Shards of Hatred

Chapters

Incipient
Perturbation
Adulation
Visitation
Reflection
Transition
Derision
Confrontation
Smoldering
Coercion
Imprisonment
Tribulation
Recollections: I
Recollections: II
Persuasion
Containment
Communication
Assembly
Turbulence
Isolation
Culmination
Genesis
Pursuit
Clandestine

Incipient

--—Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter II: Incipient ----

“See ya later, Moon Dancer!” The sound of his own voice made Spike wince as he waved back to the kind pony who had let him stay in her house while he recovered from the massive sugar-crash that still plagued his body, albeit to a lesser degree than last night.

“Be careful going home, Spike!”

“I will, don’t worry!” Spike turned away as Moon Dancer shut the door behind her, leaving him to walk unsteadily down the partially abandoned street with the echoing snap of the closing door following close behind. “Oh man, last night was great!” Images of last night’s party flashed through his mind, going from the beautiful-looking gems that had been lain out for him to the thousands upon thousands of ponies that had clamored for his attention to the sheer amounts of hot chocolate that he had thrown into his mouth over the course of a few hours.

“I hope Twilight isn’t mad at me that I didn’t go home without her.” The very thought of his best friend being unhappy with him made Spike shudder violently. “Nah, she said she’d never send me away. I think she’s fine.” He waved a claw through an air to dispel his troubles, but he couldn’t get rid of the slightly uneasy feeling that sat deep down in his stomach. “But still, maybe I should go home.” Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something to lift even the saddest of ponies’ spirits. “On second thought, I don’t think I’m gonna go home juuuuust yet.” Spike reached out and pushed open the door that served as a barrier between him and happiness.

As he stepped inside the bakery, the scent of freshly made donuts and coffee assaulted his nose, making his stomach rumble violently despite the food that he had devoured the night before. "Well, if it isn't Spike, my best customer!" Pony Joe leaned over the counter and smiled down at him as he rubbed a mug clean with a white cloth. "What brings you here?"

"Well, Pony Joe, I'm here to get the usual." Spike leapt up onto one of the many vacant barstools and laid his claw across the counter. "A mug of hot chocolate and a donut with extra sprinkles on it."

"You want that after last night?" The baker let out an appreciative whistle. "I figured you'd be done with that kind of stuff for a good week or two after how much you had."

Spike scratched the side of his head embarrassedly. "Nah, I won't ever get tired of donuts and chocolate. Hit me." He put his claw onto the counter top and slid over a shiny, golden bit.

"Sure thing, Spike. One Hot Choco and a Sprinkle Bomb coming right up." As the tan stallion walked into the back room to get his order, Spike looked out to one of the windows and sighed.

"Just one drink, then I'll go home."

Twilight Sparkle picked herself up from the ground once more, brushing away the soot that clung to her coat with a hoof for a few moments before giving up the futile task. She cast her gaze back over to the resilient black stone that still sat where she had left it, smoking slightly from explosion spell that Twilight had funneled into its core in a frustrated effort to get it to open. “I guess I can’t make you smaller after all.” She sighed before walking back over to the experiment table, picking up a magnifying glass with her magic along the way.

“All right, let’s see what you’ve got to tell me on that surface of yours.” She pulled up the round disk of glass and leaned in to look at the gemstone. After a few moments of silence she threw the unfortunate instrument of observing against the wall, where it shattered into a thousand shards of glimmering glass. “I… I don’t believe it! I didn’t even make a mark on it!” Snorting angrily, Twilight turned away and looked out of the window. The sun now hung nearly directly overhead, beating its rays down on Equestria. “Oh, I’ve been at it all morning!”

She jerked her head around at the sound of a door slamming upstairs in her precious library. A voice drifted down to her from above, followed by the plodding of hooves as somepony walked around in her home. "Twilight? Are you in here you silly filly?"

Half-gripped by the notion of remaining hidden, Twilight began to walk over to the experiment table before she remembered her frustration with her specimen. I'd better go let Pinkie know I'm here. Knowing her, she'd find me anyway. As if called (and much to Twilight's dismay), the excitable party pony poked her head into the laboratory.

"Hiya Twilight!" Pinkie Pie slowly hopped down the staircase and landed lightly before the unicorn. "What are you doing down here? Sciencey stuff?" In her usual method of information gathering, the earth pony hopped around the lab and began shifting aside nearly everything in sight, ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing appreciatively as she looked at the different tools and gadgets that found their way into her hooves. Shaking her head, the librarian turned away to look outside into the sunlight again, wincing when the sound of a metal pan clanged on the ground.

“Pinkie…” Twilight’s voice held a note of warning as she directed back to the pink blur that flitted about her basement.

“Oh, what’s this? It looks pretty!” Feeling a jolt of fear run down her spine, Twilight turned just in time to spot Pinkie Pie slowly reaching for the black gemstone that was in the middle of the room.

Anger flared up in her as she lunged forward. “Don’t touch that!” Twilight grabbed Pinkie Pie by the tail and jerked her backward away from the table. Letting go of the tail as the pony it belonged to hit the ground behind her, Twilight whipped around to glare at the mischievous baker. “Can’t you go for ten minutes without messing everything up?” Everything held a slight tint of red to Twilight’s eyes and, unknown to either pony, the black stone behind them glimmered with an emerald light.

“I…I’m sorry, Twilight.” Tears welled up in the pink pony’s eyes as she sadly looked into her friend’s face and her mane deflated into a smooth sheet of hair. “I-I-I w-won’t do it again.”

The lavender unicorn blinked once, banishing the crimson color from her world. Realization washed over her, followed quickly by shame. Reaching out with her hooves, Twilight drew the distraught Pinkie Pie into a warm hug. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I… I didn’t mean it.” Slowly the sniffles of her friend beside her subsided. “I don’t know what came over me.” Pulling back, Twilight smiled at the Element of Laughter and received the gesture in kind. “Can you ever forg—“ Her words were silenced by a wall of fluffy, pink hair being shoved into her face as a pair of hooves wrapped tightly around her.

“Of course I can Twilight! I know you could never really be mad at me!” The recent occurrence forgotten, Pinkie Pie circled around Twilight excitedly. “Oh, I just remembered what I came here for! The girls all wanted to hang out in the park again today and they said I should come ask you since I’m the best inviter-pony in Equestria! That reminds me!” The bouncing blur of pink leapt back and took a deep breath. “Thiiiiiiis is your singing telegram—“ A lavender hoof shut the rest of the song in Pinkie Pie’s mouth.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Pinkie. Let’s just go meet up with them.”

Pinkie Pie talked around the hoof in her mouth, enunciating what sounded like “Okie Dokie Lokie!” Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped aside, letting the pink pony lead the way out of the laboratory. Glancing one last time behind her at the glimmering stone, she picked up a blanket and flung it over the table. “Twilight, are you coming?” Pinkie’s voice cheerfully descended down to her from the first floor.

Casting another uneasy look behind her, Twilight turned and began climbing the stairs into the library above. “Yeah, I’m coming!”

“Oh my, who made these absolutely marvelous Hors d'œuvres?” Rarity levitated another of the snacks into her mouth and chewed happily before speaking again. “They are simply divine.”

Pinkie Pie leapt up excitedly and hugged Applejack to her side with one hoof. “We did, we did!”

Applejack wiggled out from the other pony’s hoof and straightened her Stetson hat before directing an embarrassed smile at Rarity. “They ain’t anythin’ special. Just some fritters me an’ Pinkie here whipped up at the farm.” Applejack lifted one of the mentioned fritters and tossed it into her mouth. “Coursh, we had shome troublesh gettin’ the applesh, what wi—“

“Oh, Applejack please, don’t talk with your mouth full like that. It’s disgusting!” Rarity waved a hoof at the farmer and swayed dramatically. Confused, Twilight looked back between the two ponies who glared at each other from across the picnic blanket as the all-too-familiar situation began to get out of hoof as it usually did.

“Well, um, I think they are very nice too.” Fluttershy quickly stepped between the two bristling ponies and smiled to each of them. “Don’t you think so too, Rainbow Dash?” When the prismatic pegasus didn’t reply, Fluttershy and the others turned to look where she had been sitting. “Rainbow Dash?” After a brief moment of looking around, Twilight lead the others in a group shrug.

“I guess she isn’t here anymore, Fluttershy. She must have had something to do.”

“Some ponies, Ah swear!” Applejack stomped a hoof into the grass and stood up suddenly, tossing her head angrily. “Don’t know when to tell their friends where they’re goin’ or nothin’.” Without warning, the farm pony flopped back down onto the red-checkered blanket and grabbed another of the apple fritters, stuffing the treat into her mouth as if it was the head of Rainbow Dash. “Ain’tsh proper mannersh.”

Before Rarity could explode with the apparent anger that painted her face, Twilight spoke up. “So, how’s everything going in the boutique, Rarity? Get any interesting orders or make any new dresses recently?”

Her unconvincing smile was wiped away by the look of sheer incredulity that Rarity directed towards her. “Twilight, we just returned to Ponyville merely last afternoon. How am I supposed to garner customers in such a short amount of time after being gone for so long?” Dramatically waving her hoof through the air, the white unicorn let out a heavy sigh. “I haven’t even been able to unpack! Oh, it was so much easier when Spike was helping me fit all those scarves into my suitcases!”

“Where is that silly little dragon anyway?” Pinkie Pie stepped over from where she had been idly jumping after butterflies, much to the dismay of Fluttershy. “I thought he was coming back after the party in Canterlot!” A hint of disappointment and regret leaked into the pink pony’s voice as she passed over the word ‘party’, no doubt still miffed that the others didn’t let her stay for it.

As each of her friends looked to her, Twilight felt the small heat of slight shame rise to her face. “Hm, I don’t know… he was supposed to be back by now. I guess I was so wrapped up in my experiments that I didn’t notice he wasn’t home.” She kicked the ground for a moment before standing suddenly. “I should go write him a letter and see if he’s okay. The last I heard he was staying with his friend, Moondancer.”

With that, she turned and began to gallop home, worry eating at her insides and making a small nest in her stomach the closer she got to the library. Oh, I hope he’s all right.

Author's Note: Please don't expect me to be releasing these chapters as often as I have been. This is solely because of the weekend's free time. That will end starting tomorrow (most likely). More writing of this will commence, but at a slower rate.

Perturbation

Author's Note: I apologize for such a late chapter release! I DID warn you that this could happen. See, I'm in a play, and it saps away a lot of my time to write. Like, nearly all of it. I finished this chapter around midnight my time.

----Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter III: Perturbation ----

Twilight Sparkle dodged around the ponies that seemed to crowd the street, her horn flashing as it unleashed a teleportation spell to get her past the groups that she couldn’t sidestep. “Excuse me! Sorry! My bad!” She shouted the phrases of apology behind her as a particularly unlucky pack of pegasi found themselves on the ground after the unicorn had barreled through them. The angry voices that rose up behind her were lost to the wind as she continued to gallop madly to the library, where her quills, ink, and parchment would be.

The library appeared before her, the ancient oak’s leaved stirring in some faint breeze that gusted along its boughs. “There it is!” She pushed her hooves into the ground even harder than before, shooting forward at a speed that Applejack would have been proud of. The poor door was no obstacle to her as she magically blasted it open with a bolt of light strong enough to send a crack through the middle of it. Head swiveling wildly, Twilight frantically searched for the writing supplies she needed so desperately.

“I don’t believe it, I’m out of ink!” Tossing aside yet another drawer that had yielded her no results, Twilight frantically pulled out another of the containers and rifled through their contents were her eyes as a foal would in a toy store; seeing everything but focusing on nothing until they found the toy they sought. “I thought I had told Spike to go get some! Ugh!” She tossed her head angrily before stopping herself in mid-jerk. “Oh, he was going to do that until the Princess sent that urgent letter telling us to all go to Canterlot.”

Twilight froze for a moment as she stared stupidly at nothing, her mind working to catch up with what she had said. “Canterlot! That’s it!” Before she was halfway out of the doorway, the lavender librarian was already running back into the library. “Wait, I need to get my stuff!” She looked over in alarm as her hoof scrabbled against the rough wood that was under the hook that hung beside that door. “Wait, where is it?” She very nearly began to tear apart the piles of books and shelves that she had thrown to the floor in her frantic search from before until she suddenly remembered where her beloved saddlebag was. “Oh yeah,” she let out a nervous laugh before walking over to the laboratory door and pushing it open, “I forgot I left it down here.”

Igniting her horn, the unicorn descended into the darkness that was only slightly fended off by her faint light. “Now, where did I—AH!” Her question was answered almost immediately as she tripped over the sturdy bag, which nearly always had some sort of book inside of its flap. “Guess that solves that problem.” Getting up, Twilight brushed away the small bits of dust that had found their way onto her coat. “Now time to get to the train station.”

Just as she turned away, a small sparkle winked at her from within the blanket of black that surrounded her. Her magic seemed to glow a darker shade of purple as she reached out towards the table with a hoof. A strange, excited feeling in her gut ran rampant as she grabbed the small, black stone and stuffed it into her bag beside the book that resided there. Unbeknownst to the lavender unicorn, arcs of black lighting flickered briefly around her horn before subsiding. “All right, time to go ride a train!” With the uneasy feeling in her stomach somewhat lifted for some strange reason, Twilight began to gallop down the street in the direction of the Ponyville Train Station.

Rainbow Dash flapped her strong wings a few times as she struggled to gain enough altitude to pass over a tree’s reaching branches. She winced as the rough leaves scratched against her coat as she flew by them. “Gah, not again.” As hard as she was trying, the cyan pegasus couldn’t manage to keep herself steady. The feeling of guilt that was gnawing at her insides hadn't gone away as she had hoped it would; as most of the unhappy feelings that found themselves in her heard did when she took to the skies. It intensified to the point of a dull pain that throbbed in time with her beating heart.

Barely dodging another tree, Rainbow finally allowed herself to gently coast to the ground. I’m in no shape to fly right now. The prismatic mane that Rainbow Dash possessed whipped through the air as she shook her head violently in an attempt to clear it. Though her eyes stared ahead, Rainbow Dash’s mind was rooted in the past, thoughtfully mulling over the events that had occurred just that morning as she was doing her usual weather duties.

”Sorry, but that’s all the rain you’re getting, buddy.” Rainbow Dash pushed away the half-full raincloud, a flash of miniature lighting rumbling inside of its depths at her touch. “I’ve got another farm to water.”

“B-b-but my crops! They need more water! They won’t live without precious water!” The older stallion’s eyes were wide with panic as he stepped closer to Rainbow Dash. “Please, without my crops, I’m nothing!”

For a few moments, Rainbow Dash looked down at the groveling earth pony in silence. “Look, Mr. Green Hooves, your plants don’t need that much water. Just give them a little less, they’ll be fine!” The cyan pegasus couldn’t help but wince as the stallion only sobbed harder at her reassuring words. As much as she wanted to give him the water that he sought, Rainbow Dash knew that her neck would be on the chopping block if she acquiesced. It was well-known around the Ponyville weather pegasi that Green Hooves was a water-guzzler when it came to his plants, which often resulted in the waste of precious water as well as the death of the unfortunate farm plants that were in his care.

“Please… p-plea-a-a-ase.” He moaned the word over and over again like a mare would moan the name of a dead lover. Rainbow Dash backed up slightly as he crawled closer and pawed at her hooves. “Please… please… please…”

Turning away, Rainbow Dash grabbed the cloud that idly hovered next to her. She spread her wings and sat motionless for a moment as she allowed the gently-blowing wind to tease her feathers with its gusts. Just as she bent her legs to leap into the sky, something latched onto her hooves and chained her to the earth with a tight grip. “H-hey! Let go!” Flapping her wings hard and kicking out behind her, it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to dislodge the earth pony that had been clinging to her. “What’s wrong with you? Grabbing onto ponies like that, sheesh! I’m just doing my job!”

She jerked her head around angrily, her body following suit as she turned to fly away. It was then that the feeling of guilt, which had lain hidden away, made itself known; only just bordering the point of pain. Don’t look back, Dash. Don’t do it. Despite all her efforts to keep her hard gaze directed at the clouds that drifted lazily across the sky, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but glance back at the still-sobbing pony. Instant regret coursed through her as he looked up at her with watery eyes before burying them beneath his hooves again. She flew down to the stallion and put the cloud over the bucket.

Green Hooves looked up at her as the sound of water landing in the bucket filled the air around his pitiful moans. “W-w-what?” Rainbow Dash let the water continue to fall before wrapping a hoof around the puff of water vapor to halt the flow in a way that only weather pegasus knew how to do. The sniffling pony reached up with a shaking hoof and hoisted himself up enough to look over the metal rim. For a moment, his tears simply dripped into the water that nearly brimmed over the top amid the silence that hung over the two ponies. Rainbow Dash turned and jumped into the air, smiling to herself as the words of thanks followed her into the sky.

At least she did until a shout rent the air around her and nearly sent her flying into the ground. “Don’t touch that!” Rainbow Dash, along with the rest of the ponies in the street underneath her, looked to the library in confusion and anticipation. They weren’t made to wait long as another shout soon bubbled up in the silence. “Can’t you go for ten minutes without messing everything up?!”

“Watch out!” The same voice of the pony who had shouted soon cut through the scene of the past like a hot knife through butter. Normally, the stunt flier would have been able to dodge away from a danger as simple as a madly galloping pony. Unfortunately, as Rainbow Dash was enveloped in memory and deep thought, she soon found herself groggily clawing her way back into the real world from her spot on the ground amongst other pegasi that had for some reason incorporated her into their group. “Excuse me! Sorry! My bad!”

Sitting up just in time to catch a glimpse of a pink-highlighted tail whip around the corner, Rainbow Dash shook her head confusedly a few times before standing on unsteady hooves. “Man, why does such a small town like Ponyville have these kinds of crazy ponies in it.” She had apparently voiced the thoughts of the others around her, their heads nodding vehemently in agreement. After helping up a few of the still-dazed pegasi to their hooves, Rainbow Dash turned to peer at the street sign that was sticking up from the ground nearby.

Hoof Lane. Wow, I’ve gone pretty far. As the reason of why she had been walking in the first place floated up into her mind, she had to suppress a sudden groan that threatened to make itself known. And in the completely wrong direction. Oh, feather me. After unceremoniously letting go of the stallion who had been holding onto her for a little too long to be considered normal, Rainbow Dash abruptly turned and began trotting towards the Ponyville Library. I’ve gotta find out what Twilight was getting all upset about this morning.

After a near half-hour of walking, the pegasus couldn’t help but smile as the tree came into view. “Finally!” She smiled sheepishly at the few ponies that had stopped to look at her after her outburst. Once their raised-eyebrow stares turned away, she shook her head. “Not being able to fly sucks sometimes. But it’s hard to check out someplace when you’re in the hospital.” Rainbow Dash chuckled at her remembered time in Ponyville General. “Well, places not in a book, at least.”

She stopped dead in the street as the same blue-and-pink tail caught her eye from another corner as it whipped out of sight. “There that pony is again. What’s her problem?” Rainbow Dash shook her head confusedly before rubbing her hooves together and stepped up to the library door. As she had hoped, Twilight had left it unlocked in her rushed departure to the lunch date the others had set up. Something within her told her that she shouldn’t be doing this, that it wasn’t very loyal, but she shoved it aside. “I’m loyal to all my friends, and when they are fighting it’s my job to figure out why.”

Walking into the dark room, Rainbow Dash rapidly flitted about the library, searching for any clue as to whatever it was Pinkie Pie was touching or trying to touch. Each of the books on the shelves winked at her with promises of dull and boring stories of education in the half-light that leaked in through the partially closed shutters, excepting the Daring Do shelf, whose golden-backed books shimmered beautifully; she had to repress the urge to snag one of the enthralling stories to read right then and there. “No reading, gotta foc—AH!” Her words turned into a yelp of pain and surprise as her hoof collided with something on the floor and sent her sprawling onto the ground for the second time that day.

“What in the name of Celestia was that?” Shifting aside her throbbing hoof, Rainbow Dash felt along the dark floor for a moment before finding her answer jutting out from one of the walls. “I tripped… on a… a door?” Standing up, Rainbow Dash pulled the gateway open further and peered down the steps that led into some kind of basement. “What’s this?” As her voice echoed down the stairs, a small purple light turned on and blinked in front of her frantically, casting its small glow along a glimmering plaque that hung on the wall. “A sign?”

She ran a hoof along the slightly raised letters as she read them. Twilight Sparkle’s Lab. Please stay out unless given express permission by the proprietor of the property.

The pegasus shook her head before pushing aside the angry little light with a hoof and a snort of derision. She stopped on the staircase as the floor, littered with a large jumble of parchment scraps and broken quills came into view. “I guess this is where Pinkie was… but still, it doesn’t explain why Twilight was mad enough to yell at her like that.” Cantering over to the central table, Rainbow Dash nosed open the heavy lab notebook that Twilight used to keep notes in for her experiments, flipping the journal open to the page that had a strange, archaic symbol sticking out of the side as some sort of strange bookmark.

“Twilight is such an egghead sometimes.” Rainbow Dash shook her head bemusedly as she stared at the winding mathematical formulae that littered the page alongside the tiny, precise writing of the librarian herself. “I can see why Spike writes her letters, she writes super tiny! An ant couldn’t even read this!” As she turned the page again, Rainbow Dash felt her blood freeze with the sudden fear that coursed through her body. “Wait, where did she get this? I’ve gotta tell the others!”

Slamming the book shut and spinning around, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew as fast as she could out of the library. After she burst outside, her wings banked to send her back to the park where her friends were probably just finishing picking up the remains of their half-completed picnic.

Adulation

--—Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter IV: Adulation ----

“Wait, what?” Shining Armor looked up to his wife, who was at the moment glaring at him from the top of her throne.

"You heard what I said, Shining Armor." After a few moments, within which Shining Armor simply stared up to her in shocked silence, Cadance sighed. "I told you that you are to see your sister and her friends in Ponyville." The Crystal Princess regally nodded, as if that instantly settled the matter. Shining Armor couldn't help but sigh, bringing a raised eyebrow from his wife.

"Cadance," he started up the steps only to be stopped by a blue wall of magic, "what about protecting the Empire? What about keeping order in the city?" His horn glowed briefly as he teleported past her shield into the air beside her, his hoof lifting up to brush her cheek lightly. "What about keeping you happy?" Another wall of magic halted his attempts to secure a kiss from the mare he loved.

"You know perfectly well that the empire has more than enough protection at the moment, what with the Crystal Heart being recently charged with love." Cadance flashed him a knowing smile as he peeled his lips away from the magical barrier and harrumphed. "You also know that the Crystal Ponies would never cause a riot or anything like that, given their all-too-recent escape from King Sombra." A delicate shudder ran through Cadance's body at the memory of barely eluding the dark unicorn's shadowy grasp.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Shining Armor ducked around the blue wall and wrapped his hoof around the alicorn. "But what about you? I don't want you to be up here all alone."

With a snort, Cadance pushed him away. "Oh please, Shining. I have an entire empire to keep me company." Wrapping a wing around the unicorn's shoulder, she led him over to the balcony and stared out over the land she ruled. "What would really make me happy is you going out to see your sister and her friends again."

"But—“ Cadance silenced his protest with a strict glare.

"Didn't you tell your sister after we defeated Sombra that you should go see her when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance?" The stallion felt the feeling of defeat course through him as his wife gestured out to the land below them. "This looks like it isn't being threatened, nor has there been any news about threats anyplace else."

Heaving another resigned sigh, Shining Armor looked up to his wife with weary eyes. "You know, I hate it when you do that."

The alicorn blinked innocently at him. "Do what?"

"Use your brain and stuff." His mumble was met with a womanly giggle as the words escaped his reluctant lips.

"Oh, I know." Cadance leaned in and kissed him once before pulling away. "Well, now that is all sorted, I have a carriage ready to take you out to the train station."

"You already knew you were going to win didn't you?" Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at the innocently smiling face of his wife.

The innocent smile turned into one of mischievousness. "Of course I did.”

Soon after he had kissed his wife one last time, Shining Armor found himself standing on the newly crystallized platform alongside a few other tourists who all possessed a regretful air about them. As he tried to comprehend exactly how he had gotten here so fast, the unicorn cast his eyes about the platform to his fellow platform-waiters. Shining almost felt sorry for the ponies that were soon to return to their dull, pastel, not-crystal lifestyles. Almost. His friendly smile soon dissipated after they had stared at him with those dejected eyes. Man, I don’t know why these ponies are so sad about leaving this place. The unicorn shook his head confusedly. I mean, it’s nice and all… but I like to not have to worry about breaking something at every step. The beaming face of his wife, glistening in the setting sun, drifted into his mind without his call, small cracks spider-webbing across her perfect visage.

Shaking away the disturbing image, Shining stepped over to one of the happier-looking pegasi and tapped her shoulder, only to wince as her violet eyes filled with tears at the sight of him. So much for happier…

“Oh! Hello, Prince Shining Armor.” The named pony had to suppress the urge to pick the mare up out of her bow as she dipped down low. “How are you?” The big, sad eyes found his once more, tears slowly overflowing their lids as the pony so-obviously thought about his luck to be able to stay here in the Crystal Empire forever.

