Chapters At the apple family ranch things had taken a dark turn. ‘Applebloom listen to me you don’t know what you’re doing’ yells Applejack from the other side of the living room.
‘Oh but I do’ Applebloom states calmly as she walks in from the kitchen, ‘after all it’s what my cutie mark is telling me’. She turns showing Applejack a cutie mark shaped like Sombra’s head. when she turns back her eyes shift to green and orange
‘No’ screams Applejack as Applebloom closes in ‘please don’t make me do this’ then as Applebloom doesn’t heed the warning and takes another step so Applejack caves in her skull with a well-placed kick from all her years of apple bucking. Even as she screams at the pain of having done that to her sister she runs out of the house and right into Big Mac who grabs her
“whoa Nellie what’s wrong there’. Still freaking out Applejack starts stuttering
‘she…she…Applebloom….Sombra’ before she can finish she breaks in to tears and collapses. Darkness closes in as she hears Big Mac laugh.
Stepping away from the small window of purple magic in her library Twilight wipes the sweat off her forehead. ‘That was where it started, I think’ says Twilight.
‘And then she came after me’ whispers Rarity.
‘How long have you known this spell Twilight’ says Fluttershy shyly.
‘Oh’ says Twilight distractedly as she rummages through her books ‘I've had it up since Sombra destroyed the crystal heart, just in case he came to take over Ponyvile’.
‘It sucks what we had to do’ Rainbow Dash sadly states from above the others.
‘I still don’t think it was necessary’ says Pinkie Pie with a smile on her face even as tears from in the corners of her eyes.
‘Pinkie’ says Twilight ‘I know you’re not ok and I’m not going to try to make you happy, you and Rainbow Dash need to get to Princess Celestia and warn her’. ‘But we want to help you defend the town!’ yells Rainbow.
‘What are you gonna do Twilight’ Fluttershy stutters.
‘I’m going to put up a shield like Cadance did only this time I’ll have all the Unicorns in Ponyvile helping me’ states Twilight calmly. ‘Well at the same time both of you will go get Celestia before it’s too late.’ ‘When you get back’
‘You mean if we get’ yells Rainbow again.
‘No I mean when’. Twilight turns to face them all as she loses her cool. ‘You’re both the fastest ponies in Ponyvile and without you we have no chance of getting to her in time’ yells Twilight. Calming down she whispers quietly ‘I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot of responsibility but you our only hope’.
‘Ok Twilight’ says Pinkie
‘if you think it’s our only chance’ says Rainbow Dash.
‘Alright then, Rarity, gather the Unicorns, Fluttershy, Applejack’ A picture flashes through her head of Applejacks green-orange eyes. Twilight flinches. ‘Crap’ she says through clenched teeth. ‘Fluttershy gather any animals around the Everfree forest; try to get the ones who need protection or can fight for us’.
‘Ok Twilight’ says Fluttershy as she flies out the window.
‘Jeez that girl can fly when there are animals in danger’ Rainbow says trying to lighten the mood.
‘Alright then’ says Rarity as she trots out the door.
‘Go Rainbow’ says Twilight ‘go before I change my mind’.
‘Alright Twilight’ says Rainbow as she leaves with Pinkie following her. Twilight goes to the balcony of her library and using her new and improved shielding spell covers all of Ponyvile and most of the dark Everfree forest with a purple shield. Then she sits down to wait.
She reaches the top of the hill and looks back once again only to see…nothing, absolutely nothing; Sombra’s unnatural darkness had overtaken all of Ponyvile and Zecora’s cabin. It had Left just a faint outline of her home. She turned away from the view and started walking down the other side of the hill even as the tears rolled down her face. She thinks of her fallen friends and wonders what would have happened if Rainbow Dash had made it in time. She imagines Celestia swooping in and reinforcing the shield with her magic while curing the infected then as she lies down to sleep her dream takes a darker turn.
Rainbow Dash, even with all the injury’s she had gotten, was almost to Canterlot, she looked like crap; one of her wings was ripped along the side and her beautiful mane was in tatters. Her right ear had almost been severed by an infected pony with fern shears and the edge of her back where her cutie mark was had been mostly peeled off by Pinkie Pie’s teeth when she had first been infected. But the pony of loyalty kept going walking up the long road covered in destruction to the edge of Canterlot.
