Tomb of Magic

by Ice Star

Chapter 4: Sharing Knowledge

When I woke up, the sun was shining on the mountains and hills of Equestria, and Sombra was staring blankly at me as I hoisted myself right side up. Sleeping upside down on a train seat could only be improved by cushions so much.

"Good morning?" I offered. He may be one of the few ponies - okay, Tirek didn't count as a pony and neither did the changeling queen, but still - that I really do hate, but why did I need to show that so early in the morning? I was going to be the better pony and a true Princess of Friendship.

"How do you sleep like that?"

He must have caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window, because he smoothed his ragged mane a bit so it didn't look quite as ruffled, but it stayed disheveled all the same.

"Were you watching me sleep?" I asked, extremely creeped out. That kind of behavior would be way different from Princess Luna's dreamwalking.

He reeled back in what seemed to be suppressed anger, but when wasn't he angry?

"NO! I was waiting for you to wake up, there is a difference."

Creep. There was no way I was going to believe him when he was king a claim like that. I'll just have to keep an even more careful eye on him and stay as civil as possible, even if he doesn't deserve it at all.

"Okay, well I'm awake now."

You're a creep Sombra. An awful, horrid creep. I hope he didn't do this to Cadance. She never mentioned him being creepy, at least not to me. She must have been so embarrassed... maybe I'll talk to her about it? It's not that I hate stallions or weird mysterious ponies - I'm not a mare prone to prejudice like that and know some 'weird and mysterious types'.

He cleared his throat very loudly. "Listen Purple Eyesore, I got your message..."

And is he here to apologize? I sat up a bit straighter. He's finally come to his senses!

"...and I came up with the solution."

I wilted at this and watched as he gestured to the table on the opposite side of the car where a disturbing amount of bottles were strewn on the floor, ones that I had been too tired to notice - bottles of what, I couldn't see. I regret being a bit of a deep sleeper when it comes to trains. They just rock me right to sleep.
What struck me as strange was not how I didn't notice this immediately - again, I was probably just really tired - but that the cup on the table was filled with the most unholy looking concoction of liquid I had ever laid eyes on...

By Luna and Celestia and all of Equestria...

Sombra rolled his eyes when he noticed me pointing. "Yes, I was going to get to that if you were patient."

"What exactly do-"

"Quiet. Now. I'm talking. How does anypony ever put up with you?"

I wonder the same about you. But I didn't say that.

Better let him blowhard on I guess, though hopefully I can find out what he plans to do with that... potion.

"According to the letter and other objects you have that I looked through when you weren't paying attention-"

He did not... How much of my stuff did he see? What kind of creepy things is he up to?

"-Celestia wants me to teach you these runes..."

He magically grabbed the book from my bag and dangled it in front of my face.

"...and since neither of us can seem to, ah, cooperate, I decided to make this."

His magic aura enveloped the strange drink for emphasis.

"Which is what?"

He sighed and grumbled something to himself.

"This is a combination of various, carefully measured liquids from that car containing food - because you just had to have a passenger train - that based on the contents should make the drinker very drowsy and slow their reactions, which definitely has to to something with the bit of alcohol in it, but don't worry, that's not even among the top ten things I put in this, I have standards to how I drug ponies. On an unfortunate note, it might make you throw up, and that will annoy me."

"What?! Are you saying you want me to drink that?"

"No, but I've heavily implied it, now haven't I?" He smirked.

"Why can't it be you?" I protested. "Why does this need to be ingested by anypony in the first place?"

His expression went from unamused to annoyed. "Disoriented teachers don't function for one, two I need a 'student' I can put up with, if I am to teach you anything with non-lethal tactics, three I'm the last pony in the world you would ever want to see after they consume this, since I'll have you know that there's still enough alcohol in here to at least get a pony my size moderately tipsy, and I'm a lightweight."

He honestly struck me as more of a heavy drinker, but alright... I didn't like the look he was giving me... and I don't want to know just how much of everything else - whatever everything else even is - he put in there if enough to make him tipsy qualifies as 'not among the top ten'.

"You didn't put bleach in there, did you?"

He glared at me like I asked him if pegasai could fly. "No, I aim to drug you, not kill you in a place that makes you too hard to dispose of. Do you realize that there's more to a proper murder than me just slitting your throat? I didn't poison this, but I gladly will if you ask me to."

"But that still doesn't excuse-"

His 'I'm fed up with this' expression softened and changed, but not exactly in a way helpful to my situation. Instead he now looked like his normal scheming, cocky, unamused self, like he was trying to make it obvious that he knew something I didn't.

"You know you are completely lost without me."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know exactly where Starswirl the Bearded's refuge is and have been there in the past."

That did it. I stood up and walked across the car, smashing my hat onto my head.

