Prologue
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Three Days before the vanishing of the Crystal Empire
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"Sir, the princesses will be here within three days estimated time."
"Do you have any respect for those two sisters? Shinning flame."
"No Sombra." Shinning flame replied
"DO NOT address me by name peasant" Sombra growled
"Sorry sir, no sir I have no respect for them, sir" flame replied
"Then why do you address them with a title? They are even lower on the chain of command than you are." Sombra spoke regalness in his tone
"Sorry, sir. will not happen again sir," flame stated.
"Better not or else your punishment would have lasted another 2 days" Sombra replied cryptically
"P-punishment sir" flame questioned
"Yes, punishment. you get to be the latest training dummy for the new slave's for the next month" Sombra replied no hint of emotion in his tone
"Of course sir" flame replied trying to mask his anger
"How is the dark alicorn project coming?"
"No change sir he is still fighting."
"How fortunate.. grab the colts mother," Sombra growled
"Sir, permission to speak freely." flame asked
"Granted"
"Why are you speeding up the process sir we have no idea the effects it could have."
" as always Stupid Question, if he is resistant to my dark magic injections he can handle a little pegasus and unicorn magic" Sombra replied slightly irked
"Sorry sir" flame apologised
"Now go get the colts mother"
"Sir"
In a blank room made of dark crystals, as well as a single door a small colt with a Whiskey coat and a San Felix main which gradients towards a Tangerine Yellow along with his piercing blue eyes was strapped and restrained to a table make of black crystals
"So dizzy why does everything hurt?" the colt mumbled
"Why that's just because you are resisting my dear friend," Sombra said in an oddly cheery voice
"I'm not your friend." the colt stated, venom in his voice
"Such harsh words, I'm just trying to give you a gift."
"I don't want it"
"Why wouldn't anyone want to be an alicorn? And when you are, I shall become one as well."
"You don't deserve to become an alicorn only the princesses do"
"Don't YOU DARE SPEAK OF THEM 158" Sombra shouted anger pronoun in his voice
"I HAVE A NAME its Balance Breaker"
"I shall call you what I want, now for your next injection," Sombra stated Giddiness hidden behind a mask of neutrality in his voice
"No stop I don't want anymore I can feel it under my skin it HURTS" balance screamed
"No pain no gain" Sombra scolded as he charged his dark magic. Dark purple Black and green magic gathering around his horn purple lighting discharging from the mass as he leant down and touched the Colt on the head with his horn. the dark magic forcefully injected itself into the colt
Balance Screamed
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15 minutes later
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"give in to the darkness child" Sombra whispered still pumping dark magic into the colt
"No NEVER. if my mom and dad can keep fighting so can I" balanced screamed out when he had the breath
"well then I guess I can go to the next step" Sombra stated Stoping the magic injection
"Flame. Bring them in" Sombra growled out
"sir" Shinning flame replied. as he disappeared behind a caged door seconds later he came back with a screaming and struggling pegasus mare. The mare in question has a light blue coat with a two-toned turquoise main following behind him was a unicorn stallion with his head hung low with a yellow-green mane and a light brown coat
"MOM, DAD" Balanced screamed out
"Balance" the mare replied the other just hung his head in shame no fight left within him
"now-now don't get too comfortable. we have a schedule to keep"
"what do you want monster" the mare responded
"I have a name Soaring Wind. call me Sombra we are much closer by the way. What with you helping me fulfill my plans" Sombra replied
"I have no words for you" Wind Stated
"flame. Restrain her and get Binding Gleam there as well"
"sir" flame replied no hint of emotion in his voice as he chained Soaring Wind down to the ring on the floor in the center of a magical circle along with Blinding Gleam
"what are you doing to my parents?" Balance blurted out angrily
"Oh nothing that bad just helping them give the greatest gift of all to their little colt" Sombra replied cryptically as he charged his magic once more. But unlike last time, the magic flowed slowly as if on a gentle breeze towards Soaring Wind. As it reached her it split into two as it slowed down lashing out grabbing Soaring Wind wing's and Blinding Gleam's Horn. As this happened the arcane circle glowed to life. They screamed as they were in absolute agony. After ten seconds of screaming a light blue energy was visible around Soaring wind and around Blinding Gleam's horn, a green energy was visible as the dark magic gripped it and tore it away from then as it then traveled towards Balance the mare stopped struggling and slumped. Once it reached balance it then was forcefully injecting into him through the dark magics power once it was finished the dark magic injected itself into him.
"Mom.. dad"
"im fine son just exhausted just keep fighting, the princesses will save you"
"im ok honey... just a little tired" Soaring assured
"what did you do to them?" Balance cried out
"just extracted her pegasus magic and his Unicorn magic, Good thing you're an earth pony I don't need to get one of them now, I'm surprised you're still Awake after that, every other time I've done this the magic fights the new host until there ripped apart. I think I've outdone myself. although you still don't have wings? or a horn for that matter"Sombra complained slightly irked that the experiment hadn't gone as planned"let's go leave him be if he doesn't become an alicorn within the next two days end him."
