This story is a sequel to My Little Mages: The Grand Gala
Less than a week has passed since the Grand Gala.
And while everything seems to be normal a long lost city, Krystalopolies has reappeared and so has another old foe of Celestia and Luna, Rey Sombra.
With Shining Armor and Cadance already there and holding back the shadow king, it is up to Twilight and company to find a way to save the residents of Krystalopolies and Mystica at large from the fear and hatred of Sombra and his desires to bring the world to absolute order, his order.
Can Twilight and friend best the well-laid plans of Sombra for his return? Will Mystica remain free of Sombra's malice or will Sombra rule them all?
Cover art used with permission by Didji, so support him
Another adventure starts! And looks like there will be some serious fighting in the future, nice!
Was Celestia wearing a pair of cool sunglasses while she was saying this sentence?
7983774 you saw Gurren Laggen too? 0-0
I platonically love you.... strickly platonically, sorry, Darling, but I don't swing the other way. But all joking aside, you are in for a treat in chapter two. But I say no more, no spoilers, Darling.
7983784 I didn' t watch Gurren Lagann... I fell in love with it!!!
7984571 I think anybody who has ever watch the anime has fallen for it. I haven't seen it in years, but I still faun over my memories of it.
Not much I can say other than, simply superb work on the start of this latest story. The info, thus far, is well done, particularly Celestia making it pretty clear that the most dangerous aspect of Sombra is his ability to learn from his mistakes and adapt his plans on the fly (not the ONLY dangerous aspects, obviously, but certainly the MOST dangerous). And, yeah, I have a feeling that this adventure is going to have Twi and the others gradually learn more and more about Sombra before the final battle.
At any rate, I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this, but I will respect that real world concerns have to come first.
Before I read this, what is the Dark tag for?
And how bad does it get ?
7988082 will not to spoil too much, re-watch The Crystal Empire two-part episode, and instead of a pony doing what Sombra did, picture a human.doing that to otger humans. Next Forget the three musical numbers, in partcular 'Ballad of The Crystal Empire'. Now with that... picture Sombra actually attacking and seriously injuring at least one maybe more of the mane 6, picture Shining trying to keep Candance awake as she is practicully dying in his arms, picture Spike's fear is not only told to us but shown, picture Sombra calmly and silently, save maybe tge sound of his boots hitting the ground, walking in the city as the Crystal pony equivalents run in horror all the while nothing any one do can slow him down, there is more, but believe that to more than enough to convey why this is Dark.
7987685 I wouldn't that about Sombra, but something more along the lines that he has many contingency plans and Celestia remembers learning that fact the hard way after she and Luna fought him, winning the fight itself but losing to him with regards to the outcome that mattered.
7988323 Yeah. I suppose that IS a good point. Kind of what I meant anyway, but you just phrased it better.
That was a real curb-stomp battle between Sombra and the Mane six plus Spike and Shining. The Dark King really doesn' t pull his punches.
8011434 of course he wouldn't, he's the king.
Yeowch. Great job on the chapter. It took a while, but was well worth the wait. Excellent demonstration of just how dangerous Sombra is and the difficulty Twilight and the others had in finding ANYTHING useful was well shown. I know it's going to get worse before it gets better (the situation, not the story), but I'll still be looking forward to more of the story. However, I will also understand that real world concerns have to come first.
8011904 To be just, I think I relied a little too much telling concerning the hard time finding the book, my personal favorite with finding help was describing Twilight finding out of the lost page, little known thing cutting a page out with a string leaves almost no traces. But the skirmish with King Sombra was my overall favorite.
Good work I enjoyed the chapter. I think the action flowed well and I did get a laugh from Pinkie before she got hurt. It felt like something she would do and was impressive..until she broke her thigh. The only thing I am wondering is what they are going t do while being so injured.
8012406 Only one concern, Pinkie didn't break her thigh, Sombra did that... but don't worry, the others will be able to help.
8012493
Yes sorry I can see how my comment would make that confusing I know that Pinkie's thigh was broken by the attack from Sombra. I just meant that her thigh was broken not that she did it to herself.
8012549 It's all cool.
Uhm, nice work. Maybe the part about Shining and Cadence is a bit too fast-forward, but it still a good part.
8022488 A youtube user called Ponder Pony.
Hello there. I have to say, you did a great job on this latest chapter. Again, the emotional content, action and preparations were quite well done. Though, Twi, you kind of misinterpreted something - namely, Celestia (at least in THIS continuity), never actually said you had to do it alone. Plus, yeah, I can see not CANCELLING the celebration, but it might have been wiser to POSTPONE it until the REAL Crystal Heart was found (that way, the celebration could be used to lure Sombra into a trap).
As for SPIKE's worst fear, I figure it's one of two things; though one is MUCH more likely than the other (because one of them , the fear of Rarity marrying somebody else, is much too comical for this story, while the other , the fear of all of his friends turning against him, would be much more appropriate for the story's tone).
At any rate, I will most assuredly be looking forward to more, but I am quite willing to be patient.
