Psycho Pony Killer

Chapters

Chapter One: Body Count's Up, Twilight's Down
Chapter Two: Lock and Key
Chapter Three: The Pinkie Haters
Chapter Four: Never Back Down
Chapter Five: Sombra and Luna's Love
Chapter Six: Birth of the Shadow

Chapter One: Body Count's Up, Twilight's Down

Ponyville was in a state of utter chaos, and Discord wasn't even behind it! Bodies have been turning up, which wouldn't be so bad except that they turn up...dead. That's right; the peaceful realm of Equestria had a serial killer on the loose. Nopony knew what to do. Nopony has had any actual experience with somepony who took another's life. Sure, villains have come and gone who have wreaked havoc in their wake but not a one actually killed somepony and all of them weren't particularly hard to find. This psycho pony killer has avoided all of Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle's plans to make him or her slip up. Everypony was scared and totally freaking out, and with good reason.

Twilight puts the newspaper down, sighing. More news = more deaths. All that ever finds its way into the paper nowadays is morbid details of the latest brutal slaughter from whoever this sick pony is. Her teeth clenched, she vows, yet again, to catch this scumbag. With her new title of princess she has also earned the duty of protecting Equestria's populace, but it wasn't just about failing, failing is something she's become okay with...more or less. This was just too personal, too painful. These are her friends out there; those were her friends she just read about in such gruesome detail.

"Um, Twilight?" Spike appears at her side, looking up at her worriedly. Without realizing it she had started charging up her horn, ready to attack...with nothing to attack. Quickly, she throws her head to one side and the magic shoots out blasting a hole into one of her walls.

With a bit of small nervous laughter she apologizes to her friend for being so wound up. Twilight has hardly ever experienced anger; she was not used to it and not sure what was happening to her. A princess isn't supposed to host feelings like anger and hatred, yet they both burned fiercely in her heart for the mysterious killer. She had more than once paid a visit to Discord and Princess Luna, asking them what it was like to be evil and trying to reassure herself that she wasn't slipping into some dark side or something. They both had told her that it was natural to feel angry about somepony killing her friends, that the hatred was a sign she would never forgive them and said that she really shouldn't anyways. Essentially it came down to them saying her light is bright and she won't be swayed to the side of evil. That what had happened to them could never possibly happen to her, but still...Twilight herself had her doubts, as she slowly became less social and grew more and more angry.

She didn't like being around her remaining friends because anypony could wind up being this psychopath and it just hurt too much to see them and think...is this the last time? Tears well up in the corners of her eyes and Spike rushes away to fetch something to wipe them away with, the thoughtful little dragon buddy she'd always had with her. She smiles despite her depression and rage. Spike has always been by her side since he hatched from his egg; he was probably the purest one in all of Ponyville. If she is going to make a difference at all, she will at least protect him.

Spike reappears with a piece of cloth held out to her. She takes it, wiping her eyes then casts it aside and picks Spike up, hugging him tightly to her, new tears forming. The hug lasts a minute or two, neither of them speaking, just holding on tightly to the other. She sets him back down on the floor a little awkwardly, dabbing at her eyes with the cloth a second time.

"What was that for?" He asks; his concern showing. He has always been there for her, the deaths didn't stop him from being with her, and he watched as she went from a happy and innocent princess with tons of friends to the desperate pony with a burning hatred and need to catch this murderer. If anypony knew what she was going through, it was him.

Thank Celestia her six best friends' lives haven't been claimed yet, or that of her brother and his wife, but just because it wasn't her best friends dying didn't make it any less painful. These ponies were still her friends and they were being savagely mutilated and tortured; it simply broke her heart to know something like that was even possible, let alone to have to hear about it everyday. She turns slowly towards the window, gazing out. It was as if she could just see all of her friends there, dead, in a big pile on her lawn. "I just don't want to lose you..."

