Chapters Chapter 1 - The Shadow Awakens
The moon rose above the crystal empire for the first time in a thousand years, and with it so did it’s ancient ruler; Sombra had awoken.
Tenebra opened his eyes to the familiar sight of his bedroom, the jet black unicorn was feeling more well rested than he had in years. Unbeknownst to him, the reason for this was because he had actually been asleep for a thousand years. A flash of dark grey magic allowed Tenebra to secure his Onyx pendant around his neck. As always, when the pendant was placed around Tenebra’s neck, he felt instantly at ease. Sometimes he suspected that it was a part of himself that had been surgically removed at birth, though when these thoughts arose he would think solely of the impossibility. When Tenebra ventured downstairs, neither of his parents were anywhere to be found, which while a little strange, was nothing out of the ordinary, though by this time the lack of noise from outside the house was becoming increasingly suspicious. Tenebra suspected that the tyrant King Sombra was responsible for the deafening silence, though how he achieved it remained to be seen by the young colt.
After Tenebra found no one in his house, he began to wander outside, where he found the entire empire to be deserted, as if all its occupants had vanished off the face of the planet. Becoming increasingly worried, Tenebra ventured towards the borders, following the faint sound of laughter, one not often heard in the reign of the tyrant king. “That must be where everypony is,” he thought to himself. As the unicorn wandered closer to the sounds, it became clear that what he had been hearing was not, in fact, ponies of the crystal empire, it was a piny pony that seemed to have wings as well as a horn, and a white unicorn with a depiction of a shield as his cutie mark. The two ponies were displaying signs of great affection that threatened to progress into something else, which forced Tenebra to depart the scene with more questions than before.
The sun was setting above the empire, and with it, darkness was creeping in. While Tenebra preferred the darkness of night over anything, he had a bad feeling that there was something lurking out in this night. After some careful deliberation, Tenebra decided venture inside one of the dark buildings that was forbidden during the reign of Sombra to all but a select few. When he entered, the lights came on and revealed walls stacked with books of every kind, from magic to history. Tenebra was amazed, having only seen one book in his life, he dove into one of the books placed on the library desk. This book was titled Umbramancy, and seemed to be a book on a strange type of magic, and while Tenebra knew a little magic, the spells he saw in the contents page of this book were ones he either previously thought impossible or ones that he never even dreamed of.
As he was reading the book, Tenebra didn’t notice a large blast of love magic that spanned throughout the empire. The grey figure of a pony was approaching Tenebra from behind, its glasses shining in the dim light. “Hello little colt, it’s good to finally have someone to talk to other than that mean pony Sombra,” the mystery pony croaked. At the sound of her voice, Tenebra jumped and turned to look at the grey earth pony with a scroll as a cutie mark. “Uh, hi. Who are you?” the startled unicorn asked, clearly still recovering from the initial fright of somepony in the empire other than himself again. “Why, I’m the librarian, Amethyst Maresbury, but I think the better question is, who are you?”
“I’m Tenebra Vicis, so I assume that this place is the imperial library?”
The librarian gave a nod of confirmation to this, and inquired, “how did you get in here? I thought the guards stopped everypony except Sombra from entering, is this not the case?”
“Well, you are the first pony I’ve seen all day, so I’m not too sure about guards. They might be here now that somepony other than me has appeared,” Tenebra reasoned. “Of course, I would appreciate it if you didn’t report me to them, it could get me in quite a bit of trouble.”
“Of course I won’t report you! I wouldn’t sentence you to death willingly,” Amethyst reassured. ” Though I do wonder what you’re doing here.”
After Tenebra told his story from when he woke up that morning, the librarian decided to leave him alone in his readings. A few pages into the Umbramancy book, Tenebra found a spell called Verto in Umbra, which seemed to render the user as a shadow in a near invisible state. “This could be useful,” he remarked to himself.
