Prologue: With My Friends

View Online

Once upon a time, there was a remarkable unicorn in the Pre-Equestrian Era. Not much is known about him, most shreds of information being unsourced, or uncredited legend that is still passed around in modern Equestria today. What is known about him relies heavily on the aforementioned element of lore and legend that most ponies use to characterize somepony who is an important historical figure.

It makes me feel a little annoyed sometimes, that ponies would not bother to separate fact and folklore - Celestia herself has said so little about him, and she knew him! - but a lot of that was from when I was the student of the Princess, and I was given more and more advanced history books and magical texts... he was kind of my celebrity crush, a mysterious magical scholar that I liked to imagine was a lot like me... and maybe just a little bit like ponies said he was, in legends.

But there is knowledge that remains undisputed among all modern Equestrian scholars, and those were hard to narrow down to the point where nopony would dispute them. This information is however, a poor substitute for real academic knowledge that I think would be best shared with everypony immediately, after Princess Celestia examines any finds, of course. All of the most celebrated scholars in Equestrian history have presented the sun goddess with their findings before anypony can see them - it's tradition, and a proud one that I'm willing to uphold too, whether I'm a princess, student, or honorary mage.

The list of things known about this great wizard is very short compared to what could be known - I believe that everypony should know everything about great figures like him, past or present, down to the littlest detail. Secrets are just mysteries that are too stubborn and should be solved!

The list, as explained by myself, Princess Twilight Sparkle:

A few spells, mostly dealing with conjuration can be traced back to him with although this takes much work due to his… anonymity in areas. The Unicorn Tribe had the best kept records of anypony, despite their backwards and antisocial ways, yet no records that even give a passing mention to him are noted. This is odd because Starswirl was alive at the time of Equestria's founding - when this nation was a triarchy and before Discord - so it would have been strange for somepony with his occupation - a court-supported wizard - to not be mentioned until adulthood. There's no telling where he was educated - anypony who was great, always had great teachers. These are the valuable social bonds that help us improve as ponies!

He had multiple apprentices. This information is cited in his journals, or what fragments are known to exist and have had their translations published with Celestia's Seal - what every scholar dreams of! This is yet another mystery involving Starswirl. Why would somepony who had such great bonds as that of student and teacher, let them just fade to obscurity? He always mentioned having 'apprentices' over 'an apprentice' in every record of his visits to the court. Shedding light on this would be a great deed!

Clover the Clever is the only known, confirmed, and identified apprentice. Nopony really knows too much about what she looked like either… this is sad, since she eventually went on to accompany Princess Platinum when First Equestria was founded. There isn't a single portrait of her, but a few journal entries from court nobles mention something about her being green. Because of the condition of these journals, and the poor writing it is hard to tell if she wore green - which would be unlikely since it was expensive to dye anything - or had a physical feature that was green - this is less likely since even in the present day, green is not a common color for ponies to be.

On a side note: Clover was wise in strange ways, and it is because of her that we have many small sayings and parables. They may have fallen out of favor today, since the sayings of Princess Celestia have become more relevant over the years, but Clover was the first to discuss the vice of pride with modest brevity that was expanded upon in later collections of her homely sayings and the wisdom of Princess Celestia. The concept of social joys best expressed in Princess Celestia's words - 'Happiness is in other ponies' - were first put forth through the wisdom of Clover the Clever.

There is a definite year of birth for Starswirl! This is fantastic because without his own knowledge of his age - suggesting a bit of higher birth - and the word of a few of the surviving records that were brought to Equestria during the Tribal Exodus to the south, many theories about Starswirl would not exist and others would be incomplete.

He had a connection of some kind with Celestia and Luna. While the Princesses themselves are arguably even more mysterious - as are many of the gods - Starswirl's connection with the Princesses is unknown. They are not even mentioned to have existed in the time of the Tribes, but I have been told by Celestia herself that she did know him, even if records of Princess Celestia didn't appear until First Equestria. Much of the knowledge of Princess Luna's life before the first Longest Night have been lost. In the early reign of Princess Celestia, numerous fires damaged the various archives of the day.

Only one of his possible hundreds of journals survived, all others are in the form of scraps. This is something I want to change so badly! Knowledge of Starswirl is so scarce and I think that he is a pony everypony should know about because he was a hero, just like Princess Celestia, the founders, and my friends and I.

He is the one and only pony to venture outside of the tundra-like tribe lands and live! His presence was recorded by the ponies of Maretonia in their official hall of records, which they have kindly shared some of with Equestria... the southern lands are very wary of sharing knowledge with Equestria, despite us being the friendliest kingdom and Princess Celestia the most caring of rulers... if only they could see her smile! Although Starswirl never released knowledge of other lands to the Tribes - this was during the second-to-last era of the Pre- Equestrian age; called the Dark Ages -
the boat he used can be seen in one of Canterlot`s many museums. I used to go there with Cadance all the time. While the Tribes thought that they were the only place in the world and were vastly uneducated, their boats were quite hardy since they had to be able to handle a couple hits from ice, at the very least. Magic was not something the Tribes were fond of, so wizards like Starswirl were even rarer than we'd think, since we live in an era of magic and harmony!

A few other obvious facts remain wholly undisputed: he was a male unicorn characterized for a long beard and habit of wearing star-stitched robes. This last detail supports many proposals that he was of high birth, since most ponies didn't know what stars were outside of the Unicorn Tribe. The Unicorn Court also recorded him having a white mane and tail along with the star swirl cutie mark found upon his remaining journal

He had no offspring and lived on the outskirts - but in a debated location - of the Tribe Lands, which is now frozen over by Windigos. This has made any possible attempts to research the death trap of a land that is under the orders of the princess impossible, especially since studying the past and why the Equestria we live in is so much better isn't a popular career choice or talent.

According to a curious - and unconfirmed - legend he was periwinkle in color. Some storybooks favor this description of him, while others favor a white or gray Starswirl. I always subscribed to the white Starswirl theory, and that is the most common one. I find that the simpler and more agreed upon something is, the more truth there is too it as well. It's also hard to imagine anypony as great a teacher as Starswirl must've been not looking at least a little bit like Princess Celestia.

Nothing else is known about him to this day. Starswirl the Bearded fairs are lacking, and mostly present the legend side of him, with a few facts and real artifacts. As fun as they are, these fairs that only request authorization to borrow the priceless and few artifacts of Starswirl, are largely - and arguably - a conspiracy.

Starswirl the Bearded was real, and with the help of my five friends, I, Twilight Sparkle, will venture out there into the Arctic wastes of the north with their help and find his lost works, records, and maybe even his stronghold!

Chapter 1: A Friend of Yours...

View Online

I looked at my round table of friends. "What do you mean none of you can come?!"

Rarity was the first to speak. "Twilight… we know how long you have been planning this three month trip gallivanting across the north, and we know how much this means to you, but darling... some things have come up for each of us. I'm sorry, but we can’t go with you, as much as we'd all love to be with you." She gave me a sympathetic look.

I scrutinized all of my friends. Something had come up for all of them? Even after all my months of planning?

"Where do you girls have to be for so long?"

A strand of my mane came out of place as Rainbow Dash began. "My Aunt Bifrost in Germaneigh sent a notice that my grandfather had died out to all the relatives. She needs help sorting the estate he left and I happened to be the only one free who could help her. Sorry, Twi."

I nodded slowly. This was a perfectly good reason, though it wasn't exactly what I had hoped to hear.

"Now… why can’t the rest of you come?"

"Well," Applejack began, "Braeburn mailed a letter to the farm last week wondering if Big Mac and I can come down for a few months to help dig some irrigation routes and aid in the harvest."

I rested my gaze on Rarity once AJ finished. "What about you?"

Her blue eyes gleamed. "Well, Twilight, Sapphire Shores thought my previous wardrobe for her was such a success that she invited me to design her entire wardrobe for a tour of Prance! Prance! I have always wanted to go to Prance and... well..." She appeared to wilt slightly. "I just couldn't refuse her offer. I am sorry, Twilight, if that interfered with your travel plans, but I am a businessmare as well as your friend... oh and the thought of the Prancians seeing my designs..." She trailed off with a sigh.

I bit my lip. At least she had apologized but I wasn't exactly upset... maybe disappointed. That was a nice, concise way to put things. Simple, too.

I still had two more friends to ask. Spike wasn't coming on this trip - it had the potential to be far too dangerous for him - so he and I had arranged for him to stay with the Cakes since the castle was still quite new, and I know he'd want to spend time with somepony. Part of the deal was that he would have to swing by and check on the place and keep his claws off the ice cream.

As my thoughts settled, Fluttershy gazed around the chamber nervously, since she hadn't yet gotten used to this place either.

"Fluttershy?"

My question must have startled her since she jumped slightly. "I-I was invited to help add new information to the Equestrian Environmental organizations meetings in Manehatten so that I could get some new plants and animals officially recognized at a science and taxonomy convention in a different city... I'm sorry, I forgot which one a-and..." She looked around at the castle's looming walls, and I couldn't blame her. "I left my papers at home..."

A small smile crept onto my face, science and taxonomy conventions sounded really interesting. Too bad I wouldn't be able to go. The small smile crept back off my face.

"Okay, Fluttershy. Thank you for explaining. Now Pinkie Pie, why can't you come?"

I was secretly hoping Pinkie Pie might be able to come when the others told me that the couldn't. It was especially hard when I found out Cadance and Shining Armor could not go with me - that had crushed me. I didn't want to go alone at all.

I'd take just about anypony to go with me, even Discord... okay, well maybe not him.

"Okie dokie Twilight, ya see, Maud invited me to name one of her new rocks and go on a month long trip with her before I come back to help with Sweet Apple Acres since only Granny Smith and Apple Bloom will be there. Oh - I forgot to mention that Gummy will help and I'm going to teach him how to pick apples and make cider and create crop circles and-"

The thought of Gummy making crop circles was pretty funny, but I had to cut her off before she really got going. "Okay Pinkie, I understand your point. In fact, I understand all your points and predicaments. All I wish is you would tell me these things before it came down to a last minute notice scenario such as this. I will go on my trip alone, I guess but I'll still have fun. I think we'll all have adventures now and adventures to come. Hopefully we will all come back with stories to share. I wish you all good luck on your trips!"

I smiled as best I could, silently panicking inside. I'd been planning this for so long how could I not go? If they found out I was going to act... panicky or irrational, they would encourage me to stay, and I can't have that happen. Starswirl was a commitment!

I bid everypony farewell as I decided how I would repack my supplies. It did make me feel a bit better when AJ explained how she would not be leaving until the day after tomorrow. Even Spike and Owlowiscious would be gone by then.

That night I silently still hoped this trip would be as exciting as I had planned.

...

Two unpacked saddlebags gazed up at me like empty eye sockets.

The knowledge that I was going into the Arctic was common among my friends, yet I still felt unprepared and lacked any suitable gear, such as a warm scarf. It was 10:32 in the morning, and everypony but AJ had left yesterday. I was the only one in the castle.

I was still trying to figure out what to pack. I shouldn't, but I am.

Twilight, you need advice.

I perked up. That was it! Advice!

I grabbed a nearby quill, ink bottle, and some parchment and upon its papery surface poured out all of my current troubles: my lack of proper gear, how none of my friends could come, all my uncertainty, the desire for knowledge, and most of all the wish for somepony to share an adventure on this quest that meant so, so much to me!

Dear Princess Celestia...

One spell later, I already yearned for the reply.

At 11:00 sharp the sigil on the throne room floor began to glow and pulse, causing me to look up from my book, just in time to see a large box materialize.

Oh?

With a flourish I placed the book down with a sudden loss of interest and flew over to my mail, ripping off Celestia & Luna's royal seal.

Inside I found an entire set of proper clothing for a true wizard: a classic pointed hat with a wide brim and belled tip, and magnificently patterned center band inlaid with a clear crystal in a golden frame which a small cluster of feathers sprouted out of - purple feathers, too. I had no doubt that they were a joke from the princess.

Following the hat were two boots of a similar style with polished gray stone buttons and a rune foreign to me stitched in each. I'd never seen anything like them before, or read about them. Everything was made out of a thick well spun material that would keep me very warm. Celestia knows that I get cold easily and always wear a saddle or scarf when it snows. For a Canterlot pony, I never had much of a winter coat.

Under that was a richly sown robe with a swirl pattern and exaggerated sleeves. Its collar was adorned with another, larger gem with a single tassel trailing from it and a modest amount of pearls.

Each sleeve was accompanied by a pair of metal leg bands etched with a spiral pattern, in order to keep the loose sleeves from getting caught on anything, these were carefully placed at the bottom along with some smaller objects: a thick parcel, a small pouch sized book, and a scroll.

Grasping the scroll in magic I broke the seal with a quick spell and began to read hungrily:

Dearest Twilight,
I am sorry to hear your distress. Never fear, for by my power as one of the Two High Princesses of Equestria, I have located a companion for you, and one who has knowledge of Starswirl the Bearded. They are a close confidante of Princess Cadance and have many magical abilities that will be used to guide you. With your guidance, they will able to be controlled easily - I'm afraid that you'll find them to be a bit rough around the edges and maybe even foolishly stubborn.
Despite any character flaws that you might encounter, I know that you are the better pony and a new princess. A teacher always has faith in her students.
I wrote this as I gathered a care package for you, to help compensate for the lack of gear mentioned in your letter. Luna aided in the stitching of the runes on your garments.
Regarding your journey, in the parcel I sent you are the following objects to aid you:
- A Royal Order explaining anything your companion may need to know, please present it to them, and do not let it get lost or destroyed. This is for their eyes only, and the document is brief. If you misplace it, I do not know how easy it will be to have their companionship.
-Two temporary passports, good for six to eight months, in case you need to cross any borders other than that of the Trottish-Equestrian border to the northwest.
- Map and coordinates for locating appointed follower. I'm afraid that they live a very... secluded life, and unhealthily so. It was immensely difficult to track them down.
-Two tickets to the Grand Trottish Museum, and a request to be presented to an employee that certain artifacts be placed in your care. They are the most carefully guarded artifacts of anything to do with Starswirl the Bearded, and while Trotland is not a part of Equestria, we are only friendly enough terms that they respect my order not to keep these on display, since they are priceless.
- Two train passes, good for any route in Equestria or allied nations. They will last you an entire year, so if you desire to keep one, it'll still be good for some time.
- (Outside of the parcel) A book depicting clearly printed images of runes, please memorize them in your spare time. These will be very useful in the future. While they are an archaic kind of magic, and dead in use, you would find a use in studying them. They were popular in Starswirl's time.
Lastly, please do not open any sealed documents or they might be marked as tampered and could hinder the process of your trip. Cadance also mailed me a letter wondering if you could stop by at some point when you pick up your new acquaintance. She wants to speak with you about matters that she left unspecified.
Good luck and fair travel, Twilight.
Sincerely,
H.R.H. Princess Celestia

...

"So who do you think they are?" I asked Applejack, dismissing any nervousness as best as I could. Heading south was always exciting, but that was also where Equestria's border with the southern nations became clear. There were lots of bandits and mercenaries in the wilds between them, especially since the vast south has such a flourishing mercenary culture and many magical universities that like to employ them. I'm not a xenophobe, but I'm not a xenophile or avid traveler either - just like Princess Celestia, I prefer to get somewhere than go somewhere - but the cultures of the south lack so many values that are so common in Equestria that I feel a bit awkward when I'm around them on my own.
The Duke and Duchess or Maretonia? That was professional. Mrs. Chikadee Peachbottom? That was also professional. Equestria has always been a diplomatic and friendly nation and I've strived to be a polite and pleasant pony.

According to Princess Celestia's coordinates I would need to head part way into the desert and since AJ also had to go south toward the desert, I was able to have somepony to talk to on the train. Only on the train though...

I breathed out a sigh as subtly as possible. Would this pony... presuming they're a pony...even be nice? Tolerable? Friendly?

Currently, I didn't even know their gender or any way that they were supposed to be addressed.

"So...who do you think it is?" I repeated. I was going to take the chance to talk to somepony while I could.

Applejack lifted her gaze from the window and cast another thoughtful glance at my new garb. "Hmm...maybe Trixie?"

Could it be her? I hadn't counted her as a probable choice. She doesn't seem like she'd have knowledge of Starswirl, even if she seems to fit the 'stubborn' part. "I don't think so. It says that this is somepony who is a friend of Cadance's."

Unfortunately, I wasn't very sure of who her friends were currently. If she settled somewhere, it'd be easier to write letters, but I hadn't seen her since our magic duel. Or maybe she was at my coronation? I don't know, but I know that I'd have to contact her through her family - and I don't know what her family is like. Probably a little nutty, seeing as how their daughter turned out. Ponies are always a lot like their parents - Shiny and Mom have the same laugh and Dad and I can never stand to have messier manes like they do.

"Wait, Twi!" Applejack exclaimed, "Ah think Ah might know who it is."

"Yes?" I breathed, nervous with anticipation.

"What if its Somb-"

"WHAT?!" I fell of the seat and silently thanked that we were in our own car, since ponies staring at me was always uncomfortable.

"Calm down, Twi," said AJ shooting me a mild worried look, "Ah'm just going to point out that we only met him once, plus it's not like he's dead. Cadance acknowledges him as a friend, too. He does seem to be good at magic as far as I can tell, taking over an empire and all. That's gotta take some real fancy magic, right? Ah'd think so. Carries himself like a stubborn sort from what Ah can tell - if he weren't a criminal and so disrespectful to our Princesses, then Ah could admire that. Do you remember that look in his eyes at the ceremony? He's got some fierce pride, Ah can tell ya that. Didn't he sorta vanish into the desert too? Seems like a drifter type."

No.

Applejack was right. How could I have forgotten?

NO.

Why would Celestia do this? How could Sombra help me? He's evil and cruel! A tyrant! Why would a lonely - he lived in the desert so how couldn't he be lonely? - tyrant help me try to help ponies? He couldn't. I have very little doubt that he's evil, and evil loves ignorance.

I rummaged through my saddlebags and pulled out the coordinates.

They lead to an area roughly south of Appleoosa. Far south. In the desert.

In the middle of 'nowhere'. It looked so lonely.

No... I wouldn't go through with this. I can control my own quests. I want to be a good pony, but no good pony would ever treat King Sombra like anything but the criminal he is. Cadance was far too trusting of him. I trust Princess Celestia, but did she really just want me to try and reform him? It might be possible... but was I the pony for it? Could I make him a productive member of society? He certainly wasn't going to be that by staying out in the desert.

Nowhere...

I got up and walked toward the sleeper car, my rigid strides obvious to a nonexistent audience.

Stop your heavy breathing! Grit your teeth quieter. Why did this feel like a betrayal? Princess Celestia wouldn't do that to me, or to anypony. She wasn't called the 'Matron of Equestria' for nothing. She was capable and stern and kind.

"I think I'll be going to bed early, Applejack. I've got a big day tomorrow and a long ride ahead of me!"

She nodded slowly. "Twilight are ya alright? You seem off, sugarcube. Do you need to talk?"

I grasped the door handle with my magic. "It's just so shocking to think that I will be traveling with a pony like... him. I'm pretty sure that the princess just wants me to try and reform him. Otherwise, I think I'll be fine with some sleep."

Lies.

This is why I wasn't the Element of Honesty.

Now, I can prepare my leave-taking so I can do this quest.

Alone. I didn't want to be alone for this, but being in the company of King Sombra was worse. All I have to do is leave a moving train unnoticed. Once inside I teleported to the outer balcony of the caboose as quickly as possible, gear and all.

...

It was quite windy, which would make it harder to fly considering I was not Equestria's #1 aviator.That didn't matter right now I had to get to Canterlot and talk to Celestia to try and clear up this mess. Sombra killed ponies, and not like an honorable soldier would do. He was a murderer and it was impossible to reform that.

She could have picked anypony, right? Anypony but him, that is.

I flapped my wings and lifted off strongly, trying to fight the winds.

Focus Twilight Sparkle, try to keep your eye on the horizon. Look, see!

...What a lovely sunset.

Whizz!

Something grazed my wing.

But what? What was that? I started an illumination spell, magic sparking to life, and looked around as I pushed against the wind.

Whizz-fwoo!

Something zipped by once more, but unlike the last time i was able to see what it was.

An arrow. Crudely made, but deadly accurate. Perhaps it was enchanted?

The train was long gone now even if I did need help. This didn't stop me from turning to face the direction it had gone in. What I mistake I had made! Another 'whizz' followed with a sickening tear in flesh and jagged stems of searing pain.

My wing!

Faster then I realized I was falling toward the tracks and desert landscape. The only noise I could hear was that of my own pained screaming. I tried to prepare spells but lacked any concentration causing them all to fizzle as soon as I attempted to create them. All I recalled in magic was overshadowed by the horrible pain of impact.

My last vision was that of crimson spots unearthly dancing before my eyes before being consumed by darkness.

Chapter 2: ...May Not Be a Friend of Mine

View Online

Searing pain.

That was the first thing I felt surging through me as I slowly opened my crust-sealed eyes. Stars and spots of red danced along my line of sight, masking silhouettes of cacti which were further obscured with pulsing yellow and black spots fluttering across my line of vision. Beside all the spots, I tasted dried blood in my mouth, which was even drier. Nearby mumbling, muffled and nonchalant, caught the attention of my scraped ears.

Voices!

Slowly, I shifted my open eyes toward two outlines; ponies who were talking beside a small fire on the opposite end of the desert clearing. Nearby was all of my gear and clothes in a neat pile next to some settled plant life, long dried out. Due to the darkness, these ponies hadn't noticed my open eyes. Since this worked in my favor I decided it would be foolish not to listen to their conversation considering I couldn't perform any magic with an injured head, slight chip in my horn, broken leg, and my other injuries. Did I mention the pain too? It was worse than anything I'd felt before, I was certain of that.

They spoke freely, still believing I was in a comatose state.

"So how much d'ya think we can get from her?" a male voice grumbled.
They were going to sell me? I'm a pony, a true creature, not some construct or... or...

"Not sure, but it better be worth the effort draggin' her forty miles this far south," a gruff female voice snapped to her companion.

They dragged me here too? Is it any wonder that my skin felt so raw?

"Huh, you're tellin' me. Did ya hear what happened to those desparados out closer to 'loosa?"

These ponies are bandits. Horrible, horrible bandits. They hurt and steal and kill - these ponies have deserted all that it means to be Equestrian. They work hard, but their work is horrible, and any 'skills' they might have aren't being used to better others, it's being used to hurt them... and me! They have me! This can't be! Please, please, please Celestia, don't let me die here! Or gods know what! I can't let this happen just because I'm a bad flier. I'm the Princess of Friendship, ponies need me. What will my friends and family think...?

The mare gasped. "Were they the ones who were ambushed by the Dusk Duper?"

Murder... oh gods. That's all they're talking about. Murder. Sweet Celestia... I should have never gone south. Never.

"...and killed." Added the stallion.

I gulped silently, and perked up. Bandits killing bandits?

How much trouble was I going to get in?! This was supposed to be a research trip. I had planned every detail of how things were supposed to go, and this wasn't it.

"Guess what?" a third voice said mockingly. It was dripping with sarcasm and clearly, everything he said was going to be for some kind of sick amusement. He was humoring these ponies and himself.

The two bandits immediately shot up and grabbed the very bows they used to shoot me down. As they stood to do so, I could see that both were earth ponies, thus explaining their combat and weapon choice.

The third voice, also unknown to me, was that of a young male, and gave a sinister chuckle.

"You've been 'duped'." This voice gave me chills - this voice was going to kill, and worse it sounded like it belonged to somepony who appeared intelligent instead of just a blind brute, but that didn't make sense to me.

The male bandit gulped nervously and I lay paralyzed in pain.

"S-show y-yourself!" he cried, stuttering.

A dark, shadowy cloud suddenly swept into the clearing, extinguishing the fire. When it dispersed, a figure in a ragged cloak wearing a large hood stood in its place, near the bandits. The mare bandit thumped her bow in an aggressive manner, almost as if goading the intruder to fight. Rumbling occurred and a strange rock erupted out of the dusty ground impaling her at such a speed she exploded into carnage. Her companion screamed which muffled my horrified squeak, as the remains landed on me.

I couldn't run. I couldn't fly. I couldn't do magic. I was so paralyzed from injury and blood loss that I had no choice to remain a 'mute' lump. I felt myself crying.

Like a corpse.

The male was quickly cornered by this strange ambusher. In the distance the sun was slowly coming up but despite Celestia's light my vision still remained dark. A gentle sunbeam touched my face, I closed my eyes in pain as the dots amplified, continuing their cruel performance. Wherever he was, the outlaw stallion let loose a scream which was his last as a fresh wave of gore hit my face.

Please just make it stop. Please. Please.

Out of both disgust and injury I felt my self beginning to faint as I let loose one full scream that caused my dry, dry throat to excrete a foamy blood.

...

In my dream there was laughter. This wasn't happy laughter like Pinkie Pie's constant giggles, but a crazed and maniacal laughter that was coming from the earth itself and matched the ambusher in the clearing. The ambusher's had been a brief, dark chuckle - sardonic; that was it. Here it was repeated endlessly and distorted, it sounded nightmarish and evil in my dreams, just like the laughter of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and every villain I had faced.

A sudden earthquake rippled through the landscape.

"Aah!" I gasped as I bolted upward and ran a hoof through my sweaty bangs.

Huh?

Blinking at the light and trying to make the effects of sleep dissipate, I looked around, confused by my new surroundings. I was in a small two room hut with wooden shelves adorning the walls in the first room, which I was currently in. With this was a 'bed' composed entirely out of burlap sacks and discarded quilts. Did anypony even use it? It was so... bare.

In the next room was a plain, crudely made table and chair, wooden utensils, a crude telescope that probably didn't work, and two barrels. As I observed this, giving a second glance at the wooden spoons, I noticed a large chest with... all my stuff resting on top. When I reached for my hat I noticed myself, or my present condition to be exact. My wings, coat, skin, and horn were all completely healed. My coat was dusty, but free of scars. The only ailments I suffered from were thirst a slight headache, and some wooziness.

The loud gurgling of my stomach startled me.

Oh, and apparently I was quite hungry, I thought with a cautious smile.

I got up from the chair I had been sitting in to search for some food since the house seemed to lack any edibles that might be in plain sight, and tripped on some small iron shoes, like those of a guard, on the way out.

When I quietly slipped outside the smell of smoke greeted my nostrils.

Was somepony, perhaps the owner and my rescuer, cooking? My stomach growled even louder, wishing it to be true. It was so kind of them to do that - I just hope that they weren't doing this because I was a princess, and instead, because I was a pony and it was the right thing to do, helping somepony who needed it. I would be sure to return the favor. It can't be easy getting cooking supplies out here, so maybe they'd like fresh food? A proper house in a nice town? A friend? I always love new pen pals!