Spike climbs up next to her and puts a claw on her shoulder reassuringly. She turns and looks at him with a sad look on her face, looking into the sunny smile he displays. "Trust me Twilight, I'm not going anywhere."

She thinks about it. How can he be so sure? How can he possibly know? But she knows the truth of the matter is he doesn't know, but just like her he's gonna fight like hell to make it happen. Theirs is a bond that won't be severed quite so easily.

Chapter Two: Lock and Key

Mr. Cake raced down the narrow alleyway trying desperately to get away from the hooded blade wielding maniac pursuing him. He didn't have the faintest clue who was attacking him and he didn't have the foggiest idea as to where in Equestria he was heading. All he knew was he had to get away from the masked assailant and make sure his family was safe. His family is his top priority as he pours on the speed, moving as fast as his long legs allow. He covers considerable distance. Taking a chance and casting a look over his shoulder he no longer sees the robed pony who had been stalking him. He must be in the cle-

Fwomp! Mr. Cake goes crashing to the ground in a heap as something comes out of the sky making contact with his side. He manages to get back on his feet but is dizzy from smacking his head off the alley wall. He shakes his head fiercely in an attempt to clear it, and before he can see straight he is off again. His vision slowly returning as he nears the end of the alleyway, he grits his teeth hard as he feels all the energy draining from his body. Is he going to make it? He's so close, but is it close enough? And more importantly: where is his family and are they safe?

His head protrudes from the alleyway as he runs through the exit point...only the rest of him isn't coming. No, it can't be! He looks back fast, and holding onto his tail with a death grip is... The hood falls back but before he can get a good look the blade is brought up, clawing its way through his face. He screams out as it cuts deep into one of his corneas. By some miracle he falls just right so that he is just out of the killer's reach and he takes off again, the blood streaming down his face.

A blazing fire at the end of one street, he takes off down another. Wait, a fire?! His hopes go out to his family as they live not far from where the flames burned brightly. Then he stops. Killer right behind him and no way to go but forward, but he can't help it. He looks down heartbroken. His wife lays there in a puddle of her own blood, the babies beside the cold body crying. He bends over his wife, "I'm sorry," he says with much trouble, picking up the twins and taking off yet again. "I'm sorry."

This time he doesn't get as far. This time he runs into somepony. The killer turns around and smiles, "Are you ready?"

He freezes momentarily, not believing he'd just run into somepony he'd been fleeing away from. "No!" He yells, moving his arms as far away from the monster as he could. He could not let his children get injured. In the end, however, his move mattered very little. A knife is buried into the side of his neck, stuck right in there up to the handle. The blood gushed forth like a crimson fountain. The babies scream as they are dropped from the dying colt's hooves. His last sight is that of the killer picking up his children. His last moments in this world are his ultimate nightmare. Mrs. Cake found dead and his two babies now in the hooves of the one who's been dousing everypony's lives.

A hoof grips the handle of the knife and pulls it out of the dead colt. More blood pumping from the fatal wound. The killer looks at their other arm in which they cradle two small foals. A wicked grin splits their face.

The killer dumps the two kids on the floor of their den. They leave the room in search of something they feel will fit this situation quite nicely. Rummaging through random, odd items in a back room the pony at last finds it. A chest, sitting next to an empty canister of gasoline are in the farthest left corner of the room. The smile never leaving their face, they hoist the chest up and bring it into the room with the foals. After placing the children inside the killer puts on a heavy padlock.

Just two more steps now. The killer, with some difficulty, manages to get the chest up once more and heads back into the dangerous streets of Ponyville. They stop at Sugarcube Corner where Mr. and Mrs. Cake owned their bakery and lived. With ease they get inside with the stolen key they had helped themselves to off of Mr. Cake's corpse. They go straight to the back where the baking is done, and then take a right to the door nopony hardly ever uses. How do they know? Because of the layer of dust and cobwebs they saw when they were here just the other day. Really, you would think Mrs. Cake would at least clean the outside of the door.

