Chapters There's nothing quite like being surrounded by dying trees to make you feel so alive. At least that's the case if you're the one killing them.
Sombra growled in satisfaction as his magic sucked the life from the surrounding forest. Although it wasn't much, the life from the trees was enough to keep him from fading into nothingness. For now.
Before the Crystal Heart had shattered King Sombra's body and fragmented his soul, Sombra was just able to channel his essence into his horn. Although much of his power and most of his soul had remained in his body he still was able to form himself a new body from the shadows but the magic he used left his body tired and ravenous.Only through stealing life could he calm the rumblings of his new vessel for a time.
Just a temporary condition, he reminded himself. My power will return to me. Eventually the corrupted pieces of his soul would escape the shattered remains of his old body and seek him out but until then he was very weak with nothing but his knowledge and a few simple but dark spells to aid him.
Unfortunately, it couldn't return fast enough before news of his weakened condition had spread. Some foolish wanderer had seen Sombra and recognized him from the recent rumors of the Crystal Empire's return. The pathetic magician, fearing for her life, attacked the fallen king and quickly overpowered him. Although he managed to escape, the stories of the weakened pariah soon circulated through the land and soon reached the ears of almost every being in Equestria.
Sombra had soon found himself hunted by not only the Equestrian royal guard, but also by wannabee bounty hunters, novice wizards wishing to prove their mettle, and monsters that the world had long since forgotten but that had not forgot Sombra.
To Sombra's great annoyance, the first to have come seeking him for vengeance had been of a race of creatures that had once tricked travelers and caused mischief to those lost in forests until Sombra had had them systematically destroyed for interrupting his crystal mines with their pranks.
The small glowing creature, known as a pixie, had shown itself only to laugh at the "foolish jester that dared call itself a king" before changing his form to resemble said jester. When Sombra tried to shoot it out with a weak spell blast, the pixie sent up a purple light that soon expanded to show a sign that said simply HERE IS SOMBRA! COME GET HIM! in the sky. He soon found himself running from a group of guards that happened to be passing by on a nearby road.
That's how Sombra had ended up in this forest, with the colorful jester outfit torn to pieces behind him, sucking the life from the trees. Most upsetting about the situation was the loss of Sombra's regal clothing leaving him with nothing but the coarse gray hair on his back.
After his body had drank it's fill of the forest's life energy, Sombra resumed his journey to...actually Sombra didn't have a destination in mind. He knew that as long as the new Crystal Princess had the Crystal Heart, he would be unable to reclaim his kingdom but he also knew that he would have no hope in taking over another even if he was at full power. So he chose just to wander until the pieces of his soul returned to him and work from there.
Sombra soon had the feeling that he was being followed. Although he kept at a normal pace and kept his head facing forward, he was silently using his magic to scan the area for any signs of life. He soon found it in abundance overflowing from two creatures creeping along the shadows.
Sombra's black heart skipped a beat as he recognized the energy flowing from the creatures. He had felt it many a time while marveling at the Crystal Heart. Something so pure and powerful yet so insignificant and intangible. The love that seeped from the creatures was enough to make Sombra drool.
He stopped and turned around slowly to see the forms of two changelings following him close behind. The changelings stopped moving and fixed Sombra with their cold blue eyes.
"What is it you want from me stealers of love?" Sombra inquired while starting to focus some of his magic into his horn. "I have done nothing to you."
One of the changelings opened it's mouth. "You dare forget your actions against our people Sombra?" What was most unnerving about it's speech is it didn't move it's tongue nor did it's lips move to form words. The words simply came rolling out.
Sombra knew it was someone else speaking despite all logic of the situation. "Who are you?" He asked simply.
An ear shattering screech echoed from it's mouth. "YOU FORGET YOUR ACTIONS AND THEN YOU FORGET THE QUEEN OF THE CHANGELINGS? YOU WILL SUFFER SOMBRA!" With that the changeling closed it's maw and both lunged towards Sombra.
Sombra growled and quickly fired a small but powerful shot into the chest of the closest one and it dropped to the ground without a sound.
