“I…I have lost Graza, and the battle looks bleak. The Queen has suggested that I, along with some my fellow crystal ponies, should leave the Empire and get as far as we can. I know the reasoning behind her suggestion. I am, unfortunately, the last of the Seven Pillars of Magic, the last crystal unicorn pony. If I die, then all chances of another of my kind being born into this world are lost, and right now, a magic user is much more valuable.
I, however, have found a different way. Something that can give me the strength to vanquish the enemy! It may be forbidden, but what other choice do we have!? Our Empire will fall, and the crystal ponies will become nothing more than a memory, a fairytale passed down from one generation to the next! But I will not let that be our fate, even if I must sell my soul to do so!”
Trixie was on the ninth recording, up till now, the war with the ancient Threstrals had been going south for the Crystal Empire, and Sabio was at his wits end. Trixie was starting to get a very bad feeling that she was about to witness the rise of Sombra first hoof. It was only out of sheer morbid curiosity that she continued to watch this recording. The image that was being projected then shifted towards the center of the room, where a magic circle was drawn, with little runic and sigil markings drawn within it.
“This will give me the power to defeat them all. Dark magic has been written as forbidden. At this point, the forbidden must be invoked if we are to survive. This may destroy me, but it must be done!”
Sabio then released a blast of magical energy right at the circle; the white chalk drawing absorbed his magic, making the symbols glow with intense light. Once it had taken its fill, the circle turned bubbly with electric sparks. The energy was now green, black, and red, a stark contrast to his navy blue mana. Soon the light within the room was absorbed by the circle, miraculously, the crystal was still recording. Within the darkness, three different sets of eyes appeared; each colored the same as that of Sombra’s when he used his dark magic. The soft, evil light of the circle illuminated the room just enough for Sabio’s form to be seen.
“We are that which is dark,” spoke the eyes on the left.
“And all that is power,” spoke the right pair.
“We are what we are, now tell us, why have you summoned us,” asked the center.
“I am Sabio the Wise, and I have need of the powers of dark magic!”
The eyes laughed and chuckled as if they found his request amusing.
“You may want our power, but you must name us. If you cannot, a covenant will not be made.”
“And we get to take your mana, and your soul with it!”
“Now name us, or prepare thyself to be devoured.”
“You,” Sabio pointed to the right pair of eyes, “You are everything that is hatred and violence, and I name you, Ira the Wrathful!” The first pair of eyes transformed into a mare, with harsh, red tribal markings. “You,” Now he pointed at the left pair of eyes. “You are everything that is despair and sadness, and I name you, Tristeza the Sorrowful!” The second pair took the form of a mare as well, with same harsh tribal markings as Ira, except hers were purple. “And finally, you!” Sabio pointed to the center. “You are everything that is terror and fright, and I name you, Medo the Fearful!” The final pair transformed into a large stallion, with markings the same as his companions but colored yellow.
All three dark spirits looked upon their summoner and smiled wickedly.
“Well done, only a few know of our names,” said Ira.
“And even fewer can figure out which is which,” said Tristeza.
“Now, then you say you want the power of dark magic. To take on this power may be more than you are willing to sacrifice,” warned Medo.
“I care not what happens to me, if you want my life after my business is done then fine, it’s yours! I only ask that you give me the power I need to vanquish my foes and save my home!”
The three spirits glanced at each other, speaking in a way that Sabio didn’t know. Trixie was on the edge of her seat, literally, watching all that transpired. Several times she yelled at the stallion to cease with the deal, but it was a wasted effort, this was a recording of what has already happened, and her cries would not make this tragedy transpire any differently. After a moment the three spirits seemed to come to an agreement.
“Very well, Sabio, we will grant you the power of darkness.”
“And the price?!”
“Nothing,” Sabio turned to Tristeza, “We think you will be a fine wielder of dark magic, you may even surprise us.”
