“Not much further now Princess,” spoke the changeling facsimile of the bat-winged pegasus known as Lestat. His voice echoing down the walls of the cavern in which he walked. Behind him followed Princess Luna, who found herself absently gazing at the various crystalline structures the pair passed. Despite the otherwise bleak conditions the caverns were relatively well lit as light from the surface was reflected and redirected by the gemstones, allowing for just enough illumination that a torch or light spell would not be required to navigate the otherwise dim caverns. Not that any of the party needed them to begin with.
Luna had heard of the abandoned caves bellow Canterlot. How the unicorns of ages past forced the diamond dogs and other species, to mine the gems that lay within to feed their voracious greed. A practice that was only stopped when Celestia herself put an end to it. It wouldn’t surprise Luna at all if part of the reason her sister chose to build her new castle on this spot, after Luna’s banishment, was to make sure such endeavors would not be carried out again.
Luna had also heard that these gems had peculiar properties that interfered with Equestrian magics; probably the reason the unicorns coveted them so. And with such a large quantity of those gems, at this depth, any form of magical communication, detection, and teleportation either into or out of these caves would be - while not impossible – very, very difficult. Indeed such a location would be a perfect place for a pony to hide… Or to lay an ambush.
Yes, the trek into the caverns had given Luna time to clear her head and think, and the more she thought the less things seemed to make sense. For starters why was it Lestat and not Alucard who was escorting her? Yes, Lestat had said that Alucard had gone on ahead, but with knowing how cautions and committed Alucard was, one would think it would be the opposite. For that matter why was it only Lestat? With Luna under a threat of this magnitude, one would expect the princess to be surrounded at least half a dozen members of her Night Guard. In fact why even move her to begin with? Alucard was always adamant of Luna’s security, and that her room was one the most protected places in all of Equestria.
And then there was Tiberius. The opossum that was currently riding along within Luna’s mane, had been incredibly tense and agitated ever since they had left Luna’s bedchambers. Which seemed to be directed solely towards Lestat, who the small mammal had been constantly keeping his eyes on with great apprehension since their march began.
But even with all that aside, there was just something off about how Lestat had been behaving.
“Are you OK Princess?” asked Lestat, who had suddenly come to a stop, bringing Luna out of her quiet contemplation.
“Oh, I am quite alright Lestat,” Luna responded, “Given the circumstances at least.”
“You just look worried, that’s all,” the Night Guard stated.
“Of course I’m worried!” exclaimed an aggravated Luna in retaliation, “Canterlot is in danger, Darkrai is out there doing Faust know what, and I’m down here figuratively and literally in the dark about all of it.”
“I know Princess,” Lestat whimpered in apology, “But we’ll soon be at the sanctum. Once we meet up with the others, everything will be taken care of after that. Trust us Princess, this will all be over soon.”
“I suppose you are right,” sighed Luna with a deep breath, “There isn’t anything I can do about it now anyway.” Luna paused to catch her breath before continuing, “Besides, this is not the worst situation you and I have ever been in. Remember when we were stranded in the deserts of Saddle Arabia after I broke my wing in the battle against that horrid floating eye creature. The self-proclaimed Eye Tyrant of New Behodopalis I believe it called itself.”
“Or, right. That one was a doozy wasn’t it?” answered Lestat, “I still can’t believe we got out of that one,” he said turning away to continue his march down the gem lined cavern.
Luna however did not move. If anything she dug her hoofs into the ground harder in steadfast defiance. The one thing that did change however was Luna’s expression. Far from being engrossed in thought as she was a few moments ago, the princess now sported an intimating glare of indignation. Even Tiberius took notice, ceasing his agitation and looking towards the face of his custodian in equal amounts of bewilderment and concern.
“Er, princess…?” a nervous sounding Lestat began once he noticed Luna’s frightful demeanour “Is there a problem?”
“Quite a few actually,” the princess replied in a very adverse tone. “For one I have never actually been to Saddle Arabia before. At least not in the last 1,000 years or so.”
