The Darkest Hour: Return of Sombra

I stared down at the rock in my hooves.

I asked him how he came to be in such a place.

I asked him how long he had lived.

I asked him how large he used to be before time reduced him to but a pebble.

The rock said nothing for rocks don't talk.

"Maud?" A familiar voice called out.

Maud Pie set down her pencil and turned to find that she had an unexpected visitor. "Limestone?"

Limestone Pie walked into Maud's 'room' and stopped to marvel at the scenery. "Woah. When you said your new place had a great view you weren't kidding." She stopped marveling and shook her head. "Ugh, that doesn't matter. Maud, you need to come with me."

Maud strolled over to her older sister. Though no one would be able to tell, Maud was concerned. Limestone always looked angry, but she looked more worried than anything right now. "What is it, Limestone?"

"I'll tell you on the way to the train station." Limestone said as she turned to leave.

"We're going to the train station?"

Limestone, with an annoyed look, turned around and walked behind Maud. She then proceeded to push Maud forward with her head.

Maud allowed Limestone to push her out of the cave and onto the dirt road.

Limestone stopped pushing and walked by Maud's side. "Marble was attacked last night."

Maud's eyes widened... slightly. "Attacked? By what?"

Limestone grumbled. "I'm not sure. It was some kind of shadow creature; and it wasn't alone. There was also this unicorn that tried to kill me."

"I'm gonna take the wild guess that the unicorn didn't succeed."

"Of course not! I almost had that heffer, but then she ran away like a coward! I would've chased after her, but I had to take care of Marble."

Maud nodded in understanding. While Limestone was quick-tempered and hostile, she loved her family with all her heart and had always looked out for Maud, Pinkie, and Marble. Maud and Pinkie could now handle themselves, but Marble was different story. Therefore, Limestone was very protective of Marble and Maud couldn't think of anything that could enrage Limestone more than hurting Marble. "How is she?"

"Hopefully, scared and licking her wounds!" Limestone spat out.

"I was talking about Marble." Maud said as she rolled her eyes

"...Oh, right." Limestone cleared her throat. "I really don't know. Somehow that thing that attacked her... took away her cutie mark!"

Maud's eyes once again widened... slightly. "It took away her cutie mark?"

"That's what I just said." Now, Limestone was rolling her eyes.

"I know, but how?"

"I don't know. I was sleeping and I heard Marble scream from outside. I saw that thing standing over her and I bashed it's head in... with my head. I don't know what it did. All I know is that when I got Marble inside, her cutie mark was gone!"

Maud puzzled this for a moment. "Did anything else happen to her?"

"Well, she's paler than normal and she's been really weak, like she doesn't have any strength left. I didn't stick around to see if there were other symptoms."

"Did she say anything about what happened?" Maud used the word 'say' lightly.

Limestone rolled her eyes again. "You know Pinkie is the only one who can fully understand her. That's why I ran all the way from the farm to Ponyville to get her."

"You ran instead of taking the train?"

"Limestone Pie doesn't wait for trains... except today, but that's because Pinkie is getting her friends to come with us."

"Really?"

Limestone groaned. "Apparently, Pinkie and her friends have seen things like this before and Pinkie insisted that they come with us. Normally, I would say no, but... I'm worried about Marble."

"...They're good ponies, Limestone."

"I never said they weren't. Look, Pinkie already gave me the 'friend talk'. I don't need to here it from you too!"

"...I'm sorry."

"No, no. Don't apologize." Limestone sighed. "I just want Marble to get better and, if they really know what they're doing... But after this is over, they can be on their merry way."

"I understand." Maud decided it was best to leave it at that. Maybe Limestone would change her mind. Maybe she wouldn't. For now, Marble was the only priority. "And they will help Marble. I can guarantee you that."

Limestone said nothing.

As the two mares continued their path to the train station, Maud wondered how Pinkie was coming along with explaining everything to her friends. You never could tell with Pinkie.

Meanwhile, in Twilight's Castle...

