The view was breathtaking.
After a grumpy Sombra and I emerged from a four hour tunnel trek, the landscape was just what I needed. A vast pine forest encircled a rugged hill in the center topped off with the mostly preserved yet forsaken Magicspire, a ten-story stone tower with a crumbly and crooked chimney. No other animals appeared to be in the valley.
The journey on hoof to reach the tower would have taken about a day to a day and a half.
"Sombra," I said excitedly, “do you think you could teleport us to the entrance of the tower?"
He gazed warily at the structure. "Fine."
...
"Oh gods, it looks so much better up close!" I gasped in awe; for the first time in weeks there was a smile on my face. Laughing, I galloped up to the doorway, bare because the door itself had long since rotted away. I was nearly bouncing with glee!
Sombra peered up at the roof. "You explore the tower. I have to go do something."
Wait... he was leaving me alone?! Y-E-S! Oh, thank goodness!
Not quite believing my tremendous luck, I dashed into the tower. According to the journals there would be studies and a library or two near the middle, and that's where Sombra-swirl... who maybe wasn't what I thought he was - I'm trying to wrap my head around it, okay? - would've kept his magic tomes! Starswirl - or Sombra - wasn't like Princess Celestia. He wasn't the kindest, most wonderful pony, but he was also presented to me as a corrupted 'future' self... and I know he would have been better and had more equinity as a pony instead of the monster that I saw. He used to be a wizard who must've done something to help ponies.
Selene and Kawblance couldn't be telling the truth. They were ancient children, and there were no records of them.
As I crept up the stone stairs, ecstatic to be touching real live history, I couldn't help but lose it and bolt up the stairs holding in filly-like shrieks as best as I could, before emerging in a room that could only be the master study.
Instantly, I began to shove all that I could find in my hat when I detected a crumbling noise behind me and proceeded to stop liberating ancient books of varying levels of intact-ness from their decaying, crumbling stone shelves. The books' exteriors weren't much better. Of course Sombra-swirl wouldn't have bothered with proper preservation spells. Oooh... it just disgusts me!
I whirled around scanning the room: desks, shelves, carpet remains, and the fireplace with random curtains positioned over what might have been a very strange location for a window directly above it.
"What are you looking for?" Sombra said, giving me a suspicious and disapproving glare.
Startled, I turned to the fireplace where a debris-covered Sombra leaned against its crumbling frame. "How did you get there?"
He snorted. "By sneaking around oblivious you, whose first instinct upon finding ruined books is to steal them instead of check for any hostile enchantments."
Who did Starswirl think would try and take these? His abused apprentices? Plus, Sombra's made it pretty clear that he's a liar. "Why are you covered in ashes?"
He turned around and began to rifle through some very damaged booking scraps near the maw of the disused feature. "I was on the roof and slid down the chimney."
Now. Everything was perfect. He wouldn't suspect a thing. I could confront him. "So... why are you so eager to return home, Starswirl?"
Sombra jerked his head back to look at me, seething. "What?!"
"Oh yes, everything makes sense now: why you are so educated, how you know Celestia & Luna, these strange magics, your knowledge of this place, the northern accent, where you fit in on the timeline. I have caught you red-hoofed!" I glared triumphantly at him, flashing grin on my face at my conclusion. This was just like when I was defeating any other villain - they slipped up and Harmony wasn't on their side. I wish my friends could see me now. Then, my pride turned to dread.
First were the tremors shaking through the tower, as if it was being uprooted. Then his dark crystals – the äerint - began to creep up and cover the tower, encasing me in it, with the exception of my ears and face, before I could even think to fly away.
Next was more screaming as my heart raced.
"REALLY? YOU'RE EVER SO SMART!" Sombra’s mane was becoming the more smokey version of itself and his eyes bored into mine with slitted red pupils. Teeth became fangs. His brief and bitter laugh was no longer maniacal, it was murderous. He pressed his blade into my exposed throat. "YOU REALLY THINK THAT 'S ME?! I KNOW I'M A MONSTER, BUT I'M NOT THAT BAD!"
He pressed his sword deeper, this time drawing blood and a choked squeak from me. "With all you've done, and how many times you've put yourself in harm's way, digging where you shouldn't, I'd swear that you want to die!"
The bricks in the wall, trapped in äerint, began to glow and shake as if they could no longer stand to be imprisoned. He burst into more insane laughter; he seemed no longer truly aware of things.
"MAYBE I'LL SHOW YOU WHICH ONE I HAD TO DEAL WITH!" Magically, he pulled away the bizarre fireplace curtains and sunlight shone upon what lay beneath them: one large portrait.
First was a normal unicorn mare in a brown cloak. She was pink with gray eyes and a messy spring green mane and tail. Her eyes had many lines under them, despite her somewhat youthful appearance. I don't think she could have been too much older than me.
Clover the Clever.