Verto in Umbra
To perform this spell, the caster must focus on the goal while directing magic from whichever part of the body they chose, to form a cloak around their body. This will render the caster as a shadow, which will make them near impossible to see in all but the brightest of days. The duration of this spell is determined by both the energy put into it, and the affinity the pony has with Umbramancy. For example, if an earth pony, who has spent every day of their life working in the sun, were to cast this spell, it would last an incredibly short time, while if a unicorn who has spent many days in darkness researching or performing magic was the caster, then this spell could last many days.
To undo this spell, one must feel the magic cloak around them, and direct the magic that makes it up back into their body. The less time this spell is kept active, the more of the magic used to cast it the caster will get back.
After reading the passage describing the Verto in Umbra spell, Tenebra looked up to see a black notebook had appeared on the desk in front of him. The unicorn grabbed the notebook with his magic, and when that happened, the spine of the notebook became the same green colour as his mane. Tenebra gasped in surprise at this, dropping the notebook in shock. Cautiously opening it, he found some text inside it.
Personal Spellbook of Tenebra Vicis
Initiate Umbramancer
Journeyman Amicitiamancer
The notebook had once again amazed him, it had somehow detected his name, and the fact that he had been performing Umbramancy, though what Amicitiamancy was, was anyone’s guess. Turning the pages, Tenebra noticed that some of the pages were already filled, with the Verto in Umbra spell page from the Umbramancy book summarised in his notebook. In amazement, Tenebra flicked through the notebook to find an instructions page at the back. In short, it described the fact that the notebook would take the instructions for the casting of a spell from its owner’s memory, and transcribe them into a blank page in the correct section. Going back to the contents page of the spellbook, Tenebra found the page that described Amicitiamancy, which appeared to be standard unicorn magic. The book even contained the instructions that he was first given to levitate objects when Tenebra was a child.
The librarian rushed into the room, where Tenebra was about to test the Verto in Umbra spell, and spoke in a hushed voice, “people are coming, I’m not sure if they are hostile, but they are incredibly powerful. You must leave now, before they find you.” Tenebra agreed, and rushed out the back door of the library, taking his notebook and the Umbramancy book with him.
After exiting the library, Tenebra made his way to his home, where he found his parents who were looking grey and depressed, as if all the joy had been taken from the world. While Tenebra was worried about his parents, they weren’t always the nicest of ponies to him, he had been treated as a slave as a child, not afforded the same loving care as foals of other families. So he moved on, to his room, where he packed the two books into his saddlebags and decided to leave via the train station that he saw on the way back home. Grabbing a few bits, Tenebra walked over to the train station, where he saw a few guards at the train. These guards were not crystal ponies like the ones usually seen in the empire, they were white unicorns dressed in golden armour. Tenebra began to approach the station when he came up with an idea to get on the train undetected. It was the perfect time to test out the Verto in Umbra spell. He began by focusing on the magic in his horn, similar to how the telekinesis spell begins, but instead of focusing it onto a single object, Tenebra forced to it form a cloak around himself, just as the book instructed. Once this was done, he approached the station, keeping out of direct sunlight, and boarded a train that seemed to be about to leave.
Chapter 2 - The Shadow's First Steps
The first train in a thousand years from the Crystal Empire had just arrived in Ponyville, the home of the elements of harmony. While most ponies would assume that the train contained only a few guard ponies with some cargo, hidden on it was the black unicorn Tenebra. While some may question his motives for fleeing his home, in his mind, what he did was perfectly justified to escape the tyrannical reign of King Sombra, and his slave-master-like parents. As the train stopped, if somepony was actually looking closely at the exits, they would have seen a near invisible shadow run out of the vehicle, and quickly into the darker parts of the towns streets.
When Tenebra exited the train, he sprinted towards the darker streets of the town for the purpose of remaining unseen. In the alley, Tenebra absorbed his shadow cloak, and ventured back out into the main areas of the town, which seemed to contain a population much lower than that of Tenebra’s original home. As he exited the alley, Tenebra was approached by a green earth pony with a blue mane and eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. “Hello little colt, are you new here?” She asked him kindly. The young colt nodded in confirmation, not trusting his voice. “Do you have somepony to stay with?” she inquired. Tenebra shook his head, “well, let’s fix that.”
