The Heart of Darkness

Two meteors streaked across the sky heading north. Two alicorns raced to confront a tyrant and free his subjects. Two sisters flew in silence, avoiding eye contact and their own conflicting hearts.

        Luna flew slightly behind Celestia, looking nervously out of the corner of her eye at her sister. Though Celestia would join in this fight to save face, and would give it her all, the friendship and harmony that was the source of their magic was missing. Brute strength they would have, but none of the control, none of the subtlety that marked a truly powerful magic user. Luna had not been lying when she had told Agate Shine that his army could have bested them: when the sisters were in harmony, they were unstoppable. As they were now…

        “Sister, we must talk,” Luna finally breached the uncomfortable silence.

        Celestia's eyes flashed. “About what?” she demanded. “About how you have put us both into mortal danger, again, because of what you think you saw deep in some creature's heart?”

        Luna slowed her flight, forcing Celestia to turn around lest she fly deeper into enemy territory alone. “Thou used to be so kind, so caring. What hath so darkened thy heart, Celestia?”

        “I nearly lost you in the battle against Discord, Luna!” Celestia snapped. “At our moment of triumph, we nearly lost everything because you believed his lies about needing a friend.”

        “They were not lies, Sister, nor did they stay my hoof,” Luna retorted. “Are not thou the one who always spoke of the magic of friendship? Were there some way to turn our foe's heart, would not that be better than defeating him outright?” Luna at least thought she now understood a little of what so clouded her sister's eyes: fear. Fear of losing what she loved, what she had fought for.

        “Now, you have forced us into another battle, one which we are ill-prepared for. It was masterful politicking, I must admit; you completely outmaneuvered me. I have never met anypony who can be so clever and so foalish at the same time.” Venom dripped from every word.

        Luna did not cower from her sister's anger. Not this time. “Thou didst see those poor ponies. Someone must do something about this King Sombra. Thou and I are the only ones who can.”

        “And if we fail? What if we are defeated? What if we are killed? Equestria is not yet stable, and it will not endure without us. It will be snapped up by the first powerful being to come along, most likely this very Sombra you would have us face before we are ready. You may have just thrown away a thousand years of preparation because of what you deluded yourself into thinking you saw in some scared pony's heart.”

        “Then 'twould be best if we did not lose.” Luna's voice and gaze were firm until Celestia finally huffed and turned back north, picking up speed as she raced toward the Crystal Empire. Luna dashed after her only a wingbeat behind, her flying as steady as the facade she put on for her sister.

        Now that Celestia was no longer looking, Luna allowed tears to prick her eyes. The Celestia I knew would have agreed with this decision. She would never have thought to do otherwise. Oh, Sister, what happened to us?

        Agate accompanied four of his officers back to Chaos End to learn what their jobs were to be.

        “Thought you said you'd be picking representatives?” Mayor Wilds asked gruffly upon seeing Agate again.

        “I did. I chose myself, along with these four.”

        Arid Wilds shrugged. “Suit yourself. Now, there are three main jobs for the three different types of ponies. Pegasi deal with what's in the sky, obviously. That means clearing out any weird weather that's left over, bringing down any trees and rocks and the like that are floating around, that kind of thing. Earth ponies fix whatever's wrong on the ground: setting rocks back in place, smoothing out the ground, tracking down any of Discord's weird mutant animals, what have you. They also need to be ready to help the pegasi bring down anything that's too heavy for them to deal with alone, especially those big floating islands. I'm sure you saw them.

        “Unicorns are where it gets tricky. We've got a couple of 'em who specialize in reversing Discord's chaos magic, but it ain't easy. Any unicorns you've got who could help out with that would be as useful as the rest of you lot put together.”

        Agate nodded his understanding. “The Crystal Empire is inhabited primarily by earth ponies, but we do have a few pegasi and unicorns in our ranks. Lieutenant?”

        A female unicorn trotted forward and saluted. “I am lieutenant Diamond Ring. I lead our magical battalion, which consists of three hundred and sixteen unicorns, myself included. If you have somepony who can teach me the anti-chaos spells, I will do my best to learn them and will pass them along to my troops.”

        “At ease, Lieutenant,” Agate ordered, “I think you're making him nervous.” Indeed, Arid Wilds looked a bit uncomfortable in the face of Diamond Ring's no-nonsense competence. “There you have it, Mayor: three hundred and sixteen unicorns to help undo Discord's magic.”

        “Hm.” Arid Wilds looked a little disappointed at the relatively small number. “Alright, so be it.”

        “It must be better than not having an additional three hundred unicorns,” Agate gently pointed out.

