Northen Stars

After Twilight left, Spike, as usual, had obeyed and had remained in the safety of the blanket she had left for him, placed as it was next to all the other things.

In addition, he had to endure, as if that were not enough, the present feature of the climate, which had prevented him from enjoying a good night sleep. Though if he had to be honest, none of the previous nights had been that good really.

He only had to go through his own memories to realize what he had missed before. And to top it all off, the only place where he had really been able to rest at that moment was several miles away from his current location. He only hoped that when they finally had the good fortune to come out of that forest first, they would then be able to find another village in which to rest all their bad nights.

Secondly, there was the fact that, when they managed to escape completely, he was going to make his way to the castle, lock himself in whatever room was available, and forget about the world. He didn't even know for how long. He didn't want to know either.

Suddenly, something he saw out of the corner of his eye made him realize something else.

Spike suddenly turned his head to the side, as he looked at the place where Twilight had left her things to make a hypothetical fire that had been forbidden to her. An idea began to form in his mind. The problem was that he didn't know whether to listen to it or leave it at that. Although after several seconds in which he was with that thought, he ended up making his decision.

Despite the unicorn's warning not to light any fires, the atmosphere that had formed around him forced him, in one way or another, to ignore that warning and finally create one with the intention of suffocating that cold with the heat of his fire. The same thing that he took it upon himself to rekindle with his own flames. But no matter how hard he tried to warm the air, the strange cold that had settled in the forest still wouldn't go away.

Of course, a little cold was no problem for him. Dragons had the ability to keep their body temperatures constant with the heat that was housed inside, the same heat that fed their flames. But that heat they could only keep normal for short periods of low temperature.

So the almost icy atmosphere that crept through the place had begun to last long enough for Spike to begin to feel the discomfort. His fire and the blanket wrapped around him still protected him, but the scales on his body couldn't do much to keep the heat inside him. At least not for that long. So he did the only thing in his power in that situation: He covered himself completely and curled himself into a small ball as he twisted his tail around him.

The sudden crackling noise of the fire beside him warned him of how bit time it had to do its job of warming him up. In the end, only a short but quick gust of icy wind was enough to put out what was left of the small campfire. It sent a shudder through him that was quickly replaced by a sudden sensation that made his scales bristle.

His mind quickly tried to disconnect from that fleeting icy feeling. In the meantime he allowed himself for a moment to remember his favorite alicorn, once a unicorn.

"Hopefully you'll be back soon, Twilight," he whispered as the breath from his mouth came out in a little puff.

Spike closed his eyes and tried to forget his situation as much as he could. He just wanted to wait for Twilight to return to Sombra, so that the three of them could wait until dawn to get out of the place once and for all. And then, when at last the forest was far away from them, slowly receding behind them, perhaps he would allow himself to breathe easy.

Or at least wait for that illusion for the moment when they really left that island and returned to the real world. Because deep down Spike hoped that it was all maybe a simple nightmare.

The air around him continued to drop almost imperceptibly as time went on. But Twilight hadn't arrived yet. With a sudden sense of strangeness, Spike raised his head again to confirm his situation once more, only to realize that the small fire had been extinguished and now darkness reigned again in the small clearing.

The silence, ironically, felt almost deafening.

"For Celestia, now what?" he asked himself in a whisper, as confused as he was at that moment. Though a pinch of growing fear also began to lodge within him.

After the silence around him was the only thing to answer his question, Spike sat up and sat back once more, still hugging his blanket. He let the comforting warmth of it slide all over his body; at least that was something that relieved him. And since Twilight had left it to him, he was going to wait for her as long as it took to give it back to her again. But without taking long, the idea of going to look for her gradually began to creep into his mind.

In the end, though, he quickly discarded it. Even with his fire, he didn't know if he was going to be able to see anything in all that gloom. And apparently his reptilian vision didn't help him much in this case either. So he cleverly chose to stay in place rather than take a possible unnecessary risk.

His own subconscious had pointed out, after all, that it could be a very bad invention.

And even if all this turned out to be true, Spike still had to bear the nagging thought that he was going to do nothing in the end. However, the heavy cold that crept through his scales, the time spent waiting for Twilight, and the general thoughts about his situation, all of that would end up being the least of his problems.

