Ascendancy: Fear

by SeedOfEvil

The Creator

Chapter 5: The Creator

Everything had gone according plan.

As powerful as he was, Sombra knew he would be a fool if he didn't think of some sort of backup plan. If he had even a single fault, carelessness wasn't one of them. As small as the chances were that someone would actually find the crystal heart and activate it, Sombra knew all too well that such a possible could occur. And occur it did.

For all logical reason, King Sombra should have died. When the meddlesome unicorn Twilight Sparkle found the crystal heart, Sombra knew he would have to begin implementing his backup plan. Luckily for him, the plan had already begun. Sombra had taken great time and put great detail into every measure of precaution to prepare for the unlikely events that would unfold if he were to lose the crystal heart.

In order to survive the power of the crystal heart, Sombre knew that he would need to duplicate his mind. It was this secondary mind that would sustain his life should his body perish. But a second mind would be useless unless there was a conduit to place it in. If there ever were a pony that could find the Crystal heart, they would have to be very smart, and very powerful. In this sense, there was no reason to put forth much effort to hide the entrance to the chamber where the heart would be held.

The crystal above Sombra's throne would serve as an excellent first stage into opening the way toward the heart. The only way to unlock the hidden chamber would be to submit ones self to dark magic. After all that power had done, Sombra was certain no crystal pony would even attempt dark magic. As long as the crystal ponies were under his control, the heart would be safe. But relying on only one door would be foolish. If there were a pony powerful enough to even open the chamber the heart was as good as theirs.

Though the heart would be lost, Sombra would not let them leave with only the crystal heart. It was here that Sombra's true trap would come into play. A doorway. It was this doorway that would spell the end for the pony who was smart enough to come even that far. Unlike the throne room's crystal, this door would only open correctly when pure white magic was cast upon it. Any attempt to open the door with dark magic would be hit with a powerful spell. It was this spell that Twilight herself had fallen victim to. One might believe that doors purpose was to stop or stall an intruder. That was what Sombra wanted them to think.

Though the door would stall any intruder, its true purpose was not such. Should the door be opened with dark magic, the pony responsible would become trapped inside an illusion of one of their worst fears. Though effective, Sombra knew this wouldn't stop an intruder smart enough to come this far. Of all emotions that Sombra liked to use against ponies, Fear was his favorite. While sadness could make a target more vulnerable to attack, and anger could make them careless. Fear was an emotion that would open a bridge right into the mind itself. Fear was how Sombra controlled most of his subjects, And fear was how he would destroy his enemies.

While the intruder in question would be trapped within their fearful illusions, the door would begin its second purpose. To feed the very mind of Sombra himself into the very pony who sought his destruction. In trying to kill Sombra, they would only give him another way to live.

Twilight Sparkle had fallen right into Sombra's hooves. With his mind implanted inside her, Sombra would live another day. Of course, there was one problem with the plan. Sombra was quite surprised when he found out just who this purple unicorn he would reside in was. Not only was this the private student of Celestia herself, she was also a member of the elements of harmony. Looking through Twilights mind, Sombra realized he needed to tweak his plans.

Originally, once his mind was safe inside his new host, Sombra would slowly take over their mind. By slowly closing off his hosts memories, Sombra would have simply just taken over. Without memories, ponies are simply empty shells. Easy to control, and easy to alter. Twilight however, changed this plan. Sombra couldn't bear to let such an important pony disappear and die. No. He would make full use of this pony, but he would need help from an outside source. Imagine the sheer surprise Sombra felt when he learned that the very instruments he needed to succeed in his plans were already in the young Twilights possession.

It must have been fate. Only fate could explain why Twilight had not only The Alicorn amulet, but the very book he needed it for. Fantasy Removal Charms.

Though he had no physical body, the dark king was sure he was smiling wider than he ever had his entire life.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was still nighttime in the small earth pony settlement of Ponyville. Everywhere, mares and stallions, fillies and colts were asleep in their warm beds having sweet dreams. All but two that is. Through all the dark windowed homes, there was one that stood tall with its lights on. The Ponyville library near the center of town shined like a dim nightlight during the night. But for the young unicorn within, the dark was only getting darker.

