Within You

by fancybloom

Chapter 1

Not being strange enough that the map had called only her, it also requested her presence in a place where basically no one lived—this one was too cold—, not to mention that most of the creatures that lived there were because they had been exiled from the Crystal Empire; In simpler words: Evil creatures.

The alicorn had not taken long to tell her faithful dragon companion what was happening.

"Would it be very bad if you didn't obey to the map this time and didn't go? That place isn't very safe, and besides, you're taking care of Flurry Heart," the little reptile mentioned worriedly. He had already been there and he didn't at all like the idea of ​​his friend wandering around those desolate wastelands alone, not even knowing what she was looking for.

"I know, Spike." But I've never ignored a quest that gives me the map, I can't do that now. "And in any case, I don't think it's that dangerous, it's just an empty place full of snow, right?" She suggested in a 'confident' way, but inside she knew that that place could be more dangerous than it appeared.

The dragon didn't respond, but his look was enough to show how much he disapproved the alicorn's statement.

Still, after thinking about it and consulting with the little girl's parents—through letters that Spike helped exchange—it was concluded that the girl would be safe with her aunt; However, for their safety, Shining Armor would order a guard to keep them company.

---

"You know you could have left Flurry with any of the girls, right, Twilight?" Objected the dragon while he said goodbye to the alicorns, who were already taking the train to the Crystal Empire.

"I already talked to Shining and Cadance, Spike, we'll be fine." Before fully entering the train, she added something else. "Also, why didn't you suggest that to me before?"

"Why didn't you think about it before?"

The princess rolled her eyes and simply finished boarding the train. There was no turning back, normally when the map made a call they had to hurry, because they never knew how urgently the intervention of the pony who was called was needed.

"We'll be back soon, have fun."

He gave his answer until no one was listening to him. "Yeah, sure."

---

The trip had been quite exhausting to tell the truth. All along the way, Twilight had not been able to get rid of the feeling of singularity that had settled in her. She perceived the trip as strange because most of the time she traveled to the empire, she had the company of her friends. The moments they lived together were so pleasant that sometimes the duration of the trip felt non-existent.

However, now, remembering the last time they had taken a trip of such length where the sole purpose was to have fun and relax together was more difficult than she would like to admit.
She didn't want to have the bad luck of unconsciously making her fears come true, but she also couldn't help but feel like they were starting to get further and further apart, and she hated that feeling.

Her thoughts quickly drifted away when a visible flash caught her attention and the glittering Crystal Palace slowly appeared in her field of vision.

"Look, Flurry, we're close to home." She pointed out to the little girl, who, despite not really understanding, let out a small but happy laugh.

Only a few minutes later, the train finally stopped at the destination the alicorns were heading to.

"Good afternoon, Princess Twilight." A stallion, who from the armor the aforementioned was wearing Twilight deduced that he belonged to the Royal Guard of the Empire, approached and bowed before her. "It is nice to see you again, I hope you enjoyed the trip." He turned to look at the little girl and quickly added: "You and Princess Flurry Heart."

"Oh, thank you very much, uh..." She looked thoughtful, "Lieutenant General Flash, is that right? It's nice to see you again, too."

The pegasus smiled at what was said.

"I assume you will be the one to accompany us, right?"

"That's right, Your Highness."

"Well, in that case I think we can start."

The yellow-furred one just nodded and gave a short bow. With nothing more to say, they both began to walk, both remaining silent for most of the way.

[...]

"Oh, how am I supposed to fulfill my mission of friendship here if there is absolutely nothing and no one?" The purple alicorn exclaimed out loud, beginning to get tired of having already spent almost two hours looking for the 'friendship problem' that she had to solve, and the only thing that could be heard were the occasional echoes of the guard's, the baby's, and her voices. "Maybe the map's broken down again?" She asked to herself.

It was likely that if she didn't find something soon, this mission would become the first one she ignored/abandoned.

"Excuse the question, Your Highness, but what exactly are you looking for?" The stallion suddenly questioned, bringing up the doubt that he had had since the trip began.

"That's the problem, I don't even know that, when the map calls it's for us to go somewhere and solve friendship problems, but we never know specifically what we're going to find until we get to the point."

"Friendship problems?"

"Yeah, you know, conflicts between two, three or even large groups of ponies; conflicts that can be resolved by showing them the value of friendship and all of that."

"I understand, but... With all due respect, I don't think there's a friendship problem here," he emphasized, "you know? This place is usually completely desolate, except for a few creatures that I doubt you'd want to encounter."

She grimaced and looked away at the stallion's words. She knew that he was right about everything and she had even considered this before deciding to carry out the mission, but she had still ignored him in the end.

"I know, Flash, but..."

The increase in concern that the baby had been showing since a few minutes ago did not allow her to continue the sentence, concluding that it was probably a good idea to see what was happening to her.

"Give me a minute." Twilight excused herself and stopped with the intention of checking on her niece. "Everything okay, Flurry?" She asked as she picked her up and rocked her gently.

A frown appeared on her face when she noticed how the baby's attention seemed to not want to move away from a specific place.