The killer reaches out and opens the door, then heads down into the darkness of the basement. Leaving a parting gift, they arrive back at the top of the stairs in mere minutes. They move a lot faster with that heavy chest gone. Shutting the door behind them they head back out of the house the way they had come in. It was all too easy. The only questions the killer had was why hadn't they done it sooner and why were the other ponies so cruel and deserving of the justice she dished out?

Trotting at a comfortable pace the killer makes her way towards a special mare's home. Dear old, Twilight Sparkle. The killer didn't believe she deserved to be a princess any more than Celestia does. It is all a bunch of horseapples. Celestia sends her sister away to be the only ruler and everypony should know it! Cadance was just related to the first brat, there is nothing special about her, and Twilight Sparkle was no better. She was only chosen to be Celestia's student due to some freak accident and she didn't even want any friends till Celestia made her. Who wants to be ruled by somepony who sends their own family away just because they're power hungry? Or somepony who never does anything but worry about how she looks and rule over a place full of ponies who always act like they're in a daze? Then that Twilight, selected just because she can do a magic trick or two; just because she's good at something! How does that make you a great ruler, how does that seem like a good lesson for the foals who aren't so good? Who might be a bit different?

She reaches her destination and tears the chain away from her neck. Attached to it is a key. She tosses it at the wooden door and leaves. Satisfied with her work she can now go home and rest. A night well done.

Chapter Three: The Pinkie Haters

It was tragic what had happened to the Cake family. Nopony has been able to find the two foals but it's obvious the majority of everypony presumes them to be dead. If there was one thing they had learned about this killer it is that he or she does not hold mercy. We have seen our friends cut open, gutted like fish as well as many other horrid atrocities. The worst graphically speaking would have to be Red Rush who was forced to eat his own eyes before being split open and hung by his large intestine. I remember the pony who wrote that particular article got hell for titling it, 'Killer Gets Sick Red Rush'. Dark humor is not what Ponyville needs in a time only filled with death and suspicions and fear.

And now Twilight had all new problems to deal with on top of her already overwhelming troubles. Somepony had left a key near her doorstep the other night, and she had decided it was surely the killer taunting her in her failure at capturing them and bringing them to justice. The other problem being her good friend, Pinkie Pie, who is now completely overwhelmed as she goes from assistant baker to trying to save the proud business of her dead friends from ruin. It was not an easy job and Twilight could see it was having its toll on her friend. She has gone half a week with barely a wink of sleep and is visibly losing weight. She wasn't herself before due to not being able to throw any parties because nopony wants to celebrate when their friends are dying, but now, it's like she is slowly becoming just a shell of the old Pinkie Pie. When Twilight looked at her it took a minute of staring before she could see a faint glimmer of the old Pinkie she loved.

Twilight and the gang agreed it was about time they tried to cheer up their friend in need. She was hurting and becoming somepony unrecognizable as the old Pinkie Pie, or any pony with the spark of life for that matter. She was just a baking mass of depression and gray, and so it was time. Time to... Party!

The girls come into Pinkie's house and are greeted by...anger, confusion, and hurt. They had only gotten a sentence or two out, but the words: 'party', 'cheer up', and 'worried' really drove home, just not in the way they had hoped. "A party?! You want to throw me a party, when all of our friends are dying? When nopony is safe and nopony can have fun!" Pinkie turns her back on her friends, still in the entryway, baffled by how much their dear friend has changed. Of course she was right, but they were worried about her. They feared she was much too close to being too far gone and none of them knew how to handle that anymore than they knew how to catch the killer. Then came the finisher; the nail in each of their hearts. "You disgust me."

Applejack was the first to get over being stunned by her friend's behavior, as the anger invaded her now. "Now you don't have any right to talk to us like that Pinkie Pie! We are your friends and we're only trying to help you."

