From the Shadows

Twilight burst into the library.

"Spike! Where are you?!"

The drake quickly emerged from an upstairs room, and trotted down the stairs to answer his summoning.

"Twilight, what's wrong?"

The alicorn realized suddenly how frantic she must have sounded; even Spike could hear the panic in her voice.

"Is there anypony else in here?"

"The library's empty, why? What is it?"

"Nopony else can hear this," she said, panting.

"Twilight," Spike said, his plump face worried and wide eyed, "you're scaring me."

"I need you to take a note," she said, lost in concentration on her deed.

The dragon responded by readily producing a scroll and a quill, looking to her to signify that he was ready.

"Dear Princess Celestia," she iterated, prompting the quill to begin scratching away on the paper in the hands of the dragon, "I am writing to you with urgent news. Sombra has escaped."

Twilight heard the quill stop writing, and turned around. The quill was at Spike's feet, yet his hand hadn't moved. He stared at her in horror, his eyes doubling in size as his lips parted to reveal small, needle-like teeth. She looked back at him consolingly, trying to tell him without speaking that everything would be okay.

When Spike realized it was indeed true, no matter how awful, he recomposed himself enough to retrieve the quill from the ground, and frantically began writing again.

"He attacked a group of us, knocking us unconscious, and escaped in the aftermath. As you receive this, the other elements and I will be preparing to go after him. We will keep him from harming anypony else in town, no matter the cost."

As she spoke, Twilight realized how incompetent the letter made her sound, and decided to add, "This letter is a situation update; there is no need for intervention. I am confident that my friends and I can handle the situation."

She looked back at her assistant to signify she was done before reciting, "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle," and the letter was off in a burst of green flames.

Twilight went to retrieve her crown, her gilded material representation of her element of harmony, and as she opened a chest in the corner of the room, a weak voice behind her spoke.

"Twilight, are we going to be okay?"

The alicorn sighed as the crown came to a rest on her scalp.

"I'll make sure of it."

Twilight turned for the door, but before pushing outside, called over her shoulder, "I'll be back. Stay inside and don't let anypony in. If anything happens while I'm gone, run into town; I'm sure the Cakes would take you in."

And with that she was gone.

Spike was left alone in the library, the crystals from the king's promenades the night prior still existing throughout the floor. The dragon's scales drooped as a wave of loneliness hit him; there wasn't even anything he could do to help. He felt helpless, told to stay inside because the world was too dangerous.

Unsure of what else to do, he sat on the couch, the seat Twilight normally occupied, and looked around the room at the many crystals, most of them the size of a tree sprout. The stones, upon a closer inspection, were actually quite pretty, and the dragon marveled at the spectacle of a group of them sprouting in the only corner of the library where the sunlight wasn't present, creating a sort of shadow on the ground and along the base of the wall. He smiled as they crackled and ground together, rising up a few feet from the floor, and he wondered how it was possible.

But, no matter how pretty, he quickly lost interest in the crystals, and made his way up to his room where he had several comic books waiting. With nothing to do but stay inside, he didn't have a much better way to spend his time.

Spike plodded up the stairs, and as he turned the door handle, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a brief, brilliant crimson flash in the darker corner.

He paid no heed, and opened the door.

****************

Twilight oriented herself into the center of the semi-circle, the other elements facing her, waiting impending instruction. Each of the mares wore jewels around their necks, except for Twilight's crown; the elements of harmony.

"Okay girls," she said, trying her best to sound confident and assured, like the leader she was supposed to be, "Here's what we're going to do."

The five faces in front of her held varied emotions. Some were afraid, others determined, some unsure, but all, in their own way, were ready.

"Sombra's somewhere out there, probably still in, or at least not far from Ponyville. The good news is that everywhere he's gone while he's been here, those crystals have popped up, so we should be able to track him pretty easily. We lost him at the bakery, so that's where we'll start following the trail. Any questions?"

Twilight wasn't answered at first, but she knew each of her five friends had something burning to be let out within; in her gut, she knew it was the same thing.

Finally, somepony squeaked the question.

"Twilight," whispered Fluttershy, "Does the princess know?"

"Yeah," added Rainbow Dash as each of the others nodded agreement, "Is Celestia coming? I mean... it's Sombra."

"She knows!" said Twilight, suddenly angry, and shaking her head, continued, "But she isn't coming."

"Why not?" exploded Pinkie Pie.

"Yes, do explain," agreed Rarity as each of the others, again, nodded agreement.

Twilight lowered her head, ashamed for some unspoken reason, but looked up after a time with a sort of broken determination.

"The princess asked us to get Sombra to teach us about dark magic by reforming him. We will not fail her. We can handle it. Now let's go."

The alicorn stomped off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, and the others, after an exchange of nervous glances, followed.

They reached the bakery after a short hike.

"Look," said Applejack, pointing, "the crystals lead off that-a way, towards the square."

"So that's where we're going," declared Twilight, and the six began tracing the crystallized tracks of the king.