"By Celestia, this is too dark!" he thought as he placed one of his claws in front of him, only to catch a glimpse of his silhouette.

He even imagined that if he raised his head to glance at the sky, the stars would not be seen even if all the trees around him disappeared and the clearing opened completely. But in the meantime, he couldn't have imagined what was going to happen, rather because he didn't know that something would happen.

It was a slight, almost imperceptible change in the air that alerted him at the end. It may have gone unnoticed by others, but not by him and his developed dragon senses. It didn't take long for his own instinct to kick in, even more so when the dark atmosphere that had reigned up to that point began to dim little by little in a suspicious way.

If that had happened in any other kind of situation, Spike would even have been glad that it had happened, in the familiar meaning that the sun would soon rise to light up the sunrise. But that didn't happen this time.

Because at that instant the sun still took several hours to appear. Because the darkness never disappeared so quickly, but gradually. And in the first place, because the trees around should not look like that, with that dark, withered appearance on its barks.

And before he knew it, he could see himself in a better light.

So it didn't take long for Spike to know, or rather realize, that this appearance would turn out to be nothing more than an illusion.

He closed his eyes for a few more moments as the silence dragged on, perhaps in an attempt to find some vague way to concentrate on his attempt to catch something. But it remained the same as it had been a few seconds ago.

His heart had long been beating faster than usual, stimulated by the adrenaline that had begun to cours. The fear he felt did that work on his breathing, increasing it despite his attempts to control it. That really bothered him.

Until he opened his eyes again.

And darkness fell upon the little dragon.

Spike gave a loud cry of surprise as something completely ejected him from his blanket. That whirlpool sent everything around him flying. He tried to protect himself as best he could from the impacts of the small sharp rocks that had been scattered. But he couldn't count on it ending there suddenly and abruptly. The dark mist retreated as quickly as it came, seemingly leaving him alone.

Spike fell to the ground and quickly put his claws in front to avoid a hard blow in more delicate places. Still, he winced when a scrape on his shoulder seemed to have taken away more than just a few fragments of scales.

When he opened his eyes he found the same dark mist that had dissipated, now as it swirled very quickly around him. The wind that was blowing at that moment did not seem to have any effect on it, easily opposed its dragging at the moment when it should have been otherwise. But nothing was normal anymore.

Spike stood up and tried to prepare himself in his mind for any threat that came from it, even if he didn't have all the means to deal with it. The dilated pupils of his eyes accompanied the open posture of his body. His wings spread almost involuntarily, while tiny tongues of green fire were visible from between his fangs, ready to be launched. The scales of his body, like the fur of a mammal, stood up almost entirely.

Still, any creature within meters that could smell his fear could detect that this was only defensive. That it didn't reflect the fear he really felt inside. And for them that was good in part.

A last terrifying, frightened scream was heard as the shadows swooped in one last swift ambush upon the little dragon and surrounded him completely, hiding him long enough that it couldn't escape or enter even a shred of light.

A thought, or rather a single word, prevailed in his mind in the meantime.

"Twilight..."

They didn't know what that meant, they didn't care. Even so, from within they could feel how he, in spite of everything, struggled to escape. Unconsciously, they retreated into their bliss.

At last they had a prey that not only knew how to escape.

***

Twilight had flown out in a frenzy when that last cry alerted her. But it was the failure to hear even a faint whisper that caused her alarm levels to rise significantly.

In her haste she had left Sombra behind, though she would later remember with some guilt that he was actually the last thing she had remembered at that moment. Nothing else mattered to her at that moment as long as she could get quickly where she wanted.

But for all her worries, something prevented her from getting as fast as she would have liked. Something caused her to get lost, even though she knew, or had the feeling, that she was going in the right direction. And in some very strange way she already suspected what might be.

The only problematic issue was the fact that the thought of what was the origin of it all always came to her mind, simply or perhaps simultaneously. The answers she had managed to get in the cave had only answered a quarter of what her doubts had really been, it was true. But most of these had ended up intertwined with several new ones that she hadn't been able to imagine. She just hoped she could find the eventual answer.

And yet the thought was only a fleeting thought that crossed her mind for a moment. Now almost nothing mattered when the shadows began to grow in all around. She didn't know it by her sight, but she could feel it.