        Arid Wilds nodded. “It is that. Heck, that's about as many ponies as our entire work force put together. Alright then, uh, Miss Ring, you'll be working with Wild Star. He'll teach you what you need to know. You'll find him out in the field. He's a red unicorn with a shooting star cutie mark, you can't miss him.”

        “Understood, Mayor Wilds.” Diamond Ring saluted again, made a sharp about-face, and trotted out the door. Agate sighed at her stiff formality, though he certainly understood that she wasn't quite comfortable with the situation. Buck, he wasn't quite comfortable with it himself!

        “Right.” Mayor Wilds shook off the lingering awkwardness. “Now, I see you've got a pegasus there too. Tell me you've got some kinda pegasus battalion to help us out in the sky?”

        “Lieutenant Sapphire?” Agate prompted.

        The light-blue pegasus stepped forward. “I am Lieutenant Soaring Sapphire, I lead the aerial forces of the Crystal Army. We have one thousand, two hundred and twelve pegasi to contribute to your efforts here.” Sapphire, too, was stiffly formal, if not quite so uptight as Diamond Ring.

        “That's wonderful.” The mayor sounded as though he actually meant it this time. “Shouldn't take you folks long to learn what to do, so I'm sure we'll have the sky clear in no time.”

        Sapphire nodded and stepped back into line.

        “Now then,” Mayor Wilds looked at the remaining representatives, “what in the hay am I supposed to do with almost nine thousand earth ponies?”

        Agate and the two other earth ponies, Sergeants Night Opal and Dawn Champron, exchanged glances. “The Crystal Army is already divided into units to allow commands to be given and followed efficiently,” Agate explained. “You can give orders to a unit as if you were speaking to a single pony, and the entire unit will work together to carry them out. It really is not much different from what you have been doing, just on a much bigger scale. The sergeants and I are here to help, as well.”

        “Uh huh.” Mayor Wilds still looked a little uncomfortable with the situation, but he was not about to turn down the assistance of nine thousand ponies, especially considering that their help wouldn't cost him anything. “Right. Well, let's get to it.”

        King Sombra paced his throne room restlessly. Everything was in place. Even now his army would be crushing the fledgling nation of Equestria. With Discord beaten and the Crystal Heart locked away, nothing in the world could oppose him. So why did he feel uneasy?

        It was that damned voice in his mind, the last vestiges of that weakling Prince Onyx. It told him that he was overlooking something, insisted that there were forces in this world that could overcome even the absolute power of his dark magic. He drowned Onyx's voice in the endless black tide of his power and rage.

        His thoughts were interrupted by an incredibly loud voice, undoubtedly enhanced with magic, that echoed even through the crystal walls of his palace.

        “Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria seek audience with King Sombra of the Crystal Empire!”

        A dark smile spread across Sombra's muzzle. This was even easier than he'd imagined. His army could not have reached Equestria more than two days ago, and its rulers had already come to surrender. Sombra threw open the doors to his balcony and stepped outside, seeking the one who had spoken.

        Two alicorns hovered a short distance away, not so close as to be threatening, but not so far as to seem frightened. Sombra also noted that they adjusted their altitude to match the height of his balcony, rather than waiting below on the ground, as would be proper. He also saw that they had come geared for war, in full barding. Sombra growled at the show of insolence.

        Dark crystals erupted from the ground, forming an enormous staircase that led from his balcony to the alicorns. The final step placed Sombra slightly above them once again, so that he could look down at his conquered foes.

        “I am King Sombra,” he stated, “and I am prepared to accept your surrender.”

        “Surrender?” the dusky alicorn spat. “Thou mistakest Our intent, King Sombra.”

        Sombra's fiery green eyes narrowed. “Explain yourselves.”

        “The commander of your army has made a truce with Equestria,” the other one, taller and brighter than her sister, informed him. “Commander Agate Shine has agreed to abide by Our peace and Our laws. Your army is defeated without a single loss. On either side.”

        Sombra bared his teeth. “Traitors! Traitors all!” His rage cracked the crystal he stood upon and caused the ground to shake.

You see? the smug Onyx-voice in his mind gloated, there are powers that you cannot overcome, no matter how mighty you are.

        Sombra bellowed his wrath, causing ponies all over the city to clutch their ears and drop to the ground, trembling. Without warning he lashed out at the two alicorns who had enraged him, crystals breaking off from the platform he stood upon and shooting toward the sisters. They were caught off guard, but managed to avoid the wild attack with hasty aerial maneuvers.

