Twilight, Princess of Shadows

After giving a speech in Canterlot about cutie mark magic Twilight and Spike returned to her castle. Although she was a little worried after she spotted Starlight Glimmer but she may have been mistaken. They put down their bags and headed to the throne room.

“Maybe I was just more stressed about that speech than I thought.”

“Yeah. That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer coming back with an evil plot for revenge.”

She opened the throne room doors. “Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kinda silly.”

“Or it's totally true!”

Twilight looked over and saw Starlight sitting in Fluttershy’s throne. “Welcome home, Twilight!”

Starlight took out a scroll and zapped it with magic which in turn zapped the Cutie Map, activating it. Twilight and Spike ran up to the map.

“What are you doing, Starlight?”

She laughed. “I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise!” She crumpled up and tossed the scroll away. “Won't be needing that anymore.”

“Then I’ll take it.”

The mystery voice echoed around the room as Twilight, Starlight, and Spike looked to see where it came from. Then a mass of shadows rose up from the ground off to the side and a blast of magic hit them all pushing them back to the wall, then crystals appeared on Twilight’s and Starlight’s horn. A pony appeared in front of them a moment later.

“King Sombra!” said Twilight.

“Hello Twilight.” He used his magic to grab the discarded scroll and unwrinkled it. “Time travel. You Miss Gimmer are talented aren’t you, but you think too small. Going back and preventing Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom so Twilight and her friends won’t get their cutie marks will accomplish very little. I have much grander plans in mind, and seeing as you’re the only pony that can replicate this spell you’ll have to die. Don’t want anypony following me now do I.”

Sombra lit his horn and Starlight sat upright with pure terror in her eyes. “Wait, wait please you don’t-”

Starlight fell silent as a spike of crystal jetted from the wall behind her and pierced through her chest. It retracted and she fell limp on to the floor with a pool of blood beginning to form under her. Twilight and Spike were terrified they’d be next but he turned and approached the map picking up where Starlight left off with the spell. When the spell was ready he looked back at Twilight.

“Don’t worry Twilight we’ll be seeing each other again real soon, even though you’ll be a foal.” Twilight just looked on in horror. “Our destinies are about to be intertwined forever.” Sombra jumped on the map, was raised upwards, and shot through the portal above him. A moment later he reached his destination and appeared in an alley in Canterlot. It was night out and his target was just a couple of houses down. He turned to shadow and made his way to Twilight’s home, opened the window to her room and retook his pony form once inside. He walked up to a crib and saw a six month old Twilight Sparkle sleeping. He gave her a wide toothy grin and reached down to grab her. “Come to papa Sombra.”

Once Sombra had her they disappeared in a mass of shadows.

In a cave somewhere in the frozen north Sombra and Twilight reappeared. He used his magic to make a crystal crib with a soft bed and warm blanket. He placed her in still fast asleep and covered her with the blanket.

Now I just need the proper materials to teach Twilight magic, especially the dark arts. If only I had access to my study under the Crystal Palace. Oh well I memorized most of the texts anyway, I’ll just have to spend some time rewriting them. All I need now is to be patient. My…our day will come.

(About 5 years later)

Sombra and Twilight were eating breakfast when Twilight spoke up. “Daddy, who was my mother? What was she like?”

Sombra let out a sigh. “Twilight you see, I never met your mother. I adopted you.”

“Oh,” she said looking a little depressed.

“But just because I’m not your biological father doesn’t mean I love you any less. You’re still my little princess.” He leaned over and nuzzled her with made her smile.

“Um daddy, why is it we have to live here? Can’t we go to that Equestria place you spoke of?”

“Hmm you’re asking some rather important questions this morning. The answer to that is we are not welcome in their society at the moment. But don’t worry, once the Crystal Empire returns we will be living in the lap of luxury. We just need to be patient and tough it out for now.”

“Is it really made entirely out of crystal?” she said with enthusiasm.

“You bet it is.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“Remember now patience. Now finish up and we’ll start you lessons for the day.”

“Okay daddy.”

After breakfast they went deeper into the cave to a practice area and Sombra produced targets for her to aim at. “Now channel the darkness within, control it, focus it, and then release.”

Twilight concentrated. She closed her eyes, dark magic formed around her horn and purple mist began to emanate for her eyes. But nothing happened and her magic fizzled out. She began to sweat a little and pant.

“I can’t do it.”

“It’s okay Twilight, at your age magic and dark magic even more so can be difficult. But the sooner you get the hang of it the easier things will be going forward. So just keep practicing, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Sombra left and reached the cave entrance. He then looked southward. If he was correct then he shouldn’t have to wait too much longer. Then a minute later it happened, a burst of rainbow appeared on the horizon heading his way. He turned and ran back inside wanting to be with Twilight when she got her cutie mark. He arrived just in time to find her trying to produce dark magic when the rainboom must have been passing overhead. Her eyes began to glow bright and so did the rest of her as she lifted off the ground. She released a powerful blast of dark magic that completely obliterated the target in front of her. She started blasting randomly and Sombra had to shield himself from a couple stray shots. He managed to make it over and placed his hoof on her shoulder. Twilight looked at him and her magic surge started to calm down, then she collapsed onto the ground.

“What was that?” said Twilight.

Sombra looked her over and liked what he saw. Her eyes were filled with dark magic, she had fangs, and her horn had become smooth and curved like his. Her cutie mark was the same except the large star which instead of a shade of magenta was black.

“Not quite sure but take a look.” He pointed to her flank.

Her eyes lit up when she saw her cutie mark. She got up and bounced around a little. “My cutie mark! I got my cutie mark!”

“That’s great Twilight, I’m so proud of you.” She went over and gave him a hug which he returned. “Now that you have your cutie mark your magic training should go a lot smoother. Let’s take a short break and then resume the lesson.”

“Okay.”

It worked, her destiny is forever altered. Now the real training begins.

(About 15 years later)

Twilight and Sombra were locked in a fierce bout hurling spells at each other. Sombra charged at her through the cave tunnel. Twilight used her magic to produce crystal spikes that randomly jetted out of the cave interior in front of him. He managed to dodge them, barely. Sombra fired a bolt of dark magic at her but she blocked it with a shield. Twilight also managed to jump back just as a crystal pillar jetted out of the ground at an angle in front of her. Sombra now stood a few feet in front of her and they stared each other down for a moment.

“Well done. That’s enough for today.” They started walking together through the cave. “I have to say you’ve exceeded all of my expectations, but seeing as your talent is magic I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised with the level of power you’ve achieved.”

By this time Sombra had made Twilight her own cape and regalia including a crown and hoof wear. “I’m impressed with you as well. How is it you‘ve managed to stay so spry in your old age?”

“One of the curses or benefits depending on how you want to look at it of my exile and imprisonment was immortality. I hope we can achieve the same for you someday.”

“You know you never told me how you were able to escape from your imprisonment early.”

“Oh it’s of no concern, but while we’re on the subject tomorrow is the day.”

“The day the Crystal Empire returns.”

“Exactly, all our patience will finally pay off. Once the empire is under our control we will invade Equestria and conquer it.”

Twilight gave a wicked smile. “Finally.”

“Now let’s turn in for the night. We have a big day ahead of us and we will need to make some preparations before its return.”