Ch.7 - Of Forlorn Echoes
“Don’t feel too bad, I will be back for you soon, and then for the entirety of Equestria,” I hear him yell, and a moment later he’s gone. With my journal.
My body aches from the impact. I wince as I crack my eyes open and look down. My body is sprawled out like a discarded rug, propped up by the broken remains of what used to be my chair. As I lie there, small blotches of blood begin to stain my coat. Tears well up in my eyes, but I don’t care about them. There is only a single, overwhelming thought echoing in my mind:
It’s gone!
In my haze, my eyes wander upwards and I notice a blue and purple blotch move slightly in the distance. As I look at it, my ringing ears catch a fleeting, alien noise. It sounds so familiar, but my thoughts continue to hide behind a thick veil of confusion. I continue to stare into the nothing in utter incomprehension. Slowly I shake my head and blink a few times. As my vision clears, the ringing dies down and the noise comes closer, clearing into a sound.
The moment I realize what it is, it breaks me out of my stupor.
I look towards the source again. It is Izzy heaving on the floor.
“Why?” she stammers. “Why did he lie to us?”
Seeing her like that forces my body into action. I attempt to stand up, but my left hindleg buckles under my weight. It feels like it was struck with a white-hot iron. I scream from the pain. For a moment I even forget about the journal.
After the pain subsides a little, I grit my teeth and crawl away from the ruins of the chair. It takes me some effort to reach Izzy, but when I get there I wrap my hooves around her in a tight hug. I burrow my face into her coat. We stay that way for a few seconds. Eventually her breathing slows a little and I feel her body slightly loosen up. My tears continue to flow freely. She silently runs a hoof through my mane.
“We will get it back,” she whispers to me in a low voice.
This just makes me cry even harder.
“How?” I break away from her hug and scream in her face. “Don’t you get it? We’re ants compared to him! He subjugated an entire empire! Alone!”
“Maybe, but unlike him, you’re not alone.”
I look up at her. Izzy is staring into the distance. Her eyes are shining with determination. She looks down at me and they soften a bit.
“Sunny, you’ve shown us we can all be friends. And friends help when you’re in need.”
Can I really believe her? Do we stand a chance?
“If we don’t do anything, then he’ll just come back and there will be no more fun afterwards. I don’t want to see you in chains... or worse,” despite her firm expression, her voice is shaking with fear.
“I... I don’t want to see anything like that happen to you either,” I reply slowly. She gives me another firm hug.
“We must talk to the others. Everyone. There is not a single pony in Equestria who’s safe as long as he’s around.”
I’ve never seen her so serious before. It’s contagious. I feel some of my strength returning.
“You’re right, Izzy. We can’t just sit here. Go home, tell the unicorns what happened and that they should prepare to defend themselves. I will ask Hitch to spread the news here and I’ll go to Zephyr Heights myself. Come back, when you’re done. We’ll decide what to do next when all of us are together.”
“Sunny!” she says forcefully. “You’ll go nowhere! You’re injured.”
“It’s nothing,” I say, but she knows I’m lying. Her frown tells me as much.
“Lie down. Get some rest. I’ll tell Hitch everything and we’ll take care of it.”
I try to protest, but she gently pushes me back.
“You’ve done a lot for us already. You’ve given me hope when I had none. Please, let me try to do the same.”
I try to stand up again, but the pain makes me collapse back to the floor. I relent.
“Go, I’ll be okay.”
She helps me to the couch and gives me a final hug before hurrying out. I climb up and allow my leg to stretch out. The pain dulls a little and I fall into a dreamless sleep.
I find myself in an empty void once more. This time, however, I’m not surrounded by darkness, but a brilliant white light in every direction I can see. I’m also not floating. Despite nothing being under my hooves, I can still walk.
I trot forward. A colorful shape lies in front of me in the distance, but I can’t make out what it is. I can feel it call out to me.
I don’t know how long I walk. As hours or perhaps merely seconds pass, I feel a serene calmness overtake me and I forget about everything that happened to me recently. This seems like a nice place to lie down and give myself to oblivion.
A pleasant tingle passes over my body as it relaxes. I feel my eyelids slowly becoming heavier and heavier.
As I begin to give myself over to rest, suddenly images of the being flash in my mind. I jolt awake, as if I was struck by a lightning bolt.
No. What am I even thinking? That thing is out there. Any moment it could break through!
With the tiredness banished from my body, I decide to gallop on towards the mysterious object.
I can finally see what lies in front of me. A small sphere hangs in the air, its surface radiating the colors of a rainbow shifting and mixing in wondrous patterns.
My hooves freeze to the ground. Hidden behind the glow of the orb I spot a slender figure. Her eyes are closed in focus, as her horn fires a beam of light into the object in front of her.
I know her.
She might have become more akin to her mentors over the years, but other than that it is still just her. The same purple coat. The same blue mane.