“I’m doing well. At least, I was, until my wife sent me away.” His grumble was only meant to be for his ears alone, but the mare perked up in shock. A hoof reached under his chin and pulled his face upward to stare directly into the suddenly eager eyes.

“Oh? She sent you away? Whatever for?” Shining Armor couldn’t help but sigh and push her hoof away at the badly concealed hope that the mare possessed in her voice. The pegasus’ wings drooped down from where they had been flared out, showing the pony’s disappointment in action. “Oh, you don’t wish to tell me. I understand, martial matters aren’t something we share with everypony.” Even though there was more concern there, he could still detect the hope that was sitting just under it.

“Oh no, it wasn’t anything like that.” Even though the pony’s reaction was known to him, Shining Armor couldn’t help but wince as the eyes returned to the platform floor. “I mean, I just have to go see my sister and stuff.” After a moment of awkward silence, he kicked a bit of dirt from the edge of the station floor before continuing. “She’s Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic.” Shining couldn’t keep the swelling pride that he felt towards his sister out of his voice as he said the words.

“That’s nice.” After a few more moments of silence and standing there, Shining turned away from the obviously uncaring mare and moved back to where he had been standing before. Just as he stopped and about-faced to stare directly into the air above the train tracks, a whistle cut sharply through the oppressive quiet.

It was hard for Shining to not seem too eager about the train’s arrival, but he was still the first one aboard the car after the wave of arriving tourists disembarked. As he settled onto one of the padded seats and stared out at the camera-waving ponies, a smile worked its way across his face despite his not wanting to leave. At least I can go see Twily again. Who knows… maybe it will be good to get away for a while. A nice, stress-free week out in Ponyville.

Shining’s gaze, cast out from behind the thick windows of his passenger car, yielded him a beautiful view of the grassy plains and rocky hills that all dotted the unclaimed land between the Crystal Empire and Equestria’s normal borders. One day, he thought with a small smile, we’ll get ponies here. One day. A particularly large bump that was caused by who-knows-what bounced him into the window, muzzle first. As Shining Armor rubbed his throbbing nose with a hoof, he couldn’t help but smile. Well, not today at least. He shivered at the thought of disobeying his wife for something so foalish as claiming land for the Empire; land that was in the middle of nowhere.

As he turned his head again, the grayish-brown color of the Ponyville Station poked itself into the corner of his vision. “Oh, we’re h— Pinkie Pie?” The unicorn pressed his hooves up to the glass in an attempt to trace the pink blur as it bounced around at the same speed of the train. “What are you doing out here? Did you know I was coming down for a visit?”

Pinkie Pie’s lips moved in a blur as she fought to keep pace with the train, distorting whatever they were saying into nothing that was comprehendible. Soon the squeaking of the breaks cut into their limited conversation, bringing an obvious frustration to the pink mare, who then leapt away with her hooves waving angrily in the air during every bounce. As he slowly came to a stop, Shining looked out of his window with a small degree of shock jolting through him. The rest of his sister’s friends all stood on the platform, looking expectantly at the doors that soon opened to let him and the rest of the travelers out of the train. Each of their faces, all holding varying degrees of unhappiness, brightened slightly as they saw him.

“So… what’s up girls?” That was when a wall of super-fast-moving pink pony crashed into him.

Author's Note: Hey guys, I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted a chapter update... Real life kinda took me away for a while. Also, I know this chapter is really short... but it's all I can do right now.

News: I'm going to be writing a comedy one-shot as a little break from this story. An update will hopefully come out next week

Visitation

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter VI: Visitation ----

“Oh, I’m truly sorry to hear that such a tragedy has ailed you.” Her magic enveloped a phoenix-feather quill as she quickly jotted down a few words that would direct a tidy sum of bits into the ragged farmer’s hooves. “Please, take this down to the castle treasury, I’m sure that Treasure Trove would be more than able to give you some compensation for your losses.” The pony smiled widely as she finished her letter, levitating it over to the farmer who grabbed it from the air with shaking hooves. “Thank you for bringing your problem to me. I hope that you prosper as you have before. Good day, my little pony.”

“Oh, oh thank you! Thank you, Princess!” The dirt-brown pony looked ready to throw himself down onto the ground before her. “If there is anything that a little radish farmer could do to assist you, I would be—“

“That’s quite all right. It brings me no burden, only joy, to see my subjects becoming successful. You might want to hurry,” Celestia added as the stallion’s mouth opened again to protest not helping her, “the castle treasury does not stay open much longer, and Treasure Trove hates it when she has to stay late.” Even though he had been given a hinted order of hurrying, the farmer only backed away and thanked her kindness a thousand times it seemed. After the stumbling pony had left the throne room and the doors had closed behind them, Celestia allowed her smiling façade to melt away into a look of utter weariness.

“Princess, are you all right?” A brown-maned, light-grey skinned unicorn trotted up to her from where her favorite hiding place was of late. “You seem to be tired of your visitors. Should I cancel the rest of the appointments for today?” The mare’s voice held a hint of disdain for such a destruction of a set schedule, which would have required her to create a completely new schedule of appointments for the rest of the week.

“No, no, Ink Well, I’m fine. I just… I just feel so confined here.” Celestia sighed as Ink Well looked at her with a pair of confused eyes coupled with a slightly tilted head. “Have you ever felt like you were meant for more than you were doing? Like you needed to get out and do that thing that you felt you needed to do?”

Not even a moment passed before the mare replied. “No, not at all. I’m not sure exactly what you are getting at, Princess.” A wounded look, followed with tears, quickly filled the pony’s eyes. “Are you saying that you wish to replace me, perhaps?”

“No, nothing like that, Ink Well. You’re the best assistant I’ve had in a long while.” Flashing a genuine smile at her long time friend, Celestia allowed her smile to fade away as she turned to look at the stained glass windows that took up nearly half of the available wall space with their brilliance. Scenes from all of the previous Equestrian triumphs over evil surrounded her, all of them bearing the same few ponies as well as a dragon in one case. “I just can’t help but feel that I should be helping ponies.”

The unicorn blinked once in confusion and shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand, Princess. This sort of work you are doing here is helping ponies.” Sitting down and nodding her head proudly, Ink Well recited her favorite saying that had come from her grandfather. “Paperwork is just as, if not more, important than work out in the world.” Normally, such a phrase would bring a smile to Celestia’s lips and banish her discontented mood, but today it only served to deepen her building anxiety.

“I see, thank you for your wisdom, Ink Well.” Though her words sounded appeased, Celestia was far from being so. Thousands of years as ruler of Equestria had taught her to have the most serene of masks that a pony could wear. Inside, she was a boiling mass of anxiety and dejection, almost like a certain three fillies in Ponyville felt when they wanted to go ‘crusading’ for their Cutie Marks. Only a few times had that mask of serenity been broken, and each of those had been when Equestria itself was on the precipice of disaster.

Nothing could have prepared her for when the doors to the throne room opened, parting for a Guardsman who was running at a dead gallop into the room. “Princess… Celestia… I found… this… dragon… he needs… help.” With those few panted words, the stallion fell forward into the carpet in exhaustion, a purple-and-green bundle flying off his back and onto the floor as he did so.

Once again the wise, calm face of the ruler was broken.

“Spike!?”

“Keep looking, everypony, she’s got to be around here somewhere!” Shining Armor tossed aside the cardboard box that he had just lifted up and snorted angrily. “I just can’t tell where she’d be. The guards told me that she hasn’t come to the castle and the train conductor told me that she didn’t head home already.” Worry and concern mixed inside of his stomach as he turned another corner and stared intently into the alleyway. “Twily’s got to be out here! Twily?!” He threw the words into the sky as he trotted through the streets. “Twily, where are you?!”

“Is that Shining Armor?” The distinct and unique accent drifted over to him from one of the shops. “One of my best customers?” Shining Armor turned to see a tan stallion push his way out into the street. “Hey there, Shining. Can I do you for a donut on the house? Extra Sprinkles?”

Shining Armor shook his head, not to be deterred by promises of extra-sprinkle donuts. “No, not today, Joe. I’ve got someth—“ The guard captain’s mouth snapped shut as the gears began to furiously turning in his head. “Actually, I have something to ask you.”

“Anything for you, Shining. You know that.”

“Have you seen Spike or Twilight recently? Twily and Spike like this place as much as I do.” The way the shop owner’s face drooped with a sudden weariness was all the answer that Shining Armor needed. “Guess you did.”

“Yeah, I saw that Twilight Sparkle just today.” The normally cheerful voice was leaden with the same weariness that plagued the other stallion’s face. “She was actin’ all kinds of strange, Shining. I never saw her get that mad before.”

“She was mad? At you?”

Pony Joe shook his head sadly. “No, Spike.”

Shining Armor took a step forward, which was met by a hesitant step backwards from the other stallion. “Do you have any idea where she went?” His voice grew more urgent as Pony Joe’s stuttering only helped to fill the silence. “Focus, Joe, I need to know where she is.”

“She’s probably out looking for Spike at the Canterlot Castle.” The tan stallion winced as a particularly fierce bout of guilt passed through him.

Turning around, Shining Armor galloped out of the shop, shouting his thanks behind him as he headed towards the richer part of the city. “Come on, girls, we gotta get to the cas—“ Shining’s words were silenced as he ran headfirst into a wall of polished armor. After he had peeled himself away, the Guardspony who he had run into saluted nervously.

“Captain Shining Armor, sir, I have something that you need to hear.”

Glitter Hoof hummed to herself self-contentedly as she trotted home from the ever-bustling marketplace with her goods. It’s so nice to have the Crystal Empire be Crystal again! She jumped up happily and turned around a corner. Looking up into the sky, she saw a beautiful rainbow of color cast by the Empire’s Crystal Spire. Just as beautiful as it was all those years ago. Oh, it seems like an age ago, and I’m not even an old pony yet. Letting out a soft giggle, Glitter Hoof continued down the road towards her home.

Just as she passed another alleyway, her bag split open and spilled her groceries out onto the street. After turning away the numerous offers of assistance, Glitter Hoof bent down to pick up one of the Crystalized Apples from Sweet Apple Acres that she had been lucky enough to snag before they had been sold out. Even just picking it up, I can tell that this apple is going to be a delicious one. Letting out another happy hum, she deposited the fruit into a spare bag that she had brought along. I can’t believe a non-crystal farm could make such good fruit!

As Glitter Hoof bent down to pick up another of her purchases, something dark moved just at the corner of her vision. Fear jolted through her as she jerked around to stare into the completely innocent alleyway, thoughts of King Sombra and his rule flashing through her mind. “Wh-who’s there?” An eerie silence was all that answered her question. After a few moments she shook her head and smiled at herself. There’s nopony there. You worry too much, Glitter Hoof. The mare giggled again as she bent down to pick up another of her dropped foods.

This time it was a scraping sound that drew the crystal pony’s stare, floating out of the alleyway like paper but cutting into her ears like a razor. “Who’s there? I’m not playing around!” She held up the fruit that had been in her mouth, a peach, and prepared to throw it at whatever was waiting for her. “I’m warning you!” As the words left her mouth, the scraping stopped as if by magic and was followed by a faint laugh. “You think it’s funny? Messing with innocent ponies who are just walking down the street?”

She stepped forward into the alleyway with her weapon still held high. “You better not jump out at me, or you’ll regret it!” Glitter Hoof winced at how quivery her voice sounded and at how easily it destroyed her ‘tough mare’ façade. Soon she was looking at the stone wall that signaled the end of the alley. “Huh, nopony is here…” Shaking her head to clear it, Glitter Hoof turned around and watched as the pear dropped out of her hoof with the sudden terror that gripped her body.

“Crystalssssss.” The dark cloud that was the old emperor’s body surged forward and wrapped itself around the struggling mare.

Reflection

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter VII: Reflection ----

Twilight’s hooves clicked on the cobblestones as she plodded down the street with her head pointing at the ground. The looks that she drew from the passing ponies were filled with curiosity and were swiftly ignored by the lavender unicorn who was enveloped in an opaque shroud of emotion and thoughts. Traces of the irrational anger that drove her to abandon Spike in the street still remained, flowing freely throughout her blood and urging her to walk blindly through the many streets of Canterlot.

The words that had left her mouth what seemed like ages ago repeated themselves in her mind. ”Without thinking, like you always do.” The unicorn tossed her head to clear it of the troublesome words, but they only returned after a few moments of mental silence. ”Since you can make your own decisions, you can save yourself for once.” A faint hint of remorse filled her at that, tugging at her heart in ways that have been used a few times before. Shaking her head again, Twilight snorted angrily. “He deserved it.” The coldness in her voice surprised her, but she didn’t stop. “The little baby dragon thinks he can make his own rules up, staying wherever he wants just because he’s the ‘big hero’ or something.”

Little by little, the tugging feeling in her gut began to fade away. “What was going through his mind? ‘Oh, Twilight knows I’m in a huge city, it’s not like I’m lost or anything.’” Twilight kicked up her back hooves as a particularly large wave of anger flashed through her blood, stumbling slightly as her balance was thrown for a loop. Sitting down in a huff, she opened the saddlebag at her side and drew out the black gemstone, staring into her reflection’s eyes. “Well, forget him.” Her angry glare was mirrored by the smooth surface of the crystal. “He can find his way home just fine without me.” A few moments of uneasy silence passed, within which the tugging feeling in her gut returned with renewed ferocity. “Oh… but what if he can’t?”

There's no need to worry, Twilight Sparkle. Fear gripped the purple pony in a vice of the coldest iron, flowing through her body as she cast her gaze around the abandoned street in search of where the voice had originated from. Wasn't that the point of letting him go? To let the little baby dragon learn his lesson the hard way? A shudder ran through Twilight as the distinctly feminine voice, filled with anger and spite, burned inside her ears with its barely contained venom. Isn't that what you wanted?

Twilight stowed the little faceted stone back into her saddlebags before standing up wearily. “Wh-who ar—“

Save your breath. I already know that you're going to ask me who I am and what I want. Isn't that right, Twilight? A self-satisfied giggle followed the silencing words, sending another chill down the unicorn's spine as she frantically glanced about. Don't act surprised, my dear little pony. After all, it's only natural that I should know your thoughts.

"What do you mean, 'it's only natural'? Show yourself!" Twilight's voice quivered despite her threats, drawing yet another laugh from the mysterious voice. The fear came not only from how evil the voice sounded, but from how familiar it was to her.

Please, you act as if you could actually do something to get rid of me. Twilight blinked hard once, as if she was trying to rouse herself from an unpleasant dream. Instead of melting away, however, the voice merely intensified. I’m sorry, Twilight, but you aren’t dreaming.

“Who are you?” Twilight brandished her ignited horn through the air like a sword, trying to find the source of her tormenter’s voice. “Where are you?”

Well, Twilight Sparkle, let me show you who I am. For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath, not even the wind moved through the air. Then in the next instant, everything around her exploded into a violent shade of emerald. As the burning pain inside her chest faded away, Twilight opened her eyes that she didn’t even know she had shut. The image that greeted her chilled her blood to below freezing point.

“Why are you showing me this?” Her voice was as cold as soft as a winter’s midnight snow as she watched as if through a green filter into the past, a place that she had been what seemed like a lifetime ago. The tugging in her gut returned, more powerful than ever.

“Since you can make your own decisions, you can save yourself for once.” The bristling version of her past self turned away and began trotting back into the main street. Twilight could do nothing but watch helplessly as her number one assistant and best friend reached out to her in a moment of need, pleading with her to help him. Her past self turned around, an even brighter green glowing in her eyes. “Goodbye, Spike.” As the dragon’s trembling claw fell to the ground in defeat, the world seemed to implode instead of explode, all of the textures and colors flowing into one spot and vanishing in the next instant.

“Why? Why did you show me that?!” Twilight blinked away the tears that had found themselves trailing down her face. “I know I hurt him! It was me!” She hurled the confessions into the sky above, as if Celestia herself would come down and absolve her of all her wrongs. “I turned him away when he needed me most!”

And, Twilight Sparkle? The voice was still there, gently prodding at her to continue.

Instead, she directed her anger and despair at whatever it was that had shown her the horrifying memory. “What do you want from me?! Why can’t you just leave me alone!?” The words ripped out of her throat as she shrieked them at nothing.

You asked me who I was. All I did was show you. The voice was soft and gentle, much like a mother’s comforting words. However, it contained an undertone of hidden motives that were completely ignored by the distraught mare.

“I don’t understand!” The tears were accompanied by broken sobs as Twilight threw herself down onto the cobblestones. “I don’t understa-a-and.”

Do you wish to see how I look, Twilight Sparkle? Without waiting for a response, the voice continued. Look into your saddlebags, draw out that black crystal that you have inside of them, and gaze into its depths. There, you will find your answers.

With shaking hooves, Twilight drew her saddlebag in front of her and slowly opened its flap. Not wasting time with a physical search, she casted a spell that pulled the stone from the bag and set it upon her outstretched hoof with ease, despite the shivers that ran through her body. After breathing in deeply for a moment, Twilight looked down at the glimmering stone with her curious stare of a scholar, eager despite the situation to learn exactly who it was she was talking to.

There I am, Twilight. That is who I am. All Twilight could see was a green-tinted reflection of herself. I am you. The reflection flickered for a moment as Twilight drew it even closer to gaze into her own eyes. You are me. Darkness slowly started to fill the edges of Twilight’s vision, seeping into the textures and colors of the world around her like ink upon a painting. Soon, nothing was left but the cold, hate-filled eyes of her reflection. We are one and the same. The reflection surged forward as Twilight lost contact with the waking world.

A cold wind picked up in the peaks of the mountains that just bordered the northern parts of the Crystal Empire, starting off as a gentle breeze but then growing in magnitude as it descended the rocky slopes. By the time it had reached the Crystal Empire, it had become a gust. It swept through the empty streets of the capitol and across the vast plains that were used to grow the many different kinds of food that the Empire needed to survive.

The wind, doing as all winds do, continued to blow onward, over lakes and forests, villages and towns. Eventually this breath of fresh air, as it were, happened upon the mountain city of Canterlot, more specifically upon the castle balcony where the goddess of the sun stood watch over the land. She froze for a moment as the now-gentle breeze brushed through her mane and coat like the touch of a lover, though its message was much more sinister. Pulling herself from the problems that she was experiencing at the castle, she directed her gaze northward as worry gnawed at her already gnawed insides.

“Something is wrong. Very wrong.”

Transition

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter VIII: Transition ----

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, known to those who followed her as the Crystal Princess and known simply as Cadence by those she held close, trotted down the steps that led up to her throne that dominated the room. One glance down would be enough to worry her a few hours ago but now the sizable cracks that spider-webbed through the colorful crystals that had been carved eons ago and enchanted to never wear down. Despite this, the cracks still spread without end through the once-beautiful throne room, racing up and down the walls in some mad dash to tear apart the palace.

“Princess!” The wearied alicorn turned to see one of the newer guardsponies frantically clawing at his helmet in an attempt to perform the formal bow. After a few moments of scrabbling for purchase on the smooth surface, the colt soon abandoned any attempt at formality as panic threatened to overtake him. “The Shadow’s forces are—“

“Please, soldier, refer to Sombra as he is called.” Cadence pointedly stressed the evil unicorn’s name, ignoring the pathetic-sounding whimper that came from the soldier’s mouth. “Giving him a name like ‘The Shadow’ only intensifies the fear he wants you to feel.”

“Yes, Princess. As I was saying, The Shado—“ The recruit made a visible attempt at fortifying himself against Cadence’s forceful stare. “Sombra’s forces have been concentrating around the eastern perimeter. My commander sent me back to tell you that he feels that they will strike there next. He asks that more forces be sent to aid our company in holding that part of the wall.” At that last part, the recruit’s voice faded into silence as the Princess’s face darkened at the thought of what she was going to do.

“Soldier,” Cadence winced as the soldier recoiled violently from the barely suppressed anger and bitterness in her voice. Softening her words, the Crystal Princess continued. “Please send word to all of the outer companies.” Turning away, Cadence slowly began to ascend the steps back to her throne, preparing herself to hold a meeting with her military leaders.

“And… what should this message contain?”

Without turning around and with her watery gaze set on the highest Crystal of her throne, Cadence released the words that had tried to settle themselves in her stomach. “The Crystal Empire has not yet fallen. Hold the line, no matter what the cost.” After the soldier’s salutatory phrase, the door’s slam was the only sound that filled the room, echoing back and forth like some sort of sick representation of all the ponies she had ordered to lay down their lives. Oh, where are you, Shiny?

The first feeling that returned to him was pain. Lots and lots of pain. So much pain that he wouldn’t be surprised if he had been force-fed a dozen gallons of ice-cream in his sleep. He wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and scream with the agony that throbbed in his stomach but he could only lay there in the blackness that enveloped him.

After what seemed like an eternity in the dark and quiet, a soft murmur reached his ears, garbled into incoherency by whatever was stabbing him in the gut. He focused on the words that floated about in the darkness, his mind deciphering the language of the world of the wakened. As he gears in his mind turned, the constant thread of sound divided into five individual voices, all of them filled with worry.

“Oh, I hope he’s okay.”

“Oh my goodness, when he wakes up we should throw him a waking up party!”

“Uh, Pinkie, Ah don’t think that’d be a good idea. Ain’t that right, Dash?”

“Sorry, Pinkie, but AJ’s right. I’ve seen stuff like this before, all he needs is a nice rest before he’s ready to fl- er, I mean do dragon-y stuff again, like helping out in your boutique, right Rares?” A moment of intense silence followed, within which he strained to hear any sound. After stretching to what seemed like the clouds in the skies, he could only just hear the sounds of soft tears being shed. “Rarity, you okay?”

“How could I possibly be okay when my Spikey-Wikey is like this? Of all the things that could happen, this is the worst possible thing!” Despite his predicament, Spike could only imagine Rarity throwing herself onto the hospital couch. “First our dear Twilight has disappeared into thin air and now poor Spike is unconscious in a hospital bed!” A fluttering of wings passed over the sobs and the sound of soft humming filled the room.

Just as the sobs quieted another sound took their place over the humming; a slamming door. “Is he awake yet?”

“Ah’m sorry, sugercube, but he ain’t moved a muscle since we got here.”

“Buck it all!” The sound of wood breaking cracked across the silence that had come after the new pony’s curse, followed swiftly by gasps from the five mares that were occupying the room. “Isn’t there some way we can wake him up? I need to know what happened to my sister!” Hooves seized his pain-wracked body and jerked him around for a few seconds of agonizing pain, until the weight was suddenly thrown away.

“Mister Armor, please do NOT handle my Spikey-Wikey like that again or I will rip you to pieces.” Spike had never heard such venom and anger in his crush’s voice before, its barely contained fires of fury sending chills down his unmoving spine. Another tense quiet followed Rarity’s words, broken only by the ragged breathing done by the stallion now revealed as Shining Armor.

Said stallion took in a breath and let it out through his mouth. “I’m… sorry. I’m just worried about Twily.”

“We are too, Shinin’ Armor, but there ain’t nothin’ we can do ‘till Celestia gets here to fix… whatever is wrong with Spike. We jus’ have to wait for the Princess, that’s all.”

Spike could hear the pain in everypony’s voice, and he wanted more than anything to move, to make a sound, to give them all some kind of signal that he was there, but he could do nothing but lay there, absorbed in the agony that was trying to eat him from the inside out.

Princess Celestia stood on the rooftops of the city that she had grown up in, staring down at the many different tiles that covered the roofs. Her hooves clicked and cracked along the terra cotta as she slowly cantered over to the edge of the building and looked down into the street. It was empty, something that Canterlot’s streets were never called during the night. “Where are you, agent of hatred?”

She shuddered as she whispered the old phrase to herself, something that had never been said by a ruler of Equestria in roughly a thousand years. Another wind washed over her, bringing with it the chill of the night that weaved between her feathers and the hairs of her coat. Spreading her wings, the goddess of the sun lifted herself from the rooftop and launched herself towards another, her head swiveling side to side as she searched the streets below. In the distance, she could spot her sister doing the same, barely visible in her element of darkness; a mare transformed into shadow itself.

Any luck, Tia? Her sister’s voice surprised her with its sudden intrusion into her mind, seeming like a shout in the silence of the night. Celestia could sense the worry that filled her sister’s words.

Unfortunately, no. We must continue the search, sister. Celestia’s hooves clattered onto the roof that she had been aiming for, shuddering only slightly as her weight settled back onto them. Wasting no time, the princess swiftly made for the edge of the building and stared down at yet another empty street, filled with only an oppressive air of abandonment. She stood there for what seemed like ages but was in reality a few seconds before spreading her wings and bending her knees in preparation for yet another take-off.

“Help, p-p-please. Anyp-pony.” The weak voice was enough to snap her wings back to her sides and draw her eyes back down to the street below, where a pile of loose stones were only slightly shifting around. A jolt of fear for the unfortunate creature trapped underneath the rubble, her hooves propelling her off the roof and onto the street with her horn gleaming in golden light. Lifting the rubble, Celestia was greeted with a sight that she had seen only during times of unrest and after the occasional accident; it was the sight of a pony dying of wounds.

“Who did this to you?” The phrase left her lips involuntarily as she lifted more of the rubble from the stallion, freeing him from his prison of stone.

