The Darkest Hour

Twilight stood next to the corpse of her dear brother and sister. She never thought the day where her siblings death would come and with such a fowl ending.

They don't deserve this... This is just an illusion...

The purple alicorn was desperately trying to convince herself that this reality was make-believe. That it was just all some type of magic that played tricks on her mind or that she was still asleep in the soft, silky mattress. However, she couldn't deny what she saw. The way her emotions flew into a rage, the smell of something rotting and iron from the splattered blood, and the vulgar sights before her. These were just all too real for magic.

Her gaze slowly moved from the ground to the malicious figure that stood only a few feet away from her. Twilight's eyes were hazed out and unfocused. She couldn't think properly anymore, but one things was sure for her: He's the reason why they died.

King Sombra held his ground with his sword in both hands, ready to strike or defend at any moment. His eyes were fixated on Twilight, refusing to move his focus on anything else. A small bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head. The ominous magical presence she was giving off reminded him of the one time where he felt true fear. He hated knowing what it was like to be afraid. King Sombra, however, dismissed the thoughts. He knew that one wrong move here could mean potential death. Twilight is extraordinarily smart and he knew from experience. His feet slowly inched toward the left as he tried to get into Twilight's blind-spot. Sombra knew she was mentally broken and he wanted, no, needed to take full advantage of that. All of his strength hadn't returned yet because he had just gotten his physical form back. He took a step forward towards the distracted alicorn ever so slightly. He took a few more steps. Then he charged. Sombra's movements were swift and silent. His sword slashed at Twilight's midpoint, her stomach, but had instead sliced through air.

His eyes widened as Twilight was just suddenly gone. Her body was just in front of him, but now she had vanished.

Teleportation?! No, I didn't feel any type of transporting magic being used. Illusions? It can't be. Those have no affect on me.

There was a low groan that came from behind Sombra. He immediately turned and saw Twilight standing behind him. She was hunched over and stumbled as she desperately tried to stay standing. Her movements were uncoordinated and sloppy. It was like she was possessed by something, or someone.

"This is going to be interesting." he muttered to himself under his breath.

Twilight felt sick to her stomach. Her head was throbbing painfully. She couldn't speak or move properly and that only infuriated her even more. In her eyes, all she saw was King Sombra and his grin.  She looked up at the unicorn. Anything else to her was blurry. Just then, darkness flooded Twilight's vision.  She lost sight of everything, even Sombra and Shining armor. Panic rose through her body. She would surely be killed the same way her brother was. However, this darkness felt warm and strangely gentle. It was vastly different than the one she experienced earlier. The black tree stood tall in front of her. The light was dim, but bright enough to show the outline of the tree. The silver leaves were slowly falling from their branches and evaporated in the middle of their descending. However, new leaves didn't sprout. The branches remained naked and alone.

What stood in front of Twilight was no longer the same beautiful silver-leaf tree, but something that was dying. The roots began to shrivel and pulled themselves out of the ground. The bark became frail and chipped off at the slightest touch. The grass that Twilight felt against her toes slowly hardened. It felt as if she were standing on broken twigs. Twilight blinked once and what stood in front of her was no longer a tree, but another one of herself. She didn't recoil back or even showed any reaction to this, even though she was surprised on the inside. Twilight simply stared into the eyes of herself, except those weren't the same eyes. The white had turned into a shade of black. Her purple pupils turned into a dark crimson red. The color of her fur was darker than Twilight's. It opened its mouth to speak, but decided against it as she closed her mouth and instead offered a grin. It reminded her of King Sombra.

This new figure gave off a feeling that she couldn't describe. It was just...negative. Everything that brings pain, sorrow, hurtfulness, and things like that were all bottled up into this one figure. It was the darkness in your heart. The two alicorns stared at each other in silence, one with the grin and the other with a blank expression. None of them uttered a single word towards each other. After several moments of silence, the Twilight wearing the grin waved at her before backing up into the void. Everything came back in full color. Sombra was in front her as well as her brother and sister. Except two were dead and one wasn't. Twilight's thought process became more refined. She could put two and two together again. The encounter she just had had somehow repaired her mental state

For now... she thought to herself.

King Sombra stared at Twilight. His eyes had widened considerably and his grin changed into something more suited for cowardice. What he just witnessed wasn't possible. He carefully took steps backwards in fear. He was furious at his own emotions.

Fear?! To this foal?! He gritted his teeth and glared at Twilight. In a brief moment, no longer than two seconds, King Sombra saw something that struck fear into this stallions cold heart.

While King Sombra was preparing to strike the hunched over Twilight, he was stopped dead in his tracks. There was another entity present on the field that gave off a dangerous atmosphere. However, Sombra couldn't see who it was, nor was he able to detect an actual life form nearby that could have created a pressure this heavy. He suspected the source to be coming from Twilight, but her mental state was broken. The main source was indeed coming from Twilight's general direction. He glared at the mare, but saw that she was still in a hazy state. When he looked further beyond her, there was an odd silhouette that seemed to shadow the Princess of Magic.

