There was something very wrong about this situation. Sweetie Belle was the sister to the Element of Generosity. If she was coveting something and hiding it from others, then it warranted investigation. Though she spent the rest of the day scouring her library for records of a magical tome that corrupted the user, she found no such thing on record. Perplexed by Sweetie Belle’s actions, Twilight ate her dinner in silence and fretted over the imminent threat to Equestria. Had it already come and was wearing away at the ponies’ good moods? Other ponies had been on edge today as well. It was like as if their happiness had been sapped by some unseen force.
As night fell, it came even earlier than the night previous. The lingering glow of the sunset shone red in the sky as the purple and dark blue hues faded into an all-encompassing blackness. Having only one lead to follow, Twilight prepared herself to trail Sweetie Belle during her evening, or at least eavesdrop on her studies to see if she had any knowledge of what was wrong since she was holding out on her. The alicorn donned the sneaking suit that she had once worn to infiltrate the Star Swirl wing of the Canterlot Royal Library.
The suit was a little tight now that she had wings now. To mend the situation, she carefully cut holes in the fabric to allow her wings to fit through with ease. Hopefully her stealth and sneaking had been improved by her wings. She’d need to be unseen and unheard while on her investigation.
Twilight left Golden Oaks and flew quickly and quietly toward Carousel Boutique. Once she arrived, she ascended to Sweetie Belle’s window just in time to see the door close. Within a few seconds, she saw the back door of the building open, and a small hooded figure departed from the store. It seemed Sweetie Belle didn’t want to be seen either. Twilight continued her pursuit, using the overcast weather to mask her movement.
Her cover-up worked wonders, the hooded pony didn’t notice a thing. The flight after the figure continued through the entire town, until the pony disappeared into the Everfree Forest. Inwardly cursing the tree canopy, Twilight decided to forsake her cloudy cover and land in order to continue her observations. Thus far, the hooded pony had done nothing but walk to the forest and periodically check its saddlebags to ensure that book was still in there. It was definitely Sweetie Belle by her recent behavior, and based on the amount of times she checked for the book, it was almost like a compulsion.
As Twilight entered the forest, a heavy fog coated the area. It got so thick that she had to close the distance between her and Sweetie somewhat to avoid losing sight of her. She couldn’t take the risk of hitting a branch or any hanging leaves by hovering above the ground, so she did the next best thing to hide the noise of her hoofs; she followed Sweetie Belle’s pace exactly so that the sound from her hooves and Sweetie’s were indistinguishable.
This method worked well, but it took an agonizing amount of patience. Twilight constantly had to monitor her breath to make sure she wasn’t making too much noise as well as avoid puddles or bushes. Sweetie Belle kept on mumbling to herself, or the book, whichever one it really was. The alicorn was getting worried about the filly’s mental health at this point. The two ponies cantered at the same speed for what seemed like an eternity until they reached a clearing.
As the pony in front of her halted in the center of the clearing, Twilight took the opportunity to fly up to a tall branch and hid behind some of the leaves in the tree. The little figure in front of her removed its cloak, revealing itself to indeed be Sweetie Belle, but something seemed different about her. Her eyes looked dull and empty, as if she had been deprived of sleep. She probably had been, but this was unnatural. As the cloak fell to the ground, it became apparent that the filly was also in a simple black robe, like as if she was attending a funeral procession. A chill went down Twilight’s spine.
The ancient tome came out once more, this time being held in Sweetie’s magic and held aloft as she began to chant. The book shone with an eerie light and began to glow. The red, green, and purple panels on the cover began to radiate strongly. Then without warning, a shrill cry cut through the night air. While the noise didn’t seem to even shake Sweetie Belle while startling Twilight, almost to the point of eliciting a scream, the filly quickly brought the book close once more and it quit shining. Though she feared to turn her head toward the sound, Twilight shifted to a side to witness a portal opened within the forest. She had no idea where the portal led to, but those worries were cut short as something even more terrifying came into sight.