“P-p-p-princess! Th-thank the heavens.” The pony took a ragged, labored breath before continuing. “It was… it was… a mare… sh-sh-she looked almost l-lik-ke yo-your-“ A fit of coughs erupted from the stallion, leaving Celestia to stand helplessly over his body as it slowly entered the realm of the afterlife.

“Who? Who?!” She nearly shouted the words into the pony’s face, despite the glaze that was forming over his eyes. “Who did this to you?!” Silence was her only answer, accompanied by another wind that whistled over the silent city. With the same suddenness that surrounded the last moments of the stallion’s life, tears ran down in rivulets from her eyes. However many ponies she had seen die, Celestia had never been able to accept the death of one of her subjects.

However, she wasn’t allowed a chance to mourn. Sister! I have… I have found the agent! Anger boiled deeply within Celestia, going past the point of intense heat into an icy coldness. The flames froze where they were, becoming beautiful and jagged crystals of rage. You… Sister I believe you must see this with your own eyes.

The view of the street and the stalion’s corpse were obliterated as another image forced its way into her vision, an image of a pony whose appearance stopped her heart for a beat. The mare’s body was lavender in color, possessing a dark blue mane with a purple and pink highlight streaking through it.

This is… Twilight Sparkle, is it not?

Author's Note

This was written just on a whim. Expect another update... um... I dunno when.

In the meantime, go read this current project of mine!

Derision

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter IX: Derision ----

Twilight Sparkle slowly trotted down the street, her hooves clicking in the oppressive silence that she proved instrumental in forming. Her ears jerked upwards as the sound of a window shutter snapping closed, her horn following the sound and shooting a jet of blackish-green light into the wood. The jet of pure hatred shot straight through the wood and into the sky above, invisible against the black blanket of the nighttime sky. She smiled a smile that contained no warmth; a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, which were like chips of emerald-colored ice.

The street was abandoned, just like she wanted it to be. Yes, show them fear. Show them what happens when you dare oppose hatred. The voice from before whispered in her mind, venom hissing from its every word as they each lifted from its lips of crystal and stone. Instill in their hearts what it really means to be afraid, Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t resist the voice’s call anymore, only embraced its hate-filled words. An unfortunate barrel clattered to the ground only to be obliterated by another blast of magic from her horn. Oh come now, Twilight, surely you can do better than dusty old barrels.

“I already have.” Her voice matched her smile, cold and without any emotion. “That’s the reason the streets are cleared now.” A thrill of excitement rushed through her as she thought about the fear in the stallion’s voice as he was about to be crushed, the way he begged to be spared. “I never thought that a single death would send everypony inside like this.”

Why not go make a house call? The voice’s push was strong, like iron arms pushing her to its will. Even though she was a servant of the voice, she still had a mind of her own.

“No, I have a better plan.” Twilight smiled as she sensed the voice’s reluctant curiosity. “I’ll assume that the silence means you’re interested.” As if some invisible force was pushing down on her, Twilight found herself on her knees with black dots swimming across her eyes. “Why… enter the buildings… when they have to… step out eventually.” The pressure relaxed only slightly enough for Twilight to catch her breath, leaving her hunched down and with strained muscles that struggled to make her stand despite the immovable weight that pressed down on her back. “What better way to instill fear than to walk the streets that they so badly wish to enter?”

Yes, a good plan. You may proceed. Twilight found herself able to stand again, the pain suddenly lifted from her body as if it had never existed. Her ears perked up again as the sound of hooves on tiles sounded out above her. Jerking her head around, she cast her gaze skyward in search of her newest victim that had the audacity to cross her path. Her horn glowed with a dangerous light as her eyes darted back and forth across her field of vision before finally settling back onto the streets themselves, where an unfortunate rat had decided at that moment to make a dash for the other side of the street.

It never made it all the way across.

Luna pulled the hoof from her mouth, allowing her breath to slowly leak out of her lungs and back into the air. We are relieved that the agent did not see us. Edging back to the end of the roof, Luna peaked out to see Twilight Sparkle, her sister’s student of all things, obliterating a tiny animal that let out a pitiful squeal as it died. Part of Luna wanted to leap down upon the shadow’s tool, but her sister’s words before their magical connection was severed stilled her eagerness to be rid of the evil that emanated from the mare.

As if their connection was still whole, the words floated up again as clear as they were the first time. Luna, do not approach her. I will deal with this. Alone. Luna shuddered violently as a wind gusted over her, but not from the cold. The magical telepathy spell did more than just transfer the words a pony wishes to tell; it also transfers emotions and pain. When Celestia had said those words to her, she could feel shock and anger, as well as an icy coldness that was as hard as crystal.

Luna cast her gaze to the sky, the many different stars that dotted its surface bringing her no joy on this night. Digging her hooves into the roof tiles, the princess of the night cast herself into the air, silently following Twilight Sparkle as the mare trotted down another street. As she flew, Luna could hear another squeal from some unfortunate animal erupting from where Twilight had just gone. It is only a matter of time until she finds something that is not just a rat. Oh Tia, please hurry.

Suddenly the air around her burned with the smell of fire, her night being beaten away by an intense light of gold from overhead. Luna looked up to the nearly blinding light and saw the form of her sister shadowed against it. “T-“ She shoved a hoof against her mouth as she called out to her sister, silencing the relieved cry that was directed to a pony who was most certainly not her Tia. The alicorn who was burning away her night had a look of the utmost fury and rage, yet at the same time seemed utterly calm. A face that Luna had seen only one time before, during the time of Discord’s rule. A face that even the troublesome god of Chaos had feared to see. It was the face of the sun’s wrath.

“Twilight Sparkle!”

“Twilight Sparkle!” She floated there, encased in the warm embrace of her magic that flowed with eons of power behind it. Below her stood her most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, looking up at her with an expression of bemusement and spite that Celestia had never seen on the studious mare’s face before. As she slowly descended to the street, the goddess noticed something that sent a thrill of shock coursing through her body. Twilight’s eyes were emerald green and filled with hatred, along with trails of black clouds leaking out of them. She is far gone. How could this have happened to her?

She only had a split-second’s notice before a bolt of light split the air right where she had been before, singeing her feathers as she only just avoided the spell. “Hello, Princess.” Celestia had heard many voices in her time, from gruff to coarse to even sandy, but the only word that she could use to describe the way Twilight said her title was hissing. “It’s so nice to see you again.” On the word see, Celestia was forced to dodge another magical attack, this one whizzing past one of her hooves. “I was wondering when I’d get to talk to you again.” The princess created a golden shield of magic as her hooves touched the cobblestones, the field of power shuddering from the force of the third blow.

“Twilight Sparkle, cease this madness at once!” Celestia threw the words at the mare, trying her best to keep from retaliating with attacks of her own. “You know that this is not you!” The princess stepped forward only to be driven back by a few more bolts of light. “For the love of Equestria think about how your friends are feeling right now!”

“Oh please, Celestia, spare me the ‘it isn’t you’ manure, we both know that this is me.” Twilight trotted forward and smiled another of her joyless smiles. “This is the real Twilight Sparkle, with no inhibitions as to the ‘friendship’ that you spout so pointlessly.” The shards of icy anger that had been slowly thawing out in the face of challenging her beloved Twilight in a duel began to freeze over once again. “I don’t care about any of them anymore.”

“What about Spike?” Celestia’s voice broke as she threw the words desperately at the student she wished wasn’t lost. “How could you leave him out like that? Alone and co-“

“Don’t you talk about Spike.” Twilight’s voice grew, if possible, even colder. “Don’t you dare mention his name.” Despite the anger in her pupil’s voice, Celestia felt a single, brief thread of hope pass through her as she recognized the reluctance that was concealed by the cracked sheet of hatred. “I hate him too, end of story.”

“No, Twilight, you don’t hate him.” Celestia dropped the magical shield and reached out to her student with a shaking hoof. “You love him, just like you love the rest of your friends.”

“Can you hear yourself right now?” Twilight smacked away the hoof with contempt and snorted. “Here we are, about to rip each other’s throats out, and all you want to talk about is love?” The green eyes narrowed viciously as Twilight’s voice became slicked with dripping venom. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were anything but a fool, Celestia.”

“How did this happen to you, Twilight?”

The lavender pony shook her head and let out another snort. “Nothing happened, Celestia, I have always been this. This is just me, free of all the restraints of love and friendship.” The words friendship and love were so distorted with contempt and disparity that it was hard to believe that they were even said in Equestrian.

“Twilight, please, listen to me. We can go back to the castle together, we can fix you.” Celestia took another tentative step forward. “We can go see Spi-“

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY HIS NAME!” Celestia found herself smashed flat against a wall by an explosion of green-black magic. For a few seconds, neither of them moved, emerald eyes locked with gold. Then, Celestia’s horn glowed with a brightness similar to the sun as she teleported out from underneath the intense weight of the pressing spell.

Princess Celestia opened her eyes to see her once-kind student rubbing her hooves into her eyes. “All right, Twilight Sparkle.” She banished the voice of emotion from her mind, the voice that screamed for her not to do what she was about to do. “Since you refuse to stop in your actions, I must stop you myself, such as my duty as Princess of Equestria demands of me.” Taking in a deep breath, Celestia lowered her horn and sent a bolt of superheated light speeding towards the still-stunned mare.

Forgive me, my most faithful student.

Confrontation

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter X: Confrontation----

The air above Canterlot had a deathly stillness to it, as if nature itself was trying to hold its breath in honor of the raging battle that was just seconds away from erupting underneath its darkened sky. But the night was far from silent, the sounds of an explosion and the hiss of magic as it shot through the air rented open the silence that was there. Down on the abandoned street stood Twilight Sparkle, having just dodged a blast of magic that she had only a split-second's warning to evade. "You've finally given up on me, Celestia?" The softness of her voice surprised even her as it left her mouth.

The princess was just as surprised at the softness as she was at the fact that the unicorn didn't instantly retaliate. "I... I have not given up on Twilight Sparkle. Only whatever monster you have made her into, Sombra."

Twilight's laughter peirced the air with a sharpness akin to a bird's whistle. When it finally subsided, she looked up into the sky where the waves of happiness from the Crystal Empire were quickly fading into a sickly grey color. "You think Sombra is behind this?" Her face contorted into a smile as she slowly brought her gaze down to settle on her former teacher. "No, I'm doing this on my own free will. The only thing Sombra did was to release me from the bonds of friendship." She spat the word at Celestia, who recoiled as of she had been slapped

"You say it is a bond, as if it is something that restrains you." The princess slowly trotted forward, as if she thought that her words would make any difference. "What was it that defeated Nightmare Moon? Magical power? Were you able to defeat her alone?" The questions were thrown at Twilight as if they were blows. "No, you weren't. It was only the power of friendship that allowed you to overcome her and return her to being Luna once again."

"I only used the Elements because I had it still stuck in my head that I thought I needed them. An idea put into my hea-"

"And how was Discord defeated? Was I, an all-powerful goddess as everypony else calls me, able to stop him?" She stomped a hoof onto the ground. "No, I wasn't. Luna and I had had too little time to reestablish our bond of friendship and love, leaving the elements nothing but useless hunks of scrap gold. My magic alone wasn't enough to stop him. But yours, when you were united with your friends, was enough. Twilight, ple-"

"Stop trying to shovel that 'friendship' crap down my throat, Celestia." Twilight's horn brightened threateningly as the Princess took another step forward. "Both of those times I was left blinded by it. I believed that I needed those, as you so fittingly call them, useless scraps of gold." She snorted at the expression of fury on Celestia's face and rolled her eyes. "You've read just as many books as I have, my tutor. You know exactly how the mind can twist your beliefs, making you believe that you cannot accomplish something and because it believes that, it won't let you do it."

"Twilight, it is not just some kind of propoganda that everypony believes." Celestia's voice grew imploring as she stepped forward, only to jump back when a bolt of magic crashed into the ground where her hoof would have landed next. "I myself tried to make everyone see otherwise, but it was impossible. Friendship really is m-". Celestia leapt aside as a bolt of light similar to her own, except for its lavender hue, blasted through the air that she had just been occupying.

When she finally recovered her balance, she looked over to see Twilight letting out a large yawn. "I'm getting bored with you, Princess." The unicorn's horn began to glow with a blindingly bright light. Celestia pulsed magic into her own horn in response, readying a few spells out of her repitoure of thousands. "Time for this student-teacher relationship to be over."

Both of their magical charges collided in midair, signaling the true start of the battle. The sound of their thudding hooves soon followed the blast as they charged horn-first, deathly intent in one's eyes and regretful resignation in the other. Celestia felt an impact against her chest that sent her flying though the air, though not the way that winged ponies were intended to. As her back hit the wall of some sort of store, another bright light filled her vision and overwhelmed her.

Why did you choose Twilight? Why did you want her to be your slave, Sombra?. As the thought passed through her mind, everything began to fade into nothingness. The sounds. The lights. The pain. Everything faded as a great blackness came up from below and engulfed her.

Cadance's hair swept through the air as she blasted yet another shadow-pony with her magic, another small peice of her heart being ripped away when a Crystal pony fell out of the dark aura that had enveloped it, each shattering body sending a spike of agony stabbing into her chest. It's dying scream was lost to the din as all around her screams just like it exploded every second.

"Princess! We must retreat!" A pony fought his way over to her, clearing the way with his short spear. "We need to get you away from this place!"

"There is nowhere left to retreat, Swift Steel." Her voice barely puntured the blanket of screams that hung over the room.

"Then you must leave alone! Take to the skies where they cannot follow!" The stallion's eyes tightned again as he slashed another foe in two, the crystal pony within crashing to the ground without even screaming. "Quickly, Princess, you must flee before we all fall under Sombra's rule!"

She stepped around the grizzled guard and shook her head as she conjured a shield to deflect a blast of black light that shot towards her. "I will not abandon those under my rule to face that fate alone. If we fall, them I shall fall with you this time. Fight on, Swift Spear. Show them that we shall not leave our lives without a fight."

The stallion who held her gaze looked at her for a second with some kind of fiery pride. "You've changed from the princess you once were." His thoughtful look eventually melded into the face of a soldier, though his eyes still shone with a mixture of agony at killing his own kind and pride that his ruler would not abandon them to their fate. "Let us fight on, then. To the very last."

The entire palace shook as one word thundered through the halls and beat against the windows until they shattered. "Cryyyystalssssss."

"Fight on, right Princess?" She looked down into the fearful eyes of the stallion, who had most likely been enslaved by Sombra until his downfall. "Even in the face of death itself?"

Cadance found herself smiling at the door where the black smoke was flowing into the room. "Yes, soldier, let us fight on." The smile faded from her face as she cast her gaze around the room while she awaited their doom to arrive, taking in the bodies that littered the floor.

"To the very last."

Far away from the conflict of the north and even a good distance from the conflict of the city of Canterlot slept Shining Armor on the corner of Spike's hospital bed. His eyes snapped open as a cold wind gusted into the room, a feeling of dread cascading down his back.

He lifted his head to find Spike's own eyes staring him, shining with the same fear that filled his own body. "You feel that too?"

The dragon's voice was raspy as it cut through the eerie quiet that filled the room. "Yeah, I did."

Shining Armor got up and trotted over to the window, looking out over the city that had the air of being completely abandoned. None of the lights were on, nopony was walking the streets or laughing inside. "It feels like something is wrong."

"Horribly wrong." Spike shook his head against the pillow. "Something is horribly wrong."

Author's Note

Please forgive any misspellings, I wrote this entire chapter via my iPad (which doesn't have spell check since I refuse to use auto-correct) and please report them in the comments. Thanks!

Smoldering

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter XI: Smoldering----

She was floating. She was and wasn’t at the same time, suspended in a world of silence and black that was permeated by snippets of sound and light. She turned to catch the glimpse of the distorted face of her former pupil, Twilight Sparkle, pain and hatred filling her eyes until the image dissipated. Another one took its place, a wall of dark blue that was the same color of the night time sky that was soon obliterated by a flash of blinding light. As the afterimages faded from her vision, she found herself greeted by no more of the colors of the outside and instead being forced to look at the wall of black.

“Something is wrong.” Celestia’s voice sounded almost foreign in the void that she now floated in. “Am I dead?” Despite Equestria’s perception of alicorns as invincible, they were no more invulnerable than a normal pony to injury. Death was something that Celestia had to fear many times in her life, especially in the years which she and her sister were forced to do battle with the chaotic forces of Discord. She stretched a hoof out towards the blackness, recoiling as a spike of pain stabbed into it when it touched the border of wherever she was. “I suppose I’m still alive, if only just.”

“Sister?” The voice was ragged and hoarse. “Sister are you…” A choked sob cut off whatever the pony was about to say.

“Yes, Luna, I’m all right.” Celestia’s voice burned with the need to comfort her sister as she spoke. “Please, don’t worry about me.”

“Why are you not moving, sister?” Celestia felt a pair of hooves push into her side and rock her back and forth. “Sister? Please move! Please!” Luna’s voice had become filled with anguish as another round of sobs overtook her. “Please, do not be dead. I need you, Tia!”

“Luna! I’m fi-“ Celestia stopped herself as Luna’s lips found hers, frantically trying to push air into her lungs. As the air was forced into her body, Celestia felt drops of liquid falling onto her face and soaking into her coat. When the lunar goddess had pulled away, her solar counterpart found herself sputtering. “Luna stop this madness! I’m fine!”

“Tia?!” Apparently Celestia’s last phrase managed to enter the world of the living. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the image of a smiling Luna looking down at her. The next thing she saw was a field of dark blue that was dotted with silver stars, the air being crushed from her lungs with the strength of her sister’s hug. “Sister! I was so worried!”

“Luna… I didn’t come back… just to have you… crush me to death.” Celestia gasped for air as her hooves frantically scrabbled for purchase against Luna’s hug. Without warning the iron bars around her midsection were pulled away, as was the stifling cloud that was the lunar goddess’s mane.

“I’m sorry, sister, I was just so worried about you.” Luna smiled sheepishly at her as she took a few steps back. “After I saw Twilight toss you into the wall, I was afraid that I had lost you.” The smile melted away into an expression of anger and disbelief combined. Celestia looked to where her sister’s gaze had drifted to and shivered as a wave of shock crashed against her upon seeing her most faithful student lying on the ground with a few rivulets of crimson flowing from her head. “Why would she have attacked you? Of all ponies Twilight looked up to you the most.”

“It was Sombra’s doing.” Celestia slowly trotted forward, reaching into the saddlebag that was at Twilight’s side and jerked back, breathing in deeply at the pain that stabbed into her hoof. “He corrupted her using a tool of his own being.”

“How is that possible, Tia?” Luna shivered and moved to stand next to her older sister. “It gives me great worry to know that one such as he may corrupt without being present.” When Celestia didn’t answer, the midnight-blue alicorn moved closer. “Tia?”

“Hush, Luna.” Her sister recoiled and fell silent as Celestia closed her eyes. “Stand back, I am about to attempt to draw out what has brought my dear Twilight so much pain.” After a few moments of banishing all emotions from her mind, she slowly drew in those that she spent the most time suppressing. Anger, hate and envy; all emotions that everypony in Equestria knew and feared. And here I am trying to use them. They all came forth from the very edges of her consciousness and condensed themselves into a green orb of light, an orb that she then seized with her magic and wove into a spell.

A burning ball of emerald light surrounded her hoof as she slowly bent down to reach once more into the bag that Twilight had on her side. After a moment of searching, her hoof found the thing that she was looking for. “Here it is.” Even with the dark protection, the stone still burned her to the touch. As soon as she pulled out of the bag, she let the spell dissipate along with the emotions that disgusted her to no end. “Sombra’s tool.”

“What is it, sister?”

“It is a crystal, filled with the pure hatred and anger that consumed Sombra from when before he was the pony he is now.” Celestia sighed wearily as she looked down at the wickedly glimmering stone. “It would be my Twilight who had the curiosity to take a small part of the crystals that were summoned by Sombra.”

“What are we to do with it, Tia?” Despite Luna’s being a mare that has lived her centuries, her voice had become that of a scared filly looking to her older sister for guidance. Celestia reached over with a wing and brushed it reassuringly against Luna before answering.

“It must be destroyed.” Celestia looked down at the cursed stone that winked at her from the cobblestones. “But I fear that even if I am able to, Twilight would be destroyed as well.” She bent down to touch her horn onto her student’s head, a flash of golden light being the only sign of her healing spell. “We must take her to the castle.”

The sound of hoofsteps moved closer to Celestia as Luna moved closer, worry rushing through every fiber of her being. “What is to be done about her corruption?”

“She must destroy the crystal herself.” Celestia lifted her pupil and the crystal in her magical grip, the latter sending threads of pain into her very soul to touch with something as pure as her magic. “To do that, she must cast aside the hatred that runs in her veins. I must ask you to do something, Luna. It might be painful for you to do, but you must do it should there be any hope for Twilight.” Celestia spread her wings and lifted herself into the air, followed swiftly by the lunar princess.

“What is it, sister?”

“You must teach her to let go of it. Of all the emotions that you’ve held close to your heart once before.” Celestia turned to see Luna with an expression of shock crossing the usually serene face. “Please, Luna, you must.”

A few moments of silence hung between them, broken only by the sounds of their wings cutting through the wind. “Okay, sister, I will try.”

Rapid Boots pushed past the guards that blocked the iron-wrought gate that decorated the front castle gate, ignoring their shouts and commands for her to stop. No time to stop, I must deliver this message! She barreled through the large, ceremonial doors that served as the entrance into the throne room, skidding to a stop somewhere between the fourth and fifth pair of flanking pillars. As she struggled to recover her breath, Rapid thanked her mother for passing down the family heirloom to her. “Princess Celestia! I’m her-“ She cut herself off when she saw that there was a stallion sitting on the throne, one that she had seen back in the Crystal Empire many times standing next to the Crystal Princess.

“Here to see Celestia too?” Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard and a prince to boot, jumped off the raised seat and trotted over to the gasping messenger. “She isn’t here right now. I came here about an hour ago and she only told me that she had to see to some’ urgent business’, whatever that means.” As the stallion drew closer, a glimmer of recognition sparked in his eyes. “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Rapid gave a shaky salute, wincing to herself when the metal of her boot smacked into her unprotected forehead. “Y-y-yes, Prince Armor. I-I-I am messenger for Princess Cadance, your w-w-wife, sir.”

“You have news from Cadance? Is she okay?” Shining Armor moved even closer to the messenger, seeming almost threatening by the time he stopped. “What’s the message she sent?”

“I-I-I d-d-don’t think sh-she meant for you to h-hear it, Prince Armor.” She faltered at the stallion’s glare, throwing aside her orders at the sheer avalanche of anger that threatened to topple at the slightest nudge. “But as Celestia isn’t present, I s-s-should tell y-you.” Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, Rapid Boots braced herself for the inevitable explosion.

“The Crystal Empire is shadowed once more.”

Coercion

--—Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter XII: Coercion ----

She had to blink away the blood, shining crimson red in the sickening light that was cast from the being before her, which was dripping down from a gash in her forehead just under her horn where a jagged chunk of crystal had whizzed past her. Her gaze drifted away from the terrifying cloud of smoke for a brief moment to rest on the soldier who had been at her side a few seconds before. “Swift Spear?” Despite his name being uttered, said pony did not stir from his place on the broken and cracked tiles, the chunk of black crystal that had been aimed at her now nestled inside the stallion’s ribs.

Without giving the princess proper time to mourn, the cloud began to convulse and twitch, glowing with some sort of sickening mixture of black, green and purple light. At the same time, an echoing laugh issued from the depths of the evil creature, sounding as if boulders were being crushed together. “Oh, look at the Crystal Princess.” Cadence backed away from the cloud as it began to move forward, growing smaller and more condensed until it vaguely resembled a large stallion. “How beautiful you are. I haven’t seen you since you were just a little tiny pony, back when your cousins stole you away from this place for fear that I would have taken power. How right they were, I might add.”

“Sombra! Why are you doing this?”

“Oh come, Princess. Surely you don’t need to ask such a foolish question.” The dark form shook with laughter. “I’m obviously doing this because it is my empire you rule. It’s nothing personal, I assure you.” A pair of eyes appeared from within the smoke, glowing red and green with power, a light of amusement sparking from within them. “Well, perhaps it is a little personal, considering that you were named successor to the throne instead of me. I, Sombra, the general of Emperor Emerald’s armies during the Griffon War was shunted aside from his rightful place on the throne by a mere child.”

The cloud slowly began to drift towards Cadance, stopping only when she sent a bolt of blue magic to singe the ground in warning. With a snort, he erupted in a column of black, which then arced through the air and landed next to the stallion who he had felled with his attack that had been meant for Cadence. “Hm, a pity. I was aiming for you but then he just had to get in the way. Such troublesome things, these crystal ponies.” His hoof reached out to kick the head of Swift Spear, sending the dead pony’s skull into a sickening sort of bob back and forth.

That is, until her second bolt of magic struck true against the side of the cloud, sending it into roar that shook the entire palace to its rooms underground. “Leave him alone!” She snarled the words as she leapt over to where her comrade and old friend had fallen, crouching protectively over the body.

