The King's Shadow

by Plot Hole

Sombra's Heart

A little cold water woke Fluttershy up enough for Rainbow Dash to give her the potion. Fluttershy didn’t even open her eyes, but drank like a baby with a bottle until she drained the flask. Rainbow laid her back down as Zecora brushed through her fur. The rash disappeared.

“Fluttershy will be at her very best after a night of well-earned res,” said Zecora.

“Thank Celestia,” said Rainbow. She laid down next to Fluttershy. With her friend out of danger, Rainbow finally had a moment to think and she looked down at her right hoof, cracked from pounding against Nightshade’s face. What did she almost do tonight?

The ponies all took a few moments to bask in relief for Fluttershy, but Twilight’s thoughts soon distracted her. She opened the chest, taking out the black book.

“What did you find, darling?” Rarity asked.

“A journal,” said Twilight. “King Sombra’s.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “What could he possibly have had to write about? Important growls he wanted to remember?”

“We didn’t see much of him at The Crystal Empire. I’ve always thought there must be more to him than that,” said Twilight.

Zecora moved closer to Twilight. “As important as it is to know your enemy, I fear you may risk your sanity.”

“Zecora’s right,” said AJ. “Do you really want to know how that psycho’s mind worked?”

“It’s probably got something to do with these attacks,” said Twilight. She took a breath. “Ok, here goes.”

She opened the book.

Their ignorance sickens me to the very core of my bones. Twilight could practically hear Sombra’s gravelly voice behind those words, but what shocked her was the penmanship. She’d expected mad chicken scratch, not beautiful calligraphy.

Every day of my life, I wondered why they had parents. Why they had the most delicious food and homes and warm beds, and I had none of those things. Most of them never gave it any thought At most, they dropped a few bits in a bucket to feel better about themselves, then they devoted their energy into not thinking about it while they enjoyed their holidays.

They’re self-indulgent fools, every last one of them. They hate me so much and it’s because they live in a childish fantasy. That weakness will be the end of all ponies, myself included. But no matter what I do, they never get it and they never make any attempt to see past the grand lie they’ve built around themselves. They frolic like foals in a flower meadow but they don’t stop to question how a race of herbivores became the dominant race in Equestria, nor why the dragons and griffins tremble in fear at the mention of the names of the goddesses that the ponies love so much.

They never question how the mighty basilisk went extinct.

Twilight skipped that section. She’d wondered that before and she’d long since decided that she didn’t want to know.

Which was exactly what Sombra meant.

That thought made her frown, but she pushed it aside. She’d do some self-examination later, after they figured out this whole fight.

There was no rhyme or reason to the different entries, Sombra seemed to write down his thoughts in no particular order as they came to him: random musings, magical theories… and poetry. Another surprise.

She stopped when she found Sombra’s writings on other worlds. Twilight had been to alternate worlds before. Two, in fact. She visited the second not long after retrieving her crown at Canterlot Hight. She’d studied the magic and she considered herself Equestria’s expert when she found a way to travel to Canterlot High without waiting for the magical window to open on its own. But Sombra’s knowledge of these other worlds dwarfed hers. He may have even known more than Princess Celestia.

Sombra described worlds of beauty that most ponies would never leave, and he described worlds of fear that haunted even his nightmares. But he never found the one that offered him what he wanted most.

Twilight turned the page. The change in handwriting shocked her. Sombra had been in a rage when he wrote this.

The damn rebel who called himself Spirit! If I had something to pray to, I’d pray that he survives for an eternity in the nightmare world that I banished him to. I’m as angry at myself as I am with him. I was foolish and let that pegasus grab hold of the Changeling’s Heart Gem. He probably has it with him now. It’s of small consolation that the gem will keep him alive and suffering for a very, very long time. I’ve searched for weeks already, but the world of Jotunheim is vast. I will never find it.

The hoofwriting suddenly became neat and beautiful again. Twilight guessed that Sombra must have taken a few moments to calm himself.

It took me so long to find the gem. I’ve repaired my machine, but for what purpose? There would be no point in activating it without the gem. It would still punish these ponies, these singing fools who had everything I didn’t. But I can’t help but feel that such base vindictiveness without a tangible reward would be… beneath me.

“The Changling’s Heart Gem,” Twilight said out loud. “I remember that. Disappeared over a thousand years ago. It channeled love, like the Crystal Heart. But the Changling’s Heart channeled the wearer’s love into vitality and made its wearer immortal.”

“What in the hay good would it have done for Sombra if it needed love to work?” AJ asked.

That was a good question. She’d never read or heard anything so hateful in her entire life. But he must have loved somebody. “Umbra,” said Twilight. “He said he was looking for his inheritance. I think it’s pretty clear by now who his father was.”

“Who?” asked Rainbow.

“Sombra!” said AJ.

“And if he’s after his inheritance, that would probably include the gem and whatever this machine is,” said Twilight. "It's dangerous, whatever it is. We can't let Umbra get it."

“I smell a rat though, Twi,” said AJ. “Why in the world would Umbra have just left that box behind?”

“Because he wanted to get out of there before I ripped his horn off?” asked Rainbow.

“He seemed cool as a cucumber to me,” said AJ. “Seems t’ me, he probably wanted you to find that book.”

Twilight hadn’t thought of that. She considered herself smart, but AJ had a sort of understanding about other ponies that nopony else in the hut could match.

“We’ll check on everything. Cadence must know something,” said Twilight. “Everypony get some shuteye. First thing in the morning, we’re off to the Crystal Empire!”