The King's Shadow

by Plot Hole

Stop in the name of love

The world looked blurry to the crystal pegasus. Still weak from Umbra’s vicious pain attack, Spirit rolled over onto his back on the gravel. The sun’s rays blinded him, shining through the tree leaves, and he smelled the fresh air. He’d spent the last thousand years breathing in air mixed with sulfur fumes. Now he was back in Equestria, which he never thought he’d see again.

But Umbra was waiting. And with the Changeling’s Heart Gem, the Prince had the power to end the world.

He forced himself up. Cadence tried to stop him. “Wait, Spirit. You need someone to look at you,” she said.

“There’s no time,” said Spirit. “We have to stop Umbra before he can take that gem to his father.”

“Sombra’s dead,” said Cadence.

Spirit went wide-eyed for a moment. That was the last thing he expected to hear. But he shook his head. There was no time to hear about that right now. “It doesn’t matter, if he’s re built his father’s machine.”

Twilight used her magic to hold onto Spirit as he stood, making sure he didn’t fall over. “What does the machine do?” she asked.

“It’s Sombra’s curse fully realized,” said Spirit. “It’ll tear the love out of every pony in The Crystal Empire. If they even survive, they’ll be monsters like him.”

Twilight felt goose flesh bump up under her fur and a sensation like cold water pouring down her spine. “Do you know where it’s at?”

“Maybe,” said Spirit.

#

Umbra’s face lay pressed against the ice-cold mud by a stream, his hair waving in the flow of melted snow and ice. His head was pounding. If he were more experienced with alcohol, he’d compare it with a hangover.

The ponies of his court kept close to him. Lydia gently ran her hoof over his fur. Umbra leaned down, taking a drink from the stream. It was almost freezing from being so recently melted, surrounded by frost and snow on the banks. Ordinarily, he craved hot tea and coffee out in the frozen wastes. But his body was burning from whatever the Alicorn Amulet did to him and it soothed his raw throat.

But he had it. The giant emerald lay in the mud near his hoof, looking so plain and ordinary in the low light.

The secret to immortality. The one thing he’s always wanted and thought he could never have.

“You can take off the amulet now, my prince,” said Steel.

“No,” said Umbra. “Father’s machine is too complicated for my magic alone.”

They all looked glum, but said nothing as they helped him up.

#

Spirit led the others from the head of the line as they raced over the snow planes, far ahead of all of them except for Rainbow Dash. He stopped several times, giving the others time to catch up. It was agony for him to wait, but he doubted he could fight Umbra on his own.

He cursed himself. For a thousand years he’d defended that gem, but all it took was some magical enhancement to give this prince the edge he needed to escape with it.

He and the other pegasi, plus the two alincorns, took flight as the plane fell away to a ravine. The grounded ponies moved slowly down the steep path. The winged ponies touched down in the half melted slush near the entrance to a cave.

“This is where it was last time,” said Spirit.

Although Rainbow Dash didn’t move, Twilight still grabbed onto her tail just in case she tried to blast on ahead.

Twilight used her glow to light their way through the tunnels. They seemed to go on forever. Twilight had absolutely no idea where they were going, but Cadence said, “We’re getting close to the Empire.” She could feel Shining Armor far above the roof of the tunnels, near the Crystal Heart.

“Sombra needed it to be close to the crystal ponies,” said Spirit. “I assume, anyway. It could just be that he wanted to be close enough to hear them screaming.”

Twilight felt queasy at the thought. And also oddly curious. She would have just assumed Sombra had a pragmatic reason. A pleasure in cruelty wouldn’t have occurred to her. For all of her studies and focus on the brain, she’d never really thought about what might go on in a mind so alien.

She thought about the journal again. The answers to all of her questions about Sombra would be in there.

“We’re getting close,” said Cadence.

“How can you tell?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Love sense,” said Cadence. “From Umbra’s servants.”

That depressed all of the ponies. Twilight noticed that she didn’t mention sensing anything from Umbra himself.

They slowed as the tunnel began to open up.

#

The machine reached to the top of the cave like a clockwork tower. Entire sections rotated. Several ore carts sat empty and Umbra used his magic to dump the last load of red crystal shards into a chute, channeling the crystals inside the machine. Umbra wore the Changeling’s Heart Gem around his neck, hanging below the Alicorn Amulet.

A blast of purple magic shot at the machine. A teal blue force field appeared, shielding the machine as Twilight’s magical energy burst.

Umbra shot back without thinking as Twilight and the others charged in. Twilight and Cadence teleported in front of Umbra as Spirit shot in like a dart.

“Stop this, Umbra!” Twilight said. “You’ll kill them!”

Twilight dodged a blast of flame from Umbra’s horn.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of Nightshade. “Ready for round three?” she asked.

