Penumbra, Lux, Terra (Private)

The two guards nodded in understanding. Rising Spear decided to test it out on one of the shadows that were advancing a little too quickly at them; making it disappear quickly. He smiled and nodded. "Right... so you need to find the source, huh?"

Rough Tumble slashed a few more shadows out of her way. "They seem to come from there..." She pointed towards the north. There was only the edge and a tall, dark tower. It seemed abandoned. "Let's try over there."

Sugary would take the direction to heart, and do his part by advancing and keeping further shadows ahead at bay, only attacking them outright if they actually came close as shortly after enhancing the guards weapons, he began to feel heavier in his movements as fatigue was setting in slowly from lack of proper rest after dealing with Umbra's methods earlier. Still, he trekked on. "That tower... That was never part of the city originally, was it?" Once they were close enough, he'd try to make their way in. If the door happened to not budge if there was one, he'd not hesitate to apply force to unhinge it...

Rising Spear shook his head. "No... it was built just outside city limits years ago, even before the Crystal Empire had returned. We simply thought it was an old guard's post that had been abandoned ages ago... but guards today sat it still is, occupied by the ghost of a guard who had died and never wanted to leave his post."

Rough Tumble huffed. "That's not true, you dipshit. It's just an old mare's tale."

Spear grumbled. "Then how do you explain those lights and sounds?"

Rough rolled her eyes and ran towards the tower, fighting through waves of Shadows, clearly coming from the tower. The door was locked, but the wood was feeble and rotten so only a small bit of force was needed to open it. Rough went in, yelling a warcry.

Spear grunted and yelled from outside the door, standing in the snow. "Rough, no! Come back here, you're going to get yourself killed!"
No reply came. Spear groaned, looked back to Market desperately, took a deep breath and followed her in, up the stone stairs, smoothed by the ages.

Although Sugary appreciated one of them going ahead to scout, he saw that their inexperience showed when one of them went in a rush. The lack of a response worried him, and he urged Spear to not go up too quickly. "Don't go blindly upstairs, we don't know what's become of her. Follow me carefully..." Step by step he'd go up, looking at every corner with Umbra's weapon drawn, and his horn glowing in alert. First they had to find the source, but also to make sure the other guard was alright.

Rising Spear grunted. "That's what I'm worried about... stupid rookie..." He grumbled slightly, following Market upstairs, his spear at the ready.

As they went further and further upstairs, the shadows seemed to thicken. They roared noiselessly, but went past them, as if they didn't exist. On top of the tower was a huge, black door. It was made from oak and the color seemed to suck in all the ligh that there was. It was slightly ajar, choking noises and soft chanting came from beyond. Rising Spear gripped his spear a bit tighter and clenched his teeth, not sure if he were prepared for what was behind that door. He looked at market, silently asking him what he thought.

Sugary naturally did try to strike any shadows that were closest out of reflex, but it proved ultimately futile as there were too many, and too few he could slay as Umbra's sword absorbed more and more. He noticed the deliberate ignorance though even as he erected a barrier, and looked to his companion. "This has to be it! No hesitating now! Go, go go!!" He urged for the companion to run up the stairs with him, and tackle past the entrance to see what danger awaited...

Rising Spear yelped as he burst through the door, and gasped at the sight before his eyes. He yelled, unable to process it.

Rough Tumble was floating in mid - air, the shadows thick around her, keeping her aloft. Her normally  chocolate brown crystal skin was dulled and her lighter mane was hanging greyish and limply over her shoulders. Her barding and weapons laid useless on the floor. It was her eyes that drew his attention - her normally radiant golden eyes were completely blackened and held nothing of their usual glint of mirth and mischief. Rising Spear felt his stomach drop. "ROUGH!"

His eyes were drawn to the source of all the shadows - and old, huge tome lying on the single desk in the room. It was open on a certain page and was whispering softly, one way or another. He yelled and went straight for the book with his spear but he was stopped by an invisible barrier. An un-pony-ish cry emitted from Rough's body as he made contact with it and she turned her head towards him, scowling. Spear hesitantly aimed his spear towards her and the cloud of shadow surrounding her. He was panting but soon his training resurfaced and he cleared his thoughts, trying to decide what to do.