The changeling froze. For the first time in a long time Scarab found himself in utter panic. For once he didn’t know how to react. So as if by reflex he began to talk, even if he had no clue what it was he was saying. “Er.. well you see-“ nervously gulped the changeling, but the princess was not yet finished.
“In addition,” Luna continued, ignoring the panicking pony’s plight, “while I did indeed do battle with that Eye Tyrant, the conflict was in Baltimare, and I was assisted by Carmilla and Markov. In fact I don’t believe you were even a member of the Night Guard at the time Lestat. So I am very curious to know how you seem to profess knowledge for an event that never happened.”
Scarab tried to think of a satisfactory reply for the princess, but it was no use. The jig was up; no fanciful story that Scarab could come up with was going to bail him out of this one. There was only one thing that could be done now. “Ah, pig slop,” cursed the changeling before launching himself into the air towards Luna.
The Princess was surprised by the sudden assault, but her reflexes kicked in, allowing her to just narrowly avoid the changeling’s flying tackle. “Well that proves you are not Lestat,” Luna sarcastically pronounced, “His attack would have been far more effective than that ramshackle, whatever it was you did there.”
“Ramshackle this!” yelled Scarab, as he hurled himself towards Luna again.
The princes was ready this time though. As the changeling flew towards her, Luna stood up on her hind legs and caught her assailant in mid-air, with one of her forehooves. A single mighty push was all that was required to send the Lestat impersonator hurtling back several feet before landing on the ground. Tiberius kept clinging to the princess’s ethereal mane all the while.
“This game is over,” Luna announced to the assailant as he straightened himself off from the ground, while Luna’s horn began to glow in shimmering blue light, ‘Now reveal thy true-self impostor!”
The cave was filed by a blinding flash of blue light while Luna’s words echoed down the cavern walls. A moment later the light had dissipated and the cave returned to its normal appearance. As did Scarab who found himself back in his true black, insectoid, hole-legged form. “A changeling.” groaned Luna “I should have suspected as much.”
“What the...” blurted Scarab, who had not intended to revert to his changeling self, “How, did you…?”
“Your kind is not the only ones who know how to alter ones appearance,” answered Luna rather openly, “And such guises are easy to dispel if you know how they work. Kudos to you though, you almost had me completely fooled there for a minute.” Luna applaud the changeling, without any hint of condescension, “Your queen is fortunate to have a retainer of your talents.”
“You bet she is,” confidently proclaimed Scarab, “And I’m going to prove it!” Scarab readied himself into another attack stance. However rather than charging at Luna again the changeling instead lowered his head while an emerald green flame ignited atop the chitin horn upon his forehead.
Luna however remained unfazed. “No, we have had quite enough of that” she calmly stated, while her own horn began glowing. In a show of Luna’s continued magical prowess, no sooner had she said those words then Scarab was enveloped by an aura of familiar blue light, and he began levitating off the ground.
“Hey, what are you doing?” spluttered Scarab as he rose into the air - losing his concentration on whatever spell he was planning on casting. “Put me down!” the changeling barked, his limbs flailing in the air as he struggled in vain against his weightlessness.
“So Darkrai has allied himself with the changelings. Unless you intend to tell me that his presence, this invasion and your little intrusion are all purely coincidental?” surmised a somewhat derisive princess of the night, as she walked up to the helplessly floating Scarab. “You went through quite the effort orchestrating that ruse to lead me down here, and I somehow doubt it was to invite me to enjoy some coffee and scones. So tell me shapeshifter, what is it you and Darkrai are planning?”
“Bite me,” Scarab defiantly snarled towards the princess menacingly. Well as menacing as he could be, hanging upside-down in mid-air. “I’m not telling you anything. Go ahead and do whatever you want to me. I’m not saying a word. You can torture me, whip me, rack me over hot coals, strap me down and pour hot wax all over my body… Wait…”
“Please,” Luna scoffed, “I am appalled you would suggest that I debase myself with such distasteful methods of interrogation. Besides I don’t have the time,” the princess continued, “We have far more effective methods of obtaining the information we seek. I dislike having to do this, but you leave me little choice.”
