A Darkened Heart

Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted along with a slight spring in her step. She had confirmed the rumors of the changelings which gave her an excuse to bother her former teacher with a needlessly long letter describing every exact detail. Plus she had made a friend.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be the strong and silent type as no matter how much she asked, he wouldn't divulge his reasons for being in the forest or why there was an entire dead section of trees a short distance from his location (although, to be fair, he could know nothing about the trees). Hay, he wouldn't even tell her his name.

Sombra simply watched the princess warily from his position behind her. For whatever reason, she didn't recognize him and Sombra couldn't help but feel a little insulted at being forgotten so easily.

For at least the dozenth time, Twilight turned around and asked Sombra his name. Again he said nothing and just glared at the alicorn. It only took a few seconds of this to make her turn around and continue trotting through the dense forest with Sombra following, although somewhat reluctantly.

Again they walked in silence and every once in a while, Sombra would scan the area with his magic. He could still sense the changelings lurking in the shadows but none of them seemed that eager to approach the fallen king with his alicorn bodyguard standing so close nearby.

It was only until they could see the edge of the forest did the changelings make a move towards them. Although this move simply involved getting closer and making a medley of clicking noises and hissing but it was still quite enough to cause Sombra to inch closer to his protector.

With a few quick magic blasts from Twilight in random directions the hissing stopped and Sombra felt the changelings quickly disperse but not before they had delivered their message to Sombra. Hidden within the hissing and clicking there had been a faint whisper barely strong enough to reach Sombra's ears. "You are never safe." Twilight didn't seem to notice the voice as she simply turned and took off at a slight gallop which Sombra followed closely.

Not until they had exited the forest did they stop to catch their breath. After a few moments, and a few wheezes from Sombra, Twilight turned once more and asked again in a tone that said she wouldn't take silence for an answer, "What is your name?"

A quick battle raged in Sombra's mind about how he should answer this question. The rational side of his brain told him to make up a random name but, as he never associated himself with any of his citizens during his time as king, he didn't know any commoner names that wouldn't draw closer inspection from the princess. His prideful side told him to declare himself as King Sombra: Ruler of the Crystal Empire and Ravager of Lands. He promptly ignored that part of his psyche.

Saying nothing he tried to look everywhere but at the princess for a solution to his problem. He decided to go for broke and simply say the first thing he thought of. He opened his mouth but his mind suddenly seemed horribly empty. From nowhere, two words pushed themselves to the front of his mind.

"Darkhorn." He said uncertainly. "My-My name is Darkhorn."

Her eyes narrowed for a moment and she opened her mouth to say something but froze. Literally froze.

Sombra jumped back and looked at the icicles hanging from her mouth. "What the buck?!?" He yelled incredulously.

"Really? Darkhorn? That's really the best you could come up with, huh?"

"Who's there!?!" Sombra questioned angrily looking around trying to find his insulter.

"Forgot me already? That hurts."

Sombra's head swiveled towards the voice and found it coming from the mouth of a peculiar creature now sitting on the frozen muzzle of the alicorn princess. At first glance, it simply looked like a glowing mass of red color but looking closer revealed a small black animal, no bigger than a tea cup, in the center. With a pair of translucent wings and four limbs that looked to have the thickness of twigs, each tipped with five small but razor sharp claws.

A mirthless smile crossed his face showing a set of sharp teeth before it spoke in it's squeaky voice. "Hello again jester."

"YOU!" Sombra roared and lunged at the creature and swung a hoof at it only to end up sending one of the icicles flying from Twilight's mouth as the creature flew straight up.

"Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Hope there's not a tooth in there." The pixie laughed and swooped back down coming to a halt inches from Sombra's head. "I have a proposition for you, dear jester."

"Stop calling me a jester. I am a king!" Sombra growled at the pixie.

"Yes and I'm the new queen of Equestria." The pixie chuckled and conjured a small gold crown on his head. "Get a grip Sombra, you're nothing. But!" He quickly interjected as Sombra coiled ready to lunge again, "I have a way for you to be something again."

Sombra stopped midlunge and the pixie floated out of his reach again breathing a sigh of relief. "You? Help me? What's in it for you pixie?" Sombra didn't even care, at the moment, about the means. He wanted to know the motives.

"Straight to the point. No fun, jester, no fun." The pixie sighed. "Well first off, the names Chaos not pixie. And second, just like you, I need protection." He explained pointing a clawed appendage towards the forest where Sombra was sure he could make out a pair of green eyes watching him.

"You mock me and then wish me to protect you. The gall of you pixies." The king scoffed.

Chaos's aura flashed violently at the mention of his kin. "I don't need your protection! I need little miss princesscicle's protection."

Sombra laughed. "Good luck with that. She's protecting me fool."

Again the pixie flashed angrily. "Did you not once stop and think about why that is? Why she didn't turn to you and vaporize you on the spot?" Before Sombra could answer, Chaos flew in close and, with a snap of his fingers, caused a small hoof held mirror to appear in front of Sombra.

Sombra didn't recognize the pony gazing back at him. This pony didn't have his flowing shadowy mane but instead had a head of plain black hair that billowed out most messily. Where there should have been a red curved horn was a simple, albeit long, gray one matching the tone of his coat.

The eyes unnerved him the most. The green snakelike eyes that he had grown so used to over his years of delving into the dark arts were gone. Only the red irises remained unchanged. The purple smoke had utterly vanished, his sclera had again turned white and his pupil had returned to it's normal round shape. It was an understatement to say that Sombra was shocked at his new appearance.

"What have you done..." He muttered more to himself than the pixie.

"Saved your life fool. Took quite a bit of magic, but I was able to transform you as soon as she showed up to save you. If I hadn't she would have simply destroyed you." Chaos explained patiently.

"But why?" The transformed king turned from the mirror to regard the strange creature.

"As I said, I need protection. Let me follow you. I'll keep your disguise up until your power has returned and, in exchange, you stay with Twilight as much as possible. For both our sakes." He stated in a steady voice, only taking on a slight tremor towards the end.

Sombra turned his attention back to the floating mirror. "And I'm just supposed to trust you after what you did earlier? How do I know this isn't another joke of yours?"

"You'll just have to trust me." He said pleadingly. "If I knew the changelings were after you, I would have stayed far, far away. They hate me almost as much as they hate you."

Silence echoed between the pony and the pixie for several long moments before Sombra gave a small nod. Chaos released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and they both turned to look at the frozen alicorn.

"What do we do about her?" Sombra asked as he remembered the now frozen princess.

"Don't worry. She won't have noticed a thing." The pixie chuckled and snapped his fingers. He vanished in a small flash and Sombra felt a small weight settle deep in his unruly mane. Before he could comment on being used as a taxi, he heard a small sneeze and looked over at a now thawed Twilight.

She blinked in confusion for a moment but quickly shook off the feeling of lethargy that seemed to have settled over her. "So what did you say your name was again?" She asked one last time as she started trotting towards the town on the horizon.

"Darkhorn." He said more confidently as he trotted after her with a cruel smile gracing his features.