Trixie watched as the three spirits got into a circle around Sabio. Each one opened their mouths as beams of purple, red, and yellow light shot forth and struck the unicorn stallion, dark energy being infused into his very being. Trixie watched on in horror as Sabio took all the power that the spirits gave him. Everything went dark, pitch black. After a while, there was a glowing light. The illumination stemming from Sabio’s now curved red horn. His mane changed to a shadowy, undulating form. When he smiled, fanged teeth greeted whoever looked upon him.
“Go forth, Sabio the Wise, show your enemies the meaning of fear,” spoke Medo as he disappeared.
“Bring them sorrow like none they’ve ever known,” said Tristeza, also vanishing.
“Unleash your wrath upon them, for everything they’ve done!”
With that, the final spirit left. Light returned to the room, but now with a different occupant. Sabio walked towards the recording crystal and stared directly at it, making Trixie flinch from the sudden closeness of the stallion.
“This is Sabio – no! This is Sombra of the Shadows, and this is my last entry for now I go to meet my destiny.”
The crystal cut out there. Trixie had to take a moment to register everything she had just seen. She witnessed the birth of King Sombra, and the method upon which he became what he was. The death of his loved one, the near fall of his homeland, in essence, Sabio’s back was against a wall.
“Well…obviously he won, but…” Trixie’s eyes wandered to the tenth crystal. “If that was his ‘last entry’ then why is there another one?”
Trixie gingerly reached out to tap the crystal, but hesitated. Did she really want to see what was on it? What if it was something worse than what she just finished seeing? In the end, Trixie pulled back her hoof, deciding that it wasn’t important, and she saw what turned the once kind and good magician into a tyrant and evil incarnate, and that was all she needed to see. If there was anything Trixie gleamed from these entries was that even good ponies could be pushed to do unspeakable things in order to protect what was precious to them.
“I wonder…does Shining Armor see me that way? Does he truly believe that I mean to harm him and Twilight, their family?” Trixie thought about this a bit more but then scoffed at the idea. “Please, he may not like Trixie, not that I blame him, but it’s not like he thinks that of me.”
Trixie exited the study and the moment she did something gripped her heart with fear, something was off. A niggling voice in the back of her head urged her to go to her room as quickly as possible. In a panicky motion, Trixie hurried to her room. The halls seemed a lot tighter, constricting, and overbearing. Why this was she did not know, but her mind did not take the time to ponder why this was, all she knew was that she needed to get to her room, now or else something precious to her would be taken away.
Trixie’s quick trot turned into a gallop, she rounded one corner after another, making sharp turns and dodging the castle staff whenever they were unfortunate enough to be in her path. Finally, after a frantic run, Trixie made it to her room, throwing the doors open with her magic. And to her surprise, nothing was wrong. Her eyes shot towards the dresser, the simple oaken box still resting on top of it. Trixie walked towards the box and opened it with her magic. She then levitated a photo out of it. After seeing it, Trixie let out a sigh of relief, and allowed herself to smile a little as she gazed upon it.
“Trixie!”
The azure mare jumped at the sudden utterance of her name. Trixie turned around and saw Shining Armor in the doorway; his horn was also glowing, amassing magical energy. And his eyes, they were glaring at her with such fury that Trixie wanted to curl up into a ball and hide.
“Shining Armor, what’s wrong…?”
“Where is it?”
Trixie quirked her head in confusion, “Where’s what?”
“You know what it is and –!” Shining Armor noticed that Trixie’s horn was aglow with her magenta aura. “What are you holding?”
Trixie’s whole body flinched, remembering the object that she was holding in her telekinetic grip.
“He’s angry, you better show it…”
Trixie, reluctantly, brought the photo from behind her back and showed it to Shining Armor. The white unicorn stallion looked incredulously at it and then to Trixie. “What is this?”
“It…It was something that I was going to show you before Twilight and I left. That photo was taken during Canterlot’s Foal and Filly Day. It was when I was younger, seven years old to be exact.”
Shining Armor looked at the photo, his eyes widening at what he saw. A younger Trixie was standing at the center of the photo, wearing a magician’s hat and cloak that were clearly three sizes too big for her. A unicorn mare stood to her right, with a long silver mane, magenta eyes similar to Trixie’s, and a coat of light-yellow. The picture had caught her mid-laugh as a smile graced her face.