“Oh? This mare has a bit of bite still in her. All the more fun to crush it out later.” He paused for a moment, striking a mocking pose as if to show that he was thinking. “Hmm, I suppose I could let you see me in all of my power, as you will be enslaved to my glorious image it is best that you get used to it. Besides, I do tire of this form.” The light inside the smoke-pony began to swirl faster and grow even brighter until it became as blinding as the sun, at which point Cadence shielded her eyes with a hoof. When the glow had disappeared, she was greeted with a sight that made her stomach churn.

The red and green eyes peered at her with a hungry light in their depths, looking out from behind the metal of the armor that encased the pony they belonged to. Teeth that looked almost as if they had been sharpened into the fangs that they were looked foreign on a pony, locked together in the sort of smile that never reached a pony’s eyes. “Hello, dear Princess. If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking back my empire now.”

“Let me through!” Shining Armor tugged against the magical grips around his hooves, bashing his forehead into the barrier that was erected before him. On any side of him were at least two guards and even at those odds they had to struggle to control him. “I have to get out of here! Now!”

One of the stallions stepped forward with an apologetic look on his face, clearing his throat self-importantly before speaking. “I’m sorry, Captai- er, Prince Armor. We have been ordered to keep you restrained inside of the castle.”

“What?!” The guard that had stepped forward now found himself stepping back in fear from the shout of sheer disbelief that Shining had produced. “On whose orders?!” Silence, apart from the fading echoes of his struggles from before, greeted his question. “Soldier,” Shining Armor began in a deathly quiet voice, “if you don’t tell me who ordered you to keep me here, I will beat you into the ground until you cannot stand for weeks.” Despite the magic holding him in place, he took a threatening step forward and snorted angrily. “Tell. Me. Who. Ordered. You. To. Keep. Me. Here.” He accentuated each of his words with another step forward until the pony who he was addressing was pressed up against the wall with a look of sheer terror on his face in place of the apologetic one from before. “Tell me wh-”

“That would be me, Prince Armor.” A bright flash of golden light caused everypony present to shut their eyes and shield them with a hoof or, in Shining’s case, turn away in a desperate attempt to shut out the light as he couldn’t lift his hooves up past his chest. When it finally stopped blinding him, Shining turned to see his sister’s mentor and his princess, Princess Celestia herself walking towards him. “I would have figured that you would have been of much more patience than that, Shining Armor.”

“Yeah? Well you didn’t just find out that the kingdom where your wife is at has been destroyed while you’re too far away to do a damn thing!” Despite himself, Shining found himself taking a step towards the calm ruler in anger only to find himself facing another several faces of royal guards who were just about ready to lock him in the dungeons.

“What? The Crystal Empire has fallen?” Despite the urgency of the news, the ruler’s voice wasn’t urgent; it was only weary. After pausing for a moment and turning away to gaze out of the window that looked towards where the top of the Crystal Palace could be seen from just over the hills, Celestia let out a sigh before turning back to the guards surrounding Shining Armor. “Release him and return to your posts, I require time alone with Prince Armor.” A few seconds passed before anypony moved, and when somepony did it was the guard that Shining had previously driving up against the wall.

Another self-important throat clearing later, the stallion spoke. “Princess, please, forgive my questioning, but shouldn’t it be better if we accomp-“

“I would like to be alone with Prince Armor.” Celestia directed her glare to the guard that had approached her. “I am sure that I will be able to handle a single unicorn should he want to hurt me, which I am certain that he does not.” Her eyes softened after the pony crouched down in fear, pity flooding through her as she sighed again. “I know that you have the intention of protecting me, my little pony, but I am not without my own power. I do not require an escort at all times, despite what Captain Iron may think.”

A brief silence passed over the room, filling it with tension and indecision that was dispersed only when the group of guards had turned and trotted off, a few of them looking over their shoulders to see if their princess really would be okay with a stallion like Shining. “It’s almost like I wasn’t ever the Captain of the Guard or anything.” The unicorn snorted before directing his attention to the pony who had saved him from a period of dungeon time. “So why did you wan-“ He stopped himself, clamping his teeth down on the semi-sarcastic words that he had been saying when he saw the state that Celestia was in.

She was drooping. Not just a simple slump, but rather the majestic princess was falling to the floor with all of the weight that was pressing onto her back; weight put there by the many different obligations of a ruler. Now that Shining looked, he could also see that her usually white and pristine coat was grubby with dust and even a dark splotchy red in places, as if she had been wounded. “W-w-what happened?” The words left his mouth despite his state of shock and he instantly wanted them back when the pony looked towards him with eyes that shone with a soul that had seen its limit of hardships for an evening.

“I apologize, Shining, but I fear that I will have to speak with you in the morning. It has been… a tiring night.” Suddenly the sun goddess dropped to the floor, her eyes closing and her body crumpling up into a heap upon the floor.

“Princess?!” Before he could take two steps, another voice cut through the room.

“Peace, Shining Armor. She will be well, but my sister requires time to rest.” His head whipped around to see Luna standing only a few feet away, looking down at her sister with concern. “She likes to overexert herself at times. Sometimes it leads to her collapsing.” With a flash of her horn, Celestia disappeared, no doubt sent to her bedchambers with a teleportation spell. “Come, Shining Armor, we have much to discuss together about the events that have transpired tonight.”

“Like stuff besides my kingdom being in danger from Sombra?”

To her credit, the lunar goddess didn’t blink at the sudden news of the Empire to the north being attacked. Instead, she simply sighed and shook her head sadly. “Yes, as these events concern your sister, Twilight Sparkle. Come, I shall tell you in a more private place.” Sweeping past him, Luna began trotting towards a stairway that led further into the castle. “Make haste, Shining Armor, for there is much to tell.”

With a last, desperate look to the window that was directed at the Crystal Empire to the north, Shining Armor began to follow his other former charge down the stairs.

Author's Note

So, what do you guys think of the new coverart?

Good, bad, god-awful or amazing?

Special thanks to Omega Sun Burst for letting me use it regardless!

Imprisonment

--—Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter XIII: Imprisonment ----

“So, what you’re saying is that my sister picked up a piece of Sombra’s crystals after we destroyed him.” Shining Armor was sitting down at the base of the dais, looking up at the pony who sat upon it. Her wings drooped along with her neck and she hardly looked like she was an all-powerful princess in charge of an entire nation. Well, perhaps she did, considering that she only looked like that because of her position as a ruler.

“You did not destroy him, if what Rapid Boots told you is true, which I have every reason to hope it is not but have no reasons to doubt it being so.” Celestia looked up, her face serene but her eyes holding a weariness that Shining Armor would most likely never feel; it was the weariness brought on by millennia of being an apotheosized freak of nature. “You merely banished him into the air, from which he was able to reform with relative swiftness, but otherwise your statement is correct.”

“Banished, destroyed, whatever. The thing is, she got possessed from it and now she’s acting evil and k-kil-killing,” The stallion shuddered violently as the word passed his lips, one he would have never thought to associate with his own sister, “other ponies.”

“Yes, Shining Armor, she is. She very nearly ended my own life as well,” Celestia turned to look at the glass pedestal beside her thrown that contained a light-pink crystal, her own reflection staring back out of the glass surrounding the gem with an accusatory glare. “She would have taken it too, if my sister had not been there to save me.” Another heavy sigh passed through her, echoing slightly against the walls as she tore her gaze away from the reflection-Celestia and gave her attention back to the former Guard Captain. “I suppose I am partially to blame. I was the one who showed Twilight the magic of hatred at first.” At that, the stallion below stood at instant attention.

“Magic of hatred? That doesn’t sound like something I’ve ever heard of before.”

“Not many ponies have, Shining. Myself, Luna, King Sombra and now Twilight are the only ones who know of its existence.” Celestia bowed her head at the halfway-formed-in-his-head-retort that Shining Armor was planning to reply with. “What I mean is, we are the only ones who know what it looks like and how to emulate it.”

“Okay,” Shining paused for a moment, seeming halfway on the verge of asking how it is done, but after thinking better of it switched to a different tact, “so where is Twily? I wanna go try and talk to her. Maybe I can snap her out of it.” A golden aura of magic held him down as he attempted to stand. “What are you doing!?”

“Calm down, Shining Armo-“ Her order was cut short by the sound of the large double doors being slammed open followed by the sounds of five pairs of hooves galloping towards the end of the hall. Celestia lifted the golden shield, now finding herself staring down at six ponies instead of one. “What is it, my little ponies?” Though the words were welcoming, there was a coldness in her voice that wasn’t accidental.

The five ponies who had been standing in shock shook out of it as one, each of their faces making a different mix of fear and awe, a look that Princess Celestia had grown tired of long ago. One of the five, a mare with an orange coat and a blonde mane, stepped forward and bowed slightly before opening her mouth. “Well, Princess Celestia, Ah was— Well Ah suppose we were all wondering if you could take us to Twilight.”

She froze as the words left Applejack’s mouth, words mirrored in every single face that stared (and in one case glared) up at her from below. “I can’t let you see her.”

“Why the hay not?!” Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings as if she wanted to fly right up to the Princess of Equestria and give her a piece of her mind. “Princess.” The pegasus tacked the formality onto the end a tad too late, mostly due to the cold stare that the Princess directed at her.

“Because, Rainbow Dash, she is recovering from a… condition, and she cannot see anypony right now.”

“Well, um, maybe seeing us might… help her, maybe.” The ever-shy Fluttershy squeaked as Celestia directed her stare to her instead.

“Perhaps, but it is not a risk I am willing to take.” She winced at how everypony besides Shining Armor recoiled at the sound of her voice, hating that the mares she had seen as friends now held her over themselves as a ruler instead. However, she told herself that such obedience was necessary at times, especially ones like the present. Despite that, she still dropped the coldness from her voice as she opened her mouth again. “Do not fear, my little ponies, your friend Twilight is in good hooves.”

“And whose hooves are those, exactly?” Shining Armor refused to lower his eyes as Celestia allowed herself to grow cold in a futile attempt to calm the riled-up stallion. When she didn’t answer, took another step forward. “Who did you give my sister to, Celestia?” A round of gasps came from the other ponies in the room, ones that were thoroughly ignored by the ponies to whom they were directed.

“My sister’s hooves, Shining Armor.”

She opened her eyes to a sheet of darkness that covered the room. “Where am I?” The calm words echoed back to her as if they had been turned back by the black wall when they met it. She winced at the underlying feeling of fear that was hidden in the question, hating the fact that she, Twilight Sparkle, was worried by being in the darkness when her heart was already as black as anypony’s could ever be. Who brought me here? In a futile attempt to illuminate the room, Twilight pulsed a small amount of magic into her horn to produce a light spell. Despite her attempts to bring light to her situation, no familiar glow of purple came. Better yet, where is here?

“You are in our domain now, Twilight Sparkle.” The black wall before her twisted and shuddered before coalescing into a pony, complete with both a horn and wings. “We hope that you are comfortable, for you shall remain here until your… er, restoration is complete.” The voice stuttered for a moment as the pony speaking searched for the words she wanted to say, her mixture of old Equestrian and modern speech patterns unmistakable.

“Let me go, Luna.” Twilight’s voice was deadly soft as she tried again to unleash the magic that strained to leave her body to strike at the Princess of the Night. “I will make your death slow and agonizing, just like I was going to do to your pitiful sister.” Her attempts to attack the dark form in the shadows suddenly stopped as a red-hot pain stabbed into her side, producing a scream from her lips that would have curdled the blood of a manticore.

“We are sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but you will find that we are less forgiving than our sister.” A deep blue mane covered in dots of white, star-like flakes flowed in the sudden light that sparked from the tip of the princess’s horn. “It would be best not to anger us.”

“Anger you?” Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at that, the bubbles of hysterical hilarity started in her stomach and poured out through her mouth in waves of laughter stifled only by her need to breathe. “Can you even hear yourself? I don’t want to anger you, Luna.” The sharp, stabbing pain returned, this time on the other side of her body.

“You will address us by our proper title, servant of Sombra.” Luna’s eyes sparked with rage as she advanced on Twilight, bringing the first true thrill of fear to the mare’s mind. “You might not be in your right mind, but you will have manners.” The pain was lifted as the alicorn’s eyes returned to their usually intense glow.

Twilight hung there for a moment, her breathing ragged due to the fading remnants of agony that lingered near the magical wound. “Oh, I should have manners, should I?” She spat on the ground, gritting her teeth against the pain that was surely to come. “I’ll have you and the rest of Equestria bowing to me once Sombra claims your land. If anything, you should address me as your Queen.” She grinned at the Princess whose ears tilted back in anger.

“You should not have said that, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight couldn’t help but let out a laugh, one that soon turned into a scream.

Author's Note

Sorry about the long delay! I hope ya'll enjoy the chapter!

Tribulation

--—Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter XIII: Tribulation ----

Spike opened his eyes for what seemed like the first time in ages, color flooding into his previously distorted vision as the remnants of the golden magic left his body. Above him was a sight that would have given most other ponies a heart attack, though it was one that he was quite used to beholding. “Wow thanks, Princess. I sure feel a lot better now!” After blinking away the rest of the sleepiness from his eyes, Spike leapt onto his feet and stretched gratefully, letting out a groan that sounded half like an Ursa Major’s growl.

Giving a weary smile and weak chuckle, Celestia wrapped the dragon in a hug with one of her pillow-soft wings. “Just don’t overdo the celebrations next time you save the world, okay Spike?” After releasing the green-and-purple creature whose face was now painted with a bashful smile, she stepped over to the window and stared at the tower that was just adjacent to the castle infirmary. I wonder how Twilight is doing with her… No, I shouldn’t worry, Luna is better suited for this task. I have complete confidence in both of them.

As if he had known what her thoughts were about, Spike asked the question that she had been dreading. “Hey, Princess, where’s Twilight?” The question was so innocent, given what had happened between the two the last time they had seen each other. Celestia gave herself an internal smile when his naïve question touched her ears, telling her that her attempts to clear the poor dragon’s memories from the terrible event had been successful. “I thought that she’d be here with me or something.”

Taking a deep breath and wiping the thoughts of what Luna was doing with Twilight from her mind, Celestia turned and gave Spike a full smile. “She’s studying with my sister, Luna. The latter had some rather important spells that she was testing and asked if Twilight could assist her.” The knife of guilt dug a little deeper at the dragon’s slightly disappointed frown, though the knife of agony would have gone further if she had told him the truth instead.

“How long do you think she’ll be up there?”

“Well Spike, this is a very important set of spells.” She walked over and hugged the dragon with her wing again, a gesture she was rather fond of as it was something her mother always did for her and Luna. “I expect that it will take a few days for them to be completely finished with their work. And if I know Twilight as well as you do, I’m sure that their task will be over even sooner than we expect.”

“Oh, okay.” There was an almost over-pronounced drop in the dragon’s face as the news hit him. “Well, I guess that’s okay then.” The pained air that hung around Spike gave Celestia a great joy, not that it was there but rather because she would be able to actually remedy this pain.

“I know that you are disappointed that Twilight is busy, Spike.” A golden glow enveloped the doorknob as she seized it with her magic. “But there are a group of other ponies who would like very much to see you.” Only a crack had appeared between the doorframe and its namesake before it was slammed against the wall with the force that only a certain pink party pony could possess.

“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!” Pinkie Pie galloped to him faster than what seemed possible, wrapping her hooves around him and squealing with joy as she hugged him. “Oh my gosh you won’t believe how long we’ve waited to come see you. First, there was this nurse right? Yeah, well she said that you were resting and we couldn’t see you but it’s the day so I was like ‘why can’t we see him? I’m pretty sure he’s awake’ and then the nurse said that Princess Celestia was here with you an—“

Applejack’s strong hooves deftly pulled Spike from the suffocating embrace. “All right now, Pinkie. Let the little guy breathe. Ah’m sure he’ll be more than happy to hear about what’s been goin’ on without suffocatin’ too.”

As the catching up went on, Celestia saw Spike glancing out of the window to the exact place that she had been looking earlier. “Let me have a moment with Spike before I leave, my little ponies.” Pulling the confused dragon away by the claw, she leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Don’t worry, Spike. I’m sure Twilight will be happy to see that you have made a full recovery. Now go, see your other friends.” She released his claw and nudged the dragon forward with a bit of magic before stepping away with a smile for the group hug that the ponies were now dragging him into again.

Before she closed the door, Celestia found herself seeking the window once again. Through it she could see the lunar tower, constructed of a black rock that only Luna could remember the name of, piercing the sky with its stark darkness. Right after she makes her own, that is.

“What is it that you hope to accomplish here, Sombra?” Cadence looked over the balcony, watching with saddened eyes as the ponies below all shuffled about with shackles about their forehooves; shackles just like the ones she wore, though theirs were much smaller and didn’t include a matching pair for their wings. Despite her own predicament, she yearned to help her people, to lift this curse of darkness from them. Of course, even a spell to bring a little bit of light inside the perpetual night that Sombra had created would be impossible due to the magic inhibitor crystals that were stuck through her horn.

“Didn’t you ask me that last time you were in my throne room?” The unicorn king idly rolled a darkened hunk of crystal around on the floor, smiling widely whenever a particularly loud click caused Cadence to cringe. She hated to hear the sound of her dead soldier friend’s head clinking on the ground, something he knew and enjoyed to do regardless of her wishes.

“Yes, I did.” His smile grew even wider at how she spoke through gritted teeth. It was only a matter of time until he finally broke her, and was truly in control of his empire. Until her light of hope was extinguished, the ponies she used to rule over would look to that light as if it were a beacon. “But you only answered with some nonsense about how hatred was obviously the next kind of power to take over not just the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria.” She couldn’t help but snort in derision at that last statement, even though she knew what was to come next.

Even though she knew what was happening, it didn’t make the hoof slamming into her face hit any softer. If anything, it seemed as if instead of a hoof in was a chunk of crystal that was taken from the walls. Sombra stood over her, his eyes glowing in that evil purple-green light that always hung about the whites whenever he was angry. Now, however, they were large streaks of color that flung about like a wildfire. “Oh, but it is going to be the power that rules, my dear Cadence.” Even though his anger was plainly visible, Sombra’s voice was icily cold. “It’s in the natural order, after all. Anger is the predominant emotion in any species.”

“Only if you encourage it.” She spat the words at him, drawing only another cold smile that sent shudders down her spine as its owner’s teeth glistened in the half-light of his magic. “Ponies like you are the reas—“

“Are the reason for what, Cadence? For sadness? Anger? It doesn’t take a ruler like me to create such things.” He lifted up the head that he had been playing with, flashing a fanged grimace before throwing it over the edge of the balcony. Cadence let out a desperate shout and leapt forward as the crystallized remains tumbled down to the street below, only to be grabbed with Sombra’s oily-feeling levitation spell. “Now, now, let’s hear the most satisfying part.” The former princess’s whimpers weren’t enough to block out the sound of shattering that pierced the air.

Sombra released his hold on the princess only to have her hooves diving for his face, which he then easily avoided by channeling a small bit of magic into the crystals affixed to her horn. He couldn’t help but laugh at her futile attempt to attack him, his cruel sounds of amusement echoing back even louder than their source. “Oh come now, little pony. Surely you know that’s not going to be enough to stop me. I thought you had learned your lesson last time.” He reached down and grabbed the still-twitching face and looked down into the pitiful eyes, trying to see what still gave her hope. Of course, his searches proved futile. “Well, no matter. Another few hours staring into my bedroom mirror should fix that.”

Cadence’s scream of both fear and desperation was swiftly cut off as Sombra teleported with her to where his special mirror waited for them. It would show her another world, a world in which hatred was woven into every fiber.

A perfect world. An absolutely perfect world.

Author's Note

I know.... Shame is directed towards me so hard right now ya'll have no idea...

It's been forever since I've updated, but here you go! Enjoy!

The next update shouldn't be so long coming, this time.

Recollections: I

——Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XV: Recollections Part One ----

The piercing screams subsided as Luna lifted her magic from the unicorn’s tensed body, regretting every ragged breath that Twilight Sparkle now drew. The pained and labored breathing took the place of the eerie silence that had rushed into the room after the screams had stopped, echoing back from the darkened wall louder and louder until the sound grew deafening in Luna’s ears. It only took a few seconds until she couldn’t bear it any longer and turned to leave, only to jerk back around as a coarse voice broke the cycle of agonizing breaths. “Tell me something, princess.” The word burned through the air like acid as it left Twilight’s mouth, hatred and spite so strong it almost made the regal pony recoil. “Why is it that you believe torturing me is going to fix anything? Wouldn’t it just make me hate you more? If that’s possible, anyway.” Twilight gave Luna a weak smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes.

“We don’t think such a thing, Twilight Sparkle. We know enough about your… change, to know that something as simple as discipline wouldn’t be enough to bring you back to Equestria, as it were.” She couldn’t help but give her own faint smile at Twilight’s look of immense disbelief, fading only when the unicorn’s face morphed back into its ugly mask of distaste. “Yes, Twilight, that was merely discipline. We are firm believers that one must have good manners and attitude when in the presence of a princess.” She patted Twilight on the head once before trotting over to the window, pointedly ignoring the glares that were most certainly digging into her back. “Your magic is strong, Twilight Sparkle, but we are not our sister and as such ours is much stronger.” A derisive laugh broke through her threatening words, escalating into the point of hilarity before it was finally reined in and silenced.

“Do you really think that your so-called love and friendship is the strongest thing in Equestria?” Despite her previous laughter being quelled, Twilight’s voice had a certain degree of amusement as it echoed about the room. “Do you honestly think that being friends with everypony and loving everything in the entire world will really get you anywhere, Luna?” For a few moments neither of them spoke, allowing silence to reign supreme in the room again aside from Luna’s soft breaths alongside Twilight’s slightly labored ones. “I’ll take your silence as a no, Princess. You know the… the power of hatred, don’t you? You know what it can do.” Taking the silence as encouragement, Twilight allowed her voice to grow ever-so stronger and more confident. “It even helped you take over Equestria when your sister tried to defeat you after you returned from your banish—“

“Yes, Twilight, it did.” Though her voice was soft, the weight of Luna’s admission was enough to silence Twilight into a victorious sort of listening. “The magic of hatred held so much more power than we could have ever imagined. Without her precious Elements of Harmony, Celestia didn’t stand a chance against the might we possessed as Nightmare Moon.” She tore her gaze away from the window and allowed it to settle on the mare she was speaking to, her intense stare making the pony recoil slightly. “If it wasn’t for you and the other spirits of the Elements, we wouldn’t be in our current situation. Instead, we would likely be Nightmare Moon, and most likely we would also be waging a war against Sombra and his kingdom.”

Despite the intense glare that she was receiving, Twilight couldn’t help but blurt out what she had been thinking, repercussions be damned. “A war!? Why would you go to war with the pony that you have so much in common with? You both used that power, so why wouldn’t you two rule together?”

“Because he was the pony who handed us that power, and twisted us into a monster.” Luna’s face grew painful for a moment until she could smooth it over, lowering her eyes and turning away from the mare that she had been charged to save. “Soon enough, you too will realize what it took us a whole millennium of banishment and six magical artifacts to realize. Such power comes at a price, Twilight Sparkle.”

“But how did he bring you under his rule? I thought it was you and Celestia who had banished him before.” Twilight’s hateful voice faltered on the last sentence as she fought with her naturally curious self, the latter winning out in the end.

“We were never under his rule, Twilight Sparkle. He merely showed us the pathway and we decided to walk upon it. It was then that we realized our mistake, although it was already too late. The path to hatred isn’t easy to turn around, and we alone were not enough to succeed in defeating it. Just like you alone are not enough to defeat the hatred that now consumes you.”

Twilight laughed again, all traces of her former, studious self lost in the condescending sounds of amusement. “You think that I want to defeat it, Princess? No, I welco—“ Luna’s hoof was more than enough to silence Twilight, who slowly rubbed a hoof at where the former’s blow had landed.

“Silence, Twilight Sparkle. We have heard such words before, from a pony much like you, and we will have none of it.” Luna only realized that she had been advancing on the shocked mare when the latter had let out a small squeak. Refusing to back off, she poked a hoof into the pony’s chest. “You think that it will give you everything, but you are wrong. I trust you are familiar with Additive and Subtractive properties in Alchemy, correct?” Luna didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Hatred magic as opposed to regular magic is the same concept. Whereas regular magic can create, and build, Hatred can only destroy and decay whatever it touches.”

“I doubt that, Luna. You were too cowardly to use it—“

“Do not call us a coward, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna’s horn glowed with magic as she cast another pain spell over the unicorn’s body, this one light enough so she could still understand her following words. “You know nothing of the powers you deal with. Let us show you first-hoof what happens when you fully give in, and let the hatred into your heart.” With that she changed the spell that now covered the mare, still prepared-yet-unprepared for the dive into her painful past that was buried underneath centuries of trying to forget.

“But, Tia—“

“No, Luna. I’ve already told you, leave him be.” Celestia looked down at her sister with a hard gaze, unyielding just like the sun that shone down upon the world every day. “He is not to be visited in any way, by any means. His imprisonment is well-deserved and will not be lifted.” Celestia lifted up a hoof to silence her sister’s forming protests, the latter closing her mouth with a snap. “I have already told you my final answer, Luna.” She winced as she saw her younger sister recoil, regretting her strong words almost instantly. “Please, sister, heed me in this matter. There is no good to come of tampering with him now, he is beyond saving.”

Luna opened her mouth to protest more, even if it would bring her sister’s scorn. However, she mentally shoved a hoof into her mouth to swallow her arguments and lowered her head in acquiescence. “Yes, sister.”

