Sombra:
What have I done in the year since my last run in with a princess? Equestria is a remarkably big place and I've already disregarded the borders that divide each and everything from one another, so there was nothing to keep me from going where I pleased. This included associating with that business family in Las Pegasus, who were decently surprised when they learned the identity of their latest colleague. But for now, I think I'll let what happened in Las Pegasus stay in Las Pegasus.
The last thing I expected to be seeing this one summer was any kind of contact from Pink One any time soon. She is the one that has tried to back up the claim that she has responsibilities. Apparently, that responsibility doesn't extend to decent hoof writing and sending scrolls to me that she hasn't spilled that yellow colored juice ponies like to consume in the mornings on. She's lucky I'm still able to read a single word of this.
S,
Oh, so I'm just 'S' now? Is she really going so far to deprive the Right-Honourable Lord Sombra of the rest of his name? 'S' could be anypony without proper context like that husband of hers, Shiny Sparkle. That starts with an 'S' too, Pink One.
Really, this wounds me.
In the next few lines, her letters start to appear more and more jumbled to the point where some of her hastily scribbled words have no space between them. I'll excuse the lack of punctuation - somepony was clearly in a hurry - but otherwise this is decently disgusting to look at.
Ineed you toteleport, if you can, toParadise. It'simportant and you'vebeen there before and you'reimmortal so itwill work, remember? I got a letter fromAuntie aboutsomething super important but she wouldn't quite saywhat but it's a summit, S.
I'mwriting this as quickly aspossible while eating, but you have to go. I'll be there and ifthe words 'dark magic' meananything toyou thenyou'll want to come.
Ithinkwe'll be needing you whether somepony wants to admit itor not. Idrewup a spell foryou in case something you tryfails. You won't have to worryabout me exploding since eventhough Twi and I aren'timmortal we did somethingvery similar tobecome alicorns whichallows usto bypass this.
She'll probably bethere too, and I don't mean Twi.
-Cadance
Flame crawls along the edge of the scroll and eats it away once I finish reading, and the ashes fall to the ground in the instant I ready a teleportation spell, trying to recall everything I can about the poorly-named realm of Paradise. This should be similar enough to opening a pocket dimension, but for other reasons much more difficult than teleporting from one town to another, distance excluded.
During the seasons between last summer and this one, I felt the effects of immortality begin to show with my magic. It's like a key to a door that unlocks part of yourself you always knew of but could never use. After even a single hour of introspection on a level that isn't unusual for myself, I was awed by how many limitations were removed, how much clearer each and everything felt, and how vast my already complex being was.
Immortality lets me harness that; my magic is going to be so much better from here on out and I can't wait to see how. It itches to be used even more these days.
Canterhorn Mountain fades as magic brings me elsewhere, and I catch the last glimpse of the city far below. I've long stopped looking at the castle and the buildings that gather around it in favor of my old habit of stargazing, which had lessened for a while. The horizon's call has never faded.
...
The pavilion was packed this time around. Celestia had written to more than just her former students, although this was to be expected from an orderly, if unbearable, goddess. I didn't know a single Alicorn in here. I wasn't entirely sure if everypony here was an Alicorn either, but it looked to be so. Everypony was loosely gathered around the pool from last time, each standing only a few paces away. None were gathered anywhere near the twin thrones of clear, pure crystal. Their smoothly curved surfaces reflected the twilight that had not changed since my last time here. This made the empty seats of the colossal structures look even more forsaken then they already were.
On went my hood as soon as I spotted a familiar lilac Alicorn in the distance, her gold mane waving like all the others. She was shouting something I couldn't hear at a red coated Alicorn stallion who kept shifting into various creatures and laughing too loudly at Elysium's sternness.
I should try to find Pink One before somepony notices I'm here, I think as I step out of the path of one of the gods I sensed nearby. I'm not sure how many are here, but so far there's Elysium, Pink One, Purple Eyesore, Celestia, Luna, the red one, and I even saw the gray one that appeared to collect Purple Eyesore's soul flying about. All of them are confirmed to be here, even if I haven't seen most of them, I do feel magic mingling.
I've seen two other Alicorns I do not know: a russet mare with a fiery mane and strange wings in the likeness of a butterfly and the loud colorful lights that explode in the night sky during summer, except that hers are only blue and gold. I'm unable to get a closer look at her because the second, a light blue stallion, walks by.