****************

Sombra stood over the drake, perched on his hams in the doorway. The whites of the reptilian's eyes had shifted to green, and he was staring wide-eyed into the doorway. He made no noise, but his eyes twitched back and forth, following an unseen entity.

The king waved a hoof in front of the dragon's face; not even a blink, and when bitter tears began to flow, Sombra knew the spell had worked, again.

He smiled. A simple, yet effective curse. He'd used it to enchant the door in the bowels of his castle in The Crystal Empire to protect the hidden Crystal Heart during his reign, and now, again in the library.

Sombra smiled a bit to himself, admiring his quick thinking with the spell, cast from the shadows of the library moments before, undetected.

He closed his eyes as he smelled the scent of fear, pouring out of the dragon as the curse on the door did its work, showing the drake his worst fears. Just from watching him over the past day, Sombra knew the door to be displaying one of two things; either solitude, or rejection, most likely the two together. The sensation was made all the more sweeter by the fact that the dragon had aided in thwarting him, however lucky it had been, in The Crystal Empire before. Revenge at last, yet, there were bigger prizes to be won.

The king felt an influx of power as the dragon's fear gave him strength, and he breathed deeply, relishing in the feeling. He didn't need much more to perform the task, and after that, the next deed would occur naturally; the reclaiming of his throne, and adding some territory to his kingdom, namely Equestria.

But, that would come later. Now was a time for preparing, and the stallion, again, faded into a shadow, floating along the floor and walls, rematerializing adjacent to the bookcases of the library. Taking the form of a pony again, he stalked back and forth, reading the spines of the bookcases.

He needed information, knowledge to be used against his adversaries; he knew he'd need as much as he could get, not from lack of confidence, but from study and experience. He continued scanning the bookcases until he found one that would be of use; 'The Elements of Harmony: a Compilation'

He sat down leisurely to read; he was not worried about being disturbed. True, he could not stop the crystals from sprouting wherever he went; even now as he usurped the princess's sofa, crystals pushed through the cushions, their razor-like points tearing through the fabric and the springs. But, when used as a tool, they could be a help rather than a hindrance.

Sombra knew the lavender princess was planning to hunt him down; he also knew of the kind of mind it takes to hunt a hunter, and she didn't have it.

In the letter addressed to the princess, the creation of which he had witnessed from the shadows, she had mentioned tracking him by the trail of crystals he left.

Sombra chuckled as he pictured them now, running around town paralleling the obsidian stones; he knew they would never unravel the labyrinth he had laid out for them. Crossing trails, reversed courses, an impossible trail to even an experienced tracker, let alone a group of inexperienced mares.

In the frozen north, exile did have its benefits when it came to such matters. Many an adventurer had come onto the tundra in hopes of finding him and the glory of defeating him, and he had learned the trait of fighting when they did, but the skill of trickery and deception was much more beneficial in keeping them from doing so as one hunter fought against another in the deadly game of chess. He'd never lost.

The memories of trials blended together over the course of countless generations in the biting cold quickly left him as the king refocused on the task at hand, learning. He knew more about light magic than his adversaries did about his area of expertise, but still, he didn't know enough. That would have to change.

Sombra opened the book with magic, and began reading. It was a dull but useful read, bland in character but rich in facts on the first page alone.

"The elements of harmony are the most powerful source of light magic in the known world."

This line implied overconfidence; ironic, as Sombra's domain was not well known, and hence, outside of the known world. He read on.

"The six elements, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Honesty and, most recently discovered, Magic, can only be used by a select few."

Sombra grew more interested suddenly, and in the recesses of his mind, he began going over what he knew already, trying to determine each of the six's elements. He already knew the wielders of Magic, Honesty and Generosity. The others were nearly unknown; nearly.

"Together, the elements have been used in the past as nonlethal weapons to maintain harmony and assure the ascendance of good over evil."

Sombra reread the passage. Together, meaning that if one of the elements, namely, its wielder, were to be absent...

He read on.

****************

"Twilight, we're going in circles," complained the alabaster mare, flicking her curled mane in the air as she whined.

"We haven't even left the trail for a second. I don't understand..."

"Face it, we have no idea what we're doing, where Sombra might be, or how to find him," argued Rainbow Dash, "We need Celestia's help."

"No!" yelled Twilight, refusing to admit that she was incompetent, "We can do this!"

"Well then what do we do?" asked Applejack, challenging the princess, "We've gone around the square five times now, and we haven't gotten any closer to findin' him than when we started. We're losin' daylight fast. Face it Twilight, we need help."

The alicorn sighed.

"Dash, you said you couldn't see where the trail continued from the air?"

The pegasus shook her head 'no'.

Another dejected sigh from Twilight.

"Alright," she said, downtrodden, "maybe I was wrong."

She kicked the dirt.

"Let's all go home and get some sleep. I'll write another letter to Celestia tonight, and I'll try and get her out here by morning. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

Her friends agreed, and, exhausted and disappointed, trudged in the direction of home.