Tenebra ended up staying with the owner of a local vegetable store, who went by the name of Pure Cabbage. She was a kind-hearted mare, and seemed to be loved by all who came into contact with her, though the reason Pure lived alone was a mystery to the young colt. That night, Pure asked Tenebra what he intended to do in the town of Ponyville and whether he wanted to attend school. Having never been to a school in the Empire, Tenebra was excited by the prospect of learning things and making new friends. The next morning, luckily being the first day of school for the year, Pure and Tenebra ventured over to the school and spoke with a kind mare named Cheerilee about enrolling the black unicorn. The mare seemed very happy to accept Tenebra into her class of students his age, and offered that he begin his academic journey that day, which he accepted.
Class began a short time later, which started out being interesting, though Tenebra began to lost interest in everything except mathematics and magic. The formulas for different purposes fascinated him, and while they didn't learn how to use magic, they covered some of its history. The class was soon dismissed for lunch, where two fillies named Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon began to take interest in him. “Hey new kid, over here!” They somehow yelled in perfect synchronization, “We want to talk to you.” Tenebra wandered over to the yelling fillies, and asked them what they wanted to talk about. Apparently, they wanted to discuss the possibility of a scavenger hunt after school, and seemed satisfied after Tenebra agreed, though he was rather cautious because of a cunning smirk the fillies shared after he accepted.
When school finished, Tenebra rushed back to Pure’s house to gain her approval for the after school scavenger hunt, and to find a new spell to learn. When he entered the dwelling, Pure was waiting in the living room for him, and asked the unicorn about his day. After Tenebra had described what seemed like every detail, he managed to ask if he could spend some time with new friends after school, which Pure happily accepted. With still an hour until Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were due to arrive at his house, Tenebra immersed himself into his Umbramancy book, deeming it more important than the history learnt at school today.
Umbra Gradum
This spell will transport the caster to a location of his or her choosing, though the magical cost is greatly reduced if the destination is in shadows. If shadow stepping to a bright place, it would be more practical to use the standard teleportation spell from the school of Amicitiamancy, because of the lower cost.
To cast Umbra Gradum, the Umbramancer must direct their magic to form two doorways, one at the current location, and another at the destination. They should then step through. Be warned, that these shadow doorways, while difficult to see, are not invisible, and somepony could step through the other end to teleport to the casters location. If both the original location and the destination are located in a dark area, the magic cost is greatly reduced, making it far more useful in caves or forests.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Ah, they’ve finally arrived,” Tenebra thought with smile, hoping he had imagined the cunning grin he saw on the fillies faces earlier in the day. When he came out of the house, the fillies began to dictate the rules of the hunt to him, “you cannot return to Ponyville without your goal, no help from anypony else…” While Tenebra insisted that he knew how to do a scavenger hunt, he was a little worried about the not returning to Ponyville rule, though he dismissed it as a childish condition. After all the rules had been rattled off, Diamond Tiara announced that the hunt would be conducted within the Everfree forest, which was apparently safer than everyone thought. While Tenebra had his doubts about this, he didn't voice them so not to sound like a coward in front of a couple of fillies. After this, Silver Spoon announced that each of them would be going alone into the forest to obtain each ingredient, for Diamond Tiara, the ingredient was a blade of mystical Everfree grass, which she assured the Tenebra was reasonably difficult to find, Silver Spoon’s ingredient was a green Everfree leaf, and after careful consideration, it was decided that Tenebra’s ingredient was to be a small stone retrieved from the castle of the two sisters, located in the centre of the forest. Internally, Tenebra was balking at the prospect of walking all the way to the centre of the forest only to obtain a pebble, while the other two were to retrieve the most trivial of items, though once again, he didn’t voice his concerns so as not to sound like a coward before the fillies.
