopped, she could not remember what she was doing, but the dead foals at her feet gave her a pretty good clue. She then ran, her squad willingly taking the blame for the massacre. She ran home, acted like it never happened, and suppressed her dark emotions for as long as she could. But there is one thing that she never learned. No matter how hard you try, no matter how kind and selfless you are, there will always be darkness in your heart." He finished as the light within the orb blinked out.
"How do you know all of that?" Said Nyx, her voice shaking.
"I have been watching you for a long time. You show great potential in being one of Equestria's greatest heroes, but you ignore your fatal flaw."
"And what would that be?" She questioned.
"You do not embrace your heritage."
"What?" She said. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"You are seeing this from the wrong perspective. You see yourself as some kind of white knight of Equestria, while others see you as Nightmare Moon. If you embrace Nightmare Moon, you will become far more powerful than you already are."
"That still makes no sense! Luna drained me of Nightmare Moons powers years ago! Nightmare Moon shouldn't exist anymore!"
"Then why did you wipe out that Zebrican village?" He said as his hooves slammed on the table. "Did you wake up that morning and say 'I'm going to kill a village full of innocent mares, stallions, and foals today!' Or did a darker force take control?"
"I...I don't know...." She said as she wondered what made her kill those zebras. Was it really premeditated? Or was a darker force controlling her?
"Nightmare Moon is clever," Continued Sombra. "Your mother and her friends thought they defeated her, but she came back three years later and nearly succeeded. Then you thought that you defeated her."
"What do you mean 'thought'? I did defeat her! I blasted my dark side to Tartarus!"
"THEN WHAT IS THAT!?" He shouted as he pointed a hoof to his left. She looked over to see a black mass twice her size resting on the edge of the room.
"It....it can't be...." She whispered as they approached it.
"Behold, your inner darkness."
"Why is this here?" She asked, nervous that she was standing so close to the dark entity.
"This is not the darkness of Nightmare Moon, but your own feelings of hate and contempt for others. This is something that even the purest of souls contains." He explained as Nyx took a few steps back. "There is another reason that you here."
"What would that reason be?"
"Are you aware of transformation?" He said as they returned to the table.
"You mean the magic of changing a thing into something else, yes I am."
"What about alicorn transformation?"
"Huh?" She replied, giving Sombra a confused look.
"You see, alicorns have a transformation that they can undergo for combat purposes. Luna's was Nightmare Moon before you were separated from her." He explained as the orb showed scenes of Celestia and Luna transforming to combat Sombra. "The transformation makes you faster, stronger, and smarter. But it relies heavily on dark magic and a pony's inner darkness for it to work. If used enough, it can corrupt the user, making them a soldier of darkness."
"How would one use such a spell?" She asked, intrigued at what she was hearing. If she could transform, she would stand a better chance of defeating Chrysalis and freeing Twilight.
"Cast a transformation spell fueled by dark magic on yourself. But remember, it can corrupt the user if it is used too long. So you should use it sparingly."
"Thank you Sombra. Before I go, I have to ask you a question."
"And what would that be?"
"Why did you help me?" She said as they walked towards the door of the room.
"I won't ever get a second chance, but you have been given a second chance. I don't want you to waste this chance."
"Alright then. Good bye Sombra." She said as she walked through the door and back into consciousness. As she woke up the voice of Nightmare Moon rang through her head.
You will never escape me.....