"Burn you monstrosity! I'll murder your families!"

My stomach felt like it was going to do a flip, for outside burning cacti was... the pony. The very same possibly sadistic pony who ambushed the other bandits. Forget everything I said before, this was not a pony I would do any favor for. They weren't a friend or offering basic equine decency by doing this...

Their voices matched.

Matched...

Everything seemed... to...

...match.

"Uhh... hi, I'm going to leave now..."

I unfolded my wings and was just about to take off a dark, winding unseen force that could only be a paralysis charm grabbed hold of me, black charged crimson aura twining around me like shadowy waltzers. The pony - he - walked up to me, using his slightly superior height almost as a mute excuse to gloat. A hood was pulled over his head, hiding all possible identification. He knew that I was scared. I think that he liked that too, and it only scared me even more.

The cloak was red, dark dark red - like blood - with a small clip for a saddle bags, sheath, and a clip for a bed roll, but the clips looked hoof-made and loose, like he could discard them at any moment and do things the harder way because, why?

The cloak appeared to have been longer once but was jaggedly cut until it came to only about knee length and was poorly patched with fabrics of dull grays, browns, and other earthy hues. The poorly done cutting job revealed legs adorned with reddish cloth wraps topped with plain metal bracers trimmed with sandy hued fur... or at least it looked like fur.

A blade, as black as dried blood and as crystalline as the Empire, gleamed in a partial sheath. Its pommel and cross bar winking with blood rubies while the structural metal shone with pure gold.

I felt choked, submitting further to the powerful charm squeezing at me... where had I seen that blade before?

It was at Canterlot.

Shining Armor complaining about his foreleg in a cast. Cadance with a faint scar on her wing along with a far away and fierce gaze. Admirable to any adventurer.

"I know that sword..."

The words, choked out and as painful as getting teeth pulled, did nothing to amuse him.

"You should know it, Twilight Sparkle." Sombra seemed to toy slightly with my name, as if it were an unfamiliar food before choosing to say it with the most condescending tone I had heard.

"It would be unwise to forget such an item as Phobos..."

A pause? Phobos?

With a small spark he divided his spell and telekinetically pulled his sword partway out of its sheath.

"... and especially unfortunate to forget who wields it."

With one jerk of his hoof the hood was removed.

"Sombra."

He sneered. "Goody, you know my name. I bet mummy is so proud. Now give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Chapter 3: Bloodshed

View Online

"I have a reason!" I cried, wincing as the charm loosened. Now, how persuade him not to kill me? He had the upper hoof right now, but I was a skilled magic user who didn't need to resort to such corrupt methods and behavior.

"You'd better." Wait... he's not even a little remorseful, or aware of what he's doing is wrong?

He was friends with Cadance so maybe he'll honor the bond of family.

"I'm Cadance's sister-in-law."

He snorted, "Not helping you." What... ? That really didn't work? I thought he liked Cadance.

He is a fairly power hungry individual right? If I throw some names out there, he'll play right into where I want him to be, thinking that he's really the one with the upper hoof. Ponies that crave power are very petty, and he's no exception.

"I'm the Spark of Magic?"

He rolled his eyes. "And I can just as easily spark a fire. Does this make me a special little Spark too? Where's my reward?"

He has a sense of humor? It really isn't that funny, just mean. Think, Twilight! How do you persuade a murderous, sarcastic, power hungry individual not to kill you? Although its not like I'm going to let him kill me. If only I could just get a plan ready and then a back-up plan and a back-up plan for the back-up plan...

"Because-"

"Hmm, one more poor answer and I have the perfect excuse to hurt you." He smiled wickedly as if to acknowledge what I thought of him.

Okay... what should I try now? I could just tell him what I was doing there is only so much he can do to stop me... but he can't be trusted.

I'd better get a power surge or a spell breaker going as a back-up somehow...

Sombra shrugged slightly and blew a lock of his mane out of his face as if to say 'any day now'. It was strange that he didn't act too much like a tyrant so far, but I had no doubt in my mind that doing that was just part of his plan. Doesn't he realize that he's a fool and Princess Celestia will stop him from doing anything evil? He's just standing there so casually.

Here goes nothing... take a deep breath as best as you can and-

"I'm-going-on-a-quest-to-find-Starswirl-the-Bearded's-stronghold-and-lost-works. I-am-also-quite-sure-that-Celestia-ordered-you-to-be-my-accomplice."

I paused quickly, breathing rapidly before continuing at a faster pace adding anything it might take to persuade him.

"We-get-to-go-to-Trotland-ride-trains-and-read-old-books-and-I-know-you-are-friends-with-Cadance-and-wouldn't-you-know-a-visit-to-Cadance-is-right-in-the-schedule."

I stopped and started to pant a bit, hoping I came out understandable and noticed that the charm and aura were gone, even though there's no way he could have sensed the controlled surge I had been working up. Next, to show proof I teleported my bags outside and showed him the order and the letter from the Princess.

He skeptically read them before putting them back into my saddlepacks like they weren't important documents from Princess Celestia, but something as ordinary as a grocery list. Who treated sealed, valuable documents like that other than somepony who didn't know their value?

"Okay," he muttered in an unamused manner, "What exactly do you want me to do?"

I was taken back by his response. Was he always this aloof and bizarre with Cadance? She never specified his exact behavior very much, but the way she spoke of him at least made him sound like somepony who might be a capable pony... it looks like I'll have to lead this trip myself. Oh, maybe assuming leadership is a test from the princess!

"Where do you want to board a train?" he grumbled.

"Huh?" There were no trains in the middle of the desert.

"Are you deaf or just plain incompetent? I asked you where you wanted to board a train."

What kind of a question was that? The closest city was Appleloosa... he had been living around here for a while, right? So for him to ask an odd question like this and rule out Appleloosa made no sense to me. He must be crazy. Or maybe he drinks too much cactus juice.

"Appleloosa is the closest station," I began, "but if we combine both our powers while still being exhausted. Also, considering you are a unicorn and I'm not-"

"Canterlot?" Sombra interjected.

"Yes, Canterlot, haven't you been-"

"Okay Purple Eyesore, get ready."

Purple Eyesore?! "Wait, get ready for-"

...

"Sombra?" I inquired nervously, as I inspected our very real surroundings and the bustle of ponies who just seemed to look away from Sombra - or at him with the contempt and disgust I politely held back. Some ponies waved to me, and I raised a hoof shyly.

"Yes?" he looked at me in that manner somewhere between annoyance and sarcasm, aura clasping his sword hilt. Was he ever honest or sincere about anything? Going alone really did sound nice... 'the more, the merrier' applied to everypony but him.

"We are in Canterlot, alive, from a spell you performed solo. One that should have killed us or worse! Even I can't perform a spell to that extent! I don't think ponies can do that? How can you?!"

He immediately shot me a dismissive look. "Listen, Purple Eyesore, I just performed a normal teleporting spell. Now be quiet and let's just board a train. I'm planning on leaving you alive for now."

Is he insane? How can he just dismiss a spell like that? Something is very wrong here!

I made a mental note to ask Cadance where he learned magic like that. Teleporting partway across a country was something that gods could most certainly do... but a mortal creature? No way. What could be that powerful? I'd have to think about later - he was right about missing a train.

After boarding a private first class train car - because apparently there was something wrong with the second class cars - with the use of our passes I donned my new garb and returned quickly to make sure Sombra wasn't stabbing anypony.

He wasn't, thankfully. Didn't he want to talk to anypony else since he clearly didn't like me? Private cars were great for reading, but I don't think he brought any books with him. Plus, he doesn't seem like the type to appreciate a good book. Instead, he was just nonchalantly looking out a window.

Except, when you stare nonchalantly you don't visually nitpick every little blade of grass furiously...

I plopped down at the small table the car featured, staring at an insignificant plate with a few crumbs scattered on it. Toast, I think.

Maybe I could try to talk to him. If I could work my way from banter to personal questions about how he learned magic and where, I might be able to learn something valuable and research it! Princess Celestia did say he knew about Starswirl, and he is old... maybe they were schoolmates? No, he may know a lot of magic, but he doesn't seem to be that educated.

"Why were you burning cacti?"

He looked away from the window. "Why was I... oh, the cacti? I'm from the north so any plant I see I considered food or an herb. I tried to eat the first cactus I saw, and have sworn to terrorize them ever since." He paused, and I realized that he was serious. "The juice isn't bad once in a while, either. Word of advice that I know you'd never follow: don't drink them too often. You'll see some things."

He tried to eat a cactus? Still odd, considering they have visible prickles, and the Empire did have plants, so he must have interacted with them in some way. The only kind of cause to generate that reaction, at least from my understanding, is that he must have lived somewhere with little to no vegetation which is not the Empire... but isn't that where he is from.

If Sombra weren't sitting in front of me, I would've sworn he didn't know how to eat if he decided to bite into a cactus.

Okay, back to questions.

"Why did you rescue me from the bandits and how did you-"

"Are you going to be asking me the questions of a lack-wit this entire voyage? I recognized you from the few times I saw you before, I'm not a fool, you know. Recognizing one as garish and noisy as you are isn't that hard."

He propped his head up with his hoof and shot me a dirty look, which I promptly ignored.

"Will you continue calling me 'Purple Eyesore'? I'd appreciate it if you would stop."

I'd heard of glaring daggers, and to stare knives at somepony, etc. but the look he was giving me now made me wish he was staring daggers at me because Sombra stared legions. I shuddered.

It would be less uncomfortable, for one thing.

"Why? Would you like me to come up with something better? How about 'Lavender Loudmouth'? Will that work you little-"

"Why don't you use heavy decorum when speaking? Cadance wrote to me about her trip and she never mentioned you using any kind of decorum even though you're royalty from the past." I blurted this out as quickly as possible cutting him off, hoping to distract him, maybe even puzzle him.

It did anything but that.

Sombra stiffened his posture and growled in a low voice: "That is a personal question and I would deter from asking those if you wish to keep all your internal organs."

"You say that like you've killed ponies before, other than those bandits!" And he really did just growl at me! That was scary, he wasn't just spitting his words through gritted teeth like a normal pony would, he honestly sounded felid - and like a large one at that.

His scleræ began to turn green and his teeth shifted into fangs that he bared at me while his pupils and irises began to acquire a shape I could only describe as demonic.

I stood my ground. I was Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Faithful Student and Spark of Magic. I had faced down way worse than him!

"Oh, yes, Purple Eyesore, would you like to add yourself to that list?"

After all I had put up with from him, I was fuming. He can't kill me! This was my quest and he wasn't going to sabotage it. I did things for the greater good, which was more than he ever could.

"An old saying is 'Kill once mourn 'ever, kill twice mourn never'! But in your case you are just a mindless sadist who doesn't even know how to mourn!"

He gritted his teeth. "Somepony just doesn't know when to quit!"

I flinched and suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my cheek and a warm, wet stickiness that I know will be red if I look at it. My stomach drops. I never liked the site of...

After all I had been through these past few days I just couldn't hold it in anymore.

I snapped and began to cry. One or two small tears leaked out of my wet eyes making a dark depressing mix that flowed down my face. Sombra stood there blankly for a moment, slowly reverting back to his usual appearance, before registering what had happened.

His sword was still in midair, grasped in aura, blood trickling down the black blade which gleamed cruelly.

Drip.

My blood.

His face grew ashen and he got a strange look in his now restored eyes, with their crimson color and equine irises. Suddenly, he ran into the sleeper car and began yelling at himself, but I couldn't hear what it was about. He really was insane.

I stood up, rising from the floor, and slumped into a nearby chair, placing a hoof on my cheek. I began to start a healing spell, knowing I was lucky the cut wasn't very deep.

Was it my fault?

No, perhaps... I just provoked him.

Or...

Wiping the last bits of blood from my cheek I wondered if I should apologize. Not only was it my question but if I didn't apologize I doubt he would, and that meant I should, since I was the better pony and was able to emphasize with others.

It might help to keep us from fighting... at least for a little bit. I quietly padded over to the bunk car and pressed my ear up against it. He had obviously cast a muffling spell which was inappropriate considering it only muffled his screaming instead of completely silencing it.

I still couldn't hear a word he said.

I went back to the table and reached into my bags. With my magic I pulled out a pen and scrap of paper and wrote 'I'M SORRY'. I sneakily slipped it under the door before going back to the table and curling up on one of the chairs and counted the days until we reached the Crystal Empire.

What were my friends doing?

Surely anything else would be better than this.

I sat and looked absently at the night for a while. Stars were nice and orderly, unlike all this. Soon, my eyelids became heavy.

Chapter 4: Sharing Knowledge

View Online

When I woke up, the sun was shining on the mountains and hills of Equestria, and Sombra was staring blankly at me as I hoisted myself right side up. Sleeping upside down on a train seat could only be improved by cushions so much.

"Good morning?" I offered. He may be one of the few ponies - okay, Tirek didn't count as a pony and neither did the changeling queen, but still - that I really do hate, but why did I need to show that so early in the morning? I was going to be the better pony and a true Princess of Friendship.

"How do you sleep like that?"

He must have caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window, because he smoothed his ragged mane a bit so it didn't look quite as ruffled, but it stayed disheveled all the same.

"Were you watching me sleep?" I asked, extremely creeped out. That kind of behavior would be way different from Princess Luna's dreamwalking.

He reeled back in what seemed to be suppressed anger, but when wasn't he angry?

"NO! I was waiting for you to wake up, there is a difference."

Creep. There was no way I was going to believe him when he was king a claim like that. I'll just have to keep an even more careful eye on him and stay as civil as possible, even if he doesn't deserve it at all.

"Okay, well I'm awake now."

You're a creep Sombra. An awful, horrid creep. I hope he didn't do this to Cadance. She never mentioned him being creepy, at least not to me. She must have been so embarrassed... maybe I'll talk to her about it? It's not that I hate stallions or weird mysterious ponies - I'm not a mare prone to prejudice like that and know some 'weird and mysterious types'.

He cleared his throat very loudly. "Listen Purple Eyesore, I got your message..."

And is he here to apologize? I sat up a bit straighter. He's finally come to his senses!

"...and I came up with the solution."

I wilted at this and watched as he gestured to the table on the opposite side of the car where a disturbing amount of bottles were strewn on the floor, ones that I had been too tired to notice - bottles of what, I couldn't see. I regret being a bit of a deep sleeper when it comes to trains. They just rock me right to sleep.
What struck me as strange was not how I didn't notice this immediately - again, I was probably just really tired - but that the cup on the table was filled with the most unholy looking concoction of liquid I had ever laid eyes on...

By Luna and Celestia and all of Equestria...

Sombra rolled his eyes when he noticed me pointing. "Yes, I was going to get to that if you were patient."

"What exactly do-"

"Quiet. Now. I'm talking. How does anypony ever put up with you?"

I wonder the same about you. But I didn't say that.

Better let him blowhard on I guess, though hopefully I can find out what he plans to do with that... potion.

"According to the letter and other objects you have that I looked through when you weren't paying attention-"

He did not... How much of my stuff did he see? What kind of creepy things is he up to?

"-Celestia wants me to teach you these runes..."

He magically grabbed the book from my bag and dangled it in front of my face.

"...and since neither of us can seem to, ah, cooperate, I decided to make this."

His magic aura enveloped the strange drink for emphasis.

"Which is what?"

He sighed and grumbled something to himself.

"This is a combination of various, carefully measured liquids from that car containing food - because you just had to have a passenger train - that based on the contents should make the drinker very drowsy and slow their reactions, which definitely has to to something with the bit of alcohol in it, but don't worry, that's not even among the top ten things I put in this, I have standards to how I drug ponies. On an unfortunate note, it might make you throw up, and that will annoy me."

"What?! Are you saying you want me to drink that?"

"No, but I've heavily implied it, now haven't I?" He smirked.

"Why can't it be you?" I protested. "Why does this need to be ingested by anypony in the first place?"

His expression went from unamused to annoyed. "Disoriented teachers don't function for one, two I need a 'student' I can put up with, if I am to teach you anything with non-lethal tactics, three I'm the last pony in the world you would ever want to see after they consume this, since I'll have you know that there's still enough alcohol in here to at least get a pony my size moderately tipsy, and I'm a lightweight."

He honestly struck me as more of a heavy drinker, but alright... I didn't like the look he was giving me... and I don't want to know just how much of everything else - whatever everything else even is - he put in there if enough to make him tipsy qualifies as 'not among the top ten'.

"You didn't put bleach in there, did you?"

He glared at me like I asked him if pegasai could fly. "No, I aim to drug you, not kill you in a place that makes you too hard to dispose of. Do you realize that there's more to a proper murder than me just slitting your throat? I didn't poison this, but I gladly will if you ask me to."

"But that still doesn't excuse-"

His 'I'm fed up with this' expression softened and changed, but not exactly in a way helpful to my situation. Instead he now looked like his normal scheming, cocky, unamused self, like he was trying to make it obvious that he knew something I didn't.

"You know you are completely lost without me."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know exactly where Starswirl the Bearded's refuge is and have been there in the past."

That did it. I stood up and walked across the car, smashing my hat onto my head.

Hopefully this will end well...

"Any day now, Purple Eyesore," Sombra grumbled before giving me a smug look.

...or at least not as messily as I'm anticipating it to be.

I drank it.

...

Hic.

Sweet Celestia, Matron of Equestria, what else did he put in this?

My stomach feels like a hamster wheel filled with rocks, my throat is on fire, I can no longer feel my eyes, and my ears can taste the flavor pineapple.

"Purple Eyesore, I am not over there. Focus on the paper." said Sombra, who was sitting across from me and giving me a mild stare of sizzling apathy.

"Wh-a-at did you put in this?" I felt like I could burp for an eternity.

"Mostly dish soap and some other stuff; that's not important."

"That's poisonous! How much did you put in?"

"Only enough to make you very sick - I'm sure that lavatories will suffer because of you later - but if you want me to kill you I can do that later."

I stared down at the paper in front of me.

"Now this rune here... wait, do you remember anything I just told you?"

Hic.

"I feel dizzy."

He frowned. That's it - he just frowned. Didn't he regret any of this, even a little? I know that he enslaved an entire empire, but maybe the blast from the Crystal Heart did something to him? Maybe altered his mind just a bit to be that of a normal pony's? Or made him crazier?

"Maybe making you drink that was a bad idea, this is starting to become inconvenient for me and you might even become more insufferable because of it. I've never doubted that it was possible, but surely you might be able to fathom just how obnoxious it is having to watch over Celestia's preppy little keener?"

Hic. I wasn't quite sure what the last word was. I think it was a Crystalline phrase - I'd heard it somewhere up north before.

Ugh, I really do feel like I'm going to puke. I don't even know any spells to reverse this.

"Do you learn well through lecture? Since you aren't a very quiet pony, it'll be nice to at least hear something intelligent from myself, if it will keep you quiet."

I nodded and ignored the rest. He disgusts me.

"Okay, now drink this, it will reverse the effects of the other potion, if one can call the mixture that."

His horn lit up and a mug appeared, filled with a substance that looked like something Zecora would love - the lovechild of any bubbling potion and a smoothie. I pulled it close and began to slowly drink it, like one would cocoa by a hearth. It tasted like crayons.

"These runes are an ancient alphabet of a dead language. Its original speakers are unknown, at least, according to your," Sombra snorted slightly, "'history'."

I felt a little sick - and not from the second or the first potion, but because of the way he said 'history'. It was like he thought that knowledge - and all the academic studying in Equestria was some sort of joke. Since he was a tyrant, I wouldn't be surprised. He probably burned books and enjoyed it. If he's going to try and convince anypony that he's reformed as Discord is, he should talk to Princess Celestia and do things to help ponies, unlike what he's doing now. It isn't one bit convincing.

"It can only be traced back to the Unicorn Court in the time of the three tribes. Arcane magic is heavily complicated and requires years of study, and while it may have some uses, it's really almost a dogma and isn't as free as normal magic. It is directly controlled by the caster, like a servant."

I think that he should have said 'slave'.

"This pony magic can be performed by any kind of pony, since some aspects require only runes an incantation and a power surge, but it isn't combined well with other kinds of magic. Although it is most potent when wielded by unicorns, and was for years considered a unicorn magic only, like most arcane arts at the time. The only other species known to wield it well are Alicorns... and the lesser alicorns like yourself, but we didn't exactly have... I digress. This magic is mostly limited to traps, curses, summoning, occasionally combat, certain forms of scrying, and limited forms of enchanting. Charms are also possible. I am one of the few ponies that can perform this kind of magic. But the books that were written on the subject..."

I sipped my drink further as I listened to this, my mind had cleared at least, and my stomach had quieted, at least for now.

"Sombra?"

"...they were one of the few things like art that the tribes had," he said quietly before he snapped back from whatever vision of the past he was thinking of. It was likely a cruel one.

"Yes?"

"Could you show me an example?"

He nodded and grabbed his sword, channeling some of his crimson magic down the blade, almost like it were something more than a barbaric tool - okay, I don't really like weapons like that? I think that high level unicorns and anypony that isn't in the service shouldn't use them. I almost freaked out when I learned Rarity owned a rapier. They just seem so... savage. I'd always want to avoid using them.
Quickly, he traced an outline on the ground until an intricate glowing circle appeared.

"Now, Purple Eyesore, an Arcane Master doesn't have to use an incantation. And an Arcane... Archmage? The ranks only went so far. Somepony at this status would have both extreme knowledge and power, enough to summon circles, runes, and everything else from memory or via power surge."

I stepped closer to the circle, brushing aside that I'd never heard those kinds of titles before. Archmages were a southern concept - but that was where all the nations that claimed there were extremely advanced civilizations before the three tribes. The theory taught and accepted in Equestria is that there were better civilizations - the Crystal Empire and underwater kingdom - but an multitude of extremely advanced ones? Eh...

"Write that rune I taught you inside the circle."

He passed his sword to me, and at first I thought he wanted to hit me, but he didn't. Shakily, I began to trace out the symbol in wobbly lines. A wide triangle with a cross, like that on an ambulance, on the bottom.

"See this?" Sombra asked showing me a small piece of torn notebook paper with some of these very peculiar runes on it.

I slowly nodded, curious to where this was heading.

"Now throw it in the circle."

With my magic I gingerly grasped the paper eyeing Sombra's writing: legible but scratchy, which was impressive, considering he wrote with a pen in his mouth instead of using magic to hold writing utensils. I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't really that powerful. Even if a unicorn - who was corrupted, at that - managed to enslave an empire as he did, it's clear he must've done it with brawns instead of brains. No wonder Princess Celestia thought I was capable of controlling him! What great feats did he have to do now that he had already been blasted by the Crystal Heart once? His evil soul must be weakened because of it.

As the paper landed in the circle I watched the glow change from its normal white to green, then to blue, then to orange, and so on.

"Wow..."

"That was nothing," Sombra said. "The rune you drew in the circle is found in ninety percent of spells in Arcane magic. Literally transcribed into other alphabets it means 'six'."

Six. Six Elements of Harmony. Magic is the Sixth, The Spark. That's why its so useful. Magic's own number is six, and it's considered a lucky number in almost every single culture. The most basic of charms can be made by incorporating it - even if a pony isn't a unicorn or Alicorn!

"So every time I write that it activates a spell?"

"It activates most. Anything fickle or complex isn't going to have the response you want with it, and if what you encounter only has Arcane principles and methods incorporated instead of the magic itself, kiss any chance of success good-bye."

"So if you can use magic why do you write with your mouth?"

He turned toward me, eyes flashing with wrath.

Oh no. How did I do something wrong...? How was that a bad question...?

"Don't ever ask me that again; lesson over," he snarled and stormed into the sleeper car.

Why was this pony so sensitive? And mean? Just what's wrong with him?

The so called 'drowsy' potion must have not had its effects completely reversed, because I fainted.

...

Sombra was the most dysfunctionally anti-social pony I knew. My lessons continued in an even more austere an distant way. As long as I asked him no questions I was allowed to 'learn' this difficult new subject despite its general familiarity of being magic. I had a feeling that he was aware of just how much this bothered me and how little I 'learned'. I bet he wanted it that way too. This lack of being able ask questions has led me to do most of my studying on my own.

Two good things came out of this: he kept 'Phobos' in its sheath and I did not have to down any more strange beverages. Other than that, we still had a way to go before we ended up in the Crystal Empire.

I enjoyed walking around the train, which definitely had a long route, considering the large amounts of stops it had and it also contained tour groups. No other ponies talked to me much outside of a friendly 'hello', which saddened me. I felt so lonely and cut off from others with Sombra. I was still nervous and slightly ashamed of what I did back in Appleloosa Territory and wondered if I was marked as 'Missing' in Ponyville or if Applejack wondered where I went or...

Deep breaths, Twilight Sparkle, deep breaths.

This regret may explain if I acquired a temporary reclusive attitude when all efforts to socialize failed. I began to keep a journal, which was no more than some tied parchment under one of the chair cushions. Sombra may have gotten into those sealed documents from Princess Celestia - ones I was planning to give him myself - where it was said that she wanted him to teach me runes, but I could still have the privacy of a journal, couldn't I?

Today's entry:

Only five more days until I see Cadance and Shining Armor. Though I wonder if he is in Canterlot so his broken leg can be checked out again. Last I heard it was getting better. I don't think I know of any other species that have such slow healing broken bones, and experts on healing magic are rare. I remember Cadance telling me how she broke a wing once and it was too risky to heal it because of the inexperience of many 'top' healers on certain kinds of breaks and complex injuries. I hope I never have to break my wings if I crash!
My rune progress is coming along well. I can't wait to talk to Cadance. Not only will it be nice to talk to a sister, but I can ask her if Sombra tried to poison her as well or if he creepily stared at her when she slept. Maybe he was the one that gave her the faint scar on her wing. I bet it's gone now, last time I saw her it was barely even visible. That made hardly even worthy of the name scar.
Though, regarding Sombra, I swear that evil pony is just waiting to skin me. Princess Celestia said she trusted him to protect me but how can he do that if he can't even shield me from his own temper?! Just what could he protect me from? He is clearly paranoid, out of his mind, unable to reply in a socially acceptable manner to simple questions or anything I say to him. All he is is some mindless sadist who has read a bit about magic and uses his power as leverage over others because he has nothing else to do other than hurt ponies who don't deserve it so that he can kill without reason. I'll have to watch him to see if he does any more strange things.
T.S.

My entries continued in this manner for about two days before I felt the need to add some more of Sombra's mannerisms: a twitch in his left eye, and a lack of diurnal behaviors. I don't think he does anything but sleep during the day, so all my 'lessons' that were with him took place at, well, twilight. I think he was aware of an irony to this.