        A counterattack of radiant yellow magic from the white alicorn blasted Sombra from his perch and sent him crashing to the ground below. He lost his magical grip on the black crystals, causing them to shatter and fall to earth as a fine dust. The alicorns landed in front of him.

        “Thy ponies quake with fear,” the darker of the two stated, a judge pronouncing Sombra's sentence, “thy land withers and dies. Thou rule with an iron hoof with no care for those thou crushest beneath. We have been in thy kingdom but a moment, and already thy tyranny is clear. Thy reign ends now, King Sombra, and far too late for Our liking.”

        Sombra's eyes flared open and crystals erupted from the ground, aiming for the bellies of the two ponies. They flared their wings and took to the air. They evaded serious injury, but he was rewarded with a cry of pain as a crystal spike scored the ankle of the darker one.

        “Keep to the sky, Luna,” the other commanded. “The advantage will be ours.”

        “Yes, sister,” Luna answered.

        Sombra sprang to his hooves, forgoing his crystals in favor of raw blasts of dark energy. He attacked the white alicorn, only to be repelled by a radiant shield. A beam aimed at the dark one, Luna, passed cleanly through her. He grinned, thinking he had scored a meaningful blow at last, then snarled in frustration as she shimmered and reappeared a foot to the side. He had hit an illusion.

        Celestia and Luna counterattacked, but their blasts were caught by a wall of crystals that sprang up around the king. The crystals shattered, leaving Sombra unharmed.

        Sombra attacked again, and this time it was not any recognizable type of spell. It was simply a burst of raw magic and wrath, a dark wave that raced toward the two sisters. They braced themselves against Sombra's fury, but were sent hurtling through the air like leaves on the wind.

        It was more than mere force: Sombra's magic burned. When the sisters regained control of their flight, both sported injuries that their barding had not saved them from. Luna looked around to see that the violence of Sombra's attack had damaged the surrounding area. The crystals that formed the paths were cracked, as were several of the nearby buildings.

        “Sister,” Luna said urgently, “we must lure Sombra away from this place, lest we kill the very ponies we mean to save.”

        “Do not speak to me of 'must,'” Celestia spat back, “but in this case you are right.” Her eyes narrowed as she considered their foe. “Sombra is driven by wrath. Taunt him, make him pursue us, and we will lead him away from the city.”

        Luna swooped down and fired a ray of silvery-white magic at Sombra. He blocked it with contemptuous ease, but it had only been meant to get his attention.

        “Thou art nothing to Us, monster!” Luna called, her insult echoing across the entire city for all to hear. “Fight Us, if thou be not afraid!” Pausing only long enough to be certain that she had Sombra's attention, Luna turned and arrowed through the streets of the Crystal Empire, trying to avoid anyplace that seemed densely populated. There were no ponies on the streets, thankfully, for they had all raced for shelter the moment they realized a battle was to take place, and Luna made an effort to stay away from buildings as she lured Sombra away.

        Sombra, for his part, pursued her in a blind fury. When his hooves could not keep up with Luna's wings he resorted to magic to create a dark crystal underneath him. The crystal grew with alarming speed, carrying him along with it. Unlike Luna, he cared nothing for the damage he caused nor the lives he took with his reckless use of power.

        As they passed the borders of the city, Luna slowed enough to tempt him into an attack. He took the bait, hurling himself forward off of the crystal, meaning to tackle Luna and bring her to the ground with the sheer strength of his body. He was intercepted in midair by a white comet that pierced his side with a long, sharp horn.

        Celestia's gambit had worked perfectly. Her horn slipped between the plates of Sombra's armor and into his flesh. She focused and channeled her magic directly into Sombra, attacking him from within with the full fury of the sun.

        Sombra roared in pain as her searing magic broiled him alive. Light shone from his open mouth and from the wound Celestia's horn had made. He thrashed in agony, and with an immense effort was able to dislodge himself from the alicorn's vengeful horn. He fell to the ground again, this time not rising, but twitching and moaning weakly.

        Celestia and Luna, fearing another attack, did not land but hovered a few feet above the ground to face their fallen enemy.

        “So,” Sombra coughed, “this is the power that defeated Discord. Most impressive.”

        “By Faust, what are you?” Celestia asked in something approaching awe. “That blast would have slain a dragon.”

        Luna's eyes went wide. “Sister, 'ware his magic!”

        She had seen Sombra's intent a moment too late. Crystals rose from the ground all around Celestia and grew together into a spire, trapping the alicorn within. Celestia screamed something in fury, but her voice did not penetrate the black stone.

        Luna turned to Sombra in fury. “Release her at once!”

