All Hail, Midnight Sparkle!

by MisterEdd

Prologue

Darkness. That was all that Twilight Sparkle knew. Complete and utter pitch blackness that numbed the senses and gave the impression of timelessness. She was floating in a void, blind and immobile and yet, there came with it an odd sense of warmth and safety. Her heart pounded in her ears, followed by little kicks and jerks from her limbs. This was her home, where she belonged. For now.

Fluttering her eyes open, Twilight could make out little streaks of light poured in, illuminating her surroundings. She could see a fleshy coil of rope flowing from her navel, tethering her to her wet abode. She was inside the womb! Amazingly, the mare, or filly, was unsurprised at this revelation, instead merely shimmying to her left to find a more comfortable position. Her environment jostled and she concluded that Mother was shifting around as well.

She heard voices and recognized them as belonging to her parents but could not yet comprehend them. Mother laughed at something Father said and this filled Twilight with joy at their mirth. Father and Mother really loved each other. Something flowed into her umbilical cord, causing the filly to conclude that Mother was eating and judging from the creamy-sweet taste, it was peaches. As of late, Mother had a craving for peaches and Twilight was in absolute paradise.

A movement out of the corner of her eye had Twilight turning in place to see what the commotion was. It was her womb-mate, a unicorn filly like her, only larger. A shiver ran down Twilight's spine at the sight of her twin. She knew she loved Mother and Father but her sister....she filled her with dread. As the months passed, the twin became healthier and stronger while Twilight weakened, feeling herself shrinking more and more with every passing moment.

The twin's eyes shot open and Twilight felt an unfathomable terror. She watched the other filly loom over her, mouth slowly opening and closing like a steel trap. Suddenly, Twilight felt an ache in her bones, her skin constricting around her. Her limbs bent and shriveled up, becoming twisted caricatures of themselves. She was crumpling in on herself meanwhile her twin was growing, filling out and fattening up as Twilight grew smaller and smaller.

She opened her mouth to scream, to beg her twin to stop feeding, that they were sisters and there was plenty of room for both of them. It was to no avail as the other filly continued to suck Twilight dry, bringing her closer and closer into her embrace. Twilight swam and kicked but she was too feeble at this point to put up a fight. She felt herself being crushed against her twin's side, not merely slamming against it but MERGING with it until she was pulled inside. The last thing that she saw before disappearing into her twin's form was the look of cold triumph on her face.

~*~

A scream tore from Twilight's mouth. She flailed and kicked on the bed, her eyes shooting open and gazing around at her surroundings in a panicky daze. Once she'd confirmed that she was in her bedroom, she gingerly sat up and wiped the sweat from her brow, blinking away the last of the nightmare. Her chest, once heavily heaving in an attempt to force air back into her lungs, was now slowing to a crawl as her breathing returned to normal. Twilight released a steady exhale.

Her bedroom door slammed open, revealing a very distressed Spike.

"Are you alright?! I heard screaming!"

Twilight nodded, "I'm fine, Spike. I just woke up."

The dragon crawled up onto the bed. "Was it another nightmare?" He asked tenderly.

She nodded. Ever since Sombra's last visit, Twilight had been having trouble sleeping. At first, it was just trouble staying asleep and she chalked it up to the excitement of the events in Canterlot also while missing her now-fugitive coltfriend. As the months passed, however, it became much worse, devolving into horrible nightmares involving being devoured while in the womb, like the one she just experienced. According to her research into dream symbolism, it appeared that fetal absorption symbolized the dreamer's own fear of being overtaken by a side that they've been repressing or are feeling overwhelmed by something in their lives.

"You should talk to Princess Celestia about it."

Twilight shook her head. "It's nothing. Just bad dreams. Everypony gets them."

Spike stood up on the bed. "Not almost every night, Twi! Something's wrong!"

"If something was really wrong, Princess Luna would've shown up and fixed the problem. It's not a big deal."

"But Twilight-..."

"I'm fine, Spike!"

