//------------------------------// // Light and Darkness // Story: Friendship and Courage // by Seeking Dusk //------------------------------// Bro, you okay? I.. I don’t really like this part of the story, even if it was the end. It worked out, didn’t it? But at what cost? Was it worth paying? … Well? It was. Then, that’s all you need to know. ~Shining Armor~ “Stay within the confines of the shield!” I yelled towards the milling and panicking throng of ponies gathered in the plaza. A wall of my magic provided some semblance of protection for the distressed civilians, while the members of the guard provided another line of defense against the forces Sombra set against the empire. It was only a small favour that the other relentlessly advancing army had no interest in destroying the infrastructure, and that it wasn’t out looking to cause fatalities either. A prismatic streak cut across the sky, resolving itself into Rainbow Dash. She still held the lance she had appropriated from the castle armory and was in the matching armour, her other hand supporting the wailing foal that clung to her. She quickly left the foal with the support team and zoomed up to the balcony I was on. Her chest heaved lightly from the exertion she was making, though she tried to keep her expression and bearing casual. A part of me hated the idea of having to use her and her friends in this situation. But they volunteered, and it was dire enough that rejecting any help would be foalish, much less the aid of national heroines. “I’ve got another group of five coming in from the west,” Rainbow reported. “I cleared out the crystal thingies and shadows I saw in their path, but Applejack and one of your guards are with them anyway.” She looked behind me, concerned. “How’s the princess doing?” “I’m fine,” Cadance said, smiling weakly from the low couch she was resting on, Rarity fussing over her. As much as Cadance tried to sound as casual as Rainbow Dash did, she couldn’t keep the strain from her voice, hide the sweat that matted her coat or shake off the fatigue that plagued her. Noah’s spell had helped, but it was a stop gap measure, not a solution. She may have only been physically tired, but her mental state was weary, and her magic almost completely drained. “I just need to rest up a while, is all…” “She’s not fine,” I said as Cadance slipped into another doze. I forced myself to look away from my wife and out at the city. The sounds of the panicked populace wasn’t comforting, nor was the sound of combat coming from all directions helping anything. “She could be much better. With the shield down, she finally has a chance to rest, but what was the point?” “Don’t worry, Shining Armor,” Rarity said, mopping at Cadance’s brow with a damp cloth. “Twilight has yet to fail when pressed. Not with Nightmare Moon, not with Discord and not even with that witch at your wedding.” “And you got Noah helping, too,” Rainbow added. A wide grin spread across her face. “Last I saw him, he was racing off to beat the coat off that Sombra. And you’ve got us. No way are we letting this go south.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack, both having some martial arts training, volunteered to help the guards. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had joined the support efforts focused on the civilians taking refuge behind my barrier. Rarity insisted on waiting on Cadance. Twily and Noah were working on finding the Heart. A cry went up from one side of the plaza. I moved quickly to see what the issue was, with Rainbow taking flight and racing towards it. Another group of the golems had pushed past the guards and were striking the shield, a shadowy streak surging above the wall. Even as Rainbow rushed to provide her support, I charged a pulse of my magic in my horn before shooting a fresh burst of power towards the shield to reinforce it in a flash of purple and a dull thrum. “Guardsponies! Squads 6 and 8! The northeast!” I roared above the clamour. There was little else I could do while sustaining the barrier but watch the others do the work. I could feel the strain my barrier was under as it echoed to a minor degree across my horn. To join the battle would disrupt the spell. I couldn’t put the lives of all those ponies at risk just because I wanted to get my hooves on the front lines. I called out a few more orders, redirecting the forces. “Princess Cadance is one thing, but how are you fairing?” Rarity asked me once reinforcements were moving towards the pressed line. “Barrier spells are my talent. I can manage this much,” I said, only half lying. It wasn’t even Sombra himself, but we were forced to retreat to the castle grounds. Hopefully, Twily and Noah’s plans were working out. There had been a few flashes from the castle’s upper level not long before. I took them for a good sign. “Twily thinks the Heart can be the end to all of this. We just have to hold out until they come through.” ~Noah~ Raisuko Shundo was disorienting and difficult to control. I would pick my destination, and before I realized it, I was already there. It was like that when I left Twilight; just focusing on leaving the room and I was moving. With aspects of the sky and heavens bound to my very soul, manipulating and controlling my speed and momentum were mainly subconscious, which made it even more disorienting. I was beginning to understand why Negi used the diorama sphere and phantasmagoric scroll to stretch out his preparation time as much as he could. I would have loved more time to practice with the Raisuko Shundo. For the moment, I needed to find him. There was a glowing wall around the castle grounds, and a very large number of ponies crowded within it. I was fairly certain Sombra wasn’t among them, so I looked outwards, towards the rest of the city. There. A flare of Sombra’s magic caught my attention. Apparently, the Crushing Fist had hurled him well into the residential regions. The world shifted again as I transitioned to and from lightning, skidding to a rough stop on the crystal road. Homes lined both sides of the street, Sombra himself standing maybe twenty feet away. I hoped everyone had already evacuated. “Sombra.” “Child,” the former king smirked. He didn’t waste time on banter. Shadows leapt up, gathering into numerous arm thick tentacles that lashed out towards me, striking out like whips. I moved, leaping into the air and avoiding the mass of tentacles that crushed the crystal paved street, causing a fair amount of damage to the property I had been standing next to. My magic conjured a foothold, and I launched myself towards him, flaring the wind and lightning aura that clung to my form, flipping and attempting to crack his collar bone with my heel. A shadow clad arm blocked it. Sombra grinned, and his shadowy tentacles started moving again, a mass of narrow needles twirling into being from the mass of viscous shadows that pooled around his hooves. “Is that all?” “No.” In another flicker, I moved, leaping back as the needles jabbed into the space I previously occupied. I misjudged my jump, putting too much space between myself and Sombra. No matter. Dozens of points of light flared into existence around me before darting out in deadly force. “It’s just the start! Quadraginta septem spiritus lucis!” Sombra’s shadow constructs interposed themselves between the assaults, taking the blows for him. The