"sir" flame replied as he unchained the two broken ponies from the floor and dragged them back with them Sombra followed out shortly
Later that night
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"Oh you poor child let me help you out of those chains." a voice said with a slightly gruff tone towards it
"w-who are you?" balance ask Fear present in his tone
"oh where are my manners my name is Starswirl"
"Starswirl The bearded?"
"that's me" Starswirl replied as he started to disable the anti-teleportation field around the room
"What did Sombra do you, child?" Starswirl questioned
At the mention of Sombra, balance got angry very angry "I - I'll I'LL KILL HIM... HE DID THIS. ITS HIS FAULT" as Balanced said that his coat turned a sickly pale blue-white his mane turning a pale grey and his eyes turned pure black with purple smoke leaking out, and a horn grew on his forehead curved slightly but pure black in colour, not a second later did his screaming start as a pair of bat-like wings erupted from his back with razor sharp talons at the ends of the bones.
Starswirl watched with interest as the colt broke out of the chains with ease "there-there son, just take it easy now, we can leave now" star swirl comforted carefully as Balance breaker calmed down his horn retracted and was no longer visible sane with his wings and his coat and main turned back to their original color's, balance slump down exhausted
"wha-what happened?"
"I believe some of Sombra's dark magic may have affected you in an unusual way come child stand next to me and ill take you from this horrid place, I believe I can cure you of your plight in time"
"Thanks, mister bearded." Balance said as he walked towards Starswirl
"Please call me Starswirl, what is your name? I don't believe I asked before," Starswirl stated as he started the teleportation spell
"My name is Balance Breaker"
"That's a nice name balance even if it is unusual for a pony." Starswirl said as the light of the teleportation spell took effect
and then they disappeared
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Starswirls laboratory
In an empty room field to the brim with scrolls tomes and other books along with quills ink and other writing equipment and in flash of golden light two figures appeared one in a pointy wizard's hat and the other with his head hung low
"Mr.Starswirl sir?"
"yes balance?"
"Can you fix me and my fix, my parents?"
"that depends on Balance, what happened to your parents?"
"Sombra said he took the pegasi magic from my mom and the unicorn magic from my dad and put it in me, he said normally the process rips apart anyone else he has done it too."
"hmm. well I don't think I can do anything now, see if the magic doesn't want to be there it will simply destroy its host from the inside out, it's like magic is a dragon and the cave his the body. now if you take a dragon from one cave to another the cave that the new dragon is going into is going to be attacked by the caves resident. Now if they accepted each other... hmm let's just say that they merge and make a bigger dragon that can't be split back to the original two dragons. Is that easier to understand."
"yeah I guess, will my parent's cave be okay now that their dragon isn't there?"
"I'm not sure but perhaps in given enough time their cave would create a new dragon"
"that's good"
"balance, I know this is much to ask but there is only one thing I know of that could help cure you of the dark magic Sombra inflicted. If I were to take a guess I would suggest using the Crystal Heart. unfortunately, Sombra still has the heart. I was hoping you would know where it could be?"
"he has it on display just out of reach of anyone and since it is not in the right position it can't be activated."
"could you lead me to it we leave in a days time if you can then after we activate the heart it should break Sombra's Anti-Teleportation fields as well as his shield to stop ponies from entering or leaving"
"I thought you said you broke his teleport stopping thing"
"yes and no I broke the one around your cell but not the one in the city we are still in the city just at a place I have fortified"
"oh ok well, I guess I can take you to it. But if we find Sombra we turn around deal?"
"deal, but before you get some rest if you would like I can try and remove some the dark magic from you"
"w-will it hurt, if it hurts I don't want to well not now at the moment."
"it will depend on how far the magic is integrated with your body"
"well I guess if you stop when I tell you to I will"
"alright, ill start now. You ready?" Starswirl ask's. in response balance just nods his head as Starswirl lights his horn, his golden aura spreading throughout the room. he gently taps the colt on the forehead.
"hmm, this is most certainly odd it seems that all of the dark magic every bit has merged with the pegasus and the unicorn magic but what perplexes me the most is that your earth pony magic has well absorbed it."
"so does that mean that I'm gonna be evil? I don't want to be evil"
"oh my no child I mean that it should have merged but your native magic has completely overpowered the dark magic and is so in tune with your body that if I were to remove it without harmonious magic it would be very painful, but if you still want me to try I will"
"well I guess but please make it quick"
"I shall," Starswirl says as he levitates a clear crystal closer to him
"what is that?"