Two large demonic figures came through the portal with bat wings and a face akin to a stone statue from a haunted castle or mansion. There were sharp horns protruding from the head of each beast, pointed skyward like spires. They looked angry and strong, and they were headed right for Sweetie Belle! Twilight had never seen a gargoyle up close before, and now that she had, she was frozen in fear. But looking back at Sweetie Belle, the little filly didn’t even seem phased.
According to the books on mythos that Twilight had read, the gargoyles were the wardens to Tartarus. If they were here, that could spell nothing but trouble. But why were they approaching Sweetie? As if to answer, one of the two gargoyles began to speak in a gravely and low voice.
“Little pony, you are in possession of a great power that is not meant for your realm. Relinquish it at once or face the consequences,” the taller of the two said in a menacing voice. He pointed an outstretched talon impatiently at his target. The little filly moved the book protectively behind her, making an unsaid statement of refusal. The gargoyle balled up his talons into a fist, losing his patience.
“I will give you one last chance, that grimoire must return to Tartarus where its unholy power belongs. You may give it freely, or we shall take it by force. We have been all over this plane and have only found our quarry now that the time is most dire,” the second gargoyle said in a lighter tone. He sounded more polite, but still intimidating.
Once again, Sweetie Belle made no move to comply. Instead, she set her hooves defiantly and stared down the gargoyles with empty eyes and a vacant expression. The first of the two gargoyles had had enough and moved in on Sweetie Belle, pumping its wings and picking up speed as it charged.
“We gave you your warning! Now prepare to face your reckoning!” he yelled as he flew toward the filly.
Twilight had well known the dangers a gargoyle posed to its prey from the books she had read. These wardens of Tartarus were equipped with razor sharp talons, a bladed tail, and even more frightening, ice breath. Their skin was as tough as stone. Not nearly as strong as a dragon’s, but still extremely tough and durable. They could see perfectly in the absence of light.
As the gargoyle neared Sweetie Belle, Twilight was preparing for confrontation. She had no idea what Sweetie Belle was up to, but she was her friend and needed help to fight off her assailants. But to her surprise, as soon as the gargoyle reared back to strike and met Sweetie’s body, he ricocheted off, repelled by a barrier that the filly had erected in the blink of an eye. As the gargoyle flew back, Sweetie Belle let loose her own counterstrike. Her horn glowed green and let loose a lightning chain straight from her horn to the body of the surprised gargoyle. He shook violently and fell to the ground in a daze.
Twilight stood stunned by the turn of events. That spell was far too advanced for her to know, and more importantly, why in Equestria had she learned it? As the light faded from Sweetie’s horn, she spoke out to her two attackers.
“Leave this place,” she said, her voice devoid of its usual cheer and pep. She sounded almost dead inside, like her soul had vacated her body. “You will not interrupt the spell!”
Now that his partner had taken a direct bolt of lightning, the second gargoyle took flight. He avoided several beams of magical energy sent at him by the filly below with enough precision flying and turning to rival a pegasus. As he dodged yet another beam, his mouth began to glow with a soft blue light. It expelled a flurry of icy shards headed straight to Sweetie’s location. To counter, the unicorn whipped up a whirlwind with a spell and swept up the sharp frozen shards and sent them back to their source.
The gargoyle dipped down and descended at a breakneck pace. As he approached the ground, he touched down and blasted from his spot, executing a risky ninety degree turn in less than a second. He charged the filly and closed the distance faster than Sweetie was prepared for, he met the shield and struck it with all his might, shattering the magical barrier into little pieces. He whipped around and struck with his tail, but felt a sudden pain.
His tail had been caught in the grasp of the unicorn’s magic and was being pulled vigorously, sending pain shooting up his spine. In dire straights, the gargoyle launched himself back, administering a sharp kick with his back legs to the rebellious pony. She stumbled back and the book dropped from her grip. Seizing the opportunity, the gargoyle grabbed the book within his talons. Despite not having shown any emotion prior to this, Sweetie’s face broke into a livid expression, with a sudden fire in her eyes.
