Deeper Into the Shadows
The following night was one of the best nights of sleep Sombra had in years. It was a deep and relieving sleep, and it left him well rested for the day. He didn't have that luxury for centuries, as he was in a position that forced him to stay on his hooves every single moment of his life, but here he could be at ease with himself as he pleased.
After all, Twilight was finally here with him. And he was looking forward to doing lots of things with her.
But when he opened his eyes and saw what was going on, he noticed that Twilight was with him in bed, burying her face in his chest. He discovered that his chest fur was wet from all of her tears, and she muttered something while her snout was deep in his fur.
"Twilight, what's the matter?" he asked her.
She didn't react immediately, and she allowed the tears to keep pouring out of her. Her body was shaking from the agony of her situation, and she was a mere shell of her confident, self assured self.
"There, there. I'm here for you," he said, wrapping his hooves around her backside. "Let it all out."
"I...I'm never going to see my friends again, aren't I?" she cried out. "Not like this. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, I already miss them all. And how are they going to accept me when..."
He comforted her with a tight hug, soothing her spirits back to normal. He allowed her to keep her head on his chest for some time. She didn't say anything for a while.
"I'll be here for you, even when your friends and family abandon you," he whispered in her ear. "You know I'm not going to let anything in your past get in the way. And you can stay here inside the castle as long as you like. Does that help?"
She slowly nodded, unable to get any words out. Every time she tried to speak, her voice stuffed up and she could never get past the tears. But it didn't matter, when actions spoke louder than words.
They spent a few minutes in the early morning like that, wrapped up in the other's grasp. He would take a moment every now and then to nuzzle her mane around her horn, and she giggled from the move. His snout was ticklish around her horn, yet it turned out to be exactly what she wanted. Somepony to comfort her at that moment.
"What's going to happen to me now?" she breathed.
"Ah, I forgot. This must all be new to you. Have you ever had to be in exile before?"
"Once. But that was different. I was in exile because I lost a magic duel with another unicorn named Trixie, and I wasn't on the run because nopony had any reason to chase me. And I found a way to come back to Ponyville. But that was before I was a princess..."
"So you've never been in a situation like this either. But I think I might have a few things we could do later today. But you must realize that it must all be done inside the castle grounds. We can't risk letting Celestia or any of her guards know you're here."
"I...I understand. I thought that was going to happen anyways."
"Now, then. You lost control of dark magic because you had no control over it, right?"
"Right..." Her voice was low pitched, forced to remember the outcome of last night.
"The problem was, you don't know how to control it. It took over your body for a few minutes. But I know how to master it. And if you are willing, I can show you everything I know about dark magic, so it never happens again. Would you like that?"
Twilight sat up in her bed next to Sombra. Her hooves toyed with the blankets while she was deep in thought.
Am I sure that I want this? There's no going back after I say yes. I'll be deep into dark magic, and he'll be my new teacher.
Then again, what else is there to do if I say no...wait for Celestia to find me?
"I want to learn about dark magic.. Could you teach me everything you know?"
He smiled, and lifted up in his place to hold her again. He kissed her while he held her tightly, and she kissed him back in relief.
"Of course I will. But we should probably get ready for the day first."
-----
They shared a quiet breakfast together, enjoying surprisingly good omelettes and homemade coffee from Ponyville. She didn't know how he came up with the food on her plate, just applying it to the fact that he had a creation spell that knew very few limits. After all, it created the very castle she resided in.
The room that served as Sombra's own dining hall was just as extravagant and lavish as any place Twilight had ever seen. The typical black stone walls gave way to walls that were entirely constructed out of dark crystal. It shimmered the reflections of the two ponies inside, and the room itself was expansive for a whole half mile.
Paintings of various historical moments before Celestia's rule hung on the walls, featuring the likes of Commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum.
However, even in a place as beautiful as this, Twilight didn't say much of anything during the meal. She wouldn't get over all that she had been through in one day, and that was what happened there.
After it was over, he moved out of his seat and came to Twilight's side of the table.
"If you are finished with your meal, we're ready to start today's lessons."
"Yeah, I'm done anyways. So where are we going for this?"
"It's a place that would act as a training ground for any other castle. You never know when you will need it in the future."
So they left the dining room together, and Sombra led her through the way to the training grounds. She went through countless hallways and twists on the way there. It took longer than she anticipated, and at times she felt like a mouse in a maze.
