At the Mercy of the King of Shadows
Twilight used her magic to land on the floor. She finally reached the top of the crystal castle. She looked in front of her and saw the crystal heart floating on a light blue floor with a white star design. With a smile and her eyes shining with the glow that the heart brought, she approached him. She couldn’t believe she did it. Now just needed to take the crystal heart, put it where it should have been before, and then, she would go back to Canterlot to see her mentor to see if she would have passed the test.
Princess Celestia will be so proud of me.
But when she stepped on the floor where the heart was, the floor turned brown and emitted a signal, as if it were a trap. Quickly, she jumped in, hoping to catch the crystal heart, but unfortunately, it jumped to the left and dark purple crystals appeared around her. She covered her head with hooves over her head to defend herself against the crystals. When she opened her eyes and removed the hooves from her head, she realized that she was trapped.
”Muhahahaha.”
Twilight’s ears perked up at the laughter. She knew very well whose laugh it was. It was from King Sombra. She tried to push the walls but failed. While she did this, the sky changed from blue to brown.
Twilight looked out and saw the crystal heart on the floor. She used her magic to teleport there. But in doing so, Sombra’s magic took her and put her back in place where she was. She hit her cheek on the wall. She started to panic.
“No! No! No! This can’t be happening!” the purple unicorn couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t have failed now! Not now that she was about to save Crystal Empire from King Sombra! The princess was trusting her that she would make it! She couldn’t let her down! Not now!
She didn’t know what to do. There was no one with her here to help her and take the crystal heart. Her Friends and Spike insisted on coming with her. And what did she do? Did she allow them to go together? No. She said that she had to go alone on the princess’s orders. She looked at the sky and noticed that the sky stopped flashing from blue to brown and turned brown. Her panic increased even more when the color of the sky changed and stayed brown.
No! No! No! Cadence cannot have been weak resulting in her deactivating the shield! And now? What do I do? I’m stuck here! I can’t do nothing but watch King Sombra take the Crystal Empire. There has to be a way out for me to get out of here! But how will I do this? King Sombra’s magic doesn’t allow me to get out of here!
Until she remembered something and had an idea. Could it be that she could use her magic to take the crystal heart? Maybe she could get it. It would be worth a try. She approached where she could see the heart and used her magic. But when she took the crystal heart, Sombra’s magic didn’t allow it and caused her to release the crystalline object.
And now, it got even worse when thorns of dark gray crystals started to emerge from the floor. Twilight tried again to take the heart so that no thorns would break it, but the same thing happened when she tried to do it the first time. A thorn appeared where the heart was and broke it in half, it was like when an arrow passes in the chest and it appears in the back.
Twilight’s pupils dwindled with what she witnessed. “No!!”
Twilight couldn’t believe that she failed Equestria and her mentor. Tears started to come out of her eyes as she sat on the floor. What Twilight didn’t realize was that a shadow was flying over to where she was.
The shadow landed on the floor, expanded, revealing itself to be King Sombra and he approached the trap, but taking great care not to step on the pointed crystals that were on the floor.
“So it was you who triggered the alarm,” said Sombra, not at all pleased to get very close to Twilight.
Twilight stopped crying when she heard Sombra’s voice and looked at him with a brave look. “King Sombra.”
Sombra was surprised that Twilight knew his name. Like, she wasn’t even a crystal pony to know about him.
“How do you know my name?” asked Sombra.
“Princess Celestia told me about your existence,” Twilight replied, not taking the courage out of her face.
Sombra smiled wickedly at the answer he received. So that princess told Twilight about him? How interesting...
“Let me guess, she sent you to come here alone to save the Crystal Empire from me?” Sombra tried to guess while smiling.
“How do you know?” asked Twilight, now surprised.
“Typical of Celestia. When you answered that it was Celestia who told you about me, then it was because she had a reason to talk about me. And thanks to her decision, I won!”
“You won’t get away with it, Sombra!” Twilight shouted, now with determination on his face. “You may have arrested me here, but I will find a way to get out of here and let the princess know about it!”
Sombra couldn’t help but notice that Twilight was a very determined and quite beautiful mare. Because even though she was in that situation, Twilight refused to believe that Sombra would do well in the end and the colors of Twilight’s coat and mane reminded him of the night.
“I never imagined you were so determined and beautiful,” Sombra said with a smile still on her face. “You know, you would even make a great queen to rule with me in the Crystal Empire.”
“I will never be your queen and I will never rule the Crystal Empire with you!” Twilight denied it.
“But why not?” Sombra asked, now confused by Twilight’s response. “You will be part of royalty. You will even have your own crown. A crown that I will make myself just for you.”
