> Kingdom of Friendship
>  by SkyFlare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Awakening (Revised)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Twilight Sparkle – Location: Unknown – Time: Unknown-----

Twilight felt herself falling through what seemed to be an endless abyss.  She’d been falling for a few minutes already, but it was more of a slow and graceful descent.  She didn’t feel the need to struggle, no matter what her instincts were telling her.  Normally, this fall would have been terrifying, but none of this was normal.

She could see a circular platform growing nearer to her.  As she became closer, she was more able to make out the details of the platform.  It was stained glass, not unlike what could be found in the Canterlot Palace.  It displayed a large image of Princess Celestia and had an image of six crystals forming an arch around the top edge of the platform.  Twilight assumed that these were to represent the Elements of Harmony.  Behind the princess was an image of the sun.

As her hooves gently touched the glass, a voice spoke to her.

“So much to do, so little time...” the voice said quietly.

The voice was unfamiliar, but gave her a sense of comfort all the same.

“Take your time.  Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.” Twilight muttered back, unsure as to if the voice would hear her or not.  Something was deeply off about everything, there was no reason for this voice to give her comfort, and she was beginning to feel the need to attribute this quality to a spell.

“The door is still shut."

“The… door?” Twilight asked the voice.  It became silent, but not the normal silence, a perfect silence, one without ambient noises, only a nothingness, that seemed to penetrate her very being.

The ground began to shake as three pedestals broke through the glass.  Each one had on it a different piece of equipment.  One had a shield with an image unknown to her; it was three black circles that were pushed together.  Next there was a staff, the head of which had the same design.  Finally, there was a sword, and where the blade met the hilt, the image appeared once more.

“Power sleeps within you.  If you give it form… It will give you strength.” the voice said in the same, calming tone as before.

“Give it form?”  Twilight asked back.  “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

There was no reply.  Twilight slowly approached the artifacts, starting with the shield.

“The power of the guardian.  Kindness to aid friends.  A shield to repel all.” the voice explained.

Twilight then moved to the staff.  “The power of the mystic.  Inner strength.  A staff of wonder and ruin.”

Finally, the sword.  “The power of the warrior.  Invincible courage.  A sword of terrible destruction.”

“Those are my choices?” Twilight asked with a slight laugh.  “Kindness to aid friends, you said?  The shield is my choice.”

“Now, what will you give up in exchange?”

“Give up?  I wasn’t expecting that.”  Twilight paused and thought for a moment.  “If I had to choose, I’d say the sword.  Destruction isn’t really my thing anyway.”

The pedestals vanished and the glass under her hooves began to shatter.  She was falling again.  Back into the abyss, not that she truly left.  Another platform came into view below her though.  As with the previous one, this one displayed a princess.  It showed Princess Luna surrounded by the Elements of Harmony and a picture of the moon behind her head.

“Use this power to protect yourself and others.” the voice stated as a dark creature began to pull itself from the glass.  “There will be times you have to fight.  Keep your light burning strong.”

The creature was about as big as a school age filly.  It looked like a pony, but it had small antennae behind the ears.  Its eyes were a glowing yellow and seemed as endless as the darkness that surrounded her.  The black body made it blend in with that same darkness, making the yellow eyes, the only way that the unicorn could keep track of the monster.

The creature leapt at her, claws extending from its forehooves, but the shield formed at the last second, stopping it in its tracks.  There was a metallic clang as the creature’s claws made contact with the shield.  Twilight blasted the monster with a lilac burst of magical energy and it exploded into a cloud of darkness.

As the shadow like creature faded away, a set of stained glass stairs appeared before her.  Twilight was drawn toward them by their magnificence and soon found herself climbing up them.  She looked back for a moment, checking to make sure that none of those creatures were following her.

To her surprise, and her dismay, it seemed that the stairs were disappearing behind her.  She was sure that she had climbed up five, but there were only four behind her and an empty space between the last one and the window with Princess Luna.  She walked up the next stair backwards and saw a second stair fade away slowly.

“So after four stairs, the farthest one back vanishes.  So, this is the point of no return.  Whatever happens next is unavoidable.” Twilight summoned forth her shield and lit her horn, preparing for whatever kind of fight was waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

Instead of hesitating, Twilight charged forward and asked herself, “What would Dash do?”

Atop the stairs was a third platform, and like the others, it had a princess.  The last princess, Princess Cadence was displayed.  Behind her image was the Crystal Heart.  Around her head were the same six Elements that were on Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna’s.  Twilight slowly walked toward a bright light in the center of the otherwise empty platform.

“The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.”

Twilight felt a presence behind her and spun around to see that her shadow was nearly touching the edge.  It slowly reached its massive hooves out, grabbing hold of the platform and pulling itself out of the ground.  As it did, its form corrupted into something hideous.  Its mane went from the finely combed and well kempt version that Twilight had, to a wild and mangled variant.

“But don’t be afraid.”

The shadow slowly stomped its way toward Twilight, backing her up to the edge.  Her hoof nearly slipped off of the edge of the platform, costing her some of her balance.

“And don’t forget…”

“I told you!  I am not afraid!” Twilight shot a large burst of magic at the monster.

It didn’t seem to be very effective, but consistency can sometimes be a deciding factor in a fight.  Knowing this, Twilight began to shoot these bursts at a more rapid pace, but soon found herself drained of all of her energy.  She panted slightly, trying to recuperate.

The creature stomped a hoof against the ground and a swirling darkness appeared around the hoof.  More of the filly sized shadows climbed from the abyss.  Twilight had to think quickly, and move even more so if she was going to survive this ordeal.

“I’m not used to fighting like this on my own.” Twilight gasped out as the shadows grabbed her and held her in place.

They formed an abyss, just like the one that they had come from.  It started to take her in.

“You hold the mightiest weapon of all.”

Twilight tried to shake them off, but their sheer numbers were too much for the young unicorn.

“So don’t forget,” Twilight began to fade from consciousness.  “You are the one who will open the door.”

The abyss swallowed Twilight, dragging her into an endless darkness.  No matter how hard she struggled, she could not get out.  

----- ~~~ -----
-----Twilight Sparkle – Golden Oaks Library – 6/18 12:06 PM-----

“Twi, wake up.  It’s noon already.” Spike shook the librarian back awake.  The dragon bore a slightly worried expression upon his face.  Twilight had been completely unresponsive in her sleep, giving him a decent scare.

“Noon?” Twilight yawned back groggily.  She slowly stumbled out of her bed and onto the floor.  

“Six after to be exact.” Spike stated, calming down slightly since his friend was finally awake again.

Twilight pressed a hoof to her forehead, trying to get her thoughts straight.  Was it really just a dream?  No, it felt too real. “Lunch with Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted.

“That’s why I’ve been trying to wake you up.” Spike groaned back.

“Spike, why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” Twilight yelled back, ignoring Spike’s previous statement and frantically trying to comb the knots from her mane and make herself look at least mildly presentable.

Spike silently shook his head and left the bedroom, going downstairs to start cleaning the library some.  Twilight was in one of her panics and there was nothing the baby dragon could do about it.  In this situation, it was best to just stay out of her way and do as she asked; that was something that Spike had learned over the years.

Twilight rushed down the stairs to try and make the lunch on time.  Then a moment of realization hit her.  That dream, the least that she could do was look into it, especially considering how real it had felt.

“Spike!” she shouted, gaining his undivided attention.  “Look through the library for any references to something called ‘The Door.’  Something is bothering me, and I think that whatever it is has to do with that door.”  As she zipped past the dragon, she grabbed a few bits from off of the table.  She’d left them there the night before, just in case she slept in on accident.

“Alright Twilight.” Spike nodded.  “But you really might want to go meet Fluttershy at the Hay Burger.”

“Gotta go!” Twilight shouted back as she darted out the door.

The streets of Ponyville were as sparsely packed as usual.  Twilight only passed by a few ponies on the way to the restaurant.  Time Turner, Toe-Tapper, Apple Cobbler, and Candy Mane were each doing various activities like going into or coming out of stores and simply relaxing, a luxury that Twilight didn’t have at the moment.  She was already late to her lunch.  So much for keeping a schedule.  This week was going to be interesting, to say the very least.  She’d need to find some time to research that door.

“Normal dreams don’t feel like that.” Twilight muttered to herself as she entered the Hay Burger.  It was her favorite restaurant in Ponyville, and possibly all of Equestria, however, there were still so many places that she had not been to yet, that she couldn’t say for certain.

“Oh, there you are Twilight.” Fluttershy said, noticing the unicorn as she passed through the doorway.

“I’m so sorry Fluttershy.  I slept in.” Twilight was noticeably upset about being late.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.  I was a little late too.  Angel Bunny was being a picky eater this morning.” Fluttershy smiled back at Twilight softly.

Twilight wasn’t sure if that was a lie to make her feel better or the truth.  Knowing Angel, that very well could be the truth.  Usually he was very defending of Fluttershy, and other times, he would exploit her kindness to keep her close.  He cared about her though, and that’s what mattered.

“All right, I’m feeling a little better about it now.  Thanks Fluttershy.” Twilight took a seat at the table across from her friend.

“So, how have you been lately?  You seem to be doing a lot of studying.” Fluttershy said, worrying for Twilight’s well-being.

“I’m fine; Princess Celestia just wanted me to look into a new spell.  I can’t quite get it to work though.  I think that I’m missing something.”  Twilight yawned slightly, still drowsy from waking up only a few minutes earlier.  “You seem to be doing a lot of work out near the Everfree lately.  Is something wrong out there?”

“The animals near the edge of the forest have been fighting.  Something seems like it’s making them frightened.  They act like they are trying to prove their strength.” Fluttershy answered.

“They’re scared?” Twilight asked back quietly.

And then, almost on cue, the voice played through her head.  “Don’t be afraid.”

“Di- Did you hear that?” Twilight stuttered out in a hushed whisper.

“Hear what?” Fluttershy asked.

“As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one.”

“I remember it saying not to be afraid, but nothing about the sun shining.” Twilight said to herself, getting distracted.

“Um, Twilight?  Is something bothering you?” Fluttershy whispered in a nervous tone.

“A dream that I had.  It’s starting to make a little sense.  The animals are afraid of something.  Something that is very real.” Twilight whispered back.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy whimpered, recapturing Twilight’s attention.

She could see a dark tendril creeping up to Fluttershy’s neck.  Twilight jumped up and saw one of the dark vortexes from her dream.  Her immediate reaction was to try to pull her friend from the darkness with both her hooves and her magic.  The darkness overpowered her though, taking her friend away from her right before her eyes.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, still reaching into the darkness as it faded away.  “Bring her back!”  She demanded as she reached through the darkness for her friend.

The darkness slowly faded away and Twilight's hooves once again became visible. Resting between the two hooves that had been holding Fluttershy, was a small metal keychain.  Twilight stared at it for a moment, half in shock of what had just happened, and half trying to understand what the keychain was for.

“Keyblade…” the voice said.

“Key… blade?” Twilight asked back.

With no warning, the sky grew dark and Twilight was unable to see anything outside of the restaurant.  The only reason that she could see inside was because of a few candles that are magically lit around the room.

Twilight lit her horn to act as a torch so that she could see, and stepped outside.  The filly sized shadows were roaming the streets of Ponyville.  There was a droning sound coming from the sky.  Twilight looked up and saw an orb floating where the sun should have been.  It was mostly black with some dark purple swirls.  The core was a deep red and seemed to pulsate.

Twilight found herself surrounded by the shadows.   The same creatures from her dream were now invading her home.  She was right about that dream, or was it more like a premonition?  One thing was certain however, those creatures were behind Fluttershy’s disappearance, and they were going to bring her back.

“Celestia!” Twilight swore, aggravated that she had once again become distracted.

The keychain began to glow and from the end.  A grip emerged from the tip of the chain and a guard formed around it.  On the guard, there were gems that looked just like the older depictions of the Elements of Harmony.  On the opposite end as the chain, something that looked like a unicorn horn, only much longer extended from the grip.  At the tip of the weapon was a piece that looked identical to Twilight’s cutie mark, all six stars.

“So this is a… Keyblade?” Twilight asked herself.

However, there wasn’t time to hesitate.  Twilight knew that she was going to have to fight.  She grasped the Keyblade with her magic and smacked one of the shadows to the ground with it.  The others reacted quickly and jumped at her, all of them at once.  Her instincts taking over, she projected a shield like Shining Armor’s shields.  She gave the shield a magical overcharge immediately after forming it, causing it to pop like a giant magical bubble.  The resulting burst knocked away the shadows that were attacking.

That spell drained the majority of Twilight’s energy though.  She didn’t know enough real combat magic to be any good at fighting, and she only knew a couple of low level defense spells.  Maybe there was a book in her library that she hadn’t read yet, something that could help her find Fluttershy.

Twilight started on a full gallop back to Golden Oaks Library.  When she arrived, she hesitated to go inside after noticing that the door was ajar.  Her choices were to either fight outside, where it would be easier to get surrounded, or go inside, where she knew every nook and cranny.

She slowly stepped inside her home, and saw three shapes in the far corner, huddled together.  They were shaking, terrified.

“Twilight!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, jumping up and running toward her.  Apple Bloom and Scootaloo remained in the corner, shaking in fear.

“Girls?  Why are you here?  Don’t you know it’s not safe outside right now?” Twilight inquired, surprised to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting in her library.

“But… Rarity…” Sweetie Belle whispered back, her tone was more upset than Twilight had ever heard it.  It was clear that something terrible had happened.

“Our sisters're gone Twilight.  Somethin’ took ‘em away.” Apple Bloom stated, holding back tears.

“Tell me everything.” Twilight said, trying to be as comforting as possible.  “And where’s Spike?” She suddenly realized that her dragon was nowhere to be seen

“He’s gone too.” Apple Bloom shook her head.  “The same thing took him just a little while after he let us inside.”

“I was helping Rarity with a dress.  Well, more like holding the spool of thread for her, but I looked away for a second because Opal was making a loud noise.  When I looked back she was gone!” Sweetie shouted out.  The filly was crying and had to constantly wipe away her tears as she told her story.

“Ah was helping mah sister catch some apples that she was buckin’ off of a tree.  Ah guess ah missed one and it got me on the head.  Ah ended up blinkin' and Applejack was missin'.  Ah saw something in the shadows about where she was standin' though.” Apple Bloom said quietly, tapping a hoof against the floor, a nervous twitch by Twilight’s assumption.

“Rainbow Dash was practicing a new trick.  I was holding the stop watch and I looked down to check her time.  When I looked back up, something grabbed Rainbow Dash.  It was really big and hit had a pointed face and sharp looking wings.  There was a mark on its chest, like a cutie mark.” Scootaloo said after a few moments.  She was scraping her hoof at the ground, as if trying to dig through the wooden floor.

“And Spike?” Twilight asked, worried for her baby dragon.

“He let us in and then he got a letter.  Then a black thing pulled him into the ground.” Sweetie said, trying her best to hold back tears.

Twilight stood silent as the loss sank in.  Spike was gone and she wasn't there to protect him.  "No..." she whispered quietly.  She couldn't think straight, so much so that she was forgetting to breathe.

“Spike threw the letter while the thing was pulling him in.” Apple Bloom stated, snapping Twilight out of her trance.

“I think that it went over there.” Scootaloo pointed a hoof at the far bookshelf.

Twilight slowly walked over toward it, and as the Crusaders had said, there was a small scroll with the princess’s royal seal.  She unrolled the scroll and read what it said out loud.

“Twilight,
“The Heartless are coming for your friends.”

Princess Celestia might have intended to write more, but she didn't have time.  What was written was done messily, much unlike how Celestia would normally write.  Something was terribly wrong.  She had one question that she needed the answer to, what were the Heartless?

> Chapter 2 - Heartless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight looked at each of the three fillies.  Everypony in the room had lost somepony important to them, a sister, a hero, or… Spike.
“Come on Spike, I have faith in you.  Help the others, keep some order in my absence, and most importantly, get yourself out of there.” Twilight whispered to herself.
“What’re we gonna do Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked, taking her usual place as the leader of the trio.
“Well Crusaders,” Twilight started, and the three fillies perked up slightly.  “First thing is first.  We need to get you three to safety, as much as you want to help; you are more help if you can keep me up to date.”
“How?” Sweetie asked, eyes widening.
“Simple.  Do you three remember the crystal ball that Queen Chrysalis was using back during the Secretariat Comet?” Twilight asked.
“Oh yeah, when she captured us to get to you.” Sweetie giggled, remembering how mad the changeling queen would get at them.
“I know how to enchant one of those so that we can use it the same way.” Twilight smiled.
“Awesome!” Scootaloo shouted excitedly.
“Yup, and I can also enchant the locks on the windows and doors to the library to keep those ‘Heartless’ creatures out.” Twilight said, trying to maintain a façade of confidence in hope of keeping the fillies calm.
“Where are you going first?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I was hoping to work my way to the Canterlot Library.  Maybe, if I’m lucky, I can find a book there about the Heartless and how to stop them.  Once I know how to do that, I can save my friends.” Twilight answered as she used her magic to move an enchanted crystal ball toward the fillies.
Twilight then started to walk around the house and enchant each door to the outside and window.  She was hoping that what she was doing would be enough to keep them safe.  It was going to be a task in and of itself to keep them in a safe location.
Twilight slowly crept down the streets of the darkened Ponyville.  The once peaceful town had grown terrifying in a matter of minutes.  The Heartless were possibly more dangerous than the changelings were at her brother and Cadence’s wedding.  At least with changelings, she could find information on them, and now she knew what to expect after two encounters.  The Heartless weren’t in her library and the odds did not look good for her finding them elsewhere.
“I have one good shot at this.” Twilight stared out at Canterlot from the edge of Ponyville.
She cast a spell that enhanced her sight in both distance and night vision capabilities.  Despite all of this, she could just barely make out the railroad tracks a few miles from the city.
A flash of lilac light ensnared the unicorn, and she vanished from the outskirts of her home town, reappearing instantly just outside of Canterlot.  In the case of the city being infested like Ponyville, she slowly walked toward it.  To her surprise, Twilight didn’t see any Heartless at all as she reached the edge of the city.  Two members of the royal guard were standing at the entrance.
“Twilight Sparkle?  Is that you?” one of the guards asked.
“Yes…” Twilight sighed in relief, “it’s me…”
“By Celestia…  What’s going on out there?  We were told to quarantine the entire southern district of the city and a portion of the northern, and that Ponyville was lost.  Rumors are also spreading that we might be losing Fillydelphia and Manehattan.” the guard asked.
“Shadow monsters.  Princess Celestia sent me a letter telling me that they were called Heartless.  I came here looking to go to the library-” Twilight started.
“Sorry Twilight, but you are out of luck.  The library was in the part of the city that was quarantined off.  There’s no way that you can safely get there.”
“Then what about the princess, she might be able to…”
The guard shook his head slowly.  “She stressed her magic too much, Princess Luna is watching over her right now, but nopony knows when she’ll wake up.”
Twilight stood there in shock.  The Heartless had beaten Princess Celestia in a battle of strength.
“I’m going to the library.” Twilight said firmly.
“I can’t let you do that.” the guard replied, straightening his posture.
“They took my friends and they took Spike.” Twilight’s brow furrowed and her nostrils flared.  “Nothing is going to keep me from any of them.”
“The princess has left her orders.” the guard was hesitating.
“Tell her that I’m sorry.  I need to do this.” Twilight dragged a hoof across the ground, preparing to charge.
“I’m not going to stop you.” the guard responded, looking over to his partner who had chosen to remain silent throughout the ordeal.
“With all of your magic, we lost in only a few seconds.  We didn’t even know what hit us.” the other guard said calmly.
Twilight loosened herself.  “Thank you.”
She walked past the pair of guards and started toward the Canterlot Library.  She couldn’t help but feel awful for disobeying her teacher, but she wasn’t aware of the situation.  If the princess knew, she’d definitely forgive Twilight; at least, that’s what she hoped.  Saving her friends was her main priority, even if it cost her dearly.
There was a loud hiss from behind Twilight, startling the unicorn back into reality.  She spun around, summoning the Keyblade almost instinctually.  The Heartless flew through the air, smacking hard against a wall.  Twilight galloped over to it and slammed the Keyblade into it with all of her strength.  The Heartless burst into a dark smoke, just like it had in her dream.
Twilight turned and started on a full gallop toward the library, trying to focus to her surroundings.  She was no good to anypony if she was dead, and if she kept getting distracted, that’s how she’d end up.
“Horseapples!” Twilight shouted in pain as a Heartless caught her back right leg, just above the hoof.
She fumbled for her hoofing, but tripped and fell to the paved road of Canterlot.  She rolled across the ground, trying her hardest to get up onto her hooves.  She felt the Heartless claw her side and she yelped out in pain.
Twilight sent out a burst of magical energy, knocking the Heartless away before catching herself.  She started to limp to try to get away, but soon found herself surrounded by Heartless.  No matter which way she turned, a pair of yellow eyes seemed to pierce her. 
In the distance, she could hear what sounded like flapping.  She looked up to see the source, and her eyes met with those of one of Luna’s night guards.  There were three of them flying down toward her.  All she could do was hope that they would help her.
“Twilight Sparkle!” one of them shouted.
“I’m… here…” she grunted back before falling back onto the ground.
The ponies didn’t respond to her speaking, instead, two of them swooped down and lifted her from the pavement.  They flew her away from the ring of Heartless.  She could tell that she was in trouble, but they still saved her life and she was grateful.
“Princess Luna heard of your entry to the city and demanded to see you at once.” the pony who wasn’t holding her up growled.
That pony seemed to be older, more experienced as a guard.  He had a deep scar over the right side of his face as well as more similar scars on his legs.  His voice was rough but calm; Twilight had no doubt that he had seen his fair share of combat.
Twilight couldn’t bring herself to speak, she was too scared.  All she found herself able to do was shake, which she did rather violently.  She was barely able to hold back tears.  She thought herself too weak to survive and too weak to help her friends.
Instead of flying her to the castle, they flew her to a small building that had a barrier projected around it.  Two of the royal guard opened an entrance with their own magic and the night guard flew her inside.  They took her in through a door and set her on a cold floor in a dark room.
“Twilight Sparkle…” a familiar voice spoke, “I expected better from you.”
“Prin… cess… Luna…” Twilight whimpered.  She could feel her consciousness slipping away.
“You thought yourself above the other ponies.  You thought that my sister’s declaration was beneath you, that it didn’t apply to you.  Look where that foolishness got you.” Luna spoke in a firm tone.  It was almost as bad as that first Nightmare Night, minus the royal third pony point of view.
“My… fr…” Twilight grunted, trying to inform Princess Luna about her friends.
“I do not have time to follow you around and make sure that you follow some simple instructions.  My sister wouldn’t want you to be killed, so for your own safety, I am sending you to the dungeon.  I will have a doctor sent there as soon as one frees up, which may be a while.” Luna waved a hoof and the same two night guard that had just carried her in began to lift her from the floor.
“Heart…less…" Twilight tried to speak again.
“I am well aware of the situation, Twilight Sparkle.  As soon as my sister awakens, we will handle it.”
Twilight felt a flare of energy and her mane and tail ignited in a brilliant flame.  Her coat was suddenly bleached by the same magic.  “My friends are in trouble!  I need to save them!” she shouted in a fit of fury.
The two guard were startled by this, dropping her onto the floor.  Her legs quickly gave way and she collapsed.  She could see Luna giving her a look of repulsion before the princess turned her back to the unicorn and she faded from consciousness.

When Twilight woke up, she found herself in a dark cell.
“She really did send me to the dungeon…” Twilight whispered to herself.
She couldn’t lift herself from the cold stone floor.  Her leg was still too weak for her to even try.  There were three stone walls and one barred wall, the barred wall having been enchanted to prevent teleportation through it and it had a resistance to any other magic that could be used to destroy it.
Suddenly, she felt a powerful presence in the room.  She knew that she was the only one in there however, so she was left dumbstruck.  It was a few moments later that she recalled the spell that the princess had her studying before this all happened.  It allowed for her to look into the memories of a location, to see the most powerful memory left in an area.
Her horn lit as she began to cast the spell.  A bright lilac veil enveloped the room and she saw the shadow of a pony standing in the corner.  The pony was a very dark grey with a smooth black mane.  A brilliant shade of green pulsed around his unicorn horn as he began to cast a spell on the wall, opening it up.
Twilight tossed all caution to the breeze and followed this strange pony’s lead.  She could only hope that this technique still worked all this time later.  She couldn’t quite place how old the memory was, but she’d be more than willing to wager that it was over a thousand years ago.  
Twilight shot a weak burst of magic at the wall and it opened slowly for a few seconds.  It got stuck at one point, so she pulled herself toward it using her forehooves.
“I… think… I… can…” she whimpered, trying to lift herself from the ground.
She forced herself off of the ground and stumbled through the crack, pieces of stone carving into her sides as she did.  Regardless, she pulled herself through and fell to the ground on the other side.
Judging from the pain that she was in, she could only assume that a doctor hadn’t gotten to her yet.  She didn’t have time to wait for one though.  Her friends needed her, even if she was hurt this badly.  Slowly, the unicorn made her way down a dark corridor that seemed to be endless.  The only thing that seemed to have gone right for her the whole day was a lack of Heartless in that path.
“Twilight Sparkle!” shouted a stallion from behind her.  “You need to come back here!”
Twilight tried to remain as silent as possible, occasionally grunting from the pain that shot through her each and every time her back right hoof touched the ground.  She tried her best to increase her pace, but found that in the long run, it was just slowing her down.  She couldn’t see straight forward due to the apparent spinning of the room.
“We can help you!” the voice shouted again.
She paused and glanced back, seeing a night guard following closely behind her.  He grabbed hold of her front left hoof and sighed.
“I finally caught you.” he smirked.  “Princess Luna didn’t say that you could go.”
“Let me… go.” Twilight struggled to get away from the bat pony.
“I’m just following orders.  Why can’t you?” his expression darkened to the point of frightening the unicorn.
“Don’t be afraid.” the voice from her dream told her.
“I’m… not…” Twilight gasped out.  “Afraid!”
A large burst of lilac magic blasted the bat pony down the dark corridor, more likely than not, rendering him unconscious where he landed.  Twilight turned back around and continued to limp down the path.  She thought back, trying to remember if that voice had ever appeared to her before her dreams that morning.  Despite feeling like it had, she couldn’t place a time or a face the matched the voice.  All she knew was that it was helping to keep her focused, to keep her alive.
“Maybe it has something to do with that strange unicorn…” Twilight thought.
By the time that she had reached the end of the tunnel, she felt a little more able to walk.  Her injuries hadn’t healed, but they didn’t feel as prominent anymore.  She knew though, that another blow to her leg might just be it.
The tunnel led her just outside of the library that she had been trying to get to.  It was significantly larger than her own library back in Ponyville, and in fact, may have been the largest in Equestria.  She slowly limped up the stairs and opened the heavy door with her magic.
The inside of the library had an ominous feeling to it.  She could have sworn that she heard something on her right when she limped in.  Twilight waited for a moment, to see if whoever or whatever else was in the building with her would reveal itself.  Nothing moved for nearly two minutes in the eerily still and silent library.
“I know that you’re there.” Twilight said, ending the silence.
She waited for a response but didn’t get any.  So, instead of waiting any longer, she grasped at the general direct of the noise with her magic.  She felt her magic grab hold of a small shape.
“Lemme go!” shouted a young colt.
The colt was probably the same age as the crusaders. He had bright yellow eyes and a green coat.  His golden mane was unkempt and spiked in all directions, the same description applied to his tail.  He had a cutie mark of a musical note.
“It’s okay; I’m not one of them…” Twilight said weakly, remembering how much pain she was in.
The colt grunted at Twilight as she set him on the ground in front of her.  He started to scramble across the floor and hide behind a bookshelf.
“Don’t mind him.  Those creatures got his family.  He still hasn’t gotten a chance to cope with it.” said a pegasus stallion who finally stepped out of the shadows.  “May I ask your name?”
The stallion was taller than Twilight.  He had a white coat and a black mane.  His eyes were light blue and his cutie mark was what looked like a fog swirling around a mountain or hill.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight spoke quietly.
“Well, my dear, there’s no reason to respect the silence of a library right now.” the stallion laughed quietly.
“I actually can’t talk much louder right now.” Twilight glanced to the large gash in her side.
“By Celestia!  Did one of those creatures do that to you?” he shouted back in astonishment.
“Yes…” Twilight took a deep breath.  “What’s your name anyway?”
“My apologies.  You may call me Mist Valley.  I’m an-” the stallion started.
“Author.  You wrote Mist Valley’s Geography of the Northern Equestrian Border.” Twilight interrupted him.
“You know my work.  Glad to see I have a fan.  Do you mind telling me what you were doing out there though?” he asked.
“Trying to get here from Ponyville.” she answered.
“Ponyville, huh?  Quaint town, Ponyville, isn’t it?” Mist Valley replied.  “What would make you want to come to a city that is infested by those monsters?”
“They took my friends…” Twilight whispered.  “I need to research them.  Then I can beat them.”
“Sorry to break the bad news, but nopony even knows what they are.  You can’t research it if you don’t know what it is.” Valley stated.
“Heartless.” Twilight said, with more strength than she thought she had left.
“What did you call me?” Valley growled.  “I’m just stating a fac-”
“They are called Heartless.  Can you help me?” Twilight could feel her strength waning again.
The room seemed to start spinning around her, making one large blur.  Unable to interpret directions, she tipped over and fell onto her side.
“Note!  Get over here!” Valley shouted.  “Help her now!”
“All right.” the colt aid, galloping to Twilight’s side.
“I’ll look for anything on those Heartless.”
That was the last thing that Twilight could understand before the world slipped away from her again. 
	
