After recent events, Cadance is pretty sure that she doesn't want to go another adventure for a while. Except that you don't have to leave your castle to have an adventure. Especially if said castle is haunted.
After the recent events, of Cadance is pretty sure that she doesn't want to go another adventure for a while. Except that you don't have to leave your castle to have an adventure. Especially if said castle is haunted... among other things that really, really should have been mentioned beforehoof.
Oh, and on top of all that now she has to find a pair of magical eyes – whatever those could be – if she ever wants the Crystal Heart to work again. After all, she's only just in a big empty castle, with a very mean ghost, magic coffee, secret passages, while trying to keep everything under wraps. What could go wrong?
Only everything.
Book Three of Sombra's Odyssey. With proofreading help from an anonymous user. Takes place between season four's finale and the start of season five and ends before 'Princess Spike'. There are some spoilers in the comments, and many other comments containing excerpts may not be relevant any longer because of the changes made in the updated version. Cover art was designed by NorrisThePony. Contribute to the TVTropes page!Find the old version here!
I bit my bottom lip harder and tried to focus all my effort into creating a spell to conjure crystals using pure light, love, and laughter as energy. It was easier said then done, but I wasn't about to give up. I let out a deep breath and stared ahead trying to focus on nothing.
The aura beginning to form on my horn began to swell in size until it gained an unexpected boost in energy and wrenched itself from my horn, blasting me into a polished crystal wall.
"Ow," I mumbled rubbing my back with a forehoof, hoping I didn't bruise anything.
The glowing white-blue substance began to fly everywhere crashing into the slick reflective walls of the heart shaped room with a resonant and high pitched plink, plink, plink!
It shot up toward the unearthly ceiling and burst into sparks of the same colors. This scared away the drifting lights: silver, peridot, ruby, and emerald who had previously been floating up near the glittering violet blue mist where a solid surface normally was.
"Well," I asked the blue Alicorn next to me. "How did I do this time?"
Sapp'ra had a disappointed frown on her face. "It seems that is another failure to your name, Empress."
This was the most forward she'd been with me since I'd met her. The queen, I mean Sapp'ra, as she preferred to be called, was an even-tempered mare who never lost her pleasantly cool demeanor and rarely spoke. I guess she was a real ice queen. When she did speak it was either a lighthearted joke, a simple bit of kind advice, or a vague and cryptic comment that I assumed to be about something from the past. No matter how lighthearted she tried to be, that 'ice queen' feel never went away. Even Auntie Celestia wasn't as frosty with me as Sapp'ra could be.
Just as I thought... it's always the past, isn't it?
For three hours I had been in the Inner Heart trying to learn this spell.
Standing up, I trotted over to the tall blue crystal mare. She had a flowing mane of the color tri-colored aurora which concealed her eyes and was partially worn up. It did make me a little uncomfortable being unable to see her eyes since that could often aid me in figuring out how a pony was feeling.
"What am I doing wrong?"
"I am unsure Cadenza. This is a crucial spell that should be easy for you to perform, especially one of your status."
She sounded worried. Sapp'ra was a mare who seemed to be worried by few things from what I knew of her. The mysterious creator of the Crystal Heart was a regal figure who seemed to embody the glacial beauty and harshness of both the Empire and the Arctic itself. Whatever troubled her was worth taking seriously.
In the brief sessions I spent with these ponies learning about the Empire I now ruled, and those who ruled it before me, I remembered that Sapp'ra's daughter, Ezmeralda could see beyond some of the limitations of time.
Maybe Sapp'ra could too.
"How bad is this?" I asked. I tried to think of just what could be trying to harm the Empire this time. An ice age? Oh... if it's an ice age, I know just what to do...
A bench of crystal sprouted from the ground and Sapp'ra sat down, nodding for me to join her.
"I want to believe this is merely worrisome at most, Cadenza, though I am unsure of what the future holds. Ezmeralda has not reported anything of disturbance, but she has always seen the future's farthest shores, not the near. She is unaware of your plight, and it has been many thousands of years since she has connected to the Empire."
"But can't you see the future too?" I asked as I took my place on the bench
She shook her head. "For Ezmeralda it is more getting a vague peek at future prosperities or plight then seeing the entire future. Other gods have that ability. Your Celestia and Luna - the two goddesses that you have mentioned, they have a great ability that my kin do not. She is often lucky if she receives only a comprehensible hint of what is to come. We still have not seen anything of the world outside the mountains in all these years, only the things you speak of - goddess-aunts, your husband, and the perplexing cult that you call Rodeohead are what I am aware of, as are the others. Then, there is also the fact that I have not seen anything for many millennia."
I sat patiently, waiting for her to continue. Although, I was unsure of what she meant. She seemed to know this.
"I am blind, Cadenza."
"Go on," I said empathetically. She was a mare who was brief in what she said and never repeated herself so it was important for me to pay attention to what she said.
"I used my eyes to make something special, but now they are lost from the light."
The temperature seemed to drop. "Do you want me to find them since you're... umm..."
Dead? No that won't work, she's an Alicorn, and a god, most likely. I would show her no disrespect. Unable? Well, it is the best I've got.
"...Since you're unable?"
"Yes," she whispered so quiet I almost hadn't heard her.
"Where are they?"
Another shake of her head. "Hidden, like the Heart by the one you call friend, for he could not use them. They must be found and returned to the light, Cadenza, not to me. What use would I possibly have for them? The Empire was weakened during that Shadow's reign and the loss of the Eyes has taken its toll, for you see these artifacts are more powerful when they all work together. The Heart might freeze if one of its partners is not recovered."
Freeze? That didn't sound good. Looks like I was right about that ice age.
I nodded again this time more frantically and then readied to leave, walking over to the door marked 'Empire' when she called out. "Cadenza, there is one thing I must tell you."
When I turned around I noticed with alarm frost spreading across the room. There was that ice age... I gulped.
"The Empire will not be in danger of decay but there is one you must beware. Do not trust the wraith that haunts the halls of this castle! You may think you know their face, but you do not. They are but a lich without a body, but no less dangerous to you."
A wraith? I never knew the castle was haunted. Just what else was in here that I didn't know about? A water park?! I had to know more about this ghost.
I turned back to ask her one last question, frost already grasping at my hooves. Uh-oh...
She faced me, and I saw a translucent hoof push me and then she dissolved into a streak of sapphire light as I was pushed through the door. As I escaped the last bit of ice, emerging in the Crystal Heart Plaza, currently empty. I remembered that the opal colored orb wasn't there, although I wasn't sure how it fit into all this. I had left in a hurry, so I hadn't seen it.
Only I noticed the stinging cold that could be felt by gently prodding the heart. It seems I was without guidance. What I would do to have even a certain cynic here to help out in his own particular way.
...
That was two days ago, and already I was sliding down another wall in frustration.
Twilight just had to pry, and Sombra had to have the biggest headache in the world... it was hard not to pity those two. They would be stuck on the train together as well. I just hope Sombra doesn't do anything else to hurt poor Twi. She may be nosy, but that's no reason to hurt her.
At least I would be the only member of royalty in the castle. With Shining Armor at a hospital in Canterlot for the broken leg as a result of my last adventure, it would be easier to ensure that nopony else got hurt. Broken legs... they're the worst. Healing an injury like that, even with magic... it takes time.
All I needed to do was make sure everypony who worked here got a nice vacation.
A nice paid vacation, I thought with a smile as I left the room and Twilight's troubles behind me. After all who can resist that? I would be able to look after myself, and only a ghost wanted to hurt me.
It was time for some very intense hide and seek. The eyes will hide, and I will seek.
...
I presumed that dark magic would be involved. This means I had to be prepared. After everypony got news of their paid vacations, I got to work. A delicate operation like this called for proper supplies.
Manespray? Check!
Lovely combat boots I wore to that wild Nine Inch Tails concert a few years ago? A must!
Talcum power for ghosts? Definite check!
Granola bars and other assorted snacks? Affirmative! I have to eat at some point, right?
Silver hoop earrings? Double yes!
Emergency eyeliner! I can't forget it!
The most obscure magic books I could find? Acquired!
I was even able to locate a book on ghosts in the library.
I wasn't incredibly sure on how to ghost hunt, as superstitious as I was, but according to my book talcum powder would show any spooky hoofprints that weren't mine. Since I would be wearing very unusual boots I would be able to tell mine from the ghost's.
Now, all I have to do is wait for nightfall to see if I can find any hidden passages, since using dark magic in broad daylight - even in the castle - is not very smart.
All I have to do is warm up my brain and wait for sunset, I thought as I stared out at the evening sky which was still blue. I picked up a sudoku book I had found lying around the castle earlier a few of its pages were very loose and the spine was dented, suggesting somepony had dropped it but otherwise it was fine.
I grabbed a pencil and flipped open to the first page and I hoped I was still as good at these as when I foalsat for Twilight.
I must have dozed off, because I awoke suddenly to the noise of an alarm I had set to remind me when to start searching. For a minute, all I heard was the racing of my heart. Sudoku sheets were scattered around the chair I had been napping in, illuminated by moonlight. The rest of the sitting room I was in felt unusually dark and cold.
I smacked the small battery powered timer until it quieted with a small 'ding' and straightened my jacket. Nearly everything outside of major urban areas was mostly magic-powered. To find something that was entirely non-magical was both a rarity and an inconvience. I was armed with a letter opener only since I forgot to go down to the armory, though I doubted I needed a weapon any way. Tucking a letter opener in my jacket wasn't that bad of an alternative.
My first night was just beginning.
...
Flying quietly was something I was adept at and tonight was no exception, I was born a pegasus, and I flew like one, though princess duties could take away from that, I'd never lose this. I glided slowly through the talcum-ed hallways with only a conjured string of pale blue werelights to see.
First, I wanted to do a sweep of all the floors and check for marks. This would help me find the ghost and track their pattern, maybe I could even try to follow them and see if they knew anything about the eyes.
There doesn't seem to be any sign of phantom hoofprints. Isn't that strange? With the amount of powder I obtained you'd think there'd be something.
I conjured another small light, and tried flying closer to the ground rustling, the powder slightly.
Arcing back upwards I continued sweep after sweep of hallways. No need to accidentally make strange tracks by mistake. The last thing I wanted was to make everything more confusing, I was already a bit out of my element. I just wanted the Empire to be safe now that I've had my share of what adventure is like, and some of the world outside Equestria. History, too - it's not as safe and nice as every bit of history ever has told everypony.
By the time I came to the hall with the door leading to the breezeway of the stadium I was starting to feel sleepy.
I swooshed down another turn in the corridor before coming to a straight hallway.
Maybe I should have had some coffee, I thought with a brief yawn, closing my eyes for a moment. Then it would be easier to stay awake and obtain these items that Sapp'ra sent me to find.
"Blaah!" I shook myself awake remembering what I was up for. The ghost is my priority.
Wait, where is all the talcum powder?!
I looked down at the floor, only to see it was spotless. With a swallow, a flew down with my lights nervously clinging to me as if they were alive.
Landing on the gleaming floor I folded my wings and walked a few steps, feeling confused at how so much of a mess could go missing so easily. None of the windows here were opened so it couldn't have gone outside. I was good at flying quietly and without much disturbance. Nopony had been here since I gave out all those paid vacations. Maybe I'm just crazy? No, I don't think I'm there yet. Sombra's the crazy one.
I even made sure nopony had come back and offered to help fetch any items they left in the castle. So, how could this happen?
Hovering one of the lights closer I noticed in the reflection of the floor that the ceiling seemed awfully pale, and spotty.
"What the-"
Everything seemed to go haywire, and my world-and stomach-seemed to flip. I felt a whoosh of air and then nothing for a moment before a hard crash!
The last thing I remember was throwing up in a bunch of talcum, and feeling very, very disoriented.
...
"Don't worry mom, I will remember to write!" I called happily waving at the small crystal house and its green fields.
The river gurgled in the background as I pulled my cart of belongings down the dirt road heading away from the mountains toward the direction of my future: the Heart of The Empire!
Wait, what is happening? This is not me. Who is this pony?
Slowly, some of my awareness came back and I looked around.
Green hills rolling everywhere, framed by the snowy Gemheart Mountains and pleasantly cold weather.
Am I dreaming? How hard did I hit my head? I haven't picked up a joint recently so I can't be-
I was leaving my family behind for the first time.
This isn't a dream. What should I do?
I closed my eyes and ran a hoof of my lucky bandana that I had always worn-soft cloth with square crystal sequins sewn into the shape of a geometric heart and a small beaded end resting over my heart.
"I will be the best armorsmith I can be," I whispered.
This seems a lot like Farreach... That's it! Farreach! I'll just let this play out. Maybe I can learn something... from... whatever strange dream this is. I just hope I'm not stuck in another book for some perplexing reason.
A bit of my forelock tickling my muzzle acted as a reminder to what I was doing.
"Oh, silly me. How will I ever reach the city if I never start moving?"
I kept at a jog while humming an improvised tune.
"Of course..."
A terrifying breaking sound burst to life in my ears that sounded like someone taking a sledgehammer to a sheet of ice.
Sweet Auntie Celestia, what was that?!
"...daughter of," the dream-pony continued as the noise came again, followed by a mare's desperate blood-curdling scream.
STOP! What is happening?!
"...would lay down my life to protect the Crystal Heart."
Everything around me faded to blackness and the same noise continued to loop in the background like a broken record with the shattering and the mare screaming over and over until a soft whispery voice seemed to seep in the void like smoke.
"Oh but I did! I truly did, however unwilling it was. There was so much blood. Blood everywhere. But you should know that...any 'friend' of his is an enemy of mine!"
Please, what is this? I'm so confused.
The voice devolved into a cackle that definitely did not come from any pony who was sane.
"You are an enemy, little Princess. A wicked little enemy."
There was more of laughter this time mixed with a scream that seemed to match the shatter-and-shriek noise very well and then the almost banshee like call of...
"I HATE YOU MI AMORE CADENZA!"
The sound of a thousand shatters blended in with this until I awoke, head throbbing, next to a pool of vomit and covered in patches of talcum powder, squinting at both the headache's effect and sunlight dancing across my eyes.
"Salt is very useful for keeping away spirits. Defining a boundary with it will make it unable for a hostile ghost to harm you. However, this is not a permanent solution, especially when dealing with powerful paranormal beings, whose magic is greater than the usual deceased spirit's."
But it is a start, I thought as I put Do It Yourself: Exorcisms and Other Charms for the Oblivious down on the end table in the sitting room that had become my sort-of headquarters. I had even moved my coffee machine in here, which wasn't really needed since I already knew a few coffee making spells in case things got super-serious.
I began to pour a small line of table salt around the edges of the room and on the windowsills, tripping over the occasional coffee cup in the process. I'd neglected to clean up a few things with my focus shift - ghosts took priority over coffee cup cemeteries.
When I was done I plopped onto the sleeping bag I had set up in the corner, kicked off my black boots, and levitated both the book and an espresso over, sipping it as I read passages out loud. I wasn't somepony who liked to talk for the sake of hearing my own voice, but it was easy to feel a little lonely - and even uneasy - without the noise of other ponies around the castle.
"A spirit is classified in relatively simple terms based on origins and powers, as well as differentiating them from other kinds of undead that have more physical forms. Motive also plays a key factor and can influence what they can do. For information on spirits in general please turn to page 55. If you are attempting identify a poltergeist please turn to page 37."
Taking a brief gulp of espresso, I decided to turn to page 37 since it named a specific kind of ghost rather then just 'spirits'.
What I found was something in between a customer survey and a magazine quiz. Lucky for the pony that wrote this, I'm a magazine quiz ace.
"The abilities of this ghost strongly resemble that of a draconequus: Strongly Agree, Agree, Unsure, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree."
I think 'agree' would work best, despite my limited knowledge of draconequui. Discord is the only known one, isn't he? I've never heard a single Equestrian myth mention another, and even Discord himself is, well, Discord.
"The spirit is able to induce trances, or other dreamlike states."
Strongly Agree.
"The spirit can manifest in a physical form."
Unsure.
"The ghost can directly influence objects rather then indirectly (i.e. tip over a glass rather then simply shake the table it sits upon)."
Hmm... that's another 'unsure'.
"The subject can verbally communicate instead of just sending visions or other nonverbal attempts to make its purpose, desires, or thoughts known."
Yes, I am obviously going to go talk to this thing to find out and share on of my espressos with it. Haha, nope. I'll just put 'agree.'
"The ghost is self-aware."
Most definitely, that's another 'strongly agree'.
"The subject can directly influence or manipulate living creatures."
Possession, eh? 'Unsure'.
"The spirit manifests realistically as opposed to powerful or surreal incarnations."
Any more questions like this and I'll need to set up cameras or have to work out some kind of elaborate spell system to get a look at it.
"The ghost will use repetitive traumatic visuals or effects to get its point across."
A 'strongly agree' once more.
"The spirit appears to be very sane and is able to be reasoned with when confronted or contacted."