To the younger Trixie’s left stood a stallion that Shining Armor knew all too well. His father, Night Light, had a bemused look on his face as looked down at Trixie, a look that he had seen him give to Twilight and him whenever they would do something silly or funny, the look of a loving father smiling down on the antics of his children.
“The mare beside him…that’s my Mother, Midnight Song, she had a beautiful signing voice, which baffled me as to why she ever wanted to be a librarian. But…that was last photo I was able to hold onto before she died…everything else, well, I didn’t have much.”
Silence was the only response that Trixie got as Shining Armor continued to stare at the photo.
“Shining Armor…I…I know you don’t like me, but I really am trying! I wanted to show you this later, because I didn’t want to hurt you…Please understand, I don’t want to hurt you or Twilight, any of you!” Trixie dared to move closer to Shining Armor. “Twilight thinks we can be a family, and, to be honest, that’s all I want…” Trixie was only a foot away now. “Shining Armor…? Please say something…”
The unicorn stallion lowered the photo; his gaze hadn’t changed in the slightest. “Where do you get off!?”
Trixie back stepped a bit from the intensity in his voice.
“It’s a fake, just a trick to get you to lower your guard…!”
“You think you can trick me with this photograph!? How do I know this isn’t something you conjured with your magic, or are you pretending that your magic is weak!?”
“He’s angry, he’s really angry…!”
Trixie backed away from Shining Armor, sudden fear gripping her heart once again. “I-It isn’t a fake! I’m telling the truth!”
“Really,” Shining Armor began to advance on Trixie, “because I’m starting to think you don’t know what the truth is!? Now fess up! Where is it!?”
“Where is what!?” asked Trixie.
“The Alicorn Amulet! I know you still have it! Give it to me now and I’ll let you leave the Empire, but after that you never come near Twilight or her friends ever again!”
Trixie’s eyes widened at the mention of the cursed item. “I-I don’t have that thing anymore! Twilight’s zebra friend hid it away; I haven’t seen it for months!”
“She’s a liar; she’ll do anything to save herself…!”
Shining Armor kept walking towards Trixie, making her bump her flank against the wall. Pure panic was in Trixie’s eyes, she had nowhere to go, and the domineering force that was Shining Armor started to box her in.
“Don’t lie to me! And as far as this photo concerned,” Shining Armor levitated the picture between them. With a flash of his horn Shining Armor slashed the photo six different ways and allowed the pieces to fall onto the floor, “that’s what I think of this fake picture, and my fake half-sister!”
Trixie’s heart felt like it was breaking into as many pieces as the picture did, tears started to fall from her eyes as she looked upon the last piece of her childhood, the last thing she owned that had her mother’s face, the last thing that reminded her of happier times, destroyed before her very eyes. Trixie then looked up to the stallion, seeing no sign of remorse.
“How…How could you…?”
“Enough with the theatrics, Trixie!” Shining Armor rose on his hind legs and thrust his forelegs forward, causing Trixie to stand on her hind legs as Shining’s hit the wall behind her, trapping her head between them and forcing her to look straight at the coldhearted Prince. “Now where is the amulet!?”
“I don’t have it! I told you!”
“She lies…!”
“TELL ME NOW OR SO HELP TRIXIE!”
“He’s insane, he’ll hurt you…! You have to defend yourself, quickly…!”
“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!”
Suddenly, Trixie’s horn flared up with magic, her survival instincts taking hold, creating a powerful shockwave that burst out and threw Shining Armor against the far wall, making the unicorn stallion let out a pained grunt upon impact, and a second when he hit the floor. Trixie, having closed her eyes in terror, slowly opened them and saw what she had done.
“Oh Faust…What…What did I do?!”
Shining Armor got off the ground, letting out groans of pain as he did so. “You showed your true colors, that’s what you’ve done.”
Trixie was speechless, anything that she wanted to say died in her throat as she watched Shining Armor rise up off the floor. Fear had a hold of her, freezing her in place. Every cell in her body told her to run away, but her fear idled mind had locked up, making the simplest command go unheard.