Celestia spent a few more moments staring at Luna, trying to find any amount of doubt or defiance that was present in the latter’s voice. When she was satisfied there wasn’t any, the sun goddess looked up into the sky where the Crystal Palace had previously occupied. “Very well, Luna. I must go continue the search for any survivors, please stay here and keep watch over his prison. We can’t be sure that the Elements of Harmony will contain him.”

“Yes, Sister, I will keep watch over him.” She covered her eyes with a wing as Celestia vanished in a bloom of golden light. When the sudden warmth had disappeared, Luna found herself missing its caress. Even though she preferred the cooler night, now was a time that she would much rather be with her sister and her warm embraces, especially since they had both come together to defeat one of the largest threat that their world had ever faced. “I still do not see why I cannot explore his dreams. Sombra was the first pony we have ever seen with magic like this, it would be quite interesting to discover where he had found such power in the first place.” She reached down and prodded a bit of her armor, still smoking from the battle that had taken place not even an hour ago, wincing at how close she had been to taking a magical spear through the heart. “Not even regular magic could have done something like this, Starswirl the Bearded himself enchanted this regalia to protect the rulers of Equestria.”

Luna shifted a bit under what was left of her royal trappings, lifting her hoof to also touch at the three gleaming silver necklaces that she wore. On either side of each necklace was half of a gem, each colored differently to represent an Element of Harmony. Celestia had the other halves of the gems on necklaces of her own, though instead of being set in silver bands they were placed in bands of gold, representing the sun. “If it weren’t for these Elements, neither of us would have survived that battle. Thank Faust that such a thing exists to defeat such an evil.”

She shuddered again, remembering how close they had been to being defeated. “But even the Elements had trouble subduing and imprisoning that stallion.” The seconds turned into minutes, which all seemed like hours as they ticked by with Luna watching the sun move slowly but surely to the edge of the horizon. With the battle taking up most of the day, night was soon to rise once again. It would be her world of beauty to command, though one she did not find very beautiful at the moment, what with the smoking craters and other causalities of the battle, such as the small shards of Crystals that were strewn about. “I can’t believe such a ruler would have sent his subjects to be slaughtered in such a terrible way, though I must admit they did their task in weakening Tia and I.”

As the last warming rays of the sun disappeared, Luna brought out the moon without much thought, being too absorbed in other things. “I must know where he got such power. Celestia will be searching for a while more; the Crystal Empire and Frozen North pose no easy search, especially when she is robbed of her solar powers during the night.” The gears of decision clicked in her mind as she stepped slowly towards the large slash in the ground, looking like an ugly scar scored into the earth itself that would never heal, her horn flickering with magic as she prepared to cast the spell that would send her into the dreamscape. “I must know, even if my sister has forbidden it.” With that, the spell enveloped Luna and threw her spiraling into the ever-rising blackness that was the dreamscape.

“I must know.”

To be continued in Recollections Part Two

Author's Note

Hey guys! I'm back! Yeah, I figured I'd give you all what I had for this chapter right now, as it's already at a decent size, and write the rest of it tomorrow!

Call me lazy, but I figure ya'll want an update, right?

Also, the slacking stops now. I'm going to write this darn story and I'm gonna finish it!

Recollections: II

— —Shards of Hatred — —

---- Chapter XV: Recollections Part Two ----

The Dreamscape was darker than she last remembered, no doubt corrupted by the sheer proximity to one of the darkest beings that had ever walked the world of the waking. It was a place whose appearance was affected by what kinds of dreams the ponies were having inside of it, after all. There was blackness that stretched in every direction; the normally clear bubbles of dreams now pitch black and pulsating with an evil violet light. They were something that raised the hairs on the back of her neck and made her inner instincts scream at her to cancel the spell she used to get here. We shouldn’t be here, this isn’t the place that we know! Her inner voice wasn’t the only thing that screamed at her, however.

All around her the shouts and screams of agony and pain cut through the air, echoing against themselves and nearly deafening her before she could react. Deftly weaving a silence spell to cut out the worst of the heart-rending sounds, Luna slowly and cautiously drew closer to one of the oily barriers that enclosed the dream within, wincing occasionally as a fresh shriek, though greatly muted by her spell, pushed into her ears. “Where are all these nightmares coming from?” Her whisper was lost upon her ears, too quiet to bypass her spell. “I thought that the Crystal Empire and the ponies within had vanished.” Luna reached out a hoof and touched the shimmering barrier before her, hissing at the pain that jolted along her leg before she could jerk away.

She was nearly about to abandon her foray into the Dreamscape when another scream rent the air, coming from the bubble that she had just attempted to enter. Ignoring her inner instincts that shouted for her to turn back, Luna plunged forward into the oily blackness. It felt exactly how it looked; it was corrupt, oily, and filled with an evil darkness that filled her body with pain. The pain rose and rose with every second that she spent trying frantically to cross the border between Dreamscape and dream, as did her panic. A scream of her own rose to fill her ears and followed her through the darkness that teased at the edges of her vision. As she reached the point where she thought she was about to lose control of her spell, Luna broke through the barrier and crashed head-first into a brambly thicket of plantlife.

She lay there for what seemed like ages, gritting her teeth against the slowly fading pain. From her spot in the bushes, she could just barely see two figures struggling in a clearing up ahead, one of which was pinning down the other and moving in a rough sort of rhythm. That was when the scream sounded out again. It was a mare’s scream, followed by a cruel laugh and what sounded like a hoof against flesh. She wasn’t prepared for what passed through the air next. “Silence, Crystal slave whorse! I am the King of the Crystal Empire, and I will have what I desire!” At the last word, another scream broke through the air, though it was weaker than the last. Forgetting the fact that she was ensnared in brambles and still warding off the pain from entering the dream, Luna bolted forward into the clearing with her horn glowing brightly with a spell ready to obliterate the source of that voice that brought chills down her spine.

There in the clearing was something that she would never be able to forget, nor forgive. Needless to say, her spell ripped through the figure that was straddled atop the poor mare and sent the wisps of his banished-from-the-dream body out of the dream bubble. As she turned back towards the mare that she had just saved, her blood froze. Sitting there, pushing that poor pony to the ground again, was Sombra. “How… How did you return?! “ Again she cast the spell, banishing the evil king from the dream. Again he re-appeared, mounting the mare that let out a wail pain at each time he did so.

Tears formed in Luna’s eyes as she cast spell after spell, each more futile than the last, until her attacks stopped having any effect upon the dream in anyway and she was forced to watch helplessly as the scene played its course over and over again. With difficultly she pulled her gaze away and fled, forcing her wings to carry her into the sky above and through the barrier back into the Dreamscape.

As she crashed upon the cobbled ground that she favored to craft the Dreamscape of, a cruel voice soon reached out to touch her mind. “Why hello, my little Luna. How nice of you to try and interfere with these sweet dreams that I have been so gracious to give to all of my loyal subjects.”

“Sombra!” Her tearful shout cut through all of the screams that were passing through the air, her voice breaking as her rage took control of her body. Bolt after bolt of magic spewed forth from her horn, fading into nothingness as their light was consumed by the blackness that enveloped everything. “Show yourself, so that we may do battle!”

“Oh, come now, little Lulu. Do you really think I wish to fight with you? No, I quite enjoy the darkness, as you can see from my little decorating session. But I suppose I shall show my elegant self to you, if not in a personal sense. After all, it’s quite difficult to appear in a physical body when you’re trapped in an icy sleep.” Shadows flowed down from the sky, coalescing in the shape of a rather large stallion with a curved horn jutting out of his head, complete with streams of purple light coming from his green eyes. Sombra chuckled at Luna’s bared teeth and lit horn, flashing fangs of his own. “Oh you can put your little magic away, Lulu, I can’t do you any harm here.”

“How are you able to control their dreams, Sombra? You are banished from the Crystal Empire with the forces of Harmony. How were you able to escape?” Luna stepped forward, refusing to do as Sombra told her to and instead brightened her horn threateningly. “Tell us!”

“Well, if you must know, Lulu, I cast a spell over my empire so as to preserve it until I am able to return.” He smiled again, though his eyes were as cold as ice. “After all, I cannot expect you and Celestia’s little spell to hold me forever, and I wish to be in control of a powerful empire again. Think of it as if they were simply taking a nap.”

“You are a monster.” Luna’s voice was merely a whisper as she stepped towards the creature that was the cause of so much pain. “You cannot simply be a pony, we refuse to acknowledge it.”

“A pony? A monster? You surely have interesting thoughts as to what I am, dear Lulu. I am neither of those things.” His shadowy outline dissolved into nothing only to reappear on top of one of the darkest dream bubbles, laughter shaking his frame as he shouted his glee. “I am a king! King of the Crystal Empi—”

Luna didn’t let him finish before sending her magic through the space where he had previously occupied. “Show yourself, Sombra! Show yourself and we shall destroy you!”

“Destroy me, Luna? Is that really what you want?” She felt something cold brush against her side and shot a beam of magic at whatever it was. When the after-image had faded from her vision, all that was there was nothing. “You can’t kill a shadow, surely you know this.” Another brush, another blasting spell to create a smoking crater upon contact. “After all, I couldn’t kill you with that spear of mine, could I?”

She faltered before sending a jet of light through where a pair of emerald eyes had been hovering, her heart pounding with fear. “What do you mean? Do not play your mind games with us, Sombra, for they shall not work!” Luna wanted to kick herself for allowing her voice to tremble, but there was nothing to do now that the words had left her mouth.

Sombra didn’t let her weakness go unnoticed, either. “Oh? Is that doubt I hear? Well, allow me to elaborate, dear Luna.” His voice took on the tone of a bored teacher, further grating on Luna’s frayed mind. “Tell me, who is it that rules over the affairs of Equestria?”

“My sister and I, even you know this, Sombra.” Luna stood on shaking legs, her eyes darting around in different directions as she tried to spot her foe.

“Oh really? Why is it that every letter I ever received from Equestria always had her seal on it instead of yours? Or perhaps you had gotten a chance to read them and gave her verbal approval?”

She felt a thrill of shock jolt down her spine as she stepped back uncertainly. “No, that isn’t possible. Our sister would have never sent any documents without our approval as well!”

Laughter cut through the air as Sombra re-materialized directly in front of her, bringing a hoof under her chin and bringing her face to look into his eyes. “Do you really think that she relies on you? That she needs you? Come now, Luna, she already knows that she’s better than you in every way.”

“No… no, it’s not true, we know that our sister needs us to run Equestria together!”

“Let me show you, Luna, just how wrong you are.” The emerald orbs that were Sombra’s eyes soon grew, blotting out the darkness and enveloping her in a sickly green light. Her scream of disbelief was easily overpowered by the cruel laughter that followed her into the past as Sombra had seen it.

She opened her eyes, breathing heavily with the panic that was all-too-real under the memory spell. The pony before her had a face that seemed as if it would never change from its current expression of sheer terror. “And now, Twilight Sparkle, you know what will happen to you if you choose to give in to the hatred. Imagine that pain; only multiply it by thousands, which is what will await you if you allow him into your heart. You will be Sombra’s favorite puppet, being the strongest unicorn in the world excepting maybe himself.” She closed her eyes again, bringing her horn forth once more to rest lightly upon Twilight’s forehead. Luna formed the memory spell with some effort, trying to get past the shakiness that revisiting those times had brought her, and laid it gently over the unicorn’s still-unmoving body. “Now that you know how we were in millennium past, it is time for you to remember how you were in the past as well, Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna turned around and slowly left the room, not looking back as the door slammed shut behind her. “It is up to her to allow the memories back in, I have done all I can to help her, Tia.” Despite her resolve, she couldn’t help but look worriedly at the door and could only imagine what was going through Twilight’s mind at that moment. “I only hope that your belief in your pupil is not misplaced, sister.”

“So, you wanna tell me why Twily is in your tower, Luna?”

Author's Note

Yeah, I know this chapter was darker than usual. Don't worry, I don't plan on making it a repeating thing in this fic.

Persuasion

— —Shards of Hatred — —

---- Chapter XVI: Persuasion ----

His steps were muted by the carpet as he trotted through the expansive halls of Canterlot Castle, keeping a somewhat wary eye out for any of the guards that Celestia had surely ordered to tail him throughout the day. Every few seconds he turned around suddenly, convinced that the prickling along the back of his neck was a guard who was looking at him. Of course, he never saw anypony there. After the umpteenth time of doing this, Shining Armor found himself turning around to smack straight into a wall and crashing to the ground in a heap.

“Ouch. Walls hurt.” Picking himself up from the ground, Shining Armor checked behind himself once more before turning down another corridor. This part of the castle tended to be abandoned, as Luna often times slept closer to her sister’s chambers in search of comfort. That, and many of the royal guards were too scared to try and explore their darker counterpart’s former patrol routes. It was well that the place was abandoned, because he hated having to incapacitate those who he used to command and he also hated the idea of leaving a pony stuck in a magical prison for a few hours so he could go about his business unhindered.

Even though he hadn’t been explicitly told to remain in the room that Celestia had left him in, Shining Armor was sure that she wasn’t too happy to have returned to an empty room. Of course, not a single part of him felt bad about the whole thing. She should know better than to think that anything short of blasting him with her magic would stop him from going somewhere if he wanted to. The only part he felt bad about was the two Guards that he had to imprison for a few hours with a shield spell. Even though they had tried to stop him, they were only just doing their jobs. I gotta remember to buy them a couple of drinks when I get the time.

Shining Armor didn’t falter in his step as he turned down another corridor and ignored the other three that branched off in different directions. It was thought, long ago, that constructing a castle with a confusing interior would confuse attackers and force them to spend time searching every hall for the correct way, ample time for reinforcements to show up and dispose of them. Even though he wasn’t captain of the Guards anymore, it would take a lot longer than a few months for him, or anypony else for that matter, to forget the layout of the castle once they had been sent on patrol for a good week or two.

A grim smile set upon his face as the walls around him made way for a darker, blue rock that marked his journey’s ending destination. He reached the end of the hall, looking behind himself one last time before pushing open the door that he knew would take him up to Luna’s tower. “And to Twily.”

He didn’t have to even open the door before his quarry stepped out into the open. They both stood there for a few moments, looking at each other with shock painted on both of their faces. Shining Armor was the first to recover, the fire of anger burning from within hot enough to banish any fear of speaking to a princess in the manner he was about to. “So, you wanna tell me why Twily is in your tower, Luna?” Without waiting for an answer, Shining Armor pushed past the goddess and began climbing the staircase to the upper floors where Twilight was no doubt being held.

Needless to say, he didn’t get very far before Luna’s reaction made itself known. He watched from his new position on the floor as an upside-down pony princess stomped towards him, anger burning in her eyes at being so easily brushed aside. “How dare you cast us aside as if we are a common servant to be ignored! We will not tolerate such impudence, even from a prince, Shining Armor.” Luna’s horn flashed brightly as she sent a spell speeding to where he lay on the ground.

In an instant, he was on his hooves with magic flowing freely to his horn. “Oh, yeah? Looks like we both have problems, because I won’t tolerate such audacity from princesses who think they can abduct my sister and order me around like they own me still.” Silence fell over them as they stared each other down, Shining being the one to break it once again. “What’s it going to be, Luna? Let me past, or be trapped in a magical prison for a few hours?”

A thrill of shock ran down his spine as Luna gave a nod. “Neither, Shining Armor.” That was the last thing he heard before a veil of darkness descended upon his head and dragged him down to the floor again. “Instead, we choose to calm an over-eager stallion and to explain the current situation to him. Thank you, Shadow Hoof and Cloak. You may return to your regular duties.”

“Yes, Princess. We live to serve the night.” The sound of two ponies trotting away was easily forgotten as something grabbed Shining Armor and hoisted him into the air. With his vision blacked out and numbed body, his futile attempts to struggle were useless and unnoticed.

“Now, Shining Armor, we shall go and have a discussion as to the current situation, as we are sure Tia did not grace you with a proper explanation given how you are acting at present.”

As he was carried away, he could hear his sister calling out from above. Even though the words were indistinguishable from each other, Shining Armor could tell that she was in pain.. Don’t worry, Twily. I’m still coming.

She lifted her head up from the ground, blinking away the stars that were swarming around the images that her half-lidded eyes could barely process. Somehow her body had ended up on the ground. Her face hurt too, especially on the right side of her muzzle just under her eye. When she brought up a hoof to touch at the spot, an involuntary hiss left her mouth as the pain intensified tenfold. “Ow…” She didn’t know why her voice was so soft, even after being in so much pain. She didn’t even know why she was in pain.

Of course, the painful reminder of her situation made itself known in the form of a gruff, coarse voice. “Where do you think you’re goin, little filly?” The words, and the cold laugh that followed after them, were enough to send a thrill of fear jolting down her body. It was her father. When she didn’t answer, something grasped her mane and yanked her up into the air where she could see the scarred face before her, where she could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. “I’m talkin’ to you, Cadence.” Her cough was met with a slap that sent her flying back onto the ground.

That’s who she was. She was Cadence. This was her home.

It was something that had haunted her throughout her entire life, how her father treated her when he came home; a nightmare that repeated itself many nights after she had finally gotten away and was taken under Celestia’s wing. Her mother had been the one to help her escape, at the cost of her own life. Celestia had had the monster that sired Cadence locked away for the rest of his life after Cadence had finally, in very hushed tones, told her what happened.

However, this time there was no mother to help aid in escape, and no Celestia to take her in. It was just her and the monster in front of her. “What’s wrong with you, eh? I tell you to bring me another cider from the fridge and all you do is spill it all over the floor.” The same thing that had grabbed her mane before, magic from her father’s horn, pulled her up into the air and threw her down over the remains of the bottle, whose glistening shards cut into her skin at a few places. “Looks like I’ll have to clean up your mess again, Cadence.” She felt a magical grip close around her body as she was drawn back and forth along the floor, shock and pain stunning her into a muted acceptance. He was using her to clean the floor. As a rag. She was a rag to him.

“No!” Cadence’s scream pulled her away from the dirty room and into one of stone. All around her were walls of glittering rock, the sparkles that shone from unseen lights mocking her as she panted ragged breaths. “No no no!” Her hooves scrabbled against the stock that held her in place, frantically trying to free her from the nightmare that still lingered on the edge of her mind despite her attempts to banish it. “Please! No more! I beg you, please!” The device that held her eyes open fell away at a touch of magic, allowing her to slam them closed so tightly that it seemed unlikely she would ever open them again. The rest of her body was soon released in a similar fashion, allowing her to curl up into a ball and shake with dry sobs.

A small chuckle came from her right, followed by the sound of a heavy curtain falling down. “Is that all you can handle, Cadence? I expected more from you.” She turned away from the voice, only to have another spell grab her head and jerk it around so that she and the speaker were face to face. Sombra’s eyes burned cruelly with glee, his mouth molded into a cold smile. “Did that glimpse into my mirror help you figure things out? Perhaps now you see that there is no other choice than to bow before me?”

She struck out with a hoof, hitting only air with her pitiful attack. “I will never bow before you, Sombra.” His laughter drowned out her pained wail as he dug a hoof into her now-frozen body, the points on the metal armor he wore drawing out small rivulets of blood that stained her coat.

“Come now, Cadence, be reasonable.” Sombra slowly drew the hoof along her side and under her mouth, pulling her face up to look at him again. “I would much rather have a princess as servant without a broken mind. Don’t you want the pain to end? Don’t you want to start serving your king for the rest of your life?” As he looked into her eyes, he could see the fires of hope slowly burning away, leaving them looking dead and cold. “Yes, that’s it. Now you realize that you cannot hope to defeat me.”

“Y-yes… I… I will serve you, master.” Cadence choked out the words, her body trembling as she slowly got to her hooves.

Sombra clapped his hooves together gleefully and turned around. “Excellent! Let us head to the castle above so we can get ourselves cleaned up, hm?” He didn’t have time to react as the first hoof smashed into the back of his skull. Cadence’s scream of fury and desperation was all he could hear as hoof after hoof assaulted his body, their blows only slightly softened by the magical armor he wore. Her moment of retaliation only lasted for just that, a moment. She couldn’t even resist the spell he laid over her body that drew her off of him and back into the bindings that held her before the mirror. Her curses were silenced by the muzzle that he roughly shoved over her mouth, a smile playing over his lips as her eyes widened in renewed fear. “That wasn’t the wisest of things to do, Cadence. I hope you enjoy your little family reunion.”

Cadence couldn’t hold in the shriek of terror that came from his next words. “I’ll be back in an hour, my dear Cadence.”

She was alone with her memories, memories that would likely tear her apart from the inside.

Containment

— —Shards of Hatred — —

---- Chapter XVII: Containment ----

“Your Majesty, we have word from a messenger that the Crystal Empire—“

“I already know, Guardspony.” A few moments of silence passed before she spoke again, irritation getting the better of her. “Please, leave me.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see the Guard flinch backwards, look at her with wide eyes for a moment, and then take a deep breath before stepping forward again to speak. “But… your Majesty, are we not expected to aid our allies in a time of need?”

“What would you have me do, Guard?” She turned away from the darkening crystal that she kept by her throne and directed her intense stare to the pony that was daring to question her. “Send a legion of our own to the slaughter? Sombra took over the Crystal Empire by himself. Alone and unaided save for those he corrupted.” Celestia stood there, unwilling and unable to look away from the guard who was brave enough to face down a goddess. “Whatever force I send to the Crystal Empire would be hampered by both the frigid air as well as the corruption that Sombra would sew in the ranks. When they arrive at the Capitol they would be like a spring wind against the trunk of an ancient oak; nothing would happen to the oak tree, while the wind would simply be diverted and disappear.”

“Be as that may, your Highness, does the wind give up before it reaches the tree? We should be mounting a counter attack, with the Elements of Harmony on the tip of the spea—“

“That’s enough!” She slammed her hoof down on the smooth marble floor, wincing at the sound of cracking stone. After the few moments of ringing silence that followed, within which she reigned in her free-flowing emotions, she lifted her hoof and repaired the spider-webbing cracks that spread from the circular hole where her stomp had punched through. “You may leave, Guardspony.”

Her glare was enough to keep the stallion from arguing further, though by the flicker in his eyes Celestia could see that he wanted to continue. Despite this, he stiffly saluted and turned to walk out of the room. Convinced she was done with the matter, Celestia too began to walk away from where just a moment ago there had been a web of broken tiles. Of course, the sound of the door closing didn’t echo throughout the chamber. “I suppose you are waiting for me to acquiesce to your suggestion, Guardspony?” Nothing. No reply nor indication upon the guard’s face betrayed any conformation, but she knew it was there. Celestia couldn’t help but sigh before giving him a grudging smile, one that was quickly wiped away as she assumed her usual regal, ruler-of-the-realm manner. “Very well, inform the Captain Grey that there will be a meeting between us in the Guard’s Office in ten minutes. Tell him to not be late, and to bring some of the messengers with him. I suspect that there will be some messages to be sent to the rest of the guard after we speak.”

The guard’s face brightened slightly as he bowed, a ghost of a smile playing across his face as he gave the usual exiting phrase. “Yes, your majesty.”

A sigh made its way out of her throat despite her best attempts to keep it suppressed. It was nearly impossible to not be fatigued by the magnitude of the problems that had been piling up lately. In the old times, back when Luna and she had both been in command of the Elements of Harmony, this would have been easily solved by eliminating the source, like they had done ages ago against Sombra before. “But now it is Twilight Sparkle’s job to lead the Elements of Harmony against him, and she is helplessly ensnared by his will.” Celestia shuddered violently at the mere thought of being possessed by the cruel stallion who had enslaved an entire kingdom, twice.

“And just who put her in that danger, Celestia?” A different stallion’s voice, still laced with anger and borderline hatred, rang out across the room. Her glare of apprehension had little effect on the pony that was trotting into her throne room, who only chuckled darkly in response. “I’m sorry, Celestia, but I don’t get all scared at offending royalty anymore. I’m past the point of caring, to be honest.” His next words made her shift uncomfortably, guilt washing over her as they carried across the hall. “Especially those who send my little sister off to a battle that they don’t even know she can win, capture and imprison her, and then tell me nothing about what happened to her.”

“Shining—“ She stepped forward, trying to reach out to the stallion who quickly jerked away.

“Don’t give me that, ‘I had to send her because I can’t command the Elements of Harmony’ stuff. You know good and well that that is a lie.” His hoof smacked down on the ground as he threw a hoof out to point at the stained glass windows, more specifically the one that depicted Cadance and himself banishing the changeling queen, Chrysalis, with the magic of love. “Caddy had kept him away for almost a week with the magic of love, which then banished him later with the power of the Crystal Heart! We didn’t even need the Elements of Harmony to defeat him the first time!”

“Shining, I—“ She was losing control, her voice shaking as she was cut off again by the raging stallion.

“And don’t tell me that you couldn’t have done anything to help. When Chrysalis invaded she had said that Equestria possessed more love than she could have ever dreamed. Aren’t you the ruler? Don’t you embody the entire spirit of Equestria? Don’t you have that love inside of you?” His questions jabbed harder and harder against her heart, releasing a raging, torrential flood of guilt washing through her body. Perhaps she could have done something aside from sending Twilight Sparkle and her group of friends.

