//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30 part 2 
// Story: Shadowy Love 
// by FinnPony 
//------------------------------//


Shadowy Love
By FinnPony
Chapter 30 part 2


Twilight shrieked scaredly as the smoke engulfed Sombra, preventing her from seeing anything. To her surprise the spiky poles around her shattered to pieces, and she flopped down to her belly. She coughed because of the smoke-like fog around her, and rose up with her legs shaking.
“Sombra!?” she yelled. “Sombra where are you!?”
As if on cue the smoke started to fade away and she could see a figure of a stallion in the middle of it. She moved towards it with her ears folded backwards and her whole body tensed. The figure moved, and an eerie feeling took a hold of Twilight.
“Sombra?” she asked again and took a couple of steps closer towards him again, only to let out a sorrowful gasp when the smoke finally perished.

Sombra stood in front of her, the apologetic look in his eyes gone. Now it was replaced with an empty, cold stare that made shivers run up Twilight’s spine. The scleras of his eyes had turned green and the menacing, purple flames rose from their corners, slowly dancing in the air. His dark mane flowed in a wind that Twilight didn’t feel. The threatening crown rested on his head and his loyal battle armor was covering his chest while a red cape rested on his back. Twilight could see the many marks that the swords of his enemies had left to his chestplate. Twilight’s eyes then were fixated to the Alicorn Amulet hanging over his chest, almost like pulsating dark energy all around it. It was like it was made to fit Sombra, which backed up his claims that he had actually made it. Again, Twilight didn’t have time to think about that right at that moment.

“Sombra I know that you can…” Twilight started, but was cut off by Sombra.
“‘Hear me?’” Sombra continued her sentence mockingly. His voice was strangely distorted and it made Twilight gulp. He chuckled darkly, and not in his usual, teasing way, no. That laugh was just plain mocking. He grinned so that his fangs were showing and said with his creepy voice, “Of course I can hear you, Twilight Sparkle. I am right next to you.”
“I mean the real Sombra!” Twilight said angrily. “Not you!”
“But I am the real Sombra,” he said and walked closer towards Twilight, who backed away. He had a satisfied smile on his lips as he said, “The one, true King Sombra.”

Twilight almost fell over as she stumbled on some loose rocks, but she could keep her balance. She kept backing away from Sombra, who steadily kept coming closer to her.
“You are not yourself!” Twilight shouted, but Sombra just laughed and kept walking. Twilight glanced over her shoulder, and saw that soon she would run out of space. She took a deep breath and thought that she could try something quite bold.

“What would Crystal say if she could see you now?” she scolded Sombra.

Sombra stopped mid-step, his other front-hoof still in the air. For a moment Twilight thought that it had worked, as Sombra’s cold expression softened, but was quickly proven wrong. The flames coming from Sombra’s eyes grew in size and he let out a loud snort.
“You will not speak of her!” he shouted angrily and his horn started to glow in same blue color as the fires in his eyes. Twilight yelped and managed to teleport out of the harm’s way just in time befores Sombra’s powerful attack took away a big chunk of wall behind her.
Twilight appeared behind Sombra, in a fighting stance with her wings erected. Her horn started to glow and she shouted, “You can fight them!”
“Shut up!” Sombra shouted as he spun towards Twilight, firing another magical projectile towards her, which she again dodged. The projectile took down a pillar across the hall. Twilight jumped up and with a couple strong flaps of her wings she was over Sombra. Sombra growled at her, but now it was his time to get some blows. Twilight shot purple lightings at the dark stallion but to Twilight’s bad luck, Sombra managed to turn into a mass of shadows just before the bolts of lightning hit him.

“Is that all you got, Twilight Sparkle!?” Sombra growled as he reformed back to his physical form.
“Nope,” Twilight called down at him from the ceiling level. “I’m just getting started!”
Sombra eyed at her carefully, before frowning.
“I would rather not kill you, Twilight Sparkle. That would make me really upset,” he told Twilight, who kept flying in circles.
“I would say the same to you!” Twilight shouted. She then flew up through the the broken part of the roof, landing to the edge of it. Her hooves slipped on the steep, slippery roof, but she managed to keep her balance. From there she looked downwards at Sombra.
“We can solve this!” she shouted. “Just take off the Alicorn Amulet!”
“Hah!” Sombra exclaimed. “You know that it is not possible!”
Twilight drooped her ears. She really didn’t want everything to end like that, but it started to look like there wouldn’t be any options. Still, deep in her guts she had a feeling that there must be something that can make Sombra fight against whatever it was that possessed him.
“Please Sombra!” she begged. “Don’t let the past happen again! Think of Crystal, please!
Sombra frowned and his tail wished angrily behind him.
“I said that I do not want to kill you,” he growled. “But now you really are trying my patience!”