volume of the attack tore many of the constructs apart, but still left him untouched. It didn’t matter, since I honestly didn’t expect the arrows to get through. They were merely a distraction. My jumps were more accurate this time around, and Sombra had hardly turned before my fist struck out, magic churning around it. “Ōka Hōken!” The explosion of magic knocked Sombra back a few feet, but he was still wearing that smug expression. It was pretty clear why from the withdrawing remains of the wide swatch of shadow that had interposed itself between my blow and his body. The blow had managed to damage it, but it still reduced the damage to near nothing. Sombra applauded mockingly. “You continue to surprise me, child. Not even the princess of the night had the control of wind and lightning you exhibit. But it is for naught if your blows cannot penetrate my defenses.” As… irritating... as Sombra’s speech was, I let him talk. He really was more of a challenge back in his body. Considering the story Shining told me basically admitted ‘turning him to shadow’ was the most effective solution to be found at the time of his last uprising, I wasn’t that surprised. Still, he was no Rakan. Crap, only fifteen seconds. I would still take what I got. Not for the first time, and likely not for the last, I shot a grateful prayer off that whatever granted me the powers of a mage, also gave me enough experience, even if it was detached and second hand, to work it. I moved as Sombra launched a hail of crystal shards at me. Time to test just how thorough his defenses were. The shundo hurled me into his personal space, my fist having found its way towards gut, but a shadow was quick to intercept. In the corner of my eye, I could see his hand coming around to strike me. I leaped back, putting a couple metres distance between us before jumping back in the moment my feet grasped the earth, coming in with another hammer blow. Again, a shadow interposed itself, but some of the force still reached him, judging by his grunt. To make sure, I tried it three more times, from three different angles; the side, behind, above. Each time, a shadow would appear. Sombra chuckled. “Valiant, child. But ultimately futile. Every shadow cast by your approach is another that moves to pro-” My fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him a step back. I grinned at his stunned expression. “You were saying?” ­He rubbed his jaw with a contemplative frown. “Most impressive.” His shadows were quite similar to Takane Goodman’s in their function, but likely above Kagetarou’s in terms of power. Which was, in and of itself; a terrifying thought. Either way, its automated responsiveness was fast enough to intercept a shundo, and strong enough to block most of my blow’s power. And that wasn’t counting how hardy Sombra himself was. Still, there was another trump card. Raisuko Shundo. It remained hard to use, requiring me to stay as focused and quick witted as I could in order to avoid wasting magic and stay on target, but its speed surpassed the reactiveness of his defenses. And considering how everything else was working out, it would only become easier to use as I fought. With a flash, I slammed a kick into his side and pulled out before his retaliatory blow could land. Another flash, and I was assaulting the other side. Another, and I was behind him. Then, before him twice in quick succession. Again, behind to kick at his feet before appearing above to try and slam him to the ground. Infighting. The best exploit a speedster could have. Even if I was limited to aiming from afar without the additional augmentation of Raiten Taiso’s second level, my blitz was effective. Flashes of lightning surged around him as I turned the tides. He was no Rakan. He might have a hardy body. His shadows might have withdrawn to form a protective screen in addition to his already sturdy barriers, but even so... the dance of a thousand fists riding on lightning was leaving its bruises as I wailed on him, and they were adding up. Huh. Dance of a Thousand Lightning Borne Fists. That was actually a pretty good name for this technique. I stumbled as my focus slipped. Sombra didn’t miss the opening, and I was forced to withdraw as dozens of crystal spikes lanced out from the ground around him. I held a ready stance, and the lances crumbled. I was prepared to respond to whatever Sombra pulled, but… was he laughing? “While I have no knowledge of what you are child, I cannot deny that you are skilled,” the dark king chuckled. His horn glowed as fragments of black crystal rose from the ground, aggregating into five masses that floated over his shoulders. “Overcoming what should have killed you once, and managing to cause me acknowledgeable injury four times now.” He shook his head slowly. “To think, the largest stumbling block on my return would be one so young. I almost regret having to end you.” “You can try,” I frowned. His sudden confidence was concerning. The infighting before was just to prove I could get around his defense. With it, I could dominate him. He might have been able to withstand my punches, but those were just basic strikes. Combining those speeds with more complex strikes, I could take him down. Still; it was a bit worrying. The aura around my body flared, and I attacked, charging with Raisuko Shundo, the world blurring. A wall resolved itself the instant before I slammed through it, crashing into some living space. Everything spun for a moment as I staggered upright. What… just happened? Even with my barriers, that impact was a doozy. Pressing my hand to my forehead, I glared at the smug king. “What was that, child?” A fluke. It had to be. I shifted my stance and attacked again, this time taking several steps, circling before going for his ribs. It was the ground this time. As I rebounded, something grabbed my hair, and I had a brief glimpse of his armoured shin before it slammed into my chest. Pain disoriented me for a moment, but I pulled through, flipping in the air and launching myself first with a void step then another Raisuko Shundo. I felt something this time, a tug. A moment later, an elbow was in front of me and pain returned as Sombra knocked me away and into another house. ‘This… seems familiar somehow…’ I thought to myself as I shifted a chunk of rubble away. I brought a hand to my face. Yep, pretty sure that was a broken nose. Hurt like hell. Before I could do anything further, crystal and stone formation bound my limbs and body. “Surprised?” Sombra asked. He slowly walked over towards me as I struggled. Whatever he used was interfering with my magic as well as physically restraining me. “I must admit, your speed really was too much to handle. Fortunately, I was right in my observation that you were using weather magic to achieve it.” Right. I recalled reading up on that in passing. The lion’s share of wind and air magic was classed under ‘weather magic’ in their system. “Haven’t you noticed that my empire sits in an unusual bubble of perfect weather in the midst of the frozen landscape? The magic to control weather was tied into the empire’s construction. For me, it is foal’s play to assume control of it in a localized region.” I paled at that. If he could control the weather around him, Raisuko Shundo was effectively neutralized. And I was in no position, nor was I anywhere confident I was even capable of