Not at all. 'Strongly Disagree'.
"The subject is organized and does not seem scatterbrained, addled, confused, or forgetful."
Why would I want to observe it firsthoof? 'Unsure'.
"Motive of the spirit:"
Oh, a fill in the blank one... what was the reason this thing was haunting me? All it said that I understood was that it hated me. Not very specific there, Ghostie.
But why did it hate me?
I decided to skip over this question and score my results, but not before I grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This paranormal stuff was even frustrating than the magic Sapp'ra and I were working on.
As I levitated the sandwich I scanned the results:
"You definitely have a Poltergeist: a ghost with the ability to manipulate many physical objects, and on higher levels, the hauntee's world. Most often falling into three categories: mischievous, mysterious, and vengeful. They often have an object or objects that can influence them and be used to pacify their monomaniac desires for a short amount of time. These spirits are the most capable of interacting with the world they inhabited, and are best described as a lich without a true body. If they fall into the latter, more powerful categories the ability to speak should be present. Unlike most spirits salt does not repel them but only increases their power and makes them angry. Instead try the recommended wards on page 42..."
I nearly choked on a glob of chunky peanut butter. "SALT DOES WHAT NOW?!"
Quickly I dropped the book and dashed over to the door, planning on getting something to clean up all the salt. I flung open the door to the dim hall.
"Oh no," I breathed. Everything was replaced with jagged äerint crystals and small patches of darting purple and green fire high above my head.
The door slammed behind me and disappeared,fading into the wall of black crystal. I knew that Sombra was nowhere near here so this could only mean one thing.
I was stuck in the past with only a sandwich for help.
It felt cold and I saw why: my coat was nearly invisible, I don't think you could even get a proper glimpse of me no matter how hard you focus.
And this time it was I who was the ghost.
...
When Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire, I knew that the castle was not the same. I just wasn't sure exactly how different it was. Entire hidden chambers and corridors were one thing, but how many were there? Even in the present, I was still coming across all sorts of dark hidden traps that made keeping the castle staffed pretty tricky.
Nothing was even remotely familiar as I hovered through the halls as transparent spectre clutching an equally see through lunch item. My knees where knocking and I'm sure that if I had still been a physical pony I would have been in a cold sweat as well.
"So you this is all my fault!?"
I stopped as soon as I heard the scream hurtling through the crooked halls. Whoever was talking was simply furious and sounded exhausted too... but also dangerous. I shuddered. Whoever this was, I'd never want to cross somepony so hateful and angry.
"No, it is not my fault; none of this mess is! It never is! You never said anything about this before so that makes it your fault, you imbecile! You have been the one whose antics have nearly gotten us both killed due to your lack of foresight! Do I really need to bring up the cabbage loaf incident?!"
How funny... it seems like I'm not the only one somewhat angry towards bread today. Even stranger was that the voice sounded somewhat familiar. An accent I knew, maybe? Whoever spoke didn't sound that Crystalline.
"I don't care what you do to me later! You'll always do something, even when I do exactly what you want, you sadistic monster. Even when I do exactly what you want, all you do is- GAH! Stop it! Just stop talking! Your tone is even more obnoxious than usual, you useless brat."
Rounding the corner I came to a hallway where a shattered mirror was strewn everywhere and a pony was pacing like mad, äerint crystals gradually sprouting up in random places on the walls, which were already heavy with the stuff.
If I didn't know better, I'd say that the castle almost felt like an extension of the pony - like that one book I read years ago... the creepy one where the house ends up collapsing into a marsh, if I remember right.
It was Sombra; a much younger, decently shorter, and skinnier Sombra. He was wearing a scarlet cape with a white trim that was clearly a couple sizes too big. Although he was fairly tall - I've never met a pony as tall as Sombra - he had to be only about sixteen years old, barely an adult. He looked about the same as well: crimson eyes, shaggy mane, and a twitch in his left eye, though both were marked with dark circles.
The paranoid rage in them was haunting. Did he even trust the halls he walked in?
Unfortunately, I could not make out every detail of his face in this rather... animated... conversation he was having. especially since his crown, while it appeared less helmet-like and was more of a glorified circlet, hid some of the details of his face. The armor he wore on his hooves made a sharp clanging noise and kicked up papers that were strewn everywhere. I dropped my sandwich which did nothing but flop soundlessly onto the floor.
Thankfully Sombra did not seem to notice me. Or the sandwich. Especially the sandwich.
"I hid and trapped the only artifact that matters. We do not need these magic eyes that this book mentions... and yes, yes! I know that you know I cannot read, but there's something called damn obvious illustrations and maybe those words mean something to you?" Sombra snapped.
Wait... the papers strewn there mention Sapp'ra's eyes? I could certainly use those... but do they still exist in the present? Or could I just take them here...?
"'But these will give me more power!' you say. Is that all you ever think about? I'm sure it is. How can something neither of us can use have any potential benefit?! This is like the magic of that silly heart, it'll kill us!" Sombra yelled again.
Who is he talking to? It's not me, but nopony else was here.
I sidled a little closer to the papers and remembered Sombra mentioning something about personalities created by dark magic. Maybe that is who that is, though that must be very annoying having a voice in your head all the time.
Young Sombra rolled his eyes. "Onyx you are about as powerful as a the rock you are named after, and have about as much as intelligence as one. Although at least the rock has some class to it, and can hold more meaning full conversations then you could ever hope to attempt. If you care to punish me for being spiteful again, I'm just going to go on even more. So what's it going to be for me later?"
There was a pause and then Sombra burst into a brief bout of eerily humorless laughter. "Keep telling yourself that," he muttered.
So Onyx is the name of the voice? That honestly sounds more like a crystal pony's name then the name of some monster. But why would he be talking to a crystal pony that was... in his head? Crystal ponies obviously don't pop into the heads of other ponies. Perhaps he's drunk? It didn't seem like it but I probably shouldn't rule out any possibilities at this point... and now that I can see him a little better... well, it does look like he might've been drinking at some point earlier, actually. His gait is off, for one.
I got close enough just as Sombra gathered up all the loose papers in a stack and began to walk off in another direction, angrily rifling through the levitating pile as he went.
Picking up my sandwich, which thankfully still seemed edible - not that I was planning on eating it after all this. I drifted after him as he muttered about how stupid or cruel this Onyx was, even though it was too for me hard too make out all the words. To me, it mostly just sounded like he was mumbling at a bratty child, but who could hate anypony that much? Especially a child?
The sounds of his voice seemed to grow softer and the äerint seemed to fade until I woke up to the call of a flugelhorn outside, beams of sunlight straying across the crystal floor.
Somehow I had ended up back in the hall where I started, as if I had never left. The door to my sitting room hideout was wide open.
Then, I noticed that my sandwich was gone, a trail of its remains leading off in another direction.
However weird that may be, the first thing I was going to do is clean up all that salt.
Well, cleaning up the castle took all day, I mused as I plopped into my reading chair. I wanted to see if I could learn anything new about ghosts before I followed that sandwich trail tonight. Queen Sapphira told me to stay away from it but I think that I could get it to help me, indirectly or directly.
Plus, I'm not having this thing prancing around my home.
Now, let's see I had cast a couple of the wards in place of the salt so maybe today I should try something a little more daring...
"Poltergeists and some other varieties of paranormal beings can steal power from items like cameras and flashlights..."
I paused for a moment and grabbed a salad and iced coffee from the food I stashed in a nearby cooler for a late dinner.
"...this can enable them to physically manifest which can be dangerous and is not recommended for those hunting ghosts. Instead, covered lanterns and basic werelights are advised for ghost hunting."
A rather bold idea popped into my head, renewing my enthusiasm. Nothing in here can be more dangerous then getting impaled with a giant rock. I grabbed an empty duffel bag and ran to find as many batteries as possible before the sun would set and it would be time to follow the trail of breadcrumbs left for me.
...
The duffel weighed down on my shoulder and ruffled my feathers a bit as I walked through the absolutely silent halls, taking deep breath after deep breath trying to avoid fear.
Just follow the path. My new goal is to talk to the poltergeist and see if I can find any of the eyes.
While I wasn't finding any hidden passages, I knew I was in a wing of the castle I had rarely explored: the armories. There had never been too big a need for them before Sombra's rule. Well, there had thousands and thousands of years ago, but that was an age long past - one even I hadn't done too much reading about. When Sombra took over, there had only been a small militia-guard protecting the Empire instead of anything formidable, like Equestria had.
As the hall darkened I summoned a little werelight so I could see where I went as I dodged jam splats that littered hallways. They lead to a room at the end of the hall with a gaping door revealing only darkness.
Oh, great I've read enough horror novels to know what-
"Mi Amore..." a familiar voice sang.
Of course it just had to be the poltergeist! My spine prickled with alarm as the voice continued its haunting melody.
"Mi Amore Cadenza... such a pretty name..."
I began to step as quickly and silently down the halls. This thing wanted to trap me in this room, but if I know anything about ghosts from that book it's that they often guard things. There might be something in there... a puzzle piece that'll be worth the risk, and if this ghost thinks it can kill me I've got a trick or two.
I was at the door now, like a frightened cat I darted in and slammed it, casting a makeshift charm to protect myself. I would need to save bigger magic for later.
"Mi Amore Cadenza is the perfect name..."
There was a thundering bang on the door that shook the whole room and caused me to jump back followed by the insane yet detached cackle I had begun to know.
"...FOR A HEADSTONE! Get it? I am going to kill you, sweetie. Oh, but do not worry your pretty little head about. I will be extra merciful, I swear on my crown. Not like him. You will not look as holey as cheese when I am through with you... very red cheese, that is." She tittered madly.
My heart was racing in my throat. I could always teleport out but this ghost knew about the eyes, I swear she did. If I could get information from her this would save me from endlessly wandering these halls searching for something that could be right under my muzzle!
Backing away from the door I felt myself stumble.
What was-?
I turned around and looked at the faintly glimmering floor.
Jelly. I had almost forgotten the trail.
It was important to survey my surroundings, since I had no idea where I even was. I cast an even brighter werelight that lit up every corner of the chamber. I was in a disused armory, shelves of helmets and racks of lances that were bound together by cobwebs were covering every wall. There was another round of battering at the door and the glass-and-screaming sound from the dream.
The dream! What was it the pony in the dream said? Didn't they want to be an armorsmith? This had to be a clue!
Whirling back around I found my trail of sandwich parts led only to the center of the room but in one corner was an item that was not a helmet or a lance. It was the main piece of a suit of armor. Extinguishing my werelight I hurtled over to the puzzle piece in one light flying leap, suddenly seeing nothing but black for a moment. Behind me I heard the final crash of a splintering door.
I withdrew deeper into the annex concealed by this spinning door, sealing it near completely, with the exception of a small crack that stealthily enabled the door to be flung open if needed and shed some light on whatever was behind me.
Ghosts could sense most magics everypony knew that, so the less magic I used the less visible I was.
Behind me was a small antechamber made of dull gray uncut crystal. A closet really. It was bare except for a small rag like object on the floor. When I crept closer I noticed it was not a rag but a sort of faded and torn lavender scarf, with and embroidered edge and little white and square cut gems sewn to look like... a heart.
In the fall-induced dream the pony had a bandanna just like this...
'They often have an object or objects that can influence them and be used to pacify...'
With my hoof I scooped up the bandanna with my boot-clad hoof as best as I could and clutched it wishing I could tie it on with magic so at least my hooves would be free.
"Oh my, it seems somepony left me a little surprise," cooed that disturbing, soft voice.
I stiffened and did my best to remain still, one part of my plan had already failed in terms of strategic timing: in my jump for the sliding door I had lost my duffel bag.
"I do not really like surprises, considering the last one I got was the one that killed me."
It was hard to focus my gaze out of such a small space and what I saw... I wanted to throw up, I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, I wanted to gouge out own eyes, and I wanted to cry all at once.
She would have been a normal mare at one point. Maybe even pretty. My brain was racked and disgusted at this sight as if describing her might make such a creature less frightening. The ghosts of foalhood tales were typically pale and glass-like, mysterious and pitiful, and their only real desire was either to move on or pull a few pranks on the living. This ghost followed no such conventions.
The Poltergeist was translucent and wasn't especially tall or short. Her appearance was macabre: teeth in a wicked and gut-wrenching smile so that I almost felt sharp with the awkward crookedness of her mad grimace. Her mane was hideously disheveled in a loose, pulled back look and matted with blood, falling down in thick ratty tangles. Some of the tarnished metal hairpieces rested there seemed to accentuate the gruesome excuse for eyes: unforgiving black voids with flaming pinpricks of heartless blue fire for pupils.
Much like her mane her tail was also a blood-matted mess bound in one knot before resuming the appearance of a tangled plait. A ripped and tattered cloak of sheer ghastly grayish fragments seemed to encircle her like wispy spirits frozen in time and did little to hide her mangled form.
Her body was riddled with blood edged holes and wicked gashes were spread everywhere, so you couldn't even make out what she might have been like. I was puzzled at how she even stayed together with some areas giving away to swatches of a luminescent skeleton. the swirling and lackluster collar for her cloak that was slashed to bits seemed like a taunting burden to her weak form. Her forehooves still had the remains of once gleaming slippers clinging to them, and looked as depressing as a lone toy forsaken in the rain. I felt like 'disfigured' might almost be a compliment, given her unmendable state.
With a look of almost childlike fear she nudged the duffel and jumped back shrieking as the hundreds of batteries poured out, most likely unsure of what they were. The clatter was enormous, which startled her so much she lept into the corner and began to make strangled noises that resembled sobs for a few seconds before breaking into spontaneous shrieking cackles and rocking back and forth.
I remained as silent as possible trying to go unnoticed and focus on anything slightly distracting like how her coat did show remainders of the crystalline appearance of the Empire's inhabitants.
In fact her the crystal shine seems more physical than she is...
The poltergeist stopped her maniacal breakdown and went on to shudder as if she were cold. Slowly all the batteries began to roll toward her in unison, while she stared with a dull confusion before they all began to crush with a painful and dragged out s-c-r-e-e-e-c-h and hovered for a moment until they dropped to the floor, only a withered husk of what they had been. Poltergeist began to glow with a fiery red energy that sucked all the warmth in the room.
She shivered for a moment as if she had a brain freeze. A moment later my knees wobbled and quivered as my mind grew cloudy and thick.
A sky blue streak flew out the small crack, a joyous sparkling contrast to the menacing effect of the poltergeist.
It almost looked like my magic.
Oh no...
The door to my hiding place was ripped away and thrown into the rusty armor.
"Oh Cadenza, do you know how much easier this could have been if you just killed Sombra in that cold waste up north? We could have been the best of friends had you betrayed that monster."
Poltergiest smiled that lopsided Nightmare Night pumpkin grin with about as much kindness as a shark has for a fish. I fell to the ground feeling ever so sleepy...
What was I here for again?
"You see little Princess, I cannot harm you while you clutch that old bandanna of mine. I led you to it in one of my better moods." Her image seemed to flicker slightly, like a stained glass window when a bird passes by.
I wonder what is under it...
Stars drifted past my eyes as my cheek lay pressed against the cold floor. My hooves gripped the scarf tighter. Red sparkles hung around me. Was that bad?
"You cannot activate the Heart without magic and I am here every night. Your kingdom will still think you are playing hide and seek, you know."
Yes, I think Fredrick is a lovely name for the sandwich.
"My, my it seems like such a lovely young mare is missing out on her beauty sleep. Maybe you should rest a little while I look after the castle."
A burp-like yawn escaped my mouth. Sleep sounds nice.
"How about a visit to the friend of yours too? I am sure he would be delighted to see you."
My lashes fluttered slightly and the light began to hurt my eyes the longer I stared, a dull throb echoing in the back of my mind.
"Though it seems my vision has gone a bit bad, being over a thousand years and all. Looks like I will have some searching to do."
I remember darkness and the sound of a stone fitting into a nook before my mind went blank and sleep took hold of me, pouncing like a cat to a mouse.
She had stood on a golden balcony only moments before, looking over a kingdom of crystal. Despite the recession it was still filled with love and life, and would gleam beneath both the sun's light and the moon's.
She thought nothing could ever happen on this scale. Nopony in this isolated paradise did.
But it did happen, a black fog rushing through part of the mountains. It held a power not seen by her ponies before, some few thought it was their reckoning. It might as well have been. The kingdom went from a calm peace to sheer chaos. Terrified screams filled the sky but it kept coming, passing them and cloaking the world in darkness. It was so fast...
None of the magic was working. Not even the prized crystallokinesis of the ponies. Nopony was powerful enough. Nopony was brave enough. Now the only racial ability they had to preserve them was their resistance to the cold. The Heart wouldn't work if the terror of the razing was too much. Buildings crumbled around her.