She could feel something beginning to be present in that heavy darkness. Something that felt so similar to that forbidden magic that her own teacher had shown her and that she herself had finally performed, so long ago. And yet, this felt so much wilder.

And she could realize all of that without any effort on her part. This led her to the thought that having a certain sensitivity to the magical energy of the environment, further enhanced by her status as an alicorn, could sometimes be an advantage for herself. Or a disadvantage.

That could have been her case at the time.

Twilight suddenly stopped in mid-air, forcing her breathing to increase in frequency as tiredness set in. And not only that, since her entire system was stretched to the limit when she wanted to go further.

"No, no, no, where was that clearing?" she thought as she turned her head in all directions, and the sight of the great trees closing in around her was all she could see.

There was no trail she could follow, let alone one of Spike's. And now she was regretting leaving Sombra behind.

"Spike," she said almost in a whisper, deep inside herself, fearing that something had heard her and wanted to rush in her direction. Nothing came out of the trees and the atmosphere remained as undisturbed as ever.

With frustration growing inside her, Twilight made her wings carry her to the ground as she tried to do her best not to lose her nerve. The light of her horn continued its faint glow after she closed her eyes. At that moment it was the only certainty she could hold on to.

A bit farther on, however, Sombra cursed deep in his mind the moment when the alicorn had literally flown away at the dragon's scream. Without hesitating for a second to leave him behind.

It wasn't as if that mattered much to him anyway, at least not on that specific occasion. After all, it was the issue that concerned both of them at that moment that was the most important that he needed to be resolved.

He didn't know how but he imagined it, maybe he could have an idea of what was really going on. All thanks to the fact that his memories were beginning to come back to him. That place was a reservoir of magic, yes; and he could even feel his own gradually increasing under that atmosphere.

But it wasn't just that. It was also a natural containment for something more dangerous. Something that had been stored in his memory for so long that he didn't know how he had forgotten it. Or maybe if he knew, after all, being locked for a millennium in the eternal ice of the Frozen North had affected even his magic. It wasn't at all strange to think that the same thing had happened to his memories, too.

During the instant when his dark magic seemed to have returned, he had a kind of revelation. As if those same memories dormant in the back of his mind had finally managed to fight back out of his oblivion. And at that very moment he had remembered that old piece of advice that wise pony had given him long ago, and had suggested that he put it into practice.

Not without some weariness, Sombra let out one last exasperated grunt and galloped off in search of the princess. That warning ended up echoing in his head all the way. If what he remembered was true in fact, leaving her alone was going to be a potential risk for both her and him.

But he didn't go out in search of her just because he had to, as well as for his own benefit, of course. The truth was that, as much as the youngest of the alicorn princesses was irritating to him at times, deep down he couldn't help but recognize that she sometimes made a rather admirable effort to put a hoof to help them escape from that cursed place.

He would never say it out loud, of course, but it was a fact to him that the purple alicorn was intriguing to him. But that wasn't the thought that occupied his mind in that stressful situation.

If they managed to get out of it first, confident that they would never go back again, he told himself that he would take care of explaining the whole situation to them, even if deep down he was not so enthusiastic about revealing some of the information that was unlocking in his mind at that moment.

But first he needed to find her and then say so. And for that, Sombra had to force his magic into a spell, but not with his common unicorn magic. But with the magic that had always been naturally within him. At the time he didn't know why, but something in him was reluctant to use his dark magic again. Sombra quickly pushed that feeling away and put it in the shadowy corner of his mind from which it had emerged.

That was completely ridiculous!

His whole life had been conditioned by the use and practice of that essential part of himself, of his own existence. He had been taught to tap into the magic that naturally flourished in his species and ran within his veins. After all, it was he who had been chosen to finish what had been started in the past.

And yet, despite all that, the remnants of what he could feel still floated in his head as he cast his spell. A feeling he didn't like, so he quickly pushed it out of his mind.

Magic flowed through his horn with extreme ease, so familiar to him that it didn't take any extra effort to summon it as needed. Meanwhile, the effects of it began to reflect on his face. He didn't need to confirm what he already knew when the sclera of his eyes turned green and the characteristic purple smoke began to flow once more down the sides of his eyes. A second later was all he needed to head in the right direction.

