From the Shadows

Twilight just kept walking; she couldn't bear to look up, so she kept her head down, staring at the road she traversed. She paid no attention to the sunless sky, nor the land she'd once fallen in love with, now turned into something she hated to call home.

The miles passed quickly, and before she knew it, she was beholding, much to her horror, Canterlot...what was left of it. No more white, no more light, no more hope. True, this was Canterlot the city, but it was not Equestria's capital, not a symbol of hope and love and good. Now, it was Sombra's, and everything he stood for radiated from the palace's towers; darkness, despair, fear... all locked in the dark shadows the once ivory towers of the palace cast on the hillside below.

Celestia would not have allowed the capital to fall into this state, meaning Twilight's fears were confirmed; the other princesses were dead.

Twilight sighed, and continued walking. She could have flown, but that just didn't feel right. She was going through with a journey, both physical and mental; making it quick would defeat the purpose. The purpose was a cleansing, as well as a retribution, all alongside a vendetta.

She was the only remaining princess in Equestria, a kingdom, a home, that had been taken from her, and tainted by Sombra's evil. But, she would set things straight. She would avenge the fallen; her friends, her family, her mentor. She would deliver justice. It was her duty, and she would fulfill it through any means necessary; Sombra had made that possible when he stole any innocence left in her heart, and planted hate in the gap left behind. But, rather than let it take her, she decided to use it, against her better judgment.

It was what motivated her now; the need to punish the evil was overbearing. She would quench that thirst, though, no matter what.

Eventually, after passing through grim, darkened buildings, and after paying no heed to the expressions of depression and misery she walked by, she reached the palace, or, more specifically, its gates, guarded by a pair of ebony armored stallions. She paused a few feet beyond the drawbridge, stopping, her head lowered ominously as the breeze blew her mane and tail to the side.

The guards visibly noted her presence, and they shifted their positions from attention to combative, their spears readied at their sides. But Twilight only smiled. She stepped forward, planting a hoof onto the wood of the drawbridge.

"Who goes there!" yelled one of the guards.

"A princess," Twilight responded.

"Obviously!" yelled the second guard.

"I'm sorry your Highness, but we can't allow you to come any closer."

Twilight did exactly the opposite as was requested, taking a few more steps towards the massive gates of the castle, the guards coming together to block her path.

"I am a regale of Equestria, and I am entering this castle," she said coldly.

"Princess," the guard began solemnly, "Equestria is no more. You should leave, before Sombra finds out you're here. He's been exterminating the princesses; you may be the last one alive."

But Twilight only came closer, and as she tried to push to the gates, a pair of crossed spears blocked her way.

"I'm sorry princess, but we have no choice but to ask you to leave, or else we'll remove you."

The other guard continued, "Please princess, he has our families. I would like to comply with you, but..."

Twilight understood, but there was no room for delay; she had a task to do, and frankly, these guards were interfering. She sparked a glow from her horn.

"Princess, what are you..."

The guard was cut off by a massive pulse of energy from the tip of Twilight's horn, blowing both stallions over the side of the drawbridge and into the moat, as well as launching the gates inward, freed from their hinges.

She walked inside, anything but calm as adrenaline now coursed through her pulsing veins, and as guards came out to challenge her, she met them without consideration; they were foes now, as they served her enemy, and they were treated as such.

The first group came down the stairs of the hall, brandishing weapons as they charged, but Twilight cast a whirlwind into their midst, and they were all launched into the wall, strong enough to break bones, but not strong enough to kill outright.

Twilight ascended the steps to find more guards waiting for her at their summit; they were cast aside with prejudice, the sounds of their armor crushing against the wall ringing through the castle. She kept pushing.

Twilight eventually found her way to the throne room, the doors, apparently under construction, easily blown inwards by a simple force spell. She trotted through the dust, and the unconscious bodies of a trio of guards, to find the throne empty, no regicidal villain in sight.

She kicked the ground in frustration, and whirled around to see a small echelon of guards staring her down with bared weapons. They made a satisfying sound as they all hit the far wall, sending a small fissure upwards in the crystalline architecture. Now, unopposed, at least for the moment, Twilight began a trot down the hall in a search for the king.