The mare ran to the edge sprouting a crude staircase of gleaming rainbow flecked gems down to the plaza. She had to get the Heart. The Heart could save them all, she thought. When she arrived there she ran and grabbed it from its floating state, holding it tight and whispering to it as if it were a foal - and her own foal.
There were thundering calls she did not know, in the chaos it seemed there were no ponies at all. Only endless screams.
Then there were hoofsteps. She didn't hear them then but she hears them now. They were silent. Deadly silent, and then came the voice.
"I'll hide the Heart,you should run."
She turned around. It was a guard. His helmet was askew but otherwise he seemed okay. She couldn't see his face, but he was young and tall. Likely one of the new recruits to the militia. The voice coming from his too-big helmet sounded familiar, but strained.
"Platinum Laurel is that you?"
Was that a nod? It looked like a nod.
She gave him the Heart. Then was the smile, it wasn't Platinum Laurel at all. That pony hid a horn in the helmet - a monster's horn. The pony changed into a tall, skinny colt dressed in rags with a shaggy mane and curved horn. He had demon eyes with purple smoke and sharp white fangs. He had a somewhat battered looking knife in his magic, pulled from somewhere in the depths of those rags that she hadn't anticipated, if any of this could have been predicted. She was not a god of the great Sapphira's line. She was a mortal, beloved as they were, but with no magical talent other than what her race could be born with.
A blast of strange magic. The Heart turned gray and cold in a way that snow could never be.
She turned to scream but her voice was too soft. It blended it with the others.
"Who are you?" she squeaked hoarsely, her last coherent words before everything turned to pain and red. There would be so much red, it's always the first thing that she remembered.
He smiled evilly, the right side of his mouth pulled higher than the left in the happiest smile she had ever seen. That's what made it so terrifying. It was a child's happy smile. Never before had she witnessed such glee. "I'm the king."
That was when the real screams began, and everything turned red,even when she closed her eyes.
...
My head still ached as I stood up, feeling dizzy and blinking at the dimness.
Where was I?
Last night. Poltergiest. My magic. A dream that left me in a cold sweat.
Gasping I ran to where the door should have been and kicked it as hard as possible with my back legs. Nothing happened.
The door was sealed shut, which was just my luck. I slumped against one of the corners of the triangular anntechamber.
This annex would be my tomb, I thought drawing a thin breath. Soon the air would run out.
Then it hit me. I was strong enough to kick the door, my vision wasn't blurry, and I still had my cutie mark.
That meant something. But what?
"How could I be so stupid?" I hissed, too angry to cry. "What idiot gets themselves outwitted by a thousand year old stab victim?!"
I tried to bit back a scream. Now who will help Queen Sapphira and the crystal ponies?
"She doesn't even have eyes! I was tricked by a blind ghost! She set me up with a bandanna as bait!" Slamming a hoof against the wall uselessly I continued my bitter rant. If only somepony where in the castle, somepony who could hear my screaming... but they also would've been hurt by the ghost.
"I set myself up for this. So much for trying to play this scenario like a card game."
Slumping further against the wall I felt my hateful emotions get something stirring inside, burning like a fire. An intelligent, determined, and angry fire that wouldn't listen to anypony at this point.
Gosh, I bet this is what Sombra feels like.
Sombra... that was it!
Who lived here once?
Sombra.
Who likes to hide things?
Sombra!
Who would build something this austere!
Definitely Sombra!
Who would leave a way out for those clever enough to find it? Even though he probably would just kill them later...
SOMBRA!
I jumped up and ran to the corner that seemed like the pointer to an arrow. I knew why I still had my cutie mark, my strength.
It would be hard for a ghost like her to take every bit of magic in me.
Oh sure, she may have taken my personal magic but she didn't take every last shred like Tirek did.
My 'matches' may be gone but there are other ways to spark a fire. I tucked the bandanna into a pocket. Who knew, I may need it later. I stared at the corner and tried to focus all my Sombra-esque rage on the wall.
I felt terrible trying to ball all that anger up. It made it feel like somepony was twisting a very small knife inside my heart. It wasn't any better that I felt a headache stemming from my horn, the magic clearly not fitting with it. Despite all this, it was no excuse! I had to get out of here!
Come on...!
At last, a stream of purple and green aura roared to life on my horn and my vision was clouded, as I bit my lip. I released the column of energy and watched as the stone burned away like paper in acid revealing a dark hallway that was nothing but shadows.
...
The hall did not have incredibly stale air like I thought it would, but it was so cold that I was thankful for even the small black jacket I wore.
Although there were no lights of any kind especially since I didn't have the familiar magic to conjure any kind I knew of, I didn't need to question what direction to head in. One way, and that just so happened to be this way.
Where I was in the castle I couldn't be sure, there were many places to hide secret halls if somepony was clever enough.
After a while I came to a dark wooden door that was clearly manufactured by Sombra Inc.
Please don't be a nightmare door, I thought with a shudder.
Channeling another painful burst of dark magic, I turned the knob not sure of what I would find.
I closed my eyes for a moment to regain my breath after using such needlessly powerful bursts of magic to accomplish simple tasks, although there was no alternative.
It wasn't a nightmare door at all, instead it flipped open to reveal a sort of cipher: multiple rings, all of the same alphabet - thankfully the one I was used to - fiddled with as if somepony had tried to get in. Perhaps recently.
Somepony who unlike me clearly didn't know Sombra.
I just wasn't sure how well I knew him...
...
Nothing seemed to work. I spun the wheel by hoof spelling out everything Sombra - like I could think of.
I had tried any word that could be associated with him, and for each fail I carved a tally in the wall with the steel tip of my boot. So far I had fourty-one tries, all based on things he said to be or things I presumed he liked. Anything. I really just went with anything.
Taking a few steps back, I paused to look at the cipher. Manual movement and one word answers were clearly not working.
If I were Sombra what would the correct phrase be?
I glanced over at the tallies for a moment pondering. Well, that's just it I wouldn't want just anypony to get in, and it would be a test as well...
Ah-ha! That was it!
Gritting my teeth, I shot a blast of dark magic at it and watched as the wheels became animated, moving and spinning until they spelled out a message: NAME YOURSELF
What should I tell it? Knowing Sombra it's probally trapped, a riddle, endowed with some sort of self-awareness, or...
The wheels spun again revealing a new message: ANY DAY NOW
...snark.
Spinning the wheels I entered 'C-A-D-A-N-C-E'. It seemed like the best place to start, and it did tell me to name myself.
After I finished the wheels spun themselves again: CORRUPTED ALREADY PINK ONE
I put in the words 'I need your help, Sombra' as best I could considering the lack of a punctuation ring.
The wheel responded: OF COURSE YOU DO BUT HE IS NOT THERE
But... what? Ugh, why is Sombra always so difficult.
Rolling my eyes I instinctively put in 'DUH'. Hopefully that might get me some more helpful snark. I'm not like Twily. I don't care about science or passing or even tests. I just want to help ponies, and I want to stay alive and safe.
My message disappeared and was replaced with another message: PASS THE TEST
I frowned. What test?
The cipher wheels flipped over with a sound similar to falling dominoes, revealing a blank under side. The center of the cipher wheel which I was covering a gear popped open revealing a hole barely big enough for a pencil.
Some of the letter tiles flipped over to give one final statement: ONE WAY YOU CAN ENTER BECOME SHADOW
Become shadow? Oh gosh, I wasn't sure if I could do that, I was no Sombra.
But I also was no quitter.
I stood firm and focused on trying to dissolve into the shadow cloud, screwing my eyes shut as I concentrated, smoke streaming from them.
Then came the pain, a terrible burning sensation like I was being consumed by fire and ripped apart at the same time. I began to feel little but my eyes as if all else was just loosely part of me.
Opening my eyes revealed that I was a large gray-blue cluster of fog-like smoke much smaller then Sombra, with the trademark purple smoke.
Despite my dulled-or lack of-nerves it still hurt to stay like this and took all my concentration.
Steering myself forward, I disappeared through the entrance presented to me.
...
Dark magic was hard. Unlike most magic it did not feel right and was painful to cast if it did not come naturally to the user. For non alicorns it was not possible to cast it without being taught or having something that would allow them to control it, like an amulet.
It was too hard for me to control, and as soon as I entered the other side, the door sealing behind me, I felt myself reform - which was just as draining and painful as deforming, since figuring out how to put yourself back together at the right speed was not exactly a piece of cake.
I didn't even have I chance to look around, I was too wiped out and so it was that I sank into a dreamless sleep.
Ugh, the one thing I hate about adventures is definitely the absence of comfy beds, I grumbled to myself. After I a moment of recollecting where I was I promptly picked myself up and... threw up...
If this ghost doesn't kill me, I don't know what will.
Shakily, I walked over to the closest wall.
The room I was in now was mostly empty, a stone lectern sat in the middle piled high with dusty papers that did not stir. They looked preserved, and the air in here was stale. On the wall was a circular äerint frame depicting nothing but the wall, as if the actual picture had been kicked right out, with all traces of canvas removed as well.
When I felt better I went over to investigate the papers ignoring the growling my stomach was making. Food would come later, though I must admit my time as a princess has gotten me used to not skipping meals. Compared to things like this, princess duties were orderly - but I didn't need to stick to it. I kept telling myself that I could do this, even if I wasn't a genius, divine, master sorcerer... or anything like that. My wings and horn still meant something.
I gently blew the dust of the top paper, hoping it didn't crumble.
My heart sank when I saw the result: the papers were too aged and faded to make out.
All this effort... was it for nothing? No that can't be right, I should at least check these. They had looked preserved!
I flipped through all the others using only dark magic despite its effects on my strength, all were neatly stacked on the lectern my face growing hot with each disappointing sheet. There had to be something in here that I could use. To make things worse something in my my rage caused the papers to light up with purple and green fire.
"NOOO!"
I ran around trying to stomp out the flame when something caught my eye.
On the wall, in glowing red letters, were instructions written on how to conjure an aim-able dark fire ball in some sort of old ink that ran so much it had almost blended into the wall, the fire's peculiar being the only thing to draw my attention to this. The writing was large and sloppy - like the pony who wrote complex magic instructions was barely literate as well... which was odd.
My eyes drifted over to frame, after all perhaps it was some sort of target.
Well, here goes nothing...
When the fire ball made impact, I almost collapsed from exhaustion but forced myself to struggle over to look at the results.
The magic had burned away another secret nook revealing a undamaged paper and a small item roughly the size of a hoof covered in cloth. I pulled out both and skimmed over the paper, which was a series of scribbled notes written by Sombra all those years ago. He seemed to be figuring out how to use something, but for whatever reason it didn't work... and his writing... gods it was awful.
'...called the Ice Star and the Reflector Star. I still cannot figure out how to use them, which is the most useful information ever. All I know is that they are probably connected to the Crystal Heart. Although, there is no way I will activate the thing in order find out. But as long as I cursed that heart I believe these will remain in a stasis as well. Their nature still escapes me, damned light magic. I certainly won't be digging into their nature now.
While I have no doubt that these would be useful to whoever could wield them, these silly eyes are in no way the most powerful artifacts, especially when compared to the heart that these ponies seemed to treasure so much. I honestly hope there aren't any more magic organs lying around this place. What next, the Crystal Lungs?'
Grasping the parcel in my hoof I unwrapped the cloth holding it.
"By Luna, Celestia, and all of Equestria!"
Inside was a stone-like item that had a slight teardrop shape to it and glowed with silvery light. Instead of looking like an ordinary glass eye , like I expected, it resembled a very sparkly contact lens and had delicate yet jagged patterns of frost on it, like an ice carving and was a pale blue white.
I had no doubt that this was the Ice Star.
It began to hover and rotate before flashing brightly, my gaze transfixed by it. It flashed brighter and brighter until for a moment I was blinded...
...
Thankfully, I did not pass out although my eyes were shut.
I wonder what happened... hopefully nothing terrifying. I've had enough of that just for a little.
For a moment I wouldn't open my eyes unsure of what exactly this thing would do. Then, I remembered that I still had to find the other half to the pair.
Upon reopening my eyes I gasped. The vision of my right eye was covered with whimsical swirls of frost, like the windows of Canterlot Castle in the winter. It made everything I look at glow with a coat of snow and phantom trails of ice.
But that wasn't all it did. Before I had put this magical little contact lens in my eye it seemed to have had a similar effect to the Crystal Heart, glazing the entire chamber in ice. In the reflections of that ice I could see the more impressive changes.
My mane and tail were long and and shimmering just like when Celestia, Luna, and I gave our magic to Twilight, but now they also had a pale blue streak, and were much curlier, with the bottom halves as white as snow. I looked like a true goddess now, and it took my breath away. Any hint of the manespray I used before had vanished. Before I had felt like an empty box without my magic. When I performed the dark magic it had felt like I was a hungry pony who had only eaten a slice of bread in weeks, it hurt and I just couldn't stomach it.
However, now it felt like I had eaten uncountable loaves of the metaphorical bread, and even though it seemed as if I could now contain this magic due to the Ice Star there was no proof that I could control it.
Of course, there was still the problem that my own magic was still gone and Sombra wasn't exactly the poster pony of what I wanted to end up as, even though I'm pretty sure he's too stubborn to be corrupted by anything.
Unfortunately I was still unsure of what to do next and sat down slumping, against one of the frosted walls. It was not helping that having one of my eyes overlaid with something that bore too much resemblance too an enchanted greeting card which was giving me a headache.
I took a deep breath and blinked, knowing that a couple of minutes were needed to figure out where I should go next considering the ghost in my house.
Something flashed behind my right eyelid.
"What was that?"
I blinked my eye again and held it closed. Something was there, the vision of a snowy mountain, and behind it the rear of the crystal castle.
"Oh!," I exclaimed, holding a hoof over my eye to keep myself from opening it. "That must be where the Reflector Star is! Except all the Gemheart Mountains sorta look alike and... I umm... don't remember their names except for Mount Topazora..."
...and since I've never been there before and I don't have any coordinates I can't teleport over there.
"That's it!," I exclaimed, jumping up and clapping my hooves, "All I need is coordinates and I don't even have to leave the castle to get the, and those would obviously be... AT THE LIBRARY!"
Ahhh! Cadance, you're a genius!
...
I snuck down the empty hallways even though the cloak of blurry black dots was visible only to me, conjured via dark magic meant to hide my presence from my unexpected guest made it rather pointless. It felt nice no longer being trapped in the gray corridor although teleporting with dark magic was rather tiresome.
There were at least three libraries in the castle, none of them particularly large when compared to the one located in the city. I was planning to head to the smallest of the three, which according to the crystal ponies, should mostly have maps and historical texts. Then again, the crystal ponies hadn't been inside very much since Sombra's rule... and they did talk about one of the libraries being locked.
After playing ninja for a bit longer, I came to a purple door, that thankfully wasn't suspiciously large or in the middle of a constantly traveled hallway, instead the door was of a much smaller height suggesting that this 'library' was more of a study.
Thinking it safer, I decided to continuing to keep up the veil. I refrained from gritting my teeth as much as I could while channeling what was probably an overkill amount of dark magic on my horn, and all to open a door.
I watched as the magic floated away from my horn in purple and green stripes, flowing around the door frame along with runes burning in the signature green and purple. It was so fast it made my head hurt just looking at it so I reached out a hoof and pushed it open.
The magic stopped moving but didn't disappear. It didn't seem to be that big of a deal, I shrugged this off and went inside discarding the veil at once. There was already too much magic outside to remain completely undetected for long.
I seemed to have been right about it being a glorified study. There were only twelve shelves of polished crystal each of them devoid of books and angled so the faced away from the farthest wall, and while all of them lacked adornment that wall seemed to be polished more than the other three.
This was a little odd... maybe the wall is another puzzle?
I placed my hoof toward the left side and began to slowly slide it across hoping to find a switch and hoped that it didn't say 'Hi Pink One, Please Insert Magic Here' followed by some sassy remark etched in crystal by Sombra, who I was seriously beginning to think was omniscient, or at the very least extremely paranoid.
I really hope Sombra isn't omniscient.
When my hoof got to the middle, I decided that magic-activation was more likely and stepped back, accepting that I would have to be using dark magic until my own was retrieved.
My hoof wouldn't budge. I tried yanking it away. It still didn't work.
"Umm, what exactly is happening here?"
No reply, my hoof was still stuck fast.
"Okay Poltergeist, you've got me with my hoof stuck to a wall, the joke is over right...? I have the Ice Star and know the whereabouts of the Reflector Star. You can try to take them but don't think that I'll just sit by and let you do it, I've still got three hooves to fight with."
All that was true, although it made me sound a lot braver then I felt.
Next, it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach, dark fire began to burn around me and flow until it reached my immovable hoof, where it seemed to charge a possible hidden mechanism behind it.
It kept extracting magic from me, in a way that made it feel like my blood was on fire. I sunk down onto my knees, finding it hard to breath.
Whatever spell this was kept stealing all the magic I had left, and in the next instant I kept producing new magic thanks to the Ice Star but as soon as the new magic was made it too was cruelly ripped out of me all over again.
