Sometimes all a pony wants is a second chance, another chance to redeem themselves or make up for something that they did wrong. To make it right. But the world isn't always willing to give them another chance and instead will hold them to what they did in the past instead of what they do in the present. Sometimes the world won't let go of what you used to be instead of who you are. Sometimes, it see's you as a monster.
Sequel to a Dark Knight for Equestria and sister story to It runs in the Family.
Some say that time heals all wounds. Those ponies would be wrong.
I have spent the last ten years of my life traveling the world in a search to redeem myself for my actions, when I foolishly followed a person who taught me how to be the strongest unicorn in all the land, with power that can rival and surpass even alicorns. During my travels, I have done my best to help out wherever I can, fighting the forces of evil if needed and using my great magic to try and save lives--more often than not succeeding. But it doesn't matter how much good I do or who I save, I still get the same reactions no matter where I go. They hate me; they fear me. I can see it in their eyes and from the way they act around me. Oh, they wouldn't dare attack me; they are far too afraid of me for that, but they don't need to attack for me to get the message.
What did I do that was so bad to warrant all this hatred? I went along with a person who did something for me in a few months, that my own two parents failed to do for the full eight years that I lived with them. She showed me love. She taught me and acted like a mother to me. I didn't care that she was a psychopath bent on ruling Equestria and dragging it into darkness with her forces from hell; she was still my mother. I followed her into battle as she led her mind-controlled forces against the ponies of Canterlot, a force that shouldn't have been beatable. But thanks to a certain bat, we were completely defeated, even if I don't know how he did it. Although in hindsight, it was probably the orange filly that really helped to lead the final strike against Morgaine Le Fay. She was the one who convinced me to turn against my own mother to stop her plan to take over the world, even though it tore me apart to do so. But the pony was right; she was out of control and had to be stopped.
With both my mother and the bat dead, I had no reason after the battle to stay in Canterlot or Ponyville, despite the fact that the princesses had both pardoned me for my actions against them. So I packed up my items in what remained of my traveling wagon and left to the great frontier, heading from town to town with guilt in my heart for what I had done--and hope that I would be able to make up for it. But I soon found out that the ponies hold grudges. No matter which town I headed to or where I tried to stay and help, I was hated. Ponies would 'boo' me in the streets as I passed or throw things at me, things that hurt. I was insulted beyond my breaking point multiple times, and when the time to defend myself came, I did so. That was the first time I realized how terrified they were of me, seeing the look of fear in their eyes as I used my magic to simply defend myself. It was then I realized that I would never be able to make up for what I did, that they would forever see me as an outcast and a monster. So, now I stay away from the cities as much as I can and only enter the small towns at night--so that I don't draw suspicion or fear. But I keep busy, hunting the scum and criminals of the land. And they all fear me, more than the bat that has shown up in the east.
My name is Trixie Lulamoon. And I am the most feared pony in Equestria.
/W\
Hoofington.
Nearly all of the lights in the town were out for the night, for no sane pony would be awake and in the streets at this hour, no matter how strong or skilled with magic they were. Ponies everywhere knew that the night belonged to only two kinds of ponies: the criminals and the bat. But in this far off town, the bat was only an urban legend and the criminals were the ones who ran the town. But there was one place that stayed open this late, a small bar located at the edge of town, so that all of its customers could drop in without being noticed or forced to wander the streets of the town. Many of the scum of the area were drawn to it like moths to a flame, and the roar of the drunken ponies terrified the ponies that lived in the area, keeping most of them up at night. The criminals and scum believed themselves to be untouchable. They were horribly wrong.
The bouncer, who stood outside the bar to make sure that the ponies who were kicked out didn't get back in, tilted his head slightly as he heard the sound of wagon wheels coming towards him. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes to try and see through the darkness of the forest that surrounded the town to try and see the wagon, which slowly began to emerge from the darkness of the forest. He raised an eyebrow at the single cloaked figure that pulled the wagon, noticing how the pony seemed far too small to be able to pull such a wagon, especially since he didn't see an aura of magic on any part of the wagon, meaning that the pony was pulling it by herself. He didn't say anything since she (the build of the pony caused him to assume it was a she) pulled the wagon into the parking area and hooked it up to the locks, which were rigged to be broken by the owner of the bar so that he could steal from them. But then his eyebrow went up even further as a blue shield placed itself around the wagon, a shield the he knew was a grade five shield spell. That got his attention, since only a hoofful of ponies could produce a shield of that strength, and none of them were ponies that he wanted to mess with. But he still had to hold out a hoof to stop the pony in the brown cloak when she tried to enter the bar, feeling a chill run down his spine as she turned her hooded head to look at him.
"Sorry miss, but at this hour only special guests are allowed inside," he said in a gruff tone, hoping that his voice, along with his build, would be enough to get rid of her without the need for violence. She didn't say anything in response, but he saw the light from under her hood glow and he knew immediately that he was going to have to fight her. But much to his surprise, a large bag of bits came out from under the cloak and she waved them in front of his face, taunting him with the means of easy money. He hesitated for a second before he quickly grabbed the bits and placed them in his pockets. "Alright miss, feel free to head inside if you want, but I'll warn you now that a lot of these ponies aren't very nice, and you may not walk-" He stopped talking when he realized that she had already walked by him and was heading into the bar. He let out a small sigh and shook his head.
"I feel bad for her. Poor gal don't know what she's gotten herself into," he said. The mare closed the door behind herself as she entered the bar, her nose scrunching up slightly as the overpowering smell of liquor burned itself into her nostrils. Every thing and pony in the room smelled of it, and it was far worse than most of the bars she'd been to. Under her hood, her eyes quickly looked around the room and studied the ponies there, figuring out who was going to be a problem. At one table in the corner, two bulky stallions were hoof wrestling each other, with the smaller of the two clearly outmatched. They paid her no mind as she entered, but she placed them under 'trouble' anyway. Her eyes shifted to a large group of very well-dressed stallions sitting in the center of the bar with mares falling all over them, multiple tough looking stallions surrounding the table. The stallions with the mares? Pathetic. The guards? 'Trouble.' Finally, her eyes scanned the bar itself where a group of "friends" were all sitting together and laughing out loud, their tone and demeanor telling her that they were drunk. Probably would be a problem, or they would pass out on the spot. Either way, she had business to attend to and if they interfered they would be dealt with.
"What can I do for ya?" the pony behind the counter asked as she walked up to the bar and sat down on the least revolting of the bar stools that she could find. He looked up from cleaning a mug for only a second to examine her, his eyes doing a quick look over to try and figure out who she was. The cloak held up and he looked away with a shrug, placing the mug down as he turned his full attention to her. "Ah said, what can I do for ya? If yer not going to buy anything and just sit there, then I'm going to have you thrown out."
"I'm looking for information," she responded quietly, her cloaked head barely moving as she spoke. The bartender frowned as he tried to peer into her hood, but it was pulled down too low for him to see anything. The cloaked pony noticed that the talking had died down a bit and it was a little less noisy, meaning they were all listening to her a bit.
"Information can be a dangerous thing, my little pony," the bartender said with caution in his voice, noticing the other patrons' eyes all looking at her now. "I might have the information that you want, but it will take a little something for me to--" A thin smile spread across his lips as a small bag of bits slid across the counter. He scooped it up with a chuckle and looked up at her with a smiling face. "Alright, you've convinced me. What do you need?"
"Where does the criminal Blackjack and his gang of cards call home?" The bartender backed away from the pony while the entire bar went silent. All of the conversations stopped and all eyes turned towards her. She didn't move a muscle as she heard the sounds of chairs scraping across the floor, while ponies got to their hooves--or from the sound of those hooves, began walking towards her. She just waited for her answer.
"Miss, I'd tell you, but there's no point telling a dead pony," he said with a sigh as he crouched down behind his counter. "Ah'll sell your wagon for ya." The pony narrowed her eyes as she felt a hoof place itself on her shoulder, and she turned her head slightly to look at the stallion who glared down at her with a smile.
"I'm one of the ponies who happens to follow mister Blackjack," he said with a dangerous smile, tightening his grip on her shoulder. "And he doesn't like ponies that try to find him, especially since he prefers to do all of his recruiting personally. So what does a little mare like yourself want with him?"
"You have three seconds to get your hoof off of me, before I put you in the hospital for the next six months," she said in a quiet voice, causing all the ponies in the bar to start laughing when they heard her threat. The pony moved his mouth close to her hood with a chuckle.
"Then go on, little lady," he said with a laugh. "Do your--" The words never left his mouth as his left hoof was caught by her magic and spun nearly one hundred and eighty degrees, the sound of the bones snapping were quickly covered up by the sounds of him screaming in pain. The cry of pain only lasted a few seconds because a bar stool caught him in the gut and launched him across the room and into the wall, where he sank to the floor without a sound. She quickly rose to her hooves and spun around to face all of the other ponies in the bar, each of whom was pulling out a knife or a weapon of sorts.
"You've just made a big mistake, miss," one of the ponies in the center of the bar said as his bodyguards started to head towards her. "You're dead now. Boys, get--" If the situation hadn't been so serious, the pony behind the counter would have laughed as the beer mug smacked into the stallion's jaw and dropped him to the floor. His bodyguards roared in rage and charged at her, but quickly found themselves helpless against her magic as she lifted them into the air and drove each of them through a separate table. The two that had been arm wrestling barely had time to take a step forward, before they were each hit by a blast of magic that sent both of them flying across the room.
"Gotcha!" yelled one of the stallions who was supposed to be drunk as he grabbed the cloaked figure from behind. As she started a spell, he grabbed her hood and pulled it down...and both his eyes widened in shock as he looked into the eyes of the pony who was underneath of the hood. A long white mane had come tumbling out, falling from her Azure coat, and her purple eyes burned with rage as she glared at the pony who had grabbed her head. He quickly let go of her and backed away, all of the other ponies that weren't laying in the floor did the same as she slowly turned to face him.
"Oh dear Faust," he whispered with terror in his voice. "You're Trixie."
"Correct. And you're done." Faster than the stallion could register, she grabbed him and his buddies with her magic and threw them all through the front window, looking around the room as she heard the glass shattering to make sure that all of her threats had been neutralized. With only the mares on the couch cowering from her, she walked up to the counter once again and looked down at the cringing bartender, lifting him up with her magic so that he had to look her in the eyes.
"P-lease don't hurt me! All of the bits are in the register!" he screamed as he tried to cower behind his hooves as tears fell down his cheeks, the sheer terror in his voice ringing across the room. Trixie held him in the air for a few seconds to wait for him to calm down before she let him go, watching him drop to the floor with an 'umph.'
"Very well, I will not hurt you if you tell me what I want to know," she said in a quiet voice, looking down on him with narrow eyes. "Where are the Blackjack gang located?"
"T-they're in the caves to the north of the town!" he squealed as he tried to get even further underneath of his counter. "Y-you can't miss them, even at night! Please don't hurt me!" Trixie turned and headed for the door, ignoring the whimpering of the pony as she exited the bar. The bouncer gasped when he saw her leave and backed up against the wall, looking away with fear when she turned her head to look at him.
"I'm going to be gone for the night and I want you to look after my wagon," she said quietly, but he could hear the threat in her voice. "If anything happens to it by the time I get back in the morning, there will be no hole or crevice that you can hide in where I won't be able to find you. Are we clear?" After watching him nod his head nearly twenty times in the span of a second, Trixie turned towards the north and began to walk, figuring by the light of the zenith of the moon that she could get there and back just as the sun came up. She flipped the hood back up over her head as she headed towards the north, planning on making this quick.
/W\
Just as the cowardly bartender had squealed to her, the caves that supposedly held the infamous Blackjack gang were not that hard to find. In fact, Trixie saw the light gleaming from lanterns outside of them before she saw the actual caves themselves, telling her that the criminals were so confident that they didn't care if ponies knew where the caves were or not. And since the royal guard in the surrounding area was either bought or afraid, there was probably no pony who would deal with them. That's where she came in.
While most of the populace feared her as a monster and a traitor to Equestria, the higher-ups and those in office regarded her more as a bounty hunter of sorts, because she took the cases that most ponies would consider insane or suicidal. She was the one they contacted when they wanted a group of thugs or a criminal mastermind dealt with, but she only operated in areas far away from Canterlot and Ponyville, where the mysterious bat worked late at night. A few days ago the mayor of this town had contacted her and said that she needed the Blackjack gang brought down. The mayor had an election coming up, and she wanted them gone so that she could take credit for their removal, hoping to win the election as a result. Trixie really didn't care if she was recognized or not; she was already feared enough as it was and as long as she got paid, it was a small matter.
She looked up from the path on which she had been walking for the past two hours and headed for the rockier part of the area, where the cave system entrance was located. She stepped into the massive cave and narrowed her eyes, noticing how dark it was inside. A regular unicorn would have used a light ball spell or lit up their horn to gain some light, but that could give away her position. The solution was the 'light in darkness' spell, a spell that allowed her to see in the darkest of places as if it were sunny inside the cave. She blinked once as the spell took effect before she headed inside, looking around with ease while she looked for where the gangsters were hiding. However, she saw them long before she heard them, and she placed herself against the wall nearest to her as she slowly began to creep forward, looking around the corner to see two stallions talking to each other.
"I can't believe the boss just offed Stormhoof like that just because he dropped a barrel of bits," one of them said with a sigh as he stood on top of what looked like a bridge, holding a small torch that hurt Trixie's eyes when she looked right at it. "Dude didn't deserve that."
"Naw, dude was constantly screwing things up and I heard that the boss had been planning to off him for a while," the other one said with a smirk. "He got what he had coming to him." Trixie decided that she didn't care much for this conversation anymore and decided to shut the two up. She fired a stone spell towards the one with the torch, leaping forward with a burst of speed as the spell hit and the pony began to fall forward, immobilized as if he had suddenly turned to stone. His partner couldn't even give a startled cry as two hooves hit him in the back of the head, dropping him to the ground as azure magic caught the torch before it too could hit the floor of the cave. Trixie held the torch in front of her and blew it out with a single blow, dropping it over the edge of the bridge and watching as it fell into the darkness below. She left the two ponies laying there as she moved on, knowing that they wouldn't be going anywhere until she wanted them to. She continued to follow where the path took her until she came across a large room filed with an even larger number of ponies, none of whom looked to be the friendly type. She hid herself against one of the stone pillars that held up the ceiling as she scanned the room.
The place was filled with bits, most of which she assumed were not gathered in a legal manner, but they were insignificant compared to the pony that sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by mares and sitting on a golden throne. He was a dark black pony with red eyes and a red spade for a cutie mark. Trixie noted the horn on his head. She already knew who he was and was figuring out her best way to bring him down. The five stallions that sat in the room with him would be no problem, and her biggest concern was whether she should get rid of the lights or not. She decided that direct confrontation would be her best bet, so she stepped forward into the room, gaining the attention of all the ponies there.
"And just who the hell are you?" Blackjack asked with a snarl as two of his lackeys ran forward to try and grab her, but were quickly sent flying back the other way with a blast of magic. The rest of the gangsters would have attacked, but Blackjack held up a hoof to stop them, a coy smile playing on his lips. "Well, whoever you are, you certainly are a skilled wizard. Come on darling, take off the hood and introduce yourself." Trixie smiled under her hood as she reached up and slowly removed the hood, her smile growing wider as she heard the collective gasp of all the ponies there.
"Holy Faust. You're-"
"Trixie Lulamoon," she said with a slight chuckle, her horn starting to glow as her eyes narrowed. "And you're all dead." She fired off a pair of spells that dropped two of the stallions before they could move while she spun around and fired another spell at the third to finish him off. The mares screamed and ran for their lives, but were all stopped with another stone spell, leaving just Blackjack, who had backed up against a wall to get away from her.
"W-what are you here for?" he asked in a much higher voice than Trixie had heard only a few seconds ago, pressing his back up against the wall as Trixie slowly advanced towards him with her horn aglow. "If it's money, I can pay you! I'll triple whatever you're being paid!" His eyes shrunk as Trixie began to laugh, her dark laugh echoing throughout the chamber.
"Why would I want you money?" she asked him as she continued to advance forward. "No, what I want is to hear you scream." Blackjack began to whimper as she got closer and closer, but her attention was drawn away from him and to the sounds of hooves running across stone. She turned her head so that she could look behind her to see that ten more stallions had come running into the room, each of them holding a weapon of sorts.
"We heard the screaming, Boss, and decided to check up on ya," one of them said as he looked from the boss to Trixie, his eyes growing wide as he saw who it was. "Holy Celestia, it's Trixie! What's she doing here?"
"How should I know? Kill her!" Blackjack roared at his goons. The group looked at each other and shrugged with uncertain eyes, and they all let out a yell and rushed her, raising their weapons over their heads as they charged.
"At least give me a challenge," Trixie said with a smirk as she caught the first one in a magic sphere and used him like a bowling ball to knock the others aside. She picked up two of them and used them as a pair of bats to finish off any of the stallions that had remained conscious. She dropped the two "volunteers" with a smirk when she noticed the shadow of a pony failing to sneak up on her. "Seriously?" Trixie asked as she grabbed Blackjack with her magic and tossed him forward, watching him slam into a wall and slowly slide down.
'That takes care of them,' she thought to herself as she levitated some rope that had been left on one of the tables and tied up the ponies that lay around the room, leaving them in a corner as she started to look around. Blackjack's desk seemed to be the only place of true interest, so that's where she investigated first. Besides a few of the more vulgar items, she found a number of notes that caught her eye in one of the drawers. She picked them up one by one and started to read them with a bored expression at first, but got more interested while she read in more detail. As she studied them further, a scowl crossed her face as she discovered that Blackjack had been taking orders from somepony and hadn't been acting on his own.
'So the damn mayor was the one ordering the foal around?' she thought to herself with a growl as she held the note in her magic before she placed them inside of her inner coat pocket, making sure she had more than enough evidence. 'Well then, I'll have to make sure to do more than just collect my pay from her when I go to collect my reward.' Trixie left the grunts lying tied up in the corner as she grabbed Blackjack with her magic, heading for the exit with his unconscious body in tow. Once she was out under the starry sky, she dumped Blackjack's body on the ground as she aimed her horn to the sky, letting off a massive green spell that exploded into a number of smaller spells once it reached the zenith of its arc.
'That will alert the guards that were assigned to come capture the criminals once I finished with them,' she thought as she laid down on her back in the soft grass, dropping Blackjack on the dirt as she did so. 'Might as well make myself comfortable while I wait for them to show up. I think they'll want to see the goodies I have for them.'
{+}
"I have to admit Trixie, I thought that this would be a bit much, even for you," the mayor of Hoofington said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Trixie stood in front of her desk with an annoyed look on her face at the insult. "But I see now that your reputation is every thing that I have heard. Even my best unicorns couldn't deal with Blackjack and his gang. But you tossed them around like they were nothing from your story. You truly are the greatest unicorn in Equestria."
"I wouldn't go that far," Trixie said with no emotion in her voice as the mayor started to drink, looking up at Trixie from over the rim of her cup. "I just do my best to make a living. Bringing down criminals as my mission is only an added bonus."
"I see," the mayor said as she placed the cup on her desk and started to rummage through her cabinets. "Blackjack has been placed safely in custody and is awaiting trial. The rest of the gang will follow suit, even the few mares that were found in the deeper parts of the lair who claimed to be foalnapped."
"I'm glad to hear it," Trixie said. The mayor nodded and pulled out a bag full of bits that she placed on the desk, giving Trixie a false smile that she saw through in an instant.
"Thank you for doing this, it means a lot, especially with the election coming up. I believe that you earned these." Trixie nodded and levitated the bag of bits over to her, placing them inside her coat pocket. She turned to leave when the mayor cleared her throat to get her attention again. "Um, I do not mean to pry, but you didn't find any kind of note or false documents in his base that would-"
"Tell the reader that you were the one ordering him to take out anypony that could be your competition and to hide the evidence, then having him proclaim that he was the one who did it to take the blame off of you?" Trixie said with a cold tone as the mayor's face began to fall. "Why yes, I did happen across a number of those. Why do you ask?"
"W-what are you going to do with that knowledge?" the mayor stammered out as she backed away from Trixie, who looked at the mayor with a cold smile on her face.
"Me? I'm not going to do anything," Trixie said innocently, her smile growing wider as she saw the mayor sigh in relief. She then walked over to the mayor's door to her office and swung it open, revealing a number of guards that had been waiting outside the room. "They, on the other hoof, will escort you down to the police station and go over those documents that you mentioned earlier." The guards rushed into the room and tackled the mayor to the ground, who did her best to escape their iron grasp with no success. She glared at Trixie with venom in her eyes as she was forced up to her hooves and was escorted from the room.
"I'm your employer! You can't do this to me!" she screamed as she was dragged past Trixie, who watched her get taken away with a smirk on her face.
"You stopped being my client the moment you paid me," Trixie said to herself as she moved a hoof to the bag of bits in her jacket. "But like I said, bringing in criminals is an added bonus to the job." Trixie headed out of the office and into the hallway, making her way to the front entrance where the captain of the guard ponies for the town was waiting for her.
"Thanks for bringing to light the mayor's involvement with Blackjack' gang. We had our suspicions about her for a while, but we had no evidence until now," he said as the both of them watched the still screaming mayor getting dragged away, a number of ponies who were up in the morning watching with confusion. "We appreciate the help." Trixie nodded in response and started to head out the door, but the captain put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her.
"Um, I mean this in the nicest way, but can you...use an invisibility spell or something so that none of the ponies here see you? It might cause a panic." Despite being nearly twice her size, the captain shrunk away from the glare that Trixie gave him at the insult he had said to her. Trixie then held her head high and walked into the streets, making sure that everypony could see her as she walked back to her wagon. And just as the guard had predicted, the ponies reacted to her the way he thought they would.
After securing her fee for helping out the former mayor of the town, Trixie decided that it was time for her to do something she really enjoyed doing: shopping. It was a way for her to relax and feel happy--with one exception. Due to her reputation, she often found that going out in broad daylight without any disguise often caused the town to panic. But she was in a rush this morning and decided that she didn't care what the town did, as long as she got to shop for her supplies. Since most of the 'early birds' were scared off by her appearance earlier, she hoped that she would be able to make it through the stores without causing another panic, even if she didn't trust her luck. So as she walked into the mostly empty marketplace, she braced herself for what was to come.
'At least I will be able to meet all the happy citizens,' she thought to herself with a sarcastic smile as she walked up to the first vendor, waiting patiently as the pony moved some boxes while never noticing Trixie. Trixie had noticed that this apple stand had the Applejack seal of approval on it, so the apples were probably good. "Excuse me, I wish to purchase some of your fruit. Sooner would be better than later if you don't mind."
"Alright dear, I'll be with you in a moment," the mare said with a slight accent as she stood back up and turned around to face Trixie...only to have all the color drain from her face the moment she saw who her customer was. Trixie raised an eyebrow when the pony began to show signs of panicking, such as backing as far away from Trixie as she could. "You're...you're..." she stammered with wide eyes that told Trixie she was about to scream.
"I am a pony that requires at least fifteen apples without any commotion," Trixie said quickly while she used her magic to shut the mare's mouth before she could get the scream out. The terrified mare tried to whimper through her magic-sealed mouth, then looked at Trixie, silently praying to Faust that she would survive this. Trixie then reached into her newly acquired bag of bits and placed a hoofful on the counter before levitating the appropriate amount of apples over to her. She placed the apples in a bag she had with her and then turned back to the still terrified mare. "Alright, on the count of three, I am going to release you. One, two..." Before Trixie said three, she shot away from the vendor while de-activating her spell at the same time. She had barely made it around a building before she heard the mare scream, causing Trixie to growl to herself as she walked to the next stand.
'Let's hope I can get through the next item on my list without having all the guards in the town trying to arrest me,' she thought to herself with a frown as she walked up to a wagon wheel repair stand, narrowing her eyes when she saw the wheels all laying around the stand. She had always distrusted wheels, ever since one had given out on her during one of her expeditions and toppled her wagon right off a cliff. She had not enjoyed having to float to the bottom of that cliff to levitate what remained of her home back up a sheer rock face. She knocked twice on the vendor's counter to gain his attention, rolling her eyes as the stallion turned around and gave her the same reaction that the previous pony had.
"You're-"
"Yes, I am, so let's just skip this whole panic thing and get to me buying what I need," Trixie said calmly to quickly cut him off before he could start, looking at the repair supplies that hung on the wall behind him. "I'll take a spare axel and half a dozen spare spokes. Can you get those for me without screaming--or do I have to seal your mouth as well?" Trixie smirked to herself as the stallion shut his mouth and gathered what she needed at an impressive speed, dumping her items in front of her before he backed up against the rear wall. Trixie rolled her eyes again and reached for her bits, but the stallion held out a shaking hoof.
"T-there's no need to pay, I-it's on the house," he said in a tone that told her he was about to break down. Trixie raised an eyebrow in response.
"Are you certain? I can more than pay for-"
"There's really no need," he said quickly before realizing that he had just cut her off. He gave out a squeak and ran out of his shop, leaving Trixie alone with the empty shop. She watched him run off into the distance before she smirked to herself and picked up her items with a small laugh.
"Nice to see that someponies are still generous," she joked to herself as she walked by all the other vendors on the way back to her wagon, pretending not to notice that they all hid behind their counters as she walked by--or the glares they gave to the back of her head once she had passed. "And who am I to argue with free goods?" She quickly spun around with an evil smile to look back at the vendors who were glaring at her, laughing out loud as most of them screamed and closed up their shops. She shook her head as she turned back to where she had parked her wagon, her spirits slightly lifted. A mostly quiet walk led her back to the pub where she had parked the wagon outside, noticing as she got closer that the bouncer whom she had paid to keep an eye on it was still there. When she got closer, she noticed that he seemed to have stayed by the wagon all night, without moving or sleep. He flinched as he saw her approach and backed away from the wagon quickly.
"Thank you for your help. You're free to go now," Trixie said with a smile. The pony did a quick bow and shot off into the bar, slamming the door and turning the sign to closed. She chuckled and placed her items on the ground, pulling the key to her wagon out of her coat and placing it in the lock. The door open with a snap as she placed the key back in her coat before turning to her items...to notice that her apples were now missing. She raised both her eyebrows in surprise as she looked up to see a small pony running off with her apples. "I don't believe it. Somepony is robbing me? Me? This day just gets better and better." She narrowed her eyes and flooded magic through her horn, casting a spell that allowed her to move at much faster speeds than most pegasi. So with one kick of her back hoof, she shot up to and past the pony who had robbed her, skidding to a stop in front of it. The pony let out a cry and fell over, the bag falling on top of it. Trixie picked up the bag to reveal...a small foal.
"Please don't hurt me!" the colt cried as he placed his hooves over his head and curled up into the fetal position, while Trixie looked down at him with a bit of confusion, not sure how to proceed
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you...yet," Trixie said coldly as she picked up the colt with magic and levitated him in front of her. The first things she noticed about him was that he seemed half-starved to death, with his ribs visible against his midnight black coat. She also noticed a number of bruises on his body, her eyes narrowing slightly when she noticed that they all looked like hoof marks. Finally, there was the look of sheer terror in his eyes, a terror that told her that he had been in this situation before and he knew what was coming. Her heart got the better of her and she walked with him over to her wagon, where she dropped him at its base before sitting down in front of him.
"I would ask you the obvious question, why are you stealing from me, but your rib cage answers that question for you," Trixie said bluntly. The colt looked down at his ribs before hiding behind his long, brown mane in embarrassment. "So I'll ask another question instead. Why are you stealing in the first place and where are your parents or guardian?" Trixie touched upon a sore subject, and she knew it when the colt let out a sniffle and pulled his legs up.
"I stole from you because I need food," he said, and this time Trixie noticed the weakness in his voice as he spoke. "I don't like to do it, but with Blackjack's goons having taken over the town, I needed to find a way to survive both hunger and him, so I steal things for him."
"I take it nopony's told you that Blackjack has been arrested and brought in for his crimes this morning?" Trixie said, suppressing a smile of her own when she saw the smile spread on the colt's face.
"He finally got what he deserved then," the colt said with a smile, which quickly turned into a frown when he remembered the next part of Trixie's question. "As for my family, they...didn't want me anymore."
"Excuse me?"
"I come...used to come from a family of great importance, ponies who were considered by many to be the greatest spellcasters in all of Equestria," he said sadly as he moved his mane to show a hidden unicorn horn beneath the mess. "So my parents expected me to be as great or even greater spellcasters than they were. But I can't do the magic they wanted me to do. I can barely fire off a few sparks. So when my parents found out about this-"
"-they cast you out into the world with no remorse whatsoever, and left you to fend for yourself," Trixie finished in a cold whisper, memories that she wished would stay buried in her memory rising to the surface to scar her once again. The colt nodded sadly as he looked up at her in confusion.
"Yeah, how'd you know, miss..."
"Let's just say I know another pony who's had a family similar to yours," she said through gritted teeth, suppressing the memories with an effort. Then in a calmer voice, she answered the colt's question. "My name is...Trixie." She mentally braced herself for the screaming that she came with her name, but much to her surprise, the colt offered his hoof in a friendly way with a smile.
"Okay, Miss Trixie, my name is Starshine! Nice to meet ya." Trixie looked from the extended hoof to the foal's smiling face in disbelief, wondering where was the reaction she was used to.
"Um, do you not know who I am?" she asked slowly as she took the colt's hoof and shook it gently.
"Nope. Why, should I?" he asked her with a slight tilt of his head. Trixie stared dumbly at the foal, putting the pieces together in her mind. If the foal had been kicked out of his home, close to the same age as she had been, then it was likely that nopony had told him about what had been going on in the world. His parents were also only concerned with teaching him magic, so they probably didn't care about what rumors were going around. And since he had been living on the streets, there would be little chance that he had heard about her. "Um, Miss Trixie?"
"No. There is nopony out there who cares for me," she said quickly, figuring it was best that he didn't know. Trixie looked up at the sun and realized that it had grown later in the morning faster than she had wanted, as she wanted to leave at dawn. "It was nice to meet you Starshine, but I need to go now. It's best that I don't stay in a spot for too long," she said as she stood up, answering what she knew would be his next question. She remembered her apples bag and levitated it back to her as she walked up to the wagon door, looking back at Starshine as she did so. "I recommend that you head back to your home or wherever you reside. I sense a storm coming from the south. I can drop you off at your home if you want."
"You're standing on my home," he said with a frown as he indicated the street with his head, causing a twinge to go through Trixie's heart, but she quickly steeled herself. Ponies in the past who became associated with her tended to get hurt...or fight giant bats.
"I don't really have a family to head back to or a place to stay." Then she realized that Starshine was giving her 'puppy dog' eyes...eye, since his mane covered one of his eyes. She also found that her will was quickly being broken by the colt when he asked, "Can I come with you? Just for a while?" She sighed and closed her eyes, hating herself.
"...Fine, you can come with me--for now," she said with a growl as she gave into her heart's command, opening the door for the foal, whose eyes lit up like the stars. "But that is only until we find you a real family--" Trixie opened her eyes to realize that the foal was gone. She looked inside her wagon to see that he was already inside and had managed to open her trunk where she kept her belongings. "And, he is already looking through my things. I'd blame his parents, but...no, I'll still blame them." She climbed inside the wagon herself and grabbed him with her magic, levitating Starshine over to her once again. "Don't you know it is rude to go through another pony's things without their permission?"
"It is?" he asked in complete innocence, causing Trixie to sigh as she placed a hoof on her face. She gently dropped him to the ground where he ran back over to the chest and pulled out a purple hat with stars covering it. "This hat is awesome! Where did you get it?"
"I made it myself," Trixie said as she sat down on a sofa and removed her cloak, emptying its pockets onto the table in front of her. Starshine walked over to her with the hat in-between his teeth.
"Why did you make it?"
"It was for my old job. I was a stage performer and I would travel from town to town to show ponies the magic and skill of the great and powerful Trixie," she replied with sarcasm in her voice as she fired off a spell in the room, which had the effect of slamming the door and causing the wagon to shake.
"What did you do?" Starshine asked as he ran to one of the windows, his jaw dropping when he realized that the were moving. "How did you-?"
"It is a simple spell that unicorns use to move carts when they are not strong enough to push them," Trixie explained as she walked over to a safe and opened it, throwing the bits inside before slamming it shut. "This is a more advanced version where the wagon can sense obstacles and avoid them, as well as staying on the path that I wish for it to travel without my interference."
"That's incredible," Starshine said as he looked around the room, slowly becoming more and more confused as he saw not only the couch that Trixie was sitting along with the table, but also a fairly large bed in the back along with what looked like a bath that rested in the corner of the room. "Um, how did-"
"It's a dimensional enlargement spell, that I used to increase the capacity of my wagon so that it can accommodate me in the manner that I wish," Trixie explained quickly, trying to read the magazine she had gotten for herself. When Starshine remained silent, she sighed and looked up at him from the magazine. "The room is bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. That better?"
"Kinda, but how did you do that?" he asked as he sat down in front of Trixie. "From what my parents taught me about spells, that would require Alicorn-level spell power."
"That is correct," Trixie said with a smug smile as she placed her front hooves behind her head, her smile widening when she saw the realization dawn on Starshine's face. "Yes, my current magical prowess is said to match or surpass that of an alicorn."
"No way! Then, that makes you better than Princess Twilight?" Starshine asked in excitement, not knowing that by speaking that name he had given Trixie a flashback, back to when her whole life had been about revenge upon whom she believed had wronged her. Starshine tilted his head slightly when Trixie didn't respond and gently pushed her leg, snapping her out of her trance.
"Um, yes. I guess, I technically am...more skilled than Twilight at magic, but I do not know if that makes me better than her overall," Trixie said quickly, cursing herself for letting her memories slip like that. Starshine looked at Trixie with a new sense of awe, then rushed back over to her chest and rummaged around in it again, before racing back over to Trixie with a golden mask in his teeth.
"So, what's this then? I've never seen a mask like this before," Starshine asked again as Trixie slowly picked the mask up, struggling to prevent the memories from bursting through her mental dam again.
"This mask...belonged to my mother," Trixie said softly," holding the mask in front of her as she studied it, and the reflection it held of her within it. The mask was not made for ponies, which made sense since it had belonged to a human. "This is all that is left of her now."
"Did your mother die? I'm sorry," Starshine said gently. "What kind of pony was she?"
"Heh, she was a psychotic killer that wanted to rule all of Equestria for herself and enslave all of the ponies living in it," Trixie said with a sad smirk as she floated the mask back over to her chest and placed it inside, making sure to close and lock the chest this time. "But enough about my past. If you wish to travel with me, then you are going to need a bath. I can only hold my nose for so long." As she said this she lifted up the colt with her magic and levitated him over to the tub despite his protest, casting a second spell to turn one of the faucets to get the water flowing.
"Come on, into the water," Trixie said as she dropped Starshine into the water, shielding herself from the splash as the colt surfaced, his wet mane covering his face completely. She chuckled as he pulled his mane out of his face, revealing a massive frown.
"Why did you do that? I've been fine with living on the streets without bath, so why do I need one now?" he asked as he crossed his arms while Trixie floated the soap over to him. "I can do it myself," he muttered as he snatched the soap out of her magic.
"Then I take it you can finish by yourself," Trixie said as she walked away from him and headed to the front of the wagon, where a table sat by a large window. She sat down at the table to study the old parchment that lay on it. She had obtained the map in a trade with a wandering gypsy for a considerable amount of bits, but it was more than worth its weight in gold.
"What'cha got there?" Starshine asked as he walked over to Trixie, drying off his mane with a towel as he looked over the map. "Why do you have this map?"
"This map is one of the last remaining maps that holds the location of all the temples that Star-Swirl the Bearded created when he hid his greatest treasures," Trixie explained as she pulled up another seat for Starshine. She conjured a band to keep his mane out of his eyes as well. He struggled a bit as she pulled his mane back into a ponytail until she could cut it herself. "The only other one is in Canterlot, and I'm not exactly welcome in that place."
"Why?"
"Story for another time. See this mark on the map?" Trixie asked as she lit up an area on the map that was located on its edge . "That is where we are heading, the Temple of Ages. This is supposedly the last known location of Star-Swirl and is also where he kept his greatest invention of magic."
"And you want to find it?"
"Of course. While I may not be able to visit any of the libraries in towns or cities, that doesn't mean that I still can't sate my desire to learn more about magic," Trixie said with a smile while she rolled up the map, placing it on a shelf that Starshine noticed was filled with other old looking parchments and papers. "It should only be another day or two before we reach it, since according to the map there is only one more town before we get to its general location. Argh, hold on, I need to work some more of my magic." Trixie stood up and walked to the front door, throwing it open with a growl when she saw that the wagon had gone off track.
"It does this every once in a while," she said as she fired up her magic once again, fixing the wagon's path and placing it back on the road that was filled with weeds. While she was looking out the door, Trixie also noticed that the trees around these parts seemed different from the ones closer to Canterlot. These ones felt...more natural to her. "That's just weird," she muttered to herself as she went back inside, sitting down next to Starshine again. "...yes, is there something you want to ask?" Starshine backed up a bit and looked down at the floor, not knowing that Trixie's ability to read ponies was second to only one other.
"I...I wanted to ask if you...would you teach me some of your magic," he said quietly, avoiding her gaze while she looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, since you're so skilled, I thought that maybe you would be able to teach me even when the best tutor's couldn't." Trixie wasn't sure what to say to the foal, since she had never even had another pony to talk to in ten years, let alone teach. But if there was one thing that her crazy mother had taught her that she valued, it was that knowledge should be passed on, not kept for oneself.
"Alright, I will teach you to the best of my abilities," Trixie said in agreement, causing the colt to shout with joy. Trixie sat down on the floor and motioned for Starshine to join her as she levitated over a dummy for the colt to practice on. "Now then, the only way for me to judge your abilities is for me to see them first hoof. I take it you have been taught a simple ignition spell? Good, then light this dummy up." Starshine nodded his head and closed his eyes, focusing all of his magic into his horn, which began to glow a crimson red. Trixie then felt a burst of heat hit her, but it wasn't coming from the perfectly fine dummy. Instead...
"And now, my bed is on fire," Trixie said with no emotion as she turned around to face her bed, which had been set ablaze by the young colt's magic. While Starshine rapidly apologized for what he did, Trixie cast a simple extinguish spell and put the fires out, smiling to herself at her still unburnt bed. "Good thing I fireproofed everything in this wagon or else it would have burnt down just now...or every other time I set it ablaze."
"You've set your own home on fire as well?" Starshine asked.
"Yup, multiple times. Just because I'm skilled at magic doesn't make me immune to mistakes, especially since I practice much more advanced spells than you," Trixie said as she looked out the window, realizing that the sun was starting to set over the mountains, although it was hard to tell due to all the storm clouds overhead. "And just like that it's almost nightfall. I'd better stop the wagon for tonight." A quick wave of her horn caused the wagon to move to the side of the road and come to a stop just as the rain began to pour down. Trixie threw up the barrier around her wagon that she always slept with and opened her trunk again, this time pulling out a sleeping bag and a pillow.
"Alright, this is where you will sleep until I get you a proper bed," she said as she dropped the sleeping bag and pillow on the couch. "If you need me for anything, feel free to wake me up, but only if it's an emergency. Understood?" Starshine nodded and Trixie headed to her bed with a sigh, feeling tired from the long day's events.
"Um, Trixie?" Starshine asked quietly, causing Trixie to stop in her tracks. "Thanks for doing all this. Do you mind if I ask you why, though?"
"Because you remind me of somepony that I know," she responded quickly as she plopped down on her bed and wrapped the covers around herself, seemingly falling asleep within seconds. Starshine looked towards her one last time, before he too sat down on the couch and wormed into his sleeping bag. The lights went off on their own and for a few minutes the room was quiet. Then, Starshine started to snore slightly, which told Trixie that he was asleep. She rolled over on her bed and cast a quick spell that caused her roof to be transparent, allowing her to gaze at the massive thunderstorm that was forming overhead.
'What am I doing?' she thought to herself, as lightning clashed with rain above the wagon, the two elements battling it out to determine which of the two of them was supreme. 'I have no idea how to take care of a foal, and I can blame my parents for that. But what's worse, is that my job is very dangerous and very lonely. I should have dropped him off at an orphanage where he would have been safe. Why did I agree to take him with me?'
'Because you like to help more than you could know.' Trixie shot up in bed as lightning flashed across the sky, her eyes scanning the room for whoever had spoken. It wasn't a voice she knew, but it sounded powerful. But instead of some intruder, all she saw was the young Starshine standing at the edge of her bed with eyes on the sky, wincing every time thunder shook the heavens.
"Yes Starshine, what can I do for you?" Trixie asked as her eyes continued to look around in the darkness, her horn giving off an azure light as she scanned the room with her magic.
"Um, I was just wondering if I could...sleep with you?" he asked cautiously before diving under the covers as another bolt shook the wagon. "I don't like lightning," he said in a terrified tone as he poked his head out from under the covers, only to duck back under them again when another roar of thunder struck.
"Why are you afraid of lightning?" Trixie asked as all her scans came up negative, telling her that the only life in the room was her and Starshine.
"It almost hit me once, back when I lived on the streets," he said as he curled up with one of her pillows that he had dragged back under the covers. "Please?"
"Ugh. Fine, but if you wake me, you'll sleep outside," Trixie said as she turned over and threw a miniature barrier over herself so that he couldn't disturb her. After a few minutes, Starshine started to snore again, leaving Trixie alone with her thoughts. She had been alone for so long, that she had almost forgotten what it was like to actually talk to another pony in a way that didn't require her to flatten them a few seconds later. And then, there was the fact that Starshine was abandoned, just like she had been. Was in pure coincidence that had brought them together, or was it fate? Trixie shook her head and decided that it didn't matter. All that she was concerned about right now was finding the temple and a field big enough for her to teach Starshine how to perform magic. So with a tired yawn, she closed her eyes and did her best not to dream.
The rain had stopped by the next morning, even if the sounds of the thunder could be heard off in the distance. Trixie woke up at the usual time to prepare for the day, despite it being the crack of dawn. She yawned as she got out of bed, looking around for Starshine. She found him on the floor in what appeared to be a cocoon made from the covers of her bed. He apparently had rolled up in them in the night before rolling off the bed.
"Hey, time to wake up," she said as she kicked the giant cocoon, watching with a small smile as Starshine struggled to break out of his own wrappings. "And here I was half-expecting you to have come out with wings," she said, once Starshine had managed to break free--and put the covers back onto the bed before bounding after Trixie as she headed for the kitchen.
"So when do we start training?" he asked her excitedly as she opened one of her cupboards and pulled out a box of dried hay, which she placed in front of him while she went to the fridge. "Um, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but are we really going to be eating wheat?"
"And apples," Trixie said, as she levitated out some of the apples she had bought yesterday and tossed them over to Starshine. "Since my job doesn't have a set paycheck, I have to be frugal with my bits or else there might not be any food for us. Apples and wheat are the cheapest of foods in Equestria and are the best for ponies. Now stop complaining and eat up while I get the wagon moving." Starshine looked down at the small meal as Trixie left, not too happy about it, but he figured it was better than nothing as he started to eat.
"Miss Trixie, what is your job, by the way?" he asked her once she came back over. A sudden motion told him that she had gotten the wagon moving again.
"I'm more or less a bounty hunter. If a pony has a price on their head, I'll be the one to bring them in for the bits," she said with a shrug, while she grabbed one of the apples herself and took a bite out of it. "It may not be the most pleasant job in the world, but it does pay the bills."
"So you go around fighting bad ponies and bring them in?!!!" he asked her, getting more and more excited. "So you're like a hero that stops crime?" Trixie chuckled a bit at the thought of her being a hero and looked at Starshine with a small shake of her head. If only he knew.
"Trust me, when I say you're the only pony who will put me and 'hero' in the same sentence. No, I'm more like a...an assistant to the Royal Guard, who goes after ponies that they themselves can't get to. Not law enforcement--and definitely not a pony who is seen as a hero." Starshine's excitement died down a little from hearing her words, but his perky self came back once another thought crossed his mind.
"So when are you going to teach me the magic like you promised to?" he asked her as he wolfed down the rest of the dried hay in the box. Trixie raised an eyebrow and turned the box upside down, making a mental note to buy more food in the next town. With the way this kid ate, being frugal wasn't going to cut it; she would have to get more.
"When we come to a field, or someplace that is devoid of any kind of plant life, so that you don't burn it to a crisp," Trixie said as she looked out the window to see if the two of them had reached such a place yet. The wagon was still in a forest that seemed to have no end, and for some reason it made Trixie nervous--not the forest itself, but something that she felt might reside inside of it...Something powerful. "And the sooner we get out of this forest, the better. I do not wish to delay in reaching the Temple as well."
"Star-Swirl's temple, right?" Starshine asked as he downed another apple, forcing Trixie to grab the bag from him so they'd have food for later. "Who is he?"
"You haven't heard of Star-Swirl? Your parents really were terrible," Trixie muttered to herself, making another mental note to deck Starshine's parents if she ever came across them. She pulled a book off one of her shelves and opened it in front of Starshine, to show a tall stallion that had a long white beard under a hat with stars covering it, mirroring the long cape that he wore over his body. "This is Star-Swirl the Bearded, the greatest unicorn that has ever lived. He is responsible for discovering nearly fifty percent of the known spells that ponies use today. Every spellcaster sees him as his or her idol."
"Wow. That's so cool," Starshine said as he got a closer look at the picture of the stallion. Trixie started to give the book to him when she suddenly lurched forward, and Starshine fell out of his chair. Trixie caught herself with her magic and quickly placed herself back on her hooves. "What's going on?" Starshine asked as he got back up, watching as Trixie raced to her trunk and threw it open, gathering battle armor which she placed on herself.
"Something has stopped the wagon," she said quickly as she placed a golden helmet on. "And that shouldn't be possible considering I'm the one that cast the spell. Whatever stopped us is going to be trouble. Stay inside and don't..." Trixie's words died in her throat when she realized that Starshine had already rushed out of the front door and possibly into the danger. She growled about how stupid he could be and raced out after him, only to come to a stop when she saw where they were. They were still in the forest, but it was far different from the one she had seen just moments ago. The trees were filled with light and were greater in number, making it impossible to see more than twenty feet in any direction from the clearing where the wagon stopped. And that's where all of Trixie's focus was, the center where another pony was standing.
"Who are you?" Trixie growled at the pony sitting in the center of the clearing. The pony was silver in color, as was the cloak she wore that covered her body, and the hood that covered her face. Trixie noticed that while Starshine didn't have the sense to stay in the wagon when Trixie mentioned danger, he had at least stayed by it and hadn't gone running up to the mysterious pony.
"Um, I'm Starshine, Trixie," Starshine said in confusion as he looked around.
"I was talking to the silver pony sitting in the center of this field," Trixie growled, not taking her eyes off of it. She could feel the power coming from the silver and while it didn't feel destructive in nature, it was still a power that might rival her own.
"Trixie, nopony's there," Starshine said, even more confused than before, as he looked around. Trixie wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes when the silver one sat up and looked at Trixie from under her hood.
'Do not bother. He cannot see me unless I choose to let him,' the silver one said in an ethereal voice, making Trixie even more nervous than before. 'Now then, as I was saying--'
"Then let him see you," Trixie said. "I won't listen until you do.' The silver mare frowned, but her body shimmered a bit and Starshine let out a yelp.
"Where did that pony come from?" he asked, only to get silence as his answer. "Who is that ghost freak?"
"You actually listened?" Trixie asked, wondering what this pony's agenda was.
'All that matters is that I speak to you,' the silver one said as she started to walk towards Trixie. 'I have a limited amount of time here and I must speak with you.' The silver mare stopped walking as Trixie sent a blast of magic flying by her head.
"I would recommend staying over there," Trixie said as she prepared another blast. "I will not miss again."
'It matters not if you hit me; your spells are no match for the magic I wield,' the silver one said in a tone that sounded like she was trying to hide hints of rage, but Trixie knew rage when she heard it, and this pony was mad at her.
"Care to tell me why you're so angry with me? Is it because of my past or is it a whole new reason? Because at this point, I'd really like a pony to come up with something original to insult me with." The silver pony's form shimmered again and her glow seemed to get brighter, which Trixie figured meant that she was getting angrier.
'I am not angry with you in particular, but rather what you could have been,' the silver mare responded rather cryptically, making Trixie feel her rage start to boil. This pony wasn't giving her any straight answers and she hated ponies like that. 'So if you would just listen and--'
"Sorry, but until I get some answers from you, you'll get nothing from me," Trixie responded with a snort as she pawed the ground. "Like what do mean, 'what I could have been?' And how did you stop my spell that I cast on the wagon?"
'Because, as I said, your magic means little to me,' the silver mare responded with a sigh of frustration. 'I am the strongest pony in the multiverses in terms of magical might.' The silver mare moved her head to the side as another blast of magic sailed by it.
"Prove it," Trixie said with an evil smile as she let loose a torrent of azure magic towards the silver one. The mare sighed and summoned a silver barrier to protect her, watching with a concealed smile as the spells bounced off of the barrier without cracking it. She lowered the barrier just in time to see Trixie launch herself towards the mare with an arm brought back to strike...a blow that passed right through the mare. Trixie rolled to avoid falling on her face and came up half-crouched, looking from her hoof to the mare with no emotion. "That's curious," she muttered to herself.
'Do you see now that you cannot best me?' the mare asked, only to growl in frustration as Trixie let loose a storm of blue spikes towards the mare, that forced her to throw up another barrier to protect herself. The blasts were once again deflected, but the mare could see that Trixie wasn't going to give up. 'You are even more stubborn than the other you. I will end this now.' This time the silver mare shone with a brilliant light as her power flooded into the ground, creating massive tendrils of energy that shot out of the ground, trying to entangle Trixie. Trixie fired up a barrier of her own, but instead of blocking the tendrils it instead destroyed them, reducing the magic to dust.
"I still don't see it," Trixie said in a mocking tone as she raced towards the mare again, this time duplicating herself into three as she surrounded the mare on all sides, each of her clones preparing a different spell. "Let's see if you can handle three separate spells all at once," Trixie's said with a laugh as they all fired at the mare, who vanished in a flash of light. The clones looked around in confusion until the silver mare appeared over one of them, blasting her to the ground with a silver light.
'Like I said, you cannot win,' the mare said as she used her magic to pin the real Trixie to the ground, resulting in the other two copies vanishing into magical energies. 'Why, you are indeed skilled, but you still have your arrogance and that is why you will lose. I have you trapped.'
"And right where I wanted you!" Trixie said with a laugh as she fired up her barrier again, watching with a smile as the energy holding her down was blasted apart and the barrier slammed into the mare, sending her skidding back. The silver mare tried to brace herself, only to look down and realize that one of her legs was now missing.
'How?' she asked in disbelief as Trixie got back up, Starshine running over to her with awe on his face.
"What happened Trixie? Her leg's gone!" Starshine pointed out. "How did you hurt her when nothing else seemed to?"
"The answer's simple, Starshine, it's because I hit her with a barrier that was created specifically to destroy any magic that it comes into contact with," Trixie said with a smug smile, a smile that grew even larger when she saw that the sliver mare visibly reacted to the news. "I wondered why you felt ethereal when I first faced you, but I figured that it was because your magical energies were so strong it was just a side effect. But then I passed right through you when I tried to hit you, despite having increased my own strength with magic. Now this would have all shown the signs of a great wizard, except for the fact that you have no unicorn horn and therefore shouldn't be able to perform magic."
"That can't be right. All unicorns need horns to do magic, and they're the only kind of ponies that can," Starshine said, pointing out what Trixie already knew.
"That might be true, but look at her hood. There's no room for a horn under there," Trixie said. "I had my suspicions, but I had to try one last thing to confirm them. So I allowed you to trap me in hopes that it would get you to lower your guard and walk over to me, where I could hit YOU with the anti-magic barrier. And just like I predicted, it managed to damage you. Which can only mean one thing. You're made of magic."
"Wait, how does that work?"
"It is rare that a being can be completely magical without a physical form, but the fact that I couldn't hit her with physical attacks showed that she had no real body, while the fact that the barrier could hit her told me she was magic-based. So what are you? Are you a pony casting a spell to make it seem like you're here when you're not, or are you something else?" The silver mare stood stunned, unable to think of an answer to the perfectly reasoned explanation that Trixie had figured out in just under a few minutes. Nopony had even come close to figuring out what she was before, but Trixie had done so in seconds. All she could do was chuckle to herself as she looked down at her missing limb and channel magic through that area to make the leg reform.
'You truly are every bit the master of magic and deduction that I heard you were, but I had to test it for myself,' the silver mare said with a defeated smile as she walked towards Trixie. 'Yes, my entire being is made of magic, but I am not casting a spell, I am living magic. You can say that I chose this form instead of being a ball of magic. And you are correct in saying that I have no physical form, and that physical attacks will not even touch me, as many have found out.'
"But you can still be hurt by anything that can destroy or screw with magic," Trixie added. The silver mare nodded to show she was correct. "And the reason that you threw up the barriers to protect you from my spells is that magic can still touch you, can't it?"
'You speak the truth. Magic can still hit me, even though it causes no pain because I do not feel. All it does is mess with the form I have taken for myself.'
"Well, now that we are acquainted with each other, why did you want to talk to me?" Trixie asked.
'I come to warn you, warn you that a darkness will soon fall over this land,' the silver mare said in a more ominous voice, the forest around her becoming colder to reflect her tone. 'And while the child of the knight will seek to stop the darkness herself, she will be unable to do so without your help. You must find that which you have buried away, and bring it back to the light or else the Dark Knight will fall. If the sixth is claimed, that is your signal to go back to where it all ended. Find what you are missing." Trixie opened her mouth to answer, but the silver mare let off a flash of light that blinded both her and Starshine. When the two of them could see again, they were in the middle of a meadow with the wagon, and no trees visible for miles.
"What just happened?" Starshine asked as he looked around. "Where'd that mare go?"
"I think the question isn't, 'where did she go,' but to whom did she go," Trixie muttered, knowing that if the Dark Knight was to be involved, that her warning must have been serious. "And if she is getting the 'whom' I think she is involved, then our world might be in trouble."
"So what do we do? Do we go find this somepony and warn them?"
"No, she said if the sixth is found, I will need to go back to where it ended," Trixie said. "And that means I'm not needed yet. But to be safe, I want to get to work on Star-Swirl's temple. That is where we go next. Come on, back into the wagon." Starshine did as she asked and climbed back inside with Trixie, who looked behind her one last time to make sure that the mare was gone. She didn't know who she was, but she wasn't certain if she could trust what she was saying, at least not without proof.
'Crazy mare.' Trixie thought as she closed the door to her wagon and re-activated the spell that got it moving, sitting down with Starshine in the center of the wagon. "Alright Starshine, now we're going to try and get that...combustable part of your magic under control. Now, do you know what a unicorn needs to do if they want to get better at magic?"
"Practice for hours on end?" he asked.
"Sure, if you want to end up like Twilight," Trixie said with a smirk, but then she started to think about Twilight, and how she could use a bit of confirmation about what the silver mare had said. And very little went on without Twilight knowing about it...at least for the most part. "No, what you need to do is concentrate and clear your mind of past failures and mistakes. Now concentrate while I go write a letter." Starshine nodded and started to concentrate, while Trixie floated a quill and some paper over to her seat, taking a brief second to think about what to say before she started to write.
'Hello, Twilight; it's me, Trixie.'
'I know it has been a while since I last wrote, visited, spoke to you, etc, but I need to talk to you now. A crazy pony told me that if the sixth is found, then all of Equestria will fall into darkness. Battling the forces of evil is your department, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it.'
'Trixie.'
Trixie started up another spell that the dragons used to send letters to Celestia, except this one sent letters to Twilight. The paper vanished in a burst of green flame and Trixie looked back to see that the paper wasn't the only thing to catch fire.
"How in Equestria did you set the bath ablaze?!" Trixie screamed as she started up her dousing spell and raced over to the burning tub, while Starshine tried to figure out what had gone wrong.
>I<
About an hour later and a number of things in the wagon having been set ablaze, Trixie figured that it was time for the two of them to take a break, especially since she was tired of casting her extinguishing spell every few minutes. Plus, the two ponies had just reached the outskirts of the last town before they reached the location where the temple of Star-Swirl was supposed to be. So as the wagon came to a stop, Starshine came bursting out of the wagon with a huge smile, and he looked around the entrance of the town.
"I can't believe we're finally here! It feels like it took days to get here," he said with awe in his eyes.