using Raiten Taiso’s second level. He was better than Rakan, in a way. He was more akin to Negi than Rakan. A powerhouse, but a clever one. He cupped my chin in his hand and angled my head towards him. “Last time I left you to die, to be petrified, yet you managed to overcome it. Impressive. I will not make the same mistake this time.” The miasma leaking from his eyes intensified, and I felt a pressure exerting itself on my thoughts, my mind. My body seemed to numb as the world grew fuzzy and darkened. Words were hard to come by, but I forced them. “What… are you…” “I will see to it that you are ended this time, child,” Sombra said. His words seemed to echo in my thoughts, fragmented and sharp, scattering my own as they did. “Consider it a mark of respect, an acknowledgement of your skills. Now… fall into darkness.” I did. ~Spike~ “How am I supposed to get this down when I don’t know my way around?!” I spared the breath to yell as I raced through the castle halls. For the most part, they looked the same, and they didn’t follow the same logic the Canterlot Castle did, so I was running blind. I held the crystal heart tight to my chest, trying not to think of what would happen if I messed this up. “Less talking and more running!” Al urged from his perch on my head. He tossed something behind me that exploded with a sharp retort. “Ch-ya! Missed!” A dark shadow darted along the walls as it rushed past me before looming from the ground a few strides ahead. A broad torso atop the elongated form was anchored in the shadow, a featureless equine head angled towards us and griffon like claws reaching out. I shot it in the face. One hand might have been holding the Heart, but I had my other on tight around the smaller of the two guns Noah gave me and kept on shooting for a few seconds. Even without a mouth, it managed to shriek as the green tinted blasts of magic struck it, knocking it reeling. I didn’t stop as it collapsed back into the pooled shadow, my heart pounding and way too riled up. Besides, the Shades weren’t the issue. Noah’s magic guns worked great on them. “Incoming!” Al yelled urgently. I glanced back and hurled myself to the side, avoiding the chunk of crystal the construct hurled at me. I hit the ground hard, tucking and rolling as Rainbow Dash taught me the best I could as the projectile whooshed through the air where I had been and crashed somewhere further down the hall. The Crystal Heart and the larger gun were both knocked loose and rattled after it. Al didn’t fail to notice and jumped off my head and chased after them. “The heart!” The constructs were the issue. The guns worked on them too, but they were just tougher than the shades were. They were solid and strong, but somewhat slow. I had only managed to take down one of them, and that was after setting an ambush, like when Shining and I played war. I had taken out three shades. “I see it!” I gasped, scrambling back to my feet. The heavy footsteps of the construct bore down on me, as my claws struggled fleetingly for traction on the crystal floor as I grabbed the gun before I was running again. Even if they weren’t collectables like Noah claimed, he lent them to me, and they were a huge help. No way I was losing one. For whatever reason, King Sombra’s crystal constructs didn’t have any way of attack aside from physically. I wasn’t complaining. I wouldn’t have made it if they were fake unicorns or something. Just before Al could reach the Heart, the Shade came back, racing across the ground in its shadow form and emerging underneath the Crystal Heart, picking it up as it did. I didn’t think, I just pointed both guns at the shade and blasted it like I heard Twilight had done to the changelings at the wedding. “Oh crap!” Al yelped when he noticed the barrage, jumping out of range. The Shade tried to get away, but whatever stuff the guns did were too much for it. It could only flail about before it started breaking apart and fading. In its wild throes, it tossed the heart towards one of the doors. I dove after it, crashing through the doorway, Al at my heels. “Shut the door!” Al yelled. “No time!” I yelled back. The last two constructs and the only other shade were already at the door. I turned, and I kept running, charging through the doors on the other side of the room. I roughly yanked them open and shut it behind me to delay them for a second or two and turned… Only to find myself on a balcony with no way off but back through the doors. “We are screwed!” Al yelled. ~Twilight~ I stared at the hovering book, using it as a focus as possible solutions to the conundrum I was in were formulated rather than actually taking in the words. Thus far, my attempts at breaking out of the trap were unsuccessful. They weren’t a waste, as each successive failure improved my understanding of the mechanics behind the spell King Sombra employed, but repeated failures was not helping my own cause, nor was complimenting the tyrant that sought to bring down unspeakable horror on innocent ponies! “No, I am a good student,” I said suddenly, abandoning my vigil and starting to pace the confines of my prison. “Maybe Celestia sent me here because she knew King Sombra was a talented spell caster and need somepony like me around to understand and best counter his spells!” I gasped and whirled, pacing in the opposite direction. “Oh! That’s nonsense! I can’t do this! And I sent Spike off with those things following him! Oh, why did I tell him to do that! He’s going to get hurt and Sombra is going to get the heart and I’m going to fail the princess’ test!” I slapped myself. Only to wince and rub my cheek. “Oooo… too hard… Still, keep it together Twilight! You can do this… I… I just need to objectively look at what I’ve learned and make a concise and appropriate assessment of the facts before I can determine a proper course of action!” Armed with my plan, I paced along the inner walls that held me. There were three, no, five primary challenges poised. I could neither use magic across the barrier determined by the ring, or use magic on it. The ring effectively neutralized and counteracted magic I tried to push past it, where as magic cast directly on it was quickly drained and absorbed, further bolstering its power. Thirdly, magic that attempted to circumvent the ring, such as teleportation and detection spells, were ‘tagged’, in a sense, before being rebounded, most times painfully on the caster. “Fourth point: Attempts at physically traversing the ring are no more successful, as the wall of dark crystals seem to emanate a passive force field that reflects any attempts to leap over with… lets say fifteen to twenty-five percent more force, judging by the bruising on my side,” I continued, rubbing my arm. I had lapsed into vocalizing my thoughts without knowing it. “And finally, the fifth point: the ring itself leeches magic from attempts to bypass it, particularly methods that directly expose it to magic, and use that power to increase the height of the dark crystal structure.” The jagged crystals had been at my waist when I was first trapped, but under the influence and exposure of several attempts at escape, it was becoming more akin to a cage than a simple wall. Fear of being closed off completely was part of the driving force behind my decision to switch to the theoretical attempts. “Dark magic, despite my hopes, hasn’t been the solution