Peaceful. The Everfree was dark, dank, and filled with monsters, creatures, and even foliage that would like nothing more than taking a pony for a live snack. The things that wouldn’t have eaten a pony were those that would rather turn the victim into stone, into a tree, or even curse a pony to an extent that could be fatal as part of some cruel prank for amusement. The forest was ever free, but any outsiders that got caught within would have a worse fate than death and a much worse fate than even the criminals sentenced to rot for untold years in a cell. And much like prison, everything gets quiet when the baddest of the bad walks in. It was peaceful.
“Crystal Heart,” Sombra muttered under his breath. “All that time and nobody has been decent enough to do them in.. nobody! Now even the dragons aid their idiocy! Once I find my horn this whole kingdom will finally see the true light instead of that blasted sun of ‘her highness.’” Sombra spat to the side, causing a plant to crawl away to avoid him. He stopped and sighed in deep annoyance. He didn't know why his horn had come here to this forest, nor did he know how to get it back since it was staying underground or just out of his reach. He had collected the rest of himself fairly easily, further alluding him as to the reasons behind his own horn’s defiance.
“The new royal guests will get special treatment for this as well. ‘Prince Shining Armor’ and ‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,’” he said their names mockingly and spat again. His ears perked up only slightly when he heard some twigs snapping nearby. He squinted his eyes and looked to his side with a growl. “I’ll show you what I’d like to do to them both,” he told the approaching timber wolf. “That purple one and her pet too.”
The timber wolf, feeling threatened, barked and leapt towards Sombra only to land on empty ground. The wolf turned it’s head around to face the king’s hoof just in time to see it smash it’s face back and down into the mud. Another hoof struck down with impressive force into the shoulder blades of the creature, making it’s whole body snap and fall apart. One hoof stayed on the creature’s head as his other quickly struck against the plating of his horseshoes. Sparks flew off of his shoes and set most of the wolf’s body on fire. The timber wolf rebuilt itself seconds later only to suffer through death by fire as the king continued on his way. Normally the wolf could have passed on to other branches and such. But there wasn’t anything available to imbue it’s energies into. The plants and everything else around it fled due to the king’s impressive presence, leaving the wolf stranded and without time. The seemingly immortal creature was unable to survive. It’s life simply vanished within the flames.
Sombra yawned as he approached the ruins of what used to be a castle. A strange purple glow emanated from within it, and he was more than sure it was what he sought after. He had spent days, perhaps weeks now trying to track it down and it was finally within his grasp. He would have his magic back and finally be able to enact his revenge. The princesses took his kingdom and he’d be damned if he didn’t take theirs in turn.
~ ~ ~
“Time has always been a cruel mistress. You can push things back, put things behind you, whatever you prefer. But time always catches up no matter where you go. Sacrifice is an option to restore balance in nature if one wishes to pass loss onto another. Nature itself is the cause of our perception of time, and thus either works with or rules over time as we know it. Death is a part of both nature and time and neither one can stop it from happening altogether, however.. new life always comes from death.
Many have questioned what happens when we die. But what are ‘we?’ A body made of cells following a genetic code? Or our mind, or more precisely, our memory? Bodies always pass on, always become recycled into other things, so in that sense we are never really gone. But do recycled cells hold memory? If memory fades away through time am I causing his death?
Is what I’m about to do an act of cruelty? Am I only pushing back time even more? What else can I do to preserve the right future other than sacrifice? Nature controls our perception of time, time controls the balance of nature, and death is time’s tool to refresh life. And life is a constant struggle against one’s nature. All of them are reality. Reality pisses me off.”
~ ~ ~
Reality. It was a strange concept. To even be able to consider what was and wasn’t real, the one paying consideration would have to have some semblance of a reality… right? A book in the castle’s library even said that ‘to think is to exist’ and yet… ’It’ felt as if ‘It’ was only a shadow. The beings shown in pictures through the books all looked different somehow. They had to be real as well, but what was it that separated them from ‘It’? ‘It’ just didn't know. There was a possibility that ‘It’ would never know. But ‘It’ would seek the answers. And for simplicity’s sake, and because ‘It’ didn't yet have a name, ‘It’ would just keep referring to itself as ‘It’.
