Days tediously dragged on for longer than intended. Many people believed that with the united forces of the six Juries, finding Rave Shackles would have been a task not too difficult for their best trackers in the business to carry on. The pressure even awakened the retired trackers, who were remembered only by a special few who would trust them enough to cooperate in the unnecessarily expanding task. As the weeks passed by, the anger and frustration intensified until things were on the verge of imploding. It was appropriate to note that the Juries were mainly focused on how well Sombra managed this task, with everything currently pressing down on his shoulders. Second only was their halfhearted concern regarding the capture of another convict, whom they believed should be not much of a trouble and was just another body waiting to be executed. But they did not gravitate towards the severity of the threat this one convict held, no. They had no idea. The subject had not sunk itself more than into Sombra and Twilight, and a few Court members whose opinions truly mattered in the long run.

“Such irony, isn't it?” Sombra thought out loud, staring at the misty mountains neighboring the castle through his large office window.

“What is?” Twilight asked, her attention glued towards the book in her hand as she sat by the fireplace. The entire ordeal required a nice distraction for her to ease her mind a bit. Just for a few hours, before she let the paranoia rush back to her with that familiar malicious chill.

“Several weeks ago, Nimbus was suffering the same fate as ours. Being played by some bastard rat, quietly hiding away while waiting for people to go insane.” Sombra said.

Twilight was immediately reaped out of her peaceful relationship with her book. The entire mood of the room had shifted the moment Sombra started swearing.

The mild rage radiating from the man reminded Twilight about the punishment that awaited any foolish convict that would cross The Court’s path. To be branded into a criminal by the general department of justice was one thing. It was an entirely different story when even the darkest, most secretive people of the lesser-known society would consider someone beyond redemption.

Twilight closed the book and placed it on the tabletop next to her as her mind was snatched by the new troubling thoughts, as perfectly as they came as the previous ones diminished after her mission weeks ago.

“Sunset’s not going to last for long, will she?” The question popped right out of Twilight’s mouth without hesitation.

Sombra blinked out of his brooding thoughts. “No. The Court and the Juries have decided that she should join Nimbus and Rave.”

“Are you sure that’s the right decision?”

Sombra gave Twilight a look. “Yes. Though, I can tell that it's bothering you."

Twilight furrowed her brows a little. “I just hoped that at least you had some form of reservations about the idea, especially after the circumstances we're in.”

“Are you sure you’re not letting your emotions speak for you?”

“No, this is different.” Twilight bit her lip. “You know what I’m talking about. Our enemy isn’t just Rave Shackles. Those monsters are still out there. We shouldn’t just be putting all our efforts to capture this one maniac, but we should, at least in the most reasonable of ways, prepare ourselves for the worst situations possible.”

“Well, that’s why I instructed you to help us in that department,” Sombra said. “You’re the only one who is as intellectually capable and initiative as Rave, that makes you in charge of arming our defenses by duplicating Rave’s poison.”

"It wasn't poison."

"It is if it functions as such."

“That's not really–the point is, it takes time to extract the right components. As of this moment, we are blind. With the weeks stretching and not a single trace of Rave found. He could be dead but what about those monsters? We should at least have sufficient means to retaliate if ever they come to us.”

For a moment, their eyes lingered. Twilight practically spoke the words that were rambling inside Sombra’s head. He just chose not to open the subject in fear of what might become of them.

“How many antidotes have you produced?” Sombra asked.

“I’ve produced a single prototype. Of course, it hasn’t been tested yet.”

“With all the means and the time provided to execute the task, should I know why it had taken you this long?”

Twilight cleared her throat and swallowed. “This kind of procedure always takes time.”