The fire Twilight saw in Sweetie’s eyes became manifested in green flames that swarmed the gargoyle. He screamed in pain and the book left his claws, falling into the center of the clearing. The first gargoyle had regained his feet by now and roared in anger.
“Haunt my presence no more!” the filly exclaimed with a powerful glow from her horn. Suddenly, ice shards jutted out from the ground, striking the wardens square in the chest and launching them far away. Mercilessly, the filly cast another spell, calling forth a powerful bolt from the sky above, the bolt struck both gargoyles and knocked them unconscious.
Using her now considerable magical might, the filly took both of her assailants into her magic and cast them back through the portal from whence they came. As both gargoyles were banished, she closed their portal with another spell. The book lay in the center of the clearing and the filly picked it up once more, resuming what she had set out to do in the forest.
Twilight’s mouth had been hanging open for the duration of the fight. It was impressive to see the young filly hold her own and even win against guardians of Tartarus. But she was also very frightened by the filly’s power and lack of emotions. Twilight began to creep stealthily toward the little pony, quite confident that whatever had just happened had to do with the thing she was supposed to stop.
As Sweetie Belle began to chant once more, the book lifted up on its own accord without any use of magic from the unicorn. The book radiated once more with an eerie light, and suddenly, a circle began to etch itself into the ground. The circle was geometrically perfect, with strange symbols appearing every few degrees in the shape. An alarm in Twilight’s head began to blare. She knew what this was! She had read about this! Sweetie Belle was casting a ritual, and given the confrontation with the gargoyles, she had no doubt that this ritual was to call something foul. The Sweetie Belle she knew would never do anything so reckless. There had to be a reason.
The light grew brighter once the circle had completed, and Sweetie Belle began to float within it at the center, the book hanging in front of her, open to a page that depicted a very detailed description of the spell. Twilight took flight and broke her cover, dashing to save Sweetie Belle from her own spell. She knew exactly the price of this spell from her studies.
Twilight entered the incantation circle and shoved Sweetie Belle harshly, to the point that she tumbled out of the circle. The filly hit her head upon the ground and rolled for some distance, coming to a halt. She tried to lift herself back up, but lost consciousness. The alicorn attempted to escape before the spell resolved, but got caught in the light of the circle.
A terrified shriek rent the air of the night as all light fled the clearing and succumbed to shadow.
Sweetie Belle recovered her conscious quickly. As she awoke, she rubbed her head with a hoof and waited for her vision to return to her. What had happened? Her head felt groggy. She couldn’t remember anything since last night. Where was she? The forest? The filly felt around her location, feeling the soft moss and grass of the forest, smacking her hoof on a nearby root and wincing in pain. She was in the Everfree Forest no doubt, but what was she doing here? And where was her book?
As Sweetie got to her hooves, she took a look around. She was in a clearing, and there were signs of a struggle. There had been claw marks and heavy prints everywhere around the clearing. Had she needed to fight off a pack of timberwolves?
Then her gaze fell upon Twilight sprawled out in the center of the clearing. She looked like she had been knocked out by something. Sweetie guessed that she had cast some powerful spell to save them and lost consciousness from the strain. Suddenly, Twilight got up and started to inspect her body.
Sweetie Belle took a cautious walk over. Twilight was acting weird, like she was surprised she had wings. But the alicorn seemed to be alright. The unicorn’s attention was captured by the book laying on the ground a little ways away from the two ponies. She walked over and picked up the book once more.
“Grand Wizard, I’m ready to learn more, I just wish my head didn’t feel so fuzzy right now…” she called out to the book. “Do you have any spells that can help recall memories? I wanna know what just happened to us.”
No reply came from the book. Sweetie Belle tried calling out more, but her mind remained clear of another presence. Worriedly, she flipped through the spellbook, but all of its pages were empty! It had been wiped clean somehow. The cover of the book had once again returned to the tattered and beaten state she had found it in when she was in the Castle of the Two Sisters.
