“Huff...huff...huff...no...it's not possible...” said Sombra as he fell over in the snow. “All my magic...yet...I can't make the empire reappear...I can't even destroy my own seal!”
As Sombra laid in the snow, his mind began to race, 'What happened? I know my magic had been sealed for centuries but...it should have been more than enough! No...I can't have returned to Equestira only to fail...no...' Then Sombra had an idea. 'Wait...maybe there's still hope...'
Sombra slowly got up and began to slowly stumble through the snowstorm. His hooves began to freeze as he went over hills of snow. Then he found what he was looking for, a small dark cave a bit farther north of where the empire was supposed to be. There he slowly went into the cave, his shadow magic allowed him to quickly venture through the darkness. Sombra's horn slightly glowed at a certain wall he soon encountered and the wall then moved. There, he found a room filled with different colored crystals. 'Now let's see...' though Sombra, 'Ah! A tracking crystal! Perhaps I can use this...'
Sombra stared at the crystal he just found, slowly beginning to manipulate it with what was left of his magic. The tracking crystal was originally a crystal that was invented to track crystal pony slaves. However, Sombra was using his magic to instead make it track magic instead, specifically dark magic. Sombra then fully transformed the crystal so it track dark magic, he then activated it. There he stood in the cave and began to search as far as he could in Equestria. Then he thought, 'Let's see...I feel some dark magic...I feel it...I feel something dark...something very dark...and...and...it's in Manehattan?! Now that's different...'
Sombra then put the crystal down and began to scratch his chin. He then slowly talked to himself, “Hmm...I felt a great dark magic in Manehattan...where I just was...not only that...there was somepony there as well...it was an unicorn...and whoever it is, this unicorn is powerful...if that's the case...”
Sombra then turned and began to leave the cave. As he slowly drifted through the cave with his shadow magic, he then thought, 'Perhaps I should find myself a pawn...too bad I killed Smoking Brick, he was plenty evil so he could easily be manipulated...if that's the case, perhaps I should find a vessel to possess instead...I'll need somepony who has a heart filled with darkness...I'll need a pony who's very evil...and probably shouldn't be from Manehattan...'
Back in Manehattan...
“Hello Rarity...” said Twilight as she entered the room. “I assume Applejack is asleep?”
“Yes. She is. Ah, you brought the...um, what did you call it?”
“Element of Darkness, yes...I unfortunately had to use the seals on the case as the anti-magic braces on the duo in there. I'll have to make a new bunch of seals otherwise this case will easily get detected due to the element. There's still a few seal left on the case but...well...”
“Does that mean anypony could find us right now?”
“Only if they have knowledge on how to seek great dark magic, which if they do, they should sense that they just can't grab the element. If they can sense the element, they'll be able to sense the Harmony magic inside me.”
“In other words, only evil creatures may come after us as long as we have the element.”
“Technically, yes. However, I had this over a month before making the seals and nopony ever came to me in the hideout, so we should be fine.”
Twilight then stared at Rarity who was trying not to show that she just had a long talk with the duo in the other room. However, Twilight was already guessing that Rarity had talked to them. “Rarity...um...”
“Yes darling?”
“I...can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure darling...”
Twilight then sat down at the table and asked only one thing, “You talked to them, didn't you?”
“...Yes...I did darling...”
“Okay.”
Rarity gave a slight puzzled look. “You're not angry?”
“What? No! No no no no no. I'm not angry Rarity.” said Twilight as she waved her hooves back and forth. “I'm just...I don't know...”
“You don't know what to do, right darling?” said Rarity as she gave a caring face.
“Yeah...I mean, I have a plan but...I'm just not sure...”
Rarity gave a small sigh. “Listen Twilight, I know that the current situation is...well...this has never happened to us before...”
“I know...if this had happened when we were just starting out then it would be different...but now...”
“That's right darling...thanks to this 'Harmony' business we can't afford to be the Rainbooms anymore, right?”
“Yeah...I hate to say it but...”
“I know...yet we can't keep those two here forever.”
“I know! I...I know Rarity...it's just...it's just...” said Twilight as tears began to form under her eyes.
“Twilight...”
“I...I...”
Rarity then got up and hugged Twilight with all her might. Tears from Twilight's eyes immediately flowed out as she hugged Rarity back. “I'm so scared Rarity! I don't know what to do and it scares me!”
“I know darling...I know...”
“I went to Rainbow and...and...I just don't know...she looks so horrible now...what those two did to her...its just...”
“Let it all out darling.”
“It's just this and Celestia and Harmony and my family and...and...and...WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” cried Twilight as her eyes turned into two waterfalls of tears. “I can't do it Rarity!”
“I know...I know...”
“I...all I wanted to do was protect you all! You all...my friends...you're my family!”
“I know...we all consider you our family as well Twilight...”
“But...then all this happened and...and I failed and Rainbow got hurt and...and...”
“Twilight, listen to me...” said Rarity as she left the hug and looked Twilight directly in the eyes. “Ever since you left for Canterlot that one night to meet Princess Cadance, you've been trying to do everything on your own.”
“I know...”
“Yes...and right now that's tearing you apart Twilight. So, let me tell you something right here and now, okay?”
“*Sniff* okay...”
“Do you remember when you recruited all of us to be the Rainbooms? Or when we did our first few heists?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah...”
“Everytime we did that, you would ask us if we want to do the heist, remember?”
“Uh-huh...”
