When Luna said the trip wouldn't be pleasant I wasn't really sure what to expect, but aside from a moment of black nothingness, an icy chill, and a bit of vertigo, it wasn't really all that bad. The shift only lasted maybe a few seconds at most and before I knew it, the darkness had receded and we were all standing in a small cave lit by a ton of glowing crystals of every size and shape.

The crystals covered practically the entire rock wall and what little I did see of the rocky surface was made of dark blue, very unnatural-looking stone. It was more or less what I remembered from the wedding episode of the show if maybe a bit more organic in its appearance.

It was more or less like I remembered... other than the fact that every single crystal in the small cavern was just as black as the world outside. Each crystal, dark as they were, gave off a cool violet glow that was more than enough to light every nook and cranny. If I was being honest it felt more relaxing than eerie, like a room full of black lights.

A quick look around revealed that the cave was actually very small—small enough to fit maybe three or four more humans or may another pony or two. The singular exit I could see ahead of us lead out to a rocky pathway well lit by a series of smaller black crystals lining the walls.

Huh... just like Daring Do's place...

I pushed the errant thought aside when I looked over and saw that my disguised alicorn companion evidently hadn't faired nearly as well as I had. Twilight stood beside me, her posture rigid, her body shaking slightly, her eyes and mouth clamped shut and her face pale and a little green beneath the fur. She looked like someone who'd gone on a rollercoaster for the first time and not taken the experience well.

Not that I'd know, never having ridden a rollercoaster before...

Again, the rather bitter thought was pushed aside as I leaned down a bit and nudged the queasy-looking mare.

"Hey, the ride's over," I said, frowning as she slowly opened one eye, then both before looking around in surprise. Her face still looked a little pale and, seeing her discomfort, I raised a concerned eyebrow, "you, uh... you gonna be okay there?"

"Yeah," she breathed after a moment. She paused and finally turned to face me with a shaky smile, "y-yeah, I'll be fine. I just... gimme a second, okay?" her smile dropped as she turned her attention to Luna, who'd been watching us with a look I couldn't place, "what was that? That wasn't like any teleportation spell I'd ever seen," she shivered again, "...or felt."

Luna's smile was both sad and sardonic as she replied.

"There are ways to make the vile power of the Old Night work for you if you know the means," her smile dropped into a frown and she turned away from the two of us to look down the crystal lit tunnel ahead, "I must let my sister know of these new developments. I advise you two wait here until I return," she glanced back at us—or rather at me—over her shoulder, "you are not a familiar creature to the ponies of this world, Salvatore. I know not how they will react upon seeing you, but given no warning of your arrival or appearance, I am certain the reception will be... problematic."

"Hey, you'll hear no arguments from me," I replied, raising my hands in surrender, "I was honestly thinking the same thing."

I turned to give Twilight a pointed look and seeing that, she nodded along after a moment.

"Don't worry, Princess," she said with a rather shallow attempt at a reassuring smile, "we'll be here when you get back."

Luna eyed us a moment longer, as if unsure whether to take us at our word. I couldn't tell for sure because of her ridiculous mane, her eyes seemed to settle on Twilight. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and just shook her head instead. Another moment later she wordlessly vanished with the bright blue flash and magical pop of a regular teleportation spell. There were another few seconds of silence before it broken by Twilight who cast a worried look my way as she spoke.

"So... what now?" she asked, "do we have a plan of action here?"

"Nope," I sighed as I walked over and sat down against a part of the cave wall that wasn't covered in glowing crystals, "for now we just wait until she gets back and we'll see what happens from there I guess."

I leaned back to rest my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I heard the rather noisy clop of hooves on stone and a soft whump somewhere nearby as Twilight moved to sit next to me. I ignored her for a second as I stretched my still relatively new chaotic senses out to see if I could pinpoint the shard's location from here.

"Can you sense anything?" Twilight asked, evidently realizing what I was doing, "is the shard here?"

"Nah, I got nothin'," I replied opening my eyes and shaking my head, "which means it's probably somewhere unreasonably dangerous," I shrugged, "my money's on whatever's left of Ponyville."