He kept the light of magic that projected his horn to a minimum, just as a wise precaution so as not to attract any unwanted attention. The gloom was no problem. Because of his developed vision, fortunately it was not necessary for so much luminosity to enter his eyes. But there was also the troubling fact that his normal magic wasn't as strong as it had been on previous occasions.

In the end, he was able to get to the princess's location in a better way when he caught the remains of the last call she had made. But he wasn't sure if he was the only one who had heard it, or if something else she had alerted.

Twilight suddenly turned in his direction as she pointed her horn at him, thinking that he was some kind of real threat coming for her. In the back of her mind she whispered that it was somewhat objectively fine for her to take those precautions, but in the end she quickly straightened herself up when she realized it was only him. She gave a mental sigh as relief showed on her face. Sombra was finally able to reach her without further incident to slow his progress.

"Sombra? What...?" She took a second to rearrange the thoughts in her head. "How did you find me?"

Sombra decided not to answer her question and instead walked to stand in front of her, as if he wanted to prove something.

"That doesn't matter now, didn't you want to get to where the dragon is?" he asked in an urgent tone.

"Of course, but..." she whispered and was interrupted.

"Then listen to me and follow me," Sombra turned his body and started walking again. But first he turned his head over his shoulder, intentionally to say those last words. "And I suggest you don't leave me again."

Although Sombra had already looked back in the other direction, Twilight lowered her gaze slightly and nodded to herself as she resumed her journey on yet another occasion. This time she had to trust him completely, and she was only a little surprised that this fact did not seem to disturb or worry her in some way. But after all, that's what friends were supposed to do.

And she knew that. So just at that moment she trusted him to take her to where her little dragon was.

In the end she listened to him and stayed behind him the whole time, even when they both hurried off and began to gallop at her suggestion. The gloomy landscape of their surroundings passed before their eyes like several silhouettes of blurred outlines, giving rise to the same appearances in all directions. Which wasn't so strange in a place where all the objects in the environment looked alike.

As the light of Sombra's magic guided them along the way, Twilight lamented that her own had led her down a path so far from her goal. Her magic had felt strange and although it wasn't the first time, she could tell that this time it was a much more intense feeling than on previous occasions.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he had found her... She really didn't know what would have happened. Perhaps she would end up lost in the trees of that endless place another time? Would she ever make it away? And more importantly, what would happen to Spike if he hadn't found her?

After Twilight's mind had been revived by all those self-imposed questions, the sudden noise of something in front of them caused her to startle quickly. She almost collided with Sombra, and she didn't because he himself took it upon himself to hold her aside.

"What...?" She muttered after lowering her gaze and noticing the limb that extended over the middle of her chest.

Sombra looked at her and made a gesture of silence in her direction. Twilight's gaze turned serious and she looked forward again, totally focused.

"Come," Was all he said.

Twilight nodded without noticing, and they both picked up the pace side by side again. The stillness was such that only the soft sound of their breaths could be heard, only obscured by the clanging of their hooves against the earth. That feeling of nervousness came back to attack them both, a bit more at Twilight than at Sombra. And she realized that she couldn't fight it, she just had to go with her gut.

"Sombra...?" Twilight's voice was heard in such a strange tone that she was surprised. She paused for a moment as her face was frowned with weirdness and confusion.

If Sombra said anything, Twilight didn't hear it, because at the very moment she took a step back, a dark fog of strange origins clouded her hearing and her vision. Although there was something somewhat familiar. She gave a cry of surprise and immediately summoned a shield with some of the magic that was still being replenished.

A pink barrier quickly appeared and separated her from the menace. And though she expected more resistance from her own power, magic flowed from her horn as easily as water could flow from a brook.

The tactic worked better than she really expected, most likely because the consistency and magic of that black smoke was the same as what Sombra had used when they first met on that beach. The shield she had summoned held up without much trouble, and the only effort she had to make was to bring her own magic to life.

A few seconds later after that, it finally paid off. But she only realized it when the intensity of the darkness outside her barrier finally cleared up in a certain slight way.

The shadows of the mist receded after a couple of minutes that felt longer than she expected. It allowed her to slowly regain her senses while letting some magic flow to keep her horn light on. Twilight needed a few more seconds to gently rub her eyes before looking around.

She raised her head, and almost wished she hadn't. In a few seconds she could almost feel the blood in her body freeze at the prospect in front of her when she realized her situation.

