The spark of Redemption part 2: Journey into the soul world

"Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you."

To: Lenon Sky
From: Cloud Flower
Date: January 5, 1993

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"How much further Brave?"

"Not that much further, our camp is just over this hill." Brave lead the group of ponies through the beautifully colored forest. The multi-colored leaves were shining as rays of light hit them. Flash was helping Twilight walk through the forest, she still had bad concussion.

"Now, you said king Sombra was the leader?" Nightcore asked.

"Well yes, we all considered him to be our leader. He is obviously the most powerful and oldest pony amongst us." Brave stopped walking and turned towards Nightcore, they then all stopped walking.

"Yeah, he is the most powerful. That is what concerns me Brave. Remember, at the Crystal Empire? Who was it that ultimately started that in the first place? Sombra himself." Flash was concerned, he knew Moonlight was Sombra's daughter, but he still didn't trust him.

"No Flash, princess Luna loved him, he saved her. You need to get over that." Twilight believed what Luna had told them all back at Canterlot after the Crystal Empire, she trusted Sombra, but only a little.

"You should listen to your wife, he has done nothing but help us, now we should hurry." They continued walking. Five minutes later they found themselves over the hill, everypony thought there would be a small camp full of ponies, but their was nothing instead.

"Oh shit." Brave Heart said to himself, he had gone the wrong way, again.

"Brave? You said it was this way."

"I got turned around, this place is like a maze, and it doesn't help the fact that I haven't eaten anything for weeks. I'm a little dizzy."

"I thought you said the shock didn't effect you as much." Twilight asked, they were all kind of irritated, they were promised shelter and got nothing.

"Well, it still effects all of us, no matter what. Only the ponies who have been here for centuries have truly overcome the effects. You must forgive me." All three of them looked at each other in silence. They were all hungry, but couldn't eat. Twilight, Flash and Nightcore all knew that if they didn't complete this mission soon, they would go into the same shock Brave Heart did, and they knew it was terrible.

"Its o-ok." Said Twilight, this made Brave smile a little.

"Lets just um, um well? I don't know what to do."

"What about magic, will a spell find the camp?" Nightcore asked.

"No no no, magic doesn't work in this world."

"How many times have you done this?" Flash said.

"Guys." Twilight said in a low voice, no pony heard her.

"Have you got lost before?" Nightcore said.

"Guys." Twilight said in a higher pitched voice, still they didn't hear her, Flash and Nightcore were bombarding Brave Heart with questions as Brave struggled to answer.

"Come on, you have been here for weeks, how could you get lost?" Flash asked.

"You seriously don't know where the hell, in hell we are?" Nightcore said.

"Guys?"

"Not at all?" Nightcore said again.

"Would you two shut up about the questions!!!!!! I got lost thats it, good bye, the end, or any other FUCKING end you can think of!!!" Brave Heart said, 100% annoyed by Flash's and Nightcore's questions.

"GGGUUUYYYSSS!!!!!! Listen already!" Twilight didn't want to scream, her head was in some serious pain, but it was obviously the only way to get their attention.

"Oh sorry Twilight, what is it?" Flash asked, Twilight smirked at him, which gave Flash a nervous look.

"Look, down there." Twilight pointed her hoof down towards the forest edge, standing their was a strange and unusual figure.

"Its King Sombra!" Nightcore pointed his hoof to.

"No Nightcore, King Sombra isn't gold." They all paused for a second. King Sombra isn't gold, is he?

"Brave, do you know this strange figure?" Twilight asked.

"Well, it looks like Sombra, but Sombra isn't gold." The strange figure standing about fifty feet below them down the hill was a strange fluorescent figure. His, or 'it's' body was gold, a shiny gold fluorescent color. You could see through his body, yet it looked completely alike Sombra himself. They all looked in confusion, was it Sombra? Or was it not? Well, Sombra isn't fluorescent gold, Sombra also doesn't just appear out of thin air, magic does not work in this world.

"Who are you?" Brave Heart asked first, he stepped forward about a foot.

The gold figure did not answer, instead he pointed his hoof upwards, directly at the sun which was setting in the distance. He held hat hoof for half a minute, which just confused the others even more. Then the gold figure pointed the same hoof directly Northwest into the colorful forest, then retracted that hoof back and touched his chest with it, he did this process three times before Brave Heart knew what the figure was trying to tell them.

"Uh, its pointing towards the camp! This is the southeastern hill! I remember now." Brave faced that direction.

"It must be Sombra then." Twilight said.

Then the fluorescent unicorn walked Northwest, the rest soon followed. The unicorn was very majestic, even to Twilight, who was a powerful unicorn and knew a lot about magic. The gold fluorescent unicorn walked in a perfect manor, never fumbling or tripping over any hidden rocks or roots. It walked in a slow image, but maintained a fast walking speed, but was still easy to keep up with. It's horn was curved, exactly like Sombra's horn was curved. Its face, body, mane, and tail all looked almost exactly like Sombra's did, it was strange. It also was not dark magic, which made Twilight curious, and dumbfounded, and above all else, exhilarated. How could Sombra pull this off? He still mainly used dark magic, didn't he? Twilight just assumed this was Sombra's doing since the figure looked exactly like him, but, Twilight saw something else while walking behind it with the others in the forest. Its mane, and tail, sparkled and waved with the wind. Its movement was so majestic, and peaceful. It was how Luna walked, Twilight was almost positive this was Sombra's doing.