Pinkie's eyes scanned each of her five bestiest best friends, who stood in front of her with confused looks. "I suppose you're all wondering why I've called you here tonight?" Pinkie said as if she were a detective.

"Uh, first of all, Pinkie, it's mornin'." Applejack deadpanned. "Second of all, ya didn' call us; ya came outta no where, grabbed us, and brought us here."

Pinkie shrugged. "You say tomato; I say potato."

"That-That doesn' make any-"

"Ahem." Twilight loudly cleared her throat to get everypony's attention. "Pinkie, would you mind telling us why you kidnapped everypony and brought them to my castle?"

"Right! Straight to the point. Got it." Pinkie cleared her throat. "This morning, I was saying 'good morning' to everyone, but when I went outside, I was tackled by somepony and when I looked up, I saw it was my biggest sister, Limestone! I was about to hug her and ask her what she was doing here, but then she like 'no time, we have to go'!" Her mane, eyes, and voice changed to imitate Limestone. "And then, we were both running. Limestone was running behind me and pushing me forward and I was running backwards to face her. Then, she told me that some shadow-creature-thingy attacked our other sister, Marble! And I was like 'WHAT'! Then, she told me that whatever attacked Marble also took away her cutie mark! And I was like 'it took away her cutie mark'! And Limestone was like 'that's what I just said'. So, I told her that you girls would be able to help since we've dealt with stuff like that before and that you should come with us. So, right now, Limestone is getting Maud and I'm getting you five and we're gonna meet up at the train station. Then, we'll take the train to the Rock Farm and figure out what's wrong with Marble. So, are you in or are you in?"

....................

"Uhhh, girls?"

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy just stared at Pinkie as they waited for her long line of words to sink into their brains. You could hear the chirping of crickets in the background.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. "Sooo... In short, your sister is in trouble and needs our help?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's good enough for me." Rainbow said with a determined look.

The other nodded in agreement.

"Did you say that the creature that attacked, uhh, Marble took her cutie mark?" Twilight asked

"Yep; and that's exactly why we need your expertise!"

Twilight brought her hoof to her chin in thought. "Well, there's more than one way to lose your cutie mark... Is there anything else Limestone told you?"

"No; just that it was a shadow creature that did it." Pinkie answered with equal confusion.

"A shadow creature..." Twilight's mind raced through the possibilities and none of them were good. But as her mind searched through them, something flashed in her mind. "No; that's not possible." She whispered to herself.

"What's not possible, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." Twilight assured. And it was nothing. He was dead... wasn't he? She pushed it out of her mind. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, Pinkie's sister is in trouble. So, let's go."

The others nodded and made their way out of the castle.

Twilight strolled behind. "You all go ahead. I'm gonna go tell Spike and Starlight where we're going." With that, she searched for her trusty assistant. It took a while due to the castle complicated lay out, but she eventually found Spike... flexing in front of the bathroom mirror.

"Oh yeah! Who's the dragon? That's right. It's me! Spike! The most awesome dragon in- Ahhh!" Spike yelled and covered himself (despite never wearing clothes anyway) when he saw Twilight. "Twilight! A little privacy, please!"

"Sorry, sorry! I'll just... pretend I didn't see that." Twilight wasn't just saying that; she really wanted to forget seeing that. "I just wanted to let you know that me and the others are leaving."

Spike calmed down. "Where this time?"

"Pinkie's family's Rock Farm. One of Pinkie's sisters was attacked and, apparently, whatever attacked her took her cutie mark."

Now, Spike was interested. "What?"

Twilight sighed. "I don't know. All Pinkie was told is that the creature was... shadowy."

"Shadowy?" Spike thought for a moment. "Like... King Sombra?"

For some reason, a chill went down Twilight's spine. "Maybe, but Sombra's dead. Besides, I don't think he knew how to take away cutie marks anyway."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Hi, Starlight. Hi, Spike." Starlight greeted as she passed by.