either. Even casting Peridot’s spell using dark magic, was no more successful than my previous attempts,” I continued, leaning on my staff wearily. “I suppose it was foolish to think ‘dark magic’ alone was the answer. I am quickly becoming aware of the fact that dark magic can be as nuanced as standard magic. If only I was able to utilize the more powerful light and love spells like Cadance can… “Actually…” I stared at the staff. More specifically, the star-shaped gem set in it. “There was one spell that managed to get past the wall without being rebounded…” The gem strongly resembled my Element of Harmony and I could sense a faint but ever so slightly familiar connection between it and my magic. The Elements were said to have been used on Sombra and his magic in the past, and even more so, my element was magic, the spark of friendship. “Perhaps the bonds of friendship are close enough to the light and love?” I mused. Of course, I could have been wrong. Very wrong. “The best case scenario in the event of a failure is that the seal reacts exactly the same as it did before, gaining more power from my attempt, which doesn’t exactly leave me that much worse off “Worse case; the circle reacts negatively and the feedback cause undue harm, possibly to the point of causing lethal injuries…” I chuckled nervously. “Actually, I’m sure I can come up with a more feasible solution if I put my mind to it. Princess Celestia did assign this test to me after all!” “So what? You have your friends. Love and Light can fight back dark magic, and the princess with that power is your sister in law. You have your friends to help bring you back if you do stumble. A hero isn’t someone who doesn’t make mistakes. You keep working, even if you get a little dirt on you.” The context wasn’t exactly the same, but the message still applied. I grinned as I started to build up magic. Instead of letting the power stay in my horn to put shaped into a spell, I found that faint link and poured the power into it, feeling it expand and swell to allow it. Sheesh, a colt’s advice was what was going to make me do this, but he was right. I had my friends. I trusted them with my life, and they trusted me with theirs all the time. This plan depended on my bonds of friendship, and those were the strongest magic I had! The gem in the staff blazed with light and magic. The energy shone out from it in waves, almost blindingly so, forcing me to turn my head away as I lifted the tool to the sky. “Dark magic or not, Noah’s right!” The light swelled. “My friends believe in me, and I’m not going to just sit back and do nothing!” A shockwave burst from the gem, and I not only saw the thick dark crystal wall shatter under the pressure, but felt the dark magic reeling. In the glare, three of Sombra’s shades were forced into their corporeal forms, only to scream shrilly as they were destroyed. The fatigue of the magic rush hit me and I slumped against the staff for support. Strangely enough, the faint connection to the gem was suddenly a comfort to me. Still, I didn’t have time to waste. I headed for the stairs. ~Noah~ It was dark and empty, even sensations seemed muffled, but it was cold. I wasn’t sure how long I drifted in that abyss, listless, mind-muddled. Where was I? What was I doing? What was I supposed to do? Such a dark place, your heart… Wait… that voice. It was familiar. Was it? The space around me flickered slightly, images trying and failing to form multiple times before a pair of eyes manifested, purple mist leaking from the outer edges of the glowing green sclera, red iris… Sombra! Strange, child… you are rooted in darkness. The clouds stubbornly clung, even as I battled against them. I could feel him dredging through my mind, my memories. Flashes of things I had put behind me surrounded me, distorted images and warped voices. The worse ones. Not just times of humiliation or embarrassment. Those were there too, but by far, the most common ones were when my own nature was turned against me. When my willingness to give aid was exploited. When ones I would consider friends used my attempts to keep them out of trouble to throw me to the wolves. Moments when I was made the bad guy for letting the razor tongue lash for once. Faces of people from my past. The best and the worst. Time after time. I grit my teeth as old wounds, long since scabbed over but apparently not healed, were scratched open. I hugged myself tightly as years of swallowed pride and repressed anger were made fresh. No. I… I enjoyed helping people if I could. These memories? They were of minor slights. Nice guys didn’t always win, but it didn’t bother me. They were nothing. Such trials for one so fair. Yet this isn’t the root of your darkness. The pressure increased, and Sombra’s voice echoed as the abyss seemed to tremble. The flickering images and sounds shattered like glass. The fragments hovered in the air, forming a ring around me, then another, and another, until a cage of light protected me. Sombra pressed on, the eyes growing in intensity. Show me… where is your darkness? What left that festering wound? Go! Away! There is nothing! These memories are behind me! SHOW ME! Sombra roared, a power rippling from the eyes, and a ghost of a claw pressed in on the cage. Fall into DARKNESS! The cage shattered into dust, the shock leaving me dazed. A new memory came into being, forging itself from the remnants of the cage around me. I was playing with my toys, pushing the hot wheel cars across the floor as I crawled around on my hands and knees. I giggled to myself as I made them race around the carpet, using the pattern of rings as tracks. I could see the pretend course the two cars were barreling down. “Vroom, vroom! Red Rocket passes Blue Bullet! But Bullet uses his hook shot! Whoosh!” I giggled some more as both racers sped down the imagined track until their race was disturbed by a giant! I looked up at the face of Annabelle, my babysitter. “Hey, little man, what you doing?” “Playing with my race cars! Speed racer!” I responded cheerfully. A second figure approached, one whose knees I immediately abandoned the toys for to embrace. “Auntie Danni!” Aunt Danielle, or Auntie Danni as I knew her, didn’t look as enthused to see me. In fact, her expression was bleak. No… I… I don’t want to remember… to relive this. The memory jumped. Auntie Danni had me seated on her knees. “Noah… I need you to be strong, a big boy for me, okay?” “Why, Auntie Danni?” I asked innocently. “Why are your eyes red?” “Noah… you… do you remember Biscuit?” she asked. The memory wavered for an instant, a black and brown dog flashing before it settled back. “Uh-huh!” I nodded. Then, I frowned. “But then, he got hit by that mean man and his car…” “I… I… the…” She swallowed nervously. It distorted. “Something bad happened. I heard today that… that your mommy and daddy were in an accident, and… and they …” “Oh no! Are the people they went on the plane with gunna help them get better?” I asked. “Like how they went to help hurt people?” “Oh, sweetie,” Danielle said softly before embracing me. I didn’t understand why she started crying. The memory started cracking. “I’m so sorry sweetie, but… it’s like little Biscuit… I’m… they died, sweetie… your parents, my sister… they died…” My pained wail shattered the memory. Children emotions were simple, but strong. The pain was fresh all over