"Girls, wait!" Twilight shouted as she chased after the fillies running through the rain. Though they had already spent most of the night galloping back and forth across town, it seemed a quick rest was all they needed to get their energy back.
"Come on Twilight!" Scootaloo shouted back as she and her friend came to a stop so that she could catch up. "The trail leads through here!"
"Lookie here!" Applebloom said as they turned around the corner just as the short of breath mare had arrived at their location.
Slowing to a stop before reaching the corner, Twilight's mind was still trying to process everything the fillies had told her. Had she not been so worried about Sweetie Belle, she would have already lectured them on how dangerous it was to go after Dice on their own. Thankfully, though, it seemed Sombra was already with her. With him around, nothing could happen to her.
Twilight took a deep breath as she tried to find comfort in that, though it proved more difficult than she thought. As she turned the corner a look of dismay fell on her as her heart san, drenched in worry. The field before her was scarred in what seemed to be the terrible handiwork only a monster could be capable of. Large claw marks decorated the ground as the mud shifted back and forth where ponies had slid and ran. She found reassurance in the crystal pillars and spikes that were also scattered around. Whatever had attacked Sweetie Belle, Sombra had been there to save her. That's the conclusion she came to, anyway.
"Blasted monster attacks!" A voice shouted from the side, quickly bringing Twilight back into reality and making her look over at a less than happy stallion. He seemed to be digging through the rubble that was once his home, though it bared little resemblance to any kind of shelter now.
"Everything okay?" She asked as she came closer.
"Does it look like everything is o-" The stallion shouted out, though his tone quickly changed when he saw who he was speaking to. "O-O-Oh, Princess Twilight! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay." Twilight said quickly, her attention placed more on the destroyed property. Using her magic, she helped the stallion lift all the rubble at once and place it to the side, leaving the shell of his home. "What happened? Was anypony hurt?"
"Fortunately no, I live alone and I wasn't home when it happened."
"Do you know who did this?"
"Like I said, wasn't here when this happened.”He rolled his eyes. “I haven't asked my neighbors either, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was another monster attack. Right Princess?" He said as he turned to gesture at the battlefield behind them.
"Yes..." Twilight responded hesitantly as she too began to study the battle field before them. "Or something close to it."
"Twilight!" Applebloom screamed as she came back to the area. "What are you doing? We found them!"
"Yeah! Hurry up!" Scootaloo echoed her friend.
Nodding at them, Twilight turned to the victim of property damage. "Sorry, I have to go take care of whatever made this mess. I'll be back tomorrow to help you. Stay inside until morning." She said as she quickly took flight and made her way to the fillies before the stallion could respond.
"Inside where?!" He shouted after the mare long gone.
Using her magic to lift the fillies from a distance, she placed them on her back as she gained elevation. The girls were quick to their laughter as they enjoyed the ride through the sky, though Twilight was still anxious about what she had just seen.
For some reason, a sense of concern ached in her chest. After getting a second look at the battle field Twilight noticed several small details. The biggest thing that stood out, though, was the fact there were only hoofprints on the ground. Certainly a beast with claws would need paws from which to extend them from, so why were there no prints left behind? Dice was a simple unicorn last she saw him, there was no way he was responsible for the claw marks. There was only one option left and she dreaded to even think it.
She prayed she was wrong.
<=•=>
The screeching echo of metal on crystal rang through the air as Sombra and Dice struggled against each other's strength using their tools. Sombra could easily overpower his opponent, yet felt compelled to hold back for Sweetie Belle's sake whom was looking over his shoulder.
Quickly sliding back around Sombra, Slice pulled back his dagger to stab into him. Using his other forehoof encased in crystal, he split his strength in two to battle against the forces thrown from both sides. A soft grunt escaped Sombra as pushed back against them, but it was nothing compared to the exhausted shouts his foes were letting out.
Both of them reaching into their vests at once, the twins pulled out the smoke pellets from before and threw them down beneath Sombra. A loud ring was heard from the large smoke cloud as Sweetie Belle was thrown out from the midst of things by a red aura.
Barely landing on her hooves, Sweetie summoned whatever magic she had left and mimicked Sombra's technique once more. In a small burst of energy, she pushed out a blaze from her eyes and drove the dark cloud away, revealing Sombra in a stalemate position against the twins.