"It only took a day," Trixie reminded him as she stepped out of the wagon too, covered head to hoof in a black cloak that had a hood to cover her head so that she wouldn't be recognized. When she was by herself, she was fine with fighting her way out of the town, but she didn't want to put Starshine in danger. "And this will be the last stop before we get to the temple, so I need to stock up on supplies since I do not know how long it will take to get there. Don't stray too far..." Trixie sighed when she realized that Starshine was already running into the town, leaving her behind once again.
"I swear I don't know why I don't put a leash on him," she grumbled to herself as she walked after him, moving her hood over her eyes to be a bit more cautious. The town was a relatively small one, so the market place wasn't too hard for her to find. All she had to do was look for where the largest crowd was. She did her best to keep an eye out for the colt, while she navigated the crowd as best she could so that nopony would bump into her. She found the colt staring at a magic act that was going on, eyes wide, as the pony on the stage performed a number of tricks.
"And just why did you run off like that?" Trixie asked as she sat down next to him, looking up at the pony on the stage with a shake of her head. His tricks were amateurish at best and she could see through his entire act. But she didn't want to spoil the show for anypony else, she sighed and stood back up again. "I'm going to go shopping. If I leave you here, do you promise to behave?" Starshine nodded as the unicorn on stage started to dance with fire. Trixie left Starshine there gazing in awe, shaking her head as she walked.
'How many years has it been since that was me up there?' she asked herself while she went about her business, stopping first at the places that sold food so that she could replenish her rations. And this time she didn't spare any coin, since she figured that if she went with the usual supplies, Starshine would clean her out in a few days, tops. So she had to buy carrots, celery stalks and even some sweets that she would normally never touch herself. 'Foals do seem to love sweets, from what I've read, though, so it should be fine as long as I don't touch them.'
The next stop for her was a place that she had some reservations about going into, because she was always reminded of who it made her look like in a way. That stop was the town's local bookstore, where she wanted to look for more spellbooks and potions recipes to add to her shelves. She didn't know if it was Twilight's fault or her mother's, but for the past ten years she had loved to learn new things in written form. So she felt a bit more humble than usual when she opened to door to small store, which only had one floor, that was filled with books.
"Hello there," a small old stallion said as she walked past the desk, giving her a smile that made her feel like she had been his first customer in a while. "Can I help you find something? Or are you here to browse?"
"Just to browse right now, thank you," she said in a slightly deeper voice as she pulled her hood tighter over her eyes, not wanting to run the risk of being seen. She didn't know how far the rumors about her had spread, but once before she had been surprised by how far gossip could go. She silently looked through the shelves, always feeling a bit more reserved and respectful in stores with books. She didn't know why; it could have been that this was a place of quiet, or that so many ponies' stories and life works were all collected here. She found the section on spellbooks in the back, noticing that this selection was smaller than the rest. A certain black book with a golden covering caught her eye, although why it was on the floor she had no idea.
"Let's see what secrets you hold," she muttered to herself as she started flipping through the pages, her eyes growing wider and wider with each page, while an excitement that she had suppressed since the battle of Canterlot came shooting back to the surface. Spells that she had never heard of, magical theories that would make Star-Swirl confused: it was a book of the unknown. And she loved it! She quickly bolted to the pony behind the counter and placed the book down, doing her best to hide her smile. "How much for this one?"
"Oh my, I didn't know that we had any of these left," the old stallion said, slightly surprised, as he looked over the book. "Now I can sell this to you, but I must warn you that some of these spells can be quite dangerous. Is that fine with you?" Trixie nodded excitedly as she placed the bits on the counter, grabbed the book as the stallion rang her up, and shot out of bookstore, heading back to where Starshine was, so that she could grab him and hurry back to the wagon where she could start reading. Much to her surprise, she found him where she had left him, watching the pony perform.
"Come on, it's time to leave this second rate act," she said to Starshine, who looked up at her with a frown.
"I don't wanna go just yet. I want to see the finale," he whined with a pleading look in his eyes, but Trixie shattered the pleading eyes with an, "I'm not arguing with you" look that caused him to sigh and stand up. However, the stage performer had been listening the entire time and didn't like the pony in the cloak taking away one of his audience.
"Excuse me miss, but I couldn't help but hear you call my act 'second rate'," the pony said as he teleported himself in front of her with a poof of smoke, gaining him a chorus of 'Oohs' from the crowd--and a glare for Trixie. "I hate to talk back to one of my audience, but I am one of the greatest performers. I am Gregory the Great, and I have performed everywhere from Stalliongrad to Canterlot."
"So you get around. Please get out of my way," Trixie said, wanting to avoid what she figured was coming.
"And I see that you are a unicorn as well, so I propose a magic showdown," he said more to the crowd than her. The crowd started to chant for the magic showdown and much to her annoyance, even Starshine started to chant as well. "So what do you say miss? You versus me in a showdown to see who has the superior magic?" Trixie hated to do it, but at this point her fastest way out of the town was through him. So she set down her bags with a sigh as she let her horn began to glow.
"You get three tries to beat me. If you can't surpass my magic by then, I win by default," she said in a tone that said it wasn't open for debate. He bowed graciously and started to twirl around in a flashy manner, giving Trixie plenty of time to cast her own spell that turned the bricks at his hooves to mud. He let out a yelp as his back hooves sunk into the mud, as well as his face turning red a bit as the crowd began to laugh.
"Very well, madame, you have bested me in the first test. But I will not lose again," Gregory the Great said as he prepared another spell without the flare or spinning, aiming between Trixie's eyes. Trixie yawned as she bounced the spell off of a barrier and watched as the spell fizzled out in the air above her.
"Last try," she said as Gregory's face turned a blazing red. He looked down at the ground to debate what to do next when an idea came to him. He smiled and fired a spell into the air, causing Trixie to look up to predict where the spell would land. and in that moment she looked up, Gregory took that chance to race up to her and grab her cloak, ripping it off of her body with a flourish.
"I have bested you!" he cried in victory as he dropped the cloak. "What do you have to say to that miss..." His words, along with any courage he had, died within him as he looked into the face of the pony from whom he had ripped the cloak. Trixie sighed and the crowd was silenced, as if shot, while she slowly turned to face him.
While she tried to hide her rage the best that should could at the way ponies reacted to her, Trixie couldn't help but sneer at the ponies who were all looking at her with terror in their eyes. And just like all the other ponies who had done this in past years, they reacted with what she hated the most. They began to scream.
"AHHHHH! IT'S TRIXIE!" they began to scream as the ponies ran around and away from her as fast as they could, occasionally running into other objects or each other in their desperate attempts to escape her. "She's going to kill us all and take over Equestria."
"Buckers," Trixie muttered to herself with a sigh, before screaming in pain as a spell slammed into her back and sent her rolling across the ground. She slowly got up and turned to face her attacker with murder in her eyes, glaring at the stage pony with venom while he stared at her with an arrogant smirk.
"My friends, do not run! There is only one of her and hundreds of us! Even she cannot take us all!" His words seemed to reach the closest of the ponies, who stopped running and began to glare at Trixie as well with hatred and rage. Trixie found herself quickly surrounded by the ponies of the town, causing her to growl with rage as she prepared to fight her way out of another city. But before any of the spells could be flung, Starshine ran in front of Trixie to place himself between her and the ponies.
"Why are you attacking her?! What has she done to any of you?!" he yelled at them.
"You are too young to know this, but this is the pony who nearly took down the Elements of Harmony and dethrone the princesses of Equestria in the same day, along with that master of hers," Gregory said with venom in his voice as he glared at Trixie with his horn glowing. "She tried to turn us all into slaves and rule over us! She is evil and must be destroyed!" Starshine looked at the pony in confusion before he turned back to face Trixie, who still glared at the unicorn performing.
"Is that true?" Starshine asked her.
"He speaks the truth to some degree," Trixie replied. "Yes, I did try to overthrow the princesses and destroy the Elements of Harmony. I will not deny that. However, Gregory failed to mention the part where I stopped Morgaine and aided the Elements in bringing her down."
"Silence, witch," Gregory growled as he began to walk towards her with a snarl. "We all know that you cannot be trusted. You will probably try to rule over us again!" The ponies who had surrounded her all began to chant 'witch' as well, although Trixie could have cared less.
"Why would I want to rule over you? All you foals do is whine and complain," Trixie said with a smirk. "I think that I would trap you all in stone so it would be quiet." While not the wisest thing to say, the tone of the threat did cause some of the ponies to back away from her with fear. But Gregory wasn't taking the hint and once again riled the ponies up.
"Do not let her intimidate you! Today the evil witch falls!" he yelled as he tried to rush towards her, but Starshine once again placed himself between him and Trixie.
"Leave her alone!" Starshine yelled, causing the performer to glare at the small pony.
"Out of my way, child!" Gregory snarled as he picked Starshine up with his magic and tossed him to the ground. Gregory smirked and turned back to Trixie...only to back away in terror when he saw her. Trixie was used to taking insults and she was used to being attacked. She had learned how to defend herself and how to cope with the verbal abuse; that's what she was used to. What she hadn't learned how to do was to control her anger when somepony she cared about was harmed, or how to hold back against those who hurt said pony. So what Gregory saw when he looked at her was Trixie at her worst. Her eyes were a blazing azure and magic radiated off of her body, so much so that the unicorns closet to her backed away while clutching their horns in pain.
"W-what is thi-" Gregory began before he was lifted into the air by Trixie's magic while the other ponies screamed and backed away. Trixie snarled at him and tilted her head slightly, resulting in a sickening crack which reverberated from Gregory's bones. Gregory howled in agony when he next felt his horn snap off of his head, before he was knocked out cold as Trixie slammed him into the ground. She then slowly turned to glare at all the other ponies who were looking at her with horror, a slow smile spreading across her face.
"Do not think that I am like the foals who run Canterlot or the princess of Ponyville, who will allow you to insult them with no fear of repercussions," Trixie said in a deadly whisper as she began to slowly walk towards the crowd of fear-struck ponies, her cape floating behind her. "I do not take kindly to being insulted, but I hate it even more when those I care about are hurt. And somepony I care about is hurt. So, I will return the courtesy to all of you!" She roared and slammed her hooves into the ground, sending out a shockwave of azure magic that blasted all the ponies around her away. Those who hadn't been knocked out completely by the spell ran for their lives, as Trixie began to scream after them.
"RUN YOU FOALS! BEFORE I TRULY GET MAD!" She watched all the ponies flee for their lives until she was the only pony left in the square, besides the unconscious Gregory and Starshine, who was struggling back to his hooves. Trixie let out a sigh and felt the rage leave her body, which resulted in her resuming her regular appearance. She then walked over to Starshine and levitated him back to his hooves, looking him over to see if he were harmed.
"Are you alright?" she asked him, sighing in relief when she saw no injuries. Starshine nodded slightly while Trixie looked around the abandoned streets with a frown. "I think I've outstayed my welcome. Time for me to head back to the wagon." She looked down at Starshine as she said this, not sure what to do with him. "I can drop you off somewhere else, if you wish for me to."
"No, I'm fine," Starshine said, although his tone told her that he was not fine at all. Trixie made a mental note to inquire more about what was bothering him once they were back to the wagon, but first she needed to get out of town. That would be the easy part.
"Hang onto me," she said as she placed a hoof on Starshine's shoulder and engaged her teleportation spell, casting an azure light upon the both of them that made them vanish in a flash of light. They re-appeared in front of her wagon, which she had wisely parked away from any prying eyes. She lowered the barrier and walked inside, noticing that it took Starshine a few seconds to follow her in. She quickly cast the spell that allowed the wagon to move on its own before she sat down beside Starshine, who had seated himself on the couch while trying to avoid looking her in the eyes.
"What is the matter?" she asked him, watching his eyes while she waited for a response. He stared down at his hooves instead of answering, shuffling them uncomfortably before he spoke.
"You said back in the square that you had tried to take over Equestria with...somepony," he said quietly, still avoiding her gaze. "Does...does that make you evil?"
"No, I am not evil," Trixie said with a smirk. "I am a fool. I allowed myself to believe the lies that I had been fed by Morgaine and became a pawn in her game. A foolish pawn."
"Then, if you're not evil...then, why did you do it?" Starshine asked, this time looking up at Trixie as he did so with confusion in his eyes. Trixie leaned back against the couch and looked up at the wagon's roof, wondering how to best answer his question.
"Because...because I was tired of being made fun of and ignored; tired of being second best to a perfect pony," Trixie said with scorn in her voice, all of which was directed towards herself. "And if I had to take over Equestria to prove that to the ponies, then I was willing to do so. Morgaine gave me the tools to become more than a second-rate stage performer like Gregory. She taught me how to be the most skilled unicorn in all of Equestria. Yet for all the power I gained, I lost a bit of myself at the same time, until I had become nearly consumed with my desire for revenge and the power that I had. If it were not for an orange filly, I might still be that way." Starshine looked up into Trixie's eyes, seeing both the sorrow for what she had done in them, and the hatred for herself that still burned bright after ten years of being alone with that knowledge.
"Who is Morgaine?" Starshine asked, snapping Trixie out of her self-loathing and making her refocus.
"Morgaine WAS my teacher...and my mother," Trixie said sadly, looking over at the chest which held the mask that she had been given before the final battle with Batman at Canterlot.
"Your mother?"
"Well, she was better than my real mother, and considering how Morgaine was a psycho, that should tell you what my real mother was like," Trixie said with a hurt chuckle. "Morgaine took me in, when I was alone in the world, and gave me not just the will to live, but a purpose as well. I wanted to please her so badly that...I allowed myself to believe her lies--and nearly destroyed all of Equestria."
"Is that why everypony hates you?"
"Sometimes, ponies don't let go of the past," Trixie said softly. "And they still hate me for trying to bring their world down all those years ago. So, that's the reason I do my best to avoid any towns or cities that I pass, so that what you just saw in this town doesn't happen--especially when others with me get involved. So yes, I suppose my desire to take Equestria is the reason that they hate me." Starshine looked at Trixie for a minute in confusion, thinking it over in his mind. Then a giant smile crossed his face as he wrapped his arms around her in a huge hug.
"Yeah, but that's probably because they haven't gotten to know you like I have," he said as he looked up at the now-confused Trixie. "You're not really a bad pony, just a bit grumpy from time to time. I think you're nice." The few words that Starshine spoke had hit Trixie like a truck and left her completely speechless. In the past ten years, nopony, not even herself, had said such words of kindness to her. And the words were spoken with honesty; looking into Starshine's eyes confirmed that.
"T-that's nice of you to say, but I'm not that great a pony," Trixie stuttered as she gently pushed Starshine off of her. "As you saw in the town, I am prone to violent bursts of rage and I am mostly a recluse. I'm no better than anypony else."
"If that was true, then you wouldn't have stopped Blackjack and given me a new home," Starshine reminded her with a smile. "You may not be like one of the Elements, but you're a kind pony in your own right. Now come on, let's go practice some magic!" Trixie watched the colt bounce off of her couch and over to the practice dummy, having no idea what to think. The words of kindness were like a refreshing stream in the middle of a desert to her, and she had no idea how to respond. A thin smile crossed her lips as she stood up and followed the small foal to her training area.
'Nothing can keep him down, can it?' she thought to herself as she began to help him train.
/W\
The air in this part of the forest felt much different from other places Trixie had been, and she could feel a faint magical energy flowing through the trees, making her on edge a bit as she and Starshine sat on the front of the moving wagon. Her eyes scanned the glittering forest for danger, while his were wide-eyed as he marveled at all the amazing lights.
"I never thought that I would see a forest this pretty," Starshine muttered out loud as he gazed at all the tress lined with a mystic light. His gaze wandered to the butterflies that looked like glowing balls of light as they flew by him. "How can a forest possibly look this cool?"
"The magic that I assume you can feel running through the air, also runs through the tress and the beasts that inhabit this land," Trixie explained as a group of glowing pigs ran by the wagon. "If something lives close to magic for most of its life, it will eventually become a part of that magic. And these animals and plants have been here for thousands of years." Starshine 'oo'ed' and continued to look at the animals again while Trixie was looking for the temple that was supposed to be near the center of this forest.
"So the temple that you're looking for is here, right?" Starshine eventually asked when Trixie growled in frustration at the lack of temple. "What makes you think you can find it if Star-Swirl hid it? How are you certain it's here?"
"Three reasons: One, because the map says so. Two, can you not feel the magic? It is older than the princesses themselves. This would be the perfect place for a unicorn looking to unlock the secrets of magic," Trixie explained before a nasty frown crossed her face. "And three, if I don't find it soon, I'm going to burn this entire place down until I do!" Starshine backed away from Trixie a bit as she said this and resumed scanning the forest, leaving the unicorn to fume by herself. He narrowed his eyes a bit when he thought he saw a shimmer off in the distance, thinking for a moment that he had seen...
"I think I saw the temple," he said to her. Trixie looked to where he pointed with a bit of confusion.
"I don't see anything."
"I'm telling you, it's there. Come on, trust me," he begged her. Trixie gave in and turned the wagon towards where he said the temple was, not certain if she should believe him. But all of her doubts were cast aside when the wagon slammed into an invisible barrier, knocking it back, while simultaneously throwing the azure mare off of the front and into the dirt. "See? I told you," Starshine said happily as he hopped past Trixie, who was trying to get all the dirt out of her mouth.
"Yes...you seem to be correct," Trixie muttered as she walked up to the barrier and placed her hoof against it, feeling the magic that was preventing her from seeing or getting to what it protected. "What I wish to know is, how did you see the barrier when I could not?"
"I don't know, I guess I was just looking for it harder than you," Starshine said with a shrug as he poked the barrier as well, not making any more progress than Trixie. "I hope you have a spell to get us past this, because I already contributed."
"Yes, I think I have just the spell," Trixie said with a smile as she opened up her spell book and flipped to the page on what was known about Star-Swirl's spells. Once she had found the page, she pointed her horn at the barrier and created a light blue magic on her horn, which she then fired at the barrier. The barrier did not shatter like she thought it would, but instead created an opening that the two of them would be able to fit through. "Looks like we have to leave the wagon behind for now," Trixie said as she put her book in her coat and walked through the opening. "Come, I do not know how long this will stay open." Starshine hopped in after her and looked up, his jaw hitting the ground at what he saw.
"Is that the temple?" he whispered in awe as he looked up at the massive stone structure that greeted his eyes.
"Yes, it is," Trixie said with a frown, thinking of how odd this temple was. Unlike the last two temples she had visited, this one was far more grand and pristine, as if the curse of time had not touched it at all. In fact, it was in better condition after a few centuries than were some of the buildings in places she knew. The entrance to the temple sat directly in front of them; two giant brass doors that were much too shiny for their age. "Stay close to me. I do not know if there are any traps on the outside, but Star-Swirl is notorious for setting up traps in his temples."
Starshine nodded and got closer to Trixie as she moved closer to the doors, being careful to scan the area around them to make sure that none of the traps were out here. When all came up safe, she used her magic against the doors to no avail, leaving her fuming once again.
"Curses, my magic can't get these doors open and there is no riddle or clue telling me how to do it," Trixie growled as she tried spell after spell unsuccessfully against the door. While she did that, Starshine started to look at the door as well, noticing something that he wasn't sure how Trixie had missed.
"Um, Trixie?" Starshine said, waving Trixie over. "There are five symbols here. Can't you see them?" Trixie narrowed her eyes, looking at the spot where Starshine was pointing. Slowly, she began to see what he was talking about, as five odd symbols appeared before her eyes. Once she could see them, they became much more radiant and didn't require her to squint.
"That is odd," Trixie muttered as she looked over each symbol individually. "The symbols are out of place. This one should go here and this one should go..." Trixie began to move the hidden symbols around with her magic until they were in places that made sense to her. The moment she had placed the last one into place, a low rumbling could be heard as the two doors swung open. Both Trixie and Starshine stared into the darkness that awaited them, both a bit hesitant to enter.
"Ladies first," Starshine said to Trixie with a bow, with Trixie responding by rolling her eyes at the foal as she walked past.
"Well, aren't you just the gentlecolt," she said with a smirk as she walked inside, using her magic to light up the room as she did so. She and Starshine were in a massive chamber with a single giant statue of a minotaur in the center, with no doors or exits on any side of them. "This feels like a..." Trixie began before the doors behind them slammed shut. "Trap." Starshine gasped as a sphere of blue appeared in front of them, hovering just out of hoofs reach as it observed them. A thin beam of magic came out of it and passed through Trixie, neither pony moving.
"What's it doing?" Starshine asked her.
"It is scanning us, but I am not sure why," she whispered back as the sphere turned green for her and then moved over to Starshine, scanning him as well. But unlike Trixie, when it had scanned Starshine, its light turned red and it began to hum with power. Before it could do anything else, Trixie fired a blast of magic into the sphere and sent it flying into the wall on the other side of the room where it shattered into pieces.
"What was that thing?" Starshine asked before the room began to tremble, and both ponies looked up to see pieces of stone beginning to fall off of the statue of the minotaur, its eyes beginning to glow red.
"A sentry probably...and that is not good," Trixie said as the minotaur burst out of the stone that held it and spun to face Starshine, its red eyes glaring at him as it got him in its sights. It let out a roar and charged at the colt, but it had barely taken two steps before twin columns of azure fire burned the creature and sent it skidding across the ground. "You will not touch him, beast," Trixie said in a cold tone as her eyes glowed with power, picking the minotaur up and throwing it into another wall. Much to her and Starshine's surprise though, the minotaur got right back up and charged at the colt again, who Trixie teleported out of the way before the creature could crush him.
"Why is it only coming after me? What did I do to it?" he asked Trixie as she teleported the both of them across the chamber and away from the creature.
"I do not know, but stay here," Trixie said as she teleported back in front of the beast. "If you wish for a fight so badly, I will gladly give you one." But again to her surprise, the beast ignored her entirely and re-focused its gaze on the small colt in the corner of the room, letting loose another roar as it tried to chase him down, only to run head first into one of Trixie's barriers. "Did you not understand what I said? YOU FACE ME NOW!" Trixie roared in fury as she sent giant spikes out of the ground to impale the creature, with the minotaur only barely getting out of the way in time. Trixie's horn glowed again and the ground suddenly came to life, with stone hands grabbing the minotaur to hold it in place. But with a flex of its muscles the creature broke free, leaving Trixie angry and confused.
"It can completely counter any spell I throw at it, and direct magical attacks aren't working," she said to herself as she picked up pieces of the broken statue off the ground and hurled them at the beast. "Why don't you stay down?" The beast once again ignored her and brushed through her magic, hurtling itself towards Starshine once again.
"Stop!" Trixie yelled as she threw azure chains around its neck and body, sliding on the floor as the creature slowly dragged her while it tried to grab Starshine. It raised both of its hands over the terrified colt and prepared to bring them down, its red eyes glaring into the colt's. "I said STOP!" Trixie roared. Then, to both her and Starshine's surprise, the minotaur lowered both of its hands and turned to face Trixie with green eyes, performing a small bow to her before it exploded into a cloud of sand. Starshine slowly walked over to Trixie, breathing heavily with terror but unharmed.
"What just happened?" he asked her.
"I think we activated one of Star-Swirl's traps," Trixie replied as she sat down.
"No, I meant why did it listen to you?" Starshine asked her. Trixie had no answer for him, so all she could do was shrug. The both of them then heard the sound of another door being opened, and they turned to see that one of the "walls" was actually a hidden passage.
"And it seems that we now have a place to go," Trixie said as she stood back up. "Stay close to me and if anything tries to scan you again, don't let it." Trixie made her horn glow brighter as the two walked through the doorway into a long hallway, the light from her horn showing numerous carvings and images on the wall.
"What are those?" Starshine asked Trixie.
"Ancient carvings, maybe hundreds of years old," Trixie replied as she kept her eyes forward, waiting for something else to leap out at them. Their progress was impeded as they came to another door at the end of the hallway made entirely of anti-source that caused Trixie's horn to flicker. "Hmm, if a door is made of a material to stop magic, then there must be a powerful something on the other side," Trixie muttered aloud as she got closer to the door, looking over it carefully. In the center of the door lay four slots for an item to be placed and a picture of a temple next to each slot.
"That looks like a trident," Starshine muttered as he looked at the door too. "And that looks like a horn. And...I don't know what that is."
"That is a corrupted claw, the prized possession of the changeling queen," Trixie said with a frown as she figured out what this door was. "The items that are missing from the door are what's required to get to the other side. And these items are not easy to get. The trident belongs to the sea-horses who vanished long ago. The horn is said to be found in the land of titans from which no pony has ever returned. But the fourth item is located in a very familiar temple."
"What temple is that?" Starshine asked as he looked at something on the floor with interest.
"That is not important right now. If I want to get through this door I need the items, but some of these cultures have been lost for centuries or are impossible to find. No pony has ever survived a trip to the land of titans far in the south, just like how no pony has ever found the hive of the changelings. Plus, Atlantis was sunk by Sombra nearly one thousand years ago. There's no way to know where it could be now."
"But we can go to the temple that you've already been to, right?" Starshine asked as Trixie looked at the image of that temple again. The instructions showed a pony who was battling a dark reflection of itself, then the same pony diving into a pool into what looked like a mirrored world on the other side. Finally, the pony had to defeat a floating red orb that shot red flames towards the pony.
"Come, I know what to do now," Trixie said as she spun around and headed for the exit, Starshine right on her hooves as she passed the chamber of reflection without a second glance. They both made it back outside to see that the hole in the barrier was still there. They passed through it and Trixie got her wagon moving again at twice the speed it had been moving before. Only after she had set its course and had placed her book away did she finally answer Starshine's question. "I have not been in the temple before, but I do know which temple it is. Morgaine said that it was not worth our time to go see what was inside of it, but it seems that there was something we missed."
"Hold on, you still haven't answered my question," Starshine huffed as he jumped in front of Trixie and pouted at her. "What is the temple called?"
"Oh, very well," Trixie said with a growl as she grabbed another book off the shelf and levitated it down in front of them. It held the Tome of the Worlds and showed a pony how to cross dimensions. "It is called the Temple of Reflections."
/M\
Deep within the confines of her own mind, a certain sorcerous was at complete peace, having managed to block out the screams of the other inmates--be they physical screams or mental screams. Despite the walls of her cell being made out of anti-source, she could still somewhat access her magic, but not to a degree where she could escape. But for the time being, she was content. Except...for a nagging little thought in the back of her head that was telling her that she was forgetting something...or someone.
'It is not important,' she thought to herself as the martian came around to do a check on all the prisoners. 'It's not like I care about Trixie any longer...wait, where did that name come from?' She tried to recall who this Trixie was, but her memory failed her and she went back to her meditation, once again content with her life.
"I said, get back!" Trixie yelled as she fired crimson magic into the chest of a pony clad all in black that had leapt in the air at her, sending him flying backwards into a tree. She then spun around to summon a giant claw of stone from the ground that grabbed another pony in black, who had tried to sneak up behind her, and slammed it into the ground.
"Who are these ponies?!" Starshine shrieked as one of the ponies ran past him with a blade gripped in his teeth, only to take a yellow spell to the face and feel the power of electric magic. "And why are they trying to kill you?"
"They're assassins, from the look of their outfits," Trixie responded as she flipped off a tree trunk to dodge a blade strike, before she kicked the pony in the back of the head and slammed his face into the trunk. She spun to face three more attackers who kept their distance, having learned from their comrades' mistakes that attacking her 'head on' wouldn't work in their favor. Trixie's horn glowed with power as she thought of a number of spells that would deal with these foals. Then, the pony in the front nodded to the two behind him as he threw a smoke pellet into the ground. The other two followed suit with smoke pellets of their own. When Trixie could see again, the three and their knocked-out friends were gone, allowing her to sigh in relief.
"Well that's one way to wake up in the morning," she said with a smirk as she walked over to Starshine, who had taken refuge under a hollowed out tree. He shakily got to his hooves and looked around the forest in terror.
"W-why would assassins be after you?" he stammered as he continued to look, but his only answer was a sigh from Trixie while she headed back to her wagon, which had been flipped onto its side during the fighting. With a quick spell and a bit of effort, Trixie managed to re-right the wagon and motioned for Starshine to join her inside. "And why are there assassins in Equestria? I thought that the princesses had them all disbanded years ago?"
"They may have been ordered to, but after the two princesses were nearly de-throned by Morgaine, a lot of ponies lost faith in the princesses and began to ignore them. While the assassins may have been ordered to stop, they still continue as a secret underground society, only going after those that no pony would miss or everypony hates. And guess who falls into both of those catagories?" Trixie asked with a somber smile as she walked inside of the wagon to find all of her books off their shelves, her potion materials on the floor, and the rest of her home in one giant mess. "Ugh, this is going to take a while to clean up. How about you go practice your magic while I try to sort this out."
"But I want to know more about the assassins," Starshine begged, but Trixie had already begun to pick up her wagon and paid no more attention to him. Starshine huffed and walked over to the practice dummy, glaring at it as his imagination took over and he thought of it as one of the assassins that was going after Trixie. "Take this!" he yelled as he tried to use the repulsing spell that Trixie had taught him, but all that happened was a burst of light exploded in front of him and sent him rolling backwards until he hit the wall.
"Are you alright over there?" Trixie called out from the other side of the room as she scooped up water back into her tub.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Starshine muttered as he stood back up, walking back towards the dummy while he tried the spell again. But just like the previous attempt, his spell backfired and knocked him down in a flash of light. "Argh, why can't I get it to work?" he muttered as he tried the spell again, but slower. Just like the last time, he felt a build up of magic in his horn that flowed throughout his entire head. "No use, it just doesn't work the way I want it to." He wasn't certain if he was missing or if he was just bad at magic, but it frustrated him to no end.
"Alright, we're going to be heading off for the Temple of Reflections in a few minutes," Trixie yelled to Starshine, who sighed in defeat and plopped down on a couch. He sat mostly in silence as the wagon moved on its own, not able to talk to Trixie because she was busy organizing her supplies again to make sure nothing was lost. All he could do was think quietly to himself as they moved along: 'Why can't I use magic? Is there something wrong with my horn or am I just...defective?' Starshine hung his head a bit at this thought, staying silent as the wagon moved along to its next location.
/M\
"Ugh, why did the temple have to be in a volcano?" Starshine asked as he struggled to move forward, the heat from the lava nearby beginning to get to him. Trixie had parked the wagon far away from the volcano and the two had to travel to it on hoof, which would have been impossible for any pony besides a Pegasus, if Trixie had not summoned magic platforms for them to walk on instead. But the platforms didn't stop the heat, hence Starshine's complaints.
"Each of the temples were hidden by Star-Swirl in locations that hopefully no pony would be able to find," Trixie explained as she walked towards the temple in the side of the volcano. The temple was the same reddish color as the land around them, which would have made it impossible to find if they didn't know where to look. Trixie did, and she saw the doors were still open from before. She remarked aloud, "And it's just like that Twilight to leave her doors open and allow anypony to walk in!" Trixie smiled with a shake of her head. "So for ten years, she never bothered to come back and check up on the place to see how it was doing? Shame, I thought she was smarter than that. Come on, let us head inside and out of this infernal heat."
Starshine followed Trixie inside of the temple and marveled at what awaited them there. There was a room with many reflective surfaces, such as crystals and a variety of cracked mirrors as well, but what grabbed his attention was in the center of the room where a single pond sat. "What is this place?" he asked Trixie, who was looking at a number of ancient writings on the wall.
"This is the temple of reflection, where in order to proceed a pony must face themselves and triumph, which is easier said than done," Trixie replied as she frowned at the writing. "And while I may not seek to go deeper into the temple, it seems that I must face myself if I am to progress."
"What about me? Will I have to face myself?" Starshine questioned.
"No, only one needs to succeed to pass. I assume that it was Batman who did it for the ponies. There is no way they could defeat themselves without his help," Trixie commented with a smile as she walked to the pond, taking a deep breath before she looked down into it. Her reflection shimmered a bit before the pond began to move and a dark azure hoof grabbed onto the bank in front of her. She backed away as a darker version of herself pulled itself from the pond, its eyes glaring at her with hatred as it approached her.
"Well if it isn't the failure," the dark reflection said to her as it marched towards her, its eyes looking out from under the brim of a certain hat that Trixie no longer wore. It also wore her star-covered cape along with the hat, but that meant little to Trixie as she prepared her magic for a battle. "The pony who could have had it all, but chose to listen to her heart and be a coward."
"My actions saved the lives of everypony in Equestria. I do not regret what I have done," Trixie said with no emotion, causing her duplicate to hiss at her as it began to circle her.
"Oh, but you do have regrets. You regret that you joined with Morgaine in the first place, that you were almost responsible for the death of nearly everypony in your precious land," the dark reflection spat back.
"I thought this was the Temple of Reflections, not of things I already know," Trixie replied with a smirk, causing the dark her to grow even angrier.
"You hide behind a façade that is your humor," the dark one began. "Because deep down inside, you know that no pony will ever be able to love you again, not after what you did." The dark Trixie began to advance as she spoke, but Trixie did not give an inch. "You will be hated for what you have done and will forever be an outcast. Forever."
"If that is to be my punishment for the sins I have committed, then so be it," Trixie replied as she lowered her horn at the reflection. "Now then, are you going to fight or continue to fail at getting under my skin?" The dark her hissed and leapt into the air, raining down a flurry of fireballs, all of which Trixie deflected with ease. The dark her landed and summoned a lasso of magic with which she tried to lasso Trixie, but the real her slipped between the rope and shot the stones under the dark her's hooves, sending up a column of water that knocked the dark Trixie into the ceiling. When she came crashing back down, Trixie finished her with a face full of electric magic that, combined with the water, caused her counterpart to scream in pain. Trixie ceased the attack and let the dark her fall to the ground, knowing that she had won.
"Do you yield?" Trixie asked.
The dark her stood back up with a smile and simply said, "Well done," before vanishing into the pond again, leaving the chamber as when they had entered. Trixie sighed as she ceased her magic, looking behind her as the doors opened once again.
"Are we going to enter?" Starshine asked her, to which Trixie shook her head in reply.
"No, we have no need to go in there. Besides, all of value was taken long ago," she replied as she walked back over to the pond. "This is where we need to go. Join me, if you will." Starshine did so as Trixie summoned a barrier around them that she lifted into the air and placed above the pond, slowly entering the both of them into the water. Starshine had to blink twice as the world seemed to flip upside down for him before they came out on the other side, where Trixie lowered the both of them back down to solid ground.
"Ugh, that felt weird," he muttered as he looked around the room, more confused than ever. It almost looked like a duplicate of the room they were just in, but a few of the details had been switched around. All of the mirrors and crystals were in perfect condition and the pond looked like it was in bad shape. But unlike the previous room, this one only had one door...and that door was already open.
"Somepony else is here," Trixie said quietly as she prepared a spell, pulling Starshine close to her as she did so. "Stay close to me and make as little noise as you can. I know not who this pony is, but I have a bad feeling that they are a force to be reckoned with if they could get in here." Starshine nodded as Trixie began to slowly move forward, her eyes darting left and right as they moved down the long hallway that connected to the next room. As they got closer to the next room, they could begin to hear something faint.
"It sounds like somepony is fighting something," Starshine whispered to Trixie. Trixie nodded in response, her thoughts being along the same lines. As the two drew closer, they heard a cry of pain and something hitting the ground, followed by very heavy hoofsteps. "Trixie, somepony's in danger! You have to help them!" Trixie frowned at the idea, but the look Starshine gave her made it so she had to agree. So she prepared the strongest spell she knew as she leapt around the corner, believing herself ready for anything. She was wrong.
In the center of a room with a floor that looked like it was a solar system, stood a massive stone statue of Star-Swirl the Bearded, similar to the one that Morgaine had used to attack the bat and the Elements back in the final temple. But what surprised her wasn't the massive statue, but instead what it was attacking. For in the center of the room lay a pony with a black coat and an equally black mane, known to many as a king, but now he was just...
"Sombra," Trixie said with a snarl as the former unicorn rolled out of the way of one of the statue's hooves. The shockwave still launched him across the room and into a wall, where he slid down with a groan. He looked up with his one good eye to Trixie and Starshine standing across the room from him, confusion showing on his face before the statue charged at him again. Trixie smiled to herself as she watched Sombra fight a futile battle against the statue, because without his horn he would certainly be killed by it.
"Trixie, what are you doing?" Starshine asked her as Sombra got tossed around the room again. "You have to help!"
"Do you have any idea who that is?" Trixie asked as she looked away from the battle. "That is Sombra, one of the evilest ponies that has ever existed in the history of this land. He enslaved the crystal empire and tried to kill the princesses in an attempt to take full control. I am not helping a pony as evil as him." Starshine looked up at her with a frown before a thought came to his mind.
"That's funny, because that's what everypony says about you," he said with a smile. "Evil; tried to enslave all of Equestria while trying to overthrow the princesses; That you're as bad as Sombra. Well, are you?" Trixie glared down at him, knowing exactly what he was doing, but it was too late to change anything. His words had struck home and she figured that she had to help, at least stop the statue. Then she could flatten Sombra herself.
"You can be very manipulative, do you know that?" Trixie asked the smiling Starshine as she charged the statue, firing the spell that she had been holding onto. The spell collided with the statue's face and knocked it over, causing Sombra to look at Trixie in complete surprise as she ran to his side, using her magic to help him to his hooves.
"You are...helping me?" Sombra asked in complete shock, having no idea who this pony was or why she was helping him. His response was a glare from Trixie and for her magic to grab him by the throat.
"Yes, but only because that little foal over there guilt-tripped me into doing so," she replied with a snarl as the statue began to get back up. "But let me tell you right now, I do not like you and I do not trust you. But I will defeat this statue, so you stay out of my sight." She threw him to the ground as she said this and used her magic to lift the Star-Swirl into the air, slamming it down again against the floor. Sombra looked at her in complete shock as she began to show her full power, her horn glowing as bright as one of the stars in the sky.
"Be gone," was all she said as she blasted a white hot spell into the center of the statue's chest and blew it across the room into the opposing wall, watching with a smile as it sank down to the ground before crumbling into pieces. She then looked back and smirked at the awe-struck Sombra before she flicked her mane and walked towards Starshine. "I heard that you were the greatest unicorn in your time Sombra, but there is a new unicorn that holds that title. Me."
"W-who are you?" he asked her as he got back up.
"I am Trixie Lulamoon, the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria," she responded with a smile. Sombra looked at her for a moment before an evil smile broke out across his face.
"Oh yes, I have heard of you Trixie, the pony whose evil is supposed to rival mine as well as her magical might. Oh this truly is a treat," he said with a cackle, not noticing the daggers that she glared at him. "Yes, she who nearly overthrew the two princesses and nearly hoofed everything over to a crazy mad woman that tried to kill everything good. I know that I have a bad rep, but you might just have me--URK!" His words were cut off as Trixie grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air, her eyes blazing with rage as she glared at him.
"I am nothing like you," she said in a quiet whisper, but Sombra began to chuckle again.
"Nothing like me? Oh, let's go down the list. Tried to take out the princesses? Check. Tried to take everything in Equestria as their own? Check. Masters of magic? Do I need to go on?" he taunted, closing his eyes in pain when she tightened her grip. "Go on, try and kill me. I have contingencies in place in case I die. Just ask the Elements." Trixie snarled at him and threw him across the room into the wall again before she headed to the exit on the other end.
"That hurt," Sombra muttered to himself as he got back up, looking down to see Starshine standing next to him. "What the hell do you want?"
"Where did your horn go?" Starshine asked, pointing to the stub on his head. Sombra growled and took a step forward, but a fire spell hit him in the side of the head and set his main ablaze. He spent a minute trying to put the fire out, and when he did so he glared at Trixie before looking back to the colt. "You really wanna know? Fine, I lost it when the princess of the crystal empire blew me to kingdom come. After that I spent about six years piecing myself back together. There, happy?"
"What are you doing here then?" Starshine asked. Sombra didn't want to answer the colt, but then Trixie walked back over to them and glared at him.
"Yes, I would like to know that as well. What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him, pointing her glowing horn at him to show that he had to answer.
"Fine. I'm here because I'm after whatever Star-Swirl has locked away in a temple far from here," Sombra replied with a growl as he avoided her eyes, so he didn't notice when Trixie and Starshine both looked at each other, both knowing the temple he was talking about.
"And what else?" Trixie asked, having fire shoot from her horn when he refused to answer.
"Okay, there is supposed to be an item in here that will help to unlock the temple doors, now stop shooting fire at me." Trixie didn't cease the fire spell, but she did motion for Starshine to join her by the door on the other end of the room, where even more strange writing on the wall lay.
"What's it say Trixie?" Starshine asked her, but this time Trixie could only shake her head in response.
"I do not know. It is similar to the language on the wall in the other room, but it is different at the same time," she replied. "I cannot translate this."
"Ha. And you are supposed to be my equal," Sombra chuckled from across the room. "Yet you cannot read what it says. You have been exaggerated."
"Oh? And I suppose you can read it?" Trixie asked
"Of course, I was alive when they were being used" Sombra replied as he crossed his arms with a smile, but then the smile fell as Trixie pointed her horn at him again and motioned for him to go to the door.
"Then why don't you be a gentlecolt and help a mare out," Trixie said as she fired a small burst of flame at his hooves, causing him to grumble as he walked over.
"If I had my horn, you would both be dead," he muttered just loud enough for Trixie to hear.
"I would still be able to defeat you," Trixie replied as Sombra began to mutter something to himself. Once he was finished, the lettering on the doors began to glow and the doors began to slowly creep open, but Trixie kept an eye on Sombra the entire time. Once the doors were fully open, the three ponies stepped inside and despite Trixie and Sombra not trusting each other, both were struck in awe by what they saw. In the center of the room sat an incredible ruby that blazed with the fierceness of the sun when Trixie's glowing horn got close to it.
"What is it?" Starshine asked as he ran up to it, gazing in wonder as the ruby's light reflected in his eyes.
"It is the ruby that Star-Swirl used to bargain with the dragons to keep them from attacking Equestria," Trixie responded as she walked up to the ruby as well, looking on it with impressed eyes. "However, even the dragons were so in awe of its beauty, as well as the kindness that Star-Swirl had shown them, that they asked him to hide the ruby away so that no pony could ever take it. I did not know that he used it as a key."
"That shows just how little of Star-Swirl you know," Sombra said with a smirk as he walked up to the ruby, but was stopped before he could get too close. "All of the items that are in the lock are items that Star-Swirl held cherished in his heart; this ruby, the changeling claw, the trident of the..." Trixie's eyes narrowed as she saw a hint of fear in Sombra's eyes as he mentioned the trident. "All of which belong to him. And it is said when you open the temple with those items, the true power of Star-Swirl will be yours.
"So that is why you are trying to open the temple," Trixie growled at Sombra suddenly, placing herself between him and the ruby. "So that you can take his power and add it onto your own."
"You are just too clever for me," Sombra said with a chuckle. "But no, I have no need for that foal's magic. I simply require that power to repair my horn, then I will truly be the great wizard I once was! Then no pony will be able to..." Sombra's words cut off there, as he groaned once and fell over onto his face, causing both Trixie and Starshine to look down in confusion.
"What happened to him?" Starshine asked as he and Trixie both approached Sombra, Trixie examined him as she did so. Now that she could have a closer look, she noticed all the bruising and scarring along his body, as well as the fact that she could see most of his ribs--and his mane was thinner than in the stories.
"I think that he is starving, dehydrated, and nearly dead from exhaustion," she replied as she opened one of his eyes. "I'm not surprised myself. I can hide my presence well enough to allow me to buy food and supplies in towns, but without his horn, even a full coat could not hide his stench of evil. He will probably be dead soon. But he lived just long enough to help us get to the ruby, so that's good." Trixie grabbed the ruby off of its pedestal and placed it inside of her coat, heading towards the exit. Starshine, however, did not join her. "Starshine, what are you doing? We must leave."
"We're taking him with us," Starshine replied as he tried to get Sombra onto his shoulders while Trixie stood stunned by his response.
"Okay, apparently you did not understand when I told you about Sombra before," she said after recovering. "He is evil, and unlike me he did not repent for what he did. And when he managed to escape from the prison that the princesses placed him in, he tried to take control of the crystal empire again. You don't know what he will do."
"No, but I do know what it's like to be starving to death and having no pony to rely on," Starshine shot back, causing Trixie to raise her eyebrows in surprise at his tone. "I spent four years of my life on the streets hoping that the following day wouldn't be my last. Now I know that you've had a bad life too, but I don't think you have ever had to worry about starving to death, or being mugged in the cold of the night. I do. That's why I can't let him die like this. We can turn him in to the princesses once he's healthy, or give him to the Elements to lock away in stone, but first I want to make sure he will live. No pony should die by starving."
Trixie lowered her head at what Starshine was saying, hating that he was right and wrong at the same time. He was right in saying that no pony should have to die this way, but he was wrong in saying that Trixie had never been on the verge of starving, or that she hadn't been mugged in the night. It had happened to her more times than she could count. And that was why she knew he was right in saying that they couldn't leave Sombra die, at least not like this. She wasn't that heartless
"...Fine, but I will keep him under spell the entire time he is with us, and he will not sleep or be anywhere near us," Trixie said with such a tone that Starshine didn't dare to argue. Trixie then lifted the limp body of Sombra over her head and began to walk to the exit, Starshine following her with a huge smile on his face.
"Thank you for doing this Trixie, I didn't think you would," Starshine said with a smile. "I thought that you would have forced me to come back with you."
"Maybe I'm just a bit more generous than you thought," Trixie replied as she started up the barrier spell again, not telling Starshine of her other reason for not letting Sombra die. Despite her knowledge of ancient literature, she still couldn't decipher what had been written on the wall. But Sombra could. And if she knew anything about Star-Swirl from what she had read, it was that he enjoyed all sorts of puzzles and tricks to use on others.
'You got lucky today, Sombra, lucky that Starshine has a heart of gold and a silver tongue that even I can't fully resist. But mark my words. if you do anything that endangers me or Starshine, I will put you down without a moment's hesitation,' Trixie thought to herself as she, Starshine and Sombra all exited through the pond, leaving the room nearly completely empty, empty except for the mirrors that shattered once the group was gone.
"COME ON, YOU DEMON! NOW YOU FACE A GOD!" Sombra roared from atop his balcony while the giant white demon slowly continued its march towards him, crushing buildings and ponies of the Crystal Empire under foot as it charged towards him. Sombra sent up a beam of light into the sky that caused a bolt of lightning to come down and strike his horn, channeling the electric energy into him. With this power, he launched himself into the air towards the creature, firing spells laced with electricity into the demon's chest. The giant demon raised one massive arm and swatted him away, sending him spiraling down into the streets below as it turned its attention to the top of his tower.
"Ugh, that's not good," Sombra muttered to himself as he picked himself out of what remained of the streets. The demon had done a good job of completely trashing the Crystal Empire, while neither the buildings nor those who inhabited them had been spared. Sombra struggled back to his hooves and looked to his side to see a mother clutching her filly, both of them gazing at him with fear.
"Is he going to hurt us, Mommy?" the filly asked before its mother pulled her tight and shushed her.
"Be quiet dear, don't look at him," the mother replied while Sombra growled at the both of them, causing them to close their eyes in fear.
"There is a fifty-foot tall demon attacking the city, and I am the one you are most scared of?" Sombra asked them with disbelief, watching as both of them nodded with fear. Then, a wide smile spread on his face. "Good." He then turned his attention back to the white demon that had begun to climb the tower in the center of the kingdom, knowing full well what it wanted. "So the demon wants the Crystal Heart, does it? Well he cannot have it. It's mine!" Sombra tried to shoot himself back into the air, but then the building that the mother and its child were under collapsed. Without a second thought, he picked the two up and threw them out of harm's way, glaring at them as he did so.
"What are you foals still doing here? RUN!" he snarled at them, and they took no time following his orders as the mother took off as fast as her hooves could carry her with her child. Sombra snorted as they ran and turned his attention back to the demon, who was halfway up the tower. "Now then, how do I deal with you?" He looked at the weakening structure and an idea came to him, causing him to smile again. He channeled his magic into the spots where the demon was grabbing onto the structure,nand with a heave pulled them right off, sending the demon toppling down...right on top of him.
"This is going to hurt," Sombra muttered before everything went black.
/M\
Sombra grunted and shook his head as he felt himself begin to wake back up, his dreams fading away as his senses came back to him. First was his sense of feeling, and he felt like complete crap. The pain that coursed through his body reminded him of the battle with the statue that had probably broken most of his bones. The second sense that came to him was the sense of smell, and he smelled...haycakes.
'I must be dead,' he thought to himself as he opened his one good eye, the other being far too swollen to try to open. But the eye that did open, opened all the way in surprise, when he saw that he was in a very nice-looking room filled with interesting items and furniture. But at that moment, his biggest thought was on the food he smelled, and his rumbling stomach reminded him he had not eaten in weeks. His nose drew him to the source of the smell, a small kitchen where Trixie and Starshine both sat eating.
"Oh, look who's finally awake," Trixie said with a smirk when she glanced over at Sombra, who just looked around in a daze. Starshine hopped out of his chair and tried to run to Sombra, but Trixie stopped him with her magic and brought him back over to her. "We had an agreement. I help him, and you stay away from him."
"What the hell am I doing here?" Sombra growled weakly as he tried to get up, but his body gave out on him and he collapsed back down onto the pile of blankets where he had been sleeping. "Where is here anyway? Where did you take me?" Trixie chuckled at his rage, the exhaustion in his voice made anything that he said sound like he was dying.
"Relax, your high and mightiness, you are in my home," Trixie said with a frown, not liking the sound of her words." Sombra looked even more confused at that as he struggled back up, feeling a slight sway, like the ground beneath him was moving. He looked down at himself as he did so and noticed that some of his wounds had been mended, but the ones that weren't serious had been left unattended. He quickly pieced two and two together to figure out who had helped him, but that didn't stop him from glaring at her with as much rage as he could muster in his state.
"You rescued me? The evil and almighty Trixie bothered to save another pony?!" Sombra said with a half-chuckle that Trixie frowned at. "I did not know that you had such a compassionate side, but why waste it on somepony so evil as me; a pony that might just kill-" Sombra's words were cut off once again as he was hoisted into the air by Trixie's magic and pulled over to her.
"Do not thank me for the rescue, I had little to do with it," Trixie replied in a cold voice that slowly turned into an evil smile of her own. "But as for the new accessory, that you can thank me for." Sombra looked at her in confusion and then he looked down, noticing for the first time the collar that was on his neck. It was a deep green and had a number of emeralds in it, causing him to look up at her with loathing.
"I thought that the princesses banned all use of these collars in Equestria," he snarled at her. Trixie smiled back and threw him onto the pile of blankets, getting up from her chair as she did so.
"Oh they did. In fact, no half-decent pony would be caught with one. But guess what I'm not," she said with a smile. "I take it I do not need to explain what this collar does, but for my young companion over there, I will. This collar is used on the most evil and dangerous of ponies in the land to keep them in check. It comes with a shocking spell that is kept within the emerald's embedded in it that activate with the right spell, a spell that I happen to know," Trixie said as she smirked at Sombra who hissed in response. "If the wearer doesn't behave, they get lit up. You hear that Sombra?"
"Oh, I hear you just fine, but what I want to know is, why you bothered to save me if you were just going to imprison me?" Sombra asked with a snarl. "Or are you just planning to kill me later?"
"Nope, I have something else planned for you," Trixie said as she sat in front of him. "Back at the Temple of Reflections, I came across a writing that I couldn't read even with my training. But you could, and that is a skill that I may need in the future if I hope to access the secrets of Star-Swirl's chamber. And just to make it clear, you don't have much of a say in the matter because if you say no, I will drop you off with the princesses and the Elements, where they'll most likely trap you in stone or kill you, something that I don't think you want to happen again, do you?" Sombra's growl of rage caused Trixie to smile as she stood up and pointed her horn towards the kitchen, floating over a small stack of haycakes that she dropped in front of Sombra. "Now eat up, we have a long day ahead of us."
Sombra glared at the mare until she had left the small room, before he dug into the haycakes with almost an animalistic savagery, inhaling the haycakes while barely remembering to chew. But he did think, while he ate, that something didn't quite add up. 'So, she says that she needs my help, yet she didn't want to save me. Which means that somepony must have convinced her after I had passed out from the pain. And since there is only one other pony she is traveling with...'
"Why did you convince her to save me?" Sombra asked Starshine, who had been reading one of Trixie's many spell books on a small table near a window. Starshine jumped up when he heard Sombra speak to him and hid behind the book, looking over the top of it with cautious eyes.
"What are you...?"
"Don't play dumb, if you are playing, I know that it was you who told her to save me," Sombra growled as he got up before the emeralds on his collar sparked a bit, telling him that Trixie was listening. He snarled at them before he looked back to the foal. "Trixie said it herself, that she didn't want to save me, which either means that she changed her mind or you changed it for her, which is the more likely of the two. So why?"
"You needed help." That was it? The only reason that the foal had helped him was because he needed it. The sheer bluntness and the absurdity of the answer caught Sombra completely off guard, leaving him speechless for a minute before he could think of a way to answer.
"Just because I needed help? No ulterior motive or desire to see me imprisoned, like I am?" Sombra said with a scoff, not believing the foal for a moment. "Yeah right, the day I believe that is the day that I go back on all my evil ways."
"Well, it's the truth!" Starshine yelled back, hopping out of his chair and staring at Sombra with a huff. "I try to help others when I can. Even Trixie decided to help you without much convincing. It's what nice ponies do." Sombra chuckled at that as he rolled back over on his blankets.
"Yeah, right kid, keep telling yourself that," Sombra chuckled again. Starshine growled in frustration and headed towards Trixie's practice area, needing to get some of his frustrations out.
"Don't let him get to you, he enjoys causing conflict," Trixie said from where she was looking at a map while he walked by, glancing over her shoulder. "If you don't let his words get to you, there is nothing he can do to harm you. He has no horn and the collar will keep him from trying anything else."
"I'm not worried about him attacking me, I'm upset that he didn't listen to what I said," Starshine said as he brought out one of the dummies and placed it on the ground across from him, letting out all of his frustration and anger. 'I hate it when ponies don't believe or listen to me. My parents, and even sometimes Trixie, why does no pony take what I say seriously?' he thought to himself as he growled and tried to fire a spell towards the dummy, but his horn overloaded again and sent him flying across the room. He would have hit the wall if Trixie had not caught him, lowering him to the ground gently while Sombra was struck down by laughter.
"Shut up," Starshine growled at Sombra, who had fallen out of his bed by how hard he was laughing.
"I have never seen such a backlash in magic from a foal, since the days I taught at the Crystal Empire," Sombra laughed as he tried to keep tears from rolling from his eyes. "And even then, they never turned themselves into living rockets that flew across the room like that. I think that..." Whatever Sombra thought was drowned out by his laughter as he started up again, and would probably would have continued for a while longer, if Trixie did not shock him with the collar, gaining a yelp from him that caused her to chuckle.
"Why can't I work my magic?" Starshine asked with tears in his eyes, as Trixie looked over him to make sure that he was not harmed. Once she was certain that he was safe, she sat down in front of him and sighed, not sure how to answer.
"Sometimes...magic in certain foals takes a longer time to develop than it does in others their age," she said in her most comforting tone as she tried to calm him down. "It does not mean that there is anything wrong with you, it just means that you are developing at a slower state than most. It doesn't mean-"
"That's a load of bull and you know it Trixie," Sombra said with a smirk from across the room, smiling at the look he gained from her, telling him to be quiet. "We both have been around magic long enough to know that he has a defective horn which causes magic anomalies, making him a defective unicorn that can't use magic properly--or what I like to call, 'throw myself across the room like a rocket' syndrome." Any mirth that Sombra had gained from that remark was immediately gone once Trixie activated the emeralds in his collar again, but it was too little, too late as Starshine tore away from Trixie's grasp and ran off.
"Starshine!" Trixie called out as he ran out the front door, slamming it behind him. Trixie watched him from the window with sad eyes, planning to go after him in just a minute. But first she had to bring down the wrath of Celestia upon somepony else. "What were you thinking?!" She roared at Sombra as she lifted him up and slammed him into the wall, almost knocking the wagon over. Sombra coughed as he hit the side, but smiled at Trixie all the same. "You knew that he had a condition yet you still mocked and made fun of him! Have you no shame in that dark heart?!" But instead of cowering like Trixie thought he would, Sombra smiled in response as he chuckled at her.
"I could ask you the same thing, Trixie. Did you really think it was better to lie to the colt, building up his hopes so that they could one day come crashing down on him?" Sombra asked her with a raised eyebrow. "I saved him months and maybe years of pain by telling him the truth now. Sure, he'll probably be an emotional wreck for a while, but at least I had the honesty to tell him the truth, instead of lying to him and giving him false hopes. And ponies call me evil." Trixie snarled and threw Sombra to the floor, casting a spell on him that would prevent him from moving until she got back.