But Nightshade was ready for her this time. Nightshade swung with her wing. Dash swiped her own wing, expecting to bat away another needle, but Nightshade tossed a plume of green powder that dusted past Rainbow’s wing and hit her face. Dash hit the cave floor in a sneezing fit.

“It’ll stop soon,” said Nightshade, approaching with a vicious look on her face. “Just enough time to give you a little payback.”

She loomed over Dash. Then Fluttershy jumped in the way, hitting Nightshade in the face with all the power she could summon into her frail hoof. The hoof-slap left a stinging red mark on Nightshade’s cheek.

Fluttershy gasped. “What did I just do? Oh, do you need an ambulance?”

AJ and Rarity traded opponents this time. Applejack’s lasso made short work of Lydia, leaving the unicorn hog tied. Rarity attempted her flirt attack against Steel.

“Oh. A big handsome stallion like you wouldn’t hit a lady, would he?”

As it turned out, he would. But Pinkie’s party cannon blew him across the chamber before he could land the blow.

Closer to the machine, Cadence hit Umbra with her most powerful love spell, attempting to break the amulet’s hold over him. It affected him just enough to make Umbra pause with worry over his fighting vassals, but he shook it off and formed a rope of flame, attempting to grab hold of Spirit.

The crystal pegasus charged at Umbra’s machine, hitting the blue force field with everything he had, but it held.

The lower gear stopped and Umbra used his magic to hit a lever.

Layers of the machine began to fall off, exposing antennae and pillars of fused crystal.

“You have to stop!” said Twilight. “They’ll die, or lose their love!” She was near tears. “You can’t do this. You’re not a monster, Umbra!”

“Sure I am,” said the Prince.

As he dueled with the three ponies, the fused crystal in the machine began to glow. Spirit charged at Umbra, throwing his weight at the Prince, but Umbra teleported away behind the force field. Twilight tried to teleport after him, but Umbra’s magic kept her on the other side.

The other fighting ponies all separated from each other, looking at Umbra. Their battles didn’t matter anymore; Umbra had checkmate.

Cadence, Spirit and most of the unicorns hit the force field with everything they had, all at once. The energy field warped under the energy and hooves, but didn’t break. Umbra laughed as the Changling’s Heart Gem began to glow.

“You grew up with a monster that didn’t have a heart,” said Twilight. “That doesn’t have to be you.”

“They’ll be like Sombra!” said Spirit. “Don’t you understand? You’ll strip their love until only blackness and hate remains!”

Lydia and Steel looked at each other. Nightshade got close enough to Pinkie Pie to ask, “What are they talking about?”

“I dunno,” said Pinkie.

Fluttershy said, “It’ll take away all of the love in the crystal ponies, and it won’t grow back.”

“Master, you can’t!” said Steel.

“Shut up!” said Umbra. “This rebel proved that love can’t be destroyed. They’re just repeating some lie they’ve heard, no different than any pony who has ever lived.”

“Then see for yourself,” said Cadence. “The love is already shifting. You can feel it, can’t you?”

“The gem can let you see,” said Spirit. “Close your eyes and concentrate. Block out the Alicorn Amulet’s hate for a moment and you’ll see that you can feel the love in the empire.”

Umbra thought for a moment. He couldn’t think of a way that the ponies could trick him. Even if he closed his eyes for a moment, they couldn’t get through his energy field.

He closed his eyes. It was difficult blocking out the rage, but he thought about campfire meals with Lydia, Nightshade and Steel. It helped him access a part of his soul that the Alicorn Amulet tried to bury.
Then he could feel what the Changeling’s Heart Gem felt. Thousands of little pin-pricks of light in the city above him, like fireflies: their energy being drawn to the crystals in the machine. And the machine was hungry, like a gaping maw in the void, drawing in and devouring the light around it.

Were they right?

“It doesn’t prove anything,” said Umbra. “I already knew the machine drew power from love. That doesn’t mean they’ll lose their love forever.”

“Then you have to decide if you believe us,” said Twilight with a soft voice.

Lydia got closer to them. Her eyes were wide and afraid. “They’re not all garbage, Umbra,” she said. “Listen to them.”

Umbra focused on the love energy again. He only had their word and his vassals’ pleas. It could all be a lie, or a foolish misunderstanding.

But if he was wrong, if he destroyed the ponies of the Crystal Empire just because he was too stubborn to hear these warnings, then that would make him the thing he hated the most: a self-deluded fool.

His magic moved slowly. He didn’t want to give in. More than anything, he wanted to see this through and get back what rightfully should have been his all along. But he unfastened the Alicorn Amulet and let it fall. Then he did the same with The Changeling’s Eye Gem and shut off the machine.

As soon as the force field dropped, Twilight magicked the gem and amulet away. Just in case he changed his mind.

