It had been happening for quite some time. She'd have dreams of being enclosed in a black box and wake up feeling tight and uncomfortable. When she went on promenades she found herself feeling lonely and desperate. Like nopony cared for her. Not that she cared for anypony else, not any more. Her friends had turned into stone walls, keeping her inside with a feeling of shut down. It was strange.
Twilight Sparkle is disappearing... She thought to herself. Something else is pushing her aside. She had the urge to spend time alone every second without those stone walls that locked her inside. She needed answers for her strange behaviour. I cannot consult Celestia or Luna, they'd just laugh at my face. Discord wouldn't help at all. Cadence would tell to the Princesses. So who else could share their knowledge with me... She thought day and night and finally a small spark of an idea came to her. Of course! But I must keep it a secret...
It was quite an easy spell, nothing too advanced for her. "I just hope this works." She muttered as she lay down. A feeling of drowsiness took her into its grasp and soon she was sleeping, dreaming, having nightmares.
"Thought so." Came a cold deep voice from the blackness. "It's happening isn't it, Princess?" Sombra whispered close to Twilight's ear which flicked in annoyance.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Twilight Sparkle lifted her chin up. "I just came for a few answers."
"Oh, so you haven't been feeling a little, strange, lately?" The King of Shadows murmured. Twilight responded in flopping her ears and looking down. Sombra laughed.
"I just want to know why... Twilight whimpered.
"I left a fragment of myself behind. You are cursed Twilight Sparkle.
"No! That can't be true!" Twilight lifted a hoof and looked around, as if there was an escape route somewhere. Obviously there wasn't.
"Face it, Sparkle, you will become what you are destined to. A menaced spirit of despair and thirst for blood." The King rolls his eyes.
Twilight was breathing heavily and was bowed down and flinching like she was being shocked. Purple smoke floated up from her eyes and her breaths were raspy. "I'm surprised Twilight Sparkle. Your reaction was quite small.
She looked up still taking raspy breaths and with purple smoke coming from her eyes. Her coat was cracking and blackness was coloring it. "Twilight Sparkle..." She took a raspy breath, "is no-more... There is only I, the Queen of Shadows, Bleeding Spell...
Clatter had been coming from upstairs since Twilight had gone to bed surprisingly early. Spike had finished dusting the shelves and was moving on to the dishes but a loud mumble made him stop. He made out a name that made chills go down his spine, Bleeding Spell. A name that had belonged to a queen way back in time. He walked upstairs watching his step as if a trap would be unlocked if he made one wrong move. He reached the top floor and saw Twilight flinching and shaking all over. Her coat was cracking and she was laughing, coldly and cruelly but still laughing.
"Twilight? Is everything okay?" Spike asked although he knew that nothing was okay. He backed away to the wall. Twilight turned and looked at Spike with a green eye, purple smoke was rising from her eyes and she was smiling a psych smile. Her coat was a darker more black purple and she lifted her brows in a corky way.
"What's the matter Spike? Aren't we all friends here?" She laughed. Spike slowly moved towards the stairs which made Twilight laugh more.
"Who are you? What did you do to Twilight?" Spike questioned trying to make a brave face.
"Can't you see? I am Twilight, this is the true Twilight the one that should have ruled all along!" Twilight lifted her fore hooves and stomped the onto the ground with splinters of crystal flowing everywhere.
"B-but Twilight... Isn't like this!" Spike shouted.
"My name is Bleeding Spell!" She screamed smashing the floor hard.
That was the last straw, Spike ran down the stairs as if his life depended on those steps. It did. He didn't have enough time to do anything, he just bashed out of the door heading towards the ville's centre. Just find somepony. He thought. Anypony! Twilight's laugh still echoed in his head. Her eyes still burned in his mind. No, not Twilight. Bleeding Spell. He shivered. The first house that he thought of was Rarity's house, obviously. He reached the Carousel Boutique tired and out of breath. No time to be polite, he had to get inside as quickly as possible.
The door banged open even before he had time to put his hand on it. Spike jumped back from surprise. "Come out thief! I saw you from the window!" Came Sweetie Belle's enthusiastic voice.
"Sweetie there's no time! Where's Rarity?" Spike gasped for air.
"She said she needs 'beauty sleep'." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes mocking Rarity's voice.
"But it's important! There's something wrong with Twilight!" Spike waved his arms frantically.
"Say what!?!" Sweetie lifted her brow but let Spike in. "I'll go wake Rarity!" She ran upstairs. Minutes later an angered cry was heard:
"Sweetie Belle! What have I said about waking me?" A small mumbled reply that Spike couldn't make sense of came as a reply.
"Spikey's here? Something is wrong with Twilight? Oh my..." A loud crash was heard. Moments after the sound came Sweetie's excited voice:
"Whee! Let's go save Princess Twilight!" Sweetie stumbled downstairs full of excitement.
"But it's not something ordinary. Something has.. Overtaken her." He mumbled worried and tired. Sweetie looked confused but before she could make an impulsif decision, Rarity had galloped downstairs and taken held of her with her blue aura.
"Young lady, you will not go crash into the castle without knowing what lays ahead. Twilight seems to have... Changed." Rarity commanded setting Sweetie down in the her work room and locking the door. "Safety darling." She called out to her raging sister in the other end of the door.