“Grand Wizard! Answer me! Where did you go?” the filly called out. While she got no answer from the book, she heard a laugh from Twilight. But it sounded off. Her voice had become warped and lower than usual. The alicorn turned around and Sweetie Belle let out a gasp.
Twilight had physically changed. Her mane had grown darker and was missing its pink highlight, her eyes glowed with a purple aura and her teeth had elongated into fangs. Sweetie Belle brought a hoof to her forehead. Her memory was starting to return, she had come here to cast a spell. But why was Twilight here and why did she look so scary?
“I must thank you, Sweetie Belle,” the alicorn said. It no longer sounded like Twilight. The voice had grown even deeper than when it was laughing. “I hadn’t thought I would be put into this body, but it would seem fate has smiled upon me and granted me even greater fortune than I had imagined.”
Sweetie Belle began to shake with fear, the gravity of what she had done mercilessly returning to her. She had casted a spell, a very dark spell. Now she remembered! She must have been controlled, but she still could see some of the things she did. She remembered fighting the gargoyles and being frightened out of her mind while her body seemed to move on its own. She recalled activating the incantation and the circle appearing. But at the last moment, she had been pushed out and must have passed out.
Now the consequences of her actions were clear to her. She had casted a spell to call a spirit into her body! Only… the target of the spell had been altered, and now Twilight had been infected by the malevolent spirit.
“Twilight! Snap out of it!” Sweetie Belle yelled out to her friend. The alicorn laughed once more with a harsh laugh that cut to Sweetie’s core.
“Fool! Your Twilight is no longer here, it is only I, my pupil,” the alicorn spoke. Sweetie Belle began to inwardly shout in denial. Her teacher wouldn’t have done this! He was the Grand Wizard! There had to be some mistake. How could she not have realized it? Was she truly so naive…?
“Because you assisted me so much and obeyed like a good servant, I will grant you the knowledge of my true identity,” he continued to speak. “I am your ruler, King Sombra! Bow before your powerful and mighty king!”
Sweetie Belle’s heart sank in her chest. She had read about the evil King Sombra, and how he had once ruled over the Crystal Empire. Twilight had told her that she and her friends had managed to stop his return. How was he here? Sweetie couldn’t move, she was so frightened.
“Oh, fate works in mysterious ways…” Sombra mused. “I now inhabit the body of one of those responsible for sending me to Tartarus! Now I shall be the one to succeed.”
Sweetie Belle’s curiosity managed to overpower her fear enough to at least speak in the face of such evil.
“I thought you were banished forever! How did you come back?” she squeaked. The king just laughed once more.
“I suppose you deserve to hear my tale,” he said with a nod. “When I was banished by those upstart ponies, I was sent to Tartarus with but a fraction of the power I had wielded in Equestria. I endured what seemed like an eternity in that horrible realm! In my pain, I came upon a plan that would save me from my regrettable fate. I used the last of my magic to open a small portal, though it was not big enough for me to fit through though. So I broke my soul’s bonds with my body, and as it faded, I became bound by my grimoire. The grimoire fell through the portal as it closed, leaving the guards with no leads to where I had escaped to. I had been sent into that dank and pathetic castle you found me in. When I felt the three of you enter my presence, I used the last of my magic in a desperate attempt to summon the unicorn among you to me.”
King Sombra halted his story long enough to stare directly as Sweetie Belle with a smirk, as if thanking her for her heritage and foolishness to come to him.
“Once you picked me up, I posed as a wizard who had been living in a book and required magic to sustain himself. It was quite a story, and I had to even change my voice and appearance in case you could see me. It was much closer to the truth than you may have expected. It is thanks to your willingness to give your magic to me that I was able to pass my knowledge to you. No matter how much magic I absorbed from you, I couldn’t cast the incantation myself, especially without a body to move my soul to. You provided both and were so trusting! But fate wished it to be different. I fell upon the luck to be interrupted and have an alicorn princess fall prey to the circle.”