As he left the light outside the forest, Tenebra could feel his limbs getting stronger, as if transforming into those of an earth pony, though his horn and magic stayed. The weight of his personal spellbook inside the saddlebags had become negligible, and the effort of walking was rapidly decreasing. After a full hour of walking, Tenebra had not seen any sign that he was getting closer to the castle of the two sisters, it was almost as if he was going in the wrong direction, though he was sure that if he’d made a turn, Tenebra would have known. A short time later, the unicorn came across a strange sight, it looked like a doorway made out of pure shadow, similar to what the Umbramancy book had described, though why anyone would want to travel into the Everfree forest was beyond him.
Tenebra suddenly got the feeling that he was being watched, and turned around to see a pair of glowing green eyes staring back from the bushes. Hoping it was nothing harmful, Tenebra took a step towards it, and a timber wolf appeared. While having never seen one of these wild beasts, Tenebra had heard stories tell of creatures made entirely of wood that eat anypony they came into contact with. More pairs of glowing eyes appeared in a circle around Tenebra and the shadow doorway, forcing him closer to the magical portal, until finally, the unicorn decided that where the doorway leads can’t be any worse than being surrounded by timber wolves somewhere in the Everfree forest, so he entered the unknown.
Tenebra found himself outside a dark hut bordering on an incredible forest, “the Everfree,” he decided. The young unicorn called out to see if anyone was in the hut, and to his surprise, a grey stallion with a red horn and purple mist coming off his eyes appeared. “I feel like I know this pony from somewhere,” Tenebra thought to himself, but quickly dismissed the notion. One would remember anypony that had mist coming off their eyes.
“Done staring, young colt?” He asked, in a voice deeper than the ocean. Tenebra’s eyes widened a fraction as he realised he had, in fact, been staring at this mystery stallion. “Who are you?” the grey unicorn inquired curiously, “and how did you get here?”
“I a-am Tenebra Vicis, and I came through a magical doorway in the Everfree forest,” Tenebra explained, stutteringly. The stallion made a smile that did not reach his eyes, “so finally somepony has come through my shadow door. It has been many years since I have seen anypony other than myself.
I have a proposition to make you, young Tenebra. If you would apprentice to me, I will give you a gift that no pony else would be able to give or receive – the gift of immortality.” Of course, how could Tenebra refuse this gift, when it seemed like all he had to do was learn something off some old unicorn, so he accepted the stallion’s offer.
“Now, I must test you on your skill in regards to magical knowledge and power, so I will ask you to obtain an item from the town on the other side of the Everfree forest, Ponyville. This can be any item, just something that has been there for longer than an hour. Go my student, retrieve the object and return with as much haste as possible.” Amazed at all that had happened in such a short time, Tenebra had forgotten to ask his new teacher’s name, though he figured that it didn’t matter that much. Once the unicorn colt exited the dark hut, he retrieved his personal spellbook from his saddlebags and looked through its few filled pages for a way to go between Ponyville and this hut more easily. As he was flicking through the book, Tenebra came across the spell he read over before he left for the Everfree forest, Umbra Gradum, which also seemed to be referred to as Shadow Step.
The black unicorn decided to cast this spell to return to his home in Ponyville, which according to the Umbramancy book, would take very little magical power because both the start point, outside in the night, and the destination, his room, would be in darkness. Tenebra focused his magic out of his horn, and into the shape of a doorway right in front of his figure, and then imagined a matching doorway appearing in his room back in the house of Pure Cabbage. He then stepped through the dark portal in front of him and reappeared in his room.
When Tenebra arrived back at the house, he remembered that he was meant to have returned home by sundown, which was hours ago. He realised that Pure would be getting seriously worried about him, and decided to write a note describing all that had happened that day and why he wouldn’t be home for dinner anytime soon. Once this was written, Tenebra decided to grab the Umbramancy book and put it in his saddlebags, because he believed that it could be useful when one is learning magic. Then, the unicorn decided to grab one of the sheets off the bed as the object to give his teacher. Tenebra still didn’t trust the stallion completely, so he would hold off giving the Umbramancy tome to him.