...
It seems that even the spell here - its actual function still unknown to me - was not a bottomless pit. By the time it refused to extract any more I was unsure of how I had managed to remain conscious, somehow despite my closed eyes, I had sensed when it stopped.
With a free hoof I rubbed my eyes, blinking them a few times.
The room had changed from relaxing blue crystal to gray äerint that caused me to swallow out of reflex. The neat crystal shelves now bore the color as well, yet they could hardly be called neat anymore their orderly formation ruined as some were broken lying in chunks all over the place while others were tipped over. Their shelves were not empty, but did not hold books. Only piles of ashes, swept all over the room undisturbed by any hoof prints.
There was no ray of light from the windows, they too had been replaced with äerint. The only illumination came from the light of the Cadance-you-are-not-stuck-in-the-past-with-a-sandwich hallway.
Towards the left wall, right past the remains of a demolished bookshelf, I could see a glimpse of an abandoned reading nook somepony had made an old forlorn candlestick tipped over next to a trail of the ashes that were kicked and scattered all over the floor, only the slightest trace of hoofprints left in them, although the looked like no hoofprints I've ever seen. Perhaps the pony who made them staggered and smeared the impressions?
Creepy, I thought turning back to the wall where my hoof was still stuck fast.
My hoof now rested on patches some old paint of a dark color that was hard to make out. I noticed that my hoof slid to the side a little. I could move it again.
"Oh thank goodness," I whispered exhaling deeply, and finally put my achy leg down and stepped back, a candle's worth of dark fire on my horn to allow me to further examine the painted wall.
Except...
I swallowed when I saw it, my legs shaking. My eye couldn't even see the frost anymore, the sheer horror of it all.
...It wasn't paint at all, it was enormous amounts of dried blood smeared so thickly on the wall that for the sake of whoever bled for this that I wished it was paint.
There were tears in my eyes and a scream in my throat.
The most terrifying part was that it wasn't just a blood stain, whatever sadist did this spelled out a message in the long-dried blood with bold, thick, capital letters:
YOU CAN'T WIN
It was too much, my heart racing I let that scream out, running out the door with tears blurring my vision and blood roaring in my ears, whirling around for a moment to kick it shut.
Before I could even see it coming or who it was, somepony decked me hard in the head and I crumpled to the floor.
I woke up in my bunker, on my sleeping bag, and my head is spinning and he's looking at me. I don't know how he got here. My thoughts feel as if they're going too fast. I've heard of speaking a mile a minute, but not thinking a mile a minute. Is this normal? I don't think so.
On my jaw, up to my right cheek, there is a nasty cut over a bruise speckled with generous amounts of dried blood. I blame the metal he wears on those hooves. Why, exactly, does he do that?
But that didn't matter because somehow he was here and he was looking at me.
Judging me, as always. It was the Sombra from the weird vision, the younger one. He had dark circles under his eyes, like he decided he would suddenly never sleep when he was king, and he currently looked like he wanted me dead.
Very dead.
I brushed an imaginary curl out of my face nervously and tried to speak. I did, but the words came out half garbled and I didn't recognize them as words at all, and I didn't think he did either. All he did was look at me with such anger that made me feel like I was filthy and the gash on my face sting even more.
His gaze didn't waver, although his expression clearly stated that he wasn't pleased with my existence. "I could have broken your jaw."
Help.
He looked really tired and angry, but also so young and umm... rather solid for what I'm pretty sure was a paradox. Or a ghost. Another ghost.
I gulped. Tried again. "H-how...?"
It was all I could get out.
"You cast two spells. The second undid a seal on the door. But the first was me. I'm an energy-related spell born from hidden runes in the door frame, meant to create a copy of the original caster in the exact condition they were in on the date the spell was created. I'm a perfect replication of, well, myself and was supposed to be used as a last resort in case of something like this, but it seems something in my strategy went wrong and the Alicorn sisters succeeded."
His tone was impatient, as if he were not only already fed up of dealing with a pony he shouldn't even know, but wanting them to leave his sight after only a few seconds of even acknowledging them. It seemed out of character for him considering Sombra enjoyed describing magic, as well as rubbing his knowledge of it in others’ faces.
The disinterest he showed was puzzling and I noticed that Sombra's leg was shaking, but it wasn't out of fear, he looked too angry for that. The Sombra I knew could sit still easily, staring off into the void and judging it for hours. How could this fidgety ball of anger issues be him?
Yet why wasn't he calmer? He wasn't acting like his arrogant and nonchalant self. He should only be mad if I've done something to push him over the edge, like asking about his past. I didn't do that. What could possibly be provoking him?
"Umm... do you even know me...?"
It was a fair question, I think. It really shouldn't make him angry. He's my friend. Definitely.
But if he's my friend why do I feel afraid of him right now?
"I know of you." His tone was worse now, borderline enraged although I didn't know why. What reason did he have to direct such contempt at me? If I continued talking to him, I'd have to be very careful and choose all of my words carefully. Delivery was key here.
"But... wait... what do you mean... I'm so confused... aren't you-?"
Suddenly-Completely-Sure-If-He's-Sombra's eyes narrowed. "I see how it is."
Low tone equals dangerous tone. Even my sore head knew that.
He continued on, dangerous even when he was sitting across the room. "I should warn you that there's two things you should never doubt."
What exactly is going on here?! I don't like what's happening, I didn't bring up his past at all.
"Me."
Uh-oh, he said that through gritted teeth and spitefully. That's a really bad sign. Except he's not moving... doesn't that nullify the idea that he's going to hurt-
Dark aura. I just saw him use dark aura. THIS IS NOT GOOD.
In an instant, äerint crystals sprouted from the wall and squeezed my throat, cutting it until they got blood, and then they were gone.
"-and my authority."
I stood up in an adrenaline rush, gasping as blood ran from my throat.
"After all," he added flatly. "I'm supposed to be a king... supposed to be..."
'A pony possessed by dark magic can never directly heal themselves.' Sombra had told me something like this once. I definitely wasn't possessed by it, but when I lit up my horn with a healing spell it dimmed the next second, and I couldn't get my horn to glow with the same energies again. They had just vanished.
I put a hoof to my throat, it wasn't fatal by default, but...
But...
I looked over at Sombra, who was looking at me... and he didn't even care.
Yet, even though he didn't care, he healed me from across the room. His horn glowed with crimson magic, and he just stared right past me.
Hurt, I sat back down and cried knowing that this was the only place in the entire castle that was stocked and Poltergeist-free because of the charm I cast.
Even through the Ice Star's snow and my tears I could see Sombra sitting across the room, ignoring me as he set small objects on fire and watched them burn with a vaguely familiar jaded look in his eyes. Everything about him was twisted into somepony I barely recognized, yet clearly needed my help.
Later, when my tears didn't come anymore, I tried to talk to him. I hated to see him just sitting there being a firebug. Even more, I hated seeing him look the way he did: depressing. Even though he was tall, all of the king-garb seemed too big for Sombra as if he hadn't grown into it. His mane was so long I could swear it hung across his tired looking eyes like black icicles. One of his hooves was propping up his chin, a sure sign of apathy... a trait I actually recognized in him.
I knew better then to call him just 'Sombra'.
"King Sombra, how old are you?"
He didn't reply, instead he just picked up a book I had brought in - for some reason he didn't burn books like I expected, just wrappers and paper cups, mostly - and sat there looking glum as he began to read it even though it was a one of the few silly romance novels I mixed in with all the horror I would like to read. I swear he almost flinched when I called him that.
The clock on the wall ticked on. When its crystal hands indicated that ten minutes had passed, I got up and made some plain coffee. No magic espressos for now. My hooves kept shaking.
An hour passed. I began to to read too, drowning out everything by staring at the black type of a cheerful romantic comedy that just had be feeling more depressed by the second.
At some point I looked up. He was done with the book and was doing puzzles in the sudoku book I had brought in. I had torn out the answers and tip pages found toward the back to help challenge myself. They lay on the end table next to me. I wonder how well he'd do without them, considering I hardly did five pages worth of the stuff.
I went back to my book and half-heartedly read some more, trying not to be bothered by the silence.
"Seventeen."
Hmm? I glanced over at him. There was a stack of books next to him, and from the looks of it he'd just placed the sudoku one on top. In about two hours he'd read eight books, while I was barely through twelve chapters of one romance novel. What can I say, it was long.
"What did you say?" I asked.
"I'm seventeen. Apparently I ruled this place for another six years, if you could call what I did 'ruling'."
I stared at my novel, unlike it I was tongue tied, and words couldn't come.
Seventeen shot me a disgusted look. "For somepony who is reading a book, you sure are at a loss for words."
It wasn't quite the snarkiness I was used to, the way he said it, which almost made me sad at just how mean he really sounded. This pony wasn't anything like my self-absorbed friend at all. In fact, I'd say this guy was entirely devoid of a sense of humor, which the real Sombra wasn't. I decided that I would not tell him the reply that entered my mind.
His legs were still shaking. Why did they do that? What reason did he have to be angry?
Seventeen snatched my book away with a sudden burst of crimson aura that scared me. "Answer me whenever I speak to you."
I didn't want to look at him. This monster wasn't him. I knew he wasn't nice, but this was different. There wasn't a single trace of Sombra that I could see in him, a single trace of empathy of any kind that even somepony as aloof as Sombra managed to express. He'd been so much nicer to me on our trip together. Why was he so hateful at this age? He wanted to be a king!
He shoved a hoof under my chin, forcing me to look at him from where I was sitting. I could see nothing but malice in his eyes, which didn't need to have a demonic appearance to show me just how heartless this stranger was. He really did want to kill me. Nopony but the changelings have ever wanted me dead. Why would another pony want to hurt me?
"Now."
Don't cry. He's not anypony you know or care about, I don't think he's even a pony at all. A demon. A monster. Seventeen is something from Tartarus, but he's definitely not a pony or anything that can think and feel in the same way that all natural creatures can.
"You were clearly thinking of replying to me. Tell me exactly what it was. Verbatim."
I closed my eyes. No I will not look at you, Seventeen. Maybe you do not exist. You guiltless, awful creature. Go back to Tartarus. Maybe you are only a creature that looks like him that took his place, like the changeling queen took mine at my own wedding.
"TELL ME, PINK ONE!"
All I could know is that something in me snapped. He didn't have the right to scream that in my face, or use Sombra's nickname for me. I smacked his hoof away with more force then I thought I had in me.
"I was going to say that it was impossible to pity a heartless tyrant like you!"
He took no time in moving and I didn't see the hoof coming. He didn't flinch in the aftermath. We both knew that this might as well have been the most innocent thing he's ever done.
It probably was, but I didn't want to stay and think about it, instead I pushed him out of my way and tried to run out of the room before he could stop me.
...
I found a closet that was full of old furniture from the time before the Empire was banished. It was cold and dark but I thought that was better than staying with Seventeen. In fact, I'm not sure if he even knew of this place. The white sheets everywhere didn't reflect any crystal sheen in the windowless room, and I preferred it that way.
I slid onto the floor and closed my eyes. All I could see was the unknown mountain - a clue only I knew - that was as cold and distant as ever.
It was quiet except for the sound of my breathing, but after a while even I began to catch my breath and my breathing became quiet, and all was silent. When my eyes began to smart, I reached a hoof up to dry them. On my shoes were tears from my eyes and blood from when he hit me. Using a bit of the only magic I had, I tore away some of the sheet covering on a nearby chair, and pressed it to my cheek, trying to stop as much of the bleeding as I could.
I stared at the blood with distaste, knowing I couldn't think about how he had hit me with such little hesitation... I also wasn't somepony who was too comfortable with the sight.
But, I thought that maybe I had to if I wanted to understand what was happening.
Sombra had said that he never met his family. Could that have meant he was homeless or raised in an orphanage? Something like that could have had a bad affect on him and explain why he was so different from everypony else.
Except that I knew foals and how they acted, and how their minds worked. It was part of being a great foalsitter.
Sombra didn't have abandonment issues and didn't seem to care about any possible family he might have, which was so alien to think about. Why wouldn't somepony want to know their family? If I had the chance to know the identity of my birth family, I'd want to.
An orphanage would have been a likely option considering the time period he was born in, although I had no idea where he was born. Regular unicorns didn't live in the Empire.
Yet, that still wasn't adding up to the lack of concern for possible family he expressed. Sombra didn't seem to care about anypony at all, which was absolutely frightening. It also hardly explained how he somehow has a higher education - which if I went with this hypothesis, would mean he must have been apprenticed or graduated into society upon adulthood. This all seems incredibly unlikely as he is too anti-social and appears to be self-taught in almost all his skills. I can't see him ever being okay with living close to ponies either.
Okay, well my second idea: he was homeless. It didn't seem to add up to much, considering had he been on his own for this long he should have ended up much, much worse, right? Ponies that didn't develop around other ponies weren't a good thing. Plus, I'm pretty sure if he'd have to be at least five years old at the time, which would have resulted in him knowing his family because he had to learn to speak somehow.
Unless there are suppressed memories or amnesia involved. Things would get very weird then. Maybe he lost memories when he was banished? Or went completely crazy? I really don't know. It also doesn't explain how he amassed so much knowledge. Was he a treasure hunter or thief-turned usurper? Just what happened to him in the past? He doesn't seem to be that cruel - at least, not the Sombra I know - so why would he be a tyrant? Is he sorry for something?
I rested my muzzle on the chair's arm.
"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like had I ended up the Princess of Foal Psychology. Weird, probably."
Thankfully the chair didn't talk back. And still, I was no closer to finding out anything about Seventeen and his uncontrollable temper. Or the Reflector Star.
"Maybe I should just try to go on my own," I mumbled.
And do what, part of me wanted to know, search an entire mountain range for something about the size of a hoof, concealed who knows where? Puh-leeze.
Then, I realized there was another pony who knew of this clue, but unlike me they knew the exact location of this trinket. After all, he was the one who hid it in the first place. I banged my head against the chair and wondered how much more screaming I would have to endure.
Hopefully, nothing will explode, I thought.
I slunk back toward my bunker under another veil of shadow. I just needed to ask him one thing, and make sure - somehow - that he told the truth, however horrible it would be.
I don't think things were looking up anytime soon.
"You're awfully stupid to run off like that," was the first thing I heard from him, and he never even looked up from the book he was reading to say it. His tone was even more apathetic than I thought possible. Sombra had a habit of sounding like he didn't care about what others thought of him - which was mostly true - but Seventeen sounded like he had never cared about anything and never would.
"Well you're awfully mean to hit me," I replied, hanging my head. I hated hiding behind my curls, but it's all I had to make a barrier between us right now.
He flipped a page from his corner, surrounded by more books then I recalled bringing in here, all of which were stacked around him like pillars. "So you've taken to mimicking now? I praise your sense of originality, truly astounding. If I were to rate it, I would give a 100 out of 10. How artistic you are. Poets must be inspired by you and you alone. Might you be the Princess of Art? Look how damn excited I am. Maybe I should become a writer and write of nothing but how wonderfully clever you are. It isn't like I sleep, so I think I'd be pretty good at it."
Seventeen said this all in near perfect monotone.
"You're a terrible critic," I mumbled.
Another page was turned. "Really? I'm just a terrible critic? I'm not a tyrant, a Tartarus-bound monstrosity, a freak of nature, a pariah, or the sort who makes sadists look like pacifists, just to name a few. Actually, I think I'll go on, it's not like you can stop me. So what else am I not: am I not a monster? A usurper?! An uncontrollable ball of wrath?! An alcoholic?! You think I don't know this? I know what everypony thinks about me, and hardly a word of it's true, for the most part, and a complete lie at the same time."
"I need your help," I said quietly.
"With what? Opal Charm?"
I looked at him, dumbfounded. "How is that Opal Charm? I saw her in the Crystal Heart."
Seventeen still refused to put the book down. "Opal Charm never went anywhere. She attached herself to this castle when she died, even if she was too afraid to even attempt to haunt me. Somepony already beat her to it. I don't know what you saw of her, but it certainly wasn't the real Opal Charm."
"You killed her, that's why."
"Onyx did. It's nice that you want to blame your life problems on me, but we both know somepony else is far guiltier than I am of that particular offense," pausing, he added, "It's as though you could say he deserves it, pink princess." The way he said 'deserves' was so mocking... did he think anypony could just get away with anything?
"Well, how am I supposed to tell the difference between you and this Onyx?"
Seventeen rolled his eyes. "It's simple: I don't smile, grin, laugh, smirk, half-smile, of my own free will. Although, I shout quite often. I'm a miserable wretch with a temper and he'll hurt anything for fun."
I stomped my hoof. "Liar! I've seen you smirk before, you did so on our journey, as well as act like a cynic the whole time, but you actually enjoyed things. You hated it whenever I pried... b-but you never hit me, a-and you weren't so angry all the time..."