Sombra was gone, and now Twilight felt more intensely the raw dark magic that had been played out in that environment. So much so that she even felt dizzy. To add insult to injury, all this delayed her in her efforts to reach the little dragon.

What she didn't know and didn't imagine was that the situation was going to escalate to a much higher, and dangerous, medium.

Suddenly, something clicked in Twilight's mind, and everything began to fall into place. She got up, took one last look around, and shot off in a direction she couldn't have foreseen before. She knew, she could feel that she had to go down that road even though her own mind dictated another logic. She just went with her gut and trusted that her hooves would carry her.

And just on the road in front of her, a powerful reddish light opened for a few moments, in which it ended up blinding her immediately. Twilight paused for a few moments to let the white spots disappear from her vision. After a few seconds she opened her eyes again as her mind associated with the fact that this flash might have been Sombra in his attempt to contact her.

That excited her somewhat, but she still didn't get carried away and thought about her next steps cautiously in case it could be a trap. That deep down she suspected it was, as she walked very slowly along the path.

"Sombra?" she exclaimed in a whisper that only she could have heard. More than calling him, her intention was to calm herself down.

Nopony answered, and the forest remained as silent as it had seemed before. And then she began to sense something even stranger. Her magic gradually began to diminish almost imperceptibly. It was due to the light that her horn projected, while little by little it diminished its intensity. Twilight frowned at this, but she was already very close to that place. There was no point in going back.

Just as she entered the clearing, she saw nothing. But when her vision finally cleared, Twilight could only recoil from the astonishment, surprise, and silent cry she uttered at the sight of Spike enveloped in that sea of shadows.

A bolt of offensive magic shot out of her horn before she could even think better of it, and that caused her to miss her target. The shadows swirled and dodged it quickly as if it had a life of its own. Twilight suspected it was. And before she resumed her attack it joined together and disappeared in a single direction, taking the little dragon with it.

Twilight didn't need to think twice. She spread her wings, rose and followed them as fast as she could. So engrossed as she was in her pursuit that she did not notice the dark shape of the stallion behind her.

Something similar had happened to him.

Once the dark mist had wrapped around his body, similar to when he took his shadow form, he had been inexplicably moved to another place where he could get up with his hooves. Sombra had growled in exasperation as he waited for the seconds he needed to adjust his vision to his surroundings.

After that, he began to analyze his situation, again. The alicorn princess had disappeared, and now he was really sure who, or rather who, was behind it all. So he ended up doing the most sensible thing he could do at the time: summon his magic once again to try to find her. After all, it was enough to know that the forbidden magic that reigned in the air also fed his own. But in the end something didn't go as expected.

Just as it had once happened to him, his horn crackled and went out, giving the clear signal that the spell had failed. This only confused him, and at the same time it was not something that surprised him. He could feel as if something was inhibiting it, something coming from his environment. That is why he preferred not to continue in an effort that in the end would be useless, so he let it dissipate.

And just as he was thinking about going to look for her on his own, a quick flash of pink passed a few feet from where he was without it noticing his presence. He immediately started galloping and went after it. He knew it was really her.

Now the question was: What could have happened to make her let herself be carried away in a frantic race to that part of the forest?

To his surprise, his question was finally answered when he detected the powerful presence of dark magic that had developed in that environment. It sent a shiver unconsciously down his spine.

The princess was fast, and though he galloped hard enough to overtake her, she soon began to advance still further. Sombra cursed internally, knowing that at that moment his magic had not yet recovered. And he didn't even know how long it was going to take. Therefore, he could not execute any other spell that would help him get there faster, not even a simple normal teleportation.

And by the time he finally reached her, there was practically nothing much to do.

Twilight also managed to reach them, but stopped in mid-air when she saw the shadows swirling around Spike again. Another beam of energy came out of her horn and pierced them almost as if nothing. However, she couldn't risk much when he was in the line of fire. No matter how hard she tried to free him from the fog, it simply dodged all her attacks.

"Spike!!!" She called out to him repeatedly as she tried to get to him.

She wanted him to wake up, to know that she was there to rescue him from this situation. She wanted to tell him not to be afraid. But her efforts were in vain.