“Shining Armor, please—“

“And now he’s come back,” He was shouting at her now, forcing her to tremble slightly in fear and slightly with the guilt that was eating away at her serenity, “he’s possessed my sister and taken over the Chrystal Empire again, and you don’t tell me anything about what is going on, nor do you let me go back to save my wife!”

“Shining…” Her voice, while trying to sound calming, came out more like a squeak.

“I want answers, Celestia, and I want—“

That was where she drew the line. Celestia could understand that he was distraught, she knew that he wanted nothing more to leave and throw himself at the king that had likely enslaved his wife as well. However, this had gone on long enough. “Silence!” Her hoof pushed into the stallion’s chest and sent him flying backward a few feet, where he then sprawled out on the floor. A twang of regret pulsed through her, but it was soon forgotten in the raging sea of anger that her guilt had become. As the stallion worked to stand, she trotted over with nothing but rage in her eyes as she unconsciously cast a spell to make herself larger than she actually was. “I will not tolerate being shouted down in my own castle, Shining Armor! You will get your answers in due time, until then you will follow me.”

She turned around without waiting for the stallion's reaction, instead choosing to trot briskly forward out of the grand hall where she had been accosted by not one but two guards today. When the sound of hooves did not pick up behind her, Celestia turned back to look at the stunned face of Shining Armor. "Come, Prince Armor, lest you find yourself without answers or aid." She then began trotting once more, her eyes set firmly upon the corridor before her as she led the stallion off to one of the side rooms that often times held ponies who sought her assistance as they awaited their turn to have an audience with her.

When they reached such a room, Celestia held it open for Shining Armor, tilting her head towards the open door to indicate that he should step inside. After the stallion had entered the room she had led him to, she turned away and allowed the door to close slightly. "I will return to speak with you once I have met with Captain Grey and discussed an urgent matter."

"When will that be, Celestia?"

It was then that she turned and smacked the stallion with a hoof, anger roaring up inside of her as she stared down at the defiant fires that burned in his eyes. "You will address me as 'Princess', Prince Armor. You are not so high in authority that you can waltz into my own castle and act as if you own it. You may be a prince, but you hold the power that comes with it only when you are in your own land. Here, you have no power to command me or anypony else."

For a moment neither of them said a word, until the fires in Shining Armor's eyes burned a little lower. "Very well, Princess. How long will it be until you grace me with your presence again?" The sarcasm stung, stabbing deep into her heart now that the anger had dissipated and left her feeling nothing but guilt at having given in to the anger that had been burning at her. Even so, she still had a mind to smack him again for the sarcastic way he said it.

But this time she resolved to let it slide given what the poor pony had been dealing with recently. "I will return whenever the meeting is finished, Prince Armor.” With that, she turned away and began to leave behind the guilt to assume the mask of serenity once more.

However, her will faced one more battle before it could be spared. Before the door closed all the way, Shining Armor stepped forward and pressed a hoof against it, looking at Celestia through the crack that was still there. His face held nothing but disgust as he glared at her through the sliver of space. “You just had to send your pony protégé, my sister into battle instead of going yourself, didn’t you, Princess?” The word burned in the air like another brand of guilt, reminding Celestia of the power she had; the responsibilities she bore.

The hoof that was holding it open now gone, the door closed with a soft click that seemed to echo in the silence that followed. "N-No, Shining Armor." The polished wood shimmered with the tears that were lodged in her eyes, her forehead lowered in shame as she tried to fight back the guilt that roared throughout her body. "I didn't, yet I did regardless. I had thought my student would have been safe.”

“But even we princesses can be wrong, at times.”

Author's Note

Sorry that these updates are taking so long to put out folks!

It's just that working at a theme park is very draining and usually at the end of the day I'm just too tired and burnt out to write anything.

Also, if you are confused about the timing, this chapter is just explaining what happened before the previous chapter.

Communication

— —Shards of Hatred — —

---- Chapter XVIII: Communication ----

It almost felt like an age had passed before she looked up from her cup of Moonflower tea that she had been staring at for the past ten minutes, topics passing through her mind that no mortal should ever have to think about. One of these topics was how she was going to explain it all to the stallion that was lying on the sitting pillow in front of her. "We should really instruct our guards to be... gentler, in the future." She gave a grudging smile at the soft chuckle that drifted over from the corner before sipping at her tea. Luna had lost count of how many cups she had had, but if her servant's eyes were any indication; she had had a whole barrel's worth of the stuff by now. Another sip revealed to her that she had consumed yet another cup of the delicious liquid.

“M-more tea, your Highness?” Luna looked over to see the meek little mare holding out what was likely the fourth teapot they’ve gone through in the evening, and then looked down at her teacup to notice that her drink was empty yet again. The servant’s voice and face both told her the same thing: She had been idle long enough.

She lifted a hoof to wave away the tea that was being proffered, smiling softly to calm the fearful pony. “It’s okay, Teacup. We have… er…” She cursed herself with her limited knowledge of the common Equestrian slang. “How do you say? Drunk enough tea to quench the thirst of thousands.” Upon noticing the look that she received upon finishing the saying, she cursed her lack of understanding of the common language again. “W-We have had quite enough, thank you.”

“U-Um… Okay, Princess. I-I-I shall return later just in case you require further refreshment.” Of course, the mare’s tone made it clear that she wouldn’t be back for a long while, if she could help it. After all, it’s not every day you’re asked to serve tea for your Princess when she had an unconscious stallion in her room.

When the door was firmly closed behind the servant, Luna sighed. It was time to awaken Shining Armor, for better or worse. “We hope that he will be more… amiable, this time.” She stood up from her large pillow and trotted over to where the stallion lay on the floor, bending down to touch her horn to his forehead. After she pulled away, his eyes were open and alert. “Welcome back to the world of the waking, Shining Armor.” Luna settled back on her haunches and waited, keeping a watchful eye on the stallion lest he go and try to escape; almost as watchful as her two lunar guards behind him in the shadows that were plentiful in her personal chambers.

Shining Armor was slow to rise, no doubt believing there to be more ponies in the room aside from the night princess’s own, though Luna did nothing to affirm or deny his unsaid suspicions. “Luna.” When he was finally on all four hooves, he did a slow sweep of the room with his eyes, turning in all directions to see if they were alone. He gave a small smile when he saw that they weren’t, trying to keep the mixture of bitterness and anxiety from his words lest he have to fight off the two stallions in the corner. “I see you brought your head-banging guards into your room as well.”

She winced, regretting that such a thing had been done in the first place. “Apologies, Shining Armor, but our guards are rather… protective of us.”

Upon finishing his sweep of the room and not finding anything else of note, Shining Armor sat down and looked directly at the princess with a hard stare. He wanted answers. “All right, Princess Luna, I’ll sit like a good little colt and listen to you explain the situation to me, because it’s obvious I’m missing some major pieces of the story.”

Luna had half a mind to reprimand the impudent pony before her, though she figured he did deserve answers after being led on for so long with so little to go off of. What she did do, however, was trot back over to her pillow and sit down on her haunches with a sigh, preparing to explain the situation as well as she could. “Shining Armor, have you ever heard about… hatred magic?”

“Yes, I have.” The neutral tone, above all, is what sent a spine-tingling chill running down her spine, though the passive face that the stallion had assumed wasn’t helping.

After a few moments of silent, disbelieving staring, Luna breathed in deeply and continued. She wasn’t going to let the fact that a soldier knew of something that was supposed to be a closely guarded secret unnerve her. “Are you aware that Twilight Sparkle has been—“

“Possessed by Sombra and using that magic to kill other ponies? Yes.”

They sat there facing each other for a few minutes before Luna stood up and walked over to the window with a sigh. “Well, it appears Celestia has informed you of a few things.”

“A few things, yeah.” The stallion’s voice was far from pleased, however. “But not much else past what I told you.”

“Very well, Shining Armor.” She trotted back over to him, though slower than she had turned away. As she got closer, her horn glowed with the magic she was sculpting into a spell. “We shall show you what has transpired outside of your knowledge, you need only trust us.” She stopped her horn a hoof’s distance away from his forehead, waiting for him to be the one to complete the connection. “Do not fear, Shining Armor. This is simply a spell to convey our thoughts to you, a way much simpler and infinitely more revealing than just talking about the events.”

After a few moments of silence, within which Luna figured Shining was trying to weigh the options in his head, she felt the skin of the stallion on the tip of her horn, the world outside of their two minds growing dark and dull; everything was outside of their thoughts now and as such were insignificant. “Alright, Princess. I’ll see what you have to say.”

“No, not ‘say’, good stallion. We shall be showing you.”

She was cold.

It had been what seemed like hours since she had been thrown back into her cell, though this time her resistance had been practically non-existent save for a few struggling squirms. She didn’t even have the strength to brace herself for the impact upon the floor when they tossed her limp body in. Her limbs sprawled in every direction as she was just too weak to pull them in and curl up into the usual, warmth-conserving ball, however much she wanted to.

It hurt so much.

Her last memory before being taken away to her cell kept replaying in her mind, over and over again like a record player on a loop. But instead of hurting less and less each time it played over, it kept stabbing deeper and deeper into her heart. She could only watch helplessly as one of her servants was tortured. Even in her half-unconscious state she called out for him to stop, to leave her alone and that she didn’t do anything. Nothing ever changed, except the intensity of Sombra’s torturing. An extra second onto the pulling of a limb, a little hotter temperature on the fire, an extra kick added on each time he turned around and bucked.

She couldn’t take it anymore. It was eating her from the inside. She had to let go. Had to let herself go, before her soul was destroyed completely.

“Princess?”

Was that voice real?

“Princess, please rouse yourself.”

No, it couldn’t possibly be real. She was alone, always will be alone.

“Ah, horseapples! I wish these bars would just break already!”

It was a new voice, this time. Gruffer and slightly louder than the one before.

“Quiet! They gotta have guards sittin’ right outside that door!”

There were two of them? Were there really ponies out there who wanted to save her? No. She can’t let herself get hopeful. Sombra would just crush it out of her again. Her imagination was just reacting to the crystal shards embedded into her horn, or rather to their poison that spread through her body and deprived her of the ability to feel happiness or love.

“Almost… there…. Yes!”

The sound of metal breaking jarred her out of her half-awake state and threw her violently into the real world. Cadence’s eyes snapped open and circled around in their sockets, wishing that she could get up to face whoever was surely about to attack her. “Wh-who’s there?” She winced at the crackling sound that her voice made; it had begun to sound like somepony was crumpling paper every time she spoke.

A small chuckle preceded the voice, though it sounded forced. “I’m almost offended that you forgot about your favorite two jesters in all of this commotion, your majesty.”

Before she could respond, the sound of a hoof smacking a skull floated along the air, followed with a pained grunt. “Be a little more serious, Dodger. This isn’t just a simple performance on how to break out of jail. We are very well likely to die at any moment, and you’re here cracking jokes!”

“It’s alright, Jumping Jack.” Cadence smiled a little, still working to find out where the voices were coming from. “Wh-where are you? I can’t see you.”

“Well, if you’d look up, you might find a hint amongst the mossy ceiling crystals.” Her eyes slowly drifted upward to see the smiling (or in the other pony’s case frowning) faces staring down at her through the hole in the ceiling; a hole that was made larger by the fact that the bars that had been affixed over them were now cut and broken in many places, likely held on only by a single part now. “Ah, there’s the Princess’s beautiful eyes again.”

Dodger’s compliment was lost as Jumping cursed loudly. “Dear Crystal Caves! What the bu—“ Of course, a hoof smacked into the stallion’s mouth to silence him.

“Shhh, we have to be quiet, remember?” Cadence couldn’t help but smile again at the twins’ antics; even with their lives on the line they couldn’t help but bicker with each one another. “Okay, Princess, this is the pla—“

They all froze as the sound of hooves picked up from outside the cell’s door, and the two ponies in the vent above began scrambling away when a key was inserted into the lock. Cadence looked up at the two for reassurance that it would be okay, but when she saw nothing a wave of fear swept over her. She was alone again. Alone with Sombra. Except, she wasn’t; just as she turned away a face poked over the edge of the corner and winked at her, the mouth attached to it whispering something that she would hold onto through the following torture that the blackened unicorn was sure to put her through. “We’ll be back!”

As the door opened, Cadence had a smile waiting for him. She wasn’t alone in this fight anymore.

They were going to save her.

Author's Note

Here's a chapter long in coming.

I apologize for not doing what I said I was going to do. I did it now though, so :yay:

Assembly

——Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XIX: Assembly ----

“Ugh, why are we still sitting around in here and doing nothing!?” She blasted across the room again, sending wind gusting over the four ponies and one dragon that were sitting down on the luxurious couch that was centered in her flight path. “Why would the Princess just call us and make us wait in this boring room!?” After her way was blocked by the opposite wall, Rainbow Dash did a complete one eighty and began flying across the room again. “This is stupid!” She flipped through the air and landed hard right in front of the guardspony that was standing by the door. “What’s with all the waiting, huh?”

Much to his credit, the guard didn’t even flinch at the glare that she was giving him, even though it was loaded with enough knives to make a lawn with blades of steel instead of grass. Rainbow Dash, with her ever-present levels of calm, nearly pounced on the stallion before she was suddenly yanked back by her tail. “H-Hey!”

“Hold yer’ horses, RD.” She didn’t have to turn around to know it was Applejack pulling her away, as usual. “Ya can’t jus’ go bargin’ into a meetin’ like that!” Of course, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the kind of pony to simply sit there and listen, so she flipped over to glare at her traitorous friend. Though before she could fire back a retort, Applejack stepped closer to her and gave a glare of her own. “Jus’ cuz you’re all riled up an’ wantin’ to know what’s goin’ on don’t mean that you can just barge in like you’re somepony special!”

“But we ar—“

“Oh please, Darling, quit being so overdramatic.” Rarity stepped over to Applejack’s side and tossed Rainbow a disdainful look. She couldn’t believe her ears; Rarity, of all ponies, telling her not to be dramatic. Whether or not her friend was aware of her own hypocrisy was a question never answered as she plowed on after a moment’s pause. “Surely the Princess would have plans for us to be a part of. Why else would she call upon little ponies like us if she didn’t need them?”

“I dunno!” She yanked her tail out of Applejack’s mouth and jumped up to her hooves before turning around. The guard there didn’t even flinch as she stomped over to him and shoved her face into his own. “But I’m gonna find out, so move it, buster!”

After a few seconds had ticked by, the tension in the room had grown to a nearly tangible level, though it was soon interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Rainbow Dash was the first one to react, though not in the way anypony (least of all herself) expected. From her new spot on the light that hung from the ceiling, she could see the confused guard looking side to side for her. “What’s the big idea?” Rainbow Dash cursed her blushing as the bemused guard cleared his throat and looked at the rest of the ponies (and dragon) below.

“The Princess requests that you join the guard’s meeting.” The stallion backed up a bit and waved his hoof towards the door. “Please, follow me.” It wasn’t a request.

Even though she wanted to get right up in this pony’s face too, Rainbow Dash dropped from the ceiling and stuffed her pride away, pointedly ignoring her friends’ giggles behind her as she stalked out of the room with her head held high. “Finally we get to do something!”

After a short journey down a hallway, the sound of voices tickled their ears as they stood outside a handsomely adorned door to what was obviously a very important room. “…but we can’t just allow six mares into a fully-fledged battlefi—“

“Need I remind you, Captain Grey, that many of your predecessors were mares? Mares who, in times of battle, would fearlessly charge into battle and achieve victory against seemingly impossible odds?”

Of course, Rainbow Dash didn’t wait for the guard escorting them to knock before flying up and crashing into the room with a shout. “Who says mares can’t fight?” Of course, her bravado was met with several spears being angled at her and at least three different magical spells stopping her dead in the air. The entire room’s tension could have been cut in half by a mere butter knife, at least until Celestia started chuckling lightly.

“It is alright, guards. Release her.” Celestia’s light mood, however, didn’t last as long as most ponies would have thought. Her face snapped right back into seriousness as the other four ponies stepped into the room flanked by a dragon and at least two now-highly-alerted guards. “Hello, my little ponies, please sit and Captain Grey will explain the situation to you.”

The seasoned soldier looked up from the paper he had been pondering over and blinked, now finding out that every eye in the room was turned towards him without his being prepared. “Er, yes.” He cleared his throat and pointed at the map that was stretched on a board next to him. “This here is the Crystal Empire, which has been taken over once again by Sombra’s forces.” He ignored the collective gasps of the five ponies and one dragon, having heard it from the other guard commanders in the room once already. “The plan is for the Royal Army to attack the enemy from the train station to the south of the capitol.” He looked over to see if his words were getting understood, though he only saw five ponies looking at him with confusion. “And you five, along with your dragon here, will be teleported in behind enemy lines to strike at Sombra himself with the Elements of Harmony.”

“Back up just a second, how in tarnation are we goin’ t’use the Elements when we don’ got Twilight with her Element of Magic?” The rough-cut pony looked over at Applejack with an appraising glance before he answered.

“That’s exactly what I was waiting for the Princess to answer. Without Twilight Sparkle the Elements are nothing but a useless band of necklaces, no offense to those who control them.” He added that last bit due to the dagger-filled glance of Rainbow Dash, the second she had given him in particular when her mind had finally worked out that he was the one who said mares couldn’t fight. “That, and how we will address the fact that we do not have any stallion in the guard who is able to transport not only five mares and a dragon, but an escort of guards as well.”

“Do not worry, Captain Grey. All will be answered in due time. Until that time has arrived, however, I ask that you explain the plan in more detail for these ponies so that it is not forgotten.” Celestia looked out of the window as she spoke, her eyes seeking out the tower that her sister now occupied. That time will arrive soon, if Luna has done her task as well as I believe she can.

I hope that she was successful.

Her eyes opened to a room of darkness, able to see only the slivers of bright, blinding light that poked through the curtains that hung on a the wall. Of course, she turned away from those and closed her eyes to keep out the intruding light, trying desperately to remember what she was doing in such a place, or where she even was at the moment. “H-Hello?”

Nothing answered her but silence, which rang deafeningly as she struggled to get to her hooves. After her first failed attempts, she managed to get herself into a standing position, if only one supported with shaky legs. “Hello?” Her voice was stronger this time, but still nothing answered. “Is anypony there?” She blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the lances of light that were cutting through parts of the room, the outlines of many different objects along the walls becoming visible as she stood there. “Hello?” Her call was a shout this time, but for all its volume it was still unable to break the odd silence that pressed down on the room.

After a step (and a stumble) forward, she found herself staring at a door that was just inches away from her muzzle. “A… A door?” Once she had gotten a grasp of the handle and yanked the slab of darkened oak open, she found herself staring into a stairway into a brighter area. “Wh-where does this go?” Her hoof touched on the first stair.

Flash.

She was staring at a purple-and-green egg, trying desperately to use her horn to do something to it, something that she desperately needed to do otherwise everything would be terrible. After everything she tried had failed, her rump collided with the floor in defeat. At least, until a blast of sound and color flooded the room.

Flash.

Before she stepped any further, she reached up and felt along her forehead for the protrusion that she knew was already there. There wasn’t any time to study what it was, she had to keep going.

Flash.

She was delving into the pages of a book that was nearly as big as she was, her horn sending a bright light and a few sparks all over the pages. It would have worried the librarian, if the magical sparks had had any heat, that is. As it was, her spell shrunk the semi-ancient tome to about half its size; one that would better suit being in her library collection.

Flash.

“I’m a librarian?” She shook her head and took a few more steps down into the lit part of the stairway, the sound of voices below tickling the edge of her hearing.

Flash.

“Twilight Sparkle!” She looked up to see a blinding light above, the shape of her mentor, princess, and long time friend silhouetted against it.

Flash.

“I’m… T-Twilight… Sparkle?” By now the voices were right around the corner, her hooves now moving with a purpose as she sought out whatever, or whoever, was around the next bend.

Flash.

“And magic makes it all complete, my most faithful student.”

Flash.

“Twily?” A moment of tense silence passed as she looked into the room, seeing the blurry outlines of a stallion and a bigger pony, who had both wings and a horn. “Twily!” She didn’t get to react as a wall of white suddenly came into focus and tackled her in a nearly deadly hug. “Oh little sis, I thought something terrible had happened to you!”

For a few seconds, she didn’t know what to do. Everything was still flashing for her, memories of the past swirling and merging with her conscious and forcing themselves into her thoughts. They told her things, things that she had thought that she had tossed away and banished from herself to make herself strong. They taught her of magic. They taught her of the friends she held dear. They taught her all that she had forgotten, and more. “Twily?” Her brother’s voice was uncertain, wary of her being like he had been told she was like.

A second’s silence was all it took for her to wrap her hooves around her brother and sob in relief. “Oh BBBFF, I missed you!” A gentle cough sounded out in the room over her sounds of desperate happiness, reminding her of who else she was in the presence of. After pulling away from her brother, Twilight looked over at Luna and bowed low to the floor. “Princess Luna.”

“We hate to interrupt the moment, but there is a pressing matter that needs to be taken care of.” Twilight and Shining Armor both recoiled from the princess’s intensity, but the latter did not relent in her words. “We think that you know who it is that we speak of, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight looked down to see an extended hoof holding out a black, flickering crystal that pulsated in the light.

A flash of anger rose up within her small body, and only a hint of green touched her irises before she reached out and grabbed the thing with her magic. Bringing it close after breaking away from her hug, she glared into its depths, more specifically at the purple-lined eyes that were no doubt lurking inside of the gem’s facets. “Sombra.”

Turbulence

—— Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XXI: Turbulence ----

I’ve got to find her!

His hooves pounded out a rhythm that his heart easily followed, guiding him through the many different alleyways throughout the city and allowing him to avoid the worst of the conflict. Though his talents would have been served better on the frontline with the rest of the Guard, Celestia herself had conceded her arguments to his own. He knew the city, therefore he would be the best candidate to sneak into the castle alone and find his wife. It had only taken him a few minutes of pressing that point until he had finally been granted permission to go away from the main invasion force and find his wife, something that he and Celestia both knew he’d have done regardless of whatever orders he would have been under. He was a ruler of his own empire, not her little soldier any longer.

Damnit, wish I was a pegasus sometimes! Wouldn’t have to run around in the streets like this. Just then he looked up to see a guard falling straight from the sky with what looked like the back end of a crystal arrow poking out from a chink in his armor. Or perhaps the streets are the safer option. Part of him wanted to go and try and help the pony that had fallen, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do. Sombra’s black crystals did more than just hurt when they stabbed you, they left you a weak and shattered form of yourself; they were pure poison for ponies. If the guard hadn’t been killed by the impact, the darkness from the arrow would have ended his life sooner rather than later.

Almost as he had been planning it, one of the black-crystal ponies jumped out in front of him with shards of glimmering crystal sticking out from his slashing hooves. Shining Armor barely avoided getting cut, and instead of galloping around the attacker spun and kicked out with a hoof, despite the fact that that was his most vulnerable part. After the crystal pony had hit the ground, the golden-armored stallion didn’t waste a second of time as he conjured a magical shield to hold his foe in place for another pony to find and hopefully finish off. The last time Sombra had taken over and had been defeated, there were still those who were under his control who were still fighting. Celestia and Luna had tried everything to save their minds and bodies, but in the end nothing could be done to save them.

It was something that every single stallion and mare involved in the invasion was told: no mercy for those taken by Sombra; they couldn’t be saved. Shining Armor dashed out into a street, dodging around the few crystal ponies that were there searching for threats. By the time they had realized what just passed by them in a blur and rush of wind, he was already long gone. The magical traps he laid around their hooves, however, let them know immediately that it was somepony with the invading force, not that they could do anything about it after tripping said traps.

He galloped down another side alleyway, dodging around a few piles of garbage without paying any mind to the shapes of ponies that were buried amongst the rest of the refuse. He had to focus on the ponies he could still save rather than mourn those who had already died; there would be time enough for that later. His gaze darted up to the castle that was in the center of the entire city, jutting out into the sky like some giant darkened-blue needle.

That was when he was knocked to the ground. Feeling like a wall had just smacked into him, he leapt up in a daze to try and fend off whoever had tackled him. He hesitated for a moment as he saw not one but two ponies looking at him warily, daggers held in their mouths with a wild look in their eyes. Daggers? Sombra’s forces use spears just like the Guard does. Shining Armor squashed the thought quickly, resolving to neutralizing his opponents before they could do so to him. As his horn flashed brightly, another figure smashed into him with a piercing scream. “Shining!”

He had almost bucked fallen to the ground when his instincts kicked in, his body spinning around and flinging whoever had tackled him the second time into the air. It only took him a split second to do so, but after he had grabbed the pony with a capturing spell Shining Armor felt the cold steel of a blade on his throat, finding his eyes enraptured in the hard gaze of one of the dagger-holding ponies. “I advise you to put the Crystal Princess down, lest you find yourself with a lot less blood in your body and air to boot.”

After a few more seconds of staring down the pony and weighing his options, a gear clicked in his head. Crystal… Princess? Shining Armor looked up to see his wife suspended in midair by his magic, a mixture of shock and relief flooding through his body. Within seconds he had lowered her to a safe height and released the spell, pushing aside the dagger that was still being held against him and running to her. “Cadence!”