"You think so?" Twilight asked, then mused sadly, "I wonder if any of the girls made it out okay... and Spike..."

I waited for her to finish the thought, but that was apparently all she was willing to say out loud. Still, I could see the unspoken worry in her eyes. I could see the fear and concern for the friends and family that weren't hers, or at least that's what I figured. I wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything useful to say so I just kept quiet and sat back against that wall again.

Twilight eventually gave a despondent sigh before lowering herself down onto her stomach, her legs tucked beneath her as she looked over the room. There was a strangely peaceful moment of silence as we both sat there absorbed in our thoughts. I wasn't sure what Twilight was thinking about just then, but my own thoughts had turned—not for the first time—toward my entire situation as a whole.

The more I thought about it, the more surreal it all felt. Sure, I could outwardly shrug it all off, but when I actually had time to really sit down and think about it I found myself staring down at shaky hands. I wasn't entirely sure what that was all about, but I think I might've been feeling something like existential dread right then and there.

For some reason, it was hard to tell and I really didn't want to dwell on it so I dropped my arms over my raised up knees and turned to Twilight instead. Looking at her, she really didn't look all that much better than I felt. Her face was pensive but there was a sadness there—a sense of loss and despair. Her eyes were distant and foggy and I'd bet all the money I didn't have that she was thinking about her own Equestria.

The fact that I could pick up on that at all was surprising to me. I was actually pretty good at reading how people felt—good at reading between the lines, I mean—but that was based more on what someone said and how they said it. I was absolutely terrible at reading facial cues as far I knew. I wondered then why it was so easy to do now.

Maybe it's because ponies are a lot more expressive than humans? Or maybe it's just that Twilight wears her emotions on her sleeve?

Whatever the case, I wasn't sure whether to break her out of her reverie or not. Normally I would've just pulled up my headphones and tuned out the heavy atmosphere with some music or an audiobook or a Youtube video or something back on Earth. That was, in fact, what I wanted desperately to do at that moment. Now that I had both my phone and headphones back, it was something I actually could do, but now it just seemed horribly inappropriate.

Well yeah, she's not exactly a stranger anymore and I don't wanna be an asshole.

...Ah, fuck it.

"So, the black crystals," I began, trying to catch Twilight's attention, "any idea what those are all about?"

"Huh?" she replied distractedly. She blinked a few times as if she'd just snapped out of a trance as she looked over at me, "what was that?"

"The crystals," I repeated, gesturing vaguely to the walls, "they're all black and ominous-looking but I'm not getting any evil dark magic vibes from any of them. You're the magic expert, do you know what the deal is?"

She gave me another slow blink and shook her head, probably trying to clear her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Salvatore, I just..." she swallowed and took another uncomfortable look around, "I've only ever seen these kinds of crystals once before a-and..."

I frowned, not quite getting her distress at first, but then it hit me a moment later and I hissed, slapping myself mentally for not figuring it out sooner.

"Right," I muttered, "that whole situation..."

So that's what she was thinking about. Well, I technically wasn't wrong, I guess. Doesn't make this any less awkward though...

"Ah, shit... sorry, Twilight. Just forget I said anything."

"No, it's fine. I'm fine," she shook her head again and took a calming breath before looking me in the eye, "these crystals are similar to the ones I saw back in... back in the Crystal Empire, but I don't think they're the exact same."

"Oh?"

I raised an eyebrow and she returned an inquisitive gaze to the surrounding crystals as she continued to elaborate. Her horn suddenly lit up as she spoke, the soft hum of magic filling the quiet space around us. Though her disguise was visibly flawless her magical aura still retained its signature magenta glow.

"There are trace amounts of dark magic coursing through these crystals, but nothing overt or dangerous," she narrowed her eyes as if concentrating on something only she could see, "it's really only just enough to affect their color and glow."

She seemed to relax a little as she continued her observations.