> Chapter 3 - Trapped
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“She’s waking up!” shouted the colt from earlier as Twilight fluttered her eyes open.
“Did you finish bandaging her up, Note?” Valley called back.
“Yes sir!” the colt called back.
“So your name is Note, huh?” Twilight smiled kindly.
“Tempo Note, actually.” the colt finally spoke to her willingly.  “You were hurt really bad, but don’t worry, I patched you up good.”
“Thank you Tempo Note.  I’m feeling much better.” Twilight smiled lightly.
“Note!  Twilight Sparkle!  I found something!” Valley shouted from the balcony above the two.
Twilight tried to stand back up, but couldn’t get her hoofing.  Note caught her and helped her get her balance.  The two of them moved toward the stairs and met Valley at their base.
“I found it!” he shouted, a glimmer of hope sparking in his eyes.
“How to stop the Heartless?” Twilight asked groggily.
“Yes.  A weapon called the Keyblade is the only thing that can permanently kill them by harvesting their hearts.” Valley said excitedly.  “The only problem is that I can’t seem to find out how to get a Keyblade.”
“I have one.” Twilight stated, trying to summon it without success.
“Can I see it?” Valley asked back.
“I’m trying to summon it, but it’s not coming.” Twilight tried to think back to when she summoned it while being attacked by the Heartless.  She couldn’t think of a difference between then and earlier.  “Maybe I can show you against a Heartless…”
“There’s no point in risking your life just to show us what you can do.” Valley said, trying to talk her down.
“I know that I can summon it though, but I’ve only ever done it in a fight.  I need to figure out how I did it before.” Twilight stated as she limped toward the door.
“Stop!” Note cried out.
“I’ll be fine.  Trust me.” Twilight said calmly.
Right before she reached the door, there was a loud knocking at it and she hesitated.  She could only think of one group that would knock on the door.  Luna’s guards were after her, and they had come here.
The large double doors suddenly burst apart, revealing a Heartless that was much larger than the others that she had seen before, almost the size of the one from her dream that resembled her.  It stood on two legs and resembled one of the older dragons that had been extinct for a long time.  A drake that was more likely than not, as tall as a fully grown would have been.  The difference between this one and the others were that they were extinct and this one was a Heartless that had taken that form.
“Stay back!” Twilight shouted.
The Keyblade appeared before her, and she realized that it was anytime that she fought for others, or wanted to help that she was able to summon it.
Twilight shot a burst a magic at the Heartless, knocking it backwards slightly.  She had to protect Note and Valley.  According to Valley, the only thing that could kill a Heartless is the Keyblade, and she was the only one there that could use it.
Twilight threw the Keyblade into the Heartless with her magic, cutting into its chest slightly.  It let out a terrible roar of pain before launching a blast of fire from its mouth at her.  She created a shield from her magic to stop the breath, before teleporting behind the Heartless and calling her Keyblade back to her.  Before the Heartless knew what had happened, the Keyblade was sticking in one side and out the other.
The explosion of energy as the Heartless died launched Twilight backwards.  A large heart was released from the monster.  Twilight walked back up to where the Heartless had stood only seconds earlier.  It became clear to her in that moment that if she could just focus on fighting those creatures, she could win.
“So that was a Keyblade…” Valley said to himself.
“Come on, I’m going to get you two to safety.” Twilight waved a hoof at the two ponies who stood in the library doorway.
Mist Valley lifted Note onto his back and carried him toward Twilight.  “We’ve no time to waste then.  Thank you my dear.”
Valley had always written in an extremely formal tone, and Twilight couldn’t help but notice a similarity between the way he wrote and the way he spoke.  She thought that maybe that was what drew her to his writings as opposed to other geographers.  Regardless, outside of his books, he was a kind pony who seemed to care more for the well-being of ponies other than himself.  So many ponies could learn something from him about selflessness.
Twilight and Valley galloped down the street, and they both kept an eye out for the Heartless.  Upon one’s appearance, Twilight would kill it on sight or Valley would warn Twilight.  Other than this occasional warning, their trip was completely devoid of speech.
They soon found themselves on the edge of the area in which the princesses still maintained their control.  There was a pair of guards standing at one of the few entrances.  Twilight nodded to Valley and he galloped over to them while she remained out of sight.  Once she was sure that they were safe, she turned away and started on her way out of the city.  She used her teleportation spells to travel great distances in the city in a matter of seconds.
The lavender unicorn soon found herself at the edge of the city, looking down at the mountain the city was built on.  Any other time, it would be a beautiful sight, but now then.  It was nearly pitch black, like a starless night.  The only light came from the red center of the dark orb floating in the sky.
She needed to get higher so that she could investigate that stupid sphere.  It was doing something to the sun, it served some sort of alternate purpose though.  She just didn’t know what it was.

“Oh, Spikey Wikey, wake up.” Rarity shook the baby dragon slightly with her magic.
“Huh…” Spike groan, rubbing his head with a claw.  “What happened?  Where are we?”
“It’s dreadful!” Rarity cried out.  “Those ruffians took me from my boutique!  I was having my dear Sweetie Belle help me make a new dress.”
Spike looked around at their surroundings.  He was in a dark room with Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.  Each one of them was chained to a wall by some kind of powerful magic.
“Oh… what happened to my Sweetie Belle?” Rarity cried out, having finally had her eyes adjust to the lack of lighting to see that her sister wasn’t in the room.
“Apple Bloom!  Are ya in here?” Applejack yelled, trying to get a response from her sister.
“Scoots!” Rainbow shouted.
“They’re fine.”  Spike said quietly.  “They came to the library.  I’m sure that Twilight found them.”
“They made it to the library?” Rainbow shouted back.
“Yeah.  Twilight probably did something to keep them safe.” Spike answered.
“Twilight was there when I was grabbed.” Fluttershy muttered, barely loud enough to be heard.
“Did she get taken too?” Spike gasped back.
“I don’t know.  If she was, it was after me.” Fluttershy was nearly crying.
“Relax.  It’s Twi we’re talkin’ about here.  Ah’m sure that she’s fine.” Applejack said, comforting the two.
“Need… to… get…” Pinkie grunted, stretching out.
“Get what, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Party Cannon!” Pinkie screamed.
“I don’t think that it’s going to be in here.” Rainbow replied.  “Try something that’ll get us out of the darn hole.”
“Ask politely…” whispered a voice from the center of the room.
“Who’s there?” Applejack and Rainbow yelled together.
“Just a friend.  Now, let me do for you what any ‘good’ friend would do.”
The magical shackles that had been holding them in place shattered and they fell to the ground.  It was a dirt floor that was slightly damp.
“Now, leave.  I’ll buy you some time.”
Spike managed to catch a glimpse at the figure as he slipped through a crack in the wall.  It was Discord.  He hadn’t been seen much since his reformation at the hooves of Fluttershy.  But Spike was practically convinced at that point.  Discord had saved them and was going to give them a chance to escape.
“How’re we going to get out of here though?” Pinkie yelled.
“I can try to dig us a path.” Spike suggested.
“Through the dirt?” Rarity half screamed in terror at the thought.
“Sorry Sugarcube, but it’s either that er stayin’ here and waitin’ for them ta come back fer ya.” Applejack stated bluntly.
Spike turned to the wall and started to scratch away at the stone walls.  The pebbles dropped toward the stone floors, breaking the silence that had swept over the room after Applejack’s latest comment.  Applejack was right though, they couldn’t just stay there; they needed to get out.  They needed to get back to Ponyville.
“You’re quite a noisy dragon.” a dark voice commented from the other side of the wooden door.  “An escape plan like that would never work; it’s hopeless for any of you to even try.”
The voice was a soft female voice, cold and distant.  She didn’t seem to have any emotions, and if she did, then she hid them well.
“What happened to Discord?” Fluttershy shouted at the door, an influx of courage flaring inside of her.
“That fool?  He’s being dealt with.  The Heartless will see to that.” the mare laughed back heartily.
“I doubt that!” Spike called back.  “Discord is a match even for the princess.  There’s no way whatever the Heartless are can beat him.”
“Are you referring to the fallen princess?  Or are you speaking of the one who has grown so paranoid from fear over her sister’s defeat that she has locked herself away, abandoning those who need her guidance most?” the voice was more serious now.
“That’s a lie!” Applejack shouted angrily.
“Is it?  Honest Applejack?”
“Don’t listen to her; she’s just trying to make us mad.” Rainbow Dash stated, struggling to follow her own advice.
“Rainbow Dash, what a logical decision for a rash pony such as yourself.  However, I doubt that you can follow through.”
Dash grunted in frustration, scratching her hoof across the ground, fighting her urge to attack the pony on the other side of the door.
“Spike, I have a question for you.” the voice said calmly, turning its attention to the young dragon.  “Twilight Sparkle enjoys libraries, correct?”
Spike didn’t answer.  If his hunch was right, she already knew everything about every one of his friends.  He would try to avoid speaking back in hopes of making her leave.
“That’s what I thought.  When she comes here, don’t you think that she would like to feel comfortable?  We have quite the library here, but it is misshapen and could use some fixing up.  Would you like that task?”
“No!  You’re not going to take Twilight!  She’ll win… she always wins.” Spike finished his statement quietly, fighting back tears.
“What if I promised to release one of your friends each day that you work for me?  Of course, I would be the one to choose who is freed, but in five days, it doesn’t really matter since you’ll have saved them all.”
“What about him?” Applejack shouted.
“He’ll be staying with me.  Any other senseless questions from the peanut gallery?” she asked back smugly.
“Don’t do it Spike.” Rainbow put a hoof on the dragon’s shoulder.  “We’ll find a way out together, all six of us.”
“But what if we don’t?  I can’t take that chance.” Spike quietly wiped away the tears that were now streaming down his scaled face.  “I’ll do it.  But promise me that nopony will hurt them!”
“No harm will come to them as long as you work for me.” the mare assured him.
“All right.  You… have a deal.” Spike hesitated slightly as he approached the door.
A light blue magic gripped the door and slowly opened it, just wide enough for Spike to step through.  Upon leaving the room, the door quickly shut behind him, separating him from his pony friends.
“Where’s that library?” Spike asked, his head drooping perpetually downward.
“Right this way.” the mare said.
Just then, Spike was struck with an idea.  This was his chance to see their captor.  He glanced up at the mare and saw that she was wrapped loosely in a brown cloak.  Under the hood of the cloak, he could make out a pair of green eyes.  Unable to make out any farther details, he started to follow the mysterious mare.
“So… will I be alone?” Spike asked.  He’d gotten used to Owlowiscious helping him out in Golden Oaks.
“No.  There will be one more in there.  It would be best to not get on his bad side though.  He is much more ferocious than you.” the mare said this in an ominous tone.
“Who are you anyway?  Do I get to know the name of my boss?” Spike asked with an attitude that had rubbed off on him from Twilight.
“You,” she sighed, “may call me Vim.”
“How far away is the library from here?” Spike asked as they reached a spiral staircase.
“Shut up!” Vim shouted.  “You’re giving me a headache!  I may just go ahead and kill you now!  Then who will be working to keep your other worthless friends alive?” 
Spike froze mid-step.  He was so scared that he couldn’t bring himself to move.  Vim had a short temper just then, but she had been so calm with the others.  What was different?  Spike eventually found himself able to walk again and he scampered back up to Vim as she reached the top of the stairs.
The dragon whelp shook violently as they reached the large doors with stained glass windows.  The windows showed images of ponies reading.  It had to be the library, where he would undoubtedly be spending the next five days, at least.  If he was lucky, once the others were free, they’d find a way to break him out of there.  He couldn’t bear for that to be the last time he’d see any of them, especially Rarity.
The large doors were parted by the same kind of magic that had let Spike out of the cell where he and the others were.  There was no doubt, it was coming from Vim.  He could see a glow from her eyes and a faint light glowing through the hood, probably coming from her horn.
Vim violently waved a hoof at the door, signaling for Spike to go inside.  Without a word, Spike walked into the room, not wanting to chance making her mad again.
The library was the largest he had ever seen, even larger than the Canterlot Library.  He didn’t even know where to start with a library that large.  He walked to the nearest section of the library and looked at the shelf.  It was labeled “Fiction.”  The young dragon ran his eyes across the titles of the books that lined the shelf.  Most of them, he’d never even heard of, but they sounded fictitious to him.
“Who are you?” growled a voice from behind Spike.
Spike flung around, terrified to see the monster that had just growled at him.  Instead, he was met with a pair of red dots, surrounded by black voids.  They were the eyes of another dragon, not any larger than Spike was.  His scales were nearly black and he had a pair of wings growing from his back.
“I- I’m Spike.” Spike managed to stutter out.  Everything about that place was proving terrifying.
“Spike huh?  My name is Blade.” the other dragon snarled back, flashing his sharpened fangs at Spike.  “Vim didn’t say that I’d be getting such a small meal today.”
“Wha- what do you mean?” Spike whined as he stumbled backwards, trying to put distance between himself and Blade.
“I mean, usually she brings me a griffon.  Not some bite sized snack like you.” Blade smiled widely.
Spike turned and ran from the other dragon.  Blade didn’t look like he could eat a griffon, but Spike wasn’t willing to take that chance.
“Blade!” boomed Vim’s echoing voice through the entire library.  “That dragon is to help you set up the library for the ‘special guest’ that I told you about.”
“I understand.” Blade growled back.  “Spike, go to the history section.  Organize it by date and year of print.  If multiple books have the same date and print, then go by the author’s last name.  Got it?”
“Yes!” Spike yelped back, running to search for the history books.
At least Vim was kind enough to warn him about Blade, albeit somewhat obscurely.  She was a strange pony, Spike thought as he reached a section of the library that was filled with books titled “The History of…”
The dragon began to pull the books off the shelves and organize them on the floor, one shelf at a time, just like he did back home.  All that his tasks did for him was make him worry about how Twilight was.  There was no doubt that she was aware that all of her friends were gone.  She’d almost definitely gotten that letter that he had received from Princess Celestia.  Hopefully she was remembering what Princess Cadence had told her, that breathing exercise to keep calm.
Spike could feel the tears welling up inside of him again.  Knowing Twilight, she was probably panicking, coming up with insane ideas to get them back.  She wouldn’t be thinking straight and she would need someone by her side.  Even before she moved to Ponyville, she’d always had someone.  Before Celestia’s School, she had her mother, her father, and her brother.  While at school, she had him.  Once she moved to Ponyville though, she made so many friends with ponies that she trusted.  Right now, for all he knew she was on her own.
“Twilight needs me.  I’ve got to find a way to break everypony out of here.” Spike whispered to himself.
“Too bad you won’t find that way.” Blade said quietly, using his wings to silently hover over Spike’s head.
“We’ll see.” Spike shook his head, going back to the books.
“Vim will make sure of that, and if she is unable, than He will ensure that if you manage to escape, then each and every friend that you are risking your life for will die.  Twilight Sparkle included.”
“Don’t you dare threaten her.” Spike growled, clenching his claws tightly.
“So I’m presuming that you think that you can stop me?” Blade ran his tongue across his fangs.  “I may just get to eat you yet.”
Blade launched his slender body downward at Spike who braced his arms in front of him in an attempt to block his attacker.
The room was engulfed in a blinding flash of light and Blade was on the ground with his eyes shut softly.  It took Spike a moment to realize that they weren’t closed to block out the light, but because he was unconscious.
“I thought I felt something in my claw…” Spike muttered to himself.  “What was it?”
Spike ran for the door, trying to recall the path that Vim had used to lead him to that library.  He now knew more of the plan, and it was pretty obvious to him that Twilight was their “Special Guest” that they were waiting for.  He was going to get everypony out of there and warn Twilight to stay away from…
“Where are we anyway?” Spike groaned as he reached the spiral stairs.
	
> Chapter 4 - Complications
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight found herself near the top of the mountain on which the city of Canterlot had been built.  She’d taken a moment to rest; she wasn’t sure how long due to the fact that she couldn’t make out the Canterlot clock tower anymore.  The sun wasn’t much help either, mostly because it wasn’t there.
The unicorn burst into a flash of lilac, reappearing slightly farther up the mountain.  She still hadn’t fully recovered her magic; it was getting difficult to use even the simplest of spells.  She tried to flare the last of her magic to teleport one more time, but only made it a couple paces I front of where she was before.
Her head started to spin from exhaustion, and she had just woken up.  Odds were that she hadn’t slept more than a few minutes.  She stumbled forward like anypony else would.  One hoof at a time.  Balancing was proving to be a feat in and of itself, but she couldn’t let something so simple stop her from saving her friends.
“I wish I… had a scarf…” Twilight shivered as the snow rushed against her body.
This was not a place that she was expecting to go, the snowy peaks of a mountain.  The trek was made even creepy by the look of the snow as it reflected the darkness of the orb, much like it reflected the light of the sun.
“There it is!” Twilight shouted, feeling a rush of energy as she saw the highest peak on the mountain.
“Would you like some help there?” cawed a voice above her.
Twilight looked up and saw a griffon flying above her.
“Yes… Please.  I need to get to the top so I can figure out how to stop the darkness.” Twilight said, making it sound urgent.
The griffon nodded.  He glided down at the ground and grasped her with his front two claws.  He lifted her from the rocky mountain with ease and flew her up to the peak in only a couple minutes.
“What’s a little pony like yourself doing up here?” the griffon asked.
“I’m trying to save my friends.  The Heartless took them.” she answered.
“Back in my home, there were books that mentioned them.  How are you planning to fight such a force?” the griffon cleared his throat.
“I have a Keyblade.” Twilight called her Keyblade and held it beside her with her magic.
“That is the Dawn Star.” the griffon said in a whisper.
“Is that what this Keyblade is called?” Twilight asked.
“Every Key has a name.  That Key in specific is linked to the Elements of Harmony.  The one that I was to watch over until I found their wielder is called the Griffon’s Wing.” the griffon stated, landing next to Twilight.  “I think that it should go with you.”
“You mean… you’re giving it to me?” Twilight stuttered back.
“Yes.  My village has no wielders, and so no one is capable of wielding the weapon.  Something else to help you on your quest, I know of a unicorn who lives out in the mountains who knows how to manipulate fire with his magic.” the griffon explained.
“I’ll have to stop by there, and maybe your village after I look into this stupid orb.” Twilight grunt, shooting a beam of magic at the sphere.
“Well, I’ll be looking forward to seeing you then.  When you get there, try to find me, my name is South Wind.” the griffon stated.
“I’m-” Twilight started but was interrupted.
“Twilight Sparkle.  I know.  Your accomplishments with the Elements of Harmony and the Chrystal Empire are well known in my home village.” South Wind explained.  “Even so, you being a Keyblade wielder on top of everything else caught me off guard.”
South Wind shot upward and started gliding away from the mountain.  Twilight was once again alone on her quest, alone with the-
“Bucking orb!” Twilight shouted in frustration, flaring her nostrils.  “What the hay are you!”
As if answering her shout, the orb let out a flare of darkness, whipping the mountain and causing the cliff to crumble.  Twilight started to fall but managed to get a hoof on another ledge.  She slowly pulled herself up with an angry grunt.
“Sorry about that.” said a mare who was standing a couple of meters above her on another ledge.
The mare was wearing a dark brown robe that was bunched up on her legs and her stomach.  Twilight was unable to make up any of the mare’s physical features aside from the fact that her muzzle was a very dark grey.  She could also make out a slight smirk.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Miss Librarian.” the mare said in a calm voice that seemed to lack any form of empathy.
“Who are you?” Twilight scratched a hoof against the ground.
“I could have been a librarian, if I had chosen not to seek knowledge.  How do you feel, knowing that you are the result of nyctophobia?  How does it feel to fear the darkness, and more importantly, what lurks within?” the mare asked, ignoring Twilight’s question.
“I wouldn’t know?  How’s it feel to be scared of the light?” Twilight growled back.
“I wouldn’t worry about your friends, that dragon on the other hoof…  Well, he’s been trying our patience.” the mare laughed quietly to herself before dropping down a small wad of multicolored hair.
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight gasped as the rainbow of hair fell only inches before her.  “What did you say about Spike?” Twilight shouted, bounding up toward the other mare.
“Well, right now, he should be fixing up the library.  If he isn’t, then…” the mare began to leap backwards with a grace that not even Rarity would be able to match.  “Well, it’s best we just avoid that circumstance.”
“If you dare hurt any of them…” Twilight shouted, launching a quick beam of purple light at the mare.
A light blue shield appeared before the other mare, reflecting Twilight’s own attack back down at her, making her lose her grip and tumble down the mountain side.  Twilight used the last of her magic, teleporting herself a little closer to the mountain.  She fell into a deep blanket of snow back first.  Her hooves were nearly an inch from the top when her legs were fully stretched.
“Do you need some help?” the mare asked, a cocky tone dominating her otherwise cold voice.
Twilight grunted as she weakly tried to turn herself over.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”  Twilight felt something fall onto her stomach and she tried to angle her head to see it.
“The… Alicorn Amulet?” Twilight grunted, her head starting to throb in pain from exhaustion.  “I thought Zecora hid it…”
“Oh, it was hidden.  Just not well enough to keep it away from a good scrying spell.” In a flash of light, the robed mare appeared next to Twilight.  “Don’t worry; I’ve removed the negative effects.  It won’t make you lose yourself; I trust that you’ll do that to yourself on your own time.”
“No…” Twilight whispered back.
“No?”  The mare was now standing at an angle that allowed for her to see her eyes, they were a glowing green.
“Dark magic?” Twilight said as she let out a deep breath.
“Perfected dark magic, actually.  A form of it so pure, that it can change the physical appearance of the caster more than just a slight warping of the horn and a red glow.  Regardless, I’m going to take you with me.” As she finished talking the mare shot a bolt of light blue magic at Twilight.
The purple unicorn was slammed into the rock that the snow was resting on; she could feel it crack beneath her.  She could feel the grip of magic, lifting her out of the snow and to eye level with the mysterious mare.
“I was honestly expecting more from you than that.” the mare said, shaking her head in disappointment.  “I wasn’t planning on leaving yet, but maybe one of your friends will entertain me a little more than you seem to be capable of.”
The mare turned around and started to walk away, her horn lighting up for a teleportation spell.  Twilight felt a burst of energy as she summoned her Keyblade, the Dawn Star.  She felt like she her magic was rejuvenated.
Using her newfound strength, she teleported up to the mare and tackled her with everything that she could muster up.  At the moment that she made contact with her, the mare teleported, taking Twilight with her to the middle of a plain in the tundra.  It was probably relatively close to the Crystal Empire if she had to guess from the environmental factors.  
“How did you teleport so far?” Twilight demanded.  As far as she knew, the only way to teleport was within eyesight or a location that you could see in your mind perfectly, but clearly, that was not the case.
“Someday, maybe you’ll be able to do it too.  Just follow the path that you are set on.” the mare replied.
Twilight stood before the other mare, trying to think.  Something about this strange pony was very familiar.  But blue magic, strong blue magic… Twilight thought.  There were only a few ponies that she could think of.  I’m certain that this wouldn’t be Rarity, and I can only think of a few ponies that could be strong enough to cast spells like that with blue magic.
“No, I’m not any of those ponies either.” she stated calmly.
“Wha- what are you talking about?” Twilight asked.
“I am aware that you were running through the possibilities of who I could be.  To put it simply, I am somepony that knows you very well, and thus, I hate you.” the mare stated.  “For now, you can just call me Vim.”
“Vim?” Twilight asked back.  “Your name doesn’t sound familiar.”
“It should.  A being’s enthusiasm, its vim, is also called something else.” Vim said slowly as she crept toward Twilight.  “For now though, I will give you yet another setback for your quest.  You’ll be in need of some downtime to recover from the injuries that you will soon suffer.”
Vim shot a dark blue bolt at Twilight, but it was stopped when the Dawn Star appeared before the unicorn.  Twilight flared her nostrils, angered by both the fact that Vim was keeping her from her friends, and that she was so arrogant.  She knew some powerful spells, but that didn’t make her any better than anypony else.
Twilight used her magic to slash at Vim with her Keyblade, but Vim dodged with a grace that only Rarity could match and speed that rivaled Rainbow Dash’s.
“Enough foaling around.” Vim said, her voice dramatically darker than before.  “Now I’m going to end this little game.”
The space right in front of Vim lit up in a swirling purple and blue, and a Keyblade appeared before her.  The Keyblade’s handle had a guard that looked like a pair of pegasus wings that were surrounding a light blue rod.  The blade itself was as long as Twilight’s Dawn Star but instead of the star at the end, it had a black, crystal like structure.
“Now the Dawn Star and the Corrupt Crystal shall clash again.  After all these years, soon, victory shall be ours.” Vim said as she aimed the tip of her Keyblade at Twilight.
Their blades clashed it a flurry of movements.  Twilight was starting to feel as if she was doing a little better, learning how to use the Keyblade right.  As she started to gain this confidence, she felt the Corrupt Crystal scratched across her right side.  
“You aren’t going to win this fight.  You haven’t even had any training.” Vim smirked as Twilight stumbled from the hit.
Twilight inhaled, glaring at the unicorn opposite her.  “Tell me Vim, do you have any friends?” 
“I could have, but I chose power.  Friends are worthless distractions.” Vim said smugly, proud of that fact about herself.  “They are extensions of the heart, a feeble concept if you ask me.  The heart is weak and so is the light.  Darkness is the only thing that holds true power.”
“And that’s why I can’t lose to you.  The heart can be weak, easily broken at betrayal.  That’s true, but it can also be strong, incredibly so if you have something to fight for.  Each of my friends are extensions of me, and I am to them.  They give me their collective strength and their will.” Twilight smiled confidently and a bright light surrounded her, healing her wounds.
“Well, it’ll be too bad when they’re no longer around to lend you that strength.  Who will I end first though, the farm mare, or maybe the dramatic one.  Oh wait,” Vim said in a smooth and icy tone, “that little dragon.”
The Dawn Star struck Vim in the side, slamming her to the ground.  Vim looked up at Twilight, who was standing over top of her.  Twilight’s eyes had a purple smoke radiating from them.
A second Keyblade appeared by the Dawn Star, the Griffon’s Wing.  Twilight pressed Vim to the ground with both Keyblades.
“Don’t ever threaten any of my friends.” Twilight growled.
“What was that… about the light… being stronger?” Vim gasped out.
Twilight let up with the Keyblades, starting to notice a strange feeling.  Strange, but familiar.  It was dark magic, the same kind that she saw Princess Celestia use to show her what King Sombra was capable of.
Twilight dropped her Keyblades, realizing that her anger had pushed her to use dark magic.  As they Keyblades hit the now covered ground, Vim climbed back onto her hooves. A dark smile was visible beneath the hood of her robe.
“You might also want to check in with these fillies.  I have a sneaking suspicion that they are on the move.  But what else could you expect; they want to save those who are important to them, just… like… you.” Vim vanished into a flash of blue.
“Those Crusaders… they never listen.” Twilight muttered to herself.
She cast the spell that would let her talk to the trio through the crystal ball.  When she was able to see, she let out an agitated groan.  She was looking at a crudely drawn picture of them standing in the library.