For the third time that day, Shining Armor felt like he had been hit by a wall. It had been a never-ending source of embarrassment that his wife was actually physically stronger than him, being an Alicorn and all, though in this case he was simply too relieved and overjoyed to see his wife safe amongst all of this chaos to care about the painful hug she gave him. The seconds that they were holding each other seemed to last forever, or at least long enough that the pony who had been holding Shining at dagger-point let out a gruff cough to draw their attention to him.

“I know that a reunion is all good and well, Princess and Prince, but I believe it’d be wise to move on to where we were going and away from the corrupted crystal slaves to Sombra who are trying to kill us?”

Shining was the one to actually break their hug apart despite how much he wanted to remain there with his hooves around his wife forever. “Where were you going to?”

The more cheerful looking one who had been keeping a watch for anypony who might be looking for them stepped over, a small and witty smile on his face. “Well, considering that the army of Equestria is invading, I’d hazard a guess that it’s either an attempt at reclaiming the Empire from Sombra, or it’s a rescue attempt aimed at our Princess here.”

The other stallion scowled at was obviously his brother. “I’d rather nothing was ‘aimed’ at the Princess, Dodger, so get back to watching our backs.”

Shining Armor shook his head, looking behind himself all the same and turning back to the two who had been escorting his wife. “It’s actually both of those things, and something more as well. I was meant to infiltrate the castle and save Cadence, while the main forces of Equestria are aimed instead at reclaiming the Empire from Sombra. There’s also a third force.” He looked at Cadence for a second, his worry mirrored by her own eyes, before casting his gaze over to the castle and frowning. “Six mares, to be precise, aimed at destroying Sombra himself.”

“Six….” Cadence gasped suddenly, her hoof shooting up to her mouth in horror. “No… Shining you can’t be serious… C-Celestia sent… sh-she sent them t-“

“To take on Sombra, yeah. Twily and the rest of the Elements of Harmony are in there, that’s why Celestia is throwing her forces into the city. They’re just the distraction so they can fight Sombra alone.”

Cadence reacted in just the way he expected her to, spreading her wings and turning back towards the castle. “We have to go and help them!” Just as she leapt into the air, a wall of magic closed off the sky to her. Shining Armor didn’t flinch as she rounded on him with a wild glare. “Shining!? We have to go and help them fight him! They can’t do this alone!”

He looked her dead in the eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Cadence.”

The gaze turned murderous as she stepped up to him and shoved her face into his. “Remove. Your. Spell.”

Shining Armor only shook his head again. “I’m sorry, Cadence, but my mission is to rescue you, not to interfere with the Elements. Besides, we would likely only get in the way. Sombra would only brush you aside with his magic after canceling out mine with those crystals of his.”

Just as it seemed like Cadence was going to leap upon her husband, Jumping Jack stepped forward quickly and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Peace, Cadence, Prince Armor is right in his reasoning. We would only be swept aside and more than likely used against those ponies that are going to fight him, as it sounds as if you are close to them.”

“Yeah, come on Princess, we need to get out of here!” Dodger stepped over and laid a hoof over the bristling mare’s shoulder, trying his best to diffuse the situation. “The faster we get to the Equestrians the faster we can rest and be safe.”

“Dodger!” Jumping Jack glared at his brother with one that nearly rivaled Cadence’s from a moment before. “I thought I told you to watch our backs!”

“Oh relax, Jumping, it’s not like our mindless foes will think to sear—“ Time seemed to slow as the stallion’s words were cut off by a jagged bolt of crystal that was now jutting through his throat, his eyes widening in pain and fear for a split second before growing dim and glazed over. It only took a second for the pony to crumple to the ground, but it felt like forever until his brother shouted out in rage and despair.

“Dodger no!” The silver steel of a blade whistled through the air in the next second that passed, entering the forehead of the pony who had shot the bolt of corruption. The eyes of at least twelve more corrupted ponies were in the entrance to the alley, two pairs of which were put out by another set of daggers that flew through the air. “I’ll kill all of you!” His roar of rage was cut short by a magical field forming in front of him to block at least six darts of blackened crystal from piercing his body. Hooves wrapped around him, but he fought them as much as he could. A voice shouted in his ear, but he couldn’t hear it. At least, until he was thrown on his own hooves and shoved forward into a gallop.

“Come on, Jumping! We need to get out of here before they break through!” Cadence had tears in her eyes as she galloped as hard as she could, trying desperately to keep pace with Shining Armor at the same time as urging on the grief-stricken stallion. “Let’s go! There’s time enough for mourning him later! You can’t do anything but die here!” The order was enough to keep him going, but he couldn’t see anything besides the last look of pain on his brother’s face and the wavering form of a white stallion in front of him.

“Come on, this way!” They rounded another bend, coming face to face with a squad of golden-armored stallions who, upon recognizing them, instantly circled around their little group and began to escort them behind the frontlines. Only when they reached a camp on the outskirts of the city were they allowed to rest.

Only when he finally sat down with the others did Jumping bury his head in his hooves, tears streaming down his face for the first time in twenty years.

Author's Note

Here's the new chapter, folks! Sorry it took so long!

(My key is broken... I'm going to hate typing Equestria now....
I totally had to copy/paste to have that word have the "q"....)

Isolation

—— Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XXII: Isolation ----

The castle was quiet. Not the quiet like you just woke up alone in the morning sort of quiet, but the kind that makes you think somepony just died in your house while you were asleep. They had all been inside the Crystal Palace before and it was usually empty save for a few servants darting about taking care of their duties they had been assigned. Without those servants the silence was deafening. Not even the gentle patter of the six sets of hooves sneaking throughout its halls was enough to make the place seem less deserted.

It seemed like only a few minutes ago Twilight had woken from the torrential flow of memories that Luna’s memory spell forced her to relive.

”We think that you know who it is that we speak of, Twilight Sparkle.”

An anger that she didn’t know she had rose up in her body, searing the edges of her thoughts as she stared at the black crystal that Luna held out to her then. Twilight brought it to her face and glared into its depths. “Sombra.” The roomed seemed to grow darker as she said the name, the crystal’s purple light pulsating along the walls like some sort of sickly beating heart. “You’re right, he needs to be stopped.” She looked over to her brother and noticed that instead of the normally clarity and wisdom that were in his eyes, there was instead a muddy cloud of anxiety. “Wh-what happened, Shining?”

Her brother didn’t do anything but stare back at her silently, leaving her anxious mind to dart off in all sorts of directions. Luna saved her from her mental freak-out, however, by stepping forward and laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Sombra has been busy while you… occupied Celestia’s and our attention, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight looked up at Luna with guilt settling in the bottom of her stomach, flashes of memories from her time under Sombra’s magical influence sending a mixture of disgust and confusion through her body. “I… I f-fought Celestia... A-and you…” She blinked a few more times before shaking her head, bringing her mind back to the present matter at hoof. “Wh-what has Sombra done?” She winced at the flash of pain in Shining Armor’s eyes as Luna answered without a pause.

“He has invaded and taken control of the Crystal Empire, imprisoning its occupants and forcing them into slavery as well as turning the guard-age stallions into beings of corruption to be used for his army.”

The room was completely silent for a few seconds, save for the wind that gently whistled around the tower, until Twilight brought forth another question. “Wh-where is Princess Celestia now? Is she out fighting him? Is she going to be okay? Does she have the Royal Guar—“ Her worried questions were brought to a halt by Luna as she lifted a hoof into the air, signaling that she wished for quiet.

“Peace, Twilight Sparkle, my sister’s actions may be lead by her heart but even she thinks about things before leaping hooves first.” Luna trotted past them and opened the door with her magic, gesturing with a hoof that they exit the tower. “She is in the War Room, deciding how Equestria plans to deal with the forces of Sombra and his shadow-corrupted army. That is where we are to be as well.”

As she trotted past the blue alicorn with her brother right at her side, Twilight couldn’t help but look over to Luna with her old curiosity. “But… what can I possibly do to help?” The second she said it, a pair of gears clicked inside of her mind. “The Elements…”

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, you and the rest of your friends will be a crucial part in the plan to defeat Sombra.”

“You okay, Twi? Ya seem a bit distracted.” The soft whispers brought her out of her recollection. She looked over to see Applejack looking back with a concerned light in her eyes. Twilight had also linked their minds superficially with a linking spell, superficially because she was sure that her friends wanted to have their own minds to themselves still. All her magic did was let the other ponies that were linked to the network see what any other pony in the network saw or heard, if they concentrated enough on the thread of magic to do so at least. If somepony was suddenly taken out of the network, however, they would instantly know what had happened. When Twilight didn’t answer, Applejack stepped over and nudged her worriedly with her side. “Come on, girl, focus.”

She shook her head to clear it, or at least as best as she could with five other minds tickling at her own. “Yeah, I’m okay, AJ.”

“Alright then, let’s keep goin’.”

It was strange, seeing all of her friends suited up in armor and ready to fight like they were, when about thirty minutes ago they had all been hugging her and cheering happily. Even Fluttershy had a look of grim determination on her face, mirroring the rest of her friends. Like Shining Armor always said when she had accused him of not paying her enough attention anymore when he had joined the guard, duty can change a pony in the blink of an eye.

Never before had a simple door seemed so intimidating, so immovable. “D-D-Do I just walk in?” Twilight glanced back at her brother and Luna worriedly, scared of what might be waiting for her on the other side. A very large part of her feared that her appearance would be met with nothing aside from cruel, cold stares or even some mutters here and there that were meant to be just audible enough for her to hear them. After all, she had been corrupted by Sombra, and for some ponies that sort of thing took a lot longer to forget even if it was no longer a reality.

Instead of the shake of a head like Twilight had desperately hoped for, Luna instead nodded and opened the door with her magic. “Enter, Twilight Sparkle. The council is waiting for you.”

After a few seconds of nervous shaking, and after a few desperate, wordless pleas directed at her brother, Twilight slowly trudged into the room, looking hesitantly around the room at all of the staring eyes.

Or at least she did until a certain pink pony tackled her to the ground in a hug, soon followed by at least three more, though it certainly felt like more than that the way they weighed her down. The only thing she could hear for about ten seconds was her name, spoken so happily that it made her own heart soar.

After another ten seconds within which all over her friends helped her to her hooves and enveloped in yet another group hug, Celestia coughed softly to get their attention. “My Little Ponies… I am sorry to have to breakup such a touching reunion, but there is much to plan yet.”

After the blueprints had been copied into each of their minds with a spell of Twilight’s casting and after they had all donned suits of lightweight armor that, much to Rarity's dismay, weren't the least bit fashionable, the Elements and their bearers were teleported into a storage closet in one of the far-off parts of the palace that they were now sneaking through with their hearts pounding in their throats. Each twist and turn throughout the corridors put them all closer to the edge of panic, which was only intensified by the different shadows and shapes that flickered in the sickly green light of the torches on the walls, their smoke floating up to the vents in the ceiling an unnerving shade of purple. Each time Twilight laid eyes on the producing elements of light, she couldn’t help but shudder as if the eyes of Sombra were staring back at her, something that she was sure their creator had intended them to do.

For all of their worrying, there wasn’t anypony to be found throughout the entire castle. “I… I think the plan worked.” Twilight’s whisper hissed along the walls, seeming to the six mares louder than it would ever be in actuality. “Wh-what do you girls think?”

“Well, we ain’t seen nopony yet, jus’ shadows and ghosts.” Twilight looked over to see Applejack shiver at the thought of ghosts, as well as the rest of her friends doing the same. “Cain’t believe it worked, didn’t think Sombra would jus’ throw out all his guards to fight like that.”

“Of course it worked; Celestia’s a lot smarter than Sombra is.” Rainbow Dash’s voice was as loud and brazen as ever, despite the fact that they were currently in the center of enemy territory. The result, of course, was a round of silencing motions and noises, the worst of which being Twilight casting a spell to cover Rainbow’s mouth and bring her back down to the ground.

“Quiet, Rainbow!” Twilight could feel the annoyance and fear emanating from Rarity’s portion of the mind link spell. “Do you wish for Sombra to know that we’re—“ Just at that moment, the entire hallway went dark, the torches along the walls ceasing to give off light as they were plunged into darkness. “Here.” Rarity’s last word in the sentence was weak and frightened, as if she had curled up and crawled into a shell. Twilight’s mind was instantly flooded with fear, both hers and her friends’.

Just as Twilight was about to conjure a ball of light in front of her, the torches on either side of their little group began producing light again. The corridor in front and behind them was dark, but they could at least see something again. They all stood there for a moment, unsure as to what they were going to do now until Twilight spoke up. “Alright everypony, we have to keep going.”

“Why keep going, Twilight Sparkle, when you’re already here?” Suddenly the little amount of light surrounding her didn’t seem like nearly enough as she looked into the blackness and saw a cloud of it moving closer to her, red-irises tinged with green and flowing auras of purple glaring right back as they bore down on their prey.

Author's Note

Sorry for the erratic publishing I do, writing comes and goes as I'm sure most of you are aware.

Real Life is also a pain right now... [Language in Blog Warning]

Culmination

—— Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XXIII: Culmination ----

“Sombra!” Twilight’s bolt of magic was easily deflected into a wall, where it then bounced back and landed neatly between her two front hooves; hooves that then lifted into the air as she reared up in surprise away from the smoldering hole in the carpet. Despite her initial shock, she readily charged her horn again and sent two more purple spears of light into the cloud only to have them disappear without a trace. Cruel laughter filled the hallway; the kind of laughter that sent chills of fear down her spine and made her body yearn to gallop away as fast as it could.

“Why hello my ever-irritating pests, it’s lovely to have you all as my guests today!” Sombra’s laughter echoed around the hall as his eyes leaned in to stare at them. “Or rather, pest.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Twilight shook her head and stepped back, looking side to side at her friends before glaring back up at the black presence with resolve. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter. Come on girls, let’s do this!” Twilight Sparkle braced herself for the magical feeling of the Elements taking control of her magic, but it never came. A few seconds of silence was all it took to get Twilight to turn and look at her friends with concern. What flooded through her body next was absolute shock. "N-No…”

Her scream was louder than any laugh that Sombra could have mustered, her body recoiling away from the crystallized forms of the mares that were her friends. For a few moments the entire world seemed to freeze as she stared at their glittering bodies, their mouths all half-open with the shouts of alarm they had been about to release before Sombra’s spell had imprisoned them. “Oh calm down, they’re still alive, for now.” A magical grip closed around her throat and lifted her into the air, barely loose enough to allow her a chance to breathe. “They can see everything and hear everything going on around them, so they’ll even get to experience the lovely pain of watching somepony they care for die!”

For a second she was flying through the air, though with the next tick of the clock she had thudded onto the hard floor, pain and confusion fighting for control in her mind. After a few more seconds of blinking away the stars in her vision, Twilight stood up on unsteady legs and stared up at the cloud with a mixture of disgust and anger. “Sombra!” Her magical bolts were simply deflected again as she sent them one after the other into the darkness, the tears rolling down her cheeks growing in number at each one she let fly. Suddenly she winced as a dagger of pain jabbed into her horn, and her mind caught up enough to realize that it was beginning to smoke and crackle with the heat of her spell-casting. “SOMBRA!” Her near-scream of rage was silenced by yet another magical force closing her throat and throwing her across the room, though this time she was ready and landed on her hooves instead of her face.

“Yes yes, I’m sure that we both know each other’s names, Twilight Sparkle.” The cloud convulsed a little as Twilight took a few more swipes at it with magic, the laughter filling the corridor once more. “Come now, Twilight, I know you’re smart enough to realize that doing things like that won’t work.” Her next few attacks only spurred the laughter on to further heights. “Stubborn, just like that old whorse you call a mentor.”

Shudders of anger ran up and down her body as she looked down at the blood-red carpet, fires of her own anger as red as that crimson flaring up and licking along her body. “How… dare you.” A few seconds passed before she looked up from the ground again, her eyes finding the hateful eyes of the cruel stallion that were embedded in the puffs of smoke he was made of. “How dare you!”

“Oh come now, I bet she actually thought this little plan of hers would work too, am I correct? Did she assure all of her little ponies that there wasn’t a way that it could possibly fail provided everypony played their little pony parts?” A cruel smile flashed in the darkness before vanishing again. “Oh don’t act so surprised, Twilight; of course I know about the plan of you using the Elements of Harmony against me like those idiotic, self-proclaimed ‘princesses’ did so many ages ago.” The cloud swirled a little before forming something that looked like Twilight’s own face, though grotesquely morphed with tendrils of purple coming out of its eyes and mouth. “I am in your head, after all.”

The words sent another splash of confusion into her emotional mix, her real face filled with a hint of anger as she jumped back from a snapping whip of black. “No, you’re wrong Sombra! You’re not a part of me anymore.”

For a few seconds, the cloud of smoke just floated there, though it swiftly began to swirl and coalesce into a denser sort of darkness as deafening laughter shook through Twilight’s very being; it was the kind of black that sucked the light away from the air around it. Just as suddenly as it had started up, the laughter ceased and the dark mass suddenly slammed down right in front of her, giving way for the scowling face of a stallion who she had thought was gone from the world just a week ago. “Do you really believe that I, Sombra, would have lost control over you to a mere memory spell, cast by a pitiful wench?” A hoof came from nowhere to strike her, though she brought up a magical wall to block it just in time. As it was, her mind was severely shaken from the force of the blow. “Do you think that I, Lord of the Crystal Empire, would have been so foolish as to not leave any defenses in my castle?” Another hoof came from the other direction, this one breaking straight through her hasty shield to send her sprawling across the floor, though Twilight did her best to blink away to stars in her vision and stand once more. “Do you think that I, Vanquisher of Love, am too weak to defend myself against the so-called Elements of Harmony? Against six fillies who fight their battles with friendship?”

Twilight looked up just in time to see another hoof stopping just short of smashing into her again, its owner glaring down at her and breathing heavily. After a heartbeat, nothing happened. After two more, Sombra had lowered his hoof and turned away, walking over towards her friends in their crystalline forms. “D-D-Don’t touch them!” Despite the anger she tried to put in her words, Sombra only laughed at the pitiful, trembling voice that she directed at him.

“Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, did you really believe that by driving me out you would be free of me?” The stallion ignored her completely as he circled Pinkie Pie, looking her body up and down as if he were admiring something on sale, as if the pink pony were nothing more than an ornament. “I mean, really, I am the embodiment of hatred and despair. I’m already part of every single creature’s life on the deepest, most fundamental.” He glanced back at her with a smirk as he gently reached out a hoof to pat Pinkie’s frozen-in-place mane. “This one in particular knew of those things very well.”

A spike of pain jabbed into her mind from Pinkie’s portion of the mind link spell before it faded away again, barely there. “G-g-get away from them!”

“Ah ah aaah, Twilight, let’s not get hasty shall we? There’s so much to discuss! So many curiosities to uncover.” Sombra slowly trotted over to Rainbow Dash, lifting a hoof to touch her wing and roll it along until it came to a rest on her friend’s flank. “I mean, this mare here is responsible for all of you finding your… Cutie Marks, correct?” He tapped the hard surface none-too-gently, laughing harshly as Twilight squirmed from yet another dagger of pain digging into her mind.

“S-S-Stop!” Her cry was simply ignored as the one who held her captive with fear easily sauntered over to the next pony in the semi-circle, Fluttershy.

“Stop? No no no, that would never do. You see, my dear, it is often the duty of despair to remove from the world those who live on it like a plague, on the verge of death and unwilling to do anything productive at all!” Fluttershy’s hooves were roughly kicked at three times, Twilight crying out as the third mind link sparked with magical fire inside of her head. “This pony here did that duty many times, with her sick little animal friends who she knew she couldn’t help.” The way Sombra’s voice became sickeningly soft and cooing made something inside Twilight crack.

“Stay… away…” She began to push herself up, grinding her teeth against the painful throbbing inside of her head.

“Ah, and we can’t forget your other friend too.” He chuckled to himself as he approached Rarity from behind, his front hooves lifting up to rest on the unicorn’s white back as if he were about to mount her. “Such beauty… such… grace.” The words came out as mere hisses, oil coating every syllable. “Truly a nice embodiment for hate, after all she is rather fond of being jealous of ponies, and I know better than anyone how quickly that can turn to darker things.” He smiled over at Twilight, whose glare was flashing in the light of the torches. “After all, Luna did show you our little bout of history together, didn’t she?” He chuckled and looked back down at his prize, looking over it like a stallion would a mare in the middle of a brothel. “Shame that her coat’s white, though. No matter, that’s easily fixed with enough dirt and grime.”

“Stay away from them!” She was on her hooves now, her horn flickering slightly as she prepared to sear the very air with her magic. Her efforts were for naught, however, as a wave of black smoke shoved her back down into the ground and held her there too, clamping down over her horn like a vice.

“What’s that? Are you telling me to stay away from my new statues? Oh no, that won’t do at all.” Sombra bared his fangs as he slowly, agonizingly slowly, made his way over to Applejack and stood with his back to the frozen pony’s face. “Oh my… that won’t do one bit. I feel myself… I feel a little bit of rage coming on.” His hind hooves rose up as he tensed up his muscles. “I think I might just have to… kick something.”

“No!” The magic that had been trying to force her down was practically non-existent as she galloped madly towards the target of her anger, her horn brightening before its light enveloped her with a spell. In the next instant, she was behind the stallion, her hooves reaching forward to collide directly with his helmet and leaving two dents where they connected. “Leave. Them. Alone!” She didn’t give him any time to react, her next spell sending a lance of lavender light through the air directly at his chest.

The next second blurred into forever as she watched Sombra dodge to the side just in time to avoid the magic, casting his own spell just as quickly as Twilight had. In the light of the magical bolts, Sombra could see both Twilight’s tiara shining brightly with white whilst an amulet around her neck shone purple. The meaning of such a thing was lost on him, as he was forced to dodge another attack as his own seemingly disappeared into the mare’s chest.

Though each second crawled past like they were hours in their minds, each one was filled with fear and anger. For Sombra, the former of these emotions was gaining more and more prominence as each of his attacks proved useless against one he thought he could easily defeat alone. “Why. Won’t. You. Die!?” They were dancing now, their hooves spinning circles and forming ridges on the carpet as they wove around each other as well as the spells that heated the air around them. Each time one of them dodged, they simply spun around and cast their own spell in retaltiation. They were dancing a dance of death.

And was a dance that was over with just one mistake.

Suddenly Sombra's hoof caught on the thick rug, sending him tumbling to the ground. In the next second, he felt a hoof at his throat and looked up to see a horn shining with a sickly purple directly between his eyes.

“Because I am better than you.”

“Ah yes, I see it now. You’ve given in to it, haven’t you? Just like I did those many years ago.” Sombra couldn’t help but smile up at the bringer of his fate, knowing in his own twisted heart that his work would carry on in the one who defeated him. “It’s so… powerful, isn’t it?”

“You misunderstand strength, Sombra.” The hoof pressed down harder on his neck, making him gasp for the little air he’d have left before his end. “Strength without direction will never be as powerful. Blind hatred only serves to make you weak.”

“They are… one and… the same, for hate. The power… it will… always… be stronger.” He chuckled weakly, though it came out as a weak sort of rasping noise.

“No, it won’t.” Twilight’s horn bloomed with a thread of white magic, its brilliance eating away at the violet sickness until none remained. “Unlike you, I will willingly let go of my hate. Even now I do not hate you, Sombra.” After a flash of light, Twilight Sparkle stood alone in the room with the now-awakening ponies that she called her friends and companions. She reached up with a hoof and yanked the necklace away, staring down at the weakly flickering crystal that it held. It was almost like a heart giving its last beats of life before it met an end like its creator’s. She hesitated, thinking of Sombra’s last words for a few seconds. She would be unstoppable with this magic, not even Celestia herself would be able to stand up to the Element of Magic wielding the strongest of arcane magic in existence. "I do not hate you." In the next moment, she angled her hoof so that it would slip away and plummet to the ground, the faceted gemstone shattering into a thousand different shards of hatred; shards that, with a little time and luck, would vanish from their world forever.

“I pity you.”

Author's Note

It is done. (Decided on leaving it here.)

Super special thanks to Ledger Allen Pony for helping me with proofreading!!! Go check out his stuff guys/girls/changelings!

Genesis

—— Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter I: Genesis ----

Twilight Sparkle slowly stepped down from the train car and looked around the Ponyville train station as she waited for her friends to disembark, the slowest of them being Rarity, who struggled with her scarves and luggage that she dug up from underneath the few feet of snow that they had been buried in at the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. Her gaze slowly took in the slightly bored faces of the ponies who were stuck waiting for their trains as well as the worn pillars that supported the small roof that sheltered their heads from any wayward weather. She directed her gaze over the gently rolling hills that surrounded the tiny village (tiny, at least, when compared it to the sheer size of the Crystal capital city) and then at the sprawling fields upon which a few ponies were working like ants to provide the food that the town needed. I’m finally home.

From behind her came the soothing, country voice of Applejack, echoing her thoughts aloud. “Ah’m not opposed to goin’ out an’ savin’ Equestria now an’ then, but Ah’m glad we’re finally home.” Twilight turned and nodded, returning the smile that Applejack directed at her. “That was some fancy magic back there though, Twilight. Ah’m happy Ah don’t have to remember none of that stuff. Just some good ol’ applebuckin’ for this farm pony.”