As we neared the Empire, I began to write less and less and instead devoted my time to my solitary lessons, as frustrating as they were.

Curiously, on the day before we arrived in the Empire, I actually got a chance to sleep in the bunk car instead of on the chair. Why Sombra let me, I don't know. I think he might have been starting to feel bad, which was nice to know. Another win for Harmony! Hooray!

At least my back doesn't hurt as much anymore.

...

When I woke up, it was to a bell announcing the train's arrival. I gathered up my things and burst into the common car where a few days before I had seen a circle glow.

Sombra, and all traces of him were gone.

Guessing he woke up early, I flipped up the special chair cushion to get my journal, which I planned to show to Cadance. Evidence must be presented, after all.

It was gone.

Frantically I checked the other chairs in the car before running outside, all my effort in vain.

...

"Where is Cadance? Is my brother here?" I panted. Cadance was supposed to meet me by the Heart Square, which is where I was. A Crystal guard stood where my sister-in-law should be.

"Your brother is not here, Princess," said the guard, "I have been sent to tell you that when you arrived you should head up to the meeting room closest to the throne room."

I nodded my thanks and rushed up to the throne room, taking a few turns before coming to the door of said meeting room.

Why was it closed?

Chapter 5: Cadance's Advice

View Online

I pressed my ear to the door.

"-just look at what she wrote about me!" Sombra's voice shouted.

Wait, Sombra?!

I slumped to the ground, which caused a soft thumping noise to occur. He was like bad luck that just never went away.

Hoofsteps came closer from the other side. Was somepony preparing to open the door? Please don't be Sombra...

I felt the cold crystal door's presence behind me vanish.

"Twilight?" asked a soft voice. That certainly wasn't Sombra!

I turned around, looked up, and smiled. "Cadance!"

I immediately bolted up, exclaiming: "Sunshine, sunshine-"

Cadance shook her head slightly and made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. She looked very concerned."Twilight, can you come in?"

Why was she being so serious?

"Okay..."

But our hoofshake... we always did that...

I followed her inside and put my saddlebags into the nearest corner.

The room was almost exactly how I remembered it: round table, small book shelves, etc. The difference was that Cadance and Sombra were sitting at opposite sides of the table, with Cadance being the closer to me, and I sighed in relief for that.

A smashed crystal bust lay on the floor. I wonder who could have done that.

"Hi," I whispered.

He growled and the next thing I knew a familiar sword was up to my throat, hilt clasped with magic aura. Sombra stood behind it, his crimson eyes half hidden by ragged bangs.

"Make one more move. I dare you. Say one more word. Breathe one more breath and you'll see-"

"STOP!" Cadance yelled, panic shining in her purple eyes.

I looked up into his eyes and realized that he would kill me. No hesitation this time. He really, really would kill me. He's killed ponies before, and that was scary. He looks at me like he thinks that I'm just some kind of paper he can tear and toss away.

I looked over to Cadance, who was visibly distraught.

She then walked over to Sombra who must have been deciding the best way to fillet me, and whispered something I couldn't catch. It must have been important because he teleported back to his seat at the table, eyes filled with fiery mania. I wish he could stop glaring at me and just glare through me. His gaze made me feel like I was being incriminated.

Was he...

...biting his lip...?

It was to restrain himself; he truly would have killed me. That and his own will were keeping him in check... and maybe whatever it was Cadance said. Did I live or die by his will in some kind of sick game? He couldn't really think that would work, did he?

Cadance noticed my frozen position.

"Come sit next to me, Twilight," she offered gently.

Despite her warm tone, I knew it was something I had to do.

Deep breaths...

I nervously padded and sat close to her.

Sombra's gaze continued to bore into me so I ducked my head, lowered my eyes, and scooted closer to Cadance, as submissive as I could possibly manage.

"So, Sombra and Twilight, I would like both of you to separately explain what happened to you two. Tell this to me, not each other, no more fighting, okay?"

I let Sombra go first, considering had it been otherwise, he would have skinned me.

"I was just doing a routine ambush of a nearby bandit camp," began Sombra, "which is a habit that might, but likely won't get me in trouble later but- oh, never mind. While I was doing this, I found her of all ponies there. With wings and nearly dead. I still don't understand why she has wings, but I doubt just anypony becomes - or is it ascends? - to alicorn status, but all that would be under the assumption that the universe operates on some high standards, and seeing her with wings is a rather glaring piece of evidence that it doesn't. So, I decided to take her with me because dead alicorns are inconvenient and I couldn't possibly think of any benefits that the uproar following her death would grant me. I had to spend a considerable amount of energy healing her - comatose ponies aren't as easy to work on as you'd think - while she is out for seven days and nights-"

Cadance was actively listening and nodding, when I realized...if I was out for a week and we were on the train for roughly two weeks, that means not only was I out for much longer then I thought, but I have been putting up with Sombra for almost a month.

"-and the way she repays me for saving her oh-so-precious life and teaching her a dead magic is by making my esteemed self out to be mindless sadist when clearly I'm not! You know I'm not, Princess Amore. Why don't you tell her, or- oh confound it all! I can just show her-"

Cadance turned to me as if he wasn't even there, looking as calm as ever.

"Twilight, it's your turn."

I wanted to tell her that interrupting him was a terrible idea and that she might meet the wrong end of his sword, but all he did was grumble and roll his eyes before taking a sudden interest in what was happening outside.

Although I was still avoiding Sombra's gaze, this didn't stop me from turning to Cadance and telling her everything.

Everything. I needed her to know just how awful he was.

She listened patiently, growing more concerned with every word until her face broke out into an expression of pity. But strangely, she didn't look surprised.

"I think I know what is wrong here," Cadance mused.

"And what might that be?" Sombra muttered sarcastically. "That winged disaster won't comply with a thing I say most of the time."

"Do you want my advice or not?" Cadance asked sternly, arching one eyebrow.

An understanding seemed to pass between them before Sombra rolled his eyes as if to say 'go on' and gave her a 'give it all you've got but I don't care too much one way or the other' look.

Cadance cleared her throat and made sure that we were both paying attention, but Sombra just gave her his typical 'humor me' look while I was sure to show Cadance that I was really listening.

"I think the main issue is miscommunication. You both are smart, powerful, headstrong, and stubborn leader-type ponies, but mark my words: the similarities end there. Sombra, you have weird communication skills, are easily provoked, a surefire loner, and have a cruel streak-"

He's also a complete jerk, I added silently.

"-but Twilight, I don't think that anything he did to you was right, although not everything you wrote was right either. Sombra, could you also try to tell her what kind of questions are off-limits, and perhaps... threaten to kill her less? It isn't a smart move for somepony who carries themselves like a genius, and the more obvious reason is it's just plain wrong."

"I'm sure it is."

I lifted my eyes from the glossy surface of the table to find Sombra staring at the floor after he spoke, lost in thought. Apparently it had nothing to do with the error of his ways if he was still saying things like that.

"Now, Sombra, you can go, but Twilight, I'd like to talk to you for a moment."

He shrugged nonchalantly and left without a second glance.

Cadance turned and faced me.

"Twilight... I think you're digging pretty deep here for his taste, and even for mine. We may not know anything about his past, but I know him and you've certainly got him pretty angry. Angrier than he was with me. I wish I could tell you more about him... but he is my friend and he has his share of secrets that I've sworn myself not to tell. But I can tell you this: you can trust him. I'm sure you'll find Starswirl's things, especially if you let him help you, even if you don't think he is... well, Sombra works in mysterious ways, but he was still able to help me. He's as introverted as you are, so just give him some space, okay?"

She gave me one last worried smile as I plopped my items on my back. What she just told me was certainly hard to believe.

I nodded and bid her goodbye, hugging her tightly.

...

I gazed longingly out the window towards the Empire as the train to Trotland chugged away...

"I wouldn't be missing that place too much if I were you."

Without needing to guess, I turned around, heart already back to feeling like a sunken ship.

"Did you ever have a home?"

Sombra shrugged. "Even if I did, I would have ditched it the first chance I got."

I ignored his response. It seemed so morbid, to never want a home like that... or to never have had one and not yearn for one. "So, are you going to help me on my quest?"

"To some extent, I suppose I will."

Silence. I went back to watching the the Gemheart Mountains recede.

"Purple Eyesore?"

Ugh, what could he possibly want now?

"Yes?"

"Can you read this?" he asked, passing me me a small slip of parchment with a single line of runes written on it.

I looked down at the slip, grasping it in my aura, and squinted at the runes sloppily written on it. That sloppiness was instant proof that Sombra wrote it."It says 'somber', right?"

He shook his head. "Not quite. It says 'Sombra'. I thought since I taught you to write your own name in runes I should show you mine. Names are valuable, even more so when they're true. You should remember that."

I didn't even give the paper a second glance as I shoved it in my bags. "Thank you," I lied. "Is it alright if I ask you a question?"

He didn't answer with anything other than a level stare.

"Since you only write with your mouth, I was wondering if you might let me teach you how to write using levitation magic, like I do."

I turned to look over at him. "Well...?"

He snapped back and most of the confusion disappeared from his eyes. "Yeah... we could try that."

...

"Can I go back to writing with my mouth?

"NO!"

We had three days until we arrived in Trottingham, Trotland's capital, and Sombra's penmanship when he wasn't writing with his mouth was the worst I had ever laid eyes upon. 'Sloppy' would be a compliment at the state it was in. I shuddered when I first saw it. How did he not learn to write?

"Sombra I told you to write the word 'cat', not draw squiggles all over the place."

"This is harder than it looks!"

Hard? For a master unicorn? I'm not buying that. Sombra probably just ignored his parents when they were teaching him, just like he ignores everypony else. I've never met anypony that was so unwilling to learn anything from writing to better behavior.

"No need to yell, at least your 'C's' don't look like quadruple loops anymore," I said as I peered across the small table in the train car to examine his work.

"They look like octuple loops now," he pointed out.

"I just thought that a powerful unicorn like you would know basic magic any unicorn under the heavens had already memorized. This is one of the easiest things for a unicorn to learn, and there's no reason that you shouldn't be picking up on this quickly. The only instances where quick learning wouldn't be the case is when a young unicorn goes through severe abuse, and the way they learn magic becomes complicated, and I wish that I could tell you just how sad it is, but you wouldn't care about those poor colts or fillies that have every chance stolen from them and aren't able to learn."

His gaze burned like embers through his shaggy mane. "It's not my fault! Maybe if you came across as something other than racist and faux educated we could accomplish something for once!"

"I am not 'faux' educated!" I said, trying not to sound angry at the accusation. "You're just cruel!"

He magically grasped his sword which was nearby, eliciting a wince from me, and stormed into the sleeper car.

Racist? How did he not know that young unicorns who go through severe abuse never grow up to have a chance at being prodigies? That feels like knowledge he would have used against somepony if he knew it, even if there aren't any unicorns that aren't half crystal pony in the Empire. In fact, I think he's the only one I've seen.

Plus, how could I be racist when we are both unicorns? I may be an alicorn now, but there were times when I still felt like a unicorn and I'd never expressed any kind of beliefs that would put down pegasi and earth ponies.

I adjusted my new hat, running a hoof over the soft gray brim, and stared out at the wild Trottish landscape of rolling green hills, small clouds of fog, winding creeks, snow dotted mountains, and stones and the occasional copse dotting the earthen canvas.

All I knew about Sombra was minor information from Princess Celestia. Besides that I had no knowledge of him, other than what I could guess.

Even more mysterious was Starswirl the Bearded, who was the whole reason this trip was taking place.

Although now that I think about it... Sombra and Starswirl did have a lot of similarities. Both of their names start with 'S' even though that is an insignificant detail. They existed around the same time in history and seem to possess immense knowledge in various types of magic. Starswirl never had an officially recorded birthdate and there is no proof of a death date, so legally he never died. Both have a connection with Celestia and Luna. Weirdest of all is that Starswirl stops being mentioned in all canon history records when the figure known as 'Sombra' emerged, from what records exist.

Those few pieces of history make it plain to see that there was such a narrow window of time before 'Starswirl' faded and 'Sombra' emerged.

Both of them were magical masters and tragically reclusive. Sombra knew where Starswirl lived and about the tribes. If anypony would have been able to find anything with dark magic, it would have been the brave and intelligent Starswirl. It was clear that they both knew Celestia and Luna before they were princesses too. After all, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna only became official rulers after they defeated Discord, which was when the first nation of Equestria fell. And before that? There was Sombra, and even before that, the end of the Tribal Era.

Was I travelling with my corrupted idol? Maybe his cloak was concealing the obvious cutie mark?

But then there were two minor flaws to my theory: Starswirl knew how to write with magic, and Sombra-possibly-Starswirl seems a bit too young to fit Starswirl's description of being the master conjurer. Sombra can't be more than twenty five years old. He must have had an amazing teacher... or horrible corruption... to be so powerful at his age.

But he was a master wizard... and there were no other male master wizards at the end of the Tribal Era, and Sombra isn't a crystal pony, even if he sounds a little like one.

...

Two days later.

As late dawn light shone through the train, soon to stop, I rapped the sleeper car's door gingerly.

Was this pony ever going to get up? I swear he wasn't the slightest bit diurnal.

"Sombra?"

I heard an annoyed grumble from within.

"We are approaching Trottingham now. Do you want to come out and catch a glimpse of the scenery?"

Perhaps, not be such a creep, hiding in there all the time? Smile? Socialize a bit? I'll try to be friendly if you are.

"I have a nice view from in here."

"Sombra, there aren't any windows in there."

I heard what sounded like a sigh. "Fine. You got me. I'm coming out; you will need me in about five minutes anyway."

Chapter 6: Waking Purple Eyesore

View Online

Unfortunately, he was right.

I did need him. We had been walking through the impressive stonework that was Trottingham asking if anypony knew where the Trottish museum was, only for my search to be fruitless.

After asking the fifth pony I was ready to break down, and it must have showed, because behind me I heard Sombra-possibly-Starswirl trying to muffle one of his snarky chuckles. This mean spirited sound seemed to be the closest that he could come to true laughter.

Fuming, I stopped abruptly and turned around, strands of my mane and tail beginning to curl away in disarray.

"What do you find s-o-o-o funny?!"

His suppressed demeanor cracked just a little and he burst into another, slightly louder chuckle... and almost catiously, like he wasn't used to laughing. He ended it with a small snort that almost reminded me of Rainbow Dash. But that still didn't mean he sounded exactly like her; you could still hear shreds of what sounded like it could go to maniacal at the drop of a pin.

"Purple Eyesore, you really are dense," he began, quickly gathering what may have been left of his wits and going back to his usual irritated look. "Everypony here is speaking Trottish, and not Equestrian. Since I rule you even more incompetent than usual until further notice, you should just follow me."

He turned and trotted away leaving behind one very irritated 'Purple Eyesore'. I made another mental note in my Sombra-swirl theory: Sombra's behaviors, as annoying to me as they were, did not seem consistent with some of Starswirl's more heroic traits.

He not only displayed a lack of sternness and sense of order but was also not completely humorless, as some of the only records with Starswirl make him out to be. Legends liked to capitalize on this aspect of him as well. How was a humorless pony supposed to make any friends?

Sombra was far from austere. Not to mention that he didn't show any signs of ever having the signature beard. Cadance's letter to me puts him around Shining Armor's age, which may even be too young - a bit younger than my guess of mid-twenties - but if he wasn't Starswirl the Bearded - he has to be - who was he, and what was he doing on my quest?

He was Starswirl. I had a perfectly valid theory, and was only missing the missing link between the two.

'Sombra' was Starswirl the-

"Purple Eyesore! Are you going to come over here or do I have to drag your lazy flank over? I assure you that if you make me choose the latter. I will make it extra painful! Won't that be nice?"

I blew my ruffled bangs out of my face with a sharp aggravated breath and quickly cantered over to where Sombra had waved over a pony.

She was an average sized earth pony mare with a wild looking fluffy, curly orange mane and tail. She had a pastel pink coat and pale yellow eyes with swirly blue paint underneath that seemed to schematically point to her earrings: two silver studs in one ear, one green hoop in another.

Her cutie mark was the image of two white ballet shoes. One of her hooves was twirling the fringes of a plaid scarf while purple bangle bracelets slid up and down her hoof.

She didn't even look too nervous about being around Sombra, Dread King of the Crystal Empire.
Suddenly a wave of reddish-gray aura enveloped all of us and flashed briefly, which tore my eyes away from those silly neon bracelets. Neon had never been a favorite theme of mine.

"Wha-?"

Sombra rolled his eyes and grumbled. "I have just cast a spell that will allow all of us to communicate without language restrictions. To the pony next to you it will sound like you are speaking their birth language and dialect. This will last for about five minutes before I would need to attempt to recast the spell," he said looking from me to the Trottish mare.

"Unfortunately, I don't think our names will translate. Purple Eyesore and I just want to ask you some questions," he concluded obviously directing the last part at this stranger.

The pink mare nodded. "My name is Eala, how can I help you?"

Sombra briefly turned to the mid-morning sky with a snarky look of smug gratitude on his face as if to say 'finally somepony is listening to me'.

"Well, Purple Eyesore and I are looking for a large museum around here but I haven't seen any. You wouldn't happen to have any of those-"

Okay if this spell works like he said then this would be my best chance to breach his spell and change it.

I dragged my hoof in a seemingly absentminded manner in a patch of dirt, trying to disguise the fact that I was drawing runes that would allow me to hear what Sombra-swirl heard based on the workings of his spell. It certainly wasn't the kind of magic that I was used to, and seemed really obvious, but the glow of my horn could only be hidden so well by my hat, and I wanted to use that where it counted.

If I could hear what it sounded like for an average who pony spoke Sombra's native dialect using more distinct formal words I might be able to better place the era he originally existed in and confirm another suspicion about him.

As the runes were completed I heard a small crackling noise.

Did it work...?

A swift wave of nausea overcame me and I stumbled, gasping.

The mare, Eala, stopped talking saw me and ran off, looking frightened. Sombra immediately turned over to where I was, a look of horror spread across his face... and yet he didn't look surprised. Not one bit. I'd almost say that he might have been expecting this.

The vision in my left eye started to grow dark, slowly showing me nothing but some kind of void or chilling abyss.

Sombra, or at least what part of him I could see with one eye, encircled me in aura when I stumbled again, and my skull threatened to hit the cobbles of the pavilion, but I'm sure he would have wanted me to fall and hit my head instead.

He turned to me with this grim expression on his face, as I began to feel woozier. It looked like a mix between uncertainty and anger, but I could only see so much.

He opened his mouth to say something, but what came out wasn't any kind of sound I knew. I could see words - equine words - if I tried to read his lips, but the sound... it was so strange and terrifying and it distracted me.

Only I seemed to hear it, and I wasn't sure if it came from Sombra himself, or somewhere else. It rung in my ears and scared me so much.

It was the sound of hurricane force winds, and the pages of a thousand tomes fluttering about in them, and the loud hum of high powered magic that never ceased. There was rumbling deeper than thunder, and this empty whirl and unearthly mumbling in a language no being spoke that did not come from Sombra, but around him.

The endless crackling of concentrated, pure magic and the clink of something crystalline filled my ears. I only wanted it to stop.

I tried to grasp what was happening around me once more, but my last bit of consciousness slipped away...

I guess the spell didn't work.

...

Sombra:

Why was this one so nosy?

I sat down on the steps of the museum, which I had finally reached, despite the inconvenience that was Purple Eyesore.

Can I just have the pink one back? At least I could work with her.

Though at least ponies didn't look at me as funny here. They knew exactly who I was, but I wouldn't have been able to get directions and any information otherwise. And, of course, legally. There's only so many crimes I can get away with while dragging this purple twit with me. She was my cover up, after all, and I wouldn't be able to get back to the 'Spire if it wasn't for the illusion of 'helping' her. In some twisted way, I was helping her, but she wouldn't know that.

The lack of infamy that this nation allows me is nice - none of the 'history' books of Equestria have been distributed here, and there's a quiet to this place I can't help but treasure. Quiet is only more precious after having to deal with a bratty and naive mess of a pony - but then again, aren't they all? - like Purple Eyesore.

No doubt that Purple Eyesore had large amounts of magical ability if she was able to control a reaction like that. She may be a complete and utter novice, as well as a pathetic excuse for anything more than Celestia's errand filly, but she has some power that could always be useful to me later.

I looked down on the steps at the purple shape next to me and cast a quick rousing spell. If she wasn't dead she would wake up in few minutes, and even if Celestia's Perfect Purple Pawn is my cover up for heading back there again, I'd love to see her buried somewhere. Ponies are horrible, but this one was personally groomed by Celestia to be so.

I don't think I'll have to kill her, she's far too easy to push around - and in whatever direction I like, no less - but I'm entirely prepared to dispatch of her if I need to - and that includes if she pushes me too far. I'm not the kind to give infinite chances and endless warnings.

At least she didn't understand what she saw - but how can I be surprised by that? Even if she did, I've always been adept at covering up all the parts of me that I want to, and disguising anything I won't let anypony see and anything I didn't want her to see.

I've spent too long avoiding that valley and I'm not about to go back quite so willingly as Purple Eyesore wants me to. Yes, I may have unfinished business there and personal reasons to visit. I want to put a fraction of what I've had to endure behind me and work on moving on. She's been getting in the way of some of that, but I have plans to counteract any behavior that I won't tolerate from her. A large number of them involve her killed, but considering my history, that's not much of a surprise.

He'll find me, there is no doubt about that. I never trusted that wizard. Windbag thantophobes like him were never to be taken too seriously, but that doesn't mean he won't attempt to play some card against me.

I will just have to deal with him like I did the last time we met. The fool never saw it coming. He never saw me coming, and still called me by that name... if I do see him again, I don't doubt that he still will. He's a lot like Purple Eyesore, and their ignorance is a shared trait that's anything but easy to overlook when it's all that they let themselves be.

There can only be one Starswirl the Bearded and he ceased to exist long ago.

I was lucky once if 'luck' is what it can be called.

But I don't need luck this time.

I may be nothing but a monster to many; all the blood won't wash away. I have some blood to spill, another shot at revenge, and no purple princess is going to get in the way of that. My circumstance only allows me so much of a chance to hurt those even remotely responsible for what happened to me - and those 'remotely' responsible are surprisingly very much so, the main 'villain' of this aside.

Villain. How stupid a concept. I'm not surprised that ponies came up with it, just as they came up with heroes.

A coughing noise over to my left startled me.

"Oh... you're awake now." I wish you weren't.

"Yeah," Purple Eyesore said hoarsely, "thou art awakened, or something of that sort. You know - what you used to say back in the day"

No, I didn't. Back in the day, I didn't always say much at all, Purple Eyesore. Her not realizing that I knew what little stunt with her magic she would be pulling is just another card stacked in my favor.

I hate her excuse for a sense of humor.

Chapter 7: Three Runic Journals

View Online

Sombra and I entered the large building as soon as I had stood up.

Inside, the sun-lit stone rotunda tapestries and murals of tremendous historic value greeted us, the woven and painted Trottish ponies seeming to wink and invite us in.

"Are you seeing all of this?" I whispered in awe, at home among such artifacts and almost believing our quarrels could be ignored.

At least for now.

When I received no reply, I turned around to find an indifferent Sombra, reserved and apathetic as he glanced at everything, looking completely unreadable. "What could you possibly need in all of this?" he asked, not even appearing to find anything slightly impressive.

Ignoring his tasteless remark, I began to rummage through my saddle bags when a third voice, with a heavy accent, joined us.

"Hullo there, may I help you?"

I turned excitedly, glad to see another pony besides Sombra.

A matronly-looking earth pony mare with a light brown coat stood near one of a blue velvet rope. Her green and white mane was pulled into a loose professional looking chignon and her pale gray eyes twinkled jollily, matching her silver employee's vest.

"You speak Equestrian?"

"Aye," she said, nodding.

A bit of hope rose in my chest. No more translating spells.

Sombra's left eye twitched slightly - going unnoticed by the mare - as he leaned toward me somewhat to read the paper I had pulled, currently grasped in aura.

"We have a request from Celestia to put-"

I cut him off abruptly, much to his disdain, causing him to grit his teeth angrily. When I first saw him at the Crystal Fair, I could have sworn that he had fangs all the time, but it doesn't seem to be that way now that I'm around him more. He also should have used Celestia's title when speaking about her, it would be the respectful thing to do, and he's certainly not her peer. Every time he says her name, it's like when somepony says the name of a food they hate, which just sounds wrong since this is about Princess Celestia.

"I have a request from Princess Celestia to put the artifacts known as 'The Runic Journals' into my care." Further ignoring a fuming Sombra, I coolly passed the document to her and gave the mare a polite smile.

She checked the seal, and passed it back to me once more with a curt nod of approval.

"I can help ya with that but I would at least like ta know yer friend's name, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Friend?! More like fiend!

Sombra-swirl made a face looking somewhere between disgust and confusion as to why she would ask that. "My name is Sombra. No titles."

It wasn't as if he was subtle with his identity.

I was still a little surprised he was able walk around in the street without hassle. After all, Trotland is right next to the Crystal Empire. I don't think they would have taken too kindly to their neighbors being cursed all those years ago.

With a nod of her head toward one of the many clean and well-kept halls our new acquaintance indicated we should follow her.

As we padded past precious relics, hoof-falls softened by carpet, the grey-eyed mare introduced herself as Studio Art and passed time in the maze of corridors with cheerful banter while I read the detailed plaques, and admired the displays.

I'm not sure if anypony out there could understand how wonderful it was to have a silent Sombra and no longer have to listen to his snark.

...At least for now.

"I'm an artist by trade ya see," chirped Studio Art, "love to paint the displays in my spare time. Everypony around here calls me 'Merry Stew Art' though, since I make a mean carrot stew."

This banter continued until we came to a door-filled hallway all with 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' signs, asserting themselves with their gleaming brass letters. Studio Art removed a key ring from her vest and sorted through their golden shapes until finding the correct one.

"Now 'fore I go in here I would like you both to say 'Pretty Pony Pepper Possesses a Plethora of Purple Plums'. But not at the same time. Aye?"

Hmm, an unusual request but not an absurd one like Sombra or Discord might make.

Both Sombra and I said the phrase without trouble.

Studio Art turned to me. "You are from Canterlot, City of the Sisters, by your accent."

She turned to face Sombra, thoughtful look on her jolly face. "Now you were a bit harder to guess, being very non-distinct, but I think I detect an accent similar to that found in Crystal Ponies... although yours sounds off."

I was astounded at her ability to recognize accents while Sombra stood there aloofly, not even looking impressed in the slightest. Not even a shrug.

Studio Art flashed a smile before she entered the restricted room.

"Was she right?" I asked.

He met my gaze. "About the accents? I suppose she was close enough. I did live in the Crystal Empire."