When he looked past the purple alicorn, he felt as if he were staring into the heart of a monster. Monster is a light expression of what Sombra felt. Fear was temporarily etched into his heart as he was paralyzed in from shock and disbelief. Twilight was standing in front of Sombra in complete darkness. The void around them was more intense that anything Sombra had ever felt and much more powerful than anything he could create. He was truly terrified. The Twilight figure that stood in front of him was the same as the one that stood in front of the purple alicorn beforehand. Except she was angry this time. Her anger could be physically felt. It was like the air around him began to slowly contract upon his body and slowly crush every bone he had. This feeling was all caused by the raw emotions being spewed out of this new figure.

Twilight stood up straighter and fixed her gaze on Sombra. She could see things clearly now. Her mind was back to a somewhat normal state. Her muscles moved on command and the pain in her head was nothing more than a less-than-noticeable throb. However, despite all this, anger and sadness continued to rise and flare inside the young princess. Her actions were blinded by emotions. Twilight raised both of her arms to take a fighting position. She knew that the fight wouldn't be on her side. As skilled as she is, Sombra has more experience in combat. His knowledge far surpassed her own. However, she knew that if she ran, her death was certain. Instead, she would attempt to battle against the odds to try and survive. In Twilight's current state, avenging her family would be impossible. She began to lightly hop on her toes. A magical suit of armor was placed around her body for protection. Twilight shook away the memories of the encounter with her darker self. That would need to be addressed at a later date, not in the midst of battle.

There was a moment of silence and stillness between the two. They stood only a few feet front each other's throat. Twilight felt exhausted even before the fight began. Sombra was, however, refreshed and filled with energy. The malicious stallion threw his sword handle into his right hand and leaped towards Twilight. It was a fast leap as his blade cut the air in the swift movement. Twilight reacted equally as quick and brought up her left arm to block his sword. A loud clank of metal was heard as the blade dug into the magical armor, nearly slicing through the protection that Twilight wore and cutting off her arm.

The impact had forced Twilight to jump to her right. She kicked the ground to help accelerate her jump as the blade slid off of the armor. She was surprised. The protection she dawned was of high-tier magic that took her months to acquire, 8 months and 23 days to be exact.  From this point on, Twilight knew that any direct hit to her armor is fatal, no matter how strong or weak the swing of the blade was. It took her a moment to recover from the strike, but it was a second too long. Sombra had followed Twilight's footsteps and there was another swing. This strike came at a diagonal angle that was slashing upwards. Twilight was forced bend the top portion of her body more to the right in order to avoid the slash. In the moment of her dodging, Sombra's left fist found its mark at the mare's stomach. The impact was strong enough to crack through the magic armor and push Twilight backwards.

Twilight flew back as she felt the fist. Her mind went numb for a split-second before she was able to somewhat conceive what had just happened. She coughed viciously before vomiting clear liquid. Sombra looked down at his left hand and repeatedly clenched his fist. His strength was steadily returning. The purple alicorn tried her hardest attempt at standing straight. In the moment of what she thought was Sombra taunting her, Twilight used her magic to boost her dash forward. In a matter of milliseconds, the princess stood directly in front of the now surprised stallion. Her right fist made contact against Sombra's chest. However, his armor was proven to be far to tough as her punch didn't leave a dent and ricocheted off of his chest. Almost immediately, she kicked the ground to grow distance between the two. She was shocked at how ineffective her attacks were. Twilight's chances of survival were getting slimmer by the second.

She hunched over slightly and focused her sights only on Sombra. Anything else besides him at this point would just be a distraction and could lead to her death. She refused to die here, not by him. Using her magic, Twilight summoned a familiar. This wasn't an animal familiar, but more so of an object. She summoned four double-edged blades that floated around her body, the tips facing the sky. They slowly rotated around her torso, being just inches away from actually touching her. She lifted her right hand out and flicked her wrist as one sword fell out of rotation. It hovered above Twilight's head, the tip now pointed towards Sombra. She flicked her wrist once more and the sword was sent flying at him. He easily parried the projectile, but three more swiftly followed. Each blade was thrown off target by King Sombra, but one had been more resistant than the others. Instead of making a wide arc like the others, it had managed to stay on track, but only cut Sombra's cheek. Blood trickled down the side of the stallions face, but what came out wasn't red. Instead of blood flowing out, a purple substance slowly flowed down his cheek. In Twilight's eyes, it was a mistake to even categorize King Sombra as a pony anymore.

Twilight continued her assault with the four magical blades. Her attacks were smooth and coordinated. Each strike was always followed by one or two more. The stallion was now on the defenses as he moved to dodge or used his sword to change the trajectory of the blades. Twilight thought of running while Sombra was distracted, but she had to be within a certain range to control these magical swords. If she moved too far out, than these blades would disperse into the void. Her only choice was to fend off this creature of the dark until help came.

If it'll be here before I die... Twilight quickly shook her head. No! I have to think positive! Help will surely come!