Closing her eyes Luna began to enter a seemingly trance like state. When she opened her eyes moments later her eyes glowed with the same blue as her magic aura. Scarab stared in bewilderment at the sight for a few short seconds before suddenly he found himself in a trance as well, the same blue-glow in his eyes.
*****
It all came rapidly. Flashes of memories, glints of emotion, fragments of thoughts and fears. There was a lot to sift through, enough to easily overwhelm a pony. Luna however knew what she was doing, and within the raging torrent of memories she found what she was looking for.
She could see it as if she was there herself. Before her stood Queen Chrysalis facing the sinister silhouette of an all too familiar Pokémon.
“Do not worry,” buzzed the changeling matriarch towards the ghastly figure, “I’ll make sure to have one of my finest infiltrators on the job. I have every confidence that he will succeed with this little plan of yours.” Chrysalis turned her head to look back at were Luna was. Only it wasn’t Luna she was looking at. “Isn’t that right Scarab?”
Luna could feel the sudden burst of confusion, then realisation, then excitement as a familiar voice sounded from her viewpoint, “Oh, yes your majesty. Absolutely no problem whatsoever. You have my word.”
“Very well,” echoed the deep menacing voice of the Pitch-Black Pokémon, just before the figure vanished in a cloud of darkness.
The Pokémon gone Chrysalis turned her full attention towards Luna’s direction with a look that gave equal amounts of trust and intimidation, “Now then Scarab, you understand what you need to do, don’t you…?”
*****
Luna shook her head a few times as she awoke from the trance, her eyes returning to normal. Same with Scarab who followed suit. Luna had gotten what she came for after all, and don’t want to spend any more time there than she had to.
“I see. So the plan was to lead me down these caves into an ambush to attempt to capture me before handing me over to Darkrai. I suspected as much,” surmised Luna.
“What? But... How did?” stuttered an absolutely stunned Scarab, still hovering in the air.
“I read your mind” began explaining Luna, “It’s similar to the magic that allows me to walk dreams. Albeit a more intrusive variation of it.”
“You did what?” snapped Scarab, who found the experience disconcerting to say the least. Having the private, inner-most depths of his psyche, probed by an alien force that coursed through his brain like a flood. “So what? Do you know everything I know now?"
“I know enough,” Luna responded, “Such as the fact that this invasion you’ve conjured up is merely a diversion so you can attempt to isolate me. As such, I see no further reason to remain down here.”
As Luna spoke, Scarab found himself being gently lowered back to earth. The changeling’s legs buckled as his feet made contact with the ground, as the weight of gravity fell upon him again for the first time in what felt like forever. The glow of Luna’s magic quietly dissipating from his body, leaving him no different than before.
“Now as interesting as this little escapade has been,” Luna dryly remarked, “if you’ll excuse me, I must go and find my sister. There is much for us to discuss. Come Tiberius.” And with that Luna began making her way back towards the exit to the caves. Tiberius poking his head out from the princess’ mane to stick his tongue out towards the changeling. Leaving behind a rather confused Scarab.
“Wait? That’s it? You’re just going to walk away?” He questioned.
“Well I can’t exactly fly away can I?” the princess sharply retorted, without as much as breaking a step.
“And you’re just going to leave me here?” implored the changeling with bewilderment. “You’re not going to beat me up or anything?”
“Why would I?” Luna responded, stopping momentarily to provide a sideways glance toward Scarab, “Your plan has well and truly been foiled. You have been robbed of your guises, and hoaxes. Without such deceptions in your arsenal any threat you and your cohorts would possess now, is effectively non-existent. And as cathartic as it may be, I see no point in wasting time and energy on such a meager opponent when there are actual threats that need to be addressed.”