"Jerk," Sombra muttered to himself as Trixie ran out the door after Starshine, looking around the room since his eyes were the only part of him that he could move at the moment. 'Trust me kid, it's better if you give up magic now with a horn like that. Unless you're a genius like me, you'll never be able to beat it.'
/M\
Trixie followed Starshine's magical energies to the edge of a forest, and she didn't like the looks of it. It looked wild and natural, while the sense of dark magic made her immediately go on her guard. But her only concern at the moment was rescuing Starshine, no matter what dared to get in her way to do so. Trixie narrowed her eyes and rushed into the forest, feeling its dark magic all around her as she did her best to follow the faint trail that Starshine left behind him. But for what felt like hours she ran in circle, not feeling any closer to him than she had when she started.
'Curse this infernal forest, it truly is the bane of my existence right now,' the thought to herself as she looked around at a certain rock, which she was certain that she had passed before. 'And while I am at it, curse Sombra too for driving Starshine away like that. He should know better than to say those kinds of things to a foal, even if they are true.'
'But who was truly in the wrong in that situation? The one who hurt the foal's feelings yet spoke true? Or the one who lied when they should have told the foal what they needed to hear, not what they wanted.' Trixie spun around to see the silver mare sitting on one of the tree branches, looking down at her with eyes hidden beneath the hood.
"Of course I was in the right. No foal should be told that they are going to be a failure that cannot use magic, especially a unicorn," Trixie shot back, causing the silver mare to sigh.
'Honesty is generally the best approach, even when it can hurt. But what hurts worse, being told from the start that you cannot do something or being lied to for years, only to find out the truth on your own, knowing that others you loved have kept it from you?..' the silver mare asked as she leapt from the tree and landed on the ground, not a single leaf being disturbed from her landing.
"You make it sound complicated with your fancy talk, but being told something like this to a foal Starshine's age could permanently discourage him from ever trying to succeed at something. His only goal is to learn magic and I will not let what Sombra said take that away from him," Trixie snarled in reply, causing the silver mare to tilt her head slightly at Trixie.
'And speaking of Sombra, you now have him in your Wagon of Misfits,' the silver mare said with a bit of humor in her voice, liking the name that she had given Trixie's wagon. 'And yet you consider him an evil pony and did not wish to take him with you. Why do you now let him live among you?'
"Because I need his help in order to get to the temple," Trixie replied, but the silver mare's energy field changed a bit and she sighed once again.
'I wish that you would speak the truth to me Trixie, but then again, honesty is not in your nature,' the silver mare replied and gained herself a snarl from Trixie in doing so. 'And I know that it was not the desire to have him assist you that convinced you to take him in. What is the real reason?' Trixie narrowed her eyes at what the mare said, feeling as if the mare could see through her with ease.
"...Alright, it's because Starshine asked me to. He hates to see others suffer and does his best to see the good in everypony, no matter how bad," Trixie replied, talking more about herself than she was Sombra. "And with everything he has gone through, I know why he wants to help others. I just don't know why he would help Sombra.' The air around Trixie bristled and she immediately took up a defensive stance, feeling the energy of the silver mare shift again.
'...As I said Trixie, I wish that you would speak the whole truth with me, but I cannot force you if you do not wish to,' the silver mare said as the energy died down with a shake of her head. 'And since you are pressed for time as it is, I will inform you that Starshine is currently running for his life from the very foliage of this forest.' Trixie said nothing as she turned to run into the forest, fear already beginning to get to her. The silver mare smiled and teleported the both of them to where Starshine was, cowering under a stump as black vines slowly slithered closer and closer to him.
"NO!" Trixie roared as she sent a burst of magic skyward, the magic bursting in the air and sending magic bolts raining down upon the vines. The vines that were touched by the magic were instantly destroyed by it, while the others turned towards the new threat. Meanwhile, Trixie had run over to where Starshine was hiding and gently helped him out of the trunk, sighing in relief when she saw that he wasn't harmed.
"Starshine, thank heavens that you are-" Her words were cut off by Starshine as he tackle-hugged her, shaking with fear as he clutched her. Trixie smiled gently and wrapped her hooves around him as well. "Don't worry, you're safe now. They're not going to get you."
"I'm so sorry for running off," Starshine sobbed into her chest as she patted him on the back. "It's just that with what Sombra said, and with how I've been doing..."
"It's alright, I don't blame you," Trixie comforted, gently pushing him off of her. "But we can talk about it later. Right now, I need to let off a little frustration of my own...and I have just the targets to do it," Trixie said as she turned to face the rest of the vines that had come towards her. Trixie rolled to the side as one of the vines snapped at her and shot it in mid roll with a blast of fire, setting the vine ablaze as a shriek rang out through the forest. 'Sounds like this vine is part of a larger creature that I do not want to fight. I need to end this quick and get Starshine out of here.' The vines began to attack Trixie in a group and every time she set one on fire, two more would take their place.
"Starshine! Head back to the wagon! I need to get rid of the source of the vines," Trixie yelled to Starshine before she charged into the forest, dodging past the vines while looking for their source. But the source she found was different from what she had been expecting. It wasn't a giant beast, but instead was a black tree with rotted limbs, with the vines actually being the tree's roots. 'Okay, that's different,' she thought to herself before her horn crackled with magic. 'But manageable.' She fired her first spell at the center of the trunk, but more roots shot out of the ground to intercept her blast.
"Okay, so you can handle frontal attacks, but how about attacks from the sky?" she yelled as she fired a spell skyward, which came crashing down a moment later in a bolt of ferocious lightning. But much to her anger the lightning was channeled through the tree and out through it's roots, leaving the tree unharmed. "You are really getting on my last nerve," Trixie growled as she shot a blaze of magic towards the tree, which once again countered with its roots. While she was focused on the tree, one if the roots had managed to sneak underneath of her and wrap around her hoof. The moment she was distracted by the smaller root the larger ones shot at her, entangling her within them.
"Release me, plant," Trixie snarled as the tree lifted her into the air to pull her closer. She thought for certain that she had heard the tree chuckle as the roots began to crush her, making her unable to concentrate on her magic. 'I can't believe it. A tree is going to be the end of me. I hope that Sombra or Twilight don't hear about this.' As the tree's roots continued to tighten, she was preparing a spell that she never wanted to use as anything but a last resort. But before she could fire it, a rock smacked into the side of the tree, distracting it from Trixie just long enough for her to focus on her magic.
"BURN!" she yelled as she fired her most powerful fire spell into the heart of the trunk, setting the entire tree ablaze. With the source on fire, the roots released Trixie and dropped her to the ground. She stood up to watch as the tree went from a black monstrosity to a pile of ash in a matter of minutes, ash that she scattered to the four corners with a burst of gust magic. With the tree gone, she turned to face the thrower of the rock with a frown. "I thought I told you to go back to the wagon?"
"Yeah, but I figured that if I went back to the wagon, Sombra would just insult me again," Starshine said with a shrug as he walked over to her. "And even without magic, I thought I could still help you." Trixie looked from him to where the tree once stood, glad that he had ignored her orders.
"You could say that I might have needed a bit of help," Trixie replied as she lifted Starshine onto her back before heading to the wagon. "And thank you for your help, I was in a bit of a bind."
"Hey, everypony needs help from time to time, especially those who are taking care of me. We need to help each other out," Starshine said with a smile, making Trixie think to herself.
"You're right," she said after a few minutes of thought. "We do need to help each other out more. So when we get back to the wagon, I'm going to begin looking for a way to fix that horn of yours so you can use your magic."
"Really?" Starshine asked, unable to contain the joy in his voice. Trixie nodded and caused Starshine to begin to talk about all the magic he would perform once he could use his horn.
/M\
"ABOUT TIME YOU CAME BACK!" Sombra yelled at them from the floor, once Starshine and Trixie had entered to wagon again. "Do you know how long I've had this itch on my nose?! Release me at once"
"As you wish," Trixie said as she cut off her magic, smirking to herself as Sombra almost punched himself in the face to get rid of the itch. Once he had, he glared at Trixie as she walked by.
"I really don't like you," he muttered to her. Trixie shrugged and put Starshine on the floor, where he immediately ran over to Sombra. "What?" Sombra asked the colt, right before he got kicked in the shins. He swore as he grabbed his leg, glaring at the colt as Starshine ran over to Trixie. "I really don't like either of you."
"That's fine, you don't have to like us," Trixie said as she pulled out a map and placed it on the table, motioning for Sombra to join them. "The next temple that we are going to is the one in the Changeling Kingdom, which, thanks to some old records, I have a pretty good idea of where it is. Unfortunately, we're going to have to go through this place to get there."
"The Crystal Maze?" Starshine asked as he looked where Trixie was pointing on the map. "What's the crystal maze?"
"Only where the greatest, biggest and most impressive crystals outside of the Crystal Empire grow," Sombra said with poorly-contained excitement, not noticing the look that Trixie gave him until he looked up. "What?"
"Nothing, we should probably just get some rest," Trixie said with a sigh as she headed for her bed. "It is almost night and we have a long journey tomorrow. Hopefully we will be at the maze before nightfall of the following day." Starshine followed Trixie's example and went to bed as well, but Sombra waited until the both of them were gone and their shields were up before he looked at the map again.
'Yes, not only is it where some of the greatest crystals exist, but it is also home to one of my many hidden bases throughout Equestria,' he thought to himself with a smirk, as he looked towards where Trixie slept before he turned over himself. 'Just you wait, princesses. Soon, I will have all I need to defeat you both.'
Trixie brought the wagon to a stop just in front of the maze, looking out of the front of the wagon upon the final obstacle between her and the Changeling Empire. Ever since Batman and Morgaine had shown up in Equestria, the changelings had become much more reclusive and had increased their defenses considerably. And the only known way into the Changeling Empire was through the Crystal Maze, a place that was said to eternally damn anypony who could not find their way through.
"Alright, everypony out," Trixie said to those who inhabited her wagon, watching as both Starshine and Sombra walked out. The moment Starshine saw the massive walls of the Crystal Maze, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and his jaw hit the ground. Much to Trixie's surprise though, she saw that Sombra also had a similar look on his face as he stared in amazement at the crystal walls.
"They're even more glorious than I remember," Sombra muttered to himself, thinking that neither of them had heard him. But then, Trixie grabbed him with her magic and pushed him forward to the front of the maze.
"So, you've been here before. Good, then you can lead us through the maze," she instructed, but Sombra chuckled and shook his head at her as he turned his attention back to the maze.
"No, Trixie. This is an evermoving, ever evolving maze that changes everytime another pony enters into it," he explained as he placed a hoof on the outer wall, feeling the magic that flowed through it enter him. "There is no simple way through it. Either you find your way through, or you don't. Simple." Trixie frowned at his explanation, not sure if she could trust him or not. But she had little choice at this point and she had to plow ahead. So she nodded as she used her magic to pull three saddlebags out of the wagon, and floated two of them over to Starshine and Sombra.
"Alright then, if we're going through this maze, we're going to need provisions in case one or more of us gets lost," she said as she placed her own saddlebag on her body before wearing her coat over it. "There are enough supplies in there to last a pony for two days, if conserved. I'm looking at you Sombra." Sombra growled and muttered something about her being an uptight donkey, but Trixie ignored him as she walked over to Starshine and helped him place his bag on.
"I believe that's everything then," Trixie said as she shut the door to her wagon and placed her protective shielding over it, taking one last look at it before she turned to face her next obstacle. "If everypony is ready, then we shall head inside." Trixie was the first of the three to enter, but Starshine quickly followed her and Sombra entered a moment later, looking around for something as he did so. "Okay everypony, from what I read, this maze likes to cause illusions and plays tricks with your mind," she began as she walked a bit deeper into the maze. "So that means we should all stick toge...ther." Trixie's words died in her mouth as she turned around to see that Sombra and Starshine were both gone and the entrance that should had been behind her was only a wall of crystal.
'Everything hates me,' she thought to herself as she tried to cast a locater spell, only to watch the magic get eaten up by the crystal walls. 'It seems that the walls either absorb or cancel out magic, meaning I can't use my horn to get me out of this one. Looks like I'll have to rely on my wits...great.' And with that thought, she began to walk down the only path available to her.
/M\
"Hello? Trixie? Sombra?" Starshine called out into the maze, as he looked around for some sign of his teacher or the tagalong they had. But all he got in reply was the silence of the maze. He lowered his head slightly and continued to move forward, looking at the pinkish color of the wall and his reflection it showed. 'It's okay Starshine, you've been living on your own for nearly three years, you can handle being alone for a little while longer.' Even though he tried to say this with as much confidence as he could muster, he still spun around with his heart in his throat when he heard something snap behind him.
"I-is somepony there" he called out into the maze, which he was certain didn't look the same from when he had looked behind him a moment ago. Despite the crystals being bright and colorful, there were still plenty of shadows in the corners of the maze that seemed to move only when he looked at them out of the corner of his eye. Starshine swallowed his fears as best he could as he turned and continued to walk into the maze, looking from side to side when he thought he heard something. He had just about gotten his fears under control when he heard something behind him and he spun around to face it.
"W-what are you?" he stammered in fear as he saw what was behind him. It looked like Starshine, but was covered in blood, and both its eyes were missing, although that didn't stop it from looking right through him. It let out a low hiss and began to walk forward, stretching out one hoof as if to grab him.
"Go back," it whispered with a jaw that shouldn't have been able to move. Starshine slowly backed away in fear as the other him slowly dragged itself towards him. "Only death awaits you here. Go...BACK!" It lunged forward as it hissed this, but Starshine had already turned in the opposite direction and ran for his life, taking the first turn that he came across with no thought of where he was going. The sound of hooves behind him told him that the thing was still chasing him, even though he was starting to tire. But just as he felt that he couldn't run any farther, he stumbled over something and fell to the ground. He looked behind him with a groan as he got up and felt even more terror enter his heart, when he saw that it was a pile of bones from a pony. He found his second wind after that and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him, eventually leading him to a tree of pure crystal that had been consumed by the maze long ago. He scrambled up the tree faster than an unicorn without magic should have been able to do and hid in its branches as the thing passed underneath of him.
"I will find you," it hissed as it moved down another corridor, the sound of its hooves growing softer and softer. "And you will die." Starshine wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled himself into a fetal position, trying to keep himself from whimpering.
'Trixie, where are you?'
/M\
Trixie looked into her reflection in the crystal wall, wondering which of her spells she could use to destroy the entire thing in one blast. She had been wandering around for hours and had gotten no closer to the exit now than she had twenty minutes ago.
"I swear that if I have to keep going in circles, I'm going to blow this whole place apart," she grumbled to herself, sighing in rage as she reached another dead end. She turned around and let out another sigh when she saw that the way she had come through had been closed off. Once she had turned around again, she saw that the path that had been closed off was open. 'This place is trying to lead me somewhere. But where?' she asked herself as she followed the only path that was open to her. The path led her to a wide open area with a large number of crystalized trees that looked to have always stood there. The path was long and narrow with rows of trees on either side of the road, giving her only one option to advance.
"I am really starting to hate this place," she grumbled again as she began to move forward, but became suddenly on guard as she walked because she heard a faint sound behind her. 'It has to be a threat. Starshine would have announced himself and Sombra can't keep his mouth shut long enough to be that quiet. I'll attack in three, two...' Trixie spun around and fired a bolt of magic into whatever was behind her. But much to her surprise, the creature that looked like a dark version of herself took the blast right in the chest and was launched backwards into a wall of crystal, where it shrieked as magical energy coursed through it. Its shrieks died down as the smoking corpse landed on the ground, the her image on the dark version giving way to its true identity.
"A changeling, huh?" Trixie muttered as the creature's real form revealed itself, walking over to the smoldering remains to examine it closer. It was a smaller changeling that didn't look any different than any of the others she had come across, but it was wearing a small pouch around its neck that gained Trixie's attention. She took the pouch and opened it to see a small map inside, a map that told her how the maze worked and what she needed to do to get out.
'I'll need this if I hope to find the others,' she thought to herself as she turned away from the changeling and started to head back into the maze. 'And if a changeling came for me, then I'm certain that they'll go for the others. Sombra should be able to handle himself, but I need to find Starshine now.' With that thought, she ran deeper into the maze, the map guiding her to an unknown location.
/T\
Sombra could not believe how easy it had been to lose the two fools in such a short time. The moment Trixie had taken her eyes off of him, he had shot off to a side path towards the center of the maze. Unbeknownst to either of the two ponies, he actually did know of a way to navigate the maze.
'I was telling you the truth, Trixie, there is no set path through the maze,' he thought to himself with a smirk as he headed in the direction that the crystals which were less bright led him. 'But there are hints you can use to navigate if you can see them.' The last time Sombra had been here had been in his youth, before he had truly become the wonder he was. And this was one of the many hideouts he had created all over Equestria in case he ever needed them. 'The best part is, I don't need to worry about the foal Trixie interfering either. If the past ten generations of changelings couldn't find it, then there is no way she can.'
He smiled as he exited the corridor he was in, and entered the center of the maze that was filled with floating orbs of different colors, which circled him when he entered. He growled at the colorful spheres because they reminded him of how he had failed to fully corrupt this area the last time he had been here, and how there was nothing he could do now. He ignored the spheres and focused on the insignia in the ground in front of him, closing his eyes and focusing. He might have lost his horn when he tried to re-take the Crystal Empire, but that didn't mean he was without magic.
"Awake, chamber of the past king," he spoke aloud to the ground, stepping back as the insignia in the floor began to glow and fall away into darkness, revealing a staircase that descended into the black void. He made a quick descent into his old territory, coming to a stop in front of an old, wooden door. 'Fortunately for me, I did not enchant this door or else I would not be able to get through,' he thought as he opened the door, taking in a deep breath of an old laboratory. The laboratory had not been used in years, and the chemicals on one shelf were probably toxic by now, but that was the last thing on his mind as he walked to the back where a large cabinet sat with numbers on the side, going from one to a thousand.
"Now then, which one of these was it?" he muttered to himself as he looked through the numbers, coming to a stop at fifty five and pulling out the magically shielded packet that he brought to a burnt table in the center of his room. "Let's see...grr, I don't have any of these materials to help re-forge my horn. And the only place to get some of these is in...this is going to take more time than I thought. I will have to put my horn on hold for now," he said as he picked up the packet and placed it back onto the shelf, taking out another and looking through it. "But this one...this one I can do just fine. Better head back up, Trixie will probably be hoping that I'm dead. She'll be disappointed." Sombra hid the packet in one of the saddlebags and took a number of other items that he would need for this plan before he gazed at a set of crystals that he had not seen in almost a thousand years.
"And I better takes these too, just to be safe," he muttered as he placed them in his bag before turning and heading up to the surface.
/T\
After about an hour of waiting, Starshine had finally built up enough confidence to climb out of the tree and head back into the maze. He constantly looked around for any sign of the creature as he walked, never noticing that the maze this time continued to let him go in a straight line with no deviations to his path. Starshine was just beginning to think that the creature was finally gone when he turned around again to see it standing right behind him.
"You will die," it hissed before racing towards him, to which his response was to scream and run in the opposite direction as fast as he could. But his speed meant nothing as the creature began to gain on him faster and faster until it was almost right on top of him. Once it was close enough it leapt into the air, bearing its fangs as it prepared the final strike.
"Oh no, you don't." The creature took a massive chunk of magic to the face that sent it flying into one of the walls, where it changed back into a regular changeling that sank to the ground without a sound. Starshine spun around to see Trixie standing next to him, her horn just beginning to cool down. "I'm glad I found you when I did. That changeling almost got you."
"T-that thing was a changeling?" Starshine asked as he looked at the unconscious creature that lay silently near him. "Then why did it look...so much like me?"
"Changelings are masters of manipulating their appearances to copy those of others, even if they've just seen them," Trixie explained as she pulled Starshine into a quick hug. "Now come on, we need to go find-"
"Don't get your mane in a knot, I'm here," Sombra said as he walked up behind the two of them, causing Starshine to scream and jump behind Trixie. "And it took the two of you long enough, I've been here for a while." Trixie opened her mouth to say something, but then she looked at his bag which was stuffed with crystals.
"What?"
"Nothing," she muttered as she pulled out the map and turned towards where the exit was supposed to be. "Let's just get out of here, I don't want to spend anymore time in this maze." Trixie led the group as they headed towards the exit, with the maze no longer playing any tricks on them as they walked forward, something she noticed. A thin smile crossed her face as she saw the exit in front of her at the end of a very large pathway. The group had just reached the end of the path when a light flashed in the distance and struck Trixie in the chest. She barely had the time to register that she had been hit before the stunning spell had taken effect and she fell to the ground. Starshine was about to run over to her before he too was struck by the spell and collapsed. In the brief seconds he had before he too was struck, Sombra tore off his bag and chucked it behind a crystalized bush, hoping that whoever was shooting at them didn't see him do that before he too collapsed.
/T\
The moment she was awake, Trixie shot up off of the stone floor where she found herself and looked around, her magic at the ready. But she quickly found, to her dismay, was that her magic was not responding and she was trapped within the confines of a prison, with two large changelings standing outside of her cell. She looked through the bars to the cell next to her to see Starshine, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that he was breathing.
"Still no concern for me, eh?" Sombra asked as she turned to see him standing next to his bars in the other cell. "In fact, I think that you should be showing some more concern in general. We aren't exactly in the best of places."
"And just how do you know where we are?" Trixie asked him as he looked at the two changelings guarding them, who glared at him with unfriendly eyes.
"Let's just say this isn't my first time in this dungeon," Sombra said with a hint of fear as he tested the strength of the bars, cursing to himself as they held strong. "And if we are in the dungeon I think we are, we can expect to see some royalty soon." Trixie frowned as she looked over to Starshine, who had just begun to stir. She told him what she knew, once he was up, and he looked at the guards with a similar fear that Sombra had shown, making Trixie feel uneasy. She looked around the room to see their bags laying on a table, but she didn't see Sombra's missing bag.
"So, why can't I use my magic?" Trixie whispered to Sombra as the guards began to speak amongst themselves.
"The changelings have a spell that can cancel out unicorn magic for a while," Sombra said as he began to pace in his cell, wondering to himself if he should use the magic he had, or if the situation wasn't at the level of desperation yet. His confidence did fade away a bit as the two guards left, leaving the prisoners alone in the room.
"Something's up, no guard would ever leave prisoners like us alone," Trixie muttered aloud, Sombra nodding in agreement. The guards came back a moment later; this time there were small smiles on their faces as they looked at the three.
"The three of you are very lucky. You'll get to see the queen." Trixie swore that she heard Sombra gulp from the other cell, as the guards opened the door to their cells with spears pointed at their throats, while they were shuffled out of the room and marched down a long black hallway into the center of the changeling castle. Starshine huddled as close to Trixie as he could while Sombra did his best not to run at the first chance he had. Trixie, on the other hoof, noticed that it wasn't just guards that occupied the castle, but also a number of smaller changelings that she assumed were foal age running around as well.
'I wonder if they are the children of the queen,' Trixie asked as she kept walking. Eventually they reached the doors to the throne room, and the only reason she knew this was that the security was tripled around this door. 'So this is it. I'm finally going to meet the queen, huh?' The doors swung open and the guards pushed the three inside before swinging the door shut behind them. As Trixie looked up, she got a quick glimpse of the room where they were trapped. It was filled with portraits of past rulers and a massive green, stained glass window behind the throne. But what gained her attention the most was the figure that was sitting atop the throne, looking down on them.
"Chrysalis," Trixie muttered to herself, looking at the ruler, until she realized that the ruler was not looking at her or Starshine, but the pony behind them who was avoiding her gaze.
"Well, hello there, Sombra," she said in a sweet tone with venom underneath of it.
"Hello, Chrysalis," Sombra responded with a hint of fear.
"You two know each other?" Starshine asked in confusion, as he looked from the nervous Sombra to the venomous Chrysalis, who sauntered down from her throne towards the dark pony who was doing his best not to run. The guards had barricaded the door behind the three, leaving the ponies alone with the queen.
"Oh yes, I know of Sombra, my little one," Chrysalis said with enough sweet venom in her voice to drop an Ursa, as she walked up to Sombra with a dangerous smile, placing a hoof under his chin that he swatted off quickly. "We have a...history, if you will. I must thank the two of you for bringing him to me. For that, I will make your deaths swift."
"Wait, what?" Trixie asked as Chrysalis walked back up to her throne and sat down, looking over the three with a smile. "Our deaths swift? By what right do you have to execute us?"
"For invading my kingdom of course," Chrysalis said with a smile as she used her magic to remove the shackles that had been placed on the three, except for the collar around Sombra's neck. "I thought that I sent out a decree saying that if anypony was to come into my kingdom, they would be killed on sight?" Chrysalis said with an innocent smile, which made Trixie's skin crawl. "I wonder why you didn't hear of it?"
"We did not enter your kingdom, changelings attacked us and brought us here," Trixie responded with a snarl, causing Chrysalis to raise an eyebrow in response. "In fact, we were trying to avoid your kingdom altogether in our travels." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at that, not believing a word that the former tyrant had said. But she was curious as to where they were supposed to be heading.
"Then, may I ask what were you doing in my maze?" Chrysalis asked as she laid back in her throne. "Because the only way into my kingdom is through the maze or through the air, and we deal with the fliers just fine. And since the maze only leads into my kingdom, it is obvious that you are lying."
"I am not here for anything in your precious hive, my aim is for the temple that sits below it," Trixie replied, trying to keep the queen distracted as long as she could, while Trixie tried to get her magic working again. "There is an item in the temple that I need in order to achieve me goal."
"Trying to take over the world again?" Chrysalis asked with the verbal jab, but Trixie ignored it since she almost had her magic back. "Why should I let you into the ancient temple that none have returned from? Why not just kill you here?"
"Because if you don't...I'll do this!" Trixie yelled as she felt her magic return, firing a beam of azure energy at the queen. Chrysalis's eyes widened as the beam struck her dead on, throwing her from the throne and to the floor below. Trixie then spun around and barricaded the doors with one of the beams supporting the ceiling, locking out the changelings that were beating on the other side of the door. Trixie motioned for Sombra and Starshine to join her as she rushed over to the groaning Chrysalis, placing a hoof on her throat.
"Alright, Chrysalis, this is the new agreement," Trixie began as she pressed down a little harder. "You are going to take us to the temple and show us inside. And if you do a good job, I may not blast you into next week. What do you say?" All Chrysalis did was smile as a bolt of green lightning slammed into Trixie's back and threw her into the wall, while another Chrysalis stepped out from behind the throne with a smirk on her face.
"You did well my double," she said with a smile as Trixie got back up to her hooves, realizing that she had been tricked. Chrysalis shot the beam that was blocking the door out of the way, allowing the guards to storm the throne room, quickly taking Sombra and Starshine hostage. "So what will you do now, oh mighty Trixie?" Chrysalis asked with a smile. Trixie looked at the situation she was in and figured that she had two options. Surrender to Chrysalis and whatever torture she might think up, or...take them all down while trying to protect Starshine.
"I won't let you hurt him," Trixie said in a deadly tone, as her entire body began to glow azure, the power that radiated from her body shot beams of magic that piereced the thick stone walls of the castle. Chrysalis watched what Trixie was doing in horror as the unicorn began to float off of the ground, aiming all of that power towards the Queen of the Changelings.
'I have to do something and fast,' Chrysalis thought to herself as the castle began to shake from the power. "Wait a moment, let's not be hasty here. You said that you were here for something in my temple, yet I am the only one who can open it. Are you sure that you want to blast me apart?" Trixie's eyes narrowed, but the magic did seem to calm a bit, but Chrysalis still felt its destructive power.
"I can still wipe this castle off the map," Trixie threated in a dangerous tone, which was made even more threatening when one of the beams shot through a wall and brought it down. "You have twenty seconds to convince me why I shouldn't eradicate the castle." The guards looked to Chrysalis as she had to think faster than ever before, realizing now that Trixie may not show her the same mercy the Elements of Harmony would.
"Y-you need to get into the temple, but I am the only one who can open it," Chrysalis stammered. "I need to go with you if you wish to get inside. And you want inside, right?"
"Not getting in would indeed be a loss," Trixie agreed before she pointed her horn towards Chrysalis. "But it is something that I do not need...just like you." Chrysalis swallowed nervously and motioned for the guards to release Starshine, which they did so quickly.
"Thanks for caring," Sombra muttered to himself before the guard holding him slammed him face first into the stone floor. Upon seeing Starshine released, Trixie aimed the magic towards the queen and prepared to fire, that was until she heard some faint whispers coming from another room.
"Who's the pony trying to hurt Mommy?" one of the voices asked.
I don't know, but mommy looks nervous," another said. Trixie recognized them as children voices and realized that they were the children of the queen. With her heart now conflicted, Trixie decided not to blow away Chrysalis. Trixie stopped the magic and floated back down to the ground, a hard glare in her eyes.
"Very well, I will not wipe you off the face of Equis, but only if you listen to my instructions," Trixie said with a cold hate. "You will take me into the temple and show me what I seek. During that time, the guards will take care of Sombra and Starshine as if your life depended on their safety...which it does." Trixie's tone told Chrysalis all that she needed to know. She nodded to the guards to tell them to go along with what she said, before slightly bowing and motioning for Trixie to join her.
"Take care of Starshine," Trixie hissed to Sombra as she passed him, but in a quiet enough tone so that the guards couldn't hear. "If anything happens to you, Chrysalis will be the last of your worries."
"Fine, but whatever you do, don't trust Chrysalis. There is a reason the two of us hate each other so much."
"Are you concerned for my well being?" Trixie asked in mock interest.
"No. You're the only way I can get out of here alive," Sombra whispered back with a chuckle before the guards moved him and Starshine out of the throne room and down the hallway away from Trixie and Chrysalis. Trixie looked up at Chrysalis to see that she was glaring back at Sombra with hate in her eyes, and Trixie knew that the only reason she hadn't killed him yet was the threat Trixie had given her.
"So, where is the temple?" Trixie asked as the two walked down the halls, the changelings that occupied them stopping to stare at the unlikely pairing of Trixie and Chrysalis.
"There is a secret path in the center of the castle that only I or one of my kin can open," Chrysalis explained. "And as evil as you are, you do not seem like the type to threaten little ones into doing things for you. Of course, you do have that colt with you, so maybe I am wrong."
"Keep talking, Chrysalis," Trixie growled, causing the queen to back away from Trixie. "So, if your throne isn't the center of the palace, what is?"
"That would be the garden. Yes, we have a garden," Chrysalis said when Trixie gave her a look of disbelief. "Now then, about the temple. While I may be the only one who can open it, I cannot go in. If you are wondering why, it is because when Star-Swirl or whatever his name was created the place, he made it only accessible to the King or Queen of the Changelings that had the right to rule."
"Aren't you the ruler?"
"Yes, but in order to protect my hive, I had to ursurp my father from the throne and lock him away."
"Sounds like you have some family problems," Trixie said with a shrug.
"Oh, you have no idea. Here we are," Chrysalis said as she indicated the giant garden. They walked into it past a pair of doors. The garden was far different from what Trixie had been expecting. What were supposed to be green trees were instead black and dying, the bushes and flowers no better off. The pond in the center of the garden was filled with a green liquid instead of water, and it made Trixie nauseous just looking at it.
"Stand back, I need some space," Chrysalis said as she activated her magic, causing sickly green tendrils to lance from her horn into the ground, pulling away the dirt to reveal a large staircase that led down into darkness. Trixie looked down the stairs with a frown, not liking what she felt down there. "Also, I need to ask of you a favor. See, my great-great grandmother left an ancient tome down there, that I cannot get to, given my reason for being on the throne. So I was wondering if you could...?"
"I will consider it," Trixie said as she began to descend into the darkness, activating her horn so that the light at least let her see where she was walking. Chrysalis watched her descend, trying to keep her blood from boiling too much as the one she had quickly come to hate got farther and farther out of sight.
"Watch for her to come back up, if she survives," Chrysalis said to a pair of guards who had transformed from some of the plant life behind her. "If she comes back up, kill her without hesistation. She will be tired from the Temple of Death and will be no match for the two of you." The two saluted as Chrysalis walked by them, but then she stop and turned back to them with a snarl. "But if she does beat you, you had better hope that she kills you, because that will be a mercy considering what I will do to you." The two changelings said nothing as she walked back inside, but the two never took their eyes off the hole as they sat there.
/T\
"I knew that they would never keep their promise of hospitality, especially considering it's me they have captured," Sombra said with a smirk as he looked at the reinforced cell bars that were in front of him, doing his best to ignore the foal that wouldn't shut up behind him.
"Why are we in here?" Starshine asked as he pace back and forth, looking at the two massive changelings that stood outside their cell. "Trixie told Chrysalis to take care of us, not throw us back in prison. Why did she-?"
"Ugh, if it will shut you up, I'll tell you, Sombra growled as he rested his head against the bars, trying to think of a way out of their predicament. "Look, the changelings have a pretty spotty track record when it comes to keeping promises, especially when I'm the pony in question. If you were a regular colt that got stuck in the Changeling Empire, then you might get away without death. But since me and Trixie are with you, then you'll probably die as well."
"Why does Chrysalis hate you so much? What did you do to tick her off?" Starshine asked Sombra, who placed his head in his hooves with a sigh.
"Back when I wasn't in the pitiful state you see me in, I once forged an alliance with the Changeling Empire in order to try and take over all of Equestria," Sombra explained as he walked over to the mat on the ground and sat down, bringing up past memories. "My empire and the changelings grew close as a result, and naturally Chrysalis was attracted to me and my power. I liked her for...a different reason." Starshine sat down next to Sombra, eyes filled with curiosity about his story.
"Chrysalis, at that time, wasn't the immortal queen that my spell turned her into. But she did have something that I would kill for--and did kill to get...the Crystal Heart."
"What's the Crystal Heart?" Starshine asked him.
"It is the ultimate source of magic in all of Equestria, next to the Elements and my own power," Sombra said with a chuckle. "And it was at the time a power source that produced as much love as it did magic. And since the changelings feed off of love, I don't need to tell you why it was so important to them."
"And you took it?" Starshine asked in disbelief, shaking his head at Sombra. "You took away their source of food by manipulating the feelings of Chrysalis, essentially starving an entire race? Why would you do that?"
"Because I'm evil," Sombra said with a smirk as he placed both hooves behind his head. "Now, if you'll let me finish without any interruptions...So, yeah, me and Chrysalis had a thing and after a few years of wooing her, we eventually made an exchange to show how much we cared for each other. She gave me the Crystal Heart, and in return I made her immortal...now that I think about it, that probably wasn't my best move in the long term," he muttered with a shrug. Starshine looked at Sombra with disgust and shook his head, not believing that he had stood up for him in the temple.
"So then, you ran off the moment you got the heart?" Starshine asked, his curiosity forcing him to hear how the story ended.
"On the altar, no less," Sombra said with no emotion, looking at the ceiling with a sigh. Had the situation gotten to the point where he would have to use his last resort? "So yeah, I wouldn't really be surprised if Chrysalis was thinking up some insanely painful way to kill me off."
"Oh, you have no idea." Sombra and Starshine both looked out of the cell to see Chrysalis standing there, both of them able to feel the intense waves of hate that came off of her. "It has been a long time, Sweetheart. You don't look like you've aged a day."
"That's because I was trapped in ice for a thousand years or so," Sombra said with a shrug, trying not to show her how afraid he really was. "I would say the same to you, but you are immortal."
"No thanks to you," Chrysalis said with pure malice that made the guards move away from the cell as she approached it. "I gave everything to you Sombra, and you ripped my heart out just like you tore the Crystal Heart from our empire."
"Technically, you gave it to me," Sombra said with a smirk, before Chrysalis picked him up with her magic and slammed him into the cell bars, glaring into his face with tear filled eyes.
"Do you know what our empire was like when you abandoned us?" she asked with rage quaking in her voice. "We had openly declared war against the princesses, we were the bane of everypony in the land. You were supposed to help us, but instead you sided with the princesses and led your army against your WIFE!" Starshine looked nervously from Chrysalis to Sombra, wondering what the dark pony was going to say.
"I don't see a ring on this horn," Sombra said as he looked up at the small stump where his horn used to be. Chrysalis' fury broke through and she slammed Sombra into the opposite end of the cell, her eyes alone seemed to burn through the bars as she glared at him while he struggled to get back up.
"No...no I will not kill you now. You will not get out of your punishment so easily," she said in a cold, emotionless tone that scared Starshine far worse than her rage had. "If you believe in Faust, Sombra, then you better pray to her now. Because in a few hours, no force on or off Equis will be able to save you." She left the room as she said this, leaving the guards to look at Sombra with rage as well, but with hints of pity in their eyes.
"Dude, you messed up big," one of them said before they turned around and went back to guarding. Sombra shook his mane back out as he looked at where Chrysalis had left, tightening his lips as he did so. If he knew her, and he did, he knew that she wouldn't stop until she had carried out her threat.
'Which means it's time for me to get out of here,' Sombra thought to himself as he began to plan his escape, a small smile escaping from his lips as he sat in thought.
/T\
"This is definitely Star-Swirl's work, alright," Trixie said to herself as she looked up at the massive gates to the temple that lay in front of her, having little idea how to open them. It had taken her at least half an hour to reach to bottom of the stairs, at which point she had almost lost feeling in her legs. She decided then and there that stairs would be on her hate list, along with wheels and Sombra. 'I hope it is not like the last temple we visited. Without Sombra here to read the inscriptions, I may be in trouble. But first, let's see if I can find another way inside.' Trixie searched the area where Starshine had last found the writing, but there was no trace of there ever being something there. But upon closer inspection of the doors, she did find a few lines of an ancient language that she did know.
'This is ancient changeling,' she thought to herself as she read the words, able to loosely translate them to the point where she could figure out what they were saying.
'If you be of compassionate heart, you may enter. If you are the Ruler of the Changelings by fair choice, then you may enter. If you are one of the first, then you may enter. Other than that, be warned, for a impossible challenge will await you. Press the symbol on the door.
Trixie looked up at the massive stone doors where a six-sided gem had appeared in the center of it. Trixie bit her lip as she walked up to the symbol, knowing that she didn't qualify for any of those requirements, meaning that she would have to face a challenge that Star-Swirl had deemed impossible.
'It is alright Trixie, you face the impossible every other day,' Trixie said as she pressed her hoof to the gem, before being blasted back by a surge of energy that flooded the room. She picked herself up off the ground to see a massive creature rise out of the ground, a beast with the body of a lion, the head of a goat and the tail of a snake. "Great, a chimera. Of course, it's a beast of myth." Trixie prepared a number of spells that she wasn't certain would work as the beast roared and ran towards her. Trixie fired her first spell only to watch as the beast leapt over her and hit the ground with enough force to knock her off her hooves again. Trixie growled as she spun to face the beast, only to realize that it was on top of her. One of its massive paws knocked her to the ground before pinning her there, leaving her at the mercy of the beast.
'No, not like this,' she thought to herself, as the creature opened its maw that was filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. She closed her eyes as it went in for the killing blow...only to realize a moment later that the beast had stopped. She cracked open one eye and looked up to see that the creature was sniffing her, all the rage gone from its eyes, as a more friendly look appeared on its face. It removed its paw from Trixie's chest and allowed her up, giving her a creepy smile before it walked over to the door and placed one of its paws on it, opening it for Trixie.
"Um...thank you?" Trixie said to the chimera as it smiled at her and sat down outside of the door, motioning for her to go inside. "Well, I suppose whatever is in there can't be nearly as bad as what's out here," Trixie muttered to herself as she stood up and walked into the temple, giving the chimera at the entrance one last cautious look before heading inside. The beast watched her enter until she had completely vanished from view, before it turned its attention upwards, feeling the darkness and hate that was coming from above...as well as the dark magic that had been here a thousand years ago.
Trixie's eyes widened a bit when she entered the first room of the temple. The sight of all the bones of past explorers and changelings that had tried to get in riled her a bit. But with a quick shake of her head, she strengthened her resolve and headed deeper inside, finding the first test that Star-Swirl had put in place for those who wished to enter. On the door to the next room was written more ancient changeling.
'If you who reads this wishes to enter, you must make a choice of these three items. But each of the items comes with a price that may be beyond what you are able to pay. But if you can triumph over past failures, then you may gain entry.'
"What the Hades does that mean?" Trixie asked herself as she looked behind her, while four pedestals rose out of the floor, each one with a different item on top of it. On one of them was a golden scepter that was encrusted with jewels, that would make every collector in Equestria salivate over them. The next item was a torch that glowed with the power of many lights, filling the room with color that her eyes didn't truly believe were real. And the final item was a blade that was of the purest steel, tainted red with the blood of those that it had slain. The last was empty. 'So one of these items is supposed to get me through the door? But which one?'
Trixie looked at each of the pedestals carefully, not seeing a difference in any of the items that would give her some clue as to which one was the correct choice. But something that did give away which one might be the right choice, was the number of skeletons that lay at the base of each pedestal. Her observation showed her that there were a large number of skeletons at the base of both the sword and the scepter, but only a few at the base of the torch.
'But that doesn't help me,' she thought to herself with a frown as she sat down, trying to think of the solution. 'While there may be fewer bodies at the base of the torch one, all that tells me is that fewer changelings chose that pillar. But the fact that there are bodies means that the torch is just as lethal as the other two. What is the right solution?' Trixie looked from the items to the door, remembering that it said that each item came with a price. 'So what if I took all three?' she thought as she stood back up. 'If taking one of them killed you, then I'm better off trying a different approach. It's my only hope.' As she thought this, she used her magic to pick up all three of the items at once, looking to the door as she did so. It stayed unmoving for a moment before the words on it vanished and were replaced with new ones.
Wrong choice.
"Crap," Trixie muttered as the room began to shake violently and the sounds of the bones bouncing off the ground echoed throughout the chamber. Trixie turned to see that those same bones were also re-assembling themselves into their former bodies, leaving her stuck in a room filled with an army of angry skeletons. "Just my luck," she growled as the first skeleton leapt at her. She chucked the scepter into its jaw and took its head clean off, causing the rest of the body to fall apart as well.
"At least it's good for something," she said as she threw the torch into another, setting it ablaze. Now that she had awakened the dead, she figured her best hope was to go with what the rest of the passage had said--about defeating past mistakes, which she figured to be the skeletons. She rolled out of the way of one of the attackers and stumbled into a skeleton that hadn't returned from the dead, knocking a small book out of it that she didn't see fly from its grasp. She swung the sword next, but the moment it struck the skeleton she felt an agonizing place in her shoulder, which was where she had struck the skeleton.
'So that's the price, huh?' she thought to herself as she threw the sword away--while she placed a barrier around herself to keep the undead back and attended to her wound. Healing magic wasn't her specialty, but she managed to cauterize the wound to the point where she didn't have to worry about bleeding out. 'Whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword? Hate to think what the other two would do to me.' Once she was healed, she expanded the barrier in a blast of magic the pushed all of the skeletons back and shattered some of them against the walls. Even though she was completely outnumbered, she still could hold off the army with her magic to the point where they couldn't get close to her.
"Is this all you have got?" she asked with a triumphant laugh as her magic tore through more of them, with her best spell being the simple explosion spell that hit with concussive force. "I've fought rocks with more skill and power than all of you." As she said this, she had almost gotten rid of all the skeletons on the room, with the last one keeping its distance from her. "What's the matter, afraid to face me?" The skeleton responded by kicking a number of bones at her, to which she replied with a chuckle as she caught them with her magic.
"Come now, you'll have to do better than-" Her words were cut off as the torch she had thrown aside had hit her in the flank, having been kicked by the skeleton after it had distracted her with the bones. "Outsmarted by a bag of bones," she muttered as the chamber began to shake once again, this time with a wall opening to let loose a massive cloud of darkness that swarmed through the room. She placed a barrier over herself when the darkness got too close, watching with a smile as it bounced off of her shield with ease. The darkness then moved towards the bones and began to swallow them into itself, growing bigger and bigger as Trixie figured out what it was doing.
"It's always some sort of giant creature in these temples, isn't it?" she asked the darkness as the bones began to stick out of it's sides like armor and a massive skull formed its head, allowing it to turn on Trixie while looking at her with its empty eye sockets. "Alright you monster, I've fought bigger and I've fought badder. Let's do this." The skeleton monster hissed as it shot up the walls, moving along them like a bony snake as it shot bits and pieces of other skeletons towards Trixie, who was forced to deflect the projectiles with her magic to avoid being hit. She took aim with her concussive spell and fired, knocking its arm of bones off when the spell impacted the creature.
"What do you say to that?" she taunted with a smile, only to watch in horror as it regrew the arm with more bones that it scraped off the ground. It hissed and slithered towards her, its skull growing larger and more deadly as it passed over more and more bones. Trixie took a desperate shot as she fired a beam of magic at the creature, snarling as it dodged the attack. Her spell did hit something however, as the torch that had been used to summon this beast was struck by her magic. Upon impact the torch let out a flash of blinding light, causing Trixie to cover her eyes and the shadow monster to howl in pain as it covered itself up in an effort to block the light.
"So, you don't like the light, do you?" Trixie asked with a smile as her horn lit up, having an idea of how to both beat the beast and get into the next room. She waited until the beast could see again before she stood in front of the door, her horn glowing in anticipation of its next attack. The creature let out a roar and, just as Trixie predicted, slithered towards her in a fury. "You're done." As she said this, she shot a bolt of magic into the roof that exploded into a massive flash of white that blinded the creature once again, allowing her to roll out of the way of its attack. It shrieked as it covered its eyes and ran skull first into the door, shattering both the door and the creature's head at the same time. Trixie smiled as the door came down on top of the beast, burying it beneath the rock.
"You weren't so tough," she muttered as she walked over the rubble to the room where the prize lay, smiling as the stones never moved.
/T\
In the castle's dungeon, Sombra had been sitting motionless for nearly ten minutes, causing both the guards and Starshine to become concerned. One of the guards walked up to the cell and banged against the bars, trying to get Sombra's attention.
"Hey, wake up," he ordered as Sombra opened one eye to look at him. "The Queen is going to be here soon and I don't want you being rude to her." Sombra grumbled at him as he turned around before turning his attention to Starshine, who was looking at him with worry.
"Are we going to die?" Starshine whispered. Sombra thought about it for a minute before he let a smile cross his face as he pulled the colt in close.
"I am not going to die here, but depending on your answer to my question, you just might," he said with a wicked smile that grew even larger when Starshine looked at him in confusion. "See, I can get out of here, but I don't know whether or not I should bring you along. So I'm going to make you a deal. If you listen to what I say on the way out without question, I'll help you escape as well. But if not, I leave you here for Chrysalis."
"Is that all I have to do?" Starshine asked with suspicion, causing Sombra to smile even wider.
"Of course not. You also have to keep what I am about to do a secret from Trixie." Sombra saw Starshine's eyes narrow at this, but he cut him off before he could start. "Of course, if you disagree you will never see her again and she might die down in the temple. But if you agree to stay silent, I'll go there and get her out. Whaddya say?" He knew that he had Starshine hooked when he mentioned that Trixie might be in danger, but he had thrown in the part "to save her" as a precaution for himself. He might need her help to get out of the place alive.
"Alright, but I'll only keep quiet on whatever you're about to do," Starshine said with a frown.
"Excellent," Sombra said as he walked over to the cell bars and looked out at the guards, whistling for them to come over. "Alright boys, I want to make a bet. I bet the two of you that I can get out of this cell, kill the two of you and be gone before your queen gets back. Whaddya say?"
"Please, the bars are re-enforced steel with magic coursing through them," one of the guards said with a snicker. "There's no way you could-"
"Ning Gth Li," Sombra whispered aloud, causing a massive bolt of lightning to go off in the cell and hurl the guards across the room into the wall. Sombra then stepped through the now-wrecked bars as he looked down at the two guards, who were struggling to get up.
"Looks like I win," he panted as he prepared to say something else, but then Starshine tackled him in the side to stop him. "What are you doing? If I don't kill them now they will only alert the queen."
"And the energy you use to kill them will only drain you further," Starshine said in reply, still trying to wrap his head around what Sombra had just done, "you can kill them and waste your time or you can come with me and try to escape. Your choice." Starshine took off as he said this, leaving Sombra to watch him go with a thin smile on his face.
'Well played,' he thought to himself as he ran out the door after the colt, knowing that he had been right in telling Sombra to conserve his strength. 'I do not know how long I can use these spells, so I will have to conserve,' he though to himself as he quickly caught up with Starshine, slowing down to run along side him. "Alright kid if you want to stay alive, you need to--DUCK!" Somrba pushed Starshine out of the way as a blast of green magic flew down the hallway, burning a hole through the wall behind them.
"SOMBRA! YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Chrysalis howled from down the hallway.
"Lalw," Somba growled, causing a wall of black bricks to shoot out of the ground in front of her. Her howls of fury could still be heard from the other side, but Sombra and Starshine were already running in the opposite direction as fast as they could.
"We need to get to Trixie," Starshine panted as he ran, fear allowing him to keep up with Sombra. "Do you know where the entrance to the temple they were talking about is?"
"Pal E Im!" Sombra roared as he rounded the corner to see a number of changeling guards waiting for them. As soon as the words left his mouth, spears made of stone shot out of the ground and goured the changelings on the end of them. Sombra grabbed Starshine and ran down another corridor as more guards showed up to try and stop them.
"It's been a while since I was last here and the place has changed quite a bit, but I think that I can find the way," Sombra said as the two of them ran by two massive staircases that led to a grand hall. At the top of one of those staircases, a changeling leapt out from behind a statue and tackled Sombra to the ground, drawing a dagger that he aimed at Sombra's heart, while his other hoof pinned Somrba down by the neck, preventing him from speaking.
'I can't believe it. Me, the greatest king to ever live, is going to be killed by a hoofsoldier in the changeling castle. Chrysalis will probably hang my body from the rafters,' he thought in a second as the knife came down. But much to his and the changeling's surprise, Starshine tackled the changeling and sent it crashing down the stairs and helped Sombra up.
"Thanks for the save, kid. Didn't know you cared," Sombra joked with a smile as he looked down at the changeling who was getting up. "Ind B." The green drapes that covered the windows flew towards the changeling and quickly tied it up, allowing Sombra to stagger to the next hallway.
"I don't, but you're the only chance I have of getting out of here," Starshine said as he supported some of Sombra's weight and helped him forward, all the while thinking about the magic that he had seen. "Plus, you're the only pony that can help Trixie out. So what kind of magic are you using? It's like nothing--"
"Remember your promise, kid. No questions," Sombra reminded him as he shook Starshine off and continued to move forward, figuring that he was getting close to the garden by the foliage that was out the window. He needed to find Trixie and fast, but as he reached a room that he remembered was the weak part of the castle, he couldn't help but say,
"Vife Ni Tonatede."
/T\
Trixie looked on in amazement at the room in which she found herself. It was filled with dozens of images that showed the ponies and changelings working together and helping each other out in desperate situations. The great flood that nearly swallowed all of Equestria, the battle with the dragons, and an image that showed both a pony and a changeling standing with other creatures, each of them holding an Element of Harmony.
"This must be the place where Star-Swirl and the changelings agreed to make peace all those years ago," Trixie muttered as she walked into the center of the six-sided room, looking at the white claw that rested on a pedestal in the center of the room, giving off a soft light that was complimented by the light that her horn was casting. "And this must be the claw, that I need to open the final temple. But is it a trap like the others?" Trixie gently lifted the claw off of the pedestal, waiting for the worst. But to her surprise, nothing happened.
"Well that's good, I have had enough excitement for today," she said as she turned around to leave.
'But the day is not yet done.' Trixie yelped in surprise as she finished turning to come face-to-hood with the silver mare, who had once again materialized out of thin air. 'You still have to escape the castle with your life.'
"Why do I need to?" Trixie asked her while walking past the mare. "Chrysalis knows what I'll do to her if she tried anything."
'She has already put your comrades in her prison and has two guards awaiting you at the top of the stairs,' the silver mare informed her, causing Trixie to growl as she ran towards the stairs to help Starshine. 'They'll be hidden on the left when you go up. Thought I'd let you know.' Trixie was in a fury as she raced up the stairs back to the castle, barely even stopping to blast the two changelings that had been waiting for her at the top. She rushed into the castle to see magic burns on the walls and some distortion to the ground. She activated her tracking spell and quickly found that Sombra and Starshine were heading towards her. With a grunt she ran to meet them, finding them in a circular room surrounded by changelings.
"Well, this is a fine mess that you've gotten us into," Sombra said to Starshine as he leaned against the colt, just to remain vertical.
"How is this my fault?" Starshine asked as the changelings began to close in. "All I did was follow your orders."
"I'm the pony that broke the Queen of the Changeling's heart after making her immortal," Sombra reminded him as the changelings attacked. "I don't always have good ideas."
"Then here's one! GET DOWN!" Starshine and Sombra threw themselves to the ground as a wave of magic shot over their heads and struck down the changelings that had attacked them. Trixie then leapt into the center of the fray, sending bolts of azure into any changeling who tried to get up.
"I wondered if you'd show," Sombra said with a smirk, but his smirk vanished once Chrysalis appeared at the top of a balcony overlooking them."
"SOMBRA! I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!" she roared as she began firing every spell she could think of at them.
"Time to go," Trixie said as she picked up Sombra and Starshine with her magic and bolted for the exit, relying on going to places that weren't filled with guards to find her way out. Eventually, she came across a window that showed the maze in the distance and Trixie figured that this was their best way out. "Everypony hold on!" she yelled as she leapt out of the window, dropping Starshine and Sombra so that she could use her magic to create a slide that safely got all three of them to the ground.
"Come on, we're almost out!" she yelled as she and Starshine ran towards the maze, but Sombra stood back with a smile as he counted,
"Three. Two. One..." A massive explosion went off inside of the castle, causing thick columns of smoke to appear from nearly every window. He smirked as he heard Chrysalis curse him from over the ruckus as he rejoined Starshine and Trixie at the edge of the maze.
"Alright, let's get out of here," Trixie said as she tried to remember the way through the maze, but watched out of the corner of her eye as Sombra grabbed his bag that he had hidden the day before. "Argh, I can't remember the way through. I need more time."
"Sorry, Trixie, but time is something that we don't have," Starshine said as he pulled on Trixie's tail, her eyes shrinking in fear as she turned to see hundreds of changelings coming out of the smoking castle and flying at them. "Trixie, what do we do?" Trixie lowered her head as she tried to think, while Sombra watched the army come towards him, reaching into his bag with a frown. He didn't want to use this item right now considering how close to the blast radius they would be, but it was his only hope to escape.
"I don't know, Starshine," Trixie answered as she let her horn begin to glow, preparing for a fight. "Sombra and I will keep them busy as long as we can while you run. It's the only chance you have."
'Then perhaps I should help.'
From a distance, Chrysalis watched in disbelief as a silver energy surrounded the three ponies before a blinding flash of silver went off. When she could see again, she found to her endless rage that Sombra was once again gone. She let loose a scream to the sky in rage, while her changelings looked at the spot where the ponies had vanished in confusion.
/T\
When Trixie opened her eyes again, she found that both she and the other two ponies were standing in front of her wagon, with the spell she had cast around it still going strong. Starshine and Sombra looked around in confusion, but Trixie could still hear the changelings in the distance and knew that they had to go.
"Alright you two, into the wagon," she ordered as she lowered the shield and threw open the door. "We need to get out of here before any more of the changelings come. Let's go!" Sombra and Starshine didn't argue as they ran inside, but Trixie turned around and looked at the silver mare with a frown.
"Why did you help me?" she asked the mare.
'Because you needed my help, just as I may need your help in the future,' she cryptically replied. Trixie narrowed her eyes at the answer, but then Chrysalis' blood-curdling scream reached her ears. The silver mare vanished once again, leaving Trixie to return to her wagon and get it to move as fast as it could.
/T\
"You realize what must be done?" Chrysalis asked the changeling in the black scarf kneeling in front of her.
"Yes, Queen Chrysalis, she does," another changeling to her side answered for the kneeling changeling.
"Good. If you can kill Sombra and the other two ponies with him, then you will can come back. If not...I will send the others in your place." The changeling on its knee nodded and vanished in a blink. Once she was gone, Chrysalis began to chuckle to herself.
"Oh yes Sombra, you have escaped me, but you can never escape those I send after you. For only death can stop them."
All three of the ponies collapsed upon the floor the moment they got back inside of the wagon, feeling the exhaustion from their escape from the Changeling Castle. Trixie used the last of her magic to get the wagon moving again before she lifted herself up and dragged herself over to her bed, placing the changeling claw on the stand next to her bed.