Several crystal spikes extended from the ground beneath Sombra, blocking any and all vital areas the twins would have slashed at. Their daggers dug deep into the crystals by his neck, keeping him safe from harm. They too, however, were surrounded in crystal skewers. They had either ‘missed’ their target or stopped mere millimeters from touching fur. The only reason they were still alive was because Sweetie Belle wouldn’t allow the alternative.
Quickly realizing in what position they were in, Slice and Dice jumped away from Sombra in a quick reaction to seeing themselves almost impaled.
"Mister Sombra!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she continued to pour out her magic and disintegrated the crystals around him. He looked around at the crystal diminishing and was astonished at how well she seemed to handle the dark arts. Though before he had a chance to praise her craft, he heard a thud from where she fell onto the ground.
"Sweetie Belle!" Sombra shouted as he rushed over to grab onto the downed filly. He quickly looked over her and let out a sigh of relief seeing that she merely fell over from exhaustion. His eyes sharpened as his moment of peace was cut short from the sensation of death glares in his direction. Looking back at the twins, they were quickly closing the distance between them with their weapons ready.
Throwing her on his back, Sombra shot out a powerful magic bolt at the twins who quickly dodged it by moving on opposite sides of the blast. Having separated them like he wanted, Sombra took the opening he made in their formation to attack.
"You need to stop using dark magic!" Sombra shouted at his rider as he began his assault. Sliding under the horizontal slash of Slice's blade, he shot out a powerful blast of energy from his horn, knocking him to the side in time to defend against the brother's attack. In this hard maneuver, Sweetie Belle began to regain some consciousness.
"S-Sorry." She said softly. Her voice was weak, had she not been next to his ear, he would not have heard her. "I guess I over did it huh?"
"More than that." Sombra replied as repelled the dagger's tip with his crystallized hooves. "I don't know how you even learned dark magic, but you need to stop!"
Following up a quick dodge with a kick to the chest to stagger him, Sombra lifted the gambler and threw him aside. Slice was quick to react and caught his brother midair, though the momentum sent them both backwards. Having them at a safe distance, Sombra quickly returned his gaze to Sweetie Belle.
"It's too dangerous."
"But you use it." She argued back.
"I trained myself for years. The ability to even create a crystal took me a month of practice and a huge amount of energy. I can’t even fathom how you learned to do it yourself and in such a short amount of time."
"I saw you do it." Sweetie Belle said as she lifted herself, trying to regain some strength from the large strain her magic put on her body. "I just practiced what you did when you used your magic when you were my shadow."
"Training aside, dark magic takes a certain kind of energy to use. It feeds off negative emotions like fear and hatred from others. You shouldn't even be able to do it properly."
"What do you mean negative emotions?" Sweetie asked, not understanding his meaning. "You need somepony to hate you to use your magic?"
"Yes, dark magic requires you to leech your power of those negative emotions. That means you need to actively be malicious, be evil. You need ponies around you to loathe your very existence. Its not a choice you should make lightly."
"Wait." Sweetie said as she shook her head, trying to straighten her thoughts. "You chose to be evil? I thought dark magic made you evil."
"You thought my magic possessed me? No, dark magic is nothing more than a tool to be used. A tool that runs on hatred. One does not become evil by using dark magic. They have to already be evil to use it at all."
“So what Princess Luna said is true? You really were that Tyrant?”
“I was, yes.”
“But you said you were keeping them alive! The Crystal Empire, you were a good king!”
“I made a promise to keep the Crystal Ponies alive, but I didn’t promise to keep them happy. When I was given the crown they thought I had killed their princess, already they had fed me power, power I continued to absorb with each day I was king. I never told them the truth for if I did, I would not be as powerful as I am today.”
“But…”
As the duo spoke, it left the twins with ample time to gather their bearings.
"You alright brother?" Slice asked as he helped Dice to his hooves.
"I'm fine." He replied, shrugging off the help. "This is taking too long. Her 'Queen' will arrive soon."
"We only have one more pellet each." Slice said as he crouched next to him. "What do you propose we do?"
"Only thing we can do. We have to hit him as hard as we can. Once that Iron Defence is out of the way, we can finish this."
"But his crystals-"
"Can break!" Dice said sourly. Never before had he been toyed with like he was now. It fueled him with hatred. "You broke me out of his crystal casing before. His hooves must be no different. We just have to land a well placed strike."
"Okay, leave it to me." Slice said as he stood back up. "I'm better with a blade than you, after all."
"So you are." Dice joined him. "I'll distract him."
"Why though?!" Sweetie Belle shouted back finally. "Why would you choose to be evil?"
