The princess of the sun ventured back to her throne room, though now not visibly showing her dismay over her sister, she still felt it. The alicorn simply sighed, and sat down back on her throne, as Twilight Sparkle and Spike followed her back. The Alicorn and Dragon were unsure of what else to truly say to her, as they've already said the various usual stuff upon talking, such as "It's going to be okay" or "It'll be fine" and so on. Celestia herself had her mind wrapped around the whole thing, so soon did the fact of Luna's death took place, was slightly rough for her to deal with. How her sister lost her life in her sleep, and she was unable to do anything...
...Lost her life in her sleep...
...something came up in her head, as she began to unravel the events in a different light. She woke up, and found Luna unable to wake up. She managed to get the best doctor in equestria, whom told her that Luna had passed on...whom disappeared soon afterwards. The funeral that took place later that same day, and the sorrow she felt throughout...it didn't made sense...non of it did, now that she thought about it...
"Is there anything else you need, princess?" Twilight asked, a bit quiet in her words. Celestia however, didn't answer her so quickly. her sorrow blinded her to the facts that represented itself, as she calmed down from her previous troubles.
"Twilight Sparkle...Something not right with all of this..." But before Celestia could say what, suddenly one of the windows was hit with something hard, as it spun around for a good 3 seconds before a blue blur shot inside, a bit dizzy from the spinning. It was Rainbow Dash, looking a bit in worry, yet urgency. She shot up to her hooves,, wings raised, and eyes locked onto Twilight.
"Twilight! *pant* Castle! *pant* Dark! *pant* Evil! *pant*"
"Rainbow, calm down! now tell me, calmly, what happened?" Twilight instructed. Rainbow took a minute to relax before telling Twilight the news.
"The castle! Twilight, the castle it's - I dunno, it's turned into - into -"
"Into what?" Not able to find the right words, Rainbow simply flew up, and aimed a hoof down to ponyville, where they are able to see the castle...only the castle they knew was no longer standing there, instead replaced by a black abomination of what it once was. The events must of distracted them as it transformed from rainbow castle into it's state now. The princesses took sometime to take it in, before Twilight stepped forward to the window, studying the appearance a bit more. Celestia could recognize the crystals far too well, yet needed some time to believe that it was real first. Celestia and Twilight turned to face one another, and gave a nod in unison.
"Rainbow, come on," Twilight said. Rainbow didn't need to be told twice on such a choice, as all 3 flew off towards the location.
~~
The castle in Ponyville stood up in it's horrifying gaze, as the town of ponyville looked on in curiosity, unsure of how to truly react to such a change. The sun was setting by now, giving much more ominous feel around it, if the look of jagged crystals wasn't dangerous enough. Celestia, Twilight, Rainbow and Spike (whom was riding on Twilight's back) Landed nearby the confused citizens of Ponyville. Some of the mane six, up front, was also looking on in thought, though they were mainly waiting for rainbow to return. Almost immediately after arrival, the ponies already began their feared questions.
"What's going on?"
"What happened to the castle?"
"Can you fix it?"
These and other questions were thrown at them for awhile until Celestia raised her hoof to quiet the worrying crowd of pony residents. Twilight took a moment to study the crystals lining the castle's mainframe. They seemed...oddly familiar in someway. As she tried to put 2 and 2 together, Celestia took the time to address her subjects.
"Attention Ponyville, we advise all of you to leave this place until the danger has passed. We will give word once the danger has creased," Celestia ordered, loud enough for everyone to hear her. This news startled the ponies a bit, but they knew the princess knew what she was doing, so they didn't waste any time, and began heading back into town to start packing. After that, she turned to the mane six, hom looked at her in confusion. Rarity stepped forward.
"What happened to the castle?" she asked the princess. Celestia turned to the crystals, Twilight turning to her from her spot. As she stepped away, Celestia walked towards the crystalline fence that surrounded said castle...Celestia sighed.
"Dark Magic." Was her only reply. The mane six felt quite surprised on such a thing, this was the rainbow castle they're talking about, how could it be affected by any magic of evil origin?! It was made by friendship, right?
"But, how? it's made outta friendship right?" Rainbow asked eventually.
"Not exactly. The castle itself was brought to life by friendship, the magic of friendship resides in all of you, not the castle," Celestia explained.