"well we can't have dark magic floating around the air its bad for your health and I don't want to take any chances of Sombra being able to track it. so I will inject what I take out into this crystal. are you ready if you don't want to do this I will not do it just say the word when to stop and I will"
"alright you can start please just make it quick"
"such a brave colt" Starswirl thought as he started the extraction process
"acghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" balance started to scream as a pure black with sickly green streaks of magic removed itself from his eyes and mouth and into the crystal
"stop please stop" balance pleaded Starswirl complied
"sorry child I did not think it would hurt as much as it did but, unfortunately, I barely even got one percent of the dark magic and you need not worry your parents magic is still there as well I made sure to not extract it" as he said this the dark crystal shattered and the magic flew back into balance
"my this is worse then I thought, I am truly sorry young balance please try and get some sleep we have a trip to take and a heart to fix"
"o-okay" balance whispered between sobs as Starswirl leads him to a small cot with a light blanket
"Remember your safe here. Tomorrow when we find the heart and unleash its power we shall prevail and reunite you with your parents. now goodnight and sleep well." Starswirl said trying to comfort balance
"goodnight" balance replied groggily as Starswirl walked towards his desk and started writing a letter
Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
I have succeeded in infiltrating the crystal empire. I am happy to report that I believe that I can take down the dark shield Sombra has placed over the city. Allowing you to get the ponies out safely and give you easy access to the city. While I was exploring Sombras main Hoofhold I discovered that he has been trying to create Alicorns. From what I was able to gather, he has in some way has succeeded. But this is not to his own advantage as I have his only somewhat successful Artifical alicorn here with me. I would fill you in on the details but time is short as I need rest, I would rather not like to recall how much he tortured the poor colt. I shall give you a brief rundown and hypostasis on what I believe has happened.
first, Sombra has forcefully injected the colt known as balance breaker with copious amounts of his dark magic. So much in fact that I can not remove it at all as it has completely merged with his own magic. What I find truly despicable is the fact that he used the own colts parents for the next part of his experiment, using his dark magic to forcefully rip the magic out of his parents and inject it into the colt. from what I am able to hypothesise, I believe his goal was to create some form of an army of fake alicorns to attack you with. however, I also believe Sombra does not know he has succeeded as there is no trace what so ever of the colt being an alicorn. I know not if he does or not but I do know it is unlikely that Sombra knows.
I, however, can confirm that his procedure has in fact worked. when I first arrived in the cell the colt was occupying I mention Sombra. he got angry of course with justifiable reasons. with him torturing him and his family.but with that anger the dark magic that was bonded to him altered him and transformed him into an alicorn or rather a dark alicorn. the colts colors were drained out to black and white with the dark magics black and purples coming through. although he was in control. somewhat. unlike how dark magic effects unicorns. for that matter, such is the case with Sombra. it seems as though he has much more will over the corrupting force than anyone I've seen
I managed to calm him down and in doing so he returned to his normal colors as well as his normal form. it is intriguing but yes the horn and wings retracted not disappeared but retracted I'll look into this on further notice however I will try and use the crystal heart to purge him of this plight. I can still feel the harmonious energy from the heart it should have enough charge to break the shield and purge the dark magic around it but I am not certain about the whole city I hope we can resolve this as quickly as possible
Your friend Starswirl
"that should do it" Starswirl concluded as he used the green fire candle to light the letter on fire and send it to its destination
"o my look at the moon I should get some rest now." Starswirl thought as he found his cot close to Balance's and rested for the night
Starswirl awoke to the sound of crying, for an idle minute he laid there wondering where the sound was coming from. Curiosity won over the sleep induced laziness as he rose from his cot, he noticed the young colt Balance Breaker on his cot trying to mask the sound of his cries
"Balance, please you must talk to me. Tell me what troubles you," Starswirl asked. As he made his way towards Balance only to realise he was asleep
"I see" Starswirl stated as he moved to wake Balance from his nightmare
"what- mo- m where am I?"
"relax balance you are safe. Sombra is not here" Starswirl comforted as he stroked balance's mane trying to ignore the small burst of dark magic when he mentioned Sombra
"how about we get some food hmm"
"R- really it hasn't even been two days since I last ate?"
"Well, it looks like your going to get spoiled rotten from now on then. come now lest the food goes mouldy" Starswirl jest trying to lighten the mood
"what would you like, we have oatmeal, hay or pancakes, I think that's what they call them."
"um just some oatmeal if that's alright with you" balance suggested
"Of course, Just follow me and we shall head to the dining room," Starswirl said as he walked towards the door to his left motioning his hoof for balance to follow
After breakfast, Starswirl has finally had a chance to look at balances injuries
"hmm I suggest just taking it easy for now your ribs have some bruising but that is the worst of it, now I know this is going to be hard for you but can you lead me to where Sombra has the Crystal Heart?" Starswirl asked while bandaging balances barrel
"w well I guess I can but only if you don't take me back to Sombra" balance replied hesitating slightly
"thank you, balance what your about to do will probably save your entire empire"
"re-Really?"