“Speak for yourself, Applejack!” Rarity’s slightly depressed voice came from within the train’s depths, no doubt from the unicorn who was still struggling with the many suitcases that she brought with her. “I for one am abhorred that we had to depart so soon! Didn’t you see how lovely we all looked? I could have made a dress for all of you to make the pickiest of stallions turn back to stare!” The white unicorn finally escaped from the bowls of the passenger car, blue-veiled luggage in tow. “I could have started up a crystal dress fashion line!” She jerked backwards as one of the larger bags jammed itself in the doorway. “I would have been the talk of the Crystal Empire for ages!” Her words jarred up and down as she jerked her head back and forth in an attempt to free the resilient suitcase.

A cyan hoof pushed the brown bag out with a slight pop, sending the struggling unicorn to the ground. “Yeah, yeah, Rarity. We all know how you love your dresses and stuff.” The helpful hoof went up to brush back the rainbow mane that its owner possessed. “Me, I loved that jousting!” Rainbow Dash, in one of her fits of dramatics, spread her wings and dashed forward, holding herself as if she had a lance at her side. “I mean, did you see the way me and Fluttershy went at it? Pow! Kabam! Wham!” Twilight and Applejack watched with bemused eyes as the athletic pegasus darted from one side of the station to the other, leaving Rarity to pick herself up from the ground and dust herself off sullenly.

The others turned back to the train as the other pegasus of their group gently flew out onto the platform. “Um, I liked the petting zoo. All those fluffy ewes and bunnies and all other sorts of critters that are there just for us ponies to pet. Oh, it was so fun!” The butter-yellow mare let out a soft squeak that often made itself known when she was excited. “I remember this one deer there, his name wa—“ Fluttershy gasped as Rainbow Dash flew up to her and dragged her out in front of the others.

“We heard about your little animal friends, Fluttershy. You told us about a gazillion times on the train!” The others smiled knowingly as the shy pegasus blushed. “I still liked the jousting better!” Dragging the unfortunate Fluttershy along with a hoof, Rainbow Dash flew around in a large circle, sending up small scraps of paper that had found their way into corners and under benches. “What did you think?” Rainbow Dash’s question was breathily asked as she stopped in midair with the shocked-looking pegasus in her hooves. “Uh, Shy?”

Twilight watched as the caretaker of animals shook herself and smiled at her friend. “Um, it was… nice.” As if on cue, the telltale sound of Pinkie Pie’s party cannon blasting its confetti washed over the station, followed by a pink pony riding atop of its grey barrel being propelled backward out of a train car further down. Grabbing the pink-projectile with a spell, Twilight pulled the potentially dangerous pony over to where they were standing. As soon as she was released from the magical grip, Pinkie Pie shot up from her perch and began to excitedly bounce around the five ponies.

“Well my favorite part was the party!” Giggling madly, the pony leapt onto her trademark cannon and pressed the top button again, sending out a wave of streamers and confetti to latch themselves onto the station’s benches as well as a few ponies who were unlucky enough to be sitting in the line of fire. “I mean, a party for a few friends is awesome enough and when we all have cake and fun it’s even better! But a party for an entire empire?! I could just explode thinking about how much fun it was!” The way her face was puffing up as she held her breath threatened to do just that.

Twilight and the others laughed uproariously at the pink pony’s ridiculous expression. When the laughter died down, Twilight cleared her throat to draw the attentions of her friends. “Everypony… I… I can’t say how much all of your help means to me. Each and every one of you could have stayed here, leaving me to save the Crystal Empire and to pass my test alone.” The studious unicorn shuddered violently at the thought of failing a test. “And you all persisted when other would have given up, even if it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.” Twilight smiled at each of the Elements of Harmony, getting one from them in return. “But we did it. We saved the Crystal Empire!”

Their voices rose up to shout to the ponies amongst the stars, to tell them of their success and happiness. “Yeah!”

Pinkie Pie leapt back up and landed on top of her weapon of mass-decoration. “You know what this calls for?” Without waiting for an answer, she threw her hoof into the air with a reckless abandon. “A party!” With that, she slammed her hoof onto the button and started what was to be the best party that Ponyville had ever seen.

She sluggishly pressed her hoof against the thick door of the town's library, wincing as the loud squeaking of the hinges cut through the now-silent night. Shifting the saddlebags that rested heavily on her back, Twilight walked into her library and smiled. She was home at last. "Hello, my literary friends!" The librarian's attempt at making herself sound enthusiastic was skewed by the fatigue that gripped her within its tight fist.

Trying and failing to suppress a yawn that bubbled up from within her, Twilight started for the staircase, eager to be up in her bed to hasten the passing of the night and to dispel her weariness. Stopping for a moment, Twilight shook her head sleepily and hefted the saddlebags that she had forgotten were there. "Oops, forgot I had these on." Sighing, the unicorn slowly trotted back over to the hook that sat on the wall next to the door. She reached over her shoulder with a levitation spell and freed herself from the dragging weight of the straps, hanging the bag onto the hook and sighing with relief. "I'll unpack it later."

Cantering unsteadily toward the staircase, the lavender mare sighed once more as she about-faced. “I’d better not leave you in there though.” Her horn glowed brightly as she reached into the bulging pack to draw out a simple stone that was as black as midnight. “You’re coming to bed with me.”

With the object of her uncertainty now held safely within her magical grasp, Twilight slowly began to trot up the winding staircase to the second floor, which consisted of her room and a small balcony that overlooked the library. She cast a glance over the railing to her precious books before turning to her room's door. Pushing it open with a hoof, Twilight slowly stepped into a place that, for several occasions on her journey, she thought she would never see again. Of course, the first thing she did was take a running start and leap onto the mattress, giggling softly as it instantly cast her back up into the air. "Oh, it's good to be home!"

For a few minutes, she did nothing more than stare at the ceiling and trace along the different tree parts that ran along the top with her eyes. The soft chirping of the resident crickets outside merged with the gentle whispers of the wind. A smile slowly spread across her face as she listened intently to the sounds of a night that only a small, simple town like Ponyville could have.

Levitating the object that she held in her magic over to a table and releasing the spell, the ever-studious pony then turned to pull out a rather worn-looking book that had the look of being quite boring for a normal pony from underneath her pillow. "Ah, Equestrian Mathematics, my favorite!" Hugging the large tome to her chest as a child would hug a beloved doll; Twilight smiled at the anticipation of cracking open the leather bindings to pull the knowledge from the aged pages.

Soon the anticipation became too much to bear, pushing Twilight to set the book before her and to open the parchment to the world once more. Her soft, whispered words and formulae flowed over each other like water in a creek as the night progressed, faltering only when her voice grew dull with fatigue. Stashing the heavy book back underneath her thick pillow, she yawned again. "I think that's all for tonight."

As she lay back into the warm embrace of the blankets, her gaze wandered over to the small, black gem that she had brought upstairs with her. The wondering look was returned with a cheerful sort of flickering that came from the many different faces of the stone. "Tomorrow, I'll take a look at you. Who knows what kind-" a loud yawn cut across whatever Twilight had been about to say until it was smothered with a hoof, "what kind of things you can tell us?

Another yawn bubbled up from within her as she gently rolled over, turning her back to the stone to peer out of the window through which the moon could be seen hanging over Canterlot Castle. "I hope Spike's having fun up in Canterlot... I mean, it's not every day that a dragon saves the entire nation from hatred and fear." She smiled at the thought of her baby dragon being some heroic figure that he problably imagined himself to be when he had been saving Rarity from the Diamond Dogs. Allowing a soft sigh to escape, Twilight finally allowed herself to drift into the soft-spoken world of sleep.

The small and nondescript gemstone rattled slightly on the table and, unbeknownst to the lavender librarian, glowed a deep, violent purple color. From within the flickering light appeared a red iris framed by a vibrant green. The eye stared unblinkingly at the back of the Element of Magic for a few minutes before fading back into the depths of its cage, the purple light fading into nothing but the black that it was veiled behind. Tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle. Tomorrow indeed.

Pursuit

---- Shards of Hatred ----

---- Chapter V: Pursuit ----

"So," Shining Armor trotted back in forth as the five mares watched him with a focus he would have never hoped for from civilians "you're telling me that my little sister brought back one of the black crystals from the Crystal Empire? The ones that Sombra corrupted with his magic?" As soon as the question had left his mouth, he was met with a round of nodding heads. If only the recruits back at the empire would listen this good. Shining Armor couldn't help but wince at the thought of how badly the newly freed crystal ponies performed in the most basic of military exercises.

"Yeah! And it's making her really really really really nasty!" Pinkie Pie started bouncing around Shining Armor in her usual manner as she described how nasty Twilight had become. "She... yelled at me!" Within the next instant, the fluffy mane deflated into a sheet of flat pink as Pinkie Pie suddenly became overwhelmed with the realization of what her friend had done. "She... she... she told me that I always mess things up!" Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to overflow as the other four came up and murmured words of comfort to the distraught mare.

Shining Armor turned away from the Elements of Harmony for a moment as he recalled the wave of wonderful magic that had washed over him as they were saving the Crystal Empire. It had been one of the most wonderful things that he had ever felt in his life, aside from loving Cadence. The thought of Cadence prompted him to look north, where his wife was no doubt busy directing the federal affairs of the Empire. "Wait a second... I thought all of that corruption was destroyed. Sombra himself was blown apart as the magic touched him."

“Well, Ah don’t know, Sugercube. Ah don’t think we were able to see much on account of all that magic that was blastin’ through the air like that.” Applejack shook her head sadly. “We can’t say for sure if that Sombra really was destroyed.”

Shining Armor couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of the evil unicorn still being alive. “No, he has to be gone.” The Crystal Prince glanced back at the mountains that his wife was stuck behind with a couple thousand of crystal ponies and a few hundred tourists, completely alone. “He has to be.”

Rainbow Dash, as brash as ever, soon interupted his less-than-pleasant thoughts by flying right in front of him. "Well, are we gonna go get her or not?" Shining and the other ponies on the platform watched as Rainbow Dash darted rapidly from side to side, alternating between her wings and her hooves as she anxiously paced. "The longer we wait around here the worse that magic's going to mess with her right?"

Shining Armor nodded at Rainbow Dash's point. "Yeah, you're right." Pushing himself to his hooves, the white-coated stallion looked at the other four ponies who were looking at him with rapt attention. "We need to spread out and find her. There's no time to lose. Twily is out there, somewhere, and she's getting made into something she's not. It's up to us to find her and get rid of that crystal she's got." After a round of firm nods, Shining Armor turned and prepared to gallop into Ponyville and the surrounding countryside to find his sister.

"Hold your horses, everypony!" Applejack stomped a hoof into the platform to draw the attention from the rest of the group on the platform. "How in tarnation do we even know Twilight's in Ponyville?" At the others' confused looks, Applejack sighed and continued. "I don't know about ya'll, but after the picnic I haven't seen Twi' all day."

"Speaking of not seeing ponies, I haven't seen Spikey Wikey all day either!" Everypony else present turned to Rarity with looks of bemusement on their faces, bringing a red blush to her cheeks. "Well, he's not a pony per se, but you get my point. He hasn’t been around at all since he went back to Canterlot to join in the celebrations.” Rarity’s tone turned petulant at the last part of her sentence, no doubt feeling the sadness of not being able to mingle with the Canterlot elite that were present at the numerous parties that had sprung up around the city.

“Maybe she went to Canterlot to see if Spike was okay?” Fluttershy’s face instantly grew concerned. “If one of my animal friends was gone longer than they were supposed to be, I know I would go looking for them.”

“So we’re going to Canterlot?” Rarity tilted her head almost too innocently as she stepped forward slightly. As Shining Armor nodded in response, Rarity let out an excited giggle. “Oh, I’m going to have to pack! There are so many things to take to a big city like that!”

As the Crystal Prince walked away from the group of ponies, the southern and slightly annoyed voice of Applejack drifted towards his ears. “Rarity, there ain’t no time for packin’ things. We’re hoofin’ it this time.”

After allowing himself a small smile as the imminent argument started up behind him, Shining Armor trotted up to the ticket booth where a wrinkled earth pony sat asleep. A few swift taps on the glass window brought the ticket master around enough to glare at him from his reclined position. “What do you want, Sonny?”

“Six tickets to Canterlot, please.”

Pony Joe was just a simple stallion with a simple goal in life: to give ponies delicious donuts and make their times of trouble less painful. It was the whole reason he had opened up his store in the first place. Nothing made him happier than a party spontaneously breaking out inside of his store, as it often did with Spike the Dragon came around. Last night had been no exception. He had probably given out a dozen dozens of donuts on the house last night just for the sake of keeping the party alive.

“Yep… I love a good party.” Pony Joe looked around the shop that he had only just finished cleaning an hour ago before looking down to the literal pile of dishes that rose up out of the sink and sighing. “It’s the cleanup after it that I hate. Oh well, it was worth it.” Smiling to himself about the memories from the night before, Pony Joe didn’t notice that another pony had entered the store until she pushed her face into his own.

“Pony Joe!” The donut-making pony had thought he had seen everything in his time of business, but nothing could have prepared him for the angry face of Twilight Sparkle directly in front of him. After he had recovered another to speak, the first thing he tried to do was to apologize to the now-soaked mare before him, who shook her head furiously. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. What’s important right now is Spike. Did you see him last night?”

“Spike? Well of course I did. He was the one who caused all of this.” Pony Joe gestured to the mound of dishware that was occupying the sink. “Uh, Twilight?” The darkening look on the bookish mare’s face was slightly more than disturbing than watching ponies flow out of his shop before closing time.

“I knew that dragon was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be.” Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she lifted the water from her coat and dumped it back into the sink with little ceremony. “Thanks, Joe.” Her words were still distinctly unhappy as she turned around and galloped out of the store, leaving Pony Joe lying there on the ground and feeling like he had just thrown his one dragon-friend under the metaphorical bus.

Spike… If I were you I’d watch out for that Twilight. I’ve never seen her this angry before. Sighing to himself, Pony Joe slowly pushed himself to his hooves.

He lifted one of his feet again, panting with exertion as the appendage hit the ground a little bit away from where it had last touched. Each step came with the same tiring air of one who was completely drunk with cider. Of course, Pony Joe would never sell that kind of stuff in his shop but Spike didn’t need that kind of liquid to intoxicate himself. No, what this purple and green dragon was drunk on was chocolate. Hot, delicious, sweet chocolate. Normally such a drink is completely harmless for beings of Equestria, but dragons are exempt from the harmless rule. Another foot hit the ground after the tedious effort to bring it into the air, bringing Spike one step closer to his destination, the Canterlot Castle grounds.

“Almost there. Just a bit further.” Spike’s breath came in pants as he moved once more in the same, painfully slow pace. “I knew I shouldn’t have had that last mug of Hot Chocolate.” Spike cursed his ‘Party Animal’ instincts once again as he nearly fell over for the tenth time since he started his journey through the streets. “Oh man, Twilight’s going to be so mad!” As he once again bumped into something unseen, Spike’s claw shot out to grab hold of anything that happened to be within reach. As he hung there only by the little strength left in his arm, Spike glanced over to see what had saved him from colliding painfully with the cobblestones. “T-Twilight?”

“Hello, Spike.” The unicorn’s eyes held little of their normal warmth that they did when she said his name. Sadly, Spike wasn’t able to see the inner anger that was contained within his friend and adopted mother.

“Oh, thank Celestia you’re here! I had a little too much chocolate at Pony Joe’s last night and now I’m in a bit of trouble. I was heading to the castle to see if Princess Celestia could help me and…” Spike’s voice dropped away as he took in the darkening face of Twilight. “Twilight? Everything alright?”

“No, Spike, it isn’t.” The purple mare fell coldly silent as Spike looked at her with injured eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Twilight. I just—“

“Did what you wanted while the ponies that care about you were worried sick. Yeah, you do that a lot.” Spike would have left back from the icy venom that came from his friend had his body been working properly but all he could do was allow for a few tears to well up in his eyes.

“Twilight, I’m—“

“Every time there’s a chance for you to get a bit of a party in, you take it.” Twilight’s anger finally broke through the calm shell that had been containing it, driving Spike into a tearful silence. “You didn’t even care what the consequences were, you just did. Without thinking,” Twilight’s purple eyes flashed green for a moment before returning to normal as she glared down at the purple dragon. “Like you always do.” That last barb stabbed deep, deeper than Spike could bear. The venom in the words slowly seeped into his heart as he fell to all-fours in dejection. Twilight could only look coldly at the pitiful thing before her, feeling only an icy anger that coursed through her veins. “Since you can make your own decisions, you can save yourself for once.”

Spike shook himself out of his stupor long enough to see Twilight walking away at a steady pace. “Twilight, wait!” His voice shook like a leaf in the autumn wind, able to fall from its tree and be crushed on the ground any second. “Please… don’t go. I’m sorry!” He held out his claw to the mare, who only stared down at the outstretched appendage with disgust.

“Goodbye, Spike.”

And with those two words, the leaf began to fall.

Author's Note

I'm sorry about the long wait for this chapter...

I just kinda had things go on with life as well as other fic things that I was trying to figure out.
Everything is good now though, expect some more updates!

Clandestine

—— Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XX: Clandestine ----

The sound of two pairs of hooves clicking against cobblestones filled the alleyway, though the legs that were doing the stepping made them soft enough that anypony who was in the street would have only been able to hear a very faint sound. If they had been in the alley, however, they would have been able to see two hooded and cloaked figures darting away into the maze of the back-end paths that every city contained. Of course, if anypony had been unfortunate enough to do such a thing they’d have found a knife in their chest before they could have shouted in alarm. The two shrouded figures weren’t ones to take any chances in the oppressed city, believing that they alone were the only ones cunning and skilled enough to have survived Sombra’s invasion. As depressing as such a thought was, they knew down in their guts that it was true, and nothing they had seen in the city since the invasion has proved to them otherwise.

Neither of them said a word as the one on the right bent down to lift the sewer hatch, gesturing cheerfully into the depths below whilst the other stood looking at the former in what seemed to be a disapproving way for a few seconds before jumping down. After giving one last glance at the world above and sparing just a second’s look for the stars, the second figure stepped forward and fell out of sight.

After his hooves splashed down in the gently running water that coated the bottom of the sewer pipe, Jumping Jack lifted a leg out of the liquid to sniff at it and grimace before setting it back down none too slowly. “Agh, this place smells like the armor that those guards always wear. I swear, the way that those metal plates stick with the smell you’d think they wear them to bed or something.”

“Well you know, they do say that the job of a guard kinda stinks, Jack.” Dodger had managed to land off to the side, where there was no water, and somehow do it silently as well. “I wouldn’t be so surprised that this water stinks like them either, because the shower drains lead here too.”

If Jack had been closer, and if they weren’t trying to stay quiet,
he’d have likely smacked his lighthearted twin on the back of his skull. “Funny.” As it was, he huffed angrily and began trotting along one of the side tunnels that led directly to where they had hidden away from the patrolling soldiers that had been scouring the tunnels in search of anypony who had tried to do what the two jesters had done. They both had some unwanted memories of lying there in the dark, just after the soldiers had begun attacking those in the sewers, forced to listen to the dying screams of the ponies who had thought that they were safe from them. Within a few minutes and quite a few confusing turns, they made it to their hideaway. After pushing aside the false wall that they had constructed from various pieces of debris, Jumping trotted in and immediately began going over their weapons that they had covering the top of the small table that had been tossed down into the tunnels what seemed like ages ago.

“What are you doin’, Jumpin’?” His brother had apparently tossed his gear onto the floor and flopped over to the one mattress that they shared without any thought for the tools that helped to keep him alive.

“Looking over what we have so that we can save the Princess. Without her, I feel that the Crystal Empire won’t simply rise again after Sombra is defeated.” He ran a sharpening stone along one of the blades, smiling just a small bit at the metallic ring the dagger gave off at each stroke. “Just because we were lucky once, Dodger, doesn’t mean it’ll happen again.” He chuckled a bit at how his brother’s mouth snapped back shut before he had even said a word. “If things go sour we’re going to need more that just one dagger and a few witty lines to stave off the ponies that will stop at nothing to kill us.”

“You sure? I’m pretty sure I could take on a whole group of guards with my cutting edge skills and sharp wit!” Jumping Jack looked over to see Dodger up on his hind legs, punching the air with his front ones and looking all the world like a true fool, though to be fair that’s what he was.

“With jokes like those and a stance like that, you’d be dead by their first swing.” To make his point, Jumping Jack leapt through the air and spun around, kicking his brother firmly in the chest and knocking him to the ground. “See? Completely undefended.” He snorted and turned away, trotting back to their supply table and sharpening his third dagger. “Unlike you I know how to use the knives I juggle, and then some.”

“I’ve been with you my entire life, but even I’ve never seen a pony do something like that! Where in the Crystal Heart’s name did you learn that stuff?”

“The guards, after long days of guarding the castle, often found themselves very bored in their barracks. A few approached me and asked if I could perform for them.” He lifted one of the shorter daggers; it was short enough to be called a knife by some. “Of course in return I asked for payment.” His hoof was a blur as he whipped around and sent the blade spinning through the air to come to a rest inside a plank of wood that was part of their makeshift door. “They taught me some things that kept both you and I alive during those first few nights.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to cower behind you then if we get found out.” His brother’s sarcastic tones weren’t anything new to Jumping Jack, so he paid them no mind. “I still think that we’ll be fine. It’s not like anypony’s gonna find us. We’re too good at sneakin’ around.”

With a sigh, Jumping slid the last of his daggers into a sheath and turned around, a grim look on his face. “I hope that you’re right, Dodger.”

He stared over the jagged landscape, smiling to himself. It wasn’t every day that the Crystal Empire’s gag-worthy colors of orange, pink, and red were replaced with beautiful hues of black and grey. “Of course, it will be this way forever now.” His cruel laughter went unheard as his gaze roved freely over the city and its inhabitants, all of their manes drooping and their crystal hues lost again just like they were a millennium ago. With a quick jerk of his head, one of the ponies fell down screaming in pain, the dark threads of hatred magic coiling about her body and diving into the flesh. After a few moments he let the magic dissipate, smiling to himself with a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “I so badly wish to crush those who think things that they shouldn’t about their king.” He turned away from the balcony and gazed into his mirror, sighing to his reflection. “But if I did that I wouldn’t have any slaves for my empire, would I?”

One of those slaves stood off to the side, quivering in fear as his eyes snapped over to her. Before he could do anything, however, the doors to his chamber slammed open and a guard galloped in. “Lord Sombra! Princess Cadence—“ The poor stallion wasn’t able to continue his words as strands of grey rope appeared out of the air and began constricting his throat without mercy.

“She is no longer a Princess. She will be known as my crystal slave and nothing more.” He slowly stepped down from his elevated platform, the guard shaking violently with every step the king took. “I think that you still have a bit of loyalty towards that little whorse, Guardspony.” Sombra’s smile was ghastly as he formed a claw over his hoof and brought it to the stallion’s neck, tracing along its contours and drawing a bit of blood here and there. “Do you really think that being loyal to her will get you anything but death?”

“N-No, of course not! You are my Lord, King Sombra, and you will be until I die.” The stallion saluted as best he could with the lack of oxygen sapping his strength, trembling weakly as he tried to look anywhere but the hatred-filled eyes before him. “I-I-I meant nothing b-by it, Lord.”

“Of course you didn’t, Guardspony.” He squeezed the neck in his magical grip ever so slightly, relishing in the feeling of the fear sliding down the stallion’s throat in the form of a gulp. “Just like I didn’t mean to grab you and squeeze till you popped.“ Sombra was so very tempted to kill him and hear that little mortal neck crack, but he had something to hear first. Instead of pressing just a little bit more and cutting into the flesh, he removed the magical ropes and claw, though he kept both ready just in case. “Tell me what you came to report, Guardspony.”

“I have news for you, my Lord!” The stallion’s voice was barely understandable now, marred horrifically by Sombra’s intimidation and his own fear. “Th-The slave you keep in the dungeon h-has escaped.”

There wasn’t any room for further reasoning or mercy in Sombra’s mind. As soon as that last word had left the guard’s mouth, it became the last word he had ever spoken. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” His wordless shout of anger rocked the entire castle to its core, making anypony inside look up in fear and then send them running for cover from the falling crystals and the off chance that their angered king would pass by them and end their lives. Despite their fears he didn’t storm through the castle to kill whoever had been on duty and anypony unfortunate to be near them. Sombra had instead stormed over to the window and glared out over the city, his eyes literally burning the rooftops as he scanned for the pony he knew was amongst the streets. “I will find you, Cadence. There’s no running from your shadow.”

The next explosion that rocked the palace surprised Sombra, though he found its source without much trouble. Above the city floated a golden figure, flanked by one that was slightly smaller and enveloped in a shroud of blue. “SOMBRA!” Their twin shouts were enough to blow his mane back over his ears. “Your time of rule has come to an end! It is time to pay for your crimes towards Equestria and the Crystal Empire!”

Despite the rage that flowed through his body, Sombra couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Though I suppose your relatives can try and fight your shadow for you.” He chuckled and turned away, walking over to the set of midnight black armor that rested on a statue of himself standing atop the Crystal Heart. He had had it removed and placed there after his victory over Cadence, and often times found it a good hoof-cleaner when nothing else appealed to him.

“Three Princesses with one war? So be it.”