The Day Twilight Failed

by Husky5290

Rating: mature
Tags: Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, King Sombra, Tragedy, Horror
Length: 1870

An alternate ending to the two opening episodes of season 3, where Sombra wins.

Twilight was tasked with a test—fending off the empire from Sombra—and she failed miserably. Sombra destroys the Crystal Heart then continues his reign of terror upon those who took his kingdom from him, either killing or enslaving anyone cares get in his way.

(This is in an AU where Twilight becomes an alicorn between Season 2 and 3.)

Published 2017-04-15 19:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-15 19:30:02 UTC

All Hope is Lost

The Crystal Empire, home to the crystal ponies. Also home to one of Equestria’s biggest villains: Sombra. The Empire’s large spires reaching into the sky, scraping it. Once a place of hope, soon to be a place of despair. The blue crystals, soon to be black. Sombra had returned, for good this time. He had already trapped that meddling purple alicorn, now all he needed was the Crystal Heart.

Sombra raced towards the Crystal Heart, using his magic to create a tower of dark crystals to lift him in the air. Twilight had to think of something fast in the trap she'd been stuck in—a crystal cage of sorts, but it was magic proof—or else the Empire and Celestia-knows-what would be damned.

There was another alicorn. She was pink, clad in golden regalia. A white unicorn stallion stood by her side, dressed in armor with violet highlights. He presumed she was the current ruler of the Empire.

Sombra was already speeding towards the Crystal Heart at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, Princess Cadance was lagging behind at a slow pace compared to Sombra's. He laughed as he approached the Heart. He was now more than halfway to it; he had started opening his mouth. He was at the Heart. Sombra had crushed it with his large teeth. "NO!" Twilight screamed. Sombra had now started to light his horn, charging a powerful spell. He looked down upon the horrified ponies of the Crystal Empire and grinned madly. He unleashed the spell—which was aimed at Cadance and Shining Armor—and it tore into them, blood went all over the ground below, but strangely, there were no bodies. "Anyone else want to try what they did?" Sombra said with a smirk, while the ponies below cowered in fear. "Didn't think so.”

It had been three days since the battle with Sombra. Twilight had a battle with Sombra but ultimately lost—she tried to escape, but dark magic barriers had prevented her from doing so. Her magic was disabled by the Crystal Tyrant. Sombra was going to win this time, no mistakes.

Sombra had also built up an army of soldiers, though he didn’t get to training them just yet. There was a small uprising that he had to take care of. Any participants caught were locked up in solitary confinement via the Castle Dungeons. The last major event was the imprisonment of Twilight, and disabling her magic. "I could get used to this," he muttered to himself as he walked into his bedroom. Just as he was about to lay down, one of his informants came and spoke of dire news.

“Sir, the Royal Sisters are approaching the Empire. What shall we do?” Sombra got up and started putting on his armor—pure steel with a cape fit for a king on the back—that he had taken off when he was about to rest in his bed. “I’ll handle this,” he told the informant as he went from his room—full of paintings and decor along with crystals growing out of the walls—down the stairs and through the gloomy corridors. Once he was outside, he scanned the sky for the two alicorns.

Soon enough, he saw Celestia and Luna approaching his Empire, clad in their royal armor they had worn the last time they fought him. He started to grin as dark crystals rose up from the ground to carry him into the sky. “Come here, you wretched princesses!” He said as he charged his horn to summon his sword—which he had also used in his last battle against them—then charged forth, but once he reached them, he stopped as they had not held up their weapons. “What is the matter, princesses?” He teased, “Too afraid to fight?” The sisters’ expressions hardened into ones of anger and contempt. Finally, Celestia broke the silence.

“Where is Twilight?” She demanded, “And what have you done to her?” Sombra began to chuckle, “You mean that purple alicorn?” He said darkly. “She’s fine, for now, that is.” Celestia flew forward, trying to hit Sombra, but he stepped aside so she missed. “Tsk, tsk Celestia, don’t be so violent towards me.” Sombra said with a dark grin.

Celestia immediately turned around, and yelled, “You will pay for your crimes, tyrant!” She charged at him again, this time using her magic to shoot a bolt of light. He dodged it by turning into shadowform before it hit him.

Once Sombra returned to his physical form, he continued teasing Celestia, “Surely that wasn’t an actual attempt to kill me,” he said while continuing to dodge Celestia’s pointless attempts to kill him. “You can not win this, princesses, this is beyond your power.” Said Sombra as he came to a stop. “I will let you know right now, you so much as scratch me, your princess dies.” He said as he tried to intimidate them.

Her eyes like fire, Celestia yelled, “You wouldn’t!” As she charged at him once more. “Give us Twilight, or I’ll make sure you never see the light of day again!” Said Celestia, who was blinded by anger. Something of this degree had never happened in her lifetime. Charging forth yet again, Sombra dodged her, she passed him, then he unleashed a spell on her, striking her down from the sky.

