Trash of the Royal Castle

"Look, I know you're probably asking yourself a bunch of different questions right now, so before we begin, let me answer them for you~" I said with a smile as I looked down at the Unicorn below me, my hoof pushing the side of his head down into the ground, "I am Captain Prince Blueblood Platinum, The year is 1,002 of the Common Equestrian Calendar, which means that you were gone for somewhere between 1,010 and 1,030 years, I didn't care to check. Mass Murder of your own civilian populations was outlawed around 900 years ago, it was a Convocation of Creatures meeting so it's basically a global law now. Princess Amore's descendant is still alive, The Pillars of Equestria disappeared into Limbo, Princess Celestia has ruled Equestria for 1,000 years, Disco is outdated, The Bridge on the River Kwai beat 12 Angry Men at the 1957 Oscars, and most importantly of all, you're a bitch."

I smiled wider as I saw the confusion on Sombra's face, half of it digging into the ground as my hoof pushed the other.

"Who... Are you?" He growled at me, his eyes glaring up at me.

"Did you not hear me, are you deaf or something-"

"To dare raise your hoof against your king..." Sombra continued.

"Oh, you were talking slow there." I rolled my eyes before I raised my leg off of Sombra's face, letting him pull himself onto his legs.

As Sombra stood back up on all four legs, he found himself face to hoof with me yet again, a right hook pushing the Unicorn King back onto the floor.

"I did not give you permission to stand!" I shouted at him, my smile widening at the thought of what was going to come next.

"You dare-"

"OF COURSE I FUCKING DARE!" I screamed at him, my hair levitating behind me as my horn started glowing, months of pent-up frustration coursing through my body as I stared down at that bastard.

From Tirek ruining an entire week for me, to my Vacation being cut short, to my loss against Chrysalis, to my imprisonment under my own home for three weeks, to Chrysalis escaping Canterlot, to this.

I really needed to let out some steam.

And right now, the piece of shit who glared at me from his place on the ground looked like a fucking sauna~

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Twilight Sparkle passed through the door of light, expecting to find the Crystal Heart.

"Huh?" Instead, she found herself standing in front of Canterlot's throne room, confusion coursing through her mind as she tried to think of an explanation.

"What are you doing here?" Twilight paused as the voice of Princess Celestia called out to her, sounding displeased.

Twilight turned around, finding her teacher standing in front of a pile of papers, her horn glowing gold as she read through them, not bothering to look at the Unicorn behind her.

"I don't know." Twilight tried to explain, "I opened the door and-"

"And now you must go." Celestia cut her off, her eyes not leaving the papers she kept reading before signing and teleporting away, her focus on the papers almost screaming at Twilight that whatever the Princess was doing was more important than her.

"Go where?" Twilight asked, trying to step into the hall Celestia stood in, recognizing it as the corridor leading to the throne room where all the murals and stained glass windows stood.

"Doesn't matter to me." Celestia told her sharply, her eyes leaving the papers to turn and look at Twilight, "You failed the test, Twilight."

Twilight gasped in shock, her eyes widening in worry as she stared into her teacher's own, "I- I don't understand! The test-"

Celestia cut her off, "Not only will you not move on to the next level of your studies, you won't continue your studies at all."

Twilight's ears started to fold as tears began to well in her eyes, "You didn't say anything about not being your student if I failed!"

Celestia turned her body away from the papers to fully face Twilight, her wing wrapping around her back as if to hug her, "Didn't I?" only to push her out of the way as Celestia walked past, leaving the papers and Twilight behind before closing the door.

"But..." Twilight wanted to say something, only to turn and look at the pages Celestia left behind, and then she froze as she read the words on them.

"Our condolences..." She whispered as her eyes read through the papers, her breath hitching as she flipped through more and more papers, seeing more and more names.

Twilight was moving through the papers faster than she could read them, seeing the words near the top was all she needed before turning to the next page, and tossing the papers aside in her hurry.

"No... No no no this can't be happening..." Twilight told herself as she finished the last paper, backing up from the messy pile of parchment, her eyes wide in fear and worry, trying to stabilize her breathing.

