From the Shadows

"Well?"

Sombra hadn't moved from the center of the room, and his eyebrows cocked as he waited for a response, the response Twilight was too shocked to give. One second, she'd had the advantage over the king; she'd amassed the elements of harmony, and was facing Sombra down, and the next, her friends were trapped within a crystalline dome behind her, their fates unknown.

"Do you still think you can beat me, princess?"

The king began to prowl forward, towards her, and she began an equally paced rearward advance, not turning away from the king as his amused smile began to straighten. She looked to her left, then to her right; crystals had grown over the windows, a result of Sombra's presence, and there was nowhere for her to go on either side. The floor space in the library had been drastically decreased by the crystalline walls and columns that now dominated the oak's interior architecture. She only kept backing up, and the king kept coming.

"Princess?"

He kept backing her towards the entrance, recently blocked by an opaque shell, his crimson eyes growing more and more intense with each passing moment. Twilight couldn't speak, she couldn't think; what was there that she could do? Her weapon, the elements of harmony, was gone, as well as any confidence she'd held moments before. But, she couldn't let him know that.

No matter what she tried to tell herself to do, no matter what her mind screamed to her body, she couldn't act, and she found her retreat continuing. It wasn't long before she felt the cold, lifeless touch of a crystalline wall, recently formed to trap her friends, at her flank, but the king kept coming.

She could hear movement from the other side of the crystal, and she knew her friends were alright. But, her attention was quickly seized again by the oncoming king, more specifically, the malicious scowl on his face.

Twilight spread out her stance, and sparked a glow on her horn, her body finally listening to her mind's commands. The king's look, surprisingly, softened, and his advance stopped.

"So, you still think me susceptible to you."

"Yes," answered Twilight defiantly, "you and your kind can never, will never, prevail against harmony."

"You truly believe that?" he said sarcastically.

The king took a few more confident steps forward, and Twilight tensed up.

"Relax," he crooned, his smile returning, "I mean you no harm...for now."

Twilight's teeth stopped grinding a moment or two after he spoke, and her defiant brow relaxed as he turned away from her, reversing his advance.

The king, to the opposite of his lavender counterpart, was utterly at ease. He strolled around the negotiable floor space while Twilight, behind him, hesitantly allowed the glow from her horn to fade, casting the room into a weak light once again. The king put a reasonable space between himself and Twilight, both to put her more at ease, and to give himself more room to work with; both were key in encouraging her to converse.

"You said 'my kind will never prevail'. What do you mean by that?" he asked softly as he turned to face the young alicorn.

Twilight was shocked by the new expression on the king's face. Up to now, she'd seen anger, amusement, and sarcasm, but now, he seemed almost...sad. Not quite sad, but an unfamiliar look regardless. His crimson eyes no longer burned, and his mouth was devoid of its normal smile, or scowl. He seemed more normal, more approachable, and utterly sincere.

Twilight, slowly, answered, and the king turned to inspect a crystalline pillar as she spoke.

"Your kind is the enemy of harmony. Your kind is manipulative and cruel and dark. You use dark magic, and you work against the forces of good. Your kind is evil."

"You sound like somepony I know," Sombra said, looking over his shoulder a bit.

Twilight's determination suddenly began to dwindle.

"Do you believe that because you think it true? Or, do you believe it because you were told it was so?"

The king turned, all of his malice coming with him as he again eyed the princess down from the other end of the room, and the air began to hum with an energetic tingling as his eyes began to stream purple tails. Yet, his voice was still gentle, chivalrous...alluring.

"Does Celestia always manipulate you like this?"

"She doesn't," the princess replied instantaneously.

"Ah, but she does."

"No," argued Twilight, "You're wrong. You're trying to make me doubt. I won't believe you."

"Doubt does not change the truth, nor does belief."

Any confidence left in the alicorn departed, and the king, nonchalantly, came a little closer.

"Now, I say again, does Celestia always manipulate you?"

Twilight didn't answer.

"Are you blind, or do you simply refuse to look beyond your own veil of blissful ignorance? Everything the princess does is to test you. I know; I've seen your memories, read your feelings, learned your thoughts, yet, you choose to remain oblivious to your mentor's cruelty. All these tests, all these trials; she's setting you up for failure."

"She tests me so that I can learn, and become better as a result."

"Does she?" replied the king sarcastically, drawing nearer all the time, "Then why did she send me to you?"

Twilight was silent.

"She gave me to your custody, but she took away the only advantage you had, the elements, by forbidding you to use them. She gave you a task she knew fully well you couldn't handle, an enemy you on your own couldn't defeat, and an impossible objective, knowing entirely the harm that could befall you, all so she could test your limits, so she could tell the extent of your power, the power that grows to rival hers."

The king stopped his advance, and now sauntered back and forth a few feet in front of the princess, speaking through bared teeth, his incisors protruding downwards like the teeth of a lion.

"You do realize that it's only a matter of time before she betrays you."

"I won't believe it Sombra; you're lying."

