I can remember the cold chill that ran through me after Sparkshine, my new teacher had said those words, King Sombra, the dark king of the crystal empire , a part of history believed to be gone wasn’t. I gasped at that, a million thoughts went through my mind, some of fear and panic, some are plans on how to warn every pony about this. The next thing to run through my mind were a million question but only one thing came out,
“What!? But how, he was defeated with the crystal heart, wasn't he.”
Sparkshine looked up at the glowing gem somberly and said,
“No Twilight what was destroyed was nothing more than a shadow, excess magic from Sombra that he has been releasing over the years.”
“I don’t understand Princess Celestia told me that he was turned into a shadow.” I said confusingly and trying to hide the fear in my tone,
he then walked over to me and said,
“Yes he was turned to shadow,”
then waved a hoof in the air and suddenly an image appeared floating in the air, I studied it and saw that the large gem that was projecting the image and what it showed was a familiar figure, it was king Sombra but not in his shadow form but in his original form, he was still incased in ice but something was different. I looked closer and saw his body was pulsating lightly of some sort of dark energy, then Sparkshine continued,
“but over the years he has slowly gotten stronger and as you can see he managed to reform his body.”
“Reform h..his body. But how?” I said to him still in disbelief.
he then wave hoof at the image and it changed into three more images. The first was of an earth pony mare, her eyes were dark red, and her mane, and tail was a dark muddy brown color and her coat was a wood brown color, on her flank was a cutie mark of a black crystal shard, she was just walking and from what I saw it looked as if she was in ponyvile, on the image next to her was a light grey stallion Pegasus with a dark red eyes with black mane and tail with a cutie mark of a crystal wrapped around in chains flying from what it looked to me was high in the sky perhaps clouds dale and on the last image showed two small figures one was a midnight blue colt Pegasus with his mane and tail of light blue that seemed to shimmer like the stars in the night sky, I remember thinking that that colt could be a dead ringer to be princess luna’s son, and the other was a dark grey filly unicorn with her mane and tail white with silver highlights and her mane tied at the end, the area they were in looked to be in a city Manehattan I thought , the little colt was crying while the little filly was trying to comfort him. I turned to spark shine and said,
“I don’t understand. What do they have to do with any of this?”
But as if to give me an answer they all started emitting the same purple mist for their eyes, and that’s when he said something that I never thought was possible,
“They have a lot to do with this twilight, for you see they are Sombra’s essences that has been pony-fied, given life through sheer will.”
“What, his essence.” I said nearly falling back by this news.
“Yes, artificial ponies created through magic each with a different part of Sombra that are walking among us, well I should say they all represent different aspects or traits of him.” Spark shine said then pointed to the earth pony mare, “This one is named Sapphire Fancy believe it or not she is in tuned to magic which is a trait that Sombra has.”
“Wait, so your saying she can perform magic?” I asked him in a somewhat disbelieve tone.
“Exactly, to be more precise she can perform dark magic.” Spark shine said
“That’s impossible, only ponies with a horn can perform any kind of magic.” I said as I looked at the floating image of the mare.
“Ah, she knows this as well but she can, She doesn't understand how all she know is that she can but not in the norm that is.” he said as he rubbed his hoof under his chin.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked
“Well Twilight allow me to answer your question with one of my own. What is needed for magic to be performed.” He asked me,
I thought for a moment and answered,
“Well...as I said before a horn but…”
“Exactly, but to be more precise something for it to be released is what's needed. As you should already know all ponies have magic within them but is used in different ways. For Earth ponies it's their physical strength and touch that releases their internal magic or to be more accurate through their hooves."
I just simply stared at him confused at what he just said, he simply rubbed his chin with his hoof and said,
"Allow me to explain."
and with that he closed his his eyes and his horn started to glow blue, he then lowered his head until his horn touched the floor and out appeared a miniature pony. It was Applejack, hat and all with a little garden and some tools next to her. I stared at it with such intrigue and curiosity, I mean who wouldn't be, this kind of magic was unknown to me....me a who read just about every book on magic in the canterlot library. I knelt down to study it...er her more closely, I remember thinking that it was amazing the only time I seen something like this was when the princess showed me the crystal empire when Sombra returned or to be exact his shadow, but she used a crystal to make a projection not making it out of thin air. I placed my hoof on uh her and it went right through, I tried a few more times but the same result. I looked up to Spark shine and he said,
"It's just a holo construct which I'll be teaching you about this spell later but right now let allow me to continue."
I just simply nodded, stood up, smiled sheepishly and said,
"Yes of..of course."
He coughed into his hoof and continued with his explanation,
"Now for instance your friend Applejack, well... her and her family are excellent apple farmers that can bring out the potential of the soil that they plant their seeds into and in which grows their apples with the help of the magic within them," just then the mini Applejack was working on the miniature garden.