"Oof~ Watch where you're... Oh." Twilight felt her back hit someone, quickly turning to apologize before finding herself staring at a menacing sideways glare from a familiar Unicorn.

"You... What are you still doing here?" Prince Blueblood asked her, glaring at her from the left side of his face, refusing to fully turn and look at her.

"I don't know!" Twilight cried, "I was at the Crystal Empire one moment and-"

"That's the problem, isn't it?" Blueblood scowled, "You were at the Crystal Empire." He scoffed, looking away from her, his back turned to face her as he stared at a glass mural on the window, depicting the scene where she and her friends gained the Elements of Harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon.

"I told you from the beginning, you should have brought the Elements with you, But no~ You just had to insert yourself into where you don't belong," Blueblood told her, even without seeing his face, Twilight could feel the glare he was giving her stained glass depiction.

"But Celestia sent me to-"

"There we go again, Celestia sent me to the Crystal Empire~ How about you try and take accountability for once in your life!" Blueblood's back hunch as he shouted, his head glaring at the floor, his horn pointing directly at the mural on the window, "You, a Civilian, with no combat training, no first aid knowledge, no nothing, just had to do things your way!"

"But-"

"And look where it got us!" Blueblood shouted, his head whipping up to face the ceiling, "Nothing but ruin!"

"I was just trying to help! I didn't know what was going on! I was trying my best-" Twilight felt tears roll down her face as she cried, trying to explain herself, still not understanding what was happening.

"YOUR BEST WASN'T ENOUGH!!!" Blueblood roared, his hair whipping behind him as he finally turned to fully face Twilight Sparkle, the mural he was glaring at cracking, distorting Twilight's glass depiction.

Twilight Sparkle felt her breath freeze as she stared at the Prince's face.

A single ice-blue eye glared back, the snowy white coat of fur that surrounded it peeled and burned away to reveal rough pink skin, a milky white orb where his other eye was supposed to be, his right cheek peeling off by his lip, showing his teeth and gums on the side of his mouth.

"If you weren't there, maybe they'd still be here..." Blueblood said in a whisper, one that Twilight barely heard as the world around her seemed to distort, her sense of balance going haywire as she felt herself collapse, her breath leaving her lungs shallow and weak, her eyes unable to focus on anything but the purple hooves that were below her.

She couldn't breathe, her mind trying to think up an explanation of what was happening, trying to link the missing pieces of her memory.

"We failed... I failed... I failed so badly I erased my own memory of the failure- SPIKE!" She cried out, turning to the pile of papers she read through before, quickly reading through them again, searching for a name.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-" Twilight felt her stomach churn, threatening to empty itself as she gagged, her eyes blurry with tears staring at a piece of paper.

"Night Light, Our condolences for your loss-" Twilight couldn't finish the paper, her stomach screaming at her as she gagged, quickly running away from the paper and towards the wall, away from the corridor's walking path.

Vomit poured from her mouth, her mind filling in the details she so cruelly erased from her memory, her baby brother, her big brother, her new sister-in-law... Twilight felt weak, her legs barely able to hold her, as if telling her that it would be better if she simply collapsed into her own puddle of bile.

Her head looking up to stare at the stained glass mural she vomited under, only to see a sight of horror.

It was the Crystal Empire, covered in darkness, Sombra's menacing figure floating above like a cloud of darkness, swallowing the light that shot out of five ponies who stood bravely to face him.

It was almost as if she could see it happening, her best friends standing side by side to buy her time to find the Crystal Heart, but there was no heart to be found.

Twilight wasn't in that mural, she was underground, in Sombra's secret passage. While her friends were outside, risking their lives.

"If you weren't there, maybe they'd still be here." Even though he was no longer in the corridor, the scarred Prince's words still echoed in her mind as she stared at the mural depicting her failure.

"Twilight?"

She didn't hold back, tears rolling down her face as sobs escaped her throat, hoarse and dry as it may have been, Twilight cried, her legs too weak to keep her standing as she collapsed, her face mere inches from her own puddle of vomit.