Lydia, Nightshade and Steel all moved closer to Umbra. Steel gave the most relieved sigh of his entire life.

“You did right, Prince,” said Steel.

“Did I?” asked Umbra.

They all wondered what was supposed to happen now. Umbra showed no expression at all, but his vassals looked at the other ponies with expressions that made it clear that they wouldn’t let their prince go quietly.

“We’ll destroy the machine,” said Cadence. “I think we’ll be good, then.”

“I don’t like the idea of lettin’ them run off,” said AJ. “They’re all kinds ‘a dangerous. Not to mention they almost killed Fluttershy.”

“Oh, I can let that go,” said Fluttershy.

“Four new students would be a great challenge,” said Twilight. “Plenty of room at the castle.”

“Under the watchful eye of your God Empress Celestia,” said Umbra with disdain. “No thank you.”

The blasphemy shocked Twilight. Was he good now or wasn’t he?

“There are other options,” said Cadence. She got closer. The warm expression n on her face convinced Umbra’s vassals that it was perfectly safe to let her in. Cadence reached out with her wing and dropped Umbra’s hood back, brushing his cheek. She felt his bitterness toward her and all royalty and it stung her heart. But she also felt the love in his heart returning now that he’d dropped the Alicorn Amulet.

“Won’t you be my guest in The Crystal Empire for just a few nights, until we can get you a train?” asked Cadence. “I have a few ideas on what you could do now. I promise it’s not a trap.”

Umbra gave a shrug that said, ‘what the hell have I got to lose?’ He already gave up the one thing he wanted most in the world.

#

Only a few of the crystal ponies noticed a mild tremor as the Cadence and Twilight destroyed the machine underground.

Umbra led them all through a tunnel that let out into the city. Spirit had to shield his eyes for just a moment, then he let the sun beat down on him. His hide remained dull from the sorrow of his thousand-year exile, but a tiny hint of shine on his ears showed that he was still a crystal pony.

Cadence put her wing around him. “Welcome home, Spirit. The crystal ponies are going to be so happy to see you.”

He gave a faint smile. “It’s good to see them. It still looks the same.” He shook his head, sad. “But it isn’t. Princess, this isn’t my world anymore.”

“You’re not staying?” Twilight asked.

“It hurts to much to look at this place,” said Spirit. “I kept going because, honestly, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Sombra would still be alive. I had to make him pay for everything he’d done. And just maybe I could save enough of Equestria to honor all of those who couldn’t be here today. But The Crystal Empire is safe now. Without a purpose, I can’t just build a new home here. Looking at these sparkling towers every day, it would be a constant reminder of Morning Glory.”

Cadence looked confused. Twilight asked, “Your special somepony?”

“Yes,” said Spirit.

“Sombra… killed her?” Twilight asked.

“I have no idea how she died,” said Spirit. “But it’s been a thousand years and she didn’t have a Changeling’s Heart Gem.”

They all kept silent for a moment, then smiles slowly spread across their faces as they figured out the misunderstanding. Cadence grinned wider than everyone. She knew the names of almost every pony in The Crystal Empire.

“She’s alive, Spirit,” said Cadence.

He almost said, “That’s not funny.” He’d spent the better part of a thousand years coming to terms with the fact that he’d never see her again. But he stopped himself and asked, “What?”

“Sombra banished them. They all came back just as they were a thousand years ago,” said Cadence. “Morning Glory. The unicorn who loves poetry and painting, right?”

Spirit couldn’t say anything. Slowly, his body became more translucent.

“1933 Sparkle Berry Lane,” said Cadence with a smirk.

Spirit took off, tripping over his own hooves before he beat his wings and blasted up into the air.

He flapped his wings as hard as he ever had, dodging buildings recklessly. His breath came in shallow gasps. A part of him couldn’t accept it. He thought he’d get to the address Cadence gave him and find out it was some vicious joke.

He landed in the backyard garden, surrounded by sunflowers. Her favorite. A good sign.

He took a deep breath, sweating from anxiety more than the fatigue of the flight. Where was she? He was so out of his head that he didn’t even think to knock on the door.

The door to the crystal home opened. He didn’t even hear it until a watering tin hit the stone porch, dropped by the unicorn in her shock.

He spun around and saw the most beautiful golden unicorn he’d ever seen, with a sun cutie mark. Her crystal form sparkled in the sunlight. As both of them realized what they were seeing, their forms turned as clear as tinted glass.

Spirit tripped one more time as he rushed over to her and threw his wings around her. Neither of them had the first idea what to say. Spirit pressed his forehead against hers, awkwardly with her horn in the way.

“Hi,” said Spirit.

A thousand years to think of something to say if they were ever reunited and that’s what he came up with. But he supposed that was good enough.