With that he stomped both of his front-hooves to the ground, and a massive spike of black crystal rushed through the floor, Sombra on top of it. He grinned as the spike headed towards Twilight with great speed. Twilight gasped and jumped backwards. The Spike impaled the roof where she had stood just seconds before, and Sombra jumped to the roof. He didn’t give Twilight a change to recover, before another spike of crystal broke the roof under Twilight, sending her flying backwards with a surprised shriek. She landed on her side with a loud thud, sliding down on the sloping surface for a short distance. She groaned painfully and got up to her hooves, before noticing that Sombra was coming closer towards her.
“I won’t give up!” she announced, and Sombra snorted.

“Neither will I,” he said, and his horn started to glow, and so did the Alicorn Amulet. A small cloud of black smoke appeared in front of him, shaping itself into a shape of something thin and long. With a audible pof the shadows turned into a sword with a black handle and almost transparent, wide and sharp blade made of crystal.
“Uh…That’s… That’s a sword...” Twilight muttered, her ears drooping downwards. It was really really sharp looking sword.
“Well noticed Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra chuckled.
“Where did it come from?” Twilight asked and backed up, frightened by the long sword.
“Simple,” Sombra said and started to approach Twilight. “It is just like that damn notebook of yours. An easy little teleportation spell. It has been stuck in a side of a rock somewhere in the Frozen North’s tundra for thousand years. It is still freezing cold...”
“I w-would really drop that if I were you,” Twilight muttered as Sombra got closer.
“Or what Twilight Sparkle?” Sombra growled. “What could you possibly do to make me stop now?”
“I… Uhh…” Twilight mumbled. “I will make you feel really bad about yourself?”
Sombra snorted.
“Think how much progress we have made!” Twilight started. “You made friends and even faced your past! Do you remember how we danced together? Are you going to throw all that away now?”
Sombra stopped approaching Twilight, eyeing at her carefully with a strange look on his face. For a moment Twilight hoped that her words had worked.

Suddenly Sombra laughed in a mean manner, swung the sword in his magical grasp and asked, “So how about a one last dance then, Twilight Sparkle?”


	* * *


Two figures danced a lethal dance in a moonlight, on a roof of the castle of the two sisters. From time to time purple and deep blue lightning bolts flew across the roof, some of them hitting the few last towers that were still standing, and some of the projectiles landing somewhere to the surrounding forest.

Twilight Sparkle panted heavily as she stared right at Sombra, who was pulling his crystal blade from the roof, where it had stuck during his last attack. He didn’t look even a bit worn down by their battle that had lasted for a good fifteen minutes. His hooves didn’t even seem to slip on the slippery, moss covered roof, unlike Twilight who had hard times keeping her footing. Twilight knew that the Alicorn Amulet was most likely the reason for that. She remembered the last time she had fought with him, and that time he hadn’t been that though.

Sombra got the blade pulled out of the roof, gave it a light swing and started to approach Twilight. She took a fighting stance, but she knew that Sombra would best her in a long run. She decided to try persuasion once again.
“Let’s stop this Sombra,” she panted. “Together we can help you.”
“I doubt it,” Sombra answered and kept getting closer to her.
Twilight took a deep breath and tensed up.
“You have two options Sombra,” Twilight told Sombra with a stern tone. “One, you give up and let me help you. Two, we will fight until one of us loses.”
Sombra grinned and said with a low voice, “I think that we both know which one I will choose.”

With that he lunged forward, thrusting the sword towards Twilight, who barely dodged it by jumping to her side. She used her magic to block the next swing, but her powers were draining fast, and she felt how the blade almost cut through her shield. If she wasn’t afraid earlier, she was now.
“We are friends!” Twilight cried as she ducked as the sword swung over her head.
“I have no friends!” Sombra replied before delivering a vertical swing of his sword towards Twilight. She teleported to safety, and the sword hit the roof, slicing through it easily.
“I know that it’s not you speaking right now!” Twilight said as she jumped up to air, spreading her wings.
“That Sombra was weak!” Sombra shouted, firing a projectile of dark magic after Twilight, who had to crash down to the roof in order to avoid it. She in turn returned the blow with similar attack, but Sombra reflected it with his blade. He then hissed through his teeth, “Now I am powerful and I can get what I want!”
“Even with that you can’t get Crystal back!” Twilight shouted with her ears folded backwards. “At least honor her by doing something that would make her proud of you!”