"Its leading us to the camp guys."

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"Um, Celestia?"

"Yes what is it Lilly." Celestia leaned her head down towards Lilly's muzzle so she could hear her better.

"Well, these bat ponies have been making me feel a little uncomfortable, it just seems like my rump is getting more attention than I would like." Lilly looked back to the other bat ponies that were following them through the forest, once again, Lilly caught wandering eyes, lots of them.

"Oh I see. Come on Lilly, it cant be that bad. I almost never see that kind of attention towards me back at home." Celestia tried to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal, at least to Celestia.

"Thats not helping. I mean, were trusting these ponies that declared war on you and obviously haven't seen a mare in some centuries, i'm just afraid that, w-well you know, um?" Lilly tried her best to find the correct words, but failed, making Celestis smirk a little.

"Just stay next to me then, don't go wondering off with them." Celestia calmed her down, and Lilly followed Celestia closely as instructed. "How much further General Strongarm." Celestia shouted to Strongarm who was leading the group.

"Good timing Celestia, were here." The group of travelers came to a small camp the housed the survivors of the Crystal Empire attack, they were in hideous condition. Some of them, were scrapping the dirt with their hooves, some were eating the dirt. It was obvious the shock of hunger was still setting in, and if Celestia didn't find a way out of this place soon, it would hit her as well. All of the ponies in the camp looked at Celestia with excitement, they had been saved, or thats what they thought at least. They started whispering.

"Its Celestia!"

"She's come to save us!"

"Do they have any, f-food?" The ranting continued, until Celestia thought of the one unicorn Strongarm told her was here, Sombra himself.

"General Strongarm, were is he?" Celestia and Lilly turned towards Strongarm.

"Who?"

"You know who." Lilly was getting annoyed.

"Sombra should be in the main tent, the big one in the very center of the camp." Strongarm lifted his hood towards the main tent which was obviously larger than all the other tents, they started walking towards it.

"These poor ponies look terrible Celestia." Lilly said.

"Yes I know, it breaks my heart. My subjects, trapped in this hell."

"My father all ways told me that no matter what, bad things can always get worse."

"You are very smart Lilly, i'm glad you came. Why don't you go looking for Brave Heart?" Celestia put her hoof on Lilly's shoulder, Lilly thought about her offer.

"Well, I think the best place to start is were Sombra is." Celestia smiled and they continued to walk towards the tent, all the while, more and more ponies got their attention.

They soon made it to the main tent, the entrance was nothing more than a flap, Celestia raised the flap high so she could walk in, trying to make it negotiate her tall stature, Lilly was close behind, then Strongarm, the rest stayed outside.

In the tent was a table with six chairs around it, and it was empty, except the furthest chair. That is where Sombra sat, looking down at a map. It took a second for him to realize their presence, but he guessed it soon enough.

He looked up, then his red eyes widened in surprise, he rose from the table and got up, looking directly at Celestia. Lilly gulped, Strongarm stood behind Celestia. Celestia wasn't nervous, she didn't expect Sombra to attack her, but it was still possible.

"Celestia." Thats it, thats all Sombra could say, he started to walk around the table towards her. He walked closer until he was just a foot from her muzzle, still looking right at her eyes.

"The dark King comes to me again, but this time not for mercy." Celestia said, she was testing him, trying to see if he still has dark intentions.

"I never came to you for mercy, just to plead." Sombra said, the moment got more intense.

"Plead for mercy? Or something else." Celestia said back in response, Lilly gulped again, she took a step back. Celestia and Sombra didn't move a muscle, both their eyes darted at each other.

"No, for death." After this, no words were spoken for a full minute, then Celestia broke the silence.

"You know, it is good to see you again."

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"It brought us back." Brave Heart turned his attention back towards the fluorescent golden figure.

"This was Sombra's doing for sure, it has got to be." They all looked at the camp then back at the gold figure. Ten seconds later the golden fluorescent figure turned the opposite direction and started walking into the forest away from the camp.

"What is it doing?"

"I don't know." Then, the figure tuned back around towards Twilight and the others and pointed its hoof up at the sun, again.

"It keeps pointing at the sun."

"Its trying to tell us something." Twilight said, then the figure once again turned around away from them and walked into thin air, disappearing into nothing, leaving the others confused.

"It just, disappeared, into nothing."

"Did it die?"

"All that matters is it brought us to the camp." The all turned their attention to the camp of survivors, and walked in.

"Its the princess of friendship!"

"its true."

"The've come to save us!"

"These ponies look horrible." As the they waked deeper into the camp more and more eyes caught their attention.

"Another alicorn uh?" Strongarm got in front of them, blocking their way.

"Wow." Flash said, making Twilight smirk.

"Who are you?" Nightcore asked.

"Strongarm, get out of our way. I must speak with Sombra." Brave Heart stepped up to him, he was not as big as Strongarm, but still didn't fear him.

"Sombra is inside, along with Celestia."

"Celestia is here!" Twilight spoke out loud, getting even more attention from other ponies.

"How long has she been here?" Nightcore asked.

"That doesn't matter. Celestia and Sombra have already meet, and this other earth pony. Redhead, good looking rump, friend of Celestia's, Lilly or something? Something like that."

"Lilly Tulip?" Brave got his attention very quickly.