"This was definitely somepony's doing, but as far as I can tell, they really are just being used as a light source," her face scrunched up in bemusement as she let the magic in her horn die out, "though why they're using dark magic at all for such a thing when literally any other type of magic—save for maybe chaos—would've sufficed, I have no idea."

"Who knows," I replied, not really caring all that much as long as the things weren't dangerous. But then a thought hit me, "you think maybe it was Luna? She seems to be a big fan of dark magic, at least in this Equestria."

Twilight thought about it for a moment then shook her head, her expression turning grim and troubled.

"I don't know what it is she's using exactly," she finally said, "but it's not dark magic, not entirely anyway. If anything it feels more like chaos magic, but more... I don't really know how to describe it. More... primal. Otherworldly, maybe."

"More like those things crawling around in the darkness?"

"Yes, exactly!" Twilight exclaimed, then shivered, "it's almost as if she was channeling the power of that unnatural darkness through her horn."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," I replied, "remember how she was talking about making the 'power of the Old Night work for you' or whatever? I'll bet she's trying to fight fire with eldritch fire. I mean, look at the way she looks now."

Twilight gave a slow, thoughtful nod as she mulled over my words.

"That makes sense," she conceded, "but she also alluded to the crystals being part of that, which doesn't make sense. I don't feel any of that eerie power coming from those crystals."

"Eh, that probably just means there's more going on behind the scenes than we know about," I surmised, "I wouldn't worry about it too much. At the end of the day, this is all being done to keep what's left of Equestria safe. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that."

"Do you really believe that?" Twilight asked somewhat skeptically, "because I can't see anything good coming from the Princess using that kind of power."

I went to reply, but stopped myself, realizing the mare had a point. If I was the one writing this story, there definitely wouldn't have been a happy ending. And in realizing that, at that moment, something in my mind clicked. It was less another realization and more a vague idea about the nature of my entire situation. It wasn't quite something I could put into words just yet, but it was there hiding in the back of my mind.

"Maybe you're right," I replied, pushing the thought aside for the time being, "but even if some horrible fate awaits Luna and the rest of this place, it really isn't our issue to sort out in the end. We're just here for the shard so—hey, don't give me that look."

I sighed in equal parts exasperation and resignation at having to explain myself. Twilight was a good person—well, pony—and I liked to think I wasn't a bad guy myself, but one of the bigger differences between us was that I wasn't, nor had I ever been, a hero or some champion of justice. I was almost certain the disapproving look Twilight gave me was something ingrained and reactionary, but I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"Okay, listen," I began, "I did, at one point, think about trying to save each Equestria Discord dropped me into, but that was only because—based on what that asshat told me—the alternative was horrible for everyone involved.

"Now that I know there's another less destructive alternative, I'm not taking any unnecessary risks for a world already on the brink of collapse," I half groaned-half sighed as her disapproving frown turned to a full-on glare, "Twilight, I'm sorry but unlike you, I can't harness the literal power of friendship to bring down the enemies of peace and harmony. I'm just a dude who likes writing morbid stories."

"And I'm just a mare who lost her 'literal power of friendship' when all of her friends died," she bit back.

I winced at the bitter response and was now regretting having ever opened my damn mouth. This was why I avoided arguments like the plague. I wasn't very good at it and whenever I did try to argue I wound up putting my foot in my mouth more often than not. I was one of those guys who didn't say a word in my defense until the argument was over and only came up with a million things to say later when I was alone.

"You don't know for sure that the whole magic of friendship thing is gone," I tried lamely, "but yeah, that's not something I should've just thrown out there like that... sorry."

She eyed me for another second or two and I thought she was going to argue the point further, but then her shoulders slumped and her expression softened a bit.

"No... I'm sorry. That wasn't fair of me, and I get where you're coming from, Salvatore, really I do," she said, "you were thrown headfirst into a situation you couldn't have ever prepared for—ripped from your home and..." she shuddered, "yes, I have my own share of problems and traumas, but you've died. More than once. I can't even imagine what that's like."

"It ain't pleasant, I can tell you that much," I replied with a bitter chuckle, "honestly it isn't really the death that bothers me because I know I can come back. It's the pain that comes before more than anything but, uh... I try not to think about any of it at all if I can help it."