"Alright you two, I'm calling it early today," she mumbled as she threw herself onto the bed with a groan. "Starshine, you can practice your magic if you want. Sombra, do anything and the collar will zap you into next week. Good..."
"I've never seen her this tired before," Starshine muttered as he walked over to Trixie's bed and poked her hoof, not getting any kind of reaction out of her. "I wonder what happened in the temple?"
"She probably overused her magic in there, trying to get us out of the castle," Sombra muttered to himself as he put his head down on his hooves, lost in thought. "Something doesn't add up though...well, two things. One, how did we get away so easily? I know Chrysalis better than almost anypony, and I know that she doesn't give up on a target once it gets in her sights. So why just let us go?"
"Maybe she was trapped in the castle?" Starshine suggested, as Sombra reached inside of his bag and pulled out a number of violet shaded crystals that he placed around him, letting out a small sigh that Starshine didn't hear. You did blow up her castle, so maybe she got trapped inside?"
"It would take a lot more than her castle collapsing on her to stop her from coming after me," Sombra muttered with a yawn as he gazed into the crystals. "I just don't like it. The other thing that's been bothering me is, how did we get from the maze to the wagon like that?"
"Like what?" Starshine asked as he dragged out one of the practice dummies from the back of the wagon. "Trixie teleported us out of there and-"
"No, somepony teleported us out, but it wasn't Trixie," Sombra muttered as his eyes narrowed. "When a pony uses teleportation magic, nine out of ten times it's the same color as their other magic. So if Trixie had been the one to teleport us out, the magic field that surrounded us would have been azure, like her other spells. But all I saw in this field was white...or maybe it was silver? Hard to tell apart sometimes..."
"So, you're saying that another pony teleported us out?" Starshine asked as he tried using the fireball spell that Trixie had shown him, only to get a bit of smoke from his horn instead. He growled in frustration and tried again, but this time he set his mane on fire. He yelped in shock and ran over to where the bath was, running his mane under the faucet to put the fire out. Sombra watched the spectacle with a thin smile, shaking his head at the colt, once he pulled his smoldering mane out from under the faucet.
"I don't know why you bother trying to practice magic, you can't do it," Sombra said as Starshine started trying to practice again. "Your horn doesn't work. You can't use magic."
"So what am I supposed to do, give up!?" Starshine roared at Sombra, causing the dark pony to raise his eyesbrows in surprise. "Am I supposed to be what my parents said I was? A failure?"
"I take it, there's a story behind that rage?" Sombra asked, but Starshine ignored him and went back to practicing, this time he covered himself in soot that he had to go wash off as well. All the while Sombra watched the colt struggle, he silently thought to himself.
'I remember the days like this, back before I figured out how to get around my weakness,' he thought to himself as Starshine went back to practicing. 'Of course, for me to overcome my lack of magic, I had to use a certain ritual and it took years of training. Besides, I am a genius, so it was easy for me. But this kid...' Sombra shook his head as the colt tried again only to be lifted into the air and slammed back down. 'His horn is even worse than mine.'
"Why?" Starshine asked as he stood back up. "Why can't I do it? Why can't I get my magic to work!?"
"As I told you before, it's because you have a problem with your horn, that makes it so that you can't use magic properly," Sombra explained again, getting tired of repeating himself. "And as amusing as it is to see you try, you simply can't keep trying without eventually hurting yourself. Just give up." Starshine looked at Sombra before sitting down, staring at the floor while Sombra continued to mess with his crystals. After a few minutes of silence, Sombra looked at the colt who hadn't moved. "Why do you want to use magic so badly? There are plenty of other choices for unicorns that can't use it."
"Because my parents kicked me out due to my inability to use it," Starshine snarled back, Sombra smiled a bit at his reaction. "I want to prove that I'm not the failure that they said I am, and that I can be a great wizard. Now I've got to train." Sombra smirked at the stubbornness of the colt, since it reminded him a bit of himself when he was little. After a few more mintues of watching Starshine fail, Starshine eventually looked to Sombra with a confused look.
"Wait a minute, you don't have your horn."
"You're just now noticing this?" Sombra asked.
"No, I mean, you were using magic back in the castle, yet you don't have a horn," Starshine muttered. "How did you do that? It's like you were...speaking magic." Sombra said nothing, but instead rolled over to avoid looking at the colt. "Come on, tell me," Starshine said, once he had run over to the other side of Sombra. When Sombra didn't answer, Starshine frowned until a thin smile spread on his face. "If you don't tell me, I'll tell Trixie."
"You wouldn't dare," Sombra growled, but the look on Starshine's face told him that he would. So with a snarl, Sombra sat back up and glared at the colt. "Worded magic, that was the magic I was using back in the castle. It's a lost type of magic that allows a pony to use magic with magic words instead of casting a spell with their horn".
"You can really do that?" Starshine asked in disbelief, causing Sombra to roll his eyes in annoyance.
"Were you not paying attention to anything I did in the castle? Oat Fl." Starshine shrieked as he was suddenly lifted up into the air, floating there demanding to be put down while Sombra chuckled. "As you can see, it works just fine even without a horn. Now leave me alone, I'm thinking to myself."
"Can you teach me?" Starshine asked, once he was put back on the floor. Sombra stopped in his tracks as he said this and turned to face the colt with a smirk.
"Are you kidding me? You can't even control you horn, which is a much easier way to use magic. There is no way that you could do this," he replied before Starshine smiled again.
"Then maybe Trixie could help me figure it out. I'm sure that she's great with all magic." Sombra once again growled at the colt, who had twice managed to blackmail him with threat of Trixie. Even with his worded magic, he knew that he couldn't defeat somepony who was at her level of skill, and even with his horn it might have been tough. Plus, for as destructive as his magic was, it drained him incredibly fast. If he couldn't kill Trixie in the first hit, then there was no way he could win a prolonged battle with her. And if she found out about his magic, she would put even more handicaps on him that would prevent him from using it as well.
"Fine kid, but don't go crying to Trixie when you can't get it to work," Sombra said before looking at the dummy across the room. "Alright, for your first task, I want you to use that fireball spell you've been practicing so much. The way to use the spell is to concentrate all of your power towards the target and say Re Ball Fi. And don't stop till you can do it right," he said with a chuckle as he laid back down while Starshine began to concentrate, knowing that the colt wouldn't be bothering him for a while. It had taken Sombra years to master even the most basic of spoken magic, and he was a genius, so he had no doubt that it would take Starshine--
FWOOM!
Sombra sat back up in disbelief as he heard the fire and felt the heat, not believing his ears. Starshine had been able to get the spell to work on his first attempt. Could he truly be greater than-?
"Um, I seem to have set the curtains on fire," Starshine said with a meek smile as Sombra looked at the scene. The dummy was once again unscratched, but the curtains behind him were a raging inferno. Sombra looked at the fire for a moment before he began to laugh.
"Tuo," he said in between laughs, extinguishing the fire before any real harm could be done to the curtains. But he did look down at Starshine with a raised eyebrow, still amazed and slightly impressed with how the colt had been able to get the fire aspect of the spell down on his first try...even if his aim needed some work.
'So there is some skill in him,' Sombra thought to himself as he resisted the urge to smile. 'I may be able to use that to my advantage.' "Not bad," Sombra said to the colt, whose eyes widened at the praise. "In fact, I think I may keep teaching you with promise like that. But," he said quickly, before Starshine started to celebrate. "You have to keep this a secret from Trixie."
"Why?" Starshine asked as he looked over to Trixie, who had just begun to move. "She'll be delighted to see that I can finally use magic. Why would I not tell her?"
"Because if you do, she'll stop me from using my magic and then I won't be able to teach you," Sombra said with a sly smile, which grew even wider when Starshine looked down in confusion. "So, whaddya say?"
"I say, that if you're trying anything, you'll be a pile of ash in a heartbeat," Trixie said as she got out of her bed, glaring at Sombra who backed away from her slowly as she approached. "I don't know what lies you were trying to tell Starshine, but if they hurt him in any way, you will regret it." She then stopped for a second and sniffed the air, smelling the faint scent of ash. "Did you set fire to something Sombra?"
"No, that was the colt," Sombra said as he looked at Starshine's mane. "Kid set his head on fire while trying to use magic. Good job teaching him, by the way." Trixie growled at Sombra while placing a hoof around Starshine's shoulder and led him away from the dark pony.
"So, what was he talking to you about?" she asked him with worry on her face. Starshine looked at the floor to avoid her gaze while he thought of an answer.
"He was telling me about a way that he thought would allow me to use magic," Starshine said, which was mostly true. Trixie narrowed her eyes as he continued to avoid her gaze, knowing that he wasn't telling her everything. But when he didn't say any more, she let out a sigh and walked to the front of the wagon, looking out the window to see that they were traveling next to the side of a lake.
"You know what, we could use a break after what happened in the Changeling Empire," she said to the other two as she brought the wagon to a stop. "How about a few hours relaxing?" Starshine ran past her with a huge smile once he saw the lake, diving into it without a moment's hesitation. But when Sombra tried to walked past her she grabbed him by the collar and drove him into the wall. "I don't know what kind of lies you're telling him, but he has gone through enough in his life. Don't make me regret saving you."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sombra said with a smirk as Trixie let go of him, walking by her as she glared at him.
'Why do I have him with me again?' she asked herself as she walked out of the wagon and stood upon the sand with a sigh. 'He has been of little use to us since we found him in the temple. And whatever he's telling Starshine can't be good. I'll need to keep a better eye on him.' She sat down on the beach, watching Starshine play in the water, while Sombra found a tree to rest under out of the sun. She had a few questions for Starshine, but figured that they could wait until he had finished having some fun. Faust knew that he was overdue for some.
"Trixie, are you going to come it?" Starshine asked her as he ran up onto the beach, his long mane completely covering his eyes.
"Maybe later. Mind if I ask you a few questions?" she asked, to which Starshine nodded in response and sat down next to her. "Can you tell me what happened while I was in the temple at the Changeling Castle? Because somepony told me that you two had been taken hostage by the changelings and were in trouble. Is that true?"
"Yeah...that's pretty much what happened," Starshine said as he looked over the lake. "Chrysalis also threatened to kill Sombra in a terrible way for something he did in the past, you'll have to ask him what it was, and I was probably going to be killed alongside him." Trixie's blood boiled as he said this, and she thought about what she'd do to the queen the next time she saw her.
"So then what happened?"
"Well, Sombra did...something...and managed to break us out of the prison and helped me to escape," Starshine said, causing Trixie's eyes to widen in shock. Sombra had helped Starshine escape? Since when was the evil king so kind? "The two of us then made our way through the castle to find you, with Sombra keeping me safe from the changelings." Now Trixie was completely confused. Sombra had protected Starshine AND helped him look for Trixie instead of just running for his life? But something didn't entirely add up.
"...You said he did something to escape the prison, but it would take some considerable magic to bust through those bars. What did he do?" Starshine looked up at Trixie with no idea how to answer before he looked at the ground, afraid to look her in her eyes. "Please Starshine, I just want to keep you safe."
"He...he used spoken magic," Starshine said in a small voice, just not able to bring himself to lie. Trixie felt fear leap into her heart as she looked over at the dark pony lying under the tree. Spoken magic was one of the strongest magics in the past, but they were supposed to be lost to time. How did he...?
"But that would explain how he managed to survive what happened back in the Crystal Empire," she said to herself before pulling Starshine into a hug. "Thank you for being honest with me. Now I need to go have a talk with Sombra."
"Wait, before you try to take away his magic, let me tell you that it was because of that magic that I'm still alive," he said quickly. "Yeah he may not be the nicest pony, but he did save me. Don't be too angry with him." Trixie frowned as she walked away towards Sombra, planning on giving him a piece of her mind. But she didn't know what to say to him on the subject of Starshine. If he were telling the truth (and she had no reason to doubt him) then Sombra, the evil king, had saved him from a terrible fate. But why?
"So, you can use magic still, can you?" Trixie said with venom to Sombra, who opened one eye to look at her before closing them with a sigh.
"Shouldn't have told the kid what I could do," Sombra said with a shrug. "So then, what are you going to do to me?"
"In light of what Starshine told me about what happened in the castle...nothing," Trixie said with a sigh, causing Sombra to look up at her in disbelief. "But I'm still keeping my eye on you. so if you do anything that may hurt me or Starshine-"
"Yeah, yeah I get it, you'll kill me or worse," Sombra said with a smile. "Trust me, you're not the first to...Orm St De Bla!" Trixei yelped as she ducked under the swords that materialized out of the air and flung themselves towards the wagon, driving themselves into the wood.
"What are you thinking?!" Trixie roared in rage, but Sombra was looking in every direction with fear in his eyes and a scowl on his face. He then spun around and roared another spell, causing the ground to erupt and throw something into the air. Trixie watched as a changeling appeared out of thin air and landed on the ground ten feet from her, the only thing making it look different from other changelings was that it was wearing a black bandana over its mouth.
"What is a changeling doing here?" Trixie asked before the changeling rushed towards them with a speed that she couldn't fathom. It rushed by her and pulled out two blades that it dug into Sombra's chest. But much to its surprise, Sombra vanished into thin air before materializing behind the changeling with a smile on his face.
"Rn Bu," he said as flames shot out of the ground, consuming the changeling in the fire. The changeling let out no sound as it burned, but after a few seconds it fell over. Sombra stopped the fire as Starshine came running over to them, with Trixie looking over the changeling.
"It's still alive, but barely at that," Trixie said as she looked over the burn wounds, figuring that it would take a long time for these wounds to heal. "So what do we do, drop it off back at the Changeling Empire?"
"Doesn't matter where we take her, she's dead anyway," Sombra said as he looked at the black "X" carved into its shell. "This is a member of the Scourge, a group of changelings that have done something to offend the queen. Their punishment is to either die in battle or be killed by the queen, but no matter what, it ends in death. However, they are all extremely skilled and Chrysalis will use them to do her dirty work, but she doesn't care if they live or die. So I say we leave her here, where she'll die in her sleep hopefully. Better here than at the hooves of Chrysalis." Trixie looked down at the burnt changeling, knowing what Sombra said was true. But she looked into the changeling's eyes, and she saw eyes that had no desire to live in them...eyes that were devoid of will. And in those eyes she saw a bit of herself after she had brought down Morgaine, after she had to kill her mother and no pony was there to help her.
"No...we bring her with us. For a while anyway," Trixie said much to the shock of Sombra while Starshine smiled at her. "I will tend to her wounds and try to get her to a point where she can live. I cannot let her die like this."
"And yet you were fine with letting me die," Sombra grumbled.
"You have done many evil things to ponies over the years. You would have deserved it. Besides, I saved you, or have you already forgotten?"
"You're in the same boat as me, so don't try acting high and mighty." Trixie narrowed her eyes at Sombra, but focused her energy on lifting the changeling without causing further harm. She brought the creature into the wagon and told Starshine to help her run a bath for the changeling. Once the tub was filled, she brought down a bottle from her shelf that had healing properties that would heal burn wounds.
"I've set myself ablaze many times and this has helped me, so hopefully it will help her," Trixie said as she lowered the changeling into the tub, watching with a smile as the look of pain faded from its face. "It will take a while, but it should work. However, I am putting a defensive shield around her."
"You're far too kind for your own good," Sombra said with a shake of his head as he went to lie down. "Saving ponies like me or changelings like her won't make up for what you did. Better to move along with your life."
"You're a real heartless, you know that?" Trixie asked him as he shrugged and closed his eyes as Starshine and Trixie continued to monitor the changeling. "And I'm not trying to make up for what I did. That's in the past. But I've seen enough death to last a lifetime. Now, I just want to help protect life."
'She calls me a heartless, yet she has no idea what a heartless really is,' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes. 'She has no idea how heartless the ponies of this land can be. Isn't that right...Gloria?'
Sombra groaned as the giant white demon rose from the ground, amazed that the creature hadn't killed him by landing on him. Of course, most of his subjects called him 'un-killable,' so he supposed it worked out.
'But I'm still stuck with the same problem as before,' Sombra thought as the creature began to climb the tower again. 'I can't kill this thing. Not on my own...but, maybe if I use that.' Despite the fact that the creature was heading up the tower, Sombra ran inside of his castle in the tower. He used his magic to turn himself into smoke, allowing him to zip through the castle until he reached the room where his mages in white robes were, each of them looking over different spell books while trying to figure out what the thing was.
"King Sombra!" they exclaimed as they all knelt before him, but he walked past them towards the shelf where a red book sat undisturbed on the top shelf. He quickly pulled it and the shelf moved back, revealing a secret black book that caused the mages behind him to gasp.
"Advanced Rituals and Dark Magic?" one of them gasped in fear as Sombra tossed the book towards them. "But my king, that book is forbidden in all of Equestria by order of the princesses! Do you not know what will happen if they find it here?"
"Is it worse than a giant white demon destroying the entire Crystal Empire?" he asked them with a snarl, causing them to back away in fear. "There should be a passage in there that tells us how to seal away a demon like this. Seek it out while I distract the beast." Sombra changed himself back into his darkness as he shot out the window and spiraled up to the top of the tower, where the Crystal Heart stood with its light protecting the Crystal Empire. "This is where I must stop it, for if it gets the heart, it's over," Sombra reminded himself, while he turned to face the giant demon as it pulled itself over the edge of the top, hanging its massive frame off the tower as it looked down at Sombra with a growl.
"I will stop you here beast, even if I have to bring down this tower to do it," Sombra growled as the demon brought back one of its massive claws to strike him. He responded by bringing forth his strongest barrier to intercept the attack, bracing himself as the white demon drove its claw into his shield. While the barrier held, Sombra was still thrown across the top of the tower and slammed into one of the pillars on the side, coughing up a bit of blood as the demon got closer. "Alright then, try some of this. Der THUN!" Storm clouds formed overhead as the demon wound up for a second strike, but Sombra smiled as a bolt of black lightning descended from the sky and struck the demon, causing it to roar as it almost lost its grip on the tower.
"My liege!" Somba turned to see six of the mages appear at his side, each of them running to a different side of him until they had formed a hexagon around him. "Sir, we have discovered that the demon can be sealed away, but it will cost the caster their soul."
"Then stand back," Sombra said as he waited for them to instruct him on how to perform the spell.
"However, we have also discovered that if another source of powerful magic is used, then the caster will live. But the only magic that strong is-"
"The Crystal Heart," Sombra growled as he turned to the only item that was keeping some of the evilest things out of his empire. But with the demon breaking down his tower, he figured that nothing else at the moment could be worse. "...very well, just tell me what to do before there is no longer an empire to protect!" The mages all began to chant amongst themselves, causing a field of white to appear between them, which also covered Sombra and the heart.
"All you have to do is use your most powerful banishment spell, and with the heart's added power it will be gone!"
"Very well," Sombra said with a smirk as he looked up at the creature. "ONE BEG!" A massive tear in reality appeared behind the creature as he said this, forcing the demon to hold onto the tower as it began to suck the demon in. The mages continued their chants as well, causing the Crystal Heart to begin to glow with power. And on their final part of the chant, a massive beam of rainbow energy shot from the heart and straight into the demon's chest, knocking it off of the tower and into the void. "ES CLO!" Sombra yelled again, causing the void to shut. He let out a laugh of victory before he almost fell on his face, completely drained from his spell.
"Are you alright, my lord?" one of the mages asked while offering him a hoof, one that Sombra swatted away. "My lord, you need rest and time to recover. Come, we will-"
"I do not need your sympathy. There is something I must do," Sombra said with a snarl as he turned to look at the heart, which had lost its color and no longer radiated the magic it had before. He hoped that it was only temporary as he dragged himself to the staircase on the side and began to climb down, leaving the six mages alone.
"...This is the weakest that I have seen him in a long time," one of them whispered to the others. "Perhaps now would be the best time to strike."
"Indeed. Now that he is weak, he may not see the attack coming," another said as he pulled out a parchment and a bottle of dragon flame. "Now is the time to contact Celestia and Luna. Sombra falls this day."
/T\
"...Hey, I think she's waking up." Trixie looked over from where she had been studying the map of all of Equis, noticing that the changeling was beginning to stir. She walked over to where Starshine was watching the changeling, moving him back as it raised its head, looking around the room with confusion.
"Do not worry, I am not going to hurt you...unless you try something," Trixie said. The changeling looked up at her with a confused look, before realization dawned on its face and it leapt away from the two, collapsing to the floor the moment it landed. "Please stop moving around so much. You have been greatly wounded and can't move like that." The changeling stood back up despite the pain in its eyes and glared at the two before quickly looking down at its bandaged up body, slowly making the connection.
"Yes, we did bandage you up. You would have died without any medical treatment," Trixie explained, gaining her another look of confusion from the changeling. "Unfortunately, my knowledge of medical magic is lacking, so I was not able to completely heal you. However, this should suffice for now." The changeling looked from its bandages to Trixie again with a frown, before it hobbled up to Trixie and did its best to kneel in front of her, resulting in it again collapsing to the floor.
"What is it doing?" Starshine asked Trixie as he helped the changeling up, stopping it from once again trying to kneel.
"She's pledging her loyalty to you." Trixie and Starshine both looked over to Sombra, who had gotten up with a yawn and walked over to them with a smirk as he observed the changeling's antics.
"And why would she do that?" Trixie asked him.
"Because you spared her life," Sombra responded as he looked at the changeling. "Nope, don't recognize you. Anyway, whenever one of these cursed changelings are sent off on their missions, more likely than not they either die or get killed after they take out their target, since in recent times guards have gotten good at taking them down. But since you spared her life, it now belongs to you and not Chrysalis."
"I'm not sure I want a debt like that," Trixie said with hesitation as the changeling looked up at her, as if waiting for her command.
"Well, whether you like it or not, she's indebted to you now," Sombra said with a shrug as he moved towards Trixie, but the changeling quickly placed itself between him and her. "Heh, so this one doesn't trust me. So, you're smarter than most the others, then." The changeling then quickly made a number of buzzing sounds, making Sombra growl at her in response. "I did not betray your queen. Okay I did, but she should have known that I would do anything to protect my empire. Speaking of my empire, any chance we'll be heading by the Crystal Empire on our journey?"
"No, there will not be," Trixie said with a raised eyebrow. "You can understand what she's saying?"
"Well yeah, I was only going to marry the Mother of All Changelings," Sombra said with a roll of his eyes. "Again, the cursed aren't allowed to speak once they become a member of the cursed, so Chrysalis has them take an oath of silence. Didn't I tell you this already? Maybe I didn't. Oh well, so where are we heading next?"
"We'll be heading towards the southernmost part of Equestria next," Trixie said with a careful look at the smiling face of Sombra. "The Land of the Titans is said to be hidden somewhere around there. I...hold on." Trixie left the group as she felt flames in her pocket. Once she was alone, she reached inside to see that a letter had appeared and from the sheer volume of text she knew who had sent the letter.
Dear Trixie,
WHY THE HECK DID YOU WAIT THIS LONG TO GET INTO CONTACT WITH ME?! It has been nearly seven years since I've seen you last and all I hear about you is how the terrible Trixie is in some town causing a commotion or panic in some far off place, but I know that those reports can't be the entire truth. Why don't you ever visit? But as for what you asked about, I don't really know any kind of crazy mare besides the ones we have locked up, but as for the six I might have some idea. Batmare mentioned the last time I saw her that five fillies had gone missing or were killed in some kind of ritual and that a sixth might be in danger, but she didn't say why. My guess is that some kind of dark magic is involved, because sacrificing the innocent never ends well. Sorry about how long it took me to get a response to you, things have been hectic around here, wish you would visit more. But if you're following the same trail as Batmare, then maybe I'll see you sooner than later.
Your friend, even if you won't admit it,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Trixie rolled her eyes at the letter, feeling a bit relieved to see that Twilight had barely changed at all. But if what she told her was true, then Trixie had been right in suspecting that Batmare was the dark knight that the silver pony had mentioned, and that the darkness would be a demon of sorts. However, Twilight said that only five fillies were dead, meaning that the sixth had not yet been claimed.
'At the very least, I have some answers as to what the silver mare was saying,' Trixie thought as she quickly looked back at the other three, to make sure they were behaving themselves before she reached into her coat and pulled out a quill and some parchment.
Dear Twilight,
Thank you for the information, I now have a clearer idea of what is going on and what the cryptic pony is talking about. I have reason to believe that she is also talking with Batmare, but I cannot prove it. Maybe you can ask her the next time the two of you meet up. Any more information on what is going on will be greatly appreciated as well, but I don't want helping me to get in the way of your royal duties. Congratulations by the way. And you know why I can't go back, it would just be too painful.
Your friend,
Trixie.
Trixie cast the dragon spell again and sent the letter back to Twilight, watching the flames vanish with a small sigh before she heard Starshine and Sombra arguing. So with another sigh she turned back to them, breaking up whatever fight they were having.
"Alright you two...three now I guess," Trixie said as she looked at the changeling, who nodded her head with a salute," Right, we'll be heading to the south now. It's about a week's trip by this wagon, which means that we'll be stuck with each other for a while. Changeling...that doesn't sound right. What's your name?" The changeling buzzed twice and Trixie looked to Sombra to translate.
"She says her name's Armora."
"Alright then, Armora, I'll have a place set up for you to rest. Meanwhile you can have Sombra's bed."
"HEY! And where I am supposed to sleep?" Sombra asked with a growl.
"Outside of course." Sombra roared at this as he tried to get at Trixie, but Armora tackled him to the ground and put him in a hold, causing him to turn his attention to the changeling and try to fight her off. Despite her being injured, she still managed to subdue Sombra, putting him in a hold that made even Trixie wince. All the while Starshine laughed.
/?\
Green flames fluttered across the land as the magic of the dragon's flame headed to where they had been sent, flying over some plains on their way to Ponyville. However, a stronger magic than the one that had sent them called out to them and they changed their course to seek out the new caller. They came to a rest on the silver hoof of a pony, who opened the magic to read the letter within, frowning a bit as she read it.
'I am sorry to do this, but it is for your own protection,' the silver mare said as she set the letter ablaze, watching as it burnt in front of her. 'But the more who know of my presence mean that more will speak of me, which will only draw him here.' The silver mare looked towards where the letter had come from, planning on filling in Trixie on what she had asked when she had time. 'But I do this for your protection, because if Teth finds you now, it will be over before it begins.'
/T\
Trixie sighed as she looked out the window at the small town that was the last stop between her and the land of the giants, flipping the hood up over her face so that she would hopefully remain incognito. But if experience had taught her anything, it was to expect the worst.
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Sombra asked as he flipped his own hood up, frowning at the fact that he had to carry the saddle bags.
"Because with three roommates in my wagon, I've run out of food much faster than I would have liked," Trixie responded with a frown as she looked over at Starshine, who was watching Armora as she vibrated her wings at nearly invisible speeds. She had placed a shield over him until she had got back, even though Armora had promised that she wouldn't touch him. Trixie didn't trust her just yet.
"I get that, what I meant was, why am I going?" Sombra asked with a frown.
"Because you and I are going to talk on the way over," Trixie responded as she opened the wagon door for him. "Unless you'd rather stay with the changeling that looks like she wants to gut you." Sombra looked from Armora to Trixie, debating which one of them would cause him the least amount of harm, before he sighed and walked over to Trixie.
"Fine, but there's a place I want to look at," he grumbled as he passed her. With one last look at the two guests in her wagon, Trixie closed the door behind her and followed after Sombra, both of them heading for the village. "So what did you want to ask me? About my magic? My past? My incredible good looks?"
"You're more delusional than I thought," Trixie responded. "But as for your magic, I do want to know how you managed to master the spoken word. From every spell book I read, it was considered to be either myth or a joke in magic, but here you are with it. How?"
"Trixie, you can't believe everything you read," Sombra teased with a smile as he looked up at the clouds from under his hood. "Spoken magic is a VERY ancient form of magic, believed to have first been spoken by an old and powerful wizard, who is said to have been alien in nature. It is incredibly powerful and would normally make any regular pony a match for the princesses, if not for its drawback."
"It inflicts harm on the user?" Trixie guessed.
"You have no idea," Sombra said. "The more powerful the spell, the greater the toll. Plus, even though I know the language, I am no master by far. I can do basic to intermediate spells at best, but there is a whole other side to the language that I still have to perfect."
"Is that why you haven't tried to kill me yet?" Trixie asked with a smirk.
"That, and killing you would be pointless," Sombra muttered under his breath so that Trixie couldn't hear. When she raised an eyebrow, he lifted his head and laughed. "Oh don't worry, I will face you soon enough. And once I have defeated you, no pony will be able to stand in my way!" Trixie hit him in the back of the head when he laughed again as the two of them walked through the front gates into the town, Trixie adjusting her hood while Sombra looked around with a smirk.
"Barely been back for a month now, and I can see how little has changed since the time I ruled," he muttered to himself as he looked at the bright colorful buildings to the happy faces of the ponies. 'They still have no idea of the evils that lurk in this land, thanks to the princesses.'
"Alright, this is where I need to go," Trixie said as she stood outside of a shady building that not too many ponies walked by. "I'll be gone only a few minutes, so try not to cause a scene."
"Fine, sure. I've still got the collar on," Sombra reminded her as she headed inside. Once she was gone, he leaned up against the side if the building and looked down at said collar. 'Good thing she hasn't tried to use this lately or she'd figure out that it doesn't work.' Sombra continued to watch the cheerful faces of the ponies, ignoring the flashbacks that came to mind. They confused him, those who chose to live under the protection of the two princesses, who relied on six regular ponies to defend them while they sat in their castle and did nothing. Sure, he might have been a hard ruler in his time, but whenever trouble arose he was always the first to combat it.
'Hell, I even married the Queen of the Changelings--and left her on the altar when I found out that the Crystal Heart would protect our land,' he mused to himself. 'Yet the ponies of my kingdom still despised me as a dictator, even though what I did was in their best interest. Yeah, I went a little crazy after Gloria...' He stopped his train of thought there as emotions that he had buried tried to resurface. But the one emotion that he failed to keep down again was his desire for revenge against Celestia and Luna, revenge that he would have once he got into Star-Swirl's temple.
'Of course, that means that I'll have to go to Atlantis, which would be the worst choice of my entire life,' he thought with a frown. 'Maybe Trixie and her group of misfits can get it for me so I won't have to go down there myself. Because if they don't, there's no way I am. Not after what they swore to do to me.' His train of thought was interrupted when the door to the shop opened and Trixie ran out, motioning him to follow her. "What's the matter?"
"I was recognized," she said as she ran, the shop owner running out and shouting after her. Within a few moments the two of them had almost reached the gates, but a platoon of guards stood their waiting for her.
"Trixie Lulamoon: Stand down or be met with force," one of the guards said to her as the two ponies skidded to a halt.
"On what charge do you stop me?" she asked defiantly. "There is no warrant or order for my arrest! I am free to go."
"After what you did, not a chance," the guard said as he and the rest of his squad pointed their spears at her. "Now, both of you remove your hoods and stand down." Trixie prepared herself for a fight, but Sombra chuckled to himself as he reached up for his hood.
"Well, since we're already scaring the crap out of them," he said as he flipped down his hood and let his mane flow out, gazing around at all the horrified looks on the ponies' faces as they recognized him. "'Sup?" He smiled as wide as he could, while the ponies of the town began to scream and run in every direction, the guards following suit as they lost their nerve to fight both Trixie AND Sombra. Sombra watched the pandemonium with a grin, but Trixie grabbed him with her magic and dragged him out of the town, only stopping once they were back by the wagon.
"Now why did you have to go and ruin my fun?" he asked her as she glared at him.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" she hissed at him, glaring as he shrugged in response. "You just showed everypony that you're still alive. Now the princesses will come for you!"
"Good. That's what I want," Sombra said in a deadpan voice that caught Trixie off guard. "I don't care if they catch me or not, but after denying me my battle at the Crystal Empire half a year ago, I will take what I can get."
"What do you mean?" Trixie asked him, but he had already walked by her and headed into the wagon, where Trixie followed him with a frown on her face. 'What are you hiding, Sombra? You are not acting in the way that I had read about you,' she thought to herself, but then Sombra's words came back to her.
'Trixie, you can't believe everything you read.' Trixie had thought that it had just been a remark made as a jab at her, but maybe he had been referencing something else. She shook her head as Armora and Starshine welcomed her back while Sombra laid down. Trixie smiled at the two before pulling out the parchment that she had obtained.
"Before I was recognized, I managed to get the last map known that shows the way into the Land of the Titans," Trixie said to Armora and Starshine as she placed the map on her table, allowing the two to look over her shoulder to see. "However, this means that we'll have to go through this place if we want to get to the only entrance."
"What is that place?" Starshine asked.
"The biggest colony of Diamond Dogs known to ponies."
"Well then, let's get going!" he said as he shot up...only to collapse on the floor.
"He needs rest, that's all that will help at this point," Sombra said with a shrug as he took his hoof off Starshine's head and the small foal looked up at Trixie, who was biting her lip in worry. "He may be energetic, but he's still young and needs to take a break every once in a while."
"And here all I've done is drag him all over Equestria," Trixie said with a worry as she tried her magic again, gaining an eye roll from Sombra.
"Rest cannot be created with magic Trixie, he needs time to recover," Sombra said again, this time looking her in the eyes when he did so. "Look, I've worked myself to the point of exhaustion many times, and I've tried every spell in the book to get around it, but it doesn't work. Stop trying."
"N-no, it's okay guys," Starshine said weakly as he tried to get up, but Trixie gently pushed him back down. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."
"Heck no you won't," Sombra replied as he placed his hoof on the foal's head again. "You're burning up. Can't really blame you after all the stress you've been under the past week. Assassins, changelings and angry villagers probably didn't help your nerves, and then you get sick." Armora, who was standing behind Sombra and Trixie, buzzed twice with concern and Sombra shook his head at her. "No, he doesn't need love to recover and you probably shouldn't go into the town...actually, go on in. Scare 'em some more."
"No, I think Sombra's right in saying that you need rest," Trixie said with a sigh as she pulled the blanket that was next to Starshine over him with concerned eyes. "You've been staying so strong for so long, I think you can take some time to rest."
"Are you sure?" Starshine asked.
"Positive," Trixie replied before gently kissing him on the forehead. "Now rest." Starshine tried to argue, but yawned once and almost immediately fell asleep. Trixie extinguished the lights in the wagon and closed the curtains before ushering both Armora and Sombra out of the wagon. "We can't move until he's better. I don't want him to grow any worse."
"It's only a fever, Trixie. I'm certain that we can continue moving along and not have to worry about him getting worse, as long as he's riding," Sombra said with a shrug, but shrunk a bit when he got a death glare from Trixie. Armora buzzed and stood behind Trixie, causing Sombra to roll his eyes as he began to walk away. "Of course you'd take her side," he muttered as he walked under a tree next to a lake and closed his eyes as he lie down. Trixie followed suit and prepared to lie near the surface of the lake, looking into the water for a minute before she walked over to Sombra.
"You never did answer my question," Trixie eventually said to Sombra, who grunted to let her know he was listening. "I asked why you haven't killed me yet, and you said that it would be pointless." Sombra raised an eyebrow at that before drawing the conclusion that Trixie had very good hearing. "Yet, you are more than willing to put up with me so long as it means that you can get into Star-Swirl's temple. What are you after?" Sombra didn't answer her question; he simply looked at the still surface of the water.
"Power," he finally said after a few minutes of silence. "Power to bring down the two princesses of Equestria once and for all, despite them being immortal. The power to end my pain." Trixie tilted her head slightly at his explanation before sitting down next to him, preparing to get some real answers out of him.
"The reason they stopped you, is because you had the ponies of your former empire in chains," she reminded him. "They stopped you so that they could free those trapped under your iron hoof. I know I already said this, but it seems that you keep forgetting."
"There are two sides to every story," Sombra replied as he laid his head down on his fore legs. "I put the ponies in chains in retaliation. I have no regrets about it..." Trixie caught the hesitation in his voice and figured that he was lying. But aside from force, she had no way to make him tell the truth, and she didn't wish to resort to that. But she could try.
"What if I made Armora come over here and force the truth out of you?" Trixie asked him, Armora perking up at the sound of her name. But Sombra just looked at Trixie with no emotion in his eyes, as if daring her to do it. She eventually gave up and sat down with a sigh, ignoring Sombra's little chuckle of victory.
"...Why do you care so much about fixing the mistakes of your past?" Sombra asked her. "You did terrible things, I get that. You also made up for it, but believe you didn't and I get that also. But why do you want to be forgotten? You're arguably one of the more skilled unicorns in the land, ever since Sparkler became a princess." Trixie let out a small laugh at the name Sparkler, but quickly returned to her somber face.
"I robbed ponies of their lives and their homes," she whispered. "I helped create an army of foals that attacked an armed city. By what right should I be remembered? I'm...scum that should be forgotten in the past, where no pony will eve have to recall that pain." Sombra looked at her for a second before he chuckled again.
"Get on with your life Trixie, you can't stay in the past," he said. "If you keep looking back, you'll never see ahead. And then, you might hit something that makes your life even worse."
"I don't need advice from a hypocrite," she shot back with a growl. "I don't know what, but there is something about your past that you're hiding from me that you refuse to let go." Sombra turned towards her with a snarl and rage in his eyes.
"Your pain and mine are two separate entities, Ms. Trixie," Sombra said with venom. "You got off easy."
"Easy?" Trixie asked back. "I have to spend the rest of my life with the sins I committed. How is that easy?"
"You weren't sealed in ice for a thousand years," Sombra replied as he stood up, Trixie doing the same as they glared at each other. "You weren't blown apart barely a day after you came back. You didn't los-...Clever," he said with a smile as he regained control of himself. "Trying to make me talk, by riling up my emotions, are we?" he asked her, smiling when he saw the disappointment in her eyes. "Clever, but you won't get me that way." He lay back down as he said this and closed his eyes, telling Trixie that he was done talking. Trixie growled in frustration as she walked away, but she at least had gotten a small bit of information for her pains.
'Sombra was about to say lose, which meant that he lost something or somepony important to him,' she deduced as she sat down next to the water. 'But that, once again, goes against what I had read about him, since all the stories said that he was a loner that refused the company of others. But what could he have lost that would make him only care about getting revenge on the princesses and not me, despite how I've treated him?' Trixie asked herself, then a small thought came to her. 'Maybe the reason he doesn't tell me, is because of the way I've treated him. He may be...have been evil, but he's still a living being. And here I'm saying that I'm trying to make up for what I did, and I'm treating him how Morgaine treated others. Guess I'm the hypocrite.' Trixie wanted to say something to him, but at that moment all three of them heard the sounds of screams in the distance and turned to see what was happening.
"The town's on fire?" Trixie asked as she saw the burning buildings in the distance from where the screams were coming, wondering how that had happened in such a short time. "Sombra, you and I will head into the town and try to put out the fires. Armora, you..." When Trixie looked over at Armora, she found that the changeling had already gone into the wagon, emerging a moment later in her battle armor and armed to the teeth, buzzing wildly.
"I was afraid of that," Sombra said with a growl. "She says that the other members of the Scourge are in the town and you can guess who they're looking for."
"Us," Trixie responded with both guilt and rage, hating herself for others being hurt because of her.
"Well, me mostly," Sombra said with a smirk as he looked towards the town. "Are you sure you want to help, Trixie? The only reason we beat Armora was because I saw her coming and caught her off guard. There are likely to be more than one this time."
"We have to," Trixie said as she activated a barrier around her wagon before turning and running towards the town. Armora buzzed again at Sombra before she too ran into the town, leaving Sombra to sigh.
"Fine, but don't expect me to bail us out of this when it all goes south," he muttered as he chased after them. The three entered the burning town and immediately saw a group of changelings standing in the street waiting for them. The one in the center of the three buzzed and threw three daggers towards Trixie, but Armora knocked them out of the air with a short sword before Trixie could react. The changeling buzzed in a fury as it glared at Armora. Trixie looked to Sombra to translate.
"He said how dare you betray us, you...don't know that word," he muttered to himself as Armora began to buzz back. "And she responded by calling him what Chrysalis often calls me. So I take it that they're no longer friends, and the changelings are going to try to kill all of us now."
"Great," Trixie said as she fired a beam of ice into one of the changelings, freezing it solid. The other two hissed and drew blades of their own to attack, but once again Armora intercepted their blows for Trixie. "Armora, are you sure you're up to this? You're still not at one hundred percent!" Armora's answer was to swing her sword in a flash and slice the heads off both the changelings, looking towards the stunned Trixie with a smile before she ran off to engage more changelings.
"Okay, she can handle herself," Trixie muttered as she looked at the burning buildings. "Sombra, I'll deal with the buildings, but I want you to get the ponies out of the town."
"You're leaving me to get all of these sweet and helpless ponies out of here?" he asked her with a wild chuckle before running off to find those in trouble. "You never learn!" Trixie rolled her eyes at his words and began to focus her energy on the flames in front of her, using her magic to summon a small storm cloud above the fire. She watched the rain fall onto the house until it was extinguished and then once again used her magic to move the cloud over to the next house. The hardest part was continuing to trick the cloud into thinking that it was Pegasus magic moving it.
"BZZ!" Trixie nearly jumped out of her skin when one of the changelings attacked her from behind, blade aimed at the back of her head.
"RE FI!" The changeling hissed in pain as its body exploded into flames and ran off, leaving Trixie to turn to see who her savior was.
"Starshine?" she asked in confusion as she saw the black colt run up to her, a huge smile on his face that hid some of his weakness well. "What are you doing here? How did you get past the barrier?"
"Because you're always super-specific with your spells," he reminded her with a smile. "You make your barriers so they stop ponies from getting in, not out." Trixie facehoofed at her own stupidity, but at that moment Armora came skidding by on the ground, getting back to her hooves with blood running down the side of her head. With a quick flick of her head Trixie sent the rain cloud over the rest of the buildings while she ran to Armora's side.
"Are you alright?" she asked Armora, who nodded before drawing her blade again, and looked with hatred towards a changeling in front of her. This one was far larger than the others and carried a bloody axe in its teeth, teeth that smiled at the three soon-to-be victims standing next to each other.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" it said in a cold voice that sent chills up Trixie's spine, as she moved Starshine behind her to protect him. The massive changeling was covered in scars and one of its eyes was missing, the slash mark on its shell told Trixie how he had lost it. "A traitor, a criminal and a meal. Oh what a good day this is."
"Wait a minute, I thought Sombra said these guys couldn't talk?" Starshine asked Trixie, who, instead of answering, fired a bolt of electricity at the changeling. The changeling watched the spell approach with a smile before knocking the attack away with his axe, and Trixie noticed the green marking that appeared when the magic impacted the axe.
"Like it?" he asked in a cold tone while he showed the axe to them as he got closer. "It's designed to deal with unicorns like you. Shame Chrysalis didn't have me with her when she invaded Canterlot, but I was off...doing as she bid. But this time there won't be anything that stops me from completing my mission. Nothing." He shot towards them in a burst of speed that Trixie wouldn't have associated with one of his size. Armora leapt up with her blade to intercept him, but he swatted her aside with the butt of his axe, which he then swung at Trixie, who rolled out of the way to avoid being hit.
"What is the matter, Trixie?" he asked her as she fired two more spells at him, snarling as they both were blocked by his axe. "I thought you would be better than this." He slammed into her as he said this and pinned her to the ground with his hoof, allowing her just enough time to realize what was about to happen before he brought the axe down.
"TRIXIE!" Starshine cried as the axe cleaved Trixie in half. His eyes began to water as he collapsed to the ground while the changeling began to laugh over her body.
"That was far too easy," he said with a grin, before screaming in pain as a torrent of ice shards impaled him in his back. Starshine turned to see Trixie standing behind him with a smirk on her face, as she lifted the changeling up and slammed him through a wall.
"Clone," Trixie said as the other her vanished in a flash of magic. "Best way out of any tight spot."
"Very good, you are definitely the prey that I heard you were," he said to her with a smile as he turned to face the two of them. "But I too have a trick up my sleeve." As he said this, a tendril of green energy shot from his horn and wrapped itself around Starshine, dragging the foal over to the changeling faster than Trixie could react. "Now then, here are your options. The two of you can surrender and die. Or I can kill the colt and then you. What will it be?"
"RN BU!" The changeling roared in pain as fire engulfed him all over before another spell slammed into his side and sent him skidding, the break in concentration allowing Starshine to get free. He looked up with rage, to see the one that he had been sent to destroy walking towards him with a smile on his face.
"So, you finally decide to show yourself, fallen king," he growled as Sombra stood a few feet away from him.
"Your one of her special assassins, aren't you?" Sombra asked before smacking the changeling with his hoof. "No need to answer, I already know that it's true. Only those of the Scourge that have served her loyally can speak. Too bad it won't save you."
"I already know that this is my last battle," the changeling said through rough breaths as he looked at the three. "But the Scourge never die alone!" He glowed with an emerald green as he said this before a massive explosion went off, knocking over many of the buildings around them. Trixie threw up a shield around herself on instinct alone, but that did nothing to help the others that had been caught in the blast.
"STARSHINE!" she cried as the dust from the explosion began to clear, tears running down her face as she started to look around for him. "Please be alright! PLEASE BE ALRIGHT!" She could feel the panic rising in her chest as she looked desperately for him, barely noticing the fact that Armora was alive or that Sombra lay in a heap a ways away. All she could do was look for him.
"Oh will you shut up already," Sombra said weakly as he started to get up, bleeding from multiple wounds. "He's right here." Trixie slammed Sombra out of the way as she rushed over to Starshine, who only had minor bumps and bruises.
"Oh, thank Faust," she whispered as she pulled him into a bear hug, letting the tears begin to fall. "Thank Faust you're alive."
"I'm fine, Trixie," Starshine said back as he hugged her in return, while Sombra simply rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for throwing yourself over Starshine to save his life, Sombra," Sombra muttered to himself in a mocking tone. Trixie placed Starshine on her back and used her magic to pick up Armora and Sombra as well with a sigh.
"Come on everypony, let's head back."
/T\
"Stop squirming," Trixie said to Sombra as she tried to apply medicine to his multiple wounds.
"Stop sucking at being a nurse," Sombra shot back, getting a punch in the shoulder for his lip. Trixie had taken them back to the wagon to heal their wounds the best she could and found, much to her relief, that Armora and Starshine's wounds were minor. Armora's shell had been what kept her alive when Sombra had set her ablaze, and it had saved her once again. Starshine was alive on the other hoof because somepony had thrown himself over him. "I'm never going to heal if you keep hitting me. Oh, and thanks for worrying about me back there."
"You've escaped death twice before; I'm certain you could do it again," Trixie said, but without the usual fire in her voice as she looked back over at Starshine, who was bandaging up Armora, despite her not needing them. "I don't get it. Why did you save him?"
"Don't know. Didn't really think about what I was doing when a massive magical blast went off on me," he replied with a shrug that caused one of his wounds to start bleeding again. "Just saw the kid and happened to land on him. Plus, he's the only pony on this wagon that doesn't want me dead. Have to keep him around so you two stay nice." Trixie gave Sombra a soft look, knowing that he was lying to save face. But that didn't stop her from gently hugging him.
"Well, whatever your reasons, thank you," she said gently.
"Yeah, yeah, get off. You're re-opening some of the wounds," he said dismissively, but without any of his usual sarcasm. Trixie rolled her eyes and walked back over to Starshine, but did look back once at Sombra, who had lowered his head and fallen asleep.
'I guess I can't believe everything I read, can I?' she thought to herself before heading back to Starshine. Sombra opened one of his eyes, once she wasn't looking, and let out a sigh that made his whole body hurt. He had known full well that the blast might have blown him apart again, but he hadn't cared. He had already seen too many of those close to him die that way...and he couldn't let it happen again.
"Um, Sombra?" Sombra looked up at Starshine with one eye, the foal looking down at his hooves nervously as he tried to talk. "Um, I'd like to say...Um..."
"You're welcome, kid," Sombra said with a sigh as he rolled over so he could avoid looking at the foal. "Now let me get some sleep, I'm hurting."
"I just wanted to say, thanks," Starshine said. "I guess you're not evil after all. Just an ass." Sombra huffed as Starshine ran back over to Trixie, who was trying to help Armora out of the mummy-like state in which she found herself. Sombra closed his eyes and laid his head down, thinking about what Starshine had said to him.
'You used to say that to me as well, Gloria,' he thought silently as he began to drift. 'But maybe you were right. Maybe.'
"Diamond Dogs, huh?" Sombra said as Trixie slowly lowered the both of them down the hole that, according to her map, was the underground location to where the Diamond Dogs in the area lived. Her wagon would have never made it down this hole. She found the hole difficult to go down even with her magic, and she was once again forced to abandon her home with nothing but a shield to keep it safe. "I haven't come into contact with any of them for at least eight hundred years. Has it really been that long? Wonder if they've gotten smarter?"
"Focus, Sombra. I might need your magic in case this all heads south," Trixie said as she finally saw the bottom of the long hole. The two of them hopped off the circle of magic that Trixie had used to lower them down and looked around, Trixie adjusted her saddle bag on her back with a hint of nervousness in her eyes.
"Why are you worried about some stupid dogs?" Sombra asked with a smirk as he sauntered into the tunnel in front of them. "Diamond Dogs are idiots, and I'm certain that even without my genius I could easily outsmart them. So you'll have nothing to worry about while I'm here."
"I'm worried, because Dimaond dogs in these parts are a lot more vicious and less trusting of ponies than they are in other parts," Trixie explained as her eyes constantly scanned the walls, wary in case any dog tried to sneak up on them. "Especially since the ponies here haven't been the kindest to them."
"And why should we? They're idiotic fools that would rather use their fists than their brains," Sombra said with a roll of his eyes as he continued to walk forward. "Why should we show respect to such ignorant creatures?"
"Maybe because we're in their territory, and your voice echoes in here," Trixie said as she slammed his face into the ground. "Hopefully we'll catch them in a good mood and they'll show us to the entrance of the titans. If not, we'll most likely have to fight our way out of here."
"And that's why you brought me," Sombra said with a frown. "But why not bring Armora? She seems like the kind of fighter I'd want on my side, if I had to go into a lair filled with Diamond Dogs, which I do."
"Because I need her to keep an eye on Starshine and I need your magic," she repeated, causing Sombra to chuckle again.
"You are far too trusting. What makes you think she won't kill him the moment we are gone?" he asked her with a smile as they came to a crossroad, where multiple tunnels headed out in every direction.
"Two reasons. One: because despite her being an assassin, she fended off the other ones when we needed her help," Trixie said as she looked around a corner, not noticing Sombra looked away with a bit of a frown. "Second...let's just say I know that there's somepony watching over the both of them right now. I could sense her power."
"Wait, who would that be?" Sombra asked, but at that moment Trixie decided to begin moving forward, leaving the king to try and catch up with her. She came to a stop beside a large rock and dove behind it, dragging Sombra over to her once he had caught up. "What's up?"
"We're in Diamond Dog territory now," she whispered to him, peeking out from behind the boulder to see five Diamond Dogs clawing at the walls. All five of them were standing by the walls of the circular room, none of them looking their way or even remotely looking around. She assumed by the carts full of gems that they were too busy to notice them and turned to Sombra to whisper to him, but he was standing still with his eyes on wide alert.
"There's a breeze behind us," he whispered to her with a hint of worry, but Trixie raised an eyebrow in confusion. "That means our scent is being blown towards them. That means they know we're here." Just as he said this, one of the dogs turned his nose to the air and began to sniff, spinning around with his eyes darting around the room to seek out the scent.
"There's ponies here," he said to his pack, who also began to sniff the air and narrow their eyes while they picked up on the scent. "Spread out." The pack began to look around the room, leaving Trixie and Sombra precious little time to think up a plan.
"Fight or flight?" Sombra whispered to her, flinching when he saw one of the dog's ears flick in his direction. Trixie thought about their choices and figured that they could either go back and avoid a confrontation or fight their way through these dogs.
'And since I want to come in peace, I don't think that fighting is going to be beneficial,' she thought to herself before sharing her thoughts with Sombra, who begrudgingly agreed. The two of them then quietly turned and began to go back the other way, but a howl from that direction caused both of them to stop in their tracks.
"Oh Faust, help us," Trixie muttered to herself as she and Sombra both began to back away, while more Diamond Dogs began to walk down the path towards them.
"Didn't think of you as a believer in fairy tales," Sombra quipped as the dogs behind them howled as well, letting the both of them know that they were trapped.
"There are ponies here. Two ponies!" one of the dogs hissed as the five in the room began to move towards them, while three more advanced down the corridor towards them from the front. "Grab the ponies, capture them!"
"So, since we can no longer flee, does that mean we fight?" Sombra asked Trixie, a number of spells on the tip of his tongue.
"Maybe if we explain why we're here, we can get out of this without a fight," Trixie said as she walked forward to the dog that had a gemstone collar around his neck. "Hold on a moment, we are not here to trespass. We wish to talk."
"We no listen to ponies. We know that ponies' words are lies!" the dog said with a snarl as he threw his head back and let loose a howl into the caverns. "We grab all ponies and make them look for gems. And if they can't look, then we simply take them to the destroyer."
"I am not lying to you. The only reason we are here is because-" Trixie tried to explain before another howl reached their ears.
"Trixie, we have a problem," Sombra said as he looked behind them to see about ten more dogs show up to support their pack. "If we don't start blasting soon we might not get another chance!" Trixie thought about the situation they were in, and knew that she should start fighting, that her only chance to get out of there was to attack them.
'No Trixie, that was the old you,' she thought to herself as she stood her ground. "We are here to go to the Land of the Titans!" Much to the surprise of both Trixie and Sombra, these words stopped the Diamond Dogs dead in their tracks and they looked at the two ponies with both confusion and dread. "I know that the location is somewhere down here, but I have no idea where. I came in peace. I hope that you would be able to show me where it is." The Diamond Dogs began to murmur amongst themselves, leaving Trixie and Sombra to watch on nervously. Eventually the dog with the gem-studded collar walked up to her with a snarl.
"We take you to see leader of pack. But if you try any magic, we will crush you." Sombra looked at Trixie with a frown as she agreed, and the two of them were both ushered down one of the tunnels into another one. He waited until the dogs behind and in front of them weren't paying attention before he quickly whispered to her,
"Are you sure about this? You said yourself that the curs around here really don't like us."
"Any act of aggression against them would only worsen the matter and most likely bring the whole pack down on our heads," she whispered back as the two of them entered an area that was filled with hollowed-out dirt mounds that looked like homes. "So you really think we could take an entire colony of Diamond Dogs by ourselves?" Sombra snarled but kept his mouth shut as they were moved through what they assumed to be where the Diamond Dogs all lived, since the homes became more frequent in nature and a large number of dogs could be seen watching them as they passed through.
"Ponies? Here?"
"We thought we were safe?"
"Kill them both."
Trixie didn't like the way the dogs were talking, but her thoughts were distracted by a massive structure that she could only assume was where the main dog lived. It was a palace made of mud and stone, that wouldn't even have been called a palace in the land above, and the only reason she considered it one was because of how much better it looked than all the other buildings. The gates to the building were pulled open by two dogs with their ribs showing and chains around their necks. Trixie cast Sombra a look of confusion that he responded to with a shrug of his shoulders. Inside of the palace was a single massive room where a giant Diamond Dog sat on a throne that was made of bones, bones that both Sombra and Trixie noticed looked an awful lot like ponies' bones.
"So, more ponies down in lair where they don't belong?" the Diamond Dog asked with a smile as he sauntered down from the throne to get a better look. He had a large number of scars on his face and his jaws had blood on them. Sombra looked at his eyes and saw a coldness in them that even he didn't have. "What foolish ponies doing in the home of the mighty Snarl?"
"They say that they are here to go the Land of the Titans," the dog behind Trixie said with fear, causing Snarl to look at both of them with hate.
"No pony will be allowed in the Land of the Titans," he said with an growl and he let out a howl, causing a large number of Diamond Dogs in a greyish armor to come running into the room. "Not as long as Snarl is king. Guards! Take them away!"
"I take it we fight now?!" Sombra asked as the guards began to surround the two of them. In answer, Trixie blasted the ground underneath one of the dog's feet and sent him flying into the ceiling. "Brief and to the point. I like it! RE FI!" Sombra smiled as black flames erupted from the ground and consumed the Diamond Dogs, but his glee turned to shock as he realized the armor that the dogs were wearing was somehow negating his magic. "Trixie, something's wrong. Their armor is cancelling out my magic! EZE FRE!" he roared again as ice formed around the dogs, but the armor shattered the spell once it had come into contact.