“Because that would mean that I will have failed Equestria,” Twilight pointed out. “And I would have disappointed the Princess.”
Sombra had to laugh at what Twilight said. “Would you have failed Equestria and your princess? Please. You have already disappointed your princess and failed Equestria! The crystal heart has been destroyed, and now I will start to rule the Crystal Empire and the crystal ponies will be my slaves!”
“No!!” Twilight denied what was told. She refused to believe that she had failed Equestria and the princess. She couldn’t have failed Equestria and Celestia! And she couldn’t have failed the test that was given to her!
Sombra started to circle, Twilight just watched him, without taking her determined look from her face. “Why resist, my future queen? Accept that you failed Equestria and join me.”
“I have not failed and I will never join you!” Twilight screamed even louder as she hit the hoof on the ground, only she was now crying. She didn’t want to lose hope. There had to be a solution. There had to be a way for her to get out of here. But how? Sombra’s magic wouldn’t let her out... what would she do?
Twilight didn’t want to be crying for failing, but she couldn’t help what she felt. She failed Equestria, and now Sombra would start to rule the Crystal Empire and it was all because of her not having let her friends and her helper come along with her. Twilight closed her eyes as she looked to the right with guilt.
Princess… I’m sorry for failing you…
Sombra’s hoof held and lifted Twilight’s chin. Twilight opened her eyes as she looked back at Sombra and more tears came out of her eyes. To Twilight’s surprise, Sombra wasn’t looking at her with an arrogant or mean look, but with a loving look, he soon wiped her tears away with a hoof.
“Come on, Twilight. Don’t Cry. I don’t like to see my queen cry. Look, I have a proposal for you,” said Sombra.
Twilight still sadly asked, “what is your proposal?”
“I will release you from the trap you are trapped in if you are my queen.” Sombra offered.
Twilight didn’t want to accept the offer, but at the same time, she wanted to leave the place she was at and return to Canterlot to warn Celestia, but it seemed that warning Celestia would be impossible. She looked away thoughtfully. Should she accept it? She stepped away from Sombra to think about it as she circled with panic on her face.
And now? What do I do? What do I do?! Should I accept to join King Sombra or should I deny it?
Twilight approached a part of the black crystal that overlooked the large window.
The sky is no longer the light blue color and the crystal heart was broken. I… I really failed Equestria and my mentor…
Twilight started to cry again, and took her eyes off the window and turned back. But she remembered something and was worried. She decided to wipe her tears with a hoof and approached Sombra to ask something.
“I ... I need to ask you about something.” Twilight started.
“What do you want to ask me?” asked Sombra.
“If I ... if I join you ... are you going to hurt my friends, assistant, mentor, Brother and ex-foalsitter?”
“No. But if they try to stop us, I will put them in our castle’s dungeon.”
Twilight was speechless with the answer, and started thinking to make up her mind. So that would mean that if she joined Sombra, those she cared about wouldn’t end up dying. But soon, another question arose in her, and she was afraid to ask that, but at the same time she also wanted to know the answer. She soon looked at Sombra again.
“What if I don’t join you?” asked Twilight, now with fear on her face.
“Then, I will go looking for each one you care about and destroy them,” said Sombra, now with a menacing look and smile as his eyes shone.
Twilight was concerned to hear Sombra’s response. She put the hoof close to her mouth while she sweated nervously and thought about what she would do. If she joined Sombra, those she cared about would have a not-so-bad fate, but they would be trapped in the dungeons only if they tried to stop her and Sombra reign. But if she didn’t join Sombra, he would go looking for everypony she cared about and kill them.
Twilight looked at the floor guiltily. It seems that she had no choice. She would probably regret that choice a lot starting today, but if she didn’t choose that, then goodbye to her mentor, ex-Foalsitter, brother, helper and her friends.
She soon looked at Sombra again to speak her answer. “King Sombra, I already made up my mind.”
“Great. And what did you choose? ” asked Sombra, now with normal eyes.
Twilight looked to the side, nervously. She felt like the words didn’t come out of her mouth. But she would try to talk anyway.
“I ... I ... i will join you, King Sombra...” Twilight replied sadly, now looking at Sombra again.
Sombra smiled at the answer. “Good choice, Twilight,” said that, he used his magic and made the walls of dark crystals around the Twilight were back to the ground and pointed crystals were on the ground too.
Twilight, seeing that she had no choice, approached Sombra. Sombra smiled as he watched Twilight go to him. When getting close to him, Sombra hugged Twilight with a hoof while smiling.
“Don’t worry, Twilight. Now with you here with me, I’ll spare those you care about from death, I will make your queen crown and I even have plans for our future together,” Sombra soon smiled wickedly as his eyes shone. “Plans that I am very excited to execute with you.”