“Hey, donch ya’ll think that maybe, we shoulda taken that ball?” Apple Bloom asked her friends.  “What happens if we get inta trouble?”
“Nah.” Scootaloo dismissed.  “We’ll be fine.  Those monsters went away hours ago.”
“All right!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.  “Let’s hope that the train is still running.” 
The youthful trio trotted confidently toward the train station.  There was a dim light coming from the sky of Ponyville.  It had been there for a few hours, ever since some pegasus had broken through the thick layer of cloud cover.  It was still taking effort to keep the clouds in their parted form.  Those pegasus who weren’t taken by the creatures, were all that could keep the creatures out of the town.
A pony had noticed that the shadow monsters would avoid any light source at any cost.  With that in mind the pegasus group in Ponyville cleared the sky to keep the monsters out.  The Crusaders too that as a chance to try and get to a position where they could try to save everypony.
“Hey, do you think that maybe we could get out cutie marks in rescuing ponies?” Scootaloo suggested.
“Scoots!  This is serious!  If we don’t do somethin’…” Apple Bloom trailed off swallowing hard.
“I’m sorry.” Scootaloo said back quietly.
“Girls!  The train!  It’s coming!” Sweetie Belle shouted out excitedly as she ran ahead of her friends to reach the train.
“Wait!  Somethin’s wrong.” Apple Bloom called back.
It was too late though; Sweetie was already standing on the platform and waiting for the train doors to slide open.  The unicorn filly let out a gasp as a pony in the train revealed themselves.
“Is that you?” Sweetie asked before silently falling to the pavement.  A light blue magical aura ensnared the filly and lifted her onto the train.
“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted together.
“Come on girls.” called a dark voice from the train.  “You don’t want your friend to get hurt now, do you?  You never know what could happen when you’re all alone.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slowly started walking toward the train.  Something about the voice led them to believe that they would be safe; there was something familiar about it.  Upon reaching the train, they were pulled inside.
“Relax, you have nothing to fear, young fillies.” the robed pony stated.  “That is, unless you resist.”
The ride was a blur to the Crusaders; they could remember none of it.  Eventually, they felt the train stop and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo found themselves in a dark castle.  They remembered getting inside the train, but they didn’t remember getting off of it, nor did they remember entering the terrifying building.
“Good evening, young fillies.  Do not worry for your young unicorn friend, Sweetie Belle I believe, she is fine.”
	
> Chapter 5 - Fears
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Now…” Twilight grunted as she tried her best to move through the snow.  “I can’t save my friends.  I can’t even protect three fillies!”
Tears streamed down from Twilight’s eyes, half-blinding the mare to the world around her.  She tripped in the snow, falling deep into the drift.
“Ah… ah… ah-choo!” Twilight sniffed after the powerful sneeze. “It’s so cold.”
The mare tried to climb to her hooves and wipe her eyes from the snow and tears.  She was on the brink of losing hope; she’d never felt such despair before.  Twilight had always been able to do something to help, but this time, she felt powerless.  Vim was exponentially stronger than she was; she was toying with her the whole fight.
Once her eyes were cleared, Twilight could make out the familiar skyline of the Crystal Empire in the distance.  Unsure as to if she’d be able to make it in her current condition; she called out for help, hoping that somepony would hear her.
“Help!” she coughed out weakly.  “Is anypony there?”
Twilight crawled forward as effectively as she could manage.  The wind picked up, blowing more snow into her face.  She shook her head, trying to displace her mane in a way that it could protect her face more.
“Help!” she called out a little louder, but still barely louder than her normal talking voice.
“See, I told you that I heard something.” a stallion in the distance snapped.
“Chill out!  I didn’t, I’m sorry that I couldn’t hear anything.” a mare shouted angrily.
“Please…” Twilight whimpered, shaking as the snow got through her fur coat.
“There she is.” the stallion said to the mare.    “Come on, help me get her up.”
“On it.” the mare said back.
Twilight felt a couple pairs of hooves pull her from the snow and lay her on a few wooden boards that were tied together with a thick rope.  There was a tug on the boards as they were pulled away from where she had been laying.  All that Twilight could do was hope that these ponies would help her.
“You fell asleep.” a voice said, awakening Twilight.
She didn’t remember falling asleep, but it didn’t surprise her.  With all of the fighting, casting magic, and running she’d been doing, it was no wonder she felt that way.  Twilight shivered violently, hesitating to speak because she wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to be understood with such a shaky voice.
“Wh-” Twilight stuttered out.  “Where am…”
“Safe.  We’re just outside the Empire.” the stallion stated as he approached the bed that Twilight was resting on.  “What’s your name anyway?”
“Twi- Twilight.” she answered quietly.
“Here, drink this.” the stallion pushed a mug toward Twilight.  “Don’t worry, it’s hot chocolate.”
Twilight lifted it up with her magic and took a quick sip and set the mug back down.  “Thank you.” she managed to speak without stuttering that time.
“Oh, is our guest awake?  Snow, why don’t you go to the Empire and get a couple guards, I’m sure that our guest would get better medical care there than we can provide here.” the mare said as she entered the room.
“Right.  Frost, make sure that she drinks plenty of warm fluids.” the stallion said quietly as he turned away and headed toward the door of the small home.
Twilight took this as an opportunity to look around at her surroundings.  It was a small wooden house with three windows at uneven heights.  There was a small fireplace near where she was resting.  There was a large bookshelf that was adorned with trinkets opposite her; there were surprisingly few books on said shelf to Twilight’s amazement.
“So, did I hear correct?  Is your name Twilight?” the mare asked.
“Yes.” Twilight nodded slowly.
“Twilight Sparkle, as in Prince Shining Armor’s younger sister?” Frost continued.
“That’s correct.”
“We were told that this would happen.  Come with me.” Frost whispered.
Twilight crawled off of the bed and stood behind Frost.  The mare was a light blue with an icy looking mane.  She was an earth pony, unlike the stallion that she was with who was a pegasus.
“Where are we going?” Twilight whispered as she was led down a staircase into the small home’s basement.
“I’m trying to save you.  Snow is my brother, but something about him has been off for the past few days, he hasn’t been acting like himself.” Frost paused.  “It’s different than changelings though, he’s definitely himself, but the things he’s said… He’s grown dark and distant of late.”
“Dark?” Twilight asked, sure that the Heartless were somehow involved.
“Yes, after our parents died half a year ago in the attack on the Crystal Empire by the changelings… Snow stopped talking for a while and only just recently started again.  Once he did though, it became impossible to keep his words off of dark topics such as death.  At one point I heard him speaking to something in the shadows, asking for orders.  He said something about you dying.” Frost said, concern showing in her voice.
“Dying?  Did he give a name to who he was speaking to?” Twilight asked back.
“He said something about becoming heartless and referred to somepony named Vim.” Frost answered.
“That would explain the shape of the Heartless, they used to be ponies.  I think that your brother is becoming a monster called a Heartless, I don’t know how, but it makes sense.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that your brother is a very dangerous pony to be around.  He could fully change and then he would probably end up attacking you.”  Twilight whispered back, frustrated by the strenuous situation.
“Horseapples… Are you sure?”
“Fairly, enough to warn caution.”
By that point in the conversation, the pair had already arrived at an underground gate.  There were two Crystal Empire guards standing at the gate, keeping out possible intruders most likely.  The gate was a pair of large crystal columns with a magic shield being projected between them.
“Who goes there?  What is your business down here?” one of the guards asked.
“I’m Frosty Morning, I was appointed to help any travelers that get lost in the snow alongside my brother.  I have found Twilight Sparkle and am bringing her here to keep her safe.  We have reason to believe that her life is in mortal danger.  Please let us pass.” Frost said, gathering her strength.
“Yes Miss Frost.” the guard nodded and one led us through the gate.
“I didn’t know about this way into the Empire.” Twilight stated to herself.
“That’s because we just recently found it ma’am.  We believe that King Sombra’s slaves once used it to smuggle in some of their necessities.  It ends in the library basement.” the guard explained as he led the mares to a second staircase.
The ascended the staircase and were immediately greeted by Shining Armor.  He was wearing his gallant looking armor, giving him a strong looking façade for a clearly worn down pony.  His eyes had bags below them and he slouched despite efforts to appear strong.
“Twily!” Shining Armor laughed in his usual way, trying to cover up his exhaustion.
“Shining!” Twilight galloped to his side and embraced him.  “What’s wrong?” she asked after feeling his frailty and taking a step back.
“Something’s wrong, Twily.  Creatures have been attacking the Empire, Cadence and I have been trading off shifts of making shields to hold them off.  It’s getting to be too much though.” Shining Armor stared at the ground in shame.
“Maybe I can-” Twilight started.
“No!” Shining shouted.  Twilight froze in place, unsure of what to think.  “Sorry, but I can’t let you get hurt too.”
“I’ve been fighting these things since Ponyville.  They’ve taken Canterlot, beaten Princess Celestia and driven Princess Luna to the brink of madness.  I won’t let the Heartless do that to you too.” Twilight glared at her older brother.
“Heartless… So that’s what they’re called.  How have you been fighting them?” Shining asked.
“With my magic and the Keyblade.” Twilight responded.
“Keyblade?  How was your magic hurting them, mine doesn’t seem to do anything but push them back?”
“As to your first question, the Keyblade is a magical weapon that is able to defeat the Heartless.  And I don’t know why my magic can hurt them if yours can’t.  But if we can find Vim, maybe she could explain…” Twilight trailed off, retreating to her thoughts.
“Vim… Do you mean Midnight Vim?  She’s in the castle, helping Cadence hold the Heartless off.” Shining stated.
“What?” Twilight shouted.
“She came to us the morning after the night of the first attack.  She helped us learn a shield spell that could hold them off.” Shining explained.
“She tried to kill me!”
“All she’s done is help us Twily.  They can’t be the same pony.”
“I’ll know when I see her.  If she is, then you are not going to get in my way though.”
Shining didn’t even have a start on how to respond to that, so he nodded and started to lead Twilight and Frost toward the castle after dismissing the guard.
The streets were nearly empty, just like in Ponyville.  What few ponies roamed the streets carried large bags, adding food and supplies as they came across them.  Most of them were unicorns but there were a few earth ponies and pegasi among the group.  They bore looks of worry and impatience on their faces.
Soon the trio arrived at the entrance to the castle.  The walked through the entryway and proceeded toward the throne room.  Cadence was sitting on the throne, slouching to the right in a manner much unlike her.  To the left of the throne was a robed pony, Midnight Vim.
“Ah, Twilight, I knew that you would be arriving soon.  It makes me sad to think that I’m going to have to leave now.” Vim stated, confirming for Twilight that it was the same pony from before.
“Vim… What are you doing here?” Twilight shouted at the mare.
“Just…” Vim paused, attempting to come up with a response.  “Just waiting to leave you a message.  The fillies are ours now, just like your friends.  If you want them to be returned to Ponyville safely, than I suggest that you go back to that tunnel and use the spell that helped you escape from Luna.”
“How do you know about that spell?” Twilight snapped back, hostility filling her voice.
“You aren’t the only pony who has a good teacher.  Mine is no princess, but darkness itself.  The darkness took me in and molded me into the pony who defeated Celestia in a fight, what can you say of the light?”
“What did you just say?” Shining Armor flared his nostrils and tried to hold himself back from the pony who had supposedly come to help them.
“Oh, the thing about beating Celestia?  It wasn’t that hard, didn’t the changeling queen do it too?” Vim smirked right before a lilac blast of magic flew at her.
“How dare you?” Shining shouted, his horn still glowing from the spell.
“I’d calm myself if I were you my dear.  Or did you forget about the pony that I’m standing next to?” Vim nodded toward Cadence who had been completely silent for the entire conversation.
“Let her go!” Twilight shouted.
“A heart like hers is a rarity though, capable of removing darkness from hearts of others.  If I could harness this power, than perhaps…”
Vim trailed off in her thoughts before shooting a sickly green beam of magic at Cadence.  The spell didn’t seem to hurt Cadence though, instead, it changed as it passed through her.  The beam itself got a blood red mix in with it; it was coming from Cadence’s magic.  The beam hit a stallion guard, sending him flying across the room and slamming him into the door.  The wall cracked behind the force of the pony’s impact, eventually bursting through.
Twilight was unable to see anything through a cloud of dust that blocked out the hole in the wall.  A black whip flung out of the dust and cracked the floor inches in front of Twilight.  She fell backwards, terrified of what was lurking within the dust.
A pair of bright yellow eyes glared out of the dust, glowing eerily.  There was an indiscernible sound coming from where the guard was supposed to be.
Without any warning, a Heartless like creature leapt from the shadows.  It was massive, much larger than the one that Twilight had seen outside of the Canterlot library.  From its back, the creature was spawning snake like shadow tentacles that moved with a destructive force.  The Heartless moved in a blur, almost teleporting behind Shining Armor before lifting him from the ground and throwing him up into the ceiling of the throne room.  Twilight cast a spell to catch him and gently set him on the floor.
“It’s even stronger than I thought.  Using Cadence as a filter, I can reverse the effects of her magic and instead of implanting love; I can remove all of it, leaving nothing but hatred and fear.” Vim laughed crazily, losing her calm mannerism for the first time in front of Twilight.
“How could you even think about doing something that horrible to another pony?” Twilight shouted at Vim.
“Simple, the right teacher can make their students anything that they want to be.  I used to be shy and lonely.  The only pony that I was close to was a sibling, but then my teacher showed me that I could use that loneliness and that feeling angry was natural.” Vim explained as she opened up a portal for her to take her leave.
“But kindness and happiness are natural too!” Twilight yelled as she stepped between the oversized Heartless and her brother.
“Use the spell and speak to my teacher.  I feel that it is time for you to learn about loss.” Vim opened a portal beneath Twilight.
The last thing that the unicorn was able to see was Vim pulling Cadence through another portal and the Heartless slam on tentacle down onto Shining Armor.  Twilight was rendered helpless as the portal pulled her down into the ground, nullifying her magic temporarily.
Twilight soon found herself standing in the tunnel that she and Frost had used to gain access to the Crystal Empire.  She started to think about what Vim had said pertaining to the spell and her teacher.  If she did this there was a chance that the pony who changed Vim to who she was now, could do the same to Twilight.  All that she had was faith that her lessons that she learned from Princess Celestia and her friends would be enough to help her.
A dim purple light lit up in the tunnel, pulsing as Twilight tried to focus on casting the spell that she assumed Vim was talking about.  The world seemed to become darker, but there were a group of ponies walking through the tunnel that Twilight hadn’t seen before.
“Hey!” Twilight called to them, but they didn’t respond and kept moving forward in complete silence.
It was safe to assume that the ponies were ghosts of the past, just like the pony that she saw in the cell back in Canterlot.  There was a sound, an echo of the past, coming from behind Twilight and she spun around to be greeted by a tall, sturdy looking stallion.  The stallion wore a royal looking robe with metal armor on all four legs and going up the neck.  The stallion’s horn was warped into a curve and became a crimson red near the tip.  A purple smoke came from his eyes.
“And just where do you three think that you’re going?” his voice boomed.
“King Sombra!” one shouted.
Without a seconds warning, the three ponies fell to the ground and their eyes went blank.  Sombra smirked before turning around and walking back down the path toward the Empire.  Twilight was left, standing in awe at the three dead ponies and their murder walking away so calmly.  The bodies faded away and a dim light returned to Twilight’s surroundings.  She was back in her time and was no longer a shadow in another.
“If what Vim said is true, then Sombra is her teacher.  But Spike and I beat him, he’s long gone.” Twilight muttered to herself.  “Isn’t he?”
“Now that’s the question of the hour, isn’t it?” a dark voice asked.  “For far too long I’ve been without a form, I was smoke in the wind, a shadow on the ground.”
“Who’s there?” Twilight spun around, expecting to see another pony near her, but she was alone.
“You know, I thought that it was over when that pathetic dragon got the Heart.  It turns out that everypony was wrong.  After being destroyed, or at least that is how it seemed, I woke up in a dark place with a young filly who was crying.”

“What’s the matter?” Sombra asked the young filly.  “Why are you alone?”
“I’m lost…” the filly cried back.
Sombra saw an opportunity for redemption, a second chance.  “Maybe I can help you, come with me.”
The filly climbed to her hooves and started to explain her story.  “I was really good at magic, good enough to take the test for Princess Celestia.”
“How’d that go?” Sombra asked, sincerely caring about the answer, hoping to find out what could make such a young pony so distraught.
“I… failed.  I couldn’t cast the spell.  I got nervous and I…” the filly burst into tears.
“So this is Princess Celestia’s doing?  She is the one that hurt you so?” Sombra asked.
The filly stayed silent, but that was enough of an answer for Sombra.  If that Princess could do something like this to an innocent filly, than he was no different than she was.  He’d made tears stream from the eyes of entire families.  He’d made them feel loss.
“Do you want revenge?” Sombra asked.
The filly stopped where she was and stood in silence for a few moments.  “Yes.” she whispered back.  “After I failed, I borrowed a book from the library and it taught me some new magic.  I accidently used it and it destroyed my home while my family was there.  It’s all her fault.  I’ll use that magic to get revenge.”
“Take my hoof, and I, King Sombra, will take you in as my student.  I will mold you into the pony who will be able to take revenge on that cruel Celestia.”
“King?” the filly asked.
“Yes, I am above the Princess of the sun.  Now, tell me your name.”
The filly whispered her name into the King’s ear.
“That name died with your family.  She was a casualty of the Princess’s carelessness.  You are now Midnight Vim.  Student of King Sombra, and now I will teach you how to use the dark magic that helped me keep my crown.

“Let me guess, Sombra, that filly was Vim.  She said that she used to be good but you made her into that monster.” Twilight stated, realizing who the voice was.
“She was scared and in a moment of weakness.  A true mentor would take that moment and help his student realize their true potential.  She was the most powerful pony I had ever encountered, and someday, she may soon be stronger than even I.”
“What made you like this Sombra?  I read about you.  You used to be a loyal friend to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  A strong unicorn who led an entire kingdom to an age of unmatched prosperity and peace.” Twilight asked.
“You want to know what happened?  What changed in my life?  I’ll tell you.  It was one word, one simple word.  War.  Celestia and Luna abandoned me to fight it on my own.  I lost my wife during a specific attack.  I wasn’t willing to lose anything else so I tried to learn the ancient magic that was used during Discord’s original reign.  The magic tears away at you each time you use it, changing your heart and warping your perception.”
“Then why keep using it if it was so awful?” Twilight inquired, trying to understand.
“I liked the world that it showed me and I loved the power that it gave me.  I killed entire armies of attacking ponies on my own.  I was able to keep my citizen safe, but they repaid me with fear and hate.  They tried to take my throne, so I took their lives.  Those who remained quiet, I gave no chance to strike back, and I forced them all into work.”
“You were a tyrant.  You had no right to do anything of that sort.” Twilight lectured.
“Was I not their King?  Did I not protect them when they needed it the most?  All I wanted was the respect that I deserved, even if I had to take it by force.” Sombra took a physical form just in front of Twilight.
Twilight backed up, trying to distance herself from the pony.  Sombra simply smiled back at her and held out his hoof.
“Join me, I saw you use the dark magic in my castle.  You were the fastest learner that I’d ever seen.  It came so naturally to you, why don’t you just accept it?  Abandon your friends, and learn how to cast spells beyond your wildest dreams.  Take my hoof, and we’ll be on our way.” Sombra offered.
“No.” Twilight said, standing up strong.  “I will not join you.  If I’ve learned anything, it’s that my friends give me more strength than your darkness ever could.”
“That is why my darkness was able to take Vim and give her the strength to fight a god.  If it was less than what I offer, how do you think that would be possible?” Sombra took a step toward Twilight.
“I beat you, that’s proof enough.”
“No, my dear, your dragon beat me.  Not even him really, that Heart is what stopped me, but I am superior to it now.” Sombra reached out toward Twilight and touched her mane.
“Stay back!” she shouted as her eyes began to glow green and purple smoke flowed from them.  A green blast slammed into Sombra, knocking him backward slightly.
Sombra began to laugh.  “Remember, fear and hate make way for darkness to enter the heart.  You fear me and you hate me, meaning that without a good amount of effort, you’ll be using dark magic against me.  Doesn’t it feel good though?”
Twilight felt a shiver go through her as she realized what she had done.  It did feel good to let out that hate against the pony she felt it for.
Sombra walked up to Twilight again and wrapped a hoof around her waist.  He smiled calmly.  Twilight used the dark magic again, this time throwing Sombra down the tunnel and driving him into the ground.
“That’s enough.” Sombra said calmly as he climbed back to his hooves and approached Twilight again.  “It’s clear to me that you should join; my offer still stands even though you threw a little fit.  Come on, I thought that you liked to learn new things.”
“I won’t go with you!  I won’t abandon my friends!” Twilight shouted, getting ready to use another dark spell.
Before she could finish the spell though, she felt something wrap tightly around her throat.  Five more things gripped her tail and each leg, lifting her off of the ground.
Sombra sighed.  “I was really hoping that you would come more willingly.  What if I were to offer something in exchange, someone very important to you?”
“Twilight!” a voice shouted.
“Shut up!” Vim’s voice responded.
“Spike?” Twilight called back weakly, unable to get the breath for a good shout.
“Don’t worry about me.  The others need your help.  Right before this mule took me away, I heard Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.  They were talking to Sweetie Belle, but I didn’t hear her say anything back.  It sounded like they were trying to wake her up.” Spike explained.
Spike’s mouth vanished, similar to what Trixie had done to Pinkie Pie on the day of her and Twilight’s magic duel.
“I told you to shut up you worthless runt.” Vim growled, kicking Spike to the ground.
“Leave him alone!” Twilight used her magic to rip away the shadow that had wrapped itself around her neck.
“Vim, leave it be.  Remember, we are trying to get Twilight to come with us, not turn her away.”  Sombra stated.
Twilight was torn, she knew what would happen if she were to give up to save Spike.  She would be corrupted to the darkness and she would betray her friends.  She wouldn’t be able to guarantee their safety, but if she didn’t, they would probably be killed.
“I…” Twilight started to cry.  “Yes.  I will go with you if you promise that everypony will be safe.”
“You have my word.”
	
> Chapter 6 - Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight followed King Sombra into a dark portal that he had created and they came out in a large, dimly lit corridor.  It looked similar to what Twilight would have thought about King Sombra’s castle back when it was his and not Cadence’s.
“So, these will be your chambers.” Sombra directed her attention to a door.  “I was thinking about your interests when I chose it for you, and made it right next to the library.”
Twilight nodded quietly and continued down the corridor, following Sombra.
“I know that you think that it will be hard, but trust me my dear, it really isn’t.” Sombra said, in a strangely comforting way.
Twilight stopped by a large metal door.  Sombra looked back and nodded, giving her permission to enter to room.  Twilight opened the door up with her magic and saw six pairs of shackles on the walls.  One for each of her friends that had been held there.  She would probably not be seeing any of them for a while, if ever again, but at least they had a chance to survive.  If she hadn’t made that choice, then they would have been killed on the spot, followed by her.
“You won’t hurt them?” Twilight asked, seeking to confirm her hopes.
“Not unless they get in my way.  All I want is Celestia’s throne, and one more thing that I will reveal when the time is right and you have proven your loyalty to me.  Until then though, you are free to do as you wish.”
“As long as it is practicing dark magic, right?” Twilight elaborated.
“You are a quick learner.  Yes, you can do anything you want, as long as it is dark magic.  It will make you stronger.  Light magic has some combat uses, but dark magic’s combat uses are endless.” Sombra turned and walked away from the unicorn, leaving her just outside the cell.
“♪ What am I going to do?  What is my purpose? ♪” Twilight sang.  “♪ Now that my friends are safe, what will happen to us? ♪  I want to-”
“Stop that noise.” a vicious voice growled.
It was a small dragon, older than Spike was and much more intimidating.  This was one baby dragon that Fluttershy would be less than thrilled to be meeting.
“Name’s Blade.  I fixed the library up for you under Vim’s request.”  Each “s” that the dragon spoke came out as a prolonged hiss.
“I’m-” Twilight started.
“Sparkle, yes I know you.  I just said that I had fixed the library up for you.  What would the point in that be if I didn’t know who you were?  I wasn’t told that you would be this stupid.” the dragon snarled back.
Twilight looked down, she wasn’t in high spirits and that was uncalled for in her opinion.  It was an attempt to be polite, and instead, it turned into a one-sided shouting match where she was on the receiving end.
“Stop it.” Twilight looked up at the dragon.
“And who is going to make me?” the dragon ran its long tongue over is sharp fangs.
Dark magic gripped the dragon and pressed him against the ceiling hard enough to take away his breath.  As the dragon choked, Twilight could hear another set of hoofsteps approaching so she dropped him.
“Master Vim!  Did you just see what she did to me?” Blade whined to the pony.
“Yes, and I say that it is about time that you are dealt with.  You curse me under your breath and think that it is unbeknownst to me.  You left an opening that allowed that draconequus to get in here.  Be glad that it is not me doing this to you.” Vim said, passing the pair by.
“But…”
“I don’t think that King Sombra will mind having one less mouth to feed.  I hatched you, bringing you into this world, and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings in the slightest to take you from it.” Vim smiled back at them.
“How can you say that?” Twilight gasped in shock.  “If you did all that for him how can you not care?”
“Oh, I forget, Spike.  You did the same for him.  It’s simple really, I didn’t raise him, I threw him away but he survived in the dungeon and came back to me, proving his worth.  He means nothing to me; he is only a tool, a means to an end.  That end is you and he has outlived his usefulness, thank you for reminding me of that.”
Without another word, vim’s magic gripped the young dragon and began to crush him.  Twilight winced as she could hear the bones in his body snap.  It was too much for her, she didn’t know what to do.  Should she do something, should she run away, should she learn how to do it herself?  A short blast of dark magic hitting Vim and breaking her concentration freed Blade from her grasp.  Before hitting the ground, Blade vanished into a purple flash.
“Why save him from me?  Were you not just crushing him yourself?” Vim asked.
Twilight froze up, “I was… wasn’t I?” she whispered shakily.  “Why would I even do something like that?”
“It’s the magic.  It does things to your mind, it opens your eyes.” Vim whispered in a thought evoking way.
“I saved him…” Twilight thought, “I saved him because… because nopony deserves to die.” Twilight decided.
“How sweet?  You won’t be thinking that way for long though.  The more you use the magic, the more like me you will become.”

