P.O.V. Switch – The skies of equestria.

“Whoa!”
“What? What is it?”
“Address your command officer with respect, Soldier!”
“Respect my plot”
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Princess Celestia held her head in her hooves, oblivious to her personnel's bickering. The sudden magical surge too much for her to bear.
Sombra's magic had begun popping up all over equestria, accompanied by gigantic crystals.
Unable to maintain her spell, the Princess falls unconscious.
“She's out cold!”
“Check out the Crystals!”
“Soldier! Go down there and deal with them!”
“How am I supposed to deal with THOSE?”
“Smash through them or something. Get going!”

Shining Armour kicked his soldier from the wagon, barely giving him time to recover and begin gliding towards the many crystals erupting all over Equestria.

P.O.V. Switch – The mane 6

“Girls, look!”
Twilight points toward the grey, jagged crystals erupting from the earth all around them.
“Whats goin' awn?”
“Ugh. Those crystals are an insult to crystals everywhere!”
“It's more of Sombra's freaky magic! He's trying to scare us off!”

In her Bravado, Rainbow Dash tackled one of the crystals.

Bad idea.

Rainbow dash falls to the grass, crumpled.

“Oof!”
“Rainbow!”
“Owww...Those things are tough!”
“Why is he doing this?”
“He's Evil. He doesn't need a reason. We have to stop him, girls!”

With Twilight leading the way, the mane 6 rush into the meadows.

P.O.V. Switch - Sombra and Fluttershy

The lovers cut through the undergrowth of the Everfree Forest.
As they neared Zecora's hut, in the heart of the forest, Sombra noticed something familiar.
It was a large, burned clearing. In the middle, scraps of wood were piled up against each other.
Atop the wooden scraps, a vaguely human creature crouched. Completely naked.
He turned to look, Noticing the two ponies. Madness swimming in his eyes.
It dawned on Sombra who he was looking at.
Once it recognized who it was looking at, The creature bared its teeth and took off into the undergrowth.
“Great. We aren't the only two crawling around in these ferns.”
Thankfully, Fluttershy hadn't heard his bemused mutterings.
Finally making it to Zecora's hut, Fluttershy and Sombra were relieved to find that Zecora wasn't home, allowing them to slip in quietly.
“She must have cloaks around here somewhere.”
“I think I found them.”
Fluttershy pulls two think, brown cloaks from a wardrobe in Zecora's bedroom
“Excellent. Two will be enough. We will need to travel light if we want to escape the guard.”
The two decided to follow the trail leading from the Everfree forest – Sombra not wanting to run into his old friend in the undergrowth.

P.O.V. Change – The meadows of southern Equestria.

“That wont work, gold.”
The guard looked up from the crystal he was headbutting, to see Twilight and her friends eying him quizzically.
“Ehh, well, you see, Shiny wanted me to clear out the crystals, and uhh...”
“Trust me, that approach isn't going to work.”
Rainbow dash tenderly rubbed her head as she offered advice.
“You out here looking for Fluttershy and King Sombra, as well?”
Twilight rolled her eyes.
“No. We're enjoying the lovely weather.”
The silence was only broken by gold returning to his diligent post – Headbutting crystals
The mane 6 moved along, pinkie pie even stopping to lend him a hoof, before being dragged away by rainbow.
Gold stared after them.
“If Sombra's such an evil stallion, Why is Fluttershy going along with him?”

P.O.V. Change – Sombra and Fluttershy on the outskirts of Ponyville

The two exited the Everfree forest, their identities safely hidden below their new hoods.
However, wearing hoods like this was bound to raise suspicion.

“Should we go into Ponyville to rest?”
“It's too risky. Ponies may recogni-”
Sombra trailed off as Fluttershy quizzically looked at him.
He had forgotten she had little to no memory of who she once was.
“Leets keep going north. If we can make it through the highland trails, We'll be at manehattan. Stopping there isn't quite as risky.”
“Alright then.”
Fluttershy stopped to ponder over what Sombra had said, but quickly brushed it off.
Now was not the time or the place.
Equestria was an Evil Land... But, Why didn't it seem Evil? All the ponies looked happy enough.

P.O.V. Change – Watching Sombra and Fluttershy from afar.

Gold kept his belly to the ground, making his body as difficult to notice as possible, as per his training.
He had given up on attempting to clear the crystals out. There were better ways to try and fix this problem.
Capturing Sombra and Fluttershy may be one of them, but...
Something wasn't right.
Sombra didn't SEEM like an evil stallion.
And Fluttershy Certainly didn't LOOK like a hostage.
He could close in now, and capture them both with a little help.
But something told him it wasn't the right thing to do. Something wasn't right here.
Gold quickly hunched down as another dark figure emerged from the Everfree forest, and made a beeline for the trail that Sombra and Fluttershy had set off on.

“That definitely wasn't a guard. Creepy.”

He considered Calling Shining Armour for help.

“No chance. I'm not letting him win.”

Spreading his wings, he took to the skies and watched over the runaways, and the creature tailing them.

P.O.V. Change – Canterlot Castle

Shining Armour helped Princess Celestia onto her throne.
“Your highness, What happened back there?”
“A powerful dark magic. Those crystals will continue to spread as long as Sombra wills it.”
Shining Armour stomps a hoof.
“So then why hasn't he made his demands yet?”
“I do not know. Captain, Mobilise your troops. Find those runaways. If we capture Sombra, we can end his spell, AND retrieve the element of kindness.

P.O.V> Change – The Manehattan trail

Sombra Couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed.
Fluttershy clearly shared his suspicions.
However, Whenever they turned to look, the dusk behind them was empty.
“It'll be getting dark soon. We need to make it to Manehattan quickly.”
“I think that if we continue at this pace, We'll make it before night has a chance to fully set in.
“Good. I have the oddest feeling that we're being watched.
Sombra whirled around once again, And saw nothing on the trail behind him.
Looking up to the air however, he caught a glimpse of a single shadow before it retreated to the clouds above.
“I think we're being followed.”
Fluttershy rolled her eyes.
“Really? I hadn't noticed. Can we just move before we end up stranded out here in the middle of the night?”
“Fine. Let's go.”
As Sombra and Fluttershy pick up the pace and continue down the trail, a lone creature observes from a rock. With nothing but Hatred for Sombra on his mind. In the skies however, a single pegasus guard cursed himself for being so careless.

P.O.V. Change – Ponyville Library
The mood In the library was generally a bleak one.
Pinkie Pie bawled, and Applejack attempted to console her.

“There there, Sugarcube. Ah'm sure we'll get um tomarrow.”

Twilight poured over her books, searching for an answer she was doomed never to find.
Rarity picked dust and sand from her mane grain by grain, moaning the whole time.
Rainbow dash sulked in a book fort.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 - Return of the book fort.