Hopefully this will end well...

"Any day now, Purple Eyesore," Sombra grumbled before giving me a smug look.

...or at least not as messily as I'm anticipating it to be.

I drank it.

...

Hic.

Sweet Celestia, Matron of Equestria, what else did he put in this?

My stomach feels like a hamster wheel filled with rocks, my throat is on fire, I can no longer feel my eyes, and my ears can taste the flavor pineapple.

"Purple Eyesore, I am not over there. Focus on the paper." said Sombra, who was sitting across from me and giving me a mild stare of sizzling apathy.

"Wh-a-at did you put in this?" I felt like I could burp for an eternity.

"Mostly dish soap and some other stuff; that's not important."

"That's poisonous! How much did you put in?"

"Only enough to make you very sick - I'm sure that lavatories will suffer because of you later - but if you want me to kill you I can do that later."

I stared down at the paper in front of me.

"Now this rune here... wait, do you remember anything I just told you?"

Hic.

"I feel dizzy."

He frowned. That's it - he just frowned. Didn't he regret any of this, even a little? I know that he enslaved an entire empire, but maybe the blast from the Crystal Heart did something to him? Maybe altered his mind just a bit to be that of a normal pony's? Or made him crazier?

"Maybe making you drink that was a bad idea, this is starting to become inconvenient for me and you might even become more insufferable because of it. I've never doubted that it was possible, but surely you might be able to fathom just how obnoxious it is having to watch over Celestia's preppy little keener?"

Hic. I wasn't quite sure what the last word was. I think it was a Crystalline phrase - I'd heard it somewhere up north before.

Ugh, I really do feel like I'm going to puke. I don't even know any spells to reverse this.

"Do you learn well through lecture? Since you aren't a very quiet pony, it'll be nice to at least hear something intelligent from myself, if it will keep you quiet."

I nodded and ignored the rest. He disgusts me.

"Okay, now drink this, it will reverse the effects of the other potion, if one can call the mixture that."

His horn lit up and a mug appeared, filled with a substance that looked like something Zecora would love - the lovechild of any bubbling potion and a smoothie. I pulled it close and began to slowly drink it, like one would cocoa by a hearth. It tasted like crayons.

"These runes are an ancient alphabet of a dead language. Its original speakers are unknown, at least, according to your," Sombra snorted slightly, "'history'."

I felt a little sick - and not from the second or the first potion, but because of the way he said 'history'. It was like he thought that knowledge - and all the academic studying in Equestria was some sort of joke. Since he was a tyrant, I wouldn't be surprised. He probably burned books and enjoyed it. If he's going to try and convince anypony that he's reformed as Discord is, he should talk to Princess Celestia and do things to help ponies, unlike what he's doing now. It isn't one bit convincing.

"It can only be traced back to the Unicorn Court in the time of the three tribes. Arcane magic is heavily complicated and requires years of study, and while it may have some uses, it's really almost a dogma and isn't as free as normal magic. It is directly controlled by the caster, like a servant."

I think that he should have said 'slave'.

"This pony magic can be performed by any kind of pony, since some aspects require only runes an incantation and a power surge, but it isn't combined well with other kinds of magic. Although it is most potent when wielded by unicorns, and was for years considered a unicorn magic only, like most arcane arts at the time. The only other species known to wield it well are Alicorns... and the lesser alicorns like yourself, but we didn't exactly have... I digress. This magic is mostly limited to traps, curses, summoning, occasionally combat, certain forms of scrying, and limited forms of enchanting. Charms are also possible. I am one of the few ponies that can perform this kind of magic. But the books that were written on the subject..."

I sipped my drink further as I listened to this, my mind had cleared at least, and my stomach had quieted, at least for now.

"Sombra?"

"...they were one of the few things like art that the tribes had," he said quietly before he snapped back from whatever vision of the past he was thinking of. It was likely a cruel one.

"Yes?"

"Could you show me an example?"

He nodded and grabbed his sword, channeling some of his crimson magic down the blade, almost like it were something more than a barbaric tool - okay, I don't really like weapons like that? I think that high level unicorns and anypony that isn't in the service shouldn't use them. I almost freaked out when I learned Rarity owned a rapier. They just seem so... savage. I'd always want to avoid using them.
Quickly, he traced an outline on the ground until an intricate glowing circle appeared.

"Now, Purple Eyesore, an Arcane Master doesn't have to use an incantation. And an Arcane... Archmage? The ranks only went so far. Somepony at this status would have both extreme knowledge and power, enough to summon circles, runes, and everything else from memory or via power surge."

