Twilight snored, her hooves splayed across her bed. Her slumber was deeper than the hidden mirror pool. She tossed and kicked a back hoof, causing most of the covers to fall to the floor. "Mmmm, the answer is always friendship. Take that." She mumbled as she kicked her hooves.

"Take that," she groaned. She defeated yet another villain to save Equestria, her friends, and her loved ones. Until a scroll landed on top of her head.

"OWCH!" she squeaked, her head throbbing from the pain. Rubbing her head, she picked up the scroll. "What in Tartarus?" Twilight spoke with a groggy voice.

With a purple hue and a zap, the room filled with light. "Mmmm," she groaned, putting her hooves over her eyes. She gently rubbed them while whining, taking her time until she could open her eyes.

A blurry white square fades in. "This better be—" she stopped talking to herself, the words capturing her attention.

[i"There’s a fire,"

Cadence.’

This was unlike anything Cadence had ever done before. Her letters were usually between 1,000 and 3,000 words long. The letter ended with Cadence gushing over her sister-in-law and how proud she was. Then he proceeded to tell her about how Flurry did this or that.

This was just devoid of everything. Twilight didn’t waste another second. With another zap, she teleported to Cadence’s castle.

She couldn't help but gasp once more, her jaw dropping at the sight. Two fire carts melted into the pavement below, and trees burned to ash. A crowd of employees huddled before the gate, whispering in panicked tones.

One silhouette she was most concerned for was a pale one, while a stallion covered in a blanket stared into the distance. His muzzle is covered in dried tears, threatening to swell up. A baby cooing through his hooves

"Shining," Twilight inquires, despite the fact that she trotted over to him, wrapping her hooves around his body. As she followed his gaze, she questioned, "Oh, shining, what happened?"

She watched as Cadence threw every ice and snow spell she could muster, but the flames didn’t stop. They kept crawling over more of the castle. She watched one of the flames lick the sky, and emotion overtook her.

Mom, everything about this fire pointed to her mother. That just didn't make sense. Her mother wouldn’t be capable of such a thing. She wasn’t that magically strong. She would never do this if she was. Still, Twilight was filled with emotions of admiration. Her eyes teared up as she felt a warm glow. as if being embraced by everyone she cared about made it so difficult. She didn't want to put out the fire; she wanted to embrace it.

Yet the fire was so destructive, taking everything in its path. She tore her head away from the sight, tears forming in her own eyes. "SHINING!" She yelled, shaking him.

An exhausted and bone-pale stallion turned to her, holding a small bundle in his hooves. "Twilly…"

"What, who, what?!?" Twilight interrogated her because she didn't know where to begin. Was Shining OK? What was this flame? Why did she know it? Why was it familiar?

"We were sleeping, and a fire started. We couldn’t find flurries anywhere. "I have never been so scared." He spoke with tears flowing over his muzzle once more. He brought his daughter closer to his chest as he continued to speak. "She... was in the cookie jar." "We have been using cookies to potty train her."

Twilight frowned, not letting go of her brother for a second. "Where is cadence?" She asked, closing in on Flurry, if she felt the same way a mother did. Why? Was it because it was her niece? that she was related?

"Fighting the fire... I used all my magic." I'm freaking out; this has never happened before. I used every snow spell I learned from Sombra, and so has Cadence. "It won't stop burning, and neither can the fire creatures."

Twilight looked at Shining, who was staring at the firefighters as they dumped everything they could get their claws, paws, and hooves on. She wrapped her hooves around him and wrote up another letter. "Don’t worry, Shining." "Everything will be ok."

---------

Sombra turned on a panting couch with legs. He tossed his camo-patterned plaid blanket aside. He couldn’t sleep again. With a groan, he tossed his blankets aside. Hopping off the couch, he decided to go bother some of the living room furniture that was scattered around Discord’s house.

He was so glad he moved in here once he had passed all his friendship tests. The friendship castle was awful. Twilight was neurotic, and that much harmony magic made him physically ill. Most nights, he slept outside. Now he spends most of his time with Discord, Trixie, and Starlight.

Sombra patted the sofa he slept on, thinking of his new, um, friends. He guessed he could call them that, even if they were more like allies. The couch licked his hooves incessantly, his smile fading. Something about the consent licks and the excited couch's pants soothed him. The more he petted her, the more he felt at ease.

Until something cold and hard hit him on the head."What?" he said as it clinked on the floor, scaring the couch. "If it's because I put a book back in the wrong place, I swear."