again. My parents. Dying overseas on an aid trip. Caught up in a suicide bomber’s strike on the facility they were working in. There is the darkness… Sombra said smugly, pushing his own abilities to worsen the pain. Why? Why would they..? Why did they..? They were there to help. To lend a hand, and instead, one of the people they were helping turned out to be a plant. They found out later. Pretending to be a patient to attack those who just wanted to help? Why did people do that? Exploit others. Use them. Take their goodwill and pervert it! The scream was of mingled pain and rage, purple mist leaking from my eyes as my negative emotions were amplified by Sombra’s magic. For the first time, I was aware of the nothingness and loss of sensation that was creeping in on me, likely the crystallization effect he was pushing with this mind rape. A spark of magic spawned over my hand as my scream petered out. My eyes abruptly shifted to a pale yellow glow as my iris shifted to red, the mist cutting off suddenly. The magic surged into whirling, surging spiral patterns over my arms. The eyes retreated slightly. I bellowed again, but this one was far more primal, wild, bestial. Sombra miscalculated. He wasn’t aware of all the variables. He wanted me to fall into the darkness? I did. The darkness I floated in took on a faint tint of redness, and behind me, a monstrous maw opened, seeming to suck in what little light existed before it bellowed in time with me, the force of it warping the environment and blasting the eyes apart. I fell. And Erebea frenzied. ~Shining Armor~ Morale had fallen. More and more of my guard had been forced back out of the city by Sombra’s forces. It did have the unforeseen benefit, one I should have expected, of making it easier to hold the line as it concentrated the troops. Even so, the crystal ponies weren’t reassured by knowing that the guard was fighting just outside their place of refuge. Morale wasn’t helped by the continuous growth of dark crystal formations around the city. One of the more coherent crystal ponies explained that it was common from the dark crystals to spread when Sombra was exerting his power. A side effect of the affinity between them. It was a blessing that King Sombra hadn’t turned up. From what I heard from the guard, there was a strong chance the self professed mage Spring Field was responsible for that. A few reported having been saved from Sombra by the mage, and two pegasus sighted Sombra engaging a glowing figure on the outer edge of the city. “I don’t know who you are,” I murmured, “But you were a heaven sent.” “Shiny,” Candance’s weak voice instantly caught my attention. I quickly turned from the edge and moved to her side. “Don’t strain yourself, dear!” Rarity chided, having not left her post as a hoofmaiden, gently dabbing my wife’s brow with the new cloth Fluttershy provided her. Speaking of affinities, Rarity also had an affinity to crystals, enough that the balcony remained pristine and clear of Sombra’s overt influence because of her. All of Twily’s friends were helping. While Rarity was attending to Cadance with Fluttershy's assistance, Pinkie was down with the crystal ponies, doing their part to keep spirits from falling too far. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, as of my last check on her, were still at the barrier fighting with the guards, despite several recommendations not to. Unfortunately, with the situation, we couldn’t refuse her outright. We couldn't afford to turn away willing hooves. A few crystal ponies were there as well. Judging from the marks on their backs I noticed when they donned armour of their own, their strong will hadn’t left them unpunished during Sombra’s time. “You still need your rest,” Rarity insisted, gently pushing Cadance back down as she tried to rise. “No… something is coming…” Cadance said, looking up, a glint in her eye. I turned, following her eyes. There was somepony moving, much further up the castle structure. Something with them was glowing. Curious, I shielded my eyes from the glow of my horn, trying to make out the details. “Is that… Spike?” ~Frenzy~ Less than a minute had passed. Under King Sombra’s influence, the dark crystal had steadily consumed the boy that proved himself quite the nuisance in the short time since his return, but that road block was about to be terminated. More than just an encasement, the king intended to fully crystallize the impertinent youth, turning the child’s own inner darkness into the fuel for the spell. Sombra recoiled suddenly, yanking his hand from the young man’s chest as if it were glowing hot ore. He hissed, then growled softly in mingled frustration and disbelief. “Even more surprises from you, child?” The crystal statue, the supposedly immobile one, moved, even as the crystallization finalized, yet warped. Odd outcroppings of crystal formed on its temples, on its arms, along its back, on its feet. It moved, lashing out at him, a jagged hand, its fingers tipped with rough formations, snatching at his neck. Sombra slapped it aside with his right hand, blasting it in the chest with a burst of magic from his horn. The statue staggered back, but didn’t fall. Instead, it jerkily shifted its head, cracks forming on the torso, climbing its neck and spreading across the face. The lower half of the face and head shattered as the child’s mouth opened, exposing fanged teeth, releasing another pained roar like King Sombra heard when he penetrated the youth’s very being. With the jaw freed, the rest of the crystal followed suit, fragmenting and breaking away in large chunks. The child’s formerly brown skin was dark grey, approaching black. His red hair turned pale. His hands were more like talons, a chaotic collection of magic dancing in a spiral crest atop it. He seemed to have grown a tail, the hair long and jagged, somewhere between a wild pony’s tail and a dragon’s. On his head, just above and before his ears were two pronged horns; a shorter length angled forward over his temples with three times that raked back. More daunting yet was the pair of wings that sprouted from his back. They straddled the line between construct and summon, made of fiercely glowing red magic, but seeming to have a physical presence to them. King Sombra had but a scant few moments to take note of it all before he was attacked again. Not losing any of the speed he first demonstrated, even in this state of frenzy, the monster Noah had become used instantaneous movement to invade Sombra’s space, talons slashing at him, parried only by the defensive shadows. “What are you, child? First a warrior, and now, an untamed demon?” King Sombra marvelled. He frowned at some memory as he raised his hand, shadows weaving into lances. “One that seems familiar, for some reason… but all the more reason to lament the need to end you!” The lances stabbed into the ground, but Noah was already gone, having leapt out of range and circling around to strike from the side. Sombra scowled as the talons slashed at him, his defensive shadows turning back the attack. Sombra quickly turned defense to offense, the sweeping shadow’s force sweeping several times over and bashing Noah away. “This rashness will do little save delay your end, boy!” The blow not only knocked Noah off his feet, but threw him some distance away. With a snarl, Noah extended his wings, using them to flip him