“I see.” Sombra nodded, deciding to let the subject slide. “But you have something else in mind, something that deeply concerns the matter. And I see what you mean. It's the same reason why I did not introduce the idea to The Court and the Juries.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Hopefully not. Because I’ve already told you that I have no intention of tampering with nature, even if you have enough understanding of it. Much better understanding than I do. But even that, I won’t let you cross that line, because if you do, you’ll be opening doors you’d hardly want to close back again.” Sombra said, bearing such terrifying promise.

Twilight, defeated, clenched her jaw and dropped her shoulders in resignation.

Sombra reached out to her and cupped her cheek, his eyes were equally stern and gentle. “I can sense some conflict in you, Twilight. Don’t let these emotions compel you to make foolish decisions.”

“I’m… I’m afraid I can’t make that promise.”

“Twilight-”

The sound of fists pounding against the office doors bombarded them both out of their conversation. One of the Dark Horse came rushing inside the office, his eyes widened with a sense of urgency.

“Rave Shackles is here, sir.”

The two stood still in surprise for two seconds.

“Where is he?” Sombra asked, with the darkness making a return in his eyes.

“He arrived at our gates. Saying he’s surrendered himself. Vanta’s currently bringing him forth for judgment.”

“Just him?”

“Yes, sir.”

Sombra and Twilight shared a look before Sombra returned his attention to the Dark Horse.

“Tell Vanta that judgment will have to wait. Bring Rave Shackles to me.” Sombra ordered.

“Yes, sir. At once.”

No one had anticipated Rave to arrive at the castle’s front doors, calm and civilized like a cool minded and lawful individual surrendering himself to the authorities. He was a phantom. The Dark Horse didn’t know what to make of it as he offered them his hands, asking to be cuffed. Knowing better, they dragged him inside without a word and busted straight into Sombra’s.

At long last, the search was over and Rave was finally found. He stood there, basking in his amusement, and the childish victory in pure anticlimactic fashion. Sombra carefully looked at him, with a glimmer of exhaustion and stern indifference.

“Search him,” Sombra said, neglecting his drink and walked over to the young man.

The Dark Horse did as they were told and ran their hands across every inch of the man until they found a single flash drive dangling from his neck beneath his shirt. They presented it to Sombra, who looked at it with suspicion before asking them to leave him and Rave alone with a single wave of his hand.

Twilight, who had been observing quietly in the shadows, immediately approached Sombra as he raised the flash drive, indicating a task for her to examine it later. She held the object close and hid it within her suit. She caught Rave’s eyes, and both were locked in a temporary gaze filled with antagonistic opposition, but somehow sensed an underlying air of unspoken respect, acknowledging each other’s intellectual prowess. When that short moment passed, both looked away in pretense.

Meanwhile, Sombra’s intense frustration over the search evaporated quicker than he imagined and was replaced with an uncertain cloud of relief and confusion. He let the moment settle. The cause of all their problems was finally there, standing quietly, watching him.

Sombra took a deep breath before offering a polite and dark smile. “You’re Rave Shackles.”

“You’re Sombra. King Sombra. Pleased to meet you.” Rave said with a casual grin.

"So, you know who I am. "

"I believe I was told everything that I needed to know. "

With that, Sombra speculated that Rave had not come for small talk. His eyes indicated everything. Thousands of words were taunting him already, just waiting to be said. Normally, Sombra would neglect the idea of ignoring protocol just so he could privately converse with the infamous convict. But as the man he was, he made exceptions. He wanted to talk with this man before he could make the final judgment.

“Did Nimbus inform you of these things?"Sombra asked, as engaging as he could with his tone. "Because I would never expect someone in your position to stumble upon our circle and immediately fathom the significance of such an encounter."

"Oh yes. I do." Rave said.

"And?"

"I've formed a very low opinion of it." Rave shrugged.

Sombra inclined his head as he began circling the man. "How come?"

"I think it's pointless. This whole institution of yours." Rave said casually. "The way I see it, the shadows are already a difficult and ambiguous place. Why would people like us need people like you, the very ones who sanction all evil there is? What's the point in trying to control chaos?"