"Ahm sorwy!" Her words slurred, tears and snot mixing as they rolled down her face. Echoes of her little brother whispering her name in the back of her head.

It was like she could still hear him.

"Twilight?!" It was as if he was still watching over her, calling out to her, trying to-

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Twilight Sparkle found herself lying on the cold stone floor at the bottom of the stairs, Spike pulling her away from the door she opened moments prior.

"Wha~" Twilight looked around with widened eyes, spotting her baby brother's look of worry as he tried to see if she was okay.

"I know you told me to stay up there but you were ignoring my calls so I came down here and you were just staring at that wall and I couldn't get your attention and-" Spike hurriedly told her as he recounted his experience, his claws moving about to put emphasis on his words "-and your eyes were all green and-" He was cut off as Twilight Sparkle's legs wrapped around him, pulling him into a hug.

"You're okay..." She whispered, her eyes closing in relief as she felt the draconic warmth through his scales.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Spike asked as he wormed his way out of the hug, "Never mind that- You were just looking at this wall, I don't see why you would..." Spike paused as he stared at the wall, the crystal above it glowing with dark magic as his eyes turned green.

"What, Ponyville? Why is it- wait, no I don't want to go! Twilight, don't leave me! Don't let them take me-" Spike's eyes returned to normal as Twilight kicked the door close, the spell cast on him leaving his body with the doors closing.

"King Sombra's Magic," Twilight explained, her leg still in the air from the position she kicked the door, "A doorway that leads to your worst fear."

"We were home..." Spike said, tears threatening to fall, "You said you didn't need me anymore, you were sending me away..."

"You know that will never come to pass..." Twilight pulled Spike into another hug, her body relaxing as she confirmed that this moment was real, "I'm never going to send you away," Twilight's horn started glowing with magic, "And I'm not going to fail!" a beam of pink magic escaped her horn, striking the dark crystal above the doorway and outlining it, removing the curse from the door and opening it once more, revealing the real passage.

"What's in there?" Spike asked as Twilight stepped through the door, only to find herself at the bottom of an ivory tower, an endless expanse of emptiness as far as her eyes could see surrounded her, with only the tower and a staircase she now had to climb.

"Stairs... Lots and lots of stairs..." After making a few steps up, Twilight turned to look at Spike, still at the doorway, "You know... Maybe you should come with me this time." She said with a smile, her baby brother joining her as the two started making their way up the stairs.

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"Oh come on!" Prince Blueblood Platinum yelled in frustration as his hoof connected with the body of Sombra once more, "You're a fucking King, aren't you? How can you not know how to throw a simple punch?! Isn't the entire point of a military coup that you are martially stronger than the current leader?! You can barely fucking dodge!" Another punch landed on the tyrant, throwing him down to the ground once more, "You're just bleeding all over the place! Fight back already!"

Sombra's chest heaved as he spit out more blood, his own red fluid staining the ground underneath him.

"You... Are using Clover the Clever's Darkness Containing Array, are you not?" Sombra managed to ask, his mind slowly putting itself together over the course of the last twenty minutes, enough to at least speak full sentences without growling like a mad beast that was trapped beneath the ice for one thousand years.

"...You recognize this web." Blueblood paused, his eyes focusing on the King with newfound worry.

"Of course I do... It was one I was taught to be careful of... Designed to contain all manner of dark creatures, from Windigo to Umbrum... yet, its purpose was to keep their bodies tangible, contained, trapped. It should not remove their ability to use magic..." Sombra managed to say, his speech growing more and more coherent the more he spoke.

"Who taught you to be careful of the array? Was it Everfree?" Sombra's body momentarily paused at the mention of the name, "I guessed right, she also seemed to hate Amore for some reason. One that I still don't understand." Blueblood started to walk around the King, forcing Sombra to keep turning to face him, making sure he was in his sight, "As far as I've looked, everyone seems to adore the Princess. So what's the deal? Are you saying the coup wasn't your idea?"