"I told you already." He replied, walking slowly towards the twins. "Sometimes to do some good, you have to be the bad guy. The only way I could gain power was to act the part.”
"But- Evil?!" Sweetie Belle simply couldn’t process Sombra’s thinking, it made no sense to her.
Hearing the clattering of hooves charging at them, Sombra chose to remain quiet as the twins charged at them. Running in a zigzag pattern that looped them back and forth, Sombra had a difficult time keeping track of which twin was which.
One of them shouted as he swung his blade out at Sombra whom was quick to duck and avoid it. Trying to counter with sweep of his crystallized hoof, Dice jumped overhead to avoid the attack while simultaneously swinging his blade. As planned, it drew Sombra’s attention away from Slice who was taking his time in finding the perfect spot to strike.
Using his crystal hoof to brace against the slash from Dice, Sombra’s ear twitched as he heard Slice finally take aim with his dagger and lunge forward. He held his hoof up and blocked the rather obvious attack, but as he did, the dagger dug deep into the crystal casing.
Small cracks spiderwebbed from the dagger as they slowly spread across the entire fore hoof. Dice, now landing on his hooves, mimicked his brother’s strike and Sombra was forced to repeat his defence, ending in the same result. Now both of his crystal hooves were breaking.
“Sweetie Belle, sometimes you have to make the difficult choices to survive, to push through. I am evil, for my magic is proof of it.”
He could end it in a single second. He could skewer them at once in a quick killing blow, but he couldn't. The curse wouldn't allow him to even begin the motion. He was forced to stand down. Taking advantage of his ‘hesitation’, Slice and Dice simultaneously slashed to the side with their daggers while stabbed into the crystal. In one strong cut, they managed to break the crystal casing and ready themselves for a second swing to end the fight.
Time slowed for Sweetie Belle as she saw Sombra's crystal casing break in front of her. What's more, was that a thick red liquid was freed from its crystal prison as well. The gash Sombra had gotten on his fore leg while protecting her had been exposed now that the crystal fell off. She stared deeply into it, her eyes trained to spot small details now, she managed to see her reflection in Sombra's blood.
Her heart dropped as she saw herself. A frail filly in the midst of two powerful forces battling each other. Though all she had wanted to do was help, Sombra would have never been hurt had she not decided to follow Dice today. It made her sick to her stomach knowing that even when trying to be helpful she messed up again and again. The emotion building in her chest was almost crippling, it was something she had never truly felt before. The feeling of hatred.
"No!" Sweetie Belle shouted out in a loud roar. Her eyes pushed out a flame stronger than any she had cast out before. Her magic poured out of her as crystal after crystal formed beneath them. Randomly striking out around them, a sort of crystalized rose was formed as her dark powers forced the twins to retreat in fright of being impaled by her rampage.
“H-How?” Sombra asked out in awe at the massive amounts of magic coming from her.
“I can’t accept it…” Sweetie said with her head down, her flames now gone. Her voice soft as she began to whimper a soft cry, her tears were the cause of her extinguished flames. “I can’t accept that dark magic is evil!”
“What else would you call it? What sort of magic needs fear and hatred to work if not evil?” Sombra asked as he dispelled the crystal Sweetie had summoned to release them from her unintended prison.
“You said it yourself! Dark magic is a tool to be used, like a piece on a chessboard. So what if you need to drain hatred? You’ve saved my sister’s jewels, my life, my friend’s lives. You’ve used it for good! You’ve made some bad choices, but you’re good! I know it!”
"Damned brat!" Dice grunted as he wobbled to his hooves. "I’m tired of hearing you talk, just shut up already!"
"Brother wait!" Slice tried to interrupt by reaching out with his hoof.
It was too late to stop him, Dice swung his magic around and threw his dagger out at Sweetie Belle. The metal growing close, she looked away in a flinch. Sombra, more composed to deal with it, shot out a bolt of energy that deflected the dagger into the air.
Sombra stood quiet for a moment, his anger rising again from having Sweetie Belle come so close to getting seriously injured. He took a single step forward as his magic began to extend the three claw hooks from his crystallized hooves again, though something stopped him. He realized he never heard the dagger land.
"You should really be more careful." Twilight said as she stepped out into the field, the gambler’s dagger being held with her magic.
"Yeah! You could have hit us!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said in unison from her back.
"Lo siento." Sombra apologized, his claws disappearing along with the crystal on his hooves.