Sombra chuckled. "Rave Shackles. I know you are a very intelligent man. It wouldn't be much of an offense to try and enlighten you, would it?" He said. "No matter how hard we try and defy it, there is always a certain order of things, in which we have no control over and are always, dictated by whichever place we reside in. Light or dark. It’s there. You understand, do you?"

Rave didn't reply.

"What's the point, you say? Well, those who live in the light can only reach their hands so far, while I have the luxury to dip my hand into the deepest of pits. Places that no one else would dare traverse into. Because the rules affect all of us, you see. Two sides of the same coin. Both operate differently but not independently. And if someone cannot comprehend or acknowledge the rules, then they cease to be one of us. And what do we call them?"

Sombra stopped behind Rave, waiting for an answer between the short pause.

"We call them animals," Sombra said.

Rave shook his head. "No. You call them monsters."

Sombra nodded as he continued circling him. "Yes. Monsters. They're the ones that cross the line without even giving it a second thought. They do it like it's a sport. And let me tell you just how badly you crossed that line, Rave."

"I suppose." Rave shrugged.

"Has the realization of your foolish actions urged you to finally surrender yourself to us and face judgment, Rave?"

"No. Not exactly." Rave said. "I merely stumbled upon the truth of man's vulnerability that compelled me to begin my work. And eventually, I had to face the consequences."

Sombra felt like spitting. "Perhaps it compelled you to try and play god."

Rave frowned in disagreement. "Oh, no sir. Is that what you perceive of my actions? That I was trying to play god?"

"Like all impulses to try and 'exercise the mind' as you said, one with an obsession as severe as yours, who's so hell-bent on trying to achieve power would be considered a perverse act of imitating god."

"I agree. But I wasn't trying to play god, sir. Believe me when I say that I did not understand it when it first came to me. I've carried it through the years, but somehow, at one point or another, everything turned clear." Rave flashed a knowing smile. "I know what she is."

Twilight clenched her jaw and Sombra's eyes hardened, even more, he leaned and whispered. "She… Sunset Shimmer."

"You've never seen what she's truly capable of. But I have. It was the night of the prom at Canterlot High." Rave said in an equally excited and demented whisper.

That malignant chill returned, and Twilight could only battle the sensation by simply crossing her arms across her chest and trying not to react.

While Sombra's eyes widened as his mind began processing what he just heard. "... Then that Vegas incident was no incident at all. It wasn’t a coincidence that you chose her." He gasped, keeping his hands to himself as he was tempted to lunge his fist straight into Rave’s arrogant grin. But instead of quenching his inner fury, he maintained his composure and focused on the important questions. Twilight could only listen in silence, tucking herself away within the office’s shadows.

“Why?” Sombra demanded.

The unnerved look in both Sombra and Twilight’s eyes gained Rave another form of victory and he treasured their reactions dearly. He continued. “After seeing her in that horrendous form, I thought to myself, what would become of us if the gates of whatever unholy realm she came from went crumbling down? What chance do we have against such extraordinary power? The world wouldn’t be ready to accept that we alone as human beings are nothing compared to those that exist on the other side of the universe. I was afraid to accept that idea. My young mind resented it. How could I?”

“And this epiphany of yours compelled you to meddle with nature.”

Rave laughed a little at the superior sounding tone of Sombra’s voice. “Yes, I did.”

“Was it worth it? After the destruction of your beloved city and the deaths of hundreds of innocent people?”

“No. Of course not. But I did think about it. I may have caused Sunset’s inevitable spiral to insanity, but she did those things by herself.” Rave defended.

At this point, Sombra was contemplating whether or not he should conduct the sentencing and proceed as traditioned, but he realized that he was too intrigued and angry to consider it. He let the conversation continue while awakening more demons in his head.