"But who could of done -" Before rainbow could finish, a low rumble could be felt from inside the castle walls, not enough to knock the ponies off their feet, but enough to get their attention. Celestia stepped back as, from out of nowhere, the walls in front of them suddenly fell into the earth, creating a path for them inside. the tunnel looked extremely dark, unable to see the end of it in the slightest. They were just about to go, but Celestia blocked their way, not trusting the situation.
"Hold on," Celestia advised. Celestia looked down the tunnel, and created a beam with her magic, shooting it down the tunnel so she could see inside in case of traps...however, nothing seemed to be placed, but Celestia didn't want to take any chances with such a thing.
"Twilight, you and the rest of the ponies stay out here," Celestia instructed.
"But Celestia - "
"Please I have to do this alone. It's too dangerous for you all to go in."
"We're the elements of harmony! There's no way we're gonna stand by and watch!" Rainbow Dash insisted, ready for anything. Celestia looked around to the other ponies, all with a similar expression on their faces. Looks like she didn't have much choice.
"Very well then..."
...Of course, their conversation didn't go unnoticed, as the reflection of green eyes shown themselves, just outta sight of the ponies gaze...
the group of ponies, and Spike, ventured off inside the castle. It didn't truly seem like there's much of anything, as they continued. The walls were dark and crystalline, as they ventured onward, not even appearing like the inside of their castle. In fact, it looked more like an underground cave than a hallway, the floors not even being recognizable. The fact that such changes were made alone was surprising. Each pony kept moving until their "path" ended in a dead end, covered from top to bottom in jagged black crystals, some aimed right at them, other aimed towards each other, similar to black jagged teeth. Celestia looked for an opening, not finding any in the slightest to help them get through.
"Now what do we do?" Applejack asked after a bit, trying to look around. Celestia suddenly felt a dreaded sense...something wasn't right here...and she wasn't wrong.
Seconds after, the path behind them was replaced by black crystals, making the group trapped inside! This gave them all a bit of a shock, Fluttershy the most. To make matters worse, the walls suddenly began to close in on eachother! Instinctively, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow quickly bolted to one of the walls, trying to get them to stop moving. Rarity huddled in closer to Celestia, as Fluttershy, in panic, backed away from the walls. However, the wall behind her touched her back, and with a yelp, the wall suddenly opened up again, Fluttershy tumbling back inside!
"Fluttershy!"
Rainbow quickly bolted to grab her, but the wall closed just before she got there, Rainbow slamming hard into the crystal wall. Fluttershy is now gone, and the world was closing in on them. Celestia, angered, began to conjure up her own magic. The ponies stepped back as Celestia released a powerful pulse from her horn, the crystals around them disappeared into smoke, including the one blocking there way...but Fluttershy wasn't seen anywhere...
~~
The yellow pegasus laid in her spot for a minute, feeling cold and alone. her tumble came completely unexpected from the panic that had already made it's grip onto her, and now she didn't know where she'd fallen into. She could barely see the room around her, eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness around the frightened pegasus.
"Hello?" She squeaked out...nothing. Not even an echo of sound...that was until she heard hoofsteps, coming closer and closer to her. Her heart raced, her breath quickened, and she backed up into yet another wall, not falling into it like before. The poor creature huddled in the corner, eyes fixated on the general location of the noise...Then eyes began to take shape in front of her. Bright green, steam of purple flowing out, red reptilian pupils looking right down at her. A low sigh was heard, as Fluttershy felt the cold breath of her opposition, standing above her.
"W-who...w-who are..." Fluttershy barely managed to speak, she was so terrified. But the stranger made the room glow a faint blue hue, just enough so Fluttershy could see...Sombra had found her...
"How typical. The the elements of harmony venture into the castle...Sometimes, you make things far too easy," Sombra mocked, his voice low and menacing. Fluttershy hunkered down in his presence, trying to regain herself, but found that impossible. As far as she knew, Sombra was pretty much deceased by now...yet here he was, right in front of her in all his glory.
"W-why are you here? HOW are you here?" Fluttershy wheezed, the fear making her even more vulnerable. It didn't help that Sombra laid down next to her, inches away.
"I've always been around, my dear. A bit lacking in power, perhaps, but now I've regained my original strength..."
"B-but...b-but y-your-"
"Supposed to be dead? Is that what your gonna say? Funny. In this world of such magic, I'd thought escaping death wasn't anything big for ponies like you...Then again, you are a pegasus." Fluttershy didn't speak, unsure of what to even say. She was lucky she was still breathing at that point. Sombra sighed, his cold breath giving Fluttershy goosebumps.