That just seemed to deepen the pained expression on her face. I scratched my head awkwardly and decided to change tack.

"Look, I'd like to help this Equestria, but I have no idea what I'm doing," I explained, "even if I had a grasp on my brand spanking new chaos magic, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I'd probably end up making the situation a hell of a lot worse than it already is."

"Setting aside my doubts that anypony could possibly make things worse than they already are, I still think there's something you can do if you tried," she insisted, "I'll agree that it might not have been possible before, but you're not the same person you were when I saved you that night. I wouldn't have believed I could save Equestria from Nightmare Moon before I came to Ponyville, but—"

"Oh, come on, you can't compare yourself to me. You were a genius long before you ever became an Element of Harmony. Not only that, but you've been using magic all your life—magic that, might I add, has a much lower chance of blowing up in your face. Hell, I should be the one asking you to do something."

"We can do something! Together!" Twilight pressed, undeterred by my bout of pessimism and self-doubt, "granted, chaos magic isn't exactly a stable branch of thaumaturgy but it's still something we can use. It got us out of that mess earlier, didn't it?"

"Sure, but I nearly blew us both up in the process," I shot back with a self-deprecating snort, "I'm willing to bet I would've died right then and there if my body wasn't changing in new and exciting ways."

Magical puberty... fucking fantastic.

"So your magic isn't completely reliable," Twilight continued, apparently taking a different approach, "even if that's the case there are other ways you can contribute."

"Such as?"

"It's not always about what you can or can't do, Salvatore. Sometimes—a lot of times—it's more about what you know," she gave me an encouraging smile, "you said you like to write morbid stories, right? I'd say this problem is right up your alley."

This time I did roll my eyes.

"Okay, I'll grant you that knowledge is important and that, yes, I do know a thing or two about how these kinds of scenarios play out," I conceded before crossing my arms and giving Twilight a pointed look, "but that won't help us in this particular situation."

"And why shouldn't it?" she argued back, looking almost petulant, "if you know the problem then you can always work toward finding a solution. Even if none presents itself outright, you could at least try—"

"It's because I know about these kinds of things that I'm telling you it's useless," I interjected, "in this kind of setting, things always go from bad to worse. Grimdark stories by their very nature are meant to be dark, dismal, miserable, depressing, nightmarish, heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, soul-shriveling—"

"Thank you, Salvatore, I get the point."

"My point is that grimdark stories aren't something that can be fixed just because I know how they work."

"But you've tried to save Equestria before and the only reason you didn't succeed the one time was that Discord botched his spell—"

"Doesn't matter whose fault it was," I countered, "in the end, I still failed, and I'll continue to fail and likely die every time because that's how grimdark works," I shrugged helplessly, "even if we did do something and succeed, it'd likely be a pyrrhic victory at best."

"You don't know that for certain. Who's to say you're not the outlier that'll break that cycle?" Twilight challenged, and then added in a voice just loud enough for me to hear, "and to be fair, from what I saw, your methods weren't exactly, um... optimal. You can't blame your failure entirely on the fact that those Equestrias were part of the grimverse."

"And I don't, that's what I'm saying!" I cried, raising my arms up in exasperation, "I know I'm incompetent. That's all the more reason why I want to stay out of whatever shitstorm we're dropped into."

I also knew how whiney I was being and I hated it, but pent up frustration and maybe a bit of fear about the future made me press on.

"I'm not exactly the confident and charismatic type, okay?" I said in a tone that was a little calmer, but more defensive than I would've liked as I thought back to my meeting with the Captain back on the ship, "I have my moments, but on the whole, I'm no strategist and I'm not too good at thinking on my feet. You put me on the spot and I'm gonna fumble more often than not. That's just the kind of guy I am, unfortunately."

That wasn't to say I didn't have any strengths. I did have a very particular set of skills... but just about all of them were artistic skills. They were things like writing and music and... well, I used to be good at drawing, but I hadn't actually drawn anything in literal years. I did have a very vivid imagination and that could be useful in some rare cases, but I doubt any of my 'skills' would help me now.