With everything needed in his saddlebags, Tenebra created another doorway back to the hut on the other side of the Everfree and knocked on the door. The mystery stallion opened the door with his unicorn magic and looked at the young unicorn with surprise, “back already? I wouldn’t have though you were one to just give up. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to find another student.” The door began to close again when Tenebra shoved his hoof in the way and spoke, “I didn’t give up, and I’ve come with an object from Ponyville, a sheet from my old room.”
His teacher’s eyes widened a fraction, he was clearly impressed with the speed in which Tenebra completed the task, though he suspected that the stallion would think that the colt was some kind of insane runner to have gotten to and from Ponyville so fast.
Unbeknownst to Tenebra, his teacher had quickly surmised that he didn’t go to Ponyville by hoof. Though the type of magic used was unknown, the stallion was not stupid, he knew that some kind of magic was used for travel. Before his teacher could query him on his methods, Tenebra asked a question, “Teacher, what is your name?” At this question, the stallion grinned and replied in his deep voice, “I am Sombra.”
Chapter 3 - The Shadow's Tale
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.
Chapter 4 - The Shadow's Companion
Tenebra arrived to his second lesson in his apprenticeship with considerable enthusiasm and haste, eager to learn more Umbramancy from the immortal unicorn. Sombra greeted his enthusiasm with amusement, glad for a student that is both willing to learn some of the more difficult magics of Equestria, and seems to excel at commanding the shadows to do his will. What the stallion didn’t know is that the younger unicorn actually already had gained some proficiency in the art of Umbramancy, and had been pouring over the pages of the tome all morning before arriving there.
Umbra Aditum
A shadow anchor is a position in the world that is enchanted to be permanently in shadow, not allowing any but the dimmest lights in, but still far enough away from darkness that is becomes the perfect place to shadow step to. Performing other Umbramatical spells near one does provide similar benefit to casting them in a shadowy area, just on a much greater scale, because they create the perfect environment for Umbramancy.
To create one of these anchors, one must imbue some of the magic from their horn into the ground, and create incorporeal walls for it, making it a small room. When this is done, the anchor will only activate when either somepony is inside it, or somepony is using it as a shadow step destination. These locations do disappear after a period of time that depends on the affinity the caster has with Umbramancy, and the amount of magic used to cast the spell.
This spell can also be used to create a quick cage, by instead of having the shadow create incorporeal walls, make them solid. This method does take considerably more magical power than other ways of achieving a similar effect, though it is rather efficient if time is a limiting factor.
As the younger unicorn trotted into Sombra’s hut he was imagining the many wonders that would be learnt in the lesson that day. Little did he know, Sombra had a special surprise for him that would reveal his worthiness to be the student of one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Sombra revealed his plan to test his student in more ways than one, “Today, you will not be learning in a traditional style using notebooks and pens, rather, you will be attempting to lure one of the many hydras in the bog to this very cabin. This will test both your magic, courage, and ability to cope under pressure, for what provides more pressure than escaping from a seven headed beast hell bent on killing you.” Tenebra’s eyes betrayed no emotions at the reveal of this activity, though inside, he was reeling from the magnitude and danger involved in the task given. The student accepted the challenge given by his teacher, and set off in the direction of the bogs immediately, trotting hastily while attempting to formulate a plan.
As Tenebra approached the edge of the bogs, he came up with an idea involving one of the Umbramancy spells he learnt that morning, the shadow anchor. Because of the sheer size of a hydra, it would be near impossible to shadow step it all the way back to the cabin, so the obvious solution would be to create a shadow anchor somewhat close to the hut to easily transport it back with a much lower risk of getting eaten alive. The young unicorn set to work immediately, creating a gargantuan circle of pure shadow magic to teleport a hydra to, and solidifying the walls. This effort left Tenebra panting from magical exhaustion, wondering how he was going to create the other end of the shadow step without passing out.