around and bring his flight under control, finding purchase in the air with his void step before charging in once more. “It’s a pity, child!” Sombra growled, countering Noah’s powerful yet direct attacks with both his shadows and his martial skills. In the throes of the frenzy, Noah’s mind was clouded with thoughts of pain and anger. Directed at no one in particular, he was only lashing out at the more opportune target, Sombra. Unlike before, the king’s expression was serious and conflicted as blows and strikes were exchanged. While not the complicated moves exhibited earlier, the power Noah possessed was a magnitude greater, turning his inner conflicts into pure power, and a lot of the nuances that had been in his previous movements were lost in his rashness. “To think you, who were such a promising one, is reduced to this!” Sombra grabbed Noah’s wrist and yanked. Noah’s eyes widened as he was pulled off balance. A metal shod leg slammed into his gut. A powerful arm smashed just between his wings. A blast of magic knocked him away again. Sombra panted slightly. “A wild beast of power. A demon. I do not claim to know how you resisted my power, but was it worth it, you Shadow of what you were? For what reason? These ponies of little worth?” “Sombra…” Noah’s thoughts focused somewhat. his jaw clenched as tears ran from his glowing eyes. Spheres of light formed in over his shoulders and shot back in a retaliatory strike. Sombra’s shadow rose up and intercepted the magic assault. “Futile, child! Wasted ef-urk..!” Sombra’s retort was lost to gurgles as taloned fingers clenched around his neck, the magic arrows being a mere cover for a frontal assault. Noah tightened his hold, his fingers drawing blood where they penetrated Sombra’s magic defenses and reached flesh. “Sombra…” The tears that had been streaming had dried, leaving streaks on his face. His horns crackled and glowed faintly with power. The green in Sombra’s eyes slowly began to be invaded by the yellow that possessed Noah’s. The eyes of both parties widened as somehow flickers of memories started passing from Sombra to Noah in some strange mirror of their previous connection. Sombra’s expression contorted, and his horn flared to life. The ground at their feet exploded, forcing the two apart. Noah flinched, shielding his face from the burst of magic and shrapnel even as Sombra filled his lungs. The dark king’s counter was not over, however. Countless tendrils sprang from the shadows and wove around Noah, binding his limb and body. If any of the stone and crystal shards were pinned painfully in the restrains? It was only a boon, as far as Sombra was concerned. “What… were you attempting, you impudent whelp? I have not experienced that since the master…” Sombra demanded, his tone a cool contrast to the fury in his expression as his accusation trailed off. Noah paid him little heed as he struggled against the bindings, snarling and growling like an animal. Sombra scowled. “You are… an unknown. No; you are a dangerous wildcard. One I will be best to-” A faint pulse of magic washed over them. Sombra whirled quickly. It didn’t take him long to pinpoint the source. Even from the distance they were at, it was possible to make out the purple form of Spike nimbly scrambling down the twisted dark crystal formations that encroached on the castle’s central spire, as well as the pale blue Crystal Heart he carried. Chasing after him was a small group of Sombra’s crystal constructs, having far more trouble with the descent than Spike was, but managing. Even as they watched, a clever attack from Spike knocked one of the constructs off the formation and left it to plummet in a fall that would most certainly end it. “Impertinent youth! One after another, impeding my plans!” Sombra seethed. Without further thought towards Noah, he rose up on a spur of dark crystal and rode it rapidly towards the castle. Noah was still, his eyes locked on the scene, the red slowly fading from his pupils. Be it the effect of the heart or the seeing his friend in danger, perhaps both, Noah’s heart calmed some, and his reasoning returned. The thoughts of anger and pain were quieted, allowing a softer voice to be heard. I still want to help them… Noah roared, not in animal pain, but with the frustration of a bounded man wanting to act and being unable to. His wings flared as magic and lightning spread from them, ripping and eating into the shadow bindings. “I… won’t let him!” ~Noah~ I knew where I went wrong. I tried to run from my pain. I tried to ignore it, and instead of making it mine, it took over. That’s why my Magia Erebea went wild. But I… I wasn’t quite there, at the point of owning the power, but I was in control for the moment. My ‘true self’ was quieted, curled protectively around my core, and I could feel the power burning in every vein, the same power that had just been haphazardly thrown at Sombra. The urgings of the frenzy were still there too, but the more I regained focus, the more its nagging dropped off. Inwardly, I laughed. The hotheaded style was powerful, but it wasn’t what would end this. In fact… I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do. Something I noticed while Erebea raged. The wings and the tail would have been disconcerting if I paid them any heed, or if I hadn’t been emerging from the grip of the frenzy. It was a strange turn of faith that losing control made being in control easier. I flexed, the crest patterned wings extending and expanding, the small crest swirling on my arms flared, breaking through the shadows like tissue paper as a fine network of lines spread over my body. The instant I was free I took off towards the castle. The wings took less effort and power than using the flight spell or even consecutive void steps, but combining them pushed my approach past the speed of my instantaneous movement. I needed the speed. The constructs were closing in on Spike, and Sombra had used a spire of dark crystal to vault over the glowing wall I assumed someone cast as a protection, spikes of shadow and crystals ready to fire. Spike took a leap of faith, the Heart clamped between his arms as both guns spat magic at the constructs, Al riding his shoulder. Already, the one closest to him was breaking apart under his assault, its main body damaged and the glow fading away as it was deactivated. His attack was even battering the ones behind it. Even so, he started to fall, and Sombra’s attack was approaching… Flans Paries Aerialis!” I yelled, placing myself in the line of fire, picking a priority. Sombra’s attack exploded against my barrier, without harm to me or Spike. I whirled, wings pumping, ignoring Sombra’s furious cry as I tossed magic arrows at the others. Ras tel ma scir magister.. Sagitta magica: novem spiritus series lucis!” My wings flared as I tried to find Spike. NO! Sombra turned his attention to Spike and Al! Magic gathered in the wings and at my feet as I was about to… Cadance appeared out of nowhere. No, wait… There! Shining Armor was trying to recover his balance from having… had he just thrown his wife? Whoa… Her wings were extended to their maximum span before she gave a powerful flap, combining her own strength with the momentum of her husband’s powerful throw to reach high speeds. Her arms extended and horn glowed as she caught both Spike and the Heart, arching over gracefully at the apex