Seventeen finally set the book down. "This is news to me, if it's news at all and not just a tale you made up," he glared harshly at me here, "I'd also watch you who called a liar."
I plopped down in front of the door. "I can't believe you're Sombra at all. Sombra is a stubborn, arrogant, and adventurous pony. You're just a contemptuous and sociopathic brat with an oversized crown."
He hurled the book at me, but I expected it. What I said was one of the rudest things to ever leave my mouth, but it was true. He deserved it. "You think I enjoy any of this?! Do you think I ever had a choice?!"
The book missed its mark, despite what looked like an accurate toss. I picked it up and looked at the cover of one of my favorite paperbacks, now battered and bent from being thrown by him. I shoved it aside, feeling dejected.
"You didn't even say you were sorry for hitting me," I mumbled.
He snorted. "Me? Apologize? Just for hitting you? Wow, such a crime!" he said bitterly, "Just ignore the pile of bodies behind me, after all, it's not like I've done worse. Is kicking puppies worse then regicide now? Am I supposed to feel guilty for all this? Woe is me, the mass murderer who is suddenly just going to have a change of heart and repent uselessly for how I've butchered the innocent!"
I got up, sick and tired of listening to him. So I got up walked over to him in a few quick strides and smacked him across the face.
"I didn't feel guilty for that either, Sombra." It was a lie, but he didn't need to know that. He didn't need to know that calling him by Sombra's name hurt too.
He looked at me with unrestrained fury. It was fury that hid something below its surface: shock, and even fear. He looked numb with a storm raging behind those red eyes. Sombra looked afraid, and his freaky red eyes were so lucid, staring past me like he was seeing somepony other than me hit him. Involuntary shaking was gripping him, and seeing him like that, this brutal killer so frightened, made me feel almost as afraid as he looked.
Just as quickly as I had hit him, I left the room feeling like the very monster I had accused him of being.
He may be unbreakable, but I sure wasn't and galloping away wouldn't let me escape anything.
...
The door never closed. Instead I heard the sound of metal boots as I walked faster, hurrying down a hallway, which was dangerous considering another one of my spooky 'friends' was still in my house, but I just wanted to gallop away from all this
Somepony grabbed me by the wither roughly and fear gripped my stomach. I didn't even have to guess at who it was, the cold, angry voice did told me everything. His tone was stiff and gruff, like he was trying to hide something broken under a cracked snarl.
"Pink One, you shouldn't be running around with-"
Seventeen didn't have time to finish and I didn't have time to listen, because I had given him a swift kick in the stomach that he never saw coming before running away, turning from hallway to hallway as fast as I could. He didn't help me at all. I would be on my own in terms of what to do, and where to go, but I could handle that.
I may not know the Empire as well, and I may not even have my own magic, but I'm not incapable of getting it back. In fact I just may have the best non-magical 'weapons' known to ponykind: charisma and patience, both which would be useful against Opal. I also had plenty of tricks up my sleeve as the saying goes, or rather in my pocket. As well as knowledge of the mountain where I would need to go.
I stopped, and looked around. I was close to the throne room which was as good as anyplace to look.
I would need to get to the next eye fast, as travelling on hoof was not an option. There was also the matter to getting there without being seen, which would be the result if I flew.
Lastly, I had to pacify any threats.
Well, you know what they say, I thought, if you can't beat them, join them...
These aren't helping me be stealthy. I yanked off my black boots and placed them on a nearby shelf, followed by a piece of jewelry. Even though it matched everything else still wasn't needed, no matter how much I liked it. With much regret I added two enormous silver hoop earrings which were really quite hazardous for almost any occasion that involved running about. Thank gods, I don't have a vivid imagination because I don't want to think about what would happen if something went wrong and I was wearing my earrings... yikes.
Assured that were my things were safe on a shelf, I took a few deep breaths, and adopted a nervous-looking demeanor before continuing through the crystal corridors.
If I was Opal Charm, where would I go out of all the rooms in this castle? Like me she is looking for Sapp'ra's eyes, so that would mean she should be seeking information.
Except she also said she was going to 'watch over the castle'. Where better to do that then from the throne?
I suppose the throne room is the best place to check, and then one of the less creepy libraries, and some of the studies and offices. Since she did say she was an armorsmith, it would also be wise to check the armories again.
...
It turned out my first choice was the correct one.
I was using one of the crystals jutting out of the wall to see if I could catch a glimpse of her in its bluish surface. There was a bit of red in reflection, along with distorted flashes of a gray cloak. Definitely her.
I still couldn't reveal that I knew who she was. In her unrecognizable state it might mean that I had learned it from somepony else - which I had - or done something of the sort that elevated my status to more of a threat in her eye.
Swallowing, I made sure my 'lost and confused' look was still intact. I hadn't figured out how to get the Ice Star out of my eye, which was a blessing as it made it harder to steal. Unless Opal was going to try and stab my eye out. Then I'm doomed.
Okay, here it goes. Charisma, please don't fail me now.
...
She was on the throne in all her horror, proudly puffing out what was left of her chest. Her gaze faltered when she saw me, and saw my eye.
"You have one...?" Her voice was soft, just as dangerous as an angry Sombra's, and just as crazy, perhaps even more so. It reminded me of a deranged snake who only spoke in whispers. I hope I don't laugh from thinking that.
Don't laugh.
She's looking at me again, stay calm. Seriously, don't laugh.
"I presume you had his help."
I didn't say anything.
"Of course you did."
I stayed cool.
"Which one is it? Which one did you find? Do you know what it does?"
Calm.
"It's the Ice Star isn't it? The one that amplifies magic."
Collected.
"I drained your magic! How did you get it?! There wasn't any way out of that room."
She's becoming too frantic. I wonder what kind of queen she was if she got freaked out so easily.
"I know where to find the Reflector Star," I said as evenly as possible, trying to look in her direction but not directly at her. I never liked having to meet the gaze of other ponies.
Opal Charm stared at my cheek. "Him and his spells... he hit you, didn't he, dear?"
I looked at the floor. Pretended it was intriguing. There were stars outside. I didn't have to look up to know she was staring.
"It's in a mountain," I said a clearly as possible, giving away no emotion.
"Which one?" Opal Charm asked suspiciously in that strange voice of hers.
I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. The Ice Star kept showing me one medium-sized mountain that was neither steep nor easy to climb and its snow and stone had a rainbow gleam. However, next to it was a tall and jagged peak, with snowdrifts looking like they were tossed there by a blizzard.
I described this mountain to Opal Charm, she would have no way of knowing if I was lying.
"Mount Quartzite? Well then..."
She lifted herself off of the throne soundlessly walking over to where I stood and was twirling a hoof absentmindedly in the air as if at a loss for words.
Her hoof started glowing with a dull white light. Then she pressed her hoof to my throat. Her hoof was so cold that I couldn't help but shiver. I wanted to push her away but didn't, knowing that would give me away. The light from her hoof encircled my neck, floating there like dust motes before growing until there was a collar of smooth opal were my normal gold necklace was. It glowed with an enchantment I wasn't eager to discover.
"We best be going, Mi Amore Cadenza, oh and before I forget..."
She gave me her strange smile and almost pressed her face to mine. "...Don't think you can just walk away from this as easily as you ran away from the monster that hit you."
"Yes," I whispered.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
I said it, which seemed to make her less suspicious. Opal Charm was already proving herself as worthy of the title as Sombra was.
She turned and walked down the rug leading to the throne. Opal Charm was still waving her hoof, once again it was aglow with white light. When she seemed to get to a location that was satisfying she made three larges swipes in the air and a frame of gleaming opals emerged from nowhere, growing out of the floor like delicate vines.
But Opal Charm wasn't done yet she reached into herself and pulled a small stream of blue aura out of her and guided it into the frame, humming cheerfully as the magic expanded into a little glowing gate. It seems even crystal pony ghost magic thieves have ways of teleporting.
My magic... she still has it. Oh, thank Celestia I hadn't known what she had actually done with it. If only I knew how to get it back. Is it guarded?
Can you guard magic like that?
"Now let's get going, you little inconvenience. Power awaits me. My empire does as well."
I hung my head, following her to Mount Quartzite.
She's better then Seventeen, I kept thinking wondering how many lies I would tell myself today.
Opal Charm swept her hoof towards the mountain before us with a grand flourish, or at least I think it was supposed to be grand; her being the image of a mutilated corpse negated the effect.
"Well, where is it?" she asked, the grotesque grin she flashed me staying frozen on her face even after she spoke.
My eyes drifted towards the mountain, and I was glad to look away from her. If I were to look behind me I would see the foot of the mountains give away it to farmland, which in turn gave way to the Crystal City with the castle sparkling brightly in the center, as if nothing was wrong.
Already, I missed my home, and the cold winds that blew here made me feel as if I was leagues away. Yet, on the other side of these mountains was weather that was far worse; I knew this firsthoof.
But all of this was behind me, I had to focus on what was in front of me. I jabbed my hoof in a random direction, snowflakes following my gesture. "That way."
My voice sounded stronger then I thought, which I can use to my advantage.
Opal Charm pushed me aside and with another grand gesture, what was left of her cape fluttering around her as she lead the way. Her touch was colder then snow could ever be and it took all my willpower not to try to brush off a pestilence that wasn't there.
...
I wasn't sure why Opal saw fit to lead since I was the one with the supposed information, although it became quite clear within a few minutes: she was the only one who dared to use magic.
Did I say use magic? I meant flaunt it.
As I trekked upward, since that seemed to be where she was heading, it was hard not to notice her waving her hooves about and giggling as half-formed opals, still sparkling with enchantment, dropped to the ground.
Was this really what she was like in life, or had her ordeal just broken her? How could a pony like this rule a country, did she think a few sparkly trinkets would keep her subjects safe and well?
Out of all the crystal monarchs I knew the least about her. She was the only ruler that wasn't an Alicorn but that didn't help much. Because of this, she was also the only ruler to die and Opal met her death at the hooves of King Somb-
Or was it this Onyx that Sombra kept mentioning? Exactly who was he?
Opal locked eyes with me and her giggling ceased. "It's not polite to stare," she hissed.
I hadn't even realized that I was. "Do you know anypony named Onyx?"
"No," she answered earnestly before resuming her odd behavior.
It probably is best if I find out more about her, except that if I ask her what I want to know as straightforward as I'd like to, then she'd know I was up to something.
But at least I wasn't as blunt as Sombra, I swear he could kill ponies with how direct he can be.
Sombra... killing ponies... I know he has but-
The thought caught me off-guard and I hung my head trying as hard as I could to appear to be focus on my mane and nothing else, which was half-true as I tried to search my brain for a proper next move.
Anything that would get me out of this without hurting anypony was ideal.
...
Opal Charm was the only thing that complicated the plan I had put together. She had the magic I needed to get back, and I wasn't even sure how I was supposed to do that.
Destroying her could either return the magic to me or it might cease to exist along with her. One of the biggest problems with this is that I'm not even sure how to destroy a real ghost since I'm not an exorcist and I didn't exactly get that far in Exorcisms and Other Charms for the Oblivious.
But first I should probably get this off, I thought as I ran a hoof around my neck. The cool stone, the queen's namesake, was still there.
All I had was dark magic... and just how far would I go with it?
How powerful was I with it, after all? I didn't want anything here to simply come down to power, then I really would end up like Sombra, wouldn't I? Isn't power all that was on his mind?
There had to be another way out of this.
...
"We're here!" Opal Charm sang out, pushing me so my hard I lost my balance and almost hit my head.
I looked at the wall of solid rock in front of me. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do since it looked like every other part of this mountain.
"Well, go on." Opal huffed.
What, does she think that a door is just going to reveal itself and we'll be able to walk right into solid rock?
Opal frowned slightly when I still didn't do anything.
A heartbeat later she waved her hoof, and my neck felt cold creeping up it and it became slightly harder to breath. I looked down, but discovered that wasn't the only thing new: I could barely move. Opal Charm's collar was no longer a thin, clasp-less, band that could easily pass for a simple piece of jewelry but instead was the size of neck brace, and a cold one at that.
"Keep up your insolence and I'll have a new statue by sunrise. It's such a shame that your friend killed all the artists in my fine empire, sweetie. If only you would have silenced him, none of this would have ever happened! They were the first to go, don't you know? All the intellectuals and the militia... innocent ponies that I will never let him get his hooves on again. Now tell me, do all your friends partake in genocide as willingly as he does?"
No longer able to turn my neck, I walked in an awkward semi-circle to face her, completely speechless.
She smiled up at me with all the sweetness of a poison, and I hated her for it.
My hooves always shook when I was angry, and they did so now. Of course there were no other ponies roaming the castle halls, which were twisted and distorted from what they had once known. My magic wove my prison, and I shaped each new passage in it.
I had a stack of papers that I had been reading over wrapped in my magic. Contrary to what Onyx used to think, I could read. I just hid my ability to do so while teaching myself how to tackle greater tomes. These were from the smallest castle library. I moved them there around the same time I laid the runes for the Replicating Spell I made, so they weren't destroyed when...
I haven't gone back since-
I swallowed a bit and under my boots and cape I felt my scars itching.
First my freedom. Next it was my identity as well as half my sight. Now it's-
Taking a shaky breath, I paused near a mirror which hardly gleamed in the shadows that covered most of every hall, the dark fire floating about hardly lit anything which was fine by me, except sometimes it made for awful reading light, but that wasn't an unsolvable problem and could be shrugged off easily.
I sat down, sliding to the ground, watching the papers fall around me like snow.
I wish it were snow. I wish I were in the mountains. I wish I was anywhere but here. I always did.
I wish I was alone.
Alone, the most wonderful word in this entire language.
Alone. Solitude. Isolation. Seclusion.
Peace.
If only it could be except the author of the abhorred Book that created me clearly wrote that I can't be separated from this twit.
Being alone would be the next best escape. Being alone and in control of everything, he can't break me. I'd have an escape.
Escape. Escape! ESCAPE! WHY CAN'T I ESCAPE?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!
I've tried!
I don't care how much power I end up with this stupid deal. Power isn't worth it at this rate.
Hope, plan, acquire knowledge, and so much more. It'll work, I'll make it work. It really isn't as hard as it sounds my machinations will happen.
I can always feel his presence and can read it as easily as I can read everything and everypony else. Sometimes his existence is more than everything around me, which caused a bothersome aura of despair and hopelessness to linger everywhere because I wasn't being what he wanted. Worse things followed.
Behind me there was a mirror, but I don't want to look in it; not today. I hate and love mirrors since I already know who I am and I keep telling myself that they only reflect the surface, but damn if I'm not fine on the surface.
Since I don't sleep, no, I haven't slept since I got here because I'm unsure if I'll wake up as myself and sleep after all, brings greater horrors then I could ever see when awake. I haven't slept in what, two years? The magic's working well enough.
Now, I'm starting to see things... but they're small and vanish quickly. Or maybe it's just me?
I'm afraid because if I give in I lose myself and that thought..that possibility... I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT SOME DAYS!
My panic attacks are getting worse. They always do. Gods, I feel like I'm hyperventilating right now...
I will never give in, quitting isn't in me. I won't lose my identity. I won't lose myself.
I see things that aren't there, and I know he does too, except they drive him and twist him in new ways and he was already brutal enough to me... and the crystal ponies. Sure, why not add them? They're usually in pieces after encountering either of us.
I didn't notice that I had removed that dreaded armor and was wringing my forehooves, which wasn't unusual at all.
There is one pony who can save me, and he is me.
I'm all I have and all I ever will, and that's fine with me. I love that.
I love it so much.
I raise a hoof and smash it against the glass unflinching against the pain. I've endured worth in this place and will continue to do so.
These ponies say that the company we keep is what defines us, that others act as our mirrors and we theirs. They say everything that's hardly true.
The shards are flecked with spots of red.
It couldn't be farther from the truth. I am proof of those lies! I keep no company, but he's in my head, and if he counts as any company at all, it's just another proof that I am the better. Will ponies ever cease their countless lies? I'm skeptical.
I don't care why this world of mine exists, and I definitely do not care about those who think they rule it because not even I want to, there is something better than that.
The world itself does not matter, all that matters is that I'm in it and I will not lose! Not now, not ever! I'll get my freedom one day, and then I'll get to see the world that I once was going to explore in full... and yet... everything still feels doomed. I'm more caged than ever without...
And I don't need to even need to take a single step out of line to take what's mine. I don't even need to speak as I orchestrate my own silent revolution.
Long live the King?
Please, you've got to be kidding. He won't survive without me. He needs me.
I wipe some of the blood off of my hoof.
There isn't a pony alive who can save me, although I know for sure that with enough effort, I may be able to save myself.
Not even the stars could save me.
...
There are papers around me, tossed carelessly but it's the blood spatters that are almost artfully clinging to large shards of glass that try to hide among them by concealing themselves in the endless shadows of this place. At least I know it's my blood. Sometimes there's blood on my hooves that isn't mine. It isn't actually as unnerving as it sounds, at least not the blood itself.