I don't care to look at them any more since, none of them matter to me. As I turn away, I have to evade a group that consists of Purple Eyesore and a strange hodgepodge creature who stands quite tall. He's laughing even louder than the red Alicorn, but his laughter isn't quite as thunderous. They are calling over to the blue stallion I just saw, and I decide it's best just to disable my visibility with an invisibility spell even after they've passed.
So far Purple Eyesore is the shortest creature out of all those of here. There's too much talking everywhere in the background and it's starting to get on my nerves, since a few are using that form of elevated tone that Alicorns possess and the atmosphere here is too busy to be pleasant. I find it distasteful. Everypony's waiting for something, that much is clear.
The magic here is phenomenal, I can feel it everywhere and all this magic at once is somewhat overwhelming, since it feels like standing in a snowstorm. None of them, if any, know how to come close to controlling themselves in situations like this, and I'm starting to feel a bit sick which makes it hard to pick out who's who.
By this time I'm decently annoyed, and I swear that if I don't find-
I'm startled and thrown back into focus when I hit somepony on my left side and the spell falters for a moment.
"Sombra?"
"Pink One?"
"Aww, no 'Best Niece'?"
"Don't get your hopes up." I drop the remains of the spell entirely and turn so I can see her properly. Her mane is messily pulled back with a sloppily tied blue bow that's coming undone. She doesn't have her crown or look like she's been awake for very long. Her necklace is missing as well, and she couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to wear plush slippers or gold shoes on her hooves, and ended up with two of each.
"Hi?"
I ignore her greeting and stare at the bowl she has clutched in her magic. When I fail to respond, Pink One takes a large slurp from the bowl. I'm able to see that there's some kind of grain product... err, cereals, floating inside it, along with a spoon. I have seen ponies eat this, and I don't care about that, there's something odd about this particular variety of cereal.
"Pink One?"
She stops slurping from the bowl. "Oh, sorry, what is it?"
"What are those colorful beads floating in... whatever it is you're eating?"
She looks inside, at the few bits of food that still float around. "These? They're marshmallows, Sombra."
"The fluffy sugar things?"
"Yes, those," she answers while swirling the spoon around to scoop them up.
"Why are you eating right now?"
Pink One gives one sad look at the colorful marshmallows before returning them to the bowl for now. She suggests that we move farther away from the crowd to talk, and I agree. We make our way to a column where nopony will notice us. She nearly loses one of her slippers and acts like it's the end of the world before she answers my question.
"That letter I sent, you know the one I spilled orange juice on?"
"It's yellow, not orange, and you shouldn't be attempting to slander my own when yours is barely legible."
"Well, jeez. Anyway I had to choose between writing the letter and not helping you out with your relationship."
"Say that again, and you will be Worst Niece."
She makes a muffled chirping noise in her throat before returning to the marshmallows and devouring them. I've stopped paying attention to her at this point, and my gaze travels between the carvings on the column I'm leaning against and everypony still walking about. My tail flicks and Pink One swallows a mouthful of marshmallows funny when she sees my left eye twitch as I watch all of them.
"Why is everypony even here?"
Pink One stops tilting the bowl upside down and mumbling how she was sure there had to have been more marshmallows and replaces the spoon with a clink. "Didn't I write why? Also, you don't have to keep your voice so low since it isn't like-"
Both of our gazes are drawn to the golden light that starts to grow near the thrones. There's no doubt in my mind who is behind that teleportation spell. However, the former statement isn't true. Amore is the one watching the golden light while I'm looking at the blue light forming next to it and everything else just fades...
I watch as the teleportation spells complete and everypony's gaze is drawn to the two goddesses at the foot of the otherworldly thrones. They exchange a few words before Luna slips into the crowd. I can't see her anymore! She was walking to my left and Pink One moved to tap my withers, but I became distracted when I smacked her hoof away with a short growl and now I can't see her!
From here, I'm able to see Celestia's somber gaze sweep over those that have gathered. She trots forward a few steps, around the pool's edge. She hasn't seen me or her niece who linger on the sidelines, as out of place as that is for Pink One.
She, the sun princess, starts to speak but her blinding light does not extend to taint all; I'm proof of that, and I know that wherever she is in the crowd, she is too.
As always, I reside in the shadows.
...
Celestia is not a storyteller, she cannot make me feel for what she speaks about and nothing is brought to life. She is a poorly written history text, everything is delivered simply with no detail or emotion, or at least none that I could see. I wasn't swayed by a single thing she spoke, I was as distant as ever from everything she said.