The alicorn king stopped his tale once more to inspect his hooves and crack a smile. The happier he got, the more scared and desperate Sweetie’s mind got. It told her to run for her life, but her legs wouldn’t move.
“Now I am even more powerful than I imagined! This body is foreign to me and will require more magic to mold to my liking, but I have all the strength of even Celestia! Now I will continue my quest to restore my rightful rule to this kingdom. Since you helped me, you may join me as my servant,” he finished, reaching out a hoof to the little unicorn. He cast a quick spell to summon a red cloak with a white trim, lined with black stones on the lining.
She stood stock still and shivered. If she accepted, she’d likely have a better life than anypony else if he succeeded, but she didn’t want to be so close to such a horrible presence. She wanted to fight him back and stop him before he won, but her body wouldn’t cooperate!
“I-I-I…” she stammered. Her body was now shaking like a leaf caught in a tornado. The king smiled and began to approach her, ready to take his new servant and begin his conquest. But suddenly, he convulsed and began to scream in pain.
“Aaaaugh! Ahhh! Grrr…!” he grunted as he threw his hooves to his head. “You can’t listen to him!” he suddenly said. The dark force inside of Twilight’s body relented just for a moment and its appearance made a sudden shift back to Twilight. “You have to stop him! I know I’m asking a lot of you, but you can’t let him get away with this! I’m trusting you, Sweetie Belle,” she said.
The manifestation of King Sombra returned, fighting for control over his new body. Twilight was apparently putting up a fight internally protesting the new soul inhabiting her body. Their appearances began to shift rapidly, the alicorn cringing in pain and tumbling to the ground. Thanks to Twilight’s encouragement, Sweetie Belle found the strength once more to move, and set her hooves to confront her opponent. This was what Twilight wanted… right? She needed her right now, so Sweetie would do what she could.
The alicorn got up once more, once more as King Sombra. Though the continual flashes between the two ponies continued, King Sombra remained dominant and in control. The magic he had absorbed over time in addition to his new alicorn powers allowed him the strength of spirit to subdue the young princess inside.
“Hey! Y-y-you meanie!” Sweetie stuttered out. “I-I’m gonna stop you and save my friend! You’re not my teacher anymore!” she screamed out defiantly, quaking in a mix of anger and fear. Sombra frowned at his ex-pupil, though he would never admit it, he would have enjoyed continuing to teach her and corrupt her with darkness. But now he had to put his newest servant into her place.
The evil king set his hooves and let out a primal roar. His horn lit up with a dark, jet-black light. Black lines traced themselves through the ground to form a large ring, when the ring was formed, the earth ruptured and black crystals shot forth. The air grew cold and even the light of the stars seemed to fade overhead.
The Sombra-alicorn’s eyes glowed purple as his power radiated outward, washing over the filly like a wave.
“You could have been my student and learned the great strength of the darkness… but instead you shall learn the lesson of pain and suffering,” he stated to the filly.
King Sombra called his power to his horn and called forth a crystalline lance and sent it shooting toward the filly. Sweetie let out a scream and rolled to one side, landing roughly and ungracefully. As she recovered her balance, she sucked up her courage and began to recall what she could remember from the tutelage of King Sombra himself. As much as she didn’t like the fact that she was deceived, she called forth her power into the offensive spells she had learned.
Relying on the power inside of her, she funneled her energy through her horn and released a wave of conjured water to strike her foe with a deluge. As the tidal force reached the king, he used his magic to summon a sword, once more made of black crystal, and parted the waves with a mighty cleave.
“Insolent fool!” he cried out as he briefly took flight and summoned more magical power through his horn. A pillar of flame erupted from the earth, spewing ash and sparks in a geyser around the clearing. Sweetie frantically weaved in and out of the flames, avoiding the heat. After setting up a rhythm, the flames dissipated, leaving Sweetie Belle out of breath.