The dark purple mist floated about the many shelves, fazing through book after book until it noticed something. A new presence was in the library, and it looked like one of those same beings from all the pictures. Normally, this should have been exciting, exhilarating even, but ‘It’ only felt pain… and a strange sense of longing. The ‘pony’ as the books would call him looked to be in pain as well.
“You've avoided me long enough!” Sombra yelled at ‘It’. “Our revenge is long overdue!” He stomped a forehoof with enough force to crack the floor to show how strong his determination was, and to pump himself up to confront whatever caused him so much trouble. “Did someone dare to keep my magic from me!?”
‘No!’ ‘It’ thought. ‘It’ knew. ‘It’ had realized what ‘It’ had come from once ‘It’ had seen Sombra. But ‘It’ had separate thoughts now. ‘It’ was a separate being with a separate reality. ‘It’ had a life of ‘It’s’ own!. So what if ‘It’ was just some pony’s horn!
‘I can’t go back,’ ‘It’ thought, ‘I won’t! I want to exist, I want to live, I want to keep being! I’ll keep myself from you as long as I can!’
The magical mist was forced to surround Sombra and ‘It’ felt like ‘It’ was being pulled into the stallion. ‘It’ was fading, no matter how hard ‘It’ tried to resist. On the other hoof, Sombra felt his own consciousness fading. He growled, trying to protest, but he found he could no longer speak. In fact, he was becoming weightless. His thoughts were starting to fade as if he was falling asleep. Soon, neither Sombra nor ‘It’ felt anything. Not even a sliver of existence.
~ ~ ~
“Reality. It is a strange concept. Each individual has a different reality, and yet each one can share parts of itself with other realities. A different reality can become a reality of its own entirely, or just disappear as the other realities around it keep on existing. The common understanding being that one’s reality is made from the heart, the mind, and the body, what happens if just one is lost? What if that lost part becomes its own reality? Would it find other parts to coexist with? Would it take over the other two parts to become a different reality entirely?
This is the curious case of the unicorn king previously known as Sombra. He was once whole: mind, body, and soul. He was split into many, and built himself anew. One part was missing. Sombra was one part too few. He couldn't live without it. He couldn't live once he had found it. And yet it was what made him whole again. Reality. It is a cruel, kind, and strange concept. And it pisses me off.”
The cool night breeze carried the sound of soft and brief sobs throughout the orchard. Big Mac had just been packing some equipment back into the barn after hearing about an upcoming storm. That was when he heard it. At first, he rushed towards the sound thinking that Apple Bloom had gotten hurt. As he got closer, however, he could tell it wasn’t his little sister’s voice.
“Hey!” The red stallion shouted after seeing the silhouette of the small filly. The filly ran in a panic, leaving behind a partially eaten apple that Big Mac tripped over in his pursuit. With a grunt and a moan he stood back up, but the filly was gone. He listened for a few minutes but there were no more sounds to lead him to her. He picked up the apple that he could only barely see in the dark and brought it back to the house as the only evidence he had.
The next morning, Granny Smith was curiously approaching the kitchen that she had normally kept clean. Big Mac had left the apple on one of the family’s kitchen counters. The old mare squinted at it, observing several tiny bite marks that covered the apple. It seemed to have been done by a filly but Apple Bloom wasn’t one to leave leftovers out like that, and she also took larger bites.
“Somethin’ wrong, Granny?” Applejack asked, yawning as she entered the kitchen seeking breakfast. Big Mac and Apple Bloom soon followed, but the red stallion had opened his eyes wide at the sight of the apple. The memory had come back to him, the morning fog clouding his mind being no match for the concern he had for the small filly that had been crying the night before. The rest of the apple family took notice of Mac’s shock and he gestured for them to follow.
“So, a little filly was cryin’ in the orchard last night an’ left that apple behind?” Applejack asked while following her older brother. Granny had opted to stay in the house, her old bones not being able to carry her as well as they used to, and Apple Bloom had stayed with her per Applejack’s say so. Applejack and Mac were the ones to take care of the farm and anything that happened on the farm anyway, Granny Smith being too old and Apple Bloom being too young.