Despite using very little magical energy for that spell, it still made Sombra's head spin. It certainly didn't help when the remaining changeling crashed into his chest and send him rolling.
Sombra soon found himself on his back staring into a glowing green horn. Again the horrible voice echoed from the changelings unmoving mouth. "Die foolish king."
Sombra refused to close his eyes as the energy flew from the changelings horn. Time seemed to slow as it hurtled towards his face and still he did not blink. Mere inches from his face and he could feel the heat from blast on my face. Only when the blast stopped right in front of his nose did he blink.
The ball of energy floated there for a moment in front of his eyes before it vanished in a flash of purple. The confusion on the changeling's face echoed his own as they both puzzled the disappearance of the shot. The answer quickly came in the form of a blast of purple energy crashing into the side of the changeling sending it flailing in the air.
Unlike Sombra's shot which had been controlled and small, this blast was large, unstable and released a lot of it's initial energy on impact. Obviously the work of a novice, Sombra thought as he quickly got to his feet and looked over to see his rescuer.
He quickly felt the urge to charge at the pony standing nearby. The violet coat, the streaked purple mane, the pink star cutie mark. Although he had never seen this pony in the flesh, he had felt her through his dark door. This was the pony that had ruined everything. This was Twilight Sparkle.
Seconds crawled by in what seemed like hours to the king before the alicorn turned her attention to the unicorn that she had saved. She calmly walked up to him and smiled before asking. "Are you okay?"
Sombra's pupils dilated in pure anger and in a fit of insanity he tackled Twilight. The look of surprise on her face only increased as she ended up under the pony and she took in the expression of seething rage on his face. "EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY YOU FOOL!" After that words seemed to fail him as his anger completely took over and he tried to bring his hoof back to swing it at her, he felt himself coated in a warm feeling before he was lifted into the air.
"Calm down!" The alicorn quickly scrambled to her hooves. "I know you're freaked out but everything is okay now. You're safe." She smiled again and Sombra felt his anger quickly become replaced with confusion.
Calm down? This is the pony who ruined everything and she expects me to calm down? Sombra seethed. Why would she try to comfort me anyways? Doesn't she recognize me?
Regardless of what Sombra thought, he did calm down enough that Twilight placed him back on the ground. "So. What are you doing out here in the Everfree Forest? This place is really dangerous to be wandering around in as you can tell." She said gesturing towards the two unconscious changelings.
"I could ask you the same thing Twilight Sparkle." He spat out the last two words like poison. If Twilight thought this weird, she didn't say.
"How do you know-never mind. Forgot that the whole kingdom knows me now. One of the weird things about being a princess I suppose." She mused. "I heard there was increased changeling activity in here recently and I wanted to see for myself. Good thing I happened along when I did." She chuckled lightly. "Well you better follow me back to Ponyville. It's dangerous out here."
Although Sombra would like nothing more than to try his hoof at attacking the princess again, he knew that without his magic it was a losing battle and she was right about the forest being dangerous. If there were more changelings about, he should leave. Although he couldn't remember quite why the changelings wanted to hurt him nor why Twilight didn't recognize him after causing his very downfall.
Despite the questions whirling around in his head, Sombra decided to accept the princess as his bodyguard/meatshield/escort and see what this Ponyville was.
And how best to destroy it.
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The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend (original right?)
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.
"Princess! Where have you been?!" Several disgruntled guards yelled as they galloped up to the strange duo trotting into town. Stopping a few feet from their princess, the guards dropped their heads in a small bow while trying to catch their breaths. "Princess Celestia ordered us to protect you. You can't just disappear on us like that!"
The sheepish princess rubbed the back of her head guiltily thinking back to the morning. She most certainly had disappeared on them with the help of a quick little teleportation spell. It was obvious that the guards had been running all over town trying to find her. "Sorry. I wanted to see if the rumors about the changelings in the Everfree Forest were true." She admitted.
"All the more reason for us to accompany you princess." Said the largest of the group straitening up from his bow. Despite being a unicorn he was quite large and his bright red coat made him almost painful to look at, quite like trying to stare at the sun. She remembered him as being the leader of the guard but she couldn't quite bring his name to mind. "Those changelings can't be controlled or trusted. Crafty shape shifters..." He grumbled the last sentence with disgust dripping off his words.