Twilight took notice of how quickly he dissolved his crystal casing, though more importantly, of Sweetie Belle who was wiping her eyes. She had seen the entire ordeal, heard everything. Somehow, her presence broke the tension that had been building between them as neither felt it was appropriate to argue with Twilight around.
"So there's two of them? That explains a lot." Twilight said, changing the subject as she came to his side.
"Yes. That's why you couldn't pin the thieving on Dice." Sombra said as he continued to keep his eyes glued on the twins. Since Twilight's appearance, they had edged together and began whispering to one another.
"Princess Twilight arrived..." Slice said grimly.
"Damn, we took too long."
"We need to retreat, Sombra was bad enough, we can't hope to win now."
"We can't just leave, Slice. They know about us, we need to kill them like all the others!"
"But they're too strong!" Slice argued back.
"Heed your brother, Dice." Sombra said loud enough to break them apart. "Surrender peacefully."
"Tch." Dice scoffed. He looked over at the filly on Sombra's back. "Think you've won?" He asked her.
Surprised that Dice would direct a question to her, she looked to Sombra for an answer. He knew that they were obviously just trying to buy time to think, though there was little they could do now. He nodded to her and told her to reply.
Giving off a couple more sniffs to clear her nose, Sweetie Belle recomposed herself as she sat up tall on Sombra’s back.
"My Rook and Queen have arrived. It's checkmate." Sweetie said, following up on the chess analogy from earlier.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, there would be no way a single King could defend against those two pieces." Dice said with a deathful grin. He glanced over to his brother and nodded to one another. "But this isn't a chess game, we don't have to abide by any rules."
In unison, Slice and Dice reached into their vests and pulled out the last of their smoke pellets. Throwing them at the crowd of ponies, Sombra reignited his flames as Twilight shielded herself with her wings. Running at them with what all the stamina they had left, Dice made a bee line to his dagger that Twilight was holding. He quickly swooped it into his own magical aura while within the smoke screen.
Reacting the only way he knew how, Sombra erected crystal pillars at the twin's locations, knocking them away as Twilight cleared the smoke with a powerful flap of her wings. As the thieves flew through the air, Sombra quickly understood why they had come straight at them.
Using the pillars Sombra had summoned as a running start, Slice and Dice rode the power that sent them flying and hit the ground running in opposite directions. Both he and Twilight realized their plan and took to their targets in a fast chase.
"Don't let either get away!" Sombra shouted out as he took in a fast gallop after his Slice.
"Right!"
Slice ran as quick as he could for a while, though for some pony trying to get away, his path was rather straight forward. No sudden turns or quick escapes. Instead he just ran forward, as if leading him somewhere. Finally, after running almost out of town, Slice slowed down and came to a stop. Sombra did so too, if only to remain on the safe side in case it was some sort of trap. Reaching into his vest, Slice pulled out his dagger as Sombra readied himself for a fight.
Instead, he threw it to the side, stabbing it on the ground as he turned around. Sombra narrowed his eyes and looked at him in confusion.
“Giving up?”
“No use running since you can catch me. No use fighting since you can overpower me.” Slice said as he raised his hooves in a surrender. “However, it wouldn't be the first time I took one for the team.” He said in a half smile.
Sombra lit his eyes with dark magic and trapped him in a crystal tepee, favoring Sweetie Belle’s non lethal method of conflict solutions.
“Twilight will catch your brother.” Sombra said as he came close to the small opening in the tepee that served as a window to let air in so Slice wouldn’t suffocate.
“No doubt she will, and when she does, my brother will do what he does best.”
“What does that mean?” Sweetie Belle asked worried. “What does he mean?” She asked again, turning her attention to Sombra was narrowed his eyes to his prisoner.
“It means your friends are in trouble.” He said before he took to a fast gallop again.
Since the very start, it had only been Dice who had attacked Sweetie Belle to gain an edge. No doubt he would use the same tactic on Twilight. What Slice had done was simply led him as far away as possible to give his brother time to out play her.
<=•=>
"Where’d he go?” Applebloom asked as they landed on the ground.
“I’m sure he came around this way.” Scootaloo said, reaffirming that their chase should still be around here.
Twilight kept quiet, instead using all her energy at trying to find Dice. He had ran around into a dark alley she was using her horn to light up. Every cell in her body told her it was some sort of trap, but she felt that going back out was exactly what he wanted her to do.
“Look!” Applebloom said as she pointed a hoof out at a home’s open window. “Maybe he went inside. Not sure how he does it, but can scale walls to climb up, we’ve seen him do it.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly see him do it, but we saw the tracks, or Sweetie Belle did.”