Twilight twisted and turned in her sleep dreaming of Celestia’s demise and the path that led her to becoming Sombra’s own student, she saw her cutie mark change into a patch of black moving ink and she saw herself raise all of her friends from the dead. She saw herself hugging Shining Armor again and living with her friends in Ponyvile. Then the dream froze and out of the shadows stepped Sombra, his red tipped horn shining in the lamp light and his cruel eyes penetrating her soul. ‘This can all be yours’ he said ‘but only if you join me’.
‘No I’ll never….’
He cuts her off, ‘Princess Celestia has already been lost and Princess Luna had to give in to the darkness within her own heart to survive’. ‘Neither of them can help you now’ and laughing he stepped back into the darkness. She turned to her friends and screamed! They were all skeletal with glowing green eyes
‘what’s the matter Twilight?’ they all said in union. ‘You could join us’, ‘We could be friends forever!’
‘No’ she screamed and ran out the door. Only to find all of Ponyvile there in the darkness, a flash of lighting lit up their skeletal remains and they started chanting ‘join us, join us, join us’. Twilight screams as they close in and wakes up still screaming surrounded by Timber Wolves.
‘Oh crap’ she says‘ crap, crap, crap’. They look at her for an instant and then the largest Wolf walks up and licks her with a willow branch tongue and they all turn and leave. She looks around confused and then shrugs her shoulders and continues on warily. She re-enters the forest and realizes ‘I don’t know which way to go!’ She looks back up the hill, ‘but I can’t go that way, the Timber Wolves are still there and I don’t want to chance fate again’ so she keeps going in a hopefully straight line as she heads toward an area that in a separate future she knows very well, she heads toward the tree of harmony.
Rainbow stares at Canterlot from atop the mountain surveying the area, the streets are empty down below. The castle is surrounded with a black shield and bursts of rainbow colored light shine through the windows at random intervals. ‘What is going on in there’ she whispers to herself. ‘Celestia is holding off Sombra’ says a voice behind her. She turns and falls on her rump. ‘Nightmare Moon’ she manages to squeak out.
‘Yes but I am not just Nightmare Moon, I am also Princess Luna’ and as she says that her body changes to look like Luna instead of her evil alter ego.
‘How….how’ stutters Rainbow Dash.
‘I gave up my Alicorn magic in this form so I now use Nightmare Moons power’ says Luna; ‘I gave the last of this forms power to Celestia so she could hold off the majority of Sombra’s forces’.
'I didn’t know Alicorn’s could do that!’ exclaims Rainbow.
‘They can’t usually but this isn’t a usual time’ says Luna as she walks up next to her, ‘I can get you in’.
‘You can!’ by now Rainbow couldn’t believe her luck.
‘Here drink this’ she is given a potion by Luna, ‘drink it fast’. Rainbow glugs it down as fast as she can and then starts to gag,
‘What is this stuff’ she coughs out.
‘A disguise potion that will allow you through the shield’ Rainbow coughs again and looks down at her body seeing her colors become a shade darker and tunes out the rest of her words.
‘Alright, alright’ she says, ‘how long does it last’.
‘About 20 minutes so hurry!’ Rainbow takes off as Princess Luna fading into shadows and out of the shadows glow green eyes.
Rainbow fly’s at her highest speed without causing a sonic rainboom. She zooms through the shield and straight through the open window right into an iron spear. The spears aim was true and it goes straight through Rainbow Dashes right eye. Rainbow falls to the ground as black appears around the edge of her vision, then a soldier appears above her, ‘I’m sorry Rainbow’ says Celestia from nearby, ‘There’s no way to fix what’s wrong with you’ Then as a tear rolls out of Rainbow’s last eye she forces her hoof down to the pocket in her saddle bag and removes the potion. Celestia quickly grabs her guards hoof and yells ‘stop’. She picks up the bottle and stares at it for a second then whispers into her guard’s ear. Rainbows last sight is the guards closing in on her.