No more guards came out to challenge her; maybe she knocked them all out, or perhaps it was that they were ordered to stand down by the source of her aggression. It didn't matter. What did matter was...

Twilight's thoughts were cut short by a black mist, spreading inwards from all sides of the hall, seeming to come in from under the walls. Her advance stopped with her thoughts...she had no more need of them. She'd found what she was looking for.

The mist spread and grew, until the hall she had previously occupied was no more than a black abyss; it reminded her of the nightmares Sombra instilled. She quickly shook off the notion; now was no time to be recalling fears. She needed courage now more than ever, never mind the fact that Sombra would use her own fear against her. Now, more than any other time in her life, she would need to be fearless.

Sound disappeared with color as Twilight found herself in a dark void; not blind, but more due to there being nothing but blackness, was the explanation she gave herself for her newest setting.

She knew what would come with the mists, the black clouds seeming to invade every space in sight; she would just have to wait.

It felt like an eternity before she began to hear hoof falls.

Off in the distance, beyond her field of view, the rhythmic sound of the clicking of metal tipped hooves striking tile drew nearer and nearer. It felt like another eternity before the source became visible.

It began as an ivory smile, seeming to glow in the dark. Next came eyes, equally radiant, and their blood red glow illuminated a bit of the nothingness of the abyss. And, before long, just long enough for the suspense to build into nervousness, Sombra, in full, stepped into Twilight's view.

The two stood, staring each other down, one in wrathful concentration, and the other, the darker of the two, in a fit of pleasure.

"Ah, Twilight. You've arrived," Sombra crooned, his tone menacing simply due to how comfortable he seemed in the nightmare of a void, "I see the guards were no trouble for you. Have you thought about what I said? Come to avenge what you once knew?"

Twilight put all of her effort into appearing stoic. She had been sure she would be able to stand to Sombra before, but now that he was actually before her...she was unsure that using hate against its master was as wise as she'd once thought.

"I have thought about what you said Sombra, and I've come to stop you, and your reign, however brief," Twilight responded a bit sarcastically.

"Very funny," Sombra complimented, "but I'll be the one laughing when your entrails stain the floor beneath you."

Twilight tried hard to appear fearless; she knew it wasn't working.

"I had really hoped we could have had a mutually beneficial relationship," Sombra said, reverting to his sardonic tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight snapped back.

"Everything you could fathom, princess, or should I say, former princess."

"Coming from a former king, that doesn't carry much weight. I'm here to make you a former king for the second time in your pathetic life."

"The only pathetic thing here is you, you insolent child," Sombra took a menacing step forward, obsidian crystals shooting up violently through the floor as a flash of green shot from his eyes, "You still think you can defeat me?"

"I know I can, Sombra!"

"Silence, lest I kill you now!"

"Sombra, you can't..."

"I said...SILENCE!" Sombra slammed his hoof into the floor as he finished, and a fissure spread in the floor, "Before I paint my beautiful home red with your blood, I want you to know something, princess."

Twilight fought to keep her ears from lying flat against her head.

"That you are a fool, to even consider, that you are here by coincidence!"

"What do you mean," Twilight asked shakily.

"Did you really think that I kept you alive so you could come and challenge me? This is not a drama, where a finale is necessary; this is life, and I've had millennia to unlock its secrets," he paused before continuing, "I have so much planned for you, princess. I planned everything, years in advance, and here you are, going off of whims and passion, and still believing that you can stand to me!"

"Believe me Twilight, if I wanted you dead, you would have been a rotting corpse days ago. Have you any idea how many times I could have killed you since I arrived in Equestria? Seventy-eight. You have let your guard down in my presence for the last time, Twilight; I will no longer show restraint. The next time you are vulnerable, your life is mine."

"Are you threatening me?" Twilight scoffed.

"Of course I am, you insect."

Twilight forced a laugh, all a part of her poker face, and Sombra seized the opportunity. She'd let her guard down in the smallest way, and he would make her pay for it.

Sombra unleashed a ray of crimson from his curved horn, striking Twilight center mass, and launching her back several dozen feet, where she skidded to a halt on the floor. She struggled to her hooves, looking up at Sombra, who was ambling closer, engrossed in his speech.