Next was the tallest, a mare who wore a studded circlet, gauzy gossamer dress in bright colors, and shoes made of lace. Her tail was worn short in a sort of military wrap, while her mane was long and wavy with a small lone braid. But most shocking to me was that 'Solara' was a younger, shorter Celestia! Her multi-colored hair just starting to shimmer and move from the bottom up. Celestia's face was in a haughty smile that was alien to me, proudly displaying her large wings by fanning them out, head thrust high in the air. Her eyes shone with a vain expression and appeared to have cosmetics around them.
Now came 'Selene,' or should I say Luna: wings, horn, and all. She seemed standoffish and alone while Celestia had a familiar phoenix on her back. She looked similar to when I first saw her in the Everfree Forest, but visibly younger and maybe a bit shorter; probably around my age. Her mane was longer, in a somewhat different style and her tail shorter also with a small braid, which her mane also had, looped to lift some of it from her face. A silver sword with a crescent moon pommel was by her side.
They wore no sign of regalia, which felt wrong to me.
But Starswirl... it was clear Sombra had no relation. Starswirl was much older with a long, almost droopy face and deep-set blue eyes framed with dark circles and flowing eyebrows. He had a patchy coat, and a lion-esque tail, and prominent feathers exposing cloven hooves.
Then, there was the last member, Kawblance, a ragged looking colt with a slight hint of crystal heritage visible in his mostly brown eyes. He had a grayish - not black like Sombra's-mane. He appeared to be slightly taller than most ponies around his age, just like his journal said.
Sombra wasn't Starswirl. He was Kawblance. Or was Kawblance him...? I wasn't sure-
By now, it seemed that he was holding something back, even if that only scared me more. He still looked livid.
"His real name is Onyx, and you have no idea how brutal he was to me," Sombra said, still angry but no longer screaming. He gave an embittered sigh. "I'm honestly going to enjoy killing you, after all you've done."
Telekinetically, he raised his sword, I wrenched my eyes shut and screamed.
I heard the bricks crumble and a burst of pure light blurred all my senses, followed by what I thought was a sound of thunder.
...
The ground was beneath my back and the clouds were above me. I felt as limp as a rag doll and fairly achy, but otherwise alright. My purple coat was probably hiding a few new bruises.
I looked up at the sky, blinking. Whirls of wind rushed through my aching ears, which I'm pretty sure were bleeding. Around me was shattered äerint crystal, the shell must have protected me from any horrible damage, it seemed that nothing was broken, just cut up, especially my robe, which had almost been shredded to ribbons.
Hazardous Magicspire rubble was strewn everywhere. A blood-soaked hoof reached toward me. "Need some help?"
Gingerly, I grabbed the slippery hoof and was pulled upward. "Onyx...?"
He shook his head and some of that anger showed up again, in pieces, through his latest glare.. "Sombra and nothing else, I might explain later; we've got bigger problems than your unfortunate existence right now."
Sombra was back to 'normal' now - no smoke or dragon eyes. Still, he hadn't fared as well as I had in the fall, being scraped up and bloodied. His cloak and sword seemed to have survived, but the journals and one of his bracers was missing as well. One of his forelegs appeared to be broken and he made no effort to heal it, but a metal boot - his usual attire, and summoned from wherever he had been keeping it - seemed to allow him to walk... passably, I guess.
Just what kind of spells were on that thing? I thought as he light his curved horn and the remaining three appeared.
His blade was sheathed, and thank goodness! I hated that sword.
I winced at the sight of the broken leg, the left foreleg. Didn't he mention something about those who use dark magic not being able to directly heal themselves? "Maybe I could-"
"No, I may have actually had this one coming... for reasons I wouldn't disclose to you. If you try to heal me, you know what I'll do?"
I shook my head.
He grabbed his sword in his mouth - it makes sense now as to why he can fight like that - and suddenly hacked at his injured leg with the blunt side of the blade. Sombra winced slightly but didn't seem to react any other way.
"You could have cut off your leg!" I slipped in a bit of blood and backed away feeling very faint. He attempted an awkward shrug and then glared at me.
"Being blown up makes everything else seem like pinpricks, at least from time to time, now how about we deal with that!" Sombra nodded over toward the mountains rimming this place where monstrous spectral swirls were spilling into the valley.
"Right, the real Starswirl."
Sombra's gaze focused on the problem, but I saw a smirk emerge on his face. "Purple Eyesore, I need you to do something."
"What?"
"Change our luck."
"How?!"
"Fly into the western part of the woods and find a clearing with the most warped tree you can. Tell it, 'Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight, when a-glow assist those who fight.' Luna created this spell so it will help you, at least. It'd be best if I didn't meddle with it. I'll hold Starswirl off."
Wait, he would do what?! "We should do that in reverse order! This plan is going to get us both killed!"
"Probably just you, after all, that is what meat shields are for. Besides, it is not a stupid plan because you didn't come up with it."
I hate him so much. I'm nopony's meat shield. "Well, Sombra, what makes you such an expert?"
He raised an eyebrow and his smirk widened into the a cruel grin of someone who was truly insane. "Who do you think killed him the first time around?"