Rarity stares out of the iron bars of her cage, ‘let me out’ she yells, ‘I refuse to be kept in this dirty cage’. ‘Oh well then’ a voice says from nearby, ‘would you rather I had left you for Sombra’. ‘Who…who’s there?’ she calls out.
‘An old friend’ states the voice calmly. Rarity passes out as an eagle’s claw appears out of the shadows.
Twilight looks up at the old castle of the sisters; ‘the castle had seen better days but there might be a spell in it that will allow me to get to Canterlot faster’ she turns and looks at the darkness in the tree line. ‘I have to hurry’. She thinks to herself.
As Twilight approaches the castle she can’t help but feel like she’s being watched, she turns to look behind her but no pony is there and yet the feeling persists all the way up the rock strewn cliff and even into the castle. She can swear that the pictures eyes in the entry hall are following her. ‘It’s just an old castle’ she reassures herself as she continues on. She searches for hours and then as she settles down to rest taking off her saddle bag she removes the potion and looks at it, the glass feel’s cool to the touch as she sets it on the table next to the bookshelf she had been looking through and she continues sorting through her bag. *smash*. She quickly stands up and puts the potion back in her bag. She slowly makes her way out of the hall and towards the back of the castle where the sound came from. The half destroyed hallways lead to the garden of the castle where a smashed vase is on the ground. She looks around at the overgrown plants and the crumbling stone walls but see’s that nothing is out of the ordinary. She turns back to the door only to find it gone. Darkness slowly started to crawl down the walls. An eerie laugh saps the strength from her limbs as she tries to use her magic to summon her shield. ‘I have you now Princess’ a voice hisses behind her. By then she couldn’t even summon the strength to keep standing and she collapses on the ground. The last thing she sees is a hoof with holes in it.
Rainbow Dash passed in and out of consciousness for the next two days. She could hear fighting in the halls and random rainbow energy flashed through her closed eyes at random times. During that time night terrors assaulted her with a never ending vigilance slowly making her question her sanity. She saw things she shouldn’t have been able to see, Nightmare Moon laughing in the night and then a living shadow spike piercing her heart. She saw Sombra step out of the shadows and looking at Nightmare he then flicked his tail and walked away. Nightmare then turned into Luna looked directly at Rainbow and whispered ‘I’m sorry’ she then faded away as Rainbow gained consciousness again.
Rarity sat straight up in a chair across from a creature she never thought she would see again, he sipped his tea and ate his biscuits while she stared at him. He finally looked up from his meal and spoke. ‘What’ he said in a posh British accent ‘I thought you were sophisticated’.
‘I am sophisticated but you are not’ she put added power into the word you as she said it.
‘Fine you want the true me’ he snapped his fingers and everything around her started floating up in the air and spinning randomly. ‘Discord’ she yelled from her now upside down vantage point on the roof ‘Let me down!’
‘Fine’ he sighed and snapping his fingers he returned everything to normal. Sitting back down he looked at her ‘now let’s get down to businesses.
Rarity looks at Discord ‘You want to what!’ ‘I want to help’ he looks at her ‘didn’t I just say that?’ ‘But, but your Discord you don’t help!’ ‘Well this time I will be helping even though I don’t usually’ ‘What’s in it for you’ she says as she glares at him. ‘Friendship’ he looks at her and Rarity could swear that there were tears in his eyes ‘Fluttershy, Fluttershy saved me from Sombra by giving herself to him….’ ‘I was released by the Princess to fight Sombra but I was captured’ ‘He’s too powerful and….and he turned Fluttershy with the blink of an eye’. ‘I want her back and you are one of the only ones who can help me. He moves over to the table that his tea is on and snapping his fingers a cheeseboard appears. On the board are pieces shaped like Discord, the princess’s, Twilight, Rarity, Sombra, the rest of Rarity’s friends and 4 shadowy figures. One of the figures was in a square that looked like Ponyvile, another two were next to a square that looked like Canterlot. Rainbow was in the Canterlot square along with Princess Celestia and around them were two of the shadowy figures. The other shadow figures were in the Crystal Empire and Ponyvile. The she noticed what was around Twilights neck. ‘That isn’t’ whispers Rarity. ‘Yes, it is’ Discord looks sadly at the board ‘Sombra is deceiving her into becoming so powerful that she is easily corrupted. ‘oh no we must help’. ‘I agree’. ‘The let’s get down to business’ they sit down and begin planning.