It came off much harsher than she meant.

"I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me."

Twilight smiled as Spike laid a claw on her shoulder.

"It's okay," he said softly. "You've been under a lot of stress and you haven't been sleeping well."

Pulling Spike into a one-limbed embrace, Twilight gently nuzzled her cheek against his own.

"It's still no excuse. You're just looking out for me."

"Don't worry about it," Spike hummed happily. "I'll bring you some warm milk and hopefully you'll get some shut-eye."

"Okay."

As Spike was closing the door, Twilight stated, "I love you, Spike."

The drake turned and smiled widely. "I love you too, Twilight. I'll be right back."

The door closed, leaving Twilight alone once more in the darkness. She gently settled onto her side facing away from the door and let out a sigh. Unbeknownst to the alicorn, for only the briefest moment, her pupils shrank to pinpricks while a pale, light grayish cyan glow encapsulated her scleras.

It was almost Midnight.

Meanwhile...

Night had staked its claim over the skies of Manehattan, drenching the metropolis in star-studded blackness, courtesy of the younger of Equestria's two diarchs. Princess Luna's moon shone brightly like a silver sphere, its pale rays aiding in lighting the way of the city's nighttime denizens as they went about their business, both law-abiding and illicit. While the upper part of Manehattan was a centerpiece of architectural grandeur and the epitome of societal glamour, the lower part of the city was a crime-ridden cesspool, home to some of the nastiest miscreants in all of Equestria. Thieves, drug peddlers, weapons smugglers, they could all be found here. And this wretched hive of scum and villainy was the current residence of one of Equestria's most wanted.

A lone figure stood perched atop the roof of a brick tenant building, his black cloak snapping and fluttering around him in the cool breeze. Burning red eyes peaked beneath his cowl, scanning the layout of the city as if searching for something. Sombra sucked air in from his nostrils before exhaling it out of his mouth. His journey had taken him to Manehattan, a place he'd only heard about from books and the descriptions of Twilight Sparkle during their many conversations. It had piqued his interest and he decided to inspect it for himself. After a thousand years trapped in the Frozen North, plus another year locked deep in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle, Sombra had indeed missed out on much history and culture, so decided to see what the modern age had to offer for him.

So far....eh.

Following his battle with Princess Celestia, Sombra fled far from the capitol, both to put as much distance between him and that god's-forsaken place and to plan his next move without interruption. After winding up in Griffonstone, he slowly made his way up to Saddle Arabia, Japone, Englope and Spaneighn.

He was meditating in the mountains of Chineigh when he heard about Lord Tirek's attempt to steal all of the magic in Equestria and his subsequent defeat by Twilight Sparkle and the others. A part of him wanted to speed back there to see if Twilight was okay but Sombra squashed those feelings. He couldn't run back there every time there was a problem which, given the recent outbreak of villainous attacks and strange magical occurrences, would mean that he'd be getting one Tartarus of an exercise. Besides, Twilight was a grown mare, as well as a princess and the Element of Magic. If anypony could take care themselves, it was her. Seeing as how Sombra was number one on Equestria's Most Wanted, now was the time for laying low.

Down below him, a trio of ponies emerged from a nearby theater, an earth pony stallion, a unicorn mare and an earth pony colt, a family by the looks of it. The father laid a hoof on his son's shoulder and gently shook him while the mother wiped the colt's cheek with a hoofkerchief. Such a heartwarming sight stirred emotions inside of Sombra, feelings of loneliness and longing for such a gift as they had. He shook his head. Something like a wife and a foal wasn't meant for him. Normalcy was a luxury some had and some didn't.

A shabby-looking unicorn stallion in a flat cap and frayed coat followed closely behind them, his shifty little eyes carefully tracking them as they blissfully chattered amongst themselves. The family turned the corner and walked down an alleyway and after half a minute, the stallion followed them. Sombra's eyes seeped purple mist, his nostrils flaring hot air. Every part of him screamed not to get involved, that it wasn't his business. It wasn't until the stallion pulled out a knife that Sombra decided to make it his business.