Scarab’s eye twitched, his face twisted in some sort of puzzled, half-snarl, with one eye wide open and the other squinting tightly, both in disbelief to what he had heard. Was she for real? Maybe the princess’ mind intrusion did more damage than he thought, because what she said was utter nonsense. Not the part where she called Scarab weak - While it was unsavoury, there was no doubting the vastly significant disparity in power, both physically and magically, between the two of them. Scarab was very much aware of that fact; not that it wouldn’t stop him from trying – No the madness came from the complete disregard she displayed towards Scarab as any sort of danger. What kind of idiot leaves an enemy free to run amok, to relay new intelligence, to leave them the opportunity to attack again with more power and numbers? Chrysalis certainly wouldn’t have made such a mistake. She would have assured that any foe, no matter how beaten or helpless they remained, would have been well and truly…. dealt with.
Yet here was this pony, a princess, seemingly ignorant to what you think would be common sense. She was either a complete dunce who only managed to trick Scarab into revealing his identity with sheer luck, or she was so arrogant, so certain of her own invulnerability, that she simply didn’t care.
“Are you serious?” Scarab exclaimed, “You know I can just go tell the others what’s going on right? What’s to stop me and my hive-mates from coming back and attacking you again?”
Luna sighed softly before turning around to face her detractor, speaking with commanding confidence. “Your dedication is commendable shapeshifter, but misguided. Despite all you have done I am doing my best at attempting to show you mercy. Yet you somehow insist on wearing at my patience, and unlike my sister, my patience is not unlimited. So I will provide you with one last opportunity to accept my leniency, and all you have to do is one thing. Leave. I assure you this conflict with me, that you so zealously insist on, is not something you or your ‘hive-mates’ want anything to do with. So I suggest you take this chance for you and your companions to escape these mines, and hope you manage to make it out before I send in my Night Guard.”
*****
Mercy? That was a concept Scarab was unfamiliar with. Oh, he knew what mercy was… theoretically, but the idea of actually showing it was ludicrous. It made sense though that the soft-hearted ponies would recognize such idealistic nonsense. After all what would they, who live with an abundance of love and friendship, know of hardship and discomfort?
Changelings had no home, no lands to call their own. They were nomads, wonderers, always moving, always in a constant search for emotional energy, especially that most substantial emotion of all. Love. Every now and again the Hive would come upon a place filled with love, where they would settle momentarily after subduing the local inhabitants, and enjoy a rare feast of emotions. But soon the love would dry out and they would be forced to seek out more, and there was only so much love to go around.
To survive a changeling had to be strong, they had to be ruthless. Mercy, forgiveness, compassion, there were luxuries they could not afford. That was because the hive demanded strength. Weakness would not be tolerated. After all it wasn’t just the life of a single changeling that was at stake. For if a changeling failed in their duty, if they were unable to acquire enough love, it would not be they alone who suffered. And they needed that love, they needed to stay strong, through cunning, through guile, through whatever it took. Because if you were not a changeling you were the enemy, and there were a lot of enemies out there.
Scarab had learned to always be on guard, always keep an enemy second guessing and if an opponent exposed any form of weakness, and mercy was a weakness, to do his best to exploit it. So what do you do then when the opponent in question was an alicorn?
Scarab knew the night princess was powerful, but it was only now dawning on him exactly what it was he was up against. It seemed the rumors he had heard of ‘Nightmare Moon’s’ escapades into the night to fight the most ferocious beast she could find looked to be true after all. But that didn’t matter anymore, no matter how powerful she was someway, somehow Scarab was going to find a way to defeat her. And he was going to make sure she knew it was him that was responsible for it. That’s what you get for showing compassion to the enemy.
“Fine I’ll leave,” the indignant Scarab scornfully answered the princess “But you’re the one who should be trying to escape from here.”
“You mean what I was attempting to do before I was interrupted by you?” Luna sassily retorted.
“Joke all you want princess,” Scarab bitterly replied, “But I’ll be having the last laugh. This won’t stop anything, Darkrai’s still coming after you.”
Luna had no reply. She tried her best to hide it, but that name alone caused the previously unflappable princess to freeze. Each and every one of her muscles clenched into a tightly wound ball of nerves. Her face that had been formally apathetic to the changeling's words, had contorted into a look of quiet apprehension and anxiety.