"Really and more now come along we should be off your alright to walk yes?" Starswirl asked as he motioned for balance to follow, at that moment in a flash of light a letter materialized in the air
"ah, A letter from the princesses"
Dear Starswirl
i must be brief since there is not much time left. Before we go I will not be bringing any reinforcements just myself and my sister. I need you to get the citizens out of the city once the shield is down. we will distract Sombra, the mention of his experiments does not surprise me but the fact he was successful is worth concern, I trust you to handle this. Once we are successful we shall pay more attention to what you have addressed but the most important thing we can do is to save the ponies that are in the empire. we will be launching the attack at noon I expect the shield will be down within that hour. we shall be scouting the area if the shield is down before then. we expect you to get the citizens out as we shall head to the castle to confront Sombra.
Your friend Celestia.
"hmm, it seems we do not have much time, Balance I shall teleport us out to make our travels quicker, tell me where is the easiest place to reach the heart?"
"h he keeps it in the throne room in a cage he says that it's so that no one gets any ideas or something," balance said as he found the ground rather interesting.
"Then I shall teleport us to the throne room behind the throne as to not interrupt anything if such things are going on"
"o-okay, I I'm ready" balance stated as he tensed his body up for teleportation. Starswirl lit his horn as the ghost-like glow of golden magic filled the room for a Precise teleportation spell.
Throne Room of the Crystal empire
("I wonder what happened to 158 perhaps he exploded as per magical rejection,") Sombra thought idly as he slouched upon his stolen throne
"Sir, no traces of number 158 were found, the only thing of note was that the anti-teleportation field has been deactivated as of damage caused by stray magic blasts" flame announced from the hallway
"I see I shall inspect it myself then" Sombra stated as he rose from the throne
"You shall accompany me if he has in fact escaped it shall be on your head as it is your duty to see that no subject escape."
"Sir"
"good, now follow and don't keep me waiting" Sombra growled out as he trotted passed the throne room doors with Flame following close behind not noticing a small flash of golden light from behind the throne.
"okay balance are you ready I can see the crystal heart there I will activate it and everything will be okay, alright," Starswirl stated to Balance.
"o-okay" balance whispered back optimism in his tone
"okay, no one is here I want you to stand right here" Starswirl stated as he poked his head out from behind the throne.
"alright, now that you are in position, I shall activate the heart." as Starswirl said this his golden magic covered the heart. within seconds all the leftover harmony and love magic in the heart exploded outwards. Since balance was directly next to the heart he was exposed to the most of the harmonic magic.
Balance let out a terrifying scream as harmonic magic conversed inside his body fighting the dark magic for dominance after the blast of magic depleted Balance passed out on the floor. Overhead the sound of shattering glass signaling the destruction of the shield
"Balance" Starswirl yelled, running towards Balance
"Well well well, what do we have here hmm." a voice at the door to the throne room boomed with a malicious glint.
"Sombra, Tis not the time for to face me, we shall meet again," Starswirl spoke as he charged his horn for a teleportation spell
"it seems you found 158 and here I thought he was disintegrated from magic rejection. haha, you really are a fool" *Flash* "Starswirl forcing that much harmonic magic into that body riddled with dark surely destroyed his mind no matter." Sombra stated Wickedly... only to realise that in his gloating Starswirl teleported himself as well as 158 away.
"Damn not again"
Starswirls Hideout
"you should be safe here Balance," Starswirl said as he placed balance in the cot.
"I shall be back swiftly" Starswirl yelled out as he teleported away.
Crystal Empire limits
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Starswirl's location - one hour before banishment
"Quickly now follow me you must leave the city" Starswirl pleaded to the random villages
"Why would we want to leave everything here is perfect, please go away your disterbing the peace" almost all citysence said at the same time createing an errey echo.
"great just great, I don't have time for this I must contact Celestia and luna, I shall come back for you," Starswirl shouted out in frustration for the past ten minutes he has been trying to get the ponies to follow but they appear to be glimmered.
Crystal empire limits - one minute before banishment
"Celestia Luna where art thou" Starswirl shouted out in the barren lands surrounding the empire
BOOOOooomm
Starswirl turned his head to face the empire only to discover nothing aside from a dark alicorn carrying Celestia, the air permeated with luna's magic signature.
"oh luna" Starswirl sighed in melancholy
"balance, oh no no, this is not good my hideout was within the crystal empire. argfghhhhhh my incompetence I should have taken him out first" Starswirl sighed in frustration all his visions come true no matter what he does to prevent them it seems he can only warn ponies for the future.
"for now, I must prepare to help luna, Balance I am sorry... I failed you." and with that said Starswirl left for canterlot.