Pinkie Pie spins around, glaring angrily at the five worried mares. "If you wanted to help you wouldn't be interrupting me. Do you know how many things I've got to bake just this week to keep the Cake's store open?" Her head bowing towards the floor she adds quietly, "I thought you girls were my friends...and you don't even care."

"Hey now, we do care." Applejack starts moving toward Pinkie Pie, trying to reassure her friend. "That's why we came over, don't you see? We're all worried about you sugar. You've been acting strange and you've stopped eating and sleeping. We just want the old you back."

Applejack stops suddenly in front of Pinkie Pie, whose eyes are now narrowed at her friend. "Want the old me back? And just what is wrong with me the way I am? Why do you all feel the need to change me? You aren't my friends, you're just a bunch of...a bunch of Pinkie Haters!!" Once again she turns her back to the group but this time she takes off in a run, and out the window she goes, fleeing her friends and hiding in the darkness of the night.

"Well that didn't go quite as I'd planned..." Twilight murmurs, bowing her head temporarily defeated. "Alright, let's go girls. We'll just have to try a different approach next time. We are not giving up on her."

Rainbow Dash scratches behind her ear with a hoof, "Huh, you'd think she would've just asked us to leave." Everypony turns to face her, wondering if she figured something out. Rainbow Dash just shrugs, "I mean, this is her place; she's got a right, ya know?" Four ponies simultaneously facehoof before leaving, downhearted and crushed, missing something essential in them. Missing the friendship, that bond they were so proud of and tried to protect so hard was shaking, breaking slowly and most painfully.

Twilight gazes up at the large, bright moon. "Oh, Pinkie..." She stays there a moment, gazing up at the full white orb in the dark starless sky before rejoining her still walking friends. Will they ever be the same again? She wonders, holding tight onto the remains of her bond with Pinkie. Is it too late already?

Chapter Four: Never Back Down

Twilight awoke groggily, her vision a blur at first but then- No, she must still be asleep. Horseapples! Her eyelids fling open as she stares at the metal chains binding her in place, "Oh, feather."

A weak groaning comes from across the room and then a familiar voice, "They've captured you too, Twilight! This is all wrong. I fear...we might actually be doomed this time."

Twilight's eyes grow as large as saucers. No. It can't be, not her! "Princess?" She asks the surrounding dimness of their room. A dark form on the floor moves awkwardly into a fracture of light, exposing its owner. A badly burned Celestia lays there, two legs broken with the bone protruding. Twilight squeezes her eyes shut tight against the horrible sight of her teacher in such pain. "What- What did they do to you?"

A weak smile appears on the crippled princess' face, "Do you really want to know?" It is a rhetorical question. They both wish they didn't know, but only Twilight was spared the gruesome details of the torture her mentor had been forced to endure.

A moment of silence ensued. Twilight didn't like doing it but she had to avoid looking at Celestia like this. She kept her eyes on anything but her. Finally she broke the silence as a thought dawned on her. "You don't-"

"Know who it is?" Celestia cuts her off. "I was wondering when you'd ask actually." More silence. Whoever the killer is they must have some history with Celestia as she was finding it very hard to find the words to go on. "It's..." The princess' shoulders started shaking violently as the mighty, noble Celestia lay there broken, weeping for whoever it was. Bawling for she knew they had lost their very soul.

"Celestia, you really must stop taking this so personally." The two mares' heads snap to the left, squinting to try and make out the form in the darkness. "I did." And then there she was, moving into the light over her battered elder sister stood tall...Princess Luna.

"Luna! What have you done?!" Twilight screams, suddenly delirious with the rage she now has somepony to direct it at.

Luna points a hoof down at her sister, "What this?" She smiles, bringing her leg back down and kicking Celestia off to the side. "Fear not Twilight Sparkle, I am sure it hurt no more than crash landing on the moon!" She glares down at Celestia, her eyes furious.