Determined to save her friend, she began to cast another spell. She called upon the life force of the trees around her and vines came to life to try and ensnare the malevolent monarch. To the filly’s dismay, the vines shriveled before they came up to reach him. He was casting his own evil light from his horn to drain the life of the vines.
“I have had enough of you! You may cease to be,” Sombra declared, charging his energy once more. The black light crackled with power as if it were surging uncontrollably. The crackling turned more violent and the magic released in the form of a lightning surge.
The electricity flashed toward her at a breakneck speed. As the lightning approached her, she wished Twilight was here to help her. She was good at these magic fights, and she wouldn’t be so scared… What would Twilight do? Suddenly, she thought of a spell that could help her. At the last moment, Sweetie Belle relied on her adrenaline to fuel one of the most difficult spells she knew of.
The lightning crashed against its mark and left a hole in the tree and singed the area it struck, charring it black. The king looked up toward the darkened moon and smiled to himself. Now that he dispatched his target, next was the closest settlement to be unlucky enough to meet him.
“Now I shall begin my reclamation starting with the town of Ponyville,” he spoke to himself.
“No way!” that squeaky voice came from behind. As Sombra whipped around in surprise, he was met by a lightning bolt directly in the chest, blowing him back so hard that he smashed into a tree.
“How did you evade that attack!?” he desperately cried, the tables now turned. “And you would dare use own spells against me?”
“Not just yours, you big doody-head!” Sweetie Belle snapped confidently. “I also used one of my friend Twilight’s as well! I teleported to avoid your attack and kick your plot!”
“Aaaarrrgh!” the king cried out savagely once more. He once again writhed in agony as Twilight fought for control once more. She appeared and sent out a quick message to her little friend.
“Please, Sweetie Belle, listen to me! I need you to open a portal and send us through it, send us to Tartarus! Aaaggh!” she pleaded as she cried out in pain.
“Insolent brat!” the king inside the alicorn body yelled. “I will finish you both!”
In a desperate attempt to shake off the spirit of Twilight and down the unicorn opposing him, he cast a spell that shook the entire earth beneath them. Sweetie Belle stumbled and fell, unable to keep her balance on the shifting ground. Focusing as hard as she could, she recited the spell in her head and let the magic flow through her and opened a portal to the fabled place she had read about.
An oval shaped portal opened and greeted Sweetie with the sight of flame and stone, a realm of naught but solitude, isolation and pain. Though enthralled and yet terrified of this vision, she pressed on with her grim task.
Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she pointed her horn at the enemy in front of her and unleashed a forceful blast of energy, sending the other pony reeling through the portal. King Sombra’s cry of sheer frustration hung in the air and rung in Sweetie’s mind as she closed the portal.
As the portal closed, Sweetie’s adrenaline ran out and she collapsed upon the now still earth. Coming to terms with what she had been forced to do, she wanted to tear her own heart out. She had just banished one of her good friends to Tartarus! Consumed by her grief, Sweetie Belle took her head in her hooves and began to cry bitterly into the night.
Sweetie Belle cried so long and hard that she had passed out once more, in part due to the physical fatigue of the battle beforehoof. In her dreams, or rather nightmares, she continually replayed the memory of sending Twilight and Sombra through the portal. She could still see Sombra’s scowl of anger and Twilight’s weak smile, as if to tell her that she had done the right thing. But even the sight of that warm smile brought her no solace.
“Please… please, why didn’t I see this coming? Why did it have to take her instead of me? What do I have to do to get her back? Can’t somepony help me… please?” the little filly pleaded out to thin air.
Sweetie looked up to the sky to see the moon shine back to its full luster, and the stars had come out to dance once more. Though at the moment, despite the happy dance of the stars above, she like the only thing she could add to such a scene would be a dirge for her friend.
“I wish that I could get her back…” she mumbled to herself, tears staining her cheeks and rolling down to the ground. As if to answer her prayers, two figures came flying down to meet her in the clearing. As they landed, their identities became apparent and Sweetie’s fears melted away.