"Don't attack them directly. Use the environment against them," she said quickly as she ripped a chunk of rock out of the wall and slammed it into two dogs that had tried to attack her. Sombra followed suit by having the ground beneath some of the dogs swallow them up, causing him to smile before something hit him in the side of the head. He grunted and looked down at the greyish material that hit the ground, realization dawning on him a moment before another piece hit Trixie in the head.
"Do they really think throwing rocks will be enough?" Trixie asked Sombra with a smile before she realized that none of her spells were working. "What did they do to me? Why isn't my magic-?"
"Because they hit us with anti-source material," Sombra said as he resigned himself to defeat by sitting down with a sigh. "It's a material that cancels out magic that it comes into contact with."
"How long?" Trixie asked as the Diamond Dogs began to swarm them.
"Depending on the exposure, it can range from a few minutes to permanent loss of magic," Sombra said as Trixie tried to fight against the dogs, but he allowed himself to have chains placed on his neck, biting his lip as he felt the draining power of the anti-source. Trixie fell as three dogs tackled her to the ground, placing a collar on her as well.
"To the special pony dungeon with them," Snarl said with a wicked grin as both Trixie and Sombra were dragged off, smiling as he watched them go. "Oh, I hope they are good workers. Or at the very least, I hope they taste good." He began to snicker to himself as he turned back to his throne, imagining the meal that he would have later.
/T\
"No. Stop. Give it back," Sombra said in a bored voice as the Diamond Dog that had been escorting the two ponies to the dungeon of the castle ripped off the collar that Trixie had forced him to wear. It snarled at him before staring in amazement at the emeralds on the collar, slamming the cage cell behind it as it walked off. "How do I keep ending up in cages?" Sombra asked himself as he looked at the grey bars. "A cage of ice, a cage in the Changeling Empire; I'm actually beginning to feel at home here."
"Enough of your jokes. We need to get out of here," Trixie said as she tried to use her magic, but the anti-source prevented her from doing so. Sombra watched her try for a few minutes before he shook his head and laid down.
"Give up. We can't use our magic, so unless you can punch through solid rock, we're stuck. You're better off conserving your strength."
"How can I give up?" she growled at him as she kicked the bars with her hind legs, only to stagger back while wincing. "Every second I'm in here I can feel my magic beginning to slip away! We need to get out!"
"Yes, because it's so terrible to be a unicorn and not able to use magic," Sombra said sarcastically, causing Trixie to walk over to him with a snarl. "If we had simply killed the dogs back when we first entered, we wouldn't be in this mess," he quickly added.
"I don't like resorting to killing if I don't have to," Trixie said as she sat down on the ground, panting heavily as she continued to feel her magic slip away.
"I don't know what to make of you," he said with a sigh of frustration. "You say that you are trying to make up for what you did when you worked with Morgaine, but from what I heard, the ponies that were most affected have already forgiven you for your wrongdoings. You also say that you want to help ponies in need, but you actively avoid towns and places that ponies need help. What is your real goal, Trixie?" Trixie closed her eyes and laid down next to Sombra, remaining quiet for a few minutes before she decided to answer.
"I just want to be forgotten," she answered in a sad voice. "I have done nothing to benefit others in my life, and everything I seem to do just ends up getting others hurt. I almost got you and Starshine killed when we went to Chrysalis's land, and now we probably will die here. I just bring pain wherever I go. I'm just a monster."
"Fair point, but Starshine told me that you had helped him off the streets and gave him a home," Sombra reminded her. "And let's not forget that when you found me, I was having my insides re-arranged by a monster. Saved my life there. So I find it funny that the only ponies that don't see you as a monster, are the ones that society have deemed monsters themselves." Trixie raised her head and looked at Sombra with some confusion on her face.
"And what about you? From what I read in the books, you are supposed to be the most evil pony in all of Equestria," she said. "You've had plenty of chances to kill me and take everything I have, especially since you can use spoken magic. But from what I've seen from having you along with us, you just seem...bitter and lost." Sombra closed his eyes and rolled onto is side so that he wasn't directly facing Trixie.
"Like I said, you can't believe everything you read," he responded quietly. "As for why I haven't killed you...what would be the point? Yeah, I kill you and take your wagon, but what would it matter? I would be no closer to my goal and I would have to travel Equestria hoping that the princesses didn't find me before I was ready."
"Ready for what?"
"To bring them down," Sombra said with venom. "But since a direct battle against the princesses is suicide, I needed to find another way to hurt them, another way to get back at them. But with Twilight and the Elements being almost as strong as the princesses, I can't fight them."
"So that's what you want to find in the temple of Star-Swirl?" Trixie asked. "A way to get back at the princesses? But all they did was stop you when you were a tyrant and ruled over the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof. You got what you deserved, if you ask me." Sombra grunted but was saved from responding further by a coughing that could be heard from the next cell over. "Who's there?" Trixie asked.
"Like your friend in your cell, only a relic of the past that is hoped to be forgotten," an old voice responded.
"Great, more riddles," Trixie said with a growl. "A name would be helpful."
"I am Bark, the former leader of this pack of Diamond Dogs," the voice responded, causing Sombra to lift his head in surprise.
"So by former leader, do you mean that you got too old and it was time to retire, leader? Or is this, they throw you off the throne and take over the kingdom for myself kind of leader?" The dog in the other room chuckled, which was followed by some coughing.
"Both, if you can believe it," he responded with a dry chuckle. "See, I'm a blind dog, so I am considered weak by my fellow pack members, and as much as they loved me, they figured it as time for a new pack leader. I was all for it, but I was not happy with the choice that they selected to replace me."
"And I take it that Snarl wasn't happy about you not supporting him?" Sombra guessed.
"You have it. So for too many days to count, I've been kept in this dungeon, barely given enough food and water to survive," he said with a sigh. "So why were the two of you caught in here? I thought that I tried to make it clear to ponies, during my rule, that they shouldn't be down here."
"We came here looking for the entrance to the Land of the Titans," Trixie responded, gaining her a small chuckle from Bark.
"The Land of the Titans...oh, how I have so long awaited to go to that place," Bark said with another laugh. "But you have wasted your time and quite possibly your lives. The door cannot be opened unless Star-Swirl himself does it. See, back when he came here to speak with the Titans, the dogs in the area were none to kind with him. So he cast a spell on the door to the land so that only he or one that he deemed worthy could open it, and he told the dogs to keep an eye on it. But over the years they have become very protective of the gate, deeming it the promised land that they cannot reach. The dogs may be the gatekeepers, but they do not have the key."
"Great, so this was a bust," Sombra said with a growl as he turned to face Trixie. "So, any last-second plan on getting us out of here?"
"The only plan I have right now is that a certain somepony is going to tell Starshine and Armora what happened," Trixie said as she watched the air across the bars shimmer with silver before returning to normal. "Until then, we do as you suggest and wait."
"Great, the one time she listens to me and it's in here," Sombra muttered as Trixie and Bark began to speak again, but he rested his head against the wall and tried to feel the magic in him as it slowly grew harder to grasp. 'But the more that I think about it, maybe it's best that I'm stopped here. After all, I would never be able to go to Atlantis. Not after last time.'
"They've been gone quite a long time," Starshine muttered with a sigh as he watched Armora walk across the ceiling, which was actually the floor, considering Starshine was laying on his back out of boredom. "I wish that they had taken us with them. It's boring and lonely being here." Armora buzzed a bit at this and while Starshine couldn't understand her words, he figured that he had either offended her or was bothering her. "Sorry Armora, I just hate being left behind." Armora nodded as Starshine rolled back to his hooves and ran to the window, hoping to see if either were coming back.
"I didn't think Diamond Dogs were so dangerous," he muttered as he pressed his face to the glass. "I know that they're mean, but I didn't think they would kill any ponies that entered their lair...you think Sombra and Trixie are alright?" He looked to Armora as she said this and she shrugged in response before spinning around, drawing her blade as she looked around the room. "What's the matter Armora?" Strarshine asked her as she ran over. "What...?" He stopped talking when he saw a familiar pony sitting on one of the couches, looking around the room with her face hidden.
'Hello again, Starshine,' she said to him. The eeriness of her voice and the fact that her mouth never moved made Starshine back away a bit. 'I am sorry that my appearance startles you, but it is much easier to speak to you like this instead of my other form.'
"Why are you here?" Starshine asked before yelping, as Armora threw her blade right through the silver mare's head. Armora snarled and pulled her blade out of the wall, narrowing her eyes as she looked around the room.
'I keep forgetting just how sensitive the changelings can be,' the silver mare muttered as Armora looked right through her. 'Even though she cannot see or hear me, she is still aware of my presence.'
"Um, you're that silver pony that Trixie and I met back in the forest, right?" Starshine asked as he placed a hoof under his chin, causing the silver mare to chuckle lightly as Armora noticed where Starshine was looking.
'The one and the same,' she said with a hidden smile. 'But I did not come here to speak to you. Can you inform me where Trixie is? I cannot seem to sense her with my magic and that...worries me.' She moved her head slightly as Armora reached out to touch her, causing the changeling to frown as she looked at her empty hoof. Starshine looked at the silver mare with confusion as she continued to toy with Armora, much to the increasing frustration of the changeling.
"Wait a minute, you mean you don't know where she is?" Starshine asked as he tilted his head.
'I thought that I had made that clear, but no, I do not,' the silver mare said as she sent a small silver orb out the front door, Armora chasing after it with her blade drawn.
"But, aren't you like a god or something?" Starshine asked her once the silver mare closed the door behind Armora, chuckling again as Armora started to try and kick the door down. "And why'd you lock Armora out?"
'Forgive me, I was a bit of a prankster in my youth,' she said as she opened the door again with her magic and watched as Armora can barreling in. 'And no, I am not a god. I am powerful, but only in certain ways. In other ways, I am helpless. Now I will ask again, where is Trixie...and Sombra for that matter?'
"The two of them went down into the lair of the Diamond Dogs," Starshine said as he pointed towards the window to a cave. "But that was a few hours ago and I'm starting to get worried." Starshine never saw the silver mare's eyes narrow, but he did watch her quickly stand up and give off a blinding flash. The moment the flash had ended Armora leapt at her, but the changeling's blade passed right through the mare.
'I have no desire to fight you, but I do have something to tell you,' the silver mare said to the changeling, who narrowed her eyes in response. 'Trixie and Sombra are in danger. I know because I cannot sense them and there are only a hoofful of items that can prevent me from doing so. One I would know if he were here, and the other is an ally of mine, so that can only leave the material called 'anti-source.' And if it is...' she muttered as she sent her magic into the ground, frowning when it hit a massive deposit of the material.
"Wait, what's anti-source?" Starshine asked as he ran up, but Armora held out an arm to stop him.
'Anti-source is a material that can nullify any kind of magic that it comes into contact with,' the silver mare explained quickly as she looked to Armora. 'And since both Trixie and Sombra are magic users, it is safe to assume that they are in danger. I can feel your emotions and it seems that you have aligned yourself with Trixie, so I assume you are willing to fight for her. You must rescue the two of them. This and other worlds depend on it.'
"What about you? Will you help us?" Starshine asked.
'I am made of magic and the stones down there naturally cancel out magic. I will be of no use to you,' the mare said with a sigh. 'But at the least, I can watch the wagon for you.' Armora looked at the silver mare with suspicious eyes, not sure if she could trust the mare or not.
"Come on Armora, we have to help Trixie and Sombra!" Starshine yelled as he ran out the front door of the wagon. Armora let out an annoyed buzz and raced out the door after him, stopping only for a minute to look back at the mare one last time before she took off. The silver mare closed her eyes and sat down as the door closed behind them, lowering her hood to let her mane flow down to the floor.
'And once again I am powerless to help those who need me,' she said with rage hidden in her voice. She then sighed again and stroked her hoof back to move her mane, placing her hoof on the tiny golden lightning bolt on the back of her neck. 'Even you.'
/T\
Armora watched from the shadows as the two Diamond Dogs walked past them, none of her muscles moving an inch until she was certain they were gone. Once they were, she released Starshine and switched her body from a rock to normal. She then motioned for the foal to follow her as she crept along the walls. If she had learned anything about Trixie in the time they had been together, it was that Trixie hated to waste time, so Armora assumed that she would have gone right to the base of the dogs as planned.
"Is that it?" Starshine whispered to her, as both he and Armora came out of one of the tunnels to see a number of houses that were centered around a palace of sorts. Armora quickly pushed the foal behind a pile of rocks before turning herself invisible, watching as another pack walked by them. "So, where do you think the dogs are keeping Trixie and Sombra?" he asked her. Armora buzzed, but when Starshine looked at her in confusion, she whipped out her blade and began to write in the dirt.
'In Chyrsalis' Castle, prisoners were kept under the castle in the dungeon. I assume that's where we'll find them.'
"Okay then, let's go," Starshine said as he tried to rush out, but Armora grabbed him and pushed him back, shaking her head as she moved forward on her own. Only when she was certain the way was clear did she wave Starshine over. She figured their best bet was to move between houses when the dogs weren't looking and even though it took a while, they were slowly able to make their way closer and closer to the castle.
'Stay here,' she wrote in the dirt before changing herself almost invisible again, slowly moving towards the castle entrance. She had to be wary of the dogs' sense of smell, because while her transformations hid her appearance, they did not cover her scent. The palace only had two large, but dumb looking guard dogs protecting the entrance, and she figured that getting by them would be easy enough. She slipped behind them with ease and then picked up a stone, which she threw into a trash can in the distance.
"What that?" one of the dogs said as he looked over. "Should we see what that is?"
"No, you heard orders. No leave spot," the other one said as he went back to looking ahead. Armora frowned as she heard this, figuring that the dogs would have run off at the sound. They must've been better trained than she thought. 'Well,' she mused, 'the hard way it is.' She slipped behind one of the two dogs and waited until the other moved its head, so that its partner was out of its field of vision before she wrapped her hooves around the dog's neck and dragged it behind the rocks, where she choked it out. She wasn't quick enough, though, to get the other dog before it turned to where its partner was no longer.
"Hey, where you go?" it asked before it reached down for the horn on its hip. He never reached it, though, because a blade shot out from behind the rocks and struck the dog in the throat, causing it to claw at its throat as it fell off to the side. Armora came out from behind the rocks and quickly retrieved her blade, making a buzzing sound that was a call for Starshine to join her.
"So, you got past the guards?" Starshine asked as he came running up from behind a building, not noticing the dogs to the sides of the gates. Armora nodded as she pulled on the chains to open the gate, slipping inside with Starshine before the gates closed. Armora drew her blade as she looked around the empty chamber, trying to figure out where to go. "Shouldn't we go down? That seems like the kind of place that they would keep a dungeon." Armora nodded as she moved towards the first tunnel she saw going down. Starshine followed her as silently as he could as they both descended, noticing that it was getting darker and darker as they did so. With a flick of her horn Armora cast a small green light that lit the way slightly, but all of her other senses were focused around her.
"Wait, I think I see something," Starshine said as he moved past Armora and ran into the light in the distance. Armora hissed in frustration and ran after him, but she heard him shriek before she exited the tunnel.
"Another snack running around down here?" the dog said as she rounded the corner just in time to see the dog pick up Starshine and dangle him over its mouth. In a blur she threw her blade right into the Diamond Dog's throat, causing it to drop Starshine as it collapsed to the floor in a pool of its own blood. Starshine looked at the bleeding dog with horror in his eyes as Armora walked over and pulled the blade from its throat, wiping the blood off her blade on the dog's vest.
"That...was brutal," he said in a soft whisper when Armora pulled him back to his hooves as she moved forward, on alert for any dogs that might have heard Starshine's yelp. "So...do you think Trixie is down here?" Armora smiled as she looked down a tunnel to see a row of cages, motioning for Starshine to follow as she ran to them. But her joy faded as she looked inside the first of the cages, to only see a pile of bones. She looked through the other three cages as well only to have the same results. She made sure to move Starshine along quickly past a cage that had two unicorn skulls in it, just in case it was the worst.
"I think I see more cages down there," Starshine said as he squinted his eyes to look down the poorly lit tunnel. Armora nodded and moved forward with her blade in her teeth, peeking out from around the corner to see who was in the room. "TRIXIE!!" Starshine yelled in joy as he ran by Armora and up to the cage where Trixie and Sombra were both laying on the floor. "Something's wrong with them! Get the cage open!" Armora slid her blade into the lock and twisted it once, snapping the lock off the cage and allowing it to swing open. Starshine ran inside to Trixie's side, but then began to wobble a bit.
"Ugh, I feel weird," he muttered as Armora helped him pull Trixie and Sombra out of the cage. "Like, the bars of the cell were weakening me or something. Come on Trixie, wake up." It took a few minutes, but eventually both Trixie and Sombra groaned and got up, both of them looking ragged. "Thank Faust you're alright!" Starshine said as he tackled Trixie, who fell over.
"Starshine?...What are you and Armora doing here?" she asked in confusion as she tried to shake the cobwebs from her head. "I thought that the silver...?"
"She's the one who told us you two were trapped," Starshine said as he let go of Trixie, cracking up a bit as Sombra fell over behind him. "So we came down to rescue you."
"And you got past all the guards?" Trixie asked as Starshine helped her up.
"What guards? There was only like, two or three." Trixie looked worried about that, since the last thing she remembered before passing out was that there were a large number of guards moving throughout the castle. What happened to all of them? "Come on, we need to get the two of you out of here," Starshine said as Armora moved Sombra onto her back, making sure he was as uncomfortable as she could make him.
"Hold on...there's....somepony else we need to get," Trixie said as she pointed to the cell next to theirs. "We need to set something right." Armora dumped Sombra off her back before sticking her blade into the lock and snapping it off, helping the prisoner out of the cell.
"Thank you for your help, my friend," the older dog said to her with a thin smile before he started sniffing the air. "I can smell it, the other members of the pack are preparing the feast. If we leave now we may be able to sneak past them."
"Or, we can use this opportunity as a chance to help you reclaim your throne," Sombra said as he picked himself off the floor, glaring at Armora who shrugged innocently. "If we leave the throne in the claws of that buffoon, then we can bet that he will continue to run your pack into the ground. And if you really are the king you said you are, then you wouldn't let that happen, would you?" Bark smiled at Sombra as he looked into Sombra's eyes, not able to see them, but somehow Sombra felt he could still see him.
"You know of the pain I am in, and have found yourself in a similar situation as to the one I find myself in, King Sombra?" Bark asked him. "It is not an easy place to be in."
"You have no idea," Sombra said with a shake of his head as he headed for the exit. "Well, with or without you, I will be going out to stop Snarl...Jerk deserves it after he locked me up."
"Oh very well, I will help you to stop him," Bark said with a sigh as he got down on all fours and started to move forward, navigating the room with the utmost precision.
"How are you doing that?" Starshine asked as he ran up alongside the former king. "I thought you were blind?"
"Oh, I am blind," Bark said as he looked back and smiled. "But that doesn't mean I can't see." Trixie, Armora and Sombra followed the dog as they moved through the tunnel, heading back to the castle above. Once they were in the main room again, Fang lead the two of them through multiple tunnels and pathways that they would have never found themselves. Eventually they came to the end of a tunnel that was a dead end, causing Sombra to smirk.
"This is what we get for letting the blind guy lead us. A dead end." Bark turned to Sombra with a smile on his face and Sombra shivered a bit as he felt the blind eyes looking through him again.
"Like I said, I can still see. And I am not the only blind one here," he said as he pressed a paw on a brick, stepping back with another smile as the wall moved to the side to reveal a passageway. "This will lead us to the main hall where the pack is. There we will find Snarl." The group followed the grey dog into the path as they each began to prepare for what might be on the other side. "I can smell them and there are a lot of them. This may be the last chance for us to escape."
"Please, I never flee from a battle unless I'm certain that I can't win," Sombra said as he moved past the dog and headed towards the exit. "And I always win!"
"I've read about gods less arrogant," Trixie said with a sigh as she moved past Bark as well, Armora following suit.
"Come on, let's go get your kingdom back," Starshine said with a smile as he walked past Bark.
"The four of you are really ready to risk everything to help a stranger?" Bark asked with disbelief.
"Well, I don't know about Sombra, but Trixie loves to help others," Starshine said as he ran ahead. "I don't think there's anypony she won't help." Bark smiled at this as he followed the young colt to the end of the tunnel. The two of them came to a stop there next to the others, who were overlooking the hall where a massive number of Diamond Dogs were all eating and drinking, with Snarl sitting on a throne at the end of the room.
"Alright, here's the plan," Trixie said as Armora and Starshine moved closer to her. "Armora will sneak up on the ceiling while I use my magic to get behind Snarl. Sombra-"
"HEY ASSHOLE!" Trixie slammed her hoof into her face as the sounds of screaming and barking reached their ears, followed by the sounds of Sombra yelling his magic words with explosions quickly following. Trixie growled about what an idiot he was, as she and Armora jumped down to join in the battle while Starshine and Bark watched from above.
"What be this?!" Snarl roared before a chair thrown by Sombra caught him in the face.
"This be ursurping!" Sombra yelled back as he threw himself into the king, knocking him off the throne and to the floor. "You're a terrible ruler, killing and eating ponies while using your pack as your personal slaves. You make me look good by comparison." Snarl snarled and swiped at Sombra, who dove out of the way. "And that's really hard to do. You must suck at being a leader!"
"I swear, he does this just to hear himself talk," Trixie said with a roll of her eyes as she blasted a number of dogs away from her, while Armora separated some of the dogs' heads from their bodies. Armora buzzed in response and Trixie shook her head. "I still don't know what you're saying." Armora tackled Trixie out of the way as a number of stones were thrown at them. "Thanks," Trixie muttered as she looked at the anti-source that had barely missed her. The two of them looked around as more dogs began to run into the room, surrounding the two of them. Sombra wasn't doing much better, as Snarl had him by the throat and was choking the life out of him.
"Armora, if I fall I want you to take Starshine and get him out of here," Trixie said, but Armora placed herself in front of Trixie and motioned for her to leave instead. Trixie smiled and stood beside Armora, both of them ready to fight to the end. However...
"That is enough!" All of the Diamond Dogs gasped as Bark lowered himself down from the secret tunnel, looking at all of his pack with sad eyes as he began to move forward. The dogs parted before him as walked towards Snarl, who dropped Sombra to the floor as he began to move towards the former king.
"Why you here?" Snarl asked in rage. "You no king now. I leader of pack. I king!"
"You're no king. You took the throne through force, killed all who tried to stop you or disagreed with you," Bark said with complete disappointment in his voice as he closed his eyes. "But that is my fault. I should have raised you better. I am the one who failed you. So in turn you failed the kingdom."
"You failed this kingdom with your weakness!" Snarl roared as he charged towards Bark, both claws raised over his head. Bark opened his eyes as he leapt into the air and struck a single mighty blow to the face of Snarl, bringing the dog down with a thud.
"But that doesn't mean I still don't love you," Bark said with sorrow as he looked down at the unconscious dog. "You'll always be my little pup." Bark then looked over at all the dogs who were watching them, waiting to see what would happen next. "Snarl has failed you as a king. Therefore, he is no longer leader of this pack. A new leader must be chosen! But it will not be me...I have failed you as well. I am the one who kept the tradition of killing any pony that came here, but I have been shown mercy and compassion by those who we hated. So when a new leader is chosen, it must not be one who will make the same mistakes of the leaders of the past, but a leader who looks to the future. That is your choice to make." The Diamond Dogs all began to leave the room, most of them holding their heads in confusion.
"What will happen to him?" Trixie asked as they looked down at Snarl.
"He will be imprisoned from his crimes," Bark said with a sad sigh. "Can I ask you to take him down to the dungeon. I do not know if I could bear it." Trixie nodded and motioned for Armora and Starshine to follow her. Only after the room had been completely emptied, besides for Sombra and Bark, did Sombra finally ask the question he had been holding in.
"So, what do you mean I am blind?" Bark turned to face Sombra with his teary eyes. "And I know that you were talking about me, because the other three are far too foolish to notice the hint. That was a direct shot at me, wasn't it?"
"Yes, I was speaking of you," Bark said as he sat down next to Sombra. "As for what I meant, I meant that you are blind in a metaphorical sense. You refuse to see what is going on around you, and you let what has happened in the past blind you to those in the present."
"The hell does that mean?" Sombra growled, but Bark had gotten back up and began to leave, looking back at Sombra one last time.
"I cannot open your eyes for you, that is something you must do," Bark said as he walked away. "But I tell you this because you have similar eyes to mine. You have experienced a heartbreak that shattered your life." Sombra narrowed his eyes as the dog walked away from him, knowing exactly what he was speaking about.
Trixie and those who were with her were welcomed, by Bark, to recover in the castle for a few days, which they all graciously accepted. During that time, the Diamond Dogs had all voted on a new pack leader to rule them, and this one, named Razor, was approved by both the pack and by Bark. Bark had informed the group after the election that Razor would try to make peace with the ponies above again, but given the track records of the dogs and ponies with each other, he didn't expect it to go well.
"At least they're going to try," Trixie said as she rested against the edge of the underground hot spring in which she sat, closing her eyes as she felt it take her pain away. "I'm just glad that we all made it through that battle. I hate fighting Diamond Dogs." Armora buzzed twice and once again Trixie found she had no idea what she was saying. As much as she hated asking Sombra for help, she figured that it was time he taught her how to understand changeling.
"She's asking if you've fought Diamond Dogs before," Sombra said as he walked by, causing Trixie to roll her eyes at him.
"I thought I made it clear, that this round was for mares only," she growled.
"Trust me, I'm trying not to look at you as much as I can. I'd hate to lose my lunch," he shot back with a smile as he slipped into the pool as well, wincing as the water seeped into his wounds. "Oh, it stings, but it's so worth it."
"Where's Starshine?" Trixie asked him. "I thought I left you in charge of him." Armora buzzed and Sombra chuckled at whatever she said, making Trixie even angrier.
"She said, it was stupid of you to trust him to me," Sombra translated. "Don't worry, he's just practicing the 'spoken word' in a room full of rocks, just one room over from ours. If he manages to set anything on fire in there, I'll be impressed." Trixie sighed, but leaned her head back, trying her best to relax. After weeks of going at full speed she needed a break, especially with what was coming up.
"Well, I suppose it's best that you're here, since I need to talk to the both of you about where we're going next."
"You're going to try to get to the Land of the Titans, I know," Sombra said as he submerged himself further. "But you can't get in there. I checked out the door a few nights ago and it is sealed with a magic that even I can't get through. Star-Swirl made it specifically for him. What makes you think you can get in there?"
"I've come this far, so I'm not going to back down now," Trixie said before sitting up as she heard an explosion in the other room. "I'll be right back." She got out of the spring and ran out of the room, while Sombra looked at the exit to see flames coming out of the next room.
"You actually did it," Sombra said with a chuckle as Trixie and a smoking Starshine came back in the room. "How did you manage to set rocks on fire?" Trixie shushed Sombra as she placed Starshine in the springs with them, watching with a small smile as he began to splash around for fun.
"Hey Trixie, Star-Swirl's secret temple is said to be able to grant the wish of anypony that goes in there, right?" Starshine asked.
"Yes; legend says that whoever manages to make it into the temple of Star-Swirl, will have whatever they need most given to them," Trixie replied.
"Then, what are all of you going to wish for once we get inside?" Starshine asked them. Trixie and Armora both had to think about theirs, but Sombra smirked instead.
"Power," he said with a smile. "The power to defeat the two princesses that took everything away from me. The power to do anything."
"I hope you realize that I'm not going to let you make your wish then," Trixie said before placing a hoof under her chin. "I honestly have no idea what I'll wish for, but I'll figure it out before then. How about you Armora?" Armora buzzed with a sinister smile at Sombra and he rolled his eyes with a snarl.
"Come on, you're no longer a servent of Chrysalis. What would be the point of wishing that upon me?" he asked her. Armora buzzed again and Sombra muttered something under his breath, causing the water Armora was in to change to ice.
"Alright, break it up you two," Trixie said as she melted the ice, helping the shivering changeling out of the water. "What about you Starshine? What are you going to wish for?"
"To see my family again," he said softly. "I know that they said they didn't want me, but I'd still like to see them again. Just once." Trixie pulled Starshine into a hug before levitating him onto her back While she helped Armora out of the room. Sombra sighed as he leaned back in the spring, looking down at the water in front of him as it reminded him of the next temple after this one.
'It's not like I'm going to get my wish anyway, not with Trixie watching over me and with what the Atlantians said they'd do...or rather what their leader said they'd do to me,' he thought to himself as he looked at the water. His eyes widened and he shot out of the water while he began to look around the room, drawing the attention of Trixie from the other room.
"Hurry up Sombra, we're going to head to the gate soon," she said as she walked by the room, leaving Sombra to look at the water with a shake of his head, figuring that he must be seeing things.
'After all, why would a silver pony be in the spring?' he asked himself with a smile as he walked off to join the others.
/T\
Trixie and her group walked through the castle where just a few days earlier they had been fighting for their lives, but now it was filled with dogs who would wave to them, or at the very least move out of their way. While Sombra was right at home with this kind of behavior, Trixie felt uncomfortable with it, since she had been shown so little gratitude, or just actually friendliness, in the past ten years. They eventually made their way to the throne room of the palace, where a massive door stood behind the throne. Next to it stood Bark, who smiled at them as he heard them approach.
"Thank you for coming quickly; I wanted to make this meeting private," he said as Trixie looked up at the door in amazement. She could feel the power of the magic that protected it, and she could also feel the eerie power that flowed through the cracks in it.
"It is no problem. This is why we are here, after all," Trixie responded. "Thank you for helping us with the Diamond Dogs. Things may not have gone so smoothly if you hadn't taken control of the situation when you did."
"If we had just fought our way in the first time," Sombra muttered under his breath, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Armora as he did so. Trixie nodded to the rest of the group and they began to move towards the door, but Bark cleared his throat to gain their attention.
"Actually, I was wondering if I could ask a favor in...repayment for my help," he said nervously.
"What kind of favor?" Trixie asked with a hint of suspicion.
"I have wanted to visit the Land of Titans all my life, but I have never been able to, due to the door being shut," he said. "So if you do manage to open it..."
"You want us to take you," Trixie finished for him, already thinking it over in her head. She owed Bark, not only her life, but also the life of everypony and changeling with her, something that she thought she would never be able to repay. But if this was all he was asking for as repayment, she would normally accept right away. However, the Land of Titans was said to have been sealed off, due to the Titans in the land being insanely dangerous. She had already considered leaving Starshine behind, so she wasn't comfortable with taking a blind Diamond Dog with them as well.
"Alright, it's a deal," Sombra said with a smile as he shook the dog's claws, snapping Trixie out of her thoughts.
"That is not your decision to make," she hissed at him.
"Oh, thank you so much Trixie, this means the world to me!" Bark said with such gratitude in his voice that Trixie couldn't find herself able to take back what Sombra had agreed to.
"Fine, but I want you to know what you're getting into here," Trixie said in a low voice as she looked around at all of them. "The Titans are said to be dangerous creatures that destroy any that enter their land--with no remorse. I hesitate to bring any of you except Sombra in here because of the risk of death," she said seriously, getting a sarcastic laugh from Sombra in the process. "Alright then, first things first: How do we open this door?"
"Legend says that only Star-Swirl the Bearded could open the door in the days of old," Bark explained as he placed a claw on the door, sighing when it refused to yield an inch. "And with him long gone, I have no idea how we are supposed to open it."
"Where's that silver mare when I actually want her around," Trixie muttered to herself as Sombra walked up to the door, trying a number of spoken spells that did nothing to the door.
"Welp, I gave it my best shot," he said with a shrug, looking to Armora. "And I doubt that she'll be able to pry it open with her toothpick, so that leaves it up to you." Trixie closed her eyes and thought about what kind of spell Star-Swirl would have used to open the door. When an idea finally came to her, she opened her eyes and made her horn glow with her magic. She pressed her horn up against the door, closing her eyes again as she felt the magic get drained out of her horn. She opened her eyes again with a growl when she saw that the door hadn't budged and slammed her hoof into it in frustration...and backed up in confusion as the ancient door creaked open before here, revealing a vortex of blue and pink.
"Wow, you actually managed to do it," Sombra said with an impressed whistle as Starshine and Armora stared on in awe. "So what are we waiting for? Let's head on in! Old timer, you're with me!" Sombra said as he grabbed the dog and leapt through the portal with a laugh. Armora followed after him and was quickly followed by Starshine, leaving Trixie alone with her confused thoughts.
'The spell didn't work,' she thought to herself. 'The spell failed; I could feel it. Yet the door still opened. That doesn't make any sense. Maybe Star-Swirl's magic has lost some of its power over the years? Or could it be something else?' She shook her head and decided that she'd think about it later as she took in a deep breath and leapt through the portal herself.
/T\
Trixie groaned as she opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the breeze of a cool wind on her body. The next thing she felt was the rocks the poked her in the face, waking her up a bit faster. She lifted her head off the ground and looked around, noticing that Armora, Starshine and Bark were all still lying on the ground unconscious, but Sombra was already awake and was standing on the edge of what looked like a platform that she had been laying on.
"So you're finally awake?" he said as he looked ahead, barely noticing that Trixie joined him. She looked at his face to notice that it was filled with awe, and when she turned to see where he was looking, her eyes widened just like his had. The two of them were standing on the edge of a purplish mountain, that overlooked a massive valley filled with even more mountains, and both of them could see the sun rising just behind one of the mountains, vesting an orange light over all the land. "I have to admit that I'm not easily impressed, but this will do it."
"It is indeed magnificent," Trixie whispered as she tore herself away from the sight to help the others wake up. Sombra scanned the land around them, but didn't see any sign of the Titans or the temple that they were supposed to be guarding. What he did notice, though, was that off in the distance was a forest that was filled with black trees and a mountain that was missing half of its side. And on the ground near the mountain, he could barely make out what looked like the arm of a giant creature.
'That can't be good,' he thought to himself as he turned back to the others, watching as Bark walked to the edge of the mountain platform, tears beginning to fall from his eyes as he began to sniff the air uncontrollably.
"I'm finally here," he whispered as he fell to his knees. "I'm finally in the Land of the Titans! I can smell it! So many new smells, so many new scents, that I can't even fathom! If it looks half as beautiful as it smells, then it must be a beautiful land indeed."
"Yes, but said land confuses me," Trixie said with a frown as she looked at the sun. "When we left, it was about mid-day, but now the sun is just rising over the mountains. Have we been out for almost a day?"
"Maybe we're in a different dimension?" Starshine suggested as he looked around for a path down off the mountain. "You told me earlier that those exist, so couldn't this be one?"
"He might be right," Bark said as he followed the foal's voice over to him. The Land of Titans was said to exist in a land far away from ours. Maybe it is across dimensions."
"Urgh, I hate traveling across dimensions," Sombra muttered as Starshine said that he found a way down. "I always end up getting lost."
"You've traveled to other dimensions before?" Trixie asked him as they headed over to the others.
"No, I mean that I get lost just talking about traveling across realities. Makes my head hurt," he grumbled as he closed his eyes and rubbed his head with one hoof. The gang followed Starshine down the flight of stone stairs that looked older than Sombra, leading the way, despite Trixie warning him that it might be dangerous. Starshine wasn't the only one having trouble staying with the group as Bark had almost wandered off the side on numerous occasions, forcing one of the other members to catch him.
"I think that I can be too nice sometimes," Trixie grumbled after catching Bark again. "First, I take in Starshine, which I'm fine with. Then I take Sombra in and I still don't know why. Then Armora, and now this dog...when did my wagon become a stop for the weird?"
"Um, Trixie? You may want to see this," Starshine called out from further down the path. Trixie and the others walked over to where he was gazing out over the land, and once they were with him they all immediately knew what he had wanted them to see. On the ground stretched out across multiple valleys was a massive stone being, that to Trixie looked like a giant humanoid. Its entire body was made of stone and it had moss growing out of its head like a mane, while the stone it was made of looked older than the stars. But based on the size alone, the group was able to tell what it was.
"A Titan," Trixie whispered as she began to look around for someplace to hide. A small cave further down the path looked like the ideal place, and she quickly whispered for her entire group to follow her there. All of them did except for Sombra, who narrowed his eyes at the giant creature. "Sombra, what are you doing?! Get over here!" Trixie hissed at him. Sombra looked at her with a coy smile before looking back to the Titan.
"Ning Ght Li!" he yelled into the sky, summoning a giant bolt of lightning that struck the Titan dead on. Bark began to ask what was going on as Starshine and Armora threw themselves into the cave, while Trixie simply wondered if she should kill Sombra now or let the Titan do it for her. "It's just like I thought," he said before calling down another lightning bolt. "It's dead."
"How can you be so certain?" Trixie asked cautiously, as she slowly walked back up to where she could see the Titan. "It may just be-"
"Sleeping? No, there aren't many creatures that can sleep through one lightning bolt, let alone two," he said as he looked down at the giant corpse. "Plus, in the reports I read back when I planned to come here, it said that the last thing a pony saw before the Titan killed them was the blue light of the Titan's eyes. Do you see such a light?" Trixie wasn't sure whether or not he was telling the truth, but the Titan didn't respond to the lightning bolts that had struck it. Either the Titan was dead or Sombra was very lucky.
"We need to keep moving," she said to him before heading back to the others still in the cave. "It might be dead, but I want to be long gone in case it isn't. Let's go." Sombra shrugged and followed after her, wondering what could have killed a creature of that magnitude. The group continued down the stairs for a good part of the day, coming to a stop once again when they realized that the sun was setting.
"How could it have been a day already?" Starshine asked as Trixie pulled out a canteen of water for him to drink. "We've barely made it halfway down the mountain."
"This world is a lot bigger than ours," Trixie said as she hoofed out food to the group. "It will probably take a few days just to find the temple, let alone go through it." The group had come to a stop on a massive ledge that jutted off the side of the mountain, with Trixie making a small campfire for them to sit by.
"I just can't believe that one of The titans is dead," Bark said with a bit of sorrow as he wolfed down his food. "I mean, I heard the legends that they killed any who entered and it was probably best for us, but I still wanted to at least hear or smell one before I died." Armora buzzed a few times as everyone looked to Sombra to translate.
"I don't know Armora, it seems weird to me," Sombra said as he took a sip of water, eyes staring at the azure flames. "The Titans were supposed to be numerous in population and could be seen for miles, especially since we were on top of the world. I believe something happened and now they're gone."
"Then that makes our quest simpler and harder at the same time," Trixie said with a frown. "Now we don't have to worry about the Titans killing us, but they were said to be the only ones who could find the temple that we needed to get into."
"What was your plan to get into the temple anyway?" Starshine asked her as he looked up at rainclouds that were rumbling overhead, flashes of lightning showing in the clouds.
"I was hoping that I would be able to barter or find a friendly enough Titan to help us," Trixie said with a shrug, ignoring Sombra's scoff. "Not all of them could have been evil."
"And just what would you barter, oh wise one?" Sombra asked her in a mocking tone.
"You, for starters," she shot back with a smile, knocking the smile right off of Sombra's face. He grumbled to himself as he picked up his canteen again, accidentally spilling a bit in his frustration. He growled and started to drink, but his eyes caught the small puddle of water and what he saw interested him. Every few seconds or so, the water would vibrate a bit, sending ripples across it. His eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
"We got company!" he yelled as he stood up, startling the other four. The others barely had time to get up before a massive hand slammed into the side of the mountain, the impact knocking the group to the ground. Trixie looked up to see two giant pairs of blue eyes look down on them like spotlights, freezing them in its gaze. She was struck dumb as she looked into the massive creature's face, a face that could have been half the size of Canterlot. She could only see its body through the flashes of lightning that tore apart the sky, but what she could see showed her that this was the Mother of all Titans, far larger than the other one they had seen.
"TRIXIE! Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!" Sombra yelled at her. She channeled her magic into her horn and prepared to fire at the Titan, but its other massive hand came down to grab them and a blue light shone from its hand, dropping Trixie along with all the others to the floor. With them unconscious, the Titan grabbed them all in one hand and stood up to its full height, almost the same size as the mountain. The Titan looked down with its blue glowing eyes at its closed fist, where the group resided, before it raised its head at the rain that had just begun to pour. Then its massive frame began to move forward, each step clearing a valley as it moved towards its lair.
/T\
Trixie opened her eyes and shot up as fast as she could, looking all around her as she prepared for a fight, with her horn a blazing azure of magic. She looked behind her to see her group, but then she looked beyond them to see the edge of the circle of bluish stone, on which she found herself standing. In fact, as she looked around she could still see the mountains and the trees all around them, despite the sun not being out. She also noticed that it was still raining all around them, but none of the rain touched her, Her eyes widened as she thought about what that could mean, and she slowly looked up to see the massive hand that had grabbed them resting above them. Her eyes moved from the hand to its arm, eventually making her way onto the Titan's face, which, now that she could see it better, she noticed was covered in moss that formed a beard of sorts, along with moss along his head that looked like a long mane.
"I see you are finally awake," he said in a voice that was as powerful as it was ancient, which shook the ground that she stood on. At that moment, from just hearing the Titan's voice, she realized why nopony had ever survived coming in here. This was not a creature you could fight. You're only hope against it was that it wouldn't find you. The Titan's blue gaze rested on Trixie again, who found that she couldn't even force herself to answer as she looked up at the massive stone century. The Titan tilted its head as it looked at her, its face never changing the emotion that was carved into it. "Are you hurt? Is there a reason you do not speak?"
"F-forgive me, I was just..." she stammered out, barely able to make words form in her mouth. She was in mortal fear of offending the Titan, but at that moment, Starshine and the rest of the group decided to wake up as well.
"Holy crap!" Starshine exclaimed as he looked up at the Titan towering over him while he rubbed his eyes. "You're huge!" The Titan blinked once at that statement. Trixie noticed how two stones eyelids slid over his eyes for him to do so. "I mean, I thought Ursa's were supposed to be big, but you're HUGE!"
"Yes, I am," the Titan responded with no emotion. "I am a Titan, after all." Sombra walked up next to Trixie and quickly looked at her, his eyes asking her if they were going to fight or not. Trixie slowly shook her head at him, knowing they stood no chance against the creature. Even the normally fearless Armora looked at her blade, knowing full well that it would be hopeless against the Titan.
"I can't believe it," Bark said as he walked closer to the Titan, his nose sniffing the air around him. "A living, breathing Titan. I never thought I'd live to see the day when I could actually meet one of you."
"We do not need to breath," he replied with his voice shaking the group. "And I still do not know who any of you are."
"Oh, then allow me to introduce myself," Starshine said with a smile as he walked right under the Titan's face. "I'm Starshine. I occasionally make things blow up and I'm impulsive. These are my friends, Trixie, and Armora, and Bark. "And this is Sombra, he's the funny guy."
"Funny guy?" Sombra said in a rage. "What do you mean I'm the funny guy?!"
"Well, you do funny things, get beat up a lot, and brag about how great you are, even when you're a complete idiot," Starshine said right to Sombra's face with a smile on his own. "It gets really funny after a while." If she hadn't been under the gaze of the largest being she had ever seen, Trixie would have probably laughed herself to death from the look on Sombra's face. "So how come you're the only Titan that we've seen alive here so far? And why haven't you killed us yet? I thought that's what all Titans did. And what's your name?" Starshine asked point blank. The Titan looked down at the little foal for a moment before he chuckled lightly to himself, which sounded like a low rumble to the ponies.
"I was called Gaia," the Titan said in response, with just the speaking of his name shaking the ground beneath them. "But now, I am the only one who remembers that name...along with the days of old. As for your first question, little horse, there are no more Titans, aside from me."
"I knew it!" Sombra said with a smile. "The Titans killed themselves off, didn't they? If a race was as destructive and stupid as they were, as written in legend, then it would only make sense that eventually they would fight each other." Sombra smiled proudly at his deductive work, but it was struck from his face when Gaia turned his head towards the Dark King, eyes narrowed at him.
"It would do you well to remember not to speak of my fallen brothers as such," he said in a dangerous tone that made even the haughty Sombra shut his mouth. "But it is as he said, we are all gone now. All but me."
"What happened?" Bark asked.
"We were once a race of multitudes that walked across this land like gods," Gaia began, before looking down with sorrow. "But the loud pony is right, as we did eventually turn our own natural aggression towards our brethren...and so we paid the most terrible of prices. We fought against one another in a battle that consumed our planet. With Titans being immortal creatures until they are destroyed, our battle lasted hundreds of years, until finally I felled the only other one besides me."
"Was that the Titan we saw on the mountain where you found us?" Sombra asked, gaining some of his confidence back. Gaia nodded his head before looking back to Starshine.
"As for the question about why I did not slay you, that is a assumption on your race's part. The only reason that so few ponies make it back alive from our world, is because they entered during our battles, costing them their lives," he explained. "But some of our more...destructive brothers, would destroy any living being once they saw them, no matter what race." Trixie frowned at his story, amazed that a race as powerful as the Titans had been reduced to a single member by years of war. "And I have nothing to gain from taking away the lives of those smaller than me. All I want to know is, why are you here?"
"Because there is a temple here that we need to visit," Trixie said. Gaia moved his head towards her and nodded for her to go on. "And in the temple is a horn that is the key to open Star-Swirl's secret temple. However..."
"You need my help to get to the temple," Gaia said with a nod. "Yes, I remember Star-Swirl. He was a wise pony and one who knew how to speak with respect and grace, unlike the black pony with you." Gaia rose to his full height, blocking the rain with his head as he looked down at the group. "I will take you to the temple, but I have only one condition."
"And what would that be?" Trixie asked.
"I was always fond of pony magic, ever since Star-Swirl showed it to me," he said with memories flowing through his head. "Would you mind?" Trixie swallowed nervously as the others all looked to her before she thought of which spells would be best to impress Gaia. With a sigh she opened her eyes and began to cast. She first shot a number of bolts into the air that exploded into a plethora of different colors, lighting up the dark sky with light. She then spun around and cast a spell that sent her magic rolling like waves over the ground, each of the pulses shooting up into the air in a rainbow of colors. She was feeling a rhythm now and began to move along with her spells, and spin when she cast slivers of lights that shot out across the ground.
"She's incredible," Starshine whispered to Sombra as he watched the show, before looking up at Sombra, who had both eyes glued to Trixie with sheer amazement on his face.
"I've never seen any magic like it," he whispered to himself as Trixie shot into the air with blazing wings on her back, taking the form of a phoenix as she flew around the Titan. "It's not like the magic I've used, nor is it as clunky as the princesses'. This is...true mastery." With one final spell, Trixie shot a golden dragon into the air, a dragon the was far larger than a regular dragon, and it let out a magical fire that changed colors every second. The dragon then shot into the sky and exploded with a burst of color and light, blowing away the rainclouds and letting the magical dust, leftover from the spell, fall on everypony there.
"That was truly a sight to behold," Gaia said as he placed his hand down in front of the group. "Not even Star-Swirl could do something so impressive. You are truly a master of magic."
"That...was nothing," Trixie panted as Armora helped her onto the Titan's hand. "You should...see what I can do...when I'm serious." The group all walked onto Gaia's hand as he stood all the way up, allowing them to see almost as far as he could. They all marveled at just how far they could see from this height as he began to move forward, especially at the fact of how all the mountains seemed so small now. But one pony wasn't looking at the view, but instead was looking at Trixie. Sombra had spent his entire life learning the mystic arts and despite his arrogance, even he knew that he would not be able to pull off those spells so perfectly. And as much as he couldn't believe it, he had no choice but to admit it to himself.
Trixie looked off into the distance at the magnificent structures that Gaia showed them as he walked across the Titan's land, amazed at just how huge these structures were. Beside her, Armora and Starshine looked over the land and buildings with the same amount of awe as she had, but Sombra sat alone in the center of the Titan's hand, not bothering to look around.
"These are incredible," Trixie said as Gaia walked by a giant tower the was held up by a carving of a Titan in the side of the mountain it rested on. Gaia scoffed at her words and shook his head.
"Yes, yet all we will be remembered for is our destruction and wrath, not how inventive we could be," he said with scorn in his voice that Trixie figured was at his own race, rather than the ponies. "Though I cannot judge them so harshly, as I too am guilty of the same sins that they have committed, I am no better than my fallen brethren."
"Nah, you're not that bad," Starshine said with a smile. "You didn't crush us after all, and that's what the other Titans would have done." Gaia stopped walking for a minute and looked down at the little colt, his stone face never changing expression, but Trixie could still feel the gratitude coming from him.
"You are wise for your age," he eventually said at last, this time causing Trixie to scoff.
"He's only wise until he decides to run off on his own," she said with a smirk as she pulled him into a headlock and ruffled his mane, causing him to shriek with laughter as he tried to escape. Gaia watched the two wrestle a bit with both happiness and sorrow inside of him. He shook his head slightly and continued to move on, being careful of the dog that held onto his index finger as it sniffed.
"Incredible! So many smells! I can't contain it all!" Bark said as he held out his tongue and let his nose control where he was looking. Armora was resting near Gaia's thumb while the Titan finally noticed Sombra sitting by himself, staring off into nothingness.
"Is something the matter, former king?" Gaia asked him, snapping Sombra out of his thoughts.
"How does everypony know that about me?" he grumbled loud enough so that Gaia could hear.
"Star-Swirl told me much about his land, including the tales of the evil king that enslaved his entire kingdom--and tried to take down the two princesses of harmony that tried to stop him," Gaia said with the underlining tone of distrust in his voice. "And I know that your name is Sombra, the same name of that dark pony."
"Leave it to Star-Swirl to mess up the facts and make the princesses seem like the benevolent rulers," Sombra scoffed as he glared up at the Titan, not aware that another pony was listening. "There are two sides to every story and he knew nothing of mine." Gaia would have raised an eyebrow at this, but then he looked up into the distance and nodded.
"We are here." Trixie and Starshine stopped wrestling with each other and Armora woke up from her nap, all of them heading to the edge of Gaia's hand to see the temple. Much to Trixie's relief, it was pony size and not Titan size. If it had been, she figured that it would have taken years to search the entire thing. It was made of a white stone and stood at the bottom of a mountain, which made Trixie suspect that the temple might be part of that mountain as well. Gaia knelt down next to the temple's entrance and placed his hand at the entrance, allowing the group to get off of his hand.
"Thank you for doing this for us," Trixie said with a bow once she had gotten off, everypony except Sombra following her lead. Gaia nodded as the group walked up the stairs to the massive gold doors in the front, looking around for some way in. A number of symbols that Trixie couldn't read were on the front and she looked at Sombra. "Alright Sombra, this is why I put up with you. Time to do your part." Sombra said nothing as he walked by her, but Trixie noticed that it seemed that he was trying to avoid her eyes as he did so. His eyes glanced over the symbols and he raised an eyebrow once or twice as he read.
"Seems that we forgot something important," Sombra said as he turned to look back at them. "It says that we need the key of the Titans if we want to get past the door. Minor issue."
"Minor?! That de-rails our plan completely," Trixie growled in frustration as she began to pace before looking up at Gaia. "Can you bust down the door?"
"I will try," Gaia said as he brought back his arm, waiting until everypony had gotten out of the way of the door before he slammed his fist into it. The ground shattered around the temple as the force of his impact shook the land and knocked all the group members over, but much to Trixie's dismay the door still remained standing. "It seems that Star-Swirl's magic still remains strong even after five hundred years. There is nothing I can do."
"Do you know where the key is?" Bark asked Gaia, who shook his head with a sigh.
"The key could have been on any of my brethren, and some of us were erased completely from this world. It would take a long time to search every one of them and I cannot recall where all of them fell. I am sorry." Trixie bit her bottom lip as she looked back up at the door, trying to figure out what to do. Sombra, meanwhile, was knocking his hoof against the wall next to the door, gaining him the attention of Trixie and the others.
"Will you stop that knocking?" Bark asked him as Sombra backed away from the wall with a smirk.
"I have no idea why you ponies worship Star-Swirl so much," he said. "He had no imagination nor did he ever think 'outside the box.' For example...UPT ER!" Trixie shielded the others as Sombra blew a hole in the wall, and when she lowered her shield she saw that the hole led into the same chamber that the doors did. "You think he would have thought of something like this," Sombra said with a smug smile as he walked inside. Armora and Bark followed him inside while Trixie looked up at Gaia.
"If you do not mind, I would like you to wait here. We will be out soon." she turned to head inside, but Gaia placed his hand in front of her to stop her.
"Before you go, beware of the creature that this temple has locked up deep inside of it," Gaia said with both concern and fear in his voice. "It was a being that was feared in our land for its ability to kill Titans. We called it...I cannot remember, but it is one of the most dangerous creatures I know of." Trixie nodded to show that she understood, before motioning for Starshine to follow her as they both ran inside after the rest of the group.
"THE HELL!?" was the first thing Trixie heard when she entered into the main chamber with Sombra and the others, joining them next to a staircase that led up to another staircase that led...sideways?
"What is this?" Trixie asked as she looked around at the room, if she could call it that, that rested before their eyes. There were hundreds of stairs that went in every direction and angle, some of them went in ways that she wasn't sure stairs could go. Trixie also saw just as many doors that were weirdly placed all over the chamber, and she could only guess which way was the right way. "Sombra, do you have any idea how to get through here?"
"I take back what I said about Star-Swirl," Sombra grumbled as he looked around the room. "He was bucking nuts. I like stairs as much as the next stallion, but this is crazy." The others looked to Trixie for instructions and she placed her hoof in her nose, trying to think.
"I guess that we need to just get walking," she said with a shrug as she walked by them. "Starshine, stay with me. Bark with Armora. We'll split up and look around the entire temple if we have to, but if you find the horn of the Titans, make sure that you alert the rest of us. There is evil magic here." The group walked together until they came to the first place where the stairs split and they each took a path, Bark and Armora headed down while Sombra headed up, leaving Trixie and Starshine to follow the straight path.
"I'm getting dizzy just looking at all these stairs," Starshine said as he held his stomach a bit and averted his eyes from the stairs. "How did he manage to do all of this?"
"There are many things unknown about Star-Swirl," Trixie responded. "He was one of the most mysterious wizards in Equestrian history. But just one of them," she said as she looked over to where Sombra was trying his first door. He went through the door and it shut behind him while Trixie began to look around the room to see where he would come out.
"Okay, this is just confusing." Trixie looked up to see Sombra standing on a staircase above them, but he was completely upside down. "I'm going to try another door. After I throw up." Trixie walked up to her first door and placed a hoof on the handle, bracing herself for whatever was on the other side. She opened it to find...a room completely filled with darkness, but she could just barely see the outline of something sitting on the ground in the center of the room.
"I'm not going in there," Trixie said as she closed the door, hearing a massive roar on the other side.
"Good call," Starshine said as he walked up another staircase that led up. Trixie followed him while looking at the others in the room. Sombra had somehow ended up on the wall now and by the way he was cursing, he was getting frustrated. Armora and Bark seemed to be having no luck as well. Armora constantly kept opening doors that led to a stone wall, but Bark was sniffing the air and looking around the room. "How about this door?" Starshine asked as Trixie caught up with him. She opened it with a shrug and found herself looking over a massive pool of lava where multiple snake-like creatures slithered around in the lava.
"Nope," she said as she closed the door, turning down another staircase that led her to where Armora and Bark were standing in front of another door, breathing heavily as they pressed their backs against it.
"Swarm of parasprites," Bark panted, once Trixie had asked. "And no, we've had no better luck. However..." Bark was interrupted at that moment by the sound of a door opening at the appearance of Sombra, as he fell from the ceiling and the image of him landing face first in front of them.
"None of these damn doors work," he snarled as he wiped the dirt off of his face. "I've checked six of them and all that happens is I either land on my face or I end up on the wrong part of the room. We're wasting our time here. If there's a pattern, I'm not seeing it."
"As much as I hate to agree with you, we've been having similar problems," Trixie agreed, Armora buzzed agreement as well. "The doors I keep getting have monsters in them. And there are hundreds of these doors. It will take far too long to search them all until we find the right one. What would Star-Swirl do?" Trixie stopped talking and both she and Sombra looked at Bark, who was sniffing the air relentlessly.
"And what are you doing?" Sombra asked.
"I smell something," he replied as he began to walk forward. "It smells like...the sea. And there's a trail! Follow me!" Armora and Starshine took off after the Diamond Dog who ran up a flight of stairs. Trixie started to follow, but stopped when she realized that Sombra hadn't moved. She looked back at him to see that his eyes were both wide open and his pupils had shrunk, and he looked like he was no longer there.
"Sombra, what's the matter?" she asked him with slight concern, wondering why he was acting like this. Sombra snapped out of it at the sound of her voice and shook his head with a groan.