He returned to staring at the murals on the ceiling, with a somewhat distant look in his eyes.

I gazed down the hall watching the occasional tour group pass in the distance, wondering what sorts of Trottish culture they were learning about.

Art? Language? Literature? History?

The sound of a closing door alerted me of Studio's return, with her hoof she passed me a small bag containing three ancient books with crooked pages, faded covers, and random loose leaves and other assorted parchments sticking out.

"Good luck reading 'em. I'm not sure if there is a pony alive who can."

Sombra took one look at the books and looked as if he was going to puke. What did he have against a few old spellbooks, being a master conjurer himself?

...

As soon as we were out of the stone city and among the landscape, which was beginning to turn into tundra the farther north we went. I decided to attempt to 'hit the books'.

"No wonder she wished me luck reading these! They are all written in runes!"

But I could manage.

"Don't care. Unlike you, Purple Eyesore, I'm trying to find proper routes up into Arctic territory, after all you wanted to go up there."

I noticed he was reading the scroll I had occasionally seen him read on the train.

"What does that say?"

He didn't turn his gaze away. "It's just a simple, one of a kind, ancient, highly detailed, thousand plus year old map of mine of some territory up north of here. Roughly. There was a suspicious valley that was always rumored to be Starswirl's and that he lived there and all his written knowledge is there. Typical stuff like that."

"Oh." That seemed a little too descriptive to be true, and I had heard very little from Sombra that was likely to be true. Maybe later I'll nab it to see if it's true. Some nice revenge for my poor journal. I still can't believe he did that. He even showed it to Cadan-

Suddenly, Sombra swiped my hat. He just turned around faster than I thought he would - I don't think I'd seen a pony other than Rainbow or Pinkie move like that - and whipped it right off my head.

"Hey! Give that back!" I tried to grab it from him with my magic but he teleported away, seeing what I was about to do.

Now he had his sword out.

Nervous, I teleported over to him.

He poised the sword under my hat, both enveloped in aura.

"Stop!"

He shoved the sword in my hat. It disappeared.

"What did you do!"

He looked over towards me. "Calm down, there's nothing wrong other than you existing." He gave me my hat, which I promptly snatched from him.

"Nothing wrong! How did you do that?! Where is your sword? Why did you just do that-"

"My sword is in your hat."

"How? You didn't even perform a spell on either object, you just stuck the thing up my poor hat! This is a gift, you know."

Sombra-swirl rolled his eyes.

"Here let me spell this out for you: I-D-O-N-O-T-C-A-R-E. Now will you let me explain something to you, or will you just sit there and yell about your hat all day? I thought you wanted to find the Oh-So-Powerful Starswirl the Bearded's sanctuary."

The Starswirl part was mimicked in a terrible falsetto, which barely did anything to disguise his contemptuous tone, in fact, it only made it stand out even more.

"Fine."

"Well thank you ever so much." he smirked, again with the falsetto. "Why I thought you'd simply never shut up, dearie. Now, will you LET ME SPEAK FOR ONE BLOODY MOMENT?!"

I stepped back, startled by his shouting. "Y-Yes! I said you could - go on - please do - lecture me on the magical properties of my own hat." My trembling voice was only lightened by a slight bit of sarcasm.

"Finally," he muttered. His gaze shifted away from me, refusing to make direct eye contact. "I suspected you had an enchanted hat when it never came off unless you wanted to, provided you were focused and conscious, and some less obvious reasons. You had let your guard down so I took it from you and noticed runes carved in the gold rim around the gem."

"So my hat can store things inside?"

He shook his head. "Your hat has a different enchantment. My saddlebags have the bonus you are thinking of, this hat has a much more complex spell."

"Could you show me...?"

He nodded and snatched the hat back from its place on my head. From his bag he produced a charcoal stick and drew the 'six' rune that activates spells on it. He then placed it on his head, cocking it forward with a hoof. With his magic he lit up the rune and the hat began to grow bigger and bigger before it fell and swallowed him.

I stared as it landed softly on a patch of thin snow, rune no longer glowing and reduced to normal size. I picked up the hat and shoved it my bag, hearing it crumple next to some of my papers. Now I could finally get something done and have some peace of mind.

Spreading my wings I decided to follow the general direction toward the valley on Sombra's map which he dropped when he decided to steal my hat. The wind was favorable and I had at least six hours before I even had to consider making any kind of camp.

I didn't even have to feel ashamed if I was spotted. Trotland is very deserted in the north east.

And that's just where I was.

In the north east.

Alone.

Without my friends.

...

Freezing.

The chilly tundra weather was not much more like that of the Arctic.

And it was freezing!

I was now stuck in the middle of a landscape that was nothing more than desolate frost ridden rolling hills with nothing as was beginning to darken.

I didn't even have any good gear!

Landing with a thud, I laid out everything I had and levitated the objects around me.

The Runic Journals?

No.

Scarf?

Another 'no'.

Bag of crackers?

Empty.

Wormy apple cores that I somehow did not notice because of the faint shimmer of magic disguising them until they were probed?

Sombra's fault.

Important documents, train passes, and other things Celestia sent me?

Not helpful.

Crumpled sticky note reminding me to obtain outdoor gear?

Irony.

Magic hat with Sombra inside?

No.

Wait- why was the crystal, a clear diamond, glowing like firelight?

I levitated the hat closer to my face, almost pressing the gem to my eye. It didn't seem to reflect fabric on the other side, like it should have been able to. Now that I think about... when was I ever able to see the fabric on the other side?

That glow did look awfully warm...

I examined the brim of Sombra - or Starswirl's? - rune which was unsmudged.

I knew complex enchantments could exist, but exactly what kind of enchantment was it?

Hoping to get answers, I pulled out the books from the museum. These were probably spell books and would be able to explain something about mystery hats. Flipping through a tattered gray-silver volume and skimming over the runes, a small slip of paper fell out.

Worried that it may be a note or an important bookmark I picked it up in aura, carefully examining its ancient appearance. It wasn't a bookmark. The runes on it translated roughly to 'activate' and were definitely not written in Sombra's script. I couldn't make out everything on it - it was written in some kind of calligraphy that any scholar would find impressive, and the grammar was so dated that I was puzzled after trying to figure out more than three words.

That aside, I was able to see that this was a very important slip - there were no smudges and I'm certain enchantments to prevent aging were in place. The general idea of the spell - which was either just complex or showy, maybe even both, was to return something important. A pony, maybe? The whole thing was pretty mind boggling.

Maybe this had a useful enchantment on it? Useful to me, that is.

It wasn't in Sombra's writing and it came from a book Princess Celestia recommended - one that probably had to do something with Starswirl the Bearded!

On the train one of the things Sombra told me that brief spells like this could only be cast by arcane masters who were somewhat immune, due to their mental ability, of foolishly ambiguous spells and wouldn't perish in a power surge.

I put everything down in the sparse snow, dusk was almost over. Concentrating on triggering the spell I watched as my swirling magenta aura flashed with sparks of white, a symbol of arcane magic.

Nothing happened.

Was it a dud?

A cold wind and the further sinking of Celestia's sun caused me to snap back to my original focus: the hat.

I reexamined the gem's gilded frame border, noting all the carved runes.

According to my little rune guide book the runes laid into this gold spelled out something along the line of '...dwell comfortably within...'

How that works on a hat... Well, it was time to find out before I froze solid. I placed it on my head and tilted it back after putting all of my things back in my saddle bags, minus the apple cores.

My horn lit in aura, charcoal rune glowing pure, flaming white.

Here goes nothing...

...

"I thought you would never figure it out." Sombra said.

Dazed, I blinked my eyes a few times and stood up slowly.

Apparently, my tundra surroundings had been replaced by a circular gray-walled room with a giant sigil in the middle of the floor on which many fragmented images were layered and distorted by the cosmic snowstorm appearance that swept across what would have been a neat, cleanly drawn symbol.

The image varied in aesthetic but all had one similarity. All were maps: topographic, aerial shots, weather reports, groundwater diagrams, and even a complex outline of where Sombra and I had been travelling and a rather kooky looking compass.

Although the room was large it was furnished quite modestly. At the northernmost point - according to the compass - was a large many faceted window and all sorts of pull strings, astrolabes, clockwork mechanics,levers, and more compasses.

Towards the right in the following order was a large chest, a polished wood bar table where a dish of hot apple pie and two spigots protruding from twin barrels. Next to those were small stacks of neatly ordered cutlery.

Next, to the eastern part was a single untouched bed with plain covers. Then there was an enormous bookshelf with sixty tidy books, all in order.

Just like my library...

Focus. Directly to the right of said shelf was a round table, like you would find in a kicthen, but no chairs. Nearby, stood a chimney-less open hearth, curiously emitting no smoke, which was casting a deep yellow-and-shadow glow across this... place.

Adjacent to the hearth was a very plain couch.

Finally, pleased with my surroundings I took a step away from the center sigil's edge and drooped my saddle bags on the floor.

"So, what bizarre pocket dimension is this?" Pocket dimensions were immensely advanced magic and came in astounding variety but could be very dangerous. They were also associated with demons. I was horrible at them, but Celestia and Luna clearly weren't if this is what they could build.

Sombra, who had been examining the sigil's offered maps, directed another one of his eye-rolls at me. I didn't get a good look at him since I arrived, and I didn't really want to, but when he spoke next, his declaration was slightly slurred:

"All hail Purple Eyesore, Sovereign Queen of Lack-Wits. Esteemed Lady of I Cannot Distinguish That I Am No Longer In The Trottish Wilds But My Own Dear Hat."

I sighed. It seemed as if nothing would change.

Chapter 8: The Wonderful Hat

View Online

I turned over to look at Sombra, noting that from when I last saw him hours ago before entering the hat, he hadn't had bloodshot tinge to his sclera. "Are you drunk?! In my hat? Are you drunk inside my hat?!"

He glanced over to the bar table. "I was. Now keep your voice down. Or better yet, shut up," he snapped grumpily and given me an even angrier than usual glare that made me want to crawl under a blanket for a couple years.

He was kidding right? Please, please, please tell he was kidding.

"Being sealed in ice for 1,100 years made it hard to remember exactly how much cider makes me sick. Guess my memory is refreshed now. Besides, have you seen the selection of consumables your hat offers? Its either unlimited cider or... water."

"Are you telling me you wouldn't drink an unlimited supply of water?!"

He reeled back. "Water is the liquid of sickness and contamination! No matter how casually it's consumed in this era, I still wouldn't dare to touch the stuff, especially since the sources you obtain water from aren't wild ones, which might be safe. But from a city? Never."

I trotted up to the glowing hearth to warm up, utterly disgusted with his behavior. "I thought you drank water when you were with Cadance."

Sombra snorted. "Just because I was magically sealed in ice, which is one of the main causes of my currently prolonged life, does not mean I'm immortal or completely immune to salmonella and any illnesses related to it. Any water she gave me I faked consuming."

But they were out there for months... how? Magic? He acted like he didn't need to eat!

"How long could you have survived without consuming water?"

He might make an interesting subject if a) I had my equipment that didn't survive the library's demise and b) I weren't tremendously disgusted at what was beyond fasting.

"If you really must know Purple Eyesore, I can survive almost fifty days without consuming any liquids. Food is a different story."

Liar. Dirty liar. Narcissistic liar. Violent liar. Hat thief liar. Pukes in my hat liar.

Smile. Just smile and wave. Be nice Twilight Sparkle, be the better pony.

"How do you know this? In what way could you explain this conclusion of yours? What data has this study produced and how was it gathered? Did you, perhaps, stab anypony to get it?"

I watched as he rolled his eyes, there was no way he could come up with a reasonable way to back up his claim. The only reaction he would get from me would be a 'hah!'. Yes, nopony, not even this tyrant can usurp the scientific theory!

"Self-experimentation, if you'd like to put a term to it."

Oh no... he did not. I felt vomit touch the back of my throat. What did he do to himself and why? How? No, wait I don't want to know.

"Sombra what kind sick and irresponsible pony does that?! Everypony that's grown and sound of mind knows that would cause serious health problems."

For once his snarky expression was replaced with a look of surprise I had not seen him use along with a snarkless and direct to the point tone that was level instead of grumpy.

"I guess you could say that I was only eleven, which isn't adulthood in any I society today." He then shrugged this off as normal.

Just how warped was this pony?!

"I'm going to sleep," I huffed, tired of snark, vomit inducing experiments, the Trottish language, and the worst thing ever- a certain crimson eyed pony.

"Fine, but I get the couch."

I ignored him and stalked over to the bed with all my bags and books. Perhaps, tomorrow I would the enchanting wonders of this hat.

...

Outside the Arctic Wind carried the call into the Vale-Where-Blood-Has-Been-Spilled. It whistled ice bits and Windigo breath searching, for the spirit who lives in undeath.

'The runes have been lit in aura. The two-voiced one returns...'

It searched farther upon finding no response until at last it found its destination, a clearing of ice and stone humming with old magics.

'The runes have been lit in aura. The two-voiced one returns to face their bane, as you, spirit, call yourself.'

The ground stirred and cracked seeping an ancient mist. The tendril tips emerged commanding further incantation.

'A fabled southern Element finds its way to certain death. The script of unseen runes awakens thee.'

Snow was stirred blurring even the wind's view. Tremors unheard to the North shook the land.

Unbeknownst to two adventurers sleeping in a hat.

Unnoticed to two sisters with a plethora of odysseys as a past.

Unknown to a primordial goddess sleeping in her Tree, blind to the plight of her prophet.

...

I trotted over to the beverage barrels of my hat to grab a slice apple pie, making note how little the couch cushion fort moved. Sombra really likes that couch.

I smacked into something solid in my way and a hot chunky goop was dumped on my head. "Ow! O-w-w-w-ow-ow!" I yelled leaping backward.

A small glob fell into my open mouth. Apple pie?

"Well, I see I won't be getting any breakfast this morning."

Shaking off some of the offending substance, I faced front. "Sombra?"

It was just my luck that my grumpy 'room mate' was awake instead of asleep like I thought...

He glared at the mug he still clutched in magic aura. "Thanks for ruining my first meal of the day," he grumbled, "I've heard that according to your modern superstitions, it's supposed to be very important too."

"Listen, I'm sorry I bumped into you, but you do understand it is unlimited, don't you?"

Sombra continued to glare armies at me. "You know what, I don't think I'm hungry anymore."

He then proceeded to dump the steaming cider on my head before exiting the hat.

Nopony heard me scream.

...

I tried my best to remove all of the food, knowing that if I went outside like this I could have frozen food stuck to me.

I'm just lucky that this didn't go any farther then a major 'ouchie' and that I know a couple of spells to help out with this. I want to cry and quit, I really do... but I've gone too far and am now stuck in tundra territory with this tyrant. I'm too far in, right...? Why did Celestia even suggest this monster? I swear he's a sadist a few chapters short of a novel.

...

I went to peer out the crystal-window and was able to glimpse the dull scene below like a gypsy with a crystal sphere.

It was clearly day and snowing slightly. Sombra was trudging through snow. I couldn't see his face at the angle the image was presented but purple smoke was visible. He was angry, but about what?

Shouldn't I be the angry one?

The hat, which was presenting this scrying view was affixed to the clip that used to hold his map.

He didn't have his map. Starswirl didn't need to have a map to find his refuge.

The compasses in my hat read northeast.

You can't escape me, Starswirl.

Chapter 9: Apprentices and Grimoires

View Online

With Sombra still outside - thank goodness - I had to do something. Gazing around I looked at my rune guide and the books from the museum spilled around the floor near the bed.

Sombra's lessons did help... I should be able to read them. Now or never. Who knew when I would get another chance? They may contain some useful spells, although that did not explain why they were referred to as 'journals'.

Levitating everything over to the table, I curled up on a chair. Apparently, the table magically spawned them whenever somepony moved to sit down. The plush recliner was covered in soft felt and just right for avid reading.

I picked up the first journal, gently lifting the aged cover and began to read its graceful, flowing runes:

To-day, after a sun-cycle, We write from the Tower observing this desolate vale. Not a thing of interest happened, although that ragamuffin of a chimney sweep, Kawblance is still missing after he decided to run off. And where to? There is simply no way out other than by Master Starswirl's hoof.
We have no news of the Court since 'Mina has not returned. We have only enough energy to have her break past wards - just barely - so that gossip and useful rumors might reach Our ears for Our next Court appearance. This could prove dreadful. What if another war breaks out? How will such a thing affect the heavenly motions? If such an event occurs We would have to defend the Other. There are only so many things We can do to aide her, even if she does not know it. This place is far safer than that war-ravaged land could ever be, and We are kinder than she thinks Us.
Above all, We are meant to rule. We must never forget that, and We have never come close to doing so.
Clover said that We should be studying arcane knowledge, but We shall not being more powerful then her and having better things to do since a trip to the Unicorn Court was rumored and We will need to look presentable: our iron circlet, lacy gown and ribbon boots will do. The rare dyes We made and added to the fabric will stun the lords and ladies. We find that Our studies only go so far to aid Us in anything. Social concerns rise above what the Other takes to so easily.
We will need to curb some of the mannerisms if success is to be achieved, and that would involve changing exactly who We are thought to be and how others wish to see Us as easily as one blinks. In the end, all that are meant to be pleased by Us, will be. The game of the tribes is both cloak and dagger, both subtle and flamboyant. And if I am to win anything in this tournament of deception I will need to play my pieces carefully.
More importantly, I will need to continue to play this game alone and its rewards will be mine alone until more moves open, and a crown is closer than ever before. It is time for my star to shine, dearest diary.
Solara

...

I decided to take a peek into another one of the journals seeing as this one was a little too cryptic and this Solara was almost gloating about her political standpoint. I bet Sombra-swirl and this pony would get along a little too well.

This next journal, just as ancient was written in plain, almost dull script. Though what they had to say was anything but dull, at least in some ways. The words of this student were insulting accusations and exaggerations that I wasn't sure if I could believe. They sounded too embellished to be true, and described a pony who sounded like everything Starswirl wasn't.

...

We now start our third volume of recordings. Since this is a new book maybe We should introduce Us again, for We feel as if We should, for anew journal is a new friend. We think...
The name We write is Selene, We are a 'student' of magics in the Magicspire. We were young when Our home and family vanished, and are foreign to this segregated land. Our tone may be formal but inside We are scared and find that We sink into a long sadness, that is no sadness at all, for it is too dark on even the brightest days and Our eyes and heart only sink deeper in this most sickly haze. I, or 'We' as you will read, frequently write using this plural. It mirrors Our speech, for We were taught to speak so, and it angers Starswirl greatly, so the rebellion is continued with every little 'We' and 'Us' that We manage.
The Magicspire is home to a unicorn named Starswirl the Bearded who is powerful among his kind, but very weak in most other ways - mostly of the mind. There are some magics that he is adept in, and two such magics would be dreadful wards and his talent for selective hypnosis that confuses navigation, both internal and external as well as harvests and blurs memories of familiar paths. The effort is costly to him, but it is his talent and boasts of how he got his mark for it. He holds us in this vale like a manticore holds prey. Perhaps even like a glacier holds its secrets. There are many glaciers here. Do these ponies have naught but glaciers every-where?
By 'us' We 'speak' of the other apprentices. Solara, who is our elder and changed in ways that have a sickness to them, different from Our own. She listens to ponies when she should not. Next is Kawblance a mean spirited pony of crystal from another land that neither of us have been to, although Starswirl has.
Clover is the third but she will graduate soon and keeps no journals, off to the Unicorn Court she will go, sold to the mare known as Princess Platinum who is naught but a 'bitch' as these ponies would say. Even there she will not be free, nor will she ever be.
More to-marrow.

...

To-day We have more time to write, and can tell you more about myself and where We dwell. Our 'name' as you already know is 'Selene'. Our parents are lost. The tower We live in is in a small vale, a day's flight in either direction but is plagued by constant winds, and often snow as well. We have a small room in which Our few belongings are located: quills, inks, a few scrolls, Our blade known as Quicksilver, and a cloak.
This tower, as previously stated, is home to the unicorn wizard Starswirl. He is haughty and cruel. Before this We were a wanderer in lands far south but 'decided' to stay and learn magics, when We were given no choice at all. He is a poor teacher with resources he does not know how to utilize and We find true knowledge and the spark of it in learning alone. This journal is charmed by Us so We can keep it from prying eyes like the greedy ones of Starswirl, which are often in a mean and drunken squint.
Despite Starswirl having his own 'names' for each of us We refuse to write Our true name it is private and a monster like Starswirl deserves no knowledge of it. He has no doubt forgotten it when We declared it over and over to him years ago, but still, We shall not even humor him, for he has likely forgotten it.
Our skills involve arcane magics, combat, and blade fighting, though We have more - magic itself We excel at. We are dark in color with a medium length mane that curls slightly at the tips, and We wear it short for any mare. 'Tis practical that way.
Little book, We shall call you Grimoire.

...

Grimoire, to-day while We were out strolling in the woods without Banshee, Our wolf friend, We heard a noise among the trees that belonged to no forest creature. This was deeper then most ponies of the vale dare to go, so We were a bit startled. Mayhap it was Kawblance, who is Starswirl's servant, or Starswirl himself, which would make for a far worse encounter.
We do not know much about him other then that Starswirl went to an exotic country looking for a servant - no more than a slave, really - and came back with a young pony that was Kawblance, who he had swayed with promises of an apprenticeship that was not to be, for none in the Magicspire are proper students in anything.
He is slightly shorter then an average grown pony, but is the shortest amongst us, despite being tall for his age and quite gangly - he walks with nothing but an awkwardness in his gait. His coat is always sooty and We cannot tell what color he would be under it, something dark, We imagine. There is so much soot and light colors occur more among the unicorn and pegasus tribes now. He often wears a tattered brown-hued robe that We do not think does much to combat against the cold - he is often stuck outside when Starswirl locks him out now that We are too clever and wild for him to keep out of the Spire, even when he attempts to punish us for any misdeed. Kawblance is the only one of us who does not grow a winter coat, so We can only imagine how cold it must be for him, yet he complains little about this and much about anything and everything else.
We have been 'apprentices' and wards with Solara far longer than he has. Too long. We can only wonder if he might succumb to the cruelty of Starswirl like Solara and Clover have. It is not as though We made no attempt to help him, however much Starswirl was against the attempts he discovered, but there is something so vile about this colt that We have yet to know in full. Despite his very low intelligence, he is good at hiding in a prey-like desperation that affects the weak. His nature is a cruel one and he has proven to be defiant in dense ways and without purpose, as well as vulgar in the remarks he has made about Solara and Us. We do not wish to transcribe any unless it appears necessary. Our sharp memory holds each ill he has done in the short time he has been here quite easily.
Kawblance is about eleven winters old. We do not remember an exact date, and he knows not when he was born. The snow distorts the perception of some seasons here. Starswirl brought Kawblance here and renamed him when he was nine or ten winters of age after he left on a two year trip to Kaw's country, searching the Arctic for answers that he had not bothered to think through entirely. Is it any wonder that Starswirl has so many incomplete spells, and yet, he will sell them to the Court and proclaim them complete in order to get funds? He is an old windbag who wants nothing but drink and a night with a young Court mare, and to shrug everything off right afterwards before repeating the same process.
When Mother and Father were still here things were done differently. Ages were measured in years, not winters.
Nopony but Solara and We know what a year is.
Strange... but not surprising. Ponies will be ponies.

Chapter 10: Blue Berries

View Online

"Oh look, do these not look nice?" I looked down at Banshee who was dragging his paws through the thinning snow.

Most of the forest was barren of clearings lacking in snow, so I was quite lucky. As I stared at the bush and its ripe blue berries, I felt a quiet delight at the find. Gingerly, I plucked one and cradled it ever so gently in my hoof.

"'Tis edible, We have no worries, friend."

Banshee flicked his tail, knowing that my flora judging abilities were proficient due to years of foraging. Starswirl had often locked me out in my younger years, and there were times I simply wanted to escape to the woods. He was not entirely aware that his attempts to starve me were in vain, but he was a miser when it came to what little supplies that we did have in the Magicspire. Nothing he conjured could be trusted too.

The soft taste and delicate skin burst in my mouth when I tossed it in, giving way to a sort of implacable sweet tartness I found had no care for, and that would be no problem at all. The forest was full of safe things for me to eat, and many were much heartier than this, no matter how fond I was of sweets.

But mayhap another pony would... this would be a much better option than the mind-meddling mushrooms that Kawblance thinks as proper food.

I picked another hoof-full of berries and placed them in a wyrm-scale sack, tying the strings to my cloak's belt. That beast had never stood a chance against my might and magic. I would not sit idle when the self-styled 'Master' Starswirl, who was a master of none, was clearly not able to teach me enough of anything. The world was a far better substitute, and tomes were best read by oneself instead of that old sot.

"Mayhap We should give these to an acquaintance?" I muttered under my breath, my gaze searching for predator creatures. This guardian of the forest may be needing more wyrm-scale pouches, and there were always many beasts, both to be loved and to be reckoned with lurking in these deeper parts of the woods where the others would not venture.

Banshee scratched at the dirt.

"We know he is not very nice... but Kaw-"

Banshee tilted his head slightly and let loose a brief howl.

"Banshee, shhh! If Starswirl hears you, you know what he will do - he will kill you, Bannie, and make you into a rug. A very lifeless rug that he shall hang up in the Magicspire and crow about endlessly."

He huffed and blinked his large brown eyes, and I lay one forehoof on his head and gently stroked it. The statement was no exaggeration. Once, Solara's dear 'Mina had laid a clutch of eggs - oh, the surprise was so great that I wonder how she kept it to herself! She even let me see them... and for a single moment, we were able to share an awkward present before she shooed me away. This was before Kaw came, and Solara seemed herself, if only in shreds. I knew that she had begun to take care of those eggs with 'Mina, managing them alongside her feathery companion.

And then one day, Starswirl had Clover cook eggs for breakfast, and made sure that Solara got the biggest share. I left the table with a few new bruises, but her...? I had not stayed around to find out.

"We know that 'Kawblance' is not his real name, but We forget what his real name is. Everypony does, and We are sure that one day, he will too."

I turned back away from the thick frosty pines and reluctantly headed back, trotting towards the tip of a waiting tower, an unfortunate residence, but not a home.

Homes do not make dread blossom in the throat, the stomach full of stones, and the chest full of stone.

I may not be brave yet, but I am no coward. "We wish We could leave this place and go south to look for Our parents, or to simply live alone..." It was something that crossed my thoughts often enough.

As I let loose a deep sigh, Banshee ran up to my foreleg and nibbled at the edges of my thick cloak, and I giggled, "You, dear Bannie, make Our stay all the more bearable, indeed. We shall go check the runes before We are required to leave you."