“All right!  I’m sick of waiting!  I say that we charge head on at the castle and take down anypony who gets in our way an save Twilight!” shouted the rainbow maned pegasus.
“Normally, I’d be sayin’ something along the lines o’ us needing some strategy, but screw that, we don’t have time.” Applejack added.
“But if we don’t have some sort of plan, then we could just get caught again, didn’t you see the pony that was hiding in the shadows as we were escorted out?” Rarity asked.
“No, I was too busy being blindfolded.” Rainbow Dash snapped back.
“Darling, it was Sombra.” Rarity responded quickly and quietly, not wanting to alert a group of foals that were passing by.
“But I thought that he was dead?” Applejack replied.
“Is he a… a ghost?” Fluttershy asked, startled by the fact.
“He didn’t look like any ghost that I’ve ever seen.  Not that I’ve ever seen any ghosts.” Rarity replied, backing into her thoughts.
“I have a plan!” a fifth voice shouted from the air.  “Party Cannon!” there was a loud blast and confetti fell from the sky.
“Sugarcube, these aren’t changelings and they sure as hay aren’t parties.  I don’t think that the cannon will work this time.” Applejack explained.
“Two Party Cannons? Pinkie replied, her mane deflating slightly.
Rarity shook her head.
“Three?” Pinkie’s mane fell flat and tears welled up in her eyes.
“I don’t even think that three is enough.” Applejack answered.
“Spike, are you with me?  Let’s charge in there and demand Twilight back!” Rainbow shouted.
Spike had been standing still and not speaking since they’d arrived in Ponyville.  “You didn’t see her.  Her eyes…” Spike mumbled.
“What are you talking about, Spike?” Rainbow Dash snapped.  “Let’s go and save her!”
“Green… they were green…” Spike continued his rambling.
“Spike darling, what are you talking about?” Rarity asked.
“Twilight’s eyes.  They were turning green.  They almost looked like Sombra’s did.”
“What do you m-” Fluttershy started but was interrupted by a bright purple flash.
“Please let me…” started the dragon who appeared from the flash, “go?”
“Blade?” Spike stumbled backwards, knowing what that other dragon was like.  “Stay back.” 
“Where… am I?” Blade asked.
“You’re in Ponyville.” Fluttershy answered, floating toward the second baby dragon.
“Ponyville?  Did she… did she save me?”
“What are you talking about?” Spike interrogated the weakened dragon.
“Master Vim was going to kill me.  She said that I’d outlived my usefulness, that all I’d been needed for was to help prepare for Sparkle’s arrival.” Blade answered.
“She sounds like a loyal friend.” Spike said sarcastically.
“She wasn’t my friend.  She was the closest thing to a mother that I had.” Blade was almost in tears.  “Sparkle… she saved me.”
“Of course Twilight saved you.  She’s a good pony.” Fluttershy said.
“That you would say something like that is surprising to me.  She took to the darkness like a fish takes to water.  Only seconds before, she had been doing the exact same thing to me as Vim was.” Blade explained.
“And what was that?” Applejack asked, almost in an uncaring way.
“Crushing the life out of me with dark magic.” Blade answered.
“I don’t believe you!” Rainbow shouted.  “Twi would never do something like that!  She’s always fought to protect everypony and… and…”
“I believe you.” Spike stated.  “Her eyes were turning green when she went with Sombra.  I’m not even sure anymore if she did it to save us, or to learn what he was offering.”
“Don’t talk like that!”  Pinkie shouted, still in her depressed state.  “She’d never want to go with him for that reason!”
“Take this.” Blade handed Spike a small metal object.  “Between the two of them, I think that I have a rib broken just the right way to pierce a lung.  I want you to keep the same from happening to Sparkle as what happened to Vim.”
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy shouted, trying to lift him up to take him to the hospital as soon as she heard the bit about his lung.
“And Spike one more thing.  Midnight Vim wasn’t always her name.  It used to be…” Blade trailed off, losing consciousness.
“What?  It used to be what?” Spike ran up to Blade and got close so that Blade could tell him the name.

“Sister, are you sure that you are all right?” Luna asked as she looked upon her bedridden sister.
“Yes Luna, I am fine.  Although the doctor says that I probably shouldn’t be getting out of bed anytime soon.”
“I still do not understand Celestia, how was that unicorn capable of defeating you?” Luna asked.
“She caught me off guard; she was wearing the face of a student.  The only one to pass the test.” Celestia answered.
“Do you mean…”
“Yes.  Before I knew what was going on, she hit me with a very powerful disorientation spell.  From there, it was simply a matter of finding a weak spot before any guards could arrive.  What surprises me is her restraint to kill me.  She had the opportunity and she spoke about it, but said ‘another time, dear Princess’.” Celestia explained.
Luna stepped out onto the balcony for her sister’s room and stared into the night sky.  She’d been blaming herself for so long, but if this pony could change their face, than they could be anypony, meaning that she had to keep any eye out for any suspicious behavior.
“Luna, I want you to seek out Twilight’s dreams tonight.  We need to find her and bring her here.  Send out a guard to get her friends.  I’m sure that they will all be targeted.” Celestia said from inside the room.
“I am afraid that it may be too late, Sister.  Twilight came to me while you were still asleep.  She sought help, claiming that her friends were in danger.  I tried to keep her safe, but the only way that I could do that at the time was a cell.” Luna spoke with a regretful tone.  “She had shown me kindness in ridding me of that Nightmare and on that first Nightmare Night and that is how I repaid her.”
“You did your best in these dire circumstances.  Do you know where she went?”
“No, I fear that we may be too late though.  Later that day, some of the guards saw flashing lights farther up on the mountainside.  I fear that it may have been her and your assailant.”
“If she has been taken, then we are all doomed.  Our only hope was to use the Elements to defeat our foe.”
“What if we tried again to use them?  Just like Discord again.” Luna suggested, hoping filling in her eyes and a smile forming for the first time in days.
“That may be a possibility.  Send a squad of pegasus guards to Ponyville to retrieve the Elements of Harmony from Twilight’s home.”
“Right away Sister.” Luna nodded before leaving the room.

“Where do you think the guards are leading us?” asked a young colt.
“Note, the answer hasn’t changed in the last five minutes.  I do not know.” the older stallion walking beside him answered.
“The pony beside me said that maybe we’re being taken to-”
“If I don’t know where we are going, do you really think that some four year old filly knows anything?” Valley stated.
It was a decent sized group of ponies, with only one guard for every six civilians by Valley’s count.  About half of the civilians were no older than Eighth Note, most of them either orphaned by the terrible events of late or separated from their families.
The skies were bright over Canterlot finally.  Valley felt that it was safe to thank his youthful fan for that.
“If we ever see that mare again, Note, I want you to be sure to say thank you for giving us this day.”
“Isn’t Princess Celestia the one who make the sun rise?” Note asked, cocking his head to the side inquisitively.
“Yes, but during that little light show on the mountain, one of the lights hit that big ball in the sky.  The ball shrunk afterwards, and the clouds with it, bringing back the day.  I have a feeling that the mare, Twilight Sparkle had something to do with that.”
“Really?” Note asked excitedly.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Thank you Twilight!” Note shouted into the sky, hoping that his message would be heard.
One of the guards glanced over at the pair of ponies and approached them.  His expression was straight and strong, as was the standard for the royal guard.  He nodded his head to the side, signaling for the two to step away from the crowd.
“Are you talking about Twilight Sparkle?” the guard asked them.
“Yes.  What of it?” Valley asked.
“Do you think that she would go out of her way to protect you?” the guard asked.  “How close are you, in other words?”
“She saved us from a very large Heartless, so she has proven that she would protect us.  However, from what I’ve seen of her, she would probably protect anypony who needed it.”
“The difference is, she knows who you are.  I’m going to need you to come with me.  I’m taking you to the Princesses by request of Princess Celestia herself.”
“Do you mean that we’re going to get to see the Princess?” Note asked excitedly.
“Yes, but you’ll have to come with me.  There isn’t a great deal of time.  She feels that anypony that Twilight Sparkle cares about is in danger of being targeted by the same pony that attacked her.”
“If it will help to protect her, I feel that it is the least that we can after she saved us.” Valley stated.
The guard started to lead the pair of ponies toward the castle which had been reclaimed about an hour earlier.  With the sun shining over Canterlot, it was finally safe to be outside, and the ponies who stepped outside were led away by the guards.  Valley was just happy to see that the city was finally in the light again, and the Heartless didn’t seem to want to be out in that light.
When they arrived at the castle, Valley was surprised to see so many guards there.  With as many guards out on the streets as there were, he didn’t think that there would be very many guards out.
“Ah.” Luna nodded toward the guard and the two ponies.  “I take it that these two know Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes, Princess Luna.  I brought them here as you wished.” the guard explained.
“What are your names?” Luna asked.
“I am Mist Valley, author by profession, and this young colt here is Eighth Note.” Valley answered, trying not to stutter before the Princess.
“I am sure that you are aware of the situation.” Luna stated.
“The Heartless came in the night, taking specific ponies.  Twilight’s friends were some of the targets, leading her into a potential trap.  Princess Celestia was attacked during the initial invasion, allowing for the Heartless to maintain a night like environment that they could thrive in.” Valley explained.
“I was not aware that you knew that much.  How do you know all of that?” Luna asked.
“Safe estimations from what I’d witnessed, what Twilight told me, and common knowledge.” Valley stated.
“I see.  That connection with Twilight is something that my sister and I feel is putting you in a dangerous place.  We would like it if you could stay here, where you are safer.”
“I am afraid that I cannot sit idly by while that mare is in trouble.  After what she had done for Note and me, no, I can’t.”
“If you do not, then you may be putting yourself into danger and by connection, the Twilight Sparkle, whom you want to protect.” Luna argued.
“Dear Sister, sometimes, you feel the need to repay a kindness that was done to you.” A fourth pony joined in the conversation.  “If your mind is set, Mist Valley, then there is nothing that we can do to stop you.  I wish you the best of luck, I would however, prefer it if you were to take one of my guards with you.”
“Princess Celestia?” Valley gasped, surprised to see the Princess able to move about so easily.
Princess Celestia stood as tall as ever, despite the surprising extent of her injuries.  Both of her wings were bandaged at her sides.  A deep scar went from the right side of her neck down to the top of her front left leg, wrapping around her slightly.  A dark purple bruise was left on her face, giving her a slightly depressed appearance.  Her front right leg was lifted off of the ground and she limped to avoid using it; the leg had a thick bandaging on it to protect a wound and probably conceal its severity from the general population.
“You’re sending one of your guards with us?  Are you sure that they wouldn’t be better left here to help protect Canterlot?” Valley asked.
“Yes, I am sure.  Do you know who Twilight Sparkle is?” Celestia asked the stallion.
“Not really, only what she told me.  I do however feel that it is safe to say that she is important considering the interest that you are showing in her.”
“Very important.  She is my private student, learning about friendship from the ponies in her new home of Ponyville.  I think that going to Ponyville is a good start, maybe her friends that live there could help you.” Celestia suggested.  “Silver Veil, I want you to go with these two ponies, wherever they choose to go.  Protect them.”
A unicorn member of the royal guard nodded and took a few steps toward Valley and Note.  His armor had black smoke stains on it and he had a scar inches under his left eye.
“He doesn’t talk much anymore, but he is very capable of protecting you two.” Celestia explained.
“Why doesn’t he talk?” Note asked.
“He comes from a small village down by a mountain near the boundary between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom.  One day, a dragon came to his home… to put it simply, he was one of only a hoof full to escape.” Celestia answered with remorse in her voice.
Mist Valley nodded and turned toward the door.  Princess Celestia was doing so much for them, Twilight must’ve been important if the Princess was willing to go through all of that.

Spike waited with Rarity and Fluttershy outside of the Ponyville General Hospital Emergency Room.  Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack were with the fillies and trying to come up with some sort of plan.  Spike wasn’t able to relax, trying to process the last thing that Blade had told him before he passed out.  No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t wrap his head around it.  Vim wasn’t always Vim…
“Fluttershy…” The doctor stepped from the Emergency Room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“Yes?” Fluttershy asked.  “How is he?”
“I’m sorry.  We got to him too late.  His lung had been impaled by a broken rib causing internal bleeding.  He drowned in his own blood only moments after entering the ER.  We did everything that we could.” the doctor explained.
“No…” Fluttershy’s eyes filled up with tears as she learned of Blade’s fate.  She was the Element of Kindness, and as such she showed that kindness to the warped dragon named Blade.  For him it was too late, his choices were to either live without the one pony that he had considered his family, or pass on a message that could save her.  The latter was his choice; he wanted to remember her as she was at first, not what she had become.  He knew her as a young filly who spent her nights crying for her lost family, wanting to take back everything that she had done for King Sombra.  Blade had changed with her in an attempt to keep her safe; he went into the darkness head first to fight for the one he loved.
Spike looked down into his claw at the item that Blade had given to him.  It was a keychain.  The shape of the keychain was that of a small green fire.  He wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“What’s this mean, Blade?  Why give it to me?” Spike asked himself.

Vim sat alone in her room, looking at a small book that she had read as a filly.  It had a picture of a meadow, adorned with numerous flowers.  In her first few days with King Sombra, she had counted them; there were three hundred and seventy-two flowers on the cover.
There were only four residents left in King Sombra’s castle.  The King himself, Vim, Twilight, and Discord.
“She’s here to replace me.” Vim told herself.  “That Twilight was always his goal from the start.  I was a tool, and like any tool that is no longer needed, I’m in danger of being thrown away.”
Vim stepped out onto her balcony and looked up into the perpetually sunny sky.  It was clear that the two Princesses had made the decision that allowing for night to occur was a bad idea.  A simple plan that would delay the Heartless, but it wouldn’t last long.  The world needs its heating and cooling cycles, night would have to come soon.
“I’m going to have to prove that I’m not useless.  If one of us has to die, it will be her.”
> Chapter 7 - Fallen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight stood alone in the cell that had once held her friends.  There was a large black smudge on the wall where she had been practicing her aim.  It was amazing what could be done with dark magic; she was able to make what she hit catch fire temporarily.  She learned it from a spell book; the spell was listed as “Dark Fire.”
She was beginning to feel more relaxed at her new home, once she had gotten over the feeling that she could be jumped and killed at any time.  She’d learned that Sombra was actually very civilized.  When they saw each other, he always greeted her with a polite nod and a surprisingly warm smile.  It was strange how safe she felt there.  She didn’t have any true obligations to the ponies there, and so she didn’t feel the fear of betrayal.
“Twilight.” Sombra’s voice spoke from the doorway in his usual calm manner.  “It is time to eat.  Would you accompany me to the dining hall?”
“Yes.” Twilight nodded and turned to face her mentor.
The pair walked down the long dark halls.  There was still a slightly ominous feel to the castle, but with time, like everything else, Twilight was beginning to adjust.  Windows were on either side of the hall, mostly due to Sombra’s opinion that they needed some decoration and stained glass windows were always nice for something like that.  It gave it a feeling similar to what Canterlot castle held for her, she wasn’t sure though, if it was intentional or by coincidence.
They soon arrived at a table that was large enough for the three of them and another seven or so guests.  What guests would show up there, of that, Twilight was clueless.  There were only three chairs at the time and one was full.  Vim sat at the far end, away from where Twilight and Sombra would be seated.  Twilight was receiving a dark glare from the other mare in the room.
“Ah, Vim, it is good to see that you have joined us.  I must ask though, it has been well over a week since we got Twilight to come with us.  When will you be removing your cloak?  It isn’t the most polite article to be wearing at the dinner table.” Sombra stated.
“My King, would you prefer me to distract your Twilight from her studies?  I feel that this is the best way for me to avoid interfering with her… learning.” Vim responded, in a very well-mannered tone.
“What’s she talking about?” Twilight asked, being the only pony in the castle to speak so casually.
“Soon all will be explained, but for now, Vim is right.  For now, your studies are the most important thing.” Sombra stated.  “Enough of that though, let us dine without such distractions.”
“All right.” Twilight took her seat directly to King Sombra’s right.
Twilight couldn’t get it off her mind though.  Throughout the meal, she kept wondering about why Vim’s face would be a distraction.  When they first met, Vim spoke to Twilight like she should have known her.
At the end of the meal, Sombra dismissed both Twilight and Vim.  Twilight was to continue her studies and Vim was to continue her “Project” as Sombra called it.  There were still secrets being kept from her, but what could she expect, it had only been twelve days since she first arrived at the castle.  
Twilight went back to her bedroom for the first time since she’d woken up that morning.  It was just as she’d left it, books were scattered across the floor covering everything from the most basic spells in dark magic to spells that were designed to instantly kill their target.  She grabbed all of them with her magic and dropped them onto her bed carelessly.  Something shook on her bedside table when the books bounced onto the bed.  A glass of water that she had forgotten about that was probably days old by that point.  She lifted it up with her magic and brought it to her mouth, after taking a sip she found it to be stale.
She used her magic to lift the liquid from the glass and she began to spin it around in the air.  Sombra would not say that this was training, but she was exhausted from only getting an hour of sleep collectively over the past two nights.  She laid herself down on the floor and began to make little whirlpools with the water above her head.  It was relaxing, unlike most of the other things she had been doing.
There was a knock at the door, breaking Twilight’s focus and making her drop the water onto her face, soaking her.  “Yes?” she asked with a grunt.
“King Sombra wants you to…  Why are you wet?” Vim asked.
“You distracted me.” Twilight groaned.
“Too bad, King Sombra wants you to go outside the castle and find the pony who has been watching this place.  He doesn’t like being spied on.” Vim continued.
“Fine.” Twilight growled, climbing to her hooves.
Vim left her alone in her room again.  Twilight thought about the fact that she was going to be leaving the castle for the first time in a while, so she decided to see how she looked.  Her mane was disheveled, sticking out in every direction possible.  Her coat was stained black in some locations due to miss fires with some of the more complicated spells.  Worst of all though were her eyes, they had black bags under them from sleep deprivation and the whites of her eyes were turning a sickly green.
“So this is what dark magic does to you?” Twilight asked herself.  “It isn’t like it matters though, it’s just appearances.”
Twilight walked all the way to the door and stopped.  This was her first time getting to step out into the sunlight in twelve days.  Night had occurred twice during that time period, only to let the ground cool and give plants and animals a break from the sun.  This would be her first time to see the sun without it being through a stained glass window in days, and it could also be her last time in just as long of a time.  She had to savor the moment.
The door slowly crept open as green magic tendrils gave it a push.  The sunlight nearly blinded the unicorn at first, making her flinch and turn away.  The sun used to be so welcomed to her, it meant a chance to see her closest friends and it meant a new day and a new adventure.  The sun was a symbol of her happiest memories.  Now all that ball of burning gas meant was a chance to go blind from its cursed light and memories of a world she didn’t care to remember.  She felt so much bitterness toward her past, but she didn’t know why.  There was nothing that the light held for her that she couldn’t find in the dark.  The dark offered her the power to do anything that she wanted and more importantly it offered her comfort.  When you work with the dark, nothing from it can scare you and nothing from it can hurt you.

“I can’t believe it…” Vim muttered to herself holding back laughter.  “I’m rid of her, finally.  After all that I did for King Sombra, he went and tried to replace me.  I’ll show him who the better apprentice is though.  Using that Keyblade that he hid in this castle, I’ll…”
Vim’s voice trailed off as she reached an old alter in a hidden room of the castle’s basement and found nothing on it.  The keychain was gone.
“All I wanted was a chance to prove myself!  With that Keyblade I could have done just that.” she growled.  “I don’t give a flying feather about that Celestia forsaken Keyblade.  I’m going to give Twilight a one way ticket to Tartarus either way.”
Vim threw her cloak to the floor revealing her smoky grey coat and black mane.  A blood red streak ran through her mane and tail.  She liked to maintain her appearance and so both her mane and her tail were finely brushed.  Her eyes were purple with a bright green around them instead of the usual white, similar to Sombra’s eyes.
There was a bright purple flash as she teleported and Vim vanished.  She reappeared on a cliffside, looking down at Twilight as she hunted for the spy while hiding in the shadows.
“You fit in perfectly Twilight.  You hide from the light simply because you are too scared to face it.” Vim shot out a blast of purple magic into the hillside causing an avalanche.
The rocks plummeted down toward Twilight, catching her off guard.  She was trapped like a rat when one boulder landed on her tail, pinning her to the ground.

A cloud of black smoke ascended from the ground in front of Twilight, blocking her eyesight.  A pair of solid white glowing eyes appeared in the smoke, staring out at Twilight.  She struggled, trying to move away, but with her tail under a rock, there wasn’t much that she could do other than use her magic.
She prepared to cast a dark fire spell, but right as it started to form, a magic brace flew to her horn.  She couldn’t move, she couldn’t use magic, but there was still something that could save her.  There was always a way, there had to be.
“It can’t end like this.” Twilight said to herself.  “I won’t let it!” 
Twilight began to slowly lift off of the ground and the brace on her horn shattered.  She lifted a rock with her magic and cut her tail so that she could get off.  She still had a bit more left over than Rarity did that first night.
“Do you really think that you can scare me?” Twilight asked the smoke.
“How… how did you do that?” a voice called from the smoke.
Twilight smirked, recognizing the voice to be that of Vim.  With a dark laugh, she sent a dark fire into the smoke, causing it to ignite.  She could hear Vim screaming in pain from within the burning smoke, but it was necessary to prove that she was not to be trifled with.
“Say that you are sorry.” Twilight smiled.  “I have all day, but considering that you will burn to death in only a few minutes, you don’t.”
“I…” she could faintly hear from the fire between the blood curdling scream.  “Sorry…”
The fire immediately died out leaving a burnt mare sprawled out across the dirt.  Twilight turned around and walked away, returning to the castle to get some much needed sleep.  She didn’t care about Vim; she meant nothing, not to her and not to Sombra.  It was clear the hate that Vim had for her, every time that their eyes met, she could feel Vim’s hatred.
Twilight looked back to Vim and saw her on the ground, an expression more horrible than anything Twilight had ever imagined before.  She looked as if she had been petrified mid scream.  An overwhelming force of emotion hit Twilight like a train.  The unicorn fell to the ground and covered her face.
“Twilight my dear, what is the matter?  Why do you cry?” Sombra asked.
“I… I can’t do it.” Twilight sobbed.  “I thought that I could… but I can’t.”
“Are you referring to Vim?  She’ll be fine; you just lost your temper.  Considering what she was trying to do to you, it is more than acceptable, it was beautiful.”
“How could I...” Twilight cried back.
“I’ll heal her.  Just come back to the castle with me.  It’s stress; just take a chance to relax.  I know that I’ve been pushing you hard, maybe too hard.” Sombra smiled comfortingly, helping Twilight up from the ground.
They walked into the castle’s main corridor and made their way to the throne room, where Sombra stopped.  The two of them stood in the dark room which only became darker as Sombra pulled the blinds over the windows with his magic.  Twilight could see him look at her and smile.
“Twilight, there is something that I would like to ask you.  Will you be my queen?”

Spike clenched the keychain tightly in his claw, looking up into the night sky.  The Heartless hadn’t attacked since Twilight went with Sombra.  And Vim, Spike knew that there had to be a way to get to her, if only he could bait her out of hiding.  Odds were that Vim would be sent to handle any disturbances long before Twilight would.  Vim was trained in dark magic and terrifying.
The young dragon’s thoughts were interrupted by a knocking at the library door.  Spike slowly walked down to the first floor of the library from the balcony to greet the guest.  He was hoping that it would be Rainbow or somepony who could help him save Twilight.  Instead, upon opening the door, he saw two ponies, a stallion and a young colt.  
“Sorry, but the library is closed until further notice.” Spike said preparing to close the door, but it caught the stallion’s hoof.
“Is this the residence of a miss Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.
“It was…” Spike answered under his breath.
“It was?”  the stallion asked back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the colt added.
“She isn’t here right now.  That’s why we’re closed.” Spike told them.
“Please do not tell me that it has anything to do with the Heartless.”
“What do you know about the Heartless?” Spike asked.
“Twilight saved Note here and I from a fairly large one out in the Canterlot library last week.  Princess Celestia wanted us to find her and make sure that she was all right?  Where is she?”
“She went with King Sombra… to save us… to save me…”
“King Sombra?  As in The King Sombra?” the stallion asked.  “But that’s not possible he’s-” before he could finish the thought a unicorn member of the royal guard teleported into the middle of the conversation.  “Yes, Veil?” the stallion asked, redirecting his attention to the new pony.
The pony didn’t speak, but instead pointed one of his hooves toward the sky.  Another dark orb was starting to form, meaning that the fight wasn’t over.
“What’s that you’re holding?” the stallion asked Spike.
“It’s just a keychain.” Spike answered staring up into the orb.
“Mist Valley!  Maybe he can use it just like Twilight!” the colt shouted.
“We can only hope, Note.” Valley replied.
“Use it like Twilight?  What do you mean?”
“He is referring to the Keyblade.  Twilight is a wielder of an ancient weapon that is able to fight the Heartless.”
“If I kill enough Heartless, maybe I can get Vim to try and find me.” Spike thought aloud.  “How do I use it?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” Valley answered, “but you don’t have a great deal of time to find out.  They will be here in about fifteen seconds judging by that dark cloud.”
Spike turned to his left and saw a massive dark cloud moving toward them, but instead of being in the sky, it was on the ground.  It took him a few seconds to realize that the cloud was actually dust being raised from the ground as an army charged toward Ponyville.  Dots of yellow were dispersed throughout the dust and dirt that flew through the air.
Spike felt something in his claw move and he looked down to see a long sword like object in his grasp.  It had a full guard that encircled his claw.  The blade was as long as he was tall with a green fire design at the end.  The keychain that he was holding before was clipped onto the end of the weapon.
“You can fight them young dragon.  That is a Keyblade.” Valley stated.
“Whatever you say, and my name is Spike.”
Spike ran toward the Heartless and swung his Keyblade.  It instantly destroyed one of the Heartless that it hit; another was knocked backwards into a group.  The dragon frantically swung his weapon trying to hold off the seemingly endless hordes of Heartless.
The Heartless just kept on charging into the town, but Spike kept knocking them down.  One after another they fell and burst into a dark smoke.  There was nothing he couldn’t do, he felt invincible.  He looked back to the new ponies and saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes.  He was able to protect them; he now knew how Twilight and the others had felt when fighting against Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the changelings.
“Stay back!  I won’t let them get to you!” Spike shouted toward them as the Heartless began to part in the middle.

“Vim!  Get up!” Sombra shouted at the half fried pony.  “I don’t have time to waste with your incompetence.  Despite all of your extra training, Twilight still beat you; you are only still alive due to either her mercy, or her hesitation.  Both are qualities that I will surely make her forget soon enough.”
Vim tried to speak back to him, to apologize for her actions and for her loss, but all that came out was a crackling noise.
“Something is wrong in Ponyville.  The Heartless are dying and I want you to stop it.” Sombra’s horn lit up and Vim’s burns seemed to melt away.
“I’m sorry!” she cried out.  “I’m so sorry!  Please forgive me for failing!”
“Only if you get out of my sight and prove to me that you aren’t a waste of eleven years of my time!” 
“I promise.” she cried back before stepping through a portal to Ponyville that she conjured.
She never felt more comfortable than when she was passing through one of the portals.  Despite the fact that most ponies find the dark to be cold, Vim found it warm and comforting.  She felt the dark embrace her, making her feel like everything was going to be all right, forget all of the pain that she knew.  The darkness wrapped around her and formed a new cloak for her to wear.
When she exited the portal, Heartless went for as far as the eye could see on either side of her. They had left a path down the middle, allowing for the problem that Sombra had mentioned to come to her.  All she needed to do was wait for it to arrive.
Within moments, she could hear the sound of dirt being thrown into the air as something ran at her.  Soon she was able to make out the form of a small, bipedal creature.  When it was finally close enough to see, she noticed that it was Twilight’s dragon, Spike.  He seemed different this time though, stronger and less fearful of the dark.  In his claw was…
“A Keyblade?” Vim shouted upon noticing it.
“Vim!” Spike shouted before sliding to a halt.  “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Too bad!  I don’t have much of an option here!” Vim yelled, summoning her own Keyblade and making the first move of the fight.
A quick forward thrust was made toward Spike, but he swung his blade up, knocking Vim’s into the air.  She quickly recovered her Keyblade and tried to slam it down onto his head, but he managed to jump out of the way just in time to avoid being hit.
“Please!  Listen to me!  I know what’s wrong!” Spike pled.
“Then you know that you can never understand my pain!” Vim grabbed Spike’s legs with tendrils of darkness from the ground.
“You’re right.  I can never understand your pain because I haven’t felt anything close to it.” Spike replied.  “I’ve only ever really had one pony that I called family, you had three, and all of them are dead.  That doesn’t mean that you’re alone though.  I’ll be your friend.”
“I don’t need friends!” Vim was on the verge of crying as she struck Spike in the chest with her Keyblade.  “They make you weak, the make you care.”