Meanwhile, she noticed that the Shadow Guards were acting much differently this time around. They kept their stoic look on their faces, even when the strange and unusual guest passed right by then.
"See? I told you they would adjust to having a new pony around here in no time," Sombra commented. "Now then. Here we are.."
She was brought to another expansive room of the castle, but it was much different in tone. The walls were almost entirely grey in this place, and it felt very industrial to her in design.
What stood out the most was the presence of a target range, not unlike the one she built in Ponyville herself. There were two dozen haystacks, but the targets were cardboard cutouts of generic pony designs, all white and all unicorns. A few Shadow Guards stood by the range, waiting nearby with replacement targets in their possession.
Sombra came forward to the middle of the room, and lowered himself down into battle position.
"This is what it will look like when you master this particular. Watch closely at how many I can take down."
His red horn beamed with his own magic, pure black in its aura. The magic emitting from him was so strong, it caused the ground underneath Twilight's hooves to quiver.
The magic aura grew in size, until it was one third of Sombra's size around his horn. He took a deep breath and pointed his horn at the targets. When he released the spell, it shot out countless electrical bolts, black in coloring, at the cardboard ponies.
Within a few seconds, all 24 ponies were demolished in their place. Pieces of cardboard littered the floor, some even landing right before the couple. Twilight jumped back in surprise, certain that one piece would smack her in the face if she stayed in one place for too long.
He exhaled and wiped his brow clean when it was over. "And that is the full potential of this craft."
Without having to be told, the Shadow Guards went to work on replacing the targets. Some swept up all the cardboard with their horns, while others placed fresh new targets to work with into the haystacks.
In no time at all, there were 24 targets again, and the range was clean of any debris.
"Now let's see what you can do on your own, Twilight. You might have taken out that tree in the park, but this is dealing with numbers now. You will find yourself in situations where you must deal with a number as large as this, or face certain death."
A shiver went down her spine when she was put on the spot. There was no way she was going to top what he just did. Then again, it was her first day under Sombra's wing...
She stepped up to the plate, ready to show what she was made of. Sombra took a few steps back, since this was a highly unpredictable field they were working with.
Remember, it's just your first day, she thought. You don't need to get every one of them right now.
Her horn beamed bright with the same dark magic he used. She concentrated on all 24 targets at once, lined up in a row for her to get. She would have to use the same spell he used to get them.
All of her efforts went into preparing it, and the aura grew in size with the concentration. She had done 12 targets before, even if it was by accident, and she could do it again.
While she thought about it, a number of thoughts tried to invade her mind. Scaring Spike whenever she lost control the first time she let herself go, killing four ponies the second time...
It proved to be too much. She could barely concentrate on anything but her failures. Drops of sweat traveled down her face, and the magic aura was failing to grow to the heights Sombra had reached.
When she finally did release the spell, it was the weakest one in dark magic she had ever done. Only a few lightning strikes went out to the targets. and they barely hit any of them at all.
After the smoke cleared and Twilight saw the fruit of her work, only three targets were destroyed. The others didn't even have a scratch on them.
And yet the spell took a lot out of her. Her forehead was drenched in sweat, and her limbs were shaking from the energy that was lost in the process. She turned to see Sombra and hoped for his approval, even though she knew she didn't deserve it with that performance.
"Is something getting in the way when you prepare the spell?" he inquired. "While all magical fields do have a mental element to them, dark magic is especially so. And given what's happened to you in the last 24 hours, I would not be surprised."
She nodded in shame. ".I keep thinking about everything I've done with dark magic up til now. I'm not sure what to do about it."
"In that case, it's a simple answer. Do you recall in Starswirl the Bearded's book that dark magic carries a mind of its own?"
"I remember. Does that have something to do with my setbacks?"
"Correct. Dark magic carries a mind of its own, one that cannot be tamed. Do you want to know the secret to mastering that aspect?"
"More than anything. I don't want to end up killing more innocent ponies, all because I can't get a grip on it."
"Then I will tell you. The secret is rather simple, and you'll learn it in no time. The secret to mastering dark magic is to not fight its influence. Allow it to flow through you, control your magic entirely."
"But that's how I lost it! It took over my horn and did things on its own!"
"That's because you were most likely fighting it. Isn't that what you tried to do?"
"Maybe..."
"Then that's the problem. See what happens when you don't fight it, but go with its power."
He took a few more steps to the back, widening the distance between them to.
Twilight turned around to face the same targets. The Shadow Guards had already replaced the three destroyed cutouts, so she could go whenever she wanted. She was going to do it for real this time.