I stroked his fur for a moment before trotting off through the pathless and evergreen realm, fur rimmed forehoof boots leaving silent marks as I prowled like a feral feline, exchanging banter with Banshee. It was one of the few times I would elect to speak when I felt I could. My voice was a strong one.

"'Tis remarkable how Kaw ran away in these woods and went even deeper than We go, and yet one as foolhardy and ignorant of the wilds as him stayed there for nigh five-and-ten days surviving on nothing, yet evading all pursuers - Starswirl's beard is long enough to make two. He looks so skinny now. If We give him these berries he might stop mocking Us."

I rubbed a hoof over my cheek where, a few cycles ago, he had stitched thorny burrs into my pillow and laughed while I screamed. The wound had fading to nothingness now, while I was not vain like Solara, I loathed to see my body bearing marks, and ones that were not earned at that.

Curse his merciless taunting. Just because 'Solara' berates us both does not mean he needed to perform such actions.

One day I will-

Find my family...?

I am not even sure any more, if I will ever go back south. 'Solara' split up the trio, never asking where our old friend had gone or searching. She split the duo too, and brutally.

But I will make my own duo! By the stars, I will make a party of one if needed, if-

If I didn't have anypony I would have to leave behind.

Oh, confound it all! Might I be trapped here forever? Starswirl will die one day, as will Clover and Kawblance... Surely, I might finally and successfully escape before then? I cannot stop trying. I cannot remain here for eternity. Those wards must fall, but what could fell them? Magic is touchy and complex, as it should be.

I will see Mother and Father again. There were clues in those years that I wandered, and I had so foolishly ignored them.

I stopped walking. Mother... I am starting to forget my mother, but not in the way that most do. The memories of her will never truly leave me, none of my memories do... but they blur and stray, becoming harder to reach but never impossible.

Resuming my trek again, I headed further into the forest. Tonight in my Grimoire I shall write all I remember of her. Nay, I shall carve her likeness in a tree. She would like that, she always loved trees, and I am certain that Starswirl has been snooping through my latest volume as he did with some of my previous ones.

I remember that Father always called her Lulu and how different her eyes always looked in the moon's light.

...

An angelic light radiated from the graceful colossus - at least when she was compared to me - that was my mother, only adding to the gentle feel of paradise in the cool stone halls elaborately carved as effortlessly as lace.

This was one of the rare moments before the travels that I was playing alone, something I took so much enjoyment in, although from foalhood onwards I was normally with my sister, though that did not make me her mirror. There was so much to hold my attention that I had little time for her, even when we walked together. I was but a wee tyke and stared up, watching as my mother's alabaster face smiled, a rare gesture from the regal mare, revealing the slightest bit of laugh-lines from long ago on her pale coat even though to a not-quite-filly like me she seemed ageless.

A warm breeze drifted by from the gardens outside the breezeway and I recall putting the kitten I was playing with down, even though he had been purring and clearly wanted my attention. How was I to ignore that?

Why were Mama's eyes worried?

"Do you know about Shadows, Luna?"

I gazed down at my faithful gray silhouette who never ceased with the irresistible rumble that just begged for one more pet. "We are unsure if you speak of the same shadows We are thinking of, Mama."

She chuckled, and her voice was like bells, soft and clear and with a sweeping gesture she sat down. Attempting to mirror her elegant gesture, I plopped down too, without any of her grace though, but I managed to sneak-pet my kitten, and the small victory was not ignored by either of us.

"A dear friend of Ours-" I called it, her mysterious 'friend' was always giving my mother advice, especially when it came to her visions. "-has reminded Us of the importance of educating you and your sister about Shadows."

"But not the kind that follow any of us around," I added in my most matter of fact tone.

"Exactly," she murmured, eyes distant as she tugged a piece of her luminous mane behind her ear in an almost nervous fashion. Very little made my mother anything more than slightly concerned, so what could make her worried of all things? It would have to be something... I do not know.

"Are these shadows mean, Mama? Will they steal Our butterscotch candies?"

As she spoke, the kitten, vying for attention, crawled into my lap and purred even louder. My will crumbled. I just had to pet him, and I did.

"Luna, these Shadows fall into two groups and nothing more: mean Shadows; you must stay away from them. Their hearts are a dreadful black darkness that mocks the glorious night with its evil notions and lack of Harmony. Every bit of them is merciless and will know no remorse. The second are good, they will be your guardians, your allies and your protectors. Despite their melancholy souls and pained lives, they will serve you more dutifully than any other below you, and that is a role that they will recognize. Mayhap you can bring them laughter."

The mist continued to march across her gaze.

"Mama, these Shadows sound like ponies and creatures of some kind," I said as I stroked the silver furred kitten whose fern colored eyes gazed into mine.

"They are, Luna, in some unfortunate ways they are. All of them are but some kind of demon."

"Mama, what if there is a Shadow who is not good or bad? Do they not exist as well?"

"Yes, my wise one, they do exist, We suppose." She sounded very little skeptical and was using the same tone that meant she was absolutely sure my sixteen cats and their babies could sing if I taught them and was extra nice and worked extra hard and ate all my vegetables. Any time that vegetables were brought up, I knew she was not telling me the whole truth because I do eat my vegetables, just not enough. Tia never eats hers.

"Do you think they have a sense of humor?"

"A Shadow with a sense of humor?" Her clouded eyes traveled to the window, watching as the sun set. Daddy must be tilting the axis of Midgard.

"Yeah, mayhap they tell jokes."

Her eyes lingered on me for a moment, no longer concerned for the orange-gold sun. "We do not think so, Luna. A Shadow like that would be a real rarity." I bet Shadows did not have to eat all their sister's vegetables when she was feeling 'sick'.

In a moment just as fluid as when she sat down, Mama rose in a single movement. Her curly tail seemed to sweep a protective circle around her.

"Mama, why are you not happy?"

"Luna, to-morrow your father and Us as well... we will be going on a trip... a long one out of our Everfree and you and Cellie... we need you to take care of yourselves after to-morrow, just for a while. And you will have to listen to your sister."

"Are you going on vacation like Aunt Corah and Uncle Ponn?"

She looked scared for a second, I could almost swear she was second guessing herself. "Yes Luna, we will be meeting up with them. There is something that We will need to be discussing with them."

"Can you bring Tia and I go see cousin Neptune?"

"No."

"What about Aunt Pani and Uncle Kami? Will they be there? Will Flora, Terra, and Fauna be able to come over and watch us both while you are gone? Terra was going to tell Us more stories and-"

"Yes, they will be there, and no you will not be able to see your other cousins. They are not between-aged anymore. So no foalsitting... they will be coming with us."

Why was she so frightened and even more serious than usual? Vacations are nice. It is not like you never see somepony who goes on a vacation.

"Luna, you will remember this, will you not? Not all Shadows are good."

I nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mama."

As she turned to leave, her face still set in a distant seriousness, I could not help but ask one more question. I loved to ask questions.

"Mama, you and Daddy will come back, right?"

She stopped walking but did not turn around.

"Luna, do not ask such a silly question. We have many more things to do, so be ready to say farewell to-morrow."

That was not what I wanted to hear.

...

That was one of the last memories I had of my mother. She had used my real name as well, not Starswirl's false name for me.

Banshee and I entered the clearing and I quickly trotted up to one of the ancient oaks, a rare sight amongst the evergreen.

Picking out the correct one, a knobby twisted tree, I whispered to it:

"Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight; when a-glow assist those who fight."

The runes hidden in the bark did not glow flashily but only hummed at the potency spell. For years now, I would come here and lay more layers of power enchantments to deepen the ability of the spell network I was weaving. To challenge myself, I would come up with complex spells, make my own alterations to runes, and do just about everything on my own. There was little to nothing to take pride in at the dreary Magicspire, but I was proud of my self-taught skill that enabled me to be a true prodigy, unlike Starswirl.

The ponies here, 'the three tribes' of this northern place were constantly feuding with pitiful militias that passed for armies, and it was only so that they might slaughter one another over imagined slights and other mortal folly. When I was younger, Starswirl would 'lend' me to the unicorn army for a hefty sum, so they might have one of 'Starswirl's Monsters' bound with an enchanted collar around her neck and fighting for them. The undying, unaging creature that was me, a filly they thought a beast, would stand out on empty plains in the silence before battle and know that she - that I was more than a foal-soldier, and unlike all the others of the Tribes, I would not end up a nameless face in stacks of emaciated skeletons that would be sloppily rolled into shallow pits of peat, at best.

If I had an army to myself, mine would be far from pitiful. My experiement here was based on the sights I had seen in those wars that were nothing short of an everyday and three way genocide that was hard to become used to, no matter how wrong it was - and I would not deny that. My sister saw the Court, and I saw battle.

This spell system would act almost as an 'army'. Obviously no ponies would be in it, nor would it have any equine shape, but it would be able to defend and fight for me at my command, but only in the most dire of circumstances. The mere armored brutes that pass for soldiers in this land would not stand against this well unless they were to grow intelligent and unite themselves, or something of the sort. The whole thing was still a work in progress.

Strange how so much was lost. These ponies have such a primitive culture. What exactly was the cause of them to take such backward strides? So much knowledge, inventions, tactics, crafts, art, music, maths, magics, and technology just seemed to... vanish, just as they did from the land that lies to the south.

Even the calendar system is changed. A night and a day used to be called a cycle but now are only referred to as 'days'.

'Solara' and I owe allegiance to no tribe. She wants to rule them for reasons she has never fully disclosed to me, but I suspect some of them, in part. I once brought up moving back south. Not only do they not know cardinal direction but the ponies here that do vaguely know this world even have a notion that the south was ravaged by unspeakable destruction and there are still others that say it does not even exist. I have been there, I was born there! 'Twas a lie!

'Solara' then told me to 'hold thine tongue', as she does quite often.

Even now nopony listens to me... yet, ponies will be ponies.

I add whatever trace of my mother my mother looked like that I can recall to the well etched runes and hold back tears. Meanwhile, Banshee is lolling his tongue out and makes a whimpering noise.

I can do this, I am an independent pony. None of 'Solara's' blathering about codependency is true, that has never been part of my nature. I really could try to leave without her, but she is my sister, and I just wish that she could come with me.

...

I emerged alone from the woods, Banshee still safe inside. I walked up the woodsy slopes until I came to the familiar clearing perched on a hill, Spire and all.

Outside in the surrounding yard of the Magispire, 'Solara' and Kawblance were engaged in a combat lesson with Starswirl overseeing it, when he really just needs an excuse to yell at ponies as they swing weapons at each other.

'Solara' was clearly frustrated that her barely dulled battleaxe was not striking anything. Kawblance could not perform any of the magics known to crystal ponies such as crystalkiniesis, which was something he had mentioned. He could however perform a limited amount of basic arcane spells.

I stepped into the perimeter, making little effort to conceal my woodsy exploit other than to brush pine needles from my thick fur-collared cloak, which was dotted with snow. Both duelers stopped. Kawblance's arcane aura-encircled dagger he wielded in his mouth lost all magical effects and reverted back to being a rusty piece of metal, and 'Solara' lowered her enormous battleaxe wrought with emblems of flame. Sol Ignis had always been too flashy.

Starswirl raised his head and gazed at me. "So the frivolous student, no better than a filthy mud-pony emerges."

I noticed a twig in my mane but didn't pull it out and firmly stood my ground trying to remain aloof, which was not too hard. I would not give him any satisfaction. Kaw who despite his earth pony appearance - the crystal ponies were reported, from what I knew, to glow like quartz and shine like crystal - took offense to this and spat at Starswirl's hooves before quickly dashing off to sulk somewhere, lest Starswirl strike him. He probably off to plan one of his sadistic excuses for a prank, which would distract him until he remembered Starswirl's anger - usually right when Starswirl had cornered him.

They always treated me like this! Starswirl with his typical unicorn racism towards all others, 'Lara with her vanity, and Kaw with his sadism and contempt that lacked all reason. I held Starswirl in contempt too, but it was not so wanton.

I unwillingly swallowed my anger: Soon 'Lara and I would graduate and be free to head back toward the south, I was sure of it. She would come with me this time, she just had to.

Feeling my anger rise despite the swallow, I knew I had to carefully choose my words. One of Clover's parables rang in my mind. The simple and homely sayings were mostly meant to tone down some of the darkness of the nature of these ponies and were some of the few things that she remembered about her family.

On occasion it is wise to guard thy tongue, lest around the neck a ring of rope be hung.

Sometimes I wish I could tell Clover a few of the secrets of the world that I have not forgotten. The ones that Starswirl will forever search in vain for. She isn't a bright mare in the least, but a good 'story' might cheer her up.

Is there really such a thing as to speak too little, like a mute?

Foolish question, of course there is. I should know better than anypony.

I am not mute.

Chapter 11: Anything but a Silent Night

View Online

When 'Solara' and I first came here, the heavens were imperfectly forced to rise each day by the weak magic of two thousand unicorns for the sun and two thousand more for the moon.

All these ponies perished, for they lacked more than just strength and skill. None of them would ever be able to withstand what no mortal could, or would ever. This sick routine was carried out as normal for many a year, and was ingrained as normalcy long before Solara and I ever arrived. Unicorn citizens were selected to perform the task in a sort of raffle of death, for they were all the slaves to the crown, and the crown were slaves to tradition. The upper classes could send servants in their place, as well as spouses and offspring. Yet, it was not as if their population suffered either, for these ponies produced enormous amounts of foals, and many died young.

We intervened and gained what Father called our cutie marks, but salvation for any was not to be.

...

"Papa, what are those marks you and Mama and all the ponies have called?"

The right side of my father’s mouth curved into a small smile. He was passing through one of our home’s softly-lit reading rooms and I was attempting to flutter into a large ivory-colored rocking chair, whose wood seemed to glow in the lantern glow and moon light. My feeble efforts at flight failed and I half-scrambled, half-jumped into the chair.

"Are you talking about a cutie mark, Luna?"

"Yes!" I quipped, adjusting my pose so I didn't sink into the chair, puffing my chest out like some of the castle cats did whenever they showed I pride I wished to have for myself.

"Well, Luna," said my father, smiling easily as he often did, "These are the marks that ponies get. It marks their calling, and for some, on a deeper level it marks who the pony is. It can even represent something that the pony - or Alicorn - can do that none do the same way, and makes them very special."

I squinted and twitched my muzzle, which itched from some book-dust and the fact that I was still only a wee little filly and had a bit of a tough time wrapping my mind around such concepts from time to time, and though I loved things like reading, I was at the age where I would still stumble over many words in books.

"Can one draw these things, Papa? Make a fake symbol?"

"False marks are dangerous, Luna, they change who you are and make you live a lie."

"Like a really mean mask? 'Cause they have false faces and nopony can see past them sometimes. Oh, oh! And they get stuck!"

"How curious a thing! Mean masks? Or might it just be a frightening one?" A third voice had joined us followed by my older sister, pink mane bobbing elegantly with her silky steps. She had begun to let it grow longer, as she liked it. Although she was only about seven mortal years in mental and physical age, she thought herself the pearl of the palace, rivaled only by our parents, since there were no others here, unless family visited.

"Tia, sit next to Us!" I called, patting the spot next to me on my temporary throne.

She crossed the room with her smooth-silk steps and silently curled her tail around her legs as she found the straight backed pose she loved and used to impress everypony.

Immediately, she assumed Social Act: raised eyebrow, thoughtful mouth, and swiveled ears with her side-curl embracing her cheek like a question mark and waiting for anypony to tell her what was happening and continue the conversation - she would join in almost any conversation, even if it was one I thought was boring!

"We cannot believe our ears, Papa! Mean masks? There is no mask that is alive, it is just scary, correct? Are these the latest culprits that stole Luna's sweets, or are these just her wild stories? What will happen next, shall the moon collapse into the planet like an overgrown comet and the sun truly smile upon our world?"

"No, Tia we were just talking about cutie marks," replied Father with a roll of his eyes. My 'wild stories' were not appreciated by anypony, but Tia would always listen to them, even if she liked to interrupt and remind me that owls were not likely going to fight us in battle at dusk, or that dragons did not often wear armor, and that my stories had a curious lack of what she called 'the good ponies and the bad ponies'.

"Why do you and Mama call them that?" I had assumed Curious Act: wide eyes, cocked head, and one ear lazily flopping downward as if napping in my mane, which was bobbed, soft, and blue.

"Luna it would be hard for you and you sister to obtain marks something other than cute."

"We want Ours to be powerful!"

"Celestia, marks are not all about power, they are about who you are." Father was using Serious Voice. This meant we had to pay attention to what he was saying or 'Stop eating so many gosh-darned cookies, Luna!'.

I placed my silent vote on the former.

"Yes, Papa," Tia murmured, magenta eyes gleaming with a feeling I could not place. Maybe she realized now that her wish was not a very good one? Power does not sound like something that would describe me. I think I am a good storyteller, so it could be that.

Father got up, his dark coat gleaming with the galaxies shining behind him. He nodded, and with a serious 'remember what was discussed’ look, he left, leaving Tia and I amongst the books. I quickly began thinking about which one I wanted to read and started surveying the shelves from my throne.

She turned to me, her eyes now gleaming eagerly like a cat near a stream brimming with fish. "What do you want your mark to be, sister?"

My mark? The symbol that would tell my story to all who saw it. An eternal representation of who I was. My story

...my story...

I was even sure who I was, did I not have to be taller for that? The very thought of destiny scared me like timberwolves, maybe even more, for at least I could face a timberwolf. Destiny was big, ambiguous, and erratic to me then. Though sometimes I still felt as if it was like a blank sheet of parchment to me, if it existed. Destiny sounded a lot like somepony writing your story for you, and I do not think that was possible. It sounded make-believe.

Tia's eyes were very hungry for their answer by now while I sat here chewing on my lip the entire time. It did not taste like cookies, and that made me sad.

"We are unsure Tia, of what Our mark would be..."

She rolled her eyes nonchalantly and left the room, calling back to us: "Luna sometimes you can be such a baby!"

We are unsure, Tia, of what the future holds. It is very long, and I do not think even the dreams that you and I have could map all of it.

It was that night that I dreamed of two evil green eyes unlike any known to me, laughing in many voices. Nopony was there to save me as I ran screaming from a void-scape into a shadowed place far in the distance. The shadow might be able to help me. What might the shadow-place hold, tricks or treats?

Tia dreamed of endless foreign soil as far as the eye could see, which sounded like there was something wrong. Were there no trees? Or anything? Ponies and other creatures did not live everywhere, and that was okay. It would not be nice if they did, but Tia loved ponies and it seemed strange for her not to dream of a single one.

Unlike Tia, the next morning I did not tell Father and Mother what I had dreamt.

Dreams should never come true, never ever. They should stay dreams, or some things should. I hope they did not come true. Please?

...

...Although here it seems these marks were dismissed as nothing, their real names forgotten by both these equines and us. Father had always used foal-names for them, like cutie mark. We were forced into apprenticeship with Starswirl, for what is tremendous power without control and education? At least that is what the Court said, and We are still skeptical, because they said more than that before they had us sold like candy to the greedy sorcerer, who was quite young then.

He dubbed us with false and unfitting names then brought us to the prison he called home where we learned books and techniques of the arcane by heart and suffered outside. We were confined by the beastly weather and one of the fractured spells from Starswirl's mysterious 'master work': The Forbidding Rune. It forced us, despite all our ability, to be confined in this valley with only rare occasions of supervised escape, and only made his many wards and other barriers strong enough to hold us back, for Solara and I were still vastly untrained and needed form over power... something I had to learn on my own.

We miss freedom. Or at least, I do.

One 'day' I will fly far away. Maybe south. Maybe east. Maybe to the heavens. I will fly alone, for I fear that Celestia will be as lost as Mother and Father, but I cannot tarry forever.

My guilt will eat me alive for all these injustices 'till I only see the countless demons behind my eyes, for I hear that is where demons are - they are part of some shadow.

Perhaps it is life who feasts on me, I cannot say. Is it unusual to feel guilty for the crimes of others? I am surrounded by these guiltless and corrupt things, and I feel the remorse of it all.

...

What a dreadful 'lesson'. For my so-called 'idle behavior' I was forced to be 'Lara's training dummy.

Again.

She always puts her full force and blinding power into her magic and combat, like she was the sun and meant to outshine us. The sun is not gentle, nor is she. Thankfully, I am light on my hooves and escape most of her blasts, though her axe swings never seem to hit me as hard as her skill intends, and I find some surprise in that.

I purposely hide my the true extent power and magics and what I have taught myself. I mean only truth, but despite our training Sol-Celestia still seems rather poor at magic compared to me, she only burns brightly. Starswirl and the other rulers , when the other ruler-ponies visit that is, call her The Light Most Powerful, Fairest of All just by looking at her!

Yes, I fake weakness and if needed, complete incompetence, because something very colossally wrong, amongst other things, is going on here and always has, but the other monarchs have never even seen her magic!

I give a frustrated sigh and swallow another ton of anger, continuing to drag my magic-singed coat and axe scathed form up the narrow stairs, dragging my cloak and blade, fine Quicksilver, with me.

Celestia is lucky I do not scar on the outside, or I might crack like bones on a pyre - a sight I have seen little of, in war, while all stand around me with hollow eyes.

Through the halls I gaze wearily at the empty libraries, armory, kitchen, storage rooms, and studies before passing the two chambers before my own: those of Starswirl and Celestia.

Before passing these I had slipped my berry-pouch with its worn wyrm-scale exterior under Kawblance's bedding and concealed it as best I could lest Starswirl confiscate it. Kaw has not eaten or drank anything in nigh fifty 'days' yet was deprived of the evening meal for his spitting. It is not exactly as if he is good at stealing food, either. I am the best at that but Starswirl is all-knowing when it comes to the food caches, and as cruel as Kaw appears, I do not want him to starve. Maybe he might not be as bad as I think? Just because I do not like ponies, does not mean I wish to harm them.
I flop down on my simple bed of my homely chamber and gazed out at the stars through the open air window. Sometimes I wished I could stay up later to fly and chart stars, maybe even to do something other than wait for a chink in this armor.

But sleep is a must. If I don't sleep then I might grow weaker. If I am weaker I cannot fight. I cannot wait. I need more then strength of spirit to keep my alive.

Survival is something that takes gumption, intelligence, spirit, luck, sleep and more than enough hope.

But to fly again... to go out at night.

All the campfires we had... where the stars hung everywhere echoing our laughter... and our tears.

Night is just unloved now, just as I am.

My thoughts turn to my mother and father yet distantly cling to me. They loved me, wherever they are and I repay them by having their presence weaken in my mind... what did they look like? It takes longer to remember, even if I never forget.

What has become of my beloved parents?

What will become of me?

I want to scream. I wanted to scream this and everything to the sky until the stars fell out of their places and blood ran in my throat until my eyes glowed with pure magic. Until the world lost all balance, until my sister heard this plight, until my mane turned as yellow as her sun in the chaos and I glowed like the stars who seemed to be my only kin these days as anger festered with something and everything more.

I wanted to right all these wrongs: find my family, find the others. Sometimes it seems that the world I knew for such a short time is as far away as my star-kin. I did not want this world to be gone though, it held its own majesty beneath all this hate and torture.

But did I really have to choose?

I gritted my teeth, forcing everything back down my throat as I pulled the homespun blankets, as rough as this land, over my head so nopony would hear me cry.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Outside, a mournful wolf cry emerged from the night and I knew my Banshee was crying with me.

Me, the Filly of the Apocalypse, The New Age Princess.

The Last Alicorn.

Chapter 12: Hunter and the Hunted

View Online

"What is this?!" screamed a shrill voice.

Instantly battle ready, I popped out of bed like sparks out of a fire and grabbed my sword. Kaw was at it again. Same mood. Same whiny colt. Different catalyst.

Starswirl and Celestia had left the valley some nights ago to visit Clover at the Unicorn Court. She had gotten a position as an advisor to the unicorn princess, which was Starswirl's way of boasting that he tossed her away as a hoofmaiden. This left me and Kaw as the only two equines in this ward-trapped valley.

I walked down the stairs as quickly as possible, keeping my sword ready in case he tried to pull one of his self-proclaimed 'pranks'. After going down a few floors, I came to what was designated as Kaw's chamber according to the... rabbit blood... smudged all over the door. Celestia found the side of him that found such fun in cutting apart smaller creatures on a whim to be evil, and I stayed away, knowing that something far worse could lurk below the surface, even though Kawblance would have no idea how to use it.

Inside was a large abandoned room riddled with cobwebs and a large but useless fireplace which already had a few stones missing.

"What is it that you called me for?" I asked, keeping my voice natural and my expression unreadable.

A sooty colt stood in the middle of the floor, tapping his hoof like mad and wearing a ragged excuse for a robe that resembled what happens when you take fire, blade, and weathering to a flour sack - and it had been just that before. It hung on his thin frame and the rag-belt it was tied with swung in the cold air of the unforgiving tower. His raging brown-red eyes bored into my still form, framed by a tangled mane which was probably never brushed since he had come here. He cut short whenever he could, however painful it was and using whatever he could. Since he never even dared to do anything but drink from a pool of water, he was very filthy and I knew that he had lice often.

Unlike normal, his scrappy robe was covered in an icky purple sludge that was also smeared across his 'bed' - nothing more than an old poorly made box with old flour and burlap sacks and other useless cloth scraps.

Further angered by the silence, in which I had given him plenty of time to respond, he gritted his teeth and screamed in his ever cracking voice: "Well, woods-witch, what do you think?! Somepony ruined this sorry excuse for a bed!"

I remained still but also tried to deduce the source of the stain, which would be little trouble if I could focus. Kaw only got like this when he cannot get his hooves on some creature to maul. I knew he ate birds - not their eggs, but the birds themselves. It was disgusting.

My best bet was to avoid being a catalyst for him to suddenly lash out. My mouth sank into a slight analytical frown as I cast a glance between him and the crate. "We are both young adults... why do we not try to work this out maturely?"

It was true that in this society we would both be considered adults. If we were not already wards, that is. Ten winters old was when one was considered old enough to work a fief, rot in a hut, be drafted, be sold into marriage, and pay the nobility taxes.

He snickered and rolled his eyes with a mocking look, brown eyes burning with something disturbing. "Don't contort your features like that, Black-heart, unless you wish to be mistaken for a monster."

As quickly as he could move, he stood up on the tips of his hooves and moved his face mere inches from my own and whispered, flicking his brown-eyed gaze down to my wings. "...Not that you already aren't."

His twisted and highly informal contractions hit me like stones along with the insult as he stumbled before sauntering back to his former pose, gaunt face leering at me. I allowed myself to cough from his foul breath and then I grew flustered, for what pony would not be offended at being mocked by what should be, and is nothing more than a foal?

