//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 - Confession 
// Story: True Heroes Never Die 
// by LCranston 
//------------------------------//

[]Start flashback[]

Celestia sat in her throne room patiently, awaiting her visitor.  The night had fallen, but still the palace was brightly lit.  Flanked by two of her guards, she was confident that she would control the meeting.
Minutes ticked by and still no visitor.  Still, Celestia had learned patience over thousands of years of life.  She let her visitor take his time.  He did not control anything.  He was coming to her.
Suddenly, a gray earth pony with gray mane steeped into view front behind the throne.  His opera cloak flared dramatically and his fedora was tilted at a rakish angle, concealing the top of his face.  His bright red scarf concealed the bottom of his face.  His bright red question mark was displayed proudly as he walked in front of his ruler.
Celestia looked aside at her guards, wondering why they did not move to capture Shadow Nose.  They stood still, like statues.  One adjusted his forelegs in place.
She asked, “How did you do that?”
Shadow Nose replied, “That is my secret, Your Majesty.  Good evening.  I understand you wish for me to discover something?”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed in annoyance.  
She spoke graciously, “North of Equestria is the Crystal Empire, my ally.  They are beset by a dark magic I cannot fathom.  I refuse to allow my ally to succumb to dark designs.”
Shadow Nose politely asked, “What were the results of your previous incursions?”
The white alicorn instinctively reared back an inch.  How he could so politely learn these things was dangerous.
She replied, “Every attempt resulted in no effect of any kind.”
He asked, “And the agents?”
Celestia closed her eyes for a second in reverence and then answered, “None survived.”
Shadow Nose gallantly asked, “What is his name?”
The alicorn spread her wings wide in anxiety, “Do not take him lightly.  None know how his magic works, and Sombra has nothing less than the Crystal Throne in his sight.”
The detective bowed formally and then raced off through the doors to the hallway.
The guards looked around, noticing their liege.  The guard on the right noticed her wings spread.
He asked, “Are you all right, Your Majesty?”
Closing her wings, she stood up.  
Walking towards her chambers, she answered, “Yes.  It appears that we won’t see our visitor tonight.  It is time to retire.”

Weeks later, the moon hung high in the sky over the Crystal Empire.  In the capital, squads of guards roamed randomly, trying to find the dark warrior that had laid siege to the city.
Shadow Nose ran at full speed through the well-lit street, sticking to the middle.
CRASH!  A crystal lamp shattered, the cause unknown.
Shadow Nose came to a stop, looking in every alley and rooftop.
CRASH!  Another lamp broke into pieces.
The gray pony reared up, roaring his challenge, “FACE ME!”
A low rumbling entered in from every alleyway.  The street vibrated with the power.  He knew that his enemy had fully manifested nearby.
Frantically, he surveyed his surroundings.  His eye caught a familiar store.
He bolted in at full speed, smashing the door open.  BANG!
A young-looking unicorn mare sat behind the counter, lighting candles with her horn.
Her gaze snapped at the intruder.  His cape flared with speed and his eyes seemed to pierce the night.  Without thinking, she gasped in surprise.
The stallion glared at her and spoke, “The sun in bright…”
Lowering her head in submission, she replied automatically, “…but not in the alley.”
He raced around the desk, knocking over several display boxes.  A sign that read, “Speedy Same-Day Delivery Special – 10 bits!”
The unicorn mare backed away trembling.
CRASH!  Another crystal lamp outside shattered.
Her gaze flicked between her intruder and the darkening street outside.
Shadow Nose grabbed quill and scroll, writing furiously.
She asked, “What do you want?  What’s going on?”
Talking around the quill in his mouth, he bluntly replied, “Dimension Door, I need a favor.  Deliver this message to the Princesses in Canterlot tonight.”
The young mare sported a yellow mane on a brown coat.  Her cutie mark was a gray cloud.  Both her mane and tail were cut short and her horn seemed small for her age.
She lowered her gaze and said miserably, “I’ve done too many favors for you.  Business hasn’t been great this year.”
The vigilante reached into his cloak and pulled out a large currency bag.  He dropped it carelessly on the desk.  The top of the bag opened, revealing a hundred bits inside.
He barked an order, “Do this favor and we’re even forever!  Do not lose this message.  Do not give this to anypony except the princesses.  They’re waiting for this.”
Finishing the scroll, he shoved it into her twitching hooves.
His eyes bore right into her soul as he explained, “If you fail to deliver this one scroll, the entire Crystal Empire will be doomed forever.”
Such a burden being placed on a young mare!  Her nerves shattered and she nearly dropped the scroll.
She tried to reason with him, “But…But…”
SMASH!  The front glass windows of the store burst inward, cutting both ponies.
Shadow Nose stared at her and screamed, “GO!”
Dimension Door grabbed the bag and the scroll firmly, then concentrated.  A streak of light left her horn and circled her body.  The circle rotated into a solid white sphere of light.
WOOSH!  The sphere collapsed and disappeared.  The caster was at her destination.
Shadow Nose faced the broken windows.
CRASH!  The last light left the street.  Only the smallest light leaked out from side streets.
Shadow Nose had trained his eyes to see in almost total darkness.  What he saw confirmed his suspicions.
The very darkness coalesced into the form of a tall stallion, dressed in armor and a royal cloak.  His red within green eyes burned through the darkness.  Purple energy oozed from his eyes, showing his lack of restraint in his own newly-formed power.
The tall stallion taunted, “I thought you liked working in the dark.  Stalking ponies unseen.  Surprising them from behind.  Sneaking away without being caught.”
They shorter gray pony held his head high as he retorted, “You and I have different goals, monster.  I prefer to live in harmony with ponies, not conquer them.”
The dark monster snarled, “A flaw that shall cease tonight.  Make your decision.  Serve me as my enforcer or perish.”
Shadow Nose shouted, “Never shall I serve you, Sombra!”
The sorcerer Sombra roared his displeasure and shot out a dark beam of purple energy.
The bolt crackled jaggedly through the air, striking Shadow Nose in the chest.
His mouth hidden underneath his scarf, Sombra did not notice the lack of scream from the mouth.  The dark energy spread over the vigilante’s body, transforming him into a solid mass of blackness.
Then the blackness dissolved onto the floor and evaporated into the surrounding night.
Sombra threw back his head, cackling loud enough to shake the roof of the small building.