"I'm surprised at you. Such a shy, and loving soul, like you, venturing into such a place like this. Only because your friends say so."
"B-but they're my friends..."
"And you're point? I'd thought you take off running by now, instead of fallowing your elements. And by the way, are they really your friends? From some resources, i'd thought you wrecked their lives, from the pain you've left them."
"I would never harm my friends!" Fluttershy gasped, taken aback by such a horrid statement. Sombra gave her a look of disapproval, but not one of aggression. Sombra, if not taken down already, would a killed Fluttershy by now. But some facts made him less of psychotic. One; Fluttershy was far too scared to attack him, and two; he wanted to watch her suffer some more. Suffer equals satisfaction towards the evil unicorn tyrant.
"Oh no? Have you forgotten something?" Sombra conjured up the same orb he showed back to Luna before, and placed it down in front of Fluttershy. The orb swirled in place for a second or two, before images began to play out...
The images linked back to Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie pie. However, it wasn't a simple get together, as Fluttershy saw herself circling Rarity and Pinkie, anger read out on the fluttershy's face. She knew this all too well: It was the day she took assertive lessons from Iron Will, a deep mistake as it turned out. And here is where she'd done her absolute worst, and it was taken out in front of her best friends. The images were bad enough, but she was also treated to the horrid voices the "new fluttershy" spat out.
Why not? I'd thought petty is what your all about, Rarity, with your petty concerns about fashion!
"Please stop."
And what are you passionate about? Birthday cake? Party hats?
"Please!"
I cant believe the most ignorant ponies in ponyville are telling new fluttershy, how to live her life, when their throwing theirs away on pointless pursuits, that NOPONY ELSE GIVES A FLYING FEATHER ABOUT!
That did it, Fluttershy turned away from the orb as Sombra made the images disappear from the orb, a tear down her face. To this day, Fluttershy wanted to forget she did that horrid act to her friends. But then she realized something; how did Sombra know? This was before she even got to crystal empire, let along knew about Sombra. But, as before, Sombra knew her questions.
"Let's just say some nightmares make some facts too clear," Sombra concluded, turning to Fluttershy, tears down her face. Fluttershy gulped, but some sort of courage she had left spat out "That's over, I'm better now!"
"Are you?" Sombra made the orb show more memories in front of Fluttershy. She wanted to look away, but Sombra stomped harshly on her tail with his back hoof, so she couldn't move away. Sombra wanted her to watch, as more images presented themselves.
The images that appeared over and over again were horrid to watch, and half of them weren't even on the same day she learned assertiveness. Other events include: Her stealing Celestia's pet bird; Her using the stare on various animals, the animals looking in fear; Her going in complete psycho mode at the grand galloping gala. All of these various images made her feel less afraid, and more guilty...but then one image presented itself that made her rather confused; Her trying to befriend discord. As that played out, Sombra spoke again.
"You sure are a monster, Fluttershy. All these acts, and yet you brush them off...such a pity, really."
"But...But discord -"
"Before you finish that, think about this. What you've done, and knowingly did, was not befriend Discord. You manipulated him. Such a devilish act to use your own kindness to control such creatures...You knew what you were doing, and yet you done it anyway. A well sign, of a monster." After that explanation, Sombra made the orb disappear, Fluttershy staring off blankly into space, tears pouring down her face. He was right; the acts she committed belonged to a monster rather than a pony, and yet she never truly realized how badly these acts really were until Sombra showed it to her...She was a monster...Sombra got up, and walked a few feet away, stepping off Fluttershy's tail. Fluttershy thought to fly away, but looking around, she was unable to locate an escape route. Even if she did, she doubted Sombra would let her simply fly off.
"This world is full of monster, Fluttershy...You just so happened to be one of them...Would it be better they could just go away?"
Sombra conjured up something else in front of the pegasus; a sharp, small crystal spire, large as a sword. Fluttershy just stared at the thing, as Sombra used his magic to pull it out of the ground...
"You have a chance to make things right..."
Sombra handed her the spire, Fluttershy reluctantly taking it from him. The spire rested lightly on her hooves, as she stared right at it, her reflection going of it...She knew what Sombra wanted her to do...She placed it down, in a way that it's aimed at her...she back away...ready to run...
"...Good Girl..."