"It was a mistake...Luna. Please, forgive me..." Celestia begs forgiveness to the sister she had banished, but it doesn't work like that. Luna stomps her hoof down on one of Celestia's broken limbs, twisting it to an odd angle and making the ravaged mare scream out.

"I'm sorry, forgive you? Now why would I do that?" She walks slowly back into the shadows as she talks, "No sister, that wasn't personal and neither is this. They're the same, I assure you. A princess getting her competition out of the way, because that's what we are to each other isn't it? Tell your precious little student there! You didn't banish me to the moon to protect Equestria but to ensure your own rule over the kingdom as the sole leader."

"Celestia?" Twilight asks, her voice trembling as she is unsure whether she ought to find a way to kill Luna, though bound as she is, or try to learn this new possible truth that goes against everything everypony has been taught.

A brief moment passes before Celestia talks. She tells her bound student about a princess riddled with jealousy and a thirst for power, but in this version the roles are reversed and Celestia is the sister who wanted more, who wanted it all. When Luna reappeared it was in the form of Nightmare Moon, not because she had turned evil before her exile but because she had been in battle with her sister who had indeed turned to a darker side. She admitted to how when Twilight and her friends used the elements of harmony on her it altered her memories into what Celestia had wanted. Unforeseen however was the gradual return of the true memories that lay dormant in her sister's head all this time.

"That's right." Luna says as Celestia finishes her revised history lesson for her. "Thank you Celestia, for telling the truth. It may be the only decent thing you've ever done for me." Stepping back into the light Celestia and Twilight bear witness to Luna magically levitating a black scythe patterned with stars.

"Luna wait! I want a sister now, don't you see?" Luna cocks her head to one side as she listens to Celestia. "Don't you find it odd that when you came back I didn't just send you away again? I didn't kill you sister! I wanted to start over; I still want to start over. Let me be your sister. Please! I can do it right this time."

Luna puts a hoof over her mouth, but the laugh grows and she can't contain it. "Why you didn't send me away again? Because you had your little elemental warriors fight me, when I was the only one who knew you for the tyrant you are. You weren't even around that day come to think of it, afraid I was going to best you that time around sister?" She tilts the scythe, angling the blade downwards and lets go. "And you didn't kill me because you aren't me, Celestia! You haven't got the guts."

The scythe swings full force, splicing Celestia down the middle. Cutting her from the throat to down underneath her stomach where the guts spill forth, coming up and out of the oozing mess that was once the beloved ruler of Equestria. "No!" Twilight screams as her teacher is slain before her. Her life extinguished, leaving nothing for her to do, no way for Celestia to come back.

Luna turns towards Twilight, "She sent me to the moon, so I sent her to her grave. It seems a fair trade does it not?" The trembling, bound form of Twilight says nothing, thinks nothing. She is in shock and the fear is only growing, building up and mounting. Urine trickles down the mare's legs involuntarily as the shaking terror stops and she remains perfectly still, rigid as a board she is frozen in fear. "Oh, calm down. Don't you think you are overreacting just a bit?" Luna asks as the world dims before Twilight's eyes as she begins to fade, passing out. Bound and exposed, completely vulnerable. She is open season for Luna, the killer.

Chapter Five: Sombra and Luna's Love

I remember it all as though it were only yesterday... The injustice wrought upon that colt; the great king who was stripped of everything and imprisoned for an eternity by my sister. The missing truths in these revised history lessons, the heartache I still feel for him.

Celestia and I had only been ruling side by side for a little while by this point, but we had already attained a couple of fairly large towns inhabited by trusting, loyal ponies. It was a bright sunny day when that pony came to us in need; it had always seemed odd to me, the urgency in which they spoke, the danger and chaos happening in someplace called The Crystal Empire. Celestia and I hadn't had to deal with very many problems to be honest, just small matters like knowing where to set up a village and raising/lowering the sun and moon for our little ponies. There had only been the one incident where we made a huge difference and that was when we came across the first town around here, discovering Him. Discord was ruler here at the time but a few, grueling epic fights and we had managed to imprison him in stone and took over as the new kind and caring rulers.