Rainbow stared at Twilight as she stepped out of the shadow. ‘Twilight’ she whispered ‘you’re alive?!’ ‘Yea’ she says as if it were no big deal. Rainbow’s injuries had all been healed but her eye which was covered in blood soaked gauze. They embrace and then Rainbow asks the question Twilight was dreading. ‘Where are the others, I mean I know what happened to Pinkie but what about Fluttershy and Rarity?’ ‘They’re…….they’re gone, Fluttershy was caught and killed after she almost killed me in my library well I rested from maintaining the shield. She was caught by Rarity and then I…..I disposed of her.’ ‘Aw man’ Rainbow says sadly ‘what happened to Rarity’. ‘I honestly don’t know, she told me to leave when we only had 500 ponies left.’ ‘Crap’ said Rainbow. ‘How did you use the shadows like that?’ ‘I found an amulet that gives me an increased amount of magical power’. ‘Awesome’ says Rainbow ‘where is it’. ‘It….it was consumed in the shadow travel’. ‘Oh’ Rainbow looks disheartened for a second then says ‘common Celestia will want to see you!’ ‘Ok’ says Twilight. Twilights eyes flash red as she follows Rainbow.
Rarity looked at the board. ‘Ok then, the spell is ready’ Discord nods his head and uses his chaos energy to boost her power. The Rarity starts muttering the words under her breath and a blinding flash of light appears. When she is no longer blinded she looks up to find herself in a hallway of Canterlot castle, she starts to run.
‘Twilight’ says Rarity three days later, ‘I know your exhausted honey but we need you to take over’ Twilight slowly opens her eyes ‘Alright Rarity’ she says with a big yawn. Stretching she gets up and uses her powers to reinforce the shield with her magic.
‘Rarity how bad is it out there?’
‘It gets worse every minute’. ‘After Fluttershy returned with Sombra’s mark and….and….we took care of her’ she manages to get out, ‘he sent Pinkie Pie, then he sent Granny Smith and Big Mac’. ‘He’s tormenting us and everypony has thought of or already committed suicide’.
‘How many ponies are left’ says Twilight.
‘Out of the 1500 we had, we’re down to less than 500’. ‘Shit’ exclaims Twilight, ‘We can’t hold out much longer’.
‘I know' says Rarity and that’s why you need to leave us and go get Celestia yourself’.
‘But Rarity you’ll all be over run!’ she whispers.
‘I know and so does everypony else, but if that’s what it takes to save Equestria then that is what we must do!’
‘Rarity’ Twilight whispers as she rushes her and wraps her hooves around her, ‘I’m so sorry’
‘Yes I know, now go before….before….’ She breaks into tears.
'Oh Rarity’ she cries and then she runs out of the room and to the edge of the shield right next to the Everfree forest. She turns around, ‘I’m sorry’ is all she says as she looks at everyone, and then she breaks her shield and runs. She doesn’t look back until she reaches the edge of the mountain and she turns to find Ponyvile on fire, and her home…destroyed.
She wandered until the hours of darkness. Then she finally came across Zecora’s cabin, the cabin was in a state of disarray with broken bottles and books spread out all over the floor. However it was a warm place to sleep on a cold night so clearing away the mess on Zecora’s bed she fell to sleep thinking of Zecora and what might’ve happened.
As she slept she dreamed, she saw her friends and her family all with green eyes, her dead brother and her converted mother and father. She saw the day Cadance died, and the crystal shard that had killed her when the heart had exploded into a thousand pieces. She saw Celestia and Luna surrounded in their own castle by the converted and she saw Sombra laughing gleefully in the shadows next to her as she screamed at the horrors he was showing her. She woke up with a cold sweat. ‘It was only a dream’ she thinks to herself, this hasn’t come to pass yet. Then she passes out from pure exhaustion and falls into a deep and dreamless sleep.