"It doesn't have to be though," Twilight replied, sounding somewhat exhausted by the conversation now, "you might have lived a sedentary lifestyle up until now but this is an opportunity to find the skills you never knew you had. Hasn't anypony ever told you that you fail one hundred percent of the tests you don't take?"

I'm pretty sure the saying is a bit different where I come from...

My only response this time was to raise a very skeptical eyebrow. Twilight groaned and raise her front hooves to her temples, rubbing at them softly as she spoke.

"Okay, look at it this way," she began, "if a blank flank never took any chances then nopony would ever get their cutie mark. Sometimes you need to go out on a limb to find your special talent, you know?"

"You don't need to talk to me like I'm an ignorant foal," I groused, "you can't win if you don't try, I get that. But trying, in this case, means that if I fail, it's not just my life that gets snuffed out, remember?"

Apparently, she hadn't because her mouth clicked shut and she grimaced at the unpleasant reminder. She looked like she had more to say, but it took her a second to get the words out, an opportunity I took to say my piece.

"Maybe I could help a few people—or ponies—here and there, and you know what? Sure, I'll try to do at least that much if they need immediate help and only if it won't get us killed or worse," I said, trying to compromise a bit, "but for the most part, I think it would be better for everyone involved if we stayed out of the way and focused on finding that shard."

"Okay, fine, I can accept that," Twilight finally said after a long, conflicted minute of silence, "all I'm asking is that we at least try to do something. I know the risks are... dire, but I can't get behind doing nothing to help when somepony is suffering right in front of me."

That wouldn't exactly sit well with me either, but I'm also not big on self-sacrifice—especially the kind where you actually give up your life.

Rather than say that aloud I just let out another resigned sigh. I stood up and raised my arms in a languid stretch then turned to address the disguised mare again.

"I feel you on that, but just remember that even the smallest act can have horrible consequences down the road," I warned, "the kinds of stories I read and write don't give a fuck about your intentions or how careful you are. It's the small shit you didn't think about that'll catch you off guard and get you in the end."

"I'll keep that in mind," Twilight replied without a hint of regret as she too stood up and stretched out like a cat, "in the meantime why don't you tell me about this Old Night that the Princess was talking about. You looked like you knew something about it earlier."

"Yeah, you could say that," I replied. I looked out towards the exit of the small cave and frowned, getting the weird feeling that someone was going to waltz in any second. When no one appeared I continued, though my eyes didn't leave the entrance, "if she's talking about what I think she's talking about then I doubt there's actually much we can do here."

"Why? What is this Old Night?"

"Well... you remember what I told you about Lovecraft and cosmic horror and the Cthulhu Mythos and all that?"

"Yes...?" Twilight replied slowly, clearly not liking where this was going.

Yeah, I don't blame you.

"So the Old Night is actually another name for one of the deities in that Mythos—one of the sleeping Great Old Ones," I explained, "he goes by a bunch of different names, but the cult of the Hidden Ones call him Zulchequon the Dark Silent One and worship him as a death god."

"And my counterpart decided to wake him from his slumber? Why?" Twilight asked, sounding both horrified and incredulous, "and for that matter what was something like that even doing in Equestria anyway? Wasn't that Mythos written by humans on Earth?"

"Curiosity probably got the best of her and she got herself in too deep. That's usually how it goes down in Lovecraft's stories, and as for why Zulchequon was here in Equestria?" I paused to think about it for a second, "well... Discord did say that every story ever written was real somewhere in the multiverse," I pointed out, "I can only assume this was the result of someone's twisted imagination."

I, of course, wasn't dumb enough to tell her that I wholly approved from the perspective of a writer who loved this kind of thing. It was one thing to like the concept as a story, but another entirely when that story wound up becoming your reality.

"That's rich, coming from you," Twilight scoffed, "you're not seriously going to stand there and tell me this isn't something you would've written if you had the opportunity, are you?"

Whoops, saw right through me.

