Tomb of Magic

by Ice Star

Chapter 17: The Possession of Twilight Sparkle

Starswirl the Bearded was going to die a second time, and I would be the one who put the entire plan in motion. I landed on a patch of ground which, like the rest of this valley, was slowly being destroyed by the swirling mist that he had been reduced to.

My landing was not noticed and I didn't flinch as the snow was scattered even further, swirling around me as much as it did the phantom.

"Ahem, " I said flatly, loud enough to grab his attention.

The phantom fixed its two lifeless and cruel glowing yellow eyes on me. Slowly, I watched as Starswirl changed, compressing from a peculiar looking blizzard to a translucent white spectre with the whorls of windigo that encased an ancient looking skeleton that was undoubtedly his. Parts of it were worn and scarred from the cold, while the lower portion of the rib cage was missing many fragments as if he had been stabbed there long ago.

The rest of the plan... I forgot it... what was I supposed to do?!

"Well, Purple Eyesore, you were able to get him to revert into a much more perishable state for me. How nice."

Sombra appeared next to me via teleportation and Starswirl's 'eyes' – mere floating pinpricks of that awful yellow light – flickered in a way that almost looked like fear, perhaps even confusion.

"Onyx, how are you still alive...? It has been over a thousand years, and you are but a mortal, changed!"

Sombra growled even more maliciously, lifting a lip into a fearsome, chilling snarl and I could see his teeth, which when they weren't dark magic-induced fangs still had a noticeable point if you looked closely.

"It seems that's twice today I was mistaken for somepony I'm not. I'm Sombra, we met once before, you remember when I stabbed you with those nice crystals of mine? Good times. But hey," he flashed a momentary smile that was cruelly sardonic, and changed his tone to match effortlessly. "Let's stop the nostalgia already. I already know who you are, and unlike Onyx I can see the future, and you wanna know what you'll be about three minutes from now?"

"...What?"

Starswirl still seemed a bit lost on the whole 'I'm Sombra and I stabbed you a long time ago.' But he did seem to take Sombra's last remark seriously. Sombra lit up his horn, now grinning widely, showing off fang. His expression was so vengeful that the malice of it sent shivers down my spine. Shivers of fear that his wry tone only worsened...

"Completely screwed."

...

SOMBRA PUT A MENTAL LOCK ON ME! That was the spell he did just then, a mental unlock. I can't believe he tricked me!

I turned to yell at him but saw his face with eyes like two red fires and a maniac smile as he cast another spell. Everything around us with the exception of him was bathed in a blanket of crimson aura.

He had frozen everything within a hundred feet. Including me!

But then Sombra was gone; that really seemed to scare Starswirl quite a bit.

Where did he go?! I thought, holding my breath.

In a split second, I got my answer as Sombra appeared right next to me, but he was staring at Starswirl with such fierce hatred that I had to look away, overcome by a wave of nausea.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds – seconds that I thought I could spare – and told myself it would all be over soon.

When I opened my eyes, I realized I had made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. A shadow that was undoubtedly Sombra was swirling around me faster than my eyes could trace. This was not part of the plan...

Except that 'the plan' was just a distraction of some sort, wasn't it...?

The shadow got closer and my last rational thought before everything went wrong was that Sombra was never on my side, or Equestria's, was he?

The only side Sombra was on was his own.

My head felt foggy, and I knew I should be scared, right? Panicked. Out of my mind, but no. At this point it was as if all the fear inside me were compressed into a tiny ball and shoved away, and I was too drained to use it as everything around me moved slowly, even though I knew that was wrong, a product of my racing heart and mind too shocked to even be petrified.

In a second I was sure I blinked and the world, Sombra-the-Shadow, and everything was speeding up and blurring together as the shadow got closer and closer...

My seemingly dead mind was brought into the terror I had previously lacked by overwhelming waves of burning pain as the shadow seeped into me, causing me to scream like I don't think I've ever screamed before.

Inside, my head suddenly felt crushed and crammed like I was in some sort of terrible tug of war even more painful and maddening than when I’d screamed. I almost had to force myself to think, until I was able to wrestle a bit of control to form an independent thought in what felt like a slow and paralyzing eternity...

Phobos... sword... what... if... cut out Sombra... yeah... just gotta... get... s... w... ord...