“Eeyup,” he answered his sister simply. He stopped and pointed a hoof at little trails in the dirt next to the apple tree he had seen the filly under. The siblings both frowned sadly at the sight. The little scratches in the bark of the tree, small hoof-prints, and trails in the dirt underneath it, were evidence of a struggle. There were also marks of faded red coloring staining the bark. The filly had hurt herself trying to get the apple.
“Golly..” Was all Applejack could say at the moment, looking at the scene with her hat pressed against her chest in sadness. Big Mac let his head hang down and his shoulders slump a bit. The filly had been sobbing after getting hurt in her attempts to get at an apple… an apple that he had denied her, a small helpless child, after she had worked so hard for it. Needless to say, he felt absolutely horrible, even if he had never meant to do so.
He turned to Applejack and looked into her eyes with a certain determination that told her all she needed to know. She nodded in understanding as he lifted a hoof to point her back to their home. She then watched him gallop off to follow the trail left behind by the small filly. She would let the rest of the family know the situation and do what she could to help.
~ ~ ~
“S-so.. h-hungrryy,” a small filly sobbed under her breath. She limped slowly through a forest hoping to find another tree or bush with colorful orbs on them. She had been trying different things ever since she had woken up the day before, but only the fruits had tasted good. She had no idea why things kept chasing her away every time she had tried to eat, or even if they were an actual threat. But she did know that she was scared of them. Everything seemed so much stronger than her, and she had yet to find anything that looked friendly. She had even been forced to run from moving plants that tried to spit some sort of cloud on her at one point.
“So ya’ll have seen her too, Zecora?” asked Apple Bloom in the distance.
“Seen her I have, dear Apple Bloom,” Zecora started. “She was running from plants that would spell her doom. I tried to follow her to ensure her safety, but my legs proved to not be nearly as hasty.” The zebra looked towards the forest floor in sadness as she walked the red-headed filly towards a strange hut.
The hungry and hurt filly crawled out of a bush she had chosen to hide in and looked up at the mane dangling in front of her eyes, just now noticing that it was even darker than the night had been; pitch black. She then looked at her forehooves and saw that she was a dark gray. She rather liked the colors the other filly had, but at least she could hide more easily in the shadows with her own. No wonder nopony followed her at night. She would need an advantage like that if the zebra’s words had proven to be untrue. She was desperate and would love the zebra’s help. But if the other filly and the zebra were dangerous like the other ones, she would have to run and hide.
“H-here goes..” the dark filly gulped as she limped over to the door leading into the strange hut. She looked at it quizzically, not quite sure what she should do now that she was there. She decided to try pushing on it, but as soon as her hoof touched the door something red had snatched her up. Her eyes widened and she flailed about in a panic trying to get free from whatever monster had grabbed her. Her little heart raced inside her chest as she struggled but slowly became more calm as she accepted her fate. She went limp after a few minutes, giving up completely with a sigh. She was way too exhausted and worn out to fight or escape anymore.
“W-why does.. e-everything want to.. k-kill me?” she said in-between sobs as tears started to run down her cheeks from her tightly closed eyes. She expected to feel intense pain at any moment. She expected to be eaten alive like some of the creatures she had seen before, especially after the second red hoof wrapped around her. Instead, she just felt warmth. She felt the heartbeat of the big red beast that was holding her and she opened her tear-filled eyes to see a kind smile. Somehow, his face told her that she was safe in his hooves. She sobbed and stared into his eyes for a few minutes after. She tried to fight off her exhaustion during that time but it was a losing battle. His warmth just made it worse and her eyes wouldn’t stay open. He held her closer as she fell asleep.
~ ~ ~
"Grampy, grampy, tell us how you got that weird mark again, pleeaasse," pleaded his young granddaughter Senka. "My friend Tedders wants to hear it too!" She held up her stuffed bear proudly as if it was also pleading for a bed time story. He chuckled and lifted her and her friend Tedders into her bed and smiled warmly as he gathered the memories of what he thought was the most exciting adventure of his youth. Though it was also the most painful part of his life.
"I still remember the night that it all went downhill," he began. "I followed my father to the back of his farrier’s shop back when I was a colt of about sixteen years, maybe seventeen. Or was it eighteen? Either way, I was to become the heir of something I still dread to this day."