"I don't think we should go in the castle. Twilight is not herself. She is corrupted by some sort of spell." Rarity nodded.
"We can't just wait for her to find herself in that maze. She needs help. And sometimes Spike, help is all we can offer." Rarity put her hoof on his shoulder. "Sometimes, we need others by our side too."
All was set up for the spell. Her laboratory was full of strange looking gadgets and electricity cables. Just as she was about to begin reconstructing a spell she'd used her friends burst through the doorway.
"Whoever, or whatever you are, bring Twilight back to us!" Rainbow shouted.
"Bring it." Bleeding Spell urged them. Rainbow was first to attack and suddenly she had disappeared into thin air. Suddenly, a form started materializing in front of them but it wasn't Rainbow. It was a book. "We are all just atoms floating around. With a bit of effort we can be anything." One by one each of the ponies atoms separated and reformed books. When done, Bleeding Spell faced the final one of her opponents. "You used to be so special." Bleeding smiled psychly as Spike's atoms began to separate. As they reformed they formed a special book, one with letters that read 'you used to be'. "I always liked a good read better than friends." She chuckled and returned to her spell.
She poured her magic in the gadgets and the machinery started sparking up. She was one step closer. A dark figure, first just a shadow took form in front of her. "King Sombra." She breathed out heavily. The ancient tyrant stood up in front of her.
"Taking advantage of your new powers I see, Sparkle." Sombra smirked.
"It's Bleeding Spell, fool!!" She smashed him against the wall. Visibly his powers weakened. She giggled. "Oopsy, got to be careful with that, you are just an experiment."
The King backed away with a newfound respect for Bleeding Spell. "I see." Bleeding walked over to her machinery. Her horn glowed a black aura and she levitated the tyrant into a circle machine which started monitoring him.
"Just an experiment!" She laughed away prodding the King with shock sticks. The King moaned and groaned under pain but Bleeding felt no pity. She levitated the six books from the floor arranging them in her shelf. She laughed madly giving Sombra sets of electrical shocks on purpose, monitoring his heart rate.
"I underestimated your power." The King managed to say between yelps of pain. Bleeding arched her eyebrow.
"Too late now!!" She laughed and stuck a helmet on him taking the data from his brain. All the time something was brewing on fire and she took a purple liquid from the pot. "Drink this. I've managed to monitor your weaknesses. It will help." She laughed more but this time it was more controlled.
The tyrant looked at the drink in doubt but Bleeding had already pressed the glass tube to his lips. The drink tasted fiery and spicy. At first, Sombra felt nothing but then a feeling started building up in his chest. It was power. He squirmed in the iron grip of the machine but wasn't as strong as he felt. Or maybe something was keeping him from moving. Bleeding Spell looked at him analyzingly. "Well? How do you feel?" She asked.
"Stronger. Faster. More powerful than ever before." Sombra managed to mutter. Bleeding bit her lip trying to hold back her smile.
"You tried to escape didn't you?" She questioned. "Not yet. I'm not done with you." She chuckled.
"I can see that." He mumbled.
Bleeding Spell had covered enough data to start her next experiment. She clasped Sombra in her dark aura and lead him to an operating table. An operating table. Cuffs seized his ankles and he was soon bound again, against his will. Bleeding Spell levitated large scissors from a table. "Wait, what about a drug or something?" He asked horrified as the scissors came close.
"What? Oh, that drink I gave you, it makes your mind strong enough to fight off sleep and fainting. In other words, you can't sleep until you die. Then I can wake you again." She giggled. Sombra took a sharp breath in and tried to close his eyes but they always snapped open. The scissors came closer and closer and it was no easier to lie still when Bleeding playfully snapped her scissors at him. He twitched and fidgeted and finally an excruciating pain went through his stamina. The scissors cut in and he screamed in pain. Bleeding spell laughed and cut through his organs with ease.
He screamed some more. All his pain seemed to make her happier and happier. Finally the pain became something more. His ribcage cracked and broke as Bleeding stabbed at it with her operating knife. His lungs were harder to separate but finally those came apart too. Now nothing was between her and his heart. He coughed and wheezed but it wasn't enough to make him die. Her scissors snapped and fumbled about and his heart, still beating his life away, was in her hooves. It was still connected to his blood vessels. It was just outside his body.
"Interesting. Well, I'm almost done! Just need a replacement for this. It is definitely too small." She mumbled. Pulling a book out of a shelf made the whole bookshelf twist and turn until glass containers with clear liquids. Each one contained a heart.
"Where did you get these hearts from may I ask?" Sombra demanded in a worried voice.
"Ponies can volunteraly give their organs to medical science you know. But this one is a cow's heart. Much stronger and more capable of producing blood. I'm going to switch yours with this one." She said taking the beating heart out and and worked her levitation spell through the blood vessels holding his pony heart. Carefully she removed the heart and set the cow heart in place. Sombra didn't feel a difference but feared Bleeding Spell too much to complain.
"Well, now all I have to do is take away your weaknesses in an operation and then I'll need to make a brain surgery. Then you'll be done. My own little minion."
She put all his internal organs back into place and he suddenly felt the difference. His insides were more lively and more strong.