He looked from the book, to his spear, to Rough, to Market. He was clearly thinking, and thinking quickly. Her coat was dim. When the heart was gone their coats were dim. Their colorfullnes came partly from within and partly from the Heart. Since the coat was dim, the shadows must be acting like some sort of barrier - and probably vice versa, he could not touch the book because he was still connected to the Heart. So theoretically, Rough Tumble - not being able to reach the Heart - could be able to touch the book... He saw the shadows slowly, very slowly, lift her over to the book. But why? Why would they want her to touch the book? He shook his head. He did not want to find out.

He thought of all this in less than a second. He hummed and looked to Market. Market was not a Crystal pony - he had zero relation to the heart. He could destroy the book and save Rough! He nodded to him.
"Destroy the book! I can't touch it! I probably have too much of the Heart's power in me!"

Sugary tried to prevent Rough from going onwards by himself against the Dark magic source before he hit a barrier, doing his best to assess the scene before him as fast as he could, further charging his magic from within. "It's that book alright, but how to get to it fast without hurting the mare!?"

He perked his ears sharply when given the advice from Rough. It was a stretch, a specific one, but it was possible he was onto something. Before he would attempt to advance though, he impaled Umbra's sword onto the floor next to him, not wanting to risk it stealing more than intended once he made his attempt to rush in. One quick leap forward, Dark energy surged from his body after the charge, horn gently expelling a black aura; Another step, he felt an ache from the type of magic he was using, the usual toll for him; Several more steps, he hoped he guessed right by engulfing himself with Dark magic to proceed unhindered; His goal, to get past the barrier, and try to close the book by force to attempt to seal its power, or destroy it...

Rising Spear, watched, keeping his weapons close, trying to keep the shadows at bay. He took a deep breath, hoping that he was right - that Market would be able to pass the barrier, to destroy the book and save Rough and the city. He looked up at her body, still suspended in mid-air by the shadows, and gulped. He gripped his spear tighter and glanced back at Market. He gasped slightly - he was already further than him! He had passed the barrier!

Success! Sugary then made a dive for the book itself, not wanting to waste any time in grasping it to close it up as he though of ways to stop the problems if they didn't end with merely trying to close it, saving outright destruction of the book for last if nothing else proved fruitful.

The book proved to be very heavy and resistant. The tome started to whisper louder, trying to stop Market from closing it. The shadows shrieked all across the city, retreating to the book, trying to save it. Rough Tumble's body turned towards Market and stretched out her hand. Rising Spear noticed this and stood between her and Market, his heart pounding in his chest, as he nearly felt the wave of shadows approaching.

Despite the obvious force of sorcery backing up the book, Sugary would not relent in his grip against it as he attempted to close it. He was about to try to counteract the innate magic with his own, but was then spoken to by the book while all the Shadows and Dark energy seemed to be drawing itself back in. He looked to his company and back to the book in mild hesitation, but his will was not so easily swayed by this force of Darkness... "... I-... I'm-... I'm returning to Umbra!!" ... for another force of Darkness had gotten there first.

With his mind on a set goal, magic coursed through his body further, this time sending pulse after pulse of Dispelling magic upon the book itself from his grip to attempt to weaken it, close it, and seal it afterwards.

She would have complained over how far there was to her room, especially since the long distance meant a longer wait to try that heavenly drink they had called cocoa, ohh and because her feet were still tired and slowly beginning to hurt of course, but she did just follow her guard without saying a single pip. The mere thought of complaining and then loose her cocoa reward being enough motivations to keep her good manners up, although her supply of manners had begun to run thin, her tail waving to and fro in impatience over the slow pace.

Finally did they reach the champers that would be hers for a while, her forehead frowning and her nose wrinkling at the sight of the interior. The only good thing about the room that she could point out were the bed, and that was if Umbra had to be generous that is and compared to the other beddings that she had had up until this point. Else were the room bare and boring in her eyes, there were no windows to be found, properly so she couldn't leave the castle unexpectedly, so no view of the night sky that she would have desired. The only thing hanging on the wall were some kind of tapestry, it properly telling some old epic tale there were important to some people or other, but not to her, and the only thing on the floor beside the bed were a little writing desk, a stool to sit by it and a rug right beside the bed. They had not even had the manners to lead her to a room with books in it, something that she drew a deep breath in to complain about, but ended up making a rather unladylike squeeing sound as one of the castles staff came up with her cocoa, her clapping in her hands of pure trill as she saw that there were a pair of snow white marshmallows swimming around in her cup as well.