"Father, where are we headed?" Dwade asked. Dwade looked confused and distraught as he passed through the torch-lit halls that guided them far underground. He had been in his father's casino several times over but not once had he been shown this secret path until now. His father had always been the quiet type but always managed to give a short answer to his son. Nevertheless he was speechless then, not uttering a single word.
When they reached the end of the hall, the two walked into a room well-lit with a smith's furnace and several glistening golden items that reflected the fiery light. The path to the furnace was covered with a red carpet and three strange ponies were lined up on each side; a seventh pony at the end of the carpet. The father pulled Dwade along to that seventh pony who seemed to be the smith. He pulled a hot branding iron from the furnace as the two approached.
"D-dad, what's going-"
Before he could say anything else, the smith shoved the iron onto Dwade's back leg, right below his cutie mark. The image of six upright wings, three on each side, was burned into his skin. As Dwade cried out and his legs buckled, the Smith pulled the iron back.
"Six wings for the Seraph, six guardians under his power," the smith said. "The guardians will protect the heir, for the father has fallen. Don't give them reason to betray you, and you will always be under their protection." As Dwade looked at the burn with tear-filled eyes he noticed the burn drying into a glistening gold. He let out another cry as his other leg received the same mark. Six golden wings would be forever engraved in both of his legs as proof that he was their new leader.
“It is done,” the father started. “I.. I can only give you this, the safety of our clan, until the night returns.” The six ponies and the smith bowed as the father turned and walked back down the path. Dwade tried to follow but was quickly surrounded by his ‘six wings’ and the path’s only entrance closed itself off, blending into the wall perfectly. Dwade was confused, stunned, and in pain. But strangely enough, he was also calm.
“Your father was a smart one,” the smith said. “I trust he prepared you, even if you had no idea what for.” Dwade only nodded in reply, his tears drying slightly and his eyes seemingly becoming emotionless as he stared towards the now invisible exit. “With a cutie mark like that map of yours, I’d be willing to bet quite a lot that you’ll do your job just fine. Not to mention your family’s rare affinity.” He poked Dwade’s horn which had no spiral, was curved upwards, and was longer than that of an average unicorn’s.
“You and your fellow Monoceri will make quite an impression when needed, Seraph,” the smith continued. “You have much to learn yet, but you’re line shall pave the way for the prophesied three.”
~ ~ ~
‘Who are the three, Grampy?’ she thought. The dark-colored little filly shuffled a little under some blankets before her eyes opened wide. She flailed her limbs more trying to free herself from whatever was holding her captive, memories of the day before returning to her. She kept wriggling and flailing about even after the darn things had been thrown off and didn’t calm down until she felt the warmth they had caused leave her. Her eyes kept shifting, taking in her new surroundings as her panic faded only to come back in quick succession as the red beast opened the door to the room.
“Hey..” Big Mac tried to greet her as carefully and calmly as he could manage. The filly’s eyes filled with tears and she leapt into a closet and tried to close herself in. Her small hoof emerged from the shadows and tried pulling the door a few times before giving up and disappearing. A small bundle of rags had kept it from closing completely. Apple Bloom had walked into the room in time to see everything and raised her brow in response. She walked over to the closet door to peek in and tried giving the scared filly a warm smile when she spotted her, but the filly was really hard to see in the shadows. For a few moments there was absolutely no reaction or even any movement. It was like the filly didn’t even breathe.
“You can come on out, y’know,” Apple Bloom started. “The big guy’s nothin’ to be scared of, he even saved ya!” Taking it upon herself to convince the filly further, Apple Bloom reached in and pulled what she believed to be the scared filly out. Surprisingly the filly came out with little to no resistance. Even more surprisingly, it wasn’t a filly.. it was a gray raincoat.
“No wonder it wasn’t movin’ none,” Apple Bloom stated. She tossed the rain coat aside and looked in the closet, even walking into it and feeling around. “She’s not in here! How’d she get out!?”
“What in tarnation!?” Applejack exclaimed downstairs. Big Mac and Apple Bloom both scurried down to see what had happened. “Why is she so scared of me?” she muttered quietly, more to herself than the others. Twilight and the rest of her friends had arrived early after hearing the news about the filly. They had all been concerned after seeing the filly’s resemblance to King Sombra and had decided to stay and keep an eye on things.