Twilight Sparkle lay on her stomach on the hard wooden floor of the library, as she stared up at the dark figure that stood before her. Twilight had never actually seen King Sombra's entire form in person. When he had revealed his body from the dark smoke he usually shrouded himself in, Twilight had been stuck in a cage at the top of the Crystal empires palace. Thus she was unable to actually see the King in his true form. Seeing the King in his true form brought nothing but despair to the lavender pony. Sombra was dressed in silver armor and dawned a red royal robe. Atop his head sat a horned crown of the same silver with accents of red in its front. Unlike most unicorns who had still manes, Sombra's mane and tail billowed behind him as if being blown by some unfeeling breeze. The way an alicorn's mane would.

For the longest time, Sombra didn't move. Standing in one spot, the dark king took in deep breaths before exhaling as if in a meditative state. He repeated this action several times before he finally spoke in his usual menacing tone.

"I apologize for my poor manners Ms. Sparkle.", he said with a bow," Being dead for so long made me forget the pleasures of breathing actual air."

Twilight remained silent. Trembling as the dark king continued to speak to her.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am King Sombra. The true ruler of Equestria."

Sombra's mouth flashed a quick smile before his body morphed into a shadowy form. He shot towars the cowering unicorn before wrapping his black clouded form around her.

"And you must be Twilight Sparkle", he said with a grin, "I must say, I was quite amazed when a unicorn of your age was able to find where I had hidden that wretched crystal heart. Too bad you im still alive."

Twilight trembled even more as her greatest fear violated her personal space. thought he was only made of smoke, Sombra's form seemed to squeeze around her own body. Finally, she found the courage to speak.

"What....what do you want?" Twilight weakly asked. She hated her own voice for betraying her, she had tried to make her voice sound stronger, but the sheer terror she was experiencing left her throat dry and weak. What really scared Twilight however, was Sombra's next words.

"What do I want? heh.... I desire many things young Twilight Sparkle.", he said with small laugh," Most of which involve me enslaving your pitiful world and killing your arrogant sun and moon princesses. But as for right now, I desire you."

"Me?!" Twilight responded,"What... what do you mean?" Twilight tried to move away from the fog which encased her, but she was still too weak to move. All she could do was grunt in pain as Sombra continued to tighten his misty body around her own. Her insides were hurting badly from vomiting the king from her body. She needed to find some way out of this. Alas, she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"I need you for a very special task my dear." Sombra watched as the lavender mare struggled to move. "Of course the way you are now, the only use you have is timber wolf bait. But since I am a generous king ill help you out."

Twilight watched as Sombra's red horn began to glow with a black aura. "This is it", she thought, "He's going to kill me.", Twilight closed her eyes as Sombra Released the spell. A bright yellow beam shot forth from Sombra's horn hitting Twilight square in her back. Twilight waited for the pain she was sure would come, but was surprised when she began feeling better. Opening her eyes, she saw Sombra wasn't killing her. He was healing her. Twilight couldn't comprehend what was happening, but she wasn't complaining. This was exactly what she needed.

The Second Sombra's spell ended, Twilight shot forth a large blast of telekinetic energy at the distracted king. Sombra was flying across the room before he even knew what hit him. Sombra hit the bookcase behind him as several books buried him. Taking full advantage of the situation, Twilight quickly shot several super amplified versions of candle lighting spells at the staggered Sombra. Twilight hated to see so many books burn, but she had no choice. One by one, the flames hit Sombra. Setting his body ablaze in a fiery inferno.

But Twilight was far from done. Using her magic, she levitated a large canister of lantern oil from a nearby storage closet. With a yell, she through the canister into the flames, but no explosion came. Twilight had purposely left the canister sealed knowing she would need time to escape the blast range. Not bothering with the handle, Twilight literally tackled the libraries front door, knocking it off its hinges.

Landing outside the Library, Twilight quickly hurried to her hooves. Due to her need to be prepared, Twilight had enough oil in that canister to fill over a hundred lanterns. If she didn't hurry, Twilight would join Sombra in his premature cremation. Twilight could only estimate how far she needed to be from the bast radius, as she didn't have the time to preform the math in her head. So she kept running. She ran and ran, until after about ten second from escaping the library, the canister went off.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Twilight didn't remember much of the explosion. The last thing she remembered was running and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground up against a nearby building. Twilight looked upon the charred burning ruins of what she once called home. Luckily, the tree that the library was built inside absorbed enough of the blast that none of the neighboring buildings were set on fire as well. Her own home wasn't so lucky.