Sombra stopped his attacks for a second, staring at Twilight with an expressionless look on his face. It slowly turned to a look of hatred and his eyes turned completely green. He panted a little and the Alicorn Amulet over his chest started to glow in brighter hue of red. He snorted before lifting his sword for another attack.
“I’m avenging her!” he shouted and swung the sword with incredible force. Twilight used her magic to parry the attack, but to her horror, the sword cut right through it. The tip of the blade was just millimeters away from her face, slicing a curl of her mane away. She yelped and backed away, but Sombra’s horn started to glow. Twilight had no time to do anything, and a hot, white flash was all that she saw.
Next she woke up, laying on the roof with the tip of the transparent blade resting against her neck, and she could see a faint reflection of a full moon from it’s surface. Sombra towered over her, his eyes still solid green in color, the blue flames  raging around his eyes.
“Please Sombra,” she begged with a tears of pain forming into her eyes. “Stop this…”
“Oh I am going to stop this…” Sombra said slowly, a sadistic grin appearing onto his lips. His horn started to glow in deep blue color. “I am going to end it right now!”

Twilight screamed when her hooves were suddenly cast in black crystal, making it impossible for her to move. It surprised her, and she tried to fire at Sombra with a beam of magic, which he easily dodged by stepping to his side.

Sombra laughed heartily as he watched how Twilight struggled. He walked next to her, his eyes still completely green, the blade still resting against her neck. He leaned closer to the terrified Twilight, whispering, “There is no point in struggling.”
“Sombra…” she whined with a couple of more tears forming into her eyes. “Let me go! I-I can help you!”
“Again with that ‘I can help you’!” Sombra chuckled. “The truth though... Is no, you cannot. You cannot even help yourself right now!”
“I-I know that you have changed inside!” Twilight told him, and Sombra frowned. Twilight didn’t let him to say anything, as she continued, “You are not this!”
“This is exactly what I am!” Sombra said loudly. “Actually I have been what I am now for more than I have been anything else!”
“Revenge won’t get you anything good!” Twilight said while trying to pull her legs free, not succeeding. “Only a broken heart!”
“Maybe,” Sombra admitted with a shrug. “But it is all that I have now.”
“But you have so much more!” Twilight shouted. “You have friends and a future now!”
“Friends? That I am not sure of,” Sombra said with a shake of his head. “Future? Now that I have. A glorious future that is! I maybe cannot get my vengeance to King Halite for a second time, but I bet that making princess Celestia and Luna pay will be just as pleasing.”
He snickered and added, “And Equestria as my kingdom doesn’t sound too bad either.”

Twilight kept struggling for and Sombra examined her for a moment. She didn’t seem like giving up, so he yawned and said, “Well I better get on with this…”
With that he lifted the blade of his sword upwards, the point still aiming at Twilight’s neck. She was frozen, her ears hanging downwards like her wings. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared at sword that was pointing at her.
“I-I…” she muttered, and looked at Sombra in the eyes. “Don’t do this Sombra… Please...”

Sombra stared back at her, seeing how the tears ran down her cheeks and chin, leaving streaks to her now ragged fur. The look of fear and sadness in her eyes and the way how she shivered as she stared at the blade.... Usually seeing his enemies in that condition would have caused waves of euphoria in Sombra, but now… Now she reminded him of somepony that he had known a long time ago. Somepony that he had loved.

Deep inside he felt something shift. A burning sensation pushed through his blurry consciousness, making it impossible for him to do what the other, much more sinister force was telling him to do. Sombra did not feel sympathy towards the purple, helpless mare laying in front of him, no. The force that resisted the dark forces making his mind feel numb was just too powerful for him to disobey. He didn’t know what it was, and most of all he didn’t like it.

The sword started to shake a little in his magical grasp, but his face was cold and expressionless. Twilight kept staring at the shivering sword with terrified, wide eyes, waiting for the final strike that didn’t seem to come. To her surprise and relief, Sombra lowered the sword from atop of her, before it vanished into a small cloud of black smoke.

“T-thank you…” Twilight muttered, sniffling a little.
A disgusted look appeared on Sombra’s face as he spat, “I did not spare you because I care about you, Twilight Sparkle! I do not know what is wrong with me, but I will let you live.”
Twilight looked confused, but she then let out a scared meep as Sombra leaned closer to her and growled, “Do not follow me. Do not try to stop me. If you do that, I will kill you, no matter what!”

Twilight didn’t answer. What had just happened?  Sombra turned around, his red cape flowing in the wind. His horn then started to glow in deep blue color, and to Twilight’s surprise the black crystals that prevented her from moving shattered. She blinked confusedly and glanced at Sombra.
Like sensing her eyes on him, Sombra repeated, “Do not try to stop me, Twilight Sparkle I will leave now and head to Canterlot. You will stay here or go to your home. I do not care where really.”
Twilight slowly rose up and Sombra started to walk towards the edge of the roof.