I just want to be free from all this... somehow... but what is there left to plan in that regard?
I strap my forehoof back into the armor of his crude design, improved and crafted by my magic, my plans, and careful thought, even if it isn't the best it could be. It's all for his grisly show. I would have designed something so much better. It was supposed to reinforce that he was the king. I don't cringe even though it's my hoof that is injured, this kind of pain, I'm numb enough to.
Just how much longer am I going to have to hold out?
It was my hoof that broke the mirror. They are typically the first thing to go when I'm angry. Or frustrated, or-
Why can't I just run away? That thought always comes back to me, and so does every reason why. Other questions always followed, and their all-too-obvious answers with them: Why do I have to endure this? Why can't running away be an option?!
Everything but me seems to break around here: spirits, ponies, hope, you name it. The only unbroken things here are the heart these ponies loved so much and myself. The embodiment of love, now comatose and hidden, and a pony that can't feel it who is way to conscious at times.
Yeah, like anypony has called me anything but a monster, a sociopath, or a weapon when I'm anything but that. It doesn't matter what these ponies think or say, at least not to me - and if I don't care about them, it definitely doesn't matter - but it would be a shock if somepony, somewhere ever acknowledged that I was one of them, superior yes, but still a pony. Except that isn't going to happen. What they say is of little value, if any, but when a rare individual proposes something, why then things get dangerous. Stupidity in large groups isn't exactly safe either. I've read about plagues before, and ponies match up to the concept very well. They wouldn't know, of course, they rarely see themselves.
Then again, they think I'm one being, not two. They only really ever see him, like a dishonest version of a mirror, and as expected, they assume and don't think. Can I really expect much else from them? They did used to shine like mirrors as well, and now they're quite dull, and almost indistinguishable from earth ponies.
I really don't care about the mirrors, the ponies, that heart, Onyx, the crown that was never mine, or any of this because even though I'm so much more than them and I don't need the Book or anypony to tell me that. I want to walk the world still, not a crystalline castle. I want to see everything, impossibly alone, and if I'm to interact with any creatures at all, I want to be an admirable criminal, and honest one... not this.
The world's an imperfect place, but going through everything - like the mirror before me - in pieces, takes a toll.
There's always consequences, and prices too. It's just a matter of how much I can afford to pay.
I shifted as much as I could, cold crystal pressing against my throat. It's hard to breathe.
"How am I supposed to walk through solid rock? I may be an alicorn but I can't do that especially not without my magic-"
She frowned slightly, unmoving and then there was a faint crunching sound like somepony stepping on ice and another stab of cold running through me.
The next thing I know is that I could hardly feel my torso, and the base of my wings were pinched in place.
Opal Charm smiled "Use his," she said as she walked over to a nearby rock, sitting on it and propping her forehoof under her muzzle. If it weren't for that stupid, smug, deranged grin of hers she could have passed for a freaking philosopher. I just wanna wipe that stupid look off her face-
Wait, did she just flinch? Why I'm not doing any-
I squinted and focused my vision a bit more, although not on her it was hardly difficult to see how her face went from crazy sadist to kicked puppy in an instant, instead I was looking at the area right in front of my muzzle which ad taken on a misty greenish purple tinge, like smoke.
That's what she was afraid of; she can probably petrify my in an instant with those crystals but she's still afraid of the magic itself...
I blinked and the fire-to-be vanished. This I could use to my advantage. I went back to surveying the stone before me. How was I going to make this work? I needed to turn things in my favor, and fast, before something goes wrong, but how am I supposed to walk through stone? She thinks that there is a secret chamber of dark magic just lying on the other side and that I can just activate as easily as I could lift a pen, but there isn't anything on the other side of this mountain face.
Unless I could make one... a false chamber, to throw her off long enough to find a way out of this and head over to Mount Opaline fast enough... oh, but can't she control my magic?! I'm pretty sure she can, which is how she is able to crystallize me if I do something she doesn't like.
I really hope she didn't see me gulp just now.
It looks like I'm going to have to resort to making that hidden chamber, using somepony else's magic.
I have to carve an entire chamber into a mountain using a magic that might be killing me.
And if I don't? Well then, Shining Armor is going to come home to a corpse sitting on the throne, the most angry teenager in the history of the known universe running about probably screaming something incomprehensible about angst, crystals, or both. Then there'd be how Shiny finds his wife as a crystallized statue while Opal cackles like a total bully. It can't get any worse then that, right?
Wrong. It does.
In this hypothetical reality that Celestia forbid from ever happening, Statue Me ends up with bird poo on her eye.
And she can't blink.
Forever.
I'd be silently screaming for all eternity on top of it.
Am I getting carried away? I think I am.
As best as I can, I do my breathing exercises, wishing all this stress was something that could float away like a feather.
After that, I stand in front of my obstacle with as much determination as I can muster and try to charge my horn with magic as effortlessly as I normally do; at first it works and I maintain a faint, flickering dark aura before it goes awry and the magic probes something in my head, giving me a skull splitting headache I barely fight through as I sink to my knees. Even the worst hangover delivered tenfold would be better than this, I swear to the gods!
The magic ignites twisted emotions I've never felt: burning hatred, bitterness, and wrath I don't recognize as my own. It courses through me and I feel as if all my blood is afire.
Desperately, I try to focus on a simple, almost cliche, image of a monolith alone in a dark room. But the magic has other ideas, ripping through me and turning things in my head, and creating a chamber in a way all its own, as if the magic itself were not merely part of life, but alive on its own, and it hurts so much.
My teeth hurt, I can feel them changing shape and growing slightly more pointed. My vision is too unfocused by layers of colored magic pouring forth, and clouding it, but I can glimpse my mane shift from glittering Alicorn majesty back to a version of my own, the edges thick and smoky and color drained by a greyscale hue.
My horn is pained worst of all, racked with what feels to be strikes from a hammer but within.
Soon, if you can call it that, the magic is done, as are the transformations although it feels as if the dark magic carved a jagged piece of myself out along with it.
Finally, feeling the slightest bit of defeat, I opened my mouth to scream, only to find all that came out was a trickle of blood.
The gate I created lay before me with a foreboding air. The mountain had pulled open, by what looked like an artlessly directed blast of magic that had left the rock torn, damaged and the splintered-looking edges were covered in scorch marks. I couldn't see inside the cave I had created, and deep down inside past the sick, twisted feeling after effect creeping through me, I knew I didn't want to. My coat paled at the thought, and I felt cold.
No, I can't go in there! It isn't right!
Behind me, Opal Charm was giggling once again.
"Go on, dear. Mares first after all, and as this wretched mess I don't consider myself to be one anymore. Not after what happened to me."
I didn't budge.
"Oh, if it helps dear, I'll just kindly remind you that you won't have to suffer much longer if you keep using that energy, sooner or later you will destroy yourself, shatter yourself and be some sort of eternal agony as you constantly rip yourself apart, as he said to me. Is this not of some comfort to you? He told me that, the one who smiles as he wields the knife, the one who calls himself king."
I still refused to move and even though it wasn't snowing I still thought it was freezing. A part of me wanted to believe that if I held still it would be warm again.
"Birds love statues," Opal Charm whispered behind me, although purposely at a volume which I could still hear easily. "You can't hurt them, they are regal, whole things. You can't harm them, for they are unflinching. They don't scream..."
I gulped as she trailed off and braced for more crystals.
"...Although, if you don't comply with my every wish like a good filly, I'll do to you what your monstrous friend did to me before I petrify you and make sure you're caught in an agony worse then I was, you may scream forever and ever and ever but nopony will hear you, as nopony heard me."
I blinked my teary eyes and took one step forward into the darkness.
You know that feeling when the pony next to you just won't stop talking about the that time they were murdered?
I hate that, and I think Opal Charm knew. To be fair, she wasn't next to me, but rather behind me, and I don't think she was even trying to talk to me but rather was floating behind me and half-whispering everything as creepily as possible. I was actually starting to feel my skin crawl under this Celestia-forsaken crystal.
"...after that horrid event, I faded somewhat, drifted away..."
"...I couldn't see in that sense, no, but I knew, I caught bits and pieces of what was happening... oh, I heard so much..."
This tunnel wasn't very long. This one-sided conversation wouldn't be long.
"...perhaps the strangest thing of all, was the one who called himself king..."
I don't think she'll find it to easy to control my magic if she's distracted... in more ways then one.
"...he wasn't shattered in the way," she paused and when she continued to speak her voice sounded a bit choked, "...the way I am, that awful creature was something different, most of the time he smiled so happily as he carried out his deeds and was completely lost behind a veil of madness. He talked joyfully to those that did not exist, to himself. He liked it when my ponies screamed."
Please stop taking, I like to read horror novels, not live them. I'm also trying to find a way to get out of here and get rid of you.
"...the rest of the time, my memory," she continued to ramble,"I wasn't always sure of what was happening... sometimes he acted stranger, a violent mess of anger, a horrifying and mysterious mix of fire and cold, who locked himself away from everything and screamed just as much as anypony else did, a victim of his own awful madness, a madness he enjoyed."
I swallowed as shivered a bit as a cold mountain wind found its way into the cave. Was she even describing Sombra? She even said she couldn't trust her own memories anymore.
...Did I even know Sombra?
I think we're getting close to the center of the chamber I created. I still feel ill from casting that spell but I the plan I've come up with should work. I don't see a reason for it to fail.
"...I can't fail again, I'm sure everypony knows that. They all missed me I know they did."
Ahh, here we are, my little pocket of Tartarus freshly cooked up with dark magic and served with a side of crazy ghost queen. Please help.
I stop walking and stand in the middle of a dark room-if you could call it that. The entire thing was more of cave, really, a crudely split geode full of those lovely dark grey crystals that long to make you see something warm, fuzzy, and pleasantly pink for the rest of your life.
It looks like a tomb in here. If I execute this stunt of mine perfectly this will end up the Tomb of Opal instead of the Tomb of Love. Opal Charm - floats next to my side, her hoofsteps completely silent. She frowns, eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Well? Find it. We aren't here to contemplate the meaning of life."
I almost wish Sombra were here so he could snappily respond with something along the lines of 'Of course, since you don't have one being dead and all.' This stuff would be too easy for him and it's a bit of a shame he turned out to be a sociopath who I don't even want to be in the same castle as.
"It's not here, it never was."
Her fiery pupils flare with rage and engulf the entirety of her eye socket, she's consumed by her temper and can't speak, only stammering angrily.
"Y-y-you-u-u!"
I'm trying to find a really smart answer somewhere in my head so I can tell her off out of spite for all the things she's done, like threatening to turn me into a lawn ornament. Who does that?!
Opal lunges at me, and presses her hoof to the gemstone plating covering my jacket, which in turn was covering me. Since I can't move very well I'm unable to dodge and end up being painfully shoved against the poorly sculpted wall, I think I even hear a few crystals snap.
Her hoof is only resting on the crystal which is now glowing softly like a dying flashlight. Despite this, I can still feel her hoof it's colder than I imagine any windigo could be, it makes me want to cry. Was this a manifestation of cruelty and heartlessness itself? Is that what I feel? How could somepony like her have ever guided my little ponies and protected them?
"Why Cadenza!? Why did you trick me!? You didn't have to be the villain! If you didn't agree to help him that day, if you killed him on that trip of yours everything would have been fine, nopony would have gotten hurt, I wouldn't have to feel so broken like this, it's so cold here Cadenza. Is this what you want?"
I charge my horn with magic, watching it build up slowly and try to wriggle free from her grip. She raises her other forehoof and grins although her eyes remain angry and sad. When she speaks next her voice is cracking like a piteous child weeping over a broken toy or a friend who moved away.
"Don't worry, dear! Don't fret, my daughter! I won't wound you as bad as he hurt me, you won't suffer long, once I tear your wings away it will be fine if I ignore the screams, everything will be quiet soon after. Oh, but how could I ruin such art and mar you so? You could have been an eternal work of art, a beautiful statue, I could have made you last, perhaps you would have known no pain, but it seems that is not so. You chose poorly, my darling girl, I will have to stain you scarlet with my vengeance to restore the true heir to the throne."
My magic falters, I still feel weak from before, the aura isn't building up fast enough and I can't move my fore hooves or wings with this crystal...
"I must rule, I can protect them all, make them eternal. They will never know evil, only purity. They will forget."
Wait...crystals...? All around me is, I see nothing but crystals, she has been covering me in-
"They shall never be lost, I will not fail, I swear I didn't fail. Sometimes I can't make sense of it, only that I must protect them, and I always will."
My horn flares with waves of dark aura, black bolts shooting off in the exact second that she gives the last lines of her speech.
"I always have, and Cadenza, sweet, once-innocent, Mi Amore Cadenza, the little song bird who never should have never left the nest, I just want to tell, everything I've done to you and everything I will do to end you, it's nothing personal."
A mere second before she finishes my magic-no, it was never mine-the magic breaks free from it all and puppets me in a way that neither of us saw coming, and I swear that each of my nerves are blaze with a thousand infernos of pain.
HELPICAN'TCONTOLTHISMAKEITSTOP!
The crystals move, clicking like lightning fast puppets in the clumsy grip of The Magic That Was Once Me the swirl and move like the belly of a storm and rumble towards us in the darkness.
Like a hundred thousand greedy little spider legs they sharpen into crooked needles that painfully unstitch me from Opal's suit of madness and-help I don't think I can breathe it's too crowded in here-and reveal the black jacket beneath-where is the light-it falls to the ground in large, torn patches of its former self and finds its way to the floor that I can no longer see and can no longer feel - I think I'm suffocating.
Is that Opal's scream that I here?
I don't know what's happening and automatically rise like a puppet whose strings were just tugged. I feel so much pain, how did it come to be like this? My wings, no longer barred from use and unfurl, going only by the instinct coursing through me I take flight, dodging the stilled and tangled maze of crystals. The magic has quieted, my horn which has never felt such agony is no longer cloaked in light.
I find my way outside, the tunnel-prison rushing before my eyes, until I know I am there as the fresh air touches my coat, I flap my wings harder, drawing in fast, deep breathes as I soar over toward Mount Opaline, having left the queen in the dark.
By the time I had flown over to Mt. Opaline, my breathing was heavy and my legs were weak and threatened to give out. I might as well have been steamrolled if somepony wanted to create an accurate comparison of how I was feeling. How was it Sombra could handle using this magic on a normal basis? He used dark magic more then Twilight read books, so how wasn't he killing himself? He told me that he started using it when he was young too, so how can he possibly handle this? Is he always in pain?
The cool and pleasant setting of this mountain was so different from its neighbor. There were no steep slopes which I had to struggle up and no sharp stones to trip over. The snow was light and fluffy and I just wanted to curl up and take a nice long nap until this was-
Cadance, stop it! You know that you can't do that, the crystal ponies and Queen Sapphira are depending on you! Quitting isn't in you! You shouldn't even think about napping in snow, either, you dingus!
I bit my lip. Why did I have to make such a good point? Sometimes it was positively annoying when I found myself acting overly optimistic, but it was at times like this I was grateful to remain undaunted even when it felt like my happiness was a cracked window on the inside. That spirit was part of what made me a princess.
Of course!
After a brief stretch of my legs, I activated the magic that I hated so much and another torrent of aura encircled my horn, which was as weary as the rest of me. How I wanted my magic! The kind that didn't hurt, scare, or twist me, the magic I could use with ease! Everything from my special talents to simple teleportation would be better... even if I wasn't the greatest with teleportation.
I took off in search of what I wished was not another cave.
...
I'm pretty sure Sombra hid this thing in a cave, simply out of spite. Great, not only do I need to be reminded of what happened just a little while ago, I can safely confirm that Sombra is definitely omniscient even though I'm still praying to any and every god that he isn't for the sake of my sanity, which may or may not have deserted me the moment I met him. All those suspicions of whether I should've ever trusted him are bubbling to the surface again. I know I'm a very trusting pony - maybe sometimes too trusting - but it didn't feel wrong after he helped me. I honestly did think he might actually like being my friend under all that anger.
I was starting to kinda like being around him, even if it was only a little bit.
I let out an aggravated huff, which due to the cold came out as a visible puff of air, and continued to stare at the rock face of another mountain.
And I am one-hundred percent sure that this one had a secret door, after all this is where the magic led me... to more rocks...
I'm seriously starting to hate rocks, and I live in an empire filled with shiny crystals, so that's saying something.
After another deep breath, I push away the thoughts of all the therapy I'm probably going to need, and tell myself that I can control this magic for just a little bit longer... no matter how much it wants to control me.
The thick swirls of opaque mist that have become achingly familiar twine around my horn.
Each time I use this, horrible feelings rise up inside me and it feels as if my horn is being chipped away inside-out, piece-by-piece...
A gate appears from the shadows, a frame of äerint with only darkness for a door. It was probably hiding more horrors. I did the questionable thing and once more stepped inside the very thing I dreaded.