8025089 yeah Twilight might be the most intelligent of the Mane 6, but she is far from the wisest, that would be AJ (when writers know what the #### they are doing). You will just have to wait a see concerning Spike's fear. But to be on the level, 8022038 's observation about the Shining/Cadance scene being a little fast-forward is not far off the mark. But I thought it was well paced and gave just enough focus on the couple and something that Shining could do to help keep Cadance able to keep her spell up. I do see the point of the critic, however.
Ooh, I can't wait to see the bonus chapter! ^.^
Hey there. I have to say, once again, excellent job on this latest chapter. I loved the explanation as to WHY Twilight and the others despite Sombra already being prepared for the Elements of Harmony, how Spike helped Twilight reason through Sombra's traps BEFORE getting the Crystal Heart back, Twilight's Mama Bear moments AND the set-up for future stories (though, for this universe, I would think it would be the "Demigod Amulet" NOT the "Alicorn Amulet"). In addition, the general story wrap-up and references to Sombra's comics backstory were also well done.
I'll definitely be looking forward to the next story in this series. However, I get that real life can be unpredictable, so I am also willing to wait as long as it takes.
8048461
Why what?
, Minor spoiler, alicorn does not only refer to what we see in the show. And this is the actual spoiler-ish part, in fact, the word 'alicorn' has historically been used to identify the substance that makes up a unicorn's horn. I hope that might clarify things a little for now.
8048098 Patience, Darling,
8049243 I meant, why call in Twilight and the others to deal with it when it would have made more sense to leave it to a handful of trusted military specialists. Celestia didn't have the justification/excuse of Twilight and her friends being the only ones who can use the Elements of Harmony this time (like she did with Discord). This chapter answered THAT question quite well.
And, yes, the explanation DOES clarify things.
8049839 ...Oh because Cadance is the legitimate heir to Amore as princess of the city, this was Cadance getting help from her family and close family friends
Bronies and Pegasisters you all just witnessed a prime example of 'The Death of The Author'
Ah, what a good story! And next are a bonus chapter and another story. It' s a neverending supply of reading!
marvelous marvelous can't wait for the next one.
I know this was supposed to be dark, but the first half of this made me laugh.
I never thought that a board game reference would make me so sad.
Also, I was questioning how Cadence could know she was pregnant so soon, but then I remembered that their honeymoon lasted a month and that they live in a universe full of mages.
I'm doing this just to double check. The Crystal Heart fixed Flash's back, right? The poor guy's not gonna end up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, right? Right?
This story definitely earned its "Dark" tag.
By the way, what do you think Flash's magic class is? Didji never gave him one, and I think he/she's kind of refusing to give him one. At the very least, he/she is refusing to draw him.
8404158
Read My Little Mages:The Lost Student. I'd tell tyou here, but that would be spoiling.
8404167
Did you get my question about Flash's back? I'm kind of concerned about that. When I read that part, I imagined his back breaking so vividly that I winced. I practically heard it crack.
8404204
Flash is fine, the Crystal Heart healed everyone, my focus was on the Applejack, Pinkie and RD's injuries to convey the point.
8403996
Well, believe it or not, in Ancient Eqpty they had a method of determining if a woman was pregnant much like modern pregnancy tests, that tested for the same hormones and such, but it involved a send of a particular plant. There were many other ways most lost to the sands of time, but historically speaking missing a period was more often than not a sign of pregnancy.... I am an amature history buff.
8436086
Well, I'm currently in medical school (which is why I haven't been writing; also, I'm not bragging; it's just a fact), and if my anatomy prof is to be believed, most women don't realize they're pregnant until roughly around week 9. Then again, I'm assuming that Shining and Cadance are actually trying to have kids, so they'd probably be more watchful for those kinds of signs. Also, I've heard of that test that you're talking about. According to TED-Ed, it was apparently pretty accurate for predicting pregnancy but not so much for predicting the baby's sex.
8436289
Oh I can believe that given how people behave with regards to that, it would take at least two missed periods to come to that conclusion, I was speaking more historically.
“Twilight, et al, passed through” i’m not sure on what word you were trying to type
Same here, “sandalwood et al started began casting”
8571012
Et al, it's Latin, it means 'and the rest', it's a way to write the list of characters withou actually writing it out. It's a form of shorthand.
8571506
Ohhhhhhh, thank you for clarifying, now it makes sence
This whole story was great!
8700325
'm loving these stories,and i'm reading them one right after another
Crystal Empire was one of my favorite Episodes. Yes, Sombre was my favorite villain too. Just sad they didn't use him a lot in the episodes. Too bad that his death was Rte-coned later on.
10889742
Hopefully you'll like my take on The Begining of the End and my own Sombra Finale.
Personally I think Sombra was perfectly used in The Crystal Empire, he's not the Darth Vader to Twilight's Luke Skywalker, he's the Dark Lord Sauron to Spike's Samwise Gamgee
They need a lot of Lesser Restoration spell scrolls.
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