She posed again in battle position, and got her horn to emit dark magic as before. The aura grew and grew, all while the air flew around her like a hurricane.
Sombra observed that Twilight seemed to be more concentrated, and decided to emit a spell of his own. The spell was invisible to the naked eye, and it went inside her ears to enter her brain. He was pleased to see inside her head nothing but concentration to the spell she was working on. Every other thought was cast aside before it could distract her.
So you are willing after all. It's time you get to see what I see.
Then he cast another spell at Twilight. It landed on her horn and caused the aura to grow to a third of her size like it did for him.
To her, it seemed like dark magic was finally working in her favor. She almost let out tears of joy to see that she was making it work like she wanted.
"Release the spell!" he commanded.
She did as she was told and let go, and it felt like a tidal wave escaped from her body. She heard the breaking of cardboard in front of her, and the purple trails coming out of her eyes were stronger than ever before.
Much to her surprise, she didn't feel spent when it was over. And she knew that the second attempt far exceeded the first in power. She took a look at the results, and she was stunned out of her mind.
Very much like Sombra's demonstration, she had managed to destroy every single target in her wake. Debris was sent everywhere, and not one of the pony cutouts survived her attack.
She held a hoof to her mouth, astonished by the results of the new technique. She couldn't believe that something like this came from her. Behind herself, she heard Sombra stomp the floor in applause.
"Impressive, very impressive," he spoke. "You learn faster than any pony I've seen. Let's see you try it again, to make sure you've mastered this for good."
After a few minutes of setup, the range was restocked and it was Twilight's turn to go.
"All right. I'm sure I can do this again," she said.
"I know you can. But practice never hurt anypony."
"That's right. That way, I can stay loose with this."
Twilight went and focused everything she had into her third electrical attack, allowing the aura on her horn to gain in size. She wanted to prove to Sombra that the first success wasn't a fluke, and there would be nothing better than to see her caretaker happy with her work.
All the while, Sombra focused his own magic on going in as deep as he could within her brain. A little seed inserted here, a thought implanted there. That's all he needed to do at this point. He could detect from within that she was willing to work with him at this point.
And so he got out in time, only to witness another 24 targets destroyed by Twilight's spell.
All the pieces were exactly where they needed to be for him.
After it was over, he walked over to her side. She was finally exhausted from the work, and instinctively leaned on his shoulder. She kept breathing in and out, in and out. He felt her body drenched in sweat from the practicing.
"That's enough for now. You were one of the fastest learners I've ever seen," he complimented.
"That...that was amazing. Like I had to do nothing at all to be good at this."
"That's one way to put it. But there's still much to learn. Dark magic carries more than one spell, but I believe you've already mastered one of them."
"Really? You think so?"
"You hit as many targets in one round as I do. And dark magic is almost everything I know. That says a lot about your skills."
She leaned even heavier on his shoulder as she managed to catch up with her breath. Sweat still managed to pour down her face, though.
"Twilight, can I ask you something?"
"OK. I'm listening."
"Are you sure this is what you want for yourself? You're living with me in the middle of exile now, away from everypony you know and love."
"What choice do I have? They'll never bring me back into their fold again, not after all I've done."
"I know that. But let's just say you never killed anypony, and you're allowed to roam around Equestria as much as you would like. Free will and all of that. Would you still want to be with me?"
She stopped in the middle of the conversation and gave herself time to think it over. Turned out she didn't need much time at all.
"I still would. You've demonstrated that you're willing to change. I just wish I didn't have to pick one over the other. It's a horrible feeling to go through. But I like being with you. I really do."
"That's what I needed to know."
He would have kept spending time with Twilight, but then the scent of perspiration overwhelmed his nostrils.
"I'm sorry if I offend you, but after all that, you need to take a shower."
She brought a hoof to her nose and smelled herself. "Wow, I didn't realize how hard I was working. But you actually have a shower I could use?"
"Sure. I might not have caught up with the times as you have, but I know what a shower is."
-----
Hot water pressed Twilight's mane down to her face. Steam rose up from her body, and all the sweat accumulated from the range washed away from the stream.
Minutes melted away as the boiling water soothed away the tension in her muscles. She didn't know how long she wanted to be here for, but that didn't matter. This bathroom was all hers for the taking.
She recognized this as the first solitary moment she had since she had arrived in Sombra's castle. The first moment she could spend with her thoughts alone.
