//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Waking Purple Eyesore // Story: Tomb of Magic // by Ice Star //------------------------------// Unfortunately, he was right. I did need him. We had been walking through the impressive stonework that was Trottingham asking if anypony knew where the Trottish museum was, only for my search to be fruitless. After asking the fifth pony I was ready to break down, and it must have showed, because behind me I heard Sombra-possibly-Starswirl trying to muffle one of his snarky chuckles. This mean spirited sound seemed to be the closest that he could come to true laughter. Fuming, I stopped abruptly and turned around, strands of my mane and tail beginning to curl away in disarray. "What do you find s-o-o-o funny?!" His suppressed demeanor cracked just a little and he burst into another, slightly louder chuckle... and almost catiously, like he wasn't used to laughing. He ended it with a small snort that almost reminded me of Rainbow Dash. But that still didn't mean he sounded exactly like her; you could still hear shreds of what sounded like it could go to maniacal at the drop of a pin. "Purple Eyesore, you really are dense," he began, quickly gathering what may have been left of his wits and going back to his usual irritated look. "Everypony here is speaking Trottish, and not Equestrian. Since I rule you even more incompetent than usual until further notice, you should just follow me." He turned and trotted away leaving behind one very irritated 'Purple Eyesore'. I made another mental note in my Sombra-swirl theory: Sombra's behaviors, as annoying to me as they were, did not seem consistent with some of Starswirl's more heroic traits. He not only displayed a lack of sternness and sense of order but was also not completely humorless, as some of the only records with Starswirl make him out to be. Legends liked to capitalize on this aspect of him as well. How was a humorless pony supposed to make any friends? Sombra was far from austere. Not to mention that he didn't show any signs of ever having the signature beard. Cadance's letter to me puts him around Shining Armor's age, which may even be too young - a bit younger than my guess of mid-twenties - but if he wasn't Starswirl the Bearded - he has to be - who was he, and what was he doing on my quest? He was Starswirl. I had a perfectly valid theory, and was only missing the missing link between the two. 'Sombra' was Starswirl the- "Purple Eyesore! Are you going to come over here or do I have to drag your lazy flank over? I assure you that if you make me choose the latter. I will make it extra painful! Won't that be nice?" I blew my ruffled bangs out of my face with a sharp aggravated breath and quickly cantered over to where Sombra had waved over a pony. She was an average sized earth pony mare with a wild looking fluffy, curly orange mane and tail. She had a pastel pink coat and pale yellow eyes with swirly blue paint underneath that seemed to schematically point to her earrings: two silver studs in one ear, one green hoop in another. Her cutie mark was the image of two white ballet shoes. One of her hooves was twirling the fringes of a plaid scarf while purple bangle bracelets slid up and down her hoof. She didn't even look too nervous about being around Sombra, Dread King of the Crystal Empire. Suddenly a wave of reddish-gray aura enveloped all of us and flashed briefly, which tore my eyes away from those silly neon bracelets. Neon had never been a favorite theme of mine. "Wha-?" Sombra rolled his eyes and grumbled. "I have just cast a spell that will allow all of us to communicate without language restrictions. To the pony next to you it will sound like you are speaking their birth language and dialect. This will last for about five minutes before I would need to attempt to recast the spell," he said looking from me to the Trottish mare. "Unfortunately, I don't think our names will translate. Purple Eyesore and I just want to ask you some questions," he concluded obviously directing the last part at this stranger. The pink mare nodded. "My name is Eala, how can I help you?" Sombra briefly turned to the mid-morning sky with a snarky look of smug gratitude on his face as if to say 'finally somepony is listening to me'. "Well, Purple Eyesore and I are looking for a large museum around here but I haven't seen any. You wouldn't happen to have any of those-" Okay if this spell works like he said then this would be my best chance to breach his spell and change it. I dragged my hoof in a seemingly absentminded manner in a patch of dirt, trying to disguise the fact that I was drawing runes that would allow me to hear what Sombra-swirl heard based on the workings of his spell. It certainly wasn't the kind of magic that I was used to, and seemed really obvious, but the glow of my horn could only be hidden so well by my hat, and I wanted to use that where it counted. If I could hear what it sounded like for an average who pony spoke Sombra's native dialect using more distinct formal words I might be able to better place the era he originally existed in and confirm another suspicion about him. As the runes were completed I heard a small crackling noise. Did it work...? A swift wave of nausea overcame me and I stumbled, gasping. The mare, Eala, stopped talking saw me and ran off, looking frightened. Sombra immediately turned over to where I was, a look of horror spread across his face... and yet he didn't look surprised. Not one bit. I'd almost say that he might have been expecting this. The vision in my left eye started to grow dark, slowly showing me nothing but some kind of void or chilling abyss. Sombra, or at least what part of him I could see with