"Do not go there! Keep your petty remarks to yourself." It was anything but petty. I was already viewed as a monster, and my sister a tamed beast that could be shown about the Court at will. To have the audacity to knowingly term another a monster was no mere slight, even if it was not the worst that could be said of somepony.

His mouth twitched upward in a cruel smile at the knowledge he had preyed on another’s insecurities. Then, I swiped a wing-tip through the grime and brought it closer to my eyes.

Kaw's small grin vanished and turned into an almost inquisitive gaze, followed by a annoyed snort. "Well privy-eyes, what is it?" His tone was as bratty as ever.

I would have bitten my lip and held my tongue. I should have bitten my lip and held my tongue. "Our berries..."

How could I have been so loose in thought?! Such a stupid mistake! I made such an effort to conceal the berries from Starswirl that I ruled out the fact that Kaw might squish them. As awkward as it was to do so, I guiltily looked over to him. "We are sorry..." I choked out, growing nervous as he slowly began to go back to appearing angered, but foolishly so. "These are Our berries, and We meant..."

There it was: gaunt face etched into a look of stomach churning rage, eyes shining with his partially buried sadism I knew him to be capable of. Mouth tugged somewhere between a scream of rage and a wicked grin.

"Foolish witch!" he screamed as best as a pony his age could. "Stupid chant-uttering outcast! You use your brewing components to ruin the only cloak and bed that I own! You think Starswirl will let me mend these?!"

"We are not a witch," I whispered practically tasting the wrath I felt coming from him.

The small bit of joy he seemed to coddle a minute before was gone, replaced by his sharp tongue and mountains of rage, pure, pure rage.

"Oh yes you are! Worse than those siren-creatures the 'ever-so-powerful' Starswirl dealt with! You are a monster!"

I broke. In my rage, my wings shot out, ready for flight and exposing my sword whose silver body I had so carefully concealed, tucked under my wing and stored in a simple sheath.

"DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THOSE MONSTERS!"

Unfazed, he snickered evilly. "So, demon mare, what are you going to do about? Seduce me like those serpent-ponies?" He ran his tongue across his teeth. My stomach dropped and I shuddered.

NO. That was the limit, to think I had even attempted to be civil to him.

"SHUT UP!"

I grabbed my readied sword and jumped, catching him by surprise and bludgeoning him. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

He rolled out from under me where I had pinned him, jumped up and bit my ear. "Ow-w-w-w!"

I flipped around and bucked him against wall and put in a slice with my sword. He groaned a bit before he quickly rubbed the deep cut on his cheek. As his hoof touched the blood, a violent gleam filled his eyes. For a brief moment, our gazes were locked until he broke the connection and spit out a tooth.

"I hope you enjoy cuts just as much as I do," he whispered.

I prepared to bash him back against the wall and strike him off guard in his stomach with the blunt edge of my sword. He anticipated the strike and dodged then stumbled over to the fireplace and grabbed a poker in his mouth, attempting to perform a heavy slam into me.

Wrong move.

Both of us were lightweight ponies, although I was the larger. Though he was taller than the average foal but shorter than an adult whereas I was taller than an average adult, even if I was not full-grown. He was not balanced or swift like I was.

I jumped and angled my wings and did a flying flip, kicking off the wall to propel myself and shooting over towards the open window, standing poised and ready on its frame.

Lifting the poker higher, he shifted his weight into what he believed would be a successful strike. When he came close enough, neck raised as clumsily he tried to manage the heavy piece of metal with his mouth, I did a few flying summersaults, nimbly gliding over him and angling my blade so the blunt side of my sword would push him out of the fourth story window.

It worked, and there was a look of shock in his eyes as he tripped and then was pushed out - a brief note of panic in his eyes as he screamed and screamed, falling farther and farther.

Biting my lip, I stuck out my tongue to test the wind before leaping out the window.

It almost felt like fall gust in this cold land.

My blade was aimed perfectly as I folded my wings into a hawk-like dive before I glided downwards near the third story to catch the falling Kawblance.

He was about halfway down when my teeth grasped his robe's collar causing the outer part to tear as I flipped him onto my back. To 'fix' this, I shifted into a barrel roll and tilted sideways and let the panicked colt slip off again before diving down and catching him and tossing him once more on my back. Under his cloak was a ripped and ragged shirt that was too big for him, and yet it was not nearly as dirty as the rest of him. He likely wore it for warmth, and it looked finer than anything Starswirl owned.

I flew towards the Magicspire's stone brick walls and slammed him against it. Kaw screamed and I tossed him up again and let him fall. He attempted to holler out a spell. This time, I let him get within eighteen feet of the ground before darting downward and grabbing him between my front hooves in a way that prohibited movement.

"Gotcha," I taunted

He was out of breath and wheezing, quivering like mad, and very beat up. His eyes were as large as saucers and frozen with shock.

I tilted his shaking form downward and forced him to look at the clearing below, darkened by the spire's piercing shadow. I dropped him again before swooping down and catching him once more, then yet another time, this time even faster. Kaw screamed as if all Tartarus was let loose.

At six feet, I drove him into the ground.

Dusting off, I poised my blade at his throat and glared down at him. Kaw drew up as best he could in his present condition. I looked him in the eye harder as if daring him to do anything and saw... shock, fear, and a sickening awe. Not at me, but at the violence I had displayed.

My stomach churned and I seemed to shrink as the realization hit me like a gale hits a lone bird. I almost killed a pony. A colt no less, and outside of any war. I found myself breathing heavily eyes widening I nervously backed toward the North Woods, throat dry and contracting.

Kawblance stood as still as stone, some buried amusement emerging as the right corner of his mouth tugged upward.

I am a monster. I almost murdered somepony. This was not a soldier's deed.

A voice from the west was followed by quickening hoofsteps.

"WHAT HAS OCCURRED HERE?!" Starswirl shouted as he approached, glaring from Kawblance to me.

By the stars...

I was hyperventilating now. Celestia was not with him but he seemed to possess enough confusion for two entities, after all, I had never demonstrated combat of this kind in training. The only time I had ever shown such strength was in the woods where nopony watched. I had only shown just enough of an inclination toward it that Starswirl thought it right to sell me like a fat pig is sold. A warpig, if you will. A child soldier. The prowess I displayed in magical and physical combat there was subtle, and Starswirl and the Court never got any word of it, as I wished and ensured.

As if by a miracle, my heart began to beat even faster.

What have I done?

I really am a monster.

My choked voice came out as a stuttering whisper as my eyes leaked out tears.

"W-we-we ar-are so-sorry..."

A look so horrifying deepened in Starswirl's merciless eyes.

In the woods, wolf howls acted as the chorus of a mournful melody. Although when my ears swiveled back, one voice emerged clearer than all the others.

Banshee.

I did the only thing I knew. I ran into the woods faster than these two could even blink, my sobbing blending with the melancholy tune.

Nopony would find me. Nopony could save me.

But perhaps somepony - my sister - could join me in time, after all, good things come to those who wait. My choked cries turned into screaming laughter, as the forest's shadows embraced me, swallowing me up.

Chapter 13: Black Hearts and Wolf Blood

View Online

For the first time in hours, I looked up from the Runic Journals. The entries in the second book stopped after Selene's wrote her third entry, and there was no explanation was given to why. All the pages that followed were simply blank and aged, as if I was the only pony who'd touched them in all these years.

The hat was very quiet and perfect for reading. It was almost like Sombra had never existed. Sombra! Where was he?!

"Sombra?" I called, pressing my face to the crystal window.

No reply of course, but it looks like we were still moving.

Well, I could always read the third book... and just ignore him. It might be one of the only chances I have before this is all over and I'm safe at home, with my friends. I'll be sure to tell the princess about all the horrible things that he's been up to.

Hmm, books or Sombra. What a difficult choice. I curled up in the chair I had been sitting, fitting myself back into the Twilight Sparkle-shaped groove I had made.

My magenta aura brought the third book, which really fit the description of ancient-looking, to rest on my forelegs. The runes were scratchy and weren't as legible as the previous journals but still clear enough for me to read the thoughts of the one they called Kawblance, who would have been writing with his mouth.

...

Brutal! Bloodthirsty! Pure evil! Who knew 'Lene could be so sadistic? Sure it's not very nice being in so much pain, but wow... I can respect a deed that cruel. I want to do something like that myself and more, more, more! She has silly magic powers and I want magic too! Starswirl's always talking about how unicorns are the master race and blah blah blah and something about trying to cut the brains of the earth ponies and pegasai out. I've only met a pegasus once 'cause the Empire doesn't have a lot of them.
Their wings would be so fun to break - like bird wings but better! I want to break them.
I think I remember Starswirl talking about how he tried to cut out 'Lene's brains once, which would have been really, really cool except this was before I came here and stupid prissy 'Lara stopped him. I wonder how much she got hit for that - Starswirl probably wouldn't have settled for anything less than trying to hit her over the head with a shovel for a stunt like that - he's tried to do it to me before, when he's drunk and stuff. I'm not sure if the story's even true. Doing something to protect 'Lene doesn't sound like anything that 'Lara would do. I wish she'd hurt ponies in less snobby ways and more bloody ones.
But it was amazing, what 'Lene! She, the funny speaker like 'Lara attempts murder then runs into the woods. If it weren't me that was at the bad end, I'd have wish that she'd succeeded. Or even better, if I had been the one to kill somepony.
I wish I could kill others like that... I'm working on it, though. Killing pretty mares like 'Lara would be really, really fun... gosh, I can just imagine it. Oh, and even though 'Lene's a stupid weird freak, she's not super ugly, right? Like, she's not hideous even if she's just... she's dumb and boring, yeah, as well as not-pretty, but I'd still kill her too. And stallions. And Starswirl. And I want super magic powers, so once I start I won't stop.

...

I can't believe that nopony has found her yet, even after three months. 'Lara is still attending the Unicorn Court which means I get plenty of time to myself.

Starswirl doesn't care one bit for me, and the old coot does not even teach me anything like he promised. He has an almost endless amount of books. One of them is mine now. I've had it since I was nine, which was when I got here... and Starswirl was lying! He's just like everypony else. They're always lying and calling me whiny and telling me that I'm disturbed when I'm not around and that everything's my fault. They're super stupid. I'm not really smart because being really smart is stupid, but I'm not going to listen to ponies that are obviously lying. They always lie, right? I lie all the time too, but I'm pretty sure it's sure. I don't know.

The book is really magical. Every time I open it the title and content will change, although if I wanted to I could go back and re-read parts, but I like new things better. The book always makes them addicting, really addicting, so I never read anything twice - that sounds dumb anyway. If I've already read something, I'm not going to read it again. It's hard to get rid of books after you read them too, but Starswirl would never let me get away with burning them here - that's what I used to do at the orphanage. I didn't even like the fire, just that I was hurting somepony and that something dumb was being destroyed. Why'd they teach me how to read anyway? This is the only interesting thing I've read, so maybe I could have just waited for it to teach me?

Today the book is teaching me how to change my appearance. It's neat, I guess, because I could do all sorts of horrible things with this if I was a unicorn - and I really want to be a unicorn - but sometimes I wish that this would be easier.

Outside of hurting ponies, everything's kind of... really... unnecessary. I'm really good at just slipping into something when I do it. I don't feel like the idiot ponies tell me I am. Some ponies say you can read other ponies, but you can't and that's dumb because they aren't books or letters, which can be read. But, I know everything about hurting ponies, and pulling them apart - and other animals. I know how to scare them, control them through pain, keep them in line, and abuse them. I think that's what this book is really helping with.

An hour later, Starswirl stomps down from the upper floors and I gingerly slip the book away into an empty nook, where a brick in the fireplace used to be. Instantly, it shrinks and its blackish color lightens to a gray. If I hadn't put it there, I would have thought it was a brick - it's that good.

"Quit your idle behavior! I have to go and look for that wild runaway, and I will not have the chimney this filthy!" He passed me the chimney sweeping brush, impatiently waiting for me to take it.

"I can't sweep anything, I have a broken wither!" I explained, voice cracking a ton. Did he think my 'skirmish' with 'Lene resulted in no injury?!

Starswirl's eyes flared. "OH, YES YOU WILL!" He cracked me over the head and before I even had time to adjust my sling and I was encased in a teleportation spell of his.

Is it really a wonder that I think murder is therapeutic? It's more than that, too.

The again, isn't it our hobbies that relax us the most? And I want to turn my hobby into my life.

...

Great. Where better to teleport the colt with a broken wither then, I don't know... the roof?!

The Magicspire didn't have a very steep roof, so I was lucky there, and with all the soot on my coat all I had to do was creep over to the edge of the tower's roof and wait in an awkward crouch until Starswirl left. A few minutes later, I saw his form leave.

Perfect.

Once he was gone, I climbed up to the chimney and pulled out a small box hidden there among the dirty bricks. In it were the only things I had: my book which teleported here, a white shirt from the Empire that was too big for me that I wore when it was really cold, and a string of rough gem pieces, a small twinkling sapphire in the center. Those two objects were the only clues I had to who the mangy curs my parents were. I'd had the necklace and shirt for as long as I could remember, and oh the things I remember. The ponies in the Crystal Empire were all horrible, and not in a good way like me. They hurt me, I know the did, and I was going to hurt them for it. I wouldn't quit, not now, not ever!

There was so much soot on my coat, the original color was almost impossible to make out, which was a rather sharp contrast to the untouched state of these objects. Once, during a portrait the Ever So Stuffy Starswirl commissioned, I was able to get most of the soot off with the exceptions of a few patches. That was a year ago.

Reluctantly, I put my things away and lowered myself into the ashy maw of the chimney, which acted as my passage through the tower.

When I find my parents, I will kill them.

And I will enjoy it more than anything ever.

...

Screams exploded from the woods hours later: an angry shout followed by a heartbroken shriek and the howl of a wolf. Eagerly wanting to see what happened, I slid down the chimney, which was unbroken by fireplaces by whatever stupid architect built this place, or maybe it was Starswirl himself, in which case, super stupid. At the main floor I found Starswirl clutching a bloody sword in his aura. He threw down the broken corpse of a white wolf whose yellow eyes were hollow and glassy with death. I'd seen that look hundreds of a lot of times in all the animals I bothered to leave intact in death.

"Curse those animals!" he shouted to nopony in particular. Maybe if I was lucky he'd ignore me and get some ale from the basement and just start drinking. I might be able to run and hide, then. I'm really good at those things - running and hiding. Then, if I'm doubly super-lucky, he'll be too confused to remember much about what happened yesterday and won't beat me when he finds me. Or he'll get worse...

I turned around and backed toward the fireplace from where I came. He always does this and I wouldn't let him catch me, especially since I still hadn't recovered from 'Lene's beating or my 'trip' to the woods.

The echoes of Starswirl's screams climbed higher as I inched upward through the sooty, sooty, hollow. He couldn't get me in here, so I should be fine after waiting a few hours. I hate waiting.

"That wolf let her get away!"

Away? 'Lene found a way out? But how...?

So it is possible. There is a possibility of escape. Well then, it seems as if things have changed. Soon Ol' Starswirl will see his mistakes. I'll kill him. I'll be the last sight he'll ever see.

But everything takes time, including murder, and patience isn't a very familiar concept to me. Though this will all be worth it. I grinned wickedly in this dark recess and whispered to nopony but myself.

"It's such a crime isn't it?"

Chapter 14: Shadows of All Kinds

View Online

Frustrated at another short journal, I picked up the first one—Solara's—once more and browsed through it, skimming through the script hoping to gather some more information about anything: my destination, the fates of these apprentices, what the mentioned wards do, and more importantly: any shred of knowledge relating to... Sombra-swirl, the umm... Currently Not Bearded.

Spike was always better with nicknames...

Solara's journal described the Unicorn Court of Princess Platinum and how Selene showed up and got in a fight with said princess, who seems to be the favored acquaintance of this Solara. Despite her lack of any kind of humility, I felt that her accounts of what was happening all those years ago were likely the best, and read on about how Selene was betrayed to Starswirl by Solara, but it seems that something went wrong and-

"Purple Eyesore," a voice hissed.

I looked up from the book, immensely disappointed to see its source. "What is it, Sombra?"

He glared down at me, no different from his normal, irritated state. "Get up, get out, put that hat on, and fly to your precious northeast as fast as possible and do something for once, you lazy Lavender Lardball."

I pushed all the books onto the table and got up as the beautiful chair vanished. "As if Purple Eyesore wasn't enough, but couldn't you at least use those controls over there," I nodded over to the levers near the crystal. "They're bound to be useful for-"

"I think it is pretty obvious that neither of us know how those work, and while I think killing you is an excellent decision, I'd rather live through this."

Did he have to interrupt everything? He was certainly a lot like the Starswirl that Selene and Kawblance liked to go on about: abusive and cruel.

"We could just try to use one button and figure out-"

"No time. Now, get out." If I didn't know him better, I'd almost think that there was urgency in his tone.

"Why? What's wrong-?"

Sombra gritted his teeth and lit up his horn. "You're what's wrong."

I started to object: "What is that supposed-"

A brief flash of magic startled me and soon I found myself shivering out in the snow, a few bits of dried apple pie clinging to my mane, and possessing an overwhelming desire to scream as I stared down at my hat.

I. Hate. You.

But to my horror, I was not alone.

I wasn't sure what it was, exactly. A small curl of some sort of black smoke that seemed to hover about aimlessly a few lengths in front of me.

It seemed to 'see' me and began to crackle with frighteningly familiar purple aura streaks. As it drew closer I could see it did not have a shadowy appearance, but that of a darkness I could not see through; a void.

Gulping, I lifted my hat onto my head and took off at full speed towards the northeast, my gaze panicked as I forced myself to focus on what was in front of me and trying not so scream, my nerves prickling and ears roaring with blood.

What was that? Why was it there? Did somepony send it? Something?! Wait... more importantly, why was Sombra so startled by it? It was almost as if he knew what it was...

So, it seems we would have something to talk about, as I'm just dying to play interrogation with him again because that went so well last time, I thought with a huff as the north's endless snow hit the parts of my coat that remained exposed.

I didn't slow down until it felt as if I had properly distanced myself from that thing, and I came to a small hill where I decided it would be wise to stop.

"See how much easier this would have been if you had just listened to me like a good little Purple Eyesore? You listen to Celestia without question, so I don't see why you wouldn't follow me without a second thought either, brown muzzle."

I turned around and tried not explode. "Oh, it's just you," I muttered with an awkward laugh.

Oh, Celestia just make it stop. Please. Super pretty please with books on top. With books!

Sombra just gave a casual shrug at my antics, clearly as apathetic as ever. The journals were poking out of a bag slung across his saddlepack.

"Not that it would have mattered much, Purple Eyesore, but you almost got yourself killed. Is that a hobby of yours now? I highly encourage it, if that's any consolation. Maybe I can even assist you in it since we're just the best of friends now."

Just pretend that he never said that. "Why do you think that it didn’t follow us?"

Sombra did not even look worried anymore, just pure, pure apathy from him and another shrug.

"...Maybe it has cacti for brains," he muttered. "Or it could have been as repulsed by you as I am."

Now that we were far from whatever that was, there was a question that had been gnawing at me that I considered far more important: Why was he so cruel to his apprentices?

Sombra was squinting back from where I came as if the snow-blotted horizon had an answer he was searching for. "It bothers me that we encountered that particular kind of dark magic out here... this stuff isn't exactly natural."

"Of course you would know that," I huffed, beginning to march in the only direction that seemed to matter anymore: northeast.

For once Sombra didn't show any objection, but he also didn't show anything else either.

Through the wind and cold I did overhear something he muttered that seemed directed to nopony but himself:

"...I thought I was the only one..."

Whatever that meant.

...

The sun burned high in the sky, but much of its warmth was lost and its light source not so clear in our conditions. There was little to watch but the sky, as it seemed clear that the smoke thing was no longer a problem.

Although Sombra definitely was. This might be the last chance I had to get any information out of him. In her letter I recalled Cadance mentioning that she got him to be decently sociable during the time they walked.

Perhaps it was worth a shot.

"Are there different types of dark magic?" I queried.

Sombra didn't flinch at the sudden break in the pattern. "Don't get any ideas, Purple Eyesore. So far all of them have turned out to be terrible."

"Yeah, and who do you think will listen to yours? They're the product of a madpony."

Another shrug. "Yes."

I looked at him and tilted my head to the side. "Yes to which one?"

"Both. Although I'd like to point out the obvious that even the pink one comes up with better ideas then you; and everypony around here seems to think you should be the smart one. Plus, if you haven't noticed that I'm insane by now, you should be dead. I can arrange that if you'd like-"

"No! I do not want to you to kill me, but thank you for the generous offer. Could you please just tell me about dark magic?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why should I? There's no reason for me to, and I can't exactly say I want to, if that wasn't already obvious."

Wait... is he really going to do this? "You tried to kill me at least twice. I think you owe me."

Sombra seemed to choke on stifled laughter. "So you think I have any kind of ethics, and that if I did, I'd play along with your lesser ones even if I had nothing to gain? That's beyond every level of ignorance you've shown so far, I would think."

"Well, you haven't denied it yet and that comment could imply that you do have one..."

"Yes, I am clearly the Right-Honourable Lord Sombra, Former Benevolent King of the Crystal Empire. They loved me so much they couldn't keep me," he snickered.

"Tyrant jokes aren't funny," I mumbled.

"You aren't funny," he retorted effortlessly.

I let loose a dramatic and exasperated sigh as we kept at our steady pace toward distant mountains. "Could you please just tell me about dark magic? I'm dying to know about it."

"Fine, I've got nothing to lose, but on one condition."

"Oh great, what is it this time?"

He smirked. "Keep dying."

...

"You aren't a stranger to dark magic, are you?"

Okay, it seems he was taking things seriously. "No, I'm not. I've seen the stuff before, but whatever you have seems to be stronger than all the others, and more complete, if that makes any sense."

The snow around us thankfully was not forming a blizzard, although a few breezes swirled bits around into a dancing funnel every now and then, streaking across the hills.

"So you're only interested in the form I use?" he asked me suspiciously.

"Yes?"

Almost as quick as the suspicion emerged it seemed to dissipate, or maybe Sombra concealed it. I tried not to give him too much thought. "Well, out of all the varieties of dark magic I've dealt with, I call this one 'corrupting' for reasons that are probably obvious. It is ridiculously powerful, and although it can be stopped in the advancement process, it is irreversible past a certain point. Physical signs include altered aura, horn shape, removal of mark, creation of another persona, etc."

"Any examples?"

His hoof met his face. "Why do I even bother? Me, Purple Eyesore. I'm an example."

"You know that it does sound like most of that was recited from a book."

"Well maybe it was," Sombra grumbled sharply. "And who said that I even had to tell you the truth about dark magic? I could just as easily feed you stories and fancy, and you'd have no way to tell the difference."

He wouldn't... would he?

...

We were back to silence, though my mind now had a new question that begged for attention: So, based on what I've heard, Starswirl and Sombra were two different ponies?

As dusk approached streaking oranges and soft blues across the sky, I began to look around hoping to find any sign of life other than myself. At this point I didn't even count Sombra.

For a moment, Sombra stopped walking and froze for a moment before whirling around with his sword drawn and signs of smoke from his eyes.

"Did you feel that?" he hissed, eyes wide as they scanned everything about the land.

A low rumbling tremor echoed through the ground, causing the ice to shake furiously as a strange mist mixed with the blizzard suddenly swirling around us, like the stuff of legends.

Sombra cursed. "What?! I can't fathom it! How did this happen, and why now?"

An icy blast of wind hit me hard, ruffling my feathers. Out of fear, my body temperature seemed to plummet. "What was that?"

Sombra's horn began to light up with a purple mass of dark aura. "That was a ghost tremor. We now have a vengeful spirit after us thanks to whoever was foolish enough to summon it, and I know it was you. Any denial you make is just evidence against you, and from now on 'you live only by my hoof' applies more than ever."

He looked up at his horn with a look on concentration and the aura gathered itself into a floating violet orb hovering above Sombra's hoof.

Worried, I pulled out the small slip of paper I had shoved into my saddlebags. "Is this a summoning spell?"

Levitating the parchment into the ball of magical aura, Sombra's face looked utterly panicked as the orb exploded into a string of floating runes with a bleeding black-purple look and a glowing magenta swirl around them.

"YES," he shouted. "THIS IS EVEN IN STARSWIRL'S BLOODY HOOF-WRITING AND YOU ACTIVATED IT! IN SOME WAYS, THIS IS JUST SHORT OF NECROMANCY!"

Once more he cast a spell, dark magic purple, black, and green which converged into a fire that consumed the paper, causing yet another explosion.

When all traces of it were gone, Sombra turned to me with crimson eyes streaming purple mist. "YOU SUMMONED THE MURDEROUS SPIRIT OF AN UNDEAD WIZARD! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?"

I would have responded if not for another wave of stronger tremors, and the fact that every instinct I had was telling me to-

"RUN!" Sombra took off galloping toward the looming mountains in the distance. Gathering my wits, I turned and followed him, moving in a manner that was part-stumble, part-gallop and part-flying before noticing Sombra halt briefly, sliding to a stop.

He shot out what looked like a large pony-sized comet composed of shadow, which rapidly glided into the direction we came from, crackling with the auras of dark magic as it moved.

It closely resembled the thing that chased me, I thought as I darted away from the storm.

Sombra resumed running, and even in this panicked state somehow I felt that he was connected to the appearance of the other shadow summon.

...

It had to be hours. It simply had to be, I was panting so hard it felt my lungs would burst and my throat felt swollen. Despite the weather, I was burning as Sombra and I struggled against another monstrous blizzard, though it was mostly me struggling and now it was dark out, but the stars were invisible to me. Consumed by darkness.

Now, the only thing that kept me from crying was the notion that tears freezing to my face would probably be hazardous.
I was beginning to feel rocks under my hooves, their jagged form stabbing at them.

Sombra, even in this inky nothingness was having a hard time concealing his rage. I still was confused on why he was so mad that I’d summoned his other personality. How could he blame me for that?

"You didn't tell me you could summon shadow-creatures," I said with a wheeze.

Sombra said nothing.

"I said 'You didn't-"

He turned to face me, glaring at me with an intensity that instantly drew a whimper from me. "You have no idea how badly I want to kill you."

"Hey, it's not my-"

"Shut up," he interjected curtly, clearly at the tipping point. "Just shut up. If you know what is good for you, you'll simply just-"

"I get it, you want me to be quiet!"

He was shaking. "DO YOU KNOW HOW SICK I AM OF DEALING WITH YOU?!"

Please no more screaming, I silently pleaded.

...

When we reached the definite edge of the mountains, Sombra stopped. "Start up a spell to look for wood over there, while I'll look over here."