~*~

"Fork over your bits and nopony gets hurt!"

It was a line that Repeat Offender had uttered dozens of times, always with the same gruff, no-nonsense authority ever since he was thirteen. The knife was positioned at the pegasus mare's throat via a lime-green aura while she tightly held her brat to her chest. Her husband, a scrawny mustachioed earth pony was sweating profusely. He held his jittery hooves up.

"J-just don't hurt my family," he shakily pleaded, something that Repeat had heard plenty of times.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the bits, now!"

The earth pony complied, slowly taking his bit-pouch out of his jacket one-hoofed and slowly holding it out in front of him. Repeat couldn't help but snort. Ever since he'd marked them, he knew they'd be an easy target. Weak, spineless, no heroics. Just the way he liked them.

He reached out for the pouch with his hoof when he noticed that the earth pony was staring fearfully but not at the stallion with a knife pointed at his wife. The mare and colt were also staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at something. The terror that they'd showed him was nothing compared to whatever held their attention now.

"What? What is...?"

Unknowingly to the mugger, a second shadow had risen from the one belonging to the alleyway's single lamppost. It rose upward, bending and twisting into a vaguely pony-esque shape, two glowing green orbs appearing in the center of its nondescript face. Repeat turned just as a dark tendril shot from the shadow, coiling around his barrel and slamming him to the pavement, causing his knife to clatter harmlessly to the ground. The shadow then looked at the family.

"Go now. The colt shouldn't see this," the shadow hissed.

Without any hesitation or qualms, the three fled from the scene at full speed. Once they were safely out of view, the shadow turned its attention back towards its captive. Repeat could feel his heart being squeezed in a grip of terror, his very blood running ice cold. He'd been to juvie and prison, seeing horrible atrocities committed by the scum of society but it wasn't until this very moment that he had ever known true fear. He let out a shriek as the tendril tightened around him and began pulling him towards the shape.

"No, no! You're not real! You're not real!"

The shadow's maw opened wide.

"You're not reeeeeeal!"

Darkness swallowed him up and he fell screaming at full volume into the void.

~*~

From his vantage point in the shadows, Sombra watched the uniformed officers pull the bound and screeching unicorn up off his back and haul him into the police station. He could hear the crook jabbering about a shadow trying to eat him and one of the officers taking about too much "dreamdust," whatever that was. As much as Sombra wanted to make the mugger suffer, he was trying to turn over a new leaf. "Trying" being the key word. The Elements of Harmony, Twilight in particular, had rubbed off him somewhat and rather than execute the miscreant, he merely spooked him a bit before dropping him off for the authorities to deal with.

Once the glass doors shut behind the officers, Sombra pulled his hood up and slowly trotted away. He hadn't intended on coming back to Equestria to act as some kind of vigilante but he'd been forced into that brief position. Still, helping that family out and punishing the wicked had felt actually really good. Maybe he could keep helping ponies. Putting that possible consideration on hold for now, he silently slipped past a nearby diner and vanished once more into the night.

Comments

[theBatmantyler]

Im guessing this will be a Twibra fanfic

[MisterEdd]

10314863
The first two were so yes, this will continue the tradition

[theBatmantyler]

10314899
ok

[Viper Pit]

All I could hear when Sombra got the mugger

[Crystal Night]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Love that reference to star wars and Batman.

[Devonlui]

Darkness. That was all that Twilight Sparkle knew. Complete and utter pitch blackness that numbed the senses and gave the impression of timelessness. She was floating in a void, blind and immobile and yet, there came with it an odd sense of warmth and safety. Her heart pounded in her ears, followed by little kicks and jerks from her limbs. This was her home, where she belonged. For now.

That's the un-warmth feelinh that you get when you cover yourself in sheets and shut your eyes after a chilly day out.

[nightshroud96]

Managed to start reading
Hopefully I can finish reading this and its sequel soon