"I would have preferred to let you live, but you declined my most gracious offer. I had planned to rule with you as my heir; few, if any, have shown as much potential as you have. If only you weren't a fool, you could have lived in this castle for eternity; instead, it will be your grave."

Twilight rose, and, summoning everything she had, she unleashed a beam of lavender magic at Sombra. But, easily, the stallion deflected the blow, simply swinging his head to strike the beam with his horn to send it into the wall, leaving nothing but a scorch mark behind in the crystal. Twilight repeated the spell, wincing as she put all of her strength into another defensive effort, but again, Sombra deflected the beam to the side.

"This was your plan?" Sombra jeered as he guided another of Twilight's spells into the ceiling, "Using these weak, infernal spells, against me?"

Sombra reached her, and, despite her best efforts to dodge the blow, he struck her with a stout backhand on the cheek. She flew backwards, tears forming in her eyes, and hit the ground, hard.

Twilight got to her hooves again, with more effort this time, and looked up to see Sombra's advance had stopped.

"At least make it a challenge for me!" he jeered, "Your friends were too easy. I was hoping you would actually put up a decent fight!"

"Don't talk about my friends!"

"Which friends? The elements? The princesses? The others that lived in that mud hole of a town? Or your dragon?"

"You... y-you shut up!"

Sombra only smiled as he continued.

"Was it the princesses? Well if it wasn't, I'll have you know that Luna died like she lived... a useless pawn in the shadow of greats, namely, me. And Celestia, she died with her own spear through her throat, like the infernal weakling she was."

"Sombra, you..."

"Ah, so it was the princesses you didn't want me to speak of. Very well, I'll address the others," he jived as he refused to come any closer, "Your dragon begged for his life, even when I told him that if he went quietly, I would spare you. He begged...like a dog."

Twilight tried to shut out his words, to no avail.

"And that home of yours, Ponyville, was it? It made excellent tinder, didn't it? And its citizens burned well too; rather pretty, as soon as you get past the macabre."

Twilight began whispering to herself as she pushed her hooves into her ears.

"No, no, no, no."

"And your friends," Sombra said slowly, "all too easy for me. Laughter and Loyalty died ablaze and crushed, but together...perhaps you will find some vague comfort in that. Generosity much the same, except she died alone, not before seeing her sister's corpse, however. Honesty was fairly similar, but she saw her entire family charred and lifeless, not just her sibling. And Kindness, the fool. Who values an animal's life anymore? Really, is a rabbit worth being burned alive?"

Twilight was on the ground now, sobbing, but Sombra was not done.

"It really was a shame though, that you had to get them caught up in this whole thing. My quarrel was not with them, until you aided them in becoming elements of harmony all those years ago; if you had never come along, perhaps they would still be alive. Perhaps we could have both found some pleasure in their being alive...They would have made an excellent harem."

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Twilight, and she rose to her feet as her eyes, still moist, snapped open to reveal verdant auras, purple tails emitting from her tear ducts.

Sombra smiled, and staggered his stance as he readied for a real fight.

Twilight unleashed another beam of magic, but this one, rather than lavender, was matte black. Sombra met the beam with one of his own, and the static energy in the room became deafening. The two beams conjoined at the midpoint of the two ponies, and neither gave any ground.

Twilight, all her rage, all her wrath pent up, was loosed, and she screamed in pain and anger. But Sombra kept his cool.

"Come on!" he yelled over the hum, provoking her, "Use your hate! All of it!"

As Twilight screamed, using everything she had to try and break the stalemate, she heeded the king's words, and began to remember.

Her friends' death, her decimated home...her life, taken from her, and replaced with this hate. She let it boil over. She let it take hold of her. She lost herself in it, and it felt...good.

And, as much to Sombra's surprise as Twilight's, Twilight's beam began to push Sombra's back. Slowly but surely, Twilight's magic gained the advantage, until mere feet separated Twilight's spell from Sombra.

The king gritted his teeth, and pushed forwards, leaning against the opposing spell, and fought Twilight back. But, it was a losing battle.

Twilight overpowered Sombra, and her beam reached the tip of his horn, climaxing in a sudden moment of silence as all of the pair's combined might gathered in a singularity at the tip of the king's sabre-like horn, before a massive surge of power threw Sombra across the hall.