"Is something wrong, Your Highness?" Flash couldn't help but ask when the alicorn turned to look in the same direction as the baby, her attention also immediately drawn to it.

"Are you seeing that too, Flash?" She didn't take her eyes off it.

When he directed his gaze towards the same place as both alicorns, he noticed a medium-sized cave covered in snow with a large opening in the front and a small ice formation on the side that protruded from the ground; However, he also realized that this was not what the princesses were interested in, but rather what was inside the aforementioned cave.

Although darkness completely reigned inside the cave, it was thanks to the clear sky that the sunlight could provide a faint illumination at the entrance of the place, both due to the reflections it projected on the ice, as well as on its own.

Due to this fact, it had not been very difficult to notice the (uncertainly) living being that was there.

"Do you think it's because of him or her that the map has sent you here?

"We have to find out that."

She put the baby back on her back and ran to get closer to the cave. The pegasus imitated her action.

When they were about 20 feet away from the cave, they were both able to confirm that, indeed, there was someone there; It was a steed that was apparently unconscious.

The alicorn internally wondered what had happened to him to end up in a cave in the middle of the Arctic North; She also came to the conclusion that there was no way for that pony to be in good health, since on its own it was impossible to withstand the cold that affected those moors.

She had never seen a pony like that, she had to admit. His fur was completely gray and his mane was completely black, she never judged basing on appearances, but she was almost sure that he was not from around here, which made her even more curious about him.

She also thought that maybe it could be someone who got lost and had no choice but to sleep in the cold. If the map had sent her there, then it was most likely her task to help him.

"We should see if he's okay." She said, starting to get a little closer to the cave.

"Wait, I'll get closer first." He didn't give the alicorn time to respond and stepped forward.

"Oh, Flash, he's unconscious, we could be more of a threat to him than he is to us." She laughed a little at what she described as a very exaggerated caution on the stallion's part.

But the fact is that neither of them managed to even get close.

The steed woke up and stood up quickly and abruptly, causing both ponies to instinctively step back a little startled.

What had previously seemed like a helpless steed that had gotten lost, began to transform into something completely different. His fur was still gray, but now it was a darker gray; His hair had not stopped being black either, but now it moved as if it were some kind of smoke. She hadn't even noticed that he had a horn, and that horn had now elongated and turned a rather bright red color; and finally, his eyes opened, showing how they were a very strong and bright green color, with red pupils and a kind of purple aura or smoke coming out of them.

It didn't take him a second to realize that it wasn't about anyone else than King Sombra.

"..."

The alicorn couldn't find a way to formulate a single word.

"We are more of a threat to him than he is to us, huh?" Even being somewhat shocked, the stallion found enough courage in him to use sarcasm.

Like him, she, despite the impact, was a little upset and made it clear with the look she gave him.

He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."

---

They were in trouble, they knew it very well.
Now it fit perfectly why the baby had become so uncomfortable.
She had felt the dark energy of the evil king.

The purple alicorn had been unable to escape her trance as she watched the aforementioned king transform into what he really was. At the same time, her mind was also being attacked by thousands of doubts.

She had considered before that perhaps it would be dangerous to come, but she would never have imagined how dangerous it was.

But to her great surprise, before they could even come out of their shock to think of something or visualize any movement against the dark steed, he simply vanished.

And not literally, but it seemed that the magic and energy that surrounded him had vanished, and he had fallen to the ground, turning his appearance back to the one he had before and once again becoming unconscious.

"..."

The purple alicorn had not finished processing yet.

"Holy Celestia."

And neither did the pegasus.

She didn't know what to think, everything had happened in the blink of an eye, she still felt her heart beating rapidly.

Had he transformed and transformed back to normal in the same minute?
She didn't understand anything at all.

But what she did understand is that she had to act immediately and call both the empire's guards and Princess Celestia and Luna; she didn't want to wait too long and have King Sombra wake up again and attack them.

---

"You say that he just transformed and fell to the ground again?" The alicorn with white fur and colorful mane questioned her former student, walking from one side to the other, wearing a worried and thoughtful face.

"That's right, I'm not very clear about what really happened." Twilight followed the princess with her gaze, who along with her sister, Princess Luna, had arrived immediately after letting them know of the situation. "I thought we defeated him, but it seems all we did was just weaken him."

"This is dangerous, if the crystal heart did not actually defeat him then that means that he is even stronger than we thought, he represents a great threat to both the empire and Equestria." Her scowl and distressed-looking look made Twilight swallow thickly.

Princess Celestia stopped to think for a few moments before continuing.

"It's best that we wait for Cadence and Shining Armor to discuss all this, after all, Cadence is actually the one who should make the decisions here."

"Yes, you are right about that. In any case," the Princess of the Night turned to look at the youngest princess, "something I don't quite understand is why your map sent you there."

"Me neither, it broke down once but that was when Starlight cast a spell on it, and it was repaired almost immediately; there's no way it could have gotten damaged out of nowhere." She responded with the same level of confusion.

Both minor alicorns left a space of silence, waiting for a response from the eldest, but they noticed how she did not respond and kept her gaze lost in front of her.

"Sister?"

"I'm afraid there might be a not very pleasant explanation for this."