As quickly as I could, I grabbed the sword, only aware that time seemed to be deceiving me into making all these instantaneous decisions. It seemed to drag on forever as I locked my magenta magic aura onto the sword, all the while watching as it flickered weakly until disappearing completely for a moment as I screamed again, convulsing in agony as all my nerves seemed to burn. A blast of dark magic forced itself out of my horn and engulfed it in dark aura, causing it to grow from a fairly simple broadsword to a cluster of äerint crystals hacked into the crude shape of a scythe as they swarmed and twisted around the sword's whole form, engulfing it.

I almost fell, barely holding onto the weapon as it felt like I was hit in the head from the inside. Something, or rather somepony, was in there.

Somepony dark. Somepony evil, and somepony who would do anything to get whatever they wanted, and step over anypony to get there because they were that filled with hate and malice... and just pure evil. This time I did crumple to the ground, my breathing shallow and frantic as I felt my horn twist into a crooked snake-like shape somewhere in between my own and Sombra's. More pain stabbed at my mouth as my teeth began to grow into fangs.

I could feel my leg bones trying to elongate, as if something inside of me needed to modify my body in order to function. I rolled around on the ground and kept screaming as pure dark magic began to pour out of me. As if to accommodate and channel this, a second horn just as crooked as mine was now beginning to grow out of my skull. Tears like oil forced themselves out of my eyes, becoming that unmistakable smoke. These were ways my body was not meant to contort.

My consciousness felt like it was thrown, like I was being tossed around in a closed-off room by someone who would rather see me get tossed out a window until I believed I was half-forced out of my own head and my senses felt dulled, although it barely helped with the pain. I was astounded that this macabre transformation happened in under a minute – during that time I had experienced an eternity's worth of pain.

A demented laugh ripped through my throat in a voice I could barely identify as my own, for I could say only a third of it even had traces of me in it. The other two thirds? One sounded like Sombra, although if you had good ears and listened closely... well I swear I heard a demon… Or perhaps it was a third voice that was entirely different, as it didn't sound like Sombra's or mine one bit, but both of ours in horrible tandem - he was using mine, and I heard it scratched over his, like a cheap coat of paint is applied to a wall.

Starswirl, who despite his wickedness, draconian personality and umm... wraith-ness, looked bewildered, staring at me as if I were a monster, and I was not. I'm Twilight; Twilight Sparkle the Princess of Friendship, Spark of Magic, Faithful Student... and I have a family and friends... I'm not a monster! Not like Sombra!

Sombra twisted my face into a grotesque sneer, my gums bleeding from the fangs had left my teeth streaked with the metallic-tasting stuff.

"You thought you were powerful, didn't you?"

Starswirl was quiet. I could see him tremble. He didn't have power any more.

"Well, you should be thanking me for allowing you to relive your cowardice a second time!"

Sombra used my magic – now consumed by darkness – to slam the scythe down.

It was deadly quiet.

"Do you even know what this is?!" Sombra snarled. "The first time I killed you, it was in tandem with Onyx. That was his revenge for how you treated him. But because of how you treated him, he came out worse and was even more brutal than before, especially to me! So now, this will be my revenge on you. Because if there is one thing you should always remember..."

Sombra paused and I, even in this strange state, could detect an unbearable tension, especially since I could feel the flesh on my legs slowly starting to burn away. This magic wasn't good. It was too powerful, and it hurt so much. Only the most vile beings would use this kind of magic, right? Of course.

Was he trying to kill me? It felt like it.

I heard a whizzing noise and soon my eyes locked in on the scythe blade cutting through the air as magic brought the crescent shape in contact with Starswirl's throat, where the glowing orb that represented all that was left of his power pulsed dimly.

I couldn't look away and I wanted to more than anything. I didn't want to see anypony die. I didn't want to see my hero die.

"...I'M NOPONY'S WEAPON!"

I screamed while he laughed.

Comments

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Intense.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

That scene where Twi got the sword was pretty awesome.

[Ice Star]

10275515
Swords are unable to not be awesome.

[Bicyclette]

The shadow got closer and my last rational thought before everything went wrong was that Sombra was never on my side, or Equestria's, was he?

The only side Sombra was on was his own.

aww, that is a rational thought!

A demented laugh ripped through my throat in a voice I could barely identify as my own, for I could say only a third of it even had traces of me in it. The other two thirds? One sounded like Sombra, although if you had good ears and listened closely... well I swear I heard a demon… Or perhaps it was a third voice that was entirely different, as it didn't sound like Sombra's or mine one bit, but both of ours in horrible tandem - he was using mine, and I heard it scratched over his, like a cheap coat of paint is applied to a wall.

oh, Sombra possessing Twilight and using her is so cool! also she gets fangies! uwu

"...I'M NOPONY'S WEAPON!"

aww, that’s what Luna said!