I stepped closer to the circle, brushing aside that I'd never heard those kinds of titles before. Archmages were a southern concept - but that was where all the nations that claimed there were extremely advanced civilizations before the three tribes. The theory taught and accepted in Equestria is that there were better civilizations - the Crystal Empire and underwater kingdom - but an multitude of extremely advanced ones? Eh...

"Write that rune I taught you inside the circle."

He passed his sword to me, and at first I thought he wanted to hit me, but he didn't. Shakily, I began to trace out the symbol in wobbly lines. A wide triangle with a cross, like that on an ambulance, on the bottom.

"See this?" Sombra asked showing me a small piece of torn notebook paper with some of these very peculiar runes on it.

I slowly nodded, curious to where this was heading.

"Now throw it in the circle."

With my magic I gingerly grasped the paper eyeing Sombra's writing: legible but scratchy, which was impressive, considering he wrote with a pen in his mouth instead of using magic to hold writing utensils. I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't really that powerful. Even if a unicorn - who was corrupted, at that - managed to enslave an empire as he did, it's clear he must've done it with brawns instead of brains. No wonder Princess Celestia thought I was capable of controlling him! What great feats did he have to do now that he had already been blasted by the Crystal Heart once? His evil soul must be weakened because of it.

As the paper landed in the circle I watched the glow change from its normal white to green, then to blue, then to orange, and so on.

"Wow..."

"That was nothing," Sombra said. "The rune you drew in the circle is found in ninety percent of spells in Arcane magic. Literally transcribed into other alphabets it means 'six'."

Six. Six Elements of Harmony. Magic is the Sixth, The Spark. That's why its so useful. Magic's own number is six, and it's considered a lucky number in almost every single culture. The most basic of charms can be made by incorporating it - even if a pony isn't a unicorn or Alicorn!

"So every time I write that it activates a spell?"

"It activates most. Anything fickle or complex isn't going to have the response you want with it, and if what you encounter only has Arcane principles and methods incorporated instead of the magic itself, kiss any chance of success good-bye."

"So if you can use magic why do you write with your mouth?"

He turned toward me, eyes flashing with wrath.

Oh no. How did I do something wrong...? How was that a bad question...?

"Don't ever ask me that again; lesson over," he snarled and stormed into the sleeper car.

Why was this pony so sensitive? And mean? Just what's wrong with him?

The so called 'drowsy' potion must have not had its effects completely reversed, because I fainted.

...

Sombra was the most dysfunctionally anti-social pony I knew. My lessons continued in an even more austere an distant way. As long as I asked him no questions I was allowed to 'learn' this difficult new subject despite its general familiarity of being magic. I had a feeling that he was aware of just how much this bothered me and how little I 'learned'. I bet he wanted it that way too. This lack of being able ask questions has led me to do most of my studying on my own.

Two good things came out of this: he kept 'Phobos' in its sheath and I did not have to down any more strange beverages. Other than that, we still had a way to go before we ended up in the Crystal Empire.

I enjoyed walking around the train, which definitely had a long route, considering the large amounts of stops it had and it also contained tour groups. No other ponies talked to me much outside of a friendly 'hello', which saddened me. I felt so lonely and cut off from others with Sombra. I was still nervous and slightly ashamed of what I did back in Appleloosa Territory and wondered if I was marked as 'Missing' in Ponyville or if Applejack wondered where I went or...

Deep breaths, Twilight Sparkle, deep breaths.

This regret may explain if I acquired a temporary reclusive attitude when all efforts to socialize failed. I began to keep a journal, which was no more than some tied parchment under one of the chair cushions. Sombra may have gotten into those sealed documents from Princess Celestia - ones I was planning to give him myself - where it was said that she wanted him to teach me runes, but I could still have the privacy of a journal, couldn't I?

Today's entry:

Only five more days until I see Cadance and Shining Armor. Though I wonder if he is in Canterlot so his broken leg can be checked out again. Last I heard it was getting better. I don't think I know of any other species that have such slow healing broken bones, and experts on healing magic are rare. I remember Cadance telling me how she broke a wing once and it was too risky to heal it because of the inexperience of many 'top' healers on certain kinds of breaks and complex injuries. I hope I never have to break my wings if I crash!

My rune progress is coming along well. I can't wait to talk to Cadance. Not only will it be nice to talk to a sister, but I can ask her if Sombra tried to poison her as well or if he creepily stared at her when she slept. Maybe he was the one that gave her the faint scar on her wing. I bet it's gone now, last time I saw her it was barely even visible. That made hardly even worthy of the name scar.

Though, regarding Sombra, I swear that evil pony is just waiting to skin me. Princess Celestia said she trusted him to protect me but how can he do that if he can't even shield me from his own temper?! Just what could he protect me from? He is clearly paranoid, out of his mind, unable to reply in a socially acceptable manner to simple questions or anything I say to him. All he is is some mindless sadist who has read a bit about magic and uses his power as leverage over others because he has nothing else to do other than hurt ponies who don't deserve it so that he can kill without reason. I'll have to watch him to see if he does any more strange things.