The response made both princesses slightly alert.

"Maybe the point of the map was for you to, in fact, find King Sombra." The eldest continued.

"What? Why would it want that?" The purple alicorn responded somewhat surprised, hiding that, although that had crossed her mind, she had not wanted to believe it possible.

Princess Celestia walked forward a little before continuing to speak.

"Throughout your journey in life, you have managed to reform people who were on the wrong side; of course, with the help of your friends." She added. "Discord and Starlight can be very good examples. We don't know how the map works or what kind of magic it uses, but perhaps it recognized that you are capable of making someone who has been evil see that it is possible to change."

"Okay, let me see if I understood... You're saying that maybe the mission the map is giving me this time is... Reform King Sombra?" With every word she said, the possibility that it was possible to achieve something like that became less and less. "Is that even possible? You once told me he was a pony with a black heart full of hate."

"That's right, but, I repeat: I don't know the way or the magic with which the map works, Twilight, so I have no idea about anything really."

Twilight shook her head slowly, processing what was happening, thinking about everything that would entail even trying to do such a thing.

"N-no... I don't know if I can do that, I don't think so."

The ruler of Equestria nodded softly at her former student's reaction, she completely understood why the youngest did not feel capable; personally, she admitted that she did not want her to risk herself in that way, that pony was dangerous and unpredictable.
But it wasn't something that was her decision, there didn't seem to be any other explanation as to why the map would send her there if there was no one to help.

There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Where is he now?" The purple-furred one finally asked.

"In one of the empire's dungeons, we put him in a super-reinforced cell and several guards to watch over him."

Twilight sighed tiredly. She had had too much emotions in just one day.

"I guess I'll have to stay the night. Tomorrow I will think about this, today has been enough."

Both elder alicorns nodded in agreement.

"Rest, Twilight."

"I'll try."

As soon as she entered the room that they normally lent her to sleep in, she wrote a quick letter to Spike in which she let him know that something had come up and that she wouldn't be able to arrive soon, so that he wouldn't be worried.

And with nothing else to do, she fell into bed and fell asleep.

Or at least that's what she had tried.

---

Cadence and Shining Armor had arrived as quickly as they could from their trip. When Princess Celestia told them what had happened, they immediately stopped what they were doing. They knew how dangerous that being was, and that he had been close to their daughter; which was enough that it didn't matter whatever royal trip they were doing.

The three princesses were having breakfast in the kitchen, they needed something in their stomachs before they could debate and/or make any decision.

From one moment to the next the kitchen door was abruptly opened, creating the loud and thunderous sound of the door hitting the wall.
The prince had entered, shouting the dark king's name as soon as he had crossed the entrance.

"Sombra! Where is that coward?" he turned to see where his sister was, who was surprised and could barely react. He quickly ran towards her.

"Twilight, did something happen to you? Or to Flurry Heart? Did he hurt you?" He launched each of the questions without leaving a space between them to give way to an answer.

"Wow, calm down. We're both fine, nothing bad happened." She tried to calm her brother's concern.

"Of course something bad happened, that idiot is still alive, hadn't we already defeated him?"

The violet alicorn sighed and she closed her eyes tiredly.
"We thought so, but no."

After a few moments, the stallion was able to relax enough so that at least they could reason with him, then both crystal rulers sat down, and were informed of the situation.

"You'll do what?" The one with the blue mane had become upset again, not believing what his sister was telling him.

"I'm not completely sure yet, brother, I–"

He interrupted her.

"You can't do that, you would be walking into the manticore's mouth. Are you serious when you say you're considering reforming King Sombra?" It seemed that he actually found it very difficult to believe that his sister did not speak with even a hint of joking in her words.

"Well–"

"This is not even about someone who did something wrong and could change, no. We are talking about the king of darkness, of nightmares; of the king who eliminated the previous queen of the Empire and enslaved the entire Empire. That simply cannot be forgotten and forgiven as if nothing had happened."

"But the map–"

She was interrupted again.

It doesn't matter what that map says, it could easily be damaged. Don't go near King Sombra, Twilight, I'm serious." He stood up abruptly from his chair. "I'll go see Flurry Heart."

The other princesses decided not to say anything at all, the reality is that it was a very complex issue.
While the younger alicorn could only smash her head against the table.

"Cadence...?"

"I don't think it's a good idea either, Twilight. This king is evil, actually evil." She answered, trying to use a soft voice. "I'll go with Shining Armor, I also want to see my daughter."

The younger only watched her leave, and then turned to see the two authority figures sitting in front of her, insinuating with her eyes that they should give her some answer.

But they just denied.

She now felt even more lost than she had before.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

[...]

You know you can add hr's, right?

Something like this:

---

It's the small dash to separate sections in a chapter. "{hr]"

Isn't the map the result of the elements of harmony? I don't think it would be a wise decision to simply just ignore it.

[fancybloom]

11871031
I had forgotten about that, thanks.

[fancybloom]

11871039
It's the first time I publish something on fimfiction, I didn't know I could do that.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11871165
Honestly for a first story it's actually pretty good, I seen a lot of first stories on this site and this is one of the best I have seen so far, atleast top 10.