The the library had been literally split in two. what was once a tall proud oak was now nothing but two of its sides. Both sides were burning and bent outward. All around the tree were hundreds of scorched branches. Any leaves that the branches once held had been burnt away before they even hit the ground.

Twilight sat up while she looked on as her home continued to burn. "Well," Twilight looked up at the sky. It was almost morning and the faint blue color of the day could be seen," At least I made a great alarm clock for everypony." Twilight giggled at the lame joke she said aloud to herself.

"I hardly believe this is the time for laughter."

Twilight stopped cold at the voice that spoke to her. Slowly she turned around to find the source of the voice. As she looked back, Twilight saw him. King Sombra, alive and unscathed stood atop the chimney of the home behind Twilight. His black mane blowing behind him, and his green eye seeping will dark magic wisps.

"Im-impossible! I saw you on fire! How do you not have even a burn!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes well, perhaps if you had attacked with the intent to kill me directly, you may have succeeded. Now, I do believe its my turn." Sombra gave Twilight a wide grin before unleashing his power once more upon Twilight.

Twilight hadn't even see Sombra's horn glow before she found herself being hurled through the air in his telekinetic grip. Twilight was slammed hard into a pile of still burning ashes. The heat singed her fur and brought tears to her eyes. Twilight tried to escape from Sombra's hold but was unable to concentrate due to the immense pain she was feeling from the ash burning her. Sombra gave his head several sharp motions to the left, his magic dragging Twilight along with it. Twilight was slammed repeatedly into the brick siding of another nearby business. Not hard enough to break any bones, but enough to keep her from casting any spells. Eventually Sombra grew tired of the repeated motion and threw her onto the ground in front of the burning remains of the library before teleporting in front of her.

"I must say Sparkle. I'm rather disappointed.", Twilight raised her head to look up at the dark unicorn standing over her, "I thought you might provide me with at least a little bit of a challenge. Especially since you're wearing that amulet."

Twilights eyes grew as wide as cantaloupes. "The amulet!", she thought, "I forgot to take it off!" Twilight reached up a hoof to pull off the amulet from her neck. As tempting as it was to use its power, she had been wearing it for too long. If she didn't remove it soon, it would begin corrupting her to the point that she might never want to take it off. Twilight grabbed a hold the amulet with her hoof and pulled. The amulet didn't unlock. Surprised by this, Twilight pulled on it with both of her fore hooves. But the amulet still remained locked around her neck.

"I don't understand." she said in confusion,"The amulet should be able to be removed by its wearer."

At hearing this, Sombra burst into laughter. "Foolish child. The alicorn amulet can only be removed by its owner."

"But I saw Trixie remove it, so why cant I ?!", Twilight asked as she continued to pull on amulet.

Sombra continued laughing even harder, "I don't know who this 'Trixie' is, but she was only a temporary owner. With the amulet cut off from my magic for over one thousand years during my entrapment in the arctic north, the amulet was allowed to be controlled by others. But now that I have returned, the amulet will only answer to its true master's call."

Twilight looked at Sombra puzzlingly as he spoke. Then the realization of what he was saying hit her head across the head. "Wait, you're not saying!..."

Sombra smiled wickedly, "The alicorn amulet is mine. I created it. Only I can control when it can be used. And only I can remove it from your neck!"

((be sure to read the authors notes))

Author's Note:

Yes. im using part of the Sombra/alicorn amulet theory. I just love it so much.

Useful info for understanding this chapter: The alicorn amulet episode of mlp is taking place BEFORE the crystal empire episodes. that's the best way i could make this story work.

I originally intended this chapter to be much longer, but due to procrastination, i started working on it late and i don't want to be up till 3am writing it. so instead, im splitting this chapter in two.

I recently got the game "Okami" on my ps3 and im loving it! I want to play it some more before I go to bed. If you have a ps2 ps3 or wii, GET THIS GAME! ive always heard the game is fun. well its even more fun than that.

Anywho. I'll try not to procrastinate and actually make a full chapter next weekend. Thank you for reading my story for this long.

Btw. I also have a pony facebook page. I own the largest Filly Princess Celestia page on facebook. Im freaking adorable. give it a like. (if you care that is. if not, to each his own!)

Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Filly-Princess-Celestia/287887534563339

Later. and give me a thumbs up if you like the story so far. Thanks!