...
I shivered when I crossed the threshold. The other side was occupied by a chamber of uncut äerint. Everything was rather shapeless, with only shadows that seemed to leap across the floor and a single eerie flame or green and purple floating in the center of the room. It bobbed above a table of sorts, a monolith maybe? Despite the austere air the place projected it was still spooky, and I tried to stay light on my hooves. I feared that since the room had an airless and stagnant feel even the slightest sound would travel - which probably was not true but, I didn't want to risk the chance of creepy echoes on top of everything else that has been happening.
I looked at the ground and shivered again... all of this was just so unwelcoming.
I flew quietly over to the strange table. When I got close, I could see it was leaning toward the monolith side, except for a strange lid that was placed right in the center. On the left, directly under my left hoof I noticed a small hinge of some type, like the clasp on the jewelry boxes I had as a filly.
I couldn't think of a reason not to open the tiny compartment, which was the exact size as the Ice Star had been as it lay in my hooves back in the castle. At the thought of the artifact I blinked my left eye and wondered how I had ignored the snow and frost it projected over my vision for so long.
With a simple click the grey compartment swung open, without even a creak despite its age and revealed a small nook big enough for a pony such as myself to scoop both my hooves into. The inside didn't possess the dull gleam that äerint did, perhaps it was made of something else? I discounted it immediately and just assumed that it was a trick of the light.
However, this wasn't what I shouldn't have been asking. It was hardly important, instead I should have been asking the million-bit question, so to speak.
Where was the Reflector Star?
And if I wanted to go into the bonus rounds to win other goodies and cash prizes, all I had to do was hit the button when I was able to compose the look of pure terror on my face as well as correctly answer the following queries:
How could it disappear like that?
Wasn't I the only pony who knew about this?
Who could bypass the spell to enter? That required dark magic?
For a brief moment I thought I heard the slightest bit of movement in the background and immediately tensed up. It could be a threat!
"I'm absolutely thrilled to see you finally made it, then again what was I supposed to expect from the Princess of Tardiness?"
Oh no. I turned around to see the figure lurking in the shadows I had neglected to notice the entire time.
He met my surprised gaze with his own unamused glare, paired with a disdainful scowl. I noticed that he now had a translucent look about him. He saw this and grimaced slightly.
"How did you get here and when?"
He paused before fiddling with a book in his forehooves. I couldn't make out a title or cover. Then, he finally spoke: "I left the castle after you did, it's as simple as that."
"What is that book?"
"I'll get to that in a minute," he said tersely.
"What makes you think I can trust you on that?" Would it be worth it to leave without the Reflector Star? I don't think so, although, perhaps that book can help. So far, every other little thing appears to help me... or harm me. If I were feeling suicidal I could attempt to steal it from him.
He arched an eyebrow. "Have you ever completely trusted me, in any form, on anything?"
No, you may have been my friend, but you're still a violent loose cannon that often spouts nothing but pure crazy. That craziness may be true sometimes, but I still don't entirely trust you as a friend or as an enemy. There's something about you that's always scared me.
"Yes," I replied with almost as much cool indifference as he had, and find that it's hard for me to muster. "Now, I would like if you told me what you were planning, King Sombra." I stressed his name crisply, like Auntie might, but found that it sounded awkward when I said it.
"Pink One?" Hearing that nickname from him is still unsettling. It was supposed to be kinda sweet, wasn't it? Now it just feels demeaning.
I'm still debating if I should stay and talk to him. "What is it?"
"Don't ever refer to me as 'king' again. I'm not a king, I'm not a ruler, and I never wanted to be."
Oh? Then please tell me why you committed regicide and usurped an entire country. It would certainly clear up a few things, like why you're responsible for the murder of so much of the populace. I personally think you would have made an amazing gardener. You seem to be the kind of guy who likes to be surrounded by flowers. Hey! Maybe you'll work in the garden where I'm a statue forced to bear witness to Opal Charm's rule. I may be skeptical about some of the things you declared, and wholeheartedly believed others, but this has to be the biggest load of nonsense you've ever said. History knows you were a king.
"Okay then, Just Sombra tell me what you're planning."
He kicked the book over to me and rolled his eyes. "There. That's what you're looking for."
I squinted harder at the book, no wonder I wasn't able to make out the title before - the book was charred and blackened by what must have been a pretty fierce fire. "This is not what I'm looking for."
"'Don't judge a book by it's cover', Isn't that something you ponies like to say? Maybe you should adhere to your foolish words of supposed wisdom, it certainly makes your stupidity much more amusing at times, since ponykind just loathes anything that diverges from the ideals that they'd never admit to."
I flipped open the cover with my hoof and tried to ignore just how wrong his words were. Most of the pages were damaged and missing as well, I'd ask what happened but I don't think he'd tell me. "There's nothing in here, Sombra."
"Another brilliant conclusion by the silly pink princess: The assumption that books only have one page and everything is going to be given to you without even the slightest hint of a challenge. Appearances cannot be deceiving, they are deceiving. Let me know when you write the thesis about your shallow easy-philosophy, I'll be sure to read it with the smuggest possible disgust. No better yet, I'll dictate it entirely and you can be the editor, nopony likes editors like you. I'll even make sure I spell everything atrociously just to give you a harder time then needed, after all, I'm certain that your life is just so easy, little pink throne-warmer."
I successfully ignore him and flip a few more pages of the book and am surprised to see that some of the text is still legible despite all the missing pages that I skim. I imagine that I could still read this another time. When I reach the back cover I notice a strip of indeterminate cloth wrapped around an object that appeared to be about the size of my hoof.
Could it be...? I begrudgingly brought it closer to my face for inspection when I felt a wave of nausea, no doubt an affect of the spell.
Sombra took a few steps forward and wrapped his hoof around the cloth, which canceled the spell. "Don't."
He grabbed it from the air and unwrapped the cloth with magic of his own. His hoof concealed the contents.
"Can I have it, please?"
He continued to withhold the contents and shot me a brief, cold stare. "No."
"Sombra, you were just about to give whatever that is to me! Why did you change your mind?"
"Will you let me heal that?" He nodded towards my cheek where he had hit me, I had almost forgotten about that and felt exposed by him calling attention to it. Would it look weird if I pulled a few curls over it?
"Of course not!" I tugged some of my curls over the mark with a hoof, but it didn't cover the whole thing.
He continued to frown. "Then you won't get this."
"Gods! Sometimes you act like a twisted version of a stereotypical older brother, and a stubborn one at that."
"I don't have any family members," he said flatly.
"Yes, I know you're an orphan."
"I don't have any family members," he repeated dumbly.
"Okay then, so why can't I have the mysterious object you have developed a sudden attachment to?" I held out my hoof in hopes he'd just pass it to me.
"You won't let me heal you, and until you get rid of that magic you won't be able to."
"How I do I know that you won't hurt me? If you haven't noticed you're insane-"
He nodded. "That I am."
"-and not exactly benevolent or trustworthy, even though you're blunter than an oncoming train-"
His left eye twitched. "What the heck is a train?"
I continued on anyway. "-I'm also not sure if you noticed but you're extremely manipulative and sometimes I wonder if-"
Sombra held up a hoof. "As much as it would amuse me to continue to hear you ramble on, I'm going to have to stop you there. I'm not the sort who double crosses simple because I feel contrary, at least, not in these cases. Perhaps I've grown into the habit in the future?"
I shrug awkwardly and he continues. The questions was probably rhetorical anyway.
"You while you are right about me being a manipulator, I have no reason to even attempt to swindle, or be deceptive towards you since you, Pink Princess, have got the upper hoof on this one. I'm a replication of the caster - as well as any mental traumas or other sorts of disorder I would have been experiencing at the time - despite this I cannot come close to doing even half as much magic as the pony I'm based on, being limited to maybe five or so spells that were ingrained in me. I exactly don't care to find out right now. I also am not able to be sustained very well; if I'm not in the location where the spell was cast, which is why I'm quite transparent as of late. Lastly, I should mention that my offer still stands: Let me heal your face and I'll give you this." He tossed the cloth-wrapped whatnot in the air for emphasis.
"Is that some sort of insult?" I asked, kicking lazily at the ground with a forehoof, and feeling a sudden pang for my boots.
He looked up from the parcel, which he had been tossing from forehoof to forehoof while sitting down. The sight reminded me of my home village, Wispgrove, and how my neighbor's cat used to toss toys like that. "No, you're not ugly, just pink. There is a slight difference between the two."
I don't get you, Sombra. "And once more, I'm going to bring up the issue of trust. Even if I let you heal me how do I know that what I'm looking for is in there? It could be a trick."
Sombra raised a hoof to his forehead. "Oh, no! You saw past my most agreeable exterior and have foiled my malicious plans! Whatever shall I do?"
"What!?"
This uncharacteristic dramatic declaration was followed by an expected eye roll. "Obviously I put somepony's kidney in here, Pink One."
"Fine," I snapped - or at least, as well as I could. I've never been a testy or irritable pony.
"I know I am, but I'm also not interested. In anypony. And aren't you married? For shame, Pink One."
Of all the moments to be smug you had to pick now? Sombra, you're exhausting my patience. Plus, I'm wondering just what would happen if I told you how there was one pony that you were very, very interested in. "I meant that I agree to your terms and conditions."
"I know full well what you meant, although it was remarkably stupid of you to agree without hearing the last part."
There was something else?! "What, do you want me to sell you my soul as well?"
"I can't take souls or make those kinds of bargains, and even though I don't find you particularly intelligent, you have proven yourself far smarter then he was, as easy as that may be." He said 'he' with all the malice and more that I'd expect somepony to reserve for their ex. Or family's killer. Gosh, just what happened to him?
'He', huh? Is this a friend of yours? I think I'll just assume that this 'he' is your friend, or an acquaintance of some sort. Sombra certainly doesn't seem like the type to have old lovers. "So, what is the final part of this lovely bargain I'm making?"
"You have to take that bloody thing out of your left eye."
"Why?"
"You do know what it's doing to you? That amplifies magic, and since you've only got dark magic - which is completely unnatural to you, and when we count in the magic that is natural to you, it becomes downright toxic. That was what was being amplified. Since this particular variety is... umm, well, I won't go into it, details to the demons and all... is corrupting to say the least, you're speeding up a process that would result in the destruction of Pink One as you know yourself, both mentally and physically."
Huh, that was strange... I always took somepony who made oaths and cursed pretty often, so it's weird that I don't think I've ever heard him say 'demons' before. They're bound to lurk in dark magic, somewhere, aren't they? Ugh, probably should've read up on some folklore during my last trip to Canterlot.
"Sooner or later, you might end up with a horn like mine - one that can properly channel dark magic without any required alterations. In short: you're going from simply injuring yourself to speeding up the process that is causing you to slowly kill yourself-"
"Sombra?" I said, not bothering to try to keep my voice calm.
"Yes?"
"The deal is still on, isn't it?" I squeaked desperately, my voice as small as a filly's
In each of my hooves I held one of Queen Sapphira's 'Eyes'. Balanced in my left hoof was the Ice Star. It looked like a carved piece of ice, with beautiful patterns of frost. It's companion, known as the Reflector Star looked completely different. While it also resembled a contact lens, the patterns were different. Instead of all things winter-y, threading the surface were misty whorls of blue, lavender, gold, and white. It wasn't as ornate as the Ice Star, since the very piece itself wasn't criss-crossed with complicated designs and intricacies. It was a translucent and pleasant spring green and stands out greatly against the mountain environment.
I sat in the snow outside the chamber where I found the Reflector Star and was perched on a rock, overlooking the surprisingly tame looking slope that descended into the treacherous - at least for the Crystal Empire - mess I had just come from, where Opal Charm still was. My mane, tail, and vision had been returned to normal now that the Ice Star was no longer in my eye.
Next to me was... umm, well I guess I'll just have to call him Sombra now... there wasn't much of a reason not to. He was a few paces away, watching my out of the corner of his right eye, over the course of a few minutes he had become more transparent.
"So, what do I do now, Sombra?"
"What I said. There. That's your brilliant answer."
"But-!"
"Pink Princess, your goal is to get your magic back. The Ice Star is going to complicate that and the other one isn't going to help you much, they don't emit the same magic."
"How can you tell...? Last time I checked, ponies can't feel magic like that and they never have been able to. Even the Alicorns can't. I know that I may not be Twilight-"
"I'm a spell," he said tersely, "It goes without saying I would know this."
"Yes, I know that you're a spell - a replication of Sombra when he was younger - but that still seems weird. I don't think that a spell version of me would be able to sense magic, would she? Or it?"
"Did anypony ever ask you what you thought?"
I sighed. "So, if I shouldn't use either of these," I hold the Stars higher, "then how am I supposed-"
"Goof grief, I'm not a mentor," he snapped, "here to hold your hoof through everything, solve your own damned problems. I'm not even going to last much longe-"
He didn't; there was a sudden 'pop' and a small burst of crimson sparks. They hit the snow with a sizzling noise. I bit my lip and looked away, staring down at my hooves.
I wish I had pockets, I thought as I took one last look behind me before heading down the mountain. I wanted to remember this spot so I could teleport here later and fetch the book Sombra had, it seemed important enough.
Since I no longer wore my jacket, it felt much colder and I shivered slightly, snow had begun to fall.
It was almost peaceful, and took my mind off of dark magic and ghosts at least for a little while.
...
Mid-way down the mountain, I stopped, finding that I wasn't alone anymore. In the middle of snow stood a mare so pale I almost hadn't noticed her.
She wasn't anypony I knew, and it was rather hard to make her out since she wasn't close, and wasn't really standing still but walking very slowly. I could see that her coat was an extremely soft blue, and it almost seemed white. Her mane and tail seemed to be styled quite elaborately, with elegant ringlets falling in her eyes and around her face. The rest was loosely pulled back and tucked into haphazard bun. The color, was most unusual, it looked pure white but was flecked with bits of pale colors that looked like reflected light, greens, purples, blues, and even rare bits of gold that shone so brightly I could see them even from up here.
I had to go down and tell this mare she couldn't be in the mountains! I rushed down the slope, careful not to spill the Stars that I had cradled in my wing.
...
The jeweled snowflake earrings could be ignored, as could the gold hairpiece, silk slippers buttoned with pearls, and the glittering cape as transparent as glass that revealed her coat was unmarred.
There was a silver tiara in her mane, studded with white diamonds. I looked down at her eyes which were the brightest and most vivid emerald green imaginable.
Her cutie mark was a tarnished silver key, the bow of it was an opal sprouting petals of light so it resembled an an exotic flower. In her hoof there was a necklace of silver swirls, linked together drawing my eyes to the the very same gem in the middle. However what she was wearing around her neck was the bandanna.
She stopped walking when she saw me and the necklace fell from her hoof and landed in the fresh snow.
"O-O-Opal Charm-?"
Opal Charm blinked her thickly lashed eyes, and looked down, she seemed to have a hard time recognizing herself, and gods, though I'm about as straight as they come, she really looked pretty. If I wasn't looking at her for myself, I would never believe that such a pretty mare could be so... vivid. There was an enchanting air to her doll-like innocence, but that was only if I ignored what she had done to me because she saw what I was carrying in my wing and her typical homicidal craziness returned to her eyes.
"Where did you get the other one?" she hissed, her vicious tone corrupting what was once a soft and whispery voice.
"It was on Mount Opaline."
Her eyes were on the mentioned mountain in a heartbeat. "Was it now?"
"Yes," I said nervously, eyeing the fragile and petite looking ball of murderous ghost anger with shock. Her transformation really was... drastic.
"It was hidden," she stated rather than asked.
Well, yes. I don't think that you just leave stuff like this lying out on Market Day, at least, I wouldn't.
"And that gods-awful excuse of a 'friend' of yours was there."
"Yes..."
"That little brat is always hiding things!" She stomped her hoof in the powdery snow.
You make him sound like a spoiled child as opposed to a mentally unstable... I don't even know what. Does anypony know exactly what Sombra is?
She gazed hungrily at the Stars. "What does the other one do?"
"I-I don't know," I stuttered truthfully.
"Is that so, dear? You may be just a little filly who thinks wearing a crown makes her a ruler, but you've proven yourself to be quite troublesome. Sweetie, it takes far more than a crown and an empire that loves you to rule."
I'm the troublesome one?! You're the one who was in my house!
She smiles at me again, but due to her current appearance she doesn't look all that menacing, just somewhere between bitchy and sugary-sweet. "Your silly little book may have mentioned that I have an object that will, how did it put it...? Pacify me, yes, that was it. After I found your jacket, holding this little treasure of mine, I thought pleasantly, 'Well won't it be the kind thing to let the little filly see the face of the one who killed her?' After all, I saw the face of the one who killed me... so there you have it," she said, waving her hoof in front of her almost benign grin, "I think that wraps up all the talking. You should feel honored that I'm giving you this privilege, especially since we know each other so well!"