Twilight stared after him quietly, her eyes wide. Sombra had spared her. That had to mean that… That there was still hope? But why had he spared her? Twilight needed to know that so that she could use it against the evil forces controlling Sombra. What ever it had been, it was so powerful that even the energy of the Alicorn Amulet couldn’t resist it? Twilight only knew one force that was so powerful...

The power of friendship.

A realization hit her like a speeding train. The real Sombra indeed was there, but he could only do so little to control himself. It would take some drastic measures to get the real Sombra back to control, but Twilight already had an idea what to do. She started to trot after Sombra, whose other ear flicked as he heard Twilight’s approach.

“Did I not make myself clear?” he asked, the blue flames cornering his eyes grew in size. He glanced over his shoulder and growled, “Do not make me kill you!”
“Why are you hesitating?” Twilight asked boldly, surprising Sombra, who stopped a couple of steps from the edge. He slowly turned to look at Twilight Sparkle, his eyes still cold and lifeless. He didn’t answer, so Twilight continued, “Was it because you care about me?
Sombra chuckled darkly.
“Care? About you?” he asked, sounding almost amused. “You are fu...”

“I care about you.”

Sombra stopped mid sentence, quickly glancing towards Twilight, who stood close behind him, her ears drooped and a sad look on her face.
“What did you say?” Sombra asked, raising his other eyebrow.
“I care about you,” Twilight repeated. “I don’t want you to do this, because I care about you.”
Sombra was confused, staring at Twilight for a moment with his eyebrow still raised. He then began chuckle, “You are out of your mind.”
“No,” twilight said and shook her head. “I mean it.”
Sombra just chuckled a bit more and stepped closer to the edge of the roof, his physical form already starting to change into a smoky figure.
Twilight gulped and then said with a shaky voice, “And I know that you care about me too...”
Sombra shook his head and sighed. He started to turn his head towards Twilight for one last time, he was about to say something mocking. He was cut off by something soft and warm pressing against his cheek.

His whole body froze still when he realized what it was. A pair of lips. Twilight Sparkle was standing next to him, her muzzle pressed up against the side of his face. Both of them stayed like that for a moment, and Twilight could feel how cold Sombra’s body was. Her lips started to feel numb, so she broke the small kiss between them, only to wrap the ice-cold stallions body into a tight hug, burying her face into his dark mane and wrapping her wings around him. The moment seemed to last forever for those two.
Twilight finally broke the silence by whispering, “I care about you…”

Sombra didn’t hear that. He didn’t hear anything actually. Or actually he did hear, he heard everything that Twilight said. Very well exactly. He could hear it. The dark numbing feeling inside him didn’t disorient it in anyway.
“I-I…” he suddenly muttered, and Twilight leaned backwards to stare at him. The blue fires that surrounded his eyes were raging, but in a way that it looked like they would have been fighting to stay burning. A confused, almost scared look spread on Sombra’s face and his breath became erratic. He turned to look into Twilight’s purple, tearful eyes.

“What have you done to me, Twilight Sparkle?” Sombra asked with his ears folded backwards. After saying that the blue fire in his eyes vanquished and the scleras of his eyes turned back to their normal color. A pained expression spread on his face, and he wrenched himself away from Twilight, backing away from her.
“Sombra? What are you doing?” Twilight asked worriedly when she saw the expression on his face. Sombra didn’t answer, but his breathing got even quicker and he started to shook his head a little.
“What have you done to me?” he asked again, before using his magic to lift his crown from his head, tossing it to the roof, where it slided over the edge and fell down towards the ground. He then untied the cape from his shoulders, which was taken to the sky by the wind. There the wind played with the red cloth for a second, before taking it towards the surrounding forest. Now Sombra was wearing only his battle armor and the Alicorn Amulet that rested on his chest.

Sombra took last glance towards Twilight, before ripping the sinister necklace from around his neck. He got seemingly weaker right after, and he collapsed to his knees with a heavy sigh, dropping the Alicorn Amulet on the roof. Even Twilight was in a emotional turmoil at the moment, she acted quickly when the opportunity came. Her horn started to glow, and the amulet was gone in a purple flash. A wave of great relief washed over her when the Alicorn Amulet was safe and secured, in a place that only she knew.

It almost seemed like the situation would have been over, as Twilight stared at Sombra, who was covering his face with his hooves, laying on his belly. He was almost like hiding from Twilight’s gaze. He seemed to be in an steady condition and probably wouldn’t need any medical treatment. Knowing that, all the tension from Twilight’s body was gone, and her hooves became shaky and she too dropped down to her belly and started to pant.

