Traces of a Hidden Shadow

by Teotle

The Return of the Tyrant

The black smoke continued to shift and twist around the room. The demonic laughter rang in the ears of everypony in the room, and the green and red eyes glared down at them with devilish intent that speared all of them in the soul as they stared back.

The smoke then began to gather on the center of the throne room table, funneling down in a tornado formation. When all the smoke had finished collecting in one spot, it took the shape of a shadowy gray unicorn who wore a crown of dark silver and red spikes.

His back was covered with a red royal cloak and he was padded with armor of steel armor. His mane shifted and twisted like wild fire and his teeth were jagged and sharp. King Sombra had returned.

He continued to glare down at everypony as he grew an unpleasant smile that went from ear to ear. "Well well, isn't this a treat? Princess Twilight, Spike the Brave and Glorious, the Cutiemark crusaders, Nightmare Moon and her boyfriend, Daydreamer. And last but not least, Teotle, the embodiment of Wrath, and one of the seven children of Shadowflame. At last we meet."

"How do you know about my father?" Teotle growled with clenched teeth.

"Oh, I know plenty about you, Teotle." Sombra answered back. "In fact, I know about all of you. I've kept watch over all of you in my time of exile from my kingdom."

"It was never your kingdom." Twilight argued firmly. "You took of control of the Crystal Empire through fear and violence, and were defeated for it, twice."

Sombra's wide grin fell to a deep frown as he said, "An error that I don't intend to let repeat for a third time." With that, he set his gaze on the arc and began to walk toward it. "That cube is just the thing I need to begin my work."

"What makes you think we'll let you take it?" Spike said, stepping in between Sombra and the arc.

Sombra chuckled and said, "Who said I wanted your permission?" He then rushed at Spike, as a cloud of smoke, and began to surround him and the arc. Spike's eyes began to shine green as he started to hallucinate from Sombras power of fear. He panicked and began to speak to somepony who wasn't really there, just in his mind.

Spike quivered and fell to the floor, dropping the arc in the process. But Teotle leaped into the smoke and threw Spike away from Sombras grasp and to safety. Teotle then swung his word wildly with one paw while holding the arc close to his chest with the other. However, he wasn't hurting Sombra. There was no scream of pain or any form of damage in the smoke cloud. Just a light chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Teotle asked, starting to feel dizzy. Just then, his surroundings began to blacken, and within seconds, Teotle couldn't see a thing. After a moment of silence, He saw a bright round light coming from above him. It was the moon, just staring at him from the night sky. How could this be? It was not night time so soon in the day.

He contemplated this anomaly, but just before he could think of an answer, he heard a strong triumphant chuckle from the distance. it wasn't Sombra, the voice sounded too much like a mare. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to see through the darkness. Eventually, he saw a tall and dark mare, who's eyes looked an awful lot like Nyx's, only these eyes were full of hate and spite.

"Nyx?" Teotle asked the figure.

"No." The figure replied, spreading her wings. I am no longer Nyx, I'm who I was meant to be. I am Nightmare Moon." She then smiled, showing her teeth, which had been ground to a jagged point. It was terrifying, one of only a small handful of moments when Teotle felt fear surging within him. His eyes were wide open, his body began to quiver, and his metal paw, which had been holding his sword, fell limp.

The sword fell to the ground with a loud clank. Teotle grabbed the arc with both paws and held it tightly to his chest. He knew Nightmare Moon wanted it, and he shuddered to see what she'd do with its dense and powerful magic, but even more than that, he knew that if Nightma... Nyx had that power and used it against others, then there would be no going back, not for a second time.

Teotle tried to say something, anything to stop Nyx from attacking, but it was too late. She lunged at him with full forge, all the while she laughed maliciously. She cast a spell to summon a sword of magical energy, and raised it to make a deadly blow. However, at the moment of the strike, when Teotle's heart and soul were shattered from the loss of his friend, the sword didn't make its mark.

Teotle heard a small tender voice say to him, "Please be ok." He opened his tear soaked eyes and saw himself in the embrace of the real Nyx's front legs. They were back in the castle throne room, where everypony was watching nervously. Twilight and the rest of the Main Six were floating in the air with glistening and colorful manes. They had just used the elements of harmony to send Sombra away. They came back to the ground and went back to normal.

"Please be ok. Please be ok. Please be ok." Nyx continued to say those same three words over and over as if they were the only words she knew.

"I'm ok, Nyx." Teotle said, putting his paw on her cheek.

Nyx opened her eyes, which were soaked to the brim with tears. She looked Teotle in the eyes, which still had a bit of green in them from Sombras spell. She made a soft squeak and clung to Teotle tighter. "I was afraid you were dead." She said, trying to hold back the knot in her throat.

"What happened?" Teotle asked, looking around the room.

"Sombra cast a spell that made you see your worst fear." Twilight said. "We couldn't get close you without Sombra surrounding you like that."

"Every time we tried, he would reach out and try to pull us in, so the Spike and the four of us went into town to get my big sister and the others to use the elements of harmony." Apple bloom explained, still a little nervous.

Nyx loosened her embrace on Teotle, who had shied away from her in disbelief of what he saw while under Sombras spell. Nyx raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's wrong, Teotle?"

Teotle however couldn't find the strength to speak. Whether or not it was real, Teotle had just confronted who Nyx once was, and it was eating away at his heart and the resolve he relied on to protect his best friend. Eventually, he got to his feet and answered, "Nothing."