As soon as she had taken the cup in her hands, her mood and her heart alike warming up just as her hands were, smacked she quickly slam the door shut with her magic, her not even wincing as a jab of pain ran trough her horn. With small and careful steps went she as quickly as she could to the bed, tongue poking out one corner of her mouth as she were deeply concentrated about reaching her target as fast as she could without any spillage, her rump falling onto the bed with quite a speed and the cup already to her lips. Were she youthful looking before did she now act the part as well, her exclaiming a yip of pain as she burnt her tongue from her impatience. Blowing softly onto the still hot liquid flew a few specks of her magic over its surface as she healed her tongue at the same time, her taking the time to be careful now, waiting a few more blows until she were certain it had cooled down enough for her to drink, and sipped carefully from it this time around, the room being filled with a heavy sigh of joy soon after.

---

It had just been ordered to keep an eye on the Caramel sage and only to interact after he had drunk the elixir of healing that he had been gifted by The Magnificent Mistress and were in dire need, but seeing how he fought against the books black magic, seeing how the sage had hurt itself to safe another for some reason, could it simply not just sit there on him and just watch, it had to act! And act quickly at that as more and more creatures of shadow had crept into the room in the mere seconds it had taken the golem to make up its mind and look creatively on its orders.

Running down the sages arm like a pool of water reached it his hands, and then the tome of magic that he tried to close, its mud like body bubbling and steaming like it slowly began to boil at the mere touch of the artefact. If it was The Wise Mistress of all Knowledge and Magic that had laid her hands on the book would it have helped her in the battle over control with the forces within, but seeing as the Caramel sage wasn't as wise nor mighty or knowledgeable followed it his lead and tried to aid him in his dispelling, its body that had pooled onto the book doing its best to form a rune to calm the spirits within, laying their minds to rest in a magical slumber so the Caramel Sage had fewer to dispel, and so its creator still would have some use from the tome as it was brought as a trophy before her feet, there being no other cause of action for the book when it had been defeated.

Rising Spear gasped as he saw the muddy... thing climb over Market's arms. But, as it wrapped itself around the book and closed it, he was happy to see the stream of shadows cease to be. The Shadows around Rough Tumble dissipated one by one, dropping her - Rising Spear's spear clattered to the ground as he rushed over to catch her.

"Rough, are you okay?" he asked, ignoring the chaos around him of shadows either scramblinb away or dissipating completely under the absence of the book's enchantments.

Rough's eyes fluttered open. "W-what happened...?"

Spear couldn't help but sigh in relief. "It seems as if you were caught by the shadows..."

Rough frowned. "Hm... it was... weird..." She shivered. "There was this voice, talking in my head... saying strange things over and over... and a name, I think... 'Dominus Rex'.

Rising frowned. "King Dominus... never heard of him."

Sugary had been well aware of the Golem's presence for some time. He didn't even mind when the golem latched onto him to keep him company despite not knowing the exact reasons for coming with him, though he suspected Umbra was trying to ensure his own return through the assistant somehow. he never quite expected the little one with feathers to outright help him with the source of all their troubles as they joined forces to close, and then effectively seal the book as Sugary began to place a simple seal over it to prevent it from simple opening up again once the deed was done.

Afterwards, he's do his best to urge the golem to remove itself from the harmful book, happy that the others were feeling better and doing okay as the dark powers all around receded considerably, ears perked to the conversation as his heart pounded and his chest heaved from the close call. "... Doesn't ring a bell, but I think he tried to get me to stop. Like hell I was taking orders from him..." He then focused mainly on the little golem, wanting to aid it lest Umbra end up with one minion less.

As Sugary tried to encourage the golem to move with friendly shoves and nudges was it body now solid and unmoveable as stone. Were it before had a rich terracotta coloured hue were the creature now a dull greyish brown, its body cooling as ash as its inner flame slowly died from having burned so bright in its attempt to help out, the only sign of life to be found being two small twinkling embers in its skeleton eye sockets, one of them winking out while Sugary studied the little thing, the other soon following troop, but awoke again a few seconds later as to say that it was still there not not quite dead just yet.

Sugary was concerned as could be, watching the golem very closely for any reaction whatsoever. Fortunately, the winking eyes was a good sign so far, and he could still feel a bit of the warped lifeforce from it. His expression softened in return as he winked back with a weak smile and grabbed the golem like a priceless statue in his grasp along with the book. "You got guts, buddy. I'm sure Umbra's gonna want to see you back in one piece..." He also figured the book was worth attempting to study before it was discarded entirely; Sorcery of that sort was not easy to come by. "Wonder who'd make the most of this tome...?"