one eye, encircled me in aura when I stumbled again, and my skull threatened to hit the cobbles of the pavilion, but I'm sure he would have wanted me to fall and hit my head instead. He turned to me with this grim expression on his face, as I began to feel woozier. It looked like a mix between uncertainty and anger, but I could only see so much. He opened his mouth to say something, but what came out wasn't any kind of sound I knew. I could see words - equine words - if I tried to read his lips, but the sound... it was so strange and terrifying and it distracted me. Only I seemed to hear it, and I wasn't sure if it came from Sombra himself, or somewhere else. It rung in my ears and scared me so much. It was the sound of hurricane force winds, and the pages of a thousand tomes fluttering about in them, and the loud hum of high powered magic that never ceased. There was rumbling deeper than thunder, and this empty whirl and unearthly mumbling in a language no being spoke that did not come from Sombra, but around him. The endless crackling of concentrated, pure magic and the clink of something crystalline filled my ears. I only wanted it to stop. I tried to grasp what was happening around me once more, but my last bit of consciousness slipped away... I guess the spell didn't work. ... Sombra: Why was this one so nosy? I sat down on the steps of the museum, which I had finally reached, despite the inconvenience that was Purple Eyesore. Can I just have the pink one back? At least I could work with her. Though at least ponies didn't look at me as funny here. They knew exactly who I was, but I wouldn't have been able to get directions and any information otherwise. And, of course, legally. There's only so many crimes I can get away with while dragging this purple twit with me. She was my cover up, after all, and I wouldn't be able to get back to the 'Spire if it wasn't for the illusion of 'helping' her. In some twisted way, I was helping her, but she wouldn't know that. The lack of infamy that this nation allows me is nice - none of the 'history' books of Equestria have been distributed here, and there's a quiet to this place I can't help but treasure. Quiet is only more precious after having to deal with a bratty and naive mess of a pony - but then again, aren't they all? - like Purple Eyesore. No doubt that Purple Eyesore had large amounts of magical ability if she was able to control a reaction like that. She may be a complete and utter novice, as well as a pathetic excuse for anything more than Celestia's errand filly, but she has some power that could always be useful to me later. I looked down on the steps at the purple shape next to me and cast a quick rousing spell. If she wasn't dead she would wake up in few minutes, and even if Celestia's Perfect Purple Pawn is my cover up for heading back there again, I'd love to see her buried somewhere. Ponies are horrible, but this one was personally groomed by Celestia to be so. I don't think I'll have to kill her, she's far too easy to push around - and in whatever direction I like, no less - but I'm entirely prepared to dispatch of her if I need to - and that includes if she pushes me too far. I'm not the kind to give infinite chances and endless warnings. At least she didn't understand what she saw - but how can I be surprised by that? Even if she did, I've always been adept at covering up all the parts of me that I want to, and disguising anything I won't let anypony see and anything I didn't want her to see. I've spent too long avoiding that valley and I'm not about to go back quite so willingly as Purple Eyesore wants me to. Yes, I may have unfinished business there and personal reasons to visit. I want to put a fraction of what I've had to endure behind me and work on moving on. She's been getting in the way of some of that, but I have plans to counteract any behavior that I won't tolerate from her. A large number of them involve her killed, but considering my history, that's not much of a surprise. He'll find me, there is no doubt about that. I never trusted that wizard. Windbag thantophobes like him were never to be taken too seriously, but that doesn't mean he won't attempt to play some card against me. I will just have to deal with him like I did the last time we met. The fool never saw it coming. He never saw me coming, and still called me by that name... if I do see him again, I don't doubt that he still will. He's a lot like Purple Eyesore, and their ignorance is a shared trait that's anything but easy to overlook when it's all that they let themselves be. There can only be one Starswirl the Bearded and he ceased to exist long ago. I was lucky once if 'luck' is what it can be called. But I don't need luck this time. I may be nothing but a monster to many; all the blood won't wash away. I have some blood to spill, another shot at revenge, and no purple princess is going to get in the way of that. My circumstance only allows me so much of a chance to hurt those even remotely responsible for what happened to me - and those 'remotely' responsible are surprisingly very much so, the main 'villain' of this aside. Villain. How stupid a concept. I'm not surprised that ponies came up with it, just as they came up with heroes. A coughing noise over to my left startled me. "Oh... you're awake now." I wish you weren't. "Yeah," Purple Eyesore said hoarsely, "thou art awakened, or something of that sort. You know - what you used to say back in the day" No, I didn't. Back in the day, I didn't always say much at all, Purple Eyesore. Her not realizing that I knew what little stunt with her magic she would be pulling is just another card stacked in my favor. I hate her excuse for a sense of humor.