She is the one who sent me to the darkness.
Her sight returns the pain to me with renewed fury. Even in this void of complete light I feel the darkness creep up on me. The silence fades as the eons spent alone begin to howl into my ears once more. I stumble a step back and grit my teeth, but it’s no use. I shiver as the laughing chorus of my inner voices slowly tears itself from the cacophony and forces me to relive the feeling of reality stripped away from my body. They remind me how I immediately understood there would be no return.
I am forced to recall every single inconsequential detail. The colors of each of those blasted flowers in the palace. The crystals jutting out of the floor. The gaudy stained glass windows heralding the victories of my enemies. My new throne, the coldness of which was the last thing I ever felt before my utter annihilation.
I remember cherishing my victory before that mismatched Snake tricked me by appearing weak. That accursed trickster... I hope he rots in Tartarus! Oh, the triumph I felt when I thought I defeated him. What a vain and naive fool I was! I should have known I never stood any real chance against him. It should have been so blatantly obvious that he wasn’t seriously hurt! But by then it was too late. My goading and his laughable theatrics were enough to enrage the Six and seal my fate.
And, finally, I can still remember the confident and cocky look on her face. On all of their faces. It was no glorious battle ending in a fair and noble defeat. No, for me it was the beginning of unending torment, but for her and her friends? For them it was just another day.
It is a humiliation beyond what a pony can suffer.
The pain blooms into anger and my vision narrows on her. My thoughts fade as I tap into my deepest reservoirs of magic and prepare the vilest, most malevolent spell I know. A spell I was too soft to use on her back then, thinking even after she caused my demise, she still didn’t deserve it. This time, I have no such reservations. A small dot of complete darkness forms on the tip of my horn, crackling with magic. The very space warps around it as it continues to increase in strength. Even I am not sure how potent this spell is once I release it.
My mind screams at me to attack. To unleash the spell and obliterate her before she even has the chance to notice me. I’ve suffered for far too long, while she prospered. I glare at her in anticipation as a dull ache fills my horn from the overwhelming energy stored inside it.
“Stay your horn, Umbrum.” Her voice suddenly cuts through the silence, yet her mouth doesn’t open. “Whatever be the reason you came here, you’ll find nothing you want. Leave me be and never come back.”
I force the anger and hate into the back of my mind, at least for the time being. I keep the spell primed, but I do not fire. If she’s this confident to threaten me without even looking at me, she is either completely insane or more powerful than what I could hope to fight. Until I figure out which is the case, any rash action could prove to be suicidal. Haste and vanity brought my downfall too many times already. I will never get my justice if I keep committing the same mistakes. I must not fail myself again.
I take a better look. Her body is slightly translucent and pulses with light in a slow rhythm. Even now she continues to keep her eyes closed.
Confusion rises in me.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Is it not obvious? I am protecting Equestria from the being outside.”
I feel a shiver down my spine, as I realize it isn’t just her voice I’m hearing. Echoes of other ponies mix into her speech, too quiet to be recognized, yet too loud to be ignored. I glance around to see if this is some sort of trick or ambush, but she merely continues to stand there, without even opening her eyes.
My caution bursts into flame. Why does she think me below herself still?
“Stop hiding behind your sphere and face me with dignity!”
She shows no reaction. Instead she merely asks, “Is my destruction truly what you desire?”
“Yes!” I yell, slamming my hoof down. It makes no sound as it collides with the solid nothing below. For a moment my grasp on the spell falters and it violently pulses before I get it under my control again. “You and your little friends may have defeated me back then, but I have returned! And I will have my justice!”
“You’re no enemy of mine anymore,” her multitude of voices echo somberly. “The young mare who banished you might as well be dead.”
What?
I take another look at her. The realization slowly dawns on me: She don’t seem exactly... alive, more like a statue. I focus on my horn and allow my spell to collapse on itself. As it blinks out of existence it leaves nary more than a bit of arcane dust that fades away as it falls down.
“What happened?” There is humility in my voice, though I don’t understand why. “Why is that thing haunting my Empire’s border?”
“The truth lies in the past, buried along with everyone I ever cared for. No one knows how and why the being found Equestria. Not that it would change anything. One day my biggest worry was making sure everyone had a friend... The next, preventing the total annihilation of my subjects.”
A pained, hollow laugh rings out from her, echoing a few times in the deafening silence.
“We tried everything. Yet not even our strongest spells could do as much as even scratch the creature, as it continued to devour city after city in blind, senseless carnage.”
She gasps as if to stifle a tear, but her body remains unmoving.
“In desperation we stripped the world of magic, eradicated the Windigos, and formed the barrier to protect Equestria. We sacrificed our subjects’ heritage, the lives of millions of creatures who could not survive without magic. It wasn’t enough. The barrier was too weak. Deep down we all knew it would break after just a few years, even with all those lives fueling it.”