Rave sighed. “I admit. I was a foolish child back then. But if I hadn’t done it, it wouldn’t have resulted in me trying to make amends. The human body may seem ordinary, but with the right reprogramming, its truest potential can be unlocked.” Rave bared his teeth in an eerily calm yet pompous grin. “You accuse me of playing god while doing the same deed yourself. You had the chance to erase the abomination forever and yet, because of your need to control this already unpredictable world, you decided to take advantage of the same power you claim to be a crime tampering with.”

Sombra didn’t bare his teeth, but his green eyes seem to be glowing even brighter in the dimly lit office. “My agendas were not similar to your destructive ones.”

“Construction comes from destruction, doesn’t it?”

A bitter scowl formed in Sombra’s lips, subtle but potent. “Just another delusion of grandeur.”

Rave pouted. “I almost thought that you, out of all people, would understand. Your position only existed just so you could use your power to make the great choices no one else would make and you took full advantage of it up until I made the greater choice. You act like it’s a crime. But I think you don’t see it that way. The way I understand it, we feel the same way. We’re both afraid of being reaped out of our control as the superior ones, so we do everything we can to keep that control. The only difference is, I’m outranked by you for being a mere watcher of an underground club at the edge of a crumbling city.”

Sombra’s glare intensified menacingly, his eyes riddled with such heavy dismay and disgust. “It’s disturbing how you act as if you’re doing this world a favor. Your fear was understandable from the beginning, but look at what you've done. Just because one smart and an arrogant kid couldn’t accept the truth that he was no longer special in the eyes of the universe, he failed to hold onto his sanity. Unlocking the human body’s potential? You enslaved those bodies to do your bidding. How ingenious. Blank slates. Not a waste of human resources. Except their minds are completely intact, aren’t they? A little trick for your experiment to not end up the same way as your previous failure. In the eyes of society’s laws, it’s purely unethical. And in the eyes of The Court, it is utterly monstrous.”

“Are you prepared to make that call, sir? When the monsters come knocking down your doors, would you resort to the same monstrosities as I did? Sunset Shimmer is not alone, you know? There’s more of them out there. When the time comes, people will abandon whatever morality they have left for them to face the real monsters. That’s the lesson that I learned. Sunset Shimmer is an enemy of our world, and I’m only doing this just so I could share what I have to offer. Someday, my work will be looked upon by people. They may even duplicate it. And you people will do the same as I did. It may not be you, sir, but someone else will.”

Twilight and Rave locked eyes once more. And Twilight shuddered with disgust. The fact that Rave knew their darkest secrets and kept them to himself all these years astounded Twilight to the very core. Guilt, terror, anger, and despair poisoned her chest. Emotions that she had truly felt before, but have mutated into something else entirely.

"As long as The Court stands, your work will not live on." Sombra breathed into the man's face. "Now, where are they?"

"You could never find them on your own, could you?" Rave grinned.

"There's no other way around this, Rave. Speak. Now."

"There's no use in speaking, sir. I'm sure your people will find them. Or better yet, they'll find you. Whichever comes first. And all of this wouldn't matter in the end." Rave said, the glow of acceptance present in his eyes.

"What wouldn't matter?"

"You. Your pedestal. And I find it quite funny too. How would you feel to be trampled by the very things that you try to keep at bay?"

It was then that Sombra understood that a mind as monstrous and malicious as Rave Shackles was no longer worth entertaining. He found the darkest pit there ever was. It was an evil greater than a chemical impulse. This was evil by nature. The evil that gave birth to Sunset’s undeserved tragedy.

“How pitiful it is for such an intelligent mind to be misguided this badly.” Sombra depressingly remarked.

“I’m not misguided. Perhaps, between the two of us, you’re the one who refuses to accept the horrible truth, sir. That’s pitiful.” Rave said. “Who am I kidding? An outsider’s mind like yours wouldn’t operate like a naturally true-bred member of The Court because... you’re not. Are you, sir?”