“She mustn’t be allowed to harm your family; you must protect them from her, she is poison to all of you…!”
Shining Armor raked his hoof against the floor, his horn burning with rose colored light as he charged up his mana. His eyes now held murderous intent within them, the same feeling he had during that nightmare. Only this time, Shining Armor embraced that feeling.
“You won’t hurt Twilight, my wife, or my family ever again!”
Trixie fell to the ground and covered her head with her forelegs in a futile attempt at defending herself. Shining Armor then released a concentrated blast of magical energy right at Trixie. Time seemed to flow at snail’s pace. The beam got closer and closer to Trixie, but she dared not look, fearing the sight to her own death. Only a few inches remained before the beam made contact and Shining Armor’s torment would cease
“STOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!”
At that moment, a barrier made of purple light shot up in front of Trixie, canceling the magic blast of Shining Armor. The unicorn Prince gazed in the direction of the familiar voice, seeing Twilight and Cadance standing outside the door, with Twilight’s horn shining bright. The two alicorn mares entered the room and put themselves directly between Trixie and Shining Armor.
“What in the name of Equestria is going on, why are you attacking Trixie, answer me!?” Twilight demanded.
“I’m doing this to protect you two,” he said coldly.
“Attacking Trixie out of the blue is your way of protecting us!?” Twilight slowly made her way towards Trixie, she could hear soft whimpers coming from her and it took a lot for Twilight not to cry as well about the situation. “Trixie…Are you alright, can you tell me what happened?”
“She’s against you, don’t trust her…! She’ll banish you, just like in the nightmare…!”
Trixie’s head shot up, meeting Twilight’s eyes with her terror and panicked filled gaze. “Stay away…! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!! I WON’T LET YOU BANISH ME TO THE SUN!!!”
Trixie then pushed her way past Twilight, making her fall to the floor. She almost got Cadance as well, but she narrowly dodged getting bowled over. The fear filled mare continued to run, to where she knew not, but she needed to get away from them as fast as she could.
Twilight just stared dumbfounded at the door, having had Trixie push her away and talk about banishment. She then looked at the floor, noticing something strange on it. She flipped over one of the pieces and gasped at what she saw. It didn’t take long for Twilight to make the connection.
“Cadance, please go after Trixie. I need to talk with my big brother.”
Cadance looked to Twilight, her expression serious, and then to Shining Armor who turned to avoid her gaze. With a reluctant sigh, Cadance left the room, leaving the two siblings of the Sparkle family alone. There was heavy silence in the room as Twilight rose up, Shining Armor released a sigh and then looked directly at his little sister.
“Shining Armor, what happened?”
“……”
“I said: What happened!?” asked Twilight in a sterner voice.
“She…Twilight, you have to understand, I was trying to protect you and Cadance.”
“Seriously, you think Trixie is plotting to take over the Crystal Empire all by herself!? You think that’s the reason why she and I traveled all the way out here!?”
Shining Armor took a calming breath before speaking. “Twilight you don’t understand how dangerous she is –!”
“I want you to explain this,” Twilight interrupted, levitating the torn pieces of Trixie’s photograph, “explain to me why this is torn up, did you do this!?”
“Why do you even care it’s fake anyway!” Shining shouted.
“He truly doesn’t see…”
Twilight shook her head in disappointment, grunting in frustration. “You – You – This isn’t a fake! This is real! Don’t you think I can tell the difference between a real photo and a magically doctored one!?”
Shining Armor snorted. “Not if it’s subtle magic that’s not easily detected! Don’t tell me you’re actually buying into this whole ‘long lost half-sister’ scam!?”
Twilight placed the pieces of the photo back into Trixie’s oak box; she then stomped furiously around Shining Armor, completely amazed by his thick headedness. “It’s not a scam! She is our biological half-sister! I have the test results from Ponyville Hospital in my room to show you!”
Shining scoffed at that. “She probably messed with those too.”