"Hi, Starlight." Twilight said before remembering she had to tell Starlight as well. "Oh, Starlight!" She turned to face her student.

Starlight turned to face her. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know that me and the others are going to be gone for a while."

"Okay."

"We'll be gone for at least a few hours. I'll let you know if we end up taking longer."

"I'm sure you will," Starlight resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Considering that Twilight had once semi-turned herself into music bow ballerina just to check up on her, she had no doubts that Twilight would figure out a way to alert her.

"So, just take care of things around here while we're gone."

"Can do." Starlight assured before continuing down the hall.

Twilight looked to Spike as he stepped to her side. "Spike, if Starlight asks, don't tell her about the shadow creature."

Spike gave Twilight a confused look. "Why not?"

"I don't want her to worry. Besides, the whole 'cutie mark' thing would probably bring up some bad memories for her."

"Point taken."

Twilight gave him a smile. "Thanks. See you soon." She nuzzled her assistant and made her way out. As she left her castle, she stopped. "Hold on, how am I gonna catch up with them?" She thought for a moment before it hit her; or rather, she hit herself for being an idiot. "Duh." She light up her horn and, in a flash, appeared at the train station. She looked around her and found that her friends had not arrived yet. However, she did find, standing directly beside her, two earth ponies; one of whom she recognized.

"Hi, Twilight." Maud said in her usual monotone voice. Beside her was a violet mare with a grey mane that hung off one side of her head; she seemed angry about something.

"Hello, Maud. It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too. By the way, this is my sister, Limestone." She motioned to the angry-looking mare beside her.

"Oh, your Limestone. Well, I glad to finally meet you."

"Where's Pinkie and the others?" Limestone asked.

Twilight was rather taken back by Limestone's seemingly hostile attitude. It dawned on Twilight that, seeing as Maud was vastly different from Pinkie, perhaps Limestone and Marble were vastly different as well. "Well, um, they'll be here soon."

Limestone stared Twilight down as if Twilight had eaten her cookie.

Twilight gulped. Please let it be soon.

"So, Applejack," Rarity looked to the cowgirl beside her. "You've meet this Limestone and Marble before. What are they like?"

Applejack thought for a moment. "Well, Marble is a real shy and timid girl."

"Oh, like Fluttershy?"

"Worse. And Limestone... Well, she's a bit..."

"A bit what, darling?"

Applejack wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't just tell them that Pinkie's sister was a prideful, vicious, antisocial jerk. "...Well, she's a bit on the hostile side.  The type a pony that takes some time to get used to."

"Ah, I see." Rarity said. "She sounds... different."

"That's about the best way to put it." Applejack said with a smile.

"Well, um, they both sound like nice ponies." Fluttershy offered.

Applejack bit her lip. "Well... Marble is."

Fluttershy glanced away. "Oh. So, Limestone isn't."

Applejack nervously adjusted her head. "Well, no. Not exactly. At least, not at first. She'll warm up to ya after a while, but at first... Well, it's best to keep ya distance." She was glad Pinkie was too far ahead to hear her.

Rainbow Dash, who was flying above them, looked down at Applejack. "Is she violet and have a grey mane?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow at Rainbow. "Yeah; how'cha know that?"

"Because I can see her at the train station with Maud and Twilight."

Pinkie gasped. "They're there?!" With that, she zoomed the rest of the way to the train station and glomped her two sisters, knocking them to the ground.

The rest followed after Pinkie until they reached their destination.

Twilight smiled as her friends arrived.

"Howdy, Twi." Applejack greeted. "Ah'm guessin' ya magiced ya way over here?"

"Yes; yes, I did." Twilight held back the compulsion to correct her friend's phrasing. "I was running later than I thought, so I just teleported over here."

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie, with her foreleg around Limestone, brought her eldest sister in front of her friends. "This is my biggest big sister, Limestone!"

Limestone shot Pinkie a look. "Are you calling me fat?!"

"No, silly. I'm saying you're the oldest."

"Oh."