“Ha, I knew it!” shouted Scarab, unquestionably pleased with himself for managing to get a reaction out of the princess other than indifference. “I don’t know what exactly that thing is, but you are scared of him aren’t you?”
Luna didn’t respond, just continued to sit there staring intently at the changeling, who was brimming with sudden newfound confidence.
“Well you should be scared, because he’s coming for you. I don’t know why he’s after you, but I know he’s not going to stop. He’s going to hunt you down and nothing’s going to stop him. So run while you can Princess, because Darkrai’s coming for you, and I’m going to be there with him. And then you will be reminded of the humiliation you gave me today, and you will weep for you know you had it coming. You will rule the day that you messed around with Sca-“
*****
Scarab’s limp body hit the cavern wall with a thud, the full force of Luna’s concussive blast easily knocking him from his feet, leaving the unconscious changeling tumbling to the ground.
“It appears I was wrong, I do have the time and energy after all,” the princess of the night grumbled to herself as she turned away from her fallen foe, “That’s what I get for trying to act like my sister. I don’t know how she does it.”
With the latest cause of her aggravation dispatched, and the flick of her mane, Luna seemed to momentarily return to her usual confident, bombastic, regal self, “Now than Tiberius, let us finally make our leave of this place, we’ve dawdled in this cave for far too long, it is high time we returned to my sister and then…”
‘And then what? Run away again? Hide in our room waiting for Darkrai to come after us?’
Luna lowered her head, downcast, her enthusiasm leaving her just as quickly as it came. The changeling, despite his hostile intentions was right. Darkrai wasn’t going to stop. Even if his plans were foiled today, all that meant was that he would hatch a new scheme tomorrow. And how many innocents would suffer because of it? Ponies, changelings, it didn’t matter to Darkrai, they were all just tools to him. To be used and exploited for his relentless ambition. He would not stop hunting after Luna, and all she could do in response was hide under blankets and hope the monster went away.
“No. Once was enough. I can’t let this keep happening.’
There was only one way Luna could be free from the Pitch-Black Pokémon’s looming shadow over Equestria, and that was if he was defeated here and now. Yes Darkrai was a terribly powerful creature, but not as much as Luna’s fear made him out to be. Celestia, Discord, the elements of harmony, these were forces far greater than his. That was why he worked in the shadows to begin with, because he could be beaten.
‘He may be a legendary Pokémon, but even legendries have weaknesses’
Oh course this reassurance did little to quell Luna’s anxiety. Darkrai would not be fool enough to just drop down in front of Celestia. No, if Darkrai was to be defeated they would need a better understanding of his plans, and for that she needed… bait.
*****
With a heavy sigh Luna reached with her forehoof to collect a wary Tiberius from her back, lifting him off and placing the loyal opossum to the ground next to her.
“Tiberius, I have a special assignment for you,” Luna addressed her furry companion, who looked back worryingly at his mistress, “I need you to return to the castle and find Alucard for me.”
The small mammal titled his head to the side as if not sure what Luna had said. The princess meanwhile closed her eyes and began chanting some form of incantation. Magicks spiralled around her horn until it condensed into a small, solid, orb it it’s tip, that Luna was able to remove with her hoof and pass on the small glowing sphere onto Tiberius, that was just small enough to fit the opossums paws. “Give this to Alucard, it will explain to him what I need him to do.”
Tiberius stared at the warm orb that glowed with a failure blue light in his paws before turning his attentions back to the princess. He knew what it was, a messaging spell. Luna had often used such magic containing orders and requests for Tiberius to deliver when the princess was too busy or too lazy to do herself. That did not at all comfort the opossum.
“Do not worry about me Tiberius,” trying her best to sound like the princess she was, “I can handle a few changelings.”
Tiberius cast his head down and away from the orb toward the ground in concern. Luna couldn’t blame him, she could tell Tiberius understood was she was planning to do. It wasn’t as if she liked the idea either.