“A DNA test!? Really, you think she knows how to magically alter a DNA TEST!? I got those directly from the doctor himself!”
“Alter, probably not. It wouldn’t surprise me if she bribed the guy. After what happened earlier, I can think of a few ways she might’ve persuaded him,” said Shining scornfully.
Twilight raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “And what exactly does that mean?”
“……Earlier, while I was taking a walk, Trixie lured me into an alley and she…she…She was throwing herself at me Twi! Telling me I should follow in my Dad’s hoofsteps and…and…!” Shining Armor couldn’t finish the sentence, thinking about it made him angrier.
Twilight was shaking her head; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing! “Y-You – Shining Armor! How could even think of about something like that! She’s our half-sister! And Trixie would never do something like! She’s not that kind of mare!”
“Sorry to point out the obvious Twily, but it’s not like you’ve known her that long!”
Twilight’s eyes began to sting with tears, hearing her big brother speak with such hate against Trixie, accusing her of things she knew that Trixie would never do.
“He doesn’t trust your judgment…He’s obsessed…”
“Are you so wrapped up in thinking Trixie is evil that you can’t see how hard she’s trying to get you to like her!?”
“Sound familiar?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “You were so convinced that Cadance was evil that you made me and your friends think you were just some possessive and jealous little sister! And then it turned out that she was a Changeling Queen and the real Cadance was held prisoner!”
“Oh don’t you dare compare this to your wedding!”
“It’s practically the same thing! I’m asking you to trust me on this Twilight, like I should’ve done that day!”
Twilight’s tears began to fall. “…You really are like Dad now, aren’t you?”
Shining Armor froze upon hearing that. “What did you say?”
“Cadance told me how you’re afraid of turning into Dad! Afraid of being disloyal to her! Well congratulations, rejecting Trixie is exactly something that Dad would do!”
Shining Armor rounded on Twilight getting right in her face. “Take that back…!”
“He hates you now…!”
“No! And I’ll say it again! You’re exactly like Dad!”
“Do not let her get away with that…!”
Shining Armor raised his right hoof drawing it back and preparing to strike Twilight. The alicorn mare turned away as the sadness and sorrow of this whole situation finally took hold of her. At same time Shining Armor was having it up to here with Twilight defending Trixie and now she was comparing him to their father, that was the last straw, he would show her!
At that moment both siblings froze in place, the room rumbled as their horns went aglow with mana, but it was different. The aura surrounding Twilight’s horn was black and purple, while Shining Armor’s was red and black. The elder sibling lowered his hoof as a smile graced his lips.
“Almost had you there, huh ‘sis’,” spoke Shining Armor.
Twilight looked up at him, mirroring his expression. “Oh yeah, I was shaking in my horseshoes in fear.”
“That’s more Medo’s thing, speaking of, you think he’s gotten what he needed out of her by now?”
Twilight-Tristeza thought it over for a moment. “Doubt it, he’s probably savoring her fear and waiting for the right moment when she’s ripe, like a juicy apple.”
“Well, then, shall we go after my ‘wife’,” asked Shining Armor-Ira.
“Do let’s, we have to have everypony there for our ‘friend’s’ arrival.”
As the possessed siblings left the room, Shining-Ira swatted Twilight-Tristeza on her flank with his tail, earning him a slightly annoyed look.
“What, been awhile since I’ve had a body, and yours looks good.”
“We can play with Shining Armor and Twilight’s bodies when we we’re done. There’s work to be done first.”
Trixie was running through the halls, going where she knew not, but she needed to get as far away from those two as possible. Shining Armor almost killed her and Twilight was no doubt going to banish her to the sun! Trixie couldn’t take that risk; she had to go somewhere, anywhere. Without realizing it, Trixie was getting closer and closer to Sabio’s study. Perfect, I can hide there! Lock the door and barricade myself inside!
“NO! Do not go in there!”
“But it’ll be safe, I’ll – I’ll – Wait!” Trixie stopped galloping, skidding to a halt three feet from the entrance to the study. “Who’s that, and where are you!?”