The royal princesses had arrived on the scene! If anypony knew how to help Twilight, it would be them. Sweetie Belle choked on her tears and dipped into a formal bow.
“Sweetie Belle,” Celestia spoke with authority. Here it came… Sweetie was about to be banished to the moon for what she had done, wasn’t she? She was ready to face the consequences, but she had to know if Twilight could be saved. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could talk, the princess continued.
“We have witnessed your plight and come to deliver an opportunity to you,” the solar princess said. Sweetie Belle gasped and her eyes lit up, with her ears shooting skyward. The princess now had her full attention.
“We have seen the consequences of thy actions, young filly,” Luna spoke this time. “And we know of thy thirst for knowledge. You now see that such actions may be dangerous, yes?”
Sweetie couldn’t muster the strength to speak, so she just nodded her head up and down vigorously.
“There is a way to regain Twilight in this realm once more,” she continued. “It will require your assistance though.”
Once more, the filly nodded her head. The princess passed her a scroll that contained only a few lines of text on it. It was another incantation for a ritual. This one however was not nearly as dark as it was a true summoning spell, meant to call one from one plane of existence to another, or just over great distances.
“To recover somepony lost to another realm against their will, only the one who cast the pony of desire into the void will be able to recall them,” Luna explained. “You must be the one to cast our spell.”
Like a broken record, Sweetie Belle nodded her head yet again, agreeing to everything the ruler of the night said to her. She turned around and shakily summoned energy to her horn. After failing several times to create the spark of magic at the tip, she finally succeeded in creating the incantation circle. It took all her mental strength to maintain the circle, but the spell resolved, and a black crystal shot up in the center of it.
Within the crystal laid Twilight, unconscious. The crystal shattered into pieces and faded away, leaving the princess lying on the ground.
“We must work quickly,” Celestia spoke up. “The soul of King Sombra is still residing within her. Where is his previous vessel?”
Scurrying to the location of the tattered old tome, Sweetie picked it up in her hooves since she could no longer manifest magic into her horn, and brought it to the princess.
“This is it, Princess Celestia,” Sweetie Belle said with an exhausted air. Her body couldn’t take much more before she collapsed once more.
“Thank you,” she said kindly before turning back to the pony lying in front of her with a grim expression.
Both princesses approached the unconscious pony and began to let the light glow from their horns. As the glow from their horns illuminated the clearing, energies swirled around them and converged above Twilight. A brilliant light forced its way into Twilight and her body began to convulse wildly, as if she had been bitten by bed bugs during her sleep. Suddenly, a dark cloud was purged from her body. The shadow attempted to charge Princess Luna, but Celestia refocused her power to summon four pillars of light to surround the shadow.
The shadow shrieked in pain. While it was distracted, Luna cast her own new spell and opened the book it had once been bound to. When the spell activated, the book flipped open on its own accord and began to suck in the shadow with a gale-like force.
“NOOOOOO!” the shadowy soul of Sombra cried out as he was forced once more into the grimoire.
The two princesses panted heavily as the struggle against even the weakened form of Sombra still tested their mettle. Princess Celestia made her way to the tome that was now lying on the ground silently. It was lying dormant, the green, purple, and red panels on the book glowing faintly. The book had retained a good deal of its magic, but was no longer strong enough to manifest Sombra without another vessel.
“It’s time to end this,” Celestia declared. “For Equestria!”
With her resolve to defend her kingdom and her subjects in her eyes, Celestia took the book in her hooves and took to the air. She quickly funneled her power through her horn and created a portal to Tartarus without breaking a sweat. Sweetie was impressed by such power, she had been temporarily drained after doing that. Celestia took a mighty wind-up, and gave a mighty swing, casting the grimoire into the portal to Tartarus.
“Begone, and never return to haunt my kingdom anymore!” she demanded to the expanse of Tartarus as she closed the portal.