“I don’t know, Aj,” Twilight answered. “But this is very strange. Where did she come from? Why would she be in the forest all alone? I’ve never even seen her before..”
“I-I jus.. I just want to eat, okay!?” The filly stated honestly with a loud roar from her stomach in agreement. She held a frying pan in her hooves with her back pressed into a corner of the kitchen, ready to strike if anypony got too close. She wasn’t going to start a fight and by no means did she want one. Both her body language and her expression told them that. She certainly didn’t seem like the evil king they once knew. That is, until she extended like a shadow to quickly grab the apple that had been sitting on the counter and just as quickly reformed herself in the corner. The filly shoved the apple into her mouth greedily as she ate, still holding her new frying pan tightly so her meal wouldn’t be interrupted again.
“So you really are Sombra?” Rainbow asked with a raised brow. “Seriously? What happened to you?” The others looked to Rainbow and then quickly back to the filly. They were all too confused to really do anything about the situation. The filly in question, however, just glared at the cyan pegasus as she finished her apple.
“Isn’t Sombra the Unicorn King who enslaved the crystal empire?” the filly stated with a raised brow and questioning tone. “Do I look a thousand years old to you? I haven’t enslaved anypony, and I’ve never even seen any crystal empires. I think I have seen Tartarus though, it certainly feels like I went through it and back just to get a single apple!” She then looked down at her belly as it grumbled for more before looking back at the shocked ponies.
“If you don’t want to hurt me, could I have more?” she asked with a sigh and pleading eyes. Big Mac approached the counters and lifted down a bowl filled with more apples to the filly. She hesitated a bit, eyeing the red stallion carefully before taking it.
“But- How!?” Twilight suddenly spoke out. The sudden outburst scared the filly a little and made her cough as a piece of apple went down wrong. “How would you even know what happened if you weren’t Sombra?” Twilight asked more calmly.
“She read it in your book, silly!” Pinkie cheerfully replied. For the most part, the pink pony had sat quietly and waited for the others to catch up, playing along during the dramatic bits. It was a rather odd thing to do, but her friends knew better than to question her actions anyway.
“My book?” Twilight asked quizzically. “What book? Where would she even-“
“Wait!” the little filly gasped. “Y-you.. you’re Twilight Sparkle?” She dropped her partially eaten apple into the bowl and stared at the purple alicorn with wide eyes. “You wrote that journal with all those letters to.. Celestia?” The filly looked to the floor for a moment, then her eyes quickly focused back onto Twilight. She was confused as to why she had conflicted feelings while saying the names of the princesses, but it was just one more of many unanswered questions.
“You read my journal?” Twilight asked quizzically. “But I picked it up from the castle..” Twilight’s eyes widened slightly as she stared off into her own thoughts, as if putting several pieces of a puzzle together. “You were in the castle of the two sisters a few days ago?”
“I.. can’t remember a few days ago, or even a castle but.. I know I've read a lot, including your letters,” the filly replied. She then looked at each of them in turn with questioning eyes for just a few moments each. “I remember it being written by six different ponies, and I think it was color-coded with bookmarks.”
“Was there anypony else there with you?” Twilight asked. “Fluttershy’s animals warned her about something awful entering the forest, and by the time she came to warn me I was already investigating the disappearance of the Everfree on my map!”
“No.. I don’t remember much,” the filly stated. “I.. I woke up in a bush and don’t even remember being around books, I just know I've read them.” She stared at the floor with a saddened and confused expression, wanting answers even more desperately than Twilight. Twilight slowly approached her and tried to sit beside her but the filly quickly dodged and weaved around the ponies to the other side of the room. Twilight gave a little sigh before approaching again, but this time leaving some space between them.
“I’m sure we’ll figure everything out.. and I’d be honored to help you any way I can. Do you at least know your name, maybe?” Twilight asked with a kind smile. The filly sniffed back a tear or two, not even letting her eyes water before looking back at Twilight’s smile and forcing a weak smile in return. She had been lost. She had been in danger after danger all while facing starvation and exhaustion. But at least she faintly remembered a name from her strange dream. She wasn’t completely certain it was her own, but it was a start.
“I.. I think it’s Senka.”