Opal Charm unties the bandanna, and it too falls in the snow without a sound.
The next smile she gives me is her sickening corpse-grin that clearly spells 'murder'.
...
I soared up to a nearby ledge - which like everything else around me was doused in large quantities of snow - to avoid the magic fireball that had been hurtling in my direction. The Stars were safe, securely held in dark magic, which was faltering slightly. Of course, my magic was weaker now that I had a magic that I could barely control without anything to amplify it.
Opal Charm scowled at me from below. "Oh come down here, little bird. It isn't like I will hurt you. I only want to end you, little candle, and snuff you out. I seek to extinguish the stain you are to my Empire."
Having no horn to channel magic, Opal Charm radiated with the power she had been granted in death and stolen from me. I didn't respond. What was I going to say to her? She's done nothing but try to kill me and I felt no personal grudge against her, since I had never wronged her in any way. All I wanted was my magic back, and I had to figure out how to get it before she sent another set of magic blasts in my direction.
She's shown that my magic is inside her, but in what way? Is it like putting coins in a jar, where all I need to do is find a lid and take out however much I want?
I see the spell coming faster than she thinks I'll react, and fly to another outcropping I manage to locate quickly enough.
Or is it like certain enchanted amulets where only the caster can remove it? Could it also be like a chest where I'll have to sort through other things to find it?
I wish I had a better way to catch a glimpse of my magic from up here. She's too far away for me to see clearly.
Oh, it looks like she's going to shoot another ball of fire at me, I'd better move. This time I find higher perch and try to strengthen my hold on the Stars. It's almost a shame that I can't control dark magic as effortlessly as Aunt Celestia or Twilight, I was made for the light stuff, which means I can hardly cast any kind of spell as it is right now, despite being an alicorn.
I just need to be able to see my magic. If I can see the magic that belongs to me, wouldn't I be able to assess things much better than I am now.
My eyes catch sight of my reflection in their concave surface. Sombra told me that I shouldn't use the Ice Star, but I still wasn't sure what the other one did... perhaps it was a shot? Even is he said it wouldn't help me much - weren't those his exact words? - It would still help me, maybe only a little bit, but I could really use even the slightest bit of help right now.
I scooped the Reflector Star from the green and purple aura and glanced in Opal Charm's direction. She wasn't doing anything.
...
I blinked my right eye a few times and tried to determine what exactly I was looking at. There was nothing discreet about the visual effects that the Ice Star produced, but I wasn't quite sure what I was looking through here. A broken stained glass window, maybe?
The vision in my right eye was divided into over half a dozen different fragments, that looked very much like glass shards... that all happened to be reflecting at least two different things. Some of them showed something I recognized: the thick snow which was still falling, although much more lightly, as well as the setting sun. Opal Charm stood, ready to cast another spell, looking as she had most of the time I had known her: a ghostly corpse that was marked by more holes than cheese, and that was putting it lightly. Even changelings were whole compared to her.
However, the others showed something different: the mountainside was hardly covered in snow, only a few piles lay about. Pale clumps of thick spring green grass overwhelmed nearby stones. Sprouting from the ground like wildflowers were puzzling clusters of sandy rock whose surfaces were marked by sparkling rainbows of color. In these, Opal Charm was not depicted as a phantom but as the mare she was.
Unlike the images I knew to be true, these had an overall faded look to them, as if the entire vision was, well, a ghost itself.
It was strange, in one was Opal's forehoof clad in finery standing on grass that surely wasn't there, while right next to this piece of the puzzle was an image of a tattered cape gray against the snow, its wearer glowing with blue and malicious looking red magic.
Soon the false, happier looking images felt as if they were fading even if I could see they weren't, it was an affect of my mind. When I looked harder I could see that beneath the layers of roaring flame-like aura I saw what I had been looking for.
My magic was there: a floating blue wisp against tumultuous waves of red, struggling against the derangement of Opal's own magic.
Well, now I know.
But just how was I supposed to get it?
I looked up. Opal Charm shot another fire ball, and I evaded once again, and tried to ignore her shouting and focus.
...
The next time she aimed magic in my direction, I refused to keep hopping ledges and waited until she thought she had me, the spell getting closer to its mark: me.
I nimbly flew above it and quickly and soared down to meet her. Opal Charm's face showed her shock.
I stood here before her, with the Ice Star bobbing safely out of reach. On Mount Quartzite she had shown just how afraid she was of dark magic, and she continued to do so here, flinching at the sight of it.
I charged another spell, my horn flaring to life with as much dark energy as I could muster, like when I had turned into a shadow. It worked, and was just as taxing as before, although Opal Charm didn't appear to contain herself, looking as if she wanted to run away and cry.
All the awful feelings returned, and I had to struggle to keep my mind on track and focus on that soft blue light I saw, that sweet and gentle blue light that was me, I needed it to complete myself, to get my energy back. I didn't want to feel this tired forever.
Opal froze, her quivering had stopped as did the magic surrounding her. Everything around us was still, and as I struggled to stand and keep my eyes open, I saw it: a thin aura of such wonderful sky blue beginning to form around her, evaporating and flowing into me.
That's were everything went wrong. I was drawing powerful magic - mostly light magic - into myself while currently wielding dark magic, and worse my magic recognized the dark magic as an enemy, like medicine does towards a cold.
It was like every bit of me were dissolving from the inside out, and even though I was simply standing there, it felt like I was fading. I couldn't feel myself at all.
Then the reverse happened and it felt as if all the pain I'd been through wasn't enough: the magic had to make more, like it was trying to cause its own little apocalypse inside me to get rid of all the corruption. Even my horn was racked with so much pain, I swore that it felt like it was cracking.
Opal was as still as the statue she wanted to turn me into as she watched it all unfold. Magic was going crazy everywhere green and purple mixing with sky blue, converging into a sick and venomous shade of violet that engulfed us both in the only calm part of this storm, I could hardly see anything, my eyes were glowing with indeterminate colored energy.
I was still in all the chaos, as unable to move as she was. However through it all I could see was the edge of a bright orange flame cutting its way through the raging power, through it there was the brief glimpse of gray and gloom.
Tartarus.
I glimpsed a small white glimmer out of the corner of my right eye. Even though the effects of the Reflector Star had been negated due to the magic storm, it had not forgotten its companion.
Neither had Opal Charm. I saw her outstretched hoof reach out and grab it before I was overwhelmed.
...
Fresh flakes of now were falling, I felt them tickle my muzzle. When I opened my eyes, I could see sunlight reflecting off them, and blinked at the sight. Between blinks images of what happened danced behind my eyes.
My first question was why I felt so at ease, and of course, a little cold. The pain really was only a memory now. Despite all that had happened in the past few days I was completely spotless, their wasn't even a scratch on my coat and my mane was unsettled and in its natural curl.
I stood up and blinked in confusion, the fact that the Reflector Star was still in my eye didn't help.
I lit my horn with magic, relived to find not only was my energy back but that the magic was mine. As for the feeling of dark magic? It all felt so distant, and I wondered: had it even happened at all?
With my newly returned magic I gently removed the Reflector Star from my eye and fitted it in a bubble of aura.
I looked around, the sky was clear today and the sun was just coming up. I stretched my wings and readied for a brief flight back to the castle, I didn't feel like using my magic just yet.
...
There weren't any other ponies, crystal or tourist, at the Crystal Heart's plaza this early in the morning. I trotted up to the Crystal Heart, which was looking slightly translucent as light flurries of snow swept around it.
Once more I lit my horn with magic and closed my eyes, only opening them when I felt the still and chilly air of the ice webbed Inner Heart. I placed the Star on the center of the frozen floor, since there was nowhere else to put it. Slowly, the floor and walls began to thaw, and a crystal dias sprouted up under it.
Six glowing orbs of lights returned, and I watched as the opal colored one faded, until there were five. It had never shined as brightly as the rest, now that I think about it.
The Heart was restored, even if I had lost one Star the other was still here for me when I'd need it next.
It was time to go get that book Sombra had given me on Mount Opaline.
I found him in a peacefully empty Canterlot street a few hours after visiting Twilight. One of his legs, his left foreleg to be more specific. I had so much I had to ask him, as well as needing to shout at him for hurting Twilight.
"Sombra!" I called even though I knew he was already aware of my presence, I saw his ears twitch in response and watched as he turned around.
"What is it Princess Amore?" I couldn't read his expression well, but his eyes had a fiery look in them and there were the remains of a triumphant looking smirk on his face.
"What did you do to Twilight?!" I had no idea what was keeping me from wiping that look off his face. Patience, yes that's it.
"Traumatize her, probably," he said with a shrug.
"Why?!"
"She pried too much and she got a tiny taste of what she had coming, such treatment was inevitable if she was going to keep doing what she found so thrilling."
"Do you know how sick you are?!"
He frowned slightly, now appearing to be bored. "She's alive isn't she? If you want I can fix that."
"NO!" I screamed, "Why don't you just listen to me?!"
"Well? What is it, Princess Amore? I'm standing here, maybe I'll listen to whatever it is you want to tell me, although I would advise you to choose your words very carefully."
"Oh, don't you tell me that, I know full well what your like when your angry, I activated that cloning spell-"
"Replicating Spell," he interjected.
I continued to go on, "-of yours, and you showed your true colors!"
He taps a hoof to his muzzle and smirked. "Let me guess they were gray, black, and crimson, no?"
"Oh, stop it! You even gave me this book." To prove my point I held up that very book with my magic. "Most of it was ruined in some sort of fire but everything I needed was in there, I bet you caused the fire as well, since you do love to burn things, the Archives are a perfect example of this!"
He blinked. "I didn't burn that book," Sombra mumbled.
I ignored him and kept going. "Everything said makes sense now, all the things you said, or at least the parts I'm willing to believe."
Sombra scowled. "Really, you think I'm a liar? I'm nopony's idea of kind, but don't you think you're venting at this point?"
"No! I think you need to listen to me-"
"I am, although rather half-heartedly and refuse to take you seriously."
"Well maybe I shouldn't take you seriously either! You aren't even one pony, if you were even a pony at all!"
He glared at me with the same maliciousness he must have shown Twi. "Pick your next words very carefully..."
"So which one did I trust back there in Gildentundra, was it Sombra or Onyx?"
"It was me, I swear it was-"
"Yes, but who is 'me'? Don't think I don't know which one I'm dealing with."
"You've only ever-"
"STOP TALKING! I know what happened with you know, I figured out who Onyx is, Twi told me a bit and I get it now!"
"Tell me what you learned, " he said through gritted teeth. His ears were pinned back as well and I could see that if I continued to push him any farther he might loose it, based on the creeping green tint in his eyes.
I forced myself to swallow and bit my tongue trying to calm down just enough so he wouldn't flip out. I couldn't meet his eyes and looked at the cobbled streets instead, grateful that this was such a quiet part of the city.
"Well," I started with a shaky voice, "it all started with Starswirl the Bearded. He had an apprentice."
I quickly glanced up at Sombra and was relieved that I couldn't tell what he was feeling, so I decided to continue.
"His apprentice, a young colt, didn't know who his family was. He - the apprentice, not Starswirl - was malicious and cruel as well as highly ambitious and self-absorbed. He wanted power, and lots of it. One day he found an artifact of some kind, and without a second thought he sealed his fate, I'm not entirely sure what happened next but he cast a powerful, and completely taboo spell. It gave him the power he wanted but it came with the cost of himself, he was driven mad and was no longer alone."
I still refused to look at him, did I really want to see his face? The face of a pony who had violated the biggest taboo in magic for the sake of greed.
"With their mind completely shattered, the sorcerer and his demon-"
Wait a moment, did I just see him flinch? That can't be right, this is his life story.
"-traveled to the nearest place they could find in attempts to satisfy their lust for cruelty, yet secretly one of them, who still had some of his animal nature in him was able to regain some of his mind at some point, however lost most of him was to the monster inside, who constantly tormented him... well that is until he decided to piece himself back together in a very literal sense, turn up at the castle... w-well, you know the rest... but..."
"But what?" he questioned, voice distant.
"Why'd you do it?" I asked unable to stay calm, "Why?! You knew exactly what would happen, and you still went along with it! How could you do such a thing?! Surely, beneath all that pride there was true empathy of some kind? I've seen you show it before!" I had finished the story and met his eyes with those last words.
"Why did I do what, Pink One? Tell me that."
"Why did you cast the spell? You seem smart, so how could you do something like that and create a Shadow - that's what the few readable bits of that book said they were called. How could you be such an impulsive apprentice?"
He continued to maintain the aloof demeanor. "Why do you think I was the one who cast the spell?"
Why did he continue to mess with me like this?!
"It's because you aren't a monster, Sombra! Onyx is the demon! It's a lesson drilled into us all since foalhood: artificially created souls are unnatural and wrong, doomed to be evil, creating such a creature isn't like creating a construct, who have no souls, and are just that: constructs, not real life. Only dark magic can do this and you should know this better than-"
"Have you ever met a Shadow, as you call them?"
"Well, you..."
"No, I meant the demon." Every word he spoke was surprisingly and terrifyingly calm for Sombra.
"Well, then how would you know?"
"Sombra, everypony knows that demons - you obviously know, the 'ponies' from nothing - should be avoided."
"So you've never met one? Talked to one? Anything?"
"I already told you: no."
Sombra glared at me with even more barely controlled fury then in his youth, and spat through a venomous smile: "Haven't you?!"
He turned away and before I knew it was walking away, clearly fuming. "You can forget that silly offer of your friendship as well!"
I galloped after him, turning street corners as fast as I could in an attempt to catch up with him.
"Sombra!"
I turned another narrow and deserted side-street.
"Sombra, wait!"
Was that a crimson cloak I saw? I headed in that direction.
"What do you mean, 'haven't you?'"
Ah-ha! I think I had him on this one, I swear I saw Sombra.
I turned the corner.
It was a dead end.
Sombra was gone.
He wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be.
I turned around and almost tripped over something: a hastily wrapped parcel that seemed quite light in weight. It must have fallen out of his saddlebags because when I tried to unwrap it, a piece of paper fell out. It was covered with writing that was barely legible.
There was a name and a roughly calculated date.
Nothing more.
I put the paper back, lifted the parcel onto my back, and headed towards the train station where I would meet Shining Armor and return to the Crystal Empire. When I thought of that my already active magic glowed white for a brief moment and faded just as quickly.
I looked down at the newly acquired package, in the corner a small cluster of of blue, pink, and purple crystals had formed.
I was making progress. It was the last thing I remember thinking before falling asleep on the train ride home.
...
Haven't you?!
“Life is full of disappointments.”
Because you've been through a lot, and you aren't exactly an optimist, Sombra.
"I see how it is."
You think that others doubt your existence and you hate that.
"-and my authority."
You're stubborn and willful - probably by whatever nature created you - but most of your life choices may have not really been yours.
"After all," he added flatly. "I'm supposed to be a king... supposed to..."
It's what he wanted you to be, isn't it?
"I was going to say that it was impossible to pity a heartless tyrant like you!"
I shouldn't have called you that when you aren't the heartless one. I'm sorry.
"Really? I'm just a terrible critic? I'm not a tyrant, a Tartarus-bound monstrosity, a freak of nature, a pariah, or the sort who makes sadists look like pacifists, just to name a few. Actually, I think I'll go on, it's not like you can stop me. So what else am I not: am I not a monster? A usurper?! An uncontrollable ball of wrath?! You think I don't know this? I know what everypony thinks about me, and hardly a word of it's true, for the most part."
You know that others know exactly what you are, even though you don't care for the most part.
"Onyx did. It's nice that you want to blame your life problems on me, but we both know somepony else is far gultier than I am of that particular offense."
Did he use you as a scapegoat? I believe you on this one, that smile couldn't have been yours, right?
"It's simple: I don't smile, grin, laugh, smirk, half-smile, of my own free will..."
It's because you were so miserable there.
"...Although I shout quite often."
Because you felt trapped?
"You think I enjoy any of this?! Do you think I ever had a choice?!"
No, you never did.
"... most of the time he smiled so happily as he carried out his deeds and was completely lost behind a veil of madness. He talked joyfully to those that did not exist, to himself. He liked it when my ponies screamed."
That was Onyx, wasn't it?
"...sometimes he acted stranger, a violent mess of anger, a horrifying and mysterious mix of fire and cold, who locked himself away from everything and screamed just as much as anypony else did..."
That must have been you, Sombra.
"Don't ever refer to me as 'king' again, I'm not a king, I'm not a ruler, and I never wanted to be."
You kept telling me this and I never listened...
"The assumption that books only have one page and everything is going to be given to you without even the slightest hint of a challenge."
You must hate me for that, don't you?
"I don't have any family members."
It's why you don't know them - because you never had any to begin with.
"...they don't emit the same magic."
Of, course, you're magic so you would know... but it could also just be because you are weird.
"I'm a spell."
Which is why you can detect magic - at least I think that's why - and it explains why you have no family.