Luna drew in as close as she could to the little animal, bringing in her forehoof to coddle her furry friend’s head, “Please Tiberius, I need you to do this.” The princess explained to her pet, “I understand your reservations, but Alucard and the others need to know what’s happening. Please, I’m counting on you.”
After a moment’s hesitation the opossum gazed up, eyes filled with determination, stood as straight as its body would allow and gave his princess a hearty salute, before scurrying off towards the exit to the caverns as fast as his little legs could carry him. Clutching onto the message orb as tight as he could.
Luna watched as her loyal pet scampered off toward the surface, a faint smile of respect towards the brave mammal, “Thank you Tiberius, I have every confidence in your success,” she proudly muttered to herself for a moment, before taking a deep breath and beginning her march further within the unknown deaths of the crystal caves and whatever perils awaited her. She sighed, “I hope Alucard and the others are doing alright.”
*****
“So how many changelings is that?” Lestat asked confidently, as he struck down yet another of the black insect-like creatures. “I lost count after 25.”
“It’s not a competition.” replied Alucard sternly, “But for the record it’s 29 - 36 me” the stallion declared just before one last changing lunged at him from the rear, and was promptly bucked into a nearby wall. “Make that 37.”
“I think that’s the last of them anyway” Lestat said disappointedly, as he looked around the room now full of unconscious and semi-conscious changelings. “You know,” the young stallion continued, “I almost thought we might be in trouble there for a second. Like the time the princess took us out to fight that Ursa Major.”
“You think that was a challenge?” Alucard scoffed in reply “You should have been there when the princess wanted to know how many times you can cut off a Hydra’s heads before they stop re-sprouting. That was a battle of Legend.”
“So, I think maybe we should tell someone about all this?” suggested Lestat, sitting his hindquarters atop of fallen changeling, who gave out a gasp of discomfort, “or you know, find someone who might know why there are changelings running around the royal palace again?”
“Agreed,” the veteran officer concurred, “Lestat, you remain and secure the area. Make sure there aren’t any more changelings lurking about.”
“No problem chief,” affirmed the young soldier as the changeling he was sitting upon tried its best to rise up and move the bat-pony above him. Only to have her efforts quickly fail as Lestat responded by rising up his rump to then bring his weight crashing back down again, incapacitating the poor changeling. “What about you?”
Alucard’s response was simple, “I must return to check on Princess Luna and inform her of what’s happening,”
“Yeah, good idea,” agreed Lestat, “I’m sure she’s fine, she is the princess after all, but this is definitely the sort of thing she would want to know about. Especially after that tongue-lashing she gave you for letting her sleep through the last invasion.”
Alucard let out a small groan, not happy to be reminded of that event, “that aside, with changelings running about and still no contact with the others, it would be beyond irresponsible to leave the princess in the dark about all this.”
His mission confirmed, Alucard stretched out his dark leathery wings and gave out another command “You have your orders soldier, I expect you to carry them out well. And remember the changeling protocol.”
Lestat finally lifted himself off from his changeling cushion to give his reply “If we see anyone, we hit them in the face.”
“Good work soldier,” the veteran quickly acknowledged, before launching himself into the air and flying down the hall back towards Luna’s chamber.
Lestat gazed upon the mess of defeated changelings. There was no relish of the victory as was to be expected. Instead the rookie guardsman gave a sigh before mumbling something to himself, “I’m sure the princess is fine.”
*****
The trek through the caverns took longer than she thought, with numerous branching passages and dead ends it would have been easy to get lost down here. Fortunately thanks to the memories she recovered from Scarab, Luna was able to navigate her way through the twisting tunnels and passages to her destination fairly easily.
It was a large open cavern. From her position at the entrance Luna could see how the ground to her right sloped down gently towards a large pool of water that was positioned two dozen or so meters from her. A strange, soft green glow seemed to emanate from the pool, possibly due to a reaction to the crystals that lay within. For that matter many of the numerous crystal deposits seemed to be glowing, or at the very least reflecting a lot of light. As such the cavern was fully illuminated, at least as much as a well-lit house with a lot of candles.