"No, I am not. Choose to believe what you will, but truth is not swayed by popularity."

The library was dark, the sun blotted out by dark, opaque crystals rising to touch the ceiling. The room was cold and quiet, and Twilight felt utterly alone.

"She's done it in the past, she'll do it again. Anything that has ever risen to challenge her rule, she's suppressed to any means possible. She turned Discord to stone, and took his throne for herself. Even then, though she worked in tandem with her sister, she took for herself the more revered position between the two, and allowed Luna neither glory nor respect among the kingdom's citizens. And, when Luna came to desire an equal share of her power, she imprisoned her in the moon for centuries; her own sister."

"She usurped my throne, and gave it to one of her pawns, solely to expand her own interests, forgetting the good of those she conveniently destroyed in the process, ridding herself of more potential rivals as well. She commands the Crystal Empire from Equestria, feigning independence by giving them their own rulers, but they are but tokens in her game for power, a game that she only allows herself to play. The worst of it is that she does not embrace honor in her endeavors for power. She cheats; she uses the damn elements to do all of her heavy lifting, and in my case, uses secrecy and deceit to strike at a moment of weakness."

The king adorned a smile as he continued, seeing the extent of the despair in the alicorn's eyes.

"She preaches love and toleration, but forgets it in the case of those that have the potential or the power to rival her; with them, she practices treachery. A true politician, concerned only with her own gain. What makes you think that she will not do the same to you?"

"She wouldn't. Celestia's..."

"You're lying to yourself!" yelled the king, rushing up to her, stopping just before her cowering muzzle, "Even when the truth is right before you, you deny it!"

"You are a princess, yet she assigns you to this," he said, looking up scornfully at the home they occupied, "A damn tree in the middle of nowhere, while she lives up in her ivory tower! You use the elements of harmony to do her bidding, but as soon as your wits come about, and you begin to question her infallibility, she will cast you out like a leper; she did it to me, and countless others! You will be no exception! As soon as you become her rival in power, however miniscule, you will be nothing but an enemy to her! You will be labeled a villain as all of her opponents have, and she will find another to take your place!"

The king snorted disgustedly to the side of the alicorn's face.

"Sooner or later, you and I will share the same fate, princess; lest, we choose to do something about it."

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, unsure of herself even as she spoke.

"You may not see it, but I do, and no doubt, so does Celestia. Your power grows with each passing day; you have begun to master the magic you embrace as benevolent. But, the height of your potential is in another realm."

"If you think for one secon..."

"Again, you ignore the truth that surrounds you!" yelled the king into her face, and she closed her eyes to avoid his piercing glare.

He turned away from her quickly, his cape flowing behind him as he did so, brushing past her nose without feeling. He stomped away from her angrily, continuing to lecture even with his back turned.

"No doubt, in this kingdom, acts of love outnumber acts of hate, but which do you remember?"

Twilight couldn't help but look down as she realized his words had merit.

"You may hear thousands of kind words in a day, but the only words that linger in your mind as you lie awake in bed are those of malice. The acts you remember are not those that helped you, but those that hurt you. You are haunted by the sins of your past, rather than bolstered by your deeds of kind."

His voice shifted to become deeper, more lust filled, more wise, more convincing.

"Such things are true for all beings that have tasted fear, or greed, or deceit or trickery, and they are examples at their most miniscule. To most, it is a curse, but to the few of us that dare to embrace it, it is a gift of limitless power. Power, I think, you desire."

The king's smile became charming suddenly, almost seductive, and though he still looked down on her, his wide shoulders looming over her as did the passion of his eyes, Twilight no longer felt threatened.

"Join me," he crooned, a smiling glare on his brow, "and I can teach you the meaning of power. Let me to teach you to hate. Let me teach you to instill fear. Let me help you, and we will never have to worry about Celestia again. We will never be outcasts; we will be the ones that cast shadows for others to live in, rather than having our sun blotted out by the fool Celestia, who thinks herself invincible. Together, we can overtake her, and seize that which is rightfully ours."

He reached a hoof down to her, smiling.

"All you need to do is follow me, and Equestria will be yours. I will return to govern the north, but your jurisdiction will preside over this kingdom; it shall be yours, and yours alone, all of its riches and splendor at your hooves. Together, we can rule an empire that will last a thousand years; as long as immortality is ours, we shall know no foe, no boundary, no limit. All you need to do is embrace me as your ally, and I can promise you power beyond your wildest dreams."

Twilight looked up at him, and his smile grew a bit wider as he waited on her pending acceptance, his hoof still imploring her for an act of alliance. But he never received one.

The princess rose on her own, shunning his hoof, and stood before him to look into his burning eyes, growing more and more angry with her denial as each moment passed. But, the princess returned the glare in full.

"You may be right," she said coolly, "but you can't make me believe anything. I believe in what I fight for; my family, my friends, Equestria, and you are an enemy to them. Celestia may be jealous. She may be less than perfect. But right now, it's your word against hers, and I trust her."