Lost in her train of thought, there was a loud yell. She took a step back from being startled by this shout. Sombra was surrounded by a nasty feeling red aura. In an instant, the blades dissolved. Twilight could feel pulses of magic emitting from deep within Sombra. It was filled with anger, desperation, rage, sadness, and vengeance. He approached the mare with his sword held tightly in his right hands. Twilight began to panic as she threw up a shield to try and protect her so she could gain distance between the two of them. However, the moment the shield was thrown up, it was quickly shattered by a single strike of Sombra's sword. Twilight tried again and again to put up shields, but each one fell in one swoop.

She knew her shields were doing nothing, but devised to use his strength as her advantage. She created another shield between them.

"WHEN WILL YOU LEARN ALL OF THIS IS FUTILE?!" the black-fur stallion roared at the top of his lungs. He threw his sword down and broke the shield.

Twilight acted quickly. She used the shards of hardened magic that were made when the shield shattered as a type of camouflage. Swiftly stepping under all of the debris Sombra created, she placed her foot on the blade and pushed down. Not expecting the sudden force of his blade, the sword hit the ground with Twilight's foot holding it down. She followed this gesture with an uppercut. Her right fist, backed by a high concentration of magic focused directly on her fist, pushed against the unforgiving armor and broke through Sombra's breastplate. Her fist connected with his chest as he was forced backwards from the impact. He knelt down and wheezed heavily. The punch had thrown all of the air out of Sombra, forcing him to recover his breath back.

Twilight charged at Sombra in a single dash. She attempted to hit Sombra's temple with a left hook, but he rolled backwards. Sombra contracted his legs before extending them outwards so his feet were planted flatly against Twilight's chest, forcing her to be pushed backwards and fall. Instead of falling, she used her arms to perform a back-flip and landed squarely on her feet. Sombra had rolled backwards and jumped up on his feet. They both stood and the staring battle continued. The sword was of equal distance between them and whoever moved had the advantage and disadvantage.

Sombra was the first to act. He moved at an incredible speed and reached out for his blade. Twilight reacted equally as fast and had created one extra familiar blade. It was hidden behind her back, but moved above Twilight and was sent flying downwards towards Sombra's skull. The stallion clawed his left hand and swiped the air between the blade and himself, intending the catch the blade. However, a black substance that moved in a strange pattern followed his hand in the arc he made. The blade clashed against the shadows and broke instantly. Sombra quickly grabbed his sword and jolted back upright. Twilight was shocked at what she witnessed.

Dark Magic?! Not only was that Dark Magic, but he manipulated the shadows?!

Her teeth pressed against each other harshly. Dark Magic was the second most powerful type of magic. It was closely behind Light Magic, which was the more appropriate form of magic to learn. Twilight knew that she couldn't beat that. She just couldn't. Her magic wasn't powerful enough to face off against something like that. However, now that she knew this, she could try and play against it, to try and force him to use his magic power and exhaust himself. She summoned more familiar blades and took two in hand while having three more above her head. Five blades were her limit and she dared not go past that.

King Sombra was shocked. He didn't know that his magic power could recover so quickly. His face grew a malicious grin as he felt new-found strength surging through him.

This magic will make killing that wench even faster. This battle should have ended sooner, but her relentlessness to die is annoying.

Sombra held the sword tightly in his right hand and hunched his back just ever so slightly. In one strong kick that left a crater in the ground, he lunged forward. The sword he wielded aimed directly for Twilight's heart while his left hand was still in its claw position. He thrusted his blade forward only to have it caught between and pushed upwards by the twin magic swords Twilight held onto. The three blades above her were shot down at the supposedly exposed stallion. Sombra released his blade and, in lightning quick motions, rotated his body 180 degrees. He grabbed onto the sword as he pushed down with his blade to support him. Twilight foolishly pushed back up to match his strength, but all was according to his plan. He used Twilight's strength to help and keep him from falling. Sombra's left hand swiped the spacing between him and the blades. Another dark shadow followed his hand movement and created a makeshift shield. The blades were shattered upon impact.

Sombra used the ground to kick himself up and over Twilight. His blade curved under the twin swords she held as he used his might to try and strike downwards to pull the mare with him. She loosened the blades so his would go through, but he thought ahead of this. Sombra's left hand grabbed the mare's mane and pulled. This lifted Twilight above Sombra. His threw the alicorn on the ground, face first, and laughed. The wind was knocked out of Twilight as she rolled to the side and jumped to her feet. Sombra used his magic to hold Twilight in place with shadows as he walked over to her. A wicked grin grew across his face.

Twilight tried to gain freedom from the invisible restraints around her. She panicked as the stallion slowly inched closer and closer to her. The horn she wielded refused to glow and use magic. Something about the restraints were blocking Twilight's use of magic. She was too focused on trying to escape that she didn't even notice that Sombra was standing less than a feet away from her.

Suddenly, Twilight's body jerked backwards, then forwards. She felt the restraints no long, but her limbs refused to move. Both of her arms grew limp and her legs grew weak. There was a cold feeling around the left side of her chest. She felt something inside of her, but couldn't make out what it was. Her head had refused to move down to see what was going on, but in the back of her mind, she knew what it was. The strange sensation soon became something she was more accustomed to...

Pain