"Nothing. Just...remembered something," he said as he walked past her. "Come on, we're going to lose them and I do not want to get lost in here." Trixie raised an eyebrow as he ran ahead before she followed after him, a bit amused but also worried by his tone. She had heard hints of fear in his voice, and while it was always amusing to see Sombra's ego take a hit, it also made her wonder what could make a pony like him, that had come back from the dead, so afraid.
/T\
The group followed Bark, as he led them with his nose through multiple doors and across more staircases than Trixie believed could fit in one temple, no matter the side. Bark led them through areas that were lit with blue lanterns that cast an eerie glow across them, but that didn't stop Starshine from almost touching one of them. Despite how confusing the area was, Trixie couldn't help but admire the work that went into this temple and what a genius Star-Swirl had to be to create something like this. But she was also keeping an eye on Sombra, who stayed near the back of the group and was constantly looking around every time there was a noise.
"We are almost there! The smell is getting stronger!" Bark yelled as he ran ahead into the next room, making the rest of the group run after him. Trixie came to a stop in a room that was a dark blue color and filled with symbols that looked like ponies, but with gills and tails with fins on them in place of tails. "Here it is!" The group came out of the hallway into a room the was familiar to Trixie since it looked like the other temples that she had been in. And just like the other temples, there was another door at the end of the room, but in the center of this one was a single weapon that confused Trixie.
"Why is a trident in here?" she asked as she walked up to the trident in the center of a pool of water, not noticing Sombra back away to the other side of the room.
"That is where the smell is coming from," Bark confirmed for her. She nodded and looked from the rusty trident to the door, figuring that this was the test to get into the room.
'Let's do this,' she thought to herself as she grabbed the trident. The moment she did a swarm of darkness blasted her aside, swirling around the trident as a form began to take shape in the center of the darkness. Armora and Starshine helped Trixie up as the darkness finished taking its form. It looked like a strong pony, but instead of ears it had fins on its head and along its back, as well as a tail with fins instead of a tail.
"Is that...an Atlantian?" Starshine asked as the seapony grabbed the trident and spun it once, its purple eyes scanning the group before its eyes rested on Sombra in the back. The pony let out a roar and charged at the group. Trixie got a shield ready for its attack, but to her and the others' surprise, it ran right by her and the other three and tried to impale Sombra on the end of its weapon.
"ISH VAN!" Sombra roared as he disappeared in a swarm of darkness, causing the seapony to roar in rage as it looked around the room for him, until it received a blast of magic in the back of its head. It slowly turned to face Trixie, who's horn glowed as she glared at the creature.
"Forget about him. Now you face-" She yelped as the pony threw itself at her faster than her eyes could follow and once again was saved thanks to Armora intercepting the blow with her blade. "Starshine, take Bark off the battlefield. The three of us will handle this!" Starshine did as she asked just as Armora pushed the seapony back, deflecting its next two trident stabs with her blade. "Sombra! We need assistance!" With a growl she realized that Sombra wasn't coming to help, so she turned to see Armora fighting off the pony on her own. The sea pony knocked the blade out of Armora's grasp and tried to impale her, but Trixie stopped the trident with a barrier of magic. The sea pony then spun towards her and began swinging and stabbing faster than Trixie could hope to see, forcing her to throw up her strongest barrier to deflect the attacks.
'Damn, this thing is strong!' she thought as her barrier began to crack from the relentless assault. The sea pony could sense this and with one more powerful blow, it shattered her barrier and threw Trixie to the ground. She grunted as she looked up to see the trident pointed right at her throat, the seapony narrowing its eyes as it went in for the killing strike.
"HHHHIIIIISSSSSS!" Armora screamed as she tackled the sea pony from the side, knocking the both of them over. The sea pony was the first to recover and it picked up its trident before hurling it at Armora, who got up just in time to get hit in the side by the weapon.
"Armora!" Trixie cried as Armora staggered back, hissing in pain. Her armor had prevented the spear points from dealing any fatal injuries, but she was still bleeding. The sea pony charged her again, but Armora ripped the trident out of her armor and threw it at the pony, who caught it out of the air. Trixie prepared to fire a spell at the pony, but she was beaten to the punch by Starshine.
"RE FI!" he cried, causing the pony to go up in flames. It roared in anger and pain as it began to try and put itself out by throwing itself into the pool. The sea pony then turned its attention to Starshine, but this time Trixie dealt with it.
"Don't even consider it!" she yelled as she threw the pony into the door at the end of the room with such force that the seapony's body knocked the doors slightly open despite the locks. But despite the blow, the sea pony picked its trident back up and stalked towards the three, while a shadow slipped through the door.
"There is no way in hell that I'm fighting that thing," Sombra muttered to himself as he took back his physical form, having been hiding in the shadows while the group fought. "Especially since he recognizes me. I can't believe he made it to the Diamond Dogs' home; and how the hell did he get here? And how did Star-Swirl trap him?" Sombra shook his head free of these questions as he walked up to the only object in the small room that garnered his attention, a red horn on the center of a pedestal, never noticing the demonic seal that rested on the ceiling above him. "So this is the horn of the Titans huh? Thought it would be bigger." The horn seemed to glow the closer he got to it and he found, much to his confusion, that the horn was the same size as his used to be.
"That can't be a coincidence, can it?" he asked himself before turning around as he heard Trixie cry out in the other room. He growled as he tried to figure out what to do. He didn't want to fight Aquarius, but at the same time...he looked down at the horn with a snarl before snatching it off the pedestal and placing it over where his horn used to be.
"GE REM!" he roared, the magic fused the horn to his head and he closed his eyes as he felt the power of this horn coursing through his whole being. He opened his eyes again; he was in a room that overlooked the universe with a certain bearded pony standing across from him with his back turned.
"You have found the horn of power," Star-Swirl said as he looked into the galaxy in front of him. "That means that you now have one of the most powerful weapons of justice that can be found. So I task you, wielder of this horn, to..." Star-Swirl turned as he said this and his voice died in his throat when he saw that he was standing across from Somba. "You?" he asked in fear.
"Me," Sombra said with a smile as he looked up at the red horn on his head. "So, this is where the horn of power went. I wondered."
"No, it cannot be you, you were imprisoned!" Star-Swirl cried in fear as he began to back away.
"No prison can hold me, fool," Sombra said as he began to channel his magic through his horn. "Just as no amount of 'try' on your part can keep me away from what I want. For soon, I will be in your secret temple and I will have power...well, more power than what I have now."
"No, I can still stop you," Star-Swirl said as his horn began to glow.
"Bmot Ne," Sombra whispered, watching with a smile as the same stars that the old stallion had been watching wrapped him tightly.
"Y-you can use...?" Star-Swirl whispered in fear as Sombra walked up to him.
"There is nothing I can't do. Now begone!" Sombra roared as his horn flashed and blew apart the image of Star-Swirl, returning the world to normal. He shook his head as the images cleared before he heard another cry, smiling as he turned himself back into shadows to sneak back out through the door. In the other room, Trixie was firing multiple fireballs at the sea pony, but was having no luck as the pony swatted each attack away with his trident. She tried another spell only to have her hooves swept out from under her by the trident.
"Back, demon," she snarled as she fired a spell from the ground, growling again as the sea pony flipped over her and came down trident first, hoping to impale her. But at the moment before impact, a bolt of darkness struck the creature in the side and knocked it to the ground; when it tried to get back to its hooves, Armora came up from behind.
"HISS!" she snarled before slicing the sea pony's head clean off, panting heavily as the creature fell over and dissolved into the ground, its trident following suit. Armora shook her head at where it had vanished and walked over to Trixie to help her up, both of them looking up at the ceiling from which the bolt of shadows had come.
"I thought that you had run away," Trixie said with a smirk as she turned to face Sombra...only to gasp when she saw the red horn that was on his head, illuminating his smiling face. "You have..."
"Yup, and it fits like a saddle," he said with a smirk as he looked up at it. "The least you could do is thank me, I did just find the horn and save your life in under a minute."
"T-thanks," Trixie muttered as she stopped leaning against Armora, while Starshine and Bark walked over to Sombra.
"Cool, you got your horn back!" Starshine said as he looked at the red horn.
"Actually, this is the horn from the temple. Mine flew off to whoever knows where, when I blew up," Sombra said with a shrug while Trixie looked at him with both relief and suspicion. She knew that he had just saved her life and she should be grateful, but now that he had his horn back he would be more powerful than ever, especially since he could use spoken magic. But she didn't have long to think about this as the entire temple began to shake and the roof started to cave in. "We need to get out of here!" Sombra yelled as he began a teleportation spell, covering all the members of the group with darkness. The moment before the spell went off, Sombra looked to the side to see the sea pony staring at him.
'I will reclaim her,' it said in his mind.
"You're already too late," Sombra muttered back as they teleported.
/T\
"That was a lot more stressful than I wanted it to be," Trixie panted, as she and the others all lay on the ground outside of the temple with Gaia looking over them.
"I see that you were all able to reclaim the horn. I am glad that you were able to finish your mission without any losses," he said with a nod. "I am also glad that you did not awaken the beast that was said to be trapped under this temple. It would be disastrous if it managed to make its way into your world."
"Speaking of our world, how are we supposed to get back?" Starshine asked Gaia. "We used a portal to get here, but we didn't see one in the place we came in." Gaia lowered his head as he thought about what Starshine had said, before he placed his hand on the ground.
"Get on. I think I have an idea as to where to take you." The group did as he suggested, with Trixie helping the wounded Armora onto the hand with her magic, trying a few spells to try to slow down the bleeding as best she could. Gaia once again walked off into the land, heading for a mountain that was taller than all the other ones they had seen. Once at the base, it only took Gaia a few seconds to climb to the top, where he placed them at a stone arch that had a number of mystic carvings on it.
"This is where we say goodbye," he said once all of the group had gotten off. "This is the portal I remember Star-Swirl used to return to his world, when he last visited us. This will take you home."
"Alright then," Sombra said as he looked to Trixie. "Just do what you did back when we entered and we're good to go." Trixie nodded and used the same spell she did last time, but she also remembered to put her hoof against the arch once she had cast the spell. And just like before, a massive vortex of magic appeared before the group that hummed with power.
"Sombra, Starshine; I want the both of you to help Armora through," Trixie said. Both of them nodded and helped the changeling onto their backs, with Bark following them as they headed for the exit. Trixie then turned to face Gaia, who looked down at her with his blue eyes. "Thank you for all your help. We would not have been able to do this without you."
"And it was my pleasure to meet one such as yourself," Gaia responded. "'Til we meet again."
"What will you do now?" Trixie asked him.
"I suppose that I will stay here and keep the beast sealed," Gaia said sadly. "It is all I can do now. I will remain lost in time, where I belong. You should go, your friends are waiting." Trixie nodded sadly as she turned and entered the portal, feeling the energies consume her like they had before. When she opened her eyes, she was standing next to the rest of her group in a field outside of Manehatten.
"How did we end up in Manehatten?" Starshine asked her once she had walked over to them. "I thought the portal would take us back the Diamond Dogs?"
"My biggest concern is where will we stay tonight," Trixie muttered as she looked up at the darkening sky, knowing that her wagon was miles away. "We can't go into a hotel due to...who's in our group, so I guess...we'll..." The rest of the group looked to where she was staring to find, to their disbelief, that the wagon was sitting right in front of them. After taking a few minutes to process that fact, they went inside to find that everything was exactly the same as when they had left it.
"She did a really good job looking after it," Starshine muttered while one of Sombra's ears pointed in his direction. Trixie helped Armora to her bed, and brought out some bandages that she used to wrap up the changeling's wounds, looking around the wagon out of the corner of her eyes to notice that the silver mare wasn't there.
"These aren't going to work for long," Trixie muttered. "I'll have to go into the city tomorrow and see if I can find a healing potion for you. I used the last of mine on Sombra before we went into the dogs' caverns. Also, Bark, would you like to go back to your pack? I can't guarantee when we'll be back down there, but..."
"No Trixie, if you wouldn't mind having me, I would like to travel around with you," he said with a yawn as he curled up in the corner. "There is nothing left for me at my home, but I would love for the chance to explore the world." His snores told Trixie that he had fallen off, and the yawn she gave told her that she was tired as well. With one last look at Armora she walked over to Sombra, who sat in his usual spot pretending to be asleep.
"What do you want?" he eventually asked.
"I want to know if I can trust you tonight," she asked him, getting him to open an eye in response. "Up until now, I had the feeling that the only reason that you didn't kill me was because you were afraid of me, but now that you have your horn back..."
"Trixie, if I wanted you dead, I could have done it in any of the temples when you were in danger, or when you were weakened," Sombra replied with a sigh. "Like I said, I'm only after the princesses...not you or anypony else in this wagon. Now stop bothering me and let me go to sleep." She sighed as he rolled over before walking over to her bed, lying down in it as she used her magic to turn the lights out. She tried to fall asleep, but found that the words of Gaia kept coming back to her.
'I will remain lost in time, where I belong.'
'How many creatures or places have I come across in my travels that have been in the same boat as him?' she thought to herself as she watched Starshine "sneak" a book on magic back to his bed. 'How many places have been forgotten to time? I should write down a log of those places and creatures that I come across.' She closed her eyes and rolled over before a small smile crossed her face.
'Hell, I should write a book on my adventures. Be a hell of a read.'
"Ugh, this might take some time to heal," Sombra muttered to himself as he began stiching his wounds, while his mind began to wonder how that demon had managed to make its way into his city under his watch. After the fight, he had gone to his private chambers at the top of the castle to heal his wounds, since he trusted no other pony to do it for him 'There has to be more to this than I know. Could it be that a pony on the inside is trying to sabotage me? I should have figured that this would happen eventually; I'm not exactly liked,' he thought while he continued to stich his wounds, ignoring the pain as best he could.
"If you keep it up like that, you'll be doing more harm than good," a voice from his doorway said. With a smile, Sombra turned to see a certain pony standing in his doorway with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her face. Unlike most ponies though, she had fins on her head in place of ears and a tail with fins instead of a regular tail. But her eyes, as well as her scales, were the same color as the sea, a place that Sombra did his best to forget,
"Well, I can't be both a protector and a doctor at the same time," Sombra shot back as she walked over to him and picked up the suturing needle, tending to his wounds with more care and doing a better job than he was. "And I thought I told you to stay in the safe house until I came to get you. Why don't you ever listen to me, Gloria?"
"Because if I did, you'd be bleeding out on the floor right now instead of getting the treatment you deserve," she said with a shake of her head as she saw the blood in his coat. "What was that thing anyway? I've never seen a creature like it."
"That was a demon, my dear, and one of the worst ones at that," Sombra said with a wince as he felt the needle go in. "Called Daragon, the demon of light. What I want to know, is how in the hell it ended up in my city." Gloria looked at the floor as he said this, a gesture that wasn't lost on Sombra. "Do you know who did this?"
"Not exactly," she muttered as Sombra turned and placed one hoof on her shoulder.
"Please, I need to know."
"The ponies in the city having been whispering about how they want a new leader to replace you," she said with a frown. "But if they just got to know you-"
"It matters not if they know me, all that matters it that they know that I am their leader," Sombra cut her off, heading towards the window where he could look down on all the ponies, especially those that he kept in chains. "And that they know I should be feared."
"Do you have to imprison them like that?" Gloria asked as she walked up next to him, looking down on those in chains with a sad face. "Maybe they've changed. Maybe-"
"They tried to kill you," Sombra said in a cold fury as he glared down at them. "They should be thankful that putting them in chains was all I did. After all," he began as he gently nuzzled her. "You mean the world to me." Gloria returned the gesture before Sombra walked over to his potions table and grabbed one of his healing potions, downing it quickly and feeling his wounds begin the heal. "I should be back to full strength soon, but in the meantime I'm going to rest."
"Alright, well I'm going to head down to the market," Gloria said as she looked at his supplies with a shake of her head. "You're almost out of materials for your healing potions and I can't have you dying on me. Bye." Sombra watched her go with a smile as he lie down on his bed and closed his eyes, but snapped them awake almost an hour later when he heard a massive explosion outside.
"What's going on?!" he roared at one of the guards as he rushed outside. "Who is attacking me now?!" The guard looked up at him in fear, his mouth too dry to answer. But another voice did speak for the guard, one that Sombra knew all too well.
"SOMBRA! COME OUT HERE AND FACE US, YOU TYRANT!"
"Celestia," Sombra growled before running out to his balcony.
"NO!" Sombra yelled as he sat up, breathing heavily as he looked around the wagon. All the others were asleep, and once he stopped shaking he allowed himself to think. 'It was only a dream. A dream that needs to remain buried. I can't let my emotions get the best of me. Not now.' Sombra then heard hoofsteps coming towards him and he looked over to see Trixie heading his way.
"Good, you're awake," she said. "I need you to go into the city and see if you can find a doctor. I don't think a regular healing potion will work on Armora's wounds."
"Why's that?" Sombra asked as he looked over to where the changeling lay, able to hear her scarce breathing from across the room.
"Whatever was on that trident really hurt her," Trixie said with worry. "And it's stopping my magic from helping her. Please, I need you to do this." Sombra narrowed his eyes, but figured he wasn't getting any more sleep tonight. So with a grunt he got up and vanished into the shadows, heading towards Manehatten while trying to keep his memories in the past.
/T\
Early the next morning, Trixie and Armora snuck into Manehatten with cloaks to disguise them they best the could, with Sombra staying in the shadows in case something went wrong. Late in the night, Trixie had forced him to stake out the city while looking for a doctor who would be able to take care of Armora, which was not an easy task for him.
"You're certain that this doctor can heal a changeling's wounds?" Trixie whispered to the shadow trailing her as she kept an eye on all the morning ponies that walked by.
'The sign said that he'd take on any patient, no matter who they were,' Sombra whispered back from the shadows. 'And if he doesn't, I'm sure we can just persuade him to if necessary.'
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Trixie whispered as he looked at Armora, who was leaning against Trixie while breathing heavily. "How are you holding up Armora?" Armora buzzed weakly in response.
'She says that she's fine, but it's an obvious lie,' Sombra muttered from the shadows. 'She won't last much longer. Take a right here.' Trixie did as he said and came across as a small building that had the word 'Hospital' written on the sign outside, along with the slogan, 'We take all who enter, no matter who they are.'
"This is the place," he said before coming out of the shadows behind Trixie, following her inside as Trixie opened the door.
"Welcome," a voice in the back said as Trixie and Sombra entered, Armora collapsing to the floor in exhaustion. "It seems that one of you has something worse than the flu. Bring her back here and I'll see what I can do." Trixie helped Armora back up and brought her into the back of the store, looking at the shelves they passed with a curious look. They were filled with jars that contained all sorts of weird flowers, and items that Trixie was fairly certain weren't residents of Equestria. In the back room, Trixie and Sombra found that the doctor was actually a zebra, who motioned for them to join him by his cauldron.
"Thank you for doing this," Trixie said as she did her best to hide her voice. "Our friend was severely hurt during a battle and is bleeding. She needs help right away."
"Place her down over her if you would," the zebra said as he pulled off a cloth to reveal an operating table. "I would like to examine her if I could." Trixie and Sombra looked at each other from under their hoods before they moved Armora to the table, gaining a look from the zebra but nothing else. "As I said, I turn no one away. Also, my name is Dr. Verade. Now, how did your friend suffer these wounds. They look to be from a weapon of doom."
"She was impaled on a trident," Trixie explained as Verade began to look over the three holes in Armora's armor. "Don't ask how, it was..."
"Silence is my code and in my business is key. But I expect the same from the pony named 'Trixie'." Trixie took a step back as he said this, while Sombra threw off his hood and pointed his horn at the doctor.
"And just what are you going to do, now that you know that?" Sombra asked with a growl, smiling when he saw fear spring up in the doctor's eyes.
"I said that silence is key. Now please don't point your horn at me," Verade responded carefully, sighing in relief when Sombra backed off. Verade then walked over to Armora again while Trixie looked on with confusion.
"I remember a zebra by the name of 'Zecora' who also spoke in rhyme. Do all zebra's rhyme?" Trixie asked him as he pulled a jar of a greenish goo off the shelf.
"It is a tradition that most zebra's employ, but most only do it for their own joy," he responded as he smeared some of the goo over Armora's wounds, frowning as she hissed in pain. "To heal her wounds will take long into the night. In the meantime, may I suggest you take in some of the sights?" Trixie was about to argue when Armora buzzed and Sombra shook his head.
"She said that she will be fine alone," he translated.
"Do you think we should leave Armora here alone?" Trixie whispered to Sombra. "I know she's tough, but I've always been wary of doctors in back end alleys."
"Your concerns are valid," he muttered. "Should we bring Bark here or do you want us to stay? Despite him being old, he can fight if needed." Trixie thought about it for a moment before deciding that it was the safest option.
"Would you mind if we left somepony here to watch over Armora?" she asked. Verade said it was fine and Trixie teleported herself back to the wagon, getting a tackle hug from Starshine once they had entered.
"How's Armora?" Starshine asked as Trixie got back up. "Is she safe?"
"We found a zebra doctor who is willing to heal her, but we would like somepony watching over her," she said as she looked to Bark. "Would you like to do so? If not, Sombra or I could..."
"It's no problem Trixie, I would love for the chance to speak with a doctor from the land of zebras," Bark said as he got up. "Also, didn't you say that you had some things you wanted to grab. Take Sombra and Starshine with you, go have fun for a day. I'll watch Armora." Trixie nodded and the three walked out of her wagon, Trixie placing a spell over it before she teleported the three of them to the doctor's office. She brought Sombra up to speed on what was happening while Bark walked over to Armora and told her that he'd be watching over her.
"So what are we going to do then?" Starshine asked as he looked around at the huge buildings once they were outside, a huge smile on his face.
"First, we should go stock up on supplies," Trixie muttered before looking down at Starshine's mop of a mane. "Then we're going to get you a manecut." Starshine groaned as Trixie ruffled his mane, while Sombra looked around at the mass of buildings with amazement.
"I can't believe that they managed to get so many buildings this large in just a thousand years," he muttered as he put his cloak back on, Trixie following suit as the three of them walked down the main streets. It was still early in the morning, but already a number of ponies were already up and about, making Trixie and Sombra walk a bit more cautiously down the street.
"I bet you're amazed looking at all the modern technology, especially since you come from the past," Trixie said to him as he looked at a new brand of carriage go by him. "It's amazing what can be done in a thousand years." Trixie pulled a map of the town out of a stand before flipping a bit to the pony, looking over it with raised eyebrows. "It seems that we're some ways away from the hair salon, so if there are any stops you want to make on the way there, take a look at the map." Sombra and Starshine both shared the map while Trixie looked around at the buildings with a smile, remembering the times she had come here before she became the most hated pony in the world. The lights, the music, the parties at night; so many things she had fun doing in the past.
"Alright, the kid and I decided that we want to visit the magic emporium," Sombra said with a smile as he pushed the map into her face. Trixie looked at the location and found that it was right next to a supply store, so she gave in with sigh.
"Hey Trixie, do you think that we could see a movie as well?" Starshine asked as they began their trek to the emporium. "There's a really cool one called the 'Mutant Martians from the Beyond'!" Starshine said in his creepiest voice as he began to drool, while Sombra looked at the movie poster on the back of a map with a baffled look.
"Why would anypony want to see...Bloodsucking Martians taking on the helpless ponies?" Sombra asked as he turned slightly green. "I've battled bloodsuckers and this is not material that they should make a movie out of. What is a movie by the way?"
"It's when they capture actors on a camera, and add music and special effects to create a short play of sorts, that ponies watch on a screen," Trixie explained, stopping Sombra dead in his tracks as he looked down at the back of the map again.
"How long was I gone?" he asked to himself before shaking his hooded head and running after the others. "HEY! What's a camera also?" Trixie and Starshine both laughed at Sombra's lack off modern knowledge and continued to talk with each other, until they came to the entrance of the emporium, where a pair of Canterlot Guards stood at the entrance. "Grah, it's those Canterlonian fools. I'll deal with them," Sombra said with a snarl, but Trixie put a hoof in front of him to stop him.
"We don't want to start a fight here. Besides," Trixie said as she used her magic to knock over a ladder in the next yard over, causing the guards to abandon their post to go chasing after the noise. "They are easy to fool." Sombra smiled at the display and chuckled to himself as he and Starshine both went inside, leaving Trixie alone to head into the supply store next door. She was a bit worried about Starshine, but so far Sombra had been well-behaved, more so than she thought he could be.
'I have to remember to ask him for some pointers on how to talk with Armora,' she thought to herself as she entered the store and grabbed a cart. 'And maybe for some...help...with magic. Faust knows I was useless against the sea pony.' Trixie began to skim the isles, looking and taking whatever she needed, but was unable to keep her mind away from the sea pony. 'Why was that thing so powerful? I thought that the sea ponies were supposed to get stronger in water, not on land...but what's weirder is that it seemed to know Sombra. And I believe that is the first time I've seen him run from a fight like that. Does he have...that's stupid, of course he has a history with the Atlantians, but what is it? And how could they have traumatized him so?' Trixie stopped thinking when she came across the section she had been looking for, the section that kept all the books.
"Here we go," she said as she lifted one of the books off the shelf, looking at its size. It was slightly bigger than most, which suited her needs perfectly. She added it to her cart as well as a quill with ink and continued to browse until she had spent about an hour in the store. She paid for her things and left, meeting Sombra and Starshine just outside.
"Well you took your sweet time," Sombra poked as he looked at what she was carrying. "A book? Why'd you buy that?"
"So you could carry it," she said with a smirk as she tossed it to him, amazed that he actually bothered to catch it instead of letting it fall to the ground. "The two of you enjoy the emporium?" she asked Starshine.
"Yeah! I learned a lot about magic that I had never know before," Starshine said with a huge smile. "Like, that Star-Swirl had a nickname! Apparently his friends called him Beardy. Why don't you have a nickname?"
"Yeah Trix, how come you don't have a nickname?" Sombra asked before he stopped to think about what he had said. "Actually, I like that. What about you, Trix?" Trixie rolled her eyes and walked past him, leading the three of them towards the salon. Trixie and Sombra watched through the window as Starshine had his mane cut by the ponies in the salon, watching in disbelief at the trouble they had cutting through his forest of a mane. He came out twenty minutes later with his mane a third of its former length.
"You look ridiculous," Sombra said with a chuckle as he looked down at Starshine's short mane and the face on the small colt. "I can't imagine this mane being that short."
"Maybe one day," Trixie said with a smile as she imagined Sombra bald before she looked down at the map. "According to this, the movie that Starshine wants to see starts in thirty..."
"Oh please can we see it Trixie?" Starshine begged as he tackled her leg, giving her the puppy eyes. "My parents never let me watch any movies and I want to so BAD!" Trixie gave into the eyes again and Starshine leapt off of her leg with a smile as he ran towards the theaters, leaving Sombra and Trixie to run after him.
"Hey Sombra, can I ask you something?" Trixie said as they ran.
"No, I will not go out with you," Sombra said with a smirk, getting smacked by Trixie in response.
"No, I was wondering if you could teach me how to speak Armora's language," Trixie said with a frown, averting her eyes a bit. "And...if you could teach me some of the spoken magic."
"Well, well...so the powerful Trix wants to learn my magic?" Sombra teased with a smile. "I'm humbled." He got smacked again for that, but couldn't retaliate due to them arriving at the theaters. Trixie bought their tickets and they headed inside, both Trixie and Starshine smiling at the confusion on Sombra's face as he looked from the giant screen to the speakers.
"We have to bring you up to date on modern technology," Starshine said with a smile as he picked three seats on the end row, sitting on the end. Both Trixie and Sombra growled at the fact that they had to sit next to each other, but the theater went dark as the movie began to play.
"Holy hell," Sombra whispered as he watched the movie, not so much impressed by what was happening on the screen, but at the fact that ponies could do this now-a-days. Trixie found the movie to be boring and drab, with a paper thin plot that anypony could see through, but at least Starshine seemed to be enjoying himself when he wasn't hiding behind his hooves. Trixie would have been able to drown the movie out if Sombra wasn't muttering to himself every few minutes.
"Ha, creatures like this would never go for brains. It's obvious they would eat flesh," Sombra muttered.
"Shut up," Trixie muttered back.
"You have a horn fool, use it," Sombra muttered again when a mare was being chased by the aliens. "Of course you pick now to fall down." Trixie noticed that they were getting angry glares from some of the patrons, so she just sat down lower in her chair and closed her eyes, knowing what was coming next.
"Oh please, tell me Celestia's in this movie. I would love the aliens to find out that she has no brain," Sombra said with a smirk before a pony that worked at the theater walked up to him and shown his flashlight in his face.
"Sir, if you can't be quiet I'll have to ask you to leave," he said in a stern voice to Sombra, who turned with an evil smile and flipped back his hood.
"Boo." The pony screamed and ran out of the theater while Sombra laughed with glee, looking around at all the other terrified movie goers. "Anypony else want to shut me up?" He sat back down with a smile, a smile that got knocked off his face by Trixie. But around the end of the movie there was a part where the aliens had placed a pony under their control and were forcing it to attack its friends.
"Silverscreen, no, don't do this!" one of her friends said with such bad acting Trixie gagged on it. But as she looked over at Sombra, she saw that he looked completely terrified. She was about to tease him for being afraid of such a stupid movie before she realized that he wasn't looking at the movie. His eyes were in the past. Trixie tried to snap him out of it, but after a few attempts she gave up, letting the movie finish.
"Alright, we're getting out of here," Trixie said the moment the movie was done, dragging both the terrified Starshine and the paralyzed Sombra out of the theater. "That was the second worse movie I have ever seen. Why did you want to see it?"
"I don't think I'm going to sleep for a week," Starshine said as he shivered.
"You fought changelings, ancient beasts and a sea pony with a trident and this is what scares you?" Sombra said with a laugh before he dodged Trixie's hoof. "That is pathetic."
"That's different! Those creatures don't...take control of you like that," Starshine said with another shiver. Trixie expected Sombra to make fun of Starshine again, but to her constant surprise he kept his mouth shut. "But it was fun spending time with you guys. You're like the family I never had." Trixie was touched by that statement, but when she saw Sombra roll his eyes she knew she had to tease him.
"Even Sombra?" she asked.
"Yeah, but he's like the stupid older brother," Starshine replied with a smile.
"And you're like the annoying little brother," Sombra growled while putting Starshine in a headlock until Trixie broke his hold. The group went back to where Armora had been and found Bark and Verade talking with each other, while Armora sat beside them in bandages while listening.
"Come on, time to go," Trixie said as she paid the doctor, who waved to them as they left. "Enjoy your time there?" she asked Bark.
"Oh yes, it is always interesting listening to what tales a being from another land has to tell," he said with a smile. "Such tales, too. The long, golden grass on the savanna filled with all sorts of creatures. It would be a paradise."
"Yeah, well we're not going there anytime soon," Sombra grunted as he hoisted Armora onto his back. Trixie wanted to tell him something, but she decided to wait until they got back to the wagon. She was surprised that they made it out of the town without anypony stopping them, but eventually they made it back to the wagon, where Trixie waited until they were all seated until she spoke.
"Alright everypony, listen up," she said. "While we had fun and a day off, it's time to move onto the final temple...the Temple of Atlantis."
"But nopony knows where it is, right?" Starshine asked. "It sunk a thousand years ago."
"Correct, but which one of us in here just happens to be over a thousand years old?" Every head in the room turned to Sombra, who glared at Trixie with both rage and fear in his eyes.
"What makes you think I know?" he asked in his most dangerous voice.
"The evidence is there. Everytime I or somepony else brings up the sea ponies or Atlantis, you avert your eyes," Trixie began. "Plus, that sea pony went after you with a hatred it could only have if it knew you. Finally, I have read the stories of how you sank the sea kingdom all those years ago when you stole a foal for your own purposes. You managed to escape their wrath, but that's why you're afraid to go back...isn't it?" Sombra narrowed his eyes in rage and his horn began to glow. Trixie let her horn glow as well, but she didn't want a fight.
"You don't have to tell me what happened, but I will ask you to show us where Atlantis sank," she said in a calm tone. "Because if you won't go there, then you won't get your wish." Sombra growled, knowing that he wouldn't get his wish whether he showed her or not. But...
"Alright," he said as he stopped his horn. "But I'll only show you where it is. I won't go down with you."
"That's all I ask for," Trixie said as she activated her spell to move the wagon. "Come on everypony, let's rest up. We'll need our strength." The others nodded and went to rest, but Sombra stopped Trixie as she tried to pass.
"Just so you're clear, I'm going to show you where I last saw it," he said coldly. "But after that...I'm done. Done with this group; done with this wagon. I don't want to be anywhere near that place."
"Even if it costs you your revenge?" she asked him.
"You would never let me have my wish anyway, not that you could stop me now," he said with a growl. "And there are other ways to obtain the power I require. Thought I'd let you know." Trixie nodded and walked by him, leaving Sombra to look at the floor in rage. 'I can't go down there, even with them. Even if they're going to their deaths...'
/T\
Morgaine continued to stare at the mirror, the faintest of images flashing through her mind so fast that she couldn't see what they were. But she knew they were important, like something she had forgotten long ago but couldn't remember. Her thoughts were interrupted by a banging on her door.
"You have visitor," the guard said as he opened the door, allowing the red figure with the lightning bolt on his chest to enter. "You have five minutes."
"Captain Marvel," she said with a smile as he entered. "This is unexpected. Why are you here?"
"To speak with you," he said in an ethereal voice. Morgaine narrowed her eyes and realized that Captain Marvel's eyes didn't look like they should. They were a pure silver.
"You're not Marvel," she said with a growl. "Who are you.
"I am only borrowing the champion's form to speak with you," he said as he sat down, his form flickering a bit. "But we must make use of the time we have. The magicians in this world will sense me soon and I must help you." Morgaine sat down on her bed, intrigued by the magic she felt coming from "Marvel."
"What do you wish to help me with?" she asked. Marvel's response was to have a beam of silver shoot from his eyes into hers, breaking through magical barriers that were in place. Morgaine gasped as images began to come back to her, along with new images that were being shared from "Marvel".
"I am here to help you remember," Marvel said as he transformed into a silver pony. "And if you wish to save your student, you must remember it all."
"We're almost there," Sombra growled at Trixie, who sat beside him on the front of the wagon as they came to a stop by the sea. Trixie stopped the wagon and yelled down that it was alright to come out, smiling as Starshine came barreling out of the wagon and leapt into the ocean. Armora was helped out by Bark, who used his nose to navigate her to the water.
"So, where is the entrance?" Trixie asked Sombra as he hopped off the wagon and walked over to a palm tree on the beach, resting underneath of it as he turned away from Trixie. "I should have figured as much." Trixie wanted to have a talk with him, but at that moment Starshine came running out of the ocean and up to Sombra, shaking his mane out.
"What'cha doing over here?" Starshine asked him, getting a growl in response. Starshine moved over to Sombra's other side, making the dark pony roll over. "Why are you avoiding me?" Sombra said nothing but growled again when Starshine moved back over to face him.
"What do you want?!" Sombra eventually snarled at him, causing Starshine to back away with tears in his eyes.
"I was just wondering if you'd teach me more of that magic," he said in a hurt voice as he looked down, making Sombra sigh in frustration as he tried to avoid the 'puppy dog' eyes. He eventually gave in with a growl and stood up, motioning for Starshine to follow him.
"Alright kid, but this is going to be my final lesson as your teacher," Sombra said in a tone that he hoped got his point across.
"This is only my third lesson," Starshine said with a huff.
"Never said I was a good teacher," Sombra said with a smirk that turned to a snarl when he saw Trixie approaching them. "And just what do you want? Come to force me to do something else that I despise?"
"No, I just came to sit in on a lesson to see just how you teach," Trixie said, and she sat down a bit away from the other two. Sombra rolled his eyes but decided not to argue the point.
"Alright kid, you know only 'fire' and 'repulse' right now, and you can only do one of those, right?" Sombra asked and Starshine nodded, remembering all the times he had accidentally set something on fire, even rocks. "Now this next one I'm going to teach you is a last resort of sorts. This will drain you and it will hurt, but not to the point where you would die."
"And you're going to teach it to me?" Starshine asked with a look. "Are you certain that I won't just set myself on fire?"
"Well, whether or not you can use it properly is up to you, but I would feel a bit...never mind, let's just get on with it," he said after a quick glance in Trixie's direction. "The spell is a hard one to pronounce, but when done right it is destructive. Blit O Rate Er."
"Okay, so it's called..." Starshine began, but Sombra put a hoof over his mouth to stop him.
"That is not a spell you want to say unless you want to destroy everything in a thirty foot radius," Sombra warned as he looked over at Trixie, noticing that she was muttering the word as well. "Don't bother Trixie, you aren't...right to use the spell."
"And just what do you mean by that?" Trixie asked with some heat.
"I mean that someponies have what it takes to use spoken magic and some don't," Sombra said as he pulled Starshine into a side hug. "This kid here has it, and he might be better than me with a lot of practice. You don't though, and I'm certain because you would have gotten at least something if you muttered the word, but you didn't. Now let me train the kid before I go." Trixie lowered her head a bit at his words, but she figured that Sombra knew what he was talking about. So she left the two to train, feeling just a little bit sad. But she shook her head and moved over to Armora and Bark, who was sniffing around for any sign.
"Anything yet?" she asked Bark, who shook his head with a sigh.
"No, I cannot smell any clues as to where the sea ponies are," he said with a growl. "I suppose it makes sense though; this area has been exposed to the elements for years, not like the scent in the temple." Trixie sighed in frustration, but figured that there was no helping it. She would ask Sombra once he was done teaching, so she sat down and stared at the water. As much as she tried to forget about it, it was weird for her to think that Sombra was leaving.
'It's not like he and I were the best of friends, but in the short time he's been here he's almost become...family,' Trixie thought to herself as she looked to where Sombra and Starshine were training, one's mane on fire and the other laughing. Starshine had almost become like a foal or brother to her, and Sombra had become...tolerable. Then she looked over to Armora and Bark, the former being helped around by the latter and she thought of them. 'And what will I do once this quest is over?' she thought to herself as she looked over at them again. 'They've all become like part of this crazy family as well. Will I simply go back to the way I was before this happened?' She shook her head and looked up at the sky, trying to think of what she would do next.
/T\
"Alright, the two of us have finished up and he's made...progress," Sombra said with a shake of his head as he looked down at Starshine, who was smoldering a bit. "But after I show you the last place I saw Atlantis, I'm gone. I don't want to be anywhere near here if the sea ponies are going to be involved."
"Do you have to?" Starshine asked with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I know that you're afraid, but you won't be down there alone. You could--"
"I'm. Not. Going," Sombra said in his most serious of voices, making Starshine back down. Armora scoffed at him, but Trixie gave her a look to stop before walking forward.
"Alright then, can you show us the last place where Atlantis was?" she asked.
"Sure. Over there," Sombra said with a smile as pointed to a random spot in the ocean. When he got a number of looks from the group, he shrugged. "That's where it was when I attacked it all those years ago. So it's probably around the bottom of the ocean."
"And that is not a place that we can get to easily," Trixie said with a growl. "But maybe I can work up a spell that will allow us to breathe under water."
"And the pressure will flatten you," he said with a growl of his own before putting a hoof to his head. "Look, back when Atlantis still stood, the way I got in was a hidden teleportation platform that the Atlantians had to reach the surface world if needed. If I remember correctly, it was in a small forest that looks like a small palace." He pointed to a grove of trees in the distance before he turned in the opposite direction to leave. "Sayonara. But I don't think that too many of you will miss me."
"Wait," Trixie said as she wrapped a hoof around his arm. "Even if we never got along, I want to thank you for all you've done to help us...Solving the words, fighting alongside us...saving us on multiple occasions. Here," she said as she levitated over a saddle bag to him.
"What's this?" he asked as he grabbed the bag.
"There's enough food and supplies in there to get you to the next town," Trixie said. "There's also a good number of bits in there that you can spend as you will. I also put all of those crystals you guarded so closely in here also. And finally...goodbye." She held out her hoof as she said this, looking Sombra dead in the eyes as she did so. He looked down at the hoof for a moment before he gingerly grabbed and shook it, before turning and walking off into the distance. The group watched him go for a moment before Trixie turned and headed for the forest.
"Come on, let's go," Trixie said with no emotion as she walked off towards it, everypony following her except for Starshine, who looked back and watched as Sombra walked off farther and farther into the distance. "Come on Starshine." Trixie and the others walked into the forest, looking around at the tropical forest with interest as they walked towards where Sombra had pointed. It didn't take long for them to find the small structure that he had mentioned and upon further inspection, they found that most of the rooms in the small palace were already destroyed and all the remained was the central room, which had a weird magnifying glass in the center of it with multiple circles around it.
"So, this is the puzzle that we need to figure out to progress," Trixie said as she walked around it, trying to make sure that she saw everything it hid. "I am amazed that it is still standing. Armora, Starshine; do either of you see something that may be a clue?"
"I don't see anything!" Starshine called out, while Armora hissed with a shake of her head. Trixie frowned and looked up at the magnifying glass to the circles on the floor, knowing that there was some connection between the two.
'Maybe if I try moving it,' she thought as she used her magic to tilt the glass so that the overhead sun was shining directly on the glass, causing a beam of sunlight to shoot from the glass into one of the circles. Trixie smiled as the light hit the circle and lit up itself, but after a few moments of waiting she frowned as nothing else happened. 'Maybe if I try moving it again,' she thought as she moved the glass off of that circle to another one, lighting up the circle the light touched while dimming the one that the light previously touched.
"Maybe you need to move the light onto all of them," Starshine suggested. Trixie tried what he suggested but to no avail. She tried moving the light to certain circles or reflecting the light to multiple ones, but nothing seemed to work.
"I actually wish Sombra were here," Trixie growled after something else she tried failed. "He might know something that we are missing. Everypony, look around for any sign of scribbling or symbols around here." The group nodded and spread out to search the place, with Bark coming with Trixie as they searched the lower floors.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her once they were alone. Trixie stopped looking under a pile of bricks to look at him in confusion.
"Of course I am, this is the whole reason I started this quest," she said as she went back to looking, but she stopped once she heard Bark chuckle.
"That is not what I meant. I meant, do you really want Sombra to go?" Trixie froze up a bit, but shook it off as she stood up with a sigh.
"He was a helpful team member, but I cannot force him to join us if he does not choose to do so," Trixie said as she walked past Bark. "This was bound to happen eventually, and I'm glad it happened after he helped to save our lives. But Sombra is a pony who refuses the help of others and wants to be alone. Why should I deny his wish?" Bark moved his head to follow her, a thin smile on his face.
"Maybe because the two of you are similar." Trixie stopped in her tracks and turned to face Bark slowly.
"How so?"
"Both of you had dreamed to take over the world, and along the way you alienated all those around you who wanted to help," he began as he walked by her. "And after you failed or realized the error of your ways, you both made yourselves outcasts, both to protect the world and at the same time protect yourselves from the world."
"I am different from him," Trixie said with a growl. "He did acts of unspeakable crimes towards his own subjects. He is...was evil. He cannot change."
"Maybe that's because nopony gave him the chance," Bark said as he wiped some grime off the wall. "After all, Starshine told me that you began to change after you met him, sompony who accepted you for who you are, not what others thought about you. maybe nopony gave Sombra that chance." Trixie shook her head, trying to ignore Bark's words as she walked up beside him to see that he had found a number of strange carvings on the wall.
"This is ancient pony," she muttered as she began to translate it. "To activate the teleporter, one must place the sun under the ocean." Trixie knew what it meant and she knew how to make the glass work, but she was still stuck on what Bark had said. "I still don't get what more you're asking of me. I helped Sombra and in return he helped me. There is nothing more to be said."
"Then maybe you should begin to think about what wasn't said, instead of what was," Bark said with wisdom as he walked by her to the exit. "And maybe you should think of the ways you helped each other that weren't in the saving of lives in battle." Trixie shook her head in confusion as she followed after him, collecting the others as they gathered around the magnifying glass again. This time Trixie used her magic to levitate some saltwater out of the sea and placed it between the sun and the glass as she moved it back to its original position. And just as she predicted, another circle appeared where the light touched. the moment the light touched the circle, the ground shook tremendously and a massive circle of light surrounded the four of them.
"What's going on?!" Starshine yelled as they began to vanish.
"We're being teleported!" Trixie yelled back. "We're heading to Atlantis!" The whole group vanished as she said this, none of them ever noticing the pair of green eyes that watched them from the shadows, a pair of eyes that held both sorrow and regret in them. A pair of eyes that knew they weren't coming back.
/T\
Trixie groaned as she opened her eyes, feeling the wet water clinging to her coat as she picked herself out of the water. She rubbed her head and looked around, finding to her amazement that she and the others were in a room that was filed with blue lanterns, each of which cast a calming light over the room. Her eyes then darted to the walls and she saw carvings of ancient looking sea ponies that looked larger than life, carvings that looked to be of heroes and stories of the past.
"I can't believe it! Sculptures of moments in Atlantian history! Memories of past actions!" she said with a smile as she looked around.
"Where are we?" Starshine asked as he got up, looking around the room with as much awe as Trixie.
"This has to be the gateway to Atlantis!" Trixie said with a squeak of joy as she ran to the end of the room, seeing a hallway filled with carvings that were also the same as the ones in the room, leading down to a giant golden door at the end of the hallway. "This has to be the way! Imagine all of the secrets that are hidden behind those doors, all the knowledge!" She squealed again as she said this, before her face turned red as she realized that she had done that out loud. "Um, sorry. I can get kinda crazy about knowledge."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Starshine asked as he ran up to her. "Let's go meet the sea ponies!" Armora followed the two of them as they walked down to the door, but Bark waited a moment as he sniffed the statues, not liking the smell of them. From Trixie's descriptions, he would have thought that the sea ponies would have taken better care of their statues. The ones in here smelled of must and mold, like they hadn't been looked after in centuries. He shook his head and ran off to the others, not sure if he had also smelled blood on them or not.
"Alright everypony, check your nerves and fears at the door," Trixie said as she lifted a hoof to knock. "We're going to meet a long lost nation." And then she knocked three times, and with a creaking of doors that hadn't been opened in a long time, the golden doors opened for them.
Trixie had no idea if her eyes were playing tricks on her or if this was too good to be true, but as she walked out of the door along with her group, her eyes rested upon a hallway that was made entirely of sapphire and silver, with golden streets branching off in multiple directions to all sorts of different looking rooms. While those rooms grabbed a small portion of her attention, her main focus was upon the ponies that walked the halls of this magnificent city. They looked similar to the pony in the Temple of Giants, but instead of having a cold glare they all had smiles on their faces as they conversed with each other.
"Is this...Atlantis?" Starshine asked in disbelief as he and the others walked into the magnificent chamber where Trixie was standing. His question was not lost on the residents of the sunken city, and they looked over at the group with some curious expressions, but also with smiles as one of the ponies broke away from the others and walked towards the group.
"My, my, can it be? Surface dwellers in our city?" he asked with a bit of an accent as he looked over the group with a smile on his face, his eyes resting on Trixie. He was a greenish color of pony with a long mane of seaweed on his head in place of his mane, but he smiled at the group and did a slight bow in front of Trixie. "But it cannot be. No surface dweller is as beautiful as the pony I see in front of me."
"While I thank you for the compliment, I must warn you that flattery is wasted on me," Trixie said as she returned to bow, the others following suit as they too looked over the sea pony. "I will admit, though, that I am still in shock over just how beautiful the city still is. I would have thought after a thousand years under the ocean..."
"Why would ponies that live in the sea have trouble managing a city that is under the waves?" he asked her with a chuckle as he looked towards the door they had come through. "I did not know that this teleporter still worked. And what do you mean, 'a thousand years ago'? All that matters is the present, not how long the city has been bathing. It will rise eventually, but now is not the time to talk about future events, it is time for the present. Now then, since you are the first guest we've had in a while, how would you like to see the city, in all its glory?"
"That would be so cool!" Starshine said with a smile before he groaned and held his head.
"What is the matter, Starshine?" Trixie asked in concern as he groaned again, the sea pony chuckling.
"That must be the excitement getting to him, since one of his age rarely gets to see such a sight," the sea pony said before a look of disbelief crossed his face. "And by Poseidon, I seem to have lost my manners and forgotten to introduce myself. I am Aquarius the Second. Just call me Aquarius though, and I am at your humble disposal." Armora rolled her eyes as he bowed again, but Trixie returned the bow graciously and gave him their names, not wanting to offend them in their home. "This way if you would, we have a lot of room to cover."
"Can we trust him?" Bark whispered to Trixie as Aquarius began talking about the hallway they were in, mentioning how all of this silver came from trades with the two princesses.
"We have to," Trixie whispered back. "I don't want this to be a repeat of your pack. I'd rather not have to fight my way out of a city sitting at the bottom of the ocean." Bark backed off a bit as Trixie looked around at all the sea ponies who watched them as they went by, where she could see some slight suspicion as well as a hint of worry in their eyes. 'It is to be expected. If I recall, the last time they met a surface pony was when Sombra tried to rule over them. That would make me suspicious of surface ponies as well.'
"And this is the one of the many places where we can observe the sea life," Aquarius said to break Trixie out of her thoughts, revealing to her a circular room filled entirely of glass.
"Um, I don't see anything," Starshine said as he winced again and Aquarius smiled, stamping his hoof on a circle in the center of the room. Trixie and the others (except Bark) gasped as the sea outside of the glass room, where thousands of crystals had lit up and cast their pale light into the sea, revealing thousands of sea life that swam around outside of the glass. Trixie couldn't name the number of creatures that swam around outside, even though she did try, and found herself amazed by the number of creatures that she couldn't name.
"It is incredible," she whispered to herself, Aquarius chuckling to himself as he walked up beside her.
"It is only the second most beautiful image in here," he said with a wink at Trixie, who rolled her eyes in response as Aquarius turned back towards the hall. "Come, there is more to see...ha, and then we will stop by the great hall for food. You must be hungry after such a long journey to find us." Just as he said this, both Bark's and Armora's stomachs growled, causing Aquarius to laugh. "Maybe I should make lunch our first stop." The group followed him into a hall that was twice as magnificent as the one they had entered, filled with sea ponies who talked with one another, but fell silent as Trixie and her group entered.
"Fear not my friends, they are our guest," Aquarius called out to the others. "And we shall treat them as such for as long as they stay. So instead of being afraid, how about we instead celebrate having some new blood here?" The other sea ponies let out a hearty cheer and Aquarius motioned for Trixie and her group to sit at a table, while he ran off to get something for them.
"I take it that none of you mind seafood?" he asked, as he placed a number of interesting plates in front of the group once he had returned, ranging from seaweed salad to a multitude of fishes. Trixie looked at the salad with interest, but then the fish caught her eye.
"I do not wish to be rude, by I try to avoid meat," she said as politely as she could.
"That is fine, I know that those on the surface do not have the same ways as us," Aquarius said as Bark began sniffing the fish, before grabbing it and swallowing one of them whole. Starshine took one of the small salads and quickly downed it as well, shaking his head in amazement.
"Wow, this is actually really good for fish food!" he exclaimed as he ate the rest of it, leaving Aquarius to chuckle.
"I do not know whether to be insulted or grateful" he said with a shrug as he looked over at Armora, who sat looking around with a frown on her face. "Is there a problem, Miss?" Armora hissed in response and Aquarius raised an eyebrow as he looked to Trixie. "I did not quite catch that."
"I'm still not quite certain what she says at times, but I think she's saying that she feeds on love or love potions," Trixie said, smiling as Armora nodded her head to show she got it right. Aquarius placed a hoof under his chin, frowning as he thought.
"I do not know if we have anything like that, but I can go look for you," he offered, taking off once Trixie had nodded before spinning around to bow to her before taking off again.
"So, what are your first impressions?" Bark asked her after he had finished off his fish. "They seem like the friendly sort."
"If you ask me, they're a bit too friendly for my tastes," Trixie said as she looked around at the other sea ponies, some of whom waved at her as she looked. "I consider it to be suspicious."
"Maybe that's because you've spent so long getting the cold shoulder and being hated, that any act of kindness seems suspicious to you?" Starshine offered as he tried to sneak Trixie's salad, sighing when she used her magic to move it away from him. "So far they seem really nice, and if this had been anywhere else somepony would have tried to kill us by now." Trixie conceded his point and began to wonder if she was just being paranoid.
'Maybe I have forgotten what it's like to just be accepted,' she thought as Aquarius came running back over with a red vial in his teeth.
"I can't believe that I actually managed to find one," he said as he tossed Armora the vial of love potion. "We haven't had a need for potions in a long time. Or any magic for that matter."
"Why is that?" Trixie asked.
"Well that's because...because..." he said as he looked more and more confused, but then he shook his head and his smile returned. "No idea. Come on, I want to show you something cool." This time he led the group into a chamber filled with all sorts of weapons and a mat on the ground, where Trixie and the others looked around the training room with interest.
"Very interesting, but why show us this?" she asked as Aquarius walked over to the weapons rack and hefted a trident off of it, spinning the weapon around a few times before he walked up to a training dummy.
"Because since you're surface dwellers, I was wondering if any of you had seen another sea pony while you were up there," he asked as he began to strike the dummy multiple times. "Because that pony was my father. He was sent up there to recover something that was stolen by one of the most evil and foul beings to ever place his unworthy hooves in Atlantis." Starshine opened his mouth to answer, but Trixie cut him off wit a shake of her head.
"We did find another sea pony, but he was already dead by the time we found him," Trixie said with a hint of suspicion. The sea pony had to have been in that temple for well over a thousand years, yet Aquarius was talking as if his father had left yesterday.
"That is too bad, he was really one of the best," Aquarius said as he decapitated the dummy before turning and placing the trident on the rack again. "What came of the infidel who stole from us? What became of Sombra?" Starshine once again tried to answer, but once again Trixie cut him off.
"He was sealed in ice by the two princesses a thousand years ago," Trixie said carefully, watching for his reaction. Upon hearing the news, Aquarius let a huge smile cross his face.
"That is good; glad to see that the princesses are still our allies," he said as he walked by them, muttering to himself just loud enough so that Trixie could hear him. "Wonder when their supplies will get here though. It has been a while." She raised an eyebrow at this statement and wondered if he was really all there. On the way to the next sight, Trixie noticed that they passed by a massive golden door that was adorned with all sorts of priceless jewels and gems, not to mention it was five times bigger than all the other ones.
"That's where our king lives," Aquarius said with a smile as he caught where she was looking. "He likes his privacy, but if the four of you want, I'm sure I can get you to see him tomorrow if you want. By the way, you never did say why you came down here in the first place." Trixie cast a quick look at her friends, who all nodded silently in agreement.
"We came down here looking for an item," she said. "A trident that was said to be left here by Star-Swirl the Bearded. It has been written that he came to visit you...a while ago, and that he left an item with you as a sign of friendship." Aquarius placed a hoof to his chin in thought before a smile broke out on his face.
"Oh yes, I remember him now. Yes he did bring a most magnificent gift for us, but sadly he left before he got to meet the king," Aquarius said as he shook his head. "Said he was in a rush and something about trouble in Canterlot. How is Canterlot these days?"
"It is fine," Trixie said. "What happened to this gift?"
"It was a trident unlike any I have ever seen," he responded. "Filled with gems that made it glow in the under sea light. So naturally we gave it to our king as soon as we could. He was upset about not being able to meet Star-Swirl, but he eventually got over it. My goodness, it has gotten late, hasn't it? I must take you to your rooms for the night."
"There is no need for that," Bark interjected. "We can head back up to the surface and come back down in the morning. There is no need for you to-"
"Nonsense, this could be your only chance to say that you have slept in Atlantis," Aquarius said to cut him off. "It is a chance that you cannot pass up. Besides, the teleporter only works when there is sunlight out; you will not be able to use it." Trixie and Armora both looked at each other with a bit of hesitation, but knew that it would be impolite to decline. "Great, let me show you the way to your chambers."
"Why aren't we telling him about Sombra?" Starshine whispered to Trixie once Aquarius was out of ear shot. "Doesn't he deserve to know?"
"It doesn't matter now," Trixie muttered back. "Besides, I don't want to bring back any painful memories. Also, if they find out he's alive they might launch an assault against the surface, and that's something no pony wants."
"Will you each be having your separate room?"
"No, we will split them in two," Trixie said as she placed a hoof on Starshine's shoulder. Aquarius smiled and opened the door to one room for Trixie, bowing slightly as she passed by. Trixie smiled nervously in response and entered the room, once again having her breath taken away by how it looked. She had expected the blue color of the sheets on the beds, but she had never expected a small observatory in a part of the room along with a glass floor that allowed her to see the sea creatures as they swam by.