Her relief was short-lived, for Sombra suddenly started to gasp like he would have been suffocating. Twilight perked up and saw that Sombra was twitching and spasming in a fetal-position, his eyes wide from horror.
“What’s wrong Sombra!?” Twilight exclaimed scaredly.
Sombra didn’t answer, and his eyes turned green once again. Twilight gasped and quickly rose up. She saw how the black smoke that she had seen earlier started to push out of corner of Sombra’s eyes, slithering to the air like a smoky snake. Twilight didn’t know what to do, and soon the last of the smoke pushed out of Sombra’s eyes, leaving him to whimper.

Twilight’s heart jumped up to her throat, and she was almost paralyzed with fear as the smoky snake started to divide into three different snakes, that started to form big stallion like figures. Her ears drooped when the shadows opened their blue, icy eyes that stared right at her. A sudden coldness made her shiver. It made her realize what she was up against.

“W-Wendigos…” she muttered, and the smoke figures started to take their physical forms. They were terrible looking creatures. They seemed more like ghosts than anything else. Their coats were snow-white and their long tails and manes flowed behind them, before fading away at some point that nopony could clearly define. Their legs were long and thin. and their hooves froze the roof-tiles that they touched. Twilight could see the ribs through their skin, and their facial features were resembling somepony who would have been famished for weeks. Worst of all was their eyes. Those blue, icy, lifeless eyes that were staring right at Twilight Sparkle. She felt their stare freezing her very soul, and it was hard to take her eyes off those foul creatures.

“Twilight Sparkle…” an echoing voice suddenly spoke, startling Twilight.
“Who’s that?” she asked, realizing that it was pretty dumb question actually.
“Oh pardon me for not introducing us,” the voice said, sounding almost amused. Then one of the Wendigos moved it’s head towards it’s companion, and the voice spoke, “This is Hatred, the other one is called Sadness…”
“I prefer Sorrow, but you never listen to me...” a new voice said, and one of the Windigos snorted.
“Of course,” the first voice said. Then the one that was looking at his friend turned to stare at Twilight again, before saying, “And I am Hatred, I am Sorrow, I am iniquity, I am cruelty, I am… A Wendigo.”
Twilight was quiet. She didn’t quite understand.
“Aren’t you all Windigos?” she asked. “Why are they…”
She was cut off by the voice speaking, “Well yes, we are. But you see Twilight Sparkle, I am the oldest of us three. I watched as ponies took over Equestria, I was there when our kind realized how much food could ponies provide us with…”
“Food…” Twilight muttered.
“Yes. Food,” the voice spoke. “Ponies are so hot tempered. Where are ponies, there are disagreements and disputes… Anger and sorrow… All kind of negative feelings that we so much enjoy… Anyway, my companions here are just younglings compared to me. They have… Let’s say ‘specialized’ in just one feeling that they feed on, while I am omnivorous. There are now so much feelings to choose from, so I can understand them. For that reason they like to be called Sorrow and Hatred.”
Twilight felt the coldness getting stronger, and the Wendigos were still staring at her, not moving at all. Why were they just standing there, telling her all that?

Sombra’s painful groans broke Twilight away from her thoughts, and she glanced at him. He was laying behind the ghostly creatures. He was unconscious, but his constant whimpering proved that he was alive.
“W-what did you do to him!?” Twilight asked, taking a fighting pose.
“He did this to himself,” the same voice spoke, held a small pause and continued, “He forced us out of his mind and body… Or actually it was you, Twilight Sparkle.”
“What!?” Twilight asked confusedly. “I didn’t do anything!”
“Oh but you did!” the voice exclaimed. “You managed something that nopony has ever done! You pushed us out of his body! Believe me Twilight Sparkle, in all my years of living, I have never seen anypony do anything like that. We even had The King’s Gem and you made him take it off!”
Twilight was confused. She had done that? Well yes, she kinda knew that, but the Windigos seemed to be oblivious that she had only triggered Sombra to do that all by himself.
“We have clearly underestimated your powers Twilight Sparkle. The magic that you used was something new to us, and something so very powerful… Something so pure,” the voice spoke. Twilight knew only one kind of magic that could do that. She was it’s princess after all.

Suddenly one of the Windigos stepped closer, making Twilight jump backwards.
“Stay away!” she commanded, but the Windigo kept coming closer, freezing the roof under it’s hooves.
“With your help we could get all the food that we would need to keep our kind alive,” the voice spoke and the Windigo lowered it’s head to Twilight’s eye-level. Then the voice spoke with almost seducing tone, “And you could get everything that you desired. Knowledge, power, wealth… Anything you name can be given by us. We just need to make a deal...”
There was a small pause, before the voice added, “We always keep our promises.”