“Twilight, how was your rest?” Sombra asked as she stepped into the throne room.  “Have you thought about my offer to make you my queen?”
“I don’t know yet…” Twilight said quietly, still confused about what was being asked of her.
“Take your time, don’t be afraid.” Sombra stated, and Twilight’s eyes widened as she heard the voice again. 
“Take your time.  Don’t be afraid.”
“What’s wrong?  Did I say something strange?” Sombra asked, noticing Twilight’s expression.
“No.  It wasn’t you.” Twilight stopped speaking.  “That much I know for certain.” she added under her breath.
“Well, as I said, there is no need to rush.  Unlike my last offer, this one will be long standing.  I understand the magnitude that goes into a decision like this.” Sombra stated.
“May I go for a walk, my King?” Twilight asked as she looked down to the floor.
“Of course, you needn’t ask my permission to do so.”
Twilight nodded and turned away from him.  She slowly walked toward the door and left the castle.  The sky to the east had an orb floating in it, just like the one from above Canterlot.  Twilight dismissed it, it wasn’t her problem anymore; she didn’t have any reasons to care.
She walked out into the darkness, passing by mounds of fallen rocks from her earlier confrontation.  There were puddles scattered on the ground, implying that it had rained while she’d been asleep.  Twilight looked down at one of the puddles and saw that her reflection looked even worse than it had before.  Her mane was matted, and stained black; her guess was that the stain was not from mud, but from her extensive use of dark magic.  Her pupils were almost slits instead of the circles that they should have been.
There was no apparent reason for it, but she felt her spirit being crushed.  She fell to the ground and simply gave up.  An endless emptiness overwhelmed her, making her just want to close her eyes and quit moving.
“And don’t forget… You are the one… Who will open the door… To the Light.”

“Everypony needs friends, especially somepony who feels as alone as you do.” Spike told Vim, after taking a second to recover from the pain in his chest.  “If you need proof, just look at her.”
“Don’t you ever compare me to her!  I am stronger!  I have more resolve!  If I’m going to kill somepony, I do it!” she shouted, the purple smoke flowing from the corners of her eyes.
“But do you like to kill?” Spike asked.  “Don’t answer now though.  I already know what you want to say, but you will only say what you have to say.”
“You don’t know anything about me!”
“I know that Midnight Vim wasn’t your first name.”
“Shut up!  You don’t know me!”
“Yes I do.” Spike dropped his Keyblade.  “I think that I might even know you better than you know yourself, Twilight.”
	
> Chapter 8 - Approach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Sister, what are you saying?” Luna asked, looking to Celestia.
“Luna, I know that it is hard to accept, but it doesn’t seem like there is another possibility.” Celestia answered.
“But why would she-”
“I don’t think that it was her Luna.  At least not the one that we know.  Time is a fickle thing.  Twilight learned that on her own when she read Star Swirl’s spell on time travel.  Sometimes, you create a loop that is unavoidable, and other times, you create an alternate time line.”
“Are you saying that there are two of her?”
“I know who I fought, it was Twilight.  Her magic was not as well trained and she focused more on the darker side, but it was her.  That is why I could not fight back, I cannot even think about harming her.”
“But if what you are saying is true, then that wasn’t Twilight.”
“It was though, a different Twilight, but it was still her.  Something horrible must have happened to her to make her into that, but she is not beyond redemption.” Celestia argued.

“That’s not my name!” Vim screamed.  “It’s not… she’s gone…”
The darkness retracted into the ground, releasing Spike.  Once he was able to move again, he walked over to Vim and placed his claw on her shoulder.  She just sat there, shaking, unable to hold it in any longer.
“What happened to you?  What made you like this?” Spike asked.
“I… I failed… I always fail…” Vim whimpered.
“What do you mean, you failed?”
“I didn’t pass the test.” Vim went on.  “In my depression, I locked myself in my room.  I studied magic from a high level spell book, but it was a mistake.  I couldn’t control it.”
Vim went silent and the Heartless around the pair shifted.  They suddenly vanished, retreating for some unknown reason, leaving Spike and Vim in peace.
“You couldn’t control it?  Twilight, you are the best at magic.” Spike smiled.
“Not back then, I had too much power and too little control.  Shining Armor and my father knocked on the door, wanting to check on me a couple of days into my seclusion.  I panicked, and I accidently cast the spell…"
“But they were okay, right?” Spike asked back.
“I made it out.  My parents and my brother weren’t so lucky.  I lost everything that day and it was in that moment that King Sombra came to me.”
“I’m sorry, but now’s your chance to make up for it.  I’ll be with you every step of the way.” Spike stated.
“You don’t get it!” Vim yelled.  “King Sombra is invincible!  He can’t be beaten!”
Vim teleported away, leaving Spike alone to try and understand how to help her.  She wasn’t ready for help though, she just wanted to be needed.  All that she had known for years was loneliness and hate.  To Sombra she was a tool to get the other Twilight, the one who had been trained by Celestia.  She was useless to him now; her entire purpose in living was gone.

“Prince Shining Armor!  Are you all right?” shouted a guard, trying to awaken the unicorn.
“I’m fine.  Where are Cadence and Twilight?” he asked.
“Midnight Vim had taken Princess Cadence.  Twilight Sparkle fell into a different portal.  That was days ago though, you’ve been in a coma for the last two weeks.” the guard replied.
Shining Armor looked around and saw that he was in a hospital bed.  He was overcome with a sudden sick feeling.  He was here and his wife and sister were missing, in danger.  He attempted to get off of the bed and walk, but he fell to the floor with a sharp pain in his two front legs.
“Darn it!” he shouted after hitting the ground.
“You shouldn’t walk sir, your legs are broken.”
“Then help me!  I need to save them!” Shining Armor commanded.
“I can’t do that; it’s for your own protection.  If you go out there, you could die.  Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have sent word here that they are working on getting everypony where they need to be.”
“I have to help!”
“You can’t even walk, sir.  I don’t think that you would be very much help at this moment.”
“That doesn’t mean that I can’t try.”

“What am I?” Twilight asked herself, standing alone in the barren wastes outside of Sombra’s castle.  “What am I doing?”
She couldn’t even recognize her own reflection at this point.  It wasn’t her; it was somepony that she didn’t want to know.  It was somepony who scared her.
Twilight started walking back to the castle, regardless of the fact that she was aware of the horror that she would have to see and participate in.  This was her only choice if she wanted to protect her friends.  Sombra had said that they would be safe if she went with him.  If she turned back on their deal now, then they could be killed as a consequence.
She could have run away so easily and saved herself from what she would become, but instead she returned to the castle.  Sombra would be waiting to give her false comforts that she was becoming stronger, but she knew better.  There was no clear reason to her why she had returned to the light, but it had reversed her appearance completely within a matter of seconds.  Her mane smoothed out and the black stains on her coat faded away.  Her eyes became white again, making her look like her old self.
“Twilight, what happened to you?” Sombra asked upon seeing her changed appearance.
“I don’t know…” Twilight replied, trying not to seem out of character for her darker self.
“I think that I may.” Sombra stated, staring into Twilight’s eyes.  “I think that you are reverting, giving up the darkness that I have given you.  Why do you resent my gift?”  He didn’t sound angry, but instead concerned.
Right as Twilight prepared to answer him with a hesitant, “I don’t know,”  a bright flash of purple appeared before her.  Vim stepped out and approached Sombra with so much fury, that Twilight was surprised that Vim wasn’t killed right then.
“How dare you!  You worthless son of a-” Vim shouted.
“Quiet!” Sombra’s voice boomed.  “How dare you speak to me like that in my own domain?  After all that I have done for you, what right have you to confront me with that attitude?”
“You sent me there to kill them.” Vim said, it was clear that she had been crying by her bloodshot eyes.  “After you promised her…”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, growing worried.
“Your friends.  Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.  He sent me to Ponyville so that I could kill them.  It was part of the plan the whole time, to force you in to the dark by taking away the one thing that kept you in the light.” Vim turned her attention to Twilight.  “You have to believe me, you have to!”
“I do.” Twilight said quietly.  “Of course he would betray me.  As far as I could tell from all of the history that I’d read, he’s made it a habit of betraying ponies.”
“So, judging by your new found self-righteousness, is it safe to assume that you’ll be ridding yourself of the name that I gave you?” Sombra asked, an arrogant smile overtook his face.
“No.  There is already one in this reality.  I am Midnight Vim, the abomination of hate that you built and the pony who is going to stomp you into the ground like the piece of…” Vim sighed, stopping herself.
“What do you mean this reality?” Twilight asked.
“Vim comes from another reality.  One where a certain pony failed at her dream and became ridden with despair.” Sombra asked.  “So, Vim, are you going to make your attempt at my life now, or should I schedule it for a bit later?”
“You arrogant…”
“Later then?  All right, but until then, I’m going to have to ask that you get the hay out of castle.” Sombra laughed.
“Does that apply to me as well?” Twilight growled, scratching her front right hoof against the floor.
“I want you to continue your training Twilight.” Sombra demanded.  “Don’t forget about your friends…”
“You… you already sent Vim to kill them and she didn’t.  I’m not staying here with you, you can take that offer to make me your queen and shove it.  I’m going back to my friends; at least there I can protect them.”
Sombra sighed.  “That wasn’t an offer Twilight.  You are staying, and I will try my best to forget about your comment about being my queen.”
Shackles launched from the ground and grabbed Twilight, holding her in place.  She struggled, but was unable to use her magic on them.  She couldn’t move more than a couple of inches in any direction.  One chain went around each leg and a fifth one went to her neck, making it even harder to struggle due to the difficulty of breathing.
“I’ll come back for you, I promise.” Vim said, looking to Twilight.
“I know you will.”  Twilight smiled, having faith in her new friend.
Vim vanished into a flash of light, leaving Twilight and Sombra alone.  Twilight tried her best to not look at Sombra.  He was finally showing his true colors to her, a sadistic monster who’s only priority was self-gain by any means necessary.  His face was now permanently engraved with the smile that he made shortly after Vim had first entered.
“Are you scared yet?” Sombra asked, stepping in front of Twilight.
Twilight clenched her eyes shut, refusing to look at him.  She turned away, but he grabbed her face with his magic and forced her to face him.
“I’m not the bad guy here.” Sombra stated.  “I’m just paving the road for the true darkness.”

“Spike!” Vim shouted, running up to the dragon while he stood with Twilight’s friends.
“You!  What in the hay are you doin’ here?” Applejack shouted.
“Please, just listen to me…” Vim pled.
“And why should we do that?  After all, it was you who threw us into the filthy old dungeon.” Rarity added.
“She’s here to help!” Spike shouted.  “It’s hard to explain, but she isn’t bad.”
“Thank you.” Vim panted.  Once she caught her breath, she began to explain.  “Sombra took Twilight so that he could have a queen.  He’s forced her to use dark magic against her will, for a little while, it corrupted her.  She nearly killed me with a fire, but she stopped.  I think that it was then that she realized what she was doing.”
“I say that ya deserved it.” Applejack growled.
“I know I did.” Vim answered, “I need to train so that I will be strong enough to fight Sombra, until then, I want you nine to come up with a plan to save her.  And Spike, I’ve heard rumors that the Keyblade can release any kind of lock, including the ones that are holding Twilight.”  Vim vanished in a flash of purple light, returning to a secluded area so that she could train.
“Spike, why were you protecting her?” Rainbow snapped.
“It’s hard to explain, but she isn’t as bad as we thought.  You heard what she said; she’s trying to help us save Twilight.”
“And you trust her?” Rainbow replied.
“Yes.  I do.” Spike answered.
“I do too.” Fluttershy added.  “She seemed different, like she was sorry.”
“I can’t believe you two!” Applejack yelled.  “After she kidnapped us, yer just going to turn around and trust her?  This could be a trap for all we know.”
“But it won’t be.  She could have killed me before, but she didn’t.  She left me there and then she came back and told us about Twilight.  Trust me; she isn’t going to betray us.”
“All right Spikey, but only because you trust her that much.” Rarity replied.

Celestia stood by Luna as they looked out in the distance.  There was a dark presence, something more terrifying than they had imagined Sombra to be capable of.
“This is not Sombra…” Celestia stated.
“What do you mean?  I thought that it was Sombra who was controlling the darkness on this world.” Luna looked over at her sister.
“As did I, at first.  But this is far beyond what he would be capable of.  I do not know who or what this presence is, but it is not… natural.” Celestia answered.
Celestia turned away and made her way back into the throne room.  There were seven guards left in there, the rest were out trying to gather information or evacuate ponies that were in danger.  A letter popped into existence in front of the princess, containing a message from the Crystal Empire.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
“Princess Cadence was taken by a pony known as Midnight Vim, as was Twilight.  We were unable to establish communication to you prior to this due to a relentless onslaught of monsters.  Vim had called them Heartless and she had promised to help protect us from them.  Her betrayal caught us off guard.  In the confusion I was knocked unconscious and only recently woke back up.  Please help if you can.
“Sincerely,
“Shining Armor”
“Well, that is one way to let me know that you are alive.  Rarely is good news not seasoned with a hint of salt, and in this case, a barrel of salt.” Celestia said to herself.
This meant that Twilight was already taken by Sombra and that her efforts had been in vain.  The endgame of Sombra’s plan remained a mystery, but from the start, it was clear that this moment would come.  The point of taking Princess Cadence remained beyond her though, the only possibility that she could think of was leverage to keep Twilight in Sombra’s possession.  If that was the case though, Princess Cadence would already be dead.
“Celestia, what does the letter say?” Luna asked, walking into the room a few seconds later.
“He got Twilight.  Cadence is being held as well, I can only hope that she will be all right.”

“You might as well kill me.” Twilight choked out.  “I won’t use dark magic.”
“I wouldn’t dream of killing you.” Sombra laughed.  “I need you to be alive, but I also need you to cooperate.  You know that you’re irreplaceable, right?”
“I don’t care want you need, I won’t help you.”
“I will take everything you care about away from you.  I will kill each and every one of your friends, slowly and in front of you.  Then I will bring your brother here and I will kill him.  If that isn’t enough, I have Cadence in this castle, waiting for her death, but at this point, that would be a mercy.  Oh, yes, I almost forgot, the other princesses.”
“Don’t you dare…” Twilight growled.
The shackles tightened around Twilight’s legs and her neck, cutting off the majority of her oxygen supply.  She struggled to breathe, gasping for air.  Sombra let out a quiet laugh before making the shackles enough so that Twilight could breathe again.
“Do you know how cute you are when you struggle?  I find it quite amusing that you think that you can resist.” Sombra smiled before approaching Twilight.
Twilight closed her eyes tightly, trying not to even look at Sombra.  He used his magic to pry her eyes open and she cried out in pain.  She jerked her head to the side before Sombra grabbed it with his magic and forced her to face him.
“I can do this… all day.  Do you want to see who runs out of will first?  I have twenty bits saying that I’ll win.” Sombra continued.
Twilight spit into Sombra’s face and tried to get away from him again, but the grip of his magic tightened around her head, crushing her.
“I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to resort to this.  Seeing as you came with me to save your friends, what will you do to save your sister-in-law?”
A platform moved to the side and a cage lifted from the ground.  Inside the cage was a bruised pink alicorn.
“Cadence!” Twilight shouted.
Cadence managed to look up at Twilight, but couldn’t find the strength to speak.  She was collapsed on the cage floor, barely managing to breathe through her beaten lungs.
“Use some dark magic and she won’t get hurt… as badly.” Sombra demanded.
Twilight’s horn lit up purple and she tried to hit Sombra with a magical beam, but she couldn’t even get it to start.  She couldn’t use her magic so how was she supposed to use the dark magic like he wanted her to?  Was this all just a game to him?  Was he doing all of this just to crush her spirit?
“Judging by the fact that that seemed like a dud, I’m guessing that you were trying normal magic.  You can’t do that in here, normal magic doesn’t work in this room.  This entire room is filtered by the darkness so that only dark magic can work, that’s why the Princess over there has not escaped yet.” Sombra explained.
Twilight didn’t respond to him that time.  She stood there silently, wanting so badly to be able to fight back, but if she did she would just be falling back down the path that she had just so recently pulled herself off of.
Sombra’s horn lit up and Twilight jumped as a jolt of pain shot through her body.  She could see Cadence reacting in a similar way, but with less energy.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did that hurt?  That was a low level shock spell; would you like to see the effect of a higher level one?” Sombra asked, his horn lighting up again.
Cadence screamed out in pain and her eyes widened.  Twilight could make out what looked like a purple lightning bolt going across the surface of Cadence’s body.
“Stop!” Twilight cried out.  “It’s me that you want so leave her alone!”
“I wish it were that simple.  The problem in lies with your willingness to put up with any kind of pain that I can inflict upon you.  What I need is a different strategy, emotional pain through hurting the ones that you care about the most.” Sombra tried to sound sincerely sorry for what he had to do, but it was clear to Twilight that he enjoyed it more than anypony ever should.
“Leave her alone!” Twilight shouted, her horn lighting up a brilliant purple and her eyes glowing white.
“I haven’t seen anything like this before…” Sombra muttered to himself.  “What kind of power is this?”
Twilight shot a bright purple blast at Sombra’s face, slamming him to the ground.  She shot another at Cadence’s cage and it burned a hole in the side.
“Teleport now!  With him down, he can’t keep you from using magic!” Twilight shouted.
“I don’t know… if I can…” Cadence replied quietly.
“That I’ll help you!” Twilight teleported Cadence out of the castle an as far away as she could get her.
“You are just full of surprises aren’t you?” Sombra asked, climbing back to his hooves.  “You didn’t think that your disobedience will go unpunished though.  I’ll just have to see if physical pain can break your will.”
Twilight felt an excruciating jolt of pain go through and reverberate within her body.  She let out a bloodcurdling scream before falling limp and silent.

Cadence opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar field.  She could see a pony in the distance doing come crop work.  It was an older earth pony with a grey mane and a black coat.
“Hey!” he called out.  “Are ya all right there missy?”
“Somewhat…” Cadence replied.
“An alicorn, well I’ll be…  What happened to ya?  Why’re ya all the way out here?” the pony asked.
“It’s a… long story.  Where am I?”
“We’re a long way out from anywhere right now.  The closest real civilization is way up yonder, on that mountain.  The griffon’s live up there.” the pony explained.  “I’ll get one to come by here, maybe he’ll be able ta getcha some help.”
“Thank you…”
“Are you by chance that Princess Cadence?” the pony asked after a short silence.
“Yes… And what is your name?”
“My name’s Dusty Tumbleweed.  But you can just call me Dusty, You’re Majesty.”
“Well, Dusty, thank you for offering to help me.” Cadence nodded weakly, still unable to stand up.
Dusty built a small fire and started trying to send a signal up into the sky using the smoke.  Within minutes, a griffon flew down from the sky.
“Dusty, what seems to be the… Princess Cadence?” the griffon asked.
“South Wind, is that you?  I aven’t seen ya in forever.  Princess Cadence needs some help bad.  If ya could get another couple of griffons ta help, could ya take the Princess home?” Dusty asked.
“Of course.” the griffon answered.  “If you don’t mind me asking, does your sudden appearance here have anything to do with the light show that was coming from that new castle in the mountains?”
“Twilight…” Cadence whispered.
“Are you meaning to tell me that she is in that castle?” South Wind asked.
“Yes.  She needs your help more than I do.” Cadence answered.
“I’ll get you some help and then I will go to the castle and try to get Twilight back.” South nodded.
“Thank you.”
South Wind launched into the air and flew toward his home village.  He would need to get three griffons and a chariot so that Princess Cadence could be safely delivered to Canterlot.  After that he would need to get some of the local warriors to go with him to rescue Twilight.
	
> Chapter 9 - Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Four armored griffons flew behind South Wind as they drew near the castle that King Sombra was rumored to be calling home.  If what he had heard was true, then Twilight Sparkle was being held there, as well as possibly Discord.
“Sir, how do you intend to fight against Sombra?” one griffon asked.
“I don’t.  We are going in there to rescue the unicorn.  Our second priority is the draconequus.  Killing Sombra or even confronting him is not a possibility.  No one dies today, not if I can help it.” South answered.
The four griffons nodded to their leader as they prepared to go on their most dangerous mission ever.  They had gone places that were under the control of ancient dragons and cleared the dragons out so that griffons or ponies could live there safely.  They had fought in battles between different griffon villages.  Yet never had they fought against something that lacked empathy to this point.
South Wind could faintly hear the sound of a scream coming from the castle as they sat on the cliffside, planning a course of attack.  They were running low on time, either Twilight would die, or she would give into Sombra’s will.  Truth be told, South was more fearful of her death than of her cooperating with him.
“Was that her?” a griffon asked.
“Yes, I believe so.  We are running short on time before… the worst case scenario.  Let us proceed quickly, but with caution.” South commanded.
The five griffons silently took to the air and flew toward the castle as quietly as possible.  They entered through a window and started exploring.  They were in two groups of two and South Wind was alone.  
South flew down to the first floor and started to look for any signs of Twilight.  He saw an empty cage that had a system that could push it up to the ceiling.  It looked too suspicious for him not to investigate so he flew over and looked up.  There were lines in the ceiling, just larger than the cage, like it was a trap door.
South tried pushing up on the panel, but it wouldn’t budge.  In frustration he kicked it, breaking a hole in the center.  From there he was able to chip away at it until he got through.  Once he was on the other side, he found himself in a room with a black floor, ceiling, and walls.  It was nearly impossible to see do to the fact that the only light was coming from the hole in the floor that he had just made.  As his eyes adjusted, he was able to see a pony lying on the floor with chains holding her in place.
“Twilight?  Twilight Sparkle?” he asked, approaching the body.
The worst thought ran through his mind like a broken record.  “She’s dead.” it would repeat.  “You were too late.”
“Please be all right…” he said to himself as he touched his claw to her neck to check for a pulse.
He sat there in silence, waiting for any signs from her, but there was nothing.  She didn’t move, she didn’t breathe, and her heart didn’t beat.  She was bruised and bloodied, he was too late.
“No!” he shouted loudly.  “I won’t accept this!”

“Are you sure that this is where Twilight is supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“This is where Vim said that the castle would be, and look, there’s a castle.” Spike answered.
“Can we go in there with you?” asked a filly.
“Sweetie Belle, you weren’t even supposed to come with us.  How in the wide world of Equestria did you even get here?” Rarity asked her sister.
“We just snuck in the wagon that ya’ll were haulin’.” Apple Bloom answered.
“Yeah, Twilight helped us and we want to help her back.” Scootaloo added.
“That’s awesome that you’re willing to help and all, but…” Rainbow started.
“But it’s also mighty foolish.  You could get yerselves hurt.” Applejack finished Rainbow’s thought.
“Why don’t you girls stay back here with me?” Fluttershy offered the Crusaders.
“Are you not planning to go in there?  What about Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“I don’t think that I’ll be much good if there’s fighting involved.” Fluttershy answered.
“Don’t you want to help Twi?” Pinkie asked.
“Yes actually.” a voice answered from the sky.  “But I need to know something.  Have any of you seen a griffon in the immediate area?”
The group looked up and saw a griffon in battle armor.  He had a large scar running down his wing; Spike couldn’t help but wonder how he could even fly with it.  There were four more griffons with him, each one also wearing armor.
“Sorry for startling you, but I’m looking for my older brother, South Wind, who came here in search of Miss Sparkle.” the griffon stated.  “I just realized, I haven’t introduced myself.  My name is Talon.”
“Well, my name is Spike, but I haven’t seen any griffons other than you.”
“He’s probably already inside.  I only just got word of his leaving; he’s been gone for a few hours already.” Talon explained.
“Well, we were getting ready to head inside.  I’m sure that we could probably work together.  We are both looking for Twilight and I want to help you find your brother since he came all the way out here trying to find her tool.” Spike smiled.
“Any plan on how to get in there?” Talon asked.
“I was just intending to take the front door.  What’s more unexpected than that?” 
Spike suggested.
“Not very much…” Talon said hesitantly.
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stayed behind to make sure that the Crusaders wouldn’t get themselves into trouble.  Fluttershy was right about the fact that she wouldn’t be terribly good for fighting and Pinkie was having trouble coping with the events.  She would be able to protect Fluttershy a little, but she wouldn’t be much use inside the castle.  One griffon stayed behind as some extra insurance.
Each of the ponies was partnered up with a griffon.  Spike was with Talon, they would be searching the second floor, east wing.  They quickly moved up to the second floor and began to make their way east.  Eventually they reached a small room that had the door sealed.  The underside of the door was blocked by a rag, keeping the light out of the room.
“How are we going to get inside there?” Talon asked as he tried to pry the door open with his claws.
“The key.” Spike answered.
There was a flash of light in Spike’s claw and a Keyblade appeared.  He aimed it at the lock, but nothing happened.
“Is that a Keyblade?” Talon asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t know how to unlock the door with it.” Spike groaned.
“We griffons know a great deal about Keyblades.  Aim it at the lock like you are and say ‘release’ to unlock anything in its way.” Talon informed Spike.
“Release!” Spike whispered, trying to avoid attracting any attention if Sombra was inside.
There was a clicking sound from the door as it was unlocked.  Talon tried the door again and was able to open it.  They could see a figure in the dark, lying on the ground mumbling in frustration.
“South!” Talon shouted.
“She’s gone…” South muttered quietly, ignoring Talon.
Spike recognized his eyes.  They were glowing green, just like when Twilight was under the spell of Sombra’s illusion.
“She’s dead… I failed.”  South rambled on.
“What do you mean she’s dead?  Are you talking about the unicorn?” Talon was almost shouting.
“He can’t hear you.” Spike stated.  “He’s under Sombra’s illusion, try shaking him or startling him.”
“South, wake up!” Talon grabbed his brother’s shoulders and shook him.
South Wind blinked a few times and stared in front of him.  “Where’d she go?  Where is Twilight?”
“It was a dream.  One of Sombra’s favorite things to do.  He wanted to make you think that she was dead, but I doubt that she is.” Spike explained.
“She’s not dead…” South whispered.  “Then there isn’t much time.  If Sombra did that to me, then that means that he is more likely than not, aware of our presence here.  If we don’t hurry, we might really be too late.” His voice gave the impression of a quick recovery, but he was still shaking, he was still feeling the effects.

“You should watch this, it’s really quite funny.” Sombra laughed quietly.
“Just leave them alone.” Twilight pled weakly.  She hadn’t been able to eat in at least a day, but she was starting to lose track of time because of the fact that she was being held captive.
“But it’s like watching rats squirm and try to escape as the cat plays with them before tearing them to pieces.” Sombra continued.
Twilight couldn’t find the strength to speak; she was too badly injured to too hungry.    Sombra must have heard her stomach growl because he turned to her and used his magic to bring over a covered platter.  He lifted the cover and showed her some amazing looking food.  It was fancier than anything that she was used to; she didn’t even know the names of what she was looking at.
“Here, take some.” Sombra said coldly.  “The only thing is, I’m not moving it any closer to you.”
They were still in the room where the only magic that worked was dark magic.  She wouldn’t be able to eat unless she used the dark magic.  Twilight shook her head slowly.
“You aren’t hungry then, oh well, more for me.” Sombra began to slowly eat the food that was scattered about the platter.  “Oh, and one more thing…” Sombra used his magic to send a shockwave into Twilight’s body, creating pressure inside of her and causing her to drop to the floor.  “Did you think that the little punishment that I gave you for freeing the Princess was it?”
Twilight opened her mouth to scream in pain as it felt like her insides were being crushed.  She tried to scream, but nothing came out.  She squirmed across the ground, trying anything that she could to make the pain stop.
“I don’t believe that your friends are as capable as you think they are.  They aren’t even close to this room yet, I think that they just need a little shove in the right direction.” Sombra said, a tone of enjoyment in his voice.
Twilight could hear the framework of the castle shifting as it rearranged in a way that would lead everyone straight to them.  He was leading them into a trap and it was her fault.  If she had just cooperated, then maybe they could have lived longer.  
“What do I…” Twilight tried to speak, “have to… do… to save them?”
“Fight them.  That sounds like it would be very entertaining.  Don’t debate it for too long though.  It seems that Spike and your griffon friend will be arriving within the minute.  I will only let them in one at a time, so that you don’t have as much time to think about it.” Sombra smiled sadistically.
He made a line in the stone floor, directing Twilight’s attention to it.  Twilight thought that she understood his plan.  If the pony reached the line, they would die.  She had to hurt them before then.
Suddenly a face launched from the shadows of the doorway that Sombra had made when rearranging the castle.  She wasn’t fast enough and a purple blast from Sombra’s horn killed South Wind.  Spike followed shortly behind, but Twilight had time, she zapped him with a weak dark magic spell.  It wasn’t meant to hurt, but to stun.  There would be some pain, but it was the least that she could manage.
“Twi!” Spike cried out as he hit the floor.  “What are you doing?”
“He left me with… no choice.” Twilight looked over at South and Spike’s eyes followed to the corpse.
“No…” Spike whispered.
“But yes.” Sombra laughed back.  “One more step and you would have died too.”