She stepped up closer to the king, glaring up into his soulless eyes.

"I would rather live a life I believe in, and lose everything, than turn to one I don't, and gain anything."

The king growled in his throat, the sound building eventually into a sentence.

"I've given you a choice. Perhaps it wasn't clear earlier."

He stepped back a few feet, showing his figure in full to the alicorn, who stayed adjacent to the wall at her back.

"With or without you, I will retake what is rightfully mine," he snarled, "War is coming; not a squabble, not a fight, war. You are on the losing side, and I've given you a chance for survival. Accept it, or forsake it, but know that your choice will determine which fate you inherit."

"And which are those fates, my king," she said mockingly, returning the king's malice with rebuttal of her own; it felt good to finally stand to the king, even though, perhaps, it was unwise.

"You can either be a victor, or a martyr. Your choice, princess." he said, lowering his voice to its true baritone.

"I'll take my chances," came the response, bitterly sarcastic, only building the rage within the shadowy stallion.

Sombra began to quiver as his brow descended lower in anger, another guttural growl accompanying the tingle of energy in the air.

"Then you call down the fury of a god," he growled, and suddenly, he began to transform.

In an instant, the king's eyes went from red to entirely green, and a crimson aura surrounded his ominous essence. His horn glowed white hot in an instant, and the floor began to shake. His lips parted as his mouth slowly opened, and he began to levitate in mid-air. Bolts of electricity shot out from his being, and the power in the air kept building. His mane whipped back and forth in the non-existent wind, and Twilight began to realize the repercussions of her defiance.

The king roared, but his mouth did not move as his body remained frozen in the air of the library's center. A deafening bellow that shook the limbs of the oak, and rattled inside the brain of the princess. The king's voice spoke, but not from his mouth; his voice, like before, came from everywhere at once, full of hate and wrath, and Twilight felt the characteristic chill of fear.

"BLOOD AND FLESH," he yelled as his form began to alter.

What was once shadowy skin began to change, shifting from black to obsidian grey, the color spreading outwards through his body from his center.

"AT YOUR EXPENSE!" he bellowed, and the grey overtook his body.

Suddenly, a pulse of energy shot outwards from his center, blowing the princess back into the wall as she heard the brittle shattering of crystal all around her. Another surge came forward seconds after, followed by another and another, brutally assaulting the world around the transforming king. With each surge, Twilight was pushed farther and farther back, and she could both hear and feel the crystalline dome imprisoning her friends beginning to give.

Then, as quickly as it had started, the rhythmic surges stopped, and were replaced with a new sound, just as loud, but different. The sound of a heart, deafening and booming with each methodical beat; it was coming from Sombra.

His eyes had returned to red, thought they still streamed lavender tails, and his skin was no longer shadowy and black. He looked...real.

Slowly, the king returned to the floor, his hooves clopping against the wood of the library's lower level once his descent was complete. He breathed heavily, and the sound of the resounding heartbeat faded away. He extended a forelimb, inspected it carefully, and took in a deep breath, smiling when air reached his lungs. He closed his eyes, relishing in the feeling of blood coursing through his veins once again. A smile spread on his face, and he began to laugh.

It started as a weak chuckle, but it grew into something more hearty. He breathed deeply, and after his moment of celebration had passed, he spoke with sealed eyes.

"No longer a ghost," he crooned, still smiling, "No longer a shadow. A fragment no more."

He looked up as he opened his eyes, his smile morphing into a sinister scowl aimed at Twilight.

"Now, I am the harbinger of hate. Now, I am the root of rage. Now, I am the source of sin. Now, I am the forbearer of fear. I am a nightmare. I am a monster."

"I am the silence before the storm. I am the wrath of the scorned. I am Corruptor, Defiler, Condemner, Mauler and Warfighter. I am Power. I am Death."

His horn began to glow faintly as he paused, his eyes beginning to turn green.

"I am..."

His voice went from barely audible to a thunderous boom as a black beam shot forth from his ragged horn.

"SOMBRA!"

Twilight reacted as quickly as she could, meeting the king's ray of magic with one of her own. The beams conjoined, but Twilight's was quickly engulfed by the king's. Sombra's magic overpowered Twilight's, pushing it back to its source. When the lavender ray disappeared into the alicorn's horn, an awesome burst of power sent Twilight hurdling backwards and into the crystalline dome at her back. She burst clean through, and out the other side, opening a hole through the crystalline prison.

The king galloped to Twilight's resting place near the door, leaping over the dome with a single bound before the elements within could react.

He grabbed the alicorn by the throat, the first time his touch had been accompanied by feeling, and pulled her in close as he whispered.

"And I've come for my revenge."

In an instant he was gone, simply swirling into nothingness as he abandoned the library. Twilight fell when his grip left her throat, and landed among still sprouting crystals all around her as everything faded to blackness.

Off in the distance, she heard a familiar voice calling her back, but it grew weaker and weaker with the world around her.

"Twilight!"

"Twilight are you okay?"

"Twilight..."