To her left a was tall ridge of stone, the height of which reached a few metres short of the cavern roof, while its length hugged the cavern wall, curling around with the contours of the stone, all the way along the wall on the opposite side of Luna until it came to an abrupt end just before the glowing pool.
“Let’s see, only a single entrance, excellent vantage points, and just the right amount of illumination to take advantage of both.” Luna softly surmised to herself as she steadily trotted into the, more-or-less, centre of the cavern, “a good place for an ambush.”
No sooner had she said those words than two screeching black shapes flew at her from the top of the ridge. Luna managed to leap out of the way of the two changeling attackers, but before she could take a moment to catch her breath she was caught off-guard by a bolt of emerald flame that just managed to miss her. She quickly looked up towards the spell’s probable origin point amongst the ridges to see another jet of flame heading straight towards her. Luna leapt into the air twisting her body to in an attempt avoid the flaming missile. The attack still managed to graze her rear leg, though it left no visible sign of damage.
Pressing their advantage, the first set of attackers became airborne, the buzz of their insectoid wings echoing throughout the cavern, with one charging at the princess. Luna ascended further to evade the assault, souring up to the cavern’s ceiling. The two changeling attackers hovering some space below her, while two more Insectoid assailants flew up behind her to join in the assault.
“Let’s see, that’s four so far, possibly six. From what I learned from that infiltrator there should be around twelve. Still rather lacklustre for an ambush I would say. They must be counting on that secret weapon of theirs.”
The changelings from below swooped in for another offensive. Luna flew to the side, easily evading the assault. However the attack didn’t seemed to be directed at her, and on top of that was slow and wide granting her plenty of room to maneuverer. Another attack from the side forcing Luna back again. It was a half-hearted offensive that didn’t seem interested in doing any actual damage. That clinched it for her. The changelings weren’t attacking her, they were corralling her, trying to force her into a specific position.
Unfortunately she realised it too late, as more changelings moved in to surround her. One gathered up what little magic power the shapeshifter held to fire a jet of green flame towards the princess. Luna dove out of the way of the incendiary attack, but that was when there trap was sprung. A sudden surge of dark, foreboding, light come from below her as a magical rune came to life the moment she moved over it. Luna had only a moment to realise what it was before as set of massive, black, shadowy chains erupted from the ground. The princess attempted to evade them, but the chains followed her and moved too quickly, latching onto her hind-legs. Luna tried to shake them off as best she could, but one grabbed her by the waist, wrapping around her and binding her wings. Soon her whole body was shackled by the fiendish chains that not so peacefully, pulled her to the ground.
Luna struggled as best she could, but the ebon chains were too think and too heavy. She was all but helpless, barely able to move at all, as the changelings descended around their captured prize.
‘I recognise this spell,’ Luna thought with frustration, ‘This is dark magic. Not the type the changelings would be able to use either. This magic is ancient. Primal. Only one pony I know that would dare to harness such malignant power…’
Suddenly the cave was filled with that roar of deep, diabolical laughter that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once, and from the cracks, crevasses and shadows of the cavern emerged a thick, black smoke. The black miasma crawled along the floor converging into a cloud of evil in front of the princess. The cloud begin to shape itself into a familiar looking from, then from the darkness a being began to materialize. Smoke and shadow made way for fur and hoof and where the cloud once was now stood a pony.
A unicorn to be precise, a grey coated stallion, with a huge, black, wild mane, wearing an elaborate suit of steal armor, with a red velvet cape sown into it. But his most striking features was his massive, daunting red horn and his sinister, malevolent green eyes.
Luna’s eyes narrowed, partly out of alarm, but mostly out of scorn. Before her stood a creature of pure evil. A malicious tyrant, filled with nothing, but spite and malice that lived only to bring pain and suffering to others. A pathetic creature who discarded his heart in exchange for power.
“Sombra,” Luna sneered.
The umbral unicorn chuckled to himself, a wide malicious smile flashed upon his face. “In the flesh, Princess.”