When the dust settled, Twilight looked up to see that she was back in the castle hallway, no longer Sombra's void. She began to walk forward carefully, but paused, shaking the green radiance from her eyes as she, to her own horror, realized what she'd done.

She was conflicted...Hate gave her power, but, her whole life, she had been taught to love. She knew which was more effective, but which was right? Just like before, she was more sure she would be able to control herself when she was not actually confronted by the reality of her actions. It was more than black and white now...she was becoming grey, and she didn't know if she could justify it.

She walked forward slowly, her magic and her senses ready for any sign of Sombra. Eventually, as she penetrated the cloud of dust, she found him.

He was on the ground, prostrate below a large hole in the wall, where he'd obviously impacted. She kept her distance, but still, she wanted to draw nearer, but a fearful respect kept her from doing anything brash.

Eventually, Sombra began to move, rolling his shoulders back as he groaned. He spit a mouthful of something onto the ground, and struggled up onto his knees.

"Ohhhhhh," he moaned, "You see now? You see your potential? You see what Celestia kept from you?"

"The only thing I see is a defeated king," she countered.

"Then finish me," Sombra groaned, "Legitimize your new rule."

The king rose to his hooves, and held his hooves out.

"Come now. Use your hatred, your wrath, all of it," he made an X over his heart with his hoof, "Kill me. Claim your justice. Claim your vengeance."

Twilight stepped up closer, prepared to do what she had to. Her eyes glowed over white, and she took aim at Sombra's ribs. She took a breath in, and Sombra remained unflinching. She prepared to do it; she told herself she would. She tried, and then tried again...but, despite everything, she could not bring herself to kill him. She had the tools to do so, but not the heart for it.

"I can't," she sobbed.

The glow from her head died away, and her glare faded to reveal a saddened face.

But Sombra only smiled.

"Oh that's right," he jeered softly, "you've never taken a life before."

He took a step towards her, not menacing like he was before; now he appeared more approachable, with a soft gaze and an outstretched hoof.

"The first one is always the hardest. It's alright. Not everypony has the strength for this sort of thing," he said as he discreetly braced his back legs.

"It's alright if you can't do it," he consoled, "Unfortunately for you, killing is not a problem for me."

Sombra lounged forward with his head lowered, and before Twilight could bring her guard back up, she found herself stuck on the end of Sombra's horn, being carried backwards by his momentum, with his horn buried in her abdomen.

Sombra turned suddenly, and rammed Twilight into the wall, causing the layer of crystal over the drywall to shatter, littering the ground in ebony shards, like broken glass. Sombra thrashed his head from side to side, and tore his horn free from Twilight's stomach, flinging her onto the cold ground.

A puddle of blood began to spread from her place on the ground, and Twilight's eyes grew wide in lavender hued shock.

Sombra stood over her, wiping at his crimson stained brow, and he smiled.

"Just like the others," he said, as if he were disappointed, "weak and lacking conviction. You disappoint me, and you disappoint your late companions. You are a failure, unworthy of royalty, and undeserving of the blessings that graced your pathetic existence."

Sombra turned away from her, and relished in hearing her final breaths. It was not long before she stopped breathing...and started growling.

Sombra turned around, confused, only to see the hole his horn had left in Twilight's stomach sealing itself, a black aura spreading from the wound to the rest of the alicorn's body. Her eyes shifted over to green once again, and with born teeth, Twilight lurched to her hooves.

"SILENCE!" She bellowed.

Twilight reached down to the ground at her side, and grabbed one of the crystalline shards littering the floor. She lounged for Sombra, and buried the shard in his ribs, stepping away after embedding it, leaving it sticking out of his dark hide.

Sombra nonchalantly reached down to the wound, and plucked out the shard, the size of a dagger, and let it clatter to the floor.

"Well well, look who finally got the message," he said amusedly, "You've finally let the hate take over. Now, you are just like me, fighting for your homeland against somepony who stole it from you wrongly, and forsaking the good you once knew for the superiority of evil. Congratulations; welcome to true immortality."

"What'll it be then, Sombra?" Twilight jeered, her voice deeper now than it had been before, "Two immortals fighting for all of eternity over a throne?"