"I will come by to check on you later," Aquarius said as he winked at Trixie before showing the other two their own rooms, leaving Starshine free to jump on the bed and begin bouncing.
"It's a water bed!" he exclaimed with a smile as he continued to bounce until Trixie caught him with her magic and place him on the floor. "So what's up with that Aquarius? He seems to really like you."
"He's just being nice," Trixie responded as she looked down through the floor. "That's all."
"If you say so," Starshine said with a shrug as he went into the side bathroom. "Whoa, there are fish in this toilet! Or does this go to the sea? What do you think would happen if I clogged the toilet? Would the whole sea come in?"
"All I know is if you try it, you're going to be in a lot of hot water," Trixie responded as she laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with a bit of confusion. She had read in the books that the sea ponies had been much more hostile towards the surface dwellers ever since Sombra had invaded, but in pony, they were as nice as any pony that didn't know her would be. Was this another case of the books being wrong or was it something else? But she was grateful to be able to talk to a pony without fear of having them run away screaming at the mention of her name, like the monster she was.
'I wonder how Sombra got over being hated so much?' she thought to herself as Starshine came out of the bathroom with a few more towels than he should have. After a brief explanation and a longer clean up period, Starshine jumped onto one of the beds to go to sleep.
"Hey Trixie?" he asked her. "It's really cool down here. Do you think it would be cool to live down here?"
"I don't know, Starshine, I kinda like he sun," she responded as she gazed at the sea life swimming by the window.
"But down here there's no pony that tried to hurt you or is afraid of you," he brought up. "They all seem really nice down here and they all seem like friends with each other. Would it be so bad to live down here, away from the hate?" Trixie had to think about her answer, but by the time she had Starshine had already fallen asleep. She shook her head with a smile as she pulled the covers up over him, gently kissing him on the forehead before heading out of the room to check on the others. Once she was certain they were fine, she began to wander the halls, unable to sleep.
'I wonder what the king is like?' she thought as she walked, noticing just how quiet it was at night and how empty the halls seemed when all the sea ponies were gone. In fact, without all the life in the halls, the art looked dusty and forgotten while the statues seemed to be falling apart. 'Will he be willing to let me borrow the trident or will what Sombra did in the past be too much of a wound...actually, I never did ask Sombra why he took that filly. The books say that he took it to use in his own dark ritual for immortality, but he can still be killed, so he obviously never went through with it. In fact, none of the books ever say what happened to the filly. I wonder-?'
"What are you doing in these halls so late?" Trixie snapped out of her thoughts and turned to see Aquarius standing beside her, with some armor on and a blue lantern in his hoof with a trident across his back. "You should be in your room at these hours. The sea can be dangerous at night."
"I am sorry, I just had to clear my mind," Trixie said with a sigh as she turned to head back, but Aquarius placed a hoof on her shoulder to stop her.
"Is something the matter? I can listen if you need me to," he offered. Trixie almost said no on instinct alone, but something stopped her this time. She remembered what the others had said about her being paranoid and becoming a recluse...and maybe she had become that after so long in exile. And if she was going to try to be nicer and friendlier...why not start with somepony who was nice in return?
"Starshine asked me if I would like to live down here," she said, Aquarius looking surprised.
"And you said...?"
"I don't know," she said with a sigh, looking out one of the windows. "I do enjoy life on the surface, but up there everypony is so...cruel to me, to everypony who travels with me. But down here everypony is nice and friendly and...it's just something that I'm not used to. Being treated...not as a monster, but as a regular pony." Aquarius lowered his head as he heard this, knowing what she was saying all too well.
"Most sea ponies are actually, if you'll pardon the sea pun, in the same boat as you," he responded. "Most of the surface dwellers despise the sea ponies because of how we look and act, most of the time without even getting to know us. Whenever Celestia and Luna called meetings, we would have to be snuck into the city so the ponies didn't riot--all because we look different," he said with a snarl before looking over at Trixie. "But I'm glad to see that not all ponies are so narrow minded...and that they can be beautiful." Trixie rolled her eyes again, but this time did turn away a bit to hide a slight blush.
"I can say the same for you. I had read legends that the sea ponies were a warlike race, but I can see now that you all are kind ponies that love to live," she said with a smile. "And thank you for the kind words. It has been a long time since I have heard anypony say something like that to me."
"Then the ponies on the surface must be more blind than I thought," he said as he gently took her hoof and kissed it. "Because I would give my life a hundred times over for somepony as kind and generous as you. Now if you excuse me, I need to go. If I get caught not taking my guard duty seriously again, it's latrine duty for a week. Farewell!" He waved to Trixie as he walked away, while Trixie raised a hoof slightly to return the wave before she turned to head back. She entered the room, where the first thing she heard were the sounds of Starshine snoring as she slipped into her own bed, looking out the window as a tentacle scared off a group of fish.
'Maybe you're right Starshine,' she thought as she turned over and closed her eyes. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.'
The shadows that were cast onto him from the trees fit his mood perfectly as a single pony stared at the sea, having been there from when the sun had gone down to when it had come back up, never once moving. He had stared at the sea with silent hope, although he knew that it was a futile wish, and that those who had submerged were gone for good.
'I shouldn't be here,' Sombra thought to himself as he continued to gaze at the sea. 'I should move on in case the sea ponies surface to come after me. They probably have learned from Trixie that I am still alive and won't rest until they hunt me down. So why do I stay here and wait, when I know what has happened? Why do my hooves stay rooted?'
'Because you care.' Sombra spun around and fired his magic towards whatever was standing behind him, only to watch his spell hit a barrier of silver and vanish instantly. His eyes narrowed as he spied a silver pony standing behind the shield, which slowly lowered as it advanced towards him. 'Because you are not the same pony you were when you first came back to life. Or the second one for that matter.'
"Who the hell are you?" Sombra snarled as his horn began to glow crimson, taking up a fighting stance. "Wait a moment, silver...you're the being responsible for saving us back when Chrysalis tried to kill us, aren't you?"
'The one and the same,' she said with a nod, while Sombra tried to figure out what she was. He could feel the magic radiating from her, but it was different from most other magics he had felt. While not destructive, he could still feel the power coming from her and knew she was trouble. Not that he cared. He fired another bolt of red energy at her, only to snarl again when she deflected the spell. 'Do not bother, only Billy and Teth's magic are stronger than mine, and one of them is my ally. You cannot hope to best me.'
"So many have said, yet here I stand," he snarled in reply as he began another spell, causing the silver mare to sigh and shake her hooded head.
'You can still save them.' Sombra stopped his spell with a look and stood up slightly, not sure what she meant. 'You can still stop them from suffering from the same fate that befell the sea ponies all those centuries ago. But you will have to do it soon.'
"And why the hell would I do that?" Sombra snarled back with what he hoped was rage. "Those guys have been nothing but trouble for me, even if they did help me out once. I was forced to sleep on the ground and was constantly hit and attacked. Not to mention, due to me knowing what's down there, that gives me zero incentive to go down. So I ask again, oh shiny one, why the hell would I do that?" The silver mare did not respond right away, but instead looked to the sea with memories of her own.
'Because your lies do not work on me,' she said with a smile under her hood as she looked back to him. 'I was friends with the Element of Honesty and have picked up a few of her tricks. And I know that despite that all you say about them, that you do care.'
"Prove it," Sombra shot back with a smug smile, which quickly vanished once the silver mare's eyes glowed with power and seemed to look into his soul.
'For what other reason would you put yourself in danger by waiting for hours by the edge of the sea, with your past?' she asked him. 'For what reason would you spare them once you had gotten your powers back, if you did not feel some emotional connection to those whom you say you hate? For what reason would the 'mighty' King Sombra teach a small foal his greatest spell, unless he felt connected to them?'
"You've been spying on us?" he asked as he backed away a bit, before shaking his head under her gaze. "Alright, I'll admit that they weren't that bad and...maybe I did enjoy being around them at times...but there is nothing I can do. Not with that thing still down there."
'And what 'thing' would that be?' she asked him, sighing when he didn't answer. 'Every second you spend being silent is another second that they spend getting closer to their deaths. I must know what is going on if I wish to help you.'
"So what do you want to do, go through my memories?" he asked her with a laugh, which stopped once she nodded her head in response. He closed his eyes and tried to think of all the reasons this was a bad idea...but then the memoires of what happened to him came back and the thought of that same thing happening to the others won out. "Fine, but I want to see something private of yours in return. Deal?" This time it was the silver mare who hesitated, but for only a moment before she agreed with a nod. Sombra swallowed his pride and his nerves as she started up a spell that cast the both of them in silver, allowing her to see into his memories.
'Come on everypony, the exit is over here!' The Sombra of the past yelled to a number of armored troops as they followed him through the halls of Atlantis, the silver mare noticing that there was a small bundle on his back as he ran. Before she could take in this sight entirely, a massive tentacle burst through one of the walls and crushed a number of the soldiers behind Sombra, who was thrown through the air and just barely managed to land on his hooves. He snarled as more tentacles burst through the walls, letting in water as they all began to move towards Sombra.
'You think that you can steal from us?!' a voice roared in Sombra's memory, and in turn inside the silver mare's head, causing Sombra to flinch as he looked back up at the tentacles. 'You think yourself a god?! Well down here is what you can call hell! Return what you have stolen!'
'Like hell I will!' Sombra yelled back as he fired a bolt of magic into one of the tentacles, slicing it off and causing whatever had been speaking to roar in pain, as Sombra turned around to run as fast as he could. 'I will discover whatever this foal's secrets hold and why they are so powerful! And nothing can stop me!' He entered a massive room when he had said this, looking around before spotting a giant golden door that he blasted off its hinges before running inside, coming to a stop by what he saw. It was a massive beast that looked like a squid, but much more terrifying as it roared at him.
'You will give me my sacrifice!' It roared as more tentacles came flying towards Sombra, who threw up a barrier of fire to protect himself. The creature roared as its limbs slammed into the fire, giving Sombra the chance to try and flee for his life. However, even more tentacles erupted from the ground and wrapped him within their grasp, slowly bringing the struggling king towards the face of the hideous beast, which seemed to smile as he got close.
'You will not escape me this time,' it said with venom in its voice as a number of smaller tentacles moved towards Sombra, wrapping themselves around his face. 'And you will be mine to control!' The silver mare could hear the muffled screams of Sombra through the tentacles as the beast laughed, before placing him on the ground with a smile as a number of guards in sea armor came in. 'Now then, give the filly to the guards and then go drown yourself,' it said to Sombra, who shakily began to move, causing the creature to laugh. 'You believe you can resist me? I control you.'
'N-nopony...controls...Sombra!' he roared as a massive blast of magic came from his horn, knocking away the tentacles and the guards. The beast roared as Sombra began one of his strongest spell, while another hundred of the creature's tentacles began to come towards him again, wrapping him in a cocoon of sorts.
'If you will not be mine to control, then you will be mine to torture for eternity!' The beast roared as a powerful magic began to flow through its tentacles, cursing Sombra before one of the tentacles removed the foal from his back and handed it to a guard, then began wrapping themselves around Sombra once again. 'And now that you are as eternal as me...' it began as the mare began to hear Sombra's bones crack. 'There will be no escape...' As the beast said those words, the silver mare was flung from the memory, but not before she knew why he was so afraid of returning to face the beast.
/T\
Sombra backed away in terror even though a small part of his brain told him that these images weren't real, but they were real enough to tell him to be backing away from whatever the creature in front of him was, even though it was slowly advancing towards the silver mare. He could see he was Somewhere in Canterlot, but the exact location was lost to him.
'You do not understand!' the silver mare pleaded as the creature walked towards her. 'I must gather the six champions, or else all of Equestria will fall to a force more dangerous than anything throughout the galaxy. Please listen to me, Teth!'
"I am not to be called by that name!" the bi-pedal creature with the golden lightning bolt on its chest snarled as it raised both hands, lightning crackling through them. "And I have also seen your said prophecy, but I know the truth. I know that your six champions will overthrow the queen and send Equestria into a war. And I cannot allow that."
'Teth please...' the silver mare begged before a blast of lightning threw her across the room.
"I said to not call me that," he growled as he lifted a bolt of lightning in his hands. "I am Black Adam!" the memory went black as the bolt of lightning was thrown and Sombra found himself standing on the seashore next to the silver mare, who looked to him with sympathy in her silver eyes.
'I understand now,' she said as Sombra tried to get his senses back. 'But that will not sway my opinion. You must go help them.'
"After what happened last time?!" Sombra roared, not caring about what he had just seen. "That damned beast made me immortal and then proceeded to destroy me in every way it thought possible! For six months I was its own personal play thing, constantly drowned or ripped apart as it saw fit! Do you know what that is like?! What that does to a psyche!?"
'I cannot say that I do,' the silver mare admitted before glaring into Sombra's soul again with her eyes. 'But if your fear of this creature is greater than your care for those who will face the same fate, then run. I will not stop you.' She stepped to the side as she said this, and allowed Sombra to see the path that would take him far away from the sea. 'But if you do, I want to ask you this. What is the point of having an immortal life if there is nopony there to help you live it?' Sombra snarled at her as he walked past her to leave...only to stop dead in his tracks as memories of what he went through popped back into his mind, and how the thought of the others falling to the same fate sickened him.
"I really hate you, you know that?" he asked her with a snarl, never seeing the smile under her hood as he turned to where the teleporter stood. "And I know that I have to go back. But not for you," he made clear with a snarl. "But only because I owe a certain mare for saving my life."
'Then allow me to help,' the silver mare said as a portal of silver appeared in front of Sombra, who backed away for a moment as a pair of saddle bags that he had been given re-appeared on him.
"Why did you take the time to convince me to do this? With your power you should be able to stop the kraken and rescue the others without my aid," he said with suspicion. "Why use me?"
'Because you are different from all the other 'you's' I have come across,' she replied. 'All those Sombra's either wanted total rule over everypony or complete destruction of their enemies, no matter who got in their way. But not you. Why is that?' It was Sombra's turn to give her a mysterious smile as he turned back to the portal.
"Because a certain somepony showed me that there is more to life than just castles and slaves," he replied. "A somepony that taught me how to care." He jumped into the portal as he said this, leaving the silver mare alone to smile.
'Once again I am shown to be wrong, even when all the odds are against it,' she thought before vanishing into the air. 'But I sense something terrible about to happen with Scootaloo and I must warn her. Fortunately, her allies will be safe. At least, I hope they will be.'
/T\
Trixie and the others walked through the halls with impressed faces as Aquarius talked about just what a bit of sunlight did to the halls at the bottom of the ocean. With just a hint of sunlight, all of the hallways were brighter and more cheerful looking, making Trixie wonder how they looked when they were back on the surface.
"This feature is the pride and joy of the architects down here," Aquarius said with a smile as he looked at the glowing golden halls. "But I think that I've prattled on enough about just how cool and amazing this place looks. If we don't hurry along, we'll be late for the meeting with the king and nopony wins when that happens. Come on now."
"This place really looks cool," Starshine said as he looked around, Armora nodding her head in agreement.
"Almost makes me wish I could see again," Bark said as they walked along, Trixie able to see the giant golden doors farther down the hall they were in. But to her left she noticed a door that she hadn't seen the day before, one that gave her chills to look at as she passed it by.
"What is down there?" she asked Aquarius, who looked to the door with a frown when she pointed to it.
"That's where we keep our prisoners from the war," he said with a snarl as he walked by, saluting the two guards in the sea-based armor that stood outside of the door. "The worst of the worst are down there, ponies that you definitely don't want to meet." Trixie raised her eyebrow at this and wondered if there were still ponies down there, even though it had been a thousand years since the Atlantians had last seen the surface. "But let's not focus on the negative and instead focus on the positive. Let me be the first to introduce you to his high and mightiness...KING TRITON!" The doors swung open as he said this to reveal a majestic throne room with gold lacing every inch of it, reflecting off a mirror-like pool on the ground that added to the affect.
"So this is the king of Atlantis," Trixie said to herself as she and the others looked up at the throne to see a red-ish sea pony sitting on the throne, a trident in one hoof and a crown on his head. Trixie narrowed her eyes at the trident and with a smile saw that the trident in his hoof fit the one that she had read about.
"Greetings, surface dwellers," Triton said with a smile as the group approached him. "It is so rare to have a visit from you these days. We were almost beginning to think that the world up there had forgotten about us."
"Trust me, when I say that to this day there are ponies that still learn as much as they can about this city," Trixie responded as she bowed to the king, the others following her lead. "We are grateful to just be able to see this city."
"So it seems, but my old eyes can tell me that there is something else you want," Triton said with a smile as he looked down at her. "Well, I'll never know what it is if you don't speak up." Trixie sighed to relax before she walked forward.
"I would like to borrow the trident you hold," she said, gaining her a gasp from everypony in the room. "I need it to open the final temple of Star-Swirl the Bearded, but if you do me the huge honor of granting it to me, I promise that I will return it to you."
"Um, Trixie?" Aquarius asked. "I don't know how things work up there, but down here we don't ask the king for something that has been in his family for generations." The king looked from her to his trident as Trixie waited nervously, but after a minute he let out a sigh and smiled again.
"Alright, I will lend it to you. It doesn't really do anything beside gather dust anyway," he said with another laugh as he held it out to her. "Besides, it was to be a sign of good faith between surface dwellers and ourselves, so I suppose that this is the purpose it was given to us. Please come and get it." Trixie sighed in relief as he said this, glad that she wouldn't have to fight out of the sunken city. She had barely taken a step before a bolt of red shot by her and struck the king in his chest, knocking him off his throne and down the stairs. Trixie and the others spun to see who had done this, with amazement dawning as they saw the familiar pony.
"Sombra?" Trixie asked with sheer disbelief in her voice. All of the sea ponies in the room gasped as the black and grey unicorn walked into the room, horn glowing a crimson red with a number of words on the tip of his tongue. All that was differnet was that he had a saddle bag on, filled with the crystals that he had gathered back in the maze. "What are you doing here? And why in Faust's name would you attack the king?!"
"Because, Trixie," Sombra began as Aquarius gave the order to attack, watching as all the ponies rushed him. "You needed my help." He fired a blast of red from his horn that consumed everypony in its light. When Trixie and the others could see again, they were horrified to see that Atlantis was no longer the same glowing paradise that it had been only a moment before. Everything was now black and falling apart, with the entire room looking like no pony had taken care of it in a thousand years. And then to Trixie's horror she saw that the change hadn't just been for Atlantis, but the ponies as well. they now looked like black skeletal structures of their formers selves and all of them had glowing red eyes. They let out moans of rage at Sombra, who stood defiant among them.
"W-what happened?" Starshine asked in fear as he stood behind Trixie, while Armora and Bark each prepared to fight the creatures. "Where did the sea ponies go?"
"They all died off a thousand of years ago," Sombra said with a frown as he blasted one of them into dust as it attacked him. "Trixie, you know the story of how the kraken was sent after me after I tried to steal a foal from the sea ponies. What you didn't know was that after I escaped, the creature turned its rage upon those who had summoned it, taking control of them for all eternity. This is their fate." Trixie looked around with terror in her eyes as she saw those who only a moment before were the smiling citizens of a great empire.
"Wait, you said the kraken?" Starshine asked before a swarm of tentacles burst from the ground around Sombra, while a voice hissed with rage and delight at the same time.
'Sombra! So you finally return to the city that you killed!' The voice roared though their minds, causing all to shiver except Sombra. 'Have you finally come back to return what you stole from me? Or are you seeking another round of torture and pain?'
"Neither, you piece of trash!" Sombra roared back as he fired off another spell that shattered the throne room, revealing a passage way that had been hidden underneath the throne. The sea ponies that hadn't been blown away by this attack moaned and rushed him all at once, but once again Sombra used his magic to blast them back. He began to walk forward to the passage way before he was stopped by Trixie.
"Sombra...what has happened?" she asked him in confusion, not able to wrap her mind around these events. "Why does everypony look like this. And why are you here?" She then looked to the sea pony that she had known as Aquarius, who moaned in rage and rushed towards them with his trident outstretched.
"Ne Bego," Sombra muttered, blasting apart the sea pony into dust, much to Trixie's horror. "This is the curse of being made a slave by the kraken. You remain under his servitude as long as he sees fit. You are stripped of your mind, but what remains of your life is made immortal by the beast. After the first few times I blew up, I've gotten good at putting myself back together. You asked how I became immortal, here is your answer. It was only my rage and stubbornness that allowed me to hold onto my sanity." A tidal wave of questions came to Trixie's mind, but there was only one she could get out of her mouth.
"Why did you come back? I thought-"
"Because...I couldn't let any of you suffer the same fate that I and these sea ponies had to endure," Sombra said as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "That, and I owed you for saving my life all those days ago. You should all leave," he said as he walked towards the passage again. "Once this is over, either the kraken will have me...or Atlantis will finally become the sunken city ponies say it is. Gone to the depths."
"Wait, why are you going alone?" Starshine asked as he ran between Sombra and the passage, stopping the former king. "You have us. We can help!"
"No, my student, this is something that I must do alone," he said with a shake of his head. "Everything that happened to these ponies, everything the kraken has done...is by my mistakes. I may not be the greatest pony by far...but even I know when I have gone too far. I must set this right." As he said this, he started up a teleportation spell that he used on the four of them, looking from Starshine to Trixie before looking at the old dog.
"You knew I would do this?" he asked.
"I suspected," Bark said with a smile.
"You don't have to do this," Trixie said, but Sombra shook his head with a smile.
"No, but a certain annoying pony showed me that no matter how one has messed up in their past, that doesn't mean they can't try and fix it," he said. "And I have to make up for my mistakes, and what the kraken has done is because of me. So I will be the one to fix it." He turned away just as the spell finished, getting rid of the group. Sombra sighed and walked down the passage, knowing that he was heading to his death...or worse. But just like the king he was, he kept his head high as he entered a massive coliseum-like room, with a number of platforms floating in the water that took up most of the space. "KRAKEN! I AM HERE!" The water erupted as hundreds of tentacles burst from the ground, followed by a giant red beast that took up a third of the water. Its eyes glared at Sombra with hatred and it roared as it surfaced.
'SO, HAVE YOU COME TO RETURN TO YOUR FATE?!' It asked as its tentacles all shot towards him. "OR TO BEG FOR MERCY AND A SWIFT DEATH?!'
"Neither, you overgrown pile of crap," he growled as he knocked the tentacles back, both his horn and eyes glowing as he looked towards the beast. "I've come to finish this. One way or another."
Sombra growled in pain as he was thrown across the coliseum and slammed into one of the glass windows that lined the arena, shaking his soaked mane as water began to pour in through the crack. He got back up quickly and fired multiple thunderbolt spells, but the kraken deflected the blows with its tentacles, all the while laughing at him.
'DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DEFEAT ME?' it screamed with a laugh that shook the chamber, slamming its limbs into the water to create a massive wave that Sombra blocked with a barrier. 'I AM A BEING THAT HAS EXISTED LONGER THAN TIME ITSELF! YOU HAVE NO CHANCE AGAINST ME!' Sombra's response was to shoot his lightning into the water and send the current right into the kraken, which let out a chuckle as the lightning hit him.
'IT IS USELESS, KING. THE ONLY REASON YOU MANAGED TO WOUND ME LAST TIME, WAS YOU HAD THE ENTIRE CRYSTAL EMPIRE ON YOUR SIDE--AND EVEN THEN YOU COULDN'T FINISH ME,' it bellowed with a laugh as Sombra struggled to deflect its constant barrage of attacks. 'WHY DO YOU REMAIN SILENT? IS IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR FATE WILL BE ONCE I AM DONE TOYING WITH YOU?'
"No, it's because my mother told me to stop talking to animals that will end up as food," he replied with a smirk as he created a blade of magic with his horn and sliced off one of the tentacles, causing the creature to roar in fury. But just as he sliced it off, two more grew out of the stump. 'Thought only hydras were supposed to do that,' he thought before the two new tentacles slammed into him and wrapped themselves around him, crushing him to death without him being able to die.
'WHY PROLONG THE INEVITABLE, SOMBRA?' the kraken asked him as it brought Sombra closer to its face, chuckling in glee when it heard some of his ribs crack under the pressure of its grip. 'YOU KNOW THAT I AM A FORCE FAR BEYOND WHAT YOU CAN FIGHT. ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE SOMETHING TO YOURSELF? OR ARE YOU JUST BUYING TIME FOR THOSE OTHER FOOLS TO ESCAPE?"
"Nope. Trying...to see if you smell just as bad as I remember," he wheezed with a smirk, before crying out again as the monster continued to crush him.
'EVEN IF YOU GIVE THEM A HEAD START, I HAVE SPENT THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS RECOVERING FROM THE SPELL YOU WOUNDED ME WITH LAST TIME. AND IF YOU ARE WILLING TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO PROTECT THOSE FOOLS, IT WILL BE MY PLEASURE TO HUNT THEM DOWN AND DO TO THEM WHAT I AM GOING TO DO TO YOU.'
"Not on your immortal life!" Sombra growled as he looked skyward. ""NING LI GTH!" The kraken roared as a lightning bolt came down from the ceiling and struck the tentacle, forcing it to release Sombra who fell into the water. He swam over to one of the floating planks and pulled himself up, panting heavily as he looked back at the kraken, which was now moving towards him with a growl.
'THERE IS NO ESCAPE. NOT FOR YOU OR THE REST OF EQUESTRIA. FOR ONCE I AM DONE WITH YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS, I WILL HAVE ALL OF EQUESTRIA BOW BEFORE MY POWER!'
"Quit...taking...all my ideas," he panted with a smirk before another tentacle swatted him back into the water, where he had to fight back to the surface. He used a spell to place himself above the water, where the kraken put five of its tentacles together. In the center of the tentacles a black sphere of darkness appeared and Sombra growled as he prepared himself.
'DIE!' the kraken roared as it fired the sphere towards Sombra, who threw up a shield while yelling, 'FENCE DE!', placing a double shield around himself. The sphere smashed into the barrier and went through the first one with ease, before slamming into the second one, which only held out a few moments longer before the sphere struck Sombra, hurling his screaming body across the room and into the glass, shattering both it and his bones as he collapsed to the floor, water seeping in from the break.
'GIVE IN SOMBRA AND I WILL END YOU QUICKLY,' the kraken said with a snarl as its tentacles began to move towards Sombra, who with the last of his will was able to force himself back to his hooves, glaring at the kraken with undefeated eyes.
"Sorry beasty, but you made me immortal," he coughed as he reached inside his bag, pulling out the crystals and placing them at his hooves. "And I promise to fight you to my immortal last breath, no matter how long it takes to defeat you. Bring it." The kraken roared in rage and sent its tendrils spiraling towards Sombra, who prepared to speak his final incantation. But just before he could speak it, a bolt of azure shot past him and pierced through the tentacles, striking the kraken in the eye. The creature roared and fell backwards while Sombra turned to see a familiar pony standing next to him.
"Trixie?" he asked weakly before he fell over, but Trixie caught him before he hit the ground. She helped him back to his hooves as Armora and Bark ran in front of him and little Starshine took up the rear. "I thought I told you all to get out of here, that I would take care of it..."
"You did, but then I remembered that it was you and you'd probably find a way to mess it up somehow," Trixie replied with a smile as she used some of her magic to heal what wounds she could, allowing him to stand. "That, and we couldn't let you face this on your own. As much as some of us hate to admit it, you're part of this crazy little family now." Sombra looked over the four of them, each of them nodding as he looked at them (even though Armora rolled her eye as he looked at her). Sombra stood lost for a moment before he smirked and stood up tall.
"This thing is an immortal demon that seeks to place us all under its control, and you guys still want to fight it?" he asked them. Trixie's horn glowed with power in response just as Armora pulled her blade out with a smirk, with both Bark and Starshine nodding as well. "Well, I guess we're all crazy then. Let's do this." Just as he said this the kraken had recovered from Trixie's attack and slammed its tentacles into the water, sending a wall of water towards all of them again. This time Trixie jumped forward and sent a blast of ice into the water, freezing it all the way back to the kraken, who shrieked in rage as some of his tentacles froze over.
"Sombra! You fought this thing before, how do we hurt it?" Bark asked as he reached inside of his pouches and pulled out a number of dog fangs that he threw with perfect accuracy into the kraken's eye, causing the beast to back up in pain.
"The only thing that could hurt it is a spell that requires these crystals!" he yelled back as he shot an arrow of flame into one of the tentacles, setting it ablaze. The kraken quickly placed the tentacle in the water to extinguish it, but received another piercing spell to the face as it did so. "Give me time, I need to set up the proper spell in order to use these. Starshine, think you can manage a shield for me?" Starshine nodded and Sombra told him the word he needed to use, which, once he had spoken it, sent up a red shield that looked stronger than the one Sombra himself had used.
'Kid really does have talent,' he thought to himself as he began the spell. Armora and Trixie double-teamed the kraken, Trixie powered-up Armora's blade in the process to the point where she could slice through the tentacles with relative ease. The beast roared and grabbed Armora with one of its limbs, only to shriek in pain when Bark bit down on its limb. Armora tossed the blade to Bark and he cut her free, sending blood spraying as the kraken regrew its tentacles.
"How are we supposed to hurt it if it can regrow its limbs?" Bark asked as Trixie fended of more of its attacks.
"It's using magic to regrow its limbs," she yelled back. "My anti-magic barrier can hurt it, but that won't stop it! Any ideas, anypony?!"
"Almost ready!" Sombra yelled, but at that moment the kraken let out a roar and began to glow with power. Armora's blade bounced off of its now glowing tentacles and Trixie's spells hardly wounded it.
'NONE OF YOU ARE A MATCH FOR ME!' it roared as it managed to grab Trixie, Armora and Bark, hoisting them into the air as it began to crush them all. 'YOU WILL ALL FALL TO ME! I AM THE--!'
"Blit O Rate Er!" Starshine yelled with power, causing the kraken to scream as its tentacles were ripped apart, Trixie shielding herself and the others with her magic barely in time. Starshine let out a small cry of victory before he fell over, completely exhausted by the spell.
'YOU DARE TO ATTACK ME, FOAL?!' the kraken roared in rage as it swatted Trixie and the others away, sending all of its remaining tentacles towards the foal. 'I WILL DESTROY YOU!' Trixie teleported Armora and Bark back to the hallway entrance, before another tentacle attacked her.
"I said...NOT ON YOUR LIFE!" Sombra roared as he threw himself in front of the attack with the crystals spiraling around him, powering up his shield spell far beyond what it had previously been. The kraken's tentacles disintegrated against the barrier, causing the kraken to roar in frustration and fury.
'ENOUGH OF THIS GAME!' it roared as it brought all of its tentacles together to form a massive sphere of darkness that was three times as big as the previous one. 'I WILL KILL YOU ALL!' Trixie teleported herself next to Sombra and threw up a barrier along side his, as the blast was fired at them. The attack slammed into the double barrier, pushing both of them back while they did their best to keep the shield up. Sombra saw that the shields were beginning to fail and he knew that he only had a second to react. And in that second, he threw the crystals around Trixie and placed himself in front of both her and Starshine. When the shield did give out, Sombra took the full blast himself.
"Sombra," Trixie cried out as Sombra's smoldering body fell over, and she ran to his side, seeing that his mane and some of his fur had been burned off.
"That hurt," he muttered weakly as he started to get up with Trixie's aid.
"How are you still alive?" she asked as Armora and Bark limped over to her, while Armora lifted Starshine onto her back.
"I'm immortal, remember?" he asked her with a smile before coughing roughly. "Oh, it still hurts though."
'THEN ALLOW ME TO RECTIFY THAT MISTAKE!' the kraken roared as a pair of its tentacle knocked Trixie and Bark aside and grabbed Sombra, dragging him towards its face as other tentacles wrapped around him with malice. 'WITHOUT YOUR...MY IMMORTALLITY, YOU WILL BE NOTHING BUT DUST! DIE!' Sombra roared in pain as it said this, light coming from the tentacles. Trixie and the others watched with horror as it flung Sombra into the wall, but to their amazement he stood back up, looking just as fine as he had a moment ago.
"He's alive?" Trixie asked in amazement, before a voice spoke in her ear.
'The kraken is distracted. Now is the time to strike!' Trixie narrowed her eyes and slammed her front two hooves into the ground, aiming the six crystals towards the kraken as she roared. "BLIT O RATE ER!" sending a massive beam of magic into the kraken, who wailed in agony as its body began to vanish from the power of the spell. It tried to escape the magic by fleeing into the water behind it, but a wall of dark magic appeared, followed by Sombra's laughing.
"Oh no, my friend, you've had this coming for a while," Sombra said with glee as the kraken screamed one last time before it collapsed into the water, the rest of its body vanishing into the waves as the spell finished. Trixie let out a sigh before she too fell over, but Bark caught her before she could hit the ground. "I honestly didn't think it would work," Sombra said as he walked over to them, looking at his perfectly fine body in confusion. "Any idea how this happened?"
"I'd blame the one in silver," Trixie said with a sigh. The group simply stood there for a moment, drinking in their victory before the ground began to shake and the room began to fall apart. "What's happening?"
"The kraken was the only thing holding all of Atlantis together," Sombra said as he threw up a shield around the group, stopping some of the rubble from hitting them. "Where's the way you guys came in? We need to get out of here!"
"It's this way!" Bark yelled as he handed Trixie to Sombra and took off running up the passageway. Sombra levitated her onto his back before he followed Armora and Bark up the stairs, doing his best to avoid the debris as it fell.
"I...can put up a shield if needed," Trixie offered weakly.
"Why do you think you're on my back?" he replied with a smile as he jumped out of the way of another chunk of ceiling. As the group ran, Trixie noticed a number of sea ponies standing in place as the debris crushed them, no emotion or sign of thought on their faces as their home fell apart. "I told you, Atlantis died a thousand years ago. These ponies were simply puppets that the kraken used for his own enjoyment. They were dead when you got here."
"It's just up ahead!" Bark yelled as he leapt to the door and slammed his claws into it, throwing it open with a grunt as he ran inside. But to the group's frustration, they found that a large number of stones had fallen onto the teleportation circle and had shattered it, leaving them trapped in the falling city.
"Any ideas anypony?" Sombra asked them, before Trixie looked up.
"Hey silver pony? Some help here?" The group stood in silence for a moment before a sigh could be heard in their heads.
'Oh alright, but just this once.' And then they all vanished from the city in a flash of silver.
/T\
Trixie groaned and shook her head as she got up, getting really tired of waking up like this on a regular basis. Sombra and the others were already up, with Sombra offering Trixie his hoof to help her up. She looked around to see that they were standing in a field again with the wagon beside her, a field next to a forest that she strangely knew. But then to her surprise, she found the trident from the king's chamber laying next to her.
"Yeah, it was here when we woke up," Sombra said as she got up
"Hey Trixie, isn't this the forest that we found Star-Swirl's temple in?" Starshine asked once Trixie had walked over to them.
"It is," Trixie confirmed before turning around to see the silver mare standing behind her. The mare nodded before vanishing in a flash of silver, but as she left the final piece of the puzzle clicked in Trixie's mind. "It was the silver mare who convinced you to come back, wasn't it?" she asked Sombra, who looked at her for a moment before nodding. "I thought so, but what is her goal in all of this? She can't just be doing this out of the goodness of her heart, there has to be an ulterior motive."
"So why did you come back Sombra?" Bark asked as he walked up to Sombra and wrapped a paw around his shoulder. "Was it to save all of us or for a certain pony in particular?"
"Shove off," Sombra growled as he slapped the paw away. "I came back because I knew what the kraken would do to you, and it was a fate that I couldn't let anypony else suffer through, even if I had to stop it. That's the story, so let's just get to that temple." From the looks they gave him, he knew that he wasn't fooling any of them, but Trixie came to his defense before the others could pressure him.
"Leave him be, everypony. If he doesn't want to talk there is no point in forcing him," she said as she walked by him towards the wagon. "We should probably get moving."
"You don't care for my reason?" he asked her.
"You saved our lives from a gruesome fate, according to you. That's all I need to know," she replied as she inspected he wagon to make sure the mare hadn't damaged it in any way. Sombra let out a frustrated sigh before he sat down on the ground and motioned for everypony to join him.
"It's probably best you know what kind of beast the kraken was," he began as the ponies gathered around him. "The kraken was used against me when I tried to slip into Atlantis to take a foal of theirs, since the foals were used for sacrifices to the kraken in return for his protection. I was captured, and instead of just killing me, the kraken made me immortal so that he could torture me for all eternity for trying to steal from him."
"Then why don't you look like the sea ponies?" Starshine interrupted. "I thought that you were made immortal in spirit only?"
"True, but the sea ponies were already dead and under his spell, only their souls were immortal, not their bodies," he explained. "Second, the princesses trapped me in ice for a thousand years, so my body didn't really age too much. I would thank them if I wasn't going to bring them down."
"And as you were saying?" Trixie muttered, curious to hear the rest of the story.
"Right. So after six months of...unspeakable tortures, I managed to break free and escape back to the Crystal Empire," he said with a frown as the memories came back to him. "The kraken followed me, however, and it took those crystals that I gave you to defeat him."
"So what are those crystals?" Bark asked.
"They were originally the source of power that protected the Crystal Empire, before I came into power and took them for my own gain," he said with what looked like a regretful face. "Hence the need for the Crystal Heart, especially after I was no longer welcome in the Changeling Empire to reclaim them." Armor buzzed and Sombra chuckled. "In hindsight, it was stupid to hide them next to the Changeling Empire, but I wasn't as bright back then...no, I still was."
"So you used the crystals to kill the kraken?" Trixie asked, getting his thoughts back on track.
"No, they were only able to drive the beast back," he said with a smile as he looked at her. "That's because I could only use half their power. Only a pony with a noble heart can use their full power, like you did. But once the kraken returned, it demanded more sacrifices for its battle, even though it had failed to get what it was sent after. So in return, the sea ponies tried to kill it in its weakened state."
"And they failed," Trixie said with a sigh.
"Yes. And the kraken then sunk the city of Atlantis into the ocean, which was the last time I ever heard of it," he said with a sigh. "But I assumed the creature was still alive and was probably using magic to keep them animated, since every once in a while an assassin would come after me. I'm surprised that Starshine didn't catch on."
"How was I supposed to know?" he asked defiantly.
"The kraken's magic can affect anypony with ties to magic, but with your busted horn the spell probably caused you discomfort." Starshine realized that Sombra was talking about the headaches he had been having. "Oh!" He exclaimed, causing Sombra to roll his eyes. "And that's the whole story, unless you want to hear about the kinds of torture that the kraken would have planned for you."
"Only one thing doesn't add up," Trixie muttered in confusion. "How did Star-Swirl make peace with them if they were being controlled?"
"Hell if I know, I was in ice for that period," Sombra said with a shrug. "The only reason that I know about Star-Swirl at all, was by reading his works. But I think that's enough about the past, it's time to head to the temple," he said as he stood up, Starshine running over to him once he had. "What?"
"I knew you'd stick around," he said with a smile before running past Sombra. "You're one of us!"
"The hell does that mean?" Sombra asked as the other headed into the wagon as well, where he was going to follow them, until Trixie stopped him.
"I know there was a bit of the story that you left out," she said with a look of wonder. "There was a reason that you endured the six months of torture, and that wasn't because you were trapped. You are one of the better escape artists that I know. You don't have to tell me now or ever, but if you ever need a pony to listen, I will."
"Thank you for the offer," Sombra said as he headed inside. "But that is a story I do not want to re-live." Trixie nodded in understanding and headed inside, starting up the wagon just as the sun began to rise just over the hill. "How long were we down there for?"
/T\
"Talk."
"Oh Batman, there is no need to be rude," Morgaine said with a smile as Batman's face grew angry, shaking her finger at him when he began to move. "A little pony is how I got my memories back, and it is also the one who told me the news that I'm certain you don't want to hear."
"If you don't give me more concrete answers, I'll have the Martian pluck them from your brain," Batman threated, noticing that Morgaine wasn't fazed.
"There is no need, because I also have a personal stake in the matter," she said gravely as she looked into his eyes with hers. "I have been told that there is a darkness in Equestria that will destroy the Dark Knight and the Azure Outcast unless the two of them work together. So according to this pony, as long as the two work together they will prevail..."
"But destiny and prophecy is as trustworthy as Luthor," Batman finished as he began to realize what she was telling him. "So you believe that these demons will wipe out Equestria unless the two stop them? How do you know these words are even real?"
"Because it is the same two demons that I tried to raise when I was there," she said with a stone face. "I read about them in the library in Stalliongrad and believed that they would be strong enough to destroy any who opposed me. But...you know the rest."
"And I know what I need to do," Batman said as he rose from his chair, before looking at Morgaine with narrowed eyes. "You want something for telling me this, don't you?"
"All I want...is to come with you," she said. Batman's look answered for her, but before he could speak, she did. "You have every right not to trust me, but I care for Trixie as if she were my own daughter. And if what the silver pony told me is true, then I have doomed her to a terrible life by me being there. I want to set it right. I want to be there for her." Batman's suspicion still didn't go away and Morgaine knew that she'd have to hit his heart. "And without me, Trixie may not survive. And then Scootaloo might die. Do you want to risk that?" Batman's eyes narrowed again, but this time he pulled out a key that he used to unlock her handcuffs before dragging her to her feet and out the door.
"Don't ask J'onn," he said to the Martian Manhunter as he passed by him. "And you better pray that you're right about this Morgaine...or I will show you why I am the most feared in the League."
Around mid-day, Trixie and the others came back to the door that only she and Starshine had been to before. Sombra laughed at it as Armora looked over it with interest.
"It smells ancient," Bark muttered as he sniffed it once. "Not as old as Sombra, but still fairly old." Sombra muttered something as Trixie walked back into the wagon, picking up all of the items that they had spent so long collecting and bringing them back outside.
"Then I think it's time we busted the old doors open and find out what's behind those giant doors," she said with a smirk as she walked up to each of the members. "Armora, I believe that you should be the one to insert the claw. Your actions have spoken more than your words ever could, and I feel like you deserve it." Armora bowed slightly as she took the claw while Trixie moved over to Bark.
"Bark, you can place the horn," she said with a smile before looking at Sombra, who shrugged and placed a hoof on his horn, muttering a word before taking it off. "You've been a steadfast ally and have helped us in tough times when we were lost. I would be honored if you would do this."
"I'll be wanting that back," Sombra said as he gave the horn to him before Trixie walked over to Sombra, a smile on her face as she levitated the trident to him.
"I didn't know if I could trust you, Sombra," she began. "Your spotty record, your reputation and your attitude made you a pony that I believed would place a knife between my shoulder blades just as soon as help me. But over time you have proven to be a great, if not a somewhat reluctant, ally. And by coming back to not only save us but also face your fears, you proved your worth to all of us. The trident is yours." Sombra said nothing as he took the trident, but he did nod towards her with a smile on his face.
"Are you certain? My wish is to get revenge on the princesses," he reminded her.
"I am certain. Just as I am certain that revenge may no longer be what you live for," she said with a knowing smile as she walked past him over to Starshine, who looked up at her with a bright smile as she smiled at him. "And you, my little Starshine, I give you the ruby of the very first adventure we went on. You are brave, you are courageous and you have a will that cannot be matched. The ruby is yours."
"Thanks Trixie," he said as he took it from her with a smile, before he and the others walked over to the door. Sombra tried to go first, but Armora passed him and placed her claw in its slot before he could react, smiling at him while she walked past as he grumbled. Starshine ran past as Sombra continued to grumble and threw his ruby at its slot, missing the first throw but making it on the second. Sombra glared at Bark once Starshine ran past, but the Diamond Dog motioned for him to go ahead. Sombra smiled as he placed the trident into its spot before helping the dog find his way to his spot. Bark placed the final item in the slot and stood back, all of them waiting for something to happen.
'They have been retrieved!' a voice echoed throughout the forest as the doors began to open, shaking the forest as the group backed away from them. Once the doors had fully opened, the items fell out of their spots and to the ground, allowing the group to pick them back up. Sombra reclaimed his horn, but tossed the trident to Armora, saying how he didn't want it. Bark took the claw and placed it over his own, smiling at how it fit perfectly. And finally Starshine took the ruby and held onto it as they all stared at the entrance.
"Well, I think it should be our fearless leader who goes in first," Sombra said as he looked to Trixie, the others backing away so that she could go first. She was touched and started to walk forward before she looked back at Sombra with a sly smile.
"Are you using me to check for traps?" she asked him.
"Hey, I'm not immortal anymore." She rolled her eyes but moved forward anyway as the others followed behind her, each of them nervously waiting to see what would be on the other side.
"It's...books," Trixie said with amazement, because the first room they came into was a huge library filled with books, more books than she had ever seen in any library across all of Equestria, even Canterlot. Sombra made a crack about what an egghead Star-Swirl was, while Trixie began to look at all the books, thinking of all the knowledge that could be within these pages. She had pulled out a stack of them and was set to read them when Bark cleared his throat.
"Trixie, I do not mean to rush you, but these books are not the reason we are here," he said, Sombra agreeing with him. "There is still the wish to look for as well."
"I suppose," Trixie said with a sad sigh as she put the books away, promising to come back for them. "The wish that is said to grant the pony whatever they need most. If I know Star-Swirl, it will be in the center of the temple. Let us go look." The group continued on, walking past a number of odd rooms that amazed them as well. One room was filled with cauldrons and vials filled with every kind of potion imaginable. Another was filled with all sorts of crystals and gems that none of them had seen before, forcing Trixie to drag Sombra past it. The final room was less of a room and more like a giant bridge that was completely made of diamonds, stretching towards a circular platform at the end of it, which housed a crystal with a rainbow of colors swirling around it.
"That must be it," Bark said as all ponies looked upon it. "Even though I can't see it, I can still feel it and it feels powerful. That is the stone that will grant our wish. Let us go." The group walked across the diamond bridge to the room, all of them stopping just outside of the circle as they looked at each other.
"I guess the only question now is who goes first?" Trixie asked, causing every eye to look over at Sombra.
"What, you assume that I would just go in there first without any thought of you four?" He asked in an insulted voice before a smile crossed his face. "Yeah, I probably would. But how about this: We let the kid go first. I'd like to see what his wish is." Trixie looked to Starshine who nodded excitedly and raced into the circle, feeling a powerful magic begin to encompass him. He blinked once, and when he did he found a pony with a magnificent beard standing before him.
"Are you Star-Swirl?" Starshine asked, and the pony chuckled with a shake of his head.
"I am a memory of him, left behind to aid any who managed to make it into this temple," he replied with a smile. "Now then, I believe that you are owed a wish. What do you want it to be?" Starshine lowered his head for a moment before he looked up at the pony.
"I wish for a family." Star-Swirl smiled at the colt for a moment before he glowed once.
"Done." Starshine looked around excitedly for a moment before he realized that nothing had changed. He looked up at the smiling Star-Swirl again as the pony began to chuckle. "I am sorry Starshine, but I cannot give you something you already have." Starshine looked at him in confusion before he looked back at Trixie and the others, all of whom were looking at him with smiles, even if they were confused ones.
"I've been with my family this entire time," he said with a smile as he figure out what Star-Swirl was saying. "I've just been too blind to see it."
"No, it's probably because your mane has been in your eyes this entire time," Star-Swirl said with a chuckle as he looked at Starshine's mane, which had almost grown back out. "Now, go to them." Starshine smiled and ran out of the circle, where Trixie looked at him with concern.
"What is the matter? Didn't he grant your wish?" she asked him before he tackled her with a hug, looking up at her with a smile.
"He didn't need to, I've had my family all along," he said as he went back to hugging her. She smiled in return and hugged him back before he broke free and hugged Armora and Bark, before looking up at Sombra. "I guess I can," he said before hugging Sombra, who had no idea how to respond to the show of emotion. Starshine let go with a smile as he joined Trixie's side again.
"Guess I'll go next," Sombra said with a smile, only to realize that Armora was already in the circle. "One of these days I swear I'm going to..." Armora looked around inside of the circle before Star-Swirl appeared in front of her as well, causing her to back up and draw her blade.
"Do not worry, I won't and cannot hurt you," Star-Swirl said to her, smiling as she put her blade in its sheath. "But I cannot try to guess what you could want." Armora buzzed a few times in response and Star-Swirl smiled at her, understanding her every word. "Yes, rest is most often what a warrior wants. But let me ask you this: Despite hating the path that you have taken, how much good have you done once you joined with Trixie and the others? How many lives have you made better?" Armora looked back at the group with a small smile as Star-Swirl smiled. "Maybe that is your path, not to be a weapon but a protector." Armora sighed in defeat before walking out of the circle, Star-Swirl vanishing once again.
"So, did he grant your wish?" Trixie asked her, and she shook her head but buzzed a few times, everypony then looking to Sombra.
"She said that instead of granting her wish, he showed her a reason to keep on living," he translated. Trixie smiled at Armora and pulled her into a hug, while Sombra tried to sneak into the circle next.
"Sorry Sombra, but I'd like to return the favor that I gave you at the door," Bark said as he placed a paw on Sombra' shoulder and walked by him. Sombra growled in frustration and slammed his head into the ground in rage as Bark walked into the circle.
"May I guess what you want?" Star-Swirl said as he rematerialized, Bark turning his head towards Star-Swirl's voice. "You wish to have your sight restored?"
"No. I was more blind when I had my sight, and only once I had lost it did I finally see," Bark replied as he sniffed the air. "But as for what I want...actually, what I need, I simply want to know the answer to a question."
"And what question is that?" Star-Swirl asked.
"...Is there hope for my son?" he asked. "Can he pull himself out of this dark pit he has fallen into?" Star-Swirl lowered his head for a moment before he looked up with a smile.
"There is hope for him, but it will be a tough battle for him to fight alone," Star-Swirl replied. "But with the help of his family, he just might make it." Bark sighed in relief and thanked Star-Swirl as he walked out of the circle, telling the others what he had asked. Trixie looked over at Sombra who was glaring at her, daring her to try and go up.
"Oh alright Sombra, go ahead," Trixie said, Sombra shooting up to the circle while Starshine looked up at her.
"Are you sure about this?" he whispered. "Sombra said that..."
"I know what he said, but that was when we first met him," Trixie replied. "I have a feeling that things might be different now." Sombra walked into the middle of the circle and looked at the rainbow gem, snarling as he threw his head back.
"Star-Swirl! Grant me the power to destroy the princesses! To do to them what they did to me!" He looked around after he said this for the wizard, but he never appeared. Sombra was about to start blasting in a rage when he heard hoof-steps behind him. He spun around with his horn glowing, but it went out as disbelief filled his eyes.
"No...it can't be," he whispered as a sea pony walked up to him. She was the same color as the sea and had a tail with fins on it in place of a pony's tail, and fins on her head in place of ears. But her eyes are what told Sombra who she was, eyes that he knew since they were little. "Gloria, it can't be..." he said.
"It is, Dad," she said with a smile as she walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pulled him into a hug, Sombra returning the gesture after a moment.
"But...how?" he asked her as she let go. "You died...I saw it happen."
"Because this is your wish," she said with a smile as she placed a hoof on his cheek. "And because I needed to see you, to speak with you. I've been watching over you ever since that day and I'm...so sorry. If I had only listened to you and stayed inside instead of heading out to town-"
"Don't apologize," Sombra said to cut her off as he pulled her into another hug, doing everything in his power to keep himself from crying. "I should be the one apologizing. If I had only been stronger, if I had only been there..."
"You can't be everywhere at once," Gloria replied as she returned the hug. "But the reason I'm here now is to tell you to let go of the grudge you hold against the princesses."
"I can't..." Sombra said weakly. "They took you from me...they killed you that day..."
"They did not mean to. All they were doing was stopping a pony they thought to be evil," she replied gently. "They just never got to know you like I have. But now I'm asking you to let go of the past...to let go of me."
"No...I can't..." he replied weakly as he sank to the ground, looking up at her with tear-stained eyes. "You were my only source of joy, the only thing I cared about more than castles or crystals...you were my daughter."
"And that's why I have to ask you to let go," she replied as she began to back away. "This path, this holding onto your past and revenge, it's destroying you. You have to let me go." Sombra's will gave out and he let the tears fall silently from his face.
"But you're all I have..." he whispered.
"Not any more. You have new friends now...a new family," she said as she pointed over to Trixie and the others. "So please, as your caring daughter who only wants the best for you, let me go. Let go of the hate and live, for the both of us. Not as a revenge-filled pony, but as the loving pony I knew. Promise me."
"I...I promise I'll try," he whispered as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again she was gone, leaving Sombra to sit there for a moment before getting back to his hooves and walking out of the circle, where he walked past the others and sat at the edge of the circle, staring into the nothingness. Starshine tried to walk over to him, but Trixie held out her arm to stop him, shaking her head. Trixie inhaled once before she too walked into the circle, watching as Star-Swirl materialized in front of her.
"Hello there young...can it be?" he asked in disbelief as he looked at Trixie with amazement. "Could it be...I am sorry, it is not important. What is your wish?" Trixie lowered her head for a moment, thinking about what she wanted...what she needed.
"Can you erase me?" she asked him, causing Star-Swirl to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"I don't follow," he responded.
"I shouldn't even be alive, not after all that I have done! All the ponies in this land fear me, to the point where they'll stay awake at night guarding their homes when they get word that I am near! Can you remove me from their minds, remove the fear from everyone of them?! Nothing I do matters to them, so I just wish to be forgotten." Then, to the utter shock of Trixie, Star-Swirl began to laugh.
"Forgive me Trixie, but what you said cracked me up a bit," he said before taking on a more serious face. "You say that your actions don't matter, but I say that you need to open your eyes and look around you. Or rather, look behind you." Trixie did as he said and saw Armora, Bark and Starshine all looking up at her, with Sombra still staring into the void.
"I see my friends," she replied. "What of it?"
"What of it? If it hadn't been for you, none of them would be alive," Star-Swirl told her with a frown. "Starshine would have probably died in the streets, alone and unloved, if you hadn't taken him into your home. Sombra would have never been able to show whom he could become if you hadn't taken the time to help him. Armora would have fought 'til she died if you hadn't healed her wounds, both physical and emotional. And Bark would have died in his cell, knowing that his son was going down a dark path to his own destruction had you not offered to let him come with you. From what I've seen, your actions have benefitted so many, yet you always look to your failures instead of your success."
"But the world still hates me," she whispered. Star-Swirl walked over to her and lifted her head so she could see into his eyes.
"But did that stop you from helping others, from trying to be the best pony you could be?" he asked her as he backed away. "You have shown so much generosity to others despite the hatred they showed to you. Maybe it's time you take a look at what you have achieved," he said as he motioned to the others. "Instead of what you have yet to achieve." Trixie looked at her friends for a moment before she let tears silently fall down her smiling face as she looked back to Star-Swirl.
"You changed their lives Trixie, never forget that," he said to her with a smile before his eyes grew wide. Trixie turned to see where he was looking to see that the silver mare was standing in front of the circle, looking at Trixie with urgency. "Go Trixie, this will be important."
"What is the matter?" she asked the silver mare, who waited until Sombra had come over before she spoke.
'The sixth has been found and the Dark Knight has failed to stop the darkness from coming,' she said quickly as Trixie's eyes widened. 'The time has come for you to stand with the Knight and fight against the evil, or all of this world will be consumed by the demons.'
"What demons?" Sombra asked her in a dead voice. "There are a number of them you know."
'Two of the most dangerous. Azarock and Daragon.' Sombra's eyes widened as she said this, and Trixie knew why. She had only read the legends about the two demons, who had once battled for control over all of the world. 'She fights them alone, but she stands no chance. You must aid her.'
"Of course I will," Trixie said as she looked to Starshine. "I want you to stay with Sombra and the others. I will be back if we win."
"The hell you will." The group all looked to Sombra, who shook his head at her with a fire in his eyes. "I fought Dagaron back when I ruled over the Crystal Empire and I know it is a battle that you can't win alone, especially if his brother is there to back him up. If I wish to honor Gloria's last wish, then I have to help you. And I will."
"As will I," Bark said as well. "The demons pose a threat to all of Equestria, not just Canterlot. I will fight beside my friends." Armora buzzed fiercely in response as well and Sombra translated that she would fight to the death alongside Trixie.
"And we're family now," Starshine said as he looked up at her. "And family has to stick together, especially in the most dangerous of times. So don't tell any of us to stay behind, because we're all going." Trixie looked around at them all with pure gratitude showing in her eyes. She smiled once before looking at all of them with a stern look.