‘Sombra,

A large and uncontrollable fire broke out in the Crystal Castle. Cadence and Shining are using your spells, but they are not working. We need your assistance and discord; we need all of the magic we can get.

Twilight Sparkle’

"Oh? DISCORD!" Sombra yelled, throwing open a purple and green window leading to the bedroom. "DISCORD!!" He yelled, hopping across lily pad stones in a hot chocolate pond, and ran to the tree Discord was sleeping in.

Discord woke with a groan, cucumbers falling from his eyes. He scolded Sombra and yelled back, "What?!"

"It’s an emergency." There’s a fire in Crystal Castle. Twilight said we had to come.

Discord groaned and whipped the sleep from his eyes. Snapping his fingers in front of the flames

Sombra and Discord’s jaws collectively dropped, and any sleepiness washed away. The fire had taken over more than half the castle. consuming the castle as the seconds ticked by.

"Holly shit.." Sombra said as he watched Twilight She was throwing all she could at the flame, but it wasn’t working. She was fighting a losing battle against the bright yellow and gold flames. The fire creatures had given up a long time ago. They sat dejectedly on the street corner.

Sombra stared into the flame licks and recognized the magic. It’s like he knew this magic, and he knew it well. It was so hard to place; it’s like he had fought it, but it didn’t feel like an enemy’s magic.

Discord sat just as slack-jawed. He too felt like he knew this magic; it was like an old friend to him. No matter what happened, those who knew him had his back. Having no clue what to do, he picked Sombra up by the scruff of his neck and went straight to Cadence. "Hey."

Cadence looked up at Discord, her muzzle stained with tears, and she lay shining, her heart fluttering."Hey," she croaked as she went back to staring at her life in flames.

Sombra teleported right out of Discord’s claw, which made him jump. "Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out." "Twilight's here, so, um, that’s a thing." He tried to smile reassuringly, fiddling with his claw and paw. He wasn’t very good at this part of friendship: "Oh, hey, what’s brown and sticky?"

Cadence cocked her eyebrow and squinted her eyes at Discord. She stared at him for a couple of seconds before saying, "Um, I’m not sure."

"Hi, I’m not sure I’m Discord, but it's nice to meet you. The answer is a stick.

Cadence scoffed, "Please, no, I hear enough dad jokes from Shining."

"Unfortunately, there are no elements to protect you, so prepare for the worst." Discord said it in a spooky tone.

Twilight grunted as she threw another powerful snow spell into the fire. "Why?" She whispered into the air.

"I don’t know."

"CELESTIA! "You scared me, Sombra." Twilight said she was several feet higher than she was before. "Stop doing that or I swear I will put a bell on you."

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want from me?" "I need your help; I can't calm the flames down." "You know snow-based magic more than I do."

Magic got it. Sombra groaned; he was never sure why Twilight just didn’t tell him what she needed from him. He was aware of what he could say now to avoid further friendship lessons. He didn’t need any more patronizing. "Go."

"Um"

"I said go, now." Sombra snapped back, pointing his hoof at Cadence. Friendship was breaking down his back, and he didn't need her here. Judging him.

Twilight frowned as she left, looking back one more time. to make sure he was alright. His purple eyes stared forward, concentrated on the task. "Okay."

Sombra waited till the flaps of Twilight's wings became distant. Then did he start chanting in a language so dead that no other creature knew it? His purple eyes swirled with white as he focused on the fire.

Giant purple clouds formed in the sky, similar to those the windigos made. The clouds got bigger, covering the width of the castle. a massive ray of light tracing the outline of the same creature

Blinded, it took minutes before everyone realized. The castle was gone, covered by snow. Sombra stood in front of it, his black hide making him easy to spot.

"There, happy?"

Twilight stared into the pure white snow, shocked at how powerful Sombra was. or at least the specific magic he seemed to wield. "Thank you so much. "You saved the castle and us!"

"Whatever," Sombra grumbled; he had no choice.It was either this or going back into the ice. That was a place he would never go to again. "You should figure out who attacked before they do it again." "I don’t want to keep waking up at ungodly hours."

Twilight frowned and looked behind her at the chaos. Snow blew through the wind as she noticed the exhausted creatures strewn about. It looked like years had been shaved off their muzzles. She stared as Cadence hugged her family in her wings, shaking; she could tell she was crying again. Discord is sitting next to her, flailing his paw and scratching her head with his claw. "Maybe tomorrow."

Author's Note

I hope you like it!

grammer edited 11/27/22