His horn lit in the painfully familiar crimson aura I had become accustomed to, and he began to search as quickly as possible.

"Why can't we just climb up or have me fly you up? Maybe even teleportation?"

He turned around abruptly. "This is where you wanted to go, Starswirl's little hideout. If you knew anything about him maybe you'd remember that this valley is always getting snow dumped in it, and has trap-wards to prevent escape, entrance, and sabotage. The only way we are getting in is if we find the entrance tunnel."

He shook his head and mumbled something about my apparent 'stupidity' and went back to work.

A few moments later, there was a deafening and unearthly shriek causing strong gusts of wind to blow in every direction. There was a crushing silence afterword and somehow the world felt emptier.

"Something tells me that was not the ghost that was vanquished," I whispered, as if the eerie quiet was something that could watch me.

Sombra let loose a brief bit of dry laughter. "Of course not, since when are we that lucky?"

"So I take it the shadow you used as bait-"

"I should have used you," he interjected coldly.

"-was destroyed."

Sombra kept searching and nodded.

It was back to silence for a short while before I caught Sombra beckoning me to come over out of the corner of my eye.

"I found the tunnel but the lock is charmed with something I can't figure out, so you'll have to open that. I already melted all the snow. Thanks to me, I've bought us two days of travel, thanks to you we will have to battle for our lives."

He broke the wooden hatch after I burned the charm away.

Daring to be the brave - or not-so-brave - soul that I was, I crawled into the tunnel first without even a spark to guide me as I fumbled in the darkness.

Fear gnawed at me, hoping this wouldn't be my tomb, but Sombra's words echoed inside my head:

'...since when are we that lucky...'

For once, I wished we were.

Chapter 15: Best Three Out of Four

View Online

The view was breathtaking.

After a grumpy Sombra and I emerged from a four hour tunnel trek, the landscape was just what I needed. A vast pine forest encircled a rugged hill in the center topped off with the mostly preserved yet forsaken Magicspire, a ten-story stone tower with a crumbly and crooked chimney. No other animals appeared to be in the valley.

The journey on hoof to reach the tower would have taken about a day to a day and a half.

"Sombra," I said excitedly, “do you think you could teleport us to the entrance of the tower?"

He gazed warily at the structure. "Fine."

...

"Oh gods, it looks so much better up close!" I gasped in awe; for the first time in weeks there was a smile on my face. Laughing, I galloped up to the doorway, bare because the door itself had long since rotted away. I was nearly bouncing with glee!

Sombra peered up at the roof. "You explore the tower. I have to go do something."

Wait... he was leaving me alone?! Y-E-S! Oh, thank goodness!

Not quite believing my tremendous luck, I dashed into the tower. According to the journals there would be studies and a library or two near the middle, and that's where Sombra-swirl... who maybe wasn't what I thought he was - I'm trying to wrap my head around it, okay? - would've kept his magic tomes! Starswirl - or Sombra - wasn't like Princess Celestia. He wasn't the kindest, most wonderful pony, but he was also presented to me as a corrupted 'future' self... and I know he would have been better and had more equinity as a pony instead of the monster that I saw. He used to be a wizard who must've done something to help ponies.

Selene and Kawblance couldn't be telling the truth. They were ancient children, and there were no records of them.

As I crept up the stone stairs, ecstatic to be touching real live history, I couldn't help but lose it and bolt up the stairs holding in filly-like shrieks as best as I could, before emerging in a room that could only be the master study.

Instantly, I began to shove all that I could find in my hat when I detected a crumbling noise behind me and proceeded to stop liberating ancient books of varying levels of intact-ness from their decaying, crumbling stone shelves. The books' exteriors weren't much better. Of course Sombra-swirl wouldn't have bothered with proper preservation spells. Oooh... it just disgusts me!

I whirled around scanning the room: desks, shelves, carpet remains, and the fireplace with random curtains positioned over what might have been a very strange location for a window directly above it.

"What are you looking for?" Sombra said, giving me a suspicious and disapproving glare.

Startled, I turned to the fireplace where a debris-covered Sombra leaned against its crumbling frame. "How did you get there?"

He snorted. "By sneaking around oblivious you, whose first instinct upon finding ruined books is to steal them instead of check for any hostile enchantments."

Who did Starswirl think would try and take these? His abused apprentices? Plus, Sombra's made it pretty clear that he's a liar. "Why are you covered in ashes?"

He turned around and began to rifle through some very damaged booking scraps near the maw of the disused feature. "I was on the roof and slid down the chimney."

Now. Everything was perfect. He wouldn't suspect a thing. I could confront him. "So... why are you so eager to return home, Starswirl?"

Sombra jerked his head back to look at me, seething. "What?!"

"Oh yes, everything makes sense now: why you are so educated, how you know Celestia & Luna, these strange magics, your knowledge of this place, the northern accent, where you fit in on the timeline. I have caught you red-hoofed!" I glared triumphantly at him, flashing grin on my face at my conclusion. This was just like when I was defeating any other villain - they slipped up and Harmony wasn't on their side. I wish my friends could see me now. Then, my pride turned to dread.

First were the tremors shaking through the tower, as if it was being uprooted. Then his dark crystals – the äerint - began to creep up and cover the tower, encasing me in it, with the exception of my ears and face, before I could even think to fly away.

Next was more screaming as my heart raced.

"REALLY? YOU'RE EVER SO SMART!" Sombra’s mane was becoming the more smokey version of itself and his eyes bored into mine with slitted red pupils. Teeth became fangs. His brief and bitter laugh was no longer maniacal, it was murderous. He pressed his blade into my exposed throat. "YOU REALLY THINK THAT 'S ME?! I KNOW I'M A MONSTER, BUT I'M NOT THAT BAD!"

He pressed his sword deeper, this time drawing blood and a choked squeak from me. "With all you've done, and how many times you've put yourself in harm's way, digging where you shouldn't, I'd swear that you want to die!"

The bricks in the wall, trapped in äerint, began to glow and shake as if they could no longer stand to be imprisoned. He burst into more insane laughter; he seemed no longer truly aware of things.

"MAYBE I'LL SHOW YOU WHICH ONE I HAD TO DEAL WITH!" Magically, he pulled away the bizarre fireplace curtains and sunlight shone upon what lay beneath them: one large portrait.

First was a normal unicorn mare in a brown cloak. She was pink with gray eyes and a messy spring green mane and tail. Her eyes had many lines under them, despite her somewhat youthful appearance. I don't think she could have been too much older than me.

Clover the Clever.

Next was the tallest, a mare who wore a studded circlet, gauzy gossamer dress in bright colors, and shoes made of lace. Her tail was worn short in a sort of military wrap, while her mane was long and wavy with a small lone braid. But most shocking to me was that 'Solara' was a younger, shorter Celestia! Her multi-colored hair just starting to shimmer and move from the bottom up. Celestia's face was in a haughty smile that was alien to me, proudly displaying her large wings by fanning them out, head thrust high in the air. Her eyes shone with a vain expression and appeared to have cosmetics around them.

Now came 'Selene,' or should I say Luna: wings, horn, and all. She seemed standoffish and alone while Celestia had a familiar phoenix on her back. She looked similar to when I first saw her in the Everfree Forest, but visibly younger and maybe a bit shorter; probably around my age. Her mane was longer, in a somewhat different style and her tail shorter also with a small braid, which her mane also had, looped to lift some of it from her face. A silver sword with a crescent moon pommel was by her side.

They wore no sign of regalia, which felt wrong to me.

But Starswirl... it was clear Sombra had no relation. Starswirl was much older with a long, almost droopy face and deep-set blue eyes framed with dark circles and flowing eyebrows. He had a patchy coat, and a lion-esque tail, and prominent feathers exposing cloven hooves.

Then, there was the last member, Kawblance, a ragged looking colt with a slight hint of crystal heritage visible in his mostly brown eyes. He had a grayish - not black like Sombra's-mane. He appeared to be slightly taller than most ponies around his age, just like his journal said.

Sombra wasn't Starswirl. He was Kawblance. Or was Kawblance him...? I wasn't sure-

By now, it seemed that he was holding something back, even if that only scared me more. He still looked livid.

"His real name is Onyx, and you have no idea how brutal he was to me," Sombra said, still angry but no longer screaming. He gave an embittered sigh. "I'm honestly going to enjoy killing you, after all you've done."

Telekinetically, he raised his sword, I wrenched my eyes shut and screamed.

I heard the bricks crumble and a burst of pure light blurred all my senses, followed by what I thought was a sound of thunder.

...

The ground was beneath my back and the clouds were above me. I felt as limp as a rag doll and fairly achy, but otherwise alright. My purple coat was probably hiding a few new bruises.

I looked up at the sky, blinking. Whirls of wind rushed through my aching ears, which I'm pretty sure were bleeding. Around me was shattered äerint crystal, the shell must have protected me from any horrible damage, it seemed that nothing was broken, just cut up, especially my robe, which had almost been shredded to ribbons.

Hazardous Magicspire rubble was strewn everywhere. A blood-soaked hoof reached toward me. "Need some help?"

Gingerly, I grabbed the slippery hoof and was pulled upward. "Onyx...?"

He shook his head and some of that anger showed up again, in pieces, through his latest glare.. "Sombra and nothing else, I might explain later; we've got bigger problems than your unfortunate existence right now."

Sombra was back to 'normal' now - no smoke or dragon eyes. Still, he hadn't fared as well as I had in the fall, being scraped up and bloodied. His cloak and sword seemed to have survived, but the journals and one of his bracers was missing as well. One of his forelegs appeared to be broken and he made no effort to heal it, but a metal boot - his usual attire, and summoned from wherever he had been keeping it - seemed to allow him to walk... passably, I guess.

Just what kind of spells were on that thing? I thought as he light his curved horn and the remaining three appeared.

His blade was sheathed, and thank goodness! I hated that sword.

I winced at the sight of the broken leg, the left foreleg. Didn't he mention something about those who use dark magic not being able to directly heal themselves? "Maybe I could-"

"No, I may have actually had this one coming... for reasons I wouldn't disclose to you. If you try to heal me, you know what I'll do?"

I shook my head.

He grabbed his sword in his mouth - it makes sense now as to why he can fight like that - and suddenly hacked at his injured leg with the blunt side of the blade. Sombra winced slightly but didn't seem to react any other way.

"You could have cut off your leg!" I slipped in a bit of blood and backed away feeling very faint. He attempted an awkward shrug and then glared at me.

"Being blown up makes everything else seem like pinpricks, at least from time to time, now how about we deal with that!" Sombra nodded over toward the mountains rimming this place where monstrous spectral swirls were spilling into the valley.

"Right, the real Starswirl."

Sombra's gaze focused on the problem, but I saw a smirk emerge on his face. "Purple Eyesore, I need you to do something."

"What?"

"Change our luck."

"How?!"

"Fly into the western part of the woods and find a clearing with the most warped tree you can. Tell it, 'Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight, when a-glow assist those who fight.' Luna created this spell so it will help you, at least. It'd be best if I didn't meddle with it. I'll hold Starswirl off."

Wait, he would do what?! "We should do that in reverse order! This plan is going to get us both killed!"

"Probably just you, after all, that is what meat shields are for. Besides, it is not a stupid plan because you didn't come up with it."

I hate him so much. I'm nopony's meat shield. "Well, Sombra, what makes you such an expert?"

He raised an eyebrow and his smirk widened into the a cruel grin of someone who was truly insane. "Who do you think killed him the first time around?"

Chapter 16: Twilight's Hero

View Online

I swooped into the third clearing I had been into and performed a spell that detects enchantments on objects. The phrase I was meant to say hummed in my head, as it repeated over and over while my heart raced.

Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight; when a-glow assist those who fight.

The spell turned my vision monochrome temporarily for everything but present enchantments, everything else fading to blurs of gray. It's also pretty draining and requires all the focus I can manage right now. Sounds of battle will have to be ignored.

Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight; when a-glow assist those who fight.

I looked around scanning the ancient evergreen forest, trying to ignore the spookiness of the twisted, feral, and unwelcoming-looking trees. There a particular tree no older or knobbier then the rest was cloaked in an unmistakable turquoise mist: Princess Luna's magic.

Yes! I thought, relieved, and released the spell, browns, dark greens, and white creeping back into the land while the hidden magic vanished.It didn't matter though. I had already seen what I needed just as a torrent of snow began to fall, assaulting anything colorful with its white flakes. Which included me. Was it always so cold up here? Brr!

I took a deep breath and exhaled a small puff of steam as a result. "Hidden in the glen, runes of the knight; when a-glow assist those who fight."

I hope I said everything clearly.

The etchings on the tree soon became visible, glowing painfully bright, throbbing like a vein before exploding into a wave of light even brighter than before. I had to close my eyes briefly until it dimmed slightly, swirling around like a light show before hovering before me and fusing together into an orb, one that began to expand into an entity I just knew to be a magical construct. The manifestations of magic that are worked into physical forms that mimic life and can be endowed with the limited thing that is artificial intelligence and even some basic magical abilities of their own, derived from a very diminutive source of the caster's power, though not in any way particularly special or meaningful like a living creature's magic.

Its transparent coat was an indistinguishable mash-up of every shade of blue, resulting in a strange shade of medium cerulean. It took the form of a tall Alicorn-type mare with a opaque and luminous look, long thin legs, and an elegant face that made me think of Celestia. Its mane and tail were thick, turquoise, and floated about her, although they did not sparkle and the hairlike detail of them seemed to be exaggerated into almost-curls. The mane was a sort of wavy overgrown bob with a forelock that framed eerie eyes: thick lashes with silver 'whites' and blank irises, devoid of all color but the white of snow.

The feathers around her hooves and wings had a plasma-like appearance as if it were part lava lamp, and unlike a pony it had no cutie mark, nor would it be able to ever get one. Familiar runes encircled its form.

I watch as it pirouettes, exclaiming in perfect monotone, "Ta-da." The tone has fragments of some sort of eagerness - the blind, expected, and meaningless eagerness to serve, since it is unable to possess almost any form of emotion.

It stares at me. "Art thou an Awakener or The Creator?"

For a moment, my mind goes blank. "I am your Awakener, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, Princess of Friendship, and Spark of Magic."

It cocks its head to the side. "Shall Twilight Sparkle bestow a name?"

"Errm... are you saying you want a name?" Slowly, I see a stiff nod. "Okay, well let's see... runes... and... well, you see..." Luna. Luna created this construct. "...I bestow the name of 'Runa' to you."

Runa blinks - if you can call it that, since it looks more like a camera lens - and then remarks, "Twilight Sparkle is quite terrible with names but Runa will accept this title at the moment, for there is no other."

"Ugh, I've had enough sass from everypony. You and Sombra would get along so well."

Runa 'blinks' again. "This Sombra that Twilight Sparkle has mentioned... are they a friend of Twilight Sparkle?"

I gasp. "No! No! He's-"

"Must Sombra be vanquished? Is that why Runa was summoned?"

Good luck with that. "No. Sombra is a... mercenary... that I'm working with. We need you for something else. You see there is a rather nasty ghost plaguing us, and-"

"The bumbling one known as Twilight Sparkle is weak and requires assistance?"

"Hey! What makes you say that?" I whine.

"Thine mane and tail do not ascend with the rest of Twilight Sparkle's form, yet Twilight Sparkle appears to be a full grown adult, and yet Twilight Sparkle appears to be stunted in development. Is that not so?"

She thinks I'm like Celestia and Luna… I shake my head. "Well you see-"
There is what seems like a sound of thunder in the background which reminds me why I was here in the first place.

"Nevermind that Runa! We have to get going. I'm not sure how long Sombra can hold off Starswirl."

"Very well," Runa drones before taking flight with me, and it was there that we found Starswirl v.s. Sombra in full swing.

…

Runa proved its worth rather quickly. As soon as we got there, a fortress tower made of translucent panels of cobalt light rose up from the ground. I didn't even see how it was made, but I could see who was on top of the tower even from down here as I glided amongst the treetops.

Of course it was Sombra, because he clearly needs to put himself on a higher pedestal then he already does. I'm just waiting for his foolish arrogance to get him in real trouble. And of course he needs to reinforce every element of the fortress with those äerint crystals.

It didn't take long for him to spot me. "It's about time!" he called nonchalantly, blasting a mist tendril with dark fire, because only he would think being a murderous sociopath is normal.

Runa joined in right away, flying over to its own spot as some of its runes separated from the chain encircling her and flew away, arranging themselves into a cluster that transformed into oversize phantom bastille perched that looked as if they were made of blue glass. Runa continued to make things like this: walls, buttresses, and cannons at a rapid speed without seeming to actually put anything into effect.

Maybe it was defective? I mused briefly before diving into battle, a magenta energy blast building up on my horn. I had to do something to hide the fact that I was hesitating.

Try not to think about it, I told myself. Just try.

A curl of ghost-mist flung me away and cancelled my magic as I struggled to regain my aerial balance.

Beside me I heard a fizzing noise and watched as what I thought had been a cancelled spell soared over and hit the colossal form, a quarter of which was now engulfed in flames and pesky clusters of äerint.

My spell had no effect other than sounding like a soda bubble popping, and disappointment nagged at me.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke inside my head, its harsh draconian tone a booming yet noiseless shout that mocked my efforts, as if its owner thought themselves above all.

Who is thy hero now, Twilight Sparkle?

I gulped, torn inside. It's so obvious that I haven't tried to hide it. And if I did, it wasn't very well. Why would I need to hide how amazing such a great wizard was?

He's right, I thought. Starswirl is right. He was my hero.

...and now I'm fighting him. My eyes began to smart and it became hard to see.

Suddenly, a spell hit me and I fell, hard, hitting the oversize palm of a wicked paw of äerint stretching out from the ground.

The wind was knocked out of me, and I shivered, utterly terrified as I watched the 'claws' stretch and stretch before a shadow blotted my vision for a moment before the light was gone and I was nothing more than a winded and sobbing bird trapped in a strange and jagged cage of darkness, cut off from the sun and any way to escape.

I knew by now that I couldn't teleport out of this. The tallest spire of the Crystal Palace flashed in my mind, and how I had almost gotten the Crystal Heart.

I kept sobbing and sobbing, trying to catch my breath even though I was a nervous mess.

"My hero, my hero," I wailed. "How can I fight my hero?"

Just where am I? Part of my brain wanted to know. I tried to stand up in the darkness, fumbling around my newfound prison, more confused than ever. One of my hooves slipped on something warm. Frightened, I tried to conjure a werelight, and only to managed a small stream of sparks. It was enough to let me see what I had slipped on was blood.

Blood that was connected to a leg that bore wounds. That leg had a metal boot on it, that couldn't hide everything. In turn that was connected to an unsympathetic Sombra, crimson eyes aflame with rage and so much disgust and hate. His sword was sheathed for now.

And me? I was just a purple smudge reflected in the äerint's refection who couldn't stop crying.

The world outside us trembled.

"Well?" he snarled.

I stared at him. "W-W-What?"

"That was your actual motive to find all this? Not ambition, or fame, curiosity, or even treasure hunting? Nothing even admirably selfish, but a silly whim that any vapid child would have? You came here because Starswirl is your hero?!" He spat the last word out.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes," I stammered. What will he do this time? I want to go home again. I want to see my family and friends. I want Princess Celestia to smile at me and tell me that this isn't real. Nopony this hateful can be, nopony this hateful can win. There's light and Harmony. There's friendship... except now I'm alone.

Sombra shook his head. "You disgust me. At first I thought you might be decently intelligent, after all, you found the Crystal Heart. But no, you don't even deserve to be alive, if anypony deserved anything at all!" I closed my eyes and nodded dumbly. The tip of 'Phobos' was nowhere to be found. Thank goodness. But I still kept crying.

I deserved something. I deserved to be home and safe. My new castle was better than this. Anything was. Ponies deserve things - friends, family, kindness. Monsters like Sombra deserve punishment. He's sick and twisted - a villain, evil. At the end of all this I'll be happy in a castle telling Spike how I went on a fun trip to the Arctic and learned about a gallant and brave Starswirl...

"I want to know why." I shut my eyes harder. "Let me rephrase that, Purple Eyesore: I will know why." Phobos found the edge of my throat beneath the robe I wore, now rumpled, ripped, and filthy. I pulled my hat over my head like a little filly, as if that would help and whimpered an unintelligible prayer to any and all gods.

Then I spoke with a shaking and weak voice. "I love magic and history. Starswirl is an ancient sorcerer, and as a filly I read lots of books about him. I admired him for his spells and theories and all the magic he did even though so little was known about him, so from an early age I told myself one day I would find out so much more. I-I even u-used to have a crush on him, even if I liked mares more a-and..." I didn't sound stupid, did I? Why would any of this matter to Sombra? He has nothing.

"You realise that what you're saying is that you admired him for his magic alone, and that he was powerful and mysterious. By that disgusting and pathetic excuse for logic, I could be your 'hero'. Are you starting to understand exactly how stupid you are?"

I heard the sound of a sword being sheathed and decided to open my eyes. Sombra's spell still held.

"Are you a hero, Sombra?" It was probably a stupid question, but maybe he thought he was some kind of twisted victor in all this. I would find a way. I had to. I would. He won't win. But part of me is a little curious to who he thinks is the hero in all this, if Starswirl isn't.

He stared at me as cold as the icy land we were trapped in. "Even if heroes were real, I would never be one. I wouldn't submit to anything - especially not the almost perverse notion that something as stupid as a 'hero' or a 'villain' could exist. Gods clearly do - you and I have met them, and their existence was proven ages and ages before I took my first steps. Mere mortals like yourself exist only because you never let yourself be anything else.Good and evil? Sure, maybe they're here, but not how you would expect them to be, but I'm not Celestia, here to preach to ponies and wipe away individuals. I'm not going to be stuffing your head full of definite things because you're incapable of doing so, but I will tell the truth. We have work to do, and guess what? It's all your fault."

All he does is lie, saying awful things about me, Celestia, and ponies to get me down. It shouldn't work. I don't want it to work. It isn't working. This isn't my fault. I'm just scared. Sombra is delusional and crazy - he's just shown that he doesn't have the vaguest clue to how the world works. There are heroes, and I'm one of them. I looked down, no longer in tears. "Why didn't our magic do anything to him?"

The left side of his mouth quirked up into a smirk. "It's funny how almost everypony thinks you're the smart one when in the end, the beginning, and the middle it remains true that I have all the answers."

It was quiet for a moment. I coughed slightly and he looked back down at me. "Oh... that's right. Unfortunately you still exist. For a moment I had almost forgotten." I blinked. "What a lovely moment it was. Oh well, it looks like we still have an undead almost-entirely-magic-resistant wizard to destroy. I wonder whose fault that is? Yours."

I began to play with my hat, tossing it from hoof to hoof.

Sombra snatched it away from me. "I have an idea on how to kill him - once and for all, that is - but I'm going to need some of the papers in here."

"Which ones?" I asked as he started dumping papers everywhere. "I have-"

"The ones called 'Harmony Essence Theory'. Utterly incomplete and almost as useless to him as you are alive. But thankfully, for reasons that will remain unknown to you - courtesy of me - they are a true masterpiece."

When he found what he wanted, he read at lightening speed, somehow taking it all in before shoving it in his saddlebags. Everything else he had dumped out went back into my hat.

I sat in silence as he explained the plan to me.

…

Eventually the crystals peeled away like a flower in sunlight, having held out much longer than I’d initially believed. I tipped the brim of my hat back somewhat, which was now back upon my head, and surveyed the 'playing field' as Sombra had called it.

I felt abnormally calm in such a scenario, but was unable to explain why as I made note of the vast woods now mostly demolished from the ghost. But Runa... Runa was gone, its creations shattered like bits of blue glass spread here and there, which based on their juxtaposition and other details-

I winced and rubbed my temple slightly at a small, sudden headache, a pebble which created ripples that quickly vanished. But where did the that thought come from? I don't think-

Gasping suddenly, I jumped to attention like a soldier, hungrily gluing my gaze to the fragments of the valley before me.

WAIT! Something is wrong! A voice in back of my head screamed. All this is wrong! STOP! Don't you-

"Get going already," a voice grumbled behind me. I turned to meet it, no longer bothered by the irksome voice in my head.

Sombra stood on the open 'bed' of äerint crystals, his gaze searching for something behind me as wisps of purple smoke retreated into his eyes while the left side of his mouth was pulled up in a malicious grin that just seemed so-

SUSPICIOUS! Twilight Sparkle, don't you see that he is acting-

The voice kept pleading desperately, but once more was cut off by somepony speaking.

"You have a job to do," Sombra muttered, the smile I had seen before now gone, never once directed at me.

I turned away, and spread my wings. Without even a nod, I was airborne in less than a minute, flying towards my target feeling rather-

Well, truth be told, I didn't feel too much at all.

Chapter 17: The Possession of Twilight Sparkle

View Online

Starswirl the Bearded was going to die a second time, and I would be the one who put the entire plan in motion. I landed on a patch of ground which, like the rest of this valley, was slowly being destroyed by the swirling mist that he had been reduced to.

My landing was not noticed and I didn't flinch as the snow was scattered even further, swirling around me as much as it did the phantom.

"Ahem, " I said flatly, loud enough to grab his attention.

The phantom fixed its two lifeless and cruel glowing yellow eyes on me. Slowly, I watched as Starswirl changed, compressing from a peculiar looking blizzard to a translucent white spectre with the whorls of windigo that encased an ancient looking skeleton that was undoubtedly his. Parts of it were worn and scarred from the cold, while the lower portion of the rib cage was missing many fragments as if he had been stabbed there long ago.

The rest of the plan... I forgot it... what was I supposed to do?!

"Well, Purple Eyesore, you were able to get him to revert into a much more perishable state for me. How nice."

Sombra appeared next to me via teleportation and Starswirl's 'eyes' – mere floating pinpricks of that awful yellow light – flickered in a way that almost looked like fear, perhaps even confusion.

"Onyx, how are you still alive...? It has been over a thousand years, and you are but a mortal, changed!"

Sombra growled even more maliciously, lifting a lip into a fearsome, chilling snarl and I could see his teeth, which when they weren't dark magic-induced fangs still had a noticeable point if you looked closely.

"It seems that's twice today I was mistaken for somepony I'm not. I'm Sombra, we met once before, you remember when I stabbed you with those nice crystals of mine? Good times. But hey," he flashed a momentary smile that was cruelly sardonic, and changed his tone to match effortlessly. "Let's stop the nostalgia already. I already know who you are, and unlike Onyx I can see the future, and you wanna know what you'll be about three minutes from now?"

"...What?"

Starswirl still seemed a bit lost on the whole 'I'm Sombra and I stabbed you a long time ago.' But he did seem to take Sombra's last remark seriously. Sombra lit up his horn, now grinning widely, showing off fang. His expression was so vengeful that the malice of it sent shivers down my spine. Shivers of fear that his wry tone only worsened...