“Everytime we did something you would ask for our help and you would always help us in return. It amazed me how good you were at coming up with the plans that you did.”
“Well...that was my job...”
“I know...that's why you're leader darling. You did what none of us could. You made us a team. You took a selfish pony like me who had lost all hope in her dream, who thought she wouldn't be able to make another original dress to save her life and...and...and you saved her. You helped her gain inspiration again!”
“Yeah...I did, didn't I?”
“You did. That's why it pains me to see you like this, trying to do everything by yourself. Tell me, what would past Twilight do?”
“What would past Twilight do?” said Twilight as she sat there in front of Rarity. Twilight's mind raced at the very question. Yet she knew there was only one answer. “Past Twilight would...she would stop trying to do it for herself...and get help from her friends.”
“Yes...that's your true power Twilight.”
“Yeah...” said Twilight as she hugged Rarity again. “Thank you Rarity...thank you so much...”
“Of course darling.”
Meanwhile in another part of Manehattan...
“Okay...you awake now?” asked Rumble as put down the now empty bucket of water he had brought with him.
“Yeah...I'm awake.” said Spike with the most disgruntled look as possible.
“Good...it's Spike right?”
“Yeah...it's Rumble right?”
“Yeah, I'm Rumble.”
“Thanks for splashing me with water Rumble.” said Spike sarcastically. “Now, why are you here?”
“I live next door, why are you here?”
“I'm looking for Trixie.”
“Miss Trixie? She hasn't been seen here since yesterday, did you check the police station?”
Spike gave a small huff. “Ugh...no.”
“Then stop sleeping in the hallway. Do you want me to help you get there?”
“Well...”
“Look Spike, I'm sorry I splashed water on you, alright?”
“Yeah...sorry I wouldn't wake up...want to join me to the station?”
“Hmm...sure, I'm worried that something happened might have happened to Miss Trixie...”
“You're worried about her?” asked Spike. Spike was not completely fond of Trixie though he understood Sunset's great friendship with her.
“Yeah...I've helped her a few times and...well...”
“She doesn't always ask for help, does she?”
“Yeah...” said Rumble, nodding. The two then ventured down the hallway and out of the building.
Back at the hideout...
Twilight had calmed down and then had a lengthy conversation with Rarity, ever now and then they glanced at the monitor to check the duo they had tied up in the other room. Twilight began to explain the options she had thought up and Rarity's face showed a face of slight shock.
“Um...are you sure darling? Did you not listen to what I just told you?”
“Yeah...well...in this situation it would be bad if all of us went...I know you don't want me to do things alone but we don't really have a choice here...that and its the best plan I can think of...besides, how else will I convince Celestia?”
“You could show her the Golden Gem of the Sun. We still have it, don't we darling?”
“Yeah...but Harmony is telling me something is coming...though it could already be here...I need to be sure.”
Rarity gave a slight sigh. “Alright darling, but I want you to ask everypony before you attempt this, okay?”
“Yeah...that was what I was planning to do in the first place.”
Twilight then got up and proceeded to the other room, inside the room, Sunset sat there, thinking. 'Hmm...Twilight Sparkle...Princess Celestia...I think...I think I now know what you wanted to do if you found Twilight Sparkle before...well, before all this happened...and if that's the case...Trixie...I hope I can convince you why I'll end up doing this...I hope we can be friends after all this...not only that...I have a feeling I know what Twilight is going to do next...if I'm right...things are going to get pretty bumpy...'
Sunset then let out a sigh as her mind continued to race. 'If only I could get myself, Trixie, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia all in the same room...maybe I could fix this situation...in fact, the only problem that could stem from that would have to be whatever danger Twilight Sparkle said Harmony is telling her about...then again, my only real fear is that Trixie won't forgive me if I try this...'
Twilight just stood in the room for a few seconds, glancing at the two. Trixie gave a slight look of confusion while Sunset just showed a look of anticipation. Twilight took a deep breath and said only one thing, “Okay you two...I have finally come up with a plan on my problem with you two.”
“And what is that?”
“You two are coming with me to Canterlot!”
Sunset showed a look of surprise and dread as she thought one thing, 'Or...maybe I can't predict what Twilight Sparkle is going to do...at all...'
Later that night in another part of Equestria...
Sombra had found the vessel he was looking for. His shadow magic allowed him to be almost invisible in the night, allowing him to quickly go through the shadows of the night. He then slipped through the shadows to a certain pony's bedroom, here he then appeared above the sleeping pony. He lips smacked as he saw the pony laying there. He then thought, 'This pony...though the pony is small...there's evil in that heart...darkness within those depths of the pony's soul...excellent...'
Sombra's horn began to shine as his magic aura surrounded the pony, slowly levitating the pony into the air. The pony slowly woke up only to see Sombra's face. The pony showed no fear but instead only said this, “What the...who are you ugly?! Let me go right now you freak!”
Sombra's horn glowed even more and the pony's eyes began to show smoke around the pony's eyes just like Sombra's. Sombra then asked only one question. “Little pony, before I possess you as my vessel...I will tell you this...there is evil within you...there is darkness within you...there is greed within you...there is desire within you...whatever you desire, I will desire it as well...because of this, I will fulfill your wishes and you will fulfill mine...you will help me obtain my empire! Now...tell me your name little pony...”
The pony's mouth only opened for a little while as Sombra's magic began to control the pony, “My name...is Diamond Tiara.”