And yet she found herself wishing Sombra was there, encouraging her with his wisdom, holding her tightly and saying he was never going to let her go.
But even then she knew that was not normal for her. She always enjoyed these moments in the past where she could just think quietly to herself without somepony chiming in. So why was she acting like this now?
She brought out the soap and scrubbed it all over her belly and backside. It took away the dirt from the gardens she still carried in her coat, even taking care of trace amounts of blood left behind by a certain Guard.
The soap got rid of it all, and she was grateful for that. It was almost like washing away a memory...
After she was finished with the shampoo and washed her mane clean as well, she climbed out of the tub and shook the water off like a dog. She levitated a towel over to her side and took care of any leftover water.
The cloud of steam eventually escaped the bathroom, and she noticed that there was a mirror in there. She wanted to make sure she was presentable for Sombra before she went out again, so she went over to look at it.
When she looked at her reflection, she saw a purple alicorn staring back at her with the strangest eyes. Where the whites would be, greens took their places. It wasn't an effect of magic; she wasn't using her horn at all and knew it. The greens were permanent parts of her eyes now.
She blinked a few times to make sure she was really seeing this. And when she realized that it wasn't her imagination, she jumped back in surprise.
Are those...those are really my eyes...
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her face pressed closer to the other pony's reflection, and realized it was for real.
Why is this happening to me? How is it even possible that I have green eyes...
Wait. Sombra has green eyes and purple mist coming out of them. And he uses dark magic all the time...
She paused for a moment, and realized the reason behind this change. It only served to weird her out.
Does this mean...does this mean I'll have purple mist coming out of my eyes if I keep doing this? I...I need to keep an eye on this, make sure this is all it does to me. If it gets any worse, Sombra will know what to do. I hope he's not freaked out when he sees me like this...
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Interesting. In one spot, though, you said 'learns' instead of 'learned.'
No, he won't be freaked out, Twilight. He'll be overjoyed...
EDIT:
...how the hell did I get the second post? I didn't read *that* fast, did I?
I have to admit that line was...cheesy :/ if she thought it in her head then perhaps it would be less so. But part of me thinks she should still feel a little unnerved about her feeling towards Sombra.
Wow... this is getting intense. Keep it up.
2578439
Already got rid of the line.
2578383
Could you tell me which line this is?
2578489 Awesome :)
Hmn, you're losing me a bit with the "Sombra doing things to Twilight with magic she doesn't notice" thing. That said, it's probably a conflicting headcanon issue as I don't really remember the show having established anything regarding unicorns or alicorns being able to detect spell casting. Still, it bugs me to see the Element of Magic get magically fiddled with like this, especially post-princesshood.
As much as I'm enjoying this story, I cant help but feel like twilight is way out of character. there is nothing she wouldn't talk to celestia about, especially the Starswirl book, and being that she is a force of good she would not go to the evil side so quickly. Alas, that is my only gripe, but it is important.
Love it keep up the good hard work!
"The smell of precipitation" I think you mean perspiration.
Great work, this is deserving of many mustaches
"He would have kept spending time with Twilight, but then the scent of precipitation overwhelmed his nostrils."
It's perspiration, not precipitation. Otherwise good chapter.
God damn you write fast!
I love it!
This is getting interesting but I'm starting to feel that Twlight is a bit out of character at some parts. But I know fan fictions can't always be spot on either but focus on a good story as this is right now.
Will Twilight's eye color go normal when she is not using dark magic? Unless it's a side effect? In the Crytsal Empire, Sombra's eyes were normal white with the red iris when he was not using dark magic.
i can't wait for this to explode in sombra's face. IT WILL BE GLORIOUS!!!
2578890 she doesn't know she's going evil, so in her mind, why bother telling Celestia?
God everyone can trust you for fast updates. You're the fastest updater I've ever met.
Hmmmm so he intends to turn twilight against Equestria and all her friends and family you bastard. Yet it's tantalizing evil, so how far are willing to go Sombra before your plans blow up in your face?
Ps. MORE PlEAse
[shook the water off like a dog]
WOW????
2579361 Well. I for one can't wait to see what happens when they run out of coffee. I mean, Sombra didn't buy enough to last more than a month or two! Then what?
So, Sombra appears to be basically brainwashing Twilight at this point, with the whole "inserting little ideas directly into her brain" thing. This sounds exactly like something that a master of dark magic could do. However, it makes it feel like either Twilight is turning against the others a little too quickly, or that this is becoming too easy for Sombra.
