//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19: Onyx 
// Story: Tomb of Magic 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

At first, I only regained a bit of consciousness. All I could feel was pain, healing magic, and an IV tube. It was just a small shred, really. Everything felt so airy. I could feel pain despite that, but everything was so fuzzy. It was like I didn't have a body or tether calling me back, and that was frightening. Was this over? Where was I? What happened?

Drip...

...Drip...

I must be in a hospital. A hospital... I'm in Equestria, probably. Or Trotland. Or the Empire. I'm safe. So very safe. There's nopony that can hurt me now. The muffled voices of doctors could be heard. I slept through the black, sinking away.



...



One month later.

"Twily!?" a voiced called. It was too loud, but I could feel myself beginning to stir even if my mind was still slow.

"Shhh, be a little bit quieter, Shiny. She'll have a lot of questions when she comes through."

Shiny...

That means that Shining Armor and Cadance were here! My sleep-heavy mind's veil faded and I felt my mood brighten. Oh, I'm so glad to see them!

My eyes fluttered open, and when they adjusted, the fuzzy black spot clearing,  I could see that it was indeed them staring down at me, two pairs of worried eyes.

An IV tube was in my right foreleg, while to my left was a window overlooking Canterlot, its curtains waving faintly. I already knew I was in a hospital, but how did I get here? I spent so long drifting in deep, dreamless sleep. It probably wasn't that important, considering all the bandages.

Bandages on my legs, on my head, etc.

At least my horn is back to normal, I thought, reaching up to touch it.

"What...?" I began, unsure of what to say, especially with a throat this dry. My throat was not the only part of my mouth that hurt, my teeth felt positively achy to the roots. I shook my head.

"When can I get some water?"

I suppose, that this was the best place to start.




...




I set down an empty paper cup colored white and blue, pushing it so it was exactly lined up with the other two that I had drained.

Cadance had left the room, she said she had to talk to somepony who was outside. Maybe to ask a doctor for more water.

"You appeared in Canterlot Square a month ago," Shining Armor began, pulling a nearby chair next to the bedside.

"Does that mean my friends are back in Ponyville?" I asked, just as he was about to continue.

My brother shook his head in a clear 'no'. "Not at all. They are waiting outside - Cadance went to talk to them. At first we were only allowed in since we're family, and because too many ponies in here at once would be overwhelming."

He stared at me, blue eyes full of concern. "You were really beat up, Twily. What exactly happened...?"

I almost choked on something that wasn't there as I remembered. "Well, " I waved my bandaged hooves in the air to hopefully indicate a cloud, "Sombra turned into a shadow cloud -more like a real shadow this time, smaller, and I couldn't see the eyes, although I'm pretty sure they weren't there."

I paused and took a deep breath. "...and then he went inside here." I bopped myself in the middle of my bandaged forehead for emphasis.

"That sounds like possession, except when ghosts possess ponies, they don't alter your body that much, Twily. Gods."

Another deep breath. "I know... so what could it be?"

Shining Armor shrugged. "I saw an exorcist in one of the halls on the way here. Guess somepony found a ghost in Duke Blueblood's wine cellar... and things went downhill from there. They would probably know, specializing in that sort of thing."

"Wait!" I called as he began to get up.

He sat back down, looking slightly confused. "What is it, Twily?"

"Where's Sombra? He was the one to teleport me here, after all."

"He wasn't."

"He wasn't?!"

"Yeah, his personal magic is reddish, right? Well the magic ponies saw bring you here to good old Canterlot was gray. As to where he is: I dunno. The farther he is from you, the better."

"Where are the Princesses?! I really, really, really, really want to talk-"

"Twilight, it's going to be fine. Celestia is here in Canterlot, no doubt that she'll come over here once she learns that you're awake. Luna is away on a diplomatic meeting in Germaneigh that I'm sure your friend Rainbow Dash is just dying to tell you about. But it's funny, y'know, because I've talked to Princess Luna a bit, and she doesn't know a word of Germane, so she'll certainly be having a trip."

What happened this time? Oh I can't wait to find out...

"Will I be able to leave soon?"

Shining Armor laughed. "Much sooner then you think."

He opened the door and the five best ponies in all of Equestria came running in - and so did one best dragon. Cadance was behind them; she said a few words to Shining Armor before he went off to find that exorcist. Sombra may not be a ghost, but I'm sure they'd be able to explain why he could possess me.

First was Rainbow, who seemed to have had quite the adventure despite the somber purpose of her visit, and a lot to say...

"Twilight, can you believe it?!" she said excitedly, speaking a mile a minute and loving every second in the spotlight. "I tried to bring you some get-well-soon cider and end up in a huge mess - not that I forgot to bring you any other awesome stuff, that is."

Rarity rolled her eyes, and made a tsk-tsking noise. "Rainbow Dash, what you did was considered smuggling under Germaneigh's laws - which you refused to obey, it seems, throughout your entire trip if any of the tall tales you told me on the train are to be taken word-for-word. But all that aside, Twilight I made sure to get you a surprise gift I'm sure you'll appreciate, and kept a very elegant scrapbook, if I do say so myself, of all the interesting things I did in Prance when I had the time."

Next, Applejack had begun to tell me the first half of a very funny tale she learned from Braeburn before Pinkie Pie interrupted her declaring in one, excited burst: "I made an apple pie out of oranges!"

Fluttershy who had been the only one to patiently wait her turn then told me:

"I made some really nice sketches of rare bird species, I'd love to show you."