"Alright then, but we're going to need every edge that we can get. Sombra, gather those crystal you used on the kraken and bring them here. Armora, any healing potions in the wagon will also be needed. Starshine...stay close to one of us once we get there, since we don't know exactly what we're up against. And you," she said as she faced the silver mare. "Once we get there I want you to aid me and Batmare." The silver mare nodded and all of the group members ran off to their different jobs, leaving the silver mare alone with Star-Swirl.
'So why didn't you tell her?' she asked the pony.
"Tell her what?"
'That she's your descendant. I think she would have liked to known.' Star-Swirl sighed as he watched Trixie go before he looked up to the crystal.
"Because compared to all she has done, my achievements are child's play," he replied with a sigh. "She is already so much greater than me, why bother telling her something that doesn't matter?" The silver mare nodded with agreement. Trixie had just gathered the crystals from the wagon when Sombra walked up beside her, looking at the golden mask that she had pulled out of the chest.
"You know, I never understood why you would work with Morgaine in the first place," Sombra muttered as he picked up the mask. "Yeah, in everything I read it was because you were evil or something along those lines, but I know that's not true. So what's the real reason?" Trixie stopped what she was doing and looked over to the mask, a sad sigh escaping her lips.
"Because she was a mother to me," Trixie said. "My actual parents kicked me out when I was little for being a failure at magic, so when Morgaine took me under her wing...I was ready to do anything for her, even take down the princesses and all of Equestria. If a certain filly hadn't helped to see through my own hatred, I may have just doomed everypony."
"So that's why you took in Starshine and the rest of us," Sombra said with certainty. "Because you hate to see that happen to any pony else." Trixie nodded as she slipped the crystals over her neck, heading out of the wagon before Sombra stopped her.
"You asked me why I stayed behind in Atlantis when I could have escaped at anytime, well...Gloria is the answer," he said weakly. "I had met her when I first went to Atlantis as an ambassador, and she...saw through me, through the king and the evil pony. Only she saw the tiniest of good that I had within me, and brought it out. Over time, I got to know her and began to care for her. So when I found out that she was to be sacrificed to the kraken, I had to figure out a way to get her out before she did was sacrificed, even if it meant I had to endure whatever the kraken could throw at me." He hung his head as he said this, before slightly raising it as Trixie hugged him gently.
"Thank you for telling me," she said as she let go. "And for letting me see the real pony underneath all the arrogance and showboating."
"That damned silver mare said that I was different from all the other Sombra's she had met in the other worlds, so I guess I should thank Gloria for that," he said. "But it was all of you who helped me pull myself out of the dark...a bit. I'll still always be somewhat evil."
"We'll work on that," Trixie said as she turned to the temple. "But she would have been proud to see whom you had become in such a short time."
"Don't think too highly of me yet Trix, we still have to go save the world," he said with a smirk as they headed back to where the silver mare was.
"We're ready," Trixie said to the silver mare, who nodded and began her teleportation spell. Trixie took one last look at Star-Swirl the Bearded before she got something. 'He grants what we need, not what we wish for,' she realized. 'That's why he didn't appear for Sombra and he only talked to the rest of us. We already had all we needed.' The spell finished and the group vanished in a flash of silver, leaving the chamber as empty as it had been for five hundred years.
/T\
Trixie and the others appeared on one of the roof tops of Canterlot, but they all gasped when they saw the city. Demons were running through it and killing all in their path, while a giant pillar of darkness shot out of the roof of the castle, letting Trixie know what was happening.
"The demons are releasing their armies into the land of the living!" Trixie yelled as she blasted one of the demons off a guard. "So we'll have to--"
"Trixie! Over there!" Trixie looked to where Starshine was pointing to see a creature covered entirely in white swat away a pony that wore armor that looked like a bat. Trixie realized who that was and what was happening and knew she had to react fast. She leapt off the rooftop where she stood and used her magic to shoot herself over to the castle, landing on the building beside it just as the demon walked towards the fallen Batmare. Right before it could finish her off, however, a bolt of azure struck the creature down and sent it skidding across the rooftops. Batmare raised her head toward where the blast had come, knowing only one pony with magic like that.
"Trixie!" Batmare yelled as Trixie leapt off the building next to her, looking at the demon that was getting up with worry. Sombra and the others landed next to her at this moment, gaining all of them a look of confusion from the bat pony. "I don't believe this. A Diamond Dog? A foal? A Changeling?...Sombra?"
"That's KING Sombra to you, Dark Knight," Sombra said with a smile as Trixie rolled her eyes. Sombra walked up beside Trixie and glared at the white demon. "Seems they were right. That's definitely one of the demons--Daragon--but I don't know where Azarock is."
"Azarock fell into the streets," Batmare said, causing Trixie to frown as she looked to the streets and then back to the white demon. She knew that she would have to fight, but she also knew that she couldn't fight both of them. Then she noticed Batmare looking at her friends and she let a smile cross her face.
"These are my partners and friends. The Changeling is Armora and the Diamond Dog is Bark. The colt is Starshine. Sombra, I am certain, you already know." Batmare nodded dumbly as Daragon let our a roar that shook the group, before it let out a white blast of white magic towards them. Batmare tried to get up to dodge, but Trixie and Sombra leapt in front of the attack first.
"Sombra."
"Got it." The two of them combined their magics to create a barrier of the greatest power to deflect the attack, but Sombra staggered a bit during the spell. The two then retaliated with magic blasts of their own, knocking the demon over. "Darn it, that took a lot more power than I was expecting," Sombra growled as his horn stopped glowing. "Sorry Trix, I'm still recovering and I don't know how much use I'm going to be in this fight."
"That's alright, I want the four of you going into the streets to help the princesses fight off the demons," Trixie said with the air of a specialist as she looked to the streets. "It looks like they could use your help. Also, give Twilight my regards if you see her. Starshine, stay with one of them." The four nodded and ran off towards the streets, but Sombra stopped for a second and turned around.
"Are you certain you can handle this on your own?" he asked her with concern in his voice, knowing full well of what this demon was capable.
"Don't worry your highness, I'm certain that I will be fine," Trixie responded with a playful smirk as she turned to face Batmare, a thin smile on her face as she recognized the pony under the mask. "It has certainly been a long time, Scootaloo. I see that you're following in Batman's footsteps."
"Why do I bother wearing the mask?" Batmare grumbled before a loud roar got their attention. Daragon had recovered from the attack and was now charging at them. Trixie let her horn glow once again as she sent a spell to destroy the roof under the demon's face, sending it crashing into the throne room below. "I'm sorry to break up this reunion so early, but we both have work to do. Do you think that you can handle Azarock on your own?" Trixie hated to do this to Batmare, but she knew that two of the most powerful demons would be too much for her to handle.
"Yes...but I'll probably die in the process," Batmare said with a growl as she leapt off the building, leaving Trixie to leap in the hole into which she had sent Daragon, landing softly as the giant white demon picked itself off the ground and turned towards her with a snarl.
"So, you are one of the two demons that are supposed to be the most evil in the land. Daragon." The demon shot its claws into the ground, sending up pillars of white energy that Trixie dodged with a teleport. She appeared behind the creature and blasted it with a spell of her own, but found that she had only annoyed the creature.
"Then allow me to introduce myself," she said with a smile as the creature turned around. "I am Trixie Lulamoon. Demon of Equestria." Daragon's response was to shoot multiple spikes towards Trixie, who threw up a barrier to protect herself. The spikes cracked the barrier upon impact, but the shield held long enough for Trixie to get out of the way of the rest of the spikes. "Rude. You need to learn a lesson." She shot her magic into the ground and caused two hooks made of stone to erupt from the ground, which shot into the demon to chain it to the ground. It snarled and glowed with power, shattering the stone chains before it charged at Trixie, who used her magic to launch herself up into the air to dodge. Daragon changed his path on a dime and shot up to grab Trixie, slamming both of them through the ceiling of the castle and landing together on the roof.
"Ugh, that hurt," Trixie muttered before she was swatted across the roof, picking herself up as the demon charged at her. "So my normal magic won't work huh?" she asked as she looked at the crystals on her neck. "Then let's try some charged magic." She channeled her magic into her crystals as she said this and fired a multicolor bolt into the chest of Daragon, sending him skidding back across the roof. She smirked in what she thought was victory until the demon picked itself back up, glaring at her. "Should have known better. This will be a tough fight."
The demon roared as it threw itself into the air and it began to mutter words, words that Trixie recognized as the language of old. She barely had time to throw up a shield as red bolts of lightning came crashing down on her, blowing her backwards. She rolled to the side and sent a cascade of magical stones at the demon, who vanished into thin air before appearing behind Trixie. She turned just in time to see one of its claws coming right for her face.
'Not today.' Daragon howled in rage as his claw slammed into a silver barrier, backing away as tendrils of silver wrapped around the demon, throwing it down off the rooftops into the gardens below. 'I am glad to see that I got here in time,' the silver mare said as Daragon roared below.
"What took you?" Trixie asked before she looked down at the demon. "Forget it, I need your help. This thing's got magic that dwarfs mine. Think you can help me beat it?"
'Yes and no. See, while my magic is strong, it is not very destructive. In fact,' she said as she looked down at the white demon, 'its destructive force is greater than mine.' Trixie frowned, but her attention was drawn back to Daragon since he began throwing a number of statues at them, forcing Trixie to think fast.
"Fine. You don't have to help me, but I want you to go help the others, especially Starshine," she ordered before shooting her magic into the sky, bringing forth a cloud that rained down hail the size of baseballs upon the demon, who only roared in rage in return. The silver mare vanished as Trixie leapt down, creating a field of magic at her hooves that allowed her to slam into the demon at full force. Daragon retaliated by turning his arms into spiked blades, swinging them towards the mare as she struggled to keep the creature at bay.
"How about this?!" she yelled at it while she lifted a chunk of rock out of the ground and filled it with explosive magic, chucking it into Daragon's face with a smile as the explosion sent the creature flying backward through one of the castle walls. "What do you think of that?!" she asked with a laugh, only to watch as Daragon came out of the castle lifting six boulders, all of which were filled with the same magic. "Oh, hell." She was thrown through the air as the boulders exploded all around her, sending Trixie rolling down the side of the castle and into the streets of Canterlot, where she struggled to get back up while the demon slowly began to advance towards her, smiling as its claws went in and out.
'Now what do I do?' she thought to herself as she rolled out of the way of another blast from its mouth, only to be caught by its tail that shot out from behind the creature, lifting Trixie into the air as it slowly began to crush the life out of her. She struggled to remain conscious as it continued to crush her, only to be saved when a bolt of darkness tore the tail from the demon. Daragon howled in pain as it staggered back, dropping Trixie who was caught by dark magic.
"What are you doing here, Sombra?" she asked the Dark King as he set more blast into the demon, keeping it back. "I thought I told you to keep the ponies in the streets safe?"
"You see, I was going to do as you asked," he said with a grin as he helped her up. "But then I remembered that it was you fighting this battle alone and that you'd probably find some way to mess it up." She smirked at his words, but before either could do anything Daragon shot out of the ground underneath of both of them and slammed them both into the ground. Sombra snarled as he sent magical blades into the demon's arms and shot them up to the shoulder. Daragon released him, and he spun to send a blade of darkness through the other arm, causing Daragon to let go of Trixie.
"Any plans, Trix?" he asked her as the two of them got some distance from the demon, which slowly turned to them with malice in its eyes.
"How did you seal it last time?" she asked. Sombra opened his mouth to answer, but then he shut it again and looked away, causing Trixie to raise an eyebrow. The demon shrieked and charged at them, forcing the both to take up defensive stances, ready to fight.
KABBBBOOOOOMMMM!
Trixie, Sombra and Daragon all looked to the sky as a massive vortex of darkness appeared there, shattering the sounds of the battle in the city as lightning began to flash across the sky. A sphere of golden energy shot out of the vortex and began to head for them, while a giant metal...bat flew out and headed in the other direction. The golden sphere landed in front of the two in a cloud of dust, causing Daragon to roar as it charged again.
"To challenge me makes you more than a fool," a voice Trixie knew well said as three spheres of magic flew out of the dust cloud and wrapped around Daragon before pulverizing him with fire, ice and lightning respectively. The dust cleared to reveal a figure in a long green robe, with a golden chest plate that matched her golden mask. "It has certainly been a while, my young student. It seems that you haven't aged much."
"It can't be..." Trixie whispered as the figure began to walk towards her. "Morgaine."
"Correct, my student," she said with a hidden smile, stopping in front of Trixie while Sombra placed himself between the two.
"Hold on a sec, aren't you supposed to be evil?" he asked her, preparing for a fight. Morgaine looked down at the pony with no emotion before answering.
"Yes, I suppose I am still evil in the sense of the world," she replied, causing Sombra to growl as his horn began to glow. "But even if I am evil, I still take care of my family...and that is why I am here. To aid my daughter in her moment of need." Trixie's eye grew wide as she said this, and tears of joy began to form in her eyes, but the reunion was interrupted when Daragon roared and shook off the spell attacking him, turning to the three with malice.
"And who is this?" Morgaine asked Trixie.
"That's Daragon," she replied. "He's a demon-"
"Oh I know who he is, I tried to summon him the last time I was here," Morgaine said with a wave of her hand. Daragon roared and charged them again, but Morgaine snapped her fingers and the ground underneath the demon shot into the air, taking the demon with it. "What I meant is, who is this pony behind you? You colt friend?" Sombra gagged on those words, causing Trixie to chuckle.
"No, he is just a friend, albeit a good one," Trixie responded. "I saved his life and in turn he has saved mine, and others I care about. He was aiding me against this demon when you showed up."
"Oh really?" Morgaine asked as she looked back to him. "Well then, you can live for now. This demon is our first priority. I hope that you have not been slacking in your training during the time I was gone," Morgaine said as she spread both arms out, causing black clouds to begin to swirl around them as the winds began to bend to her command. "Because you will need all your skill to keep up with me."
"I am far stronger than I was the last time you trained me," Trixie said with a smile as she let her horn crackle with all of its power, causing the ground to shake beneath her as the two stood side by side, Sombra having no idea what he should do. Daragon landed on all fours and began shooting insects made of light at the two, which buzzed towards them at incredible speeds. Morgaine swung her arms out and created a circle of magic, which shot out a torrent of fire into the insects and burned them to ash. Trixie took the offensive and shot her magic into the air, magic that sucked the stones from the ground and created a meteorite of magic which she then super-heated with fire.
"Allow me," Sombra said as he ran by her, slipping into the shadows to get underneath Daragon and shot out shadows to wrap around the demon to hold it in place. "Bring the pain, Trix!" Trixie nodded and brought the meteorite down on top of the being, drowning its screams of rage under the shatter of the ground beneath it and around it.
"Very good, my student," Morgaine said with an approving nod as she lifted one of her arms. "But you still lack the finish that you needed the last time I was here. For example," she began as she lifted the chunks of rock back up in the air, revealing the still roaring demon underneath. "Try this." As she said this, spikes shot out of the bottom of the meteor and it began to spin as the demon got back up, before she drove it back down on top of the creature, which was pushed through the ground and to the streets below.
"Geez, you're powerful," Sombra said with a whistle as he looked through the hole at the destruction that her one spell had caused. "I see where Trix gets her strength."
"It is not done yet," Morgaine said with warning as she began preparing another spell. Sombra backed away from the hole as a burst of light shot through it, revealing the now flying form of Daragon, who had streaks of blue in his white body now. He roared at the group and lifted his head to the sky, sucking in all the light from around them to create a sphere of destruction. "BEHIND ME!" Morgaine yelled as she created a barrier of hexagons that shone like sapphires. Trixie and Sombra leapt behind her as the demon fired, tearing apart the castle as the shot flew towards them, crackling with energy as it collided with her shield.
"It...won't hold...much longer," she grunted right before the shield fell and the three of them were all sent flying backwards. Trixie caught herself with magic and Sombra slipped into the shadows, but Morgaine struck a wall and fell to the ground with a cry of pain, lifting her head to reveal a cracked mask with blood running from its chin.
"MORGAINE!" Trixie cried as she rushed to her teacher's side, while Sombra engaged the beast on his own.
"I am fine. It is a scratch," she said as she floated back to her feet, lightning flashing behind her as she glared at the beast. "This creature has the audacity to attack me and my student at the same time, with no thought of its own life?" she asked in rage as she slammed one of her feet into the ground, creating a circle of magic at the hooves of Trixie and at Morgaine's feet. "This creature must learn respect. And it will be shown what it means to go up against a power that it cannot hope to defeat."
"So then, what shall we do against this beast?" Trixie asked as she prepared a multitude of spells to unleash. Sombra was knocked back by Daragon and he slid to a stop next to the two, Trixie helping him up as the circle encompassed him as well.
"Why, that is simple my student," Morgaine said as she raised both her arms and a golden light shot out of the circle that swirled around them.
Trixie and Sombra looked down in disbelief at the gold armor that Morgaine had summoned for them, feeling their already powerful magic enhanced by the armor. Daragon snarled, but kept a safe distance from the three, feeling their power with worry.
"And now, the fool shows fear," Morgaine said with a masked smile as she clapped her hands together, sending out a crimson wave of energy that forced Daragon to dig his claws into the ground to prevent himself from being blown away. "It just shows, those who believe they have power only cower in the face of real power. Trixie! Sombra! Finish him!" Sombra and Trixie looked at each other with a smile before they both combined their magic together, sending an azure beam of darkness into the demon's chest, sending him skidding back until he collided with a wall, the magic pinning him to it as he roared in pain.
"HA! I haven't felt this powerful since...well, since I first cast a spell," Sombra said with a laugh as he and Trixie both kept the pressure on the demon, blasting him through the wall and into the castle's main hall. Sombra, Morgaine and Trixie all leapt into the room, where the demon was getting up with a snarl.
"So then demon, what do you plan to do now?" she asked the demon, which lowered its head for a moment before letting out a shriek to the sky that forced all three of them to cover their ears. Daragon then began to glow with an un-earthly power as, to the group's horror, it began to suck in all the light from around the room. Candles extinguished themselves, lanterns burst with magic and darkness slowly crept into the room until the three of the them could only see the white demon in front of them.
"How did he do that?" Sombra asked before the demon vanished in a flash, appearing behind him to swat him across the floor and into a pillar, where he collapsed to the ground. Trixie suffered the same fate as the demon slammed its claws into her side, sending her skidding across the floor.
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER!" Morgaine yelled in full fury as she placed her hands on the ground, causing giant stone soldiers to rise out of the floor and attack the demon. But Daragon simply vanished again, causing the stone giants to stop as they looked around in confusion. Two streaks of light flashed out in the darkness and all of the giants fell to the ground in pieces, Morgaine cursing as she spun around to catch the demon's claw in her magic. "I am the strongest magical force in my world! What can you do to me that I cannot counter?" Daragon's answer was to burst apart in a flash of light that blinded Morgaine before another flash sent her into a wall, where she struggled to avoid collapsing. Daragon let out a shriek and ran towards her as Trixie struggled to get up, watching the whole thing happen.
"No..." she whispered while she struggled to use her magic, only to feel it fail her right as Daragon got to Morgaine and reached out its claw to grab her. Then there was another flash of light, but this one was not caused by Daragon as he backed away, holding his stump of an arm in pain. Trixie blinked twice to see Armora standing in front of Morgaine, trident held out in an offensive position. "Armora?" Trixie asked weakly. Daragon roared and tried to charge again, but there was a howl and Bark landed on its back, digging his claws into Daragon's spine as the demon shrieked in pain.
"Oh yeah, this smells like the ultimate demon," Bark grunted as the creature shook him off its back, landing on his back as the demon turned to face him. "Ugh, I don't need to see you to tell you're an ugly one." The demon roared and started to attack him, but this time it was the voice of a small colt that stopped the attack.
"Blit O Rate Er!" The small voice blasted Daragon across the hall, smashing him through a number of pillars as he brought down a wall on the other side of the room, falling back outside. Trixie struggled to her hooves as Starshine ran over to her, helping her up as Bark aided Morgaine and Armora assisted Sombra. "Sorry we're a bit late Trixie, the silver mare just wouldn't leave me alone." Trixie looked to Starshine's side to see the silver mare, who was flickering more than she remembered her doing.
"How's Batmare?" Trixie asked, trying to block out the pain.
'Batman aides her in her plight, but they will not hold forever,' the silver mare responded as she turned to see the demon getting back up. 'I will aide you with Daragon, but then I must go to help them. There is not much time left.'
"Not much time 'til what?" Trixie asked as Daragon got back up, letting out a shriek as his wings unfolded once again, and he flew back to the top of the castle. The silver mare wasted no time in teleporting the group up to the top as well, where they found the demon by the portal, making it grow larger.
'He has not yet begun to unleash the demons that are held within that rift,' the silver mare explained as she fired a beam of silver energy into the demon, knocking it over but only angering it further. 'If it opens the rift all the way, then it will not matter if we stop them or not. It will be the end of everything.'
"So what do we do?" Morgaine asked as all eyes turned to the silver mare.
'You must seal the demons back up in order to stop them,' she said as she turned towards Sombra. 'And he knows how to do it.' Sombra bit his lip and looked away, but Trixie looked from the demon to him with worry.
"The rest of you need to keep Daragon from making that portal any bigger," she ordered, watching as the others nodded and re-engaged the demon, which snarled in rage as they did their combined best to keep it at bay. She then looked towards Sombra with pleading eyes, gently placing her hoof under his chin and moved his head so he looked into her eyes. "Sombra, what needs to be done?" He looked away again, but still spoke.
"The crystals that you have can be used to cast the spell that can seal away the demons," he said with sorrow in his voice. "By saying Pohe Fo Le Circ, you will gain the power needed to seal them away, whereupon saying the words Urn Ret Ot Lleh, you will imprison them forever, but only if both demons go into the portal together. But whoever casts the sealing spell...is doomed to die and their spirit is to be trapped in the realm of the demons forever. When I did it the first time, I was immortal. But now..."
"Now, it is our only chance," Trixie said in a bitter tone as she looked down at the crystals around her neck, knowing what had to be done, never noticing Morgaine listening to them. She placed her hoof on the crystals, but Sombra placed his over hers.
"Let me be the one to do it," he said as she tried to take them from her. "You still have a life to lead. You still have to show this world that you aren't the pony they think you are. I'm...I've already failed them as both a pony and a ruler, but there is still hope for you. Let me do it."
"And what of Gloria?" Trixie asked as she took the gems back. "If your soul gets imprisoned in the demon's realm, then you will never be reunited with her. She needs you Sombra."
"And they need you!" Sombra roared back as he pointed to the group, who were desperately fighting. "They need you as well, especially Starshine. So please, let--" Sombra was blasted across the rooftops as a swarm of white magic consumed him, Trixie crying out as he landed on the ground motionless below the castle.
'He still lives,' the silver mare said as she appeared beside Trixie. 'But the time is near. Did he tell you how to stop it?'
"Yes...but I'm going to need to talk to Batmare," Trixie said as she hardened her eyes and did her best not to look at her friends, while the silver mare created a mental link with Batmare. "Batmare, can you hear me?"
'What the...Trixie, is that you?' Batmare asked inside Trixie's mind.
"Yes, and we don't have much time. Morgaine has figured out that the twin demons plan to open the portal she wished to open and unleash their forces upon the land. I have a spell that can stop it, but it will take time to do so. But when it activates, you have to get Azarock into the light that will be cast," Trixie said, not liking the silence that followed.
'...What's the catch Trixie, I can hear the hesitation in your voice,' Batmare replied. Trixie chuckled at how clever she had become and smiled a bit.
"The catch is that this spell will stop the demons, but at the cost of the user's life," Trixie said with sorrow in her voice.
'Then don't do it!' Batmare yelled before the sounds of her getting attacked rang through Trixie's mind. Trixie looked over at her friends to see that they were barely holding their own as well.
"Batmare, we are both losing this fight badly, even with our parents helping us out," Trixie reminded her as Morgaine did her best to protect the others with her barrier, only to be knocked out of the way and closer to Trixie. "And it won't stop with us. If we do not send them back now, their armies will swarm upon the land and consume everything, with no chance of stopping them. This could be our only chance." Trixie waited in silence for a moment before Batmare whispered,
'Do it.' Trixie felt the connection end, so with a heavy heart she placed the crystals at her hooves, closing her eyes as she began to summon forth the magical power to create this spell. "Pohe Fo Le Circ!" she cried, screaming in pain as she felt the magical power consume her, a circle of the most radiant magic appearing at her hooves as she cried. The circle was filled with the Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony, which flooded her with enough power to keep the spell going. The silver mare lifted her head and vanished without a word, leaving Trixie alone to cast the spell.
'I never thought that I would go like this,' she thought to herself as she closed her eyes to focus on the spell the best she could. 'I always thought that an angry mob would get the better of me. But it's this, creating the ultimate spell that will damn my soul in order to stop the evils of the twin demons...a better death than I deserved.' Then she opened her eyes again and saw her closest friends fighting against the demon with all their might, but still fighting a losing battle.
'Even though you cannot hear me Armora, I want to thank you for being a loyal friend through your actions instead of your words,' Trixie thought as the Changeling did everything she could to avoid being crushed. 'You were always the first to defend us and the last to leave the battle until we were all safe. I could never thank you for what you have done.'
'And Bark, you helped us to mend more wounds than the one. Seeing more with your mind than I could with my eyes, and helping me to see what was inside instead of what was on the outside. I hope that Starshine can learn much more from you in the years to come.' Then she looked behind her at Sombra, who was struggling to just move. She could see his eyes and they were filled with fear at what was happening.
'And you Sombra...oh where to start?' she thought with a smirk. 'You have to be hardest pony to get along with, and that's when you're not being a total jerk. But over time...you became one of the most reliable allies that I could have hoped to have with me on my journey...when you weren't being a jerk. I leave Starshine in your care. Please take care of him as I would have.' Trixie looked forward to the battle as the circle glowed under her hooves, telling her that it was ready. But before she could cast it, Morgaine was sent flying over towards Trixie, where she managed to catch herself before hitting the ground.
"Trixie?" Morgaine asked with confusion as she looked at the circle under her hooves, to Sombra who was still trying to get up. "What is this? Is this the spell that can stop the demons?" Trixie looked away from Morgaine as tears began to fall from her eyes, before she looked up at Morgaine with a smile.
"I almost...never got to say goodbye to you," Trixie said as the tears continued to fall. "And to say that...I'm so sorry."
"For what?" Morgaine asked in confusion, looking over to see Daragon still fighting the other three. Armora was doing her best to keep the demon from getting close to Starshine, while Bark had a death bite on the demon's neck and was not letting go, despite being shaken back and forth.
"For betraying you and almost getting you killed," Trixie wept as she struggled to keep her magic going. "You took me in, you trained me to be as skilled a magician as you and...you gave me love, love that I have never felt before. And I stabbed you in the back when you were at your weakest. I'm...so sorry." Morgaine's look softened as she knelt down next to Trixie, gently placing her hand on the side of Trixie's head to wipe away her tears.
"It is I who should be apologizing for failing you, not the other way around," Morgaine said sympathetically as she removed her mask, letting Trixie look into her eyes as she spoke. "At first I thought of you as nothing more than a means to an ends, hoping to use your hatred of Twilight to destroy her. But the more time I spent with you, the more I began to feel like the mother that I once was so long ago. I used you as a weapon, instead of caring for you like I should have. I should be the one saying that I am sorry, not you."
"But you changed me!" Trixie said with emotion. "You showed me how to become a stronger spellcaster, how to deal with defeat! Without you--"
"Would not be the most hated pony in Equestria," Morgaine said to cut her off, shaking her head as tears of her own began to fall. "I lost my son some years ago because he decided that he wanted to rule over the world. When he died in the battle with the heroes of good, I vowed that I would honor his final wish and claim a world for him. But when I failed and my luck brought me here, I vowed to let nothing get in my way...except, you did."
"W-what do you mean?" Trixie asked as Morgaine placed her hand once again on Trixie's face.
"You helped me to see the good side of things again, what it mean to be a parent," Morgaine said with tears in her eyes. "When you shot through my shield and stopped my plan, I was broken hearted. But in the moment before I was consumed by the magic, I knew that it was not you that had failed me, but that I had failed you. You were...are the closest thing to a daughter I have ever had, and I tried to turn you into a rage-filled killer. I may not be the most clean of souls...but I should have been at least able to be a true mother to you."
"But you were!" Trixie said as she wrapped her hooves around Morgaine's neck. "You were the closest thing to a mother I've ever had, even more so than my actual one. You gave me love...you gave me a family that didn't hate me." Morgaine returned the hug before standing up again, looking down at Trixie with pride.
"You truly are the greatest daughter and student that I have ever had," she said with a smile as she offered Trixie her hand. "And one day you will surpass me as a magician." Trixie smiled at the nice thought as she grabbed her mother's hand...and immediately felt electricity course throughout her body, knocking her over out of the circle.
"W...what are you?" Trixie choked out as Morgaine levitated Sombra over to them before she herself stepped into the spell circle. She looked to Sombra with an approving nod before smiling at Trixie again.
"You may be my greatest student, but it is the job of every teacher to have their student some day surpass them," Morgaine said as she continued the spell. "And you have not surpassed me yet. Therefore, you cannot be allowed to die until you have." Trixie's eyes widened as she realized what Morgaine was going to do and she struggled with all her might to get back up.
"N-no. You can't," she begged as her tears continued to fall.
"Take care of her," Morgaine said to Sombra before flinging her arms out, increasing the power of the spell. "Batmare, this is Morgaine, can you hear me?"
'The hell do you want?' she snarled in reply.
"The spell is ready. Can you get Azarock to step into the light?" she asked as she looked down at Trixie one last time, giving her the loving smile that a mother gave her child...before she looked back at the demon and roared, "Urn Ret Ot Lleh!" Morgaine exploded into a giant golden light that hurled towards Daragon, flinging him like he was nothing as it flew into the portal, causing a giant pillar of light to shoot out of the top of the castle, consuming anything that got close to it. Armora and the others managed to get clear in time, while Trixie looked at the portal with despair.
"No...no..." she whispered to herself, falling to the ground. Sombra looked from her to their friends running over to the demon that was getting back up, knowing what had to be done.
"Trixie. I know that you are upset right now, but we cannot let her sacrifice be in vain!" Sombra roared at her, grabbing her arm and forcing her back up. "She gave her very soul to give us a chance to beat these demons, to keep them from taking our world. You can't just let all of that go to waste. We have to fight!" Trixie looked into his eyes to see the fierce fires that were in every word that he spoke, before looking to the others, each of whom had those flames within them as well. Then she looked down to see her mother's mask laying at her hooves, a mask that she scooped up into her hooves with a look of sorrow before she glared up at the demon.
"Then let us show this demon what happens when it messes with the most dangerous outlaws in Equestria," she said with fury as she placed the mask over her face, feeling as it morphed around her skull to fit her perfectly. She then let out a scream filled with bloodlust as she charged at the demon, her family following suit as each of them engaged the demon in their own way. Trixie sent a hell of fire blazing towards the demon while Sombra rained down sharpened bones that would cower the bravest of ponies. Armora hurled the trident for all she was worth into the beast's face, while Bark slashed boulders out of the ground to hurl at the demon. And Starshine brought himself to the edge of exhaustion with each spell he used, each of which pushed the demon further and further back.
'So this is where your journey has brought you,' a voice that Trixie knew well spoke in her mind as she fired more magic at the demon. 'Even though you are hated throughout all of Equestria, you still choose to fight for the ponies that have shown nothing but hatred towards you. Why?'
"Because it is who I am!" she roared as she sent a tsunami of water into Daragon. "I care not what they think of me, but I will not allow what has happened to me to happen to another. I will give all I have to make sure that they can live a life free of pain and misery, a life that I have only known!"
'And you found this out without my help or that of anypony else? I am impressed.'
"You're wrong. My friends and my new family are the ones who helped me become the pony I am today!" she yelled as she and Sombra combined their magic to supercharge Armora's trident, blasting a hole in the center of Dagaron with its power. Her body screamed in pain as she went beyond her magical limit, but she ignored it. "And though I am strong by myself, only with them am I at my strongest! They are my strength."
Both Trixie and the demon could feel the portal pulling on them, wanting to suck both of them in. Trixie knew that now was the time to finish it, to stop the demon once and for all.
Daragon held onto the ground with all of its strength, doing its best not to be sucked in. Trixie took that moment to charge her body with as much magical power as she could before throwing herself towards it, ramming into its gut and ripping its claw out of the ground, sending them both flying into the portal together.
"FALL!"
Trixie felt the last of her strength leave her with that blow, and it was all she could do to remain awake as both of them were sucked into the portal. Through the spiraling of the white energy, she could see a black demon swirling around inside of the portal as well, telling her that Batmare had managed to stop her own demon.
'So then, the two of us did it,' she thought to herself as she felt the magic of the portal swirling around her. 'I don't know how much longer I could have fought.' Trixie allowed herself to let a smile out, a smile that she had saved for the day she had made up for her mistakes. 'I finally did it.' And then everything went white.
===---T---===
Both of Trixie's eyes opened and she shot to her hooves, her horn crackling with power as she glared at the white demon in front of her. Then, to her surprise, it walked over to he black demon and placed a claw on its shoulder, causing both of them to begin to merge.
"The hell do you think your doing?" Trixie turned her head to see Batmare reaching for a batarang, only to realize she was out.
"They are fusing with each other, meaning that they are preparing to kill us."Trixie said, watching as Batmare turned her head to the side as Trixie teleported beside her, noticing that one of Batmare's eyes was burned. "These two are normally enemies, but they work together only as a last resort. And since the two of us along with our families pushed them back into their dimension..."
"They will use every trick they have," Batmare said as she took up a fighting stance. The area all around them was silver, a similar silver to the silver mare, but Trixie couldn't focus on that for long as the demon roared and opened two holes in reality, one behind the ponies that led back to Equestria and another that led to the depths of Tartarus. "And we have to stop them, don't we?" Batmare asked
"We do, although I find it odd," Trixie said with a smile. "Nearly ten years ago, you and I were on opposite sides of the line, and now we are working together to defeat a final foe. It amuses me."
"We may have been physically on the opposite side of the line, but your heart wasn't there," Batmare reminded her as the black and white demon began to advance. "You saved us then, and you'll save us now."
"That's what a lot of creatures have been saying to me lately," Trixie said with a smile before she unleashed her full power into the beast, sending a symphony of magical power into its chest, sending it skidding backwards. A cyclone of fire and stone materialized from her horn and lifted the demon into the air, but with a roar it blew apart the cyclone and hurled itself at the two. Batmare responded with a grapnel to the chest that had electricity coursing through the cables, sending volts through the demon. But the creature barely felt the effects and teleported behind both the ponies, grabbing them by their necks and lifting them up. It prepared to snap their necks before a blast of silver tossed the demon to the ground and freed the two mares.
"Thanks for the save," Trixie heared Batmare say to the silver mare, who had appeared beside them. "But what do we do against that thing? We could barely handle the demons separately, but how can we beat them together?"
"See the two portals?" Trixie asked Batmare, who had to look behind her to see a portal that showed Canterlot. She then looked forward at another portal that showed a land of fire. "The one behind the demon is Tartarus, and we have to get them in there. But it's going to be difficult."
"Trixie, we've fought creatures that Equestria didn't even know existed," Batmare said with a smile. "I think we can handle this." The twin demons roared and charged towards Batmare and Trixie, the latter unleashing her power once again into the demons. The magic wasn't enough to hurt the creature, but it was enough to slow it down. Trixie growled as Batmare began to throw whatever she had in her belt at the thing until it ran empty. Trixie looked over at Batmare with a frown until an idea came to her.
"Batmare, do you still have that anti-rang that you used?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Batmare asked before looking at the demon made almost entirely of magic. "Yeah, I do." Batmare reached into her belt and pulled out the last batarang, aiming it right at the center of the creature's head. "Fall." She threw the batarang with all her might, watching as the gift from her father flew on a true arc that nailed the demon in the center of its head, breaking through all of its magical shielding and causing it to roar in pain, giving Trixie the chance she needed to push the demon into the other portal. Both of them watched as the demon was sucked into the portal, roaring one last time before the portal closed. Trixie and Batmare both collapsed to the ground exhausted, each trying to ignore the pain.
"So, what happens now?" Batmare asked Trixie.
"Now, this dimension collapses and takes everything inside with it," she responded with a sigh.
"So, this is it?"
"Yep, this is it."
"At least we died knowing we won," Batmare said as she closed her eyes.
"Yeah, at least we did," Trixie responded as everything went white.
TTTTTT
The twin demon roared as it landed in the land that was Tarturus, snarling as it got back up and turned towards the portal that was closing behind it. It roared and ran forward as fast as it could, until a blast of magic knocked it over.
"Never again," a voice said as the demon got up, looking up to see a ghostly women in a green robe with golden armor standing over them. "You will never leave here again." And then she unleashed her magic.
Trixie groaned and forced herself up, worried that she felt no pain, but that thought vanished when she found herself in a room with only white emptiness all around her, making her wonder if she had finally died. That was when she noticed the silver mare, but that was only because the silver mare moved against the white background. If she hadn't, Trixie probably would never have seen her.
"So, where am I?" she eventually asked the silver mare as she got up with a groan. "Did I finally die or did you somehow prevent that from happening?"
'You are as astute as ever. Yes, I managed to get both you and Batmare out of the demon's plane before the gates crashed down,' the silver mare confirmed for her. 'But as to where you are, this is where I first came into being...where I first found out how badly I had failed.'
"What do you mean?" Trixie asked before an image flashed across the white background, the image of a human with a black suit and a golden lightning bolt running down his chest, holding the silver mare by the throat with tears in his eyes. "Who...is that?"
'The one that I have failed,' she whispered to herself before moving her arm to wipe away the image. 'But that is not important. What is important is that I am so proud of what you have done.'
"You mean stopping the demons? Yeah, I guess I did alright," Trixie muttered, but the silver mare shook her head.
'No, I mean that you were kind and generous to others, even when you were an outcast to those the ponies you sought to protect,' the silver mare explained as she showed Trixie the images of her friends. 'Starshine, Sombra, Armora and Bark...all of them would have had no future if you hadn't taken the time to help them. Starshine would have died on the streets and Sombra would have never gotten to say his farewell to his daughter. Armora would have fought 'til the day she died and Bark would have watched his son become tyrant. But you helped to stop all of that from happening. All because you decided to give a small, lost colt a home.'
"Like I said, I do my best to help and I enjoy bringing others to justice," Trixie replied before a worried look crossed her face. "Speaking of others, what happened to Batman? Or...Morgaine?"
'That you must find out for yourself when you go back to them,' the silver mare said as she flashed a dazzling light. 'But for that, you need to wake up.'
/T\
Trixie groaned once again as she struggled to get back up on her hooves, barely aware of what was going on before she got tackled from the side by a small colt.
"You're alive!" Starshine cried out as he wept into her side, tightly hugging her as she looked around in a daze. Sombra, Bark and Armora were all standing beside her, all but Sombra having tears in their eyes. "You've been out for a few minutes. We didn't know if you were going to--"
"Speak for yourself kid, I knew that it would take more than that to kill her," Sombra said with a smirk as Starshine let go of Trixie, before he walked up to her and held out a hoof. "But I'm glad to see that you're not in a coma, Trix. You are the only one who can get us back in the wagon, after all."
"Glad to see that's why you were so worried," she said, returning the smile as she took his hoof, shakily getting to her hooves as she looked around her. She hadn't been moved far from where the portal had been opened, but she did notice that she hadn't been the only one resting. "Batmare?" she asked as she saw the dark clad mare beside her, a good portion of her suit destroyed or burned. "Jeez she looks bad. Are you certain that she's alright?"
"We only have the word of the silver pony that she'll survive," Bark said before turning with a growl, the others looking to where he was sniffing to see a figure all in black land on the roof beside them, the symbol on his chest letting them all know who he was.
"Batman," Trixie muttered as the Dark Knight limped over to them, doing his best to hide his pain. He glared down at them as he approached and they moved to the side, allowing him to bend over to pick up Batmare into his arms before he looked at Trixie.
"Where's Morgaine?" he asked her, causing a wave of sorrow to come crashing down on Trixie as she remembered what had happened. Trixie fell back down to her knees and lowered her head, causing the Bat to raise an eyebrow at her reaction. "I asked you a question," Batman threatened before a bolt of darkness flew by his head.
"She's dead," Sombra growled as he walked up to the Dark Knight, not intimidated by him in the least. "She sacrificed herself to use a spell that trapped her in the demon's plane along with the demons. And that was after she had told Trixie how much she cared for her! So I don't give a damn who you are, but you will leave her alone!" Batman narrowed his eyes as Sombra's horn began to glow, but Trixie held out a hoof to stop him.
"She's gone, Batman, just as Sombra said," Trixie muttered as she got back up, looking into Batman's eyes with her own. "But she was the one who cast the spell that allowed us to stop the demons, to keep all of Equestria safe. She saved us." Batman narrowed his eyes at that statement before he turned and walked away with Batmare. Sombra scowled at him before Batman stopped and looked back at Trixie.
"I'm sorry." Trixie let a small smile out at his two words as he vanished, leaving the five of them alone to look around at the destruction of the city. All of the demons had vanished, which Trixie contributed to the closing of the portal and everything seemed to be fine, apart from the few cries of pain that they heard. Trixie was about to say something when there was a loud noise, and a giant ship that looked badly burned flew up over the crest of the city. A laugh could be heard from the ship before it flew off into the distance, leaving the five of them more confused than they had been.
"TRIXIE!" Trixie turned around only to be slammed into by a wall of purple, which she found out to be Twilight--after they had stopped rolling. She grunted as Twilight pulled her into a 'death hug' and squeezed the entire time. "I can't believe it's really you! I had no idea that you would...actually, I thought you would show up, but to battle two of the demons!"
"It's nice to see you again too, Twilight," Trixie said again as she broke free of the 'death hug', giving Twilight a small smile in contrast to her large one. Luna and Celestia came running up after her, both of them coming to a stop when they saw the dark pony standing next to Trixie and Twilight.
"Sombra," Luna snarled as she let her horn glow with power, Celestia following suit. Sombra let his horn begin to glow as well, but Trixie placed herself between him and the princesses before anything could start.
"Yes, Sombra, the former ruler of the Crystal Empire and one of my friends who helped me to stop the demons," Trixie said, causing the princesses to gasp in surprise. "In fact, all of these misfits you see here helped to stop Daragon. Starshine, Armora and Bark, Sombra--all of whom have been my good allies." Celestia looked at the group for a moment before she shook her head.
"It seems that there is a lot that you need to tell us," she said with a sigh as she looked around the city. "But this is not the place to do so. Please, come with me."
/T\
A full day had passed since the defeat of the demons, a day that Trixie had mostly spent with the princesses and the Elements, telling them mostly of her journey for the past few years up to the point where she came to Canterlot to fight. The parts with Sombra especially raised the princesses eyebrows, and the knowledge that Atlantis had been in the clutches of the Kraken for so long caused sorrow to flash in their eyes.
"The Atlantians had been good allies of ours," Celestia said. "They had aided us in our battle with Sombra and the Changelings, which is why I assume that he went after them." She glared at Sombra as she said this, but he ignored her completely. Trixie had then told them about Star-Swirl's secret temple and what he had told her, but she said that the others would tell Celestia what he told them if they chose. The sun had set before they had finished talking, so Celestia had the guest rooms made up for them, although Trixie had to convince her not to throw Sombra in the dungeon.
"I just can't believe that you're friends with all the princesses!" Starshine said excitedly as Twilight escorted Trixie and her family to their chambers, smiling at the excited young colt as he looked around the castle with a huge smile.
"I wouldn't exactly call us friends," Trixie tried to say, but Twilight pulled her into a wing hug in response.
"She's right, we're the best of friends," Twilight said with a smile, Trixie rolling her eyes in response. Armora and Bark got their own rooms while Trixie said that Starshine would stay with her. Sombra had refused the princesses' hospitality and had said that he wanted to be alone for a while. Trixie wondered what he was thinking, but figured that he wouldn't do anything.
"You didn't have to do this," Trixie said humbly as Twilight opened the door for her, but Twilight shook her head in response.
"You're my friend Trixie," she said as Starshine ran into the room and jumped onto the bed. "And with everything that has happened to you, I figured that you could use a friend right about now. But it seems that you have made more friends than I ever thought you could have." Trixie looked back at Starshine with a smile, chuckling as he bounced off the bed and onto the floor with a grunt.
"Yes. I am very lucky to have them," she agreed before stifling a yawn.
"It's getting late and I shouldn't keep you longer than I have to," Twilight said with another smile. "And I want you rested up for tomorrow."
"Why? What do you have planned?" Trixie asked suspiciously, knowing that when Twilight had an idea it often involved things she didn't like.
"I'm throwing a massive celebration for you and your friends, the heroes that stopped the demons," Twilight said with a smile, causing Trixie to face-hoof.
"It is a nice gesture, but you don't need to..."
"Of course I do. You want everypony to know that you aren't a monster, right?" Twilight asked with a wink that told Trixie that she wasn't getting out of this one. "Besides, according to you the other members of your band of misfits are all outcasts as well. I talked to Bark and Armora and they were all for it. This will be a great chance to show them in a positive light." Trixie wanted to argue again, but she realized that Twilight was giving her a chance she would never have on her own--a chance for others to see her for more than the monster she was.
"...Very well Twilight, but not too big a party," Trixie said with a thankful smile. "Please keep Pinkie away from it."
"You know that's impossible," Twilight said with another smile before wishing Trixie goodnight and leaving the azure mare alone. Trixie shook her head with a smile as she walked inside of her room, closing the door behind her to find Starshine fast asleep, covering nearly all of the bed in the process. 'Still a little troublemaker,' she thought as she gently kissed him on the head before walking out onto the room's balcony, looking up at the stars with a smile.
"So, what do you think of Twilight's idea?" she asked the shadows next to her, Sombra emerging from them with a frown on his face. "I am all for it and I'm sure the others are too, but I wanted to ask you."
"I couldn't care in the least," he said with a shrug. "Let them know that they should be thanking you, it's the least you deserve." Trixie caught the tone in his voice and turned to look at him, able to see the conflict on his face in the moonlight.
"What's the matter?"
"It's just...for the majority of my immortal life, the only thing that kept me going from either being trapped in ice to being blown apart was my desire for revenge, to conquer this city and crush the princesses. And now I'm here, in the perfect position to take that revenge. But..." Trixie walked over to him as he hung his head and gently pulled him into a hug.
"I can't say I know what you should do, because whatever you do next is your choice," she said as she let go to turn back to her room. "But whatever you choose, I just wanted to say that I'm glad the books--and others' opinions--were wrong about you. I'm glad that there was a good ruler down there. I just had to dig real deep." She headed back into her room as she said this, leaving Sombra alone with his conflicting thoughts and the gaze of the moon upon him.
/T\
Trixie couldn't believe how many ponies had come out to celebrate with her and the others for what they had done. Twilight had ordered a special wagon for them and once they were all inside, she had ordered the driver to take them through the streets of Canterlot. Trixie and the others couldn't believe their eye and ears as they drove into the streets, where hundreds of thousands of ponies had come out to celebrate them. Trixie could hear them chanting her name along with the names of her friends, all except for Sombra, who didn't seem to care either way.
"They really love us," Bark said with a smile as he waved at the edge of the city, Trixie turning his arm so that he waved at the crowd. Armora buzzed something in reply, which Sombra said was that she agreed. Twilight beamed at Trixie the entire time that they went through the streets, loving the look of happiness on her face as she heard everypony cheering for her.
"It seems that I was right ten years ago," Twilight said with a smile. "I told you that they'd get over it. You just had to save the world to help them do it."
"Oh, is that all I had to do?" Trixie joked as she gingerly waved a hoof of hers, causing the crowd to cheer wildly. The cheering went on for another hour, but after that Twilight noticed that Trixie was starting to look down. So she told the driver to let them out at the area where they could overlook all of Equestria, where both Starshine and Sombra got out as well.
"Thank whoever's up there, I thought that nightmare would go on forever," Sombra said with a gagging sound as he walked out. Armora and Bark got out as well with huge smiles while Trixie walked to the edge of the city, looking down across the land.
"Trixie, what's the matter?" Twilight asked her.
"It's just that...for all these years I thought that Morgaine had died in the battle with Batman, but then when I needed her most she appears to save my life," Trixie whispered with sorrow. "And then she tells me that not only am I her best student, but also her only daughter. But then she goes and sacrifices her soul in my place, giving everything in my place so that I could stop the demons and live."
"But that's a good thing, right?" Twilight said, trying to be positive. "That means that Morgaine isn't all evil. It means that she had a good side or else she wouldn't have cared about you." Trixie then shook her head and looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes.
"That's the point. There was so much good in her. But I didn't believe it. After I had betrayed her, I thought just like everypony else, that all she cared about was power. I never got to tell her how much I loved her...or even got my chance to say goodbye. And now I never will." Twilight didn't know what to say, so she wrapped her wing around Trixie to try and comfort her. "Shouldn't you be checking on Batmare? She didn't look too good the last time I saw her." Twilight took the hint and teleported herself away, leaving Trixie to cry against the railing silently. Sombra and Starshine looked at each other as they tried to think of a way to comfort her before two voices came from behind them.
"Trixie, is that you?" Everypony except for Trixie turned to see a pair of ponies standing behind them, one of whom had a small white beard and a pair of crossed wands on his bluish coat. He had a horn and held himself with an air that told Sombra that he was a pony of great self-value. The mare was the same color as Trixie and was a unicorn as well, and she seemed to be of the same thinking as the stallion. And it didn't take much thinking for Sombra to figure out who they were.
"You must be Mister and Misses Lulamoon," he said with pure venom in his voice, a warning that was lost on them as they looked at him with cold eyes.
"We had heard that Sombra was here, but we didn't think he would grace us with his presence," Mrs. Lulamoon said coldly before turning back to Trixie. "Trixie, it's us. We've been waiting so long to actually see you again, ever since...well, that nasty incident all those years ago."
"You mean when you kicked her out," Starshine said with a snarl that made Sombra proud, walking beside the dark pony as he glared up at them. "You kicked her out all those years ago when she failed a stupid test." The stallion and the mare both glared coldly at Starshine, never noticing that Trixie hadn't turned around yet.
"Foals should been seen and not heard," the mother said again before she looked back to Trixie. "Trixie, we know that you must still be angry about what happened, but the both of us want you to come home." Trixie said nothing, nor did she move at these words, but Sombra and the others placed themselves between the parents and Trixie.
"And now you care," Starshine snarled as he glared up at them. "Now that she's some big shot hero that saved the world, now you care about her again! You couldn't give a damn when she couldn't make it into the academy, but now-"
"Watch your tongue child," the father spoke at last in a voice that made even Sombra feel like he was evil. "Do you not know who I am? I am one of the greatest magical minds in this city. If I wish for my daughter to return to us, then I will-" He coughed as he said this and looked down, down at the blade of magic that he found sticking out of his chest. He looked up at the smiling face of Sombra, who pulled the blade out with a smile.
"I may not know your name, but I know who you are," he said with an evil grin. "You're the pony that's going to bleed out in thirty minutes if he doesn't run his pompous little ass to the hospital. Twenty nine thirty to go." The stallion and the mare both looked at Somrba in horror before they ran off, Sombra's evil laugh following them as they did. The group then walked over to Trixie, who still hadn't moved.
"Are you alright Trixie?" Bark asked her.
"Why?"
"Because that was your parents," Starshine said. "Your family!" Trixie finally looked down at him with a small smile.
"Why would I care what two ponies said about me?" she said as she knelt down to hug him. "My mother gave her life to keep me and this land safe. And as for my family, they're here with me right now." Starshine smiled and hugged her back, Armora and Bark doing the same. Sombra was about to join in when he heard two sets of wing beats and looked up to see Celestia and Luna heading towards them.
"I'll handle this," he said to the group before he walked over to where the two landed, giving them the look they gave him. "The hell do you two want?" The princesses narrowed their eyes at him, but Celestia stood up in a businesslike manner before she spoke.
"I want to speak with both you and Trixie," she said as she looked over at the azure mare. "But since she is busy at the moment, I will talk with you. Luna and I both saw how you helped to save this city and all of Equestria, but we must ask you this question. What will you do now?"
"What ever do you mean?" Sombra asked in a mocking tone, much to the anger of Luna.
"Do not play dumb, if you're playing. We know full well that you plan to destroy my sister and me for what has happened in the past," Luna said with a growl as her horn glowed, but Sombra barely looked impressed at her threat.
"The two of you took something from me that day you defeated me, something more valuable than all of the kingdoms put together," he whispered in a cold fury, knowing that the others were watching him. "And I swore that I would not die until I had gotten revenge on the both of you, a revenge that would leave the both of you broken."
"And will you now?" Celestia asked carefully, both she and her sister bracing themselves for a fight.
"I already have." When the two princesses looked at him with confusion, he chuckled at them. "The two of you were powerless to stop the twin demons, meaning that you were powerless to protect all of your precious ponies. But I wasn't. Along with my family, I helped to stop the twin demons. So every time you look over your subjects or they praise you about how kind and strong the two of you are, I want you to remember that the only reason they are all alive is because of me. Because I decided to help. I saved them while the two of you watched." Luna growled in fury at him, but he brushed her off as he walked back over to Trixie, who looked up at Celestia.
"And you said that you wanted to speak with me?" she asked.
"Indeed," Celestia said as she tried to calm the rage she felt towards Sombra. "I wanted to know if you would consider being a part of my Royal Unicorn Magicians, the magicians who help to keep magical threats out of Canterlot."
"And you want me?" Trixie asked.
"Luna and I feel that there is nopony else more qualified," she said with a smile. Trixie lowered her head for a moment before she looked back up at Celestia.
"Do you mind if I think about it?" she asked. Celestia nodded and both of the princesses vanished, leaving her alone with the others. "I don't know what to do. This is the chance of a lifetime, sure, and now that all the ponies respect me again..."
"If it makes you happy, then you should do it," Bark said with a nod. But then Trixie shook her head and placed it on the railing.
"But I don't know if that would make me happy. If I do this, then I won't get to spend as much time with the rest of you. Hell, I don't even know if they'll let most of you stay in the city," she said with a sigh as she looked off into the distance. "I just don't know."
"Well, you could take up the job that Celestia wants you to," Sombra began with a smile. "ORRRR we could bail on old tank flank and go adventuring across the land until death finally has enough of us. So Trix, what do you want to do?" Trixie kept her head down for a few minutes before she slowly raised it again with an impish smile on her face.
"Any of you remember where we parked the wagon?" she asked.
"I do," Sombra said.
"Are you sure?"
"Hey, I'm the pony that made Discord think himself into nonexistence a few weeks before I met you. I think I can remember where we left a wagon," Sombra said as he let out an evil laugh to the skies, he and Trixie preparing to teleport the group. Trixie looked out of the corner of her eye to see the silver mare looking at her.
'Go; be happy. You have earned it.' Trixie smiled in response as the spell finished, the group vanishing in a flash of black and azure, leaving the mare to look out over the land. 'And it is almost time for me to go as well. But first I must speak with the Dark Knight...both of them.' She vanished in a flash of silver, leaving the area silent once again.
/T\
There is a story in Equestria, a story of a group of rag-tag creatures from all corners of Equis that managed to overcome the greatest of obstacles placed in their path. Through these constant struggles they grew closer together as a team and eventually became one of the greatest group of heroes known throughout the land. And they travel the land, seeking out all injustices that plague not just the ponies, but any race that needs a protection that the princesses cannot give. Some call them a band of heroes. Others a band of misfits. But no matter what they are called, they are feared by all who seek to harm others.
And I am one of those crusaders, the one who tried to bring down a nation only to realize that I myself had been brought down. I had to spend tens years of my life trying to get everypony to love me again, but at the end of it all my family reminded me that I didn't need the approval of everypony else. I only needed the love of those around me. There is nothing else I need.
So write I, Trixie Lulamoon.
/T\
The silver mare stood at the fourth pedestal waiting, knowing what was going to happen. Beside this one sat five others, two of which remained empty, but the other three each held items humming with power. A golden crown with a lightning bolt in the center, an arm band with a green radioactive symbol and the newest addition, a necklace with a bat in the center.
'And now you are with them,' she replied as an azure bolt struck the pedestal, causing a blinding flash. When the silver mare looked again, she could see a tiara with a Cutie Mark in the center of it, a Cutie Mark that was a wand with a flow of magic behind it. 'But I would have never believed that I would be able to find two within the same world. Maybe my sister truly is looking out for me...' She felt a massive surge of power as she said this and the echoes of a word she knew well ringing in her ears.
'He is on the hunt again. I am lucky that he cannot sense me in this place. But there is no place for me to go right now, so I must wait. And remember how I have failed.'