"I mean, yeah, but..."

I paused suddenly as another thought hit me and Twilight spoke up after a second of silence.

"...But what?"

I ignored her expectant gaze as something unexpected began to creep up from the back of my mind. It was that same feeling from earlier but more concentrated, more focused on the here and now—a revelation of sorts just out of reach. I could tell loosely that it was some uncomfortable notion born from the fact that I somehow had a vague idea of what had happened here without having been told. I was just about to entertain the unnerving thought when—

'Well isn't this an interesting conversation?'

A masculine voice deep, velvety, ethereal, and full of unchecked curiosity resounded within the small cave and cut through the relative silence. I practically jumped out of my goddamn skin at the sound and so did Twilight, if the sharp feminine squeal of surprise beside me was anything to go by. The two of us looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but it was disembodied and sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once.

"Who's there?" Twilight called out in a confident, commanding tone that was almost believable, "show yourself!"

Really, Twilight?

I wanted to shake my head at the cliche line, but a flash of movement caught my eye and I turned to one of the many black crystals embedded in the dark blue stone of the cavern wall. As I watched, the violet light surrounding the crystal seemed to shift and warp in my vision. This went on for a few seconds before the light was sucked in like the crystal itself was a singularity.

Once the light was gone the crystal exploded into pitch-black smoke that shot into the air and made a beeline for where Twilight and I were standing. I had an inkling that we weren't being attacked, but the suddenness of the action still made me curse and stumble back a step. Twilight straight-up tried to blast the incoming smoke with a magenta-colored laser she panic-fired from her horn. The shot passed right through the smoke like it wasn't even there and hit another crystal on the wall behind with a sharp electrical crack.

The crystal shattered but neither of us paid that any mind as the smokey shape slowed and settled over the ground in front of us.

'Come now, there's no need for that kind of reaction, girl.'

Out of the amorphous black cloud came a pair of predatory eyes, their pupils an angry red, the sclera a sickly green, and the outer rims burning violet with barely restrained dark magic. Oh yeah, I knew those eyes, and so did Twilight.

"Y-You?" she barely managed to croak out. I looked over just in time to see her face light up in horrified recognition. I saw her eyes go glossy for a moment, then cursed again as her expression twisted into rage, "you... you!"

I called out to her, but she was already firing another laser and this time I could feel the heat of the beam from where I was standing. The first beam she'd fired had some power behind it, but this one was definitely meant to kill. It burned far brighter and hotter than the last and melted the cave wall behind the shifting smokey shadows into white-hot slag.

As impressive and terrifying as that was though, it still did nothing to harm the cloud of darkness lazily hovering in place. That didn't stop Twilight from firing again and again and once more before she seemingly ran out of juice and collapsed from what I assumed was magical exhaustion. Her horn sparked one more time but no more magical purple beams of death were forthcoming.

With her reserves evidently tapped for the moment and left panting as if she'd just run a marathon, Twilight settled for glaring up at the unamused blob of smoky darkness.

'...Are you quite finished?'

"Go... to hell... Sombra..."

I blinked and stared down at the furious mare.

The fuck? Where the hell did that come from?

Apparently, Sombra was just as surprised as I was because he didn't say anything for a good four or five seconds. A weird silence filled the air as the cloud of darkness and I stared at Twilight in bewilderment. I would've found the whole thing hilarious if I wasn't involved, but I was and I needed to keep the peace somehow. Thankfully I didn't have to say anything, as it was Sombra who broke the silence, his only response to chuckle... good-naturedly?

O... kay?

'Well now, that was certainly the last thing I expected to hear from the likes of you, Princess.'

His smokey form began to shift once again as he spoke, this time into something more equine in shape. Before long Twilight and I were looking at Sombra as I remembered him. He stood tall and imperious before us with his dark grey coat, black mane, armored neck and hooves, red cape, tacky silver crown, his evil glowing horn... the works. When he continued speaking his voice was a lot less eerie and ethereal, though no less deep and intimidating.

"A little unexpected, but I must say, this is a rather refreshing change of pace."

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