"but if another pony tries their hoof at it say a unicorn...."
his horn glowed a bit brighter and the mini Applejack turned in to a mini Rarity wearing overalls and a hat performing the same actions as the mini Applejack from before. I remember thinking to myself, the real Rarity would never do farm work, she'd be to worried about getting dirty or even getting her mane and tail all messy. I giggled at that thought as Sparkshine continued,
"the same result will happen but it won't be as... well...eh vibrant as Applejack's her family grown crops."
"Wait a minute.." I quickly said to him, "if what your telling me is true then explain Pinkie pie."
"Er..uh...well... She's...more of an unexpected surprise when it comes to Earth pony magic. To be honest she's done things that I can't explain, I'm sure you can relate to that." Sparkshine said while scratching his head,
Oh I know the feeling, oh I certainly know the feeling. Studying Pinkie's Pinkie sense just left me with more questions about her, especially when she's pulling things out of no where. I just simply replied,
"Yes I can relate on that."
"Yes there were even times where she could fell my presents and even see me when no other pony should, but I detouring from the topic. As for a Pegasus it's kind of the same but..."
"But it's more with their inner magic which they use for weather control and moving clouds and walking on them. As for us unicorns, we use our horns to use more complex forms of magic." I quickly say to him, "I know all of this Mr Sparkshine, this is common knowledge."
Sparkshine just looked at me blankly as his horn stopped glowing and in a poof the mini Rarity vanished. After a few blinks he then gave me a warm smile and said,
"Of course Twilight your right but she's a special case and I'll explain more on that later for now let’s move on shall we.”
He said as he pointed to the image of the Pegasus and continued,
“Now he, is called Amorphous chain and he represents Sombra’s cunning as well as he is Sombra’s eyes and ears, so….”
“So he’s only gathering information for him.” I quickly interrupted.
“Correct, when I discovered him I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but that is until I noticed him traveling from one place to another never staying for too long.” Spark shine said, I gave him a puzzled look and said,
“Well that doesn’t seem so wrong.”
“Normally yes, but the places he has been to have been reported of ponies exhibiting weird behavior and claims of being chased by monsters and other things, showing signs of fear and soon the whole town would be in a panic and fear, too afraid to even leave their homes to do even the most simple of things, but once he leaves the weird behaviors ceases, but at the next town he visits would exhibit the same behavior.” Sparkshine said,
"So your saying he's performing some kind of fear magic." I said to him with a slight confused look, he simply nodded.
"But that's crazy!" I shouted "No pony could just make another just experience fear, not from what your telling me."
"Oh, don't you remember," He said with a raised eyebrow, "at the crystal empire. When you found a certain door. What happened to you when you got opened to it?"
"Well..." I said. I thought for a moment on that particular event, I replayed it over and over in my mind but couldn't recall anything that was different. Tapping my hoof on my head I finally said,
"I opened the door went up a lot of stairs, found the crystal heart, got caught in a trap set up by Sombra, then had spike take the crystal heart and after that.."
"No no no Twilight. The door, what happened after you opened it the first time." Sparkshine said,
"The first time but..I.." I answered, but then it hit me, I did open the door twice. I forced it open by using dark magic but then I got a vision of my worst fear of failing the test that Celestia had given my, but now that I think about it it was more of a vision of the future to me.
Sparkshine smiled at me and said,
"Ah, now you remember."
"I do, but that was caused by a crystal that was on top of the door..." I said I paused for a moment and thought back to the door with the crystal above it. Sombra could have known I was there he was still trying to get through Cadence's magic, but then a realization just struck me like a door to the muzzle and I said,
"That crystal, it must have been enchanted by Sombra long before, just as the same way how that trap had to be made to protect the crystal heart from any pony who came looking for it, it activates when some pony got close to or in the area."
"Exactly, and he's like that crystal but only instead of effecting one pony he effects a whole town or a city, but as I said he doesn't stay long only a few days." Sparkshine said,
I paced around thinking for a moment and a few questions came to mind. Did the princess know of what was going on and planed to have an investigation on it, and if so then why hasn't done anything or for that matter with her recent actions would she do anything? If I didn't fail her so called "test" would she have just sent me to investigate it in a form of some grand request or "lesson". I paced around even more until another question came to mind, I turned to Sparkshine, who was looking at me with a bit of concern, and asked
“Do you know what he was exactly doing?”
“Well believe it or not most of his times were spent in town halls for their records and libraries.” He answered.