        “Or what?” Sombra laughed, “You will kill me?” As if to prove the futility such a thing, Sombra rose to his hooves again. He was weakened by Celestia's attack, but not beaten. Not yet. Not ever.

        Luna stomped a forehoof in the air and lowered her head.

        “You intrigue me, Luna,” Sombra said. Luna stopped and looked at him in confusion. Sombra was rather surprised himself. That faint stirring he felt... was it lust? He had thought himself beyond such things, but on the other hoof, why not? He meant to conquer the world. Why should he not conquer this mare as well? “As powerful as the other, yet you obey her. Why is that?”

        Luna snorted angrily. “We obey Celestia not as a subject, if that is thy implication. We listen to her as a friend and sister.”

        A surge of power pressed against the crystals imprisoning Celestia. Sombra responded with a pulse of his own magic, causing dark lightning to surge through the prison. Celestia writhed and screamed, though nopony could hear her.

        “'Tia!” Luna shouted. She channeled power into her horn, causing it to glow brightly, and pointed it at Sombra. A wall of crystals sprang up between them in anticipation of the attack, but Luna's strike was not of the nature Sombra expected, and no physical barrier could stop it.

        Sombra's eyes clouded as Luna's magic forced him into a waking dream. He found himself standing in an endless abyss. Above him there was an infinite swirling green vortex of magic, while below him there was simply... nothing. He stood on nothing, yet it was solid; breathed nothing, yet his lungs filled and emptied. Half-seen specters loomed in the darkness, while voices of those he had killed whispered curses, imprecations, and the word he hated more than any other: Onyx.

        In the midst of the phantasmagoria an alicorn appeared, her dusky coat seeming bright against the jet-black backdrop, the green light from above giving her an eerie cast.

        “What have you done?” Sombra demanded.

        “We wished to see thee for what thou art,” Luna replied. “This is thy dreamscape. It contains thy hopes, thy fears, thy failures and successes.” She looked around herself. “We have never seen one so empty. Is this truly all there is in the deepest recesses of thy soul? Is there really nothing within thee but darkness and specters of thy past?”

        Sombra growled and reached out with his magic, but there was nothing for him to latch onto. There were no crystals here, nothing he could use as a weapon, and even the infinite vortex of his own dark magic seemed infinitely far away, unreachable.

        Luna shook her head. “This is a dream,” she said, “and there can be no physical harm done here. Now thou shalt face Us on Our terms.” Suddenly, something seemed to catch her attention. She looked to the side, and her eyes glowed as she enhanced an aspect of the dream.

        A cage, previously so far away it could not be seen, drew into view. The voice of its occupant, a dark but translucent unicorn, grew louder.

        “You will fail, Sombra,” he was muttering, seemingly unaware that he now had an audience. “You cannot win. Grow as strong as you like, there will be something stronger. Destroy all who stand against you, there will be some who survive. Diamond Shield, General Ruby, Mother. Oh, Faust, what have I done? What have I become?” he subsided into weeping and crazed muttering.

        Luna turned to Sombra. “Somepony from thy past?”

        Sombra's eyes flared green with fury. Here at last was the source of that voice that he could never quite silence, bury and squash it as he might. He tried again to reach out, to obliterate the last remnants of Onyx from his soul, but again found himself stifled. He tried to move, to solve the problem with his own hooves, but in the nature of dreams he found his body unresponsive.

        “That is the weakling whom I used to be,” Sombra growled.

        “This is the last of thy old self, then?” Luna questioned. “It is nearly dead.”

        “Yes, and not nearly soon enough.”

        Luna shook her head sadly. Her horn glowed, and there was a too-loud click as the cage unlocked.

        Sombra's eyes grew wide, and a hint of worry entered them for the first time. “What is this?” he demanded. “What are you doing?”

        Luna faced him, her glowing eyes seeming to fill his entire field of vision. “Reminding thee of who thou once were. Allowing thee to see who thou could be again. This pony's name is Onyx, is it not?”

        Sombra shook his head and snarled as the damning chorus of those he had killed echoed through his mind, all shouting that one word, “Onyx.”

        “Deny it not. The voices of those thou keepst in thy heart have spoken it clearly. There is no hope for Sombra, but Onyx may still be saved.”

        Sombra roared. His fury finally shattered the dream-state, leaving only one whispered word in his mind.

“Remember...”

        Sombra's vision cleared and the waking world returned to view. The white alicorn's prison of crystal was shattered, the two sisters gone without a trace.

        Sombra's anger echoed across every corner of the Crystal Empire.