"Magic comes in many different forms... Unicorns like you use your connection to Harmony to cast spells, your horns acting like an in-grown staff or wand to channel your magic through... But there are plenty of different ways magic is used." Sombra kept spinning his body slowly, keeping his eyes on the Prince as he spoke, seemingly ignoring Blueblood's question, "The Kirin use their passion to conjure and control flames, while many flying species use a weaker connection to Harmony to push clouds around wind, using passive magic to fly, even though their bodies are much too heavy and not nearly aerodynamic enough... But that is the natural magic that some species are born with... Magic itself can be found nearly everywhere."

Sombra smiled, his fangs gleaming as the barrier around the Empire fizzled in and out of existence, "Dark Magic goes against Harmony, using negative emotions that stand opposite of what harmony represents to power the spells it utilizes... Betrayal, Sadness, Guilt, Apathy, Fear, Hatred, Envy, Despair, so many delectable ways to fuel the darkness that rests inside all living beings." Sombra licked his lips, "It is more than the simple magic you Unicorns use, it takes that process and corrupts it, a perverse reflection that highlights the truth of all beings..."

"You going to reach your point anytime soon?" Blueblood was getting tired of listening to the King speak.

"My point, is that I don't need the Darkness to cast some simple magic..." Sombra's eyes seemed to glint with glee as his smile stretched across his face before he quickly spun his body around, his legs flying towards the golden mass that climbed up on his back the moment he entered the magical web, grabbing it with his hooves and quickly throwing it away.

"Comet!" Blueblood yelled as the Plunderseed flew to the ground, his horn glowing as he caught her in his magic and pulled her towards him.

"YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?!" Sombra screamed before he spat a drop of blood onto his hoof, slamming it down onto the ground.

As his hoof reached the ground, the previously spilled blood from the beating he endured started glowing with malevolent light, the magical golden web fizzling out of existence as the blood formed a new magic circle, overlapping against the array and disabling it.

Sombra's body started to levitate, smoke pouring out of the wounds and gashes on his body as he magically fixed himself, his laughter echoing around him as the barrier around the Empire finally fizzled out, letting the cold tundra wind sweep in, sending shivers down Blueblood's fur.

"COME AND GET ME!" And with a victorious laugh, Sombra's body turned to smoke and flew away, Leaving Blueblood to glare at his retreating figure.

"I told you this would happen..." The red parrot that only the Prince could see said, his voice being ignored as Blueblood started stretching his body, his magic lifting Comet by her tail before it began spinning her around like a flail, his eyes not leaving the King's intangible figure for a moment.

"...Venus." He said, his body suddenly losing all senses but sound as golden chains formed in the air and wrapped around his body, sealing away his sense of touch, a golden gladiatorial helm with a pair of horns protruding from the top encased his head, magically sealing his sense of sight, smell, and taste.

And with a flex of his magic, an image of his surroundings appeared in his mind, His newly empowered magical senses making all but the most magically hidden corners of the Empire visible in his Mind's Eye.

Focusing on the retreating figure of Smoke, his form visible in the magical recreation of the world inside his mind, Blueblood bent his knees, his horn shining with bright blue magic, followed by the two golden horns of his mask, what little of his mane that was still out of the mask began to float in the air, as if the concept of gravity no longer existed for it.

The ground rumbled beneath his hooves, small pebbles and crystals beginning to levitate, as his magical power continued growing, affecting the world around him in the process.

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Starlight Glimmer paused in the middle of the fairgrounds as she watched the barrier above her head disappear, only to feel a magical presence all but scream its location to the world, shining brightly against her own magical senses.

It was different from when she felt the same magical presence standing on the train tracks, it felt... More solid.

It was as if she was in the presence of a star.

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Blueblood focused on his magic, creating a straight line between him and his target within his mind's eye.

"This spell is a shortcut of a path, The hastening of the way~" He said out loud, his horns glowing like miniature stars, before the ground beneath him exploded outward, his body shooting forward in a straight line, a trail of sparkling light left in his path as he seemingly turned himself into a shooting star.

"Mercury"

The chase was on.