But I digress as I seem to be getting sidetracked. This isn't the tale of how we defeated Discord and became Equestria's princesses, but rather a sad and true memory of what I found when I went out to The Crystal Empire to scout it out. This was unknown territory, a neighboring kingdom ruled by a colt named Sombra and we had never set hoof in his domain. I was in charge of memorizing every twist and turn of the large crystal kingdom and gathering any information I could without blowing my cover. As it turned out however, I did not care. When I found King Sombra I did not stay in the shadows as I should, but rather, I got right in his face and shook him by the shoulders.

I had gathered enough information to be certain he was not who my sister and I were after, rather he was the father of the true evil here. However, I shook him just the same because you never know what is and isn't true, and perhaps he still played a darker part in all of this as Celestia had thought?

"Are you done?" He asked me, an eyebrow raised in surprise and amusement. I cast him a quizzical look and asked what his part was in all this, blowing my cover further (or completely) by explaining why I was there and what my sister and I hoped to accomplish. "Ah," he said after some time, playing with his words. "So you are here for me then. Just not...me."

This just led to even more confusion, which was frustrating because princesses aren't known for being patient mares. I bore with him though as he told me of his twin of sorts. Of his sentient shadow who now walked amongst the living, taking his life out from under him and leaving all of the atrocities for him to take the blame. He told me of a night of horror; one he could never forget.

Our meeting was short lived however as one of his still loyal subjects had need of him elsewhere. That wasn't the last time I saw him though, and perhaps I should have been looking into this shadow thing of which he spoke, but I was young and ignored my immediate duties because something stronger was calling me. My heart, and not only mine, but his as well. As the days passed we hardly parted as well fell for one another into a forbidden love. The supposedly evil king I was tasked with dethroning turned into the caring colt I could barely stand to be away from, but I knew there was a limit on our time as my days with him turned to weeks at much too fast a rate...

It had crossed my mind only once in the very beginning hat he might be lying to me, that is was all false and he truly was an evil king, but I had placed my faith in him, trusting him fully. Also, there were two occasions during my stay in The Crystal Empire I had come face to face with the shadow, that dark and devious colt born from the embers that had once been Sombra's anger and hatred. He still had the dark flames inside but after the shadow had been birthed he had found it easier to control. It really wasn't the guy's fault though, he had never been angry a day in his life...until he came across something in his research at the library.

Both times I had had to battle the fiend they were close calls. The shadow was no pushover by any means and his power was growing with each passing day as he fed off of the crystal ponies' fears and rage. He was just too powerful to defeat alone and the shadow knew better than to show his face around the real Sombra. They have fought before and they were evenly matched, and while the shadow is surely the stronger of the two now that he has everypony's fears and hate fueling him, he is also clever and knew quite well when something was risky. The shadow hated taking risks, because taking risks meant he might fail and that would put a stop to all his fun.

The time had finally come to depart though. A part of me inwardly seethed as I got a letter from Celestia telling me to return. How could I go back now? I couldn't stand leaving Sombra and I hated leaving him to defend his kingdom all by himself. It was a battle he could not win, not on his own. Begrudgingly, I said my farewells and left at dawn, making my way back to the castle where Celestia waited for my arrival.

Chapter Six: Birth of the Shadow

Sombra was in the library yet again, doing research like always. He always said that knowledge is power and that the past repeats itself, so why wouldn't he want to learn all that he can? He was a good ruler, beloved by his subjects, the crystal ponies, and never once tried to bother the neighboring kingdom where two new princesses reigned. He was revered as one of the strongest unicorns, which didn't really matter all that much to him since he has never even been in a fight. However, as the sole protector of The Crystal Empire it was important that he be prepared for anything, so he did extensive research at the library every night while most ponies slept and during the daylight hours he would split his time between royal duties and physical training so he could stay in top shape in case brawns was what his empire ever needed.