Applejack decided to greet her first. "Howdy, Limestone. It's me, Applejack. You remember me, right?"

"Limestone Pie doesn't forget. Ever!"

"...Riiight." Applejack scooted towards Twilight. "Quite the charmer, ain't she?" She whispered.

"You never you told us that she would be so... defensive." Twilight chose her words carefully.

"Ah explained to the others on the way here that Limestone is a bit..."

"The name's Rainbow Dash." Rainbow held out her hoof for Limestone to shake.

"Yeah, Pinkie's told me a lot about you... Also, I don't shake hooves."

Rainbow rubbed the back of of her neck and backed away. "Oh, uhhh, right."

"Okay, maybe not a little," Applejack corrected. "Limestone is very much..."

"My name is Rarity." Rarity greeted.

"Yeah, I figured it was you."

"My, I love what you've done with your mane, darling."

"...My name is Limestone; not darling."

Rarity backed away. "Oh, well, that's just something I, um... never mind."

Applejack sighed. "She's awful."

"Oh, come on. She can't be that bad." Twilight insisted.

Fluttershy gently kicked at the ground. "Um, I'm Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you."

"Uh-huh."

Fluttershy backed away "...Okay."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Then again..."

"I'm sure she'll soften up after a while, but for now, we'll have to deal with Miss Grumpypants."

"I'm not wearing pants." Limestone deadpanned as she looked to Twilight and Applejack. "And yes, I heard everything."

"Oh, here comes the train!" Pinkie exclaimed.

The others sighed with relief as the train pulled in, allowing them to get moving.

Before entering the train, Limestone stopped and looked to Twilight and Applejack. "Let me make something clear. I did not agree to let you five come with us to make friends! You're gonna help Marble and then it's over!" With that, Limestone entered the train.

The seven other ponies exchanged glances before following Limestone in. None of them were aware of the disembodied presence that had followed them.

Sadonarc prided herself in casting spells like no other. She had trained long and hard to perfect each one to suit her needs. One that she was particularly proud of was the eavesdropping spell. Her eyes and ears wherever she wanted them to be; like teleporting, except her body stayed in place. It came in handy gathering information. Of course, she also made use of more... brutal measures to do so, but this was the easiest route.

She had just used said spell to find out where the Elements were leaving to. How ironic that they were leaving to the very place that she and her mentor had just been. But Sadonarc was more focused on the mud pony that had humiliated her.

"...Sadonarc..."

Sadonarc's sight and hearing returned to her body. She turned to face her mentor.

Sombra smiled. "...This is our opportunity... Twilight's student... she may have enough magic... for me to recreate... my body."

Sadonarc scoffed. "Her? Please. I can take her down, no problem."

Sombra looked over Sadonarc and gave her a look. "...Sadonarc... you are not wearing... the Alicorn Amulet."

Sadonarc glared at him. "I took it off because I don't need it! The mud pony caught me off guard! I've learned from it!"

"...Sadonarc..."

"I'm better than her, father!"

A moment of silence passed them as Sadonarc's statement made her calm down.

"...Do not let the past... cloud your mind in the present... You cannot prove... anything to him now..." Sombra's smiled returned. "...You are proving yourself... to all of Equestria... But you cannot do so... by being stubborn... and stupid."

Sadonarc sat in silence for another moment before looking Sombra in the eye. "I can beat her. I know I can; if you just let me try."

Sombra thought for a moment before nodding. "...Alright... Here is what we will do." Sombra explained his plan to Sadonarc, who smiled as Sombra went on. "...Keep the Amulet with you... just in case." He finished.

Sadonarc begrudgingly lifted her cloak to show that she had the Amulet under it.

With a nod, Sombra slithered away from their hiding place at the edge of Everfree Forest, preparing for what was to come.

With a smile, Sadonarc teleported away.

As Twilight looked out the train window, something flashed inside her mind. The same flash that she had before. The same pair of green eyes. "...Not... possible." Twilight whispered to herself.