Content with the results so far, he focus on his magic, taking a deep breath as he was feeling fatigued, and once more, gently, shared some of his mana with the golem's spirit via Earth magic for vitality to preserve it as he looked to the others. "Sorry if this seems sudden, but if you guys are good to go, we should head back. Can't really tell what happened since we got here. I'll help with anything if you need if, of course."

Rising Spear looked up and nodded. "Right... better get out of here as soon as possible..." He looked at Rough. "You good to..."

Rough Tumble was fast asleep in his arms. He sighed and grumbled slightly, then just stood up with her in his arms. "Right, we're good to go... and, uh, since I have my hands full... yeah... better get out of here before more shadows turn up. If they turn up."

Since Sugary and Rising both had their arms occupied, it was best to just get going soon as he shook his head and sighed. "Good grief, what a night. And sure, just watch your step; Don't wanna trip with a lady in your arms..." He, of course, minded his own companion, the book he carried, and Umbra's sword once they got moving down the tower and back again, examining their surroundings in the time being to see how things have really turned out so far. He hoped sealing the book had been enough, and that their trip back went by smoothly.

Rising Spear snorted. "Lady..." he deadpanned, but looked a little worried to the sleeping Rough in his arms and hummed thoughtfully. Then, he blinked, snapping out of it, and nodded. "Right! Let's get going!" He followed you, walking quickly but carefully, all the way down the stairs and into the snow outside. As they went into the city's range, the slippery snow cleared up and they could walk peacefully towards the castle. Thankfully, there wasn't a Shadow in sight.

As they approached the castle, Shining Armor took notice of them. He looked frazzled - and so did Cadence - but it seems as if they were alright. The Heart was still in its place, shining brightly. Shining Armor nodded at Market. "I take it you found the source?"

Making his way back along with the companions, Sugary was pleased to see things had in fact calmed down. He was also pleased to see his airship in one piece for that matter, and with that in mind, the safety of his companions, and meeting with a safe royal couple, he wearily presented the sealed book to them. "Yeah, here it is. And well met... Be warned though, this is definitely a Tome of Dark magic if you plan on keeping it. I'd avoid destroying it if you can figure out how to study it safely of course. Who knows what's in there?"

Shining Armor nodded. "Indeed... who knows." He hummed thoughtfully. "Your companion... she wields a lot of dark magic, doesn't she? Perhaps she might know. Or, at least, know how to destroy it safely."

He looked over to Rising Spear and Rough Tumble, who was still lying in Rising's arms.
"Have you helped him in retrieving the tome?"

Rising saluted as best he could with Rough in his arms. "Sir, yes sir."

Shining nodded. "At ease, soldier. Good job." He looked towards Rough. "You can take her to the medical bay."

Rising saluted once again and nodded towards Market. Then, he walked away.

Sugary graciously bid farewell to the companions after their assistance, focusing then on the matter of the book as he looked to it and the tower higher up where Umbra was last. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to go see her right away then. She'll be wanting the enchanted sword and golem back too I'm sure..." He then smiled. "Plus, she might be worried for all I know. I did promise to make more chocolate for her..." Should he be allowed without issue, he'd go to find Umbra once more right away, either by escort or on his own.

Shining Armor nodded. "Of course." He nodded towards the guards standing with him around the Crystal Heart, who came towards them and stood stoicly next to Shining. "They will escort you in and show you to her room."
He then turned towards the guards to murmur a few more directions to them and looked back at Market. "I will come with you in a bit... I need to make sure my wife is safe..." He looks worriedly towards Cadence, who was standing close to he Crystal Heart, examining it with her magic, making sure that it is alright. Shining nodded at the guards and went towards her.

Then, the guards saluted and turned towards Market. "Please follow us." They turned around, curtly, and marched into the castle, towards Umbra's chamber.

Along the way, Sugary was beginning to feel increasingly tired and exhausted to the point he could barely provide the golem with the reinvigorating energy as the toll from the enhancements to keep him going again and again were starting to pile on when he should've been resting.

Ultimately, he just wanted to make sure their efforts had been worth it before he could just go and lay down, knocking on Umbra's room before opening up and greeting with a weak smile. "Hello...? Umbra, we're back..."