She spoke of everything that came before, except for when she didn't. It is clear to me that Celestia seems not only to be omitting things, but also speaks like she's trying to make the half-remembered anecdotes of a filly relevant to the scenario. The clipped, vaguely distressed tone, and a few signs others might have not noticed all pointed to what was obvious enough to me. Celestia knew enough of what she spoke of, but wasn't the best authority on it since she seems to be more of a witness than a direct participant, and a witness that wants to forget something as well.
Still, Celestia goes on speaking about the Alicorns which she isn't old enough to recall everything of. A few of the other Alicorns present shift either in discomfort or boredom, as they already know what Celestia is droning on about, and most likely saw it for themselves. It was about the same here, since the books in the Empire used to have all sorts of things on this, but at least all of those told me strange, new things about the world. I'm stuck listening to her and searching the crowd as best as I can from here in order to find somepony far more important to me. One of the taller Alicorns must be in the way, and Amore is still listening to Celestia speak.
I only begin to listen after I can no longer keep myself occupied recalling all my triumphant missions of when I was still in Canterlot that consisted of me lighting some annoying duke's topiaries on fire before I went off on my latest trip.
Sombra: 17 Blueblood: -3
By this time Celestia has already exhausted one universal law thoroughly, since she somehow managed to hold my attention, and with only two simple words: dark magic.
Her horn lights up and her gold magic holds something I can't see but those who can look terrified and gasp.
Pink One over here is trying to look over there, before looking at me. "Sombra, I want to go over there and-"
"Same here, follow my lead," I add and before she can protest, I see her abandon her bowl and do as I told her to. I shove Purple Eyesore aside and she turns to see who would do such a thing, looking like she's ready to scold me before she realizes just who she's looking at. Her face pales at least six shades of disgusting purple so she's almost as light as her mentor before she squeaks and runs away, but not before giving a friendly look to Amore here.
Two magenta-gray eyes catch sight of me. Celestia, her face flushed with hatred, goes back to speaking and pretending she didn't see me. I can see what rests in her magic, and Amore can too. It is some kind of creature, or rather the mangled corpse of one. There is neither fur or scale upon its body and it radiates the same magic within me, which tinges the flat silver and white body it has gray. The maw hangs open as if it is gasping for breath, and it plainly shows off rows of jagged teeth that could only belong to a carnivore. Blood runs from various gashes on the skin, although it is quite clear to me that the gaping wound somewhere along the belly is what killed it. The creature reeks of water and has been dead for quite a while. I can hear Amore gag behind me before she leaves. Like most ponies, she is unable to stomach the dead, and a dead animal that has gone through abuse, too.
Some of the enchantments that I can feel on it are to keep the flesh from rotting, but the others are for something that I can read, but don't understand. Most have to do with some kind of water.
Celestia goes on to mention how this... well whatever kind of creature this is... was found by somepony called a 'sea-pony'. I still don't know what that is. Or who. Which is it?
None of this prepares me for what I see on the side, which is barely intact. Letters in familiar spidery hoofwriting have found their way there, and images of pages from the Book swim around when I blink my eyes. They feel the same, and with the exception of the materials used, the writing is identical. Each letter is held in place by all too familiar crystals that stretch to keep each wound readable, their surfaces bloody from doing so.
I haven't bothered to read what is laid out there, since out of everypony here, I don't have to. It doesn't matter anyway, since a piece of äerint bursts, the small shards flying as violet and green fire tears across the cold form of the creature before whirling and disappearing. By this time somepony is shouting at one another and I've slipped out of the circle and gone back to the sidelines, having disappeared from the crowd that didn't even know I was there.
I'm not at the same pillar as before and 'out of sight, out of mind' is an understatement for this crowd, since I watch somepony else slip away as I do.
It's Luna.
She's looking awfully thoughtful about something by the look in her eye, a welcome contrast to what is now arguing in the background. A black cloak that I don't think I've seen before is draped about her form and her magic is fumbling a bit with the hood. Even though she appears to be 'lost in thought' I'd say she's quite present, a quality I don't see too often. The way she holds herself is terribly intriguing.
The stone of the column, which I would have taken for marble if it weren't for how natural and intricate the vine relief on it looks, feels cool as I lean against it. Luna isn't close enough to realize I'm here, and I can see quite clearly that she's not sticking around, and I wasn't planning on it either... especially not when she isn't.
Just before her horn lights up in a teleportation spell that only I'll see, I cast a nice tracking spell that I'm thankful to have learned so I know exactly where she'll end up.
Her and I will being heading to the same place, and as she vanishes I do too, because from here on out things are going to be quite interesting. I didn't need to read what was cut on that strange creature's skin to know what's going to happen.
Whoever ended the old world wants to end the new one too.