Elementa in Aeternum

Tenebra stared at Sombra in wonder and fear, shocked that the king he had sought to escape had taken up residence so close to where the train took him. The dark king gave an exasperated sigh at the little unicorn’s reaction, and motioned for him to sit down on a chair that he levitated over. “Why is it I always get this reaction when ponies from the crystal empire see me?” He asked. ”It’s almost like I’m their own personal demon or something.”

“B-but, you’re the king of the Crystal Empire,” Tenebra stuttered, taking the seat offered. Sombra opened his mouth in an “O” shape, and rubbed his face with his hoof in worry. “Let me tell you a story, my young apprentice.”

”About a thousand years ago, I was on a quest for immortality and attempted many different magics to achieve this. Of my attempts, only two of them did not blow up in my face, the first of these was a combination of Golemancy, artificial life magic, and Malumancy, the magic of evil. This was meant to produce an exact unageing clone of myself, with all of my memories, knowledge and power. I had created an empty shell model of myself to animate with Golemancy, which seemed to work perfectly, but for the lack of memories, knowledge and power that were to come with the use of Malumancy. After I used the Malumatic spell to imbue the Golem with my traits, he just stepped forwards and disappeared, probably shadow stepping.

My second attempt at immortality was successful, but with a catch that you will find out about later. Later on in my life, I heard stories of a dark unicorn climbing the ranks of the Crystal Empire at an alarming rate, who was rumoured to have mastered magic that even the two sisters hadn’t heard of. When I travelled to the Crystal Empire to investigate, the train I rode would crash into an invisible barrier just before the empire borders. The train conductors soon learned of the connection between me and the crashing trains, so I was banned travelling by train to the Crystal Empire for ‘the rest of my life’ as they put it. Once I could no longer catch the train, I dismissed the rumour and returned to this cabin, as I couldn’t amass the effort required to walk to the empire by hoof.

I assume that this tyrannical ruler of the crystal empire is the clone of myself that I created so long ago, which means that he can only be permanently put to rest by a master of all elements, which I am not. While I have dabbled in various different magical forces, my main focuses when conducting intensive study were Umbramancy and Malumancy, the latter of which I will not teach to anyone ever. That evil magic is what gave me this creepy eye mist that basically marks me as bad to anypony I come across.”

Once Sombra had told his tale, Tenebra asked the question of what he was needed for. “All in due time,” the dark stallion replied, “I still need to retain some of my mysteries, lest the teacher be an open book for the student to read.” The younger unicorn rolled his eyes, but was satisfied with the answer for the time being. After a moment of awkward silence, Sombra voiced his desire to begin teaching right away, starting with the basics of Umbramancy. When he spoke of teaching Tenebra the shadow magic, the colt shyly revealed the book that he had been learning the unusual magic out of. When the teacher saw this, he recoiled, then leaned in and spoke, “this was the book I used when I first discovered Umbramancy, it is a wonder that it has survived all these years.” Not saying any more on the topic, Tenebra assumed he could keep it for himself, so he replaced it in his saddlebags. At this, Sombra raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say a word in protest, he then continued on with the lesson.

“Umbramancy draws its power from the shadows, and as such, is more effective in areas dimly lit, for if there is not light whatsoever, there can be no shadows, only darkness. While darkness has its own kind of magic, it has very different uses to that of the shadow, being better for summoning semi-corporeal beings and other similar things. Each of the major elements is represented by a gemstone, shadows being an onyx, much like the one you wear around your neck. Wearing a pendant of the element you are using will both strengthen the spells, and reduce the overall cost, making a shadow spells cost next to nothing if cast in a dimly lit area while wearing an onyx…”

This explanation continued on for some time, until Sombra had fully covered the various strengths and weaknesses of Umbramancy. Feeling like his head was brimming with new knowledge, Tenebra requested to be dismissed to bed, as it had been a huge day, and it was after midnight, well past the usual bed time of the young unicorn. Sombra agreed to this, on the condition that he return to Ponyville to sleep, so as not to cause search parties to be sent out, and while Tenebra did place the note, he was still not sure Pure Cabbage would refrain from worrying, even having only known him for the best part of two days. So Tenebra performed a shadow step back to the home of Pure, his current mother figure, and collapsed on his bed, deciding to reassure her the next morning of his safety and decision to pull out of school after only one day to instead do a magical apprenticeship.

While all of this was happening, in the Crystal Empire, the mane six believed that they had finally defeated Sombra. As the crystal heart was purifying the empire, a pair of eyes watched on from outside its borders with curiosity and amusement, grinning at the fact that they thought he could be defeated with only the crystal heart.

The next morning at the Cabbage residence, Pure awoke to a banging sound in the kitchen. She cautiously wandered over, and saw Tenebra attempting to make breakfast, and failing miserably. While the mare was thoroughly annoyed at him for not telling her of his decision to her face, Pure was just glad he was safe. When she walked into the kitchen, Tenebra spotted her and looked guiltily at the ground, thinking he was in big trouble. The only parenting the black unicorn was used to was the mistreatment he was given in the Crystal Empire, so he was completely taken aback when Pure trotted up and hugged him warmly. Tenebra was thoroughly confused, thinking he would be in big trouble, he had prepared for the worst, being ready to create a shadow doorway at a moment’s notice, what he had not expected, was the mare to treat him as she had before, with a loving kindness.

After the long embrace, Pure sat the black unicorn down and asked him to explain the events of the past couple days in every detail, not leaving out anything. Tenebra did so, though when he reached the scavenger hunt, he could see in her eyes that she wanted to hurt the two fillies who sent him into the Everfree. When he finally finished the story, Pure was deep in thought, wondering how she could live with herself if she sent him to learn off one of the most hated unicorns in history. Eventually, she spoke, “I will allow you to continue this apprenticeship with Sombra on one condition: that you come back here every night when you’re finished and check in with me to confirm that you are alive.” Tenebra agreed to this happily, glad he would get the chance to learn more of the shadow magic that interested him so much. Once this conversation came to a close, the young unicorn went back up to his room to prepare for a day of learning magic, and all good magic begins with a nice black hooded cloak.