She wakes up with a start as the door to the cabin slams. Looking around she realizes it’s only been an hour since she fell to sleep. ‘Zecora’ she whispers, ‘Zecora is that you?’
‘Yes it is me as you can clearly see’ says Zecora as she sets down her basket on the table next to the entrance way.
‘How have you survived so long outside of my shield Zecora’ says Twilight. She turns to face Twilight
‘Survive I have not for the infection I have caught’ says Zecora quietly.
‘Your...your infected?’ whispers Twilight,
‘Yes’ states the zebra calmly as she removes her hood. Twilight looks at her strangely; her eyes are a weird combination of their old color and green.
‘Your eyes, but how come you haven’t succumbed?’
‘I used my potions and have kept in motion’ Zecora looks at her, ‘All hope is not lost it is but at a cost’ she says.
‘A cost what cost’ Twilight gets up out of Zecora’s bed and walks up to her ‘what are you talking about?’
‘I have what you seek but it is very weak’ she tosses a potion at Twilight which twilight catches using her magic. ‘If infected drink this, or things will surely go amiss’.
‘Thank you Zecora’ says Twilight.
‘You must leave now or surely you will bow’ Zecora looks at her tears in her eyes ‘miss you I will you should go up that hill’ Zecora points out the window at a hill in the distance ‘from there go straight and you will find hate’.
‘Thank you’ says Twilight again as she gives her a hug not noticing the small black box that Zecora slipped into her bag, she tucks the potion into her saddle bag as heads to the door. ‘Good bye’ she says as she gallops for the hill full speed.
‘Twilight Sparkle has been captured as you commanded my queen’ the voice hisses from her right side. She moans feeling pins and needles in all of her body.
‘Ah she is waking….leave us’ commands a voice. Twilight’s vision slowly came back and she looked up right into Chrysalis’s green eyes.
‘What do you want’ yells Twilight.
‘Oh’ that should be obvious says Chrysalis calmly ‘I want to help you’.
‘What’ yells Twilight. ‘You….You want to help me’ she whispers.
‘Yes’ Chrysalis says as she walks toward a book shelf ‘you already have the power to defeat Sombra, but you do not know of it’. ‘What, I do?’ Twilight looks at her bewildered. As Chrysalis continues slowly walking Twilight finally looks around and realizes she’s in another part of the castle, standing on a podium is an old book with a sun and moon on it.
‘Yes’ says Chrysalis as she pulls Twilights saddle bag off of the empty space on the shelf. She tosses it at her and Twilight catches it.
‘Look inside’ says Chrysalis as she stands there. Twilight dumps it out and alongside Zecora’s potion, her rations of food and water and her book on magic comes out a small black box. She looks at it for a second then at Chrysalis. She picks it up and looks at it…..
‘This isn’t what I think is it?’
‘I do not know’ says Chrysalis, ‘open it’. So against her better judgement Twilight opens it to reveal the black and red Alicorn amulet.
‘Oh my gosh’ she screams and drops it on the ground. As Twilight continues sitting there she can fell it calling for her, the voice nagging in the back of her head. Chrysalis floats the amulet up and positions it in the air above Twilight.
‘Do you want it, will you take it so you can save your friends and all of Equestria, will you save my people by putting this on?’ Twilight starts to shiver as the necklace approaches her neck
‘I….I’ Twilight stutters. She stares at it and her mouth waters, ‘the power’ she thinks ‘I could save them all’. ‘I could even use a spell to hide it so no one would ever know!’
She looks at it one last time and then the pony of friendship ducks her head forward allowing the necklace to sit at the base of her throat. She marvels at it and thoughts of what she could do with the power; save everyone maybe even keep the world safe forever. Looking up at Chrysalis she summons a bubble around her.
‘You do not deserve to live in the new Equestria’ says Twilight as she blinks and her eyes glow start to glow red. She starts to collapse the bubble on Chrysalis.
Chrysalis stares at her and then says ‘Twilight it has control of you’.
Twilight turns to look at her ‘what do you mean, I have all of the control’ smiling she summons up a swarm of shadows and vanishes. As the bubble continues to constrict Chrysalis melts into shadow and slips through the bubble becoming Sombra. He looks up at the receding shadows and smiles.