I can remember how my anger just sky rocketed. I was furious but also absolutely livid upon hearing that some pony was using libraries for evil purposes, I laugh at myself overtime I remember that moment, I remember stomping my hooves to the ground and saying,
“I can’t believe this, how can some pony just.....go around using the world’s libraries for....for evil, that’s just unthinkable…”
I went on and on about how books are meant to be used to educate others about ourselves and our history, how childish I must of sounded going on and on about books when at that time the fate of equestria rested in my hooves and mine alone, but I’m trailing off the main topic. Sparkshine just stood there wide eyed and speechless and then he just laughed at my little outburst, I then stopped and smiled sheepishly, as my cheeks turning red from my embarrassment. Looking back on it now I can say I was still so naïve to the important things when it came situations like this, oh sure I knew what needed to be done but when it comes to books or learning in general that was more important to me but again I digress. As Sparkshine was done laughing he wiped a tear from his eye and said,
“I’m sorry Twilight, but when you said that it just made me remember an old friend who felt so enthusiastic about books just as much as you do, but let us continue on shall we.”
and with another wave of his hoof the floating image changed to the little filly and colt. He started explaining about the two, and I stared at him intently but at this time I can admit this now, I wasn't paying much attention. You see my thoughts were of the other two. Oh of course I should have been paying attention but it's just those two ponies, created through Sombra's magic and walking among other ponies, were causing so much trouble for them, if I didn't know better I'd say discord may have something to do with this as well. A Pegasus stallion who instils fear to every pony that's in the place he visits, and an earth pony mare who can perform dark magic, I keep racking my mind on those two I knew I had to stop them from whatever they were doing for Sombra, but I thought maybe they could be taught on how to control their magic and live like regular ponies. I felt a hoof placed on me and snap out of my train of thought, and saw Sparkshine giving me a worried look as he said,
"Twilight are you alright? You seemed to be miles away."
"Yes, I fine." I answered with a forced smile.
"You know Twilight you're a terrible liar, I know something's bothering you now tell me, it doesn't have something to do with what happen with Celestia, does it." He said to me with concern in his voice.
It wasn't about what happened, from my banishment and having to leave my friends and ponyvile but at that moment it did, but not as much as to my current concerns. I stared down at my hooves and started rubbing one of them against my fore leg and answered,
"Well no, not entirely, Its just that.."
I started to look around as if I was going to find the right words to say. I closed my eyes then slowly inhaled and then exhaled which seemed to relax me a bit, I then look to my new mentor and said,
"I was just wondering if it was possible for them to learn to control their magic."
Sparkshine walked over to his previous spot, sat down then closed his eyes and lowered his head all while rubbing his chin thinking. Silence engulfed the room not a sound came from us, well the only sound that could be heard was a low humming sound that seemed to be coming from the crystal over head. He remained that way for a few moments until he said,
"If some pony found a way to teach them then yes it is possible, but why would that matter Twilight?"
I must have seemed to light up to him with my ears perking up and having an large smile form on my lips as I said,
"Then if they did, they could live their lives as normal ponies and not have to do Sombra's orders, we can even become friends with them and they could help us."
Sparkshine just frown at my statement and said,
"No Twilight they can't live like normal ponies they are magic given life and form, they may look like normal ponies but to the core they're nothing more than Sombra's slaves to do his bidding. Even if they learned to control their magic they would pose a greater threat, the can not be reasoned with and they certainly wouldn't befriend any pony."
I felt like I shrink to the size of a foal as I feel my ears folding to my head and I lowered my head staring at the floor and sadly said,
"O...Oh your right, sorry forget I mentioned it."
I could hear his hoof steps getting closer to me, each step just seemed like they were telling how naive I was to even think of something like that, as they stopped I was staring at them I remembered thinking,
'This is it, he's going to toss me aside just like the princess did, I am a failure. what am I going to do now.'
As I felt the tears starting to form in my eyes I felt something else, I felt him place a foreleg on me as he said,
"Look Twilight I know how you feel you have a good heart, as big of a heart as the bearer of the element of kindness, but we just can't take that chance," he was silent for a moment then let out a heavy sigh, "but if you think befriending them could work, I don't see why we can't give it a try."
I slowly looked up to at his blue eyes and his warming smile. I wiped the tears from my eyes and said,
"R..Really."
"Well yeah. You've done a lot of things that no pony would ever thought would be possible," Sparkshine said and with a wave of hoof images of my previous exploits appeared and slowly rotated around us as he continued,
"You've not only made some wonderful friends but you've also defeated Nightmare moon which brought back princess Luna, you've figured out how to bring your friends back to their senses and turned Discord back to stone, You've also uncovered the truth behind the Changeling queen's disguise during your brother's wedding, even when Celestia was fooled and fought valiantly against most if not her entire hive and help save the day, you also created a plan to keep the crystal ponies happy until you find the crystal heart and along with spike, help save it from Sombra's shadow and that's just a few things that you have done. So you should be proud of all those things and never doubt yourself when it comes to things like this. Plus as your teacher you should know that I have complete and total faith in you on making it happen."
From just saying made me smile, not only that but it also made me feel good about myself and all that I've done. I remember thinking,
'I shouldn't be sulking about what happened, I should be moving forward, it like they say when one door closes another door opens. I maybe banished but I can still help save Equestria from behind the scenes.'
I wiped the last of my tears, then regained my composure and put on a determined look as I said,
"You're right Mr Sparkshine. Now lets gets started on saving Equestria."
"At-ta mare, lets get started." Sparkshine says with a nod.