Hesitantly flying up towards the window, Twilight poked her head around to see if anypony was inside. Squinting her eyes into the dark interior of the house, she saw a dark figure struggle on the ground. Not sure if it was a friend or foe, Twilight took her time to go inside, her horn still being the only light source.
As she crept closer, she made out that it was a Ponyville citizen tied down and gagged in the middle of her living room. Twilight recognized her as one of the florist mares and rushed over to untie her.
“Lily?!” Twilight shouted as she came to her side and began to free her. “Are you okay? What happened?!”
“Look out, it’s a trap!” The mare shouted as Twilight took off the cloth that served as a gag.
Reacting as quick as she could in the direction Lily was looking, Twilight turned around just in time to see a dagger fly at the fillies on her back. She cast out a barrier spell to repel the weapon, though that too had been a distraction it seemed.
Twilight saw a hoof wrap around from behind her, a towel pressed against her muzzle as she was forced to breathe in something strange. She quickly shook off Dice with a strong flap of her wings, knocking him back.
“Too predictable.” Dice said as he came to his hooves. “Now you’re my prey.”
Dice chuckled to himself as he saw Twilight begin to wobble back and forth.
“Twilight? What’s wrong?” Applebloom asked as she jumped off her her to help keep her steady. Her friend joined in, but it was no use, the mare collapsed and laid helpless in front of Dice. He took a step forward, but before he could gloat any further, he heard something begin to make its way to them.
“Twilight?!” Sombra shouted from the outside, quickly making Dice frown. Sombra's heavy hoof steps splashing on the rain puddles gave his location away blocks over.
“Did Slice get caught already?!” Dice asked as he ran to a window to look. He saw all he needed and quickly turned to go for his dagger. Picking it up, he ran to the other side of the building, jumping out through the window.
“In here!” Scootaloo shouted as she ran to the first window to direct Sombra in.
Quickly she moved out of the way as Sombra jumped up, blasting his way through the open window before landing inside.
“You weren’t kidding about that entrance thing…” Sweetie Belle said as she shook some debris off of her.
“Where’s Dice?”
“He got away, but you have to help Twilight!” Applebloom said as she shook her friend, though she wasn’t responding.
“What happened?”
“He made her breathe something weird!”
Sweetie Belle jumped off Sombra and helped her friend untie Lily as Sombra came to Twilight. Seeing her chest breathe in and out, he looked around and saw the towel used to knock her out.
“He was downstairs with my flowers before he tied me.” Lily said as she shook uncontrollably. "The horror of being robbed, the horror!" For once, perhaps her reaction wasn't an overreaction.
“Lavender...and Chamomile?” Sombra asked out as he made out the powder that still remained. “A weak sleeping powder, but it seemed to have work. She must have breathed in large amounts.”
“Is she gonna be okay!?”
“She’ll be fine.” Sombra said as he used his magic to lift the Princess and place her on his back. “But we should get her back to her castle. Somepony there should get Slice before his brother frees him.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Sweetie Belle said as she tried to climb onto Sombra’s back again, though there was little room for her to fit on with Twilight sleeping. A quick look around the room at the other two fillies and Sombra quickly made out their plan.
“I am not carrying each of you on my back.”
“But we’ve been running all day!”
"Fine, but hurry!" Sombra shouted as he felt the crowd of ponies climb onto him. His legs barely keeping himself balanced, he turned and blasted the already hold pony sized hole on the wall into a larger one he could fit through with all the extra luggage.
"H-Hey!" Lily shouted as she saw him jump out. "What about me?!"
"Bring it up with Princess Twilight tomorrow!"
<=•=>
Running through Ponyville, Dice felt the rain splash on his face as he moved as quickly as he could. He was so close to getting away now, nothing could stop him. As he ran, he caught a glimpse of a crystal spire a few streets over. Noticing the dagger stabbed into the ground next to it, he knew that was where his brother was being held prisoner. A second was all he hesitated as he saw the tepee, but if he went over to help, he might compromise his own escape. No he had to keep running.
Slice heard the echo of hooves a few blocks away. Sighing, he knew what was happening. Sitting down and allowing his wet main to drip over his face, he took in the thought of being abandoned.
"Well, at least you can be free, brother." He said to himself. Using his magic to light the inside of the prison, he saw his reflection on the crystal wall. "Two of a kind, huh? Maybe you'll be get me out faster than last time."