"Completely screwed."

...

SOMBRA PUT A MENTAL LOCK ON ME! That was the spell he did just then, a mental unlock. I can't believe he tricked me!

I turned to yell at him but saw his face with eyes like two red fires and a maniac smile as he cast another spell. Everything around us with the exception of him was bathed in a blanket of crimson aura.

He had frozen everything within a hundred feet. Including me!

But then Sombra was gone; that really seemed to scare Starswirl quite a bit.

Where did he go?! I thought, holding my breath.

In a split second, I got my answer as Sombra appeared right next to me, but he was staring at Starswirl with such fierce hatred that I had to look away, overcome by a wave of nausea.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds – seconds that I thought I could spare – and told myself it would all be over soon.

When I opened my eyes, I realized I had made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. A shadow that was undoubtedly Sombra was swirling around me faster than my eyes could trace. This was not part of the plan...

Except that 'the plan' was just a distraction of some sort, wasn't it...?

The shadow got closer and my last rational thought before everything went wrong was that Sombra was never on my side, or Equestria's, was he?

The only side Sombra was on was his own.

My head felt foggy, and I knew I should be scared, right? Panicked. Out of my mind, but no. At this point it was as if all the fear inside me were compressed into a tiny ball and shoved away, and I was too drained to use it as everything around me moved slowly, even though I knew that was wrong, a product of my racing heart and mind too shocked to even be petrified.

In a second I was sure I blinked and the world, Sombra-the-Shadow, and everything was speeding up and blurring together as the shadow got closer and closer...

My seemingly dead mind was brought into the terror I had previously lacked by overwhelming waves of burning pain as the shadow seeped into me, causing me to scream like I don't think I've ever screamed before.

Inside, my head suddenly felt crushed and crammed like I was in some sort of terrible tug of war even more painful and maddening than when I’d screamed. I almost had to force myself to think, until I was able to wrestle a bit of control to form an independent thought in what felt like a slow and paralyzing eternity...

Phobos... sword... what... if... cut out Sombra... yeah... just gotta... get... s... w... ord...

As quickly as I could, I grabbed the sword, only aware that time seemed to be deceiving me into making all these instantaneous decisions. It seemed to drag on forever as I locked my magenta magic aura onto the sword, all the while watching as it flickered weakly until disappearing completely for a moment as I screamed again, convulsing in agony as all my nerves seemed to burn. A blast of dark magic forced itself out of my horn and engulfed it in dark aura, causing it to grow from a fairly simple broadsword to a cluster of äerint crystals hacked into the crude shape of a scythe as they swarmed and twisted around the sword's whole form, engulfing it.

I almost fell, barely holding onto the weapon as it felt like I was hit in the head from the inside. Something, or rather somepony, was in there.

Somepony dark. Somepony evil, and somepony who would do anything to get whatever they wanted, and step over anypony to get there because they were that filled with hate and malice... and just pure evil. This time I did crumple to the ground, my breathing shallow and frantic as I felt my horn twist into a crooked snake-like shape somewhere in between my own and Sombra's. More pain stabbed at my mouth as my teeth began to grow into fangs.

I could feel my leg bones trying to elongate, as if something inside of me needed to modify my body in order to function. I rolled around on the ground and kept screaming as pure dark magic began to pour out of me. As if to accommodate and channel this, a second horn just as crooked as mine was now beginning to grow out of my skull. Tears like oil forced themselves out of my eyes, becoming that unmistakable smoke. These were ways my body was not meant to contort.

My consciousness felt like it was thrown, like I was being tossed around in a closed-off room by someone who would rather see me get tossed out a window until I believed I was half-forced out of my own head and my senses felt dulled, although it barely helped with the pain. I was astounded that this macabre transformation happened in under a minute – during that time I had experienced an eternity's worth of pain.

A demented laugh ripped through my throat in a voice I could barely identify as my own, for I could say only a third of it even had traces of me in it. The other two thirds? One sounded like Sombra, although if you had good ears and listened closely... well I swear I heard a demon… Or perhaps it was a third voice that was entirely different, as it didn't sound like Sombra's or mine one bit, but both of ours in horrible tandem - he was using mine, and I heard it scratched over his, like a cheap coat of paint is applied to a wall.

Starswirl, who despite his wickedness, draconian personality and umm... wraith-ness, looked bewildered, staring at me as if I were a monster, and I was not. I'm Twilight; Twilight Sparkle the Princess of Friendship, Spark of Magic, Faithful Student... and I have a family and friends... I'm not a monster! Not like Sombra!

Sombra twisted my face into a grotesque sneer, my gums bleeding from the fangs had left my teeth streaked with the metallic-tasting stuff.

"You thought you were powerful, didn't you?"

Starswirl was quiet. I could see him tremble. He didn't have power any more.

"Well, you should be thanking me for allowing you to relive your cowardice a second time!"

Sombra used my magic – now consumed by darkness – to slam the scythe down.

It was deadly quiet.

"Do you even know what this is?!" Sombra snarled. "The first time I killed you, it was in tandem with Onyx. That was his revenge for how you treated him. But because of how you treated him, he came out worse and was even more brutal than before, especially to me! So now, this will be my revenge on you. Because if there is one thing you should always remember..."

Sombra paused and I, even in this strange state, could detect an unbearable tension, especially since I could feel the flesh on my legs slowly starting to burn away. This magic wasn't good. It was too powerful, and it hurt so much. Only the most vile beings would use this kind of magic, right? Of course.

Was he trying to kill me? It felt like it.

I heard a whizzing noise and soon my eyes locked in on the scythe blade cutting through the air as magic brought the crescent shape in contact with Starswirl's throat, where the glowing orb that represented all that was left of his power pulsed dimly.

I couldn't look away and I wanted to more than anything. I didn't want to see anypony die. I didn't want to see my hero die.

"...I'M NOPONY'S WEAPON!"

I screamed while he laughed.

Chapter 18: Sombra

View Online

Sombra:

Purple Eyesore is never right, in that way she was like her so-called 'hero'. Both never noticed the storm brewing until they were caught in the rain. I'm not a mere protector and she isn't worth protecting. Thanks to Celestia's oh-so-clever idea to send me up here, I was able to travel inconspicuously... and cope with some of it all. I wanted to work through so much more of everything, put just a bit more of all that happened behind... it's not going to happen. I know there's scars, and always have, but I want to move on so badly.

Oh sure, I know she's going to find me, but I want her to. She's suspicious of me because I don't fit into her neat little game of chess. Black or white? I'm literally gray. Then again, neither does another who's quite close to her. How long will Celestia be able to project her heroes and villains mentality onto her this time?

Celestia doesn't understand that this isn't chess - she's been playing the wrong game this whole time, and she's not going to stop until she has me in a check mate that will never be. And it just so happens that this game exploits her strategy's biggest flaw: she never counts on wild cards.

...

I looked towards the sky, clouds gathering and making ready to dump untold amounts of snow here, especially now that the wards over this valley were vanishing.

It was never cold to me, not after those years in the ice.

Purple Eyesore was lying in the fallen snow, drained of power and staining the white flakes red. She was too weak to shiver and laid unconscious, the feathers of her purple wings stirring in the wind.

All I had was a broken leg that would heal eventually with one as capable as myself managing it. Though if anyone expected me to heal her, they were wrong. I could just walk away right now and that little chest of hers would stop moving in less than twenty minutes. I'm slightly surprised that I did that much of a number on an alicorn with the fraction of my power that I've been using since I've reformed. There's a dark amusement to it - I won't deny it. I don't deny much of anything.

I didn't have to be in her head to know what she thinks of me either... or another. She's got some obsessions that repulse me lying under it all. Losses she never got over. Little to no mind of her own. If Celestia had a living weapon, it'd be her. I've seen few youth that are so impressionable as her.

Or more importantly, I know how she thinks. To her everything is black and white, and if it isn't good-or-evil, it will be, she likes to make sure of that. Like student, like teacher. For somepony with two working eyes, she's about as oblivious as they come. I wonder what she would do if half her world was forever dark. Or all of it.

I grabbed Phobos, now back to normal, and stared at the black blade for a moment before sheathing it.

I had to possess her because she is an idiot with useful reserves of power, and if I had let all my anger take hold and expended as much magic as I thought I would...

I gritted my teeth. It didn't happen.

Not yet. I still have time.

I turned and began to walk away until I heard the rustle of feathers behind me. I rolled my eyes and smirked. It took less then a second to withdraw and throw Phobos with perfect precision and then whirl around to see whose leg I impaled. It looks like life was all out of challenges for me until further notice. These gods are around nearly every corner.

Good grief.

...

Standing near Purple Eyesore was a dark gray young mare around my height. She had shorn fetlocks exposing glossy black hooves and large curved wings that I know I had seen once before and just didn't care to remember where - at least not at the moment. Her mark was a poisonous nightshade flower, and around her neck was a coil of brown thorns.

Though it was her mane and tail that were what caught my attention. Her forelock was a thick mess whose shagginess concealed more then half her face and almost looked like crow feathers. The rest of it resembled a rippling black cloud that shone with amusingly gloomy sparkles.

One of her forehooves was impaled with the crystalline blade of Phobos, which was quite possibly the only thing within fifty miles that wasn't going to irritate me. I'd bet on it.

She pulled the blade out of her leg as if pulling a knife out of butter.

"Is it socially acceptable to throw swords now?" she asked earnestly.

I stared at her.

Well, I now had evidence to back up the following theories that have come to mind so far:

1) Either she is stupid or socially awkward. Seeing as she's a god, the latter is more likely. If she was mortal, I'd be leaning torwards the former.

2) She presumably cannot feel pain or has accelerated healing. There's also a large chance that she might not care, but the apathy - or even an air of it - doesn't seem strong with this one, which is too bad.

3) Fuck Repears. This one just needs to be said. Do they honestly think they're just going to have me come along quietly when-

Once more I rolled my eyes, and then used my magic to snatch the sword away from her.

"Only for me," I grumbled.

I imagine under that forelock of hers she might have been blinking.

"My name is Thōdan but sometimes I am called Thōda and-" she said.

I continued to stare at her, judgement increasing with each second that passed. " I don't care."

"But I think your friend is hurt, you see, I only reap the souls of the dead and she isn't dead, but she's hurt awfully bad, and since I got the soul I came here for I was wondering if you needed my help-"

"How do you reap souls?"

"I suppose that the legends of ponykind focus more on the realms of Paradise and Tartarus than they do me, but, umm... I have special eyes."

"So do I."

She paused momentarily and tilted her head to indicate Purple Eyesore. "Err... Yes I've never seen a pony with red eyes in my life, but I think your friend might be dead-"

"She's not my friend."

"-and I've never been here before so I don't know what's nearby-"

"I still don't care."

"-and since I umm... don't know how to heal, seeing as I reap souls and all-"

"Can you teleport?" I interject curtly, one eyebrow raised.

She brightened. "Yes! I'm very good at it-"

"Good, then get her to Canterlot. I don't need to have the list of ponies who've died around me increase... at least not right now."

Thōdan looked down at Purple Eyesore again as if not sure she'd still be there. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to walk back to wherever your home is?"

Since apparently all this mare could do was waste my time, I turned around and resumed heading on my way.

"I don't have a home."

"Then were do you live?"

"I can't tell you where I do live, but I can tell you where I will live."

A 'cold' gust of wind wove its way through the valley.

"...Okay ...where is that?"

"Canterlot," I said frankly and pulled the hood of my cloak up. Behind me, I caught a glimpse of soft ebony light that lasted only for a moment. Thōdan and Purple Eyesore were gone and I was left standing alone in the snow.

I wonder if Celestia will bother to expect wild cards now?

I smirked knowing that she probably never would, that life was still a neat little game of chess to her that was as black and white as Purple Eyesore's thinking.

And of course it was just as wrong.

Chapter 19: Onyx

View Online

At first, I only regained a bit of consciousness. All I could feel was pain, healing magic, and an IV tube. It was just a small shred, really. Everything felt so airy. I could feel pain despite that, but everything was so fuzzy. It was like I didn't have a body or tether calling me back, and that was frightening. Was this over? Where was I? What happened?

Drip...

...Drip...

I must be in a hospital. A hospital... I'm in Equestria, probably. Or Trotland. Or the Empire. I'm safe. So very safe. There's nopony that can hurt me now. The muffled voices of doctors could be heard. I slept through the black, sinking away.

...

One month later.

"Twily!?" a voiced called. It was too loud, but I could feel myself beginning to stir even if my mind was still slow.

"Shhh, be a little bit quieter, Shiny. She'll have a lot of questions when she comes through."

Shiny...

That means that Shining Armor and Cadance were here! My sleep-heavy mind's veil faded and I felt my mood brighten. Oh, I'm so glad to see them!

My eyes fluttered open, and when they adjusted, the fuzzy black spot clearing, I could see that it was indeed them staring down at me, two pairs of worried eyes.

An IV tube was in my right foreleg, while to my left was a window overlooking Canterlot, its curtains waving faintly. I already knew I was in a hospital, but how did I get here? I spent so long drifting in deep, dreamless sleep. It probably wasn't that important, considering all the bandages.

Bandages on my legs, on my head, etc.

At least my horn is back to normal, I thought, reaching up to touch it.

"What...?" I began, unsure of what to say, especially with a throat this dry. My throat was not the only part of my mouth that hurt, my teeth felt positively achy to the roots. I shook my head.

"When can I get some water?"

I suppose, that this was the best place to start.

...

I set down an empty paper cup colored white and blue, pushing it so it was exactly lined up with the other two that I had drained.

Cadance had left the room, she said she had to talk to somepony who was outside. Maybe to ask a doctor for more water.

"You appeared in Canterlot Square a month ago," Shining Armor began, pulling a nearby chair next to the bedside.

"Does that mean my friends are back in Ponyville?" I asked, just as he was about to continue.

My brother shook his head in a clear 'no'. "Not at all. They are waiting outside - Cadance went to talk to them. At first we were only allowed in since we're family, and because too many ponies in here at once would be overwhelming."

He stared at me, blue eyes full of concern. "You were really beat up, Twily. What exactly happened...?"

I almost choked on something that wasn't there as I remembered. "Well, " I waved my bandaged hooves in the air to hopefully indicate a cloud, "Sombra turned into a shadow cloud -more like a real shadow this time, smaller, and I couldn't see the eyes, although I'm pretty sure they weren't there."

I paused and took a deep breath. "...and then he went inside here." I bopped myself in the middle of my bandaged forehead for emphasis.

"That sounds like possession, except when ghosts possess ponies, they don't alter your body that much, Twily. Gods."

Another deep breath. "I know... so what could it be?"

Shining Armor shrugged. "I saw an exorcist in one of the halls on the way here. Guess somepony found a ghost in Duke Blueblood's wine cellar... and things went downhill from there. They would probably know, specializing in that sort of thing."

"Wait!" I called as he began to get up.

He sat back down, looking slightly confused. "What is it, Twily?"

"Where's Sombra? He was the one to teleport me here, after all."

"He wasn't."

"He wasn't?!"

"Yeah, his personal magic is reddish, right? Well the magic ponies saw bring you here to good old Canterlot was gray. As to where he is: I dunno. The farther he is from you, the better."

"Where are the Princesses?! I really, really, really, really want to talk-"

"Twilight, it's going to be fine. Celestia is here in Canterlot, no doubt that she'll come over here once she learns that you're awake. Luna is away on a diplomatic meeting in Germaneigh that I'm sure your friend Rainbow Dash is just dying to tell you about. But it's funny, y'know, because I've talked to Princess Luna a bit, and she doesn't know a word of Germane, so she'll certainly be having a trip."

What happened this time? Oh I can't wait to find out...

"Will I be able to leave soon?"

Shining Armor laughed. "Much sooner then you think."

He opened the door and the five best ponies in all of Equestria came running in - and so did one best dragon. Cadance was behind them; she said a few words to Shining Armor before he went off to find that exorcist. Sombra may not be a ghost, but I'm sure they'd be able to explain why he could possess me.

First was Rainbow, who seemed to have had quite the adventure despite the somber purpose of her visit, and a lot to say...

"Twilight, can you believe it?!" she said excitedly, speaking a mile a minute and loving every second in the spotlight. "I tried to bring you some get-well-soon cider and end up in a huge mess - not that I forgot to bring you any other awesome stuff, that is."

Rarity rolled her eyes, and made a tsk-tsking noise. "Rainbow Dash, what you did was considered smuggling under Germaneigh's laws - which you refused to obey, it seems, throughout your entire trip if any of the tall tales you told me on the train are to be taken word-for-word. But all that aside, Twilight I made sure to get you a surprise gift I'm sure you'll appreciate, and kept a very elegant scrapbook, if I do say so myself, of all the interesting things I did in Prance when I had the time."

Next, Applejack had begun to tell me the first half of a very funny tale she learned from Braeburn before Pinkie Pie interrupted her declaring in one, excited burst: "I made an apple pie out of oranges!"

Fluttershy who had been the only one to patiently wait her turn then told me:

"I made some really nice sketches of rare bird species, I'd love to show you."

And lastly, Spike had some less than ideal news. "Twilight, the Cakes say that you owe them a few bits 'cause I ate a bit too much of their merchandise."

I smiled at them all, being mindful of my sore teeth, and smoothed my bangs over one of the bandages over my head. "Wow, everypony, that sounds so great! I can't wait to hear the rest when I'm discharged and get back to Ponyville. But for now, I feel really tired and just want to get a few winks of-"

My eyes fluttered, and before I could finish, I had collapsed and was snoring softly.

Sleep.

...

"Wake up."

The word was like a pin popping the balloon of deep slumber. Whose voice was that?

"Now."

I rubbed a hoof over my closed eyes, willing them to open.

Sombra was standing next to the window looking somewhat impatient.

"Do they want me to break in here, Purple Eyesore? That does seem to be what these ponies want if they make my late night trespassing trip into a princess' hospital room so bloody simple. After all, the only thing missing is a 'Welcome Sombra' banner. I'm honestly a little hurt by that."

Sombra was here.

In this room.

Why was he here?

He stared at me. "You aren't going to scream, are you? When you scream it's very annoying, and a reminder of how downright pathetic you are, which is already obvious in its own right. At first I found this funny, but then it just became irritating. But, I digress. Are you or are you not going to scream?"

"I-I-I..."

"Hey, I don't want to be here either, and would have preferred leaving you to die a slow death consisting of a combination of bleeding and freezing to death where you would feel only a numbing pain before slipping into nothingness, forever tormented in the afterlife over how you left too early and never woke up. You'd have the knowledge of never seeing your family again, and was buried by snow in a land you were not born in, so all that 'proper burial' nonsense couldn't happen. Just what is up with your species fascination with such a bizarre and unneeded thing like funerary rites? I really don't understand them."

He paused to look at me, but not angrily. His gaze was annoyed, but it was a grumpy sort of casual seriousness.

"I guess there's always the ray of hope you will die some other way in the multitude of gorgeous possibilities that I could go into with vivid detail that would frame each and every moment of your hypothetical demise, or-"

He whipped his sword out and pointed it at my throat, black blade gleaming as maliciously as the sudden look of tempered loathing sprung into his eyes.

"-I could just kill you right here. So what will it be? You listen to what I came here to say, or I give you a nice red necklace to wear to your grave - which I doubt anypony will find, considering how adept I am at this. Tartarus knows I'll likely cremate you and scatter your ashes someplace fitting for you. Does a sewer sound poetic enough to mesh with the nature of your soul as a fitting last resting place? I'll give you that much, so a 'thank you' would be in order."

Now I should scream. Teleport. Scream and teleport. Brilliant.

I opened my mouth to do so, only to have him clasp his hoof over it. He also managed to sheath his sword when I wasn't looking. And the spell? Well, he beat me to it, a flash of crimson and ta-da, and my horn was covered in those crystals.

Again, I thought with a muffled whimper.

Sombra smirked. "It's funny how you thought I would actually give you a choice."

"What do you have to say?" I mumbled through the hoof, hoping that'd he'd understand the garbled speech clearly. His boots certainly tasted like metal. Yep.

He looked at me warily from the corner of his right eye. "You wanted to know about Onyx, remember? You said I owed you, which of course is a lie - I don't owe you anything - although, since it would benefit me to tell you at least a little bit, I will. It might also confuse you immensely or just let you slip back into the perceived safety that is your constant denial."

I swallowed and wished that my legs weren't so badly damaged at the moment. Sombra removed his hoof and returned to where he had first stood: by the window.

...

"I don't know who specifically Onyx came from, and neither does he for that matter. He knows that from birth he was raised in an orphanage-"

"Onyx is a separate pony? You aren't the same?"

"You know, if I weren't the Right-Honourable Lord Sombra you'd be dead for insulting me so."

"Errm... what?" Is he taking this seriously?

"Exactly, now where was I? Onyx was 'adopted' by Starswirl the Bearded when he was eight years old and used a book of dark magic and cast a irreversible spell that resulted him sacrificing his body in order to create a new, different form that he found himself bound to."

"What about his soul?"

Sombra tapped his head. "You're mistaken if you think that you have problems, Purple Eyesore. I've got my worst enemy stuck in my head forever."

He had turned away and was facing toward the window that overlooked an empty Canterlot street. I couldn't help but ask one last question.

"Don't you have any last words?"

He faced me again and cocked his head slightly, almost surprised at the question, maybe? Of course, there was the traces of a smirk on his face.

"Of course I do: If I have the misfortune of ever meeting the disease that is Twilight Sparkle again, I have a few words of advice for her: be very careful."

Now it was my turn to tilt my head. "Why is that?"

I could see that he was ready to leap out the window, and I didn't question that at least, although I did notice that there were bandages on the leg he broke. How he could walk, I didn't know. I did suspect he enchanted his metal boot to function as a brace, but that wouldn't explain it being healed...

"Because the next time I see her, I won't be holding back as much as I did with you on this particular journey. You've seen my angry, but I can be far worse than just angry and as spiteful as you might've observed. I'm also horribly patient, so consider yourself warned: if we meet again, you will have more than just nightmares and emotional scars. Do not cross me."

Startled, I blinked, and when I opened my eyes he was already gone.

I let out a breath of relief. It was really over now, I could feel it. After everything he did...

...Especially making me kill my hero. In doing so, that valley had become a tomb, a dreary place of death even more forsaken then it already was. Yet, I suppose I had created that tomb.

The Tomb of Magic...

Epilogue: The Game of Life

View Online

Celestia:

I stared at the ebony and ivory pieces positioned before me, the board that was their world a perfect balance of black and white spaces. In times of stress, I often found myself pulling out the game and setting it up on the floor of my study. I had done a multitude of things here in the past years, namely reading the scrolls that had been sent to me by Twilight Sparkle up until recent times.

To me chess was always more then just a pastime, it was a metaphor for life: the many squares of black and white, as well as its various roles moving through a perplexing yet rewarding series of movements, while still being part of a larger balance: good and evil.

I just wonder where I might have went wrong.

I was the king piece. Luna was the queen, I think, while Twilight and Cadance were the mages. Shining Armor and the Royal Guard the rooks. It continued on with the Elements of Harmony being the knights, and the citizens of Equestria as the pawns, despite their diversity united by the sense of loyalty and magic they all had within them.

I moved one of my lucky ebony knights and captured a white pawn.

Just what had happened to create such a wild string of events? I had selected Onyx - or as he was called now, 'Sombra' - to accompany Twilight Sparkle because I knew that Onyx, despite his brutal nature, was not a serious threat, and would be kept in check by Twilight easily. She was a capable young mare, and would help guide Onyx to me, and he would unknowingly be one step closer to his death at my hooves. His crimes against Twilight, Cadance, and the crystal ponies will not go unpunished.

I knew his behaviour inside and out from the moment we met in the Magicspire so long ago. So how could something with such coordinated, neat movements, surprise me? Such a cruel surprise that had led to Twilight getting hurt.

Onyx was a literal pawn: dependent on something other than himself to accomplish things and could be easily controlled and ordered around by those above him, thus he was a prime candidate to go on this quest, especially since he knew the Magicspire.

So what had gone wrong? I mused as one of the imaginary opponents created by mere enchantment moved a mage a little too close to my rook.

This 'player' didn't move like Onyx at all. They didn't play by any conventional rules and had my believing that I wasn't even playing the game I loved anymore.

Whoever this was, they were directly challenging me, I can feel it.

Even Discord fit somewhere into this pattern.

Black and white.

Harmony and Chaos.

Good and Evil.

Yet here I was facing off against somepony I didn't know, with moves I couldn't foresee, who was neither a shade of black nor a shade of white, but rather somepony who thought that a single shade of gray could survive in a world that is, has been, and will always be nothing but proper absolutes.

...

Sombra:

This is over. That's what she thought. The look on Purple Eyesore's face clearly read 'I may be an unintelligent excuse of ponyflesh who has a higher chance of asphyxiating in a closet compared to most of the utterly worthless, expendable, and anonymous faces clogging Sombra's world, but at least this whole ordeal is over.'

Heck, I even stole the 'Harmony Theory' papers from her and she hasn't seemed to notice. After all, who hires a mercenary and doesn't pay them? Somepony who wants to die. I just had to secure payment for myself this time, and what better payment than something I enjoyed: knowledge. Material things hold little interest or me, but there's so much in knowledge that I find so very rewarding and enjoyable.

I suppose it doesn't matter, since I take whatever payment I want and Twilight Sparkle will most likely be dead before I finish this spell. Well, it said something like that, I was in her head and knew that 'ordeal' was too complicated a word for the God-Queen of Idiocy, Mother of all Simpletons, to even begin to comprehend.

In reality, all this madness never had much to do with her at all, it was all about me of course. After all, who else has been particularly worthy of words in my life? No pony, really. In fact I bet somepony could write an entire odyssey about everything I do. I'm worth it.

I digress in regards to the books though, the madness that I bring is only beginning and since I naturally have a say in everything, it will never end. I'll make sure of it.

My motivations may be as shady as a good bar, but what can anypony expect?

If life were a game, it'd be cards: strategy-filled, luck based, and everypony for themselves, with very few exceptions. Oh, and of course about as black-and-white as a good thundercloud.

And it seems I already have two 'aces', although as nice as that is, it isn't too impressive. The pink ace and the purple ace aren't that noteworthy, it's the other two that are harder and the last one that wins the game, and I've been waiting so long to work towards that one: the one that mattered, the one that I cared for.

But who says I play fair or even legally? Forget the four aces, I've never played by any rules but my own, because if I had I would have ended up dead, or worse off then, a living weapon. I'm throwing in the fifth ace, hard and almost impossible to even get close to, but the only thing I'm playing for, because I am the fifth ace.

After all, life is like a card game: I win.