Hours later, the shop was still covered in broken glass.  Echoes of explosions and panic filled the streets.
A consciousness came alive.
A puddle of shadow gathered together.  It nudged one way, then another.
CRASH!  The faint echo of a crystal lamp filled the shop from the alley.
The puddle quivered and then asserted itself into the vague shape of a pony.
It tried to grab the desk to climb up onto its feet.  Its hoof passed right through the desk.
The shadow pony hung its head silently.  Slowly it learned to crawl into the nearby alley.  
Looking up into the sky showed the stars.  The moon had already passed towards the horizon.
Morosely, it resigned itself to its fate and sang its own dirge.


“Shake it up is all that we know,
using the bodies up as we go.
Waking up to fantasy,
the shades all around aren't the colors we used to see.
Broken ice still melts in the sun,
and times that are broken can often be one again.
We're so alone
and soul really matters to me.
Take a look around.”

“You're out of touch,
I'm out of time,
but I'm out of my head when you're not around.”

“Reaching out for something to hold,
looking for a love where the climate is cold.
Manic moves and drowsy dreams
or living in the middle between the two extremes.
Smoking guns, hot to the touch,
would cool down if we didn't use them so much.
We're so alone
and soul really matters to me.
Too much.”

“You're out of touch,
I'm out of time,
but I'm out of my head when you're not around.”

“You're out of touch,
I'm out of time,
but I'm out of my head when you're not around.”

	
It looked up at the night sky again, wishing it could see the cutie mark of the alicorn he loved so much.

[]End flashback[]

Celestia somberly stated, “I received Dimension Door’s scroll.  It was a report from Shadow Nose about King Sombra’s magic.  He explained that Sombra was experimenting with a dangerous combination of darkness and raw emotion.  This made him seemingly immune to normal magic.  It also made him skilled in curses.”
Luna’s ears moved forward, showing her interest in new information.
She said proudly, “So it was Shadow Nose that taught you how to defeat King Sombra.”
Celestia cautioned, “He gave me the information to let me experiment with his style of magic.  It took me a long time to master Sombra’s magic enough to find its weakness.”
Sweetie Belle’s face scrunched up in confusion and she queried, “But…the Crystal Empire was under attack.  How long did it take?”
The two alicorns cast a cautionary glance at Sweetie Belle, then at each other.
Celestia confessed, “I was impatient.  After mastering one spell, I tried to surprise Sombra and blast him into submission.”
Luna added, “It didn’t work.  Sombra was wounded but still in control.  He cast a huge curse, sealing the Crystal Empire away from the world while he recovered.”
Sweetie Belle timidly asked, “But when did Shadow Nose escape?”
The alicorns hung their heads in shame.
The young filly worriedly asked, “Didn’t he escape?”
Celestia took a deep breath and said, “No.”

A couple of days later, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were seated on the train headed for Ponyville.
The fashion designer used her magic on a comb to style her mane.
She spoke with exhaustion and pride, “Well, that went very well.  Eventually I was able to convince everypony that wearing clothing too small was simply not appropriate or comfortable.  I got several orders for outfits.  This will certainly pay the bills for months.”
Sweetie Belle did not answer.  Instead, she was writing in a blank book with determination.
Rarity noticed the lack of conversation and asked, “Sweetie, what are you doing there?”
The filly answered, “I’m writing Shadow Nose stories.  Princess Luna and Princess Celestia said they’d help me publish them.  We’d like to get the public interested in Shadow Nose again.”
The fashion designer gasped and demanded, “Sweetie Belle!  You didn’t trespass into the palace and bother the princesses, did you?”
Sweetie declared, “No.  They were glad to see me.  Now if you please, Rarity, I need to concentrate.  After I fill this book, I need to ask Twilight to send it off.”
Rarity harrumphed, “If this is some kind of joke, it is certainly not funny.  Twilight’s magic is not reserved for silly little comic books based on outdated scary radio programs.”
The young filly ignored her sister and continued writing.

In the Crystal Empire, night began to fall.
A married couple walked down an alley for a shortcut going home.  Both ponies had full saddlebags of supplies they bought.
A rough-looking stallion stepped out around a corner, holding a knife in his hooves.
He threatened, “Shut up!  Give me your bits or you’ll be begging for a hospital.”
From behind the criminal, the alley echoed with sinister laughter, “Heh, heh, heh!  HA, HA, HA!”
The criminal turned around, trying to find the source of the laughter.
A shadow graced the wall of a building.  It showed a short stallion wearing a cloak, hat, and scarf.  The criminal looked around for the source of the image.
He taunted, “Show yourself!”
The shadow actually detached from the wall, filling out a three-dimensional shape.
The shape opened bright green eyes and focused them on the criminal.
All three ponies fled from the alleyway, trying in vain to shut out the echoes of laughter.

THE END