That made Twilight frown angrily.
“I would never accept your deal! Especially now that I know how you made Sombra into such a monster he was!”
The Wendigo in front of Twilight didn’t even blink. It just stared at her with those lifeless eyes of it’s. Twilight bravely returned the stare and said sternly through her teeth, “Never!”
There was more than one voice heard chuckling eerily. Twilight saw how the two other Wendigos started to move closer towards her as the voice said, “I’m afraid that you have no opinion, Twilight Sparkle.”

With that the eyes of the Wendigo that was staring at Twilight began to glow bright white light, making it impossible for Twilight to take her eyes off them. She stared at those glowing eyes with her mouth a bit open and her ears drooped.
“If you do not want to make a deal the it is your lost, Twilight Sparkle. We will simply do this the hard way and the result will be same,” the voice said and the light got brighter.

Twilight was hypnotized by the light. In it she saw glimpses of her worst nightmares. Her friends leaving her, Celestia and Luna rejecting her, Cadence hating her and Shining Armor saying that she wasn’t his sister. It was terrible, but in a way she knew that it was just an illusion. She had been there before, when she was trying to get to the Crystal Heart years back. Every time the illusion tried to get her trapped, she could escape. She wouldn’t be fooled by them again. She shook her head and her mind came back to reality.
“You have to be better than that to…” She started to say, but was cut off by a sight even more terrifying than her illusions.

Sombra was laying on the roof, one of the Windigos pressing it’s other front-hoof down upon his throat. Somba struggled and made sickening sounds as he tried to gasp air into his lungs. His fur froze on the part where the cold hoof touched him.
“Stop!” Twilight commanded, but the Windigo only pressed harder upon the stallion’s neck, earning a loud grunt of pain from him.
“You were stronger than we expected,” the voice spoke. “But what about when there is somepony else’s life on the line?”

Twilight couldn’t watch any longer, and in a quick motion she jumped towards that Wendigo, firing a purple ball of pure magical energy at the nightmarish creature. It was one of her most powerful attacks, and it made her a little dizzy. To her horror, the projectile seemed to pass through the Windigo, flying high up to the sky. She didn’t give up, and fired three more similar attacks, all with the same result.

“What the…” she mumbled, but then a sudden jolt of pain went through her body, forcing her to her knees. She saw a scared expression on Sombra, who was staring back at her. Twilight painfully craned her neck to see her back, and immediately she let out a scared yelp. Half of her back and most of her left wing was covered in thick frost. The pain hit her again, for the ice was so cold that it felt like burning through her skin.
“Look at Sombra,” the voice spoke and Twilight glanced at Sombra, who was almost passing out, his eyes fixated to hers.
“He will die,” the voice noted, and the Wendigo over him pressed a little harder. Sombra was now fighting to keep his eyes open.
“No…” Twilight whimpered, her whole back burning. She tried to cast a spell but a sharp pain in her horn stopped her. She noticed that her horn too was covered in that frost.
One of the Wendigos craned it’s neck so that it was staring at Twilight in the eyes.
“There is only one way to stop this,” It told to Twilight, who glanced at Sombra again. He shook his head a little with his last bits of energy, and the Wendigo pressed it’s hoof downwards even harder. Twilight whimpered as Sombra fell unconscious.

She stared at the passed out stallion with tears and fear in her eyes. If she would accept the evil deal with those creatures, Sombra would be saved, but she would be doomed. Logically thinking she should refuse and let Sombra die. The decision wasn’t so easy though. Sombra was dying in front of her. Because of her. She wouldn’t let that happen. There had to be another way to…
“There is no other way,” the voice said like it would have read her mind.
Twilight stared at Sombra for a second, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. No pony had died because of her, nopony would die because of her.

Twilight didn’t notice it, but her eyes started to turn green, and her pupils became red. Small dark-blue flames started to rise from the corners of her eyes. She cried and drooped her head, feeling how a sudden coldness started to numb her mind. She was afraid, but the numbness in her body was surprisingly soothing. She glanced upwards and saw that the icy hoof on Sombra’s neck had been lifted away, and that he was again gasping for air. When their eyes met, Sombra’s face was overcome with an expression of pure shock and disbelief mixed up with fear and sadness. It was something that made Twilight close her eyes. He maybe couldn’t forgive her, but at least he was alive…

Twilight’s mind was closing itself completely, letting foreign forces to control her body. In the last moments of her awareness she heard a clattering of hooves, small poof, something slicing through the air, ending with a disgusting crunch and painful neighing.