The sisters turned back to Twilight, who had now softly opened her eyes. She began to get up and inspect her body, wincing at the pain still fresh from ‘her’ fight with Sweetie Belle. As she began to show signs of general wellness, Sweetie Belle finally lost hold of her consciousness and fainted, slipping into a blissful sleep.
A groan escaped Twilight’s lips as a headache wracked her mind. She was slowly coming back into reality from her ordeal. When she opened her eyes, she was in the warm company of her mentor and Princess Luna. Princess Celestia gave a radiant smile to her student.
“Welcome back, Twilight Sparkle. I am glad to see you are well,” the ruler said.
Tilting her head back and forth to weigh the feeling she had regained to her body, the smaller alicorn nodded in agreement.
“It’s good to be back! I’m glad we were able to stop Sombra again. This time was just as close as the last…” Twilight mused. If she hadn’t managed to maintain some control over herself during that terrible experience with Sombra, then things may have taken a very grim turn. “Thank goodness Sweetie Belle is alright. I did my best to keep control over my body, but I’m just glad that she had the strength she did at the time, frightening as it was.”
Princess Celestia looked to her sister, both nodding to each other in some unspoken agreement.
“Uh… did I miss something?” Twilight asked. The two princesses turned back to their fellow alicorn and Princess Luna stepped forward.
“We have decided that it would be best to remove all memory of these past events from Sweetie Belle’s mind. Nopony should have that kind of dark power. It may threaten all of Equestria yet again,” she declared. Twilight nodded her head as she listened. They were right, Sombra’s power was truly frightening and she didn’t like seeing it in the hooves of Sweetie Belle either.
Princess Celestia walked over to the sleeping form of Sweetie Belle and began to channel energy through her horn.
“This young one, with the thirst to learn made a terrible error in judgement and nearly lost herself because of it. When she wakes, she will no longer remember the spells she has learned during her studies under Sombra,” Celestia explained.
The strong shine of the monarch’s horn glowed in a golden splendor, growing to surround the filly with the warm light. The light soon centered around her head and began to swirl. Within seconds, the spell was complete, and the little unicorn’s sleep seemed to grow more restful.
Twilight, curious to know more stepped toward her teacher and her young friend. She gazed down to see the content smile on Sweetie’s face, feeling relief at the sight.
“So what happens now, Princess?” Twilight asked. With another wave of her horn and glow of magic flashing in the night, the white alicorn lifted Sweetie Belle off the ground and plopped her onto Twilight’s back, earning a surprised grunt from her student.
“You must take your friend back to her home. She will remember everything that happened, but be left without her increased knowledge of magic. It is up to you to teach her where she went wrong in this misadventure.”
Twilight gave Celestia her best smile and shifted her shoulders to better support Sweetie Belle’s weight. She gave Celestia a small bow, which was returned to her.
“Princess Sparkle, there is no need to show such formality with me now. And to be honest, I should be showing all my gratitude to you. You were the one who saved this land,” she said, making her own bow lower than that of Twilight’s. “Thank you for your service, Twilight.”
Twilight gave a slight blush as her mentor bowed before her. Then she remembered something.
“Well, it wasn’t all me,” Twilight said. “Even though it wasn’t the greatest way to handle it, Sweetie Belle was the only way we would have solved the problem.”
“Then make sure she is justly rewarded,” the princess said with a knowing wink.
Then Princess Luna joined with her sister and both made a nod and a wave to Twilight, and took to the air. As the two royal sisters ascended into the night sky, Twilight was left alone with the sleeping filly on her back. Twilight took a glance over her shoulder.
“A just reward… I know how much you really want to learn magic,” her words fell upon deaf ears. “I’ll teach you myself, and I know just the books to do it.”
The filly merely let out a sniffle in response as Twilight began walking toward Ponyville. The alicorn gave a weak smile and let out a lengthy yawn. As exciting as her evening had been, she was now totally exhausted. She turned her head once more to address her sleeping friend.
“Heh heh,” she giggled. “Maybe we’ll start late in the morning.”