And lastly, Spike had some less than ideal news. "Twilight, the Cakes say that you owe them a few bits 'cause I ate a bit too much of their merchandise."

I smiled at them all, being mindful of my sore teeth, and smoothed my bangs over one of the bandages over my head. "Wow, everypony, that sounds so great! I can't wait to hear the rest when I'm discharged and get back to Ponyville. But for now, I feel really tired and just want to get a few winks of-"

My eyes fluttered, and before I could finish, I had collapsed and was snoring softly.

Sleep.



...



"Wake up."

The word was like a pin popping the balloon of deep slumber. Whose voice was that?

"Now."

I rubbed a hoof over my closed eyes, willing them to open.

Sombra was standing next to the window looking somewhat impatient.

"Do they want me to break in here, Purple Eyesore? That does seem to be what these ponies want if they make my late night trespassing trip into a princess' hospital room so bloody simple. After all, the only thing missing is a 'Welcome Sombra' banner. I'm honestly a little hurt by that."

Sombra was here.

In this room.

Why was he here?

He stared at me. "You aren't going to scream, are you? When you scream it's very annoying, and a reminder of how downright pathetic you are, which is already obvious in its own right. At first I found this funny, but then it just became irritating. But, I digress. Are you or are you not going to scream?"

"I-I-I..."

"Hey, I don't want to be here either, and would have preferred leaving you to die a slow death consisting of a combination of bleeding and freezing to death where you would feel only a numbing pain before slipping into nothingness, forever tormented in the afterlife over how you left too early and never woke up. You'd have the knowledge of never seeing your family again, and was buried by snow in a land you were not born in, so all that 'proper burial' nonsense couldn't happen. Just what is up with your species fascination with such a bizarre and unneeded thing like funerary rites? I really don't understand them."

He paused to look at me, but not angrily. His gaze was annoyed, but it was a grumpy sort of casual seriousness. 

"I guess there's always the ray of hope you will die some other way in the multitude of gorgeous possibilities that I could go into with vivid detail that would frame each and every moment of your hypothetical demise, or-"

He whipped his sword out and pointed it at my throat, black blade gleaming as maliciously as the sudden look of tempered loathing sprung into his eyes.

"-I could just kill you right here. So what will it be? You listen to what I came here to say, or I give you a nice red necklace to wear to your grave - which I doubt anypony will find, considering how adept I am at this. Tartarus knows I'll likely cremate you and scatter your ashes someplace fitting for you. Does a sewer sound poetic enough to mesh with the nature of your soul as a fitting last resting place? I'll give you that much, so a 'thank you' would be in order."

Now I should scream. Teleport. Scream and teleport. Brilliant. 

I opened my mouth to do so, only to have him clasp his hoof over it. He also managed to sheath his sword when I wasn't looking. And the spell? Well, he beat me to it, a flash of crimson and ta-da, and my horn was covered in those crystals.

Again, I thought with a muffled whimper.

Sombra smirked. "It's funny how you thought I would actually give you a choice."

"What do you have to say?" I mumbled through the hoof, hoping that'd he'd understand the garbled speech clearly. His boots certainly tasted like metal. Yep.

He looked at me warily from the corner of his right eye. "You wanted to know about Onyx, remember? You said I owed you, which of course is a lie - I don't owe you anything - although, since it would benefit me to tell you at least a little bit, I will. It might also confuse you immensely or just let you slip back into the perceived safety that is your constant denial."

I swallowed and wished that my legs weren't so badly damaged at the moment. Sombra removed his hoof and returned to where he had first stood: by the window.




...




"I don't know who specifically Onyx came from, and neither does he for that matter. He knows that from birth he was raised in an orphanage-"

"Onyx is a separate pony? You aren't the same?"

"You know, if I weren't the Right-Honourable Lord Sombra you'd be dead for insulting me so."

"Errm... what?" Is he taking this seriously?

"Exactly, now where was I? Onyx was 'adopted' by Starswirl the Bearded when he was eight years old and used a book of dark magic and cast a irreversible spell that resulted him sacrificing his body in order to create a new, different form that he found himself bound to."

"What about his soul?"

Sombra tapped his head. "You're mistaken if you think that you have problems, Purple Eyesore. I've got my worst enemy stuck in my head forever."

He had turned away and was facing toward the window that overlooked an empty Canterlot street. I couldn't help but ask one last question.

"Don't you have any last words?"

He faced me again and cocked his head slightly, almost surprised at the question, maybe? Of course, there was the traces of a smirk on his face.

"Of course I do: If I have the misfortune of ever meeting the disease that is Twilight Sparkle again, I have a few words of advice for her: be very careful."

Now it was my turn to tilt my head. "Why is that?"

I could see that he was ready to leap out the window, and I didn't question that at least, although I did notice that there were bandages on the leg he broke. How he could walk, I didn't know. I did suspect he enchanted his metal boot to function as a brace, but that wouldn't explain it being healed...

"Because the next time I see her, I won't be holding back as much as I did with you on this particular journey. You've seen my angry, but I can be far worse than just angry and as spiteful as you might've observed. I'm also horribly patient, so consider yourself warned: if we meet again, you will have more than just nightmares and emotional scars. Do not cross me."

Startled, I blinked, and when I opened my eyes he was already gone.

I let out a breath of relief. It was really over now, I could feel it. After everything he did...

...Especially making me kill my hero. In doing so, that valley had become a tomb, a dreary place of death even more forsaken then it already was. Yet, I suppose I had created that tomb.

The Tomb of Magic...