The shadows receded suddenly and without warning, but it wasn't gradual. The air around her seemed to thin as Twilight followed once more. Desperation began to grow inside her when Spike soon disappeared from her sight. And suddenly something hit her hard in the side.

Twilight screamed and flapped her wings in a futile attempt to straighten herself, but that same force dragged her to the ground. She was able to cover her head with her own helmets to avoid any dangerous injuries.

She couldn't get up.

Something, a sudden, strange fear paralyzed her in the place. Her heartbeat raised her pace, so much so that she could feel the pulse in her ears. The unpleasant feeling of being watched slowly increased within her.

Then she discovered, to her horror, that her instinct was not wrong.

Twilight forced herself to look up to make sure it hadn't really been something her mind was playing out of her, in a silent, cruel mockery of her own inability to rescue her friend.

At first she saw nothing, but as her vision grew closer, the erratic movement of the shadows in the trees warned her that there was something there that must not be.

Because darkness shouldn't have a defined silhouette in the first place. And secondly, it shouldn't have a pair of bright red grooves next to each other that felt like a pair of eyes floating in the same darkness that shaped it. And the strangest thing was this very shape.

Had it not been for those two occasions when she had gone to the human world beyond the mirror in Canterlot, Twilight would never have been able to decipher it. Their bodies and limbs were long, just like a human's. And although most of them were leaning against the branches with the four branches, it could be seen that this was not their normal position.

Once again, the knowledge of that understanding left her paralyzed. And not exactly out of fear.

However, something felt strange. Those shadow beings didn't dare come within a little of sixteen feet of her, Twilight calculated. As she was thinking about what to do to get out of their control and get rid of those things, something entered her vision field and caught her attention. Something small and purple...

"Spike!!" Twilight squirmed as she called out his name, but despite her determined stance, she remained the same, unable to move.

A cold sweat began to creep under her coat as a strange, chilling noise began to drill into her ears. Twilight didn't want to see or lift her head, and yet she forced herself to do so.

It was then that a bolt of dark magic appeared at the side of her vision and struck one of the branches, scaring several away and causing others to give sudden cries of rage. Twilight felt that at that moment she should feel at ease now that Sombra had finally appeared, because she knew very well that this magic was his.

She should felt it... So why couldn't she?

Twilight raised her head and before she could realize it, a quick gust of pain settled behind her head as Sombra yelled something she couldn't comprehend.

The last thing she saw was the backlit reflection of the scales on Spike's small body, briefly illuminated by the beam of magic Sombra unleashed, before the darkness claimed her on yet another occasion.

When Twilight woke up some time later, Spike was nowhere in sight. That could only mean that he had been taken away... And she had failed.

A groan behind her made her head turn as her wings spread and her whole body went on alert again. Only when she realized that it was Sombra who was also beginning to wake up, did she put away her wings again and was able to allow herself a little relaxation. But no more than that.

Twilight looked down at her hooves, wondering to herself in a whisper.

"What...? What were those things?"

"Something I'd forgotten a long time ago," Sombra replied, much to Twilight's slight surprise.

She didn't turn around, just frowned as she realized that she had spoken louder than she thought. Nor did she try to find out more about that answer. At that moment she was so stunned that not even her own natural curiosity could shake her out of that state.

Sombra looked at her and realized something wasn't right with her. But he also couldn't blame her when she had just seen the dragon being kidnapped by those things without her being able to do anything to stop it... Or him.

Perhaps that's why he wasn't entirely surprised when he said the following.

"Try to save your energy."

"W-what? What? What are you talking about?" Twilight exclaimed in a stammer as she lifted her head to look at him.

"What I'm trying to say is that if you want your friend back, you shouldn't waste your efforts right now." He got up from his seat to get a little closer to her. "I advise you, you have to be careful."

After those words, Sombra simply closed his eyes, tired to the brim.

It had all gone so wrong. But it was no time to lament even now that the situation had escalated to worse states they had not imagined. But deep down he wondered how these creatures had managed to get to them.

After hearing what Sombra had said, Twilight sighed loudly and raised her head to the sky, perhaps trying to look beyond the treetops. To the stars and moon that had finally returned. She didn't wonder again what these creatures had been, or why Sombra knew about them.

She only let one last tired, weary-filled thought pass through her mind in an instant, before the world around her became blurry and dark.

"And now what will I do?"