"What wonderful guards you are losing your charge like that." Sombra scoffed. "It's heartening to see that Celestia sends only the best to protect her new little princess."
Taking notice of him for the first time, the captain narrowed his eyes at him. "That is Princess Celestia to you peasant." Sombra bristled at the insult and narrowed his eyes in return. "Who might you be anyways? Such garbage shouldn't be standing next to the princess." Several of the guards laughed when they took notice of the twigs and leaves caught in his mane and the mud on his hooves.
Sombra opened his mouth to retort but was surprised when Twilight's voice rang out angrily. "You will not speak to my friend like that. He was being attacked by changelings and I saved him. He is my friend and he will be staying with me in my home for the time being. So this 'garbage', as you so lovingly called him, is now your charge as well. Is that clear captain?"
The guard's eyes went wide with shock and he quickly stood at attention. "Yes princess." The guard answered quickly before flashing a murderous glance at Sombra who promptly smiled innocently back.
Giving a quick nod, Twilight turned to look at Sombra. "And Darkhorn, please don't speak to my guards in such a way. It's not their fault that they couldn't keep track of me." She scuffed at the ground with one of her hooves. "I did kinda sneak away from them."
Sombra blinked in surprise. A princess with a rebellious streak, eh? Well that could work nicely for me in the future. He thought with a dozen dark plans forming in his mind. Most involved sneaking away with the princess to go on some little errand or adventure without her guards and the princess promptly never being heard from again.
A small smile worked it's way onto his face and, with a voice that was genuinely happy, he replied. "Of course princess."
Twilight smiled sweetly and turned her attention back to her guards while Sombra idly toyed with the different ways to remove such a powerful obstacle in his path. He thought of mysterious fires, poisons, wild animals, torture machines...Oh the list was endless and Sombra felt almost giddy with the new prospects in his head.
His favorite had to be destroying Twilight with his own hooves and, unbidden, a memory from earlier in the day floated to the forefront of his mind. Sombra was standing over Twilight with her on her back looking up in surprise. This was where Sombra had tried to drive his hoof through the princess's squishy face. He wished he had succeeded and forced his imagination to go through with the idea.
Imaginary Sombra lifted his hoof back and felt a jolt of joy as he would soon end her miserable existence. But, instead of sending it careening into the helpless alicorn's face, it instead lowered slowly and gently touched her cheek. Her look of surprise soon changed to one of shyness with a light blush rising in her cheeks through her violet fur and her face appeared to be growing in size. That was when Sombra realized she wasn't getting bigger, but was getting closer. Imaginary Sombra lowered his face to hers and...
Sombra yelped and promptly dropped to the ground, covering his face with his hooves. Where in the darkest depths of Tartarus did that come from. He felt physically sick and felt like he was going to empty his stomach onto the dirt path he was lying on. Luckily, his stomach had been empty since his revival so that wasn't an issue.
What was an issue, however, was all the attention that Sombra had most certainly received from his little outburst. Slowly he uncovered his eyes and wasn't surprised to see them all staring at him. Slowly he picked himself back onto his hooves and uttered a small "Sorry".
The captain just scoffed and looked away with his guard following suite while Twilight just looked at him with an expression of concern. "Are you feeling alright Darkhorn?"
"Yeah..Just a little tired." He offered lamely.
She nodded and turned to her guards. "We will be returning home now. Remember what we talked about."
The guards promptly nodded and turned from the princess leaving only the captain behind to guard her before galloping off.
Twilight turned her attention back to Sombra. "I'm sure it's been a tough day for you. Let's get some rest." She said with a smile before turning towards the direction of her home. "I guess I won't tell Pinkie Pie about you till tomorrow." She muttered thoughtfully thinking of the parties that Pinkie Pie usually threw for new arrivals.
Sombra was left only to think about how his imagination had run rampant and conjured such a horrendous scenario while he followed behind Twilight and her guard. Disgusting was the only word he could use to describe it.
Besides his mutinous imagination, the only other thing one his mind was: What the hay is a Pinkie Pie?