Sombra decided that there was no point in going further. And he called upon the Dark Horse waiting outside his office to take the smirking bastard out of his sight. His anger and frustration amplified into absolute terror. There was no reason to sit back at the moment, for the time of ease had not come yet to him. Instinctively, he felt he shared this worry with Twilight who kept her mouth shut the entire time. But he didn’t look at her. There was a mutual agreement and they let themselves wallow in their dread.

"I didn't expect it to be this easy. " Twilight said.

"Neither did I." Sombra said, turning his head towards her direction. "But it's what needs to be done."

"I know." Twilight nodded. "I'll be examining the contents of this drive if you don't mind."

"Do what you must. Just don't dwell on it for too long."

"Okay." Twilight paused, quite unsure what to say before ultimately deciding it was time for her to leave. "See you tonight."

Not an hour later that evening, all prominent members of The Court had assembled themselves at the hall, preparing for the sentencing hearing that would eventually subject three infamous convicts to their inevitable end. The elders were seated at the bottom seats closest to the judgment floor, while the children were seated on top along with others. The entire room was guarded by several thirty Dark Horse, promising to quietly watch over the event.

Meanwhile, Twilight had gone into the castle’s main control room, where Vanta had been supervising their security system, giving orders to people who had their noses stuck in front of screens while their fingers hastily clicked on their computer keys. Vanta looked up and he acknowledged Twilight’s arrival with a nod. She headed for the main computer which was placed at the front of the room.

“I think it’s safe to say that you and I can agree how odd tonight’s situation unfolded,” Vanta said as he approached Twilight’s desk.

“It’s more suspicious than odd, Vanta,” Twilight said, her eyes narrowing in focus as she plugged the flash drive into the computer.

“It’s almost surprising how Sombra made a passive, almost accepting reaction out of it,” Vanta remarked as he continued to scan the scene in the large room. “Should I be relieved that he hadn’t resorted to his crazy proposals? I’m not sure. But if there’s one thing that is definite about your old man, is that as manic and spontaneous he can be, he still has a line to keep himself in check.”

“Then why are you always standing by his ear and talking him out of most of his decisions?” Twilight humored dryly.

“Because I am paranoid.”

“That makes two of us then.”

They stopped talking for a while as Twilight began rigorously examining the drive’s contents, while Vanta carefully watched her work being projected from the large screen before them. They both found themselves staring at a plethora of folders, pulling both of them to want to unravel the secrets they held for themselves. Though, what Twilight did not expect was to find almost all of them to be empty. But before she could begin scanning through everything, the computer crashed.

“What the hell?” Twilight muttered as she jammed her fingers against the keys, trying to recover the machine.

“Twilight. Stop.” Vanta ordered.

“What?”

“Unplug that thing off now. It’s starting to affect the entire system.”

That’s when Twilight started to hear the commotion of complaints and violent exclamations that created the dissonance in the room, and she withdrew her hands from the keys. All of the computers have been affected by the foreign virus that bombarded their system. Quickly, Twilight pulled the drive out of the computer, but the crashing continued. Each screen began flashing disorienting lights and images on their own and it was deemed beyond their control when the computers had started to operate independently.

“Oh no…” Twilight gasped in horror as a heavy realization kicked in.

“What? What is it?” Vanta demanded.

“Their hacking into our surveillance and security systems. They’re turning us blind.” Twilight said, her eyes still wide in shock.

“No, no no-no-no. No!” Vanta barked as he lunged himself into the computer and began working his way in an attempt to recover what was worth recovering. “Damn it! I knew the situation was too easy. He wanted this to happen. He wanted us with our guard completely down.”

“It’ll be the perfect time to strike.” Twilight finished.

Suddenly, everything shut down and left them in complete darkness. Everything went still. Twilight and Vanta held their breaths, waiting for something to happen. Their blood ran cold as the sound of the doors opening echoed throughout the castle.

The only words Twilight could ever muster was, “They’re here.”