Vim stood in a dark place, it felt cold.  All she knew was the cold.  There was no light, nothing but darkness and cold.
“Where am I?” Vim’s voice echoed through the emptiness.
She started walking, hoping to find some clue as to her whereabouts.  The last thing the she could recall was going into a field to start her training to fight Sombra.
“Is this his doing?  Did he send me here to keep me from fighting against him?  Am I dead?” she had so many questions to ask.
“No, no, and no.” the answers came quickly.  The voice that carried them sounded familiar, but Vim couldn’t quite place it.
“Who’s there?” Vim called out.  “Show yourself!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t recognize my voice.  After all, the only time that you’ve ever heard it was after you had beaten my sister.” the voice answered.
“Princess Luna!” Vim gasped.  “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“Celestia told me why she didn’t fight back.  It was because you reminded her of Twilight Sparkle.  Now I am able to see that resemblance.” Luna replied.
“Sombra forced… No, I won’t make any more excuses for my actions.  I was wrong to do what he said, to ever have believed in him.  Please forgive me.”
“Of course.  I only wish that you had seen your wrongs earlier.” Luna seemed to form before Vim from nothing.
“Where… where are we?” Vim asked.
“Your dreamscape.  You must have fallen asleep while you were training.” Luna said her was voice soft and comforting.
“No!  I can’t sleep!  I don’t have time!” Vim started stressing.
“And what help would you be if you weren’t awake enough to fight?  Even if you get all of that training in, you need to be awake when you fight him.” Luna put a wing over Vim and pulled her close.
“But what if I miss something?  What if the fight starts without me?” Vim asked.
“The fight is far from now, but they need your help soon.  One of the things about dreams though, is that hours are changed into seconds.  Let me teach you how to control that darkness inside of you.”
“You’ll… teach me?  After all that I have done?” Vim’s eyes streamed tears of joy.
“I have done worse, but I was forgiven.  I wish for you to have that same opportunity.  Let us begin.” Luna nodded with a smile as her horn lit up.

“Please… just… let them go.” Twilight begged.
“If you really wanted them to live, you would have cooperated.” Sombra smirked.
“If you really wanted to live, you would have run away when you had the chance.” a third voice entered the room.
“Celestia!  I thought that Vim took care of you!  That incompetent… Regardless, you won’t pose much of a threat.” Sombra growled.
“Twilight, your friends and nine of the ten griffons that came to rescue you are safe.  I’m going to send you home.  I will get you some guards and medical care.” Celestia assured Twilight.
Twilight was blinded by a brilliant yellow flash of light.  When she was finally able to see again, she found herself resting on her own bed back in Ponyville.
Her head was throbbing.  Her stomach ached from hunger.  But she was home.  She was resting in her own bed, and her friends were safe.  She let out a struggled yawn through her bruised lungs.
“Twi!” Spike shouted, running up to Twilight’s bedside and hugging her.
Twilight winced as pressure was applied to her numerous injuries.  “Hi Spike.  I missed you…”
“Do you need anything before the guards get here?” Spike asked.
“Some food please.  After I got Cadence out of there, Sombra wouldn’t give me anymore food.  Some punishment, right?” she put on a weak false smile with a quiet laugh.
“Dandelion sandwiches coming up!” Spike said cheerfully as he hopped down the stairs.
Twilight rolled onto her side and looked at her wall.  She was no longer on the cold stone ground; instead, she rested on a soft bed with a blanket keeping her warm.  She was safe, but not everyone involved was as comfortable.  South Wind had lost his life because she was too slow to save him.

Spike ran around the kitchen joyfully as he had finally been reunited with Twilight.  He fixed some sandwiches for her, thinking about how nice it was to have her home again.  There was no need for him to worry for her safety that night.
Spike slowly walked up the stairs toward his friend.  He carried a plateful of sandwiches, more than enough for Twilight hopefully.  When he finally made it up to the bed, he could hear a light snoring.  Twilight had fallen asleep.
“Why wouldn’t she?  After all she’s been through, she must have been exhausted.” Spike smiled, setting the sandwiches beside her bed.
Spike climbed into the window seal and sat down.  He just wanted to make sure that she would be all right.  That nopony would come in the night and take her or hurt her.  
Soon a group of guards arrived to watch over Twilight.  About half of the guard moved around the library, keeping an eye out for any signs of impending danger.  Spike stayed awake for as long as he could, but he started drifting off.  

Celestia stood in the Ponyville Town Hall discussing the protection of Twilight Sparkle with the mayor.  They needed a way to guarantee her safety that would leave Celestia with enough guards to begin the hunt for Sombra.  He had fled only seconds after Celestia had teleported Twilight from the castle.
“Mayor Mare, Seeing as you have spent most of your life in this town, where do you think the safest place to keep Twilight would be until all of this blows over?” Celestia asked.
“I believe that there is a tunnel system beneath the Town Hall.  It would function like a maze, hopefully any unwanted guests would get lost in there.” the mayor suggested.
“How well can it be protected?”
“Well enough I should hope.  I’m considering a specific room down there that only has three entrances.  Each one is only wide enough for ponies to move in pairs.  Six ponies guarding the tunnels and however many you can spare with Twilight in the room should do nicely.”
“All right.  I will try to set you up properly for it.  It would also be preferable if you were to take her friends in there as well, including Mist Valley and Eighth Note.” Celestia was distracted by the need for a plan to stop King Sombra, she needed to have to worry as little about this part as possible.
“I’ll do my best to protect her and her friends.” the mayor nodded before Celestia teleported from the room.
Celestia was back in her own castle in Canterlot.  A doctor galloped over to her and began to reapply her bandages.  It was best if the general population did not see her looking injured.  She could give them hope as long as she looked like she could not be harmed.  It was hard to do, but she had to for everypony who depended on her.
Luna could be heard in the next room over as she discussed a course of action with some of the more experienced members of the guard.  Her end of the conversation was rather loud compared to the others.  She had been under a great deal of stress during the recent days, and things hadn’t gotten much better before they would get a lot worse.
“General Ironwall, we don’t have time to do delay!  If we are going to take Sombra, we are going to need to do so quickly!” Luna shouted, stamping her hoof against the table.
“I understand the sense of urgency, Princess Luna, but you must understand that if we go in there too hastily, we will have many more casualties.” The stout brown pony stated.
“Iron is correct Luna.  We need a reliable plan; we want to avoid as much death as possible.  At the same time, we need to end it in one move; otherwise Sombra is likely to retaliate on civilians.” Celestia joined in the conversation as she slowly approached a large chair that appeared as if it had a sun rising behind it.
“That’s why I think that we should be moving toward the Crystal Empire.  If Sombra is going anywhere to develop his plan, it will be there.  All we need to do is corner him and all that will be left to do is say ‘Checkmate’ and call it a game.” another pony at the table suggested.
“And how exactly, Knight, do you intend to corner a pony who could simply think about you dying, and make it happen?” Iron asked.
“Simple, stake a few pawns for the good of the rest of the board.  Sacrifice is a part of every game of chess, my friend.  A few pawns to take the king is a worthwhile sacrifice.” Knight explained.
“But was my idea not just thrown out due to the casualties that would occur?” Luna argued.
“I will be leading this group of pawns.  I have two more who have already volunteered, one who is in Canterlot right now and another who will need a ride here.” Knight stated.
“You can’t just sacrifi-” Luna started to shout.
“How certain are you that this will work?” Celestia asked.
“I can get him there, but it’s up to you all to off that tyrant.  My end is a certain success.” Knight said smugly.
“You cannot seriously be considering this?  Sending three ponies to their deaths?” Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“It has been a very long time, Sister, since we have seen war.  Not long enough though, I still am aware of what it can take to… survive.” Celestia stated.
“What about what you used to say?”
To Luna, dying as bait was a wasted life, but dying in battle was different.  A pony that died fighting for what they believed in was a hero who would always be remembered.
“I did not say that we would win, I said that we would survive.  And with any luck, Sombra will not.”
	
> Chapter 10 - Return
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight was abruptly awakened by a guard.  “Twilight Sparkle, we have received word from the Princess that we need to move you to a more secure location.” 
Twilight yawned causing her eyes to tear up slightly.  “More secure?” she asked drowsily.
“Yes, Mayor Mare has suggested a tunnel system that can be found beneath the Town Hall.  Please come with me.”
“What about my friends?” Twilight asked as she climbed clumsily from her bed.
“They will be coming too.  But we must hurry; there isn’t a great deal of time.”
“What’s going on?” Spike asked, rubbing his eyes.
“We’re leaving.  I don’t have time to explain it again.” the guard grunted.
Twilight slowly started toward the stairs.  Spike jumped up and grabbed the sandwiches that he had prepared earlier and chased after Twilight.  The pair followed the grouchy guard through Ponyville.  The streets were just as empty as they were right before the Heartless first attacked.  It was eerie to Twilight, it made her feel sick to her stomach, as if something awful was about to happen.
“Hey Twi, why don’t you have a bite to eat?  You said that you were hungry last night, but you fell asleep before I could get the food to you.” Spike smiled, noticing Twilight’s less than thrilled expression.
“Thanks Spike.” Twilight smiled back, trying to refocus her attention.  “I’m sorry about that; I wasn’t intending to sleep for a while.”
“You needed it though, so don’t apologize.” Spike replied.
Twilight nodded before lifting a sandwich from the plate Spike was holding.  She took it to her mouth, trying to eat slowly as to not make herself any sicker than she already felt.  It was hard not to just swallow the sandwich whole, but she resisted the urge.
“We’ve arrived.” the guard stated, leading Twilight and Spike into the Town Hall.
They walked into a back area of the building that Twilight had never seen before.  It was dusty with cobwebs lining the corners.  In the center of the floor was a trapdoor, which the guard lifted slowly.  They were ushered into the caverns below the town.  Once the guard made his way down there, he started to lead them down a tunnel that had a green gem near the entrance.  There were five other paths, each having a different gem color at the entrance.  Green, red, blue, purple, yellow, and black gems designated each path.
They went down the tunnel for a few minutes before they reached a fork.  There were three paths that could be taken: white, blue, or black.  They took the white path, eventually taking another path that had a red gem.  The last turn that they made was to a path that had a yellow gem.  At the end of that path, instead of a fork, they reached a hub for the tunnels.  There were three entrances, including the one that they had taken.
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted cheerfully, bouncing over to her friend.
“Pinkie!  Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy!” Twilight noticed that each of her friends was inside the hub.  “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, you’re here too?” she asked.
“So am I!” another voice laughed as it approached Twilight.
“Note!” Twilight saw the young colt as he galloped toward her.
“It was you who got rid of the black thing that was over the mountain, wasn’t it?” Note asked.  “I knew it was you!”
“You didn’t give me time to answer.” Twilight pulled her head to the side with a smile.
“Your expression says it all.”
“Note ere’s been tellin’ us ‘bout how ya saved him from a dragon Heartless.” Applejack smiled.
“Drake, but yes.  Where is Mist Valley?” Twilight asked, noticing that he was the one pony who seemed to be missing.
“He said that he had to take care of something.” Note answered, staring down at the ground.
Twilight didn’t have much time before she got pulled into a conversation about what all had happened while she had been away from her friends.  She came to tears after hearing about Blade’s passing, feeling like it was entirely her fault.
The hours passed and the group became impatient to leave.  The fillies needed more space to run; they had spent the hours coming up with ideas on how to earn their cutie marks.  Rarity had been standing on a blanket the whole time, avoiding any contact with dirt, as per the norm.  Rainbow Dash couldn’t fly very much so she was getting frustrated.
“How much longer are we going to have to stay in here?” Twilight asked as she walked up to the guard.
“Until Princess Celestia sends us word that it is safe for you to leave.” the guard answered, obviously aggravated by his task.
“What about Mist Valley?  Where is he, it’s been hours?” Twilight interrogated.
“He isn’t going to be here, I was told that I am only to watch eleven, not twelve.  There are eleven here, and so no more will be arriving.”
“What are you saying?” Twilight was getting angrier than she had thought possible while not under the influence of dark magic.
“I’m saying that everypony that is supposed to be here, is here.  So stop arguing and let me do my job.” the guard was almost to the point of shouting.
“What do you mean everypony is here?” Twilight shouted.  “Everypony is not here!  Mist Valley is not here!”
“The Princess told me that this could be my hardest job ever, but I thought that she was talking about Sombra, not some argumentative mare.” the stallion growled before walking out into one of the tunnels.
“What’s he saying?” asked Note as he walked up to Twilight, leaving the Crusaders behind.
“He’s saying that Valley isn’t supposed to be here.  But if the Princess is trying to protect me and my friends, he should be here.” Twilight answered.
“Maybe he’s just in a different place.” Rarity suggested, almost stepping off of her blanket.
“Yeah, they took Big McIntosh and Granny Smith to a different hidin’ spot.  Maybe he’s with them.” Applejack added.
“Why separate him from Note though, I don’t see the point.” Twilight argued, looking down at the worried colt.
“Maybe because of limited space?” Spike asked, trying to be helpful.
“We could comfortably fit another five or six ponies in here at least.” Twilight refuted his point as quickly as he could think of it.
“It was because he has something very important to do.” a new voice entered the conversation.  “I’m sure that the Princesses will not approve of me telling you this, but I felt you needed to know.”
“Vim!” Twilight spun around, locking eyes with the robed pony.  “What are you talking about?”
“He is helping them get to Sombra.  They feel that this is their only way to beat him.” Vim answered.  “I’m helping, but they want for you to stay here, where you’ll be safe.  I agree.”
“Twil-” Spike started, but Vim raised a hoof to her mouth and approached the dragon.
“Yes, that used to be my name, but your Twilight is much more deserving.  Let’s keep my original name our secret.” Vim whispered to Spike, making sure that nopony else would hear.
“Vim, what about the Keyblades?” Spike asked, “Shouldn’t we fight him with as many as possible?”
“I would normally agree with you, but if we are to fail, then nothing is standing between him and the rest of Equestria.  You and Twilight are the only two that will be able to stop him if that happens.” Vim explained.
Vim walked away and faced the stone walls that surrounded her.  She looked back and smiled at Spike one last time before teleporting away.  Spike silently nodded back, wishing the best for Vim on her mission.  Twilight stood there in awe, trying to grasp what Vim had told them.
Twilight shook her head before walking toward one of the tunnels that led out.  “Yellow, red, white, green.  I’m coming…” she muttered almost silently.  If it wasn’t for the complete silence at the moment, she wouldn’t have been heard.
“What are you planning?” Rainbow asked, swooping down in front of Twilight, blocking her path.
“I can’t let them fight him while I just stand here and relax.” Twilight snipped.  “I’m going to help.”
“You heard what Vim said, if they fail then it’s up to us.” Spike intruded, blocking Twilight as she tried to walk around Rainbow.
“The more help that they have, the better the chance to win.” Twilight argued, levitating Spike to the side.
“Then let me come with you.” Spike ran in her way again.
“No.” Twilight teleported past him that time.
“Why not?” Spike grabbed her tail.
“I’m not going to lose you again!” Twilight shouted as she teleported down the tunnel, out of her friends’ reach.
She paused for a moment and wiped her eyes.  She hadn’t even realized that she’d started crying.  The unicorn took a deep breath and started walking, hoping that she wouldn’t be too late.

“Isn’t anypony going to go after her?” Fluttershy asked, hovering over to the exit.
“That pony can be so stubborn!” Applejack shouted.
“Oh, look who is talking, miss ‘I don't need no help from nopony’ last Applebuck Season.” Rarity rolled her eyes.
“Oh would ya jus’ shut up, prissy.” Applejack grunted back.
“Why don’t we just stop fighting for ten seconds and help Twi!” Rainbow shouted.
“I’m in!” Pinkie yelled, cupping her hooves to improve the echo.  “She’ll need some help if she’s gonna fight all of those monster things.”
“But how are we going to get past the guard?  I can’t teleport like Twilight, especially with other ponies.” Rarity confessed.
“Get up by the wall, I have an idea.” Note stated.  “I will get them all to go to the center to help me, and while they’re distracted, you all can make a run for it.”
“Are ya sure?” Applejack asked.
“I want to help anyway that I can.  If this is where I can help the most, then that’s what I’ll do.” Note nodded as he darted to the center of the cave.
The remaining eight ponies and one dragon ran up to the side that Twilight had teleported down.  They squeezed as close to the wall as they could, clinging to the shadows for cover.
“Help me!” Note screamed from the distance.  “The monsters came and took the others!”
Instantly, six guards came rushing in, two from each of the three exits.  They met up and the center and began questioning the young colt, giving the others a chance to escape.  Rainbow Dash led them down the tunnel, since she was the one who had heard the pattern from Twilight.
They moved quickly through the tunnels, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity that Note had given them.  The only light in their path came from Rarity’s horn, which she tried to keep dim enough so that it would not reveal their location.
“Finally, the green tunnel.” Rainbow smiled as she took the final turn.
“All right, now that we are practically out, how are we going to get to Twilight?  Also, how do we intend to stop Sombra?” Rarity asked.
“I’ll find her since I can fight the Heartless.  I need you all to get to Canterlot as soon as you can.” Spike ran off, leaving his friends to their task.

“Midnight Vim, are you sure that you want to do it this way?” Luna asked the mare.
“Yes, I want to show him that I am better than he is.” Vim nodded.
“You must clear your mind if you are to overcome his powers.  You cannot let him access your hatred, lest he use it to control you.” Luna explained.
“I know… but what he’s done…  I can’t forgive him.” Vim whispered.
“I understand the darkness of your emotions, I do not know how it was in your world, but here, I let the darkness take hold of me.” Luna confessed.
“I heard about something, but I never really saw you, I was taken here a few years after… what I did…” Vim started a dig at the ground with one of her hooves.
“I fell victim to my own resentment for the love for the day that the ponies had.  I receded back into my darkness and became Nightmare Moon.  If it were not for the light that I had been shown, then I would have been beyond saving.”
“So you were Nightmare Moon.  The books in my universe claimed that one day; you would return and bring eternal night.  I wasn’t around for that though, Sombra had taken me into this universe by that point.”
Vim turned and started to walk away, she couldn’t bear thinking back to her old home.  Her actions terrified her, but she couldn’t deny them.  She couldn’t just blame Sombra for everything; it was her who committed all of those horrible acts.  Luna wasn’t helping, she had done terrible things, but she had been forgiven.  The only ponies who could forgive Vim, couldn’t anymore, she would have to live with guilt for the rest of her life.  She could only hope that her actions here would atone for her past.
She looked around the large throne room of the Canterlot Castle.  Luna had gone back to Celestia to speak with her.  Ironwall was standing next to Knight, Valley, and some other pony that Vim hadn’t met yet.  The last pony was a bigger unicorn stallion than the others, towering over them.  His sleek black mane had fallen over his eyes, covering practically his whole face.  His coat was a dark grey and he had a magnifying glass for a cutie mark.
Everypony had a group that they could relate with, but Vim was alone in every definition of the word.  She had nopony with whom she could speak to casually, nopony who she could confess her feelings to.  She did once, but he was gone and it was her fault.  She couldn’t bear to get close to anypony anymore; it just caused too much pain.
Soon a group of about five or six guards galloped toward the Princesses, undoubtedly telling them that it was time to make their move.  The Princesses turned to the five ponies that occupied the room other than themselves and the newest group of guards.  Princess Celestia took a slow step forward.
“All right, it appears to be growing close to the opportune time to make our move.  King Sombra seems to be focusing all of his Heartless to guard the northern border of the Empire.  Gather close and I shall teleport us to the southern border so that we can make our move.” Celestia declared.
Obediently, each of the ponies approached their Princess.  They were all engulfed in a bright, warm yellow light, teleporting them to Sombra’s domain.
“Now or never, Valley, Looker, with me.” Knight stated.
The trio moved stealthily toward the castle of King Sombra.  They focused on staying out of sight long enough to get inside the castle.  Luring him into the library where Celestia, Luna, and Vim could strike a surprise attack on him.
Celestia had cast a spell so that she could see everything that Knight could see.  The downsides were, she couldn’t move her body while the spell was active and she couldn’t see anything that Knight couldn’t see.
The bond of the spell broke as Celestia could feel her body falling.  When the Princess’s consciousness returned to her own body, she was being held up by Midnight Vim.  While her sister stood, mouth gaping open at a sight in the distance.  Ironwall was as focused on the sight as Luna.

Twilight stood at the edge of a massive, dark purple shield, staring more Heartless than she had thought existed.  As far as she could see, it was an endless sea of black with unblinking yellow eyes.  She’d beaten Princess Celestia there, meaning that she could possibly help them fight if she could find them.
On step forward and she’d be mauled.  The only thing that kept Sombra from coming out personally was the spell that Twilight had cast.  She made herself look different, a white mare with a blue mane and tail.  Her mane and tail were uncombed and looked messier than Rainbow Dash’s.  She’d also made it seem like there was an army behind her using an illusion spell, hoping that Sombra would try to figure out who was leading an army against him.  She prayed that he didn’t come out there to wipe them all out in one foul swoop, discovering her and making everypony’s efforts in vain.
“What am I doing?  One screw up and I’m dead, I should have waited where I would have met up with the Princess and everypony else…” Twilight muttered, second guessing her attempt to help.
She saw a shadow ascend from the ground amidst her illusion army.  The shadow slung its claws through one fake pony and it fizzed from existence.  The shadow sunk back into the ground and returned to its group.  As it did, a second, larger shadow formed in the ground, rising up slowly.
“Twilight, I know it’s you…” the shadow spoke with Sombra’s voice.  Twilight watched as color filled it and it became the King of Shadows himself.  “You can’t hide from me, I know where you were, I was just waiting for dear Celestia’s attack to fail so that they couldn’t get in my way again.”
Twilight made an illusion of herself and made it charge at Sombra.  The real Twilight was slowly backing up, hoping to not be noticed.
“Illusion spells are so beneath you, Twilight, especially those of this caliber.  We both know how competent you are, we’ve both seen you using the darkness.  Take that darkness and strike me, it’s your only hope.”
Twilight made another illusion, hoping that it was keeping Sombra from finding the real her.  The fake Twilight shouted, “Never!  I won’t go back to that!”
Sombra placed his hoof on the fake Twilight and the hoof passed through it.  “If you don’t, they could die.  What a tragedy that would be?” Sombra smirked, turning away from the real Twilight.
“Even if I did, you would kill them!” another copy Twilight shouted.
“I wouldn’t dare hurt them.  I don’t break my promises, they are my solemn vow.  You would kill them.  You wouldn’t be able to resist the urge, then you would become addicted, just like with dark magic.” Sombra laughed in his terrifying way.
“I don’t use dark magic anymore!”
“Killing a pony is scary at first; ask Vim, she’ll tell you.  But after she killed her mother, her father, and her brother, my prized pupil went on to kill her dimension’s Princess Celestia.  You will just have to start with Celestia, higher standards and all.”
“I won’t kill anypony but you!” Twilight had several clones, all shouting this in unison.
“It is that hatred that you feel for me that feeds the dark magic you use so willingly.” Sombra said in a way that made it feel like fact.
“I don’t use dark magic…” a clone muttered.
“I beg to differ, look at your horn.” Twilight felt a hoof touch her should and she jumped.
The unicorn spun around quickly as her eyes met a second Sombra.  The other was still testing the illusions.  There were two Sombra’s…
“How…” Twilight asked.
“Simple, the dark offers higher level illusion spells, one’s that don’t fade when they come into contact with anything.  I had one of my illusions distract you while I pushed you to the darkness.” Sombra explained.  “If you don’t use dark magic, do you mind explaining your horn to me?”
Twilight looked up and saw the tip of her horn, glowing with a dark smoke.  She’d gotten so scared that she hadn’t even noticed when she’d started using the darkness.  Her hooves scrambled across the snow as Twilight tried to escape Sombra’s reach.  With every step however, he teleported beside her.
“I- I…” Twilight stuttered.
“It’s more proof that you belong with me, not that light-loving feather brained Princess of yours.  Come Twilight, I can teach you so much more than Celestia could ever dream of knowing.” Sombra offered Twilight a second chance to go with him, but no lies this time, everypony would die.
“I’d rather… die…” Twilight summoned her Keyblade, the Dawn Star.
“Try this one.” Sombra used his magic to toss over a new keychain.
Twilight caught it with her magic and it instantly summoned a Keyblade.  The blade was tipped with three black crystals that shared a point of origin.  The guard on the handle was shaped like two bat wings coming together.
“Black Diamond.  Very few wielders were able to summon this Keyblade, even back in ancient times, ages before Star Swirl the Bearded’s great grandmother had even been thought of.  You are the first wielder in over a thousand years, and the first in over ten times that to be able to hold the Black Diamond.” Sombra smiled.
Twilight could feel a power coursing through her body.  It was unlike anything that she’d ever felt before, but it didn’t feel scary.  It was warm, like a bright summer morning, not like that shadows that the name made her think.
“The Keyblade doesn’t seem to agree with what you’re saying, Sombra.” Twilight smirked.  “It was called Black Diamond by one pony and one pony only, you.  To the last pony who could wield it, the Keyblade was named Crystal Light.”
As the words left Twilight’s mouth, the Keyblade began to glow a brilliant gold as the form changed.  The bat wings became the wings of pegasi and the black crystals at the end turned gold.  The center rod of the Keyblade faded from black until it was white.
The Keyblade flashed a white light and Sombra vanished, teleported away unwillingly.  Twilight was left standing alone with her group of illusions.  Seconds later a darkness gripped the Crystal Empire castle and pulled it to the ground.  Through the falling rubble, Twilight could make out four shapes on the other side of the castle.  Two alicorns, a unicorn, and an earth pony.
	
> Chapter 11 - Consequences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“What happened?” Celestia asked, attempting to hold herself up.
“I don’t know what caused it, but the castle collapsed.” Vim replied.
“Where Knight and the others in there when you last saw?” Iron asked the Princess.
“Yes…  They had just gotten to the stairs on the inside.  I can’t see anything now, my sight is still linked with Knight’s, but all he sees is blackness.” Celestia confessed.
“But you’re speaking.  That means that your mind is back in your body, why can’t you see?”
“I honestly do not know, Vim.  But it makes me useless to this effort.” Celestia answered.  “If I cannot see, then I won’t be able to aid in the fight against King Sombra.”
“Is that who I think it is?” Luna muttered under her breath as she spotted a familiar silhouette on the other side of the castle’s rubble.
Luna vanished in a flash of dark blue.  Iron stayed by the blinded Celestia and Vim.  The dim light of the moon lit the dark field as the Heartless teleported away.  There were only five ponies left out in the moonlight.