Then everything was clear again. She was back at her own body and mind, kneeling down in front of the three Wendigos. This time there was fourth stallion aside them, and one of those foul creatures was neighing painfully and holding trashing it’s head back and forth. Twilight saw Sombra standing between her and the Wendigos, his horn glowing red. In his magical grasp was the sword that Twilight had seen earlier. It’s wide blade was deep inside the chest of one of the Windigos.
“You leave her alone,” Sombra growled with his fangs exposed, before pulling the sword out of the Wendigo, which kept neighing hysterically.
        
The Wendigos started to turn into fog-like form, their manes flowing upwards, denying the laws of gravity. The one that had been stabbed kept it’s other front-hoof over it’s wound, protecting it. They quickly started to move around the pair with their eyes glowing in bright blue color. Sombra kept facing them, keeping himself between them and Twilight.

The pair noticed how the sky had gotten darker, and soon the wind got a lot more powerful. It didn’t take long before a heavy snowfall appeared, making it hard to see properly. Sombra’s mane kept getting into his eyes and the Wendigos started to try his defences. One by one they tried to attack, but he managed to keep them away with good sword play.

“Run Twilight Sparkle!” Sombra shouted over the wind as he swung his sword at one of the Wendigos, failing to hit it.
“What!? Why!? I‘m not going to leave you!” Twilight screamed. “What are you going to do!?”
“Something that I should have done a long time ago, Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra answered seriously, swinging his sword at the same Wendigo again, this time hitting it just barely, earning a high pitched neigh of pain from it.
“You’re killing yourself!” Twilight shouted. “You can’t fight against them alone!”
“As long as you are safe, I have nothing to worry about,” Sombra answered, turning to glance at Twilight with a small smile on his face. Twilight couldn’t help herself but to return it.
“Sombra…” she started but never finished her sentence, for one of the Wendigos had seen it’s opportunity

It let out a war cry and rushed towards Sombra with it’s head held down and it’s ears folded backwards. Twilight let out a yelp and Sombra was too slow to react in time, and was hit by a pair of two strong front-legs. The strike was so powerful that it forced Sombra to his knees.  Twilight screamed as the other two attacked. The second strike was aimed at his back, bashing him down to his belly. Twilight was powerless to help him with her magic still tied up by the weird frost. She could only watch as the third Wendigo swooped down towards Sombra, it’s hooves aimed at his head. A lethal strike for sure, but Sombra managed to dodge and the Wendigo’s hooves crushed part of the roof where his head had been. Sombra quickly got up to his hooves.

Only to be hit in the back by the other two simultaneously.

Twilight screamed as Sombra flew several meters forwards, then sliding down towards the big hole in the roof that lead to the big hall. His limp body stopped right at the edge of the hole, slowly starting to slip downwards At that moment everything happened so quickly. Twilight forced herself to run towards the hole even though her whole back was freezing and burned as if on fire. She then flapped her wings, even if it hurt like hell. Just before Sombra slipped down from the edge, Twilight jumped towards him, managing to wrap her hooves around his waist.

Unfortunately the stallion was too heavy for the not so good flyer Twilight Sparkle, especially now that her wing was damaged. With a yell they dropped down towards the floor. Twilight tried to flap her wings as hard as she could, managing to slow down their fall only a little, and the impact was quite hard. They hit the floor with a loud smack.

Twilight and Sombra both groaned painfully, but only Twilight could get up. Sombra was disoriented and only moved his hooves a little. His battle armor had a big dent on it too. Twilight was worried about him, but she couldn’t help him before the Wendigos were dealt with. She noticed the sword that Sombra had used laying near them. It had probably fell down there with them.

Twilight thought that as her magic didn’t work, and Sombra’s sword seemed to hurt those beasts for some reason, that sword would be their only defence at the moment. She a took a hold of it with her teeth. It was surprisingly light and easy to maneuver. She gave it a couple of test swings and then retreated back to Sombra, who was getting more clear headed.

“Ugh…” he muttered, before noticing Twilight with the sword in her mouth. He then looked around himself and asked, “What happened?”
Twilight dropped the sword and answered, “We fell down from the roof.”
“Are you alright?” Sombra asked worriedly and tried to get up. As soon as he put weight on his left rear-leg, he hissed from between his teeth and fell back to the floor.
“You can’t stand up?” Twilight asked and Sombra nodded. Twilight then sighed and said quite annoyedly, “Every time something like this happens…”
Sombra looked apologetic, and Twilight started to smile a little.
“By the way thanks for saving me back up there,” she said a bit shyly, and Sombra’s expression turned dark. He looked away and said quietly, “Do not thank me. I do not deserve it. I could not let you do what you were doing. I already betrayed you today... I could not have watched you destroy yourself too.”
He held a small pause and then sighed, “I am so so sorry Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight smiled sadly with her ears hanging downwards. She knelt in front of Sombra and said, “I don’t think that you ‘betrayed’ me from your free will?”
“Of course not!” Sombra exclaimed, turning to look at her. “I would never…”

He stopped and looked past Twilight’s shoulder. She too turned to look at that direction, and saw the wendigos standing at the edge of the broken roof, their ghostly silhouettes clearly visible against the snow storm that raged outside. The big hall got a lot colder and soon the trio of monsters jumped down from the broken roof, gliding down to the ground in their fog-like form. They landed with no sound and turned towards Sombra and Twilight.