Yes, things were good in The Crystal Empire. More than good even, things were perfect. His ponies always wore a smile and he couldn't be more proud of a place than the one he called home. That is, until tonight... During one of his study sessions in the late hours of the night, he came upon something in an old tome that made him stop. He just sat there, staring at the words on the page. His eyes were wide with shock, but narrowed in anger. He had no idea what some ponies were capable of apparently.

At the top of the page was a picture, this is what had originally caught his eye. It was of his father, the king who ruled The Crystal Empire before him, but the image and the text were all wrong. Or, at least they should be because they go against everything he had ever been taught, ever believed in. The words on the page were not altered by any magic though, he would be able to detect the faint remaining traces of it were that the case. No, these bold black words told something he had never seen before: the truth. The truth of how The Crystal Empire was founded, the truth of its first king, the truth of how all the heirs to come after were to trot down the same dark path...

His father, King Elias, wasn't a king at all, but a dictator. He had marched the crystal ponies on a long and hard journey from where they lived before, a place called Equine Paradise to what would be The Crystal Empire. Many a pony had died on the long and arduous walk. There were few rests and barely any food to go around, but finally the survivors had made the long trek and arrived at a new land where they could start over, create a new kingdom. The Crystal Empire was easy to name, just leave out the originality, and that just left who would rule, but as he read before this wasn't a group of ponies with democracy but a hardened, cold dictator at the reigns of the herd.

The following years were pure hell, still. If the king didn't like something that was done he would throw the pony he thought was responsible into his dungeon where they were left to rot away. His prisoners were not fed or given any water; they were locked up and left to fend for themselves. If they survived long enough to see their cage longer than four months it wasn't out of any mercy on the king's behalf, it was out of pure determination, stubbornness, and cannibalism.

Dark magic was fizzing like crazy off the tip of Sombra's horn as he read on, through all of the horrible atrocities his father had wrought upon the ponies he was supposed to care for. There is something strange with his family tree, he reads, discovering the abnormal life span its members have. Elias had ruled over the crystal ponies for a little over two and a half thousand years. At the end of the segment it says that Elias' wife is currently pregnant and the future of the crystal ponies are doomed, as anypony born of this lineage will be evil incarnate and only wreak pain and agony upon his or her ponies.

Sombra's head jerks up as things begin exploding around the room; it takes him a moment before he realizes it's him. He has too much anger and hurt in his heart and it's all coming forth through his horn casting pitch black blasts of dangerous magic all over the book laden library. In trying to calm himself down he just gets all the more upset, angry with his father and the lies he'd told him, angry with the home he was so proud of up till now, and angry with himself for being alive.

He strains as something comes over him, something totally foreign and unknown. The hatred washes over him, taking a firm hold in his mind. Fresh fears form as he struggles helplessly against himself, his eyes changing color and burning with a dark aura. Will he be like his father now? Is that what this is? He wants to finish himself and save his ponies, do one last good thing in this cruel, ironic world...but the light fades and he slips into unconsciousness.

He wakes, jumping to his feet ready to flee, but with what he wants to escape from trapped forever more inside his head. The candle drops off the side of the table, and he sees him as the light falls. It's his face but with the changed eyes, the anger and the hatred and the fear that burn inside him like a wildfire, that's who the newcomer is. All of these things embodied, he doesn't know what he's done but his inner demon is out. The candle reaches the wooden floor and flames rise up, spreading quickly over the scattered books he'd previously been reading. Neither move while the library goes up in bright hot flames around them.

The dark one charges, rushing at the king with sharp teeth set in a grim snarl. Sombra makes his weapon of choice appear, The Crystal Sword, and gets ready for the fight of his life. Can he defeat his darkness and continue protecting his home and all of the ponies counting on him? What remains of his ponanity, is it still intact?