Taking a few moments to collect himself after casting a spell so large so early in his studies, Tenebra set off into the bogs in search of a hydra to bring to Sombra, though what need he had for a hydra, the colt had no idea.
Back at the cabin, Sombra was enjoying a nice cup of apple cider, imported from some farm on the other side of the Everfree, “Sweet Apple… something…” he thought, forgetting the final word of the place. While his student didn’t see the value of a live hydra, the dark stallion knew of the many benefits one can obtain from even a small sample of the creatures. He thought back to when his master had once had him collect a cockatrice, “now that was a challenge well worth the effort,” Sombra reminisced. “I don’t know why I’ve let my student get off so lightly with only having to lure a hydra here, not even taking a blood sample.”
While the teacher was thinking he should have challenged his student more, Tenebra was wishing Sombra hadn’t seemingly acquired a desire for a live hydra at his cabin. The colt was having a large amount of difficulty finding anything other than bog crocodiles and dangerous-looking snakes. As Tenebra was approaching yet another swamp pool, he spotted a dark shape beneath its waters, one surely bigger than a crocodile, though he wasn’t about to dip his head underwater to find out.
A huge head arose from the water in front of Tenebra, looking rather annoyed about being woken from its slumber. The head spoke, “who dares disturb my rest? Do you have a death with, little pony?” Tenebra stuttered a denial, taken aback by the sheer size of only one head. “Then why are you here?!” The voice roared angrily. Thinking quickly, Tenebra came up with an answer that might not get him eaten, “why, I am here to honour the greatest beast in all Equestria, of course. Do I need any other reason?” The head looked at him in surprise, then anger, “You think to lie to me, Typhon, the king of hydras?” The black unicorn, clearly surprised by the hydra’s identity, stepped back, only to find a hydra at his back as well. He was surrounded by the multi-headed beasts, Tenebra was just thankful that Typhon hadn’t decided to arise above the bog with all of his heads. The back unicorn reasoned that the king must be the most powerful of hydras, and therefore have the most heads. In this assumption, he was right, as Tenebra would soon find out. Still having his question unanswered, Typhon revealed his full form, a massive hydra with over one hundred heads. Tenebra stared in awe and fear at this, “afraid, little pony? No one will help you here.” Tenebra then remembered that he wasn’t a mere earth pony, he had the magic to escape and possible bring one of the weaker hydras with him.
Looking over outside the ring of hydras, Tenebra shadow stepped, and began forming the foundations for a larger shadow step to his anchor, with a nearby hydra included in the weavings. Back at Typhon, the king was roaring in anger at how Tenebra had seemingly disappeared without a trace. After ordering his subjects to find and kill the little unicorn, he sank back into the depths of the bog. As he was finalising the shadow step spell, the hydra he was intending to teleport turned around to see Tenebra with his horn glowing, focusing on him. The hydra took a step towards the little pony, and as he did so, the world around him disappeared, only to reappear outside the bog, his home and prison. Not knowing what to do, the hydra looked around for the unicorn, and seeing him on the other side of this dark patch, he walked towards the little pony, not knowing what he would do when he reached the colt.
Seeing a hydra walking so calmly towards him, Tenebra thought about dropping the prison, then quickly dismissed the idea as stupid. After all, who would be dumb enough to let a hydra that close to themselves? When the hydra reached the edge of the shield, he ran head first into it, wondering what magical barrier the unicorn had conjured up, he just went ahead and asked, “What is this barrier that keeps me here, little unicorn?”
Tenebra was surprised to hear a hydra other than Typhon speak, as he assumed that they were mindless beasts that only desired to eat anypony they came into contact with. The unicorn replied to the hydra’s question, “one created for the purpose of keeping me safe from you, we can’t have you eating me.” At this, the hydra gave a chuckle, and assured Tenebra that he wouldn’t eat him, and while this assurance was quite sincere, the black unicorn didn’t think so, and blatantly pointed out his opinion that the hydra was lying. The hydra, outraged that this little pony doubted his word, roared, “You doubt my word, little pony? While some of my brothers and sisters would probably have eaten you before you assembled this accursed prison, I am not so cruel. My only desire is to be free of that tyrant who calls himself king.”