“Why isn’t that Keyblade coming back?  Why can’t I summon the Crystal Light?” Twilight asked herself after her newest Keyblade vanished from her group.
“Twilight Sparkle, what are you doing here?” Luna’s voice boomed.
“Princess Luna!” Twilight jumped from the unexpected arrival.  “I’m… I’m…”
“You are supposed to be in Ponyville, not here.  What is the point in my sister and I trying to keep you safe if you just keep escaping?” Luna interrogated Twilight in such a way that made Twilight back up.
“I couldn’t… where’s Mist Valley?” Twilight stuttered.
Luna’s head dropped.  “He had just gotten inside the castle only a minute before its collapse.”
“No…  Why would he go in there?” Twilight shouted, tears running down her face.
“It appears that he did not tell you his story, did he?” Luna replied.  “When Valley was a young colt, he suddenly appeared in Canterlot.  Some concerned ponies brought him before my sister.  No matter how many hours were put into looking up his identity, she could not find anything.”
“She couldn’t find out who he was?  But that’s not possible…” Twilight wiped her eyes in vain as more tears quickly took the place of the old ones.
“Exactly.  He had no parents, no school record.  There were no missing ponies matching his description in any city or town.  She gave him to the ponies who found him so that they could raise him.  Nearly a year after being found, he spoke his first words, telling the ponies that were caring for him his name.” Luna explained.
“How could there be no record of him though?” Twilight asked.
“When Celestia asked about his past, he told her the same thing every time.  He said the he had escaped from the King.  Every time it was the same story.  The King had taken his home and his family was gone.  He had just barely managed to escape as a last effort from a group of hiding ponies.  At first, my sister assumed that it was just the imagination of a colt.  She thought that he was trying to cope with a loss, but now we know the truth.”
“He came from the same place as Vim…” Twilight whispered.
“Precisely.”
Twilight was frozen in place, trying to grasp that idea.  Three ponies were capable of passing between the dimensions; one of them did it twice.  That meant that there was a way to catch him, even if he fled to the other Equestria.  Considering that he was hiding out in his castle where he thought that he would be safe, running wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“Come back with me now, Twilight.” Luna stated, as she started back toward where she’d come from.
Twilight tripped slightly as she tried to chase after Luna.  They walked through the rubble until they reached Celestia, Vim, and Ironwall.
“You must be Twilight Sparkle, am I right?” Iron asked.
“Yes…  Who are you?” Twilight responded.
“I am General Ironwall.” Iron answered.  “Tell me, what happened over there?  Why did the castle simply fall with no apparent cause?”
“It was because-” Twilight started.
“Twilight, why are you not in Ponyville?” Celestia asked.
“I couldn’t just let Valley kill himself.  He is the only pony that Note has, err, had.” Twilight answered.  “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“It seems that Knight’s sudden death while our minds were linked cost me my eyesight.” Celestia answered.  “Now, if you do not mind, could you please answer the General’s questions?”
“Sombra gave me a Keyblade that had something to do with the darkness.  When I caught it, the Keyblade automatically summoned itself.  The Keyblade started out dark, but turned into a Keyblade of light, the Crystal Light.” Twilight explained.  “When it changed, there was a light and it made Sombra leave.  I’m not sure if him leaving that destroyed the castle or if the Keyblade did.”
“The Crystal Light?” Celestia paused.  “I’d read stories about that Keyblade, but it was supposedly destroyed when a dark wielder gained possession of it.”
“If I had to guess, it takes a form corresponding to the heart of the wielder.” Luna guessed.
“But if that’s true then… then Sombra is wrong about me.” hope flowed through Twilight, eliminating any self-doubt that she’d had before.
“I am not aware of what Sombra had said to you, but you must know that he never speaks the truth.  He is an expert at manipulating the emotions of his foes, making them more…. compliant.” Celestia explained.  “What you need to do, is turn his own words against him.”
“Do you mean manipulate him?” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“No.” Celestia shook her head.  “While he is trying to trick you, strike.  That is when his guard is weakest.  To manipulate him, that would require him having the emotions to care about what is thought of him, or the wellbeing of others.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, isn’t that a bit straight forward Princess?” Ironwall asked.  “Most of the advice you’ve given me over these years has been on riddle after another.”
“We do not have time for such things now.  I feel that this war is drawing to a close.”

Spike walked the populated streets of Canterlot, hoping to catch the princesses before Twilight had a chance to get herself into trouble.  It made him feel more at ease to see that some ponies were getting back to their normal lives.  There was a little hope that he and Twilight could get back to their real lives soon.  No more fighting Heartless, just relaxing with their friends and letting the occasional pony check out a book or two from the library.
He eventually found himself at the castle gates, passing the pair of ponies that were standing guard there.  One pony met him as he entered the throne room.  The pony was dressed in a formal looking suit with a black bow tie.  His brown mane was slicked back and his white coat had a shine to it.
“Can I help you?” the pony asked, glancing down at the dragon.
“Yeah.  Where is Princess Celestia?” Spike asked.
“She is currently occupied with a matter that has taken her away from our city.” the pony answered impatiently.
“Princess Luna?” Spike hoped that she would still be there.
“She went with Princess Celestia.”
“They went after Sombra, didn’t they?”
“I am not at liberty to say.  Anything that you need to say to them, you can say to me, seeing as in their absence, I have been placed in charge.” the pony explained.
“I really wish that you could help.” Spike sighed.
The dragon turned around and started back to the door.  He would need to get to the Crystal Empire before they left.  As Spike reached the large door to exit the throne room, he heard a voice behind him.
“Wait.  I might just be able to help you get there.” the pony stated, drawing Spike’s attention.
“How?” Spike glared at the pony.
“I could teleport you.” the pony offered.
“That would be grea-” Spike was cut off mid statement as he felt something grasp his leg.
The pony let out a gasp as he witnessed black tendrils reach out of the castle’s floor and take hold of the small dragon.  A black portal appeared on the ground as Spike was pulled in.  There was a crushing darkness within the portal, making Spike shake with a surge of dark emotions.  He found it difficult to breathe as his head was taken into the darkness.
“Spike…  It has been a while.” a familiar voice stated as Spike found himself deep within the Everfree Forest.
“Sombra!” Spike tried to climb to his feet and run away, but his legs didn’t have the strength to hold him.
“There is no use in running; I cast a spell on your legs making them useless.” Sombra smiled.
“Where’s Twilight?” Spike growled.
“She’s with the princesses.  She is remarkable isn’t she?”
“A thousand times better than you.”
“I only say that because she is falling in line with my plans.  Soon she will end the princesses’ lives and she will come to me.” Sombra turned away from Spike and used his magic to pull over a stone.
“You’re lying.  She got away from you before.  She came back to us because she cares about us and not you.  You are just a monster who can’t get over the fact that she can’t stand you.” Spike argued.
“Really?  How do you know that she hasn’t turned back to the darkness?” Sombra sat on the rock and looked down at Spike.  “She can’t resist the call of that magic, its power is… addicting.”
Sombra sat there for a minute while Spike was silent.  The silence was not his own will though, Sombra was done letting the dragon speak.  He’d cast a spell, stealing Spike’s voice.  There was a short while where all Spike did was glare at the King of Shadows, but he couldn’t bear to look at the monster for long.  He soon found himself doing anything that he could to avoid looking in Sombra’s direction.
Sombra sat calmly, waiting for Spike to begin doubting in his dear friend.  The King of Shadows always had a contingency plan.  In this case, his backup plan was Spike, using his feelings for Twilight against him and hopefully turning him to the darkness and using him as bait.
Spike’s attention was drawn by a flash behind Sombra.  He saw a familiar silhouette walk up to the king.  As the newcomer’s horn began to glow, he was able to see Twilight standing there.
“Twilight, how are the princesses fairing?  Are they dead yet?” Sombra asked. 
Twilight said nothing, but shook her head.  Her expression scared Spike somewhat, it was cold.  Spike was still unable to speak; otherwise he would have called out to her.
“Go back then.  I don’t like failure.” Sombra said coldly.  “And Spike, I’ll return your voice so that you may tell her good bye.”
“Twi!  What’s going on?” Spike shouted.  “You would never side with Sombra now that you know what he really is!”
Twilight glanced over at Spike, her face barren of any emotion.  She looked almost like she was dead inside.  She didn’t speak to him, instead, she teleported away, presumably back to where she came from.
“Terribly sorry, Spike.  It seems that she isn’t terribly into speaking with a coward who hides in the light.” Sombra smirked.
“Shut up!” Spike shouted.  “I don’t know what you did to her, but it won’t work for long!”
“What I did to her?  I’m afraid I don’t know what in Equestria you’re talking about.  I did nothing to that dear unicorn, except offer her a chance to be my queen.” Sombra leaned in close to Spike.
“Liar!” Spike shouted as he attempted to stand again before remembering the spell that Sombra had used on his legs.
“Me?  A liar?  That’s completely absurd.  Oh wait, no it isn’t.  I do lie, but only to help others see the benefits that the darkness can offer.  This however, is complete truth.” Sombra raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
Spike summoned his Keyblade and aimed it at Sombra.  His hands were free to move, even if his feet were not.
“Ah, it seems that you are also a wielder of the Keyblade.” Sombra mused.
“Let her go!” Spike growled.
“What is she to you?  A friend, a sister?” Sombra asked.
“She hatched me from an egg, she’s my family.” Spike growled back.  “I love her, a feeling that you could never understand.”
“So she is your mother?  She raised you from birth, just like your biological mother would have, had Celestia not taken you from her.  She protects you and gives you a purpose.”
“I… I never thought of it like that…” Spike paused, releasing his Keyblade.

“So we’re going to meet Spike in Canterlot?”
“Yes Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash grunted.
“And Twilight should be there too?” Pinkie continued as she hopped around the train.
“Yes Pinkie.” Applejack was starting to grow impatient of Pinkie’s repetitive questions.  “Just like the last five times ya asked, they should both be there.”
“Have I really asked five times already?” Pinkie asked.
“Six, counting that last time, it makes six.” Rarity groaned.
“What if more of those creatures come out?” Fluttershy worried.
“Then we’ll take ‘em out.” Rainbow Dash sighed, hooping for action of some kind.  So far Twilight and Spike were the only one’s who’d gotten to do anything and she was going crazy from boredom.
The train slowed to a halt as it reached the station in Canterlot.  The five ponies left the train car that they had spent the last couple of hours in and set out in the city.  They made their way to the castle, despite a few distractions for Pinkie Pie.
As the ponies entered the castle they were happy to see a certain purple unicorn resting her head on a table that was placed in the middle of the throne room.
“Twilight!” they all shouted in a mess.
“Girls.” Twilight slowly rolled her head over to face them.
“What’s wrong Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, noting a couple of dark streaks in her coat beneath her eyes.
“I screwed up…” Twilight tried her best to smile, but it quickly turned to a frown and she began crying.
“What happened?” Rainbow launched over next to Twilight in less than a second.
“I tried to stop Sombra before Valley had a chance to go in a fight him, but I made it worse.  The castle fell and… and…” Twilight sobbed.
“It will be all right, Twilight.  Don’t you worry, we’re here to help.” Fluttershy placed a hoof on her friend’s back.
“When we got back, Posh Ensemble told us that Spike was here.” Twilight started.
“Yeah, where is he anyway?” Pinkie asked.
“Sombra…” Twilight tried to continue, but couldn’t even bring herself to speak.
“We’ll get ‘im back, Twi.” Applejack stated.  “What happened at the castle anyway?  Where’re the princesses?”
“Celestia can’t see anything anymore.  She’d cast a spell so that she could see everything that a pony named Knight could see, but he died while the spell was active.  Luna hasn’t left her bedside since we got back.  Vim is trying to come up with a new plan, but so far she hasn’t had any luck.” Ironwall entered the room.
Twilight sniffled quietly as she looked up at Ironwall.  “I thought you were helping Vim...”
“She sent me up here to tell you that you need to rest.  You won’t be any help like this; you need to get your emotions in check.” Iron stated.
“You could stand to be a bit less rude!” Rainbow snapped at the stallion. 
“No.  He’s right…  I’m useless as long as I’m like this…” Twilight stood up from the table and started to walk away.
“Great…” Rainbow Dash glared at the stallion, angry for him making Twilight feel even worse than she already did.  “You’re a real jerk, you know that?”
“You must be Rainbow Dash.  The princesses wish to see all of you.  It would appear that they have some sort of plan.”

Twilight flopped down onto her old bed.  She was in the bedroom that she had used while studying at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.  It was a place that she had once called home, but when she was living there, she was never alone, Spike was always right there with her, and now Sombra had taken him.
The purple unicorn buried her face into her pillow and began to sob quietly.  She felt useless.  She couldn’t fight Sombra, she couldn’t save Mist Valley, and she couldn’t protect Spike.
“What good am I?” she asked herself between tears.
She rolled over and stared up at the ceiling, trying to answer her question.  In the past she had stopped Nightmare Moon, reuniting Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  Discord was stopped before the damage he had done would be irreversible.  Her brother’s wedding and all of Equestria had been saved thanks to her.  She had helped to stop Sombra once, but it was Spike who returned the Crystal Heart to its place.  This time, instead of her needing his help, it was he who needed her help.
“I can’t let him down.” Twilight wiped her eyes before leaving her room.  “I have to talk to Princess Celestia.”
Twilight galloped down the halls of the castle.  She darted by a group of guards that were going through their appointed rounds.  She couldn’t afford to waste any time, it was Sombra that they were dealing with.  She saw what he did to those who tried to resist him in the past, how quickly they died.  Now was not the time to contemplate on whether or not she was of use, now was the time to prove to everypony, herself included, that she was capable of fighting Sombra.  She would be risking her own life, but since she’d moved to Ponyville, that had become somewhat of a hobby of hers, a weekly thing.
Twilight could hear voices as she approached the door to the room where the princess was resting.  She could make out Applejack speaking.  It was hard to tell what she had said, but it sounded like something about Twilight.
“Princess Celestia…” Twilight opened the door, trying her hardest not to shout.
“Twilight Sparkle, do you know what we have been discussing in your absence?” Celestia asked, lifting her head from her pillow and staring with her blank eyes at the unicorn.
“No, I don’t.” Twilight responded.
“We were discussing who we will have leading the fight against Sombra.  Your friends here are saying that it should not be you.  That he has hurt you too much and that you would not be able to keep your actions in line with what needs to be done.” Celestia explained.
“I’m inclined to agree with them.  However, something that I cannot do is what both you and Princess Luna have been having me do every step of the way.  Hiding is not an option.  He will find me, it’s only a matter of time.  I want to help fight him.” Twilight stated.
“You have just proven my point.  That despite all of this, you can make unbiased decisions.  Because of that, I want you to lead this fight.  You are the only pony capable of stopping Sombra, but you cannot do this alone.” Celestia placed her hoof on a box next to her.
A box that Twilight was very familiar with.  Inside of it were five necklaces and one crown, the Elements of Harmony.  Twilight looked around the room at each of her friends.  Pinkie Pie, the spirit of Laughter; Applejack, the spirit of Honesty; Rainbow Dash, the spirit of Loyalty; Fluttershy, the spirit of Kindness; and Rarity, the spirit of Generosity.  Together, they had saved Equestria a number of times, and this time would be no different.
“The Elements.  Are we going to use them on Sombra?” Twilight asked, thinking back to her very first trip to the Crystal Empire and how they didn’t use the Elements against him.
“No.  That would only be a temporary solution.  This calls for a solution that is more permanent.  You are going to use the Elements on yourselves.  You will see why in a moment.” Celestia explained.
Luna stood calmly next to her sister, opening the box and letting each of the young mares claim their Element of Harmony.  Once they were each armed with one of the most powerful weapons in all of Equestria, the jewelry began to glow.  They shot out small beams of light that met in the center of the circle of friends.  Seconds later, the beams faded away and a small piece of metal hit the floor.  A Keychain that had the circle that showed each of the Elements of Harmony in their crystal form, just like in the old story that Twilight had read.  The one that led her to the knowledge of Nightmare Moon’s return, 
“That Keychain will give you the Keyblade called Harmonious Retribution.  Vim told me about when you used two Keyblades against her and this one is part of my plan.  You will need to find Discord and take the Keychain that he carries.  These are the two most powerful Keyblades that I know of.”  Celestia explained.
“But how are we going to find Discord?” Twilight asked, levitating the Keychain with her magic.
“We will be searching the old castle that Sombra was in possession of while you were with him.  That is Discord’s last known location.  With any luck, we will be able to pick up on a trail and find him soon.”  Luna stated, speaking for the first time since Twilight had entered the room.
“Where do ya want us ta search, Princess Luna?” Applejack asked.
“I have already dispatched a squad of guards to search the castle and their search has led me to believe that Discord may have fled to Baltimare.” Luna explained.
“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed.  “I’ve never gotten to go to Baltimare.”
“This won’t be a pleasure trip, Rare.” Applejack stated.
“I know…” Rarity frowned.
“We’ll catch the next train there.” Twilight smiled looking at her friends.
“You might want to hurry, it’s leaving in ten minutes and the station is a fifteen minute walk from here.” Vim walked into the room.
“Oh no!” Twilight ran out the door as fast as she could.  Rainbow Dash launched over her head moving as fast as Twilight had ever seen her, without the Sonic Rainboom that is.
	
> Chapter 12 - Baltimare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The streets of the city were packed tighter than any place that Twilight had ever seen.  The only ponies who seemed to be comfortable with this were Rarity, who frequently traveled to Manehattan, and Pinkie who was waving at and greeting every pony that she passed.  They didn’t have much to go on, only the few words that Luna had spoken to them before they left. 
They only reason that they were able to get there that day was Rainbow Dash holding up the train, not letting it leave until her friends were on board.  The ride was long, but it gave each of Twilight’s friends a chance to try to help her feel better.  It wasn’t much, seeing as it was only words, but it was enough.
“This city is just too big!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration.
“We might have better luck if we split up.  Fluttershy and I will take to the skies and search for Discord.” Rainbow suggested.
“All right.  Good luck you two.” Twilight replied.  “While they’re up there, we might as well do something similar down here.  We’re at a four way intersection right now, let’s meet up here again in three hours.”
Each of the remaining four ponies went their own way in search of the draconequus.  Twilight was going on a path that led north.  Most of where she was searching was going to searching through the countless neighborhoods that made up that district.  There was a police office in there, which would be one of Twilight’s early stops.  Maybe one of them would know something about the location of Discord.
Twilight stood before the large police building, debating how to go about her questions.  Did she want to go with the direct approach or something more subtle?  If that didn’t work, she’d have to convince them that she was working for Princess Celestia.  There wasn’t a lot of time to waste, so straight to the point would be her best bet.
She walked in the door and approached the desk.  Despite the lack of a line at the counter, there were about three ponies sitting off to the side.  The pony who stood at the counter wore his uniform proudly, maintaining a posture to rival that of the Royal Guard.  The officer’s hat was pulled down over his eyes.
“Can I help you?” the uniformed pony asked.
“Yes, I’d like to speak to whoever is in charge here.  This is an urgent matter.” Twilight stated.
“Yeah, so are the rest of these cases.  What’s your problem?  Somepony steal your saddlebags?” the pony asked sarcastically.
“You know, I was just thinking of how your posture is similar to that of the Royal Guards back in Canterlot, but it seems that you are nothing like them.  They show respect to everypony.  I’m not wasting time with somepony like you; I need to speak to whoever is in charge here.  I’m here for Princess Celestia, we need to find someone.” Twilight’s brow furrowed as she glared at the pony.  She tried everything she could to not raise her voice, staying at a relatively quiet tone.
“You’ll have to wait in line here just like every other pony.” the stallion stated, clearly angry about Twilight’s tone.
“Actually, I’d like to speak with her now.” a voice from the other side of the counter.  Twilight couldn’t quite see the point of origin for the voice, but it wasn’t that of a stallion.
“But Ma’am, what about the line?” the stallion asked.
“I am sure that if this pony was sent here by the princess than this must be a matter of some importance.” the voice replied.
“Fine…” the stallion grunted.  “Right this way.”
A door to the stallion’s side lit up a bright yellow and opened up for Twilight to pass through.  Once she was on the other side, she was greeted by a mule.  The mule wore a police uniform that seemed to belong to somepony of a higher rank.  Twilight assumed that this was the chief of that department.
They walked into an office where the mule took a seat behind a large desk.  There were papers scattered randomly across the table, a sight that made Twilight cringe slightly.  There were a few photos up on the walls of the mule at different locations.  These included a house with who Twilight presumed to be her family.
“What’s your name?” the mule asked.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle.  I am a student of Princess Celestia and I was sent here to find Discord.” Twilight answered respectfully.
“Well, Miss Sparkle, I’m presuming that you mean the draconequus Discord as opposed to the state of being.  In either case, I’m afraid that I don’t know where you should look.” the mule replied.  “I’m sorry that I can’t be of more help.”
“All right… back to searching.” Twilight turned back to the door just in time to see it fly open.
“Major Burro!  You need to see this!” the mare who had entered the room shouted.
“What is it?” the mule left the room and followed the mare to a window.
Twilight followed shortly after her.  She could see pink clouds in the sky, floating above a nearby park.
“Pink clouds… Cotton candy!  It’s Discord; he’s leading us to him!” Twilight exclaimed before turning around and running back out of the building.

“Spike, wake up.” Sombra said coldly, gripping the baby dragon with his dark magic.
Spike grunted and tried to shut his eyes tighter.  Having forgotten his current predicament, and thinking that he was at home, sleeping on his little bed by Twilight.  He was dreaming that none of the past few weeks’ events had ever even come to pass.  It wasn’t until Sombra lifted him into the air and dropped him that he realized that it was all true.
“Get up!” Sombra shouted.  “We’re moving.”
Spike slowly climbed to his feet and found that he could use them again.  He thought about running away, but he remembered that he’d seen Twilight with Sombra before he’d fallen asleep.  If he left now, he wouldn’t be able find out why Twilight was there.  He had to go with Sombra, for Twilight.
The dragon quickly scampered after the stallion, following him deeper into the Everfree Forest.  There were two places that Spike never wanted to be, one of them was the Everfree Forest.  The other was a more recent discovery, and that was near Sombra.  This was far from a comfortable place for him to be.
“We are here, the Castle of the Two Sisters.  I have gone through so many castles of late that I am resorting to ruins.  This is not befitting me, but soon I shall claim Canterlot’s castle as my new home.” Sombra groaned.
“Wow, never would have expected to hear you whining about living conditions.” Spike smirked.
“I’m not afraid to rip your vocal cords out through your throat you whelp.” Sombra growled, scaring Spike into silence.
Sombra led the dragon into the castle, taking him to a part of it that he’d never seen before.  A basement room that Sombra quickly started altering to fit his personality.  He kept the cobwebs in the corners and gave the room a dim green ambient light.  He made a throne made of a black stone rise from the ground, and took the seat once it was completely revealed.
“Summon your Keyblade, I wish to see it.” Sombra growled from his newest throne.
Spike did as he was told; now fearing for his life more than he was before.  The Keyblade appeared in his claw instantly.  Just as immediately as it had appeared, the magical weapon was pried away from him.  It slowly floated toward the king before vanishing and returning to Spike.
“I see, it doesn’t seem to like me very much.” Sombra smirked.  He seemed as if he was waiting for something to happen.  “You may speak.” he cleared his throat.
“The Keyblade doesn’t like you?” Spike asked.
“Yours doesn’t.” Sombra corrected.  His voice told Spike that the question he’d asked was what Sombra had been waiting for.  “Mine however, does.”
Sombra summoned a Keyblade of his own.  It was solid black and had a design that looked similar to the top half of a heart at the tip.  The guard where Spike would hold the Keyblade was jagged and a blood red color.  The keychain attached to the end was the emblem that appeared on some of the Heartless.
“I didn’t think that a pony like you could get a Keyblade.” Spike commented.
“And just what kind of pony am I?” Sombra asked.
“If I told you what kind of pony that I thought you were, you would threaten to rip out my throat again.” 
“Good decision.  Now leave me.  This castle is locked down by a magical shield that I’ve made, so you won’t be escaping.  Feel free to explore, but get out of here.”
Spike walked out of the room, leaving Sombra on his own.  Once the dragon was far enough away from him, Sombra created an illusion of Twilight.
“Soon I will have the real thing here.  But until then, you will help me manipulate this dragon.” Sombra smiled at the transparent pony.

“Discord!” Twilight shouted.  “Get down from there!  I need to talk to you!”
“Sorry Twilight, but I’m perfectly comfortable up here.  Besides, I need to rest, even with powers like mine; it takes some time to heal.” Discord leaned back on the cloud made of cotton candy.  “Would you like a drink, I’m craving some orange juice right now?”
“What happened to the chocolate milk thin from that first time?” Twilight asked.
“It feels too cliché.  It’s old now, and I don’t do old, or expected, and you clearly would have expected chocolate milk.” orange droplets fell from the pink clouds.
“What’s this?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flew up to Twilight’s side, followed shortly by Fluttershy.
“Orange juice.” Twilight grunted.
“Orange juice?  What happened to chocolate milk?” Rainbow asked.
“Too cliché.” Twilight raised her brow as she looked back up at Discord.
“Fluttershy, how’ve you been, friend?” Discord asked.
“Discord, we need your help to save Equestria.” Fluttershy stated.
“I’m always willing to help a friend.” Discord had a tendency to put some unnecessary emphasis on the word friend, every time that he said it.
“Princess Celestia told us that you had a keychain to make a Keyblade that I could use to fight Sombra.  I need it, please.” Twilight half begged.
“I’m well aware of this.  The problem is that I don’t think that giving you that keychain will help you.  Sombra showed me something, a Keyblade that he can use.  It doesn’t belong here though, it comes from the same place as the Heartless and it can steal a pony’s heart.  I can’t in good consciousness let you go in there and fight him.” Discord explained.
“I’m going in there with or without that Keyblade.  So if you think that I’ll have a better chance to get out alive with it, then a friend would let me have it.” Twilight replied, turning away.  “I’m going now, whether I have your Keyblade or not.”
“Wait!” Discord shouted, creating a wall in front of Twilight.  “Here, take it.” a keychain that depicted a shattered stained glass window landed in front of the unicorn.
“Thank you.” Twilight smiled back at the god of chaos.
“Its name is Shattered Reality.” Discord turned away from Twilight and back to his clouds.  “You know, I’m getting tired of orange juice, how about some strawberry milk?”
Twilight calmly walked away from the draconequus, wondering how exactly she was to fight Sombra and why Shattered Reality and Harmonious Retribution were the key to beating him.  Celestia had called them the “strongest Keyblades” that she knew of, but why were they different.  She remembered that the first time that she’d used the Keyblade that South Wind had given her, she’d felt like her magic was rejuvenated.
“Twilight, where are you going?” Rainbow flew up to Twilight’s side.
“We need to go back to where we all split up.  The others are going to meet us there in about thirty minutes.”
“What’re we waiting for then?” Rainbow flew ahead of Twilight and Fluttershy, leaving them behind.
“What are you going to do now, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, hovering just beside the unicorn.
“I’m going to find out what Celestia wants me to do.  Then I’m going to go and save Spike.”  Twilight glanced at her friend.
“And I’ll be with you every step of the way… just with some distance… so I won’t be seen by Sombra.” Fluttershy smiled weakly.
The pair of ponies walked until they reach a small four way intersection.  The stopped there and waited for just a few moments.  Rarity was the next to arrive, being just slightly ahead of schedule.  Applejack was only about a minute ahead of schedule, while Pinkie was about ten minutes late.
“Hi!” Pinkie shouted as she reached the group.
“It’s about time!” Rainbow grimaced at the pink earth pony.
“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.” Twilight urged.
The other ponies nodded, following the unicorn toward the city’s train station.  The sun was beginning to set and there were only two more trains that would be leaving Baltimare that day.  Due to the recent events Twilight had adopted a certain obsession with not being outside at night and keeping at least one light near her at all times.  During her one night back at the library she’d kept a lantern burning overnight; just to feel a bit safer.
They missed the second to last train by about ten minutes, leaving them waiting in the train station another hour for the last train of the night to arrive.  Rainbow Dash and Applejack went out as soon as they arrived to purchase some food.  None of them had eaten in a while and Rainbow was getting particularly irritable due to hunger.  They were intending to pick up a quick meal, just something to keep their stomachs settled until they arrived in Canterlot.
Twilight hadn’t realized it until somepony else said something, but she was just about as hungry as she was on the day that Princess Celestia had sent her the two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.  Something to eat sounded absolutely fantastic to her at the moment.  On the other hoof, she had a moment to think about what she was going to do next.  She was supposed to be the only pony that would be capable of beating Sombra in a fight.  Her Keyblades were the reason as far as she could tell, but there were other wielders, Spike for one.
Rarity and the others had told her of Spike’s newest ability during their time in the caves beneath Ponyville.  Knowing that he could use the Keyblade made Twilight worry about him even more.  If he could fight back, why didn’t he just run away?  What was keeping him in Sombra’s possession?