She interrupts her monologue with a ragged sigh. Neither of us speaks for a while, as she tries to compose herself again.
“Finally the other alicorns... My family after my family... They chose me to stay behind and guard this world.” With each word her voice becomes more and more pained and the chorus dissonant. “Celestia, Luna, Cadance, even Flurry, they all gave me their life and magic. And even then, when our combined power came this tantalizingly close to repel the being, it wasn’t enough.”
As her echoes slowly die down, I find myself unable to even say anything. We stand there in silence for a few seconds.
“So you have... their magic?” The question absentmindedly slips from my mouth.
“Yes. And more. I possess all of the magic, be it from the pegasi, the unicorns, or earth ponies,” she replies weakly, before pausing for a moment. “All except yours.”
So this is what Izzy meant.
“Not all of it. Magic has returned, I saw it with my own eyes.”
The alicorn’s face remains set in stone. Yet when she speaks again, her voices tremble with fear and rage.
“You lie!” she sneers.
“Why would I? Didn’t you just say you’re not my enemy?”
Silence falls upon us. Only the sphere hums softly, its colors ever-shifting.
“King Sombra,” she finally says. “Whether what you are saying is true or not, I require your magic.”
“What?” I stare at her in disbelief.
“The dark magic that sustains and strengthens you is the push I need to finally banish the creature. After so many centuries Equestria could finally be saved! My centuries of watch could finally be over! You must help me!”
Her pleading voices do little to soften the blow.
“Never!” I lash back at her audacity. “I didn’t suffer pain and humiliation for so long to become your pawn!”
As rage wells in me, I take another step closer and jab an accusatory hoof in her direction.
“You will find no lackey in me!” A sadistic smirk creeps on my face. “Now that I know the others are dead and you cannot intervene, there is nothing that stands in my way to finally conquer Equestria! I shall rebuild my Empire! And you will be forced to protect me!”
“You would truly become an enemy to everyone just to satiate your ego?” she asks quietly.
“Ego?” I scoff. “This is merely the honor and duty of any ruler!”
My labored breathing is the only sound breaking the silence for a few seconds.
“Go then, King, enjoy your decade of reign.” Her voices lower to a whisper. I could swear her face is scowling at me. Yet when I blink, it is just as serene as before. “I am bound to protect and perhaps, if I’m powerful enough, you might even rule a century. But if what you’re saying is true, time is running out.
“That thing out there is ravenous for magic. We hoped that by sealing all of it away, the creature would lose interest and leave. This proved to be the fantasy of false optimism. Though it ceased its endless attacks, it never moved on. Still it lurks just beyond the barrier, waiting with senseless patience. And if my grip on magic truly is slipping as you say, it will eventually become rabid once more and I will grow too weak to hold it back.
“Will you have the strength in that last moment to look into your subjects’ eyes, knowing your vanity doomed them all?”
As her quiet accusation washes over me, I feel my blood slowly freeze in my veins.
“You’re- You’re bluffing,” is all I manage to reply.
“Am I? You seem to have made up your mind. Leave now, allow me to grieve for this dying world in peace.”
I find no rebuttal. This doesn’t feel like the victory I was coveting.
I slowly turn around. Though her eyes remain closed, I can feel her glare on my back as I walk away. With each step the light grows harsher, until I cannot see anything anymore.
I take a few more steps and suddenly my hoof lands on solid ground. My eye adjusts to the sudden darkness and I find myself back in the throneroom. The Heart lies behind me, still bathed in an ethereal glow. I fly back to the room above. I reel back from the bed-barricade’s sight and avert my eyes. They fall upon the journal. With almost mechanical movements, I take it into my hooves, before trotting out to the balcony once more. I spend some time looking towards the south.
Then my horn flashes and the shadows take me once more.
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This story is really moving too fast for my tastes, especially compared with the first 5 chapters. Sombra just teleports to the empire, and then touches the crystal heart and becomes friends with the G5 ponies unceremoniously? I don't get it.11204475
11204259
You must have skimmed over some details or confused some of the parts narrated from Sombra's perspective with parts narrated from Sunny or Twilight Sparkle's perspective because he's not suddenly friends with the G5 cast. He gave up the ruse pretending to be Izzy's friend and hasn't interacted with the G5 ponies since, that's Twilight's spirit he's talking to. He's not friends with her or the G4 cast all of a sudden either, the chapter ends with him still not wanting to trust Twilight.
I for one think the story is moving along at a reasonable pace and quite enjoy the explanation for the absence of the Windigos and how magic left Equestria. I also love how both Twilight and Sombra have their reasons not to trust each other, it helps the character dynamic and makes the conflict feel less black-and-white.
11204348
Oh. Ohhhhh. I'm an illiterate fuck. I thought the first section of this chapter was written from Sombra's perspective.
Cheers, then
nahhh fuck off twilight, why in the hell would he help you? you george foreman grilled that fucker without any mercy.