Luna immediately dove down after her sister, hoping to save her, she succeeded and brought her to the highest building. “Rest, Sister, I’ll take care of this,” Luna said as she went back after Sombra. “You’ll pay for this, you beast!” She said, charging a spell that was meant to end him.

Sombra, grinning, said, “Give it your best shot—” he was cut short by a beam of blue light. He quickly dodged it, then released a spell of his own—it would show Luna her worst fear over and over. Sombra then went on to offer some mercy, “I'll make it stop, only if you and your sister leave Equestria, never to come back.

Luna was plagued by the vision of her becoming Nightmare Moon once more, except this time, she had won the fight against her sister—killing her. She screamed, wanting it to end. She contemplated Sombra’s offer for a moment, then decided she had a plan in mind: She would trick Sombra into believing she had accepted his offer, then strike him down. “I… accept your offer.” She said, lying through her teeth.

Sombra laughed, seeing right through her lie. “Really, now? Don't lie to me—I can see through your pathetic attempts to lie to me,” he said to her, now having a serious look upon his face.
Luna grimaced, “Please just make it stop,” she pleaded, “I can't take this for much longer…” Luna burst into tears.

Sombra smiled at the sight. “You will accept my terms or you will suffer the consequences.” Sombra said, now starting to lose interest. He then had an idea, why don't I just capture them? He contemplated the thought, then came to a conclusion: Then it'd be no fun… Sombra then thought of a new offer. “Tell you what, Princess, get out of my Empire right now and I'll spare you. You don't need to leave Equestria, but you better leave my Empire.”

Luna took the offer, “I accept your offer, just undo what you've done to me.” This time, she didn't lie to him, knowing that if she did, she'd have another thing coming.
With that, Sombra undid the vision from Luna's brain, and whatever else he'd done. “Now go,” he said, “before I change my mind.” He watched as Luna scooped up her sister then flew off into the distance.

Twilight couldn’t believe what had happened; she had watched her brother and sister-in-law die right before her eyes. She cried in dark, wet cell, while Sombra was out there doing Celestia knows what. Sombra said she would be in there for as long as he wanted, he had also disabled her magic. She was limited to space, as well, as she had been locked up in chains.

Her friends had fled from the scene, as they couldn't help Twilight—Sombra had put a barrier around the structure she was being held in. Twilight just sat there in the dark, crying her eyes out. “I failed,” she said, “I failed everyone, and it's all my fault…”

Twilight's head suddenly snapped up at the sound of armor clinking somewhere in the prison. Twilight knew who it was: Sombra. Either he had come to kill her, or worse. Covering her face with her hooves, Twilight cowered in her cell. The sound of armor was now right at the door of her cell. “Hello, Twilight.” She heard Sombra said.

As Sombra peered in through the bars in Twilight's cell, he lit his horn so he could see better. He could see her cowering in the corner of her cell. “Take your hooves off of your face.” He told her, a very stern expression upon his face. Slowly, he watched as Twilight removed her hooves from her face, revealing her bloodshot eyes and dampened fur. She had an expression that clearly said 'What are you going to do to me?’

Twilight had never been so fearful in her life. She wasn't expecting this to end up how it did. “Wha-what do you want?” Twilight said, almost mumbling. She then saw Sombra unlock the door with a key he had stored somewhere. Twilight watched as he walked towards her. Sombra then motioned for her to get up, “Up, you foolish alicorn,” he told Twilight. She got up and quivered in fear. Sombra summoned a razor. Twilight's eyes grew wide as she waited for whatever he planned on doing to her.

“I am here to see that part of your punishment is served out.” Sombra answered Twilight's question from earlier. He watched as Twilight closed her eyes, he then levitated the razor over one of her forelegs. Smiling, Sombra started to slice open her right foreleg, causing blood to ooze out of it.
Moving the razor to a different spot on the leg, he sliced again. He watched as Twilight gritted her teeth in agony. Sombra continued to make small incisions all over her—causing her to eventually collapse. “Be happy this is all I'm doing,” he said as he sliced at one of her wings. Once he decided he was satisfied, he stored the razor in his magic—an alternate dimension of some sorts. He then left the cell, locking the cell. “Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle.” He said while Twilight continued to cry.

Twilight, still unable to process all that had happened, said, “Dear Celestia, what have I done to deserve this?” She said as she laid there trying to sleep. “Please let this be a dream…”

Author's Note

Whew! This is my first official story and it took a while for this chapter alone. First of all, I'd like to say that all criticism is welcome, that is, if it's not pure hate like: "This sucks." So I hope you enjoyed this as it means a lot to me.

P.S. Don't expect chapter 2 anytime soon... I have school to catch up with and I'm also working on getting proofread.