“Guess that didn’t last long, I was hoping that you would provide me with more entertainment, but oh well, it’s time for me to take control.”
“Take what –!”
Suddenly Trixie felt an overwhelmingly powerful presence fall upon her. Her mind tried to fight the influence of the invader, but it was strong, too strong. Eventually, Trixie’s body froze and her horn flared with yellow and black mana as her eyes turned green with red slits.
“Finally, now all that’s left is to –”
NO!
The mana on her horn started to change to a magenta color. “This is Trixie’s body! You will not have it!” The light of her horn shifted back to the yellow and black. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you really have no say in this.” Once again the color shifted, signaling that Trixie was in control for now. “I’ll show you! Let’s see why you didn’t want to go into that room!”
Trixie was now forcing her body to move in the direction of the study, the whole time she could feel the presence’s power trying to make her stop, but she wasn’t giving up, her pride and conviction to never be controlled again drove her to fight the evil presence. Inch by agonizing inch Trixie got closer to the door, and at the same time the presence roared at her to stop. She then got one hoof past the doorframe, runic markings and sigil script shined all over the door frame. Trixie felt more in control of her left hoof and used it to drag herself further in.
Her right hoof then shot out and past the doorframe as well, and yet again she regained control. Trixie then pulled her head forward, trying to get her upper body inside the room. Once her horn hovered over the glowing marks, a powerful energy wave surged through her body, knocking Trixie into the room. She tumbled about before coming to a stop in the middle of the room. When she rose up, Trixie looked towards the doorway and gasped in fright at what she saw.
A body black as night, with yellow markings all over it, and the evil eyes of the darkness, there could be no doubt who thing was. “Medo the Fearful!”
Medo turned and smirked at Trixie upon hearing his name. “Ah, so you know of me. Not many recognize me, and even fewer know my name. But do not think that you can save yourself by making a covenant with me. I’m not up for making deals at the moment.”
“What are you doing here!? How did you…How did you…!”
“Possess you? Easy, you’re afraid. You, Trixie Lulamoon, are at the heart of much turmoil here in the palace. My fellow spirits sensed this and dubbed this the perfect time to strike. I entered your body on your first night here, Tristeza the night before, and Ira the last night.”
Trixie shuddered in disgust, knowing she had that loathsome dark spirit within this whole time, it made her want take a three day bath just to scrub it all away. “What do you want!? No one summoned you!”
“Oh, but we never left. I must admit, the thousand year banishment was unexpected, and the resurgence of the Crystal Heart’s power did make it hard for us to act. But I digress.” Medo reached out a hoof towards the door. The reaction was immediate, a barrier was erected, shocking the dark spirit and making him growl in pain. “Warding rune symbols and purification sigil script, when did Sabio write these? Regardless, our plan is in motion and all thanks, in no small part, to you Trixie. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Shining Armor are already under our control.”
Trixie’s brow furrowed at the mention of her half-siblings. “It was you! You and those dark spirits have been messing with us all along! Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie will not tolerate this!”
“Oh by all means, do try and stop me.”
Trixie didn’t need an invitation; she quickly concentrated on channeling her mana. But something was wrong, the sensation when she used her magic, the familiar tingling sensation that ran through the body when a unicorn used their magic, the slight feeling of becoming stronger, it was gone. Trixie focused, trying to fire even a small beam of magical energy, but still, nothing happened. Trixie began to panic. She quickly aimed her horn at the nearest object on the worktable, seeing if she could levitate anything. Again, there was nothing.
“M-M-My magic…WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MAGIC???”
“Is this what you’re looking for?” Trixie’s eyes shot in Medo’s direction. In the left hoof of the dark spirit was a medium sized sphere of magenta colored magical energy. “Before we were separated, I took the liberty of extracting your magic. I needed something to sustain this form, especially now that we aren’t one anymore.” Medo tossed the magic ball into the air, opened his mouth, and swallowed it whole. “Spicy, like the owner.”
“Why are you doing this!? What could possibly hope to gain!?” asked Trixie.
“Well, for starters…We intend to see Sombra of the Shadows returned.”