“Take the sword,” Sombra commanded.
Twilight took a hold of the sword’s handle with her teeth. She then rose up and stood in front of Sombra, facing the Wendigos with her good wing stretched open and her stance stern.
“That sword is our only weapon right now,” Sombra told Twilight, who gave him an asking look.
Sombra noticed it and explained, “That sword belonged to somepony who had fought against things like those long before I was even born. His father and many before him have held that sword while fighting sinister forces like… Like myself for example.”
“Whose is it?” Twilight muttered with the handle of the sword in her mouth.
Sombra seemed troubled as he answered, “King Halite. I took it as a trophy...”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. She was holding a sword that had belonged to a great king a millenium ago. In a way she was sad because she knew what had happened to it’s previous owner...
“It has ancient magic in it,” Sombra said. “Nopony knows who forged it but it had been in the ruling family of The Crystal Empire for decades. Many have tried to replicate it, but none has succeeded. It is the only one in the world as far I know.”
“Amazing…” Twilight mumbled.
“Yes yes…” Sombra grunted annoyedly. “Now focus! Always aim for the neck and the artery.”
Twilight nodded and decided that she should do as he said. She could ask some question from Sombra later... If there would be later.

The Windigos glanced at each other, before starting to walk towards them slowly.
“I don’t think I’m in a fighting shape, Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra said from the floor, and Twilight shook her head. Sombra took that as a sign that she wasn’t too optimistic about the situation either.
Sombra looked at the approaching monster and felt his heart pounding like crazy. He gulped and glanced at Twilight, saying, “I am not sure if this will end well for us Twilight Sparkle.”
“Yep,” Twilight muttered, nodding a little. She then started to back up towards Sombra, stopping when she was just next to him. The Wendigos got closer and closer, but Twilight laid the sword down to the ground so she could say what she had to say.

“No matter what happens now, we will not give up, right?” she asked from Sombra, who started to smile.
“Never!” he agreed, before looking at the Wendigos and spitting towards them. He laughed mockingly and said, “They could not even defeat a cute little mare like you so they will not stand a chance against both of us!”
There was second of silence, before Twilight asked, “Cute little mare like me?”
Sombra rolled his eyes and said a bit annoyedly, “Well you are not the biggest of ponies I know. In fact you are one of the smallest…”

He was cut off by Twilight wrapping her front-hooves around his neck, crushing his head against her chest, into a tight embrace. Wendigos were now just meters away from them, and the coldness was getting stronger and stronger, making both of them shiver. Sombra then lifted his hooves behind Twilight Sparkle’s back, and pulled her closer. She sighed and rested her good wing over him, the warmness of their bodies making the coldness almost go away. The heat grew and grew the longer they were that way, but soon they realized that they had been like that for a surprisingly long time.

They carefully broke the hug and saw that the Wendigos had stopped approaching them, their blue eyes fixated to them. There was no sign of them attacking, which was odd. Unsettling disgust was seen in their icy eyes.
"Why did they stop?" Twilight asked quietly, her ears lowered.
"I do not know," Sombra answered with a confused frown on his face. "They seem to be hesitating..."
"A-are they afraid?" Twilight asked with shaky voice, earning a small huff from Sombra.
"Why would they be afraid?" Sombra chuckled darkly and turned to look at Twilight. "I would say that they are… Cautious. They are not afraid of a wounded stallion and a small mare like y..."

Seeing Twilight's face made him stop. Her fur was ruffled, there was a small cut on her other cheek and her mane was a real mess. She wasn't in her ragged look that made Sombra stop speaking. It was the look in her purple eyes. The way how she looked at him made him feel the same strange feeling that she felt on the roof a while back.

Twilight Sparkle's gaze was exactly like the one's that had loved him a lifetime ago. He couldn't let anything hurt a pony like that now could he? Not again. No. He wouldn't.

Sombra turned to stare at the icy horses in front of them. If something that was between him and Twilight Sparkle made those monsters hesitate, it definitely was worth fighting for.

A determined frown appeared to his face and he commanded, "Help me up Twilight Sparkle."