of her climb. “I will not allow this!” Sombra roared, gathering his own magic and power to strike out. Well, I for one wasn't about to allow that. Sombra’s expression was dumbfounded when I appeared before him with a rush of wind, clamping my claws around his wrists. It quickly turned into one of fury. The magic accumulation twisted as he prepared to blast me. “What must I do to be rid of you?!” I wordlessly cast Flans Exarmatio, unconsciously channelling it through the wings as they flapped. The burst of wind magic ripped not only his gathered magic, but also a good portion of his armour and outfit. I drew back my free arm, my eyes blazing with power, the Erebrea crest flaring wildly. “Ah, ah!” I chided him. “My turn!” I stabbed my arm into his chest, and wrapped my fingers around his magic core and forced my way in. Images flashed around me. Fighting me. The timeless void of being sealed in ice. A battle with two powerful individuals. Ruling the empire. Fighting an army. Wandering different lands. A figure with blazing crests at his arms. Standing with others like himself. Crafting a golem. Countless images, almost too quickly to process. The last one was of a hooded and robed figure motioning for him to rise before I found myself in an empty space of pale stone. Sombra stood before me, but not as I knew him. He was far from the statuesque figure with the defined muscles and intimidating armour. Instead, he was slighter of frame and a few inches shorter than I recalled with a normal horn. His eyes still shown green and spilled the purple haze, but they shifted between red and green, and his hair and tail wasn’t the solid ‘slice of darkness’ black it had been, seeming more natural, though hanging limp. “Boy…” Sombra started, but he stopped with sneer. “No… I suppose I should cease calling you that. It has led to me underestimating you.” Blackness tentatively spread from his feet. “So... you have managed to penetrate my own core. But if you think it will be enough to stop me, you would be mistaken.” The shadows surged up, forming into multiple snake- or dragon-like heads that towered over him, baring their fangs at me. “Even here, the darkness is more than strong enough to consume you.” I snickered. I tried holding it back, but I couldn’t help it. It quickly turned into a chuckle, the glowing wings on my back twitching and the tail behind me waving in mirth. Sombra growled as the perceived slight. “You laugh!?” “Sorry, sorry! It’s just…” I controlled myself with a snort, which was helped by a sobering recollection. Remember to giggle at the ghosties when it gets dark, okay? Had… had she known something like this would happen? That was actually something of a terrifying thought. Brushing it aside for now, I approached Sombra. It wasn’t like there was anything else to see in the place, but I had a question for him. “What are you afraid of, Sombra?” “I am King Sombra,” he sneered. “King of the Crystal Empire, Master of Darkness. I fear nothing.” “Master of Darkness?” I snorted in derision and tapped him on his chest. “Please.” “Perhaps you truly are but a child. Perhaps it is for the best… that I end you in your folly!” Sombra roared. He leaped back, the physics of the place turning that leap into something spectacular, and directed the monstrous heads towards me. “You control a few shadows, and you call yourself a master of darkness? You play on the fears of others and manipulate them with it, and you consider that to be mastery? You don’t know what true darkness is,” I finished with a sneer of my own. The massive inner monster form of Erebea manifested behind me, hunched over, emotionless eyes fixed on the attack. It tore its maw open and roared, sucking in everything. Sombra found himself fighting an almost irresistible force that viciously dragged him forward. His shadows had been torn apart and consumed already, even the space we stood in feeling the strain, bits and pieces of it being torn up and sucked in. Despite all that, I was mostly untouched, my longer hair seeming to wave in a light breeze as I stood in stoic contrast to Sombra’s struggles as he dug his hooves in the ground, trying to find some purchase. Every so often, he would aim a blast of magic, throw some summoned crystals, or even try to strike me with more shadows, all to moot. “Eva would laugh at you, too. Shadows? Please! It’s simpler than that! You don’t know what real darkness is. It is more than suffering. It is more than pain. More than failure. More than loss. Inadequacies. Tension. Greed. Weakness. Lust. Cowardice. Helplessness. Revenge. Hate! “Even more than Fear!” My voice peaked and was yelling. “It’s all that. Everything. It’s taking it all. It is swallowing it all, bending it to your will and making it your strength! That’s what darkness is! As for you?” Sombra’s attempts finally failed, and he was pulled into the air and drawn into the maw that clamped on him. “You’re just a joke.” ---------- The pebbles and rocks that were being sucked in fell to the ground as my manifestation faded. I wasn’t quite sure what would happen next. This was supposed to be Sombra’s mindscape, and I just defeated, sorta, his mind, breaking him. When Negi’s spirit almost broke in his mind, he almost died and petrified as a result. It was only the intervention of projections that saved him. It was only by chance that I recognized the similarities when Sombra launched his mental attack. But now what? “Master, no!” Um… what? The space changed; from pale rock to frozen stone, ice and snow. Cold air whipped about. I looked around frantically. “What the he-” The words died on my tongue. Not ten feet from me a younger looking Sombra fell to his knees in grief. And beyond him? A tall man with a glowing body, a long reptilian looking tail, hair of matching length and horns on his temples, one that cleaved into a vaguely familiar hooded figure in flowing robes. I made the connection between this hooded figure and the glimpse I caught breaking into Sombra’s core. Of greatest interest to me was the glowing Erebea crest that floated beside the glowing one’s arms. Unlike my own, they were large, about as long as he was tall, and fully defined and developed compared to my unruly ones. A massive spell circle came into being around him, and magic power started raging. Another figure, this one a solidly built earth pony, appeared beside Sombra and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Don’t just sit there, new colt! That’s a sealing spell! Stay too close, and you’ll get caught up in it!” “But the master!” Sombra protested. The larger stallion roughly picked Sombra up and leaped away as the magic circle’s power peaked. I turned to follow… ...And realized the flashback memory had ended, and I was back outside his mind, slowly starting to fall to the ground. Sombra was limp against my arm, his expression vacant and his eyes lifeless. Mist seeped from the wound I made as some of his own dark crystals crept over his body. He was barely supported by my smaller frame, and the added weight was dragging us both down. What… what was that? There was another user of Magia Erebea? And it looked perfected at that. No sign of corruption on his body! Before I could think more on the matter, a glare of bright light that felt like the Heart washed over us both. In its wake, I felt the last grips of the frenzy cleared away, the