//------------------------------// // Shadows have closed // Story: Destiny Book 1: Dark Vengeance // by SirScribe //------------------------------// Twilight was happy to see her friends again. Ever since her visit to the human world, Princess Celestia and Luna sent Twilight all over Equestria to be better familiar with the realm. Her 3 days in the human world opened many doors for her and the royals. With new knowledge and possible goals put in place, Twilight needed to be sure everything for the future would be perfect. Unfortunately, she overlooked Discord’s free time. Because of the limited restrictions on the draconiquus, Discord had managed to recover Sombra and Chrysalis. How Nightmare Moon survived was a mystery for all of them. When she had awoken from her sleep, Twilight immediately searched for Princess Celestia. After finding the Princess of the Day, the two decided to take on Chrysalis once more. With new spells in both of their arsenals, they thought they were finally going to win without the Elements. They thought wrong. With the appearance of Nightmare Moon, Celestia’s guard was lowered. A magical burst of dark magic quickly incapacitated the princess. Twilight, however, studied various combat spells from Starswirl’s journals. His extensive research on the matter proved to be helpful, yet she was limited. Much of the offensive magic she learned either evolved into different forms of magic, or were labeled as duds. Because of that, she was put on the defensive. Twilight held the shield up against the Changelings. Nightmare, after realizing that she had no minions of her own, crafted Shadow Ponies to fight in her name. With Luna away on official business outside Equestria, no help was coming. She then summoned and ordered the Shadow Ponies to wreck Canterlot and then, just for fun, attack the Princesses. They cackled when they were given their mission. The doors burst open and Twilight felt happiness for the first time since the nightmare started. Her happiness fell into dread as she watched her friends overpowered. Her relieved emotions suddenly turned to dread. She nearly lowered her shield, but she stayed strong for both her and Celestia’s sake. Sombra looked over and chuckled. “I don’t see the threat that Nightmare told us about,” he said. “All I see are 6 very scared ponies and a sorry excuse of a Princess.” “It’s hard to imagine that these 6 defeated us. At least Discord had the right idea to separate the Elements the first time around.” Chrysalis said. “So, what do we do with these 5?” Sombra looked over at the 5 ponies sprawled out on the floor. “Well, the concept of ‘Divide and Conquer’ sounds like the best way to execute this.” Chrysalis smiled. She walked over to Applejack, who was chained by the hooves. “I never did like those cursed Apple Fritters you fed me. They were just disgusting.” Her horn glowed green and Applejack was bathed in the light. When it subsided, Applejack was on her hooves, bowing before Chrysalis. “Applejack!” Rarity shouted. Sombra immediately spun around and eyed the unicorn. “Silence!” She immediately did so. Chrysalis and Applejack returned to the throne. The earth pony had no emotion in her face, and that worried Twilight. “Now, are you going to surrender, or am I going to have to pick a henchpony myself?” Sombra asked. Twilight looked over at her friends. They were all saying the same thing: don’t do it. If I surrender, maybe Applejack can be saved, Twilight thought. The alicorn sighed and dropped the shield. The minute she did so, a Shadow Pony knocked her halfway across the room. She hit a column and slumped to the ground. Chrysalis laughed like a hyena. “Restrain her,” she ordered. A changeling and Shadow Pony flew over and pinned her to the column. Sombra sighed. “Finally, ultimate victory.” Rarity growled at her captors. “This is not how one treats a lady! I demand a better method of detainment!” Sombra chuckled. He walked over to Rarity, and with the space between his horn and hers closing, Rarity felt fear engulf her. She shut her eyes, expecting the worst from him. In a flash of light, Rarity was let go. She wiped her eyes and turned to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were green with a dark magic aura surrounding her horn. “RARITY!” Sombra laughed. Rarity cracked a smile. “Oh wow, all this freedom! All this vast knowledge of the dark and artificial! This magic is more powerful than that of Celestia! I see why you used dark magic, Twilight. Dark magic is just so much easier to use than anything else. There are no rules for it! This is marvelous!” Twilight looked up and felt dread. “But-but I surrendered! You leave my friends alone!” Sombra looked over at the alicorn princess. “I never said I wasn’t going to use them. I just got you to lower your shield. Remember child, you brought this upon yourself!” he said. Rainbow grew angry and tried flying to rescue her friends, but suddenly, her wings felt heavy. Her wings fell to the ground along with her. She looked over, and realized that her wings became solid crystal. She tried getting to her hooves, but her wings were too heavy. She was trapped. Pinkie and Fluttershy were bound and tied by a Changeling. “What possessed you to join forces?” Twilight asked. “Discord,” Sombra said. The draconiquus poofed into existence next to the king. “You called?” “With Discord’s guidance and carefully thought out plan, we finally stood a chance against all of you. It is true that Nightmare Moon brought you all together, but it was Discord who discovered the weakness in the Elements: if one was inactive, then all of them are useless,” Sombra said. “By my power, I defeated Princess Celestia, but your brother was the one who humiliated me back during the wedding. Lucky me that he has to protect his new home first beyond anything else. I’ve sent some of my children to the Crystal Empire to distract them,” Chrysalis said. “And by my power, I finally defeated the Empire. I’ve sent some Shadow Ponies, by the permission of Nightmare of course, and managed to corrupt the Crystal Heart. One puny distraction has turned into a perfect victory!” Twilight tried moving, but her captors were too strong. “You know, I’ve read a lot of books about villains who talk about their plan and expect to get away with it, but it will never happen. Because you told me everything, I now know where to look and how to win,” she said. Sombra laughed. “If you can escape, then we’ve made a mistake. C’mon then, Twilight Sparkle, try to find help. You won’t find any,” he said. Twilight smiled and shut her eyes. Her horn began to glow and her captors were turned into bunnies. Discord looked on with amusement. Twilight ran to the middle of the room and grabbed her Element of Magic. “My magic has doubled with the Element of Magic, Sombra! I can still beat you!” She charged up her energy. Sombra sighed and played along. The two opened fire on each other. Their magical energy met in the middle of the room, bathing everypony in a bright light. Sombra was noticeably struggling under the Element’s power. The beam inched closer to Sombra’s horn. If their magic collided at his horn, he would be broken into pieces again. Chrysalis tried stepping in, but was blocked by Sombra. “I can do this! I don’t need help from an insect!” “An insect?! How dare you!” Chrysalis fired at Sombra, causing him to lose his concentration. Twilight was now an inch away from victory. Chrysalis noticed this. “Looks like the King of Fear needs help,” she said. She then added another beam of magic into the mix. Twilight tried adjusting to the new source of magic. She couldn’t make it. The power of combined magic against hers was too powerful. Her magic gave out, exposing her Element. The dark magic overwhelmed her, sending her out the window and into the dark abyss below the city. “TWILIGHT!”