Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Purple

Sombra watched Shining rushing towards him, but did not move. He kept his horn ready, magic still directionless swirling around it as he waited to see what the other would do. Before he had a chance to react to that, however, he was forced to deal with Cadence instead. The alicorn, though she only began to move after Shining had already covered a fair distance, quickly surpassed him after spreading her wings and taking off towards Sombra. She flew to the side, as opposed to Shining's frontal charge, deliberately making it harder for Sombra to focus on both of them.

Sombra had to respond to Cadence's blast, putting up a pseudo-shield of energy for it to crash against. He held against her spell without issue, but as Cadence kept flying forward, her horn still firing at him, he realised he'd be forced to either let go of his cover or deal with Shining coming up behind him. Thinking quickly, in the short amount of time he had before he was forced to turn completely to follow Cadence's movement, he slammed one hoof to the ground. A crack formed on the surface beneath them, heading towards Shining, and black, jagged crystal spikes sprouted from it into the unicorn's path.

As Shining slowed down, diverting his trajectory to avoid the oncoming crystal formations, Sombra briefly focused his full attention on Cadence. Magic surged into his horn, and released as a shockwave that pushed back against Cadence's spell all the way to her horn, and caused her to falter in her flight and stop firing at Sombra as she had to keep herself in the air.

Sombra turned again, spotted Shining still some distance away, and fired at him. As he did, he reared onto his hind legs and then slammed his forelegs on the ground, sending two more cracks and violently jutting lines of black crystals in Shining's direction. Shining, who immediately put up a shield against Sombra's spell and dug his hooves in to hold his ground against it, saw the crystals coming towards him and frantically began to think of a way out of the situation.

He didn't have to think for long. Before the crystals managed to make their way to him, Cadence's magic hit Sombra's body from the side, smoke coming off of him where the blow landed. The unicorn hissed and dissipated into a pool of shadows that quickly slithered away, and with his magic gone Shining let go of his shield and dodged out of the way of the incoming crystal spikes.

Shining and Cadence stood side by side again, though more than a few metres apart, and in front of them Sombra reformed from the shadows he had molten into. He growled at them, but did not attack, afraid going after either one of the two would leave him open for the other to attack. Cadence and Shining exchanged a brief glance, the corner of one eye catching the other's while their attention remained on Sombra as well. Then they both moved again, one to the left and one to the right, both lighting their horns and ready to strike.