Surprised by this confession, Tenebra asked the hydra, “Tell me hydra, if I free you, would you eat me?” To this, the hydra answered no, and also requested that he be called by his name, Anguis. The unicorn removed the shadow anchor prison, and felt a portion of the shadow magic that made it up flow into him, though he wondered why only some of it was returned.
He didn’t have to wonder for long, Anguis was beginning to reduce in size, grow a horn on the head that he used for speech and grow another two legs, making him almost look like a distorted pony. Having eight heads, Anguis was marginally more powerful than the standard hydra, who normally have seven heads. The transformation ceased when the hydra was about the same size as Tenebra, with the skin from the neck up on the head with the horn turning from its standard swamp green to a black colour similar to the unicorns coat. Staring at the hydra in shock, Tenebra had no words to describe his surprise at this rapid transformation supposedly at the exposure to Umbramancy. “Thankyou, young unicorn, since I have left my home and have nowhere to go, would you give me the honour of staying with you?” The now pony sized hydra asked hopefully, with a few of his heads giving puppy dog eyes. At that sight, Tenebra burst out laughing, and while Anguis had no idea what this meant, he took it as a positive answer and approached the young unicorn. Once the colt reigned in his amusement, he began trotting in the direction of Sombra’s cabin, motioning the hydra to follow.
When the odd pair arrived back at the cabin, Sombra was waiting outside the door, clearly having expected to see a huge beast that needed restraining chasing his student. When he saw Tenebra and Anguis walking side by side, he showed no emotion on his face, but inside he was incredibly surprised and mildly fearful, “how could one so new to Umbramancy transform such a wild beast into an elemental creature?” He thought, “This pony is progressing down the path of shadow even faster than I did, all those years ago.” The younger unicorn greeted his teacher outside the cabin and introduced his hydra, whose role seemed to be stuck somewhere between pet and friend. After Sombra congratulated his student, he called for an end to the day, because it was almost nightfall and Pure did request Tenebra be back home every night.
He wondered what she would think of Anguis, Tenebra hoped she wouldn’t dislike him because of what he is or used to be. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that his mother-figure would react to Anguis in revulsion, because hydras were one of the most hated monsters that reside in the Everfree forest, only behind timber wolves.
To return the hydra home with him, Tenebra had to create a separate shadow step portal for him to go through because normally, each portal could only handle a single step. Once the pair were back at Pure’s household, Tenebra walked down the stairs to the lounge room, where Pure Cabbage spent so much of her out of work time. As she spotted the younger unicorn, a grin appeared on her face and a pair of hooves appeared around Tenebra, hugging him. “Pure, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet, please stay calm and remember, don’t judge a book by its cover.” The pony nodded, and Tenebra called Anguis down the stairs, Pure’s eyes widening further as he got closer. When his full body, claw-like feet and eight heads were in view, Pure opened her mouth, then closed it again immediately after, not knowing what to say to a strange looking hydra in her house. “Hi, I’m Anguis, nice to meet you,” the hydra stated nervously, clearly put off by the look he was receiving. Finally, Pure regained her senses and introduced herself, wondering if this was some strange dream. Tenebra asked the older pony if they could get an extra mattress in his room for Anguis to sleep on, and Pure hastily nodded, then quickly left the room. Once she departed, the two friends burst out laughing at her reaction to Anguis and the speed in which the left her favourite room in the house.
Pure Cabbage returned a few minutes later having brought another mattress into Tenebra’s room for the hydra to sleep on, which signified that it was time to get some rest. The two friends retreated to their room and recovered from the big day in the most efficient way they knew how, sleeping.
Back at the Crystal Empire, the pair of eyes observed the magnificent city, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and re-enslave the crystal ponies for good.