"My offer still stands," said Sombra sarcastically, before launching himself forwards with everything he had.

He lowered his shoulder into Twilight's chest, and the sudden impact was great enough to carry the both of them through the wall at the alicorn's back. The pair found themselves in a bedroom, unoccupied and dark, and Sombra was the first to rise. With his teeth, he grabbed Twilight, still writhing on the ground, by her ankles, and, after spinning as if he were about to toss a discus, threw the mare across the room.

Twilight struck the wall, breaking through, but not quite penetrating the wall in its entirety so that she was stuck in the drywall. She tried to squirm herself free, but she found herself stuck fast. After a few moments, she heard a snort above her own exasperated gasps, and looked up to see Sombra barreling towards her. She fired a bolt of black magic his way, but tragically, missed. Sombra leapt for her, and with another savage impact, blew her the rest of the way through the wall.

Twilight felt herself skidding across tile, until she felt her head strike something to stop her advance. She looked up from the floor to find herself in a dining room now, Sombra looking at her through a gaping hole in the wall on the far side of the room. She picked herself up as Sombra prowled through the hole, and began stalking towards her from the opposite side of the dining table, still set with silverware and plenty of food.

The king stopped once he reached the mahogany table, and casually helped himself to an apple. Twilight was amazed by how calm he was, as compared to her own demeanor, which was utterly frantic. It was obvious which of the two had been in situations like these before.

The king, with his mouth still full, spoke.

"So, you do realize how utterly pointless this is?"

Twilight got back up, and Sombra let the apple roll to the floor. Twilight concentrated on the objects in the room, and began hurling an array of forks and knives at the king, the verdant fire in her eyes doubling. Sombra was quick to react.

He picked up a chair as Twilight gripped the first of the metallic missiles in her magic, and held it up between himself and the incoming projectiles. He blocked all but one, and he winced as a kitchen knife embedded itself in his back leg. But, before he could drop his makeshift shield and recover, Twilight hit him with another blast of magic.

The beam struck Sombra completely off guard, and launched his body, smoking, to the wall. Again, he was quick to recover, and looked up to see Twilight taking her turn at the offensive. Sombra could tell she planned to vault over the table; coincidentally, as he saw this, the chandelier above also caught his attention.

For a few moments, brought on by adrenaline and instinct, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion to the king.

He looked down to see the knife still in his leg, and he yanked it free. He looked up as Twilight began preparing to leap over the table, and, as his eyes darted around, he saw where the rope for the chandelier connected to the wall, the pulleys above keeping the decoration suspended in midair. Twilight braced to leap, and Sombra threw the knife.

The blade hit a bull's eye, and severed the rope holding the chandelier up, and down came the suspended decoration, right on top of the alicorn. The weight of the decoration pinned her to the table, and Sombra began to approach her, thinking her vulnerable. But Twilight proved him wrong.

Her body may have been pinned, but her head was still free. She looked up, her stare alone enough to burn holes in a body, and sent a bolt of black magic in Sombra's direction. He ducked the blow, gasping a bit as he did, as he did to the next shot Twilight sent his way, and the next, bobbing and weaving as he tried to work his way around her, so he would be beyond her head's range of motion, and out of the way of her magic.

Eventually, at the expense of the architecture behind him, Sombra, after avoiding nearly a dozen searing bolts of black, hate-filled magic, worked his way to safety. He trotted over to the place where the knife had struck the wall when it severed the rope, and pulled its blade free of the wall.

Blade in tow, he made his way over to the dining table from behind Twilight, her rump in the air as the front of her body was crushingly pressed into the wood of the table.

"Caught in a very...compromising position, aren't we?" he taunted to the alicorn, struggling and trying to pull herself free.

Sombra hopped up onto the table, straddling the young mare, and began debating if killing her was at all possible, until he remembered something. Twilight's horn suddenly began to glow as she tried to lift the chandelier from her back telekinetically.

"Ah ah ah," Sombra scolded as he stopped the furnishing's upward advance, and pressed it back down on Twilight with a glowing horn.

"That's quite enough of that," Sombra said, and he grabbed Twilight by the mane.