demonic form hardening over me and cracking like a shell. A wall of light blue was approaching as well, but I was more concerned about Sombra. Cracks were appearing all over his body as well, but the light seemed to be more hurting him rather than the cleansing it was doing for me. “No… No way I’m letting you die after seeing that!” I yelled. We were still falling, but I couldn’t worry about that. Someone else with the same dark magic I had? Who? No, when had Sombra seen that? A thousand years ago? Erebea was a potential form for immortality. The user could still be alive! I tightened my grip on Sombra’s core as I felt the light scorching it, instinctively pouring my own magic into it even as it was assaulted. The silver blue glow was swallowed by the gold and red of my magic as I felt my magic reserves quickly falling, and then the wall hit us both. Despite the massive drain as just about all my magic was ripped away to preserve Sombra, I felt nothing but relief as the shell of Erebea’s demonic form was blasted off me, fragments being hurled off into the distance. Whatever the magic was, it was gently lowered me to the ground... fortunate, since I was just about out of all of my own. Despite the laboured breathing, I quickly performed a physical check. I… was mostly back to normal. Well, the normal I had since I got to this world. The first anomaly was that my arms seemed crystalline, for all they felt like flesh, and I could actually see through them a bit. Considering the Crystal Ponies, I mentally chalked it up as a (hopefully) temporary side effect of being exposed to the Heart’s magic pulse. The more worrying one was, well… I still had wings. They were entirely flesh and blood this time, though as crystal like as the rest of me, and boasted tawny feathers, but much smaller than they were during the frenzy. I found the tail a moment later, that one with the same russet colour of my hair. Considering everything that had happened up to that point, I added it to my ever increasing list of ‘Things to Fret Over Later.’ Something exploded in the sky, and a third blast of magic rushed across the land. The sky cleared in its wake, the city gaining a new luster as the dark crystals were eradicated and even the clouds that had built up like a wall were dissipated with prejudice as the magic of the Crystal Heart asserted its dominance. That last blast even seemed to restore my magic a little. Not much, but it was better than nothing. I started looking for Sombra, worried that despite all my efforts the Heart had destroyed him. The glowing mass of light not too far from me gave me hope. I could hear people rushing over towards me, but I wanted, needed to know, magic or no magic. It dispersed into fading shards as I approached and let the unconscious figure it concealed gently fall to the ground. “Sombra?” I questioned. My confusion wasn’t all that surprising. The figure that was revealed didn’t match the King Sombra that attack, or even the one I found when I invaded his core. This one still had the grey fur, if a bit lighter, but his horn was normal, at least, no longer curved and red. His hair was a light less intense black, and had cobalt streaks in it. His armour was gone, which may have been my fault, leaving him in oversized and badly tattered pants. More importantly, he was my size. “Is that King Sombra?” “It can’t be! He’s a foal!” “Who is that pegasus colt?” “Did the Crystal Heart do that?” “He’s the one that saved me and my family! I’m sure of it!” “King Sombra is still alive! No!” “He was fighting King Sombra, too!” The crowd had caught up, and already, questions filled the aired. I looked around, realizing for the first time how close the fight had gotten to the castle. We were in the area surrounding the castle itself, the one that had been within that shield I noticed before. No wonder they came so quickly. I got my first good look at the crystal ponies, too. Like myself, they sparkled slightly and seemed translucent. I just never expected their name to be that… literal. “Make way! Make way!” A familiar voice yelled. Shining Armor and a much more refreshed looking Cadance approached. The latter quickly embraced me as the royal guards, who also sported new crystal looks, pressed the crowd back. “Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you! If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know how this would have turned out!” Cadance gushed. Her thanks stopped abruptly, and she drew back. “Did… you didn’t always have wings, did you?” I shrugged. I really wasn’t about to make any assumptions. I just kicked some major Final Boss level ass with powers that should have been fictional in my own One Winged Angel Mode. It would take a few more hours before panic set in. “Wait, did anyone find Twilight?” “Spike told us. He, her friends, your Al and a few of the guards are gone to retrieve her. Now, I won’t go as far as my wife, but thank you for your help, Spring Field,” Shining Armor smiled. “Spike also told me to tell you thanks.” I grinned awkwardly at him. “Glad to be of help.” His warm expression hardened as he looked at the other figure. “So, is that Sombra?” I quickly positioned myself between the unconscious colt and the prince. “Before you do anything rash and likely deserved,” I said quickly, as Shining looked at me in disapproval and suspicion, “I have reasons to suspect he might have information relevant to me and how I got here.” I raced to pull together other logical reasons. “Not to mention he might be the key we need to properly undo the damage his curse did to places like the library. Plus… I think the Heart might have had a positive effect on him.” Shining Armor gave me a neutral look, and I did my best to match it. Cadance placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a soft smile. Faced with his wife, he sighed. “Fine. Guardsponies, take the… colt and detain him properly.” Three of the guards nodded and moved quickly and efficiently, securing the de-aged former king. I sighed, and all the tension and adrenaline left my system, and I swayed slightly. Shining Armor was quick to catch me. “Easy there, Noah. I got you.” “Thanks,” I groaned, feeling the backlash from burning through all that magic hitting. At least whatever the Heart did solved the Erebea encroachment issue for the moment. “I think I need a nap before I see what Sombra knows.” “You’ll have to wait quite a bit, I’m afraid,” Cadance pointed out. “Huh?” Geeze, I was really get out of it. Was I running on the rush that hard? “For the first time in nopony knows how long, the crystal ponies are free. Saved.” Cadance waved her hand around her, and I looked around. Sure enough, ponies were conversing happily, laughing, singing, even dancing in places. It was as if the Fair Twilight and her friends set up had taken off and evolved into it’s own festival. Cadance continued speaking as I marvelled at the sight. “They found a faint hope, and it turned out to be real. You are a hero to them. Spike too, from what I overheard. I might be their Crystal Princess, and Shining Armor their prince that protected them. But Spike was the one to bring the Heart back to them, and you were the one to challenge the tyrant directly.” She hugged me again as I let that process. Hero of an empire? Seriously? In the end I just grinned weakly. “I suppose so, huh? I guess I can live with that.”