That being said, this does show how devious Sombra is. He's basically destroying the original Twilight from the inside while at the same time doubling the amount of damage his dark magic will be able to accomplish when horseapples do eventually hit the fan.
Yes... let the Dark Powers flow throught you, be one with the darkness... and then use it to destroy your enemys.
2579306
Well, Sombra is manipulating her thoughts with his magic and dark magic can be a corrupting force on his own, so this is a justified case,it reflect Twilight's slow fall into the dark side and her turning into a fallen heroine.
Let's hope that in the next chapter Twilight will try to fight that corrupting influence, it's obvious that she will fail in the end but doesn't mean that she can't go down without fighting.
And let's remember a thing, even if Twilight talent is magic itself, she never used it until season 3(she even didn't know that it existed) Sombra mastered it 1000 years ago.
Hey, purple mists coming out of eyes make you look awesome and dark and... Umm... Awesome!
I wish I had purple mists out of my eyes.
So basically... Sombra doesn't know what he's unleashing. I can see it now, in the end he will be grovelling before her and trying his hardest not to annoy Twilight
Ok, so that would probably be so ooc for our adorkable princess... but it's fanfiction, and with the way she is now, imho it's a possibility. 
I must say if I worked at Hasbro or something of that matter I would hire you as a story writer for episodes. You sir are a amazing writer and I am very happy to have found this story.
2580338 How about black eyes with white mists
Im really loving how this story is turning out. Keep up the good work!
2578506 I need to check. I'll comment soon!
2580532 Its about line 155 of sentences.
2579963 then what?
first, Sombra and twilight will stare at the empty coffee machine for an hour or so
and then they'll both go crazy, start frothing at the mouth and spasming uncontrollably. that will continue for 2-3 hours
and then twilight will go all "lesson Zero" and start a world war for coffee.
...
2580546 And then they'll take over the world and force the entire population of Equestria to be coffee farmers. Also, if it is discovered that you've been hording coffee, you can get up to 1,000 years as a shadow chrystal!
2580453
Funilly enough, the author of this story has written actual scripts of episodes, and they are really good if you have read them.
I think green eyes are cool.
)
Gordon Freeman has them, and who doesn't want to be Gordon Freeman?
images.wikia.com/cs2d/images/4/42/Gordon_Freeman.gif
(Just let them strip your soul naked and see every single one of your secrets
2580869 and then said crystal is launched into dragon territory
2582245 Where it's devoured by Crackle...
2582943 devoured? more like absorbed into his scales and made part of his jewel encrusted hide.
2583217 And then what? Um... When it comes time to molt, he sheds his jewels which are then picked up by a pack of diamond dogs!
2583674 Then said diamond dogs bathe in the jewels they have collected
(worst part of punishment so far
)
2583809 Over time, the Diamond Dogs die-out/move away, leaving small fragments of the chrystal behind. These shards are then discovered by a unicorn with gem-finding abilities (aka Rarity) and used to embellish royal robes for her majesty, Empress Twilight Sparkle!!
2578890
I think you overestimate how much she confides in her mentor. Actually now that I think about it how often have we seen Twi convey her innermost feelings with Celestia? Her doing that is pretty much just a fan conclusion based on limited evidence... though it is likely accurate. Point is what we see in the show makes it apparent that Twi doesnt jump to Celestia with her problems even when Big C could probably ease all concerns personal or otherwise. Well at least now that she has a great deal of autonomy.
Its not OOC at all. Twi has a bad habit of letting problems get out of hand.
Ha! She needs to eye on that indeed.
It's amazing how by adding just a little bit of subtlety you make brainwashing Twilight, something done stupidly in 'Queen of the Dark', seem easily believable here in this story
Oh, no. Don't let Celestia bring Twilight back to the light side. Not when this has happened!
Omelets? NOT THE POOR CHIKENS!!!
4837864
Even AJ and Fluttershy have chickens and eat eggs.
One room, a half mile long? Why? It speaks to the scale of the castle, and it's fucking ridiculous. It takes the average person about 10 minutes to walk a half mile. That's 10 minutes of continous walking to traverse ONE room. "Oh but they have magic they can just teleport." That doesn't change the fact that this one room being a half-mile long has to mean that his castle probably spans at least a square mile, and it's multiple levels. Absolutely fuckmassive, and absolutely ridiculous.
8453110
Space bending Shenanigans
Aside from yourself and Twilight, how many others have you seen?
I expect Twilight to have severe PTSD after this.