“Do you think that she was able to find him yet?” Luna asked, remaining by her sister’s side.
“I have faith in her.” Celestia answered.  “There is a reason that I trusted her with the task of stopping Sombra that first time.  I have plans for that little pony.”
“What kind of plans?” Luna asked.
“Her destiny will be revealed in due time.  This is just an unexpected test for her, one that I trust she can handle.” Celestia smiled.
“And if she can’t?  What will we do?” Luna questioned.
“Have faith dear sister.  She has yet to fail a single test in her life; this one will be no different.”  The white alicorn aimed her head toward the origin of her sister’s voice.  Her eyes were wrapped up in a bandage and even if they weren’t, her eyesight hadn’t returned yet.

“Spike, come now.” Sombra commanded.
Spike silently approached his captor.  His face and body had numerous bruises from his various attempts at defying Sombra’s will.  There was one instance where he ran at Twilight when he saw her and another when he just tried to walk out of the castle.  The second one was possibly the worst decision that he’d ever made, resulting in a large blast of dark magic going through his entire body, making him feel like his insides were ripped out.  He was still extremely sore from that one.
“Has my Vim told you about her Keyblade yet?” Sombra asked, leaning leisurely in his oversized throne.
“She isn’t your Vim…” Spike muttered the first words that he’d spoke in a long time.  It had been days since his capture.
“What was that?” Sombra glared at the baby dragon.  “Do you know why you’re still alive?”
“Because…” Spike felt a lump in his throat as he spoke.  “Because I am just too hard to kill.”
Sombra crafted a sword from his magic and slashed into Spike’s chest, causing him to drop to the floor.  “I don’t think that you honestly believe that, do you?”
Spike continued to lie on the floor, writhing in pain.  Sombra looked down and smiled coldly with a slight chuckle.
The dragon climbed back upright and looked into the eyes of the King of Shadows.  Something that no enemy of his had done in over a thousand years, especially not since he adopted the dark magic that he currently used.  Sombra eyebrows raised to the sight.
“I do…” Spike grunted, turning his back to Sombra and preparing to walk out of the room.
“I’m not done with you yet.” Sombra gripped Spike’s leg and yanked him back to the foot of his throne.  “You are bait to lure my enemies into my domain.  You are nothing but an insignificant bug in my castle; I could kill you without a second thought.” There was a growling tone to his voice, he was getting angry.
Spike was flipped over to face Sombra one last time before being teleported into the dungeons beneath the castle.  Sombra let out a long sigh and shifted his weight to the other side of his throne.  He let his eyes drift across the room, thinking about how the last time royalty had been in there before him was the defeat of Nightmare Moon.
Legends of something called the Pony of Shadows had reached Sombra’s ears since his return.  The Pony of Shadows was supposedly part of Nightmare Moon that was left in Equestria after her defeat at the hooves of Princess Celestia just over a thousand years before.  If those remnants existed, then he hoped to gain control over them, manipulate them to add to his own power.  He was a force to be reckoned with before, but with the power of an alicorn, a god, he would be immortal.  Unstoppable.
The one problem with Sombra’s plan was that he hadn’t found a way to tap into the Nightmare energy that was left behind.  The Elements of Harmony were used to stop the alicorn twice in the very location of the throne room, so use them to revive her, or at least her power, and it might work.  Either he would need the Elements to be used in his new castle, or he would have to make a copycat spell, serving the same function as the ancient magic, but on a smaller scale.  Just enough to give him the power to defeat those who wish to usurp his throne.

Twilight stood at the bedside of Princess Celestia.  The princess had made a request for everypony else to leave them for a few minutes.  There was a tension in the air that was only matched by the fear that Twilight felt.
“Twilight, my most faithful student, are you ready?” Celestia asked.
“I… I think so.” Twilight whispered back shakily.
“There is no room for self-doubt on this mission.  You need to have a conviction that cannot be overcome by any means in the power of Sombra.”
A back gaseous form appeared in the corner of the room.  It expanded until it was possible to see a face inside of it, Sombra’s face.  The bright green glow of his eyes made Twilight stumble backwards.  Celestia wasn’t able to see it, but she was fully capable of feeling his presence.
“How the mighty have fallen.  What’s it been?  A thousand years since we’ve actually met face to face. “ the cloud of smoke stated.
“I can’t actually say that, seeing as, well you know.” Celestia said, not raising her head from her pillow.
“Oh, yes, your eyes.  I think that it suits you.  A ruler should not be looked upon by the peasants of their kingdom.  You let them speak to you in such a casual manner even, and so this happens, and you can no longer look upon the subjects that you care so much for.” Sombra smiled.
“And that is why you were defeated.  You do not care for the subjects that you are supposed to protect.  It is not the duty of a ruler to oppress the ponies; it is their duty to protect them.” Celestia argued.
“You aren’t doing a very good job at either of those right now though, are you?  I have Spike in my care and just a couple of days ago, three of your ponies died trying to get to me.  Speaking of death, how is the newly married royal couple doing?  Last time that I heard of dear old Prince Shining Armor he was being crushed by a Heartless of mine and as for Princess Cadence, I haven’t seen hide or tail of her since she was sent away.” Sombra shot a glance over to Twilight who immediately began to try and hide behind anything she could.
It was in that moment that Twilight realized that she couldn’t fight him, she couldn’t even face him.  It wasn’t that he was stronger than her, or that he had taught her so much dark magic.  It was something that she couldn’t put words to; it was some indescribable fear.  He was the reason that she feared going out at night, why she started keeping a lantern burning in her house.
“They are fine, now if you do not mind, please leave my kingdom immediately.” Celestia responded.
“As you wish.  Oh, and one last thing, I’m in the old castle ruins, deep within the heart of the Everfree Forest.” Sombra rolled his eyes and the smoke faded away.
“Is Shining Armor really all right?” Twilight asked, thinking back to the last time that she’d seen him.
“I’d say that I am.” a stallion’s voice spoke as the door opened.
“Shining!” Twilight galloped over to her brother nearly tackling him to the floor.
“Twily!” Shining laughed quietly.  “I know that you’re happy to see me, but you don’t have to try and break what few bones I have left that are still intact.”
“Where’s Cadence?” Twilight asked, backing off slightly.
“She’s back home, resting.  She says that if it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t be there.  Thanks Twily.” Shining wiped a tear from Twilight’s eye.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything sooner.  If I tried anything, then I was afraid he’d… he’d…” Twilight trailed off and she turned away from her brother.
“Don’t worry about that now.  I hear that you are the only pony that can stop him.” Shining Armor smiled at his sister.
“But I don’t know if I can…” Twilight thought about her fears.  “I can’t even look at him…”
“Twily…” Shining Armor started.  “I’ll go with you; together we can beat him if you don’t think that you can on our own.  But I want you to know that your friends will be with you where it counts, even if they can’t go with you.”  The stallion placed his hoof upon his sister’s chest.  “They’ll be right here.”
Twilight nodded back shakily.  “Thank you, for your offer I mean.  I’m going to go in there and save Spike.  I want you all to wait here and protect everypony.  Sombra isn’t going to have a final battle on only on front.  He is going to launch a Heartless attack here.”
“I’ll put up one of my shields.  The pegasi will keep the skies clear of clouds.  The light will hold them off until you can win.” Shining Armor stated.
Twilight nodded to her brother once more before stepping through the doors and leaving the room.  Her friends all watched her in silence, hoping the best for her as she went to win the first war in a thousand years.  Nothing was going to stop Twilight now.  She’d doubted herself and she’d been able to convince herself to go on a little longer.  Then Shining Armor gave her one last push, one last boost of confidence to help her on her way.  She was ready and Spike was going to be coming home with her by the end of this.
As she reached the exit to the castle, she saw Princess Luna standing at the side of Midnight Vim.  They both gave her a slight nod, acknowledging her quest.  
	
	
> Chapter 13 - Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight stepped off of the train that had taken her back to Ponyville.  She was in for a long walk, but it was nothing that she couldn’t handle, her true challenge waited for her in the Castle of the Two Sisters.  King Sombra was undoubtedly planning some sort of trap or something that would get her to let her guard up.  She would have to make sure not to let that happen.
As Twilight walked through the town, she kept getting the feeling that she was being followed, but she was never able to see anypony behind her, not one that shouldn’t have been there at least.  She saw the mail mare delivering messages to the various homes in the town.  Ponies stood at booths, selling everything from carrots to gems to books.  If it were any other day, Twilight would have stopped by to check out the book booth, but it wasn’t any other day.
The ponies of Ponyville seemed to have returned to their daily lives.  It was a relaxing sight, but Twilight couldn’t afford to slow her pace or get distracted by conversations.  It felt like her first time in the town, when she intended to do her job with as little interaction with other living things as possible.  Instead of overseeing the Summer Sun Celebration though, she was going to a fight that would decide the fate of all of Equestria.
A number of times on the way, she was spoken to by some pony or another.  With each of these attempts at conversation, she always replied with a, “Sorry, I can’t talk right now,” or a, “I’m a little busy, sorry.”
When the unicorn finally reached the edge of the Everfree Forest, she craned her neck backwards and looked at her saddlebags.  Inside of them were the five key chains that were accumulated during her journey so far.  Each of them held some significance to her.
The Dawn Star was the first Keyblade that Twilight ever got.  It came to her after Fluttershy was taken.  The Griffon’s Wing… It was given to her by South Wind when they first met.  It was the only thing that she had left to remember him since his death.   Crystal Light, a Keyblade that Sombra was intending to use to make her return to his side, but his plan backfired.  She still couldn’t summon it a second time, but it was a reminder that she had beaten him in one fight and that she could do it again.  Finally, Harmonious Retribution and Shattered Reality.  One came from all of her friends and the other, from an enemy turned friend.  They represented some of the most powerful forces in existence, Harmony, the balance of everything, and Discord, the complete lack of balance.
“I can do this…” Twilight told herself.  She kept chanting these words as she began her march through the Everfree Forest.
During this march, she encountered timberwolves, manticore, and even a hydra.  None of these beasts bothered her though.  In fact they seemed to be guarding her path, as if they knew what was happening.  They looked at her, sorrow in their eyes; as if they knew that she was their only hope.  Nothing like this had ever happened, at least not in any history books that the librarian had read.  Most of these creatures would sooner eat her than watch over her, but that’s precisely what they were doing.
Twilight still had that feeling that she was being followed, but she felt like if something were to try and attack her, these monstrous creatures would protect her.  That seemed to be their one and only intention at the moment.  There were a few causes for Twilight’s paranoia though, the first and most important being the constant breaking of twigs behind her and the shadows moving just out of sight.  Twilight assumed this to be a Heartless escort, under orders from Sombra to see to her arrival in a timely manner.
When the castle finally came into sight, Twilight noted certain things about it.  Namely the appearance of newer walls and a stronger support system.  Sombra had done some work to the castle to make it at least somewhat inhabitable.  She could faintly make out a figure on the roof.  One of the flying Heartless, Twilight had once heard Sombra refer to it as a Wyvern.

“Pinkie, what in the hay are ya doin’ Sugarcube?” Applejack asked the pink earth pony.
They were alone in the throne room of Canterlot Castle and Pinkie was hanging from the ceiling, swinging on a colorful cord.  Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity had gone out to help prepare some defenses alongside Shining Armor and Princess Luna.
“Decorating for the party, duh!” Pinkie giggled like what she had said was common knowledge to everypony in Equestria.
“And exactly what party is that?” Applejack asked back.
“The ‘Thank you for Saving Equestria Party’ that we’re going to throw for Twilight when she gets back.” Pinkie dropped to the floor, leaving the long red ribbon dangling from the ceiling.
“That would be nice, somethin’ to help us get back to the norm.” the orange pony nodded back.
“Great, then how about you aim this cannon over here and fire.” Pinkie shoved a party cannon at her cowpony friend.
Applejack nodded, grabbing hold of the cannon and aiming it in the direction that Pinkie was pointing toward and she fired a single shot.  Confetti and streamers flew through the air, practically decorating half of the room at once.
Despite the festive surroundings, there was a solemn air about the room.  Both of the ponies were worried for their friend who was going to be alone in an effort to save them all.  They weren’t capable of doing anything to prevent a Heartless attack like the others and so they stayed behind in the castle to keep Princess Celestia company.  She’d just recently gone to sleep and the two earth ponies stepped out into the throne room.

“Um, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy floated next to the rainbow maned pegasus.  “Is this good enough?”
“Yes Fluttershy…” Rainbow Dash grunted back.  “You don’t have to ask me every time that you break a cloud if it’s good enough.”
“Sorry…” Fluttershy whispered back, retreating once again to break up another cloud.
She looked down and saw Rarity standing next to Shining Armor and Princess Luna.  Their horns were glowing as they crafted a shield from their magic.  Rarity seemed to be having the most trouble; however, this was fairly far out of her comfort zone.  She never did much more than levitating a few dozen parts for outfits she made.  A shield was something that she’d never even attempted before; it was the sort of thing that was usually left to Twilight.
“You’re doing great Rarity.  Just keep up the good work and the shield will be able to maintain itself for another day or so.” Shining complimented the young mare.
“Thank you, but I know that I’m not doing nearly as much as you or the princess.” Rarity shook her head, unable to take the compliment that she didn’t feel she deserved.
“This is a very high level spell.  The fact that you’re doing as much as you are is a feat in and of itself.” Shining smiled back.
“Now might not be the best time for this conversation.  We have some company on the other side.” Luna aimed a hoof ahead of the ponies.
A large group of Heartless was beginning to accumulate on the other side of the shield.  A sea of darkness seemed to move with the wind like a wilted tree.  Yellow lights blinked throughout the darkness, staring at the ponies.
“Oh dear!” Rarity gasped.
“Don’t worry.  As long as we keep this shield up for another ten minutes, they can’t get in.” Shining said, not only trying to keep Rarity calm, but also himself.  Twilight was doing her part; the least that he could do was this, if not go after her and try to help.
The Heartless pressed their bodies up against the glowing shield that the three magical ponies created.  Small ripples were created as the Heartless’ bodies crashed against the barrier.  Regardless of the forces unleashed against it, it held up to the test.

Spike felt a tingling sensation as he vanished from the dungeon and reappeared at the foot of Sombra’s throne.  The dragon clawed at the floor, trying to distance himself from Sombra.
“Do you want to know a secret?” Sombra asked.  “Twilight has been spending her time in Canterlot with Princess Celestia.”
“No…” Spike muttered, remembering the last time that he’d seen Twilight.  She was working with Sombra, she wouldn’t even speak to the baby dragon.  Sombra had said that she was supposed to be killing Celestia.
“I’ve recently been diagnosed with something.  It turns out that I am a chronic liar.  The Twilight that you saw with me a couple of days ago was an illusion.  I just needed to keep you in line, keep you as bait to lure her here, and now she’s home.” Sombra pulled Spike back to him with his magic.
“I…” Spike couldn’t find the strength to speak.  He had spent too much time with untreated wounds in damp and dirty dungeon.  “I won’t… let you…”
“Won’t let me what?  Take back what is rightfully mine?” Sombra smirked.
“She isn’t… yours…” Spike grunted.
“You sound a great deal like Vim’s old dragon did.  But in the end, he followed her until he breathed his last.” Sombra laughed.  “I wonder if you’ll do the same…”
“There won’t be an opportunity to put that question to the test.” A third voice entered the conversation.
“Ah, you’ve finally arrive.  I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me.” Sombra’s eyes shifted from the dragon to the purple unicorn.
“I’m not coming back for you.  I’m coming back for Spike, so give him back to me and I’ll let you go free.” Twilight said before running over to the baby dragon’s side.
“Twi… it’s a trap…” Spike gasped out.
“I know it is, Spike.  But I need for you to be safe, if you aren’t…” Twilight winced, “I don’t know what I’d do.”
“How touching.  Like a mother and her child, albeit a surrogate mother, but still, it’s touching.” Sombra laughed.
“I’m not warning you again.  Leave this place, or I will not let you out of here in as pleasant a condition as you entered.” Twilight lifted Spike onto her back using her magic.
“I can feel your hatred for me; it is rivaled only by your love for him.  What would you do if he were to be out of your life forever?” Sombra asked, stepping down from his throne.
“Don’t you dare!” Twilight shouted as she saw the king’s horn light up.
“Oh, I dare…” without another warning a large blast of dark magic swept Spike off of Twilight, slamming him to a wall.  There was a crunching sound as his bones shattered.
Twilight turned and galloped to his side.  She felt for a pulse but there was nothing.  Tears streamed from her eyes as she fell to the ground by his side.
“Why so sad?  You’ll be reunited with him in a second.”
Another large blast of magic launched at the unicorn, but it never made contact.  Instead a charred body fell from it, crashing into the ground.  It was Vim.
“Go now… avenge… our dragons…” Vim whispered through a cracked voice.  Seconds later, her eyes went blank and the life had left her body.
“I’ll…” Twilight’s mane started to flow up and away from the ground.  “I’ll kill you!!” she yelled, charging at the grey stallion.
Two Keyblades formed by her side.  A long Keyblade that looked like shattered pieces of stained glass melted back together in a jagged mess.  The other Keyblade looked like pure white vines coiled around a line formed by the image of each of the gems that made the Elements of Harmony,  loyalty, laughter, generosity, kindness, honesty, and magic in that order.  At the head of the Keyblade was half of the sun and half of the moon merged together.
“Do you think that those pieces of garbage will increase your chances of beating me?” Sombra laughed, summoning the Keyblade that unlocks hearts, the Heartless Keyblade.
Twilight’s eyes lit up solid white as Spike’s Keyblade formed at her side.
“That’s not possible!  Two Keyblades is nearly unheard of, but three?” Sombra stumbled backwards in shock.
The Keyblades clashed and Sombra was forced backwards.  Sombra was unable to match the sheer force of Twilight’s onslaught.  She lifted her Keyblades from his and began a beating his down with a rapid succession of attacks.
“That Keyblade… the Elements of Harmony.” Sombra laughed as he dropped his Keyblade to the floor and teleported out of Twilight’s reach.
Twilight froze for a moment as she witnessed a dark smoke rising from the cracks in the stone floor.  The smoke enveloped both Twilight and Sombra simultaneously.  She couldn’t see, she couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t move.  She felt the smoke go inside of her body, filling her with a strange power.
“I can feel her hatred flowing through my body!” Sombra shouted.  “Nightmare Moon, thank you!”
“Not hatred.” Twilight whispered to herself.  That wasn’t what she felt.  What she felt was sadness, regret, and loss.  
“Can you feel her?  She is bringing you closer to your destiny.  To being my queen.  Let that hatred rule your heart.” Sombra commanded.
“It isn’t her hatred.  It’s her sadness at not being as loved.  It’s her regret for her actions at fighting her sister.  It’s the loss that she felt when she was sent away for a millennium.” Twilight explained.
A sharp pain started in Twilight’s eye, like it was being stabbed.  A dark mist came out, not like what happened when she used dark magic though.  It was darkness, but it was closer to the light.  She could control it, use it to her advantage.  Sombra was accessing pure hatred, something that blinded anyone who felt it.
Twilight was forced back and was slammed to the ground as Sombra tested his new powers.  She was pinned to the same wall that had a red stain on it from where Spike hit it.  The smoke coming from Twilight’s eyes flared as she used levitation magic on herself and lifted her body away from the wall.  The three Keyblades returned to her, but it wasn’t going to be enough, not with that power boost that Sombra had received.
Without putting any thought to it, both the Dawn Star and the Griffon’s Wing appeared at her side in addition to her other three Keyblades.  Using her expert magic skills, she would easily be able to maintain effective control over the weapons.  It was just like levitating books, except not at all similar.
“You still resist me, even after that small display?” Sombra asked, his voice once again calmed.
Twilight felt the anger in her chest quell.  Spike wouldn’t want to see her like this, especially not for revenge.  A surge of emotions sank into Twilight’s heart.  All of those feelings that pushed Luna to become Nightmare Moon.  The young unicorn mare feared the worst, that she might undergo some transformation like Luna had.
As her gaze shifted to Sombra, she noticed that her fears were coming to fruition.  Sombra was growing in size; he was tall enough to rival Celestia.  The red of his eyes was beginning to turn to a turquoise color and his pupils turned to slits.  He was becoming just like Nightmare Moon.
“Twilight Sparkle, I am beginning to grow tired of this game.  What say you we end it?” Sombra asked.
“Gladly.” Twilight looked into his eyes before looking at herself.  She hadn’t undergone any changes.  The unicorn even looked into a puddle to make sure that her eyes were the same, and aside from the dark smoke coming from her right eye, they were the same as they’d always been.
“Ties… Between… Friends…” Vim cracked out as her horn glowed dimly giving a small keychain to Twilight.
Vim’s body faded into a lavender mist that touched against Twilight.  A second source of power entered her body, suppressing the negative emotions of the Nightmare energy.  She saw images of her fillyhood.  Of her playing with her brother, having meals with her family, and just enjoying herself.
“What…” Twilight gasped, confused as to what happened to Vim.
“She has returned to you, so that you may live out your life and hers.  She has so much faith in you, but it is placed under ill advisement.” Sombra shook his head.  “You’ll die together then.”
They were both gone.  Spike and Vim tried to save Twilight and for that Sombra… he couldn’t be allowed to continue.  The Crystal Light Keyblade appeared by Twilight’s side, but once again, it’s form changed upon being summoned.  It became a sword with a strange combination of three circles on the hilt.  The blade of the sword was covered in a gold net like material with a small three point crown at the head of the blade.  A name rang through Twilight’s head.
“The Ultima Weapon.”
Finally a seventh Keyblade appeared.  It was solid gold and very broad.  The form was smooth and when Twilight gazed into the shining weapon, she could see the faces of all of her friends staring back at her.
“Ties Between Friends.  My seventh Keyblade.” Twilight smiled, looking up at Sombra.  
She wasn’t alone.  She was never alone.  Her friends were with her in her heart the whole time.  Ever since the day that they all got their cutie marks, courtesy of Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom.
“You’re powerless to stop me you foalish filly.” Sombra smirked, overconfident in his new powers.
“I’m anything but powerless.  My friends are my power, and I’m theirs.” the words seemed to flow from Twilight’s mouth, like they’d been said before, but she never recalled hearing them, much less saying them.  But the Keyblades have a memory all their own, and the Ultima Weapon recalled a rival of its former master.  The Ultima Weapon knew the words that Twilight had spoken.
The seven Keyblades surrounded Sombra, locking him in place, preventing so much as a movement on his part.  He was stuck, he couldn’t fight back.  Twilight walked over to him and pulled his Keyblade from his grasp, easily overpowering the stallion.  Without a second thought she pushed the Keyblade into his chest and he fell to the floor, fading away as he lay on the stone.  A black heart left his body and floated into the sky, vanishing a few meters up.
The seven Keyblades vanished and Twilight galloped to Spike’s side once more.
A bright light entered the room and Twilight saw Princess Luna standing there.  She seemed to know that it was over.  Seconds later, each of Twilight’s friends appeared and her brother was with them.  Twilight looked over at them, tears blurring her vision as she leaned over Spike’s motionless body.
	
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Twilight?  Twilight?  Wake up!” Twilight felt her body being shaken in an attempt to wake her up.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight grunted back, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.
“You’re going to be late to the speech!”
“Oh no!” Twilight leapt to her hooves.  “I’m such a featherbrain!”
“We’ve still got twenty minutes, but you need to hurry if we’re going to make it on time.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Spike.” Twilight smiled down at the little dragon.
He was bandaged up with a decent amount of medical tape.  Possibly a bit more than what was necessary, but Twilight wanted to cover all of his wounds.  He looked almost like Lyra had the first Nightmare Night that Luna was back for.
Twilight brushed out her mane and tail, making herself look presentable.  She then peeled off the bandages from Spike’s body, revealing some mostly healed wounds.  In fact he looked as good as new.  He’d given her quite a scare during the fight with Sombra.  Twilight had been so panicked when checking to see if he was all right, she hadn’t been able to feel his slow pulse under her own racing pulse.
The pair walked out the door, looking forward to a speech from Princess Celestia, whose eyesight had just returned a couple of days prior.  She was going to each town across Equestria to calm the fears of her citizens.  Letting them know that everything was going to be all right and that something like this could not happen again seeing as Sombra was no more.

When the pony and dragon arrived back at the library after the speech had ended, they started relaxing for the first time since everything had begun.  Twilight had spent most of her time nursing Spike back to health or helping to rebuild some of the parts of Ponyville that the Heartless had gotten to.
She finally had some time to just sit back and read.  It was something that she missed greatly.  She looked across her collection and saw a book that was part of a series that would never be finished, Mist Valley’s Geography of the Northern Equestrian Border.  It was the fifth book in what was meant to be a six book series that detailed the geography of all of Equestria.  Twilight had an empty place that was being saved for the sixth volume, Mist Valley’s Geography of the Everfree Forest.
It was Twilight’s intention to go into the forest and take some notes and possibly aid in this halt of production.  He was her friend and he knew that she would have wanted for his series to be finished.  It was her duty to help with that, and besides, she knew the Everfree Forest pretty well and she was very familiar with his writing style.
For now though, Twilight was just going to relax.  She levitated a stack of six or seven books with her as she trotted up the stairs to lie down on her bed and read.  In a couple of hours, she’d already finished half of her books and she started looking out her window at the forest.
To do anything for Mist Valley’s last book, she would need to find samples of soil and plant life.  Animals were also part of the book, usually taking up at least one or two chapters.  She would also have to use a pulsar spell, something to get a full out map of the forest.  The spell would work out to be very similar to sonar, with the waves bouncing back to her upon impacting a surface.
Twilight packed up a couple of books for some of the spells that she would need to cast, but wasn’t as familiar with.  She also dropped a couple of small snacks in her saddlebags, just in case.  Once she felt prepared enough, she stepped outside at about noon, not planning to return until dark.  She still didn’t feel very good about being out at night.

As the sun set in the sky to the west of Ponyville, Twilight trotted back toward her home in the Golden Oak Library.  Not ten minutes after arriving in the library, after removing her saddlebags and putting up the books, there was a knock at her door.
“One minute!” Twilight called back.  Any other time, she would have had Spike answer the door, but he was busy with one of his seven hour bubble baths.
Twilight opened up her front door with her magic.  A grey stallion with a white mane and wearing a mail pony uniform held out a package for her.  She took the package, noting the address of Canterlot Castle, shutting the door without noticing the pony pulling out a clipboard for her to sign off.
She pulled a book out of the box, dropping the empty packaging and holding both the book and a letter that had been attached.  Her eyes started to run across the letter.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
“The spell contained on the last page of this book is Star Swirl the Bearded’s secret unfinished masterpiece.”
Twilight paused to look at the book with a gasp.  “Ooohh” she smiled.
“He was never able to get it right, and thus abandoned it.  I believe you are the only pony who can understand and rewrite it.
“Princess Celestia”
Twilight was happy that the princess had so much faith in her, but she knew that it was going to take a decent bit of effort.  If her hero couldn’t make it work right, and he was the most powerful unicorn ever, she would have to try harder to fix it than she’d ever tried before.
“From one to another, another to one.  A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” Twilight paused, looking down at the page again.  “That doesn’t make any sense.  It doesn’t even rhyme.”  She’d never seen a spell that had to be spoken that didn’t rhyme.
Twilight brushed it off, planning to return to it in the morning.  She walked up her stairs, leaving both the spell book and the letter on the case that held the Elements of Harmony.
Spike left his bubble bath in time to see Twilight lie down on her bed.  They exchanged “Good nights.” and started to try and sleep.
When morning came around, Twilight had completely forgotten about the journal of Star Swirl and she darted over to her window, feeling something great about the day.
She shoved the window open and her voice rang out like a bell.  "♪Morning in Ponyville shimmers, morning in Ponyville shines.♪"