He pulled her head upwards, and he scraped the dull blade across her scalp, and after much sawing, and screaming, he freed Twilight's horn from her skull.

Twilight just kept on screaming, pain and agony and horror stealing her words, and replacing them with a bloodcurdling howl, but Sombra hopped off the table amidst the screams, and tossed the horn as far away from the alicorn as possible.

"I'm sure you know this," he began as, with bloodied hooves, he pushed his mane back into place, "but, a horn is the source of all magic for a pony, like the heart is a source of life. Without that, even dark magic is absent within you."

Twilight, to her own horror, realized it was true...her head kept bleeding now, and was refusing to heal itself like it had before. She kept trying to deny it, but she knew she was done now...nothing could keep Sombra from finishing her off now.

"But, I have to admire you," the king continued, catching his breath, "I've never seen anything master the art of hate as quickly as you did, and you sure put up one hell of a fight; that's more than could be said for your peers. I think we both know who should have been running this kingdom. But, no matter. It's all mine now."

"Look, stop gloating," Twilight sobbed as her own blood flowed into her eyes, "just...just get it over with."

"Wait, you want me to kill you?"

"What else would you do to me?"

Sombra laughed as he looked away.

"You still don't get it do you?"

Twilight, if at all possible, grew even more afraid as he continued chuckling.

"The threats were a motive; I never actually planned to kill you. You were always meant for this destiny. You're so close to it, yet you can't see. Death is not in your future. No, no... I am your future."

"Don't you get it Sombra? I will never join you."

"No, that's not what I meant. You joining me was just one way for you to acquire your fate. I mean I am your future."

"What are you trying to say...that I'm going to become like you?"

"You already are like me," he said, "In fact, our stories are near identical, save for the fact that you have yet to experience a thousand year exile. But, in, say, a thousand years, you and I will have exactly the same histories. All I needed to do to complete your transformation was get your hate to overpower your love; I'd say I've succeeded."

"No, I won't. You can't make me be like you."

"You are already more like me than you choose to accept. And besides, you must be punished for your attempt on my life...regicide will not be tolerated in my kingdom. Death would be too easy for you. You welcome it; you don't fear it. What you fear will be your punishment."

"And besides, I will need an heir, eventually, and you have proven that you are adept in my methods. Few are, and even fewer are still alive. Who knows; eventually, you might be just like me."

Twilight tried to fight away her tears; she did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"I know you think yourself good, mostly, but we will see what a millennia of ice and solitude will do to that notion. Like I said, if you ever return, you just might keep my legacy alive with your example. After all, this is the new you, sculpted by the old me."

Sombra stood in front of Twilight, still pinned beneath the chandelier, and sparked a glow from his horn. Menacingly, he smiled.

"Now, this spell was used on me once before. Let us see if I can remember it."

The king scratched at his chin, and Twilight found her hide beginning to glow in Sombra's magical grip.

"You, Twilight, stand accused of your crimes.

May your soul be brought to the light.

So that now, until the end of time,

All may see the truth in your plight.

May your darkness be revealed,

And your body taken away.

May your fate be sealed,

On this, your final day.

In the name of my father,

And his father before,

I Sombra, your king

Proclaim you, Nevermore."

Sombra gave a grin as he finished, and Twilight shuddered as she saw her hooves beginning to change from lavender to black, then to a wispy cloud. She felt her heart being ripped apart, and her muscles being drawn into fibers as the curse did its work, stealing her body and exposing her corrupted soul, ridding it of any good it once held, and multiplying the bad.

Her legs joined the mist, followed by her torso and her neck, and as she screamed, the wisps stole her breath and flesh, causing her horror to go silent as she joined the air around her.

Sombra was glad it wasn't him in her place this time.

Then, a rapid wind came driving through the palace, and it carried off the floating, shadowy entity where Twilight once laid off, and to the north.

And, in the silence, Sombra began to laugh.

Everything had gone perfectly.

Slowly, he made his way back to his throne room, and sat down heavily in his ebony chair.

He'd done it. All that was left to do now, was to retake the Crystal Empire, like taking candy from a foal. Only, this 'candy', was home.

"Captain!" he bellowed, his voice booming through the dark, heavy atmosphere, "Ready the troops!"