T.S.

My entries continued in this manner for about two days before I felt the need to add some more of Sombra's mannerisms: a twitch in his left eye, and a lack of diurnal behaviors. I don't think he does anything but sleep during the day, so all my 'lessons' that were with him took place at, well, twilight. I think he was aware of an irony to this.

As we neared the Empire, I began to write less and less and instead devoted my time to my solitary lessons, as frustrating as they were.

Curiously, on the day before we arrived in the Empire, I actually got a chance to sleep in the bunk car instead of on the chair. Why Sombra let me, I don't know. I think he might have been starting to feel bad, which was nice to know. Another win for Harmony! Hooray!

At least my back doesn't hurt as much anymore.

...

When I woke up, it was to a bell announcing the train's arrival. I gathered up my things and burst into the common car where a few days before I had seen a circle glow.

Sombra, and all traces of him were gone.

Guessing he woke up early, I flipped up the special chair cushion to get my journal, which I planned to show to Cadance. Evidence must be presented, after all.

It was gone.

Frantically I checked the other chairs in the car before running outside, all my effort in vain.

...

"Where is Cadance? Is my brother here?" I panted. Cadance was supposed to meet me by the Heart Square, which is where I was. A Crystal guard stood where my sister-in-law should be.

"Your brother is not here, Princess," said the guard, "I have been sent to tell you that when you arrived you should head up to the meeting room closest to the throne room."

I nodded my thanks and rushed up to the throne room, taking a few turns before coming to the door of said meeting room.

Why was it closed?

Author's Note:

This chapter was also updated and so were all the others. I'm probably too lazy to be putting the date here anymore.

Don't drink dish soap kids, no matter how pretty it looks.

Comments

[Word Worthy]

Noticed a little error here:

Sombra rolled his eyes. "Yes, I was going to get to that if you were patient."
"What exactly do-"
"Quiet. Now. I'm talking. How does anypony ever put up with up with you?"
I wonder the same about you.
Better let him blowhard on I guess, though hopefully I can find out what he plans to do with that...potion.

That was probably the tamest hallucination scene I've ever encountered in a story. Don't drink it no matter how good it smells, either.

[Ice Star]

5999307

Oh? Error how?

[Word Worthy]

5999549 The area that was in bold.

How does anypony ever put up with up with you?"

[Ice Star]

5999556

Oh.

[nebulaegalaxy]

Don't drink dish soap kids, no matter how pretty it looks.

But
But it's so beautifuuuuull

[Skulljack17]

7886059
Yeah, get with the times and get some tide pods instead!

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Starting to wonder about Sombra's past.

[August Book]

Twilight is really judgemental. Like.... damn. *Really* judgemental.

I wouldn't write down my nasty thoughts about someone in a journal where they could find it, either- while I wouldn't think Sombra would intentionally snoop if he knew it was her journal, accidents happen, and it's not exactly a good idea to insult the guy who's supposed to be your guide where he could possibly find it. Especially when Sombra's patience with her is already so clearly short.

[Bicyclette]

"Were you watching me sleep?" I asked, extremely creeped out. That kind of behavior would be way different from Princess Luna's dreamwalking.

so true, very creepy!

"Quiet. Now. I'm talking. How does anypony ever put up with you?"

I wonder the same about you. But I didn't say that.

aww they have so much in common!

"These runes are an ancient alphabet of a dead language. Its original speakers are unknown, at least, according to your," Sombra snorted slightly, "'history'."

gottem

I almost freaked out when I learned Rarity owned a rapier.

dang Rarity is so cool

Six. Six Elements of Harmony. Magic is the Sixth, The Spark. That's why its so useful. Magic's own number is six, and it's considered a lucky number in almost every single culture. The most basic of charms can be made by incorporating it - even if a pony isn't a unicorn or Alicorn!

that number sure does come up a lot in the lore!

I don't think I know of any other species that have such slow healing broken bones, and experts on healing magic are rare.

interesting! does make sense why we had a whole episode about Dash’s injuries

All he is is some mindless sadist who has read a bit about magic and uses his power as leverage over others because he has nothing else to do other than hurt ponies who don't deserve it so that he can kill without reason. I'll have to watch him to see if he does any more strange things.

dang Twilight tell us how you really feel!

Curiously, on the day before we arrived in the Empire, I actually got a chance to sleep in the bunk car instead of on the chair. Why Sombra let